Travel time - 2009/10/20-26
Written by Jerry Peng

During our last few days in Bangkok, we took a boat trip up the Chao Phraya River where you can relax and enjoy the wind and see many interesting things such as the floating market where these shops in boats ply their trade along the river, in a practice that was once essential but is now mostly a tourist attraction. We started at the top of the river and worked our way down, we also made a few stops on our way to visit some famous Thai temples, such as Wat Po, the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew and the Emerald Buddha. I was amazed by these magnificent temples; by the historical interior and exterior design, not to mention the spectacular and enormous Buddha statues with so many historical stories behind them. For transportation, these temples are all walkable and nearby each other from Piers No. 8 and 9. It was probably my most relaxing time in Bangkok! The wind softy blowing in your face with the nice warm weather, and you sitting on a boat with your eyes closed…wow; I already want to do it again. If you are not really a city person, it’s just so nice to escape the noise and the traffic for while and enjoy the wind and do nothing.

Overall, I think Bangkok is definitely a great city to visit with a lot of culture and interesting things to see and do, but there weren’t always good memories...I guess it turned out I just cannot enjoy the Thai food as much as my girlfriend did…well…I never enjoy Thai food that much in Taiwan, but still I had to give it a go since I was there, right? Well…it turned out to be painful for me. I guess my stomach is just not cut out for spicy and sour food. My girlfriend and I went to a local Thai restaurant, it was meant to be a great time… but a dish called “Tom Yam Kung” gave me the worst upset stomach I’ve ever known and just as I was getting better and because we hadn’t eaten that much Thai food on this trip, my girlfriend “forced” me to give it one more try at a different restaurant …but I knew something was wrong with my stomach with the first sip of the Tom Yam…my goodness…another 3 days of upset stomach I guess I will be not be eating Thai food for a long time to come…

Travel information
http://www.tourismthailand.org/
www.backpackers.com.tw (Chinese)
http://www.thailand.net.au/index.php
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=51
http://www.travelforum.org/thailand-siam/main.html

Budget airline website
www.airaisa.com
http://www.jetstar.com

Accommodation website
www.asiaroom.com
www.agoda.com

others
http://www.superrich1965.com (local large Money exchange company)

Read  Explore More in Bangkok 1/2

As with many of today's iconic buildings, the tower started off by causing a, perhaps understandable, degree of controversy. After all, this iron tower was to dominate a skyline of a city filled with some of the world's finest stone architecture.  Standing at 300 meters (1000 feet) tall, construction of the tower began in 1887 and almost immediately the voices of some 47 self appointed defenders of the city's cultural standards began to make themsleves heard. These artists, writers, poets, sculptors and other notable denizens provided some colorful insults to the structure.  Paul Verlained suggested that it would be a "belfry skeleton", Leon Bloy called it a "a truly tragic street lamp", Francos Coppée described it as a "mast of iron gymnasium apparatus, incomplete, confused and deformed", and Joris-Karl Huysmans, in a truly imaginative piece called it "a half-built factory pipe, a carcass waiting to be fleshed out with freestone or brick, a funnel-shaped grill, a hole-riddled suppository".

But despite the protests the building went ahead and it was completed in time for the 1889 World's fair, celebrating 100 years since the French Revolution.

Throughout its history it has been the site of some spectacular, if not always successful stunts:

• On the 4th February 1912, Franz Reichelt ended his life by jumping 60meters from the first deck with a home-made parachute.
• In 1925, Victor Lustig , a notable conman, took advantage of the towers poor state of repair and managed to convince buyers that the government no longer wanted to maintain it and that it was to be sold for scrap.
• Between 1925 and 1934 French car maker, Citroën paid to for an illuminated advertisement on 3 of the towers sides.
• On the 31st March 1984 Robert J. Moriarty flew a Beechcraft Bonanza between the pillars of the tower, for no other reason than “just for fun”.
• An early bungee jump was demonstrated by A J Hackett (inventor of the sport) in 1987 when he threw himself off the tower. Unlike Franz Reichelt, Hackett survived and was promptly arrested.

To read about how Mio, a senior sponsor of Expo 2010, are sponsoring the site and to get a FREE online and mobile travel e-book visit www.mio.com/expo2010 and m.mio.com/expo2010

Khao San Road
"Am I really in Bangkok?" This was my first impression during my second trip to Thailand. (The first time was when I was 10, so it doesn't really count) Bangkok, especially Khao San Road, is full of Western backpackers.  If you are thinking of backpacking with friends or by yourself in Bangkok, Khao San road is definitely your first choice. It has a variety of accommodation, food and bar choices, guest houses, hostels, hotels and all with low prices from 100 to 500 baht per night depending on how many people you are traveling with. Khao San road also provides a great variety of food: Western, Thai, Chinese, pubs, restaurants or street food; you can get it all in Khao San, my personal favorite is a traditional fried noodle, "Pai Thai".  

After few nights staying in Khao San Rd, my girlfriend and I decided to move to a more central location, where it's easier to get transport around the city and other parts of the country. There are many transport opinions available: taxi, bus, train, tuk-tuk, motorcycle taxi, MRT (underground), BTS Skytrain and boats depending on where you want to go. MRT (underground) and BTS will be your best friends if you are going to hang around in Bangkok city and because these two don't cover a wide area, it will be inconvenient if you stay in places such as Khao San road. For example, if you going further into the city from Khao San Rd a taxi is going to be your only choice and it takes approximately 15-20 minutes and cost around 100 baht. Here's a hint - always ask the driver to charge by the meter to avoid unnecessary arguments. The tuk-tuk is a very special transportation in Thailand, it doesn't come with a standard rate and some tourists consider the fun part is where to you bargain with the tuk-tuk driver, but again, always make sure you have the price confirmed before you go. Since we spent a lot of time shopping around the city (thanks to my girlfriend), the sky train was the most convenient tool for us. A taxi is not a bad choice too, but it really depends on the traffic, it's cheap and fast in the off-peak hours but beware that the driver may take you the long way round, which is almost unavoidable. One time we were going from the Chutukchu weekend market back to our guest house, we decided to take a cab since we were carrying a lot of stuff, the driver took us on a long detour as I was looking at the map and wondering at the same time that how come we were heading in the opposite direction?! I asked the driver and he was like "oh, no English!! I NO ENGLISH". Well… what can we do about it, I guess this is considered as part of the tourism package.

Since my girlfriend and I are both from Taiwan, which is renowned for its fantastic food, especially in its night markets, we couldn't we miss the local night markets and shopping markets in Bangkok.  So we went to visit the biggest local shopping market "Chatuchak weekend market" where you can get all kinds of stuff, clothing, accessories, antiques, handicraft, pets and more at prices beyond your imagination. But just a little info for you, Chatuchak is only open at weekends from 9 to 6, and you might want to be there as early as you can, because the place gets packed. And maybe you want to plan for a foot massage afterwards, because the place is HUGE!!! Be prepared!!

Since I am a techie, a trip to Pantip plaza was already on my must go list before this trip. Pantip plaza is one of the largest IT mall's with 6 floors in Bangkok; you can get all kinds of electronic stuff, computers, camera, GPS and more. Surprisingly in the mall I ran into a Mio GPS Shop which I have never seem in Taiwan, so I took a tour inside the shop and asked the store staff for some product information.