What a Week: Exploring the Temples of Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand

After a rough first day in Bangkok of feeling lost and out of place, I managed to get my act together. I’d done so much research online but never really made any plans for my day to day activity. So I took a deep breath, and thought “What do I normally do when I visit other countries?” And I realized I usually get a local tourist map, circle all the places I want to go, and then see if there’s a pattern for walking to them. I pulled out my map (thanks Jen) and began Googling every monument and temple listed. Turns out, most of the popular ones were within walking distance! So I grabbed my daypack and walked out the door feeling like a total tourist and proud of it.

My hotel was located by the Giant Swing which is an easy landmark to find on maps. I’m not really sure it’s worth going out of the way to see, but I walked by it almost every day since it’s right around the corner from where I was staying.

On maps, this temple looks small and kind of unimportant. In reality, it’s fairly large. Right opposite the Giant Swing, it too is a place I’ve passed multiple times. I’ve noticed that it often looks closed, but you can go inside if it’s before 3:30 or walk the grounds if it’s after 3:30. This seems to apply to all the temples I’ve found. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).