Wednesday 14 December 2011

Bangkok

46.50B to the £1

Clothing:
Cover up when visting temples

Shopping:
Lots of markets/stalls, shopping malls located in the business district, selling electrical goods, shoes/clothes, everyday products and much more

This is my third visit to Bangkok so it kind of feels like a home to me now. If you can navigate around Mumbai then Bangkok will be a breeze. We paid 450B for a cab to drive us to Koh San Road from the airport. On the last couple of occasions here we have always splashed out on accommodation but this time we needed a cheaper place to stay. We looked around at some of the backstreet's but many places were fully booked, probably because it was still early in the morning and most guests wouldn't have checked out yet.
We then came across a place called 'at Home Guest House' but they only had an AC room free for 500B. We asked if we could get a slightly cheaper price but were refused.

Although we didn't want an AC room we took it anyway and asked if we could have a fan room for 400B the following night should anyone check out. The room itself was tiny but very secure (2 locks on the door), with bathroom tiles all over the walls (easy to clean i guess!) but the room was clean, had an en-suite and even hot water. The restaurant/reception area was kept very clean and well presented, plus there was free wi-fi.

Tip: If you are looking for cheaper accomdodation and don't mind using a shared bathroom, try 'Live Good' for 200B, located just around the corner from 'at Home'.

Firstly, we enquired around some of the tour operators for visas into Vietnam and prices of trains to Chiang Mai. We ended up booking through the place we were staying at as they already had their own tour operator who offered a similar price to everyone else and the lady here was so friendly and helpful.

We paid 1900B each for a 30 day Vietnam visa, that would be ready for us within 2 days, and 800B each for an AC sleeper train from Bangkok to Chang Mai. You can also get a bus to Chang Mai for slightly cheaper, although we were told that this would not be a sleeper.

On the first night we had a brief look around Koh San Road, ate some delicious Pad Thai street food for 30B and had an early night due to me still having stomach problems and us both being tired from the lack of sleep following our overnight flight.






Koh San Road

The following day we met up with some friends from back home, Jason, Aaron, Josh & Luke, and went to the MBK shopping mall. It sells everything there, from knock off Mulberry handbags and Rolex watches to your general everyday products and it even has a Boots. I again had to lay off the alcohol, so i treated myself to a massage and another early night.

On our final day here we had to pick up a couple of things we missed out on yesterday and i managed to spend £100 in Zara! You can find three high street stores (Zara, Gap & Mango) at the 'Siam Paragon' shopping mall, which is located a short distance from MBK. The rest of the stores are all designer, obviously waaaaaay out of my price range! If you are after some cheaper clothes then obviously Koh San Road is the place, but you can also find some lovely items in some of the shops dotted in between the shopping malls.


We have already done a lot of the touristy things in Bangkok, apart from the floating market which we will hopefully be visiting upon our return in March just before we have to fly home.


 Local markets


Ian with a tazer gun



Couldn't resist taking a photo of this!


Chicken Massam, my favourite Thai dish

The famous 24ct gold buddah



 Temple of the Reclining Buddha


One of the best places we visited last year was the 'Sky Bar' at the Lebua Hotel. This place was out of this world, i have never seen views like it. We arrived there at 5:30pm, which was the best time to go, as we saw the whole city during daylight, watched the sunset, and then night fell at around 6:30pm and the whole city just lit up, it looked amazing. You will pay a lot for drinks here (around £10 a cocktail) but it is worth it for those views, oh and to be treated like you're royalty, which for me, was kind of weird!

Tip:
Make sure you wear smart/casual clothes (men need shoes). When we visited, flip flops were a no no, as were scruffy clothes.

Inside The Lebua bathrooms



The views from the 'Lebua Hotel'

Another cool place is Chinatown, we stayed here last year at the 'Shanghai Mansion' (beautiful room with huge bath) and ate some great food too. Not many westerners were about which was a nice change and we walked around on foot quite a bit and found some really interesting places.

 Our room at Shanghai Mansion

We also watched a Thai boxing match for roughly £35 per person. I wouldn't pay to do it again as a lot of the time when they guys fighting thought that they were winning towards the end of their fight, they would just dance around the ring so that they didn't lose! Still, i would recommend going, especially if you're interested in Thai boxing.



Thai Kickboxing


Machinery stalls, near Chinatown

Tip:
If you are approached by someone (even if they look official) and are told that a temple you want to visit is closed due to a 'holiday', do not trust them and please walk away! Also if anyone approaches you in the street and try's to sell you a package deal for trips/accomodation, again please walk away and check out a few tour operators so that you get the best price.

1 comment:

  1. Hi,

    Wonderful stories, thank you for sharing. I's visiting Thailand next year and I hope you don't mind that I find inspiration in your words.

    M

    ReplyDelete