Bangkok

Bangkok

/ Robin Busalacchi / 2 Comments

When people ask my favorite travel destination, I usually mention the last place I went. Not so much with Bangkok. To be fair, we only had a few days. But those few days really made us wonder.

There were some interesting things to see. The floating markets outside of town were lively and vibrant and the local pride at the colorful “James Bond” boats was endearing. Our hotel room’s amazing view of the Chao Phraya River “water highway” provided endless fascination and entertainment. There were some unique temples and the Royal Palace was unlike anything we have ever seen – stunning and elaborately over the top.

The not so good? Bangkok is a city of 14 million people and it seemed that half of them — from an over-zealous bellhop to an overcharging rickshaw operator to a Buddhist monk (what?!) — seemed to have their hand out. A cab driver left us confused and frustrated when he dropped us a few blocks past our destination and two private tours we took were, how should I say, a bit “misrepresented.” (In the spirit of complete disclosure, however, the sight and smell of raw meat sitting out in 95 degree heat had me secretly grateful our guide skipped over the “authentic street food” portion of our local neighborhood tour!) It was all pretty exasperating as this was all in two days!

Friends have visited or lived in Bangkok and loved it. “Give it another chance,” they say. The “quick stop” isn’t our typical travel routine so I won’t rule it out. Next time, though, we will do it with someone who knows their way around or, in the least, give it a bit more time.