Welcome to Bangkok
Bangkok is impossible to typecast. Exciting, fun and mesmerizing, this singular city is magic and as you’ll soon find out, traveling through it is not a passive activity.
A disorientating amalgam of the old and the new, you’ll see worn and torn buildings vie for space with gleaming skyscrapers, dazzling temples and palaces; posh luxury hotels, trendy restaurants and bars neighbor scrappy food stalls, and vast rustic markets compete with town-sized, modern shopping malls for the same shopper. One moment you’ll be walking past hoards of suited businessmen and the next you’ll pass monks in saffron robes. Motorcycles, cars, tuk tuks (the city's famed motorized rickshaws) and even elephants travel together, in some kind of controlled chaos, past exceedingly friendly locals, lady boys and backpackers.
All of this takes place amid a lush, urban jungle that sprouts from every available corner and crevice. With the Chao Phraya river meandering through the city and a series of canals (called ‘khlong’) crisscrossing it, Bangkok - and its people - have a profound connection with the water. Though many of the canals have been paved over by progress, much of the city can be traversed via taxi boats. Floating from bank to bank, especially at night, when the city glitters in neon lights, you’ll understand why the Thai call Bangkok, ‘Home of the Gods Incarnate’.
Most popular