I won’t lie, I’m not the biggest fan of Bangkok. I’m a small-town girl at heart, so I tend to avoid huge cities unless I have a very specific reason to visit. I dare you to plan a trip to Bangkok and not get overwhelmed with its sheer size and array of things to do. CAN. NOT. HANDLE.

Aside from being so huge and intimidating, Bangkok is also a full-on assault on your senses. The sights, sounds, and smells are intense. I’m not sure there’s anywhere else in the world where you can be awoken by a rooster outside your hotel room window at five in the morning when you’re in the middle of an urban metropolis with a population of over 6 million people. They filmed a Hangover sequel here for a reason, guys.

But in the midst of the craziness, we managed to find a few things to do that we really enjoyed. We put together a few tips to help travelers survive a trip to Bangkok on a Budget. Safe travels, friends!

Visit the Grand Palace As Soon as it Opens

The Grand Palace in Bangkok

We made a huge mistake. We went to visit the Grand Palace, one of Bangkok’s most popular attractions, but we didn’t arrive until after 11am. DO NOT DO THIS. If I had to imagine Hell, it would’ve been close to what we encountered when we arrived. The tourist busses had shown up in full force, and the crowds were thicker than molasses on a cold evening during a harsh Canadian Winter. Women were walking around everywhere with umbrellas to shade them from the burning sun, paying no attention to whose eyes they were poking (spoiler alert: it was mine and Kevin’s).

THIS IS MY WORST NIGHTMARE.

It was so damn hot I almost couldn’t handle life. To add insult to injury, I had planned to cover my arms with a scarf to abide by the strict dress code, but that’s not allowed. I had to rent a scratchy, extremely flattering button-up shirt, which was really fun.

How Awesome Is This Button up Shirt? Right? Right???!

All jokes aside, the Grand Palace, though expensive at 500 Baht (or about $15) per person, is a must-see in Bangkok. It’s super fancy since it has been the official residence of the Kings of Thailand for over 200 years. The palace is ornate, opulent, sparkly, magnificent, glamorous, ostentatious, palatial, even gaudy. (Isn’t thesaurus.com great?!)

These Statues Were Really Holding down (or up?) the Fort at the Grand Palace.

So Much Sparkle in One Place!

It’s really beautiful, you should totally go, please just visit early in the morning.

Pro Tip: Don’t Aggravate the Guys with the Bayonets.

Avoid Scams

We almost fell for one of the oldest scams in the Thailand tourist book. We had heard that near the Grand Palace, tourists are regularly approached by helpful people who inform them that the Grand Palace is closed for a special event, and kindly help them find some other attraction to spend their money on until it reopens. (I think these people must get a commission if you spend money on a tour or something.) This scam is so common that an audio loop is played over the loud speakers outside the Grand Palace saying that it ALWAYS open daily from 8:30am to 3:30pm.

We were headed to the BTS Skytrain station to head up to the Grand Palace all the way out in the Silom neighborhood when a “policeman” struck up a conversation with us. He told us the Grand Palace was closed for prayers today, suggested we take a private canal tour, and even showed us his “badge”. He helped us grab a Tuk Tuk to the pier for just 30 Baht. We accepted, thinking it would take us to the same pier the water taxi uses, plus that’s a cheaper Tuk Tuk ride than we could ever negotiate. Alas, we were fools.

Our Scammy Tuk Tuk Ride. SUCH a Bummer.

The Tuk Tuk driver took us to a private pier for private boat charters, and they wanted $75 for a 1-hour ride! If we didn’t already know that the tourist boat pier was only a block away, we wouldn’t have known what to do. And that’s how we nearly got scammed in Bangkok. It’s a shame, too, because I really don’t want to be one of those tourists who think everyone’s out to get them. It’s sad that these types of things happen so often.

Use the Water Taxi

There are two types of water taxis in Bangkok, the tourist boats with a blue flag (40 Baht per ride, or 150 Baht for a day pass), and the local boats with an orange flag (15 Baht per ride) that run up and down the Chao Phraya River. (Pro tip: at each pier, there are also usually actual Tour Boats that are a lot more expensive! Look around and ask multiple people for directions to make sure you get to the right place!)

Here We Are, Enjoying the Water Taxi Boat. It gets pretty busy at about 11am!

We liked the tourist boat because, well, we are tourists, and there was a “guide” pointing out various attractions as we passed them. It’s also nice to have someone announcing “If you’re going to the Grand Palace, get off here”. I always enjoy when things are idiot proof, especially because the pier names have nothing to do with the attractions near them.

The Bangkok Tourist Water Taxi Boat

Here’s what we recommend to Bangkok tourists. On your first day, make your way down to any tourist boat pier, and just spend a couple hours riding the whole route. It’ll help you get oriented to many of Bangkok’s sights, and it’s just fun to be out on the water. I’m not sure if they kick you off and make you buy a ticket at each end of the boat route, but at 40 Baht/ride, it seems like a steal to me for a river tour.

Go on a Yok Yor Dinner Cruise

The View from Our Yok Yor Dinner Cruise Boat

It’s no secret that we now fall into the budget-traveler category. When you’re traveling as long as we are, there are no more splurges to be had. Your dollar just needs to stretch further. So when I discovered that most Bangkok dinner cruises cost upwards of $50/person for a buffet dinner that didn’t include alcohol, I was sadder than a kid on Christmas morning who only got a lump of coal.

Enter Yok Yor Dinner Cruise! I found this little gem on another traveler’s blog. Yok Yor is a local seafood restaurant which recently started running cruises, too. They serve food from their regular menu, and you just order a la carte. A 160 Baht/person boat fee is tacked onto your food bill. While still a bit expensive (we blew about $28 for a big beer, a curry dish, pad thai, rice, and water, plus boat fees), it’s the cheapest dinner cruise you can find, and the food was actually pretty tasty!

The Cruise Boat Docks by the Yok Yor Marina & Restaurant

Be warned, though, if you’re averse to Thai Karaoke, this is not the cruise for you! Most of the other folks onboard were local Thai people out celebrating something; there were two birthdays on our boat!

A Birthday on the Yok Yor Dinner Cruise!

To get to the Yok Yor Boat, we took the BTS Skytrain to the Saphan Taksin station, then walked down to the ferry pier. A Yok Yor employee was standing at the pier with a sign around his neck that read “Yok Yor Dinner Cruise”. Let him know you’re here to take the free ferry to the cruise, and he’ll radio for their boat to come whisk you away. They ask that you arrive at their restaurant no later than 7pm, so we showed up to the ferry pier at about 6:30pm. The cruise begins at 8 and goes until almost 10pm.

Here’s Kevin on the Free River Ferry to the Yok Yor Cruise Boat

Reservations are advised; we recommend calling the number on the Yok Yor website to reserve a table. Don’t even try the online form, you’ll only be met with sad, bitter silence.

Get a Hotel with a Pool

Trust Me. You’ll Want a Pool.

Bangkok is HOT. Now that it’s “Winter” in Chiang Mai and temperatures usually don’t climb out of the 80s, I forgot what it feels like to be drenched in sweat ALL OF THE TIME. Bangkok is quite a bit further South than Chiang Mai, but I think part of the intense heat is just all of the cement soaking up the sun all day. I was miserable. We recommend getting a hotel with a pool so you can see the sights in the morning and lay by the pool in the afternoon. Trust us, it’s worth splurging for, it may just save your friendship/marriage/familial relationships some undue stress.

Go to Cloud47 Rooftop Bar

If you’re like us, the only shoes you bring when you travel to hot climates is a pair of flip flops. If someone tells you to wear “business casual”, you just laugh and walk away. We have three dress styles now: casual, swim suit, and gym clothes. We are simple people.

So when we started looking for rooftop bars in Bangkok, we were sad to see most places require “smart casual” (whatever that means, is the opposite stupid casual?). Luckily, there’s a rooftop bar called Cloud47 in the Silom neighborhood that caters to the flip-flop crowd and has no official dress code (though we can’t promise you that the hostess won’t look at you with a hefty dose of judgement in her eyes…)

Cloud47: A Rooftop Bar Which Is a Modest Splurge. I’d Say it Falls Into the Upper Middle, or Maybe Even Lower Upper Price Range.

Cocktails start at just $10, which is far, far less than most other places. Beer is cheaper, but we were feeling fancy, in spite of our casual quick-dry clothing and flip flops. It’s worth a visit if you haven’t been to a rooftop bar before. Skip it if it’s raining or if you’re short on time in Bangkok.

Pro Tip: Cloud47 is nearly impossible to find. It’s at the top of the United Center office tower. Once you’re facing the United Center, walk down the alley on the left-hand side until you see a big glass-windowed lobby in the back on your right that looks like it is maybe the lobby of an apartment building. There may or may not be a cardboard cutout by the window that says Cloud47. Walk in, tell the person at the desk you’re looking for Cloud47, and they will help you the rest of the way. Helpful hint: walk through the same turnstile they take you through, or you’ll set off a series of aural alarms. I did this and it was embarrassing. Sigh.

It’s a good idea to call and make a reservation if you’re going after 9pm or on a weekend.

Pick your Neighborhood Carefully

We stayed in the Silom neighborhood, which is the business district. We liked this area for two reasons:

1. It wasn’t Khao San Road, the backpacker mecca of Bangkok. Backpackers on “gap year” after graduating from high school or college make me feel SO OLD now. We are too old to be surrounded for so long by so many youngsters; it upsets my 10pm bedtime. Plus, I tire easily of a man chasing us around yelling, “I MAKE YOU A SUIT!”. The tailors are aggressive near Khao San.
2. Easy access to the BTS Skytrain. We took that puppy over to the water taxi pier every day. You can even take it to the airport (though taxi cabs are probably cheaper unless you’re traveling alone).

Know How To Use the Taxis

• Repeat after me, always ask the taxi to use the meter. If they refuse, take a different taxi. Clear this up before you start rolling.
• Before leaving the airport, hit an ATM or currency exchange to get some Thai Baht, then buy something small at an Airport store to break down those 1000-Baht bills. Don’t rely on your driver to be able to give you change.
• You need to know where you’re going. The cab driver will likely not know exactly where your hotel is unless it’s the Four Seasons or something.
• If you’re taking the taxi FROM either of Bangkok’s airports, a 50 Baht Airport surcharge will be added to your meter fee once you arrive at your destination. This is not a scam, everyone pays it.
• They should not charge you an extra “passenger fee” if there’s more than one person.
• If you take toll roads, you are responsible for the tolls. You can ask them to avoid them, but we usually just go for it.
• A taxi from Suvarnabhumi (BKK) Airport to most places in Bangkok will run 300-400 Baht, depending on traffic.
• A taxi from Don Mueang (DMK) Airport to most places in Bangkok will run 250-350 Baht, depending on traffic. At 12:30pm last week, a taxi from the Silom neighborhood to DMK cost us just 250 Baht total!
• Tipping is not necessary, but it is appreciated. I like to just round up the bill to the nearest 10 or 20 Baht.

Visit Bangkok with Friends!

Travels are always best shared with friends, especially when you spend 24 hours a day with your spouse, which means shiny new conversation topics are harder to come by. (Imagine a world where you always know the answer to “How was your day?” before asking. This is a constant problem and is a running joke in our house!) We planned our trip to Bangkok to coincide with a trip our friends Paul and Amy from Seattle were making to Thailand.

Paul and Amy, visiting Thailand from Seattle!

It was great to see friends, especially so close to Thanksgiving!

We Want to Hear From You!

See, people DO visit us! And you should too. Check out our upcoming travel itinerary in the right hand sidebar (look for “View My Travel Itinerary”, which I always keep updated. If you’re going to be in our area, let us know! Happy Holidays, everyone!

Lanterns floating over Chiang Mai’s Thapae Gate during Loy Krathong

Everyone knows Kevin and I love celebrating the Fourth of July in Seattle. I love a good excuse to use my red, white and blue food coloring on festive goodies like popcorn or elaborately frosted sugar cookies. I also never pass up an opportunity to carve a boat out of a watermelon. I did grow up in Kansas, after all – watermelon boats are a food staple there. Just ask my mom, the best watermelon carver I know.

Proof of my over-festive tendencies on 4th of July.

But our favorite thing about the Fourth of July is probably just the general excitement everyone has about blowing shit up. (Be honest, you know that’s your favorite part of the Fourth of July, too. I’m talking to you, DAD.) So we were understandably delighted to learn that there is an annual festival here in Thailand where people set off fireworks for DAYS.

I am both excited and terrified to report that there seem to be ZERO rules about setting off fireworks inside city limits, along with a complete disregard for personal safety. In my opinion, that is a winning combo. People set off bottle rockets at all hours. Kids are lighting firecrackers dangerously close to cars. Motorbikes are zooming through showers of sparks. We even saw a toddler who could barely walk throwing down Snap ‘n’ Pops. The whole city reeked of gunpowder. It was awesome.

What is Loy Krathong?

Contrary to what you might think at this point, Loy Krathong (sometimes spelled Loi Kratong) is about more than just setting off fireworks. For the last 150 years or so, Loy Krathong has been celebrated as a religious holiday to honor the Buddha. Before that, it is believed that Loy Krathong was a Brahmanic or Indic festival held to honor several different gods.

Loy Krathong is held each year on the full moon of the twelfth month of the Thai Lunar Calendar. This year, the full moon fell on Thursday, November 6th, but there were festive events being held every day for a full week! You can’t go wrong celebrating Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai because of all the fun events, and also due to the fact that Yi Peng is typically celebrated around the same time here as Loy Krathong.  (See my previous post about Yi Peng.) People come from all over Thailand, and from all over the World, to celebrate this colorful holiday in Chiang Mai!

Sending Away our Misfortunes during Loy Krathong

Krathongs are made with banana tree wood, banana leaves, flowers, candles and incense sticks.

Unlike Yi Peng, which is mainly a Northern Thailand holiday, Loy Krathong is celebrated all over the country. Throughout the Loy Krathong festival, people say prayers and make wishes for better luck in the year to come. Many people release small “Krathongs” into rivers, lakes and ponds. Krathongs are small floating boats made of mostly biodegradable materials (they used to be made from styrofoam, yuck!) with incense and candles. Releasing these lighted boats into the river is meant to symbolize the release of bad luck and misfortune to float away from you and out of your life.

Floating Krathongs in Chiang Mai’s Ping River.

We released a floating Krathong of our own for good luck. It floated so far down the river that we couldn’t see it anymore – I think that’s a good sign!

About to release our troubles and worries into the Ping River with our Krathong.

Throughout Loy Krathong week, people are also continuously releasing floating lanterns into the sky, another symbolic gesture to send away bad luck and misfortune. At night, the Chiang Mai skyline is just FULL of these lanterns. It’s beautiful!

Tourists releasing a floating lantern by the Ping River. Some people attach fireworks to their lanterns, like the one in the sky in the background!

We’re lucky to have a top floor apartment with huge windows facing the city, so we just pulled our sofa up to the sliding door and watched the lanterns float by for a few hours.

We sat and watched hundreds and hundreds of lanterns floating in the sky, and fireworks going off all over the city skyline!

Celebrating Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai in style!

Chiang Mai really dresses itself up for this colorful holiday. Lanterns are everywhere!

Lanterns outside of a Wat (Buddhist Temple) in Chiang Mai’s Old City

I’m so artsy. Here’s a photo of a lantern in front of a Wat (Buddhist Temple), with floating lanterns in the sky.

Lanterns in our neighborhood.

Giant Krathongs and inflatable dragons appear at each of the entrances to the Old City.

Dragons at Suan Dok Gate, the Western entrance to the Old City

A Giant Krathong at Suan Dok Gate

Suan Dok Gate is pretty festive during Loy Krathong. Here are some folks releasing floating lanterns into the sky.

On the night of the full moon, people put tons of candles outside their homes and businesses.

Beautiful candles in front of one of our neighbor’s homes on the night of the full moon.

The entire city has a warm glow, and lanterns are floating throughout the sky. It was so neat to be here to see it.

Check out this huge crowd after one of the parades!

There are TWO parades during the week, because one would clearly be insufficient. There are also two beauty pageants – one for women, and one for men. I’ve never seen a male beauty pageant before, but we lucked out and happened to pass by during what I can only assume was the swimsuit competition (see photo below). Score!

The Male Beauty Pageant near Thapae Gate

FIREWORKS YEAH!

Finally, the fireworks! I’m pretty sure everyone in Chiang Mai is a pyromaniac.

We were walking down a PACKED street after a parade, and people had to scramble when one hooligan set off this spark shower! KIDS TODAY…

During Loy Krathong, it’s easier to locate and purchase bottled rockets than it is to buy beer. (Sidenote: did you know you can only buy beer in Thailand between 11am-2pm, and after 5pm?) In fact, it’s easier to find and purchase fireworks than LOTS of everyday things I used to buy in the States all the time: all purpose flour, baking soda, soft toilet paper, dark chocolate, good wine, decent quality closet hangers, unscented laundry detergent, tampons (overshare?), coffee beans, chocolate chips, canned pumpkin, reasonably priced sunblock, bagels, cheddar cheese, I could go on and on…

Our neighbors set off their fair share of fireworks!

Since we live outside Chiang Mai’s tourist area, we got to see this holiday through the eyes of our Thai neighbors. We watched families setting off fireworks on the small street we walk down each day. We watched a toddler throwing snap ‘n’ pops everywhere. We even saw our fruit lady’s husband setting off bottled rockets.

Many of our neighbors put out lanterns and flowers for Loy Krathong.

The entire city smelled like gunpowder, and a cloud of smoke settled down over everything, giving all of Chiang Mai an eerie glow.

The smoke blanket that settled over Chiang Mai during Loy Krathong.

There’s a reason people travel from all over the world to be here for this holiday!

We Want to Hear From You!

Have you been a part of any huge celebrations around the world? Carnival in Rio? Oktoberfest in Munich? New Years in Times Square? Burning Man in the Nevada desert? Leave us a note to let us know!

Yi Peng 2014 in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai’s annual lantern festival is a truly magical event. I figured it would be a pretty “neat” experience based on photos and videos I had seen online, but “neat” definitely didn’t do it justice. Attending Yi Peng changes you in some imperceptible way, sort of like seeing the ocean for the first time. It marks you somehow emotionally, or in my case, it left a small mark on me physically (see my note about safety below). We were fortunate enough to be in Chiang Mai for this year’s Yi Peng Lantern Festival, and managed to make our way up to Mae Jo to experience the magic.

What is Yi Peng?

Yi Peng (or Yee Peng) is a Lanna (Northern Thai) Festival of Lights that is usually held each year in November. Yi Peng literally translates to 2nd Month, and is always held on or near the full moon of the 2nd month of the Lanna Calendar. During Yi Peng, Sky Lanterns called Khom Loi are released to pay respect to Buddha. Launching one of these lanterns is believed to send a person’s bad luck and misfortunes away into the air, especially if it disappears from your view before the fire goes out.

We Released Two Lanterns

The Yi Peng festival is held each year on the grounds of the Lanna Dhutanka Temple behind Mae Jo University. Usually, it’s about a 25-minute drive North of Chiang Mai, but the drive can take nearly three times as long before and after the festivities. People start to crowd into the grounds as early as 2pm to snag a primo spot, but the ceremony preceding the lantern release actually doesn’t begin until 6:30pm. Lantern release starts at about 8pm, and is followed by fireworks!

Check out these crowds!

It’s a good idea to arrive early (by 3 or 4pm) to stake out a spot, because it gets ridiculously crowded.

When is Yi Peng?

Two separate Yi Peng lantern release events are held each year. The first event has no admission charge, and is primarily attended by local Thai people, expats, and tourists-in-the-know. Because it’s free, this first event is typically VERY crowded. A second event is held a week or two later specifically for tourists, and a limited number of tickets are sold for about $100 each to keep crowding down. The ticket price includes transportation to and from Mae Jo, dinner, a lantern, and even a seating mat and scarf. Plus you won’t have to contort yourself into strange positions in order to fit into the small space you staked out on the temple grounds.

There is a Ceremony happening up there somewhere!

The date of the free lantern release is typically kept under wraps until last minute in an attempt to limit the number of tourists who flock to Chiang Mai to attend. I can understand why they want to limit the number of tourists at the event, because I saw some people being pretty darn disrespectful while we were there (see my note about respect below).

For 2014, the free event was held on Saturday, October 24. The paid event is scheduled for Saturday, November 8 (get tickets here).

The Best Way to Experience Yi Peng

Kevin Holding our Lantern

We opted to attend the free event because it’s so darn hard for us to stomach paying $100/ticket. That’s like 100 dinners for us here. CAN. NOT. HANDLE. Plus, I like to experience local traditions with the locals. I think it just means more to experience this Buddhist festival with people who actually know about the religious customs and traditions.

Yi Peng 2014

We’ve learned an important lesson here in Thailand, based loosely on the 80/20 Pareto Principle. In Thailand, you can usually spend just an extra 20% and increase your comfort level by 80%. We decided to splurge on a 500 Baht/person (about $15) round-trip air conditioned van ride to Mae Jo. And let me tell you, it was a HOT day, there was a TON of traffic, and we were thrilled to have aircon. We could have saved $3 each by booking round-trip in a Songathew. (A Songathew is a pickup truck taxi with bench seating in the covered truck bed.  Definitely no aircon, but plenty of dust and exhaust.) We could have saved $10 each by just flagging down a Songathew and haggling over price, but that would involve walking a few miles in the heat and haggling, two things guaranteed to turn me into a monster. We could have saved even more money by borrowing our landlord’s scooter, but I’m fairly certain I’d be making this post from a hospital bed right now if we had done that! Do yourself a favor, just pay up front for the round trip air-conditioned transport. You can thank me later.

Yi Peng 2014

Booking round-trip transport for Yi Peng is easy – any hotel reception desk or tour company can do it for you. We walked into a hotel near our condo the day before the festival and asked them to book it for us. The real trick is finding out the date – we would’ve missed it were it not for the ridiculous number of Chiang Mai Facebook groups I’ve joined.

A Note about Safety

Lantern Lighting 101

If you’re skiddish about being in huge crowds, this event is not for you. If you’re afraid of fire, this event is definitely not for you. Each year for Yi Peng, people pack into the temple grounds nearly shoulder to shoulder. At some point after everyone crams in, hundreds of torches all throughout the crowd are set on fire, and people start to light their lanterns on these torches and send them floating, on fire, into the air. Some lanterns catch on fire, like the one in this video, which landed right next to us:

There are a very limited number of small exit points, and no one announces an emergency evacuation plan. In fact, the exits are so insufficiently sized that it took us about an hour just to get out of the temple grounds after the ceremony ended. To top things off, I even got burned at Yi Peng this year! Some people get torch wax on their lanterns before releasing them, so hot fiery flaming wax rains down as the lantern floats off into the air. I’m sporting a nice red burn on my arm this week, so that’s fun. At least I was consoled by fireworks:

So let’s recap: huge crowds + open flames everywhere + floating fiery lanterns + hot flaming wax raining down from the sky = SIGN ME UP, AMIRITE?! Crowd control and liability are treated a bit more loosely here. It’s good and bad; you just have to be sure you’re watching out for yourself. In spite of the crowds and the fiery wax falling from the sky, Yi Peng is still definitely worth attending. It’s truly magical – I just might recommend wearing a hat and long sleeves, or bringing a small fire extinguisher.

A Note about Respect

Yi Peng 2014

Yi Peng is a wonderful, spectacular experience, one I’ll never forget. Unfortunately, a lot of the tourists who attend either don’t know or don’t care that it’s a religious ceremony. It’s hard to enjoy the experience when the guy next to you is playing games on his iPad during the ceremony, with the sound on. It’s pretty annoying when everyone is standing up to take photos in spite of the announcer’s repeated attempts to get people to sit down.

Yi Peng 2014

We even saw a couple girls whose clothes were so skimpy that I was afraid I would see some boobs if they so much as sneezed or coughed. I can’t wait for the day when I’m an old, spunky grandma that can walk up to girls wearing shorty shorts and say, “You know I can see your ass cheeks, right?” Luckily, there are students stationed at the entrances who will turn you away if you’re not dressed appropriately. Shoulders and knees should be covered, but you get bonus points if you go traditional Lanna style and wear all white.

We Want to Hear From You!

Have you had any experiences on your travels that are must-dos? Leave us a comment and let us know!