This is a budget traveler’s guide to the ever-growing city of BANGKOK, ‘The land of SMILES’. Bangkok is a big city with bright lights, humongous malls, skyscrapers and tons of beautiful temples. The city is extremely colorful and stimulating with overwhelming amount of touristy things to see everywhere! For us, Bangkok is definitely like a home away from home. We simply love the vibrant and busy city, the delicious food, amazing shopping options and of-course the friendly people. I’m in love with this amazing city !
Here’s a guide to all our favorite things to see, do and eat in Thailand:
Dubai to Bangkok
We flew with Emirates Airlines from Dubai International Airport to Suvarnabhumi Airport which is also known as Bangkok International Airport (DXB to BKK). It’s visa for arrival for Indians like us and had a smooth exit after all the airport procedures. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel which was located at Sukhumvit Road, which is the longest road in Thailand and is also the commercial center of Bangkok.
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Sleep at Amora Neoluxe Hotel
You can find pretty cheap accommodation in Bangkok. We made our hotel booking through Booking.com and got an amazing deal for 3 nights at the Amora Neoluxe Hotel from where we had easy access to the metro stations and few other attractions. It was a simple, clean and affordable hotel with amazing breakfast served.
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Getting Around in Bangkok
It’s very important to understand the transportation systems of a country to ensure that you waste no money or time while exploration. We got around the city in different modes of transportation which were available:
- Taxis: There are hell lot of multicolored taxis everywhere in the city. No queues or anything, just flag down the taxis with your fingers. Riding around the taxi is cheap & like else where ensure that you tell your driver to turn the meter on. Hop out and grab another taxi if the the driver refuses to do so. We did ensure that we didn’t fall prey to this most classic transportation scam.
- Tuk-Tuks: It is highly recommended to get on to a Tuk- Tuk just for the experience of it. And trust me a short trip in it can be a great time but quite expensive than regular taxis.
- Walking: Our most preferred mode of moving around the city! Bangkok is definitely a big city to walk around but if your destinations are just stone’s throw away then why not be like a local and proceed to your attractions by walk.
- BTS Sky Trains & MRT subway: It is open daily from 6:00 am until midnight. We opted for a day pass which costed around 130 Baht for two of us and was very easy to navigate. Subways makes it cheaper, easier and faster to move around Bangkok avoiding the terrific traffic on the road during rush hours which could drive a calm person to murder.
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Things to do in Bangkok
- Damnoen Saduak Floating Market : It took us about 1 ½ hours by car to get there. We had booked for a vehicle with a driver due to our tight schedule. This is a world famous market which draws attention of a lot of tourists. We hopped onto a boat with the boatman and sailed through the canals where we saw vendors mostly females selling food and Thai handicrafts on both sides of the canal. Our boatman stopped at one of the shop where his mother was selling handicrafts. Amazing work, bought few gift items from her. Most of them doesn’t speak or understand English but the only language you need is the one on the calculator. Towards the end of our boat ride, we bought a coconut ice cream from an aged lady who was sailing on her boat with variety of ice creams. We highly recommend this tour and experience!
- Elephant Village: We visited the Elephant Village which was on our way to the railway market. These huge mammals are a national symbol of Thailand. Due to our tight schedule we chose to just see these creatures hoping to take a ride on them during our next visit.
- Maeklong Railway market aka Umbrella pull-down market: It’s known as the railway market because it has a train running through the middle of it multiple times a day. The arrival of the train is the most awaited and anticipated moment at this market. A warning siren is sounded to indicate the arrival of the train. You will be shocked to see how the vendors clear the area and withdraw their awnings and transform to open air for the passing train. Everything was restored back to business instantly once the train passed and it seemed as if nothing extraordinary happened. Believe me there was just enough space for the train to pass such that I could almost touch it. No space to move! It’s almost surreal.
- Chinatown: OK, I know there are Chinatowns in most of the major cities. The one in Bangkok is very crammed with a lot of stalls offering mouth-watering food and other treats. It becomes unbelievably loud, bright and busy with street food vendors and tourists everywhere at night. We made several stops to sample traditional Thai dishes and also enjoyed watching the live Thai cooking.
- Soi Cowboy’s Street & Nana Plaza: These are the naughty streets of Bangkok. It gives you the full experience for what Bangkok is famous for (u know what I mean). This area is home to many strip clubs and bars. The scene where they cut through the bar from the previous night and meet the lady-boy stripper in the Hangover Part II was shot at the “Soi Cowboy”. I personally found it extremely hilarious walking up and down this street tightly holding my guy’s hand. I am not going to explain in detail of what we saw inside the bars, but let me tell you that it was a wild experience. This place is surely not recommended for families.
- Siam Niramit Show: There were many girls decked up in traditional Thai dresses, with flowers in their hands to welcome the visitors. We presented our tickets at the entrance and placed a sticker on our dress in turn. We were asked to proceed to the main hall when it was almost time for the show to commence and were instructed to deposit our cameras at the counter before going in. Once the show ended, we came out of the hall and took a walk in the model village inside the same compound. Siam Niramit gave us a glimpse of the Thai culture demonstrated in a theatrical way.
- Thai Massages – Who wouldn’t crave for a massage after a hectic day of walking around the city? There are countless massage parlors in Bangkok ranging from inexpensive sidewalk massage places to luxury spas. We walked into a sidewalk massage parlor and got a foot massage done. What a relief it was for my feet !
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Shopping & Tattoo in Bangkok
MBK CENTER: It is a huge mall which would take you a couple of hours on foot to explore the whole place. We saw tourists buying copies of luxury travel bags just to fill in their purchases of the day! Literally felt like few of them came with empty travel bags for shopping. The deals were ridiculously unbelievable that we couldn’t resist ourselves from shopping. Each floor is dedicated to different items like bags, clothes, gadgets and electronics and much more. The seventh floor has many tattoo shops.
Getting a tattoo done was always in our bucket-list while planning our trip to Bangkok. And guess what ?! We got it done!!!
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Eats & drinks in Bangkok
What better place to eat Thai food than in Thailand ? Thai food is very popular around the world & is one of my most favorite cuisines.
Highly recommended Thai dishes:
- Tom Yum Goong (sour and spicy prawn soup)
- Pad Thai
- Sticky Mango rice
- Steamed fish
- Thai Fried rice
You will find insanely delicious and freshly made cheap food all over Bangkok. Guaranteed!
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Nightlife
Nightlife at Royal City Avenue (RCA): It has remained the biggest party street in Bangkok and is also known as the epicenter of Bangkok’s clubbing scene. We made a reservation at the Live RCA on our last night in Bangkok. It is a nightclub that opens only occasionally- for special events. And to our surprise, international DJ Simon Patterson was playing live at RCA that night!! It was an amazing night with quality trance music & young crown in their huge dance floor.
There are 7-Eleven stores and other mini marts in every nook and corner of the city from where people can grab alcoholic beverages. However, there are restrictions on the selling hours. Chang & Singha are the most well-known and top beer brands in Thailand & it works great with spicy Thai dishes.
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That’s it – These were all our favorite things to do during a short city break in Bangkok, 3 nights to be specific. Have you ever been to Bangkok? What’s your favorite thing to do in the city? Let’s share our experiences.
A thousand miles together 