December 26, 2009 – Day 366 – Bangkok, Thailand

With our one year mark and a new travel mate in hand, we set out to start out Thailand sightseeing right. We hopped on the public ferry and rode the river to the skytrain.

View down the river

We got to see the cliffnotes version of Bangkok’s main attractions from the water: the Royal Palace, the Temple of Dawn, a very large Christian church, some great modern architecture mixed with some traditional Thai architecture, some amazingly huge and beautiful 5-star hotels, and just generally some good stuff. And all for the tune of 18 baht/pp!

Temple of dawn

At the last stop we got off and found the Skytrain, an immaculately clean and pleasantly air conditioned above-ground metro. For 30 baht we went all the way to Moh Chit to check out the Chatuchak Weekend Market.

massive market from above

It’s got everything! Clothing, furniture, household decor like candle holders, decorative trays, chopsticks, shoes, music and DVDs, books, trinkets, jewelry, even a few Chinese wares in the mix. There are also all kinds of food and drink stalls for when you need to refuel from all that shopping.

Quail eggs

Pad thai, fried jumbo shrimp, cups of fresh fruit, fried rice, grilled meat on a stick, ice creams, and more. Even if you don’t feel like buying anything it is still an entertaining place to just walk around.

Fried fish and shrimp

In the market

After a long day of walking and shopping, we made our way back to Khao San for some dinner and a noisy night out with much beer drinking and food cart eating in the streets!