Thailand 2025: Bangkok

 It's more than 30 years since we last visited Bangkok and much has changed.  The skyline is now crowded with sky scrapers and there's a new Skytrain and also a Metro tube train service.

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We stayed at Movenpick Bangkok for 2 nights and as soon as we had dropped our bags off we headed out to Soi Cowboy area, a red light district, populated with plenty of bars and restaurants and an easy walk from our hotel.

On the way back, We ate at Chowpatti, an Indian restaurant chain with authentic dishes, beer and a happy hour, what more could we ask for!  We shared poppadoms; Steve had tandoori chicken, a tray of assorted  dishes and dips, consisting of chicken tikka masala, black bean curry,  yellow lentil curry, naan bread, rice, gulaab dessert and for veggie me the same but  replacing the chicken with paneer green curry washed down with Tiger beer.

The following day we took the tuktuk to the skytrain and bought return tickets for the river terminal where we bought hop on hop off tourist boat tickets for about 4 pounds each.  You can use the tickets all day to jump off at tourist landmarks.

We took the boat to the end of the route (13 stops) and then went back, jumping off to explore the flower market, a vast area full of wholesale flowers, brought in by boat, packed on ice in warehouses and distributed to shops, hotels and temples all over Bangkok.  Many stalls in the market were busy making the flowers into intricate displays for temples.  The scent of roses (30 UK pence a bag) filled the air.  There were red roses as far as the eye could see, marigolds, chrysanthemums, leaves woven into beautiful displays with white buds and flowers I had never seen before!

Yaowarat Road is where China Town begins.

Then we went back on the boat and jumped off at China Town.  China Town is a huge,  sprawling area that runs into many streets and alleyways, a never ending street market full of food vendors, all kinds of little wheeled stalls selling clothing, household goods. Mopeds loaded with small trolleys that stop and cook noodles or stir fry, and many people offering massage in chairs on the street, every available space on pavements is utilised..

We had a cold lemon soda in a cafe and headed back by boat and train then tuk tuk, in total walking 8 miles that day.

We ate just round the corner from our hotel at Chowpatti again.  It was just too good to pass by!  This time we had the same as before with smashed samosa starter to share.

The following day we flew to Chiang Mai....