After we all went on a long-distance trip to the USA for the first time two years ago, this time we went in the opposite direction, namely to Thailand. Thailand has been on our travel wish list for some time, but we haven’t really dared to go to a continent with the children that we haven’t yet set foot on ourselves. But when the consistently positive descriptions were accepted by our circle of friends, it should now be in the summer of 2024.
I booked the flights, every hotel and all the transfers to the accommodation from home because I didn’t want any unpleasant surprises when I got there. Rather untypical for us, but all the more common for Thailand, I only reserved the hotels with breakfast. The cost of food and therefore eating out is much cheaper in Thailand, so the more European prices for food in the hotel would have placed an unnecessary burden on the holiday budget. I book all the accommodation through the hotels themselves and the transfers either through Expedia or GetYourGuide. On site we use the Bolt app for taxis and negotiated a fixed price with the TukTuk drivers. It’s worth comparing prices here – and even then you’ll still pay too much as a tourist…
Since the German railways of course closed the Cologne – Frankfurt route due to construction work during the summer holidays, we drove to the airport and parked directly at the terminal thanks to the reserved parking space. This turned out to be really relaxing due to the pleasant flight time of 2:45 p.m. The rest of the journey, including the transfer from the airport to our hotel in Bangkok Sathorn, also went smoothly, so that we were already at the hotel at 9:00 a.m. due to the time difference of plus five hours and despite rush hour traffic in the metropolis. Unexpectedly, our two rooms on the 29th floor with a magnificent view were already free, we were able to store our belongings and take a short power nap. This was very welcome since at least the eldest and I didn’t close our eyes on the plane at all.
After this short break, we really wanted to get into the hustle and bustle of the metropolis. One of my top destinations in the city was the large palace and the surrounding temples. Unfortunately, because of the upcoming royal birthday, it wasn’t possible to buy tickets for our stay online, but I was told months ago when I asked about tickets that they would always be available on site. So we set off on foot to the next pier in what felt like 36 degrees and high humidity coupled with jet lag. On the way we got drinks and a few snacks at the first 7eleven supermarket we found, took the ferry from there at the pier, only to find out that the palace was unfortunately closed after all. But we were told that we would be lucky the next morning.
Shopping Mall ICON SIAM
Visibly disappointed and increasingly hungry, we took the ferry again and this time, on the recommendation of a friend, we got off at IconSiam, the city’s gigantic shopping center. All the luxury brands in the world are represented in one of the buildings, while in another you can also find all the well-known clothing brands from Europe. But the highlight was the basement, the so-called SookSiam: In a mixture of floating and street market, you can find local food at the usual street prices. It was really full and we were a bit overwhelmed by the selection of dishes that were completely unknown to us, but we still felt completely comfortable and on vacation. Slowly really knocked out This time we went back to the hotel in one of the legendary TukTuks. At the children’s request, we had a quick bite to eat in the pool bar and then fell into bed, completely tired.
SookSiam (Lower Level of the Shopping Mall ICONSIAM)
Thanks to the jet lag, our sleep schedule was still messed up and even I was awake before all the children this time. Since we definitely wanted to visit the palace the second time, we drove to our destination after breakfast, this time directly by taxi. A little later we were the proud owners of an entry ticket and immersed ourselves in the culture of Thailand with several other visitors. In addition to the area around the large palace, we also marveled at the temples Wat Pho (with the reclining Buddha) and Wat Arum. The latter can be easily reached by ferry.
The Great Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun
Since we were told that Chinatown was a must-see, we looked for a tuktuk and had it take us directly to Yaowarat Street. What can I say? In my layman’s opinion, it looked very authentic here, but it was incredibly crowded and even when I later looked at the photos taken there, I could still smell the smell in my nose… this spoiled our girls’ mood in particular, so we got a taxi relatively quickly took to the hotel. The smells were quickly washed away with a long splash in the pool.
In the late afternoon we went to Iconsiam again, where this time we had dinner in a restaurant on the sixth floor instead of at the food market in the basement. We then admired the impressive 15-minute illuminated water show on the terrace, which can be seen free of charge three times on the hour every day from 7 p.m. Afterwards we quickly went back to the hotel and went to bed, as our onward journey was scheduled to begin at 3:00 a.m. the next morning.
If you would like to know how we enjoyed our stay on Koh Phangan, Koh Samui and Khao Lak, you are cordially invited to read our travel reports!
With that in mind – ลาก่อน
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