Tourist Advice For Bangkok
Tourist Advice For Bangkok

Top Ten Travel Tips for Bangkok:


Here are our top ten travel tips to help take the stress out of your trip to Bangkok.  Some of these things we had to learn the hard way during our first visit, but overall Bangkok is an easy city as a tourist.


1. Planning & Dividing Your Time In Bangkok:
There is surprisingly a ton of amazing things to experience both in and around Bangkok that could easily keep you busy for weeks. This diverse set of experiences helps to make Bangkok the most visited destination Thailand.  It can be hard to prioritize what are the most important things to see and how to maximize your time, so we decided to do he work for you.  Whether you are only in town for 1-4 days over more than a week we’ve come up with the best plan of action to get your started.  Check out our Suggested Itineraries for Bangkok.

 

2. Getting Around Bangkok: Bangkok is a crazy town but can be easy to navigate if you known what you are doing.  On all of our walking tour maps we show the different transportation options with routes.  You can really decide which one to take depending on what tour stop you are going to.  Expect to use the river taxi, long tail boat, subway and train.  If in old town where the metro is limited the use of Tuk Tuks really comes in handy.  To try to keep it simple we really suggest just looking at what routes are close to the stops you want to see on our walking to maps to choose the transportation that is right for you.

 

3. How To Get To Ans From The Airport: The best way to get from the Airport to Bangkok really depends on the time of day you are flying.  During the day the best way is the very easy to use high speed Airport Express (SRT Link) which goes right from the middle of town to the airport only 20 minutes.  It leaves the station every 10 minutes from 6am-1130pm and is only a couple dollars.  The Airport Express line is also connected to the city subway and train lines making it easy to get to from many places around town.  Because Old Town isn’t connected to the metro lines it can be hard to get to the Airport Express station without using a taxi.

From Midnight to 6am your only option between the city and the airport will be a taxi.  Make sure not to book from the stands located inside the airport as they are very expensive and almost an outright scam.  Walk just outside the airport to the pickup/drop off area where the official airport taxis are.  The ride is cheap and straight forward.  To the Airport Express station it is 35 minutes without traffic or 1 hour in rush hour.  Expect an additional 30 minutes if you are staying in the heart of Old Town.  You can also make the journey in just over and hour with a combo of buses #555 & #16 or #17 but a taxi is way better.  The best advice we can give you is to make sure the driver runs his meter and that the car has passenger seat belts before getting in.


4. Thai Language Tips:

Hello is Sawatdee (pronounced Sa-What-Dee)

If you are Male you say Sawatdee Khrap (pronounced Sa-What-Dee Krap)

If you are Female you say Sawatdee Khun Kha (pronounced Sa-What-Dee Ka)

It is also polite to use the WAI guesture when greeting

WAI Greeting (pronounced Way) is the polite gesture used in greeting and is explained below in the next section

Goodbye is Lar Korn (pronounced La-Gone)

Thank You is Khawb Khun (pronounced Cop Coon)

If you are Male you say Khawb Khun Khrap (pronounced Cop Coon Krap) to mean Thank You Kindly
If you are Female you say Khawb Khun Kha (pronounced Cop Coon Ka) to mean Thank You Kindly

Do you speak English is Phuut Phaa-saa Ang-Grit Daai Mai (pronounced Poot Pa-sa On-Grit Die Mi) and you add the same gender ending to it like above Krap/Ka

Cheers for drinking is Chok Dee

My Name Is varies greatly based on if you are a Man or Woman

If you are Male you say Phom Chue “your name” Khrap (pronounced Pom Shew ….  Krap)

If you are Female you say Di-Chan Chue “your name” Kha (pronounced De-Shawn Shew ….  Kha)

Chiang with an ‘”i” means City

Chang without an ‘”i” means Elephant

Farang (pronounced Fa-Wrong) generally means foreigner and is mainly used to describe White European tourists.  A Black tourist is considered a Black Farang.


5. How To Use the WAI Bow Greeting:
The WAI (pronounced Way) is the polite gesture used in greeting to show respect.  It involves placing your palms together in front of your chest and bow/nod your head at the person your are greeting and there are 3 different ways to do it depending on how much respect you want to show.

Level 1: The most common WAI will be for people who are older than you or equal to you and you will bow your head until your index fingers touch your brow.
Level 2: The next level of WAI is meant for respected people such as teachers or parents and you will bow your head until your index finger touches your forehead and your thumbs touch your nose.
Level 3: The highest level of WAI is used for Monks, Priests, and Royal Family and you bow your head until your thumbs touch your brow.
Responding To A WAI: If someone gives you a WAI it is polite to return the respect but you only have to put your palms together in front of your chest and do not need to bow in return.


6. Where To Stay In Bangkok:
Figuring out where in stay in Bangkok is actually quick challenging at first.  Most of the main tourist sites are in Old Town, but that is the only part of Bangkok that doesn’t have a modern subway system.  Overall we prefer to stay in Silom near the metro station as it gives you easy access to the full metro while still being near Old Town, the River, and Chinatown.  Among the Silom hotels we like hotel Le Meridien the best.  As a backup we would also recommend the Shanghai Mansion Hotel in the heart of Chinatown.


7. Top Festivals In Bangkok:
Coming Soon
loi krathong is the Festival of Lights in November, is repeated on New Years Eve on Thapae Road with food stalls, musicians, dancers and of course paper lanterns being released into the sky, Chinese New Year


Top 10 Things To Do In Bangkok:

1. Visit the Grand Palace Complex
2. Explore By Wat Pho
3. Climb Wat Arun
4. Ride A River Boat & Tuk Tuk
5. Check Out Chinatown
6. Day Trip To A Floating Market
7. Drink At One Of the Bar Streets
8. Go To The Penis Shirne
9. Check Out A Rooftop Bar
10. Attend A Festival

Bonus: Maha Uma Devi Temple