I only had one week in Bangkok, and because of jet lag and exhaustion from a busy teaching orientation schedule, I only had three nights out to explore the city.
Night one was a trip to the famous Khao San Road, known as ‘the center of the backpacking universe’. This long street is lined with hostels, bars, food stands, and everything else a tourist could possibly want. Vendors fill the street selling scorpions on a stick and balloons filled with laughing gas while crowded night clubs blast top 40 hits in every direction. It was quite the party. (And yes, I did eat a scorpion. It tasted like burnt teriyaki chicken, and it was very chewy. I did not like it at all, but unfortunately I didn’t get a good picture of me eating the scorpion, so I will probably make myself do it again.)
Night two was a trip to Chang Chui night market, an artsy market known especially for the decommissioned airplane sitting at the center. This hipster market has vintage boutiques, art galleries, black lights, sculptures, and lots of food!
Night three was a trip to Asiatique open-air mall. Asiatique really wasn’t very interesting. It was very touristy and commercialized, so I didn’t bother photographing it. The best part of the night was traveling to the mall via river taxi during sunset. The entire 45 minute trip cost 15 baht (less than 50 cents USD!!) and it was beautiful (it wasn’t worth risking dropping my phone in the river to take photos though, so I just soaked it all in).
😀