24 DO’S AND DON’TS WHEN YOU TRAVEL TO BANGKOK
1) Do try to learn a few phrases and greeting in Thai. You are in another country and showing
effort, even if you don’t know too much, goes a long way. Show respect to the Thai people and
say hello and thank you. You get a much better experience when you meet locals and speak a
little Thai to them.
2) Do buy big beers. Walk around the street enjoying the nightlife in various areas while sipping
on a cold brew. Like many Southeast Asian countries, the big beers are the best deal. My favorite
is Chang, though it does come with the infamous “Changover” if you have too many.
3) Do get a traditional style Sak Yant bamboo tattoo. You‘ll see plenty of backpackers around
Bangkok with the Buddhist blessings tattooed on them, and many Thai people will too. It’s an
experience and a great way to take home a memory, if you’re the tattoo type of course. It involves
a monk tattooing and bestowing his magic into the blessing and was what I did for my birthday
that day. Or, you can go to an Ajarn which is a much safer and cleaner environment.
4) Do take a short tuk tuk ride for the experience. It is a little zany and a bit nerve wrecking,
but it’s a wildly different way of getting around. Some tuk tuts are pimped out with flashy lights
and speakers, and you’ll experience your first scam while in them.
5) Do take taxis over tuk tuks most places you go. Taxis are going to be the best way to get
around Bangkok on a hot day since they all have air-con and are usually pretty fast. If you’re in a
main area like near Khao San Road or a mall, walk a few blocks away and catch a cab there. It’ll
be easier to convince them to do a meter.
6) Do talk to the locals. If you need help they’ll always assist you with directions or most anything
else if they can understand you. The best thing to do when you are looking for something like a
monument or palace or mall is to download a photo of it on your phone when you have wifi, and
then you can show them a photo.
7) Do get a suit tailor-made for you IF you are a fancy pants kind of person. Feeling like puttin’ on
the ritz? Always dreamed of having a tailor-made outfit that fits you perfectly? Bangkok is one of
the best and cheapest places in the world to get a fitted suit or outfit. They will take all of the
measurements, let you pick out looks and fabrics, and you’ll be able to hit the Baiyoke Skytower
in style.
8) Do get a Thai massage. After a long flight to Thailand, a foot massage feels marvelous. And
the back massage — well they’ll bend and break you into contortionist oblivion but you’ll walk
away feeling like you can do backflips and scale walls. These shops are everywhere and usually
have various choices like aromatherapy, foot massage, head massage, and back massages, so
compare prices.
9) Do tap into your wild or exotic foodie side. Try some extra bizarre foods like scorpions, crickets,
and other creepy crawlies. It’ll be worth the experience and the awesome shocking photos. Sure,
it’s cliché and most of them are only there for our selfie-obsessed pleasure, but it’s still pretty fun.
And really, where else is better than Thailand to try your first bug? Also, for the love of the food
gods, try Pad Thai! You may never eat anything else again. On the street you can get a heaping
portion of Pad Thai for 20-30 baht, and surprisingly, Khao San Road has some of the best.
10) Do have a great time drinking beers and buckets. It’s very fun listening to the amazing Thai
cover singers while drinking a bucket of Thai whiskey. Off of Khao San road there are many
parallel streets that are perfect for having drinks and aren’t so flooded with debauchery and
annoying hawkers. Hong Thong is my favorite cheap Thai whiskey, or you can go for Sangsom
which is sweeter like rum. Split a bucket with your friends and hear perfect renditions of “House
of the Rising Sun” and other jams in a chill bar.
11) Do visit Khao San Road. Pass through the infamous Khao San Road and see what the fuss
and disgust is all about. It’s one of the most well-known “destinations” of the city and besides the
sweaty and overly wasted
12) Do buy local goods and clothes. Most of the clothing and goods are hand-made and beautiful.
You’ll get tired of the chaffing quick if you brought jeans. Hit the Saturday/Sunday JJ Market
(Chatchuchak) to spend an entire day wandering a labyrinth of stalls and pick some trinkets out
to send home too. Also, you’ll find enough of the Thai parachute/elephant pants to please your
hippie heart (but don’t say you’re dressing Thai, because they don’t wear that stuff.)
13) Don’t disrespect a Thai person, raise your voice at them, or pick a fight. This isn’t your
country, so if you are belligerent to someone you’ll probably ended up for the worse. Most Thai
people smile a ton and are soft spoken.
14) Don’t hold the big beers by the neck. Even before I finished my first big beer in Thailand, it
slipped out of my hand and shattered on the ground. I wasn’t even close to being drunk, but the
heat of Bangkok mad the cold beer sweat and the label slips off. My friend laughed when it
happened, and a block later, had it happen to her.
15) Don’t get a Sak Yant tattoo in a shop on Khao San Road, or in a regular tattoo
parlor. They advertise bamboo tattoos and Sak Yant blessings…but it isn’t the real Sak Yant.
Variations of each Sak Yant have magical purposes and can only be bestowed to you by a true
Buddhist monk that knows how to do them. There is a temple I traveled to outside of Bangkok
that performs these blessings and does the tattoo, and there is one shop in Bangkok with an artist
that has been trained and certified to perform the proper Sak Yant tattoo and blessing.
I’ve gotten a Sak Yant in a temple, and my second with an Ajarn, and the Ajarn experience was
much safer, cleaner, and fulfilling.
16) Don’t let the tuk tuk driver talk you into making stops for free petrol. Or Gems. Or an
“authorized” tourist shop. Tuk tuk drivers are scam artists through and through, and though
they may make promises or seem really nice, majority can’t be trusted. If you hop in a tuk tuk,
prepare to be ripped off in price, and when you tell them a specific location, they will always stop
at a gem store or tourist office and try to get you to buy things for “free petrol” and may leave you
when you refuse. (Full post coming soon about my experience with this.)
17) Don’t take a taxi if they refuse to put on the meter. For a 6km drive you’ll pay around 80 baht
including the 35 baht initial charge, but if you take a non-metered taxi it’ll be upwards of 200-300
baht. Even if it takes you 30 minutes to find a metered taxi, it’ll save you double the money at
least. Sometime your driver will agree to take you and then begin driving and tell you that the
meter is broken, so make sure the meter is on when you get in. Always follow along with
Google Maps as well.
18) Don’t stop for anyone who is standing around and approaches you randomly with a, “My
friend! Hello! You have a kind face.”They’ll shake your hand and try to trick you into sitting down
with them to tell you your future and demand a “donation” after. Or it’ll be a Thai person waiting
to snag a traveler to convince them to book a “discounted” trip somewhere or to take you on a
free temple tour. Especially near Khao San Road. From my experience, you’ll see large Indian
men on the road that will approach you and talk about your energy or try and convince you to let
them chat with you about your future for no money. Then they take you into a back alley and
demand payment and get quite aggressive.
19) Don’t get a suit tailor-made for you in the tiny shops in areas like Khao San Road. If they
promise a deal for $200-$300usd and 24hr turn around then it’ll be rubbish. You can find a shop
that will charge the same or less in a non-touristy neighborhood run by an old Thai guy that’s
been doing it for 70 years. He’ll take 4-7 days to complete it because he’ll get it right, and request
multiple re-fittings so everything is perfect. It’ll be the best suit you’ve ever owned or will ever own.
20) Don’t pay more than 200 baht per hour. Many of the tourist neighborhoods will charge that for
30minutes. Look for prices to be 100 baht cheaper in Chinatown and places away from Khao San
Road. I’ve found a shop for even 150 baht per hour before.
(Side Note: Also, don’t be a douche and expect or even hint at a more erotic massage. These
are people working for a living…have some dignity.)
21) Don’t drink the water unless it is bottled. Tap water here as in many Southeast Asian countries
isn’t regulated like the USA or other countries with safe drinking tap water. What you’ll notice in
some places is that they serve a pitcher of water from a giant water barrel, and if the ice in the
cup is rounded with a hole in the middle, it’s provided by the government. Smoothie shops
along the road should use this kind of ice as well so make sure to keep an eye out. But if I were
you, I’d stick to bottles of water. Some stores you’ll notice have the seal broken, and that’s
because they refill and recap them. If the bottle of water looks dirty, beat up, or damaged, change
it out.
22) Don’t get limes in the buckets, and avoid mojitos! We bought a bucket and they add limes to
it, A LOT OF LIMES, and it was so many that it made the drink disgusting. They’re already sweet
with the energy drink or soda they add in. Also, avoid mojito buckets, because they add what
seemed to be a whole cup of sugar in it and the whole drink was so sweet that I spent one night
feeling sick.
23) Don’t spend too much time on Khao San Road. You probably won’t want to stay long on Khao
San Road unless you like to bro it up and fist pump. It is like a parallel drunk and dirty backpacker
universe where souls go to die, wallets go to burn, and class or culture is non-existent. If you are
in neon-shirt-sunglasses-at-night party mode you’ll find enough entertainment here and seedy
clubs to get your drunken “dance” on. It’s just not my kind of place…
24) Don’t buy goods in backpacker or tourist-heavy markets. If you hit Khao San or backpacker
heavy markets you’ll cough up 3x the normal amount. Prices will already be high for “foreigner
price” so don’t forget to barter as well. Mainly, shop at stalls that have prices already marked. And
don’t forget to hit up a weekend market like JJ Market (Chatchuchak) for really good bargains.
SOURCE: https://www.lostboymemoirs.com/dos-and-donts-bangkok/