Bangkok by Night

31 January, 2014

We just about made it in one piece from the flight from Phnom Penh to Bangkok. The journey was fine, but Alison had come down with stomach flu minutes before we took off. She just about got through the flight, but collapsed in a heap on the sky train platform after an emergency exit at Makkasan. She was in agony and sick - our first taste of Thai hospitality was the grace and sympathy with which the staff there gave her, even helping her with a wheel chair to the taxi stand (the cleaners may not have been so graceful after we left!)

The city of Bangkok is currently in a State of Emergency due to the 'shut down Bangkok' protests ahead of the weekends national elections. We had kept a close eye on travel advisory warnings, and the consensus was if you keep away from protest sites, you should be safe. It certainly hasn't deterred too many visitors to the capital, and we had to abandon our taxi ten minutes away from our hotel due to a traffic standstill. I don't think Alison has ever been more relieved to reach the sanctuary of a hotel room in her life.

As I set off in search of medical supplies down Shilom Road, I realised we were only 500 metres from a protest site , and despite the warnings, i couldnt help but have a quick look. It seemed more of a dance party than a democratic stand off, but with a few shootings and small explosives being detonated in the past few weeks, I presume that carnival is for day time only.

Shilom Road is a busy street of market traders and shops, and dodging the moto riders whilst bobbing along with the masses is a unique Thai experience. There's a modern mall opposite Saladaeng sky train station called Shilom Complex with a branch of Boots where I picked up some antibiotics and some gratefully received medical advice. With Alison bed ridden, and with yoghurt and hydration drinks, I set off on my lonesome for an evening tour of the city.

It's quite a daunting place to explore due to its size. There is an excellent public transport system consisting of a metro, sky train and river boats, but it takes a little time to work it all out. With a little bit of luck and guesswork I eventually arrived in Chinatown after a 30 minute walk from Hua Lampong metro station (20 baht).It's the second day of Chinese New Year, and the usual hustle and bustle was nowhere to be seen. In fact it was spookily quiet, virtually pitch black, and almost deserted. The only life was at the Chinese temples and it turned out to be a good time to catch them, all dressed up in their new year decorations. Nobody seems to mind if you have a good look around. 

I carried on by foot to Rachawongse boat pier, another kilometre north. there are no easy signs to help you understand which boats to catch so its worth reading up before hand, especially if like me your first experience is at night. They have a coloured flag system indicating which service they are, but I didn't find it easy at night to notice any flag on the boat. I jumped on the first one that stopped, which was a Tourist ferry. I decided to head up stream towards the old town, jumping off the boat at the Tha Tien pier, next to the Grand Palace (18 baht). I actually didn't have a stop in mind, but I was dazzled by the illuminated palace, even though I knew it closed at 5.30pm. The boat trip is fun in itself with plenty to see on both sides of the river.

I was hoping though to be able to photograph the Palace at night, but the thirty feet high perimeter wall put paid to that. I then tried to do the same at Wat Pho, its equally bejewelled and dazzling neighbour to the south, but with the same result. Thankfully you can get a great night shot of the 80 metre tall Wat Arun from Tha Chang pier, one of the famous Bangkok landmarks, so I left partially happy if a little leg weary.

To complete the round trip to Shilom Road, I caught the ferry back as far as Taksin bridge (40 baht), and then switched to the sky train to Saladaeng (28 baht.) The protest was being beamed live on giant screens along the street, and it certainly looked a little more heavy weight now, so I didn't hang around too long before heading back to the hotel!