I’ll be honest; I never had any desire to visit Bangkok when I planned my first trip to Thailand. I’d been told it was dirty, it was seedy, and I thought that the only people who could possibly want to stay there were old men looking to pick up a Thai bride as a holiday souvenir. I only intended to stay for one night before continuing with my onward journey to the islands, but I soon realised that you can’t always base your opinions on hear-say and pre-conceptions. One night’s essential stop-over ended up turning into 3 days sightseeing, shopping and hardcore partying, and another night on my return journey just so that we could do it all again! Yes, there is certainly a ‘seedy’ side to the city, but I felt safer walking through the bars and strip joints of Pat Pong than I would on a regular night out back home.

One of the first hurdles that I had to overcome on arriving at Bangkok airport was my very British tendency to pay the first price I am given. Don’t be afraid to haggle – the Thai actually expect it. You will become very familiar with the sight of a calculator being handed to you when told the cost of anything so be cheeky and try your luck! The majority of the time you will find that the seller will reduce their initial quote by 20%-40% so I tend to really push my luck and go in with a ridiculous offer just to kick-start the bidding! My first experience of this was in trying to find a taxi to take our group of four an hour’s ride into the centre of Bangkok via Sukhumvit Road, the main route which runs all the way through the city right to Pattaya at the coast. Our first offer was 900 baht (around £12-£13), which doesn’t sound unreasonable to someone who’s used to paying £5 just to get 5 minutes down the road. I would have quite happily paid this thinking I was getting a bargain had I not been pre-warned that I should expect to pay no more than 500 baht, so we moved on to the official airport taxi rank and found that the exact same journey would only cost us 400 baht (around £5-£6) – as the Thai would say “Cheap, Cheap!”

The transport options available to you in the Thai Capital vary from the regular taxi, the local’s choice of Tuk Tuk, and the extremely efficient BTS skytrain. The choice of which seems to depend on how brave you are feeling or how much Thai whisky you’ve consumed beforehand! I found that because of the sheer volume of traffic, taxis seem to take about four times longer than the Skytrain so the BTS was my favoured mode of transport. It runs on 3 interconnecting lines starting from Central Pier, where you will find your longboat connections to the Grand Palace, Kao San Road and Chinatown, right through to Sala Daeng for those of you willing to experience the famous ping pong shows of Pat Pong.

The nightlife of Bangkok is certainly an experience you will never forget. We made the mistake of bypassing the various authentic Thai bars on our first night, instead preferring to head away from the centre in search of the British pubs we’d seen advertised in the on-flight magazine (a very stereotypically British thing to do no matter where you are in the world!) Tempting as it is, try not to make the same mistake. You will only end up paying through the nose for a pint of Strongbow and a Yorkshire pudding when you could be sampling fantastic Thai Cuisine and a chilled bottle of Singha Beer for a fraction of the price just around the corner.

If you have limited time in the City don’t waste a second of it. Visit the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (the Emerald Buddha) to satisfy your cultural cravings, but don’t neglect other, less touristy attractions. I would definitely recommend a walk through Chinatown and a visit to Chatuchak Weekend Market as an essential experience. You will mix with the locals and sample the heady blend of sights and smells only Bangkok can offer. It’s a place unlike any other in the world, and I can guarantee, one visit is never enough!

You can find all our photos and stories on Thailand at Thailand photo series and travel stories.