As one of the most popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, Thailand has many things to offer from its maze-like shopping market, mouthwatering food, until impressive white sandy beaches and islands. For these reasons, travelers willing to visit Southeast Asia must put Thailand on the list of tropical getaways. Don’t you worry, we have some travels hacks and advices for travelers to avoid unnecessary worrisome you might encounter when traveling to Thailand!
Find out where locals eat
Source: PEXEL/Oleksandr Pidvalnyi
You can be so choosy and picky about what you want to eat in Southeast Asia in general since the food mostly involve a wide range of unfamiliar spices. But once you land in Thailand, its mouthwatering food street would force you to forget your restriction. Particularly in Bangkok, every district of the city provides different style of food. The best tip for this, find where locals eat. The more popular the food vendor, the more they have a higher standard in serving their customers. Another point to add, you will feel free to ask their ingredients and how they process the spices.
Tuk Tuk fare is no longer an issue
Source: PEXEL/rawpixel.com
Opt for Tuk Tuk to stroll around is the fun way to indulge yourself in your journey. Be mindful with the possible surge price once the driver knows you are a tourist—especially if you are a first timer. To prevent this issue, ask for the estimate price from your hotel or accommodation to the destination, so you can make a deal with the Tuk Tuk driver smoothly before get in to Tuk Tuk. If they charge you way higher than the standard, simply walk away and find other Tuk Tuks. Not good at bargaining? Consider metered taxi or app-based vehicles to get you to the major destination.
Explore the not-so-touristy places
Especially if you travel on budget, avoid visiting Thailand’s most touristy places or you will end up paying five times more for food and stuff. You better browse and ask locals about less touristy places with equal satisfaction.
Bye bye, mosquitoes!
Tropical places are very prone to mosquitoes. When you get in the bus or any public transportations or places, always choose the seat near to the fan. Do not forget to apply insect-repellents lotion to your skin minutes before. It is your holiday, you better avoid those red dots on your skin, hey?
Downloading travel apps to safe more time
Have a hard time in finding less touristy places with equally beautiful scenery to those of popular tourist attraction? If you still have time in Thailand, it is not a problem to visit the places later on. But if you travel only for short period, you should download some apps for travel suggestions or read some travel blogs to obtain more recommendations. To prevent yourself from more hassle, go download apps such as Ithaka.
Roll, roll, roll your clothes, gently down the beaches!
Source: PEXEL/Oleksandr Pidvalnyi
Traveling to Thailand means you can match your summer outfits. Thailand is popular for its beaches, street to explore, and rooftop bar—oh you do not to appear so neat! So that, while packing for your Thailand trip, choose thin-layered and sheer clothes, then roll them up instead of folding each one of them neatly—plus, bring an umbrella, just in case. Thailand is a heaven for shoppers and it will give you chances to shop and hunt down things, so, do not make an excuse to purchase another bag just because you might end up having too many belongings to bring home. Allow some space in your luggage or bag to be filled with your new stuff later.
Withdrawing money from local ATMs or banks
Like most of Southeast Asian countries, Thailand is very cash-based. Do not expect to do the transaction with your cards unless you buy food or stuff in more exclusive vendors. However, the challenge that may appear when you run out of cash is to tell which local ATMs are trustworthy and safe enough for you to withdraw some cash. Our advice on this, please withdraw high amount or maximum amount of money to minimize the transaction fees! Some banks will limit your maximum amount up to 10,000 THB only, thus it would be a problem if you want to get higher than that. Try these banks that offer higher maximum limits for cash withdrawal:
- Thai Military Bank (up to 30,000 THB)
- CIMB Bank (up to 30,000 THB)
- Kungsri Bank (up to 30,000 THB).