Bangkok Photo Album

Wat Pra Kaew is probably Thailand's most visited tourist attraction, and for good reason, it is magnificent.

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha is the direct English translation of the Thai name: Wat Pra Kaew. Sometimes this is also spelled as Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Phra Kaeo, Wat Phra Keo or Wat Pra Kaeo.

I took this photograph from just inside the first entrance gate, before the ticket barrier and entrance to the temple proper.

Wat Pra Kaew is in the Grand Palace compound in Bangkok. Both buildings are magnificent but due to the compound wall and a multitude of surrounding buildings it is difficult to get a clear view of the whole collection of temples and palaces together.

I took this photo of the Grand Palace and Wat Pra Kaew from high up on Wat Arun, across the Chao Praya river.

One of the things I like about Wat Pra Kaew is the large number of paintings on the walls of the cloisters, they are really beautiful - they depict scenes from the Ramakien.

Over the last few years there has been an ongoing restoration of these wonderful Ramakien temple murals at Wat Pra Kaew. After restoration the pictures are vibrant, particularly the parts painted in gold.

Here is a third scene from the Ramakien. I got rather carried away taking photos of these and could have uploaded 50-60 different scenes. I have limited myself to just three!

Wat Pra Kaew provides photographers with a huge number of photographic opportunities, indeed if you were visiting to get some good shots you could easily spend all day there. I got these two photos of reflections of the temple. I think they are quite nice.

Wat Pra Kaew is open every day between 8:30-12:00 and 13:00-15:30 and one can spend a long time viewing the profusion of ornaments, decorations and murals. If you only visit one temple in Thailand, make sure it is this one.

Wat Po is another of Bangkok's most famous temples, often being known as the "Temple of the Reclinging Buddha". When you go into the image hall that contains the reclinging Buddha you will certainly be impressed as it is massive. This is a photo of its head; I was standing underneath it, looking up at it.

Wat Po also features a proliferation of chedis. Each chedi contains the remains of some distinguished person, usually a member of the royal family.

The temple gets really busy, I had to wait quite some time to get this photo without crowds of tourists in it.

Last time I visited Wat Po it was Khao Phansa day, a Buddhist festival in July and the main image hall was full of monks and people offering gifts to the monks. It made quite a sight.

Those who are interested in Wat Po can take a look at the official website here: Wat Pho.

The above photograph gives a good idea of what a typical downtown street scene in Bangkok looks like. Perhaps it is not pretty but it is an experience to witness the mayhem, sounds, heat, smells and chaos of Bangkok life.

I took this photo from a footbridge across Petchaburi Road.

It's rush hour in Bangkok all the time

Many people will have heard the horror stories of the traffic in Bangkok. I have certainly sat for more than 1 hour at a set of traffic lights in the past and in these circumstances the only thing you can do is try and laugh it off. It does not pay to be in a hurry in Bangkok.

The traffic is not quite as bad these days as when I first came to Thailand in 1996 but it is still really bad by anyone's standards, particularly at rush hours.

Quite often a taxi is the best mode of transport as they are air-conditioned and when things get really snarled up you can just get out and walk.

One thing I really love about living in Bangkok is the availability of tasty, fresh food at really low prices. In fact I would say that one of the best things about living in Thailand is the food.

The lady in this photo cooked up some fresh vegetables and chicken on rice for my sister and me, by the side of the road in about 3 minutes.

(P.S. - the correct grammar here is not "my sister and I" - take a look here: Grammar Question.

In Bangkok, and Thailand in general, there are food stalls scattered around everywhere you look. Sometimes they are in places that perhaps at home you would consider eating, but here I have never had cause for complaint from food cooked fresh at a food stall in Bangkok.

This foodstall is typical of those found in Bangkok; a simple cart, cooking a few specialized dishes with tables and chairs on the street - fresh, tasty and cheap.

For those worried about hygiene there is not much to worry about. As entry into the foodstall business is so cheap there is a proliferation of them. Anyone who serves bad or unhygienic food goes out of business pretty quickly due to the competition being so readily available - it's self-regulating really. It could be argued that this is true capitalism in practice; none of those protectionist policies on the restaurant industry that make it so expensive and difficult to enter the market in western nations! Of course, others might see it differently.

This is a bowl of beef noodles, it cost just 25 baht. You can use this currency conveter to see how cheap that is in your own currency.

If you are a fan of Thai food take a look at my How to make Thai Green Curry lens. Also make sure to look at Appon's Thai cookery site, it's really good.

It is not just meals that one can buy at foodstalls in Bangkok. A wide variety of vendors sell drinks, pancakes, fruit, cakes, barbecued meats, sausages and even insects. It is pretty much a case of you name it, they have got it.

The foodstall in this photo is selling drinks and cakes.

Wat Arun is one of the iconic images of Bangkok; if you have ever seen a holiday brochure for Thailand then you probably have seen a photo of Wat Arun. It is indeed a photogenic temple but it is actually far better looking from a distance than close up.

During open hours visitors can climb the stairs up the prang of Wat Arun. The steps are VERY steep and one needs to be wearing "sensible" shoes to climb them safely. However, it is worth the climb because the views from the prang are really good.

The compound of Wat Arun is open until 10pm meaning that you can enter and take really great photos of the temple lit up at night. You are free to walk around the temple at night but cannot access the main prang after dark; it is surrounded by a fence with a locked gate.

There is more information about Wat Arun here - Wat Arun, Temple of Dawn and here - Wat Arun.

Patpong Road is famous for its strip of gogo bars featuring scantily-clad dancing girls and "ping pong" shows - sorry, I don't have any photos of those. Quite frankly they are all a bit feeble although if you want to see what they are all about any of the ground floor bars are fine and used to visiting tourists.

Any bar advertising "shows" will be upstairs and to be avoided. No matter what the touts say you will be ripped off, it is a well-known fact - Bangkok Sex Show Scam.

Patpong's Night Market is far more noteworthy and these days spreads out along Silom Road on many nights (although not every night). Here you can buy all manner of souvenirs; t-shirts, DVDs, CDs and Thai knick-knacks feature heavily.

Patpong Night Market is a colourful affair.

There is a good mixture of reviews of Patpong Night Market on Virtual Tourist.com

Here is a fairly inoffensive page about Patpong and other go go bars in Bangkok.

To be pedantic Damnoen Saduak floating market is actually in Ratchaburi province, but most people visit it as a day trip from Bangkok and it is one of those things that people associated with Bangkok so I have included it here.

Although the floating market at Damnoen Saduak is not as big as one might imagine it does provide the opportunity to take lots of very beautiful photos and it is the only one of the markets that bills itself as "floating" that actually uses small traditional boats as far as I know.

There are lots of things to buy at the floating market; traditional fruits and vegetables, fast food Thai style and, of course, a plethora of tourist tat. But you always need a bit of tourist tat to take home!

Vimanmek Mansion is billed as the world's largest golden teakwood mansion. It was originally a royal residence on Koh Sri Chang which King Rama V had dismantled and rebuilt in the Dusit area of Bangkok.

It is now a museum to King Rama V where his personal effects can be seen during a guided tour which is included in the entry fee.

Here are some more photos; click on the images for larger versions.

Most people probably think of Thailand and Bangkok as an undeveloped place. Well, there are still peasant farmers in much of the country but Bangkok is a modern city by anyone's standards.

Some of Bangkok's modern buildings have been designed with flamboyance in mind, but generally they stick to the tried and tested standard of steel and glass that most skyscrapers around the world use. This next photo demonstrates that quite well.

The following photo is of the same steel and glass building, showing the reflection of the stairs to Ploenchit skytrain station in the windows.

Many of the above-mentioned glass and steel buildings in Bangkok are shopping malls. The shopping malls in Bangkok range from those that sell very cheap goods to those that are full of ultra-expensive luxury items and are patronised by the many super rich Thais that live in Bangkok.

My wife likes The Emporium. Quite frankly I shudder when she tells me she is going there as most of the stuff for sale is expensive; designer labels and the like. It does have one of the best book shops in Thailand though, Books Kinokuniya, which has a huge range of books from all genres.

I like the way these pictures display the geometric shapes and perspective, looking down at the various floors. If you wish to go to The Emporium when in Bangkok, there is a bridge into from Prom Pong skytrain station, and it is in Sukhumvit Road, on the corner of Soi 24.

For such a busy, congested and famously polluted city, Bangkok has a surprising amount of greenery and this includes flowers. Bougainvillea is one of those ubiquitous tropical plants and it flourishes in many places such as temples, gardens, hotel forecourts and wasteground; sometimes it is planted and sometimes it has just "escaped" or been forgotten. It is a beautiful plant as you can see from my photo above.

Bangkok has a profusion of temples and these are great places for finding flowers in the city, indeed they sort of seem to go hand in hand with the tranquility that a temple can provide.

These flowers below were all photographed in temple grounds around Bangkok.

If you like my photographs of flowers I have lots more here: Royalty Free Photos of Flowers.

The photos above are all of garden plants. Anyone who wants to do some serious botany in Thailand should take a look at the Office of the Forest Herbarium website.

Krathongs are a floral display, often on a banana wood base which also contain incense and an offerring of money. Loy means to float in Thai, so Loy Krathong means to float Krathongs. The festival falls on the twelfth lunar month int the old Thai calendar; it usually falls in early November.

The general popular idea of Loy Krathong in Thailand is to float away all the bad aspects of ones life and to start anew, although it may originally have been a way of venerating Buddha.

The photos are a bit blurry but they do demonstrate what a colourful affair Loy Krathong is.

The northern city of Chiang Mai usually sees the release of thousands of sky lanterns in addition to the krathongs. This trend is now spreading to other parts of the city and I saw this one being released near where I live in Bangkok.

Learn more about Loy Krathong where there are also some wonderful photos of sky lanterns in Chiang Mai.

I am one of those guys from Britain who likes to drink what the rest of the world calls "warm beer". I have never really understood this because real ales are not served warm, but chilled so that the taste can come through. It just isn't ice cold so you can't taste the disgusting chemical taste that many mass-produced lagers have.

Anyhow, when I miss home I take a taxi to Sukhumvit Road (Soi 33) and have a few pints of Cream Bitter in The Londoner Brew Pub where they brew their own beer. It is really good. They also brew their own lager if that is what you prefer.

Above is my beer at The Londoner.

Thailand has quite a strong brewing industry, the two main protagonists are Boon Rawd and Chang Beer.

April 2009 redshirt protestors opposing the government rioted in Bangkok, causing destruction of property and death. In March 2010 they came back to Bangkok to try and cause the downfall of the government.

On 10th April the government tried to break up the increasingly disruptive and violent demonstration using the army.

The army came up against an armed force and 23 people were killed by gunshots and grenades, including 5 soldiers.

Redshirt protestors deny any link to the armed force that fought on their side.

On 11th April 2010 the protest was back to being peaceful and I took the following photos.

A week later the redshirts barricaded a number of Bangkok's streets and created a fortress in the centre of Bangkok; it was not possible for the public to go about their business within this area without first subjecting themselves to checks by redshirt militia. Here is a photograph of the redshirt stockade at Sala Daeng Intersection, Bangkok.

The construction of the redshirt barricade and a statement from the redshirts which said they were going to enlarge their protest and take over Bangkok's banking district prompted many people to protest against the original protest. Violence ensued and 5 random grenade attacks on the new protestors killed one and injured many others, prompting many to see the redshirts as terrorists.

The grenade attacks on rival protesters gave rise to an organised opposing group of protestors calling themselves the "multi-coloured shirts"

The people of the multi-coloured shirts came out to protest against violence and what they saw as a movement to bring down the Thai monarchy - a fear that was perhaps justified by the fact that some redshirt publications calling for the destruction of the "aristocracy" and lecturing about revolutions that had executed monarchs. The multicoloured shirts had also noted the lack of Thai flags at redshirt protests and that in their view the terrorism was being sponsored by ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawat.

These things explain the proliferation of Thai flags, pictures of the king and anti-Thaksin rhetoric in the photographs.

Of course, with all the street protests, mentioned above, a lot of riot police were deployed.

Here are some riot police taking a break and they kindly laid out their equipment in a photogenic way.