10 days in Bangkok
After 4 months living in Canggu, Bali, I decided to move to Thailand to discover this amazing country.
I landed in Bangkok and started my Thai life by living 10 days there.
Rent
For short term stay, staying in a hotel/Airbnb in the center of Bangkok was too expensive for me so I just picked a nice hostel.
I chose Vivit Hostel located near the Grand Palace.
I paid 3 134 baht for 8 nights, thatās 88ā¬ or 11ā¬/night.
The hostel was great, and I had an included breakfast which was really good (juices, bread with butter and jam, coffee/tea, bananas)
Vivit hostel rooms are for 4 people, and beds are clearly delimited with proper curtains, so you feel youāre in your own space. There is AC so you donāt sweat the whole night because of the outside temperature/humidity.
There is a lobby with medium quality internet if you want to check things on your laptop, and machines for your laundry.
Wi-Fi is ok for basic tasks but not enough for all-day work.
I met very nice people in this hostel, and never had any issues with them in the room, I was able to sleep when I wanted.
The only downside of this hostel is that itās a little far from any BTS station (Bangkok Skytrain), so if you want to get somewhere you have to either walk 40 minutes to the first station, or get a Grab (local Uber).
Coworking space
As Iām working on Gladys Assistant 3 days/week and working 2 days/week as a Software Engineer contractor, I always need to find coworking spaces with proper internet.
I found online that Hubba Coworking space is well known in Bangkok, and tried 2 of their offices: Hubba Siam Discovery and Hubba Silom.
Current view from Hubba coworking space in Bangkok š pic.twitter.com/ztkWd6q0kL
— Pierre-Gilles Leymarie āļø (@pierregillesl) January 17, 2019
Hubba Siam Discovery was 390 baht/day (11ā¬/day) and Hubba Silom was 290 baht/day (8ā¬/day).
Hubba Siam Discovery was more recent with really good working chair, whereas Hubba Silom had more basic furnitures.
Still, both were great and had amazing internet speed, so I spent most days at Hubba Silom to get the cheapest price.
In terms of community, I was amazed to see that both coworking space wereā¦ empty!
I was literally the only one working here! It was great to focus, but I felt lonely in those big spaces and I wouldnāt spend a full month there working alone.
Food
People told me that food in Thailand is amazing, and I have to say that itās true.
I was eating mostly street food, like the famous Pad ThaĆÆ for 50 baht (1,40ā¬)
Or a duck soup for 60 baht (1,68ā¬)
Or chicken vegetables with Rice for 60 baht:
My rules when traveling is to eat where locals are eating.
So I try to be in restaurants where Iām the only westerner eating.
Thatās the only way to get real local food and real local prices!
To compare with my previous experience in Bali, I would say that food is a little more expensive in Thailand.
In Bali I could easily eat under 1ā¬, but in Thailand itās just impossible.
You can say āsure, but still itās super cheap compared to European restaurantā.
Itās true, but the key difference here is that you donāt eat 3 times a day at the restaurant in Europe, you just go to the restaurant once in a while.
Thai people eat way more outside (street food) and as a digital nomad I almost eat 100% outside. Iām not in holiday, this is my daily life!
So compare those prices to the cost of making food at home in Europe. Pad Thai is basically pasta, and Iām sure you can do pasta at the same price at home in Europe. Keep that in mind when comparing!
Night Life
Night Life in Bangkok is really active and youāll always find people partying at any day of the week.
I would recommended staying not too close from partying area if you want to sleep well (trust me, sound level is one of the loudest level Iāve ever heard), but not too far if you want to go party and come back home by foot.
My hostel was 5 min walk from Koah San Road, so it was perfect to go there after work to eat something outside and meet people.
Massage
How can I talk about Thailand without talking about Thai massage?!
Thai massage is a very specific type of massage without any oil. Like Wikipedia says, ārather than rubbing on muscles, the body is compressed, pulled, stretched and rockedā.
I tried Thai massage in Bangkok and really enjoyed it. I actually went several times for massage in 10 days š
In terms of pricing, itās a little more expensive that Bali (250/300 baht for a one hour massage, thatās 7/8ā¬), but it still really cheap.
The quality of the massage is probably a little better (hard to compare as itās totally different kind of massage), but as always, it really depends where youāre going for the massage, and whoās the therapist.
Visiting Bangkok
Bangkok city is really beautiful: you have lots of temple to see, and Thai culture is really visible, itās not just a business center.
Here are a few pictures I took in Bangkok:
Wat Arun Ratchawararam
Lots of Buddha!
Pollution
Unfortunately this is for me the biggest downside of Bangkok.
When I was there, there was a big pollution spike and air quality was one of the worst in the world.
It was so polluted that the government had to deploy rain-making planes over the city to seed clouds and create a fake rain.
So we were in the middle of the dry season and it was raining in Bangkok!
When you see the traffic in Bangkok, you easily understand where the pollution comes from. When I left Bangkok, pollution was so terrible that they had to close schoolā¦ Not fun!
To conclude
I loved my stay in Bangkok, I have met a lot of nice people and this was a really good introduction to the Thai culture.
If Bangkok was not that polluted, I would actually love to stay more time in Bangkok.
The city feels safe, the BTS is awesome to move around the city, food is great, and internet is amazing.
This was definitely not my last time in Bangkok š¤
Iām now staying in Koh Lanta for 1.5 months here. Iāll write an article about it after my stay with my feedback on this island.
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