To the Land of a Thousand Smiles - 15 to 17 May 2016 | Bangkok Thailand

It all started when Hence (from www.chubbybotakkoala.com) asked if any of us would like to join him on his next trip to Bangkok. Ivan (from ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg) says he is available during those dates and so was I. All of us flew on different dates so basically, I'd be travelling solo to and from Thailand.

First visit to Bangkok was way back in 2010 where we (a group of 5 girls) went to Bangkok to shop. We stayed at Amari Watergate Pratunam area, so we did all the Platinum Mall, Chatuchak, Aw Tor Kor and Chinatown then.

This time round, I did some research and suggested Thonglor, and for accommodation, suggested "The Residence on Thonglor". Things that were taken into account for accommodation was price range that must be less than SGD100 per night, must have recent good reviews and location where it must be near foods. Thonglor is actually dotted with cafes, pubs, Thai food, Japanese and even Korean foods. Thanks to Google Map and Agoda for making things so readily searchable.

With that settled, the cheapest flight with the timing that I wanted (morning flight since am travelling alone) was with Airasia. For departure, opted for no check-in baggage and on return, added check-in baggage. But why is it that Airasia only has 24kg and nothing lesser than that option? I'd be keen to just take 10kg check-in. Oh, and Airasia flies to Don Muaeng while the rest of them were flying via Suvarnabhumi.

Next up, wifi. In Japan, I'd taken a wifi router with me but that'd cost $12 per day. Is it any cheaper for Thailand wifi router? Nope. So, an overseas pre-paid SIM card made more sense in this case. It is definitely much cheaper if you get in on-board Airasia for just ฿299 and similar price in Thailand.

However, I got my 4G AIS sim card (high speed for 7 days unlimited) from Changi Recommends for $13 (~฿331) by booking it online and collecting it on departure date. Pretty simple and hassle free. A small instruction leaflet will be given on how to activate it. Also quite simple by calling *120 once you have landed in Thailand. As this post was written after the trip, the experience with AIS simcard was rather good. Reliable and good speed. Here's a link to it: https://www.changirecommends.com/deal.aspx?id=965

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beautiful day to fly