Things to know if visiting Bangkok

Airport to Hotel – Upon exiting the Baggage claim, you’ll see people near the exits trying to get you a taxi to Bangkok itself. The trip from the airport to Bangkok itself would cost you between 350-400 Baht including the 25 Baht toll fee and dependent on how far you are from the airport and traffic.  Be sure to have exchanged some Baht after passing the Immigration or after claiming your luggage! You don’t have to exchange that much as rates are lower. Just be sure to have enough for the taxi fare and some for tips.

Tuk Tuks and metered Taxis – The tuk tuk is a motorcycle drawn vehicle, used as a public utility vehicle much like our very own ‘tricycle’. Riding the Tuk- tuk is probably a one-off thing for tourists. You ride it for the experience. Tuk Tuks’ usually charge higher than a taxi unless you really know how to haggle. In our experience, you’re better off paying an air-conditioned metered taxi than riding the open Tuk tuk in the humidity and smoke-filled streets of Bangkok. In both cases though, you’ll be offered a side trip to a massage or a museum. Also, some taxis have faster meters than others. Once we rode a taxi to Pratunam, without traffic, for 50 Baht. With another taxi, we paid 70 Baht.

Patpong – I’m not sure what is really there to see in Patpong aside from the “Ping Pong Show” – which we didn’t watch! This place is a rip-off when it comes to shopping. A fake LV bag would be priced at 3600 Baht but can be haggled to about 800 Baht; that is if you know how to really, really haggle. This is the same for anything that they sell there. What is annoying is that even if they know that you know the actual prices, they’d still mark it up to almost 5 times its actual value. With regards to the “shows”, brokers would be in your face selling the shows. I personally wasn’t interested especially that from internet forums, you usually get scammed into paying more once inside. Plus the thought of the “show” itself wasn’t to enticing for either one of us. More on this later.

Shopping – Bangkok is really a shopping haven for those on a budget. Well, you also have the expensive brands available in Siam Paragon and other malls but if you’re really into “Bangkok Shopping”, the best place to go is in Pratunam. Leave your hotel at 8:30 when traffic is usually light. By the time you get there, you can grab some street food and wait till the shops open at 9. The place is HUGE and there were so many areas that you can go to but the best bargains (Tshirts, blouses, pants) can be had for much cheaper than buying them in MBK. A top in MBK would cost you around 230-300 Baht (with haggling), while 3 pieces of tops would cost you 110-160 Baht in Pratunam. Well, the catch is, you have to buy 3 items from the same shop to get the “wholesale” price.  Forget MBK. We spent our last morning in Bangkok frantically buying stuff from Pratunam.