Tourist Boat Ride, China Market, and Flower Market in Bangkok||10-Day Vacation in Thailand (Day-9 and 10)
On Day 2 in Bangkok, we had the entire day to ourselves. However, our flight to India was a few of hours after midnight. So we had to figure out stuff like when we will check out, how will we travel to the airport etc. This was going to be a little challenging as this was New Year's Eve and we had heard that the buses stop plying earlier than usual. We were also worried that it would be difficult to find a taxi as we had no idea what Bangkok would be like on New Year's Eve. Guessing by how it was on regular evenings, we were quite sure it was going to be crazy.
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We checked out of our hotel and kept the luggage in their cloak room, and then headed out. We had heard a lot about the China Market, and one way to get there was on a boat.
We walked down to Phra Arthit pier and bought two tickets for 15 Baht each and got into the queue. Soon we realized that this queue is not really moving, and we had only one more day to explore Bangkok, so we did not want to waste any time.
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We realized that if we opted for a Tourist Boat (blue flag), we would only need to pay 25 Baht more for each ticket and we could be out of the pier in 10 minutes. So we upgraded our tickets and very soon found ourselves seated on a very comfortable tourist boat.
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Within 25 minutes, we were at the pier close to China Town. We walked rest of the way to the market. Chinatown was like Chinatown everywhere. In fact, if you ask us, we would say that if you are short on time, you can give this place a miss. It is just shop after shop of goods made in China. Unless you are looking for anything in particular, you will not be able to use your time too productively in this market. On the top of that, the market is crowded. On the whole, nothing unique about it. If possible, spend more time at Chatuchak instead of this place.
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From here we started our longish walk to the Pak Khlong flower market. The distance was about 2 km and it took us about half an hour to get there. The flower market was indeed beautiful. Along with lotus baskets for prayers, the market also sold some really pretty local flowers. Apart from this, you could also find local vegetables and local spices here. This made for a good walk and the place is quite big. You can easily spend an hour or so here.
This place was quite close to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Chetuphon (also known as Wat Pho). We were not sure about the Grand Palace but were quite sure that we wanted to visit Wat Pho. It was the home of the reclining Buddha we had heard so much about. It was just 650m from the flower market to Wat Pho. We covered the distance in 15 minutes. The entrance ticket to Wat Pho is 100 baht each, which we found to be completely worth it for the beautiful temple.
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Wat Pho is one of the oldest temples of Bangkok and existed even before the capital of Thailand was moved to Bangkok by Kind Rama I. During the reign of King Rama I in the 18th century, the temple was extensively renovated. The temple is also special because this is one of the places where some of King Rama I's ashes are enshrined. The temple also boasts of the largest collection of images of Buddha. The biggest of these is a 46m long reclining Buddha statue, for which Wat Pho is very famous.
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We spent close to 2 hours exploring this temple. And just when we were about to leave, we were ushered into a queue, that led to what seemed like a pop-up restaurant. We were hungry so we thought we would check it out. If the place turned out to be too expensive, we would leave. However, as we inched closer, we realized that this was not a restaurant. It was more like a "langar" except that you would take your food and eat it on tables and chairs. The food turned out to be quite tasty though spicy. For drinks, they were serving iced green tea and iced Thai tea. It was quite an amazing experience.
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We were rather happy with our visit to Wat Pho, and could also sense the New Year spirit warming up around us. So we decided to head to Sukhumvit now. That was where all the action was going to be. On the previous day, we had spied several buildings that looked a lot like Malls around that area. We headed there. Sure enough, things had started to heat up. It was already evening and many of the in-roads were now being blocked for traffic. We managed to get in right in time.
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Very soon, lights started coming up all around us and music became louder and louder. Stages that were so far invisible were now becoming happening with comperes and musicians. The crowd was becoming wilder and wilder. At this point, we realized that we had made a mistake. We should have booked one more night in Thailand. We did not feel like leaving now. But if we wanted to catch our flight, we would need to do start now.
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As the night progressed, we knew the buses would stop and taxis would be few and more expensive. So we headed out of the cordoned off zone and managed to catch a bus back to Khao san Road. After collecting our luggage, we headed to the bus stand. We had found out that the last bus for the airport was expected in 15 minutes. We did not want to miss that as that would mean spending a lot of money on Taxi. That is, if we are able to find one.
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We managed to catch the bus though and were soon on our way to the airport. En route, we could see all the tall buildings of Sukhumvit road lighted up beautifully. We knew we were missing out on an incredible night, but we had no option. Very soon we would be on the airport and spend the new year's eve there. Our flight would only leave at 5 am and we had a lot of time on our hands.
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The airport was crowded. I guess a lot of people had made the same mistake as us and were travelling out on New Years. We had thought that we would explore the airport a little, but upon reaching the airport, we realized two things - one, we were really tired and, two, there wasn't much to explore at Bangkok airport.
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Our learning from this was that if you are planning to be around Bangkok close to New Year's Eve, plan to spend the night in the city. It promised to be a lot of fun. We really regretted this part of our trip. This, probably, was the only aspect of it that we would change if we could turn back time.
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