View of Chao Phraya River from boat..

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is 110 kms away from Bangkok. After reaching place, there will be 5 mins speed boat ride to reach the actual place. During this 5 mins ride, lifestyle on the river can be seen. This picture is taken while going to floating market on speed boat

Floating Market is a place where vendors sell on boats and buyers buy by sailing through boats through a small canal.

View of Floating Market

A small boy trying to sell photographs …

They sell everything from fresh fruits, vegetables to on the fly prepared fresh food

Who says only Bangalore has traffic.. see the below pic

After floating market, i went for elephant ride. Elephant ride costs around 600 baht and ride will be for 30-35 mins through jungle.

Later I went to crocodile farm. This crocodile farm is said to be one cleanest crocodile farm in the world.

Finally attended The Rose Garden Thai Cultural show..

Thai marriage cermony..

I had also attended Siam Niramit Show next day. It is one of the largest stage production in the world. It has world’s tallest stage. Show had world class performance. People who like stage shows should never ever miss this when they visit Bangkok. Although it was bit costly ( 1500 Baht ) , but it’s completely worth. Anykind of photography was prohibited in the show, so couldn’t take photos of it.

Here are some of photos I clicked at safari world.

And this is the flower spotted inside Grand Palace

Grand Palace has paintings on walls all over the surroundings which tell you the Thai history and Ramayana.

Grand Palace also has a temple called ‘Temple of Emerald Buddha’. It is profoundly honored buddha. Photography was prohibited in that temple, so couldn’t take photo of emerald buddha.

This one is called Marble Temple as it was built using white marbles only.

Wat Pho is the oldest and largest temple of Bangkok. It is also called ‘Temple of Reclining Buddha’. Buddha’s statue is 46 mts long with 15 mts height.

This was another small temple situated in Wat Pho location only

Final visit was to Wat Arun. One has to cross this Chao Phraya River in order to visit Wat Arun. This is view of Wat Arun and River from the boat.

This is Wat Arun, also known as “Temple of the Dawn”, one of major Wats in Bangkok.

That was the end of our Temples Tour in Bangkok

Bangkok is a place that has everything…  temples, shopping malls, wildlife, ocean, night life.. the list is endless.  The place is for everyone irrespective of age and gender.

First Impressions

Bangkok is clean, silent and has wide & smooth roads.  Talking about traffic, Bangkok also has traffic but very less compared to Bangalore. Drivers never switch lanes no matter how fast the other lane is moving.  One can hardly see using horn. This is something that we need in Bangalore.

Language, Culture & People:

Language spoken in Thailand is Thai. English is rarely used by the people although most of taxi drivers, shopkeepers communicate with you in English. They will not understand if you speak at a normal speed. You have to tell them word by word that too in their accent.  NOM. They cannot pronounce ‘R’ and they pronounce it as ‘L’. Most of times, ‘T’ will be pronounced as in “Thunder” and not as in “Tea”. If you want to say to the taxi driver that you want to go to “pan-tip plaza”, you need to say him as “pan-thip plaza” and “U turn” as “U thurn”.

Major population follow Buddhism.  You will see Buddhist Temples (these are called as “Wats” in Thai) everywhere.  People are very friendly and innocent. Put in another way, they don’t know how to cheat.  Even if you don’t know the place, tell the name of the place to the taxi driver and he will take you there in a shortest possible way without roaming around the city. They speak very softly and expect you to speak in the same way. Sometimes, increase in volume of my voice and extra actions/gestures would used to make them frightened.  You also need to drag each word while speaking.. that is how they speak.

If you are a vegetarian, well you will find it not so easy here. People here mainly eat pork, every kind of sea food and meat. You will get sea food stalls across the roads everywhere. If you are a person who loves to eat sea food, you will get an opportunity to eat the creatures that you even can’t imagine.

Shopping & Bargaining:

Probably one of activities that you can’t avoid in Bangkok is shopping.  Each of shopping malls here is almost 4-5 times bigger than Forum, Bangalore.  The main shopping malls are MBK, Siam Square, Platinum Fashion Mall, Central World & the IT shopping mall “Pan-Tip Plaza”.  At the MBK, you will get everything. It is like all-in-one hub. Platinum Fashion Mall is a girls’ paradise. Pan-tip  plaza was my favorite during my stay.  It has every IT stuff that you need or wish to buy. “If it is not there at the pan-tip  plaza, then it doesn’t exist”.  It is also infamous for selling most upto date pirated softwares. I had a glance on what kind of CD/DVDs they sell. They sell softwares, games, music, movies and even porn.  You will get the OS the day it is released.  Each CD usually costs 100 & DVD costs 150 bucks.

Apart from hi-end shopping malls, Bangkok also has retail road side and wholesale markets. Chatuchak weekend market and Pratunaam market ,which is opposite to the Platinum Fashion Mall, are most famous. No item should be purchased without bargaining. Bargaining is in wide practice and tourists are expected to bargain before buying anything.  If you have that skill, well you can purchase that item to almost half of the price what the shopkeeper had told initially. You should liberally use phrases like “make less”, “make discount”, “for me”, “please” with smile on your face.  This will often end in fair deal.

Transportation & Communication:

Skytrain, public buses, taxis, tuk-tuks (autos of Thailand), boats and bike taxis form the transportation.  Skytrain are most cheap and preferred. Even if you go by taxi, then also it will be cheaper compared to meter charges of taxis in India.  Chao Phraya river flows through Bangkok. Boats are cheaper if you want travel across/ along the river.  Tuk-Tuks are famous in Bangkok and every tourist takes a ride on it.  But beware, these tuk-tuk drivers are clever and you might end-up paying high. For alone travelers, there are bike taxis, you will get pillion ride.  Prices are relatively cheaper compared to taxis.

It is always better to get one local sim when you stay at Bangkok. Purchasing sim requires no id proof and is pre-activated.  Bangkok also has more than 15,000 free wi-fi  hotspots provided by “true” operator.  Almost all tourist places and all bus stops are wifi hotspots. Happy browsing but the speed is less.

Tourist Attractions:

Major tourist attractions in Bangkok are all Buddhist Temples, Grand Palace, floating market, wildlife, ocean & beaches, night bazaars, infamous bars, thai cultural shows including siam niramit show, Ayutthaya (old ruin city like our Hampi), dinner cruise on Chao Phraya River… etc

I visited Grand Palace & all major wats (takes one or more than one day), safari world (it is a wild life sanctuary where you can do jungle safari and also has various shows of dolphins, seals, elephants..etc. takes half-day to one day ), Siam ocean world ( where you can see weird & wonderful ocean creatures.. takes half day ), floating market ( it is 110 km far from Bangkok.. but must see..) , crocodile show ( where you can see persons inserting their head & hand into crocodile’s mouth ). I also did elephant riding around jungle for around 45 mins .  Saw the Siam Niramit show which is about thai history, culture, and festivals. It has world’s highest stage and gives world-class performance. It is bit expensive but you will not regret watching it.

I think the post has become too long.

Will post photos in next 2-3 blogs…  

Day 1: Our journey began with Golkonda Fort. It is located about 10 kms away on the west of Hyderabad. It is one of the magnificent forts that I have ever seen with splendid architecture. Fort is said to be 800 years old and built by Kakatiya King and later expanded by three Qutab Shahi Kings consecutively.  As you enter the main gate, you will notice the magical acoustic system. A hand clap sounded at the main gate will be heard at the highest point of Golkonda which is almost a kilometer away.  There are beautiful palaces, mosques and temples inside the fort. The whole fort has water supply system. When you visit, don’t forget to see the rock made small pipes attached to the walls of Golkonda fort. The fort is also designed to have well ventilation and flow of air. You can feel the breeze of air even at interior constructions.

After this, we moved to Charminar which is situated at the heart of the city.  It is completely surrounded by shops of Lad Bazaar. Lad Bazaar is famous for pearls, diamonds, jeweleries and bangles. A must visit for  girls. You can also see splendid view of Mecca Masjid from the western direction of top of charminar.

Birla Mandir is a  temple built entirely with white marble. As you go up, temple gives a fantastic panoramic view of Hyderabad and Secundarabad.

Our last point of day one was Lumbini park. It is one of the beautiful parks of Hyderabad located at the banks of Hussain-Sagar Lake. The main attraction of the park is Laser Show. This multimedia show is first ever of its kind in India and is worth to watch it.

Day 2: Our day 2 started with Ramoji Film City. It is world’s largest film studio located 25 kms away from Hyderabad.  It will take almost one day to see entire film city. If you have kids, don’t forget to take them there, they will surely enjoy it. By visiting, you can recap all those popular telugu films’ scenes and also some hindi movies. Buildings with each side having different architectures.. hospital, airport, railway station, library.. etc. You will see many such buildings.

After spending whole day at Ramoji Film City, we went to Hussain-Sagar Lake in the evening. This beautiful lake separates Hyderabad and Secunderabad. There is a magnificent Buddha statue in the middle of lake. We took speed boat race. Ride was fabulous. You can have the glimpse of night view of twin cities, buddha statue and calm lake.

Day 3: This was our last day at Hyderabad. we visited Shilparamam, an arts and crafts village. You will see many hand crafted materials here. There is also a  rock gallery which has natural rock shapes and a village which shows village lifestyle. After this we left to Salarjung Museum. This museum is a must visit. It has so many things that you will feel tired to see all those. art pieces I couldn’t believe that it is one-man’s collections!. There is also one musical clock where for every hour a guardsman ,in the upper deck of clock , comes and strike the bell.

Rest of the day was reserved for some real shopping and some window shopping at the Necklace Road.

In total, it was rejuvenating 3-day trip. We travelled to all places through autos. Autos take you through  shortcuts, inner roads of Hyderabad where you can see the lifestyle of urban Hyderabad.

All photos are stored at this link http://www.zooomr.com/photos/harsha/sets/33799/