7 days In Thailand within 30,000 INR....!!

Thailand a must visit destination and a trip in all traveler's bucket list as it is affordable well within our budget, so I made a trip for my birthday vacation to Thailand and I will share my experience in this blog. To all those people who thinks Thailand is costly, must read this budget friendly trip blog.

In Bangkok there are two major airports, Suvarnabhumi (BKK) and Don Meaung (DMK) Airport, DMK is nearest to Bangkok town but the flight rates are cheaper to BKK from BLR also with baggage allowances. I landed In Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) around afternoon, the visa stamping and documentation took around 2 hours, even though the visa is exempted for Indians until April 2020 but the process takes 2 hrs.

Once done I headed to airport rail link to catch rail to Bangkok town where I had booked my stay. The cost is 45 Baht from Airport to Makkasan Station. From station I took a tuk tuk to Khaoson road at 100 baht. I had booked a hostel called 3 Howw Hostel for 2 nights at Khaoson road, famous known place in Bangkok.

I reached hostel in the evening, the hostel is located in mid of the alley(street) 4 of Khaoson road, well maintained hostel, dorm beds were clean, toilet and shower rooms were clean, living area was nice, 24x7 coffee or tea availability, wifi, pc with internet, cost effective 800 baht for 2 nights.

After freshening up, i planned to stroll around the streets of khaoson road, the streets are lit up during night time, a worth stroll taking. Many restaurants, roadside Cafe, bars, street food vendors are available through out this area. There are massages centres, river side restaurants, shopping places, flee market with pubs and bars.

I first got a foot massage as I badly needed it, it was 150 baht for 30 minutes, later headed to a street food vendor, had yummy rice chicken noodles, headed to Leo Cafe which serves Bangkok famous Chang, Leo beer. There are small food vendors who sell chicken, veggies, pork skewed in skewers for 10 Baht and it tastes just best.

Later I went to a tour travel agency to book a dinner cruise for next day i.e my birthday. Booked a slot at White Orchid Dinner Cruise for 1000 baht.

After an amazing dinner, I walked around the streets little more and retired to hostel for resting.

Second day, Happy birthday to me :). Kickstarted the day with an amazing unlimited breakfast at hostel - omelete, bread toasts, coffee, juice, fruits. After having a tummy full breakfast headed out to visit the places.

I prefer public transports at many places hence with the help of Google maps I took a bus to The Grand Palace at 8 baht.

The Grand Palace is a huge palace with Wat Phra Kaeo temple also known as "Temple of Emerald Buddha" which contains a beautiful Emerald Buddha and this place is always crowded with people from different countries. The entry fees is 500 baht and it takes 4-5 hrs to visit the entire palace leisurely.

Later headed to Lak Mueang , this is a place where the city pillars are housed in the shrine along with the deity, just 100m away from Grand palace. A lot of people offers prayers here by offering flowers, incense sticks , food produce and make wishes by sticking gold leaves on the Buddha and Ganesh statue. Many people display there produce here be it sweets, meat or fruits.

After an peaceful time at City shrine, I headed to Wat Pho , a famous temple also known as "Temple of Reclining Buddha". Around 2km from City shrine is this temple, Entry fee is 200 baht. It is a huge temple with extensive collection of buddha statues placed all over the area. The Reclining buddha is a huge statue which can be seen in parts. The architecture of the buildings is something to enjoy and behold.

Later i headed to Wat Arun via a ferry, the boarding point being near to Wat pho at 4 Baht, just 5 min ride to Wat Arun. Wat Arun also known as "Temple of Dawn" is a massive white structure , the architecture of this structures are beautiful , intricate floral mosaic designs. After an beautiful time here i headed back to next destination.

You need to catch a ferry back again at 4 baht. Later i headed to bus stop to catch a bus to China town. There is China town in Bangkok city which mainly expresses the China feel. I felt this place is overrated and the restaurants were damn expensive. After taking the stroll across this place and having lunch , i headed back to hostel to get ready for the dinner cruise.

Later in the evening, i headed to the River cruise boarding point which is around 30 mins drive from my hostel. Took a taxi at 100 baht. The cruise sails through the Chao Phraya river of Bangkok. I had booked dinner cruise with White Orchid cruise, i boarded at 8 pm. It's an 3 hr journey with unlimited dinner buffet, cabaret dance and disco. The vast spread of food amazed me , variety of delicacies. Cabaret show was fun and nice. After food and dance, there was dance on uppermost deck. Open sky, fresh air, music, party people what else needed isnt it ?? Perfect birthday evening it was , well spent in cruise. The best part is the cruise crosses many destination of Bangkok and the best being Wat Arun night view which justifies its name "Temple of Dawn" , it has to be viewed in the night.After an amazing and enthrilling ride i headed back to hostel with contentment, looking forward for upcoming days.

Day 3 was for Pattaya , i had booked a bus to Pattaya. It's a 2-3 hr ride to Pattaya from Bangkok, the entire ride was through highways so took a good amount of sleep. I reached Walking Street, Pattaya at 3 pm and headed to stay.

I had booked a hostel called Cha Cha Cha located in the walking street. The hostel was not as impressive as expected, not preferable to all, not cleanly maintained, toilets were unclean, no drinking water available, the kitchen was a messot used for months, but since i had booked for a day it was fine. Cost was 150 baht per day.

After freshning up, i headed to stroll around the walking streets, first thing was a nice foot massage along with back and shoulder. I headed to a massage parlour with male masseur and got an amazing foot, back and shoulder massage. After an amazing massage i headed to stroll across the streets.

As i walked around i could find multiple Indian restaurants , go-go bars, dance clubs, massage parlours through the wide stretch of walking streets, later i went near Pattaya beach which had many Pubs and bars . This place is a lit up in evening and transportation is closed during night times. I strolled little more and entered a mall Royal Garden Plaza Pattaya to beat the heat. The mall is big and many shopping centres are available. Cost effective costumes, slippers, souvenirs are available here. Renowned Food outlets like burger king, Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Mac D, KFC is available too.

I headed back to hostel for resting, in evening i headed back to walking street stroll. This place comes into real at night after 9pm, amazing lights, humongous crowd, noise, music , its really worth watching. I headed towards Pattaya beach and found all ladies were all decked up and ready and all stand across the beach area. I wanted to spend some time peacefully with pattaya beach view hence first headed to Hooters Pub.

Hooters pub is located opposite to Pattaya beach along the mainroad side. This pub has nice environment, light music, vibrant, many foreigners chill out here. My idea was of Pub hopping hence spent few hours here with a drink.

Next stop was Hard Rock Cafe, this place closed by 11.30pm hence i reached at 10pm , enjoyed the lively music, the crowd was less but nice environment was maitained. After spending some time here i headed to next pub.

Next pub was The Beach bar, it is an open space bar along the road side, high sound music, dance , crowd was the plus point of this place. After spending some time here i headed back to hostel ending the day at 2 am.

Day 4 started little late as i slept late, first i went to a temple near to the hostel. Wat Chai Mongkron is a buddhist temple with different buddha statues and monks reside here too. The feel around this place was very peaceful and calm, since i visited in morning the place it was a nice kickstart for the day. There are bells outside the temples which people pray and keeping rolling, very vibrant and nice sound it has. I loved the architecture of the temple, shimmering in gold , intricate designs.

Next i walked to Pattaya beach to enjoy the sun. It was indeed a hot sunny day and the beach was looking radiant in the sun. I sat at the beach side seats and enjoyed the view till late as i had an bus to my next destination i.e Phuket.

At evening, i headed to my travel agency for catching the bus to Phuket. Pattaya to Phuket via bus is 16 hours overnight journey, even though the flights costs less compared to bus and time saving too but baggage allowances were not provided by any air freight hence i had to book a bus( If you guys have no constraints on baggage allowance or can pay extra then go for flight).

I had booked the bus through Swadesee tour agency at 2000 INR and must say it was worth it..!! I loved the bus service, comfortable seats, leg room space, comfortable semi sleeper, blankets and refreshments are provided, dinner was free at a restaurant, toilets are available inside the bus , smooth drive by the driver. I boarded the bus at 5pm and i just dozed off to sleep and it was a very nice and peaceful sleep.

I reached Phuket next day (Day 5) at 9 am. I had booked a hostel called Montree Hostel at Phuket Old town around 30-40 mins from Phuket main bus stop. I took a cab at 100 baht and headed to the hostel.

I reached hostel at 10 am , the hostel is situated at mid of the main phuket old town, along roadside and near to many shops, nicely well maintained toilets, dorms and good amenities and luckily i found another solo traveller in the hostel who gave me some tips and places to visit at phuket. That was real help and thats the best part of travelling as you get to meet many people and share experiences.

Later i took a local tuk tuk at 40baht to Kata beach which is an hr drive from old phuket town. Kata beach was less crowded and clean and beautiful beaches. Many people just enjoy at the sea shore , sun bath, few enjoy swimming and many shops are available around this beach.

After spending some amazing time here, i headed to the street food counters here with various delicacies at affordable prices. I really enjoyed the vast spread food view of this place. Ate Pad thai with fruit juice and to add beauty it started pouring. The rain was minimal at start and it became heavy as it passed on , amazing weather experience it was.

Later when rainfall reduced, i headed to Karon beach by walk which is around 1.9 km from Kata beach. Karon beach is huge beach , never ending site it was. I just sat at the shore and enjoyed the waves, weather changing from rainy to sunny then windy as sun started setting off. The change in the sky color is unexplainable. After sun set i headed back to my hostel via a cab at 400 baht.

There are local tuk tuks as well but it ends by 4.55pm to these places and sunset can be enjoyed between 5-6pm.Later at night i booked next day tour to James Bond Island via Aries Tour Agency, nearby to my stay at 1500 Baht also to Krabi Island for next to next day at 1450 baht (excluding national park fee)

Next day, we were picked from our stay at 8am and after a 2 hr driver we reached our pier the start point of the tour. After instructions from our tour team we headed to speedboat drive. The speedboat drive was one hell of a journey, heavy gusty wind, drizzle in between, amazing splash of water as boat takes curves, mesmerising view of the islands. It just made the view so beautiful.

First stop was Panak Island Ice cream caves, it's a small trek to caves where the interior of caves is in shape of ice cream and sparkles. It is said that if humans touch these sparkling stones, the stones will lose its value hence no one is allowed to touch the stones. It's purely dark inside so with the help of mobile torch we had to walk through the caves.

Next stop was the Hong Island where we did an 30 mins canoeing, the canoeing was through some scenic beauties, ride below caves, near water splashes. After an wonderful ride we headed to the main place i.e James bond island.

James bond island as famously knows for the shooting of the Movie James bond is one worth watch island. It just revives the movie scenes. There are lot of souvenir shops here with hustle bustle of people. After spending an hour here we headed to Lunch.

Lunch was organized at Panyee Island a Muslim village with various delicious unlimited delicacies, chicken, calamari, egg fried rice, noodles,squid and salads. It was one amazing lunch buffet. After scrumptios meal we headed to our last stop for the day.

Last island was Naka Island, the drive to this island was one hell of a ride, high waves, heavy winds, all just hooked to there place. This island was silent, less crowded, serene view of the island. I just sat here for an hr, enjoying the beauty of the island. Just perfect to end the day.

By 5pm we reached back to our bay and reached stay around 6.30pm. Since I had time I headed to the old phuket town night Market just 800m away from my hostel. I was just in aww seeing the night Market, wasn't aware of this place until my hostel owner informed me. This market is lit up at night with various shopping, food, music, drink centres.

It took me an hr to stroll around the entire area, grab some food and sit across a nice live music place. Around 10 pm this place wraps up but to my bad luck it started pouring at 9 pm heavily and I had to head back to stay.

Next day I was picked at 7 am for Krabi Island day tour, the ride to Rassada pier was 30 min drive. Once reached we were given our tickets and headed to a cruise to reach Railey Beach from where we all would disperse as per tour groups. It was an 2.5 hr slow ride to Railey Beach, at start it was good and nice but slowly the heat started to hit up hence the ride was not that much enjoyable.

After 2.5 hr we reached Railey Beach, from this place we were separated as per your groups. We were instructed at start and then the ride began.

First stop was Poda Island. The water here was very clear, sea shells at shore, beautiful tall trees giving shade, I walked through the shore and just relaxed below a tree, it was a 45 min stop here.

Next there was a small stop for snorkeling for interested people, few did snorkeling and remaining relaxed in the boat.

Next stop was for lunch at Chicken island, this island is in shape of chicken hence the name. The lunch was not as satisfying as previous day but was good. After lunch I strolled around the island, not much people were here and the water was very clear and clean.

After an hour we headed to next island, it had to Tup Island but due to weather conditions we had to skip this as through speedboat it wasn't possible to make it happen. Hence we headed to our last island.

Phanang island also known as princess island, this island was crowded with people, there are expensive resorts here ranging from 700 USD to 5000 USD per night, the island has a Phanang cave this cave has story behind it, they say the princess of this island was about to marry a boy, due to certain circumstances the marriage was called off and the princess was left unmarried. All locals offer there prayers to princess to fulfill there wishes by offering lingams carved in wood. A unique offering but it is said to be sacred.

After spending 2 hrs here we headed back to Railey Beach, we changed to cruise here and 2.5 hr journey began to the rassada pier. I enjoyed some beautiful Sunset here while return and it was amazing view.

I headed back to hostel at 7.30 pm.

Later headed to phuket old Town night Market again to enjoy the last day of trip. This place as usual was lit up, I did some shopping, had amazing food, enjoyed the music and headed back to the jostle at night.

I had booked a cab to airport and next day I took early morning flight back to Bangalore with a very happy memories of Thailand. :)