What's a good 3-day itinerary for Bangkok?

The Old City comes first because the heat forces your hand. Wat Pho opens at 6:30 AM, and by 7:30 the marble floors are still cool enough to walk barefoot without wincing. Spend an hour here — the reclining Buddha is the draw, but the smaller chedis in the rear courtyard are where the crowds thin out and the incense hangs in the still morning air. Cross to the Grand Palace at 9:30. Ninety minutes is plenty; the exterior walls and spires photograph better than the interiors deliver. By 11 AM the temperature pushes past 35°C, so duck into Chinatown. Tang Jai Yoo on Yaowarat Soi 11 does pork-belly rice for about 120 baht — roughly four dollars — with iced chrysanthemum tea for 30 baht. Take the 4-baht cross-river ferry from Tha Tien pier to Wat Arun around 3 PM. The steep central prang is worth climbing for the river view, but the porcelain tile detail is what you'll remember. Sunset drinks at Sala Rattanakosin across the water.

Day 2 shifts across town to Sukhumvit. Start at the Jim Thompson House at 10 AM — the teak buildings and silk collection take about an hour, and the guided tour is included in the 200-baht entry. Walk south to Somtum Der on Convent Road for lunch by noon. Order the som tum with salted crab if you can handle real heat; the grilled pork neck is the safer bet. The papaya salad arrives in a mortar that's still warm. From there, Benjakitti Park at 2 PM gives you shade and a long wooden boardwalk over the lake. By 5 PM, head to Terminal 21's food court at Asok — meals run 40 to 60 baht and the air conditioning is aggressive in the best way. Evening in Thonglor: dinner at Supanniga Eating Room, where the crab curry and waterfall pork are the orders that regulars don't bother looking at the menu for.

Day 3 belongs to Thonburi, and you'll spend most of it on water. Hire a longtail boat from Sathorn pier — 1,500 baht for two hours is the going rate for two people, and haggling below that tends to get you a shorter route. The khlong network on the west bank still feels residential: laundry drying over the water, cats sleeping on dock planks, the smell of charcoal and fish sauce from canal-side kitchens. Wat Paknam's green glass stupa is the visual highlight — five floors of mosaic ceiling inside a building that looks plain from outside. Afterward, take a river taxi north to Wang Lang market near Siriraj Hospital. The pad thai at Wang Lang costs 50 baht and is better than Thipsamai. That's not a controversial opinion over here.

A word on the heat: Bangkok in April and May sits at 36 to 38°C with humidity that makes it feel past 40. This itinerary is paced for that reality — heavy sightseeing before 11 AM, indoor or shaded stops through the worst of the afternoon, back outside after 4 PM. Drink water constantly; you'll go through two litres before lunch without noticing. The BTS Skytrain links Day 2's stops, and river boats handle the crossings on Day 1 and Day 3. Taxis between zones cost 80 to 150 baht on the meter. The three days cover roughly 27 kilometres on foot, with transit filling the gaps between neighborhoods.