A Night Walk in Bangkok

Our visit in Bangkok last November 2013 coincided with the city’s first major protest to oust their prime minister. Major tourist sites were selected as a venue of the noise barrage and like activities. As a result, we made some last minute revisions to our itinerary. The places to visit on our day 1 were Royal Pavilion Mahajetsadabadin, Wat Saket, and neighboring temples. However, the staff of our hostel, Lub d, advised us to keep away from these areas, because they were one of or near the selected protest gathering venues. Thus, we decided not to push the visit on those places.

We rested for few hours in our room and did not noticed that we overslept. It was already dusk when we got up. Instead of remaining idle the rest of the day, we agreed to go out for a walking tour.

From Lub D Siam Square (in front of the National Stadium), we crossed the foot bridge under the BTS and found this well-lit MBK mall. It wasn’t as grand when we saw it during the day, so we were a bit surprised that it was decorated with good lighting effects.

We walked further downstairs, blending with the locals. Just like the Ayala Center in Makati City, the shopping malls in Siam Square are interconnected either via footbridge or interconnecting passage ways. Siam Square, by the way, is a premiere shopping districts in Bangkok. Malls in the likes of MBK, Siam Discovery, Siam Center, Siam Paragon, and Central World dot the city center. It is also where you can find Bangkok Arts and Culture Center, Madam Tussaud’s Bangkok (inside Siam Discovery), and the headquarters of the Royal Thai Police.

During our visit, the protesters shutoff the power of the Royal Thai police headquarters, so walked across the dark street even the protest was still ongoing.

After few minutes, we reached the Ratchapasong junction. We saw people paying respect to a small statue in the corner of Grand Hyatt Erawan. Out of curiosity, we checked on it, and found out that it was the Erawan Shrine. The shrine housed a statue of Phra Phrom, the Thai representation of the Hindu god of creation, Brahma. We stayed in the shrine for few minutes and watched every individuals paying respects.

We continued our walking tour along Ratchadamri Road. The street is a famous address for Bangkok’s elegant hotels. It is also where the American Embassy is located.

Not too far from the American Embassy is the Lumpini Park. The park is a favorite choice for joggers. We stayed there for a while a took great skyline photos.

I noticed that the Silom District, Bangkok’s entertainment capital, is nearby, so I convinced my companions to continue our walk and have our dinner in the area. Not too soon, we found ourselves savoring the sweet and spicy Pad Thai and sipping the soup of Peking Duck.

We also checked Patpong Night Market, and then bargained for possible souvenir items. Patpong Night Market is in the middle of the alley where the famed Patpong clubs are located. I couldn’t forget Aaron’s reaction when he saw one of the performances.

It was already past 10pm when we boarded the BTS at Silom station. It was tiring but we had a lot of fun.

• Ian Limpangog
• August 23, 2014
• Categories: Thailand, Travel