Hi bloggers!

This time our trip took us to Bangkok. This hot and vivacious city had a lot to offer and so we were blown away yet again. As the weather was magnificent I’ll talk some more about the climate and nature of Bangkok.

Bangkok has a tropical wet and dry climate. Temperatures are rather high and so it’s never really cold in the city. Temperatures in the city centre are even 2 degrees higher than those outside the city. The highest ever registered temperature is 40.8 degrees and the lowest is 9.9 degrees. Temperatures peak between March and August. The period between November and February is the driest. After this period the humidity level start to raise slowly and reaches a peak in the months April and May. If you want to experience a rainy Bangkok you have to be there between June and October as this is the rainy season.

The reason why people walk around with masks before their mouth can also be explained by the climate. During the dryer periods there is a lot of smog in the air that actually hangs as a brown cloud over the city. Especially people working outside have to wear these masks.

Bangkok itself is a very busy city with a lot of buildings but besides that there is also a lot of nature to be found. If you leave the city centre you can discover nature parks and mangrove forests. The city is built on the eastern shore of the river Menam. This is the biggest and most important river in Thailand. This river is so important because of its great trading opportunities it offers.





Bangkok was a splendid city and we had a blast! On to the next city!

Ilse xxx

Sources:

http://www.klimaatinfo.nl/thailand/bangkok.htm"fo.nl/thailand/bangkok.htm

http://www.tontantravel.com/tours_vanuit_bangkok.php

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok

Shopping in Bangkok

Hi everyone!

Our next destination on our trip was Bangkok, the center of the kingdom of Thailand. Bangkok is a city you love or hate.

We loved the city because Bangkok is such a famous shopping hub and we want you to realize that as well. The variety of shopping experiences in Bangkok goes far beyond a stroll in a mall or a morning spent browsing a market. Shopping in Bangkok is a day-and-night activity that runs parallel with the best in the West, while also giving a flavor of the cultural uniqueness of the East.

One of our shopping experiences was to visit the shopping malls in Bangkok. Bangkok’s modern shopping malls are a shopaholic’s paradise. You will find there the city's finest fashion stores, global brands, book shops, speciality stores, accessories stands and all kinds of luxury designer lifestyle goods.

Another shopping experience was to visit the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok. A must-visit place for tourists! Its sheer size and diverse collections of merchandise will bring shoppers to their knees. This is where you can literally shop ‘till you drop’ and we did!

Last but not least, the great thing about shopping in Bangkok is that most malls and department stores stay open until at least 22:00. So there's plenty of time to make the most of the city's attractions during the day and fit in a bit of retail therapy either before or after dinner. The most popular after dark markets is undoubtedly the Patpong Night Market.

As you can see, shopping in Bangkok is an experience to thrill, whatever it is you're looking for. Bangkok has all kinds of places to blow your baht!

Talk to you soon!

Celita
 

Sources

http://www.bangkok.com/shopping-shopping-after-dark.htm#ixzz1nhiuGOV3

http://www.thebangkokshoppingguide.com/

http://www.asiatraveltips.com/ShoppinginBangkok.shtml

Sightseeing in Bangkok

Hi everyone!

This week’s destination: BANGKOK!!!

Bangkok is a concrete jungle! Expect to spend half your time just getting to where you want to go. That’s why it’s important to know where it is exactly that you are going. We decided to make a list of where we wanted to go, we were able to narrow it down to a few must sees. Something for everyone!

Our first stop was the old city, it was so impressive! It’s refreshing to go from concrete skyscrapers to an ancient city. It was like stepping into an entirely different world. You can’t leave Bangkok without visiting the Grand Palace, undoubtedly the city's most famous landmark. It was built in 1782 and for 150 years it was the home of the Thai King. It left us all in awe with its beautiful architecture and intricate detail. Within the palace complex are several impressive buildings including Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), which contains the small, very famous and greatly revered Emerald Buddha that dates back to the 14th century.

 

Next we visited Chinatown. It’s one of the most popular tourist attractions. By day it’s swarmed with shoppers and at night by gourmands who want to try the delicious food. Talking about food, we went to the most amazing market EVER! It’s called the floating market, and it does its name justice. The market is literally located on water. The boats are piled high with tropical fruit and vegetables, fresh, ready-to-drink coconut juice and local food cooked from floating kitchens located right on the boat. It’s more a tourist attraction; locals don’t really use it anymore.

 

And because we cannot deny our basic instincts as girls we just had to visit Chatuchak Weekend Market. Its sheer size and diverse collections of merchandise will bring any seasoned shoppers to their knees – this is where you can literally shop ‘till you drop’.  The 35-acre area of holds more than 8,000 market stalls. On a typical weekend, more than 200,000 visitors come here to sift through the goods on offer.

And last but not least, we decided to do a segway tour. It sounds ridiculous but it was so much fun! I mean how much more Asian can you get than a Segway??? 

And according to this guy its a lot safer than walking ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYT-FM2LoNs

It was truly one of the best trips, this city is so crazy! I am defiantly coming back. There’s still so much to see!

Until next time!

Xoxo

Kimberley


Sources: 


http://www.bangkok.com/ 
http://away.com/thailand/travel-v2-cid4247-bangkok-cid400173-travel.html?type=nopopup&gclid=CIH2meCIwa4CFUOq3godjmF1Pw 

Bangkok, culture!

Hello there

After Jakarta we went to Bangkok. It’s an amazing city. Especially the culture is great and very outspoken.

First of all there’s the typical Thai food.. It is said to be one of the best cuisines in the world and they are absolutely right. Thai food blends elements of several Southeast Asian traditions. It emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components. One thing that’s typical is the spiciness of the Thai cuisine. But overall they are great in combining three components in their overall dishes which are sour, sweet and salty. I would recommend Thai food to absolutely everybody.

Other than their fabulous cuisine their also an amazing nightlife. There are several nightclubs and bars in Bangkok. All very tourist friendly. The street with the most bars is probably Khao San Road, There are different kinds of bars with different kinds of music such as rock, hip-hop, trance and even Thai music. The bars are very energetic and are popular with both tourists and locals. Another plus side is that all the bars are very affordable. Although most pubs and bars close between one and two am, you don’t have to go home right away. There are a few after-hours bars in Bangkok. Then there’s also the Sukhumvit road. This one contains more chic, spacious nightclubs but is a bit more expensive though.

A third aspect which I wanted to talk to you about are the beautiful temples and palaces. Most of the temples in Bangkok have extremely high historical and cultural significance. There is the Wat Pra Keaw, home to the Emerald Buddha. There are also a ton of museums. One of them is for example the national museum. It’s for people who are interested in learning the history of Thailand in general, the museum is definitely a must see destination.  

It’s safe to say we had a GREAT time here. It’s a beautiful place to visit and there are a lot of things to see there.

Talk to you soon

Stephanie

Sources:

http://www.bangkokculture.com/

http://thaifood.about.com/

http://www.discoverythailand.com/Bangkok_The_National_Museum.asp

Architecture of Bangkok

Hello faithful readers,

Our second stop is Bangkok. Why Bangkok? Well, why not, it’s sad to go to Thailand without visiting Bangkok. We heard about the great skyline and all the impressive architecture in Bangkok so I’m going to tell you something more about this.

We arrived at the Bangkok international airport, we were immediately impressed by its beautiful architecture. As I’m very interested in the architecture in general, I couldn’t just leave the building without wandering around in it. The building is recently opened in 2006 and is designed by Helmut Jahn.  It’s a very organic building which is certainly worth visiting. It’s also very impressive while landing, it was night when we arrived at Bangkok and we could see the airport from miles away because there’s a lot of glass in the building and it’s amazing to see all those lights.

The next building we absolutely wanted to see was the central embassy of Bangkok. The only thing that was a bit sad is that the building isn’t finished yet. They’ve started to build the central embassy in 2010 and it’s foreseen to be ready in 2013. The building doesn’t only occupy the former gardens of the British Embassy but represents also a hotel tower with a very nice pool.

As we are 6 girls travelling the world we couldn’t pass a city without searching a huge shopping building to go crazy in. We went to the Central world which is the third largest shopping complex in the world. Besides several stores, there’s also a hotel and an office tower. The building is recently renovated in 2006 and has now a shopping mall of 550,000 square meters so we had a lot to discover. It was also very impressive to hear that two years ago the building has been set on fire by anti-government protestors. They redesigned the worst shops and they reopened the building only a half year later.

After a long day walking around in Bangkok we may conclude that we’ve seen a lot of impressive buildings and we hope you will also be impressed.

Bye bye dear readers, you will hear more about us next week!

Melissa

http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/archives/0708suvarnabhumi.asp

http://www.e-architect.co.uk/thailand/central_embassy_bangkok.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CentralWorld