Thailand Holiday, input appreciated.

[josh_676]

Hi all, currently planning a holiday to Thailand. I'll give a brief run down on what I am thinking, and then seeking input from others on their experiences and what to look out for, or where to go.

Leaving in January, Royal Brunei flights are going for 988 PP all inclusive, looking at staying for 12 days.

I am thinking of staying in Bangkok here http://www.expedia.com.au/Bangkok-Ho...lt&rfrr=-30461

for around 6 nights, seeing the sights, going shopping, the Sky Bar, temples and just generally enjoying being somewhere different and exploring. I really want to buy an airsoft gun or field to play at, as I'm a child on the inside. I'll probably get fitted for a suit, some good leads on where to go from the other thread.

I'm then thinking of going to Pattaya for 4 nights, going to the shooting park there, the water park, and whatever else floats my boat, I'm aware it is overly touristy and full of drunk tourists, but I don't know where else to go go karting, shooting, rock climbing, sky diving whatever else. I have no idea where to stay here.

Then finally back to Bangkok for 2 nights, thinking of staying in a 200 - 300 dollar per night room then, just for the experience, picking up my suit, doing any final shopping.

As for buying stuff over there, do you post it back, or bring it with you? Will customs give you grief over counterfit goods? The GF will probably want to buy a knock off handbag, and I may get a watch for a laugh.

Any suggestions from people that have been there? It looks amazing.

Thank you.

[lithos]

Panthip Plaza's always a good pilgrimage for any geek.

There's something...spiritual about seeing 486DX chips heaped like lollies in a fishbowl.

[josh_676]

I'll have to check it out, I may rival the gf in the shopping stakes!

[lithos]

I did get questioned rather intensely about a Celeron 1.2Ghz Tualatin laptop CPU I brought back...it was just wrapped in bubble wrap and stuck in a jar.

Customs thought I was smuggling some sort of Chinese missile guidance chip or something.

[Modafroman]

I just got back from my thailand trip a few weeks ago. We did 4 days in Chiang Mai, 5 days in Phuket (Kamala Beach - amazing hotel called Cape Sienna) and 5 days in Bangkok. To tell you the truth, both my girlfriend and I said by the end of it we should have stayed in phuket an extra day and bangkok 1 less day. Bangkok is very samey samey, its hot, it's busy, and there really isn't much to do outside of shopping and wandering around (unless you go to other places) - tho maybe it was different for me because i've lived in big asian cities before. What we found also, is because we're tall people, not a lot of the stuff that you could buy fit, and what did, was cheap and nasty and shitty quality. We didn't really buy much.

The only thing I did buy was a suit from Tailor On Ten in Bangkok - highly recommended.

Panthip is cool and all, but what I found (maybe its because i'm white) is that prices are more expensive than the MSY's and Umarts of the world here in Australia. Same goes for camera gear, it's more expensive than what you can get imported through the big grey market retailers.

The skybars were cool, but very touristy. We went to both Skybar at State Tower and Red Sky at Centara - Skybar was crazy busy, where as Red Sky was fairly empty, drinks were a bit cheaper and we had a view that was just as impressive.

We did have 1 night in Koh San Road, which was cool and all, busy, lots of drunk people etc... kinda one of those things that you had to do. We got a bucket and a beer tower to share We did the same thing in Phuket at Pattong fwiw.

Anyways, just my 2c. HTH

[josh_676]

Did you enjoy it? So maybe 4 days in Bangkok will do it.

[Modafroman]

Originally Posted by josh_676

Did you enjoy it? So maybe 4 days in Bangkok will do it.

Yea, it was awesome. If you haven't spent much time in asian countries before it would such a different culture to experience.

Like I said, we both enjoyed Phuket the best, but I think that's because that was the type of holiday that we were looking forward to the most, a real relaxing beachy type holiday.... plus the hotel was absolutely amazing. Awesome views, awesome location, awesome staff, and it was very romantic (the hotel has a no-children policy, and it's pretty much just couples heh).... fair expensive to what you would expect, it cost us $600 for the 2 of us for 5 nights including breakfasts - still pretty good for a 5 star hotel tho.

We stayed in Pathumwan Princess in Bangkok - it's literally above MBK. If you were in Bangkok for shopping, i'd say that would be a prime location, it was walking distance from MBK, all the Siam stuff, Panthip, Platinum, and you can catch a cab to pretty much anywhere/sky train etc. But I think we were just overwhelmed by how busy it was/how much shopping stuff there is, maybe why we didn't really buy much.

Edit: and if you do decide to stay less time in BKK, make sure you get your suit organised straight up. Ben at Tailor on Ten said they usually aim for 3 days turn around (initial measuring and 2 fittings), but for me it took 5 days because they were busy/we had time (still only 2 fittings tho, he nailed the second fitting, no alterations needed - measured on a monday arvo and picked up the suit friday arvo before we left).

[josh_676]

Ok, good advice, I get confused, people say avoid phuket, go to phuket, avoid Bangkok go to bangkok, I guess it all depends on what you want from teh holiday.

Anyone try and scam you while you were there?

[josh_676]

Go through a travel agent or avoid like the plague?

[stevenx]

Originally Posted by josh_676

I'm then thinking of going to Pattaya for 4 nights, going to the shooting park there, the water park, and whatever else floats my boat, I'm aware it is overly touristy and full of drunk tourists, but I don't know where else to go go karting, shooting, rock climbing, sky diving whatever else. I have no idea where to stay here.

You forgot prostitutes, sex tourists, girlie bars, and old fat bastards with their very young, very temporary girlfriends.

I can't imagine anywhere worse.

[Modafroman]

Originally Posted by josh_676

Go through a travel agent or avoid like the plague?

We went with a travel agent (Flight Centre) - cost ended up being about the same, if not a bit cheaper, than if we had booked it all ourselves (we had a general idea of the places we wanted to go/stay and had a rough itinerary/cost plan. We ended up getting private transfers booked the whole way (so pick up and dropoff at hotel/airport each time we moved). In some places it probably ended up being more expensive (it was $26 per transfer for the 2 of us - pretty sure in chiang mai it would have cost $3, but similarly in phuket it would have cost us $40... bangkok was probably about ~$20-25, once you take into account crazy traffic and what not.... plus it saves having to figure out where your hotel was/trying to get a decent taxi there and back).

At the end of the day do whatever works for you

Originally Posted by stevenx

You forgot prostitutes, sex tourists, girlie bars, and old fat bastards with their very young, very temporary girlfriends.

I can't imagine anywhere worse.

Same can be said for Patong and Koh San Road/Patpong Pretty sure lots of others too. For what it is it can be interesting. I imagine it could be heaps of fun with a bunch of mates, going out and drinking and what not. Not really the thing you go and do with your girlfriend

[timsarg]

thailand . the commonly made thread in this section . Search function is your friend

[lithos]

Bangkok's a great city. They people who dislike Bangkok mostly tend to be of drunken yobbo bent, who are supremely miffed there's no 24 hour rave and that it's harder to get cheap eccies and buckets of (m)ethanol.

But, if you've got a bit a maturity about you, it's a great place, if only for the sheer eyeball-kick of it all. It's just so different to any Aussie city. The place is one thriving, near-solid mass of raw humanity. There's always stuff happening. Street stalls, motorbikes screaming past you, the slow moving rivers of traffic, the fast-moving river of mud they call the Chao Praya, heat and humidity, the scent cocktail of spent hydrocarbons, the khlongs, shit, omnipresent chilli. It's rough, crude, jury-rigged in places.

It's fucking fantastic.

Take a camera, definitely. Take several.

My BKK experience are a little different to most, since I'm not readily identifiable as a "white" - Chinese genes give me a bit of leeway. Many a taxi driver has been pissed he's hit the meter for me, only to find out I'm not Thai.

As for scams, a good rule is "approach, don't let yourself be approached". Generally, the taxidriver sitting in his cab reading a tabloid is far less likely to try to rip you off than the guy trying to tell you he knows a place where a chick is sliding ping-pong balls up her front arse right now. Avoid the touts, in other words.

Insist on the meter in taxis. And, please, try to get your bearings, at least vaguely, before you set off. Find out what direction your destination is in from where you are - this prevents them taking you ten ks out of your way and running up the clock.

And always, always, insist on the meter. One guy tried to claim it would 800 baht to get from Khao Sahn to MBK - on the meter, it was more like, I think, 2-300 (back in 06).

Some are insistent. If they are, get another cab. Not like there's a shortage of 'em in BKK.

Tuk-tuks are fun, but overpriced. And not air-conditioned. Motorbikes are great for getting up long backstreets. Skytrain's pretty good for long journeys.

If you walk, watch your feet. Bangkok has a plethora of punji stake traps in the footpath.

And promise me you'll try the orange juice on the street. It's made from little golf ball-sized oranges that are mostly bright green, but really sweet, pressed right there on the cart. It's normally salty - this is a GOOD thing in the heat. It's better than Gatorade.

[stevenx]

Khao San to MBK should be less than 100 baht, give or take. The best bit is when they do circles around the place hoping that whitey doesn't notice.

The green and gold taxis are driven by the taxi owner. They are much less likely to try to avoid using the meter than the pink taxis, which are not driven by the owner. In fact I've never had a problem getting a metered taxi, nobody's ever tried to ask a fixed price. Guess I've been lucky.

Bangkok is truly one of the greatest cities in the world... and although three days there as a tourist is probably too long, three weeks isn't long enough.

[josh_676]

Originally Posted by timsarg

thailand . the commonly made thread in this section . Search function is your friend

I read through most of them, it had some answers, but I had some more specific questions. All good advice so far, I'm going there because I've never been to Asia, I was considering NZ, but decided on something completely different to what we know.