travel to Bangkok->Siem Reap from Malaysia by train ..part V

{Lone Ranger Finding His Loving Wife}

......continued from part IV

Bangkok, how should I write about this city ? It just have plentiful of thoughts before travel to Bangkok & marvelous of feeling after then. 

Before I traveled to Bangkok, I only knew from my perception that it is a city look alike Kepong, a rural township outskirt of Kuala Lumpur; or the most, Bangkok is just alike area with old streets of the Malaysia capital city. But then, why I decided to travel there while I can easily trip down to Kuala Lumpur within a 20 minutes short-drive? Because my final destination of this trip was Angkor Wat. It had to be pass-by Bangkok if I want to travel to Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia, without flying from Malaysia. 
Eventually, I had to do some surfing online & bit of research about Bangkok besides running on lot of pages about Angkor Wat. 

Bangkok, had been selected by travelers around the world as one the “Top 10 Destinations in Asia” in 2015.

Top Destination in Asia by Travelers' Choice award

"….. Award winners were determined using an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of reviews and ratings for hotels, restaurants and attractions in destinations worldwide, gathered over a 12-month period.

[Top 10 Travellers’ Choice Destinations in the World]

1. Marrakech, Morocco  2. Siem Reap, Cambodia  3. Istanbul, Turkey  4. Hanoi, Vietnam  5. Prague, Czech Republic  6. London, England  7. Rome, Italy  8. Buenos Aires, Argentina  9. Paris, France  10. Cape Town, South Africa

[Top 10 Travellers’ Choice Destinations in Asia]

1. Siem Reap, Cambodia  2. Hanoi, Vietnam  3. Ubud, Bali, Indonesia  4. Bangkok, Thailand  5. Kathmandu, Nepal  6. Hong Kong, China  7. Hoi An, Vietnam  8. Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia  9. Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia  10. Beijing, China"

 quoted from TheStar, dated 30 March 2015.

There are plentiful of articles writing about Bangkok online. Among all it shown in the net, words & pictures which attract me were the ornate shrines & gleaming temples, tour by river boat shuttling in many other gypsy-like boats & riverside attractions, romantic sky-bar view, Thais original tom yam and so on … those were things that I would like to experience there.

Bangkok Hua Lamphong railway station

The Thailand train36 I ride on from Hat Yai since 7pm a day before finally stopped at Hua Lamphong, Bangkok railway station, at around 11:30am. So, it had been 17 hours lone ranger long ride on a 'comfort' train in a foreign country, with lot of greenish village rural view. Not bad.

Bangkok Hua Lamphong railway station

Bangkok Hua Lamphong railway station

Caution of "Tips on Traveling Safe"

So there you are. Seeing a lot uniformed officers & policemen gathered for a briefing. 

A month before I traveled to Bangkok, there was a bombing took place inside the crowded Erawan Shrine located in the downtown of Bangkok. So, Thai authority seem like taking serious caution on tourist crowded area.

Uniformed officer & policemen seem everywhere in Bangkok railway station

Monks seem "stand-by" for prayer in Bangkok railway station

Namo Amitabha, Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu.

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Bangkok, attracts more tourists than any other city in the world and it doesn't take long to realise why ...

Bangkok ranked 3rd in current "Cities in Asia in [Lonely Planet] website 

Siem Reap selected as the "must go" destination in Asia

... to be continued 


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