Exploring the Bangkok Temples & Shopping Centres

The name ‘Bangkok’ has in recent years become infamous, especially with the heavy tourist industry and films such as The Hangover Part 2. I would be lying if I said that I knew exactly what to expect from such a city, and truthfully I went in completely clueless and having done minimal research . We were however set on one key attraction that Bangkok has to offer; the many many temples. Some of the most stunning sights in Thailand come from the large and extravagant temples located in its capital city, and they are a must-see for any tourist who visits the country. Here is my post on our visit to the Bangkok temples..

Exploring the Bangkok Temples & Shopping Centres

After our day out exploring the ancient kingdom of Ayutthaya, we opted for a day in the city, exploring the Bangkok temples, and more of the overall cityscape. We decided to begin at the most famous landmark of all; the Grand Palace. This impressive royal household is made up of numerous buildings and temples, including Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, allegedly the most sacred temple in all of Thailand. We caught a short taxi ride from our hotel down to the palace. Knowing that the complex opened at 09:00am, and that the queues were just as legendary as the buildings, we opted to arrive an hour or so before the palace opened its gates. Despite this, we were not even first in the queue, although we were at least nearer the front! Whilst we waited, we saw the guards getting their morning debrief of the day, and then slowly moving towards the security gates. Within twenty minutes of us being there (so half-an-hour before the palace opened) the queues were beginning to build rapidly. Within the next ten minutes, the security slowly began moving people through, checking their handbags and rucksacks as they went by. The temperature was already exceptionally hot, and the humidity was as high as ever. Fortunately, we had stocked up on water and we were very soon ushered into the palace grounds.

When travelling, there are a few things that stick with you. One of these things will always be how earie and mystical the palace was when we first entered. We were practically the only people in there to begin with and all we could hear were the gentle chimes of the temple bells. We could see all the vivid colours popping out at us; purples, golds and greens. The smell of incense filled our nostrils as we continued exploring the sacred grounds. We were greeted by a continual sense of awe as we came across new temples, buildings and statues, and truly felt that we had been transported to a new world, faraway from Bangkok. You immediately could see that this place was fit for a king.

One of the most important, and beautiful, temples was that of the Emerald Buddha. This monument to the Buddha is actually made out of jade, and was originally housed in the northern city of Chiang Mai, which we actually saw later in the trip. The Buddha carving itself was far smaller than I had imagined, but the temple that surrounded him was nothing short of impressive. As we left this temple, the crowds had started to flock in, and we had moved from a peaceful oasis to a tourist nightmare. We decided to depart the grounds, and head towards our next temple just down the road, where we would see the world-famous reclining Buddha.

Wat Pho lies just South of the Grand Palace, and the two are usually toured together due to the convenience. The main temple, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, is world famous, and houses an immaculately beautiful shrine to the Buddha whilst he was ill. This is one of the largest Buddha images in all of Thailand, if not the world, and comes in at an astonishing 46m! When we first entered the temple complex however, we firstly decided to visit Pra Chedi Rai, a series of tiled chedis which look similar to small towers. They are all tiled in white, with different colours such as red and blue popping out. Each chedi houses the ashes of a royal family member, and are considered to be sacred. We decided to walk around these towers, each with their own unique pattern, and again felt totally transported into a world of mystical wonder.

The temple which housed the Reclining Buddha was just as impressive, and was decorated in golden and red tiles, all arranged in a typically Thai pattern. The centrepiece was of course Buddha himself, and he took centre stage in a glowing golden colour. Within this temple, the monument to the Budda was without doubt one of the most impressive things I have ever seen, and if you looked closely you could see all the intricate work that had been done; even his toes had unique patterns on them!

After exploring more of Wat Pho and the numerous temples that filled it, we decided to walk on towards the river. We then caught a boat across for the insane price of 20p each to our next temple, the ever stunning Wat Arun, a pilgrimage site for many instagrammers across the world! The temple of Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, is made up of multiple sections, most notably the giant tower in the centre, all of it carefully lined with ceramic tiles to form a network of patterns. As with any tower, we decided to climb the stairs all the way to the top to get a good view of the city. However, the stairs were exceptionally shallow and steep, meaning that it was very difficult to climb up them, and even trickier to get down. Some people opted for the bum-shuffle technique, whereas I went for the ‘climb slowly for half-an-hour’ method. Annoyingly, the monument was rather crowded, meaning that it was difficult walking along the narrow balconies that surrounded the tower, and also meant that any photos would simply have to wait!

Approaching mid-afternoon, the temperature was becoming almost unbearable. Driven on by the thought of air-conditioning, we decided to take a boat down the river again to one of the most luxurious shopping centres. The Siam Mall is certainly aimed at the upper-end of the retail scale, and so naturally we didn’t buy anything whilst we were there other than the food, which was not actually too expensive. The shops themselves however were all decorated wonderfully, and were packed.

However, as we couldn’t really buy anything with our holiday money, we decided to go to MBK, everybody’s favourite Bangkok shopping centre! MBK was famous in the past for selling counterfeit goods, however in the last few years there has apparently been a massive crackdown on this. Whilst we looked around, we didn’t actually see anything fake! We also tried some bartering, with Jack successfully negotiating a cuddly toy down to more than half-price! It was now late afternoon, and with our hands full of hardly-useful merchandise from MBK, we took the sky train back to our hotel.

That evening, we feasted on pad thai and red thai curry, sipping margheritas whilst watching the sunset. Our time in Bangkok had come to an end and we were getting ready to venture north to the beautiful city of Chiang Mai.

Did you know that I also have a YouTube channel? Here is my latest video, showing you our visit to the Bangkok temples..

My Travel Tips and Recommendations

Flights

My usual go-to for booking flights is Skyscanner, the flight search engine. What I love about Skycanner is that you have various options depending on your situation. If you know where you want to go it’s easy – all you need is to search for your destination and dates, and you are provided with all flight options to choose from. If you haven’t decided on your next trip yet, you can use the Everywhere tool for inspiration and to find the cheapest places to fly to.

Accommodation

Whenever I plan my travels Booking.com is my best friend. The website is super easy to use and provides a whole range of accommodation from fancy resorts to budget hotels. Jack and I also regularly use Airbnb – in particular, for staycations in the UK.

Things I can’t travel without

As a travel blogger and keen photographer I never travel without my trusty technology. Always packed are my

Canon EOS M3
GoPro Hero5 Black
I’m also saving for a DJI Mavic Pro

Travel Insurance

It is so important to be prepared for all possibilities when travelling and you simply shouldn’t travel without insurance. When looking for cover I would personally recommend World Nomads or the Post Office – both are affordable and certainly won’t break the bank.