First blog

In April 2011, we visited Thailand for the second time... The first trip had been in 2008, where we visited the illustrious capital, Bangkok, and the Northern cultural area of Chiang Mai. We had always regretted not having the time to see the Thai islands, so when my Dad arranged for us to visit Koh Samui, we jumped at the opportunity.

This time around, we would also be joined by my best friend, Wendy, so we decided to include "one night in Bangkok" so she could experience the real thing...And we also had a few places we hadn't yet been able to visit that we were keen to include in the itinerary.

The first was Muang Boran - the Ancient city, a site I don't think many tourists get to, as it is quite far out of the main city. It is basically an enormous open air museum, spread over 200 acres. It is reached (if on a budget!) via a bus from central Bangkok, followed by a pickup ride. Our trip was fairly eventful, but actually enjoyable, and we felt proud of ourselves for figuring out the public transport in a country where few people speak English! Below is a picture of Werner and Wendy in the pickup...



Once inside the ancient city, we discovered that it is absolutely packed with monuments, most of which are replicas of key monuments in thaliand, sometimes up to 3/4 of the original size! Some monuments, which were considered in danger of not being preserved, are actually transported to the museum and thus are originals! So a visit to the ancient city is like doing a mini tour of the whole of Thailand in one day :)










The fun thing is that bicycles are included in the entry price, so we, as recent biking enthusiasts, decided this would be a good option for getting around. And it really was, we were able to see almost all of the park in a few hours! But we totally underestimated the scorching sun, and we soon pretty exhausted and ready to head back to Bangkok...

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Location:Bangkok