Wedding Anniversary in Bangkok, Thailand

To celebrate 24 years, we took our wedding anniversary weekend in Bangkok! All those years ago we agreed to take a long weekend every year for our wedding anniversary. Just the two of us (no kids allowed!) but with a small twist. One of us organises it, and it’s a surprise for the other. It’s fun to keep the other spouse guessing as long as possible!

It was my turn this year (2019) and I was inspired by the Three Days in Bangkok and the Offbeat Bangkok itineraries. I mushed them together and came up with my own version. In four days/three nights, we had an excellent weekend away. Catch the short vlog of our experience here.

Day 1

We flew from Singapore, arriving at about 1pm at Don Mueang International airport in Bangkok. There are two international airports in Bangkok, this is the closest to downtown and serves more Asia regional flights. The other is bigger, further out of town and serves more long distance international flights.

APEC cards for the win – we got through immigration a lot faster than most people. I had arranged a driver (recommendation from a friend – but if you don’t have a personal recommendation, try Mozio) to pick us up and take us to Ayutthaya. As agreed, I paid the driver 1500 baht when we reached our destination. It was a one hour drive to Ayutthaya from DMK airport.

We checked into our accommodation at Sala Ayutthaya. A small, gorgeous, boutique hotel. The river view room was a perfect choice for a wedding anniversary weekend in Bangkok, even if it is 80km north of Bangkok! We had a late lunch (2.30pm) at the hotel for convenience. Delicious lamb shank mussoman curry. The river prawns come highly recommended, but we’re not big prawn fans.

Ayutthaya

We had the afternoon to visit the World Heritage site that is Ayutthaya. The friendly hotel staff helped us arrange a tuk tuk tour. They handed us a map and advised some of the best places to visit. Then they called a tuk tuk for us and told the driver where we wanted to go. His English was limited, but still better than our non-existent Thai. Hotel staff told us the tuk tuk was ours as long as we wanted, at 200 baht per hour. The Sala was very convenient to the ruins.

We travelled early May. It was hot. Way hotter than Singapore which hovers around 30 deg C, day and night. It was 36 deg C, but for some reason it felt much hotter. Remember to take water whenever sightseeing in Thailand.

We saw (in this order): Wat Lokaya Sutharam (the reclining Buddha) – free; the Ancient Palace (with the three large iconic stupas) – cost 50 baht each; Phra Mongkhon BoPhit (next to ancient palace, largest Bronze Buddha in Thailand) – free; Wat Maha That (Buddha face in the tree) – 50 baht and Wat Chaiwatthanaram (amazing as the sun sets) – 50 baht I think, but we just enjoyed it from the sidewalk, so, free! And if you didn’t already know, Wat = Temple in Thai. 😃

The ruins of Ayutthaya really are quite amazing.

The style and scale reminded us of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap. We had mango and coconut smoothies (30 baht each) at our last two stops to battle the heat. There were groups of Japanese tourists at the two busiest sites – the ancient palace and the Buddha in the tree – but otherwise, just a handful of non-Asian faces.

Two hours of temple ruins was enough for us. We tipped our tuk tuk driver 100 baht in addition to paying for his two hours service. Back at the hotel we had a swim in the small pool and a shower before heading out to a night market for local food.

Trying weird and wonderful things at night markets is always a fun dinner date!

Day 2

A delicious breakfast was included in our room rate. We ate outside by the river. And could have sat there forever. But no, we had an adventure ahead. We had to get back to Bangkok!

Very aware that it was the Kings Coronation weekend, and that Bangkok was at full capacity with some streets closed because of coronation parades we opted for the local train.

We left the hotel at 8.40. Again, super helpful staff call tuk tuk drivers as you need them. Straight to the station where we bought two tickets for the princely sum of 15 baht each to Bangkok Central (or Hua Lamphong). The train pulled up at 9am and took two hours. There is no air-conditioning or first class. Just open windows and peddlers on the train who will sell you food or drink as you need it. It was a fun trip. Be careful not to sit in the seats reserved for monks, and stay out of the sun but otherwise, we’re glad we experienced it.

Arrival in Bangkok

Because of coronation weekend, the first thing we noticed was the hordes of people all wearing yellow. At this stage, we hadn’t worked out why… their flag has red, white and blue, so we were scratching our heads a little wondering why all the yellow. There were yellow ribbons, flowers and flags adorning the streets and buildings.

We called a Grab car to get to our hotel – Solitaire Bangkok at Sukhumvit. Grab is a cheap convenient way to travel round Bangkok if you want air-conditioned comfort. This Grab trip cost 146 baht to our hotel.

Our room wasn’t ready. However, at 37 deg C we were pretty keen on a swim and some lunch. We lunched at the hotel after our leisurely swim. Our room was ready at 2pm, so we picked up our room key and set about organising the rest of our day/evening.

I had wanted to do an evening bicycle tour as mentioned in Three Days in Bangkok post, but because of the coronation, those were cancelled for the weekend. We soon realised they weren’t the only evening tours canceled because of the coronation. Our options were quickly narrowing to either a river/dinner cruise or going to see Avengers Endgame.

Tuk tuk night tour

We took the 4pm free hotel shuttle to Terminal 21 shopping mall where there is a cinema complex and were about to buy some movie tickets (another classic date night activity after all) when I got a WhatsApp message. It was Lyn from TakeMe Tours. Lyn was amazing. She arranged a tuk tuk tour called Night Tour of Bangkok for us at the last minute. TakeMe Tours work with “local experts” who show you round.

I was so impressed with Lyn from TakeMe Tours. To be honest, if you look at comparative tours from other companies in Bangkok, TakeMe Tours are quite pricey (5435 baht for 2 people – but it was just us, no one else). Full credit though for their exceptional service when no one else could help.

So, at 7pm we met our local expert at Saphan Taksin BTS station. Check out the tour online for a rundown of what we saw. We were out for about four hours, and the tour ended in Chinatown. Our guide did great considering there were some streets closed to tuk tuks because of the coronation. So we improvised at times, but we got a really good feel for Bangkok, some of its culture and its food (Thai dessert was included in the tour).

Plus, we got the answer to why everyone was wearing yellow!

The new king was born on Monday. Fun fact: so was his Dad, the old king. Anyway, in Thailand, every day of the week has a lucky colour associated with it, and for Monday, it’s yellow! So, in support of his coronation, Thailand was yellow crazy to support the new king.

Day 3

Hotel breakfast buffet was included in our room rate. Then, we headed out to the famous Chatuchak weekend market. I’m so glad this wasn’t affected by the coronation! It opens from 9am – 6pm, weekends only. We got there as soon as it opened; trying to beat the heat.

Chatuchak market and a movie

It is hard to describe, or comprehend the scale of this market. I loved it. There’s just so much. There is no way you can see it all in a weekend, let alone a day. Even my husband was impressed! If it had been cooler we could have spent all day there, browsing and eating. We bought a couple of things, including a 30 min foot massage for 150 baht each. You can always tip staff extra if you enjoyed it. We gave 20 baht each to our massage aunties. The market is covered, but not air-conditioned.

We took a Grab car (180 baht) back to Terminal 21 Mall for lunch and a movie. We had very good ramen for lunch for 583 baht. And then, we got to see Avengers Endgame! It was a relaxed way to spend three hours on a Saturday afternoon. The movie cost 560 baht. Fun fact about movies in Thailand: they always play the national anthem and ask the audience to stand before the movie starts. The monarchy is well loved and respected in Thailand.

Dinner and serenade

For dinner we had a reservation at Blue Elephant (bookings essential). We have a fancy meal every wedding anniversary weekend. It’s our chance to evaluate our relationship and the previous twelve months. Sounds a bit formal perhaps, but hey, it amuses us.

We had the Chef’s Tasting Menu and mocktails which cost 6000 baht for the two of us. Our waiter asked if we were celebrating anything special. And in response, at the end of the meal he bought over a special fruit platter, a spray of orchids for me and then he pulled out a guitar and serenaded us! So sweet!

Day 4

Our last day. After breakfast we checked out (about 9am) and left our bags with the concierge. We had until about 2pm before we had to head to the airport.

And we had three great experiences still waiting for us.

Boat ride and Airplane Graveyard

First, we were headed for the Airplane Graveyard that I’d read about in Offbeat Bangkok. We made our way to Nanachard Pier round the corner from our hotel. (9 min walk, or take a tuk tuk). Bangkok is full of rivers and we wanted to experience one of the local water buses.

About five mins later our boat -headed for Wat Sriboonreung (an end stop) – arrived. The boat trip cost 17 baht each and took 35 mins. We paid once we were seated on the boat. We just showed the ticket guy where we were going on Google Maps.

It was then a five min walk to Harmony mall (supermarket, cafe, air-conditioned, clean toilet) and a further three mins to the Airplane Graveyard.

You’ll see an old plane body sitting in a field first. Then you’ll come to the locked gates. We suggest you smile as you approach the gates. They let us in for 200 baht each. We wandered in, over, and through the derelict planes to our heart’s content. It was smaller than I thought, and more fun than I expected. We both really enjoyed it. As we left the caretakers gave us a cold, free bottle of water. I’m not sure if that’s usual, or just because we looked extremely hot and sweaty!

Quirky cafe lunch

By then it was 10.45am. From there we retraced our steps, catching the boat in reverse back to Nanachard pier and our hotel. We considered a Grab but opted for the boat instead. After collecting our bags from the hotel we paid 83 baht for a Grab car to take us 2km to a fun little cafe called It’s Happened to be a Closet. Strange name, but funky little place with delicious food. We had lunch and cake for 1260 baht. Their cake selection was amazing, and so hard to choose.

We took our time enjoying the fun ambiance of this cafe till we had to leave for the airport. A Grab car delivered us to DMK airport in about 30 minutes.

It was my first time to Bangkok and I feel like our wedding anniversary weekend in Bangkok was a total success. We truly had a lot of fun, relaxed, and yet, saw so much!

Trip taken May 2019

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