Places to visit Bangkok, Thailand

When it comes to Thailand, there are two categories of travelers – those who have already been to this astonishing, legendary kingdom, and those who have it on their to-do list.

I have lived in Thailand for three of the past seven years and was in Thailand on a recent trip to promote my new crime thriller novel, Bangkok Vanishing.

Thailand is a splash, an assemblage of historical color, new world sparkle, ancient culture, mouth-watering cuisine and dynamic humanity.  Remarkably, this once third world nation has established itself as a prime mover and economic powerhouse within Southeast Asia.  If you traveled to Bangkok just twenty-five years ago, you would have found a sleepy city surrounded by tidal marshes, canals and single storey wood buildings.  Today, this massive, searing, megalopolis of twelve million people is home to seventy-storey buildings, ultra-modern sky-trains and subways, world corporate headquarters, some of the best restaurants in the world, and wide boulevards full of exotic Italian sports cars.  New multi-millionaires are created every day in Thailand, Southeast Asia’s new financial "Wild West".  Here, clever entrepreneurs find an open economic playing field, where intensity and shrewd ingenuity will fatten a bank account far faster than here in the over regulated United States.

There is certainly a significant lower socioeconomic class remaining in Thailand, in addition to an ever-burgeoning middle class of white-collar workers.  Yet, one thing binds every Thai citizen and we, as visitors, should pay attention.  Thailand, a nation of nearly seventy million people, and particularly Bangkok, is as rich in spiritual traditions and artistic culture as any civilization on earth.

When a new Bangkok visitor arrives, the first place to visit is The Grand Palace.  The Grand Palace in Bangkok, or Wat Prah Kaeo in the Thai language, is a gleaming, polished palace of dreams, where Cinderella would have lived after marrying her prince if she had lived in Asia.  The primary place to see within this massive compound is the Buddhist Wat.  The Wat abounds with mirrored columns and golden religious statues outside with solemn Buddhist solitude inside. Here, devoted Thais of all social strata prostrate themselves before soaring, golden statues of Buddha while kneeling on handmade carpets.  In the primary Wat, the main attraction is the antique Emerald Buddha, made of jade, the prized relic and treasure of an ancient kingdom.  Shorn of hair, monks in bright orange robes walk reverently throughout the grounds with musky Thai incense saturating the air.

Continuing the Buddha theme, Wat Pho, next door to the Grand Palace, holds the enormous Reclining Buddha.  Visitors are told it is large, but when most walk into the structure housing the sacred statue, the actual size of the golden figure takes everyone by surprise.  The massive reclining Buddha fills the large room and is impossible to absorb in all at once.  You have to actually circumnavigate the figure to see it all.

One of the most world-renowned features of Thai culture is its cuisine. There isn’t a city in the world that is not littered with Thai restaurants.  Thai food is a delicate fusion of fiery spice, sweetness and tart.  Thai restaurants in the West generally offer dumbed-down versions of the real thing, bland dishes with less spice and more syrupy sauces.  We wanted genuine Thai, so we ventured to one of Bangkok’s finest eateries, Celadon, at our home away from home while in Thailand, the marvelous Sukhothai Hotel in frenzied downtown Bangkok.  Here Chef Vira Sa-nguanwong delivered some of the most deliciously prepared Thai dishes I have ever tasted. These included Masuman Gai, tender chicken in spicy red curry sauce; Tom Yum Goong Sai Nome, a delicious soup with hints of lemon grass, ginger root, mushrooms, coconut milk, and blazing whole Thai red peppers and Pad Se Ew Neua, broad noodles served with tender beef, fresh vegetables, and a sweet sauce to counteract more fiery Thai red peppers.

My suite at the Sukhothai was the epitome of understated lavishness, a sanctuary amid the chaotic din of urban crush outside the hotel’s boundaries.  If you find yourself in Bangkok and desire true luxury, book a suite at the Sukhothai, where spacious manicured grounds are an indulgence in a city where every square meter is full of compact development.

I’ve covered but a tiny fraction of the attractions in a city bursting with excitement, an "anything goes" Asian capital where centuries old solemn tradition lives side by side with unrestricted amusement and exuberance.  

If you’ve traveled to Bangkok already, I’m certain you long to return.  If you haven’t been to Thailand, go!  But be careful; the Southeast Asian kingdom will likely become an addiction, just as it has for me.