Overview to Bangkok: Travel Guide and Tourist Information

  The Bangkok Metropolis

A traveler's first impressions of Bangkok may not be all that positive. A seething mass of concrete with high-rises piercing the city’s dense layer of smog, this image is nonetheless quickly dispelled as the fabulousness of the city opens up before your eyes.

Bangkok is one of the world’s truly great backpacking destinations. In the Banglamphu district, the infamous Khao San Road was aptly described by Alex Garland in his novel ‘The Beach’ as the “decompression chamber” for travelers in Southeast Asia.

Walking through the streets can be a faintly surreal experience. The city is an endless stream of t-shirt stalls, street vendors selling noodles, flashing lights… it’s not unusual to see elephants wandering the capital's streets, in fact, and squeezing down narrow alleyways!

Bangkok doesn’t really have a coherent center, but is instead broken up into different zones. Perhaps the most beautiful of these is the Ratanakosin, which is home to the Grand Palace, Temple of the Dawn and the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

Another of the city’s most strikingly atmospheric areas can be found on the ‘khlongs’ (canals) of Thonburi. Here, the amazing floating markets of Wat Sai and Taling Chan can be explored by boat, before moving on to Wat Arun and the Royal Barge Museum.

Chinatown (to the southwest of the Grand Palace in Sampeng) is one of Bangkok’s most sensual quarters. Crowded, noisy alleyways heavy with the evocative smell of incense and spices ring to the clamor of vendors selling all manner of oriental goods and fabrics.

Bangkok is a curious mixture of the new and the ancient and of Thai and Western cultures. Its streets are full of impressively decaying buildings, grand palaces and breathtaking temples. Most of all, though, it’s a strange and beautiful place that throngs with chaotic life.

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