Thailand is one of my favorite vacation destination. I love the food, the weather, the shopping places and off course the most important thing it’s very affordable 😊
Last weekend was another trip I made to Bangkok Thailand. But this time, it’s not only for sightseeing. There were 2 kpop concerts that I attended which are Golden Disc Award and Blackpink’s Bornpink in Bangkok.
Sometimes getting your favorites artist ticket concert in Jakarta is so damn difficult. Direct purchase is so frustrated because it can get sold out in minutes time. And after a while people will offer you these tickets with more pricey tag. There is a lot of Calo/Jastiper for tickets in Jakarta. So I decided it is better go to Bangkok to watch Blackpink concert and at the same time 2023 GDA, two concert in one go is a good deal.
First step, you need to get your ticket concert. Check the availability on the official website where these tickets being sold. Never buy your tickets from third party or unofficial channel. You wouldn’t want to be scammed abroad. Since this is my first time, I got help from Aza, my Kpop guru 😊. Information about official ticket channel is usually being shared via artist’s official weverse, twitter, or Instagram account. So googling is helpful, but for more detail and precise information you need to check official account of the artist in twitter, weverse, and instagram. Before you purchase tickets and pay online, make sure you read term and conditions. For example, you may get problem later in case your name in the online ticket is not the same with your passport.
Once you found out which promoter or event organizer of the event, follow their account to get more information about the venue. These details are very important, especially when it is outside Indonesia because you need manage your logistic (transport and hotel). Bangkok Golden Disc Award (GDA) was managedby Applewood TH, and Blackpink concert by Livenation. We follow their IG accounts to get more information such as Rundown, Ticket redemption requirement, safety/security check, etc.
Second Step after purchasing ticket and obtain all necessary information about the concert, you need to arrange your logistic. One most important thing to consider is after the concert: it would be very challenging to get public transportation like taxi, LRT, etc. The crowd exiting the venue would be massive and because you are not locals the chance is really slim. So the options are 1. Arrange Private Transport in advance or 2. Choose your hotel walking distance from the venue.
- Arrange Private Transport in advance. This is a very good option if you have sufficient budget, because the price of private cars is much more pricey than public transport. There are daily 8 hours package around TH 3000-5000, with additional charge for extra hours TH300/hours. But this is OK because it give you assurance you reach your hotel safely and timely. You can also use the car to getting around the city .
- Choose your hotel walking distance from the venue. This is best option if your plan focusing only on the concert. It really gives you convenience of time and distance (never worried being late because of traffic jam). But hotels around the venue usually fully booked quite fast, and during the event the price increase up to 3-5 times from the normal price. The hotel where I stayed charge TH6500 per night, from normal price of TH2000.
Then you need to book your flight to Thailand. There are many options based on your budget. Since I plan only for weekend trip, I choose Friday night flight from Jakarta and return on Monday afternoon. If you plan to shop around and bring a lot of stuffs, pls ensure your luggage ready and pay in advance for extra baggage. I saw many people brought a lot of stuffs from Bangkok with very huge bags, I think they are jastipers hehehe. Good idea maybe to do it later, so at least you can finance part of your trip from doing personal shopping for other people (Jastip).
Third step would be ensuring your connectivity aboard. Sometime roaming fee is quite expensive and we may need to do a lot of browsing in our trips. It would be good if you rent in advance 4G Global Wifi to connect anywhere around the World. For me I choose JavaMifi, because it’s easy to get in airport, for Thailand – IDR85K per day for unlimited quota, and easy to return the device later. I usually drop it at Indomart cashier.
Okay, once all set, you are ready to go. Get your documents ready, passport, print out all the necessary such as flight tickets, online concert ticket receipts, etc. My sister also print out itinerary details and marking the routes in case we want to go around Bangkok. Which is very useful indeed. Pack you bag light, because in Bangkok nice cloths are really affordable, you will buy something anyway hehehe.
One more important tips regarding money: TH Bath now is around IDR470-490. Money changer rate for IDR to THB usually is not good (more expensive). If you need cash, you can withdraw from ATMs but you will be charged TH220 per withdrawal so if you only withdraw small cash, it is not worth it. Most of the stores and shops in Bangkok receive credit cards or even debit cards, so this will be a better option to avoid ATM charges and the rate is quite decent. However our best recommendation is to bring US$ if you have them as TH money changer will buy dollar with a very good rate.
Finally…. Enjoy the trip ! Bring your concert gear and HAVE FUN ! My two light sticks (TREASURE and BLACKPINK) are ready to support TREASURE in GDA, and BLACKPINK in Bornpink in Bangkok. This is a really enjoyable trips with my sister and @sofiaandyasuri. I would tell you more about it on my next blog, but some of the great moments you can check it out in my IG post below. Cheers 🙂 !
