Bangkok Trip - Part 1

This post is a break from finance topics. We took a short trip to Bangkok recently on a free and easy arrangement. Bought tickets and booked a hotel stay though trip.com and we flew off on a Thursday, with planned return on Sunday.

There wasn't any real reason to go Bangkok. The city is not too far away and flights are cheap. Two way plane tickets are about $1300 for five travellers. Three nights stay for 2 rooms are about $600. My wife heard from Class 95 that the Muttons visited Thailand's Safari World and had a good time. So, we decided to check out the attraction as well.

We arrived in Bangkok at the Suvarnabhumi airport at around 3pm. I cannot recall I had been to the airport before. The place is crowded, especially near the exit of the arrival hall. Didn't order any food in flight, so we went looking for food straightaway on arrival. From Google, we located the "Magic" food court, which has more wallet friendly prices. After finding a table, we figured how to pay for food. At the entrance, there's a counter on the left where you buy a stored value card that the stalls accepts for payment. We topped up 1000 baht which is more than sufficient. Each main dish cost about 100-150 bahts. The remaining card value can be returned at the same counter for cash on the same day.

After late lunch, we left the airport by train which was very convenient. You can get tickets from the ticketing machines. However, the largest denomination which can be accepted is 100 baht. So we bought them from the counter easily instead. The "tickets" are like black plastic coins. Tap at the gantry for entry. Drop into the coin slot at the gantry to exit  Our destination is Phaya Thai, at the heart of Bangkok city. No transfer is required.

The half hour train ride was smooth and comfortable. Alighting at Phaya Thai, we exited to street level and was greeted by the chaotic Bangkok traffic. Coming from a mostly orderly country, the intimidation can be felt immediately. Our hotel is about 10 minutes away by foot. It's not far, but still it took us a while to get the directions right. After a walk through some narrow roads, we found the place safely.

On the main roads of Bangkok, the lines of cars and motorcycles are unending, while on the streets off the main roads, traffic is lighter. Walking on the narrow streets can be somewhat frightening. The cars, bikes and tuk tuks passes so close because there's no pedestrian paths. In general, watch out for traffic all the time. It takes a while to get comfortable with the limits of safe spaces. However after a short time of adaptation, one will come to appreciate how motorists and pedestrians are able to zip around the city seamlessly and in uncaring freedom.

Dinner was at Pratunum market. We went out late after a rest in the hotel, so apparently less food options are still available. Didn't walk into any restaurants. Had simple fare in a eating place in the night market instead. Cost is around 100 baht per mains. Using Klook, we bought tickets to the Safari World for the next day.

There are a couple of options when getting the tickets through Klook. There's a choice for the Safari park, the Marine Park or both, an option for buffet lunch, options for transport to and back at designated pickup points and coach service for the Safari park. It's a little confusing if one is not familiar with the attraction. To summarise, the Safari World consists of two different areas, Safari Park and Marine Park. The Marine Park is somewhat like a regular zoo, while the Safari Park is a drive though safari experience, using the park's coach service or a private vehicle. We bought the tickets to both parks, added the buffet lunch but skipped the park transfer and the safari's coach not understanding what it is. On hindsight the safari coach was slightly cheaper on Klook than bought at the park. Will blog about the parks in later post.

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