After two days in the semi-suburban outskirts of the city, we are thrown into the midst of an ever-busy, ever-bustling, ever-beautiful metropolis like I’ve never seen before. Bangkok streets are madness on wheels, with three-lane highways carrying four lanes of traffic, and scooters weaving in and out of larger vehicles as they please. It’s loud and it’s hot and it’s never-ending. It’s so exciting.

Our first downtown hotel is a Best Western Plus, located in the central Bangkok Sukhumvit district. Sukhumvit Road is not only one of the longest boulevards in Thailand, but one of the longest boulevards in the world! The sois (connecting streets) are numbered from West to East, with odd numbers North and even numbers South of Sukhumvit Road. To make this confusing, the numbers to the North and the numbers to the South don’t line up, and many of these roads have additional names (i.e. Soi Thong Lo) or have sois of their own (i.e. Thong Lo Soi 1). Either way, this is a very popular area for tourists and expats, and a relatively wealthy area of Bangkok, home to many high end hotels and five-star restaurants.

We pull up to the hotel’s sleek lobby with purple neon lights grazing the walls, and are greeted with broad smiles. Everyone is eager to serve, from the speedy check-in to the bellhop who has our bags neatly stacked on a cart before we even realize he’s there. The Best Western is gorgeous. It is modern and trendy, with an open-concept room, king size bed, flat screen TV, and floor-to-ceiling windows. The bathroom is designed with modern finishes, but we are still treated to the traditional Thai bathroom (described in this post). Opting for lunch at the hotel’s restaurant, we hop in the elevator to take us up to the rooftop. The restaurant (TropiKool Rooftop) has indoor and outdoor seating, and a good selection of food, including a buffet. If you try to stay within your comfort zone, and eat the foods you are familiar with, you may be somewhat disappointed with the quality. However, if you venture to try some local Thai dishes, you will be pleasantly surprised and often impressed. This is the case in most areas of Thailand I’ve been to.

For the remainder of the evening, we wander the streets, taking in the street vendors and party-goers that crowd the sidewalks. The salesmen and women are very eager to make a deal, but it’s nothing a kind smile and a “no thank you” doesn’t take care of. The difference in culture is certainly shocking, with women selling themselves at bars to any man with cash, to children hustling fake brand-name goods on the streets, and men begging to drive us wherever we’re going so they can earn a few bucks tonight. It’s amazing that this is simply a way of life, and it’s inspiring to see how genuinely happy and proud these people are considering the way we think the world has ended when we get the wrong latte at the drive-through.

We make it a pretty mellow night, enjoying some cold beverages at a few quaint dive bars, and dinner at the amazing Basilico Pizzeria (finding the best Italian pizza ever in Thailand = priceless). Basilico is actually right across the street from our hotel, so if you’re ever in the area I highly recommend checking it out. We also stumble across a local Laundromat consisting of an elderly Thai woman working out of her home, which is set up as a store-front. We’ll soon learn that this is very common, and always much much cheaper than the hotel Laundromats. Plus, the laundry smells amaaaaazing and they take care to perfectly fold every single item. Yes, EVERY single item.

We spend just over a week in this downtown hotel, exploring the area’s shopping, food, and attractions. I’ll cover some of these attractions in more detail in another post, so check back soon! In the meantime, if you’re headed to Bangkok, be sure to take some time to visit Sukhumvit.

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