Best tourist sights in BKK?

[Guest]

Down at the pier of the Shangri La hotel, hire a long tailed boat for a couple of hours and just enjoy the solo ride around....You'll love it

[SamplerDoc]

When the temple or palace is closed I like to go to the Best Gem shops in BKK

[Road Runner]

(marshal @ Sep. 10 2008,22:55) Any suggestions about mbk and what they sell?

It's almost easier to list what they don't sell in MBK.

At least as a falang you mostly get the same price as the Thais  -  athough you might get a better deal at a market like Chatuchak but with the problem of haggling.

Roughly it's Shoes/clothes/food on the first floor.
Shoes/clothes/gold on the second.
Shoes/clothes/various on the third.
Shoes/clothes/mobile phones/cameras on the fourth.
Shoes/clothes/furniture on the fifth.
Music/various on the sixth.

RR.

[Snick]

You forgot MBK's main attraction....Ladyboys Shopping !!!
(They also have a Movie Theater and Bowling on the top floor)

Another great place for LB sightings is Platinum Mall, which is all clothing, shoes, etc...

[driftwood]

fred, there's some good suggestions there. Dont let the fact that some of them are major tourist destinations deter you.
If youre interested in architecture/history/culture I have a few suggestions: Ayutthya is worth the time. I like to stretch my visits over the course of 2 days by staying overnight, but you can get there and back in a day.
Wat Phra Kaew is a visual and cultural feast. (they have a dress code). Once youre there its easy to stop at Wat Pho (monumental reclining Buddha), and the National Museum is loaded with historical objects.
If you want to check out some Thai wooden houses Jim Thompsons House is a real nice spread, but my favorite is at Suan Pakkard where several ancient wood homes have been reconstructed in a garden setting. A cool oasis is the middle of the city.
Chinatown is another place I go regularly when in BKK. I get around solo just fine, but I have also taken hungry ladyboys along who have guided me to fantastic places to eat in Chinatown. There's also a self-guided tour in Time Out Bangkok called "Godown town" that's a safe and easy walk, and will give you a nice view of a fairly large part of Chinatown.
I always try hit some sights during the morning-early afternoon, get a foot massage, recharge back at the room, and still make it out for debauchery every night.
Sanuk fred.

[seamus]

Have My own Guide this trip to BKK, as I didnt see anything of Thailand on My last trip, apart from Guess bar, LB cock & My bedroomm ceiling

[TTChang]

(seamus @ Sep. 15 2008,13:12) Have My own Guide this trip to BKK, as I didnt see anything of Thailand on My last trip, apart from Guess bar, LB cock & My bedroomm ceiling

Most of us have to go on some trips - just to take photos .... to confirm we didnt spend all our time in Guess Bar etc etc.

Trips on the river ferries are enjoyable and great value.  Get off at different piers, get a map and go walkabout, eat local thai food, visit a temple.

Then get back to LB cock .... as soon as you can

[manarak]

Actually, I am doing right now a list of things to do.
I'll leave out the first 3 pages which have KC3, Nana, Guess, Eden Club, Star of Light and other stuff on them, because I come with my wife, so I skip to the non-p4p stuff:



Diving => only at the southern islands

Shooting range
The Royal Thai Army€™s shooting range in Bangkok
Call 02 522 22 31 or 02 973 42 23

Parasitology Museum
One big reason to visit Bangkok: See the Elephantiasis-infected human scrotum
Most of us remember childhood admonitions to avoid going barefoot in barnyards, and to ensure that meat was well cooked before eaten. Now we know why. This museum's exhibits focus on hookworms, pinworms, roundworms, and you-name-it. Perhaps the most notable exhibit concerns a scrotum, 75 cm in diameter, dissected from a victim of elephantiasis, a disease resulting from contact with the mansonia mosquito.

Ellis Pathological Museum
Upon entering, the visitor is lulled by the machinery in the front room: typewriters, measuring devices, gadgets galore. Turn the corner, though, and you'll witness a cornucopia of births gone wrong, the tiny bodies encased forever in sarcophaguses of glass and formaldehyde. If you've only read about hydrocephalus, cyclopia, gastroschisis, and conjoined twins, here's your opportunity to get up close and personal. Along the way, you'll find individual organs sporting flowering carcinomas and mortifying fungi.
Songkran Niyomsane Forensic Medicine Museum

Forensics Museum at Siriraj Hospital
Here, you'll become intimately acquainted with embalmed bodies of murderers, exhibits of ghastly deaths, and the ephemera gathered from murder scenes. A crowd-pleaser is the standing, wax-filled remains of noted 1950's cannibal, Si Quey. The ecannibal's body has been filled with paraffin, and the autopsy scar is visible on his forehead (his brain was removed to determine if a cannibal's mind is different than anyone else's: it wasn't). The neatly hand-lettered sign notes that he killed "because he loves to eat human's organ not because of starving."
There is a strangely avant-garde artistic aspect to many of the exhibits: the head of a victim of a gunshot wound to the head is neatly sawed in half lengthwise, to illustrate the path of the bullet-hole, the whole package neatly encased in sealed glass filled with formaldehyde, perhaps the world€™s grimmest aquarium. You've read about train wrecks, fatal car accidents, and motorcycle decapitations, and here, you can see photos that newspapers worldwide refuse to print. "Crush injury by machine" was particularly illustrative, as was "blast force injury (hand grenade)."

The klong toey market
is basically at the junction between Phra Ram IV and Ratchada/Phra Ram III, it is indeed a few hundred meters east from Klong Toey MRT station. You could also take the Queen sirikit MRT station and head south along Ratchapisek for a few hundred meters, the market is opposite Phra Ram IV from there.
I go there to get my chillies, when it is time for me to go home, 200 baht for 2,5 kg

Phallic Shrine Tubtim Shrine
,hundreds of oversized phalluses,offered to the diety by fertility worshippers.
How to get there:
Nai Lert Park Hotel (formerly the Hilton) at 2 Wireless Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand (map). The nearest Skytrain stops are Ploen Chit or Chitlom. From the Ploen Chit station walk along Wireless Road past the British Embassy on your left until you reach the hotel.
To find the shrine from the hotel, leave by the back door beside the swimming pool and head straight as much as you can towards the car park. When you exit to the car park turn right and walk straight ahead past the guard's hut on your left. The shrine is tucked away in the corner under some trees.
>From the back entrance, go past the guard's hut and turn left. It's right in front of you.

Royal Dragon Restaurant
At this restaurant, traditionally attired Chinese maidens whiz around on rollerskates while juggling plates of seafood, amazing flying waiters soar through the air on a cable and harness, delivering dishes without spilling a drop. With over 1,000 staff, seating for 5,000 and 25,000 plates to wash up every night, it€™s also the world€™s biggest restaurant! (see number 31 on our top 100 list)

Museum of the Department of Corrections
Your impression of the gentle nature of Thai people will be somewhat dispelled, if you visit this museum at Bangwang Central Prison in Nonthaburi. Take the express boat to Nonthaburi, walk past the clocktower, turn left, and walk a third of a mile along the wall of the prison to the entrance at the Correctional Staff Training Center.
Founded in 1939, this museum of ancient torture shows many of the grim methods used to execute prisoners during the Ayutthaya Period, the most notable being a huge rattan ball whose inner lining was studded with sharp spikes. The prisoner was placed inside and the ball given to elephants to kick around. In a most understated remark, the guidebook to the museum notes, "The offender will be hurt by many big sharp nails inside." Another memorable quote from the guide: "The executed prisoner's fingerprints will be taken for examination in order to ensure that he was not the wrong person."
There is no charge to enter the museum, and a staff member will gladly escort you around.

Golf
When you land at Bangkok's International Airport during daylight hours, you'll get your first glimpse of golf in Thailand on fairways between the two main runways. The sport is one of the fastest growing in the country, and, except for occasional heavy rains, golfers enjoy the sport year round.
Caddies are generally young females who carry your bag, clean your ball, give you the distances, and even read your putts, hopefully not your mind. You'll often have two accompanying you, one with an umbrella to shield you from the tropic sun and one to carry your bag.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has an excellent, well-illustrated brochure titled Golf in Thailand with the top 75 courses profiled in color.

Nakhon Pathom & Buddha Monthon
Nakhon Pathom, 35 west of Bangkok, is a convenient stopover on the way to the River Kwai. The main attraction is the Phra Pathom Chedi clad in orange tiles and rising almost 400 feet, the tallest Buddhist monument in the world and the oldest in Thailand. Many believe it marks the spot where Buddhism was introduced to Thailand 2,300 years ago. Along the way, Buddha Monthon is one of Thailand's most beautiful.
Leave from the Southern Bus Terminal for the one-hour ride to the chedi.

Ko Kret
About five miles north of Nonthaburi, the Chao Phraya River cuts the land and rings it, forming an island off Pakkred. Here on Ko Kret, a settlement of Mon descendents is slowly gaining more tourist attention. Mon artisans possess remarkable skills in crafting terracotta pots, jars, and other high-quality products. The 7,000 residents keep the island car-free. Boats, motorcycles, bicycles,
and walking provide transport around the area. A well-kept museum has a bountiful collection of valuable terracotta items, and the Mon cultural center was established to keep alive dying Mon identity.
Ko Kret's main attraction is a landscape filled with clay pots, kilns, and mortars, and an authentic ancient lifestyle more and more difficult to find.
Chao Phraya Express boats leave from the southern Wat Ratchsingkhorn Pier for the 90-minute journey to Pakkred. A boat tour around Ko Kret costs 200 baht.

Phra Pradaeng
Go to Phra Pradaeng - the green lungs of Bangkok , also called Bangkrachao, a peninsula in Chao Phraya River. You reach the peninsula by ferry from Wat Klong Toey and discover a sudden slice of rural Thailand with slow life, bamboo-shaded creeks, old temples and miles of walkways leading through mango and banana plantations full of butterflies.

Bicycle tour
If you want to experience the real Bangkok, you will need the help of a Dutchman guy who has been doing cycle tours in Bangkok for the past 12 years. He will guide you to narrow alleys, backyards of people homes, temples, markets, the Chao Phraya river and... so many other great places.
This guy knows Bangkok as his pocket. Therefore, he is the right person to show you some unusual Thai scenes. Thanks to him you will meet cheerful people on your sporty trails.
Is that what you're looking for ? Hey, did I hear somebody overthere say "yes" ? So, log on "[email protected]"

Wat Pho
Bangkok€™s largest and oldest wat (Buddhist temple) is home to the famous Reclining Buddha, the supine 46m long and 49-feet-high (15-meter-high) gold leaf-covered Buddha image with mother-of-pearl inlaid feet. Tip: Get a massage at the adjoining training center for Thai massage. Th Sanam Chai; tel. +66 (0) 2225 9595; fee. www.watpho.com

Muay Thai
Lumpini Stadium, Th Rama IV near Suan Lum Night Bazaar; tel. +66 (0)2252 8765; Ratchadamnoen Stadium, Th Ratchadamnoen Nok; tel. +66 (0) 2281 4205; fee.

Floating Market (Weekend)

Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace
The revered Emerald Buddha. A 26-inch-high (66-centimeter-high) image actually carved from solid jade, is housed within the now disused royal palace. Traditional Thai architecture at its finest. Tip: The dress code, banning bare shoulders, sandals, and shorts or short skirts, is strictly enforced. Don€™t believe the unscrupulous gem hawkers who will tell you that the palace is shut. Th Na Phra Lan; tel. +66 (0) 2222 8181 or 2623 5500; fee. www.palaces.thai.net

Chatuchak Market
€œIf you€™re here on the weekend it€™s a must, but prepare to be exhausted.€€”Mason Florence, founder and publisher, Bangkok 101 magazine. With 15,000 stalls and stores, the Weekend Market (known locally as €œJJ€) is a vast, sauna-like retail extravaganza. Open weekends only. Tip: Buy the Nancy Chandler€™s Map of Bangkok (www.nancychandler.net) before you go. It gets hot and crowded, so stop for regular meals and drinks to stay (relatively) cool.

Suan Lum Night Bazaar

Wat Arun

Chao Phraya Boat tour

A Disco
I dunno if I should go for one of the select clubs or if I should rather go for "hollywood" or similar.
A disco with young local attendance, lots of trance dance music and a lot of meat on display would probably be perfect.

Siam Paragon/MBK

Chinatown
Buzzing Chinatown is packed with restaurants, street stalls, centuries-old markets, gold vendors, and some of Bangkok€™s best street food. Combine a trip with a visit to Wat Traimit and the Golden Buddha. Tip: Find the €œthieves€ market and the Sikh temple and climb to the top for fantastic late afternoon views over the district and Chao Phraya river.

River Kwai

Sky Train (rot fai fah)

I copied the text from various sites - I will keep updating the list

For now, I have a few open questions:
- where to find a big fat sex-show, the full programme, ping pong and other stuff? My wife wants to see.
- I want to play golf, and I need a ladyboy caddie! (still not sure if I should bring my hardware)
- Is there a safe place where I can store stuff in BKK? (like a golfbag for example)

[marshal]

(Road Runner @ Sep. 13 2008,03:33)

(marshal @ Sep. 10 2008,22:55) Any suggestions about mbk and what they sell?

It's almost easier to list what they don't sell in MBK.

At least as a falang you mostly get the same price as the Thais  -  athough you might get a better deal at a market like Chatuchak but with the problem of haggling.

Roughly it's Shoes/clothes/food on the first floor.
Shoes/clothes/gold on the second.
Shoes/clothes/various on the third.
Shoes/clothes/mobile phones/cameras on the fourth.
Shoes/clothes/furniture on the fifth.
Music/various on the sixth.

RR.

Thankyou RR, have been to bkk lots but never MBK. Thanks for the information!

[marshal]

Manarak has mentioned about the other museums at sirija hospital, which are all splendid, but! A lot of the write ups in the forensic museum are in thai script. One of the few that are in english is si quey the flesh eating serial killer!

[Road Runner]

(marshal @ Sep. 17 2008,00:45) ........been to bkk lots but never MBK.

That's like saying you've been to London lots of times but never gone to Oxford Street!


As Snick said above I forgot the main attraction.... 'Ladyboys Shopping !!!'

Go for a walk round MBK on a Saturday or Sunday (braving the crowds) and you will see at least one ladyboy on every floor and that is without trying.

Some will be bar girls but many will not be in the P4P business. You have a good chance of making a pick-up there.

RR.

[Snick]

manarak - Thats quite a list

Three things to add

Pratunam Garment District - This is Bangkok's wholesale garment market, aimed at locals and exporters. Its not just one building/site but a maze of buildings and alleys. I suggest going during the week to avoid the weekend crowds. Not for the claustrophobic.

Phantip Plaza - a 6 story tall IT Mall - selling every gizmo imaginable, and all the pirated software you can eat.

Huaw Kwang - after 1am this becomes The Place for entertainment workers to go for a late late dinner and to do some shopping.