Sight-seeing in Bangkok : If your stay in Bangkok is a short one, you won't be able to see all the attractions. For visits of four to five days, include Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace along with Wat Po, Wat Arun, the National Museum, Erawan Shrine, Vimanmek Teak Mansion and a river or canal trip.If you have longer, say 10 days or more, include a trip to Jatuchak Weekend Market (where you can buy just about anything). Evenings are a good time to sample the diverse Bangkok cuisine, especially at some Thai restaurants where you can also enjoy cultural performances or riverside restaurants where you can feel the atmosphere of the old city.
If you do only five things (in Bangkok)
1 Take a trip along the majestic Chao Phraya river. Either jump on the express boat, a water bus that zips up and down the river stopping at the major tourist sights, or hire a 'long-tail' boat - like a gondola trip in Venice, only faster and a lot cheaper.
2 Do not miss the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (open daily 9am-5pm). Go early or late - half an hour before it opens or closes - to avoid the huge tour groups, and rather than queue for a glimpse of the famed Emerald Buddha (all 66 centimetres of it), spend time away from the crowds, admiring the wonderfully restored wall paintings illustrating the Ramakian epic.
3 The Jatujak weekend market, 20 minutes away on the Skytrain, is shopping heaven. With over 8,000 stalls selling designer clothes, fashion accessories, interior decorations, antiques, silks and ceramics, you'll come for an hour and stay the whole day. See http://www.jj247.com/ to check out the best stalls.
Map of Jatujak weekend market
4 Have a Thai massage. Choose between the ultimate massage at the Wat Pho monastery - torture, but you'll feel wonderful the next day - or spoil yourself at one of the many inexpensive day spas dotted around Silom and the Sukhumvit Road.
5 For a splash-out Sunday brunch, head for Madison (155 Rajadamri Road; 250 1000; reserve in advance ), flagship restaurant of the Four Seasons Hotel. This is the crucial Bangkok rendezvous for the city's socialites, providing - on top of the fun atmosphere - all you can eat and drink including lobster, scallops, oysters, sushi, dim sum, martinis and bloody marys.
Don't even think about it ...
· Visiting the city's sex industry, centred in the Patpong neighbourhood - even out of curiosity. Despite so-called efforts to clean up, Patpong remains sleazy, tacky, aggressive, a haven for pickpockets and it totally exploits the bar girls.
· Hiring a tuk tuk (a motorised rickshaw) to get around town. They have become more expensive than taxis and the fumes from the surrounding traffic will suffocate you.
· Dressing too skimpily - there's a strict ban on sandals, shorts or bare shoulders when visiting the Grand Palace, and locals expect the same dress code to be observed for visiting any Buddhist temple.
· Shopping in 'the mall'. Although local tour guides may tell you that the best place to shop for antiques is the swish River City complex, in reality it resembles a sanitised American mall and prices are seriously inflated.
