SEA Field Trip: Guidebook Gets It Right
We used Lonely Planet: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Greater Mekong while traveling Southeast Asia. Here's where it led us in the right direction.
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by ced138
The Pop Culture Travel Guide
Thailand Travel Guide
SEA Field Trip: Guidebook Gets It Wrong
We used Lonely Planet: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and the Greater Mekong while traveling Southeast Asia. Here's where it led us astray.
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SEA Field Trip: Navigating Bangkok
Can't afford a European vacation this summer? Do what our contributor Claire Duffett did: Explore Southeast Asia instead.
Bangkok is a massive metropolis filled with skyscrapers and malls beside shacks and abandoned tenements. Between it all, fluorescent cabs and smoking tuk-tuks flood the congested streets.
Get ready for an adventure if you're trying to get around.
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SEA Field Trip: Bangkok's Street Food
Can't afford a European vacation this summer? Do what our contributor Claire Duffett did: Explore Southeast Asia instead.
The best part about food in Bangkok is that the most delicious meal you can buy costs less than $1--and is available on almost any street corner. Just knowing the phrases "pad thai" and "pad kei mow" took us far, though more ambitious eaters have plenty of opportunities to branch out.
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SEA Field Trip: Where to Stay in Bangkok
Can't afford a European vacation this summer? Do what our contributor Claire Duffett did: Explore Southeast Asia instead.
Imagine Judy Garland slinking down an open stairwell, sliding over a multicolor tile lobby floor and tossing off her shawl to dive into a tropical lagoon. The Atlanta could host the scene, so different from the debauchery of the streets that surround it.
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SEA Field Trip: It's Called Bangkok for a Reason
Can't afford a European vacation this summer? Do what our contributor Claire Duffett did: Explore Southeast Asia instead.
We lied. More common than spicy street food and heavy foot traffic in Bangkok is the sight of a balding, middle-aged man with a pockmarked face, potbelly and ponytail striding alongside a beautiful young Thai woman.
Their arrangement is apparent and immediate. Rather than get horrified, saddened or disgusted (and at times, my boyfriend, who co-wrote this travelog, and I felt all of the above), you'll have to accept if not embrace Bangkok's most common trade in order to enjoy the city.
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SEA Field Trip: Bangkok's Temples Say Wat?
Can't afford a European vacation this summer? Do what our contributor Claire Duffett did: Explore Southeast Asia instead.
A 20-minute ferry ride up the Chao Phraya River from downtown Bangkok, you'll find a boatload of temples in the Phra Nakorn district. Motoring upriver, there's the old capital on the left bank and on the right bank, the wats and temples inside The Royal Palace, built in 1782. Each building vies for the title of the most ornate, gold-encrusted, bejeweled homage to the man formerly known as Siddhartha Gautama.
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SEA Field Trip: Chatuchak Weekend Market
Can't afford a European vacation this summer? Do what our contributor Claire Duffett did: Explore Southeast Asia instead.
The biggest flea market in the world, Chatuchak Weekend Market, is almost its own city within Bangkok. To get there, take the Skytrain to Mo Chit and then just follow the crowd. Vendors sell everything from groceries to used clothes to designer goods and (faux) antiques. Stands teem with old boots, cheap dresses, bags of flavored ice and, yes, even fried bugs.
Inside the covered maze of stands, climb over piles of Levis and miniature Buddha figurines to find crafts made by local artisans. Between bouts of browsing, come up for air in the path surrounding the cluster to eat homemade coconut ice cream--though with the thousands of people milling about, the air is less than fresh.
But this is Bangkok, and congestion is as ubiquitous as rice noodle dishes with chili peppers. Fortunately, Chatuchak is the one market that sells unique, affordable goods with vendors who quietly bargain rather than accost passersby, insisting on sales. It's the one not-to-be-missed Bangkok attraction that you probably won't ever want to experience again.
Related Stories:
· Bangkok Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Thailand Travel coverage [Jaunted]
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