Thailand - Advice for Travelers

Bangkok (BKK)

Shopping: Thailand is quite affordable. Great places to see and also lots of shopping of all kinds (clothes, gifts, electronics etc.). Bangkok (BKK) is great, great place for shopping, no need to go anywhere else. Chatuchak is a mystery. What were the hours? What shops open during what time? I thought it was a weekend market, but that is when we were there, but it did not look anything like in the photos. Bargaining was better only when we were buying more of the same thing. Malls were amazing! We did not see a lot of the shops in the mall, but there were also so many open shops in the walkway in the mall. And then there was Indira Mall - designed especially for Indian type jewelry and clothes. Quality seems to be quite good too. Everything was quite affordable. It seems that people from India come to buy in bulk from here and sell in India. There was also the roadside shopping at night (at least on Monday) outside Baiyoke tower. It was really good for clothes. 

For shopping I found BKK better than Phuket for pricing and choices. Although I will say I did not buy any “good” jewelry, I bought only the artificial kind. 

Staying at BKK: I think staying near Paya Thai BTS station is better. It has both the BTS and airport link. We had to keep going to Paya Thai and change stations all the time. We could have come to Ratchprarop for shopping (at Indira mall) and see the Baiyoke tower. There were also many Indian restaurants near Indira mall.

Ashiatique: We did not have the energy or time to explore all the market here. This needs about 4 hrs. Best to come in the evening and stay late so as to enjoy the lights.

Sightseeing in BKK: Except for the one marble temple, I enjoyed everything we saw. We had ample time to see the temples. There was a lot of walking involved but it was totally worth it. All the temples, buildings, flower market, Lebua tower etc…all good. Again, I missed seeing all of the Siam mall. There was some stuff in there to see as well.

Ayutthaya was a good day trip. I would go earlier in the day so one can come back by lunch time and enjoy the rest of the day shopping in BKK! 

It would have been much better if I had one more day (total 4 days) in BKK.

Phuket

Phuket was great! I enjoyed the touristy town. I would have rather skipped Similan island and seen more of Phuket. Or better situation would have been to spend one more day here so I could do Similan and Phuket. Similan was tiring only because the drive from Phuket takes about 2 hrs one way, so little waste of time.  Phi Phi island tour was fantastic. Highly recommend it. We did on the speed boat so I think we saw more that we would have if it was a simple cruise. 

Fantasea is a must. No one should miss this. It would be nice to get there 30 mins earlier so as to enjoy the fair inside. We did not have much choice as we got picked up at a particular time. 

Jocelyn mall was good too. We walked only a bit because we wanted to see the Bangla street (on the way to Pantong beach) festival of Songkran. There were really good shops in the mall and affordable prices. There were some unique shops here.

All in all – one more day would have been great in Phuket. 3 full days or 4 days if getting the flights in the middle of the day.

Overall – My dear friend/daughter/protégé Prachi was a great guide and companion. We are very lucky to get along and have the same tastes in so many things. I would not have enjoyed Thailand so much if it had not been for Prachi.