From time to time people ask us what we actually do when we travel, so here is how a typical day goes on an active trip (when we are out and about seeing the sights and barely working). This particular day was 15 September 2014. We moved from one hotel to another, wandered around Bangkok, enjoyed the splendours of the Grand Palace, rode a boat along the khlong and went to the Big C supermarket for some shopping.
If you only have one day in Bangkok (say you have flown in from Phuket or are waiting for a connection), our route is easy to repeat even now. In the morning, the Grand Palace with the Temple of the Emerald Buddha: as of October 2026 a ticket for foreigners costs 500 baht, the ticket offices are open and visitors admitted from 8:30 to 15:30, and you should allow 2–3 hours for the visit (it took us 3.5). Before you go, check the calendar on the palace website: over the coming months it is closed, fully or partially, on 23–25 and 28 October, 25 November and 5 December 2026. Next door, just south of the palace, is Wat Pho with its Reclining Buddha (300 baht, open from 8:00 to 19:30). In the afternoon, take a boat along the Saen Saep khlong from Phan Fa Lilat pier to Pratunam (15–25 baht) and browse the shops of the modern centre; in the evening, head up to the Baiyoke Sky observation deck or out to Khao San Road.
1. Morning at the hotel
I woke up four minutes before the alarm was due to go off:
After a quick bit of exercise I head for the shower. Yes, we carry all these little bottles around with us (and this is only part of them).
3. After my shower I make myself presentable, read a little and set the photos uploading to the blog. My husband wakes up just then; I wait for him and we go to breakfast together. The time:
4. Breakfast is not usually provided in budget guesthouses and hotels in Thailand, but here it turned out to be included. Nothing especially healthy, but perfectly fine for a morning bite — cereal with milk, toast with jam or honey, tea, coffee and cocoa:
5. Our breakfast:
6. And this is my beloved, still sleepy first thing in the morning:
7. After breakfast we have to pack in a hurry, as there is still a lot to fit in today:
8. All our belongings fit into three rucksacks. Suitcases are really impractical in Asia, as there are hardly any pavements and the roads are not always suitable for suitcases, so our choice is rucksacks (what we take with us on our travels is a separate topic):
9. At 09:45 we finished packing and left the hotel. By the porch there was a pretty bush with unfamiliar flowers:
10. One last look at the hotel sign — and off we go:
11. We needed to get to a guesthouse not far from Bangkok’s main tourist street, Khao San Road. That is where Bangkok’s historic centre is, along with the main sights (one of which we would be visiting today). We usually get around by public transport, but there is no direct bus to the guesthouse without a change, so we decided to take a taxi. Taxis in Bangkok are very budget-friendly anyway: the flagfall, including the first kilometre, cost 35 baht and still does, and since 13 January 2023 each subsequent kilometre has cost 6.5 baht up to the tenth, and slightly more over longer distances (in 2014 it was from 5 baht). In a traffic jam the meter adds 3 baht a minute, and the larger seven-seater taxis have a 40-baht flagfall. The main thing is to agree to go by the meter, because the fixed prices quoted to tourists are two or three times the standard fares.
We quickly caught a taxi and twenty minutes later arrived in the neighbourhood we needed. I managed to photograph the taxi as it was driving away:
12. Notice how narrow the little streets are — and this is Bangkok’s historic centre! Our hotel could not be reached by taxi, so we walked the last short stretch on foot:
13. Most Thais get around on mopeds; on streets like these you could not get through in anything else!
14. And here is the sign for our hotel. In the foreground is the national form of transport — the tuk-tuk. It certainly looks colourful, but riding one is not especially pleasant. Tuk-tuks run on the cheapest fuel, which smokes dreadfully, and with no windows you end up breathing in the exhaust fumes. On top of that, they are an expensive way to travel (at least for tourists): there are no meters, and the price is whatever you agree. A taxi usually works out cheaper than a tuk-tuk, and far more comfortable.
15. We had stayed here before; it is a good budget guesthouse. The only drawback is the lack of free Wi-Fi, but in Thailand we always carry mobile internet with us, so going without Wi-Fi for a couple of days is not such a problem. We check in at reception and go up to our room. The time:
16. We usually take the room with three beds — it is more spacious, and in 2014 it cost just 400 baht. The guesthouse is still operating: as of October 2026 its rooms are sold through booking systems.
This is what our room looked like inside:
17. We unpack, rest a little and at exactly 11:00 leave the room. On the way we buy freshly squeezed mandarin juice at 20 baht — the taste is simply stunning, and you only find it like this in Bangkok. Elsewhere in Asia they tend to add sugar syrup and ice to juice for some reason, but here you can find juice with no additives at all:
18. There are practically no pavements in Asia, but this stretch of road does have a small pedestrian walkway, so you can stroll in comfort. There is a great deal of traffic in Bangkok (it is a megacity, after all), so at rush hour you can easily find yourself in a jam:
19. Another juice stall. The juice is squeezed right there, from these green mandarins. That is simply the variety: under the green peel hides bright orange flesh:
20. We pass Khao San Road. In the daytime it is very quiet here, but in the evening you can barely move. There you can buy street food, souvenirs and clothes, or even have your hair braided or get a massage. We have no time today, though, so we carry on towards the Grand Palace.
21. Flowers… What I love most about Southeast Asia is that at any time of year the colours on the streets are a delight — no greyness or gloom, just bright, rich colours all around:
22. Meanwhile we had reached the walls of the Grand Palace; the time was 12:05:
23. Everyone around tries to assure us the palace is closed today, but we do not give up. At last we find the main entrance. Before buying a ticket, however, you have to change: you cannot enter the palace grounds in short skirts or shorts, tops with bare shoulders and so on. In 2014 you could borrow clothing free of charge right at the entrance (leaving a deposit), but I had brought suitable clothes with me and changed there. No such service is listed among the visitor services on the palace’s official website now, so it is safer to arrive already dressed appropriately:
24. Against the backdrop of the Grand Palace buildings:
25. You can read more about the Grand Palace in a separate article; here I will simply show a few photos:
26. It is beautiful all around; this is one of Bangkok’s most-visited sights, and the grounds are enormous:
27. Inside one of the temples:
28. Greenery around the complex:
29. Three and a half hours later we had finished looking around the temples, museums and galleries — time for a cup of coffee. Hot coffee is not popular in Thailand; people usually drink it iced with a great deal of sugar, but I order a hot latte:
30. My latte costs only 50 baht and tastes really rather good:
31. The next stop on our route was the Big C hypermarket, where we needed to buy groceries and a couple of T-shirts. We decided to get to the hypermarket by water, on a small boat. Bangkok has excellent public transport: buses of various kinds (old, cheap ones without windows and new air-conditioned ones), river transport, tuk-tuks and taxis. As we were in no hurry, we walked to the pier, arriving at 16:20:
32. We climb into the boat. To be honest, it is not all that easy — the boat is rocking, there is a big difference in height, and the roof is low to boot:
33. Paying just 12 baht each for the ride (the 2014 price; since 7 April 2026 boats on the Saen Saep khlong have cost 15–25 baht depending on the distance, with the price pegged to the cost of diesel), we sailed into Bangkok’s modern centre. In the distance on the right you can see Baiyoke Sky, then the tallest building in Bangkok (in 2016 it was overtaken by King Power MahaNakhon, and in 2018 by the Magnolias Waterfront Residences at ICONSIAM), at the top of which there is a wonderful observation deck (as of October 2026 it costs 450 baht including a drink, open daily from 10:00 to 22:00):
34. It is only a five-minute walk from the river-boat stop to the shop, so we had already arrived:
35. First we decided to buy groceries. Next to the fruit there is a wonderful fresh-juice section; I have never seen such variety anywhere else. You can also order a smoothie made from any ingredients you like. I went for one with dragon fruit, grapes, watermelon and ice — very tasty:
36. Our purchases:
37. It was 17:15 — time for a snack. As we still wanted to look at clothes in Big C, we decided to take a break: we went up to the food court and ate some of the fruit we had bought — persimmon, passion fruit, jackfruit and melon. Incidentally, whatever anyone says, we have never found melons better than the ones from home: the local Thai melons are practically tasteless, slightly sweet but with almost no aroma.
38. A food court is actually a great place not only for lunch but simply for relaxing or working — you can settle down with a laptop at one of the tables and work all day long, here opposite the swimming pool, for example:
39. After our snack we headed to the clothing department (a whole floor), where we spent almost an hour and a half; we tried on heaps of things but took only a couple of T-shirts. Before going back to the hotel we decided to have dinner at the food court and ordered traditional Thai dishes — rice with prawns and pad thai (noodles) with prawns:
40. Goodness! It had gone completely dark. We headed out to the bus stop; the time was almost 20:00 (the first time I had seen a clock with Thai numerals — it looks unusual):
41. We boarded our bus and rode back towards the hotel:
42. From the bus stop it was about a twenty-minute walk to the hotel; on the way we called into a 7-Eleven for water:
43. It was completely dark outside; on my own I would not usually walk the streets in such darkness (at least not while travelling):
44. We reached the hotel; the time:
45. The next two and a half hours went on work — sorting and editing photos, writing an article and so on.
The time was 23:38, already bedtime. Before bed I ate a dragon fruit:
46. At 00:07, my evening routine — and then bed:
47. The last thing I did was record the time on my phone:
And that is where my day ended. Thank you for spending it with me!
