Bangkok Budgeteers

If you are the easily-pleased, fun-loving, food-crazy, on-a-budget type of person like I am, have I got a story for you!

So, I went on a trip to Bangkok, Thailand last week. People, if you’ve never been there, please do me a favor, GO! Aside from the scary similarity between Bangkok and Jakarta (ie. The traffic jam), I’d like to call Bangkok as the “cool” sister that Jakarta wishes she had.  

Started my journey with my best buddy, Air Asia, and bought roundtrip tickets for IDR 1,200,000. For a three and a half hour trip, I don’t think I have the right to complain. Budget travelers, Low Cost Carriers are our best friends. Repeat 3x. So make sure you check their promos religiously.

Now, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport is an hour away from the city, you have the option to take a bus, a shuttle, or a taxi like me. The 4 of us shared a taxi to our hotel and spent around IDR 50,000 per person.  Ain’t life grand?

For a great place to stay, I really recommend this cute design hotel, Ten Face at Soi Ruamrudee, 2 minutes away from Ploenchit BTS station. It was an all-suites hotel with an amazing rate of IDR 600,000 per night.  Satisfaction guaranteed! Huge clean space with superb service. Also perfect for the honeymooners. 

images taken from Ten Face website

For girls who like to shop, Platinum Mall and Mah Boon Krong are a must. The feel is so much like Mal Ambassador, only 3 times as big and the air con is actually cold. Stuff sold there is so much better in quality and cheaper in price. What more can you ask? Word of advice: don’t think, just buy.

Have I mentioned my love towards food, yes Thai food is mm…mm... good. The brown noodle soup, the pad thai, the curries, the seafood, the minced beef with basil, the mango sticky rice, the papaya salad… oooo I can go on and on. For starters, try a Chinese Thai seafood restaurant called Baan Klang Nam. You could enjoy your Tom yam Goong while enjoying the Chao Phraya River. You may also find lots of street food at Jatujak Market, Yaowarat Road in the Chinatown district, and well, practically everywhere.  Even the food courts are crazily good. My favorite is the fruit stalls along the streets. The mangoes, the pineapples, and the guavas are all so sweet, healthy and cheap.

I’m sure there are a lot of other cool places or things to do than the ones mentioned above (ie. Grand Palace, Floating Market, Sleeping Buddha), so make sure you research well and oh yes, a few tips for you: make sure you write all your destinations in Thai. Ask help from the hotel’s front desk or the restaurant people to write them for you so you could show them to the taxi drivers. At best, find English-speaking ones. 

Go have your own adventure!

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