Day 3: Thailand SIAM PARK CITY!

Another exciting day to look forward! :) Our itinerary for today would be SIAM Park City. It's a 2 hour bus ride from Bangkok. The park opens at 10 AM so we did not wake up early. We really took advantage of sleep because we were so tired from yesterday's activity. 

Wake up call is at 7 AM. Our preparation time took an hour and a half including a yummy breakfast. At exactly 8:30 AM, we went straight ahead to Sam Yan MRT going to Sukhumvit line. We paid 25 THB for the fare. So from Sukhumvit line, we changed to Asok BTS going to Ekkamai station with the fare of 26 THB, Upon arrival at the Ekkamai station, we went out via Exit 3 so we can ride bus #71 from the bus station. No worries though because the bus station is a just a few walks from the Ekkamai station.

BTS card

this is not free. you have to pay extra. 

So here's where our ordeal started. lol! :) According to my research, we had to ride a bus with the number 71. So when arrived at the bus station, we immediately hopped on the bus showing a #71. Oh by the way, most of their conductors are actually women (strict women haha). So she approached us to get the fare and looked at us without talking. I told her, we would be going to Siam Park City, and she was like showing us either a confused or a blank face. At the time, I already felt something was wrong because as far as I know, Siam Park is quite famous for its largest pool. So what I did was used the google translate and use the thailand word for Siam Park City which is 'SUAN SAYAM". Unfortunately, she was still confused. Good thing, there was a girl passenger who knows a bit of English, she's a bit confusing too but what she was trying to say was 'we need to ride a bigger bus #71'. It only means we are on a wrong bus. :(. She pressed on a button located on the upper portion of the bus. It seems that you have to press it when you want to go down to a closest bus stop. At this time, we were already cramming. I saw a girl that looks like a street enforcer so I asked here if she knows the bus going to Siam Park but she doesn't speak English too. Damn! It's so hard to talk to them even if it's already broken English. 

I told my companions to relax a bit and we just stood in the corner of the street waiting for some miracles. haha. Good thing, we have a mobile internet, so I researched further on it and I found a blog saying the correct color of the bus that we should be riding. Thanks God! Anyhow, there are two types of #71 bus. The first one we rode was an orange mini bus.  DO NOT ride that one since it's the wrong bus. The one you should be riding would be the Red-Cream big bus and it has a sign board that says 'SIAM PARK'. Good thing, poof! It just arrived on the bus stop just in time. :) So yeah, since the bus is a bit old, it would take 2 hours plus the traffic. The fare was pretty cheap though, it costs 6.50 THB each. 

By the way, for the Siam Park ticket, you do have the option to book it in person or online. I would suggest that you book it online and ahead of time. The original cost would be 38 USD but if you book ahead, it would go down to just 32 USD. It does include a lunch buffet which is a so so for us, maybe because we were already full. Also, the online booking requires a credit card for the payment.

When we arrived, there were a lot of students for excursion, I believe. So went straight ahead to a booth where they will verify and check the online print out. You need to bring your passport with you which we usually bring all the time. After the verification, she went ahead and gave us an arm band and a ticket for three for the lunch buffet. The place was actually huge so you need to ask a map from them so you would know what specific part of the park you are in.

In my own opinion, the place has a lot of rides and there were a lot of pools, chairs, tables. Most of the rides are intended for children . What I did not like though was that some of the rides were actually not included on the ticket so we have to pay extra which we didn't. Also, there were cafes and restaurant that you can have your snacks. There were also stalls where you can buy swim wear if you forgot to bring yours just like us. The lowest price I can find was actually 100 THB. After strolling around the park, we stayed most of the time at the pool because it was really hot at that time. We did not have a body sunblock. They have a locker there were you only have to pay around 60-100 THB depending on the type of locker you would choose. They also have changing room and comfort room. If you did not bring a towel, you can rent for 50 THB but you have to deposit 100 THB but refundable upon returning the towel. Well, in my own observation, the place was nice but it seems like it was not maintained well and not worth it for their tourist price. They have different prices for Thailand people.

So around 3 PM, we have decided to go home. By the way, they close at 6 PM. They did not have a shower or maybe we didn't find one so we used the shower outside to clean ourselves. Also, just a heads up that you need to walk like 5 minutes from the gate to the main entrance if you do not have a car or a service. Like us, we had to walk because we need to ride a bus. Well, from the gate, you just have to cross on the other side of the road for the bus stop. If you are from Philippines, you have to be careful when you cross the street because the directions of the cars are actually the opposite of what we used to here. So when you cross, you have to look first on your right instead of the left. Just like me, I was actually looking at the left side and only noticed that cars were actually coming from the right. Jeez! Good thing, their drivers were respectful when it comes to pedestrian lanes. With regards to going back to Bangkok, you just have to ride the same bus with number #71 and it has a Bangkok sign board too. They would stop at Ekkamai Station for the same fare which is 6.50 THB.

You have to get this at a counter and load it with cash to pay for the food stalls in the mall.

We decided to go to Siam Discovery Mall to have our dinner so we just rode a BTS Ekkamai going to Siam station which we paid 40 THB. We found out that the Siam Square, Siam Discovery mall and the Siam Paragon are just connected to each other. The MBK mall is just across the street though. These malls are actually expensive malls and big ones too so if you want to shop cheap stuffs, this is not the best place for you. There are some cheap stuffs at MBK though.

Done for today! In my opinion, if you have a lot of time or if you will stay longer in Bangkok, you can go ahead and see this place but if your time is limited, I would suggest that you skip this place. It's really far and the place is not well maintained. Not worth the price too. :(.

See: Day 4 Bangkok Chatuchak Market!

7 days DIY Thailand Tour!

Day 1 : Getting to know BANGKOK!

Yay! It's been a while since I went on international trip so I am a bit thrilled for my Thailand trip. I did my research and planned out things on what to do and what to expect when I reach Thailand. It's a bit tiring but exciting as well. :)

It all started when I booked my Thailand trip a year ago with Cebu Pacific Airline. I really planned out to book ahead so that I would still have time to do my assignment at the same time, save up for this trip. This is it!!

Since I am not a fond of solo travelling because I hate to be lonely during the entire trip and I don't talk much to stranger, I tagged along my sister and my boyfriend. Our departure time was at 1:40 AM but we went early to make sure that everything will go smoothly. Unfortunately, our flight to Manila was delayed for 2 hours (3:45 AM) which usually happens with the said airline. By the way, since there is no direct flight from Cebu to Bangkok, we had to connect flight to Manila. I was already a bit nervous because we might not be able to catch up with our connecting flight but just maybe, Cebu Pacific would be considerate enough because we will just transfer on the same airline. So, after an hour, we arrived in Manila (4:45 AM to be exact). We had to run around the airport because we were not familiar with Terminal 3 of NAIA. Also, we had to go to Transfer booth of Cebu Pacific so we can be assisted with the transfer, however, the lady was not helpful at all. She also pointed us the wrong way going to the transfer area. Phew! Good thing we did not have a checked in baggage or else it would consume some of our time. So when we arrived at the second floor, we did not know where to go or which gate we should be going because the transfer booth lady did not say anything about it. When we asked the guards, they didn't have any idea at all as well. Darn! So what we did, we locate where the immigration area was located, good thing there were directions.

Our meal on the plane. 

When we arrived at the immigration area, there were a lot of travelers in line and I was like, Oh no! We won't catch up our plane because it was slow moving. I felt like crying at that time, it was a pain in the ass. I could not even find any single Cebu Pacific employee who could at least help us expedite the process. There was nothing we could do but to wait in line and the Cebu Pacific plane we should be in was already calling our names for the last call. Good thing, the immigration officer who attended me did not ask anything and just took a picture of me and stamped my passport. :) .So all of us were able to pass through the immigration department. We were catching our breath because our gate was like at 108, it was way too far! Anyhow, the good news was, the plane waited for us.

The travel time from Manila to Suvarnabhumi airport took around 3 hours. Though the weather was a bit gloomy in Manila, it was sunny in Bangkok. I have read that the weather in Bangkok from July to October is rainy so I expected that there will be several rain showers. When we arrived at the airport, everything went well. There were no issues with the immigration. We only showed our passport and the arrival slip given to us by the Cebu Pacific crew while on the plane. Also, we landed safely! :)

At the airport, we bought a sim card from DTAC happy sim which costs for 299 THB. I actually read some blogs that internet connection is not available everywhere in BANGKOK so I would highly suggest that you buy yours too. It's very useful especially with using the google maps around the area. Let the attendant insert the sim card on your phone and adjust the settings. Also, make sure that the SMS that you received from DTAC would show 7-8 days or depending on the number of days you want to use the sim card. By the way, their booth is located near EXIT 3. Before that, we had our 100 dollars changed to Thai Baht currency so we can use to purchase the sim at SIAM Money Changer. Their dollar exchange rate was actually a bit low. I would recommend that you change your dollars outside the airport for a higher exchange rate. Anyhow, in our case, when we went down to the Airport Rail Link located on the 2nd floor, we saw another money changer booth and it was way higher compared to the one we first had our dollars changed. If I remembered it right, we changed our money on the booth near the City Line escalator.

As per research, there are a lot of hotels or hostels that you can book ahead depending on your preference. Mostly, foreigners would stay in Khao San Road or near Silom Road because of the night life. For us, we stayed in Sap Road near the Silom road. I chose the place because of good reviews and it's actually just 3-5 minutes going to Sam Yan MRT. I've heard that MRT or BTS are not accessible to Khao San Road so you really have to either take taxi, tuktuk or motorcycle. So going back, we rode the airport rail link going to Makkasan BTS where we had to change to Petchaburi MRT going to Sam Yan. For tourists, you have the option to just use the single journey ticket/token or the 30 day pass card where you can reload it on the ticket booth. With the single journey, you can go for the ticket booth or the ticket vending machine. It was a bit hard at first but we got used to it after using several times. If you won't use the BTS or MRT most of the time, like you will just go to one place vice versa, I would suggest that you go for the single journey token/ticket.

Upon arrival at the hostel, we paid 1,960 THB each for 6 nights. I find the hostel really cheap but yeah, it's not really a luxury hotel because it is only for backpackers. We got the 4 bed-bunk room. Since we were only 3, the extra person would definitely be a stranger. Exciting! Lol. After washing ourselves up and arranged our stuff, we went out to Terminal 21 mall for a quick stroll. So we used the MRT Sam Yan station going to Sukhumvit station and we paid 25 THB for the fare. The Terminal mall was just ordinary. Nothing special so after a few tour around the place, we decided to just go somewhere Lumpini park going to Silom road where we planned out to eat our dinner. We were excited at first but we did not expect the Lumpini park to be that big. It was a bit exhausting to walk around the park when you did not have enough sleep. :(. So we just took a few photos and then off we go to Silom Road. And again, the Silom area was a bit far for me or maybe we were very tired already so we didn't enjoy the place much. Just did a lot of walking and our feet were already sore and aching. haha. I recommend that you either take the train or just skip the walking part if you are tired. :).

food choices on one food stall in Silom Road

Documents we brought for immigration purposes but were not asked but bring it just in case.

1. Roundtrip tickets.
2. Hotel accommodation printout with dates.
3. Company ID /PRC ID (was asked from my boyfriend since he doesn't look like a nurse. lol)
4. Certificate of employment (if working).
5. Printed copy of your DIY itinerary.
6. Passport (of course! expiration should be before 6 months). Just bring your old stamped passport if you have one, just in case).
7. ITR ( Income Tax Return, if you have one).

Expenses for this day (in thai baht). Prices are for reference only.

1. 1,960 THB - hostel accommodation.
2. 299 THB - DTAC Sim card.
3. 35 THB - fare from Airport Rail Link to Makkasan BTS,
4. 28 THB - fare from Petchaburi MRT to Sam Yan MRT.
5. 99 THB - Lunch at the hostel.
6. 25 THB- fare from Sam Yan MRT to Sukhumvit MRT.
7. 21 THB - fare from Sukhumvit MRT to Lumpini MRT.
8. 40 THB - Dinner at Silom Road.

Today is a wrap! Looking forward for tomorrow's agenda! :)

Please click on our DIY Day 2!
Day 2: Visiting Bangkok Temples!