22 Walks in Bangkok: Exploring the City's Historic Back Lanes and Byways

by Kenneth Barrett

Take a series of unforgettable strolls down the back lanes of historic Bangkok!

Bangkok, Thailand is one of the world's greatest cities and a leading tourist destination, visited by millions each year. But it can also be a bewildering place. First-time visitors, not knowing what to expect, encounter endless boulevards connected by a vast maze of tiny side streets. A stroll down any of these lanes can reveal exciting surprises--beautiful palaces and mansions, shophouses and shrines, restaurants and markets.

This user-friendly Thailand travel guide helps you discover hidden gems found throughout the city by presenting each neighborhood as a distinct village--explaining how it evolved, and describing its historical landmarks in detail. Travel book author Ken Barrett is a long-time Bangkok resident and experienced journalist, and he introduces the noteworthy temples, churches, shrines, and mosques in loving detail, sketching their history and distinctive features. The reader is skillfully guided through the old neighborhoods of Bangkok from the center to the periphery, along narrow lanes and byways rarely seen by foreigners.

22 Walks in Bangkok leads the visitor on a unique journey of discovery and enables you to appreciate this fascinating city in new and exciting ways.

Genres: Travel

354 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Kenneth Barrett is a journalist who was born in London and who has spent half his life in the Far East. He has lived in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand, and has travelled on assignment to most of the Asian countries. He is also familiar with parts of the Middle East and South America. A freelancer, he has written for newspapers and magazines of all kinds and has had regular columns on food, books, TV criticism and humour.

Barrett's greatest interests combine travel with history and architecture, and this has resulted in the publication of 22 Walks in Bangkok: Exploring the City's Historic Back Lanes and Byways. The book is a journey on foot through the historic districts of Bangkok, bringing the city to life by explaining how each evolved, describing the landmarks, and relating some of the curious stories that he found along the way. Barrett is an accomplished photographer, and the book is illustrated with his own photographs.

Reviews

[Crystal]

A wonderful conglomeration of history and facts that make you want these 22 walks offered in this book whenever you visit Bangkok.

[Ietrio]

Nothing special, but the book is thick enough to give people with less inspiration something to do while there.

[Tito Quiling, Jr.]

As one of the more exciting capitals in Southeast Asia, and well-known cities in the world, Bangkok in Thailand is rich in tradition and history, while facing the contemporary practices of the modern world. Yet, there are unexplored areas that remain to be discovered by both locals and especially, the farangs (colloquial terms for foreigners in Thai) that are constant visitors in this country. I am bit biased with this one, since this was the first city that I went to on my own as a 17/18 year-old on a student-exchange program and many instances, having locals take us around allowed for a more personal take on some familiar grounds. However, reading this book makes for a decent guide when one intends to stray a bit from the usual temple-hopping all over the city, some drinks (or ten) on Patpong, heading to Khao San for some cheap eats, or buying souvenirs at Chatuchak Weekend Market. More than giving some information on which places to go to, there are historical notes on the origin of the place, its connection to its people and the royals, and how it fares today.