And now it’s happening …. for years i had a dream about travelling to Asia…and now it’s fucking happening! Far-East has some magnetic power towards me for sure, therefore now i’m kinda feeling in a dream since we arrived.
So, why Thailand first? The answer is pretty easy.
It was enough to see all these kinds of pictures about the islands, beaches, and my soul started to yell at me…. you should go! Of course there was also another reason, the flight ticket almost cost the same to Thailand as to Budapest. For less than 30 dollars our destination would’ve been Budapest, but keep calm that’s coming soon too.
But, now on Bangkok, to where we arrives after a tiny 20 hours of flight. Changes in Hong Kong, Singapore and then arriving. We spent our first night close to the airport in a hotel. You can find crazy amount of cheap rooms in Thailand btw, and maybe it’s a good idea to regenerate from the jet lag in a place far away from the city, or you will find yourself pretty soon again at the airport running away from Bangkok, because to be honest, Bangkok is sometimes just too Bangkok.
Next day after not having jet lag anymore (of course it’s not true, for two days you’ll feel like a sleepwalker). We asked for a cab and we reached our second hotel, which was located on Sukhumvit road.
Transport:
Cab/Taxi: quiet cheap, of course you need to watch out, if they turn on the taximeter, otherwise you can have some surprise when they tell you the price in the end of the ride. If you’re at the airport, or at the hotel and someone asks for a cab for you, then they will charge you with extra 30-50 Baht. 1 USD is about 30 Baht. If you want to save money, then i suggest you get a cab from the person who arrives to the airport, or just wave with your hands, in this case no extra fee :).
Bus: i don’t suggest my friend, pretty cheap, but it just isn’t worth it. It will be a pain in the ass to handle the hot tropical weather.
Skytrain: aka subway, tram, over the highway it has his own circuit road, cheap, fast, with AC, do you need anything else? Of course not, try it!
Tuk-tuk: to be honest, we didn’t try it, we just heard bad things about it, lot of times they charge you with unrealistic prices, of course it can be, that it’s not even true, if you feel the rolling, jump on one of them and enjoy!
Motorcycle taxi: it’s my favorite, but i wouldn’t try it for even one million dollars. Imagine someone jumps on the motorcycle behind the driver, and then they fly away on the road, but the best, that this person is not even grabbing anything to be secure, in one hand, his phone, in the other one he holds a plastic bag from the market. For me this is just ultra dangerous. You should know something about the traffic and transport in Thailand, it’s a nightmare…literally. Crazy amount of motorcycles on the road with amazing speed, half of them without light, sometimes with 3 people on the vehicle. They are passing through next to each other. It’s not even a surprise that there are multiple accidents on the road every day in Thailand. I have one suggestion! Watch out my friend, first they drive on the other road, just like in the UK, look in every sides they can come before you pass the road, and be careful on every road!
Food:
Food, food, food everywhere and all kinds, it’s hard to not find something you would like. Amazing selections of restaurants, bars. Tons of street food place, but if you prefer to go to a restaurant, you’ll have a lot of possibilities. Japanese, chinese, thai, indian…. etc.
We found our favorite street food place where we could get our freshly made pad thai, served on a bamboo leaf. Finally i learned to eat with chopsticks (i know, as a 26 years old it was way too time… ). By the way the street food prices are around 20-70 BHT. So, it’s cheap, cheap!
My other favorite was the sticky rice with mango, so delicious. We were lucky to come in the mango season… it was our dessert for days.
Thai people are in love with smoothies, freshly squeezed juices, it’s nothing better than to have an ice coffee, or crushed pineapple with ice in this 35°C. God, it’s just yummy!
If you’re choosy like me, you better ask the stuff before you get something, because they really like to put sugar or syrup into the smoothies, or even to the fresh juices.
Attractions:
Wat Pho: my personal favorite, amazing selection of Buddhist temples, pagodas, the architecture is breathtaking, and it’s just 100 BHT. You should definitely see the Reclining Buddha, huge Buddha, 15 m high and 43 m long with his right arm supporting the head. It was quiet an interesting experience to remove the shoes before entering to any temples. I guess it’s more me 🙂
MBK: the biggest mall i’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t even guess how many stores they have inside. Additional information: if you need thai sim card with unlimited fast internet for one month, then go to the 4th floor, and search for the Dtac store, you can get there for 15 dollars (around 500 BHT).
Wat Arun: another Buddhist temple on the other side of the river. We checked it out from a rooftop bar of a hotel (see the photo below). Highly recommended place to chill out and have a beer.
Of course these are not the only ones in Bangkok, check out some websites, YouTube videos showing 10, 15, 20 interesting places to see.
In the end i must admit something, I didn’t fall in love with Bangkok. I couldn’t handle the smells, the noises, the bunch of motorcycles, cars on the road. I’m still saying you should visit Bangkok, and experience the rhythm of this city for a couple of days. We handled for 4 days and then decided to buy a ticket and go to Krabi at the same day. Soon, more info and stories from the beach area of Thailand.
I send you lot of smile and adventure, My Friend! 🙂
