LAEM CHABANG BANGKOK

 

 

 Photography by Dennis Phan

 

 

 

 

Our cruise ship stayed overnight in Thailand. This was the only overnight stop in the entire cruise itinerary. The ship docked at Laem Chabang, a port in close proximity to Bangkok and Pattaya. We decided to visit Bangkok on the first day. This time, we also teamed up with another cruise friend to save taxi cost.

 
It took about 2 hours to drive from Laem Chabang port to Bangkok. Our first stop was finding  something to eat. A friend of my cruise ship friend recommended a local place for tom yum  kung, an authentic Thai soup. Unfortunately, the place closed one day a week and that was the day it closed. Talk about a coincident! We all jokingly said we should have bought a lottery ticket for that "luck". We went for plan B. This time, we ate at a street vendor for 40 baht per order. It was a casual Thai soup with various kind of meat and vegetables inside. For 40 baht, it was a great deal.


We decided to see the Grand Palace. I was told if we visited this place, we should have a pretty good idea of what the temples in Bangkok should look like. It was a crowded place. Tourists pay 500 baht each for entrance fee. Locals don't have to pay. We had to fight our way to go around since this palace was really packed with tourists and locals. To respect the local culture, we must have proper clothing to enter the palace. If the clothing doesn't cover shoulder and knee, we need to cover up or else, we will be denied the entry. After the Grand Palace, we went to see the lying Buddha. On the way there, we passed by a local market selling street food and tropical fruits. It's always fun to visit local markets in Southeast Asia and this place is no exception. There were some tropical fruits we saw before but almost forgot what it looked like until we saw it again on that day!
 

We planned to stay overnight in Bangkok to see the night market there. However, we forgot to bring a copy of our passports. For security purpose, hotels can't accept foreigners without a passport. For that reason, we took a taxi to get back to Laem Chabang. Since it was still early, we asked our driver to bring us to dinner. The driver was kind enough to bring us to a local night market for food and fruits. Night market is one of popular tourist attractions in Asia. We had fun walking around to explore local culture and food. We had an authentic Thai casual dinner for a relatively cheap price. We also had durian and longan for dessert. After dinner, I looked for a restroom without knowing we have to pay for it. Fortunately, my taxi driver gave me some changes in Thai baht. If not for his kindness, I would have a long drive back to the cruise ship terminal.


We got back to the cruise ship on time for the night. Pattaya will be our next visit.

 

 

 

 

 

Dennis Phan   潘家墉

Khai Minh, UCLA and Investools Alumni

Los Angeles, 29 Jun 2019

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*** 投稿電郵請寄 ***

Bài vở & h́nh ảnh xin gởi về Ban Phụ Trách KHAIMINH.ORG

 

VanNgheGiaiTri@KhaiMinh.org

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2004 – Present   KHAIMINH.ORG  |  Website Disclaimer