Tampilkan postingan dengan label Bangkok. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Bangkok. Tampilkan semua postingan
24 Hours in Bangkok

24 Hours in Bangkok

What I thought was impossible was definitely possible. My friends and I decided to go on a road trip to Bangkok from Siem Reap. After that 12-hour trip by bus, I realized na ayaw ko na maulit yun. We have less than 24 hours in Bangkok and I'm not spending half of it inside the bus once more. So being the bitch that I am, I urged my friends to just book a flight back to Siem Reap. Sabi nga nila.. maubos na ang pera, wag lang ang oras. Time is gold everyone!


Rest is for the weak. We headed straight to McDonalds after checkin-in The Berkeley Hotel for our late dinner/snacks.


We had few more hours left before the 12MN curfew. We shopped right outside our hotel where there was a night market.


Got me and my sister personalized keychains with our names and charms added on to it. Cute!


Still alive and kicking, we were back to our hotel by 12 midnight.


Here's my room with Faye. Watch out for my review of The Berkeley Hotel soon!

Before sleeping, I was busy trying to look for cheap flights going back to Siem Reap. We found cheap seats from AirAsia that cost around US$80.00 per pax. It's a bit steep compared to US$28.00 but at least we still have few more hours left to go around central Bangkok for more shopping.


Our hotel is walking distance to the big malls in Bangkok so at least we were able to save a few bucks by walking around instead of getting a cab.


Trip to Bangkok will never be complete without ordering something from street vendors. Rap, Faye and I enjoyed our authentic US$2.00 thai milk tea. ;)


Being gadget freaks, our first mall stop is of course the MBK Center.


Not sure if MBK is still the cheapest place to get your gadgets so make sure you're updated with prices before getting one. Here's Faye who bought an Olympus OM-D camera.
Shopping Tip: Make sure that there's an international warranty before buying stuff abroad.


After mall hopping, we all went our separate ways to get last minute pasalubongs and whatnot. I was busy checking out food vendors. This tuktuk selling ice cream caught my attention, wouldn't it be awesome to have something like this in Manila? We need something new versus the food trucking industry.

By 5:00PM we're on a cab on our way to Don Mueang International Airport. If I'm not mistaken it is the old airport of Bangkok but was pleasantly surprised by how it was maintained.




 
Checking-in was a breeze thanks to AirAsia's self check-in machines.

 
Don Mueang International Airport is old but better than Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Free WiFi is fast too!


They have a lot of restaurants too but we spent our remaining baht in McDonald's which by the way costs more compared to prices outside the airport.


Our plane arrived and left on time. Good job, Air Asia! :)

It was a definitely one of the most random trips I ever had but was kinda sad upon leaving. We can't wait to go back, see you soon Bangkok! :)
Land Travel: Siem Reap to Bangkok

Land Travel: Siem Reap to Bangkok

If you ever get bored in Siem Reap (which is most likely to happen after staying there for 3-4 days) and have a few more days left for vacation leave, then I suggest you guys go on a side trip to either Phnom Penh or Bangkok. I didn't want to go because according to other travel blogs it takes forever to get to both places by bus. But I didn't have a choice so off we went to Nattakan Cambodia Co. Ltd.


Nattakan Cambodia Co. Ltd. is one of the few bus companies that offer trips direct to Bangkok.
Photo grabbed from Artydubs.com.

We didn't have any reservations and went there by 8:00 in the morning to buy our tickets. Luckily, the bus was not that full and we were seated near the toilet at the back. Tickets cost US$28.00 each and is inclusive of snacks, drinks and lunch.




The company gave us this ID and must be worn the whole trip.


According to the agency, trip will take around 6-7 hours. Sa totoo lang, nagsawa ako sa view ng lupa. Napagod din ako kakapikit. Haha.

 
They served us mamon or sponge cake with juice for snacks and rice topped with shrimps/chilly from 7-11 for lunch.

Travel Tip: Bring your own snacks if possible. Obviously, food served wasn't enough. Good thing Faye brought candies and that at least helped us get through boredom, etc. Don't forget to change a few dollars to baht before leaving Siem Reap. We had one stopover and couldn't buy anything from the store 'coz we didn't have money and our ATM cards were not activated to make withdrawals abroad. Such a hassle.

The trip took longer than expected. To make it easy for your guys, here's a timeline:
  • 8:30AM - Time of departure from Siem Reap
  • 11:30AM - Arrival at the border of Cambodia and Thailand
  • 1:30PM-2:00PM - Left the border after almost 2 1/2 hours. We had to wait for almost 30 mins to an hour in the immigration. They had about 2-3 immigration officers processing almost a hundred or more passports. And since we're traveling with others, we had to wait for everyone to finish.
  • 2:00PM-7:00PM - Took us 5 hours to get to Bangkok. Traffic was sooooo bad, probably worst compared to what we have in Manila. By this time I'm starting to get annoyed by the smell of the loo. No, I did not bother using the toilet. It's not lady friendly according to my guy friends.
  • 7:00PM-7:30PM - We arrived at the Bangkok Bus Terminal in Chatuchak but got stuck for a while trying to figure out where to get our baht. There were a lot of drivers approaching and offering us service to our hotel but we wanted to play safe so we got a cab direct from the taxi line.
  • 8:15PM - We finally arrived at our hotel, The Berkeley. We also got our baht from the nearby forex store.
To make the long story short, if you have all the time in the world then take the bus. Make sure to load your ipads or smart phones with movies and don't forget to bring snacks. But if you have extra cash, travel by plane. Air travel from Siem Reap to Bangkok takes less than an hour. :)


Getting stuck inside that bus for almost 12 hours sucked big time. I think I deserved a large cup of thai milk tea and french fries from McDonalds. Om nom nom nom!