1. It takes ages to go anywhere Sit in the back of a taxi during rush hour and it might feel like the city is just one giant parking lot for Thailand. Statistically, Bangkok was recently ranked as the eighth worst place in the world for traffic.
3. People! Everywhere! It’s a metropolis of well over 10 million, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of visiting tourists, so things can sometimes get a little bit crowded. Whether you’re shuffling along the narrow, stall-lined walkways at Siam or Sukhumvit, rubbing shoulders with tour groups at a temple, or struggling to get a table in a club, sometimes you just want to escape it all.
4. So hot, so very, very hot You know a city is hot when your legs start to sweat after a few minutes’ walk. Yes, Bangkok really is that hot, and going outside in the middle of the steamiest month (April) can feel too much like stepping into a sauna.
6. You think everybody is out to rip you off Just like any other city in the world, Bangkok does have a very few individuals who specialise in the art of trying to empty your pockets of every last baht you have. The keyword there is ‘few’, as the majority of tour operators, guesthouses, taxi drivers and vendors are going to give you a relatively fair deal.
7. Too many malls Bangkok almost has as many malls as it has hotels, or at least it might seem that way if you take a walk from Siam to Chid Lom. For many, the wall-to-wall megamalls are a dream come true; for others looking for some culture, it’s a complete turn off