Bangkok in 48 Hours 🇹🇭: Temples, Michelin Star Meal & Sunset River Cruise

The vibrant city of Bangkok. Let me start off by saying Bangkok is massive. With over 17 million people calling this mega city home, no wonder there's an endless number of things to do here. Over the course of two days we'll explore the bustling city life of Thailand's capital from the chaotic to the peaceful. As soon as we landed we began our journey heading to a sunset spot for our first glimpse of Bangkok. Good afternoon from Bangkok. We actually just got off a flight from Laos not too long ago and because we only have two full days to explore this city we did not want to waste a single second so we came out to the Wat Pho pier to catch sunset. So gorgeous here you see across the Chao Phraya river into the Wat Arun which is one of the most beautiful temples in Bangkok. It means the temple of dawn so we're hoping that the colors really pop out especially with the sun behind it and we have a whole hour before sunset so we're going to be exploring the pier area a little bit. It is beautiful there's like a whole stone viewing platform, some music playing in the background and there are some cafes and restaurants here to dine at. We do have a place set up for dinner near the Khao San road so we're going to spend sunset here and then head over there. It was quite a gorgeous sunset and we just had our eyes peeled on the Wat Arun temple and the cloud was covering quite a bit but I think the sun did pop out with a little bit of color for us. It also got extremely busy much busier than when we first got there which obviously again we're there an hour before sunset and also it's kind of cool that the temple actually lit up that's something I did not expect so that was really cool to see. Now it is time to go grab some food. Now Khao San road is about a half an hour walk from here but I feel a little bit lazy so I don't know if I'm gonna walk it. I'm gonna try to find some form of transportation to get there. We found our dinner for the night. Nah just kidding it's down the road. Come on. Okay sadly the restaurant that we planned to eat at which is called Koh Sakan Thai Curry House was really busy and they had an hour-long wait so we're on the hunt for another place hopefully it serves up some decent food as well. After walking around a bit we found Tom Yum Kung which seemed like a good alternative. We ordered the Tom Yum of course, Thai basil chicken, and cashew chicken. The food was pretty good and the atmosphere lively and with people watched as the crowds of Khao San road passed in front of us. We ventured around the road after dinner and found it quite hectic. There were a few stalls selling some clothes but it was mainly bars and clubs with hosts trying to get us through the door. Not really our vibe but it might be yours if you enjoy a little bar hopping. Oh and later we saw a stall selling alligator meat which was interesting. We woke up a little bit earlier this morning had some breakfast which thankfully is included with our hotel and then we came over by Grab to visit one of the temples. We're here at the Wat Benjamabopit which is known as the marble temple and a lot of the bright white marble was actually imported all the way from Italy. You're gonna see a lot of European mixed with Thai designs here and you see a lot of the well-groomed hedges. The gardens are beautiful. The cost to come in here is 100 baht per person and the opening time is 6am. We came a little bit later but that's okay the sun is fully out and it is shining against here. I kind of have the feeling that maybe this temple isn't as visited. I don't see too many people here and Bangkok is so well traveled as a destination. I'm kind of surprised. But this one is still very popular as it does appear on a lot of tours but I think because we got here before eight in the morning that's the indication as to why there are so few crowds. Because one thing that ruins it for us is crowds and it actually is really peaceful out here. Peaceful and a lot cooler in temperature. Yeah so highly recommend you guys coming before eight if possible. It's actually really beautiful here. They have a really nice water feature. All the water fountains running through along this little stream that they have and these red bridges that you can cross and we get to see some monks too. Yeah they've got their prayer time right at like 8 15 in the morning or so I think. We came over to the Mahanak market which is a local fresh fruit market. The keyword is local as not many tourists would come here or even know about it. I got the idea from our friend Eleanor and she suggested to come here because the prices are so good which makes sense as the locals are paying these prices. We're on the hunt for some prepared fruits maybe a smoothie or a coconut. So far we're seeing a lot of full unprepared fruits. We're going to keep our eyes peeled and hopefully we'll find something. We found a coconut place pretty soon after I mentioned it and it's called Coconut Home Mahana. They have a little seating area. It feels like a nice cafe. A lot of the coconuts are actually refrigerated and they cut it open for you right then and there when you purchase it and this whole thing was only 35 baht. We wanted to come and visit a second temple and this one is a bit of a hidden gem as even in midday there's barely anybody here. It's also free admission and we came to the Wat Ratchabopit. It was built in 1869 during the reign of King Rama V and it was a bit of a tradition for each monarch to build their own temple. It still has a bit of a mix between European and Thai designs just like we saw earlier but this one is very unique because it has a circular courtyard and in the middle of it is a golden teddy that's 43 meters high. We made it back to the hotel now and we do have to freshen up as we have lunch reservations coming in about half an hour. We gotta spice it up just a little bit because this place that we're heading to is a little bit special. Now in total for our graphs which we took four in total it cost us 458 baht before any tipping. So first that's actually not too bad considering the number of places that we went to but of course you can definitely do this cheaper if you took public transit whether that's the rail system or you took buses. All right let's get freshened up and we'll head over to lunch. Our place for lunch is called Khao and this is a one michelin star restaurant. Surprisingly the prices are quite reasonable considering the fact that they've had this star for four years since 2020. The setting is beautiful and the service so far has been great. I love the fact that we got a little towelette. We also have this little tuxedo serviette. So cute. But the decor here is fantastic. It's kind of a mix between modern and islander especially with the wooden features and the wicker seats. We ordered quite a few things. The menu is extensive. I swear there are probably like 60 different dishes. We ordered a couple of drinks, some classic meals, and a couple of appetizers to spice it up a little bit. Our appetizers are out and they're looking so delicious as well. Smelling really good. We got some deep fried shrimp that is covered in a red pepper sauce and it looks like a little bit of a fish cake on the inside. It's packed with fragrance. Definitely a little bit on the fishier side but some of that red pepper sauce really helps kind of balance the flavors of the fish. Next up we have a Thai style taco. It's a little bit of a do-it-yourself. There's some minced crab meat in there, some prawns as well, and these mini taco shells. They're a little bit smaller and it comes with a side of sweet and sour veggies. They can help balance the flavor of the fish. I think there's a little bit of a coconut shaving in here. Definitely coconut. Some of the spices that they use in Thai curries. They did mention that the crab meat is actually coated in curry powder. That flavor is a lot better in my opinion than the fish cakes that I just had. For our mains we decided to go a little bit more of a classic route. So we decided to go and grab some curries. Lauren got the penang curry while I got the masa mung or yellow curry. Noticeably Lauren's is quite a bit thicker while mine is definitely a lot more liquid in its texture. I already know both are going to be delicious. We also got a side of jasmine rice but we picked the one that was a little bit more like on the shelf. We felt like this is going to be a little bit healthier of a route. Our dessert is looking so colorful, milky, and sweet. We have these mochi balls that are dipped in coconut milk and we have sesame seeds on top with some jelly bits inside. Now over here we have two scoops of black sesame ice cream. One of my favorite ice creams. It really has that nutty smell to it. The coconut milk is warm, very sweet, and salty. This is actually such a good dessert. Inside of the mochi ball is shredded coconut. Oh, I'm so in love with this dessert. It's so good. After taking three separate trains we have made it over to the Icon Siam which is probably one of the best looking malls here in Bangkok. If there's one thing to know about this city is for some reason they love their malls and they're super decked out. In fact in the basement floor they have an entire street food market. We actually been here like a couple years ago and we actually really enjoyed it. I swear they have like hundreds of street food vendors. We're not a hundred. Not a hundred? Really? I swear we were walking around for so long. So regardless we wish we had time to explore this mall but unfortunately we do not. We are here for one very good reason and that's because one of the best things to do in Bangkok is to take a cruise along the Chao Phraya River especially during dinnertime and this is where you have your meter point right at the Icon Siam pier number one. Yes and on this cruise not only do we get to see the skyline we're also going to enjoy a buffet dinner. If you guys want to book the same one we'll go ahead and link it in the description below. All right let's go get checked in. We had very low expectations as to where we'd sit because we did go there fairly last minute but thankfully we do have a window view. We're not on the top floor but Jason kept his hopes up. We do get the chance to be able to see some views as we have our dinner. We're not sure what it is. I think it's pretty good. It is so crazy hectic. They literally just called out buffet is open and everybody rushed over there. I kind of wish it did it by sections but at least maybe like half the boat first but it is so crazy but we did get our food. There's actually a lot more variety than we had expected. There's maybe I'm counting 30 plus dishes which I'm definitely happy about. Not can't say too much about the quality but let's actually see how it tastes. Okay that's some rice a little bit on the colder side a little bit seasoned kind of like a fried rice. I thought it's not bad at all. Honestly we touched maybe a quarter of the dishes so definitely gonna go back and grab some more but so far the food not too bad. As the sun went down we enjoyed the postcard views of Bangkok one final time with two stellar days exploring the city we know we'll be back for more.