Katelyn Tan | A Singapore Beauty, Travel and Lifestyle Blogger

Finding Your Way Around BKK

Thursday 25 July 2013

As you all know, I went to BKK recently about a month ago.
So here are some tips for those who are planning on going there! :)
Some tips were from a very nice Singaporean whom I got to know there!

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1. What is the easiest way to go from
one place to another?
image from flickr
Take a cab! It's very cheap anyways. Average about 100-200bhat.
We didn't even try taking any trains there cause we travelled in fours (just nice for a cab).
Each trip is like $1-2 (SGD) per person. So we didn't really care.

The thing about taking cabs in BKK is that...
ALWAYS TAKE A CAB THAT RUNS ON METER!
If they refuse to on meter, reject them and take another cab.
Those that shout out fixed price usually are 2x more expensive.
We've tried that twice. Tested and proven =P



Anyways, their BTS aren't really that accessible. Okays we were lazy to walk.
But if you are keen in taking BTS, you can consider their One-Day Pass or 30-Day Smartpass.

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2. The 3 types of cabs in BKK
i: Runs on petrol
ii: Runs on dieselthen than
Three: Runs on CNG

image from squidoo
I haven't seen these colorful cabs there.
We only took the orange ones, yellow+green ones and hot pink ones.
The more common cabs around BKK are the yellow+green and hot pink ones.

The orange color cabs there usually runs on CNG and we were told that they might explode OMG!
On day one we took a orange one. Thank god nothing happened.
It is cheaper if it runs on CNG, followed by petrol, followed by diesel.
But I would not risk it and would rather give the CNG ones a miss.

We were recommended to take cabs that had a mix of yellow and green (that is their "official" cab).
They had this hot pink cabs too. They are safe to take just that most don't like to run on meter.

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3. Don't take cabs parked outside your hotel.
image from stickmanbangkok
Usually they are not trustworthy. Not trustworthy in the sense that they will charge you more.
There was this place we wanted to go and they said it was very very far away, take an hour to go.
But I search on google and it takes only 30mins!
We ended up walking to the main streets to get a cab and we reached in 20mins!
Conclusion: Always flag a cab along the main streets.
There are plenty of cabs in BKK so no worries about not being able to flag one
that is willing to run on meter.

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4. Don't assume everywhere has the same
opening hours!
Being a shopaholic who only shops at shopping malls and assuming everywhere is like USA
and have a standard 10am-9pm opening hours, I made a couple of mistakes in the itinerary!
I totally didn't check any of their opening hours.
And guess what? Floating markets only opens on weekends.
The famous Thip Samai only opens after 5.30pm.
The Grand Palace closes at 3.30pm.
Platinum Mall closes around 7pm (some online sites say 9pm but most shops are closed by 7pm).
Conclusion: Always check the opening hours before planning the itinerary!

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5. Need data plan?
I did my homework before going to BKK.
As a blogger, I NEED my data plan. I could barely survive Genting for two days without data plan.
I would go on some cold turkey if I have to survive the entire 5days at BKK without data plan.
Forever checking my gmail, twitter, instagram. I know, I'm over-reliant on the internet :(

Here's your solution if you need data plan in BKK - dtac Happy Tourist SIM.
They have this 299bhat card for 7 days unlimited data plan and 100bhat worth of credits inside.
The 100bhat credits can be used for calling or sms :)

It's easy to tell which shop it is. They have a super super long queue.

Tip: You don't need to have a card per person.
If you have portable chargers with you,
you all can always share one card by setting up hotspot ;)

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That's all for this post!
For those who have been to BKK before or heard stuffs about BKK,
feel free to leave comments/tips below to share with the rest! :)

6 comments:

  1. Hi babe!
    Very informative! I'm going bkk this mid aug too! :D

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  2. Hello :) Hope these info will be useful to you :) Remember to spam pad thai and shopping there!

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  3. Thank u^^ esp love the happy tourist sim card tip! cant live without a data plan><

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    1. You're welcome :) Hi5! I can't live without data plan too hahas.

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  4. Is the sim card micro sim or normal size? Will the counter staff activate for u?

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    1. It comes in both sizes. You just need to pop out the correct size. They didn't activate for us. There is a long queue there for the cards they didn't even bother to check our I/C. I'm not sure if they will offer to activate for customers but you can try requesting :) Else just pop it into your phone on the spot. If it doesn't work, then approach them on the spot.

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