Surviving Bangkok: A practical guide . Review on Bangkok

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand is easily accessible by air from all the major Indian airports. Though Thailand offers Visa on arrival, opt for visa prior to arrival from the Thai Consulates in India. This shall save you 30-60 minutes wait in the queue at the Bangkok airport and remember to carry passport sized photographs for the visa if you opt for visa on arrival. If you are traveling on your own, remember to come out of the terminal and hail a metered taxi. A ride to city in a metered taxi will cost you THB 150-250 whereas a limo ride would make you poorer by THB 500-700.

Accommodation: One of the better places to stay in Bangkok is Asia Hotel, a very inexpensive hotel with excellent location. ( you can check out various staying options at https://asia-hotels.com ). You can opt for a cabin room at Asia Hotel. This is a cheaper much room. Only drawback is lack of proper sunlight. But, on a holiday one hardly spends time in a hotel but for a night sleep. Asia Hotel, a 4-star property has a very spacious lobby, good restaurants, and nice, clean and spacious rooms. The big advantage of this hotel is that it is connected to a sky train station which can be accessed from within the hotel. This gives you an excellent mobility. It is however advisable not to dine here or hail their cabs. You can get much cheaper and better options outside. You can come out of the hotel and request the gatekeeper to call a metered taxi for you, they are much cheaper. One thing that goes against the metered cabs are extremely congested traffic scenario of Bangkok. A ride in a taxi may take more that double the time a ride in a sky train. There are several affordable accommodations available in the central area of Sukhumvit.

Getting Around: Sky train and now MRT are quick and inexpensive means of traveling in Bangkok. Though taxis are quite reasonable, they take a lot of time due to heavy traffic on the Bangkok roads. Sky train & MRT easily connect you to most of the city attractions. You can go for a day pass if you intent to whiz across the city. The sky train & MRT route maps are available on the internet, at the airport and also at your hotel.

Shopping: Close in the vicinity of Asia Hotel is the MBK shopping mall, Big C, Lotus Tesco, Central World Plaza, Pratunam Plaza and for the IT buffs, Panthip Plaza. You can get a bargain here for everything in computers & home electronics. This place is a Mecca for pirated DVD’s available for as low as THB 100 per movie and pirated softwares available for THB 100 per CD. Generally the movie prints and software quality is ok. You can get a good bargain on Laptop computers, Digital cameras, CD /DVD players. Avoid picking up unknown Chinese brands as their quality is a suspect. You can also visit Fortune mall situated at Fortune hotel complex for IT shopping, but I feel you get a better bargain at Panthip Plaza.

Thai government now allows VAT refund for the tourists. Ask the shopkeeper for Form PP1 to claim your VAT refund. A refund of 7% VAT can be a sizeable amount for an ardent shopper. BUT make sure that the goods you wish to claim your refund on are kept handy for inspection by the custom officers before your check in. After inspection and stamping of the PP1 form at customs before check in, you can claim the refund from the VAT refund counter in the duty free shopping area. Remember to tick the clause “I want refund in cash” when you are filling your PP1 form at the shop. Always carry your passports when going shopping as it is required by the shopkeeper to give you the PP1 form. Make a photocopy of the bill & PP1 form if you need a copy as the customs are going to retain these while giving you the refund. If by any chance you are unable to show some article you are claiming your refund for to the custom officer, he may cancel the refund application for your entire shopping.

Bangkok is a great place for clothes & footwear shopping. Shopping malls like Big C, Lotus Tesco & MBK offer great choices at great prices. Handicrafts are another thing that you can look for in Bangkok. Pat pong night market (starts at 9 pm) offers some excellent bargains in clothing’s, footwear, handicrafts and other gifts and novelties. Be prepared to do some real hard bargaining here. Start at THB10 if you are quoted 50 and you may get the stuff THB 20. Do not be a peeping Tom here as the entire area is a red light district. You shall do well to avoid the objectionable places here and sticking only to shopping, as you may end up loosing everything you have on your person here. Pat pong is very easily accessible by sky train. Bangkok is a good place to but rare gems & precious stones. If you are looking for a good pair of suit there is no better place than Bangkok. Most of the tailoring shops are owned by Sikhs and can deliver a suit within a day. A decent suit with a shirt & a tie shall cost only THB 3000-3500. If you go for 2-3 pairs and bargain hard you can get even a better deal. Most of the tailoring shops & gems shops offer a no obligation pick up & drop facility. Your hotel can assist you is contacting one of these shops.

Chatuchak market (pronounced Jatujak), promoted as a tourist destination, is a big let down. You can expect used clothing’s, poor quality stuff and not much pleasure of bargaining. It get overly crowded if you not amongst the first to visit. I found the place over hyped and if you are looking for some real shopping, this place is best avoided. You can of course visit this place just for the viewing experience. You can probably get a bargain in some handicrafts. Chatuchak is also connected by the sky train service.

Sight seeing: Though Bangkok is just like any other modern city, it has several nice places to look around. Several Buddhist temples spread all around the city are worth visiting. Thailand a Buddhist country revels in its Buddhist culture and Buddha in different poses is a treat to look at. Further, the temples offer a great view of Thai architecture. Besides the temples, you can visit Rose Garden to get a glimpse of Thai culture. Rose garden is a one stop shop which presents the entire Thailand before you. You can see the traditional Thai folk dance, elephant show, Thai boxing etc. There is also boating and many attractions for the kids as well. The City Palace, the abode of the king of Thailand is another place frequented by the tourists.

Dining at the top floor of Hotel Baioke Sky is an exhilarating experience. This is the tallest building in Thailand and the view from the top is breathtaking, especially at night. They serve buffet dinner and choice for the vegetarians is very limited. However, on request, they serve a full course of vegetarian meal with choice of Chinese or Italian cuisine.

A visit to the famous Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is a must. A ride in a long tail boat through the canals gives you a glimpse of the Thai village life. The 15 minute ride through the canals brings you to the floating market. You can pick up some local made articles from here but remember to bargain hard. The prices are already inflated due to the tourists.

Food: If you are a vegetarian, be careful. Thai food is primarily non-vegetarian and spicy. Further, the Thai people do not speak much English and will not understand what you want. If you are a strict vegetarian, stick to the several Indian restaurants in Bangkok. If you wish to try local food, ask your hotel reception to write “vegetarian noodles, , veg fried rice, mixed vegetables, veg tom yam soup (very spicy) ” etc in Thai which you can show to the local restaurants. Please ask specifically not to put “Fish oil or Oyster sauce” as Thai cook everything in fish oil. For the kids, there are several McDonalds, Pizza Hut and other fast food outlets in most of the shopping malls.