We stayed in the heart of Bangkok for 3 nights (2nd to 5th of April), a week before the riot and the Songkran, which is the Thai New Year. Songkran usually falls in the hottest period of the year. It is also part of the Songkran tradition to throw water at anyone in the street, although not the main activity as it was also a period used to give family members an opportunity to pay their respects to elders and visit temples. Why water? Pouring of water is used as a symbol of washing away the bad. In my case, I was dousing my face with water because of the humid weather while we visited numerous outdoor places like the Grand Palace on the second day of our trip. That night, we visited a really modern and high-end mall, Siam Paragon and a few malls all within a few blocks away. Prices are relatively cheap especially if you're looking for local goods usually exported to North America (ie. dried fruits, exotic handmade house decors).
We went outside of Bangkok the 3rd day to visit one of the two remaining Floating Markets (the other floating market is on the Chao Praya river). The bigger floating market was 2 hour drive away from Bangkok so we had to leave the hotel early. When we got to the place, it was exactly what I had envisioned before visting Bangkok. It was like an Asian version of Venice - but with smaller canals. We visited an elephant sanctuary along the way home to Bangkok where we went for a short elephant trek. We fed the elephants baskets of bananas for 100 baht each. The elephant trek costs 600 baht per elephant which is worth the once in a lifetime experience. We ate curry crabs on our last night in Bangkok at Somboon Seafood.. a must-eat for seafood lovers.
I wish we stayed an extra day or two in Bangkok, although I wouldn't exactly want to visit the city at its hottest period of the year again. I also want to visit the northern part of Thailand - Changmai and maybe Phuket when we visit Asia again next year.
