Bangkok Adventure!!!

It's been said that Bangkok is for the shopaholics and food lovers as these are very cheap in this city. It's my turn now to explore the city and share my own experience in it.

Day 1:

 

Clark to Bangkok

ETD: 6:10:00 PM (Manila Time)

ETA: 8:15:00 PM (Bangkok Time)

Took the Tiger Airways flight from Clark. From Manila, I rode the 12PM Philtranco bus in Megamall. The travel time from Megamall to Clark was about an hour and a half. We arrived at the airport at around 1:20 PM. Too early for my flight but it’s better to be early than be late by even 1 minute. :)

** FYI, Philtranco can be reached through numbers  (02) 851.8078 and 79 for reservation and other information you may need.

 

Asia's Cheapest Gateway

Before checking in, I decided to grab some snacks. There is not much choices of food here. Your food choices are only limited to Mini Stop, and other food stalls that sell hotdogs on stick, Arrozcaldo, coffee  and sandwiches.

I’m glad that my flight left on time. After spending 5 boring hours of waiting, I wouldn’t want to add more hours of anticipation.

Arrival in Suvarnabhumi International Airport

At the airport, it is very unlikely to get lost as directions/signages are everywhere -- both in Thai and English languages. It was an easy pass through at the immigration. I was not asked any question. They just stamped my passport, and took a shot of me, and that’s it.

Money Changer:

There are lots of foreign currency exchange booths available in the airport. Exchange rates are better in the city so make sure to change only what you need until you reach the city. Also, the exchange rate for 100USD bills is different from the lower denominations -- 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 USD bill. It’s a bit lesser than the 100 bill.

Crown Silom Limited

Best exchange rates I found near my hotel -- Silom City Hotel

Local Sim Card:

I bought a Sim card for me to use while I stay in Bangkok. I needed this to be able to contact my friends that are arriving the next day, and of course for social networking as well. J

*photo courtesy of Google Images

For Sim card options, there is the Happy Tourist Sim (which I bought). This costs 149 baht, which include 1 Day unlimited 3G and 150Baht for calls and texts. There is also another which costs 299 baht, having 7days unlimited 3g (i don't know how much load for the call and text). And also, a Happy Sim that cost 49 baht, with a load of 7baht and 1 day unlimited 3G (Available in 7-11 stores in the city).

To City:

To reach the city you can opt to take a taxi or the City Link Train. Taxi lane can be found on the 1st level of the airport, while the City Link Train is on the basement. Taking a taxi to the city will cost you 300 baht minimum. This covers the expressway toll fee and the distance from airport to city is really far.

For the City Link Train, you have two options here -- the normal train and the Express Train. The Express Train takes you directly to Phaya Thai station or Makkasan Station. Express train ticket cost 90 baht one way, but if bought two way the cost is only 150 baht (should be used within two weeks). The normal train (which I took :)) is cheaper but of course slower than the express train as this stops at 9 stations to Makkasan (MRT interchange) and 12 stations to Phaya Thai (BTS interchange). Train ride to Makkasan costs 35 baht and 40 baht to Phaya Thai.

The MRT and BTS trains are the trains you will take to go around in the city.  

Hotel:

We stayed in Silom City Hotel. The nearest BTS station is Surasak. This place is located in Silom/Sathurn area, places of interests are Patpong, Silom Night Market and Sathorn Pier. The hotel is a bit far from the station, about 10-15 minute walk. If taking a cab from the Surasak station, fare will range from 37 to 39 baht only.

I arrived in the Hotel at around 11:00 PM. At that time there are no more restaurants open, but the street food is abundant in the nearby Night Market. My taste buds are not the exploring type when it comes to foreign food, so I did not risk it for now and just opted to get food at 7-11.

Shrimp Fried Rice and a bottle of Sprite

Headed back to the hotel after having dinner, to prep for my next day plans.

Retail Therapy in Singapore

For my last 2 days in Singapore, we no longer planned for any more “tiring” activities. This is my 3^rd visit of the country already, so for this trip, USS and Sentosa – I pass.

The Legoland experience and the heat that came along with it were too tiring, so it’s time I take some therapy -- Retail Therapy.  I also got to meet with some other friends while I was there.

Day 8.

I met with a college friend at Tampines mall for lunch. After lunch, we went our own ways – she went to work and I met back with my friend (to clear the confusion, I am now referring to the friend who was with me in this entire tour) headed out to Orchard.

We know what happens in Orchard – shopping!

Here's after I was done. 

For dinner, we went to Marche. My friend and I met here with our friends/previous teammates from our previous company.

Day 9.

My flight is not until 5:40 PM, so we spent the morning with buying what’s left unchecked from my shopping list and also pasalubong for my family.

Luckily my friend’s housemate works for Cebu Pacific here in SG, so yet another convenience for me, pre-booked seats.

We decided to check my luggages in first, and then we had lunch at Swensen’s in Terminal 2.

My flight left SG on time.

So much for my vacation, it’s time to be back to normal. Arrived Manila, around 9:15 PM.

Legoland – Johor Bahru, Malaysia : On its 3rd day of opening

As the last leg of my vacation, I spent 3 nights at my friend’s place in Singapore. We arrived SG from Phnom Penh at 9:30 PM. We no longer planned to go out so we can rest early, and instead had food delivered at home.

Day 6.

For my first day here in SG, we spent it by crossing the border to Malaysia via Johor Bahru. We took the faster way, taking the SG-Johor cab at Bugis. This cab will only stop at the taxi drop-off point in JB. They are not authorized to function as local cabs in the city.

My friend already has a contact for a taxi cab in Johor, so she already arranged for us to be picked up in the taxi drop-off. This served as our transpo service while we were in JB. There is also a currency exchange office in the drop-off, so we were able to exchange our SGDs to MYRs/RMs (ringgit).

Legoland in Johor opened just last Saturday (2 days ago), which is why we added this in my vacation itinerary. My friends based in SG (the one who was with me on this tour, and another) took my vacation as an opportunity to stroll out of SG, which also worked as my advantage as I get to visit another new attraction.

Now here’s the Legoland blog proper. :) The pictures will speak of how nice the place is.

The park is generally themed for kids, even the rides, so don’t expect for “extreme” adventures here.

I got to try out a couple of rides – Dino Island and The Dragon.

All throughout the park are huge structures built out of lego.

Some are not, just lego-like. :)

Of course, there are places to play with Lego and build stuffs. And our Legoland experience will not be complete without having to build some.

Aside from that small tree beside her, my friend did not build any tall structure, just her name. Eventually, I made mine too. :) And we had our other friend make his.

And yes, there's a Lego mascot too! :)

Finally, the feature where we got totally impressed with, is the Miniland – which is an area full of famous locations/landmarks of different countries, which are built with lego.

Legoland is a very nice and enjoyable place, and I definitely enjoyed my visit here. But it’s more of a family/kid-themed park, so it’s not the type of attraction that I will visit often.

We were done with Legoland by 7PM. We no longer waited for the fireworks at 8PM, as we wanted to visit another “attraction” more suitable for adults – the Johor Premium Outlets. :)

Expense Summary :

SG-Johor cab : 40 SGD

Legoland Ticket : 140 RM

Johor-SG cab : 60 RM

Cab fares (note that we have arranged for pick-up; not metered rates)

taxi dropoff to Legoland : 35 RM

Legoland to JPO : 20 RM

JPO to JB Sentral : 40 RM