I currently have an 8 hour layover at BKK in Jan. I'm flying in from MNL and then heading out to ICN with TG on J. The layover is roughly between 3pm and 11pm. I'm already planning on going out, eating, and exploring the city. However, I will be carrying photography gear in my carry-on and I already know that BKK will not store baggage with electronics. This is my first time in Bangkok and not sure what are the "must sees." Here are my two options as of now:

-Keep the 8 hour layover and try to find a storage place in the somewhere in the city. I've seen Bangkok Storage http://www.bangkokselfstorage.com/ and they look legit.

-Change my itinerary to leave in the following morning. I can either get TG 600 (8am) or TG 628 (10:30am), to ICN via HKG. In this scenario, I'm not sure if I have to claim my baggage in BKK. Do they make you claim your baggage if the connecting flights are more than 12hrs apart?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Nah you shouldn't need to claim but either way you may need to pay a 700THB airport tax as your ticket assumes you won't go landslide.

It's been raised to 800THB.

I'd go for the longer layover and take an hotel night downtown.

Obviously more expensive. Provides somewhere to store your gear though, see more on your first trip, and you can do some photo stuff on arrival for a few hours, secure gear in room and also spend time out later at night.

Btw, does anyone know if they still offer transit tours from BKK? From what I read, it was only supposed to be a temporary thing.

where do you pay this? I'll have a 22 hour layover and BKK, arriving from SIN at 7:35pm and leaving for HAN at 5:35pm the following day. Hopefully I won't have to claim the checked bags...

You should review your receipt to see if you paid the SBIA PSC (Code: TS for 700 THB) as part of your original ticket. I suspect that you did not pay it but who knows.

Not sure how this gets collected - at (re-) check-in at BKK, I assume - you'll obviously need a boarding card to clear departing Immigration. Your bags should be routed through, but who knows where they sit for 22 hours? Hopefully in a secure location.

I assume you have no visa issues?

If you have a boarding pass for the second flight or get one before clearing immigration you may get away without paying by simply going to immigration rather than the checkin counters when you come back for the second flight. Otherwise the airline will collect when issuing the BP.

On a handful of recent occasions with overnight layovers and no departure tax paid on the ticket we were not charged anything when checking in. All TG C.

I think our record last year was 4 of 4 layovers uncharged. YMMV.

This is in stark contrast to the years prior where we were asked to pay each time.