an Innocent Life

In 2022, I got a chance to experience live music in different ways and venues. These three were my favourites.

1. Coldplay concert at Olympiastadion in Berlin: So we planned a euro trip around it after we bought tickets 9 months earlier. This was my first concert in a stadium, the band played a setlist of old favourites and we even had a richter scale moment from all the jumping.

2. Andrew Bird at Tivoli, Utrecht: This was an unplanned concert. The concert appeared on Spotify when we were discussing how to look for events in your city. Utrecht was a short train ride away and there were tickets so off we went. The serendipity of this experience makes it stand out.

3. Simon Marantika and friends at Warung Turki: This one happened over a dinner with a friend. What makes this experience stand out is that towards the end, when there were just 3 tables left, singers from one of the tables took stage and sang some old favourites. To experience that collaboration in a small group of strangers was magical!

I was here for 4 days this year and I got some time(more or less a day) to go around the city.

Visa on Arrival:
The last time I had applied for the visa beforehand, this time though I decided to opt for the visa on arrival. Thailand has waived off the visa fees uptil April 2020. You need to find the right gate for the Visa on Arrival formalities. You can find the application form at the entrance. If you have forgotten something you will be able to do all those things here before you enter the application line. However I did not find an ATM here but luckily at Suvarnabhoomi they do not ask for the 20,000 Baht living expense proof. Be prepared to stand atleast an hour in this line. They prefer if you have passport photos with a white background.
[Immigration site]

Post immigration:
After immigration, you can collect your bags which have by now been dumped on the side of the carousel and buy a local SIM for internet access. The tourist SIMs cost around 250-300 Baht for 1 week based on what you want. I chose dtac this time because it had a better entry level internet pack. There are ATMs next to the Carousels which you can use to withdraw money.

Getting to the city:
There are several options at the airport right from Limousines to the Rail. I was not sure about the Rail so I decided to take the airport taxi. The way to do this is to go and take a token from a machine outside the gate. I thought I was at the small taxi line but unfortunately was at the big taxi line :shrug: So I ended up paying 700 Baht for the trip to the hotel. I would recommend trying the Rail option if your hotel location is close to one. Infact, you should probably consider this as a deciding factor for your stay because it makes moving around so easy.

Getting around:
The metro has a pretty extensive network which is useful and cheap to travel around in. You can also take cabs, bikes and ferries to get around in that order of expense. The weather was pleasant when I was there and it was a pleasure to walk around the city

What we saw:

Wat Arun Wiki
We visited Wat Arun on a Saturday morning by taking a metro and ferry combo from our Hotel on North Sathorn Road. While taking the ferry from the Sathorn Pier, be sure to find the cheap express boats. Our ticket cost 20 Baht.

The ferry drops you right at the river entrance of Wat Arun where you can buy the entry ticket. The entry ticket for Wat Arun is priced at 50 Baht.

Wat Arun’s stupa structure has Hinduism influences. You can notice that different races are depicted by the different levels. The higher you go, the faces depicted are more peaceful/godlike. Around the temple, you can notice scenes from Hindu mythology. You can also see 4 stages of Buddha’s life depicted around the stupa.

National Museum of Bangkok Wiki
We visited this because there was a special exhibition of the terracotta warriors on display and it felt like something you wouldn’t want to miss. We did not get time to see the rest of the Museum as we were hungry.

What we ate:

The night markets we visited were pretty disappointing as they seem to have become tourist focused and identical.

Krua Apsorn Link
This famous restaurant is close to the historic district and has long lines. Thankfully we were able to get a seat after a 20 minute wait. You can look at the menu(yes they have an english version) while you wait.

The food recommended like Crab Omlette and stir-fried crab with yellow chilli felt mediocre. The food we enjoyed the most was the thai green curry and garlic pork.

Ohkahju Link
This restaurant serves organic farm to table fare. The food portions are great and the food is tasty. I regretted ordering the pork rib due to the size of the portion.

Grey Hound cafe Link
The cafe at Siam Centre is a lovely place to unwind after you shop. The coffee drinks on offer were beautiful so I tried out their citrusy watermelon.

Tokyo Land Link
I found this shop selling something that looked like a Dosa with a filling so I bought it.

Where to relax:

Healthland Link
This was close to our hotel and is affordable, family friendly and clean.

That’s all I have for this micro-visit to the capital of Thailand. Bangkok has a character that I love and its capitalized well on its tourism industry. There’s lots to do for every kind of tourist out there. I will conclude this post with some more photographs from the trip.