Bangkok, Thailand: Tips for Travelers

We had a great time wandering around Bangkok for a few days, eating and drinking our way around the city. If the food, drink and culture of Bangkok has captured your attention, then book a flight! But first, learn from our experience:

• Eat new things! We ate so much during our few days in Bangkok, and everything was delicious. We followed our gut and ate primarily at food stalls and restaurants that were filled with other people eating. We figured that crowds meant that places were popular, and that food would be fresh. 

Very busy food market. The food and drinks were delicious.



• Look both ways before you cross the street. Seriously. Thais drive on the left side of the road, and it's easy to forget that the cars aren't coming from where you think they should! You may also want to look behind you before you cross a road. We found that tuk-tuks and motorcycles weren't shy about hopping up on the sidewalk to get around traffic. 

• Bangkok is a pretty sprawling city, and it takes awhile to get from Point A to Point B. If you only have a few days in Bangkok, try to map out the places and neighborhoods you really want to see, and spend one day exploring each area. This might save you some time commuting back and forth.

• Take full advantage of Bangkok's public transportation. It's very modern, clean and easy to get around. We found the people at the information booths to be pretty helpful. You may have to switch modes of transportation (sky-train to metro to river ferry and so on) but transferring is fairly painless and all signs are in English as well as Thai. Cabs are also pretty reliable and cheap.  Drivers use a meter in central Bangkok. Take the advice we received from our good friend who lived in Bangkok for awhile: skip the cabs during rush hour! You'll pay big just to sit in traffic. Grab a drink or a snack until traffic cools down. We recommend the fruit smoothies.

• When riding the river ferry, keep an eye out for your stop. When the whistle blows, you have  approximately 3 seconds to get off of the boat. If you don't hop off quickly, you may get stuck on the boat, separated from your traveling partner. Not that we speak from experience or anything.

The river ferry

• If you have respiratory problems -- or even if you're just planning to be in Bangkok for more than a few days -- consider using an air mask. Between the humidity and air pollution, it was hard to breath at times. If we had remained in the city for a bit longer, we would've invested in some masks. And apparently, you can now find "fashionable" face masks. Very end-of-the-world chic.

• Don't take sightseeing advice from persistent strangers. Most of the people we met in Bangkok were incredibly friendly and went out of their way to help us find our way. Perhaps because of this, we fell for a harmless but annoying tuk-tuk "scam." (Here's one blogger's account of a similar situation. Thankfully, we figured out what was going on by the time our driver dropped us off at the tailor's shop and just walked away, so all we lost was a little bit of time.)  On the other hand, we did get a pretty cheap ride in a tuk-tuk for about a dollar.

• And one last tip: If you're one who normally prefers peace and quiet and small towns, ease yourself into chaotic Bangkok. Especially during our first day or two, we got burnt out after a few hours, and needed some time to retreat into our hotel room or a quiet restaurant. When we allowed ourselves breaks from all of the hubbub, we were able to take a step back and really appreciate the city just as it is.

If you have other tips on traveling to Bangkok, please leave them in the comments below!

-R