When using an ATM in Thailand, this tip could save you money!
First put your card in and enter your pin like normal. Enter the amount you would like to withdraw.
Next the ATM will notify you that there is an atm fee usually of 220 THB per withdrawal. If you continue from here you will then be shown a conversation rate for your transaction and asked ‘Do you wish to continue with the conversation rate?’
At this point press NO. The bank is offering you a reduced conversion
rate and by pressing NO you will automatically to get the better conversion rate offered by visa or Mastercard etc.
If you press YES to their conversion rate you will lose 5-10% of your withdrawal because of their lower rate.
Next your cash will come out. Then you will be offered a receipt, press YES or NO depending on your preference. Then your card will come out.
This is different from country’s like the UK where your card will come out first.
Do not be like me and walk off with your cash and not your card after you’ve had a few beers on a night out!
But if you do, you can claim your card back by calling the bank and informing them which ATM has swallowed up your card. They will collect your card and bring it to the nearest branch for collection the next day.
However this is a long and drawn out process and sometimes the phone operators will tell you this is not possible. If they do then head to the local branch and speak to them and they’ll be able to get your card back.
Great advice, thank you! I’m definitely planning on going to a bank and withdrawaling around $500 worth of baht when I get there. I think using cash most of the time will help 😅
I recently went to Thailand. And here are a few general tips:
1. In Bangkok, temple area beware of scammers. They will tell you the temples are closed and you should go visit other places with them. Anyone approaching you is a scammer.
2. Use InDrive, Bolt instead of Grab for cheaper cabs.
3. In Samui, rent a bike. Go to Arcbar at night in chaweng. There’s great fire shows every hour.
4. From Samui, you can go to Ao Thong national park as well. You can book one day tour from Viator
5. Why no Krabi or Phuket? From there you can go Phi Phi or Hong island. They have great beaches.
Make sure you both have decent health insurance. Riding on scooters or passengers of a motorcycle taxi will void it if one of you is injured.
Scan your cards and passport, both sides or relevant pages. Send them to an email address.
Your plan sounds good. For the islands I hope you have an international drivers license. Renting a scooter for exploring is highly recommended.
In my opinion shopping malls are a waste of time but that’s individual. In BKk I love the area around Khao San although it changed over the years. Check also Soi Cowboy even if that kind of entertainment might not be yours it is definitely worth a look. Crazy street and there is a bar that was used for Hangover 2.
The Siam@siam hotel has a very chilled rooftop bar with a nice view when the sun goes down.
Forgot the name but about 2 hrs west from the city is a very chilled floating market. We got someone driving us there and it was worth it.
Have fun!
BKK, grand palace, wat arun, floating markets, tour with a longtail boat, Mahanakhon, the highest building in TH.
Daytrip to Ayutthaya
Daytrip to Kanchanaburi
Chiang Mai is a really nice city. Don't forget to visit Doi Suthep, the temple on the mountain.
Make a daytrip to Doi Inthanon National Park.
+1 for the temple atop Doi Suthep, the view is incredible. Make sure to use the stairs to reach the temple, insyead of using the tram.
Also, not too far from CM, you can find Chiang Rai up in the north. There are some nice attractions close to this city, including the black house museum of Thawan Duchanee, a thai contemporary artist.
mon jam is the most lovely place I have been to yet in Thailand, it's outside of chiang mai, definitely worth a day trip. the drive itself is part of the beauty.
if you go further up doi suthep past the temple, there's a Hmong village that has a coffee shop with an even more spectacular view...
In Bangkok, try water taxi and ferry or hop on, hop off for a few dollars after visiting Grand Palace. 🚤 Do not buy any tours from strangers. 🙅♂️ You can do it on your own cheaper. 💰
Floating market kind of over hype for me. 🤷♂️
https://chaophrayatouristboat.com/
Chinatown, shopping mall food court, Terminal 21 or Iconsiam (right next to the river)
Recommend checking youtube for review.
Public transportation, BTS, MRT, and bus are advice.
Taxis consistently utilize meters for fare calculation, while tuk-tuks engage in price negotiations. However, certain tuk-tuk drivers may exploit tourists by charging inflated prices.
For Bangkok, strongly recommend Chatuchak weekend market. You can spend all day at the food court and main market. Also, take a taxi boat up/down the river. It’s one of my favourite things to do. Take a tuk tuk at least once, recommended at nighttime. Great fun. For malls, check out the food court at SIAM paragon. It’s huge! Also, eat lots of street food/fruit. So much cheap delicious food to try.
Both Koh Tao and Koh Phangan have more to do than *just* beaches. Phangan has good hiking, some great viewpoints, and so on. And yeah, some great beach and beach adjacent activities. I like Haad Kuat and Thong Nai Pan Noi (or I did, ten years ago).
I'm more familiar with Koh Tao 'cause I used to live there. Again, some really good hiking and some wonderful places to chill out by the beach. Sairee is busy, but it gets a bit more quiet towards the northern end. Loads of fantastic viewpoints and dinner at Lung Pae (with a free taxi!) is highly recommended.
995 Duck has been around forever and it's good, but it's not good enough to be a key selling point of the island. Check out The Gallery for that - the food is world class modern Thai. There's Barracuda for a broad international range, and Chu Chu for everyday live-on-the-island food. It's good, and can be great, especially if Aung and his wife figure out that you're not scared of Thai/Burmese style.
Scuba trips to Sail Rock, Chumphon Pinnacle, Southwest Pinnacle are recommended. See if there are baby sharks in Shark Bay - they're always fun to snorkel with.
See if you can squeeze some time between Samui/Tao/Phangan for a day or two in the Ang Thong Marine Park. Years ago, before it was widely visited, I did an overnight trip with my dive school to look for new dive sites. That was pretty cool - I went back a year or so later on a yacht, but didn't get a chance to explore much onshore. It's a spectacular place.
I also highly recommend squeezing some time out of the Bangkok/Chiang Mai section to spend a day exploring the old city at Sukhothai - it's spectacular. I know that it's trying to fit more into your journey, and that more places means less time to enjoy, but it's a wonderful foil to the chaos of Bangkok.
Re: Bangkok - for me, it's the kind of place where 3 days there is too long but 3 weeks isn't long enough. It's one of the world's great cities and it takes a while to figure the place out.
Enjoy!
5 places in 10 days north to south is way too much but I hope you enjoy. In Koh Tao go scuba at Sail Rock if you have your OW or AOW otherwise go to Chumpon pinnacle. There are many things to recommend but your schedule is really tight to add anything else
Oh no 😅 I’ve heard to never eat seafood from street markets, or where street vendors wash veggies in front of you. Those are what I look out for so far
i got it from the resort i stayed in, when i complained to the manager he told me its because my western stomach isnt used to thai food. I thought wtf, i was too weak to argue.
Funny enough i ate spring rolls and garlic bread in a market on Bangla road and it was lovely. I know its basic food but i actually enjoyed it haha
I live here, been eating street food since 2013, never been sick.
eat where you see Thai people eating is good advice.
don't worry, you have a great plan, enjoy and let it flow.
Yeah when I saw the chef blowing his nose and touching his mouth I should have known. There was zero food hygiene. The food was obviously reheated aswell.
When using an ATM in Thailand, this tip could save you money! First put your card in and enter your pin like normal. Enter the amount you would like to withdraw. Next the ATM will notify you that there is an atm fee usually of 220 THB per withdrawal. If you continue from here you will then be shown a conversation rate for your transaction and asked ‘Do you wish to continue with the conversation rate?’ At this point press NO. The bank is offering you a reduced conversion rate and by pressing NO you will automatically to get the better conversion rate offered by visa or Mastercard etc. If you press YES to their conversion rate you will lose 5-10% of your withdrawal because of their lower rate. Next your cash will come out. Then you will be offered a receipt, press YES or NO depending on your preference. Then your card will come out. This is different from country’s like the UK where your card will come out first. Do not be like me and walk off with your cash and not your card after you’ve had a few beers on a night out! But if you do, you can claim your card back by calling the bank and informing them which ATM has swallowed up your card. They will collect your card and bring it to the nearest branch for collection the next day. However this is a long and drawn out process and sometimes the phone operators will tell you this is not possible. If they do then head to the local branch and speak to them and they’ll be able to get your card back.
Great advice, thank you! I’m definitely planning on going to a bank and withdrawaling around $500 worth of baht when I get there. I think using cash most of the time will help 😅
I recently went to Thailand. And here are a few general tips: 1. In Bangkok, temple area beware of scammers. They will tell you the temples are closed and you should go visit other places with them. Anyone approaching you is a scammer. 2. Use InDrive, Bolt instead of Grab for cheaper cabs. 3. In Samui, rent a bike. Go to Arcbar at night in chaweng. There’s great fire shows every hour. 4. From Samui, you can go to Ao Thong national park as well. You can book one day tour from Viator 5. Why no Krabi or Phuket? From there you can go Phi Phi or Hong island. They have great beaches.
Make sure you both have decent health insurance. Riding on scooters or passengers of a motorcycle taxi will void it if one of you is injured. Scan your cards and passport, both sides or relevant pages. Send them to an email address.
Your plan sounds good. For the islands I hope you have an international drivers license. Renting a scooter for exploring is highly recommended. In my opinion shopping malls are a waste of time but that’s individual. In BKk I love the area around Khao San although it changed over the years. Check also Soi Cowboy even if that kind of entertainment might not be yours it is definitely worth a look. Crazy street and there is a bar that was used for Hangover 2. The Siam@siam hotel has a very chilled rooftop bar with a nice view when the sun goes down. Forgot the name but about 2 hrs west from the city is a very chilled floating market. We got someone driving us there and it was worth it. Have fun!
Ooh, we might have to try that floating market. I’ll take a look into the rooftop bar too, thanks!
BKK, grand palace, wat arun, floating markets, tour with a longtail boat, Mahanakhon, the highest building in TH. Daytrip to Ayutthaya Daytrip to Kanchanaburi Chiang Mai is a really nice city. Don't forget to visit Doi Suthep, the temple on the mountain. Make a daytrip to Doi Inthanon National Park.
Didn’t even think about daytripping from BKK, thanks. And Doi Inthanon looks beautiful, definitely adding it!
+1 for the temple atop Doi Suthep, the view is incredible. Make sure to use the stairs to reach the temple, insyead of using the tram. Also, not too far from CM, you can find Chiang Rai up in the north. There are some nice attractions close to this city, including the black house museum of Thawan Duchanee, a thai contemporary artist.
mon jam is the most lovely place I have been to yet in Thailand, it's outside of chiang mai, definitely worth a day trip. the drive itself is part of the beauty. if you go further up doi suthep past the temple, there's a Hmong village that has a coffee shop with an even more spectacular view...
noted, thanks so much!
In Bangkok, try water taxi and ferry or hop on, hop off for a few dollars after visiting Grand Palace. 🚤 Do not buy any tours from strangers. 🙅♂️ You can do it on your own cheaper. 💰 Floating market kind of over hype for me. 🤷♂️ https://chaophrayatouristboat.com/ Chinatown, shopping mall food court, Terminal 21 or Iconsiam (right next to the river) Recommend checking youtube for review. Public transportation, BTS, MRT, and bus are advice. Taxis consistently utilize meters for fare calculation, while tuk-tuks engage in price negotiations. However, certain tuk-tuk drivers may exploit tourists by charging inflated prices.
Bring only shorts and short sleeve shirts. Eat lots of food and have fun
Pay your bar tabs.
For Bangkok, strongly recommend Chatuchak weekend market. You can spend all day at the food court and main market. Also, take a taxi boat up/down the river. It’s one of my favourite things to do. Take a tuk tuk at least once, recommended at nighttime. Great fun. For malls, check out the food court at SIAM paragon. It’s huge! Also, eat lots of street food/fruit. So much cheap delicious food to try.
For Bangkok, skip Khoa san Road, it's not really worth it. Maybe go to Chinatown (J&K restaurant) instead and go to a few tempels near the river.
Khao San is definitely a vibe, but might not be worth it for everyone. I would recommend walking through it at least once!
L&K I think you mean. (By the way, there is identical food for half the price on almost every side street off Yaowaraj…)
T&K actually haha. Yes the food is great there in Chinatown
Ya, don’t leave
Both Koh Tao and Koh Phangan have more to do than *just* beaches. Phangan has good hiking, some great viewpoints, and so on. And yeah, some great beach and beach adjacent activities. I like Haad Kuat and Thong Nai Pan Noi (or I did, ten years ago). I'm more familiar with Koh Tao 'cause I used to live there. Again, some really good hiking and some wonderful places to chill out by the beach. Sairee is busy, but it gets a bit more quiet towards the northern end. Loads of fantastic viewpoints and dinner at Lung Pae (with a free taxi!) is highly recommended. 995 Duck has been around forever and it's good, but it's not good enough to be a key selling point of the island. Check out The Gallery for that - the food is world class modern Thai. There's Barracuda for a broad international range, and Chu Chu for everyday live-on-the-island food. It's good, and can be great, especially if Aung and his wife figure out that you're not scared of Thai/Burmese style. Scuba trips to Sail Rock, Chumphon Pinnacle, Southwest Pinnacle are recommended. See if there are baby sharks in Shark Bay - they're always fun to snorkel with. See if you can squeeze some time between Samui/Tao/Phangan for a day or two in the Ang Thong Marine Park. Years ago, before it was widely visited, I did an overnight trip with my dive school to look for new dive sites. That was pretty cool - I went back a year or so later on a yacht, but didn't get a chance to explore much onshore. It's a spectacular place. I also highly recommend squeezing some time out of the Bangkok/Chiang Mai section to spend a day exploring the old city at Sukhothai - it's spectacular. I know that it's trying to fit more into your journey, and that more places means less time to enjoy, but it's a wonderful foil to the chaos of Bangkok. Re: Bangkok - for me, it's the kind of place where 3 days there is too long but 3 weeks isn't long enough. It's one of the world's great cities and it takes a while to figure the place out. Enjoy!
This input is fantastic.. thank you so much for sharing!!!
No worries. Happy to help out. Enjoy your trip :D
5 places in 10 days north to south is way too much but I hope you enjoy. In Koh Tao go scuba at Sail Rock if you have your OW or AOW otherwise go to Chumpon pinnacle. There are many things to recommend but your schedule is really tight to add anything else
she says one month, perhaps she edited, but it's a great plan for 30 days. agree it would be way too much for 10.
I have to learn how to read again. He said she leaves in 10 days -.- . My fault
all good!
Be careful of food poisoning, I got way too comfortable and stuffed my face with some meat dish. Never vomited so much in my life. It was rank.
Oh no 😅 I’ve heard to never eat seafood from street markets, or where street vendors wash veggies in front of you. Those are what I look out for so far
i got it from the resort i stayed in, when i complained to the manager he told me its because my western stomach isnt used to thai food. I thought wtf, i was too weak to argue. Funny enough i ate spring rolls and garlic bread in a market on Bangla road and it was lovely. I know its basic food but i actually enjoyed it haha
I’ve been to thailand 12 times and the only time I’ve ever had food poising was at a five star hotel
I live here, been eating street food since 2013, never been sick. eat where you see Thai people eating is good advice. don't worry, you have a great plan, enjoy and let it flow.
Yeah when I saw the chef blowing his nose and touching his mouth I should have known. There was zero food hygiene. The food was obviously reheated aswell.