Bangkok Sightseeing

Bangkok sometimes has “car free days”. Although, you probably won’t notice these days when you’re in Bangkok, because they’re not really car free. The streets are still full of cars, you still can spend hours in traffic jams.

However, it is a nice symbolic gesture, and it helps to spread awareness for the fact that there just are too many cars for too little streets in Bangkok right now. And it’s a sign that Bangkok could be a way lovelier city if there were less cars.

(It’s kind of ironic though that the Thai government has just announced that first-time car buyers will get a tax break when they buy a new car, which will lead to lots of new cars on the streets…)

The next Bangkok Car Free day is on September 18, 2011. People get on bicycles and tour through different parts of the city together. It’s a great alternative way of Bangkok sightseeing, while at the same time making a social statement.

Here’s the schedule for September 18:

0600 – 0630: Registration and distribution of t-shirts/gifts/breakfast
for participants at 9 locations around Bangkok; caravans of bicycles
start off toward the Royal Plaza.
 0800 : Main group gathering at Royal Plaza; singing of the National
Anthem together with participants from 76 provinces nationwide; start
riding toward Sanam Luang.
 0830 – 0900: Formal opening ceremony at Sanam Luang.
0900 – 0930: Group ride on Thammasat University Campus
1200: Lunch / Exhibitions / Shops with bicycle-related products /
“Non-Motor Shows”
1400 – 1500: Panel discussion on cycling issues at Thammasat
University Conference Hall
1700: Closing

There are different gathering points:

• Royal Plaza (King Rama V Statue/Suan Amphorn)
• Sukhumvit area: Benjasiri Park next to Emporium Mall
• Phetkasem area: The Mall Bangkhae
• Ladprao area: Rajamangala Stadium (Huamark)
• Rama 2 area: Thonburirom Park
• Phaholyothin area: Pratu Krungthep Market
• Phuttamonthon area: Uttayarn Road
• TOT Chaeng Watthana Road Laksi
• Ramintra-At Narong Rd. World Bike

For more details & registration you can visit this website.

Also, if you register in advance you can get an official Bangkok Car Free day shirt.

It’s probably no surprise that the Bangkok Sightseeing team is in love with this city. But if there is one problem, it’s that the streets are always stuck full with cars, blasting fumes in the air. So we’ll be out there too, and if you’re there, we’d be glad to invite you for a nice, refreshing fruit shake!

There probably isn’t a single travel website as great as TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor is one of the largest travel websites from independent travelers, and while there are many things that are NOT good about it (like the cluttered design and the constantly pushing hotel bookings in your face), it’s the valuable information that you can find there that makes it so great.

Now TripAdvisor has created a list of the world’s 50 best cities in term’s of best value for UK and US travelers – and in both lists, Bangkok gets the number 1 spot. It’s true – there probably isn’t a single city in the world where you get such great value for so little money. One reason is simply that there is a huge surplus of upscale hotel rooms in the city, which keeps prices low. Another reason is that the food in Bangkok is simply superb.

You can learn more about the TripAdvisor TripIndex here.

And if you want to go on a Bangkok sightseeing trip, you’re already in the right place 😉

It’s the start of the annual Buddhist retreat (also known as Buddhist lent), and monks everywhere in Thailand get candles and flowers. In the past couple of days, in many places you could have seen people donating some money and getting a small piece of orange candle wax. They then walked to a giant wok with sizzling hot oil in it and put the candle wax inside with a kind of giant spoon till the wax melted. Then they took the liquid candle wax out and poured it into a form for a giant candle. Why so giant? Because they are meant to last for the three month retreat. This is a special way of making merit, because the candle is associated with light, and light is wisdom, or when we’re talking about Buddhism: enlightenment 🙂

The flower given takes place in some temples, and it’s a ceremony that is called tak bat dok mai.

This ceremony is especially big at the Wat Phra Phutthabat Ratchaworamaha Wihan temple, about one hour north of Bangkok. In Bangkok the tak bat dok mai ceremony takes place at Wat Thepsirin, Wat Ratchapradit, Wat Bowon Nivet, Wat Ratchabophit and Wat Phraram IX Kanchanaphisek.

In the following three months, monks are not allowed to sleep outside of a temple and will practice meditation and study the Dharma more intensely. This goes back to an old story about the Buddha – it is said that he retreated for the rainy season to meditate, in order not to harm animals or growing seeds.

In case you are wondering what a bicycle shop-bistro is… it’s of course a bicycle shop that also functions as a bistro. So if you want to grab a bite and  bike, you can do that here.

Photocredit: Pedalicious

Now, honestly – on a Bangkok sightseeing trip you probably won’t buy a new bicycle (and unless for some reason your Shimano Dura-Ace broke down somehwere, anything else in this shop). But if you are passionate about biking, you might like to visit this bike shop anyway and enjoy some nice food with other fellow cyclists – it’s just a nice opportunity to hang out with other like-minded people, make new friends and maybe get some ideas. There are plenty of opportuntities to rent a bicycle in Thailand and go on tours, from small half-day city-cycling tours to adventurous off-road tours.

Pedalicious is located near Vanilla Garden.

Go to 38 Ekkamai, Soi 12, and if you have trouble finding them just call them at 02 713 3377.

Opening hours:

Of course, you can also check out their  Facebook page. They often have some events coming up, and you get to learn more about their cocktails and menus.

If you are a movie fan and visit Bangkok, you might want to see something other than the same kind of movies that you can see in your home-country. Right now, an interesting independent movie from Southern Thailand is screening in Bangkok.

It’s a documentary about a training camp for kids who want to learn Muay Thai boxing by Chira Wichaisuthikul.

The second part of the clip is a trailer for Breakfast Lunch Dinner, another indi-movie from Thailand that is currently screening in Bangkok. This movie fits in nicely with a Bangkok sightseeing tour, as it is shot in Bangkok too, and you might get to see Bangkok through a “non-tourist lens” this way.

To see the movie, go the the Central World shopping center and visit SF World Cinema. If you need more information just contact us. The film is screening in Bangkok until July 20.

Bangkok has recently been voted “Best City of the World” for the second year in a row by the TRAVEL+LEISURE magazine. One of the reasons why Bangkok is such a great place is the abundance of great food.

And in Bangkok, some of the best foods is not what you find in restaurants, but it’s the street food. Small vendors who sell from their food stalls for about $1 a meal.

Pretty much everywhere you can find great street food in Bangkok – although not every street food stall is great. It’s great, because when you are on a Bangkok sightseeing tour, you can always grab a bite here and there.

Chinatown is no doubt one of the most popular places for street food, particularly in the evening hours when it all turns into a huge food bazaar. Some vendors here have been selling their meals for decades already and are established institutions in the neighbourhood – others come and go. Sometimes street food stalls make it into a popular travel guidebook series and get such an influx of tourists that they get an offer they can’t refuse, sell their stall to someone else who then will milk the publicity for what it’s worth, raise the prices and serve mediocre food. So it’s good if you explore Bangkok’s street food with a local who can show you where it’s delicious and where not.

In general it’s good advice to look where the locals go to eat and eat there too. The more people the better. But even that advice is not always true. For example, around the Silom area you will see lots of food stalls where locals are waiting in line for a bowl of soup. GREAT FIND, right?

Well, no, not necessarily. Around Silom, for some reason there are hardly any good vendors – most serve dull dishes. But since there are so many office buildings around there, people gotta eat somewhere – and so they do. I have no idea why that’s the case – maybe they have to pay so much money to the land owners there that they can’t afford to use quality ingredients and make good food.

Many people are worried about hygiene when it comes to street food – but oftentimes, the food here is a lot cleaner than the food that you get in restaurants in the USA or Europe, where you can’t see what’s happening in the kitchen. Food stalls are pretty much “out in the open”, and while there are exceptions (like the old lady selling noodles near Bayoke sky tower who washes her vegetables in the Khlong Saen Saeb* canal), the food is usually very clean and hygienic.

But particularly in residential areas where normally tourists don’t go you can often find some of the best eats – this is where normal Thai people live, and they care a lot about eating. The vendors here often live in the same neighbourhood, and friends and family come to eat at their stalls too.

*scientists are arguing whether it’s actually water that is flowing in this canal, or whether the grey-blackish liquid substance has already been transformed into something else through some chemical reaction caused by industrial waste, garbage and sewage that’s thrown into this canal.

Khlong Lord market  is not as gigantic as the Chatuchak market, not as beautiful as the flower market, not as hip as the Ratchada night market – but it has it’s own kind of charm, and if you are looking for something with a weird character during your Bangkok sightseeing trip, this might be interesting.

What’s being sold here is… well, “unique”. It’s actually a kind of curiosity flea market. Old toys? Vintage movie poster? Second-hand clothes? Old DVDs… or video tapes? Lucky charms and amulets?  Hard-to-find out-of-print books? You can find it here. Of course, it takes looking and searching, a keen eye and a bit of luck – otherwise, you’ll just walk around here and think: “This is just people selling garbage.”

But the market has been around for decades already – and it is kind of it’s own little microcosmos. Lots of people here know each other, and Bang, the man who oversees it all, takes care of his people. He’s an elderly man white bushy white eyebrows, who is kind of a middle-man between the vendors and the government.

There are many markets in Bangkok – lots of them are of the same kind, mainly vendors selling clothing, fashion items, Korean and Thai DVDs to young Thais, and some markets with a more niche market character. Despite the shopping malls, visiting these markets can often make for an interesting and authentic experience, where you realize: “I’m in Thailand”, rather than “I’m in a glitzy shopping mall that looks just like a shopping mall in Dubai, Hongkong or New York.” Many markets here become active in the evening and go into the nighttime – also because of the hot weather.

If you go to a market – just talk to people, smile, be nice, take your time – it can be a fun way to discover something new and interesting.

Pinocchio in Bangkok - Photocredit Boaz Zippor

Here’s a press release on a theatre play about the Thai Adventures of Pinocchio:

All Soul proudly presents “The Creation of Pinocchio” directed by the Italian Master Maurizio Mistretta. “The Creation” is the first episode of the Pinocchio series and an experimental approach on Pinocchio investigating the birth of this independent marionette. The dynamics and the actions of our play start off from the most controversial points  within the works of Carlo Collodi which contribute so much to elevate it as original and inimitable work.

The wonderful cast is comprises Patchanee Poonthong as Pinocchio, Ellie Marleen as the Fairy, the Talking Cricket and the Chicken, Robin Schroeter as Master Ciliega, the Fox and the Old Man, Chris Wegoda as Master Gepetto and the Cat and finally Maurizio Mistretta as the Fire Eater or the Master of Puppets.

Pinocchio is a marionette without threads, an antique robot able to talk, cry and think. How can it be possible? He was discovered as a piece of wood by one male carpenter, Master Cherry and subsequently created by another male carpenter, Master Gepetto. Is this normal?

Master Cherry and Master Geppetto are typical for a couple of countryside friends in Tuscany. They are loyal, quarrelsome and easy to slap each other. They live precariously and, maybe for this, they are absolutely ingenious to no be surprised about anything and to accept the very absurdity of their destiny.

Pinocchio is a NEW FIASCO for their poor existence. Master Cherry as a nouvel Ponzio Pilato washes his own hands clean. It is his way! And then Geppetto puts in this all his energy.

The marionette Pinocchio is a permanently defective product. He doesn’t respond correctly to  commands, or using different words to convince him to stay on the right path, no he follows his own way. In fact what can we expect from a marionette without threads?

Pinocchio “modus operandi” is to discover, without mediation of what is going on around him. Often Pinocchio is considered to be an anarchist and naughty.  This is an opinion. But it is not necessarily the correct one. Maybe Pinocchio simply is a champion of optimism, despite his humble origin.

Our marionette discovers unexplored worlds. He describes the past and present world with his total ingenue delicacy. He dreams at the future with superhuman power.

Pinocchio is really stupid, but his stupidity is natural and different from the common one.

His stupidity is a genuine desire for Universal Justice starting from his own issues, but not limited to that. Pinocchio is not alone, he carries the whole world inside of him.

Performances Saturday 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th of July.

Wine Dinner Start 7.00 PM, Show Start 9.00 PM, At ALL SOUL Chamber Theatre, Show only: 400 Baht (250 for Students), Wine Dinner: 990 Baht = Wine Dinner + Show = 1340 Baht

For Reservations visit www.All-Soul.Org , Call: 0876974806, or Email to: info@all-soul.org

Background Information

Maurizio Mistretta has been in Thailand since 2001 and carried out a multitude of activities at different correctional institutions. One of them being the production of “Pinocchio in Siam” in collaboration with the Juvenile and Family Court, Unicef and the Asian Southeast Delegation of the European Community. In 2004-2005 Mistretta developed his first trilogy on Pinocchio at the public elementary school Sooruamnamjay in Klong Toey, Bangkok, for a project promoted by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.