Firstly, let’s just be clear that five in the morning in Bangkok is not dawn. It’s properly dark, with the sun only coming up somewhere between about 5.50 am and 6.40 am depending on the month, and the sky doesn’t start going grey until half five at the earliest. Everything written about pink skies and golden light at 5 am was written by somebody who set their alarm for six.
What you actually get at five is better than that anyway. You get a city that is already working, in the dark, without too much noise.
Nobody warns you that the trains aren’t running yet
This catches people out and it’s the most useful thing to know if you’re visiting for the first time. The BTS starts running its first trains from the far ends of the lines somewhere around 5.15 am, so if you’re anywhere central you won’t see one for a while. The MRT is much the same so check your own line the night before rather than trusting it.
There are alternative transport options, and you can get a Grab or flag a taxi. At 5 am the roads are empty and a journey that takes 40 minutes at 9 am will take you just 12 this early in the morning. That alone is worth the alarm.
The hour belongs to three sets of people
Once you’re out, you start noticing that everyone awake is awake for a reason. Firstly, you’ll notice the monks. They’re up long before you, though the alms round itself usually happens closer to 6 am than 5 am, when there’s enough light to see properly. Stand well back if you’re watching because it’s a religious act rather than a photo opportunity, and it’s important to be respectful. If you’re giving something, take your shoes off, and if you’re a woman, put the offering into the bowl rather than handing it over directly. Nobody will tell you off. They’ll just notice.
Next up, are the market people. The flower market at Pak Khlong Talat peaks about this time, with sacks of marigolds coming off lorries, and more arriving behind them. Women threading jasmine garlands at speed under strip lights are a common sight, and everything for the day’s temple offerings gets made in these few hours — it smells extraordinary.
Then there’s the people going home, like taxi drivers coming off night shifts, and cleaners finishing in the office towers. They’re eating breakfast while you’re having yours, which is the bit that makes you feel like you’ve got somewhere real rather than somewhere arranged for you.
Eat what they’re eating for the full experience, like Jok, which is rice porridge, usually with pork and a soft egg dropped in. Or patongko, fried dough sticks, with hot soy milk. It costs almost nothing and it’s the best thing you’ll eat all day.
Dressing for two climates 10 metres apart
Here’s the practical bit, and it all comes back to one moment. You will leave a hotel room chilled to about 19degrees, walk down a corridor, and step into air that is 28 degrees and almost entirely water. Everything you’re wearing and everything you’ve put on your face has to survive that transition. Most of it won’t.
Skin: do less than you would at home
You might want to put on more than you would at home, but it’s best to do the opposite in this hot country. Heavy creams and thick foundation start sliding within minutes in this humidity. A light moisturiser where you actually need it, sun protection for later, and a lip balm because hotel air conditioning dries you out overnight. That should be sufficient, and you can always add to it later.
Hair: decide on your hold before you leave the room
Humidity does what it likes here and it does it fast. Fine hair goes flat between the lift and the street and anything straightened starts to wave while curls get bigger and keep going. Trying to fight it properly is a losing game before breakfast so a light mist before you go out is more realistic than carrying a whole kit round a flower market.
Ranges like the Davines hairsprays come in different levels of hold, so you can pick something that moves with the weather rather than setting your head like a helmet, which is what heavy hold does in this climate anyway.
Feet: the market floor is wetter than you expect
Flower markets run on water and ice, so expect to get wet feet. There are cut stems everywhere, melting ice from the fish and produce sections, and delivery trolleys coming through at pace. Thin flip-flops on that surface are genuinely slippery.
A sandal with a proper strap and a bit of tread does the same job and stays on your foot. Make it something you can kick off easily, because you’ll be taking your shoes off at every temple you go near.
Layers: you’ll want a sleeve indoors
Loose clothing is key to combating the heat and humidity in Bangkok, so wear wide trousers, a soft shirt, and absolutely nothing that clings. Then carry a thin overshirt or a big scarf, because Bangkok’s interiors are arctic and the contrast is brutal. The scarf earns its place twice over, since it covers your shoulders at a temple without you having to think about it.
Stomach: build up to the street food
You’re going to eat from stalls, and you should, but you should be careful about which ones you choose. Pick the stalls with a queue of locals and food coming off the heat in front of you rather than sitting out. Stick to bottled water and skip ice from anywhere that looks improvised.
Some travellers take a pre or probiotic in the run-up to a trip like this. If that’s you, ask a pharmacist rather than guessing, since it isn’t something to sort out mid-holiday.
Cash: small notes, and not all in one place
Card is king in many places around Bangkok, just not at 5 am at the morning noodle stall. Get small notes before you go out because nobody at a market wants to break a thousand baht for a forty baht breakfast. Split it up, too. Keep enough for food and flowers somewhere easy to reach and the rest further into your bag.
It ends faster than you think
Somewhere around 6.10 am the sky goes properly light, the first motorbikes start coming through, and a shutter goes up on a shop across the road. Then the traffic starts and the temperature begins climbing and the version of the city you got up for folds itself away for another day.
You’ll be back at your Bangkok hotel for 8 am, sweaty and slightly stunned, while everyone else is coming down for breakfast. Keep this secret to yourself and do it all over again tomorrow.
