Thailand- Bangkok, Phuket, Phi Phi Island Trip Planning

Hi Everyone,

Sharing our Thailand trip experience with you all. Hope that it would help you plan your trip successfully. Here’s a little video from our trip. Also, there are collages of the pics I clicked during the trip. Hope you enjoy it. πŸ™‚

Please see this video in full screen to enjoy it fully!

We planned a 5 night 6 day trip for us. We made our bookings through makemytrip.com. Although we had a few issues because of some problem at Make My Trip’s end but it was all sorted out in the end. πŸ™‚

day 1 selfie, pumpkin chips with chilli paste, massive tea mugs, makeup heaven
day 1 selfie, pumpkin chips with chilli paste, massive tea mugs, makeup heaven

We wanted to start with Bangkok first and then move to the actual beachy holiday destinations. It worked perfectly in our favour. Bangkok is a huggge shopping destination. And after the amount of walking your have to do to shop, you definitely need a relaxing holiday. πŸ˜›

You can opt for visa on arrival or you can get it done from here as well. Both work. Also, if you are going for the first time, it’s best that you take a package. The travel companies include some must see places in your itinerary. It makes things easier and you don’t miss out on the main sightseeings of the place.

We were going there for the second time. We still took the package but also took the leverage of skipping the trips. πŸ˜› You can read about our first trip HERE

Some places to shop and see in Bangkok :

Start with the Bangkok airport itself. πŸ˜› Then Siam Paragon, Chidlom mall, MBK Mall (looooads of fun stuff to pick if you are on a budget), the night bazaars (bargain here), Ocean World, Madame Tussads

Floating Market (you’d have to leave early morning for this), Buddha temple (and many other temples), Β Cabaret shows, safari world tour (which we skipped 😐 ), a one day trip to Pattaya. You can do para-sailing, snorkeling etc. It’s quite fun. Read about it HERE

bangkok2.jpg

What to Pack :

Easy comfy clothes because the weather is quite hot there. And a few pair of flats. I took one from here but also bought one from Bangkok itself. There is sooo much walking there that you’d be killing your feet if you plan to wear heels there. If you are wearing fancy shoes, don’t forget to keep a pair of havainas in your bag. You can always change later on. And sunscreen, of course. These are the basics. πŸ™‚

If you are fond of doing makeup, you’d love it in Bangkok. Everyone does makeup there. It’s not a special occasion thing. πŸ™‚

What to Eat :

I personally believe that you must try local cuisines while travelling. But being a vegetarian does not help much. I did not find any difficulty food wise this time but I was restricted to the repetitive stuff every day. I don’t mind the eggs so I tried various options in morning. Rest of the time I was quite dependent on the Italian food. Most places do serve the basic arabiata pasta and margarita pizza. There were great coffee shops around so beverages and sweets were never an issue. I loooved the fact that you get fruits in Bangkok at every two steps. πŸ˜€ So I ate a lot of fruits and drank loads of fruit juice during my stay there. πŸ™‚

Happy travellers, lunch, mini Furla candy(s), ocean world excitement
Happy travellers, lunch, mini Furla candy(s), ocean world excitement

What to Shop :

There are tons of brands (both high end and luxury) present in Bangkok and Bangkok airport is an experience in itself. And they have their own gazillion local brands. So there is no dearth of what you can shop from Bangkok. A lot of people buy electronics but whether you’d have their guarantee valid in India is a questions. Fashion and makeup wise, there is no limit. I always shop makeup at the airport and at the designated counters at the mall. Now they also have Sephora which houses brands such as NARS , MUFE, Tarte, Philosophy, OPI, SKII, Dior, Sephora, ….and tons others. You can also check out Boots that has some amazing drugstore options such as Maybelline, Revlon, No17, Rimmel etc. Fashion brands such as Top Shop, Zara, Mango, F21, H&M etc are also available. I have listed a very few options. There is a sea of variety available there.

One more thing- for most of the big purchases you get a VAT refund at the airport. Ask for VAT refund at the shop you are buying stuff from. They would give you a VAT refund form along with the reciept. The form you’d have to show at the VAT refund counters at the airport at the time of your return flight and get the VAT money back.

Travel within the City :

You can travel by tuktuks (do major bargains) but metros are the best. Just ask around and people would be there to help you. Walking around is amazing and veryyyy safe. Β And Google Map rocks! We used it so much there.

Fruits galore on Bangkok streets
Fruits galore on Bangkok streets

Language :

Language is a major issue in Bangkok. Especially with food, you order something and something else is served. πŸ˜› So really take your time to make yourself understand. Otherwise you’d order English breakfast tea and you’d be served massive mugs of Tea Latte. True story. πŸ˜›

Hotel We stayed at :

Bangkok :
We stayed at the very beautiful Raddison Sukhumvit. The suites were beautiful and it was very well connected to the malls and eating joints. Plus the stay and the food at the hotel itself was really good. The ‘food street’ that you see in the video is the street right next to the hotel. They also have an Indian food menu. πŸ™‚

The drinks menu! : D
The drinks menu! : D

Phuket :

We had a 2 day stay at Phuket. We stayed at Sea Pearl Villas. It was a huuuuge resort. There were blocks around the villa. Each block had its own swimming pool and each room had its own jacuzzi. It was so homely and beautiful. I could stay there for a whole month. πŸ˜› There were huge palm trees all around. You could walk around or just sit on their roof top restaurant and enjoy the view. The food was reallly good. As I mentioned very limited options for vegetarians but whatever was available was pretty good. A hotel bus leaves every hour for Patong beach. It was free of cost for the guests. They also gave us towels for the beach.

Phuket day 1 piccy time, beach essentials, sunset at Patong
Phuket day 1 piccy time, beach essentials, sunset at Patong

The only drawback of this villa is located a bit far off from the beaches. So you always have to be dependent on some kind of transport to drop you off to the beach. So if you want a beach resort there are some good options available on Kata beach.

Phuket was suuuuuuuch an awesome experience. I have no words. πŸ™‚ It’s basically an island so you’d feel that you are living in a hilly area but you are actually on a beachy place. πŸ™‚ The place is beautiful. Very Goa-ish feel but very posh. We went to Patong beach and Kata Beach. And both were beautiful, clean and very safe. Don’t miss having the fruit shakes at the beach. The sunsets were gorgeous. And then you can walk about and there are loads of restaurants where you can enjoy your dinner. They’d always have 1-2 vegetarian options. Phuket also has a great street shopping options. Bargain is always a key. I bought this hat from Phuket street shops only. πŸ™‚

pink-hat

What to Pack :

Tees, shorts, swimsuits, bikinis, easy light clothes, slippers, sunglasses, sunscreen, books.

Phi Phi Island

We had a one day trip to Phi Phi island. Phi Phi was suggested to us by friends and we couldn’t be more thankful to them. So you go from Phuket to Phi Phi on ship. It’s 2 hour trip but the experience is beyond brilliant. You are in a middle on nowhere and all you could do is just soak up the beauty of nature. The colors of water, the gorgeous boats and the scenic beauty..everything makes it worth it. Phi Phi is very tiny island and there are tons of people. It’s the gorgeous sea and the white sand that you actually go to see there. We were given barely two hours to be on the island and then we had to return. The lunch was served (they had proper vegetarian lunch laid out). Sanjeev and I literally finished our lunch in 10 minutes because we were dying to jump in the ocean. πŸ˜› So we spent some time in the sea , got ready and hopped back on our ship. The return journey is quite lazy. You mainly sleep and wake up and sleep some more until your reach back to the shore. πŸ™‚

First view of Phi Phi island, welcome, loved the coconut water, the beautiful boats at the island
First view of Phi Phi island, welcome, loved the coconut water, the beautiful boats at the island

What to Pack :

I’d say that you wear your swimsuit or bikini underneath your clothes and pack a towel and a a light dress for your way back. When we reached Phi Phi we noticed most people didn’t enjoy the sea because they were not well prepared.

last view of sea pearl villa, chilling by the pool, view from our room, last selfie in Thailand
last view of sea pearl villa, chilling by the pool, view from our room, last selfie in Thailand
very interesting hair, interesting hair : P , sugar rush at Dunkin' Donuts, see you soon! : )
very interesting hair, interesting hair : P , sugar rush at Dunkin’ Donuts, see you soon! : )

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