As you may or may not know I recently came back from my month long trip to Thailand, with the first stop of the trip being two days in the city of Bangkok. Bangkok has been on my bucket list for so long, especially after seeing numerous other people's posts from there!
Now, if I'm honest (and you know I always am), I didn't love Bangkok as much as I hoped I would. It was one of those cities that I just didn't fall in love with. It was extremely busy, overpolluted and a lot of the people felt unfriendly. My parents even got scammed while we were here! So, I probably wouldn't go back, but I'm still glad I experienced it, otherwise I would have regretted never going.
Either way, I wanted to put together a classic Hello Miss Jordan city guide for you, just in case you ever find yourself in Bangkok for 48 hours and you're unsure of what you should get up to.
To Stay
We stayed in the Banyan Tree which was absolutely lovely. This hotel group is one of my favourites and all of their establishments pretty much guarantee fab service and quality. The rooms were stylish and modern and there was even a rooftop pool where you could get free back massages during the day (score!). The best part of our stay was that we somehow ended up with half board meals even though we'd only booked breakfast, but I'm not complaining. The food here is hella expensive but on the half board we got to try some seriously delicious meals, which was lucky!
Getting Around
Taxis in Bangkok are super cheap and the best way to get around...however we found that while getting a taxi from the hotel to different places was very easy (they all ran on the meter), getting back was a different story. Many taxis refused to run on the meter to take you back to your hotel, and instead would charge double or even triple the fare that it was to get you there. We kind of ended up accepting this and just tried to find the lowest one possible in order to get around. Because we didn't have any mobile data, we were unable to download the app to order a taxi, which may be the more sensible option if you do have access to it while there.
There are also lots of public transport options too, but we didn't take any of these during our stay.
To Eat
Kay's Boutique Breakfast
Also known as the most Instagrammable cafe in Bangkok, Kay's is just stunning. There are two in the city but you want to head to the Breakfast Boutique if you want to see their two stunning flower corridors. While I was there they had both the flowers inside the cafe itself, as well as 10,000 rose teddy bears outside as well.
The food was actually really good although we did have some confusion while ordering. As a general rule in Thailand, try not to deviate from the menu. My dad tried to do this and ended up with a complete mess of a breakfast and no food because they couldn't understand poached eggs with avocado on toast. But all of us that ordered from the menu got exactly what we were expecting and it was delicious!
The Banyan Tree Restaurants
As mentioned above, the Banyan Tree restaurants were something else. We ate at both the Japanese and Thai restaurants in the hotel and both was extraordinary, but obviously not suitable for those on a budget. However if you fancy splashing out one night and having a fancy meal then I'd highly recommend both of them.
Street Food
Obviously you have the option of street food all over the city. I was a little bit wary of this and only had drinks from the stalls as I really didn't want to end up with Thai belly! But I've heard of lots of people eating street food exclusively in Thailand and being fine too.
To See
The Grand Palace
You can't go to Bangkok without visiting the Grand Palace! One of the most incredible feats of architecture in Thailand and home to the Emerald Buddha, it's absolutely a must visit. But be warned, because of its fame and beauty it does get super busy. I recommend getting there for about 15 minutes before opening and waiting in the queue to get in. Once inside, we were able to stroll peacefully and snap photos with little intrusion for about an hour before it became super rammed.
The entrance fee is 500 baht per person (Around £12) and make sure you dress appropriately for all the temples you visit, which means knees and shoulders covered.
Also, if you arrive at the Grand Palace, you will often be scouted by people trying to scam you by telling you that the temple is closed or you can only access it with a tour guide. These are lies, you only have to go and queue to enter and do not need a tour guide. My family arrived after us and were told that the temple was closed for the day (it is rarely ever closed) and ended up paying 1000 baht each to take a boat tour to view it, which was a bit of a scam.
Wat Pho
Entrance fee here is 100 baht (around £2.40).
Wat Benchamophit
Weekend Market
If you visit on a weekend (as the name would suggest), then definitely check out the Weekend Market. It's absolutely huge and sells pretty much everything you could imagine. I went here looking for some unique dresses and found the most gorgeous stall that sold floral bikinis and outfits. Although a lot of stuff here is super cheap, there are some things that are on the more expensive side. If it's something generic that you want to buy and you think the price is too high, look around as there will likely be another stall selling the same thing for cheaper. But if you find something super unique and you're unable to find anything similar (like I did) then you may wish to pay the higher price.
There's also lots of food stalls here and we had a really delicious watermelon slushie.
So those are all my recommendations for if you find yourself in Bangkok one day. Let me know if you have any more recommendations in the comments! x
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