A Luxury Day Exploring Temples in Bangkok.

After a very heavy night of drinking at Distil and Mezzaluna, we awoke bright and early at 7:30am to get a private river taxi organised by Lebua. Our boat took us down the canals, and we ate a delicious fresh breakfast of champagne, fruit, and sandwiches while seeing a totally different side of Bangkok. The boat then dropped as off at Wat Arun, which in English is called The Temple of Dawn.

 

The Buddhist temple is encrusted with porcelain, and was originally built in the seventeenth century, making it around 400 years old! Our guide was excellent and showed us around, explaining the history of the temple. After wandering around the temple, we then had a look at the adjacent buildings, before hopping on a ferry over to where our driver was waiting for us.

Enroute to where the driver was waiting we walked past a Gloria Jean’s! I let out a yelp, and got all excited, before realising the menu is completely different to it’s Australian counterpart, and my favourite iced white chocolate was nowhere to be seen. So we moved on and after bypassing the Tuk-Tuk’s found our lovely air-conditioned car.

Stop 2: Wat Traimit

After driving through Bangkok’s busy streets, we arrived at Wat Traimit, also known as the Temple of the Golden Buddha.

The Golden Buddha is a huge 5.5 ton Buddha statue, which is thought to have been made in the 14th century. No one’s really sure about the origins of it as it wasn’t discovered until 1955, when a large plaster Buddha was dropped whilst being moved, and the plaster cracked to reveal the gold Buddha underneath…

I had such a lovely day, and it was so great to just be taken around Bangkok by a guide who knows the area. In such a busy and overwhelming city, it was much more relaxing to not have to worry about where to go and whether or not I was going the right way (you can read about my experience of exploring Bangkok alone here). After our temple visits we were then driven back to our hotel, Tower Club at Lebua, where we had lunch and freshened up. We then spent the afternoon at Jim Thompson’s house.

Stop 3: Jim Thompson’s House

Jim Thompson was an American businessman who helped to revitalise and completely transform the Thai silk industry in the 1950s, before he mysteriously disappeared in 1967. The house was interesting, however you were only allowed to walk around with a tour guide, and couldn’t take things at your own pace. It’s worth a visit if you have time, but definitely not a ‘must-see’ of Bangkok.

And that, ladies and gents, concludes my Bangkok blog posts! There’ll be a short break now with a couple of London-based posts, and then I’ll tell you all about my trip the Chiang Mai, and…ELEPHANTS! I’m SO excited to tell you all about my day with the beaut Dumbo’s! Also check out my Bangkok Travel Vlog below, and make sure you subscribe!

Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

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