Top Bangkok tourist attractions include Grand Palace, Wat Phon Buddha statue, Wat Arun temple, Siam Paragon shopping center, and Chao Phraya river cruise.
Grand Palace (palaces.thai.net) is a royal palace and a former official residence of Thailand’s king, and consists of several significant buildings within the eastern shores of the Chao Phraya river.
Highlights of the palace include…
- Wat Phra Kaew temple, which contains the famous emerald Buddha, as well as
- Chakri Mahaprasad building, whose architecture contains influences from Italian renaissance.
Wat Pho (watpho.com) is a Buddhist temple, located next to the Grand Palace, and famous for having one of the world’s biggest Buddha statues…
…as well as for being the place, where the original Thai massage technique was developed.
In addition to the Buddha statue, notable highlights at Wat Pho include its Prang (a tower-like structure) on the temple courtyard, and stone giant statues next to the entrance gate.
Wat Arun temple (watarun.org), meanwhile, is located within the western banks of Chao Phraya river.
The best-known feature of the temple is its central Khmer style prang tower.
In the Thai language, the name of the temple translates as the “temple of sunrise“…
…which may be due to the fact, that the first sun-rays of the morning reflect out of the temple giving it a pearl-like hue.
Siam Paragon shopping center (www.siamparagon.co.th) is one of the biggest malls in Asia, and a great place to purchase souvenirs before returning home from Bangkok.
The shopping mall contains…
- a wide variety of shops and restaurants,
- multiplex movie theater,
- Siam Ocean World aquarium (the largest indoor within Far East),
- an exhibition hall,
- a bowling alley,
- karaoke center, and
- Thai art gallery, as well as
- an opera hall.
Finally, river cruise on the Chao Phraya (“Kings River” in English), is a pleasant way to see the many wonderful sights within the riverbanks…
…such as Wat Arun temple and Grand Palace.
River cruises and cruising packages are organized by, for example, Chao Phraya Express Boat Company (www.chaophrayaexpressboat.com).