Asiatique

Bangkok is among the world's top tourist destinations. In fact, it is named the most visited city in MasterCard's Global Destination Cities Index, and has been named "World's Best City" for four consecutive years by Travel + Leisure magazine. And the nice part about living in such a large metro city of over 14 million is that it doesn't take long to play the tourist... just hop on the light-rail system (BTS) and head to another part of town!

That's exactly what a few of us did after school this week on the eve of a four day long weekend. I love heading down to the river to catch a "river taxi". It's a fun way to get to areas such as Chinatown, the All Night Flower Market, any number of ornate temples and other city landmarks. When I'm on the river, I often envision what Bangkok must have been like hundreds of years ago when trading ships traversed the waters en route to trading posts at various ports.

From the pier on the Chao Phraya River, our group boarded a river taxi and headed to Asiatique. I learned this property along the riverfront was once a Danish trading post and, fortunately for us, many of the original buildings were restored and remain today.

I highly recommend this beautiful market area to visitors of Bangkok. It's much like a high-class night bazaar complete with restaurants, shops, waterfront activity, entertainment (such as puppet show and dancing fountain), and even a Ferris wheel in the amusement area. Needless to say, this place really comes alive in the evening hours!

Have you ever seen so many cracked eggs as at this food stand?