After 5-6 months of living in Bangkok, Thailand last year, I have a feeling it will always be my second home. Culture, food, people, weather, and cost of living- all appeal to my very western upbringing seeking a radically different travel experience. I continue to be surprised by how my travel critic peers tend to agree with my love for Bangkok, even while the city is the center of a political firestorm that has flared up too often as of late. Namely, Travel + Leisure named Bangkok the number one city of 2010despite its political issues, with its northern, much smaller sister Chiang Mai taking #2 on the list.

There have been a plethora of posts on Bangkok’s ‘Top 10’, one of my favorite being from CNN: 50 reasons why Bangkok’s the world’s greatest city. However, many people have asked me about my trip lately (i.e. during interviews) and I’ve tripped up a few times in my efforts to succinctly sell my experience in the World’s greatest city in 2 minutes. So with some reflection, here are the top 10 reasons answering the question “Why travel to Bangkok?”

1. Thai People

Straight chill waves. Peaceful, nice, accepting, and relaxed. Perfect, Western-friendly culture for confused travelers. There are obviously scams and touts like everywhere in Asia, but just use common sense.

2. Food

Say goodbye to too-sweet $15 American pad thai, and hello to $1 street Pad Thai glory. A decent diet can be made up of a rotation between noodle dishes, rice dishes, street fruit, and plentiful international cuisine.

3. Cost of living

Overall, there’s an extremely friendly cost of living for those interested in living like a Thai while traveling. However, if you prefer to live like an American or European in Thailand while in Bangkok, costs will be slightly lower or at par with your homeland. Pretty much a win win.

4. International - Rough Hybrid

Bangkok is an extremely International city in parts, yet extremely Thai everywhere in between. Their interesting economic history plays a large part in this, as extremely rapid expansion in the late 90’s was on pace to transform them into a Seoul, South Korea until the Asian financial crisis originated in Bangkok in 1997 and almost sent them back to the stone age. I attribute the lovability of Bangkok to the extreme visual and cultural contrasts to the volatile economy left behind in the form of city layout and buildings.

5. Weather

Well, weather is hit or miss. Let’s just assume you go during high season November - January. Weather is a solid 75-85, humidity more than manageable,and sunny. The islands, always much nicer as well. Hard to beat that.

6. Travel Center

Bangkok is theeee epicenter for travelers in Asia. Khao San Road sees the most of the backpacker vibe. Even if you hate the backpacker overload, you’ll appreciate the services that come along with it - dirt cheap buses departing Bangkok, cheap hostels, tons of travel services, and a sense of comfort.

7. Hawt Threads

Shopping in Bangkok is awesome, coming from someone who hates shopping. As a thrifty shopper trending towards quality rip off merchandise, Bangkok is spot on. Malls and markets full of decent, negotiable clothing and merchandise are awesome. ALSO, Bangkok it is a necessity to get some clothes tailored when in Bangkok - some shirts at the very least, but suits recommended. Just be wary of touts and scams and do real research before choosing a tailor.

8. Cheap flights

As a travel center of Thailand and Southeast Asia, Bangkok serves as the hub for most Southeast Asian flights. Flights from Europe has some of the best flights to Bangkok coming from London, and airfares coming from US are consistently affordable as far as Asian destinations go.

Even better, Air Asia uses Bangkok as it’s second hub (after its HQ in Kuala Lumpur) servicing almost every Southeast Asian destination possible.

9. Sense of Lawlessness - A sense of anything goes and lawlessness in Bangkok is refreshing to a Midwestern audience used to getting $150 police tickets for driving 10mph over the speed limit. Traffic is crazy, the rules that do exist only do to be broken, and you feel like you’re living on the edge even though it’s really not that crazy. Favorite example of this ‘lawlessness’ –> motorcycle taxis & moped rentals. Nothing pleases me more than motorcycle taxis taking me on sidewalks and renting mopeds for $6/day.

10. Well documented

My IT background may be shining a little to brightly here - but Bangkok is an easy travel destination partly due to its documentation. There are a gagillion amazing travel resources for Bangkok online. TravelFish.com, TravelHappy.info, and Bangkok.com to name a few along with the legendary WikiTravel.

Oh, India. Backpacking through India is a budget traveler’s dream I’ve been fortunate to have experienced firsthand. December – January 2010, I spent 3 weeks on a fairly typical route through India. I embarked from Bangkok, Thailand with a 1200 CL backpack (glorified school bag), US Visa, Traveler’s checks, bank cards, and a ragged out dated Lonely Planet: India from Khao San Road.

When I decided to spend a few weeks following my studies on a large trip, India was the only option in my mind. Its mystique, massive population, rapid economic growth and prowess, and completely foreign culture drew me in quickly.

When I tried reading up on India and getting started, I immediately realized I knew very little about the place and how manageable a solo trip would even be for 3 weeks. So here, I’ll quickly cover the main points and to help you plan and prepare for an extended trip through India and let you use my trip as a quick case study….the point you to a few resources to continue your due dilligence.

India Big Picture:

India is huge. A billion people, and pretty diverse landscapes and peoples. As a former British colony, everyone speaks English, so fear not knowing Hindi, Urdu, or one of the other 67483 Indian languages.
With a few weeks, you’ll likely wish to explore a combination of the following, major areas.

Dehli – Agra
Dehli is a likely entry point as it’s the capital and a huge city. Tons of typical urban things to do in the massive, ruthless urban center. A hop skip and a jump away is Agra, relevant because of a little attraction called the Taj Mahal. It’s worth the hype especially after escaping a big city.

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In a week I will be beginning my Asian trek slash study abroad adventure to Bangkok, Thailand, but I will be kicking off the semester abroad with a short stay in Hong Kong for 4 nights. I’m hoping to fly by the seat of my pants for most of the time I’m there, but there’s still much preparation needed (to my dismay).

Hong Kong’s a very expensive city relative to its Asian epicenter counterparts, so traveling on a shoestring in Hong Kong might be a challenge. However, I’ll be documenting every expense meticulously and reporting it here. In the end, every future explorer to Hong Kong should be able to laugh at and learn from my mistakes, and I’ll end up with a fairly comprehensive budget and expense model that any other future budget travelers will hopefully find pretty valuable.

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A while ago I received news that I was accepted to study abroad in Bangkok, Thailand (application covered here) for the upcoming fall academic session starting sometime in August 2009 - December 2009.  I will be studying at Thammasat University and traveling all around Southeast Asia in my spare time, which should be plentiful.

Thammasat University is set in the heart of Bangkok, nearby the famous backpacker’s haven Khao San Road, the recent Red Shirt riots, and the Grand Palace. All, I’m sure, will be covered in greater detail in my upcoming travels.

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Hello all. I have a few social networking updates to connect with me and BudgetGlobetrotting.

Twitter

I encourage everyone to start following Budget Globetrotting on Twitter since I finally got one. My new BudgetGlobetrotting account is Twitter.com/BudgetGlobetrot and Twitter is a great utility to stay up to date with friends and news sources your interested in. I’ll be posting relevant/interesting travel links, commentary, and links via the Twitter, and also be giving updates on blog posts, etc. So follow me, @ me (send me msgs), and watch for BudgetGlobetrotting’s future tweets. (you can follow me personally as well: read about me)

TravBuddy

I’m starting to get a little more into travbuddy as I’m solidifying travel plans, so at me as a friend. My username is nickobgt and profile can be viewed here: travbuddy.com/nickobgt

Facebook

Always open for Facebook as well. See about me if interested.

After a lot of travel research the past years I’ve finally concluded a study abroad program is the most economical and rewarding means to live abroad for an extended period of time.  After hours of research and introspection I’m happy to say that I’ll [hopefully] be studying abroad this Fall 2009 in Asia.

I just finished applying for my desired program(s) which go through my business school and are somewhat competitive from what I hear.  My business school has a multitude of programs, mostly of which are based in Europe and are not affordable for me.  However, fortunately they offer some great Asian programs too, and in my application I’m applying for three and ranking each one by preference.  Here are the possibilities:

Bangkok Thailand

Leading my favorite programs my miles is a program in Bangkok Thailand. I would be able to study at Thammasat University, which is the best university in the country and is well known throughout Southeast Asia.

I looked at it first for its great affordability and access to cheap travel everywhere, like Laos, Cambodia, and (more…)