The three of us had great fun during our 8-days-Bangkok-&-Around DIY trip. It was a great mixture if modern and ancient/traditional sightseeings with lots of authentic/fusion Thai food, Thai culture, high country lifestyle, crumbling ruins and uniquely Thai forms of markets.
Expectation (exceeded and unmet)
On the food aspect we were not too fascinated as most of the famous Thai food was the typical food that we ate at home.
Generally the places we visited were more modern, clean and nice and they exceeded our expectaton. The Bangkok night markets were so pretty and colorful. The national park was also very relaxing with many modern cafes.
We did not expected the hot temperature. We thought that Thailand begin north of Singapore would not be as hot as Singapore but we were wrong. It was so much hotter, it was hotter in the city, in the National Park and in the suburb.
Renting a Car
Most visitors would not imagine renting a car when visiting Bangkok as Bangkok city was famous/infamous for its traffic congestion. We rented one as it was definitely more cost effective for three of us and also to drive north to Khao Yai National Park and Ayutthaya and south west to Mae Klong Train market, Amphawa Floating Market and Damnoen Saduk Floating Market.
The rental car was from Hertz and for the seven days of rental cost was SGD$216, tolls & petrol came up to SGD$83 and parking was SGD$2.25 . Parkings at all our hotels were free and in almost everywhere we went there was no parking charges we only paid once in Bangkok city and it was SGD$2.25 for unlimited hour.
We travelled a total of 546 km in our 8 days
We were in Bangkok city only in the weekends and we did not encounter the office crowd traffic jam. On Monday we drove out of the city and headed north. We started our journey just after the rush hours so though there was heavy traffic the driving situation was manageable.
Memorable Places
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Bangkok Talad Rod Fai Train Market
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Khao Yai National Park  Pirom Cafe – a cafe with a difference |
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Ayutthaya Ruins  Wat Chai Watthanaram |
Damnoen Saduk Floating Market
 Damnoen Floating Market |
Cost breakdown
The total cost of the 8day-7night DIY trip for three came up SGD$2400 and the breakdown was as below:
|
Flight |
29% |
|
Car (rental, tolls, petrol & parking) |
12.5% |
|
Accomodation (7 nights) |
25% |
| All others (food, souvenirs, data plan, insurance etc) |
33.5% |