Independent Travel Show Notes: Bangkok, Thailand
In this episode: FAQ is my favorite place to visit? Today, the
destination is Bangkok, Thailand, and the mistake is booking the absolute
cheapest room possible, and the tip is to get both motivation and perspiration
in the right amounts as you travel.
FAQ:
What is your favorite place to visit?
People ask me that all the time,
because they want to hear some great stories.
Which of my hundreds of best places
to go should you visit? That depends on YOU, of course.
I love Australia and New Zealand,
Banff, Canada, and Yosemite, California, for different reasons. The South
Pacific region, especially in Australia and the real people there Down Under
make me feel like I belong. Jasper and Banff National Parks in Canada were on
my bucket list. Yosemite was where I got engaged on Half Dome. All
great memories and I’ll share more about these destinations in the future.
So those are my votes for today.
Today’s Independent Destination
Bangkok, Thailand
Thailand is a fast growing
country….covering a lot of area, and the most popular tourist regions include
Bangkok in the central area, Chang
Mai in the north and Phuket and Krabi in the southern area.
Getting around is best with BTS cards refillable as
auto traffic is jammed up most of the time.
Massages in
Bangkok are about $6 to $9 each or more, depending on your level of service.
Bangkok is a sprawling city. So
huge. Hard to get a grip on how big geographically it was. Boat cruise on the
rivers is a good way to see a lot.
At the Temple of Dawn, I was
asked to cover my legs, past my knees, so a second pair of pants over the first
was required. I ate dinner at Indian Restaurant, Bukhora’s was good Indian
Food. And saw pop up local bars in a VW bus. That’s right. The entire minibus was
transformed into a bar.
Ancient City of Muangboran,
ancientcitygroup.net
… a long ride on the BTS, past an
elephant stature with three heads!
Replicas, not always the
originals at this “ancient city”, but that was ok for me at the time.
Throughout my stay, I took the wrong
BTS twice and ended up going to all but two of 35 BTS stops in the city of
Bangkok.
One of the best memories was a Formal
Tea at the Mandarin Oriental. Yellow curry for Tina, Satay for me. The Mandarin
was right on the water and delightfully peaceful.
How is the shopping? Cheaper than
shopping used at Goodwill. The quality is average, so be careful of what you
buy.
Rooftop deck swimming at two
different places where I stayed. One rooftop pool required a password, a fingerprint
to access, so the landlord had their fingerprints created and a fake finger.
That was strange, but it worked.
One tip: Don’t miss this in
Bangkok. Find the Flower
Markets, wholesale warehouse, near the fruit market. You can visit this on
your own 24/7. Spend as much time as you can soaking the smells, colors and the
energy levels here.
Today’s Mistake: Going cheap, too cheap.
Don’t let this happen to you. My
mistake was booking the absolute cheapest room possible. It was my first night
in Europe and I was age 20 with a backpack and four girlfriends. I booked us a
room in a punk neighborhood in England and yes, people were wearing safety pins
in their ears and noses. All I wanted was to sleep. However, getting the door
kicked in by the painters woke me and my friends. That’s right, the painter
said that he needed to paint our room in order to get paid. So, he kicked the
door in, and we let him paint the room, then he left. What a mistake that was,
but we were young! And foolish, too. Don’t go too cheap.
Today’s Travel Advice
Motivation and perspiration, and
a combination of insight will make for a great trip. Know when to use which
one. The motivation is sometimes the hardest, especially if you just feel sick
or tired. Try the motivation five second rule. Count down from five and then go
forward. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Get it done. Once you get that, you can rally thorough
and perspiration is just ahead. Expect it, plan for it, and execute on these
for a better trip than you ever thought you’d own. No one can take away your memories.
Thank you for sharing this edition of the World’s First Guide to
Independent Travel with Dr. Mary Travelbest with your girlfriends. If you want to
know more, just search for Dr Travelbest.com, Instagram, Facebook, twitter, and
every podcast channel. Helping women travel best is my goal. Please send me
your travel questions so I can help you and help others, too.
I’m looking for you to travel best, so go ahead and let me know what’s
on your bucket list.
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