Travel Guides: All Countries / Asia / Thailand / Bangkok
 |  | Travel Reviews : Bangkok |
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| | | | Platform three for the Golden Triangle
From the Daily Mail
There we were, champagne flutes in hand, the breeze ruffling our hair, in the open observation car at the back of the luxury night train which runs from Malaya via Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Thailand's laidback second city.
It is way up-country, just below the lawless, drug-producing Golden triangle where Burma, Laos and Thailand come together.
It was dusk, warm and just a touch humid. As we watched the endless jungle fall away, we looked out at swirling rivers, paddy fields, lotus ponds and buffaloes.
We passed isolated wooden houses perched on stilts, and tiny but exquisitely-maintained railway stations.
The injunction from Eastern and Oriental Express was to dress for dinner 'with the style and glamour of a bygone age'.
That allowed me to preen myself in a sleeveless cream silk Nehru jacket, made for me in India some years ago.
But I was beaten in the glamour stakes by elegant ladies of varying races in national dress, and by patrician planter-types in those old-fashioned dinner jackets I remember from my youth.
After a while, we moved to the bar for a pre-prandial cocktail, past a glamorous Chinese woman who had taken over the library car (yes, this was the sort of train which had a library) and would, for a fee, tell your fortune.
In the bar, an elegant gent played Noel Coward numbers on a grand piano. By then I felt I was playing a bit part in my favourite Marlene Dietrich film Shanghai Express, made back in 1932.
Alas, there were no mysterious occurrences during dinner, so, after more champers, I prepared to snuggle down for the night in my private compartment.
It came complete with walk-in dressing room, shower and 24-hour service from my steward, Cham, who came running at the touch of a button, bearing a late-night whisky-soda or two.
Travel guide: Bangkok
I beat Leonardo to The Beach
From the Mail on Sunday
Recently it was Captain Corelli and the Greek islands. In the late Eighties Peter Mayle did it with Year In Provence, while Jack Kerouac's On The Road inspired a generation to seek nirvana along the highways of the USA.
Books have always inspired travel. The Beach, Alex Garland's debut novel, described as Lonely Planet meets Lord Of The Flies, has done the business for Thailand. Cult reading among the children of the Year In Provence generation, it has lured tens of thousands via the cheapest flights to Bangkok.
The Beach explores hip young haunts: Bangkok's seedy Khao San Road and the cheap beach huts of the south provinces. It captures perfectly both the edginess of Thailand and the spirit of young independent travel - that quest for the secret beach unknown to 'adults' and the real world.
Of course it all goes wrong for the backpacking hero in a tiresome murderous manner, but by then every twentysomething reader is convinced that if they could only get to Thailand, they wouldn't make those mistakes.
The beach itself is Maya Bay, on an uninhabited island called Phi Phi Lei, accessible only by boat. My other half, Spencer, and I, persuaded the last speedboat in Phuket to make a detour. It's a particularly long sea crossing if you find speedboats terrifyingly small and the ocean really rather large: the Thai speedboat crew appeared to be aged 12 and found siphoning petrol easier with a lighted cigarette dangling from their lips. What may have been two weeks or 90 minutes later, the speedboat ducked between two huge James Bond rocks at the entrance to Maya Bay.
It was breathtaking. Stylised by setbuilders, Maya was a perfect cartoon of a beach: a white crescent of sand framed by palm trees. The natural gateway of the rock formations meant outsiders couldn't see in. As in the book, you wouldn't find it unless you had inside information.
The Thailand adventure begins in Bangkok, a city where you can rent cut-price penthouses like the Fortune Hotel, with a view to make you feel like a Jedi Knight, or £1.50 downtown bolt-holes with clanking ceiling fans and suspicious stains.
We headed for the Khao San Road, vividly described in The Beach as the mainland HQ of all backpackers. At midnight it was raucous with the youth slang of ten languages and the rooms were as insalubrious as we'd hoped. Stalls sold fried Pad Thai noodles off hissing hotplates for 20p and bootleg Ralph Lauren shirts for a couple of quid, while a seamstress sewed fake Levi labels into jeans - the consumer gods of Nike, Reebok and Rolex are defiled on a nightly basis here.
It's not hard to see why Thailand appeals to young travellers. The architecture is alien, all pointy onion shapes and sweeping curves; the colours are alien, taxis coming in neon pink sliced with sage green and yellow; the language is an alien font, allowing you no Latin-derived clues.
We sat down in a corner cafe to wild boar in whisky (like beef in black bean sauce), oyster omelettes (gravel in batter) and fluorescent pink hardboiled eggs (either from the rare Fluorescent Pink Hen, or created with the cunning use of cochineal).
Travel guide: Bangkok
How much is that moggy in the temple?
From the Mail on Sunday
Two years ago I road-tripped across America with my Burmese cat Claudius. He was old and we stayed there until he died to avoid quarantine.
Eventually I decided to have another pet but, being prone to itchy feet, realised I'd need another travelling cat like Claudius. Burmese or Siamese could be the only possible breeds for me.
I rather fancied the classic Siamese, the chunky, squinty-eyed version which could still be found in Thailand. They can be shipped out by anyone willing to make the effort.
I flew to Bangkok in October and met up with a resident Siamese cat expert, Martin Clutterbuck, who wrote The Legend Of Siamese Cats.
His book tells how cats were traditionally kept in temples (or wats) to guard ancient texts from mice. Nowadays unwanted kittens are left at temples.
I took the express boat up the Chao Phraya, Bangkok's central river, to one at Thewet.
At Wat Naranat a woman was feeding a group of moggies. But she had no Siamese to show me.
So I headed further up the Chao Phraya to Wat Phai Lorm but this turned out to be a bird sanctuary.
However, it was not far from Ayutthaya. This ancient former capital was sacked by the Burmese in 1767 but is today littered with impressive temple ruins. Still no cats, though.
So I took the overnight train to Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city.
Travel guide: Bangkok
Thai-dived days and henna tattoos
From the Mail on Sunday
The trigger fish trails well behind Godzilla or Jaws in the world rankings of Scariest Monsters of the Deep. But it made Joe's holiday when a pair attacked him during our scuba diving course. Invade its territory and the trigger fish will charge at you like an angry football, threatening a vicious head-butt or even a bite out of your scalp. We surfaced unscathed but with a great tale for Joe's classmates back home.
We had travelled to Koh Tao, once a Thai penal colony, now a palm-clad paradise that can plausibly claim the world's best start to diving. Joe, 12, sometimes gets bored on holiday now he's outgrown the buckets and spades, so we planned an activity centrepiece to our Thailand trip.
A few clicks on the Internet found the Crystal Dive Resort, which offers the British Sub Aqua Club's training courses as well as accreditation from PADI (America-based Professional Association of Diving Instructors). Children under ten cannot do a full scuba course, but there are snorkelling classes and a 'Bubblers' course that lets them don an air tank and go under water.
We were lucky to be instructed by Matt, a dry-witted Liverpudlian with an astonishing ability to make us do absurd things like taking our masks off underwater, or removing our mouthpieces and trying to suck air from a stream of bubbles - all mandatory skills to complete the course.
Matt has a unique tutorial system he calls the Carlsberg Method. Commit an offence like calling your fins 'flippers', mishandling a weight belt or threatening to inflate your buoyancy control device underwater and he'll chalk up a 'Carlsberg Fine' - payable later in one of the island's palm-thatched bars. With prices at around 60p a bottle, however, it's reasonably painless.
You spend the first few sessions of the four-day Ocean Diver course learning to assemble your equipment, how to avoid the bends, divers' hand signals and how not to hold your breath on the ascent - which would cause your lungs to explode. Then there are a couple of shallow water immersions for the 'skills' before boarding the school's rusting dive boat - which I'm sure I'd last seen with Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen - for a proper dive.
It's everything you hoped for. Brilliant, blue-ringed angel fish drift up and peer into your mask. Small cleaner wrasse will helpfully nibble and tidy any small cuts you expose. Rays hover majestically under coral overhangs.
Sharks in these waters are allegedly friendly, despite the gory pictures in Joe's copy of The Beach, and the diver's biggest thrill is an encounter with one of the resident whale sharks - monstrous but docile plankton-eaters. The older ones amongst us did feel occasional moments of fear - as when descending a rope into apparently bottomless depths. But Joe had no qualms. When the trigger fish charged and Matt rapidly shoved him out of harm's way, he found it exhilarating.
Travel guide: Bangkok
You'll bring loads back
One of the safest locations in the world! Remarkably clean with fantastic food - especially in Chinatown.
You will never eat Chinese food in the UK once you been to the Far East. Thai food is also fantastic.
Bangkok is cheap and the locals really are friendly.
Go with absolutely the minimum of luggage. It's hot and you have to haul your huge suitcase around with you!! But more importantly you will want to bring loads back. ENJOY!!!
Travel guide: Bangkok
Take minimum luggage
One of the safest locations in the world!
Remarkably clean with fantastic food (especially in Chinatown). You will never eat Chinese food in the UK once you been to the Far East. Thai food is also fantastic.
Bangkok is cheap and the locals really are friendly.
Go with absolutely the minimum of luggage - it's hot and you have to haul your huge suitcase around with you - but more importantly you will want to bring loads back. ENJOY!
Travel guide: Bangkok
Amazing value for money
Bangkok was unbelievable for shopping....there were millions of bargains. The hotels are a delight because of the Thai way of looking after you.
Beauty and massage parlours abound and are amazing value for money.
I loved the people... they made me feel that the West has lost the plot.
Travel guide: Bangkok
Fantastic shopping
Bangkok is unbelievable for shopping...there are millions of bargains.
The hotels are a delight because of the Thai way of looking after you.
Beauty and massage parlours abound and are amazing value for money.
I loved the people...they made me feel that the West has lost the plot.
Travel guide: Bangkok
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| | | | Bizarre but captivating
Next thing I knew, he was waking me with breakfast. What better way, I thought, can there be to make the 18-hour journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai than by train - the sort they had in the days when, like Dietrich, anyone who was anyone travelled the iron road?
Pleasure was complete when Ulf Buchert, our train manager, told me that it was, indeed, to the movie Shanghai Express that the Orient Express group had turned in 1993 for inspiration.
That was when they invested more than £1 million in refurbishing 24 Japanese-built carriages in teak, cherry, elm and rose woods and brass, and launched this delightful service.
Some hours later, our group was recovering from its arduous journey in an utterly surreal German beer garden on the edge of the 700-year-old walled city.
Our beers had been delivered by waitresses dressed as Bavarian maidens. There was, thank heavens, no yodelling. Instead, on a makeshift stage, a Thai Elvis belted out Blue Suede Shoes.
He was backed by a group of Chiang Mai cowboys who worked their way through country and western classics.
When the band took a break, there was a light show, while classical Thai music was piped into the darkness. Bizarre but captivating.
Although the beer garden was attached to our hotel, the Imperial, its customers were mainly local families with tiny children, some in elaborate traditional costumes, others in Pokemon T-shirts and sneakers.
'The thing about Thailand,' Peter, an old Thai hand, announced, 'is that you simply couldn't make it up.'
Revived, we wandered down to the bustling but friendly night market, which beats its larger rivals in Bangkok for cheapness, quality and variety.
It was offering a nice line in 'copy watches' - I paid less than £12 for my imitation Rolex - as well as beautiful silk evening bags for less than £2.
Living it up, backpacker style
We met Paul, an illustrator from Bristol, on a ferry at Ko Phi Phi, still boggle-eyed with memories from a favourite backpackers' destination, the sea bed. 'I met a whale shark!' he enthused, 'It just snuck up on me!' 'How big?' I asked blithely. 'The size of a car?' 'Three cars,' he countered coolly. 'Its mouth alone was five foot wide.'
Ko Phi Phi Don, the next island along from the set of The Beach, is a beautiful but wildly expensive resort. However, hidden behind the New England-style hotels is a warren of budget shacks. If you don't mind a goat in your back garden, you can live quite cheerfully. Here, Essex lads Philip and Paul had paired up with Lisa and Jessie from Weymouth, two twentysomethings with backpackers' tans and perfect figures honed by stomach upsets.
'We're living for £3.50 a day,' stated Lisa, casually. 'But that's sleeping head to toe with Jessie in a single bed.' 'So?' challenged Philip. 'Our room ain't even finished yet. You can't use the toilet straight because it's fitted too close to the wall.' 'What more can you want than a shower?' concluded Lisa. Not waking up with a face full of foot, I thought, realising glumly I was getting old.
Taking our cue from Lisa and Jessie, Spencer and I set off for the backpacker nirvanas of Ko Samui and Ko Pha Ngan, determined to be laid-back people who only want showers, or possibly baths. Unfortunately, our next step was Phuket, a city apparently hewn from a single block of grey dust and smelling of hot dogs, and not the edible kind, either (at least, not to Westerners).
We checked into a hotel for its 'business centre and bath in every room.' By 'bath' they must have meant mosquito - clearly the size of a cat from the noise it was making - and by business centre they meant a function room where young ladies in Peter Pan costumes disappeared with gleeful businessmen.
Phuket is not Lakeside Thurrock. We passed shops selling rare bird's nests shaped like periscopes and photos from the Vegetarian Festival. At a firearms store I bought a US army holster, wearing it under my coat for a thrill.
We stopped to cool off at a family cafe and were just starting to feel laid-back when I realised, rather too late, that my 'salad' was chopped fresh chillis. Spencer looked down to see a cockroach crawling up his leg. He leapt to his feet and started stamping a violent war dance. Bent double and weeping from chillies, I waved to the waitress for water, but, for some reason, she seemed terrified being confronted by a hysterical woman in a gun holster.
Elephant training centre
In Chiang Mai I made straight for Ed Rose, a breeder of traditional Siamese. Ed owned a Claudius doppelganger, a friendly chocolate Burmese called Chum. But his asking price of £275 seemed extreme.
Taking a quick break from cats, I ventured an hour south of Chiang Mai to Lampang, to visit the Young Elephant Training Centre. One of their most impressive feats was painting pictures.
Further south I came to Sukhothai, another former capital, with even more impressive ruins than those at Ayutthaya. Here I hit the feline jackpot.
Wandering through a wat by the river I saw something tiny - a kitten. On closer inspection it was a Khorat kitten.
Khorats, from the Khorat region in the north east, are believed to bring good luck. My heart was lost immediately.
Suddenly everywhere I looked there were cats and kittens. They lived with an emaciated old monk. He spoke no English. I spoke no Thai.
So the next day I persuaded my innkeeper, the lovable Na at the 99 Guest House, to be my translator.
She explained to the monk my dream of taking these kittens back to England and that a hefty donation was on its way to him.
He said he could see that I loved cats but that he would have to think about it and that I must come back at Loy Krathong.
This is a festival celebrated in November to mark the end of the rainy season and to pay homage to the goddess of waterways, Mae Khongkha. But Loy Krathong was a while away.
Lunch on the beach in Koh Samui
Koh Tao was great, but it's worth spending a couple of days in Bangkok on the way. We slept off our jet lag in the air-conditioned luxury of the Siam City Hotel, breakfasting on spreads of curries, noodles and exotic fruits as well as cornflakes or scrambled egg.
We travelled by three-wheeled 'tuk tuk' scooter taxis - fix the price before you get in - and took a 'long-tail' boat ride past splendid temples and squalid shacks to the Thonburi snake farm, where you can see men whirling cobras round their heads and dodging the apparently deadly fangs.
We flew to the islands with Bangkok Airways. It's much cheaper to go by train and ferry, but on a fortnight's holiday we wanted to save time. First stop, Koh Samui, was once a hippy paradise. Now, as well as rough huts on the beach from £2 a night, there are luxury hotels like the Swiss-managed Paradise Beach Resort.
Lunch is fresh-cooked chicken satay with corn-on-the-cob bought on the beach for a few pence. Dessert is delicious iced pineapple or mango sliced to order.
As dusk falls in Chaweng, one of the island's main beaches, the restaurants bring tables onto the sand. You choose your fish from a beautiful display and it's weighed and sent to the kitchen for cooking. Three of us ate well for £10. A meal at the swankiest tourist restaurant with traditional dancers, cocktails, huge oysters, lobster, shark and prawns as fat as a baby's foot cost us £28. Visa and Mastercard no problem.
You can learn to dive on Koh Samui, but don't bother. It's a two-hour boat ride to the decent dive sites, and it can be expensive. The dive shop next to our posh hotel quoted £210 for a four-day PADI course. At Crystal Dive it was £132 - with four nights' accommodation thrown in.
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| | | | Important religious sites
The perpetual problem of presents resolved, we drifted back to the hotel after stopping for a beer in a square where locals had set up a kick-boxing ring, and young boys were performing apparently vicious but, I was glad to learn, carefully choreographed fights.
Next day was the Eve of the Day of Buddha's Enlightenment. So we drove up to the monastery of Doi Suthep.
Perched dramatically on a heavily wooded mountain top overlooking the rain forest, this stunning complex is one of the country's most important religious sites.
The route from Chiang Mai was lined with thousands of white and yellow prayer flags set out for that night's pilgrimage.
The huge temple complex was buzzing, and I was fortunate to be invited to receive a blessing from the abbot.
Clad in saffron robes, he sat cross-legged on a table in a side chapel and showered us with holy water, before asking us to crawl forward one at a time so that he could pray over us.
The elephant is revered in Thailand, and Doi Suthep was built on the spot to which a white elephant (particularly holy) led pilgrims 700 years ago.
Today, devotees lay flowers at the statue of this holy creature, which guards the monastery.
Inspired by this Thai preoccupation with tuskers, we spent the afternoon at a former logging camp - now an elephant training centre - in the jungle, a few hours' drive from Doi Suthep.
Ecological pressure led Thailand to ban logging in the rain forest, so today elephants are trained instead to take part in religious and state ceremonies, and to take visitors trekking.
We enjoyed our trek and later watched these good-natured creatures washing in the shallow Mae Tang river.
As we drove back to Chiang Mai, we reflected how much more there is to Thailand than Bangkok and beaches.
TRAVEL DETAILS:
SAGA Holidays (http://www.saga.co.uk/travel tel: 0800 414383) for the over-50s offers a 16-night package, including one night aboard the Eastern and Orient Express from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.
Flights are by scheduled Thai Airways International services.
Trustafarians gone tropical
We were grateful to arrive at Ko Samui.
'Full Moon Party! At Secret Beach!' confided a hoarding, with the name and location of this 'secret' beach fortuitously following in big letters. But I wasn't sure what kind of party it would be: Samui is now a commercial resort that seemed to be twinned with Frankfurt. Everywhere German toddlers whined at German Dads.
'All the Germans look like Hale and Pace,' Spencer marvelled.
Tourist attractions included cockfighting and chained monkeys half strangled for our entertainment. But away from all this, Ko Samui had Lamai beach, an undisturbed spot with family-run resorts like the Spa where we got annihilatingly effective Thai massages for £4 an hour. Hardcore recuperators were on seven-day fasts and even having coffee and hydrogen peroxide enemas.
Deciding oyster omelettes would probably have the same effect, we made for the island everyone is talking about, Ko Pha Ngan. We boarded the ferry and for most of the voyage were regaled by a brilliant expat called Lee with stories from the Full Moon parties that put Ko Pha Ngan down in legend.
'I played a 30-hour set once,' he grinned. 'People were going home to sleep, coming back and I was still going.' Ko Pha Ngan was a youth club by the sea. Everywhere young Europeans hung their sarongs outside their bungalows like flags while their owners listened to techno music and drank 30p pineapple shakes from traditional pyramid-shaped floor cushions.
The upside of life in Ko Pha Ngan is young alternative travellers. The downside is young alternative travellers of a certain type, trustafarians: arrogant trust fund heirs who fancy themselves rastafarians. Spencer took a photo and some posh young man in tie-dye stormed over and shouted aggressively, 'You're the media, man! You're all ****! You print lies and you mess up our scene, man!' before flouncing off, presumably to phone his father for more money.
I considered 'messing up' his 'scene' but instead left for the other hot youth destination, Ko Tao, which really was paradise this time: water thick with tropical fish, soothing warm breezes flicking palm fronds and hardly any posh young men with dreadlocks.
As I left the islands the last thing I saw was a copy of The Beach in a travellers' bookshop. Thailand is no longer a trendy secret. Finding your secret paradise in the spirit of The Beach takes a lot more effort and adventure these days. But isn't that the point?
Injection of luxury
First I went to Khao Yai, a national park in the central plains, to see other cats - tigers.
After that I moved on to Khorat, origin of those kittens. It was a large, hot, noisy city with little to offer in the way of feline friendship or interest. So I moved on to Phimae.
On its outskirts is a cattery where Khorats and Siamese are bred at the back of a restaurant. There were plenty of kittens here but either they were too scrawny or too timid.
While I waited for the approach of Loy Krathong I took myself south to some beaches.
First I tried Ko Samet, which, though easily accessible from Bangkok (three hours bus ride and then 40 minutes by boat from Bang Phae), was maddening in its inflated prices and unfriendly locals.
Next I tried Krabi and visited the geological miracles that are the famous stacks (particularly James Bond island, filmed for The Man With The Golden Gun).
Exhausted after all the travelling, I opted for the ultimate in deliciousness and headed back to Chiang Mai for the Regent Hotel.
Situated half an hour out of the city, the hotel, a series of wooden pavilions, is built in the traditional northern Lanna style among perfectly manicured gardens.
After this much needed injection of luxury, I went back to Bangkok for a five-day Thai massage course at Wat Pho.
But these were cat-free days and my desire for those kittens rose again as Loy Krathong approached. So I made my way back to Sukhothai.
Of Cats And Kings, by Clare de Vries, is published this week by Bloomsbury price £12.99.
TRAVEL DETAILS:
STA Travel (http://www.statravel.co.uk tel: 0870 160 6070) offers return flights from Heathrow to Bangkok with Thai Airways.
Tour operators to Thailand include Travelbag (http://www.travelbag.co.uk tel: 0870 900 1350), Quest Travel (tel: 0870 442 3548) and Magic of the Orient (http://www.magic-of-the-orient.com tel: 01293 537700).
For further information call the Tourism Authority of Thailand (http://www.tat.or.th tel: 0870 900 2007).
Waiting for the barracuda
We travelled to Koh Tao by speed boat, an exhilarating and very wet experience if, like us, you insist on riding on the forward deck. The jetty and waterfront are pleasantly tropical and ramshackle. Small fishing boats bob at their moorings amid lots of dive boats. Dive shops are everywhere.
Our accommodation was in clean but basic concrete 'bungalows' - cold water only and an electric fan that went off when the power was cut in the early hours each night. Mesh on the windows and a lizard on the wall outside kept any mosquitoes away.
Back on Koh Samui we checked into the luxurious Amari Palm Reef Resort, where a charming young woman called Preeaporn hung garlands of flowers around our necks and took us to our Thai-style wood-panelled rooms. The air-conditioning made us shiver after Koh Tao. List price is £109 for a double room but if you book on the Internet it's down to £48. It's also generally cheaper to book hotels through a travel agent.
Koh Samui, about the size of the Isle of Wight, is a great playground. We hired jet skis and canoes. There is also windsurfing, parascending and banana-boating. We went go-karting, had henna tattoos and rode on an elephant to the stunning Na Muang waterfalls in the island's interior.
We went to the Muay Thai (kickboxing) stadium, a noisy and bizarre experience where most of the early bouts were fought by grim-faced boys who hopped about to wailing music, jabbing at each other without causing much damage.
Our own attempts at blood sports ended in partial disappointment when a fisherman with a long-tail boat took us out for a night-fishing trip. We waited three hours without a bite from the expected night-feeding barracuda but, lying back under shooting stars, gently rocked by the swell and warmed by the balmy air, it could have been worse. At least we avoided the trigger fish.
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| | Destination Guide : Bangkok |
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| | | Culture on the cheap |  | Why go on holiday to Bangkok?
The huge metropolis of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, never fails to charm visitors with its (albeit polluted) vitality.
It is one of South-East Asia's most exciting cities as well as being cheap and overflowing with culture. Old Bangkok is home to ancient temples and sights and its sprawling new city has markets, shops and tourist districts.
How much does it cost?
Prices fluctuate so keep an eye out for bargains, but as a guide, a basic six-night package can cost as little as £400 in May. A flight-only deal can be found for around £350. The Thai economy is still fragile, which means it's incredibly cheap once you are there.
If you head for the Khao San Road (made famous in the book and film The Beach) area in Banglamphu you'll be able to find a (very) basic room for £1-£2.
When should I go?
It rains least between November and February, and the heat isn't too bad - 86F (30C). April in Bangkok is like roasting alive at 95F (35C).
Pack waterproofs in September and October as the monsoon season will be upon the city. The quietest months are May, June and September.
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| | | Temples of tranquillity |  | What should I do when I'm there?
Visit a few wats - Thai temple-monasteries, ornate havens of tranquillity of which Bangkok has 400.
Top wat is Wat Phra Kaew, which adjoins the magnificent Grand Palace. The expansive grounds encompass more than 100 contrasting buildings from the past 200 years.
Wat Pho is Bangkok's oldest and biggest wat, has the largest reclining Buddha and largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand.
Are there any museums?
Yes, the huge National Museum on Th Na Phra That is an excellent place to learn about Thai art from all periods and styles.
Jim Thompson's House is also worth a look - it doesn't sound very Thai, but Jim Thompson was an American silk entrepreneur who was responsible for reviving the Thai silk industry in the years after WWII.
He disappeared in mysterious circumstances and his house, with its collections of silk, is now open to the public.
The Royal Elephant Museum, Wang Suan Phakkard and the National Art Gallery are also of interest.
What about a boat trip?
A vast network of canals and river tributaries surrounds Bangkok and there are several different boat trips you can take to see the scenery outside the city.
There's the Chao Phraya River Express boat which takes 40 minutes, the Bangkok Noi canal taxi route which you can stop off wherever you want, or you could charter a boat and see the canals at your own pace.
Then there are cruises, including dinner cruises you can go on, and of course the floating markets you will see on postcards.
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| | | City that never sleeps | | Where's good for nightlife?
Bangkok is famous as a world centre for sleaze, and you can find plenty of it if you try. However, the older, seedier joints are being slowly outnumbered by a growing selection of more orthodox establishments.
There are several enormous hi-tech discos such as Phuture (on Th Ratchadapisek, part of the Chaophya Hotel), a great many Western-style "theme bars" such as Salvador Dali on Th Rambutri and countless go-go, cigar and gay bars.
One thing's for certain, you'll always be able to find somewhere to go out for the night - Bangkok lives up to its reputation as a city that never sleeps.
What's the food like?
Thai cuisine is pungent and spicy with heaps of garlic, chillies, fish sauce and shrimp paste. Lime juice, lemongrass and coriander are characteristic flavours along with peanut, tamarind juice, ginger and coconut milk.
Hot and sour fish ragout, green and red curries and noodle soups are just some of the countless highlights. Fruit and vegetables are abundant and varied, but if you like spices, Thailand is your kind of place.
What should I buy?
Everything is cheap in Thailand, but textiles are probably the best buy of all. Thai silk is the best in the world and tailor-made clothes are a bargain.
Head for Payer Textile Gallery on Siam Square for fabric and along Th Sukhumvit for the best tailors.
Shoulder bags are attractive and well made, and the jewellery offers those in the know rare bargains. Hill-tribe craftware is available in most markets and you can pick up unique mementos and gifts, but be prepared to bargain.
Ceramics, furniture and nielloware can also be superb.
What is there for children to do?
On the whole Thais love children, so they will never be short of attention. Kids love the Dusit Zoo, the Snake Farm, Elephant Zoo and Safari World.
There is an ice rink on the eighth floor of the World Trade Center which is popular and most shopping centres have free play areas on their top floor.
Tourist office
Tourism Authority of Thailand, 3rd Floor, Brook House, 98-99 Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6EE. Brochure line: 0870 900 2007 (national rate) or for general enquiries: 09063 640 666 (60p a min).
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| | Fact File : Bangkok |
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| | | Bangkok | | Did you know?
The city is sinking at a rate of 90cm per year.
Language
Thai
Visas
No visa required for a visit under 30 days.
Getting there
There are two dozen airlines that will take you to Bangkok from the UK, although not all of them fly non-stop.
Flying time from London
10-12 hours
Getting around
The bus system takes getting used to but is extensive. Traffic often moves at a snail's pace. Tuk-tuks and samlors (motorised and bicycle rickshaws) can be quicker than taxis in traffic. Car and motorcycle hire is common but not for the faint-hearted. Canal boats are fun, and there are good places to walk in Bangkok.
Currency
Baht
Costs
Prices vary, but as a rough guide: 24 exposure film £1.20, five-minute taxi ride 60p, meal for two with wine £16, bottle of lager £1.30-£1.50.
Weather
The cool, dry season extends from November to February, when temperatures average 28C (83F). In the hot rainy months of June to October, temperatures average 32C (88F) during the day. It becomes slightly hotter in March, April and May.
Time difference
Seven hours ahead of GMT
International dialling code from the UK
00 66 2
Voltage
220V. You will require an adaptor for electrical equipment brought from the UK.
Opening hours
Banks open Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm, shops open 8.30am-5pm Monday to Friday, and Saturday mornings.
Health - Before you go
No immunisations are necessary unless you are coming from a country where yellow fever is a risk, although you might want to consider hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, tuberculosis and rabies jabs.
Health - When you are there
Be wary of the water (stick to bottled) and ice. Take the usual precautions in the sun, use an anti-insect cream or spray to fend off mosquitoes - they could carry dengue fever. Protect yourself against sexually transmitted diseases.
Warnings
Only use official taxis (the yellow and black ones). Don't let vendors take your credit card to 'write down the details' - they could rub off more receipts. Beware men selling cut-price gems or offering sweets, biscuits etc (they could be drugged). Ignore touts and don't buy drugs - you could end up in a Thai prison.
Emergency
Tourist Police 699. British Consulate, 1031 Th Withayu. Tel. 02-253 0191/9.
Customs
Thai social behaviour is altogether more genteel and polite than in the West. Skimpy dress, speaking loudly and losing your temper are all definite no-nos. Thai people will be ceaselessly polite, respectful and good humoured to you. Simply reciprocate and you will not cause offence.
Pets
Not advisable - they'd have to go into quarantine.
Tipping
Not usual practice, although it is becoming more common in expensive hotels and restaurants. Leave loose change after a meal if you wish.
Tourist office
Tourism Authority of Thailand, 3rd Floor, Brook House, 98-99 Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 6EE. Brochure line: 0870 900 2007 (national rate) or for general enquiries: 09063 640 666 (60p a min).
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