How to See Bangkok in 2 days of your own

I assume all of you carry a smartphone. First thing to do is to get a pre-paid sim card for internet when you come out after collecting your bags at the airport. There will be numerous counters calling you out for it, so it is pretty easy.  I personally prefer True or AIS, two service providers in Thailand. Choose the plan you need, at least get 1GB internet.

I also assume that you know how to use google map, if not, just sign in to google map using your gmail id on a PC or even phone. Type in a place and once the correct place shows up, there is an option to save them (see the blue star button). Once you click the blue star button, it will turn to yellow and an yellow star will also show up at the place on the map. Now open google map on any device (your smartphone/Tab/another PC) and sign in using the same gmail id, then all the yellow stars you saved will show up on that google map.

Now you can navigate from any place to these selected places by clicking on one of the yellow stars on google map and then click on “Route” ("Route" in smartphones, "Directions" in PC).  Then it will ask to choose a starting point. Enter the place where you are by selecting “your location” (or you can even choose a place on map) and google map will give you route options using car, train, even walk. It will even show the status of traffic as well.

Day 1

Some of the main historical attractions in Bangkok

1. Grand Palace & Temple of Emerald Budha (Wat Phra Kaew)

2. Temple of Reclining Budha (Wat Pho)

3. Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun)

4. Democracy Monument

5. The Gaint Swing

In the photo below, See the yellow stars on the photo.

The Grand Palace and the Temple of Emerald Budha (Wat Phra Kaew) are within one compound. So go there first in the morning, to beat the crowd. I will suggest two ways to go there, depending on the place and available time, you can choose what you want.
1) Go to National Stadium Skytrain station and take a taxi to the Grand Palace.
2) Go to Saphan Taskin Skytrain station, go out to the Sathorn pier which is below the Skytrain station and take ChaoPhraya Express boat to Tha Chang Pier and walk to the Grand Palace. 

Make sure to wear long pants and do not queue up at the gate, that is for changing dress for those who wear short pants or miniskirts.  Look for the ticket counter, which is 50m away from the main gate (i hope still there). There will be many guides come to stop you,  you can get one if you want, though i don't recommend. Make sure to carry water bottles. You just walk around and see the places and probably you will see the entire place by midday or so, walk out through the same gate, and you can see many shops & restaurants on the opposite side of the road, go there for lunch.  Fresh fruits and coconut water are also available on the street.

After lunch go to Wat Pho, which is behind the grand palace and is approximately 1.2km away. You can either walk along the Maha Rat road or get a taxi or tuk-tuk, make sure you bargain for tuk tuk; for taxi, ask for meter.  If you look at the google map to set route to wat Pho, then you will know whether they cheat you or not. Never ever enter into a confrontation with the taxi or tuk tuk drivers. Always smile and tell them politely, and probably show the google map route. Fighting will make it worse, the golden rule is a smile can achieve more in Thailand than a fight.

After Wat pho, it will be almost evening, negotiate with some tuk-tuk driver and make a deal to take you to

a.   The Giant Swing,

b.   a Vishnu Shrine next to it

c.   The Democracy Monument

d.   Drive along Sanam Luang

e.   Tha Thian

See the route i charted out on google map, you can add multiple destinations by clicking (+) sign while setting one route.

Next to Tha Thian pier you will see Nagaraphirom park. You can sit there, relax and see the traffic on the river and admire the beauty of Wat Arun in the night with all the lighting.

Probably take a taxi to go to Kao Sarn road (Kao Sarn is pronounced as Cow San) if you are tired to walk, in fact it is less than 3km from where you sit and you can walk to Kao Sarn road through Sanam Luang. I would probably do that, as it is very beautiful to watch the Grand Place from Sanam Luang with all the lighting. Kao Sarn road is a night spot, with many pubs and restaurants, mainly a place for bag packers, you will see a lot of them. I personally prefer the restaurants in the Rambuttri Alley just behind the Kao sarn road. To go back to hotel, you can either get a taxi back to hotel or taxi to National Stadium sky train station and then to your place using sky train.

Day 2

Wat Arun normally opens at 8.30am.  One of the good and enjoyable way to go there is to take skytrain to Saphan Taskin station, come out and walk to the Sathorn pier, and take a boat. I find the Chao Phrya express boat service is cheap and easy option. You can also see the packages for the boat and take the one you wanted. There is a cheap option of one-day pass, with which you can travel up and down the river. Get a boat and get down at Tha Thian pier (the place near to Wat Pho), then take another boat to cross the river to Wat Arun, talk to the boat guys, they are very helpful.

 For Shopping

1. Siam paragon
2. MBK centre
3. Central World
4. Plantinum Fashion mall
5. Pantip Plaza
6. Indra square
7. Chathuchak Weekend Market

You can take the sky train to Siam station, just to walk around there, also MBK centre (next to National stadium train station, one stop from Siam). From Siam you can walk down to Central World, a giant shopping mall that was burnt down during May 2010 Red shirt protest in thailand.

From Central World, you can walk down along the Ratchadamri road to reach the Plantinum Fashion mall. Plantinum mall, Pantip Plaza and Indra square are very close to each other, in a place called Patunam.

You can also take sky train to Ratchathewi station and then walk or take motor cycle taxi to go Pantip plaza or Plantinum mall. Pantip plaza is a good place for electronic stuffs.  The Platiunum mall is shopping paradise for ladies, especially for cheap and good quality dresses and other stuffs. There is a floor for kids and men also. Indra square is more famous among Indians, which is walkable from platinum fashion mall. To go to Chathuchak Weekend Market, you need to take sky train to MoChit train station and walk to the market.
my personal preference is Plantinum Fashion mall.

For Night life

Patpong (near the Sala Daeng Sky train station), Nana Plaza (near Nana train station) and Soi Cowboy (near Asok train station) are some of the night spots. Some of the music pubs in Patpong are quite nice. There are a few nice clubbing places like Levels club, Q-bar etc in Soi 11, Sukhmvit road, near Nana station. Don’t get cheated in any of the places there, always carry common sense with you and use it.  Most important thing is don’t go to any of these places alone and don’t ever leave your drink unattended. One of my colleagues once got drugged and taken away for 2 days and lost lot of money. And the strange fact was, he had no memory of any of the events happened during that period. Some my colleagues told me similar stories where the victims died due to drug overdose. So, go with a group and leave with the group.