Budgetting Bangkok
It's been almost two decades since I've last set foot on the land of a thousand smiles even though I have to certainly admit that I don't look at all close to two decades old. My friends and I went on a short 4 days 3 night trip to Bangkok around a month back which was filled mainly with filling our stomachs. It was also that same trip where I had my first experience getting a bespoke suit tailored. You can read more about it HERE.
It took me awhile to get to writing this post and I still have no idea what the focus really should be but i'll try to keep the haphazardness to a minimal and fill this post with appropriate visuals since I'm like a graduate now and supposedly possess a apt level or presentation.
Alright, so the first thing my friends got once they touched down in Thailand was to purchase a local pre-paid SIM card at the airport. This proved to be pretty useful as we regularly had to split our group when travelling.
Sim card -299 baht for 7 days 4g/3g unlimited data with 1.5Gb speed limit + 100baht talk time
**TIP: Use UBER or Grab app to figure out the estimated cost of taxi trips to avoid getting hustled**
Bangkok does have a decent train system network so do take advantage of it if you're not into tiresome negotiations with taxi drivers.
Can't remember which station I took this at but the system is pretty easy to figure out.
Personal purchases
Having successfully suppressed my good looks for so long with the aid of my yellow spectacles (kinda like Kenpachi Zaraki from Bleach), I decided the world was ready to relish in a little more of my beauty. A short distance away from Platinum Mall lies PRATUNAM OPTIC (postal code 10400) where the new eyewear was purchased. The one I got made me 2500baht (around 100 sgd) weaker and I'm pretty sure there are places which carry cheaper ware but I didn't want to spend my whole trip sourcing for spectacles.
Just me draped in full Bangkok-bought clothes and spectacles
Little shopping was done by me but I managed a few simple tees which ranged from 50baht at Pratunam Mall to around 200 baht at Patpong and also a few casual shorts at around 150 baht at Pratunam Market. Honestly, do give Pratunam Market a visit for great deals and then head over to Platinum Mall for a meal if you have to.
**TIP: Amari Hotel, the place where I made my suit, has one of the most conducive restrooms in the area.** *wink*
Our home for those few nights was Glow Trinity Silom which was tucked in a small alley. The staff and the room were great (despite a rather creepy encounter I had) but the deal could have been sweeter if they had provided toothpaste and toothbrush. Thank goodness there were a bunch of 7-Elevens everywhere where I acquired the essentials for 15baht and 20baht repectively. Do also note to bring a travel adapter for your charging devices.
**TIP: Most hotels carry a few adapters for travelers but you might not be able to get a bunch of them so bring along a multi plug and you can juice up all your devices concurrently.**
Facilities are great at this hotel.
Touristy places
The two main tourist attractions we headed to were the floating market and Wat Pho.
Personally, I fancied the Wat Pho visit as it reflected a sort of rich history of culture of Thailand. The entry fee to the compound is 100Baht that included a free bottle of cold water which was a life saver given the merciless onslaught of the sun.
The floating market trip on the other hand was rather tactless in its agenda. A member in our group had kindly helped us book a tour to the place for around 29SGD per person and I was rather excited to simply be near a water body (it's the angler blood) but there wasn't much of a tour, just a dude who told us where we're headed to. The boat ride around the rather minute floating market costs 150Baht per person paddle boat for a ride of around 15 minutes(?) and the merchandises sold were mainly aimed at the classic tourists. I was honestly rather amused by the engines used by some of the motorized boats though. They had on modified car engines (with gearbox and all still attached) to spin a propeller and pretty much used the river water in place of coolant - COOL SHIZZ (it's the technician blood).
Engineering aside, we were then led to another 2 more locations which were included in the floating market package. One of which was aimed at people who keep pets or encourage animal captivity of any sort (yeah yeah, tell me how they're 2 entirely different things) and the other was for people who loved hard wood. My advice, visit Wat Pho twice, there's a sort of serenity and calm there (mainly because there's a small water feature filled with koi there).
Boat noodles -12baht
They're really puny and comes in a variety of flavors. (Location: Victory Monument)
Padthai chicken+egg -50baht
Bought this at Khao San Road
Scorpion small -60baht Meal worms -60baht
Another interesting eat at Khao San Road which were surprisingly very tasty.
Cockles and Squid Eggs(?) - Really liked these
Chinatown TK Seafood - 150baht per dish
There was a peddler selling YouTiao paired with a cup of kaya at Chinatown but I didn't manage to get a shot of it as it was all gone too soon hahaha.
Youtiao kaya - 40baht(?)
Honestly, this Padthai was very well made but I'm no culinary expert to explain how it's come to be the 2nd best Padthai in Thailand(?)
Can someone help decipher this?
2nd best Padthai - 50baht
Definitely one of the best street foods.
Wang Lang market - Grilled Squid - 55baht, Fishcake - 20baht
From Wang Lang market, we took a River Bus which had legitimate river bus stops all along the Chao Phraya river (I have always felt that this river sounds rather offensive). That's also where my group met with the spiciest little chili disguised as a teenage girl. The river bus conductor was fiercer than those Korean Spicy Ramen I so very much enjoy. If Singapore had one of those, we wouldn't need those silly "Nice moves. Move in a little more, can?" stickers in our buses (man, I do hate those ugly cartoon characters).
River bus - ~14baht
The mookata in Thailand is definitely worth the trip. While their selection of meats might not get you excited from the get go, the free flow of coconut flavoured ice cream really makes up for everything.
Mookata - 169baht, food wastage 169 or 209 Baht, 3L of beer 380baht
Chicken Rice - 20baht(?) (location: temporary tentage opposite Big C Supermarket)
Whey to go, 7-Eleven! :)
On-the-go, however, you could always trust 7-Eleven to bring you a few calories.
7-eleven - Yoghurt Drink 25baht, Meiji (Chocolate Malt flavour) 25baht,Meiji protein(YES PROTEIN LOL) 50baht, Breakfast set toast+drink 35baht, basil pork microwavable meal 25baht
So yeah, that's about it for this post. I didn't really put much effort into the writing as there's really already quite a number of articles on the popular travel destination. Hopefully the price list helps somebody out there, maybe one of those control freaks who plans everything to the most specific of details. I did left out a few other expenditure including transport costs which took up quite a portion of the money I brought but one should be pretty safe with bringing about 300SGD for a 4 day trip. All in all, Bangkok was a charm and if you're not sure how much money to bring for a trip, more is always better.
Till next time, tight lines and smiley face:)
Till next time, tight lines and smiley face:)
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Sim card - 299 baht
Suit - 380SGD
Sports shorts - 50baht (minimum 4 pieces)
Casual shorts - 150baht (minimum 4 pieces)
Tees - 50 baht (minimum 6 pieces)
Specs -2500
Tooth brush -20baht
Tooth paste -15baht
Floating market -28.80 transport. 150baht paddle boat.
Wat Pho -100baht with water
Boat noodles -12baht
Padthai chicken egg -50baht
Scorpion small -60baht
Meal worms -60baht
Chinatown tk seafood - 150per dish
Youtiao kaya - 40baht I think
2nd best padthai - 50baht
Wang Lang market - ferry 3baht, grill squid 55baht, fishcake - 20baht
River bus - 14baht
Mookata - 169baht, food wastage 169/209, 3L 380baht
7-eleven - yakult 25, meiji 25, bfast toast+drink35baht, basil pork 25baht, meiji protein 50baht,
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