Thailand - Week 3
Being a textile and architecture lover, a tour of the Jim Thompson House was at the top of my list. His iconic red home embodies everything my mind had originally envisioned about Thailand.
Bangkok
From Chiang Mai we took an overnight train to Bangkok where we stayed for 3 days. After visiting rural villages, Bangkok is quite the juxtaposition. As the capital of Thailand, it is a very cosmopolitan city. Bustling with restaurants, hotels, nightlife, and entertainment, Bangkok presents most everything the western and eastern world have to offer.
Having only three days there, we hit the highlights of interest to me but here is a longer list of suggested activities: A Temple Tour, the Floating Market, Chatuchak Weekend Market, a boat tour along the Chao Phraya River, a stroll through Lumpini Park(Bangkok’s version of Central Park), watch a Muai Thai competition, shopping, spa and of course sample tons of delicious food.
Jim Thompson House
Being a textile and architecture lover, a tour of the Jim Thompson House was at the top of my list. His iconic red home embodies everything my mind had originally envisioned about Thailand.
Jim Thompson, also known as the “Thai Silk King” is responsible for starting the Thai silk industry after World War II. His home is a beautiful representation of a traditional Thai stilt house and offers a peak into his interesting past. Born the son of a textile manufacturer in Delaware, he worked in architecture in New York as a young man before he enlisted and served in World War II. The war led him to Thailand where he discovered and made known the beautiful work of the Thai silk weavers that still continues today. His legendary disappearance in 1967 is still a mystery.
A tour of his home starts in the luscious tropical grounds, continues with the history of the silk process from worm to weaving and displays a lovely collection of Asian art and pottery. It was one of my favorite stops. You can read more of his story and purchase his luxurious silks through jimthompson.com.
Chao Phraya River, Reclining Buddha & Wat Arun, The Grand Palace & Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles
Definitely tour the Chao Phraya River on one of the many varieties of boats available. It’s interesting to see the juxtaposition of modern skyscrapers next to thousand year old wats and wooden long-tail boats.
While the Buddhist temples possess such an intriguing variety of architecture, my time was short in Bangkok and I did not want to spend all of it only touring wats. I narrowed down to visiting the most famous: Wat Pho; the Reclining Buddha(note the size and the mother-of-pearl inlay on the feet), Wat Arun and Wat Saket. From the roof, to the ceilings, to the columns to the chedis; the attention to detail is amazing. We also enjoyed touring the grounds of The Grand Palace which is meticulously maintained. It was my second favorite stop in Bangkok. Nearby is Queen Sirikit’s Textile Museum where of course I had to stop and explore(buy) some silk(see a pattern here?) You can see me trying on some of the costumes below.
Tuk Tuk Tour - high Tea at The Sukhothai Bangkok - Dinner & a Show at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok
Bangkok has many modes of transportation and we sampled most of them. From tuk-tuk to boat to the BTS Skytrain, we made our way around the city. Since it was just before Christmas when I visited, we sought out a few ways to celebrate traditionally in Bangkok. We treated ourselves to high tea at The Sukhothai Bangkok hotel. The presentation of tea, desserts and chocolate is a real feast for the senses. Our last night was spent enjoying dinner and a show(Sala Rim Naam) of traditional Thai dancing at the Mandarin Oriental-Bangkok(highly recommend) where we arrived by boat and were greeted by one of the few Christmas trees(interestingly flown in from Canada) we had seen in Bangkok. It was both magical and comforting to experience some of our western traditions and luxuries after being away from America for over two weeks.
My three days in Bangkok were a whirlwind but I am glad we made the stop. From here, we headed to the beautiful beaches of Krabi for the final leg of the trip. I can’t wait to share these beautiful photos with you next weekend!
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If you are new to this Wanderlust Weekends Series, you can catch up here:
Week 1 - Tales from Thailand - Chiang Mai
TO SHOP MY COLLECTION OF THAI-INSPIRED FINDS, LINK HERE.
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