Bangkok, where do I start, maybe I should start with the 40 minute walk through Bangkok to get to our hotel because there were literally five hotels with the same name and we got to the the wrong one. The lady at the Reception desk told us we couldn’t walk it. We’re frugal so we didn’t pay for a taxi or a tuk tuk. Maybe I should talk about the sweltering heat, or the many noxious scents that hit your nose in the morning, afternoon and night. Bangkok was overrated, and more expensive than the “OMG, it’s sooo cheap” everyone was talking about. Is it cheaper than the states…some things, but most things are priced at US standards. What I appreciated about Bangkok was the freshly squeezed juices and the markets to buy all your odd trinkets and knockoffs. Although all the Thai food I’ve had in the states has always satisfied my taste buds the smells pouring from some of the food was enough to deter me from honestly eating anything Thai that didn’t come from a package. Daniel on the other hand embraced and loved some of the worst food he’s ever had but it was all for the experience. However once you see the gigantic rats pillaging through the different huts of food you think twice before purchasing the chicken liver from the street vendors. And even some of the packaged junk you can buy from the supermarkets scares your taste buds off, but nothing like their fruit durian or the shrimp chips Daniel tried to eat before throwing them back up in the toilet. Daniel says to understand the durian fruit you must open up a babies pamper that has gone number two and take a bite and to understand the chips take a bite of the same babies diaper and you will understand. Buts in reality it’s more like rotten egg and when you eat it, even a small amount the taste lingers for at least ten minutes. It’s an acquired taste I guess but not one I wish to acquire.
Bangkok is chalked full of monasteries some of which house exotic animals in order to make money. We decided to check out a tiger monastery. There was a tour available that would provide transportation to and from the monasteries, lunch, etc but it was over $130 for two people. So what did we do naturally, we took local transportation. It took us five hours to get there. We woke up at 5 AM and caught the bus close to 6 AM. That bus went to the south terminal. From the south terminal we had to catch another bus to Kachunburi* and from there we had to catch a local bus to the monastery that drops you off a mile away on a somewhat deserted dirt road. We arrived a little after 11, they didn’t open until 1PM but offered Daniel and I free food while we waited us. There were bugs everywhere and skinny cows running past us.
As we waited more people showed up we purchased our ticket saw the impressive tigers and took a picture. This place was not worth the trip, and you wonder if what you’re doing is ethically right. These animals were not cared for, and by coming here we were supporting a business that caged free roaming animals for a few dollars…we left feeling guilty. But that thought quickly escaped us as we had to walk a mile in heat to get to the main road to get to the bus in time. The bus stops running at the south terminal at 6:00PM. When we got to the main road there were no bus stop markings. So afraid we weren’t going to make it to the south terminal in time, I stuck out my thumb and hoped for the best. We needed to hitchhike. After ten minutes a red truck pulls up with a family inside. He asked where we were going and then motioned for us to get in the back. Daniel and I had discussed possibly walking to the bus station if we could remember the route but it would have taken us a few days. It was a lot further than we thought. We were dropped off right in front of the station and made it in time.
Although transportation here isn’t bad everyone tries to rip you off. There’s a Thai price and a Western price and even established places will try and make you pay more. I’ve had one too many arguments with bus companies trying to make a quick buck off us. The best way to do it is watch how much money a Thai person pays and how much they inflate the ticket price for you. If it’s 10 thai baht it may not be worth arguing over but a few hundred more, you absolutely should.
Often times you’ll end up at a bus station that tells you the only way to get somewhere from there is by a taxi, which is 100% a lie.
This happened to us on our journey from Bangkok to Phuket ( 3 days was enough in Bangkok). There is always a bus that can get you where you need to go, even if it’s to another terminal to catch a connecting bus. The Thai people rarely take taxis.

I will say this though Bangkok has one of the nicest malls I have ever been inside. They had stores ranging from Levi’s to Prada from build a bear to Gucci and to top it off they had an ice skating rink inside the mall. We priced a few things because we knew Christmas was coming and we thought it would be a little cheaper since this is where a lot of the clothes are made, but our dollars were too short to even reach the top floor so we had to settle with buying things outside the mall on the corner.