April 24, 2012
Bangkok Thailand: One of the beautiful cities I've seen.
Before I detail our experience in Bangkok, let me share how we got there from manila: the budget-friendly way.
The flight we were able to book departs from Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark. So we had to think of a way to get there from Makati without spending so much. An option was to take the Philtranco bus from Pasay which would directly bring us to the departure area of the airport. This would cost around Php400.00 each. However, since we were tight on our budget, we chose to commute to get to DMIA from Makati. From Makati, we rode the bus to get to Victory Liner in Cubao (Php 25.00). From Cubao, we rode the Victory Liner Bus (Php 139.00 each) and got off at Dau Terminal. From there, we walked past Chowking to get to the highway where we rode a jeepney (Php 8.00) going to SM Clark. We had an early dinner at McDo and bought some groceries as supplies. From SM Clark, we walked a few meters to where the "airport shuttle jeepneys" are parked. We had two choices, one was to ride a jeepney for Php12.00 each but would have to walk around 900 meters to get to the departure area of the airport or to pay Php 250.00 for the whole jeepney and would be dropped off at the departure area. Being tired from walking, we chose the Php 250.00 since a guy was willing to share the cost with us, that made is Php 50.00 per head. If we were lucky, the jeepney would be full. Unfortunately, we were the only ones there. The ride took around 20-30 minutes before we got to the airport. As compared to taking the Philtranco bus, our choice helped us save roughly Php180.00.
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| Some of the airforce men jogging at Clark Freeport |
When we got inside the airport, we fixed our stuffs first and had to exchange peso to Thailand Baht. We chose the Veterans Bank stall since it was cheaper. We only exchanges a few thousand pesos to get us through our first day in Thailand. Wrong move! Since our money was in peso, we had a hard time looking for money changers in Thailand. We should have listened to our manager when she told us to bring dollars instead of peso.
Anyway, after re-packing, we checked in and paid the International Tax (Php 1620.00) and Terminal Fee (Php 600.00). In the immigration, I was almost not allowed to pass through because I presented my PRC ID instead of my company ID since I left it in Manila. Fortunately, my friends had their IDs and the consul just reminded me to always bring my company ID with me.
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| New Terminal Fee at Clark International Airport |
We had to wait at the pre-departure gate for around an hour before the boarding gates were opened. It would have been nice if there was free wi-fi at the waiting area.
And finally...... Thailand, here we come!!!
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| Just landed. Time check: 11:00 PM |
Since we didn't book a room for our first night, we had to spend the night at the airport. At first it was awkward, but since we were so sleepy and know that we had to reserve our energy for the next day's activity. There were two (2) other Filipinos with us who also slept at the airport.
We woke up around 5am and freshened up. After cleaning ourselves, we then rode the shuttle to the bus terminal and looked for the van 522 that connected Suvarnabhumi Airport to the On-Nut sky train station via Bangna-Bangpakong Road and got off at the On-Nut Sky Train Station. At every floor level of the airport, there is a designated area where the airport shuttle would pick up those who would like to go to the terminal. From the train station, we had a long walk and had to ask a lot of people before we finally got to our hostel, Madee Hostel.
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| Welcome to Thailand! |
Madee Hostel (let me include my review of the hostel here) The hostel is a bit hard to find since it was along the residence areas. It was a very long walk from BST On-nut Station. But thanks to the kind people whom we asked, we were able to reach it.
We arrived at the hostel around 8AM hoping we could leave our stuffs and officially start our tour. But there was no one there when we arrived. We had to wait outside for about 30 minutes before we got the idea of calling the number in the note through a payphone located at the corner of the block. We had to wait for about 15 minutes before someone came and opened the door for us. Though we were disappointed, we did not let this ruin our vacation. It's a good thing the rooms are clean.
Since we leave the hostel very early and arrive late, it was an advantage that they provide access cards to the main door. Though we can enter the hostel without a receptionist, it would have been better if there was someone there who we can ask for tips and directions on how to get from one place to another. Hope they can improve on this.
They provided us blankets which we did not use in our first night because we thought those were towels. It turned out those were blankets and the note they had in our room was to warn guests not to use the blankets as towels. ^_^
We only got the chance to ride their "shuttle" on our first day there since the receptionist was there. After that, we did not see the "shuttle" anymore. haha. Looks like we had to walk to the station.
On our way to the Bangkok to-see in our itinerary, we passed by the train station (where trains to other provinces are) that looked like a stadium. Too bad we didn't get the chance to see how their train station looked like.
We arrived at the hostel around 8AM hoping we could leave our stuffs and officially start our tour. But there was no one there when we arrived. We had to wait outside for about 30 minutes before we got the idea of calling the number in the note through a payphone located at the corner of the block. We had to wait for about 15 minutes before someone came and opened the door for us. Though we were disappointed, we did not let this ruin our vacation. It's a good thing the rooms are clean.
Since we leave the hostel very early and arrive late, it was an advantage that they provide access cards to the main door. Though we can enter the hostel without a receptionist, it would have been better if there was someone there who we can ask for tips and directions on how to get from one place to another. Hope they can improve on this.
They provided us blankets which we did not use in our first night because we thought those were towels. It turned out those were blankets and the note they had in our room was to warn guests not to use the blankets as towels. ^_^
We only got the chance to ride their "shuttle" on our first day there since the receptionist was there. After that, we did not see the "shuttle" anymore. haha. Looks like we had to walk to the station.
On our way to the Bangkok to-see in our itinerary, we passed by the train station (where trains to other provinces are) that looked like a stadium. Too bad we didn't get the chance to see how their train station looked like.
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| Train Station |
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| Democracy Monument |
Here's something about the Baiyoke Sky Train which was one of our mode of transportation in Bangkok:
***When I was planning our trip to Thailand, I did not consider the fact that train fares change according to distance so our budget for transportation exploded. Haha. But that's okay since it was very convenient to go to and from places in Bangkok using the skytrain. I was surprised to see that there was an option in the ticket machine with a fare of zero Baht. When I checked the fare matrix, there was a note that said trips from On-nut Station to Bearing Station are free. Nice!
There were times when it was really crowded and times when we were able to sit. In the morning, they were even giving away newspapers in the station (though it was all written in there language). The time interval for waiting was short which is good.
But if there are 4 people travelling (like us), I would recommend you take a taxi (35 Baht flag down) instead since the fare is almost the same. The train fare for the nearest station would cost 15 Baht and an additional 5 Baht for the next station after. So if the 4 people would need to go to a place which is 4 stations away, the train would cost a total of 100 Baht. But if they took a taxi, it would have costed them around 60-70 Baht.***
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| Baiyoke Sky Train |
Our Bangkok Tour began with a trip to Bobae Market to buy some souvenirs before we head home at the end of the day. This was not part of the itinerary so I had to research on how to get there from our hostel. I usually use google maps for this kind of research. Unfortunately, the directions I got was not accurate. We ended up taking a taxi to get to the market. It was a good thing we were able to find the souvenirs we wanted at discounted price. The whole shopping time took us more than an hour. That's more than an hour less to visit the sites in Bangkok. To catch up with our budgeted time, we took a taxi to the Grand Palace.
The taxi dropped us off the street accross the main entrance so we had to cross the street before we reach the Grand Palace. The picture below showed the view that welcomed us:
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| Welcoming view of the Grand Palace |
We had to walk a few meters from the main gate to get to the ticket booth. Each ticket costs 400 THB. This was so worth it. It stands up to its name. There were so many beautiful buildings inside. The details of the walls were so majestic! A tour around the whole Palace area would take half a day to be able to appreciate the place. This is very tiring since the only way to tour the area is by walking. They do have resting areas all over the palace with free drinking water. We were a little disappointed to find out that the king and queen were not staying at the Grand Palace anymore. Nevertheless, the place was fantastic!
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| Grand Palace - details |
Food:
After the tiring walk around the Grand Palace, we had lunch at the best restaurant we've been so far. It is just across the Grand Palace. The food there taste super great and the price is very affordable. They have rice meals that cost around 60-70 Baht. They also have green tea for as low as 5 Baht each.
I recommend this place to all those visiting the Grand Palace. Though the place is not that big, the food and price will compensate for that.
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| Krisa Coffee Shop |
After the delicious lunch, we took a tuk-tuk (the trycicle version of Thailand) to get to the port. We paid 3 Baht each to be able to ride the ferry to the island where Wat Arun is located.
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| Ferry to Wat Arun |
Wat Arun
This is one of my favorite places I've seen all over Thailand. The beauty of the temple is just so unique. Entrance fee cost 50 Baht each - so worth it. A climb up the temple is a challenge due to the steep and narrow stairs. When we got there, only a few had the courage to climb up the stairs. Three of us went up to have a view from the top. From there, a part of the Grand Palace can be seen along with the port, temple of the reclining Buddha and some infrastructures.
Sky Baiyoke Hotel (Rotating Deck)
This is one of my favorite places I've seen all over Thailand. The beauty of the temple is just so unique. Entrance fee cost 50 Baht each - so worth it. A climb up the temple is a challenge due to the steep and narrow stairs. When we got there, only a few had the courage to climb up the stairs. Three of us went up to have a view from the top. From there, a part of the Grand Palace can be seen along with the port, temple of the reclining Buddha and some infrastructures.
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| Wat Arun |
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| Wat Arun |
After spending an hour at Wat Arun, we went back to the main island via the same ferry. At the port, we were able to see other affordable souvenirs which we couldn't resist to buy. After spending almost all of our individual pocket money, we decided to head to the Baiyoke Sky Hotel for the view of Bangkok. To get there, we took a taxi as advised by almost all the people we asked. We had a hard time looking for a taxi since all the taxi asked that we pay a flat 200 Baht and that they would have to drop us first at a jewelry shop before we are dropped at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel. After 4 taxis of the same condition, we decided to bargain with the next taxi that would come. Luckily (not!), the driver of the next taxi agreed to take us to the Hotel based on the taxi meter but would have to take us to the jewelry shop first. We agreed to this since he explained that they would be given gasoline discounts if they bring customers even if the customers will not buy anything. However, since it was almost 5PM, the driver said that the jewelry shop was already closing and that we will not make it due to the traffic. He then said that he will take us directly to the Hotel for 200Baht. We protested and asked that we be dropped off right then and there. So we got out and just paid the driver 50Baht. We got ripped off!!! After all that reading about avoiding these kinds of scams. But we didn't let this ruin our day. We took another taxi and were lucky that the driver was an honest person. We arrived at Baiyoker after around 20 minutes and paid a little bit over what was shown in the taxi meter as a way to thank the driver for not ripping us off.
The Baiyoke Sky Hotel entrance fee to the observation deck was 300 Baht each. They have an elevator that takes a maximum waiting time of 5 minutes to load the next batch of passengers. The highest level for the elevator is the 77th floor. A miniature of the Hotel would welcome the guests once they come out from the elevator. The view from this floor was also breath-taking since we were able to see the buildings around the hotel. Aside from the view, there were also some displays in the floor which could attract the attention of visitors.
We had to take the stairs to reach the revolving deck. It took the deck twice to revolve before we got off since the view was just the same.
The Baiyoke Sky Hotel entrance fee to the observation deck was 300 Baht each. They have an elevator that takes a maximum waiting time of 5 minutes to load the next batch of passengers. The highest level for the elevator is the 77th floor. A miniature of the Hotel would welcome the guests once they come out from the elevator. The view from this floor was also breath-taking since we were able to see the buildings around the hotel. Aside from the view, there were also some displays in the floor which could attract the attention of visitors.
We had to take the stairs to reach the revolving deck. It took the deck twice to revolve before we got off since the view was just the same.
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| Baiyoke Sky Hotel Ticket |
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| View of Bangkok |
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| View of Bangkok |
In front of the Baiyoke Hotel was some sort of bazaar that sold cheap but quality clothes. We stopped by some of the stalls to see their goods and headed to the mall next to it. We bought McDonalds at the mall in front of the hotel and took a taxi back to our hostel. We had a hard time talking with the driver since he don't speak english. He had to call someone and asked that we tell the person on the other line where we want to go and he was the one who told the driver where to bring us.
When we reached our hostel, the receptionist was waiting for us to get our stuff. We asked her to talk to the driver and instruct him to bring us to the airport. After agreeing, the driver took us to the airport. On our way, we passed by animal statues. The driver then started talking to us. We then realized that he was trying to teach us how they call the animals we pass by. The first was the elephant - Chang. Everytime we pass by an elephant, we would then say Chang and he would smile and repeat chang. It was until we already know how the elephant, goat, bull and pig are called in Thailand. It was then our turn to teach him english. He appreciated that and whenever we saw animals, we would tell the names in Thailand version and he would repeat these in english. It was a nice and great way to end our Thailand experience.
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| Our taxi to Madee and the airport |
At the airport, we spent our last Baht to buy Chang keychains as a remembrance of Thailand and the taxi driver we met. And finally, it was boarding time.....
Oh Thailand, it was tiring but soooo worth it. Hope to see you again.
Back in the Philippines, we arrived around 3:30 AM at Clark Internation Airport. At the arrival area, a jeepney driver was waiting for passengers. He was carrying a sign board with Php 50.00 written on it. That was cheap and convenient so almost all budget travellers rode the jeep. It had a stop over at SM Clark before it went to its terminal near Dau Terminal where we rode the bus back to Manila.
Vacation was so over. *sad*
Back in the Philippines, we arrived around 3:30 AM at Clark Internation Airport. At the arrival area, a jeepney driver was waiting for passengers. He was carrying a sign board with Php 50.00 written on it. That was cheap and convenient so almost all budget travellers rode the jeep. It had a stop over at SM Clark before it went to its terminal near Dau Terminal where we rode the bus back to Manila.
Vacation was so over. *sad*
Next stop, South Korea!!!
