It has been a while since I arrived from my quick Thai getaway, and yet, it’s only now that I get to write about it. Haha! Anyway, it was so quick that it consisted of only one weekend. Why? Because it just so happened that one of my sisters had a conference in Bangkok, and I just didn’t want to miss the chance to stay at a five-star hotel for free (I just tagged along, remember?) and explore a new place I haven’t been to before.

So after I purchased my own last-minute airline tickets (yes, this one, I paid for with my own money), I had to quickly think of things that could make me experience Bangkok, Thailand with the limited time I had. I’ve been to Phuket before, but it was my first time in the Thai capital city. And if you’ve been to these two famous Thai places, you would agree that both offer very different Thai experiences — think Manila is Bangkok; Boracay is Phuket. 😉

So what did I do and what do I suggest you do when you’re in BKK for a weekend?

• eat Thai food AND drink Thai milk tea

Eat Thai. Drink Thai. Yep! It doesn’t matter where, you’re in the “original” land anyway — Thailand itself! Just choose a restaurant or even a fast food chain, and look for the “unique” items on their menu that’s not present in your home country. I, for, one had a blast when we went to Chatuchak market because aside from the Divisoria-like tiangge finds, there were hole-in-the-wall restos that served authentic Thai food: pad Thai, tom yum, and yes, Thai milk tea!!! As a milk tea addict, I had Thai milk tea every chance I got! Even their McDonald’s serves Thai milk tea (and corn pie, too!).

• visit a temple or two

If you’re into discovering Thai culture, temples are your go-to. Bangkok has river cruises that go to different temples, and the good thing about these cruises is they’re doable in a day. You can even customize the tours depending on your schedule. You don’t need a tour operator to avail of this. Just go to the dock, buy a ticket (or tickets, depending on what you choose), and off you go.

Another interesting thing to do in Bangkok, especially for a Catholic like me, is attend mass in a Catholic church. The church we went to was called Holy Redeemer, and its architecture was very interesting (see photo below). At first, you wouldn’t even think that it’s a Catholic church! But of course, this was a perfect example of combining cultures and existing in peace despite the different religions present in Thailand. 🙂

• do something for the first time

This is something I recommend for any place you travel to. For me, this was watch a movie in a cinema — in a foreign country! In all my travels, I did it for the first time in Bangkok, Thailand! FINALLY! And yes, this involved going to a mall! Hahaha! Good thing that the mall we went to, CentralWorld, wasn’t your typical mall either. It was huuuge. Think SM Mall of Asia meets Greenbelt in Manila. Hehe! It has a lot of cinemas, too — 15 in all! Wow, right? It’s so upscale that the cinema where we watched used La-Z-Boy (or at least similar to that) as seats! So yes, I really enjoyed my first foreign cinema experience.

To top that off, we watched a space-related movie. And during that time, there was a NASA exhibit in the mall! I’m not sure if they really put that exhibit for the movie or it was just coincidence, but either way, it was so cool that I even got to “play” astronaut for a few minutes! Check out my photo below! Wahahahaha!

Three things, one weekend. So that’s how I made the most out of my quick Thai getaway. The next time I go to BKK, I’ll definitely add more things to this list. 😛 How about you? What would you do in Bangkok if you had only a weekend to visit it?

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Have you also been to Bangkok, Thailand?
Please share your travel story to me, too! 🙂