Hi kids! Long time no see! Still busy over here but I figure I post this info out for you guys to start talking and getting more suggestions out for my friend Celeste.

You see, Celeste is going on a tour of Asia with her boyfriend, stopping in Bangkok for 3-4 days. She has asked me about what to do and where to go.

After referring her to Thai-Blogs.com, shamelessly, I wrote the following piece of tourism nugget of the places I like best. Please note that this is ONLY my opinion. But I'm sure Celeste will appreciate everyone's input as well.

Here goes my quick effort. A piece written after a long day at work and a couple of beers... ;-)

It is essential for the 1st or 2nd time visitor to Bangkok to have a good map showing the Bkk Transit System (BTS) routes, as well as the public water taxi stops up and down the Chao Phraya River. Truly it’s the only way to stay somewhat sane when attempting to cross, or circumvent this vast air polluted city of eight million people. Forget tuk tuks and or taxi cabs as you will no doubt be stuck in a maddening traffic blood clot; unless only needing a short lift; even then sometimes it’s faster simply to walk. And if walking the streets of BKK for your initial explorations- be very careful when intersecting busy streets, as cars and trucks do not stop for you like back home, even if you’re within pedestrian crossings; and watch out for motor bikes going the wrong way on sidewalks too.

On Sunday, I went into Bangkok to visit the newly opened Siam Paragon shopping mall. In particular, I wanted to see the much publicized Siam Ocean World which is supposed to be the biggest in South-East Asia. My previous experience of a large aquarium was at Underwater World in Singapore. I was curious to see whether this new tourist attraction could live up to their claims. In brochures, they say that they have 30,000 marine animals and 400 species. This is a lot as the one in Singapore apparently has only 2500 marine animals. Even the new Underwater World in Pattaya has more as it has 4000 marine animals.

Public Express Boat and a Private Long-Tailed Boat

I was in Bangkok last week in order to take some pictures for our web sites. I love doing boat trips and I thought I would explore the river north of the city. I have explored the canals before on the Thonburi side of the river in a long-tailed boat (see picture to the right). You can hire these boats for about an hour or so for about 400 baht from the pier near the Grand Palace. But, this time I wanted to explore on public transport. This is a lot cheaper though you don't really have much control of where you go! To get to my starting point I took the Sky Train to the end of the route at Saphan Taksin. Here I transferred to a Chao Phraya Express Boat. This is Central Pier for the boats. You can go south a short way towards Rama IX bridge or north for an hour to Nonthaburi. I chose the latter. This one hour trip cost me 13 baht which is less than 50 cents.