For our little mini-Eid break, hubs and I decided to visit Bangkok and Koh Samui. To be honest, I was looking forward to chilling on the beaches in Koh Samui more so than exploring Bangkok, but surprisingly, there were lots of things that I really enjoyed about the city that made my whole experience so much better.
We were only there for a couple of days, which in my opinion was worth it, and could have been extended especially for Chatuchak Market. Keep in mind though that when exploring you’ll need to be a little strategic if you want to avoid the sleazier spots, as was the case for most of Thailand. Other than that, there are lots of great spots to check out and that will keep you quite busy!
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Also side note… Avoid going during monsoon season – yes, we totally did that. We had a mix of rain and sunshine, which was totally fine for Bangkok, but was a little bit of a bummer when we flew to Koh Samui. Just make sure you check the weather before you go as it may greatly impact your choice of activities. So try to avoid June through September…
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To Get Around
The traffic in Bangkok is AWFUL. You really want to avoid a car/taxi unless you’re heading to and from the airport. We stayed at a hotel that was very close to the Skytrain‘s (Bangkok’s public train system) Chong Nonsi station, which was super convenient. The trains are fairly easy to navigate and stop at a lot of the major areas, so I highly recommend grabbing a day pass, a map or data service (not many people speak English), and exploring the city using Bangkok’s public transport.
To Eat
You can’t really leave the city without eating some Pad Thai, of course. So since hubs and I are huge fans of Pad Thai, we made sure to try out some of the city’s famous spots…
Thip Samai: We LOVED the food at Thip Samai. Be ready to wait in a line though. It looks long, but moves fairly quickly – we waited about 20 minutes. I highly recommend getting the Shrimp Pad Thai wrapped in egg – there’s only 3 options on the menu anyway, and all the dishes are with shrimp, so don’t go if you don’t like shrimp… People do tend to think that the Pad Thai here is sweet, but we really enjoyed our food. And make sure to add some chili oil and flakes if you like your dishes spicy.
Baan Khanitha: Luckily, one of the Baan Khanitha restaurant locations was just a few blocks from our hotel so we tried it out the first night we got there. I really enjoyed their Pad Thai and it was not as sweet as the one at Thip Samai. I would also recommend their green and red curry dishes as well – yum!
25 Degrees Burger, Wine & Liquor Bar: This burger joint in the Pullman’s Hotel G is a really great option for when you’re really Pad-Thai-ed out. I didn’t think it could happen, but it really does. The burgers were yummy and they had so many options to try. It was also a great location to be able to watch the World Cup 2018 matches!
To Explore
One of my favorite parts of this trip was the Bangkok Night Lights Tuk Tuk Tour by Expique. They take you to lots of the city’s main sites, and while you can’t go inside some of them at night, this is a great option for those of you who don’t have a lot of time and want a quick tour of the city. They even take you for some Pad Thai at the famous Thip Samai!
What’s great is that Expique actually has lots of different tours, so if you need a private family tour (especially with small kids), food tour or even a midnight market tour, you can go with them. We were taken to Klong San Market, Wat Prayoon, The Giant Swing, Wat Pho (with the reclining Buddha that can only be seen in the mornings) and the Flower Market (yay!)!
Overall, I really liked our tour guide (she was so sweet!), and thought that the whole experience was so memorable. I highly recommend doing a tour with them if you need one in Bangkok.
FYI – If you plan on using Expique just make sure to book early and to read their essentials guide on the website. Apparently, lots of street food stalls are closed on Monday so you probably don’t want to book a tour on that day!
To Shop
Bangkok’s shopping was so good! I was very pleasantly surprised by the variety of things that were available. The only problem is that if you want to buy clothes at the little market stalls, just keep in mind that they’re one-size-fits-all……. Yeah, not really suitable for my body type LOL!
Chatuchak Weekend Market: I’m totally recommending this spot even though I missed this shopping experience. I can’t tell you how much I regret this… I had heard that this was the place for market shopping and great cheap finds. If you love digging for your goods, make sure to plan a trip to Bangkok that includes a weekend for this particular shopping experience.
Siam Mall Shopping: If you prefer a mall, you can stop by the Siam district to shop at their amazing malls like Paragon, Central World, Siam Center as well as others. They have Zara, H&M, Top Shop, as well as so many others, including the major luxury brands. I just picked up cute little things from the stalls outside for less than $10 each.
MBK Shopping Center: If you want a market-like experience with cheap finds, you can visit MBK Shopping Center in the Siam District for eight floors of cheap shopping. Every single floor has different kinds of items from home goods to clothes to electronics, so if you want to bargain, this would be the place to go. But I’m pretty sure nothing is real even if it kinda looks legit…
Cute clothes. And then weird styling…….
I also noticed that all of the markets had similar stuff. A lot of fake branded items that are probably coming from the same source. I liked the stalls (between the malls) and the smaller malls in the Siam District more because their items looked a little different from what was available in the markets.
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So what did you enjoy in Bangkok? I’d love to check it out next time 🙂
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More pics from our tuk tuk tour…
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