Bangkok 3D4N Itinerary • Instagram Trip Tutorial

Hi guys, today I'll be sharing all about #TeamBAES's 2019 BKK Instagram trip!

I'd like to start this post off by saying that people who travel have different goals. There are food-lovers who like eating different cuisines, planning food trips to taste & try everything a new place has to offer. There are history lovers that visit every landmark & museum in a city, absorbing as much information as they can. As the times have changed, it only makes sense that people nowadays go on trips with the sole aim of taking pictures.

An Instagram trip is when you travel for the sake of taking pictures for the gram. For an IG trip, you prioritise taking pictures over experiences. I think this kind of trip is useful for influencers and Instagrammers who need content for their platforms, especially for Instagram. In the span of a few days, you can get content that will last you for weeks, even months, on end.


PLANNING + TIME MANAGEMENT
IG trips are all about planning & time management. Three friends and I decided to go on an IG trip over the long Thaipusam weekend this year in Bangkok. All of us are bloggers & Instagrammers, so all of us have a good understanding of how to take pics + pose for pictures already.

If you are camera shy + are the fussy type who isn't very comfortable in front of the lens, I suggest you to practice your poses + shots before going on an IG trip. On an IG trip you want to cover as many places as possible + take as many shots as possible, so you don't have any time for "omg I feel awkward" or "omg I don't know how to pose" moments.

Let's say each photograph takes 5 seconds to take. I've noticed that for each spot we take pics in, we usually take a minimum of 10 shots or a maximum of 100 (depending on light/crowd/etc). If we take the average of 50 shots per spot, that means you spend ~5 minutes at each spot. If you take pics at 10 spots at that place, you will take up around 50 minutes to complete your shot. If you have 3 friends with you (like how I did), they will want pictures as well. So 50 minutes x 4 people = 200 minutes (3 hours 20 minutes). That's far too much time to spend at one place!

You can really save a lot of time by doing some referencing before you go to the actual place. Head over to the location tag on Instagram and see what other people have already shot. You're not really here to experiment and be a photographer. You're here to snap a picture for Instagram. By seeing what others have posted and giving it your own twist, you save time + get to cover more space.


EQUIPMENT
Since taking pictures was one of our main goals, a good camera was a must. For this trip, we used the Olympus OM-D EM-1 Mark II. Its a great camera with a wifi feature to wireless transfer pics from the camera to your phone. It also has great video recording specs (up to 4K!) so I used it to film our vlog too. For this trip, I chose the M.Zuiko 7-14mm lens because it was super wide + great a capturing sceneries/architecture. The cameras of smartphones these days have improved a lot, but I still personally prefer a real camera for taking pics. You get more control + more functions!

Being connected to the Internet is also essential while you're abroad. Not only can you stay connected with your friends and family, you can also quickly go on Instagram and search for reference pictures/find nice spots to snap pics in. I recommend getting a sim or a modem from Travel Recommends! They're affordable + offer great coverage overseas.

GETTING THERE
Our flight to Bangkok was on January 18 2019, and our flight back to Kuala Lumpur was on January 22.

Bo, Sydney and I booked our tickets a few weeks in advance on November 7, while Anis bought her ticket for the same date by herself later.

We booked via Airasia, and after checking the receipts, we spent RM369 each on tickets. We added on meals + baggage, and it ended up costing around RM500+ per person two way. That's pretty affordable, and you should definitely take advantage of Airasia's cheap rates/sales. Also, remember to sign up for a Bigpay card to get more discounts!

LODGING
My friends and I stayed at the Ninth Place on Srinakarin Road. Bo actually found the Airbnb we stayed at, and we loved it so much! It's 40 minutes away from Don Mueang International Airport + is around 30 minutes away from Siam. We chose it because it looked pretty nice + was pretty cheap.

For my previous Bangkok trip, I stayed at the Oriental Residence Bangkok. It was an amazing experience and I loved staying there + taking shots everywhere. For this trip, however, we wanted to milk every second of our time there with going to instagrammable places, so extravagant residences were out of the question.

The Ninth Place (where we stayed) had everything we needed: good lighting for makeup, near a 7-11, comfy rooms, 2 bathrooms (for fast showering) + a kitchen. It was even near a night market.

GETTING AROUND
Getting around in Bangkok is pretty easy thanks to Grab. My friends and I shared the expenses and in the end, we each paid around RM100 each. If you're from Malaysia/Singapore/Philippines/Indonesia, you don't have to worry because if your card is already synced to Grab, it will deduct your fare from the same card. The conversion rate was not bad, and I found it to be more convenient than paying with cash.

ITINERARY

For our itinerary and schedule, my friends and I made a Google Sheets document where we put the estimate of the Grab fare (according to TaxiFareFinder), any entrance fees + our colour theme. We found that it was pretty easy to see/edit as a group.

For this itinerary, we were basically chasing the sun. The sun is your best light source and we wanted to accomplish/go to all the instagrammable spots while the sun was still up. From 6.30 to 7pm onwards, we were more chill and laidback. Also, we mixed in food and shopping activities in our itinerary (not just photoshoots lol) because it was our first holiday together and we really wanted to have a good time.

Of course, there were some slight deviations from our initial plan, but it was all good because our estimates had a bit of buffer. We went to almost everything perfectly, and you can check out our vlog below to see exactly where we went. 

Listed below are the main places we went to. Click on the links to see my individual blog posts about each place!

Day 1

• Flight
• Chatuchak Night Market
• Wholesale Market/Sampeng Midnight Market

Chatuchak Night Market is always a must in Bangkok, but do know that its a tourist spot where prices could be slightly higher. Although it's cheap than say, Malaysian prices, you can get more variety/even cheaper at other Bankok night markets. Here, we managed to blow off a lot of cash and had to withdraw/use card for our future expenses hahaha. So many tempting fashionable items! The food is pretty good and cheap as well.

Bo brought us to the wholesale market in Sampeng, and it was unbelievably cheap! Here you can get things at wholesale prices, but you will be asked to buy more than 1 quantity (basically buy in bulk). If you're looking to buy souvenirs, this place is perfect.

Day 2

• Grand Palace (link)/Wat Phra Kaew (link)
• Wat Arun (link)
• Icon Siam
• Srinakarin Night Market

The Grand Palance and Wat Arun were stunning but beware of the crowds. We didn't go there early enough and the place was already teeming with tourist when we got there. However, with some patience and dedication, taking nice shots is still possible. This is where pre-planning and searching for reference pictures come in handy!

After Wat Arun, we took a quick ferry ride to Icon Siam. You can find lots of branded stores in this fancy mall, and it also has a huge food court with halal options. We dropped by to check it out and I would recommend coming here to eat after exploring the Grand Palace/Wat Arun. From Icon Siam you can take the ferry again to central Bangkok.

We initially wanted to go to Ratchada Night Market because of my previous good experience shopping there. However, we realized while we were there that the Srinakarin Night Market was nearer to our Airbnb + newer that the Ratchada one. It was pretty huge, and I think I like it better than Ratchada. Srinakarin also has a vintage area where a lot of preloved items are sold. There are items from luxury brands and there is a vintage western feel there as well.

I also chanced upon this stall that did glitter tinsel hair for super cheap! For TBH100 I got 2 strands, where as in Singapore they charged almost SGD100 for the same service. Super ultra worth it!

Day 3

• Damnoen Saduak Floating Market (link)
• Erawan Museum (link) (link)
• Seacon Square Srinakarin
• Srinakarin Night Market

Damnoen Saduak is Thailand's very first floating market. We wanted to visit it but it was located in Ratchaburi province. To save on cash, we booked a morning tour with Trazy. Afterwards, we visited Erawan Museum, had a quick break at the Seacon Square Srinakarin Mall (after showering at our Airbnb) and went back to the Srinakarin Night Market for dinner + more shopping. It's really massive and y'all should really check it out.

Day 4

• Terminal 21
• Stylenanda Pink Hotel & Pink Pool Cafe (link)
• Cintage School, Siam Square (link)
• Flight

For malls, I really recommend Terminal 21. The interior is amazing (they have themes per floor) + there are so many stores for you to choose from! It has an Eve & Boy inside as well (kinda like a Thai Sephora) where you can buy lots of local and international cosmetics. The food court is also amazing! You get good quality food for a super affordable price.

You can also easily take the train/take a Grab from Terminal 21 to the central Siam area where the cafes/3CE/boutique stores are. This time around we only managed to stop at 2 places because we ran out of time, but I highly recommend visiting the cute boutique stores in this area.

BUDGET
To be honest, most of the money we brought to Bangkok was spent on food and shopping. My friends and I each brought RM500 cash and withdrew an additional RM200 each later, so I think bringing around RM1000 would definitely be more than enough for 3 days.

As I mentioned, our Grab car expenses only amounted to RM300~400 in total, meaning its around RM100 per person. If you divide it per day (4 nights), its RM25 for transport each day. It's definitely cheaper if you carpool, and I don't think to rent a car by the hour/per day will be necessary.

Entrance fees are common at temples/museums for tourists, but they're pretty affordable and can easily be found online. Food is generally pretty affordable as well (both in malls and in night markets), and if you don't mind, you can totally live off the food sold in 7-11. The selection of microwaveable food is pretty good (from sausages, burgers, rice and more), and you can get yummy drinks like thai tea for super duper cheap.

If you add it all together, I think an estimated balance of RM1500-2000 per pax (including flight, stay, food, shopping and transportation) should be enough.


OUTFIT PLANNING
If you scroll above to the Google Sheet screenshots, you'll see that we highlighted the IG-worthy places and decided on colour schemes. This is useful because not only will you match the place, you can take nice group pics together. Everybody doesn't have to wear the exact same colour, complementary colours in patterns work as well. For example, our Wat Arun outfits were nude and light blue to compliment Wat Arun + the sky:

While our Wat Khra Peaw outfits were jewel toned with patterns that matched the palace interior:

And I guess that's all for this post! We had an amazing time in Bangkok, and I hope to travel with #TeamBAES again soon.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment down below. If you want to check out more of my posts regarding our Thailand trip, click here!

If you'd like to go to Bangkok vicariously through our vlog, please feel free to do so! XD

I hope you found it informative/helpful. See you in my next post!