Lefootprints: Bangkok

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Breaking the Law in Bangkok!

I’m an illegal immigrant in Thailand as of today...

Why? Because of my stupid bank, that’s why! After arriving in Laos the first thing I did was check my account online (unusually) and to my horror I was $150 short! I couldn’t work it out, the money had been there this morning! So I panicked and after considering my options and how damn expensive Laos was I decided the best thing would be just to go back to Thailand, where I can stay with friends if need be. So the afternoon after my 23 hour bus journey from Hanoi to Vientiane I was back on another bus making my way to the Thai border to catch a 12 hour train back to Bangkok. At the border I was informed just as he was stamping me into Thailand that I needed to leave by the 29^th October, “You will go before this date?” he asked me.

But my flight to Malaysia is on 31^st!

I just agree and go on my way but inside I’m losing it. What am I going to do? First I double check my flight, yes, it’s the 31^st then I count how many days there is untill the 31^st and it’s 17 days to go so why do I have to leave on the 29^th?I'd forgoten that yes, we get fewer days to visit the country if you enter by land but I’ve always received 17 days in the past but to my horror I now had only 15 days stamped in my passport! Now after a quick Google check it appears tourists now only get 15 days, just my luck that the one time I actually need the full 17 days it’s now 15! It was also just my luck that 3 or 4 days later the money was back in my account just as it should have been. How very GRRRR! I was really looking forward to seeing Laos as well but guess it will still be there next time. I did consider going back but the lazy side of me decided against it.

I’ve read and been told that as long as I don’t get arrested (but knowing my luck…) before I get to the airport I won’t get in trouble if I pay a fine of 500 baht a day. Having looked at my options this is the cheapest and easiest way to do it as a new flight would have cost me about $50 and catching the bus and train like I did last year was one 30 hour journey I don’t wish to repeat and I'd be paying about the same as the fine. Finger’s crossed I don’t get arrested then! If my blog ends here ya'll know what happened...

I can’t say I’m sad to see the back of Thailand for a while. Lack of money has meant for the last 2 weeks I’ve been stuck in my apartment doing sod all apart from snacking on too many packs of Lays and drinking too much bubble tea. I've been to Kuala Lumpur before but Penang will be something new and that’s always exciting.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Bangkok: Can you live off only 500 baht a day?

The land of smiles and I, well me and Bangkok at least anyway have a bit of a love/hate relationship; it's cheap but not always in a good way, you can get around easily on a pretty neat transport system but it can be impossible to simply cross the street, the city never sleeps, however, sometimes you need some quiet and the people are smiley but how many are genuine? guess I'll be sitting on the fence as Libra's tend to do with this one but lets see what this sprawling city of contradictions has to offer me this time.

Bangkok can easily be done on a shoe string budget and for a person like me who only has 2 months worth of cash, that will be spread over 3 but will worry about running out later it's a damn good thing. You can eat for under $1 and I've heard you can even stay at the infamous Overstay for free. I've given myself a budget of around 500 baht or £10 a day while I'm here. So let's see what an average day looks like for a tourist living off only a tenner in BKK.

I won't be able to visit The Grand Palace or take a posh dinner cruise but I can take in freshish air in BKK's parks, tour markets, window shop in the malls, get lost, take photos, visit temples, and dine on satay from street vendors. I've met some wonderful people while I've been here and that costs nothing at all, one African ex pat tells me all about what life is like for a black man looking for love in BKK (it's not always pretty but it really is interesting).

There are good things about traveling with less money, being less of a 'tourist' and acting more like a 'local'. You'll find yourself taking more time out to pick up the vibe of a place and really attempt to get a feel for what it's about rather than just heading for the next big touristy spot in your travel guide, one of the things I really enjoy doing here is paying 14 baht to take a boat along the river and just watch the world float by. I find myself making far more effort to talk to people (just smile and say hi!) and some of my best hobo days have been spent with a new friend or two, a beer, just chatting and watching the sun set. Hell you'll be so bored you'll try anything like finally taking a bus rather than the BTS, I heard I'd get lost and I did but I made it and it only cost me 10 baht to! less comfy but much cheaper than the BTS.

So to conclude, yes you can get by with only 500 baht a day in Bangkok but it wasn't easy and a lot of days I ended up spending more than that, however, here's a list of things I really enjoyed on the cheap;