A Guide to Your First Hour in Bangkok, Thailand

congratulations you've just landed in Thailand you've cleared customs and immigration and that means that you're probably standing right here in suwannaboom airport but what do you do now how do you get cash a SIM card what are your transportation options to the city well I'm going to answer those questions and a ton more to make sure that your first hour in Bangkok goes off without a hitch I'm going to cover a lot of things quickly but don't worry I've created chapter markers so that you can go back and reference this stuff anytime if you follow the advice in this video your trip to Thailand is going to be way better guaranteed now let's get started thank you okay so Bangkok has two airports suwana boom which is 32 kilometers east of the city center and Don moong which is 24 kilometers North both handle domestic and international flights but the older Don moong is mostly for domestic and so let's face it you've probably arrived at suwannaboom that's right it's pronounced suwana boom having opened in 2006 it now serves over 65 million passengers each year often handling more than 800 flights every single day and although it can seem overwhelming it's really quite a simple layout there's only one main terminal building here and its services all arrivals both International and domestic before going inside this place to to show you how to navigate through it it's good to give you a general layout it's all contained in just one building spread out over just four floors level one you got Transportation options to and from the city level two is all arrivals level three is a general purpose floor with restaurants and uh places that you can meet people and then level four is all of the departures simple right okay let's head inside and I'll show you how to navigate it like a pro [Music] foreign let's start right here on the second floor arrivals because this is most likely where you are gonna pop out so first things first you're gonna need cash you're gonna need cash for street food you're gonna need cash for shopping and taxis and yes you're going to need cash for beer with ice cubes as soon as you get out of arrivals you're going to come across a bunch of money exchange shops now if you go downstairs one level you're gonna find rates that are slightly better but if you're lazy like me you'd either transfer it there get some Thai bot right in your pocket or do what I do and you can just use an ATM card worldwide ATM cards work at most Bank machines all over Thailand but let's break down the costs of all this so this exchange counter is paying 31.54 Thai baht per US dollar today so let's say you transfer a thousand US Dollars that'll get you 31 540 Baht and just by checking online you can see what the market rate is today which appears to be 34.17 so for a thousand US Dollars you'd get 34 178 Baht so that's a pretty hefty percentage that they're taking from you so what about ATMs well you'll most likely get dinged with two fees the first is a transaction fee which is charged by your home bank and not the ATM this is usually five dollars per transaction but you're going to want to confirm with your own bank then there's the exchange rate which banks usually charge 2.5 percent above the market rate so when changing that same thousand dollars you're looking at the five dollar transaction fee plus the 25 dollar exchange rate fee for a total cost of thirty dollars or three percent so this is way better than the money exchange but keep in mind that the five dollar transaction fee is a flat fee so don't be taking out small amounts from the ATM or else it would really add up for example if you only took fifty dollars out that five dollars would be ten percent of your transaction eating up in Bank fees so if you're taking out a small amount I'd go to the money exchange but for larger amounts consider using the ATMs okay Pro tip number one make sure that you tell your bank that you're traveling internationally if you don't then you might get locked out by fraud protection when you get to an ATM and pro tip number two if you travel a lot check out a company called transferwise they save all kinds of money on currency exchange I use them all the time Link in description below all right you got your cash next up enter map so you'll notice when you get to arrivals that Thailand has three main internet provider options you got dtac which is the blue one true which is the red one and my personal favorite for no reason at all AIS which is the green one let's see how much it's going to cost you to get SIM carded up just walk up to the counter and let them know that you want a SIM card for travel and they'll show you the packages you can get packages for eight days 15 days or a maximum of 30 days don't worry though if you're gonna be here longer than 30 days you can just top up and extend by dialing in just before your plan expires easy peasy they offer both 4G and 5G options the price for a 30-day plan on 4G is currently 999 Thai baht and it goes up to 16.99 for 5G the cheapest plan is eight days of 4G for 299 Baht so just decide what plan is right for you now that we're all Juiced up with high-speed internet let me tell you about the apps you're going to need here there's lots of apps that are super helpful when you're in Thailand but these are the ones that you can't live without first up Google Maps here in Bangkok it's going to be your best friend and Google also has a cool app called Google translate if you've never tried that before definitely check it out look at you can point it at a sign and have it translate the Thai letters into English it's absolutely crazy next if you're looking for things to eat things to do things to see there's no Yelp here if you're a yelper but there is an amazing Thailand map called teeny and there's also no Uber here in place of that you use grab bolt or one that's really cool it'll call you electric two-tukes it's called move me but that one won't pick you up at your location you actually have to go to a specific meeting point but that's a fun way to get around and if you're looking to make Thai friends you're going to want to download an app called line you might use WhatsApp but here in Thailand everybody uses an app called line and then finally for some reason I have on my list Tinder hmm next up is transportation and here on the arrivals level you're going to see all these rental car companies but do what everyone else is doing and Skip them you're in Bangkok for crying out loud the last thing you need is a car what you're going to want to do is follow me all the way down to level number one [Music] so we've come one floor below arrivals we're now on level one and you're going to want to probably get a taxi I'll tell you a cheaper way in a minute [Music] as soon as you get outside here you're going to notice a whole row of taxis all lined up with Lane numbers but you can't just go and jump in the cabs you're going to want to come to these machines and line up in one of three lines you have the large taxi the regular taxi and the short distance once you get in line you're going to end up going over to the machines that you see behind me you got to just poke get a ticket a ticket will spit out it'll tell you your Lane number and then all the taxis have these Lane numbers above them so look at the Lane number on your ticket and then go find your taxi tell them where you want to go and voila and a couple of things about Bangkok taxis should they use a meter yes will they use a meter from the airport most likely they will when you get in the city that's a different ball game but they'll probably use a meter here so so don't worry too much about getting scammed by a taxi when you arrive in Bangkok when you get on the road they might ask you highway highway this means do you want to take the highway in the answer is yes but then they're going to ask you for money at the toll booths either 20 Baht or 50 Baht again not a scam just be prepared with some small bills and give the taxi driver the money to pay for the tolls that's how it works for the taxis now let me show you the cheap way to get into town one other thing you might want to know about if you're not sticking around in Bangkok you can get buses direct to Pattaya and huahen here you can get transport to Koh Chang or kokud but let's be honest you're probably heading downtown Bangkok for a a night of crazy fun and the cheapest way to get there is on a little secret floor called The Bee floor that's where we're going to introduce you to the airport Rail Link yeah so once you've made it down here to the basement and this is where I'd recommend you buy your ticket there's a there's a ticket booth right there if you want to talk to an attendant if you are having trouble with the machines but these things are really quite easy to use first of all press the English button you can see that there's only seven stops to choose from so you're going to want to reference the map of your hotel the map of where you're staying the map of the closest Subway or BTS station that you want to get to we're going to makkasan so I'm going to buy one ticket you can see that it's only 35 Baht so about a dollar in these machines it only takes 20s 50s and 100 baht and then of course the coins I put in my 50. voila what you're going to be left with is one of these tokens little black token you use it to get on and then don't lose it because you're gonna need it to get off get my 15 bot change it'll buy me a little Street sausage believe it or not and then that's it let's jump on the train so just tap your little token on the yellow thing the doors will open you come down the escalators and then you end up here at the platforms and you're gonna just wait oh geez I think there's a train here don't be impatient when the train arrives all the people have to get off and then you'll see an empty train and you'll think oh I'm just going to jump on this thing but they do a security check every time [Music] so we made it to the city center and whether you came on the airport rail Langer took a taxi in it's about time I told you how to get around this city they call the Big Mango Bangkok is a big city with a pretty amazing Transportation Network let's start by Going Underground to the MRT you can get a ticket at one of these machines or you can get one from the booth if you're gonna ride it a lot you can get an MRT card load 500 Bond on it and top it up as needed the cost to ride is roughly 18 baht to start and then it depends how many stops you go for the final fare but it's usually only 30 Baht or so next look up above the streets and you'll see the sky Train also known as the BTS there can be big lines to get tickets but there's always lots of machines and this will save you some time just press English pick your stop and you're good to go my biggest complaint with the Bangkok Metro system is that the MRT and BTS are completely different systems so they each have their own cards for the BTS it's called the rabbit card and if you're gonna be here for a while I'd highly recommend getting one every time you tap it'll tell you how much you have left on the card Pro tip the shopping mall food courts usually take rabbit card payments as well be sure to bring your passport with you when you first get your card because they will need to see it now let's go from the rails to the roads of course bangkok's got tax season two-tuks but if you want to beat the traffic and have some fun jump on a canal boat and zip through the city in no time think of the piers like bus stops and make sure you know where you're getting on and off and they'll charge you accordingly usually it's only about 12 to 18 Baht making it a cheap fun and efficient Bangkok experience Pro tip here you got to be careful and fast all at the same time when jumping on and off these things so good luck and of course you got these motorbike taxis now these things can get a little bit hairy so this is probably the best time in the video to tell you my favorite place to recommend for health insurance it is important to note that Thailand actually requires health insurance but people always right to ask me who I use it's a place called Safety wing and this is a company that's done to health insurance what Tesla did for cars they just modernized it and made it super easy they have this thing called Nomad insurance and whether you're traveling for two weeks two months or indefinitely like me they can get you signed up and covered in minutes so even if your flights tomorrow you can log on right now and sign up and get instant coverage you only pay for what you use and you can cancel any time with no reason and with no penalty it covers you around the world and you don't even have to provide the exact travel dates and countries you're going to I've been using safety wing for the past four years and it's saved me a ton of money and I bet it would save you guys a lot of money too I'll leave you a link here they have this little calculator that tells you how much your health coverage would be based on your age and a few other parameters so check it out and see how much it would cost for you to use them and yeah thanks safety wing for supporting the channel I think I'm gonna go get a couple of Leos on you so one of the great pleasures of Thailand is parking yourself on a stoop at 7-Eleven and now that you're one hour's up you got everything you need I'd highly recommend getting an ice cold Leo and a 7-Eleven toasty this is one of Thailand's great comfort Foods believe it or not they Grill them up inside right in a little griddle and don't knock it till you try it because these things are amazing and you know you're in Bangkok when you're parked on a stupid a 7-Eleven enjoying what I'm enjoying I hope this video was helpful now that you're in Bangkok click up here and you're gonna find my top 25 things to do in Bangkok video series check that out and click up here and it'll take you right to the safety Wing calculator so you can see how much health insurance costs now let me enjoy my Leo and my toasty would you

Channel: Retired Working For You

Views: 824,124

Keywords: thailand, travel guide, bangkok, thailand travel, first hour in bangkok, suvarnabhumi airport, bangkok arrival guide, bangkok airport guide, bangkok travel guide, bangkok travel, thailand travel guide, bangkok guide, sim card thailand, money exchange thailand, money exchange, bangkok taxi, bangkok thailand, 24 hours in bangkok, thailand guide, things to do in bangkok, thai food

Id: NFw-WizIt50

Length: 16min 19sec (979 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 22 2023