02/21/2026 - 02/28/2026

We left Luang Prabang bright and early in the morning so we could be at the airport the recommended 3 hours prior to our international flight. With the exception of a single little coffee shop, everything was closed when we arrived. No one at the check in counters, no one working the security lines or passport control. Just a handful of travelers waiting around like us. I have never seen that before! It is just a really small airport. We were definitely wishing we had slept another hour! We had a smooth non stop flight to Bangkok and took a Grab to our air bnb. All very easy.

I can’t say we were looking forward to Bangkok – huge cities aren’t really our thing and Bangkok is freaking enormous (bigger than both LA and NYC)! We mainly went for flight connectivity. There are some interesting sights and beautiful temples that are definitely worth seeing, but other than that it is just a big and EXTREMELY hot city.

We have visited some pretty incredible temples, but the ones in Bangkok really stood out! The exteriors were made of porcelain and were incredible. The first temple we visited was Wat Arun which is over 300 years old. It is right on the Chao Phraya River, so in addition to visiting it, we were able to see it from the river (by boat) and also one evening from a roof top bar during sunset. It is famous for its 80 meter high central tower decorated with millions of pieces of broken colorful pieces of Chinese porcelain and seashells.

Our second temple visit was to Wat Pho, which is one of Bangkok’s oldest and largest Buddhist temple complexes, famous for its 46-meter Reclining Buddha.

Our third (and final) Bankok temple visit was at the Grand Palace which is a huge 218,400-square-meter complex that served as the official residence of Thai Kings from 1782 until 1925. It was built by King Rama I and remains the spiritual heart of Thailand, housing the sacred Temple of the Emerald Buddha – which is supposedly a big deal. It is made entirely of a big hunk of emerald, but it is actually pretty small. It is raised up really high and no one can get near it except the king who climbs a ladder and changes out its outfit 3 times a year for the change of seasons. You weren’t allowed to take photos inside the Emerald Buddha temple, but we snuck a couple from the doorway.

We saw a traditional show, the Khon masked dance drama. Inscribed by UNESCO in 2018, this high art form combines dance, performance, and martial arts, often showcasing scenes from the Ramakien. It was similar to the Apsara performance we saw in Cambodia and was really good. We liked that they had information above the stage to give an overview of what each scene was depicting.

After hearing so much about China Town, we trekked our way there to check it out. We were pretty unimpressed. In our opinion, it was just an endless stream of vendors selling complete and total crap!

We walked through a flower market that was actually really cool. The flowers were so cheap – something like $3.00 for 24 tea roses and there were hundreds and hundreds of stalls. They make thousands of arrangements for offerings in the temples and for events such as weddings… I figure we can get all the flowers we need for Erica and AC’s wedding for less than $100.00! Erica - be on the look out for a large shipment!

We did a longtail boat canal tour, which was awesome! There is a network of something like 1500 canals on the western side of the main river that runs through Bangkok. All the touristy stuff is on the east side and the canals on the west side are where many locals live … many in stilt houses. The boat passed through the stilt houses, markets, temples, and one enormous Buddha.

Bangkok is known for their rooftop bars - and there are a lot of them! They are pretty incredible, with amazing views! If you are into really crowded spaces with completely absurd prices, this is the place for you! We hit one and had one ridiculously overpriced drink and took some pictures. That was enough for us.

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