Bang-Bang-Bangkok
Forgive me! My post are somewhat all over the place. I’ve been posting the videos before the write up. Bare with me:)
Thailand is the only country I’ve spent a substantial amount of time in at one time. I can honestly say I know something about the country. The do’s and oh my the dont’s!
We took a flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok on AirAsia. AirAsia is a discount airline similar to Southwest in the states or Easyjet in Europe. Our flights were $150 one way, which is pretty steep but we were coming a bit of a distance. Oh! What you MUST know about AirAsia is that they will get you with baggage fees!!! I didn’t pay for our checked luggage when I booked the ticket so we had to pay close to $200 for our bags when we checked in. (That hit the budget hard smh) Also another lesson: DO NOT TRAVEL WITH A LOT WHEN TRAVELING/BACKPACKING FOR A MONTH! Biggest mistake we made. But we wanted to be cute.
Anywho, when we got there it was raining. We were staying in the infamous area of Khasoan Rd. If you’ve seen Hangover 2 then you are familiar with this area. It is EXACTLY what you think and more! Lol. Our taxi dropped us off right at the beginning of Khasoan Road because the actually street was blocked off. Our hotel I mean hostel (lol let’s be real here) was located farrrrr down the street. In the rain, with 2 rolley bags, 2 bookbags, and a duffle bag, that trek wasn’t happening. Thankfully there are hostels and guesthouses everywhere and we happened to get put out right in front of one. We stayed at Pannee Lodge. Cost per night: $1250 baht ($1USD= 29 Baht) which is about $43/night, $21.50 per person. It also included breakfast! However, this was still on the expensive side. We met people who were only paying 450baht a night ($15). (The more I learned and the more I talked to people the better I got with making the money stretch.) Our guest house was nicer than most and offered a few amenities like bottled water, TV, and an ELEVATOR (score) and the food was good.
Nobody takes debit or credit cards. Cash ONLY! It got annoying afterwhile because you don’t want to carry too much cash just in case you get robbed but paying $5 every time you withdraw money gets old real fast. I easily spent close to $100 over the course of the whole trip on atm fees. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that the lodge (and other hostels) required you to pay for your room daily not at check out. It’s understandble, probably better for business. I’m sure many tourist/randoms come in and out with random plans. We were only suppose to stay in Bangkok for a night before heading to Koh Phagan for the Full Moon Party. We axed those plans because A. we heard horror stories (none of which are pg to tell) B. There was NO way I was trekking that long way with all of the luggage we had (we needed to catch a bus and boat) C. I needed to chill out and regroup from being on a high from Hong Kong D. this was my trip and I could do whatever the hell I pleased. But honestly had I only had one duffle bag we would have gone. Horror stories happen everywhere. I’m not easily scared. It’s definitely on the list for next time.
The first real day in Bangkok I went exploring along the streets and took a tuk tuk to a temple. (Tuk Tuk’s are like motorbike carriages)
OK, so here is the run down with Tuk Tuk’s. You can negotiate your price. Don’t EVER agree to the price they give you. If you don’t look like them they know you’re foreign and they know you got cash. They will also take you to a bunch of tourist centers so they can get free gas. They have little side deals with these places. If they bring foreigners and they stay inside the tourist center for at least 10 minutes they get free gas. I had to go off on one driver because I wasn’t doing it anymore. By the time we left Thailand we had gotten so hip to their game, certain tuk tuk’s wouldn’t even bother asking us if we needed a ride. I saw tourist agreeing to pay 500 baht to go somewhere that should have only been 100baht.
Foot massages for $6.20! (Free wifi and free beer)
I L-O-V-E Thai food. Like looooooove Thai food. I like my food very spicy whether if its Indian, American, Jamaican, Medditerean. It doesn’t matter. Add some peppers and spices please! I’m just waiting for the day my doctor says “no more!” But as you can imagine, I was in heaven. The food is sooooooooo good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. So here is the run down on the food. I ate street food but only certain kinds. I had the pad thai without meat because who knows how long that meat had been out there and if the containers were clean. If you do get meat get it from the grill because you can always tell them to keep it on the grill until you think it’s fully cooked. If whatever you get is fried or deep fried, you’re good. It’s the “sautéed” or lightly grilled things you have to worry about. Once things are fried it kills whatever germs that could make you sick. I tried seahorse. I know I know! SEAHORSE! There were scorpions, crickets, maggots you name it they had it. Again these items are all deep fried which makes them perfectly safe for you to try. If you naturally have a weak stomach don’t do it! Reconsider!
I’ve never tasted fruit so good in my life. I thought to myself what are they feeding us in the states because it can’t be the same fruit. My midnight snacks were Lychees, Rambutans, and Mangosteens. So GOOD!! Oh! The fruit shakes are so good! Jamba Juice who? Smoothie King what? You can get 3 fruit shakes for the price of one smoothie in the states.
Bangkok isn’t the cleanest city, in fact it’s pretty dirty. After a couple of days you don’t even notice the trash and smell after all you’re in BANKGOK! Don’t be stuck up! If you like New York and like to party this is the place for you! When I say people literally party until the sun comes out, they really do. One night I was out headed to get something to eat at the same time a monk was headed to start his daily worship. Also, I don’t know when the street vendors sleep. I swear they have their stands up for 24hours. You can get breakfast, dessert, magnets, postcards, jeans, and a taser at 5am. Seeing kids out at all times of the night selling things is a bit disturbing at first because you’re like where are your parents and where are your shoes?!? But then you realize that this is a different country and a different culture. It’s normal.
Buckets of beer!
When you first get to a country like Thailand you are overwhelmed by how cheap everything is compared to the states and you don’t really negoiate because hey its still 80% cheaper than the US. But even still–negotiate. Here’s an example: I found a shirt I wanted and they said “300 baht” (I love saying the word Baht- pronounced like Lot but with a B) which is roughly $10. You will see most tourist paying that easily but travelers know better. I immediately said “80 baht.” I knew that was too low but the stuff they were selling they make it sweatshops so it cost them little to no money. The guy gave me a crazy face like girl you trippin’. He says “I give you discount 250 baht.” Naw bra bra. I tell him “100 baht” and that the man down the street is selling them for 100baht and they are better quality. He’s still not convinced. So I walked away and say “aite cool bye.” Maybe 5-10seconds he broke. “100 bahts!” $3.44 shirt!
I met people from all over the world. It was truly amazing to hear different stories. I met these two teenagers, both 19 from Montreal, who had dropped out of college because they were undecided majors and didn’t really know what they wanted to do. Instead of wasting money and taking out loans, they decided to save up some money and go to India to pick cherries for 4 months (People make close to 10k picking cherries) and travel the world in hopes of figuring out what they wanted to do with their lives. Their story really resonated with me because our society (like most westernized countries) teaches us to graduate high school, go to college, take out loans, get in debt, get a job and join the rat race instead of really figuring out who we are and what our passion is. In no way am I saying don’t go to college but please believe universities will take your money at 18 and 48. Why not live by your own standards and walk by the beat of your own drum? I also wondered “Would I have had the balls to go out and travel the world at 19 by myself?” I don’t know. But it was truly refreshing to meet people who understood the importance of traveling the world.
I wish I could shout out everyone I met in Bangkok! If you happen to read this, I will cherish each and every story.
Here is a run down on Bangkok:
Don’t stay for more than 4-5 days (too many other places in Thailand to visit)
Don’t pay more than 100-200 baht to go anywhere. Negoiate everything. (you won’t win every time but most of the time)
Its dirty. Get over it.
You can eat for $10/$12US a day.
If you are really traveling and exploring and not vacationing don’t pay more than 1250 baht a night for 2 people.
Almost every establishment has wifi. It’s a marketing tool to get you to come into their restaurant, spa, bar, etc. but they will hound you to buy something. Don’t let them catch you stealing their wifi they will cut it off on you! Lol
There are nice temples in Bangkok but there are better ones in other cities.
Just in case you didn’t see the Bangkok video, here it is again!
