TRANSPORTATION IN THAILAND

Getting from point A to point B in SE Asia is pretty easy! There are numerous ways to travel like bus, train, plane, boat or even by car. The way you get there is really up to you and what you can afford. I thought I would share my tips on what I found to be the cheapest and most reliable! 

When traveling anywhere in Thailand my fiancé and I always stuck to taking the bus! The buses are fantastic, affordable and reliable! Depending how cheap you are you can get a pretty great deal. Traveling from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on a VIP bus that included free water, snacks, movies, blankets and pillows & reclining seats cost us 488 baht which is roughly $17 Canadian! Pretty awesome considering the bus ride was 10 hours long. 
The same went for when we traveled to Krabi province which was about 12 hours away. 
The bus terminals are easy to find and we found they always ran on time & never broke down. 

If your thinking of taking the train system throughout Thailand, I would highly suggest to double think that. The train system is never on time, always has delays & usually costs more. We also heard they are notorious for being de-railed. 

If buses are not really for you, another great means of transportation is by plane. The tickets are pretty affordable & you would save a ton of time! For anyone who isn't backpacking or is on a strict time line, the plane is a great option! 
Air Asia has tons of booths around Thailand & you can also buy your tickets online. To get from say Bangkok to Chiang Mai would roughly cost you $60 Canadian & the flight is about 1 hour! 

Boats!! Boats are great if your traveling the islands of Thailand! You get to see some pretty amazing scenery and the price is pretty affordable as well! You can usually hire your own personal long tale boat & haggle them down to a great price. We found taking the public boats from larger ports to be the best price! To get from Krabi to Koh Lanta cost us $4 Canadian & took about an hour and a half! 
An important note I wanted to mention about taking any boat in Thailand is that if the boat looks too full and they keep packing it full, get off!! Ask to take the next boat! These boats often tip or flip due to them being over packed. The boats run every hour on the hour so don't feel rushed! Use your own judgment & be safe! 

As for taxis, car rentals and Tuk Tuk's in Thailand they are always usually affordable unless they scam you! If you are in a taxi, always ask for them to use the meter. They will likely say no because it's too hot and the meter doesn't work but that's a lie! 
If your traveling from the Bangkok airport to Khao San Road (a popular tourist area where you will find cheap hotels & shopping) should cost you no more than 500 baht or $20! Do not let them scam you at the airport! 
As for Tuk Tuks... Anywhere but Bangkok they are a fantastic means of transportation! In Bangkok they are greedy & will never take you to your exact location without taking you to some sort of tourist shop where they get compensation. If you decided to take a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok, just be firm! Do not them stop at other locations and try and use exact change, if you don't have exact change they usually say they don't have change to give you & your out of luck. Also, if a Tuk Tuk driver says they are going to take you to a bunch of different temples that are only open for 1 day - don't do it! It's a scam! & beware of the people on the sidewalk who walk up to you & act like they are your friends & then recommend you to take a Tuk Tuk - these people work with the Tuk Tuk drives to increase their business! 

Overall it's pretty easy to get anywhere in Thailand, it really all depends on you and how you want to travel! My best advice would be to do your research & know how much your willing to spend. Again, we loved the bus system and highly recommend them to anyone who is backpacking and on a budget! 
I hope some of these tips helped & if you have any questions, leave them in the comments below! 
Thanks for reading! 

TRAVELING THAILAND - MY TIPS

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. Cameron and I are currently in Singapore on our way to Bali & while sitting in the airport I decided to write down and few tips I thought I would pass along to anyone traveling Thailand. So far, Cameron and I have only visited the south end of Thailand. So these tricks will include Bangkok and the islands! After we visit Chang Mai & the northern side of Thailand I will definitely update this! 

So here goes! 

• When arriving in Bangkok, we found there were numerous places to exchange money into Thai Baht, however, most of these places have a high exchange rate. A nice flight attendant told us that the best place to exchange in the airport was on the bottom level at one of the purple banks. We found there exchange rate to be much better than all the others on the main floor 
• Since on the topic of money and exchanging money, if possible, wait to exchange any money until you are out of the airport. The best bank to go to is SCB & it's bright purple! Also, take out enough money to last you the week, you'll pay less in service charges! & remember, always go to the purple banks! 
• Taxis are easy to find in Bangkok but they will all try and rip you off! Stick to the pink taxis or the blue and yellow ones & ask them to use their meter!! If you don't ask them to use the meter they will charge you way more! 
• Never use Tuk Tuks, it's a great experience to try once but from our experience they never take you where you want & always end up charging you more than what you bargained for! (This point is really only for Bangkok, we found all other Tuk Tuks around Thailand to be great!!) 
• Bargain! All of the shop owners will charge you triple the price the item is actually worth unless you haggle them! A great tip we learned from Cameron's sister was to tell them no & say the other shop owner told you half the price they are offering, if that doesn't work simply start walking away and in no time they will run after you and agree to the price you offered. 
• Most shop owners while bargaining will show you their calculator and say "how much you pay" ALWAYS low ball it!! My trick was to always say 150 baht unless the item was super cheap! 
• Bargain for anything! Even hotels! We would 95% of the time end up saving atleast 200 baht on a hotel by just asking "is that best price?" 
• Use Agoda! It's a great way to book hotels and save a little money here and there. It was a great tool to see if hotels were actually giving you a fair price in person as to what they were quoting online, just keep in mind not all hotels are as they seem online, read the reviews! People from all over the world rate hotels on Agoda and give you awesome advice! 
• Less is more! Pack as little clothing as possible! I over packed & I hardly brought anything. There is so much shopping here it's crazy! & everything is super cheap! 
• Pack conditioner, extra sunscreen and aloe!!! 3 things I wish I had packed more of because in Thailand they are either non existent or extremely expensive!! 
• Keep in mind that you cannot drink the water in Thailand so buying water is necessary, the Family Marts (similar to a 7-11) gives you the best price on water and always have promotions!! 
• To stick with the tip above, we almost always shopped at the Family Marts over the 7-11. This was because the prices were much better and we found them to be less busy! 
• This is a tip from Cameron for anyone who will be buying beers.. Buy the Big Chang beers that come in the 2 or 3 packs, you'll get more beer & pay less!! & for my lady drinkers, try the pink Spy's!! There wine coolers! Super yummy and the cheapest drink you'll find! (both always cheapest at the Family Marts) 

& those are all the tips I could think of right now! If I think of anymore I will definitely update this post!! 

I hope some of these tips helped you out on your trip to Thailand! 

xoxo Alicia 

BANGKOK THAILAND - OUR FIRST DAY

Bangkok... where to begin! The city was gorgeous and there was SO much to do! BUT it was also very stressful. Since it was our first time in a foreign country Bangkok really took a lot out of us. We had done a lot of research on scams to avoid but still managed to fall into some scam artist and some tricky tuk tuk drivers.
On our first day out exploring we knew we wanted to head straight to Koh San Road, a popular road for backpackers that had tons of great shopping and awesome street food.
On our way there we were approached by numerous people asking us where we were going and if we wanted to take a tuk tuk. All of these people kept telling us that for today only there were 3 temples you could visit and it was free because it was some type of holiday. They all mentioned that the tuk tuk could take you for 60 baht & then drop us at Koh San Road. We turned down each person and continued on our way.
All of a sudden we run into this very nice women who saw Cameron's Jay's hat and said hey! your from Canada! My brother is in Montreal. At the time we thought this lady was just being super nice and wanting to talk. She gave us great advice on things to see and places to go. She then also mentioned the same 3 temples to visit & said the same thing about it being a holiday and we MUST see it today, however she told us it should only be 40 baht. She then asked if we wanted her to call a tuk tuk for us and tell him where we wanted to go. We agreed.
After getting in the tuk tuk we thought this was a great deal we found! The tuk tuk driver took us to 2 different golden Buddha's & we were having so much fun riding around on the crazy streets of Bangkok. All of a sudden the tuk tuk driver drops us off in front of a tourist shop & tells us he will wait there. We thought that's because we had told the other women we needed to buy bus tickets to get to Krabi that she must have told our tuk tuk driver and that's why we were here. We were wrong! The tourist shop was filled with tourists like us who were about to be scammed into buying expensive trips to Chang Mai or to the islands. We sat down and listened to what the guy had to say and at first we almost bought into it!
We knew we could do the trip for way cheaper than he was offering so declined his offer and left. Once back in the tuk tuk we thought we would be going to our last temple and then off to Koh San road... Nope! We pulled up to another tourist place where the tuk tuk told us we have to go in because he gets free food for dropping us off there. We said No! Take us to Koh San, we are sick of this! He then argued with us & told him we look bad because we keep saying no to all these travel agents. After arguing with our tuk the drops us off down the road and points to koh san which was about 200 meters away, we got out gave our money. Of course didn't receive change back as he jetted off.
We ended up only seeing two Buddhas which we then realized were free everyday and the lady we thought was so nice was actually working with the tuk tuk drivers. Needless to say, that was our last tuk tuk in Bangkok.
We were so tired at this point since we had landed earlier that morning and jet leg was slowing kicking in. We headed to what we knew best which was McDonald's! We knew we wanted to try McDonald's in Thailand since we love it so much at home.
After enjoying our food we took a walk over to Koh San road and walked up and down the street a few times checking out all the neat clothing, bags, etc!
It was about 6pm and we were so tired!! We had been haggled all day and the sun and lack of water had now hit us! We returned to our hotel and decided to hit the sheets since we knew the next day would be full of excitement seeing the Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha and Wat Arun!

Here's a few pictures from our first day in Bangkok