How Many Days? 2
Food - How Much? €4/Meal
Hotel - How Much? €25/Night (Double room - Hostel)
Overall Experience was... STRESSFUL!
Bangkok was the beginning of my first trip to Asia. Myself and a friend planned a 2 weeks trip to Thailand and Cambodia, we had no intention to spend too much time in there once we had a lot ahead to see, but we also wanted to enjoy the opportunity to visit the place once our flight from Dublin was to Bangkok, so we decided to stay a couple of days... and for sure it was a bit warmer than expected!
To be honest, I really don't know if I would go back, Thailand has so much to offer and the best tours and experiences are not in Bangkok, in my opinion. I can say that 2 days were enough.
A MUST- GO TOUR!
Damnoen Saduak floating market in Damnoen Saduak District is undoubtedly the largest and most well-known floating market among Thai and foreign tourists. It is located in Ratchaburi Province, about 100 km southwest of Bangkok.
The people were sitting in the boats and having fresh vegetables and fruits to the retailer on a wholesale rate. When you want to visit this market, you should wake in the early morning as this market only happens in the early morning. It takes a bit more than 1h to get there, once you are there you can walk around for a bit, but very soon you will be on the queue waiting for your boat. With this boat, now you can visit the whole Market and buy the needed items such as foods, vegetables, sweets, small toy elephants, tiger balm and the compulsory ‘I was here’ T-shirts.
The boat experience was so cool, we were around 8/9 people on the boat, it is a bit tricky to hop in and hop off, but be positive... you can do it!
I felt sorry for the sellers cause the place was so full and I could not see anyone buying anything, people literally just went to visit the place and have the experience on the boat. The sellers try as much as they can to convince you to buy something from them. So, if you can, buy one of your gifts there to give them some support!
The whole experience took around 30 min and after that we changed to another boat to visit their own village by the river, we could see where they live and how the houses are... fascinating!
We paid around 800 bahts (€22) each for the tour, not including the boat trip which was 150 bahts (€4). They collected us in the hotel and dropped us off close by.
My main tips about Bangkok...
1. TOURS - Ayutthaya Tour - 4 temples out of Bangkok. We paid €20, including the tickets + lunch and snacks, in this tour we had the opportunity to visit Wat Phra Mahathat, one of the most incredible temples ever (the one on the picture above).
2. NIGHT - Of course, Sky Bar, the most famous rooftop bar in Bangkok. It is nice, the view is unreal and the vibe is like WOWWW!
It is a "free" entrance, but you have to buy at least one drink to be there... and the cocktails are around €20 each, so if you are planning to get drunk you will get poor, if you wanna save your money, you won’t get drunk... there is no balance here! It is more expensive than the night clubs in Ibiza!
3. RELAXING - this is one of my favorite parts... MASSAGE! You can find Massage Houses everywhere, what is a dream, if you are tired or stressed, just stop for a 1h massage for €5! Just PERFECT!
4. FOOD - As it is not an easy job to find a place to have a nice meal I couldn’t forget to share this with you, we found this amazing restaurant nearby Wat Pho, trust me it was such a saver, we paid €5 for a delicious meal, it is a very clean restaurant, it is called Home Cafe Tha Tien.
Before jumping into a restaurant, search in google or TripAdviser the best ones near you.
My favorites Temples:
1. Wat Arun (the one on the picture) - the most iconic temple;
2. Wat Pho - one of the oldest and largest Buddhist temples in Bangkok;
3. Wat Phra Kaew or 'The Temple of the Emerald Buddha' - the most important and most visited;
4. Wat Kalayanamit - more tranquil, less touristy alternative;
5. Wat Intharawihan - 32-metre-high standing Buddha.
The tickets to visit the temples are around 50 bahts (€1.30), but most of them are free.
You might be wondering why I am wearing long sleeves... Well, it is a requirement, we all have to cover as much as possible to be allowed in the temples, but I was melting, my pressure was pretty low that time, it was so humid, I was sweating so much... Gosh, it was definitely not an easy time, I was about going back to the Hotel any stage!
Which transports did we use the most?
This is not hard to guess I suppose... Tuk Tuk, YES! Thailand's version of a motorized rickshaw. They usually have three wheels and are open-air vehicles that can hold two to three people at a time.
Quick rides can be around €2 or €3, what is pretty affordable and helps us to save a lot of time!
On the first day we chose the Ferry to visit the Temples around the city and get to know more about Bangkok.
We got a ticket that we had free passes for the day! Boats and ferries are a handy way to get around Bangkok, they stop at piers with major tourist attractions nearby and there is an announcer who narrates the journey.
Where did I stay?
So, That’s it! Thanks for being here!
PS: Unfortunately I lost all my pictures and videos from the past 2 years, but if you want to know a bit more about any of my trips, you can go to my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/marianacalonso/ and check my highlights to more...!
Comments