Why you should explore congested Bangkok by bike and boat

Thailand’s president recently announced plans to move the country’s capital away from Bangkok, citing traffic congestion. But look a little closer and it’s actually one of the easiest cities to navigate, says Tamara Hinson

Thursday 27 February 2020 10:49 GMT
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See more of Bangkok by bike
See more of Bangkok by bike (Photos Tamara Hinson)

Fifteen years ago I flew to Bangkok to write about its nightlife. It was my first visit and, unaware that Bangkok’s roads are some of the most congested in the world, I decided to use taxis to travel between the bars I had to visit. The low point came during rush hour, when my taxi crawled 2km in 90 minutes. I vowed to rely only on alternative modes of transport from then on.

If only more people took the same approach. In 2019, Thailand’s prime minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, revealed plans to relocate the country’s capital, blaming traffic problems. The irony is that, since shunning Bangkok’s taxis, I’ve realised it’s one of the easiest cities to navigate – a place that hums with the rattle of moto-taxis and tuk-tuks, and the chug of water ferries criss-crossing the Chao Phraya river as wooden long-tail boats splutter along the canals that wind from Bangkok’s centre to its outskirts.

And there’s a reason I’ll always base myself at the beautiful Anantara Riverside hotel, namely the complimentary shuttle-boat service that whisks me across the Chao Phraya to the Saphan Taksin BTS Skytrain station. Dozens of hotels operate similar shuttle services, and the drop-off point is served by various express-boat services, which transport me around Bangkok for about 45p per journey.

Plenty of Bangkok hotels have shuttle boats
Plenty of Bangkok hotels have shuttle boats (Tamara Hinson)

There are new MRT (Bangkok’s mainly underground metro system) stations, too: five of them on the blue line, which opened in mid-2019 and connects Chinatown with the Grand Palace. They’re some of the most beautiful stations I’ve ever come across. Wat Mangkorn is an explosion of red and gold, while Sanam Chai has sparkling chandeliers and Grecian-style columns. Another railway-related gem is the Thai Railway Museum at Bangkok’s Hua Lamphong train station. It’s a reminder of how much Bangkok’s rail network has changed – I arrive via the Hua Lamphong MRT station, with its proud pictures of hi-tech drilling machines, before making my way to the tiny museum, tucked into the main, neo-Renaissance-style train station that was built in 1916. The dusty artefacts offer a wonderful insight into Bangkok’s railway-related past: there are antique station clocks and artistic displays of discontinued train tickets alongside rare MRT-related memorabilia and architectural plans for the city’s oldest stations.

Cycling is the best way to see Bangkok’s hidden gems
Cycling is the best way to see Bangkok’s hidden gems (Tamara Hinson)

Bangkok’s accessibility is nothing new for the team at Co van Kessel, which has led bicycle and boat tours for 30 years. I’d seen their sunshine-yellow bikes (a nod to the late, much-loved King Bhumibol, whom locals associated with the colour) on previous visits. The company was founded by the late eponymous Dutch cycling fanatic, who moved here over 30 years ago. Frustrated by the car-clogged roads, he started exploring the city by bike. One day, he set himself the challenge of cycling from No1 Sukhumvit Road to No100 – not by pedalling along the road itself but by shadowing this six-laned stretch of tarmac and cycling through the lesser-known neighbourhoods that fringed it.

Co van Kessel has led bike and boat tours for 30 years
Co van Kessel has led bike and boat tours for 30 years (Tamara Hinson)

Today, only guided tours are offered – the ability to explore lesser-known areas, including residential ones, relies on mutual respect, and guides are weary of renting bikes to tourists who might not share this philosophy. Our guide, Bobby, starts by showing us how to greet locals in Thai, then we set off from the company’s HQ on shophouse-lined Charoen Krung: Bangkok’s first paved road, which was built to appease the wealthy westerners who settled here in the 1860s but struggled to navigate Bangkok’s muddy byways in their horse-drawn carts. We wind our way down narrow alleyways, past primary schools where laughing kids stick scrawny hands through school gates for high fives. At one point, I’m forced to swerve to avoid a local man who steps sleepily into the street with a towel wrapped around his waist and a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth.

We wobble down the alleyways of Chinatown’s Talat Noi neighbourhood, a maze of narrow streets and beautiful buildings, including the So Heng Tai mansion, one of Bangkok’s few remaining Hokkien (from Fujian province in China) residential buildings. It’s still early, and we weave around saffron-clad monks collecting their alms. We cross the river, briefly deafened by the sudden screech of traffic roaring towards Bangkok’s centre, before turning down a narrow alleyway. At the end is Wat Bowonniwet Vihara, a Buddhist temple with one of Thailand’s largest sitting buddhas. Despite its proximity to the centre of Bangkok (it’s also just metres from backpacker haunt Khao San Road), we’re the only visitors. It’s a reminder of the benefits of bike-based explorations.

Seeing Bangkok from the water gives a different perspective
Seeing Bangkok from the water gives a different perspective (Tamara Hinson)

Later, we heave our bikes into a flower-bedecked long-tail boat and splutter off along one of the khlongs – narrow canals that gave rise to Bangkok’s nickname as the Venice of the East. Originally built as flood conduits, the 2,604km network was once a lifeline for the communities lining their banks, but as more people took to Bangkok’s increasingly crowded roads, they fell into disrepair. In recent years, the government has spent huge sums sprucing up these ancient waterways.

It dawns on me that, minutes earlier, I’d been cycling through the centre of Bangkok but now I’m drifting down a quiet canal under the watchful gaze of curious herons and basking monitor lizards. We disembark 30 minutes later, hauling our bikes out of the boat and saddling up once more, this time for a pedal through the lush durian plantations encircling the city. Many of these small farming communities are accessible only by water, and we’re forced to cycle slowly, wobbling along narrow pathways with sheer drops to the water on either side. At first, it’s unnerving, but then I recall my first visit to Bangkok, and how my stress levels soared with every hour trapped in the hot, sticky cab – and I realise there’s no place I’d rather be.

Travel essentials

Getting there

London to Bangkok with British Airways starts from £400 return.

Staying there

Double rooms at the Anantara Riverside start from £117, B&B.

More information

covankessel.com

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