Lost trying to plan a trip to Thailand.

[Dimtar]

Hi All.

Wanting to plan a 3 week holiday to Thailand in October, I believe I want to goto Phuket but to be honest I am currently lost in it all.

My partner and I want to stop by Singapore on the way there to see a family member. Firstly why are flights like $3000 for the both of us? I thought with a few months notice they may not have been so much but maybe its the holiday season? No idea.

I am novice here, where or where abouts should we stay? What should we do, do we goto Pa-Tong or somewhere else?

Any help for a noob would be lovely, thanks guys.

[stevenx]

What sort of stuff do you want to do in Thailand? It's a big place!

Phuket is, in general, a nasty place. There are nice parts of it but in general... why bother with it when there are much nicer places nearby?

Where are you looking for flights? I can find Sydney or Melbourne to Phuket return on Malaysia Airlines for under $775 per person, heading out around the 3rd and returning around the 23rd.

[Dimtar]

Originally Posted by stevenx

What sort of stuff do you want to do in Thailand? It's a big place!

Phuket is, in general, a nasty place. There are nice parts of it but in general... why bother with it when there are much nicer places nearby?

Where are you looking for flights? I can find Sydney or Melbourne to Phuket return on Malaysia Airlines for under $775 per person, heading out around the 3rd and returning around the 23rd.

Eat Thai food (favourite food), see tigers hopefully, hang out in pools/beaches, ride an elephant, go for bush/rainforest/forest walks and explore I guess?

Pa Tong and Ao Nang are the places that people have suggested, I would like to land in Phuket but I am by no means set on staying in it. Ideally I would like a resort or something on the beach.

So far been looking for flights on webjet, those flights you quote look good. The only problem I have is that I have been on Airbus A330's before between Sydney and Melbourne and I nearly cannot fit the seats are sooo close together.

I am hoping that that is because of the seat configuration?

[stevenx]

Originally Posted by Dimtar

Eat Thai food (favourite food), see tigers hopefully, hang out in pools/beaches, ride an elephant, go for bush/rainforest/forest walks and explore I guess?

Pa Tong and Ao Nang are the places that people have suggested, I would like to land in Phuket but I am by no means set on staying in it. Ideally I would like a resort or something on the beach.

So far been looking for flights on webjet, those flights you quote look good. The only problem I have is that I have been on Airbus A330's before between Sydney and Melbourne and I nearly cannot fit the seats are sooo close together.

I am hoping that that is because of the seat configuration?

Patong is the most "popular" beach area of Phuket but it's basically the place where drunken louts, sex tourists, and boorish Russians hang out. Stay away, unless you're into that kind of thing...

Ao Nang is pretty cool, though according to Wikipedia it's the most westernised beach at Krabi. I've only passed through, never stayed.

My pick is neither. Try Khao Lak. Great beaches, easy access to the amazing Khao Sok National Park, good eats, some seriously good accommodation, great diving, very few scammers/touts/sex tourists/bogans/crowds, some cool bars, and some fascinating history. The only thing it doesn't have - which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned - are sedated tigers for tourists to play with.

Here's a photo of Khao Sok. You can do the elephant thing there, stay in a little house on the water (they're... rustic), wander about in the jungle with a guide who knows what's up, and maybe even find non-sedated, wild tigers and elephants



Khao Lak and Khao Sok are pretty cool places. Much cooler than Phuket if you don't want the crowds and the party and the tourist oriented Thai food and shitty beaches and scammers and touts and prostitutes...

Re: flights, those flights are with Malaysia Airlines flying in a 747 or a 777 between Australia and KL, and a 737 for the short hop between KL and Phuket. Looking here, they have excellent seat pitch. Several inches more than Qantas.

With three weeks, though, I'd look into spending some time - maybe a week - in northern Thailand, around (but not necessarily in) Chiang Mai. Somewhere nearby like Mae Hong Son will show you an awesome part of the world

[daveaus]

Originally Posted by stevenx

around (but not necessarily in) Chiang Mai

+1 on Chiang Mai, awesome place.

If your into nature and hiking hire a car in Chiang Mai (its not as daunting as you think once your out of the city) and head to Doi Inathon.

To get yourself a cheap flight try flightfox.com

If your planning on booking now accor has a decent sale on at the moment. http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/promot...zyprices.shtml

I wouldn't spend too much time in Phuket.

Eat Thai food (favourite food), - Bangkok
see tigers hopefully, - Day tour from Bangkok
hang out in pools - Bangkok (Pullman King Power included in accor sale is a awesome hotel for the price and has a very decent pool)
/beaches, - Phuket
ride an elephant, - Day tour from Bangkok
go for bush/rainforest/forest walks - Chiang Mai

[Croma]

Phuket wise, patong was pretty lame.. I found it kinda boring and far too many touristy stuff..

However, that being said, i hired a car and drove AROUND phuket and it was AMAZING! there is soo much amazing stuff there, just get out of patong!! The other side and the north of the island is absolutely beautiful!

Bangkok is pretty awesome, just be aware of scams and you should be right..

[Dimtar]

Thanks guys, the mrs and I have been able to find alot more stuff based on the comments here and we are starting to formulate a plan.

Has anyone flown Scoot before, their chair pitches are confusing me somewhat.

[bugayev]

Originally Posted by stevenx

Re: flights, those flights are with Malaysia Airlines flying in a 747 or a 777 between Australia and KL, and a 737 for the short hop between KL and Phuket.

Their long-haul economy is definitely more at 34" compared with 31" for Qantas economy (although I actually believe from my own experience Qantas is more like 32" on the A380) but short-haul at 30" is very tight indeed. Qantas partner option from SIN - BKK will be either Jetstar Asia, Malaysian (when the partnership launches in October), or Cathay. Jetstar is the cheapest.

Originally Posted by Dimtar

Has anyone flown Scoot before, their chair pitches are confusing me somewhat.

If you reckon you can't fit on a A330 operated by Qantas, you will be lucky to fit on Scoot except in their ScootBiz offering. I'm flying them in a few weeks and yes they're cheap, but it sounds like this is not an option for you. They are fully Low-Cost in their offering and thus you should expect close and narrow to be the order of the day.

Scoots's Economy is in three levels - Stretch at 35+ inches, Space at 35 inches and normal at 30. Both stretch and space are paid-for and still will be quite narrow. If width is your problem, you will not enjoy this.

[Dimtar]

Originally Posted by bugayev

If you reckon you can't fit on a A330 operated by Qantas, you will be lucky to fit on Scoot except in their ScootBiz offering. I'm flying them in a few weeks and yes they're cheap, but it sounds like this is not an option for you.

That's what confuses me, I recently flew back to Australia on an A380 and its pitch is apparently 31" and that's the same as Scoot, by that logic I should fit fine given my legs fitted on the A380 but then the seat pitch on Jetstar's flights are 31" as well?

[bugayev]

Originally Posted by Dimtar

That's what confuses me, I recently flew back to Australia on an A380 and its pitch pitch is apparently 31" and that's the same as Scoot, by that logic I should fit fine given my legs fitted on the A380 but then the seat pitch on Jetstar's flights are 31" as well?

Is pitch or width your problem?

[Dimtar]

Originally Posted by bugayev

Is pitch or width your problem?

Pitch is my issue.

[bugayev]

Originally Posted by Dimtar

Pitch is my issue.

Right, got a bit confused as you had issues with the A330 which has the same pitch as the other planes in the fleet, but different width

In that case, you could very nearly go for a space seat on Scoot and try your luck, it will be narrow but you'll get almost as much pitch as a domestic business seat on Qantas!

If you are going to Singapore first, then look at Qantas or Singapore Air if they are decent for price. October is starting to get toward Uni exams finishing which means lots of students going home for the holidays but you may be lucky. Then from there, just grab a seat on whoever is cheapest, as it's a 2.5 hour flight you should be alright even if it is quite tight (for comparison, I'm 196cm and can do Jetstar for 2 hours without being TOO uncomfortable).

[Dimtar]

Originally Posted by bugayev

In that case, you could very nearly go for a space seat on Scoot and try your luck, it will be narrow but you'll get almost as much pitch as a domestic business seat on Qantas!

Scoot offer an option for us to pick a row with only two seats by the window, its the same price as the space seat so I think we will just go that way. If the normal seats turn out ok then we will know for next time. Thanks for your help.

[timsarg]

stay away from pjuket, patong etc .

Go to places like chiang mai and you get to experience stuff like this



or this



plenty of awesome cheap food . I would love to go back to northern thailand and explore it more . I miss thailand

[german]

tmsarg, where were those pics taken?

I'm planning to head over for christmas/new years so try to get as much info on places to go as I can.