Lol
Yeah, my brothers one of them. He’s spent way too much time on Walking Street
I haven’t been over to see him in a while but with FaceTime I feel like I’m there.
Week in Bangkok and surrounding areas.
- Thread starter NoNameNoNumber
- Start date
Lol
Yeah, my brothers one of them. He’s spent way too much time on Walking Street
I haven’t been over to see him in a while but with FaceTime I feel like I’m there.
Soldato
Soldato
Wow, Pattaya was an experience late at night, you think Soi Cowboy / Nana plaza are bad, wait till you see the beach road at night, literally thousands of girls for you to pick from in a line all along the beach! Ladyboys chasing you along the soi's! The girls in the bar complexes on the front, i went to watch a football match in one of them, one of the girls wanted to play pool, little did i realise i had to buy her a drink at full price! Weird concept. I had one of my best meals in Pattaya though, i can't remember the name of the rerstaurant though, i had a fillet steak with foie gras, it was lovely!
I did not find the scammers that pervasive. Had a couple of touts try to get me into a Tuc Tuc near the grand palace but that was the only time in the 6 days I spent. I found Bangkok amazing and could have spent more time there thats why I will go back this year.
It made me realise why the western world is in decline and the infrastructure is being put into place in South East Asia and China is going to make them the driving force for the next century at least. If I had millions to spend looking for a return on investment then this is the place to do it.
Less red tape, cheap labour, less H&S regs, Officials most likely can be brought and paid for. When here we are not even maintaining our roads let alone improving them.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,372
I like how you posted why it was so good for a holiday... oh wait.
So you were there on business? I can understand the appeal then as a holiday destination Phuket or Singapore, South Korea are much better destinations.
- Joined
- 25 Nov 2009
- Posts
- 5,278
Back from our travels.
Arrived in Bankok around midnight last Monday. In our hotel room for 01:00 about 5 min walk from Khao San road in a place called Rambuttri Village inn. Decent place, quiet enough with a nice rooftop pool. Good breakfast, and cheap.
Went for a walk around first thing, got on a Tuk Tuk and asked to be taken to pick up the hop-on hop-off boat tour of Chao Phraya so we could see the sites from the water and get about easily... He took us somewhere else where his friend would give us 'good price' on private tour... 2400Baht each! Sacked him off and walked.
Picked up the boat we were looking for, around 200 baht each I think for the whole day. Saw Wat Pho and Wat Arun, had a mooch then went to the Grand Palace. 1 hr free tour with free entry to a traditional Thai dance show for afters... That was well worth seeing, the heat was mega though, and having to wear trousers on the palace tour was a killer.
6:30pm and we went to meet a friend and his wife who have lived here for a while. Had a nice meal then we went to see the sites on Soi Cowboy. We had a laugh, got many a hard on, and crawled in around 4am
Next morning we set off in a Taxi to Ban Phe Pier and over to Koh Samet. We stayed about 20 minute walk from Sai Kaew on a beach called Ao Wong Duean, The C Samet
Meandered around the area for day 1
Chilled for day 2
Walked the circumference of the island on day 3
Boat tour with 6 islands and some snorkelling on day 4
Then a taxi back to Bangkok on day 5
Met up with the same couple from before, watched sunset from their 37th floor infinity pool then went for cocktails and decent food before a looong trip back
Bangkok to Beijing 5.5hr flight
3hr wait
Beijing to Helsinki 8hr flight
2hr wait
Helsinki to Heathrow 3hr flight
3 hr drive back home.
Overall I wouldn't say I was wowed by Thailand, although I do appreciate it was a very limited stay, I feel they're happily watching tourism kill the place. Sad on Koh Samet, the tour tells of the beautiful coral teeming with life. For the first 30m from the beaches all of the coral is dead though, and what coral does remain lies in such murky water it's difficult to really feel good about it. Many of the beaches littered with plastic debris, lots of the rugged west coat has piles of rubbish that has washed up. And yet, everywhere you look there are Thai National Park rangers charging visitors 200Baht each... Wouldn't hurt them to walk around with a bin bag. Ao Wong Duean was by far the nicest beach we saw though.
Khao San road is just like Benidorm. Officials everywhere but nobody taking pride in anything, nobody is cleaning the place with any intent. I'm a pretty worldly guy, I get by without needing much help, but when trying to talk to locals they only seemed interested if I was waving cash around. Very hostile people, I've been to far poorer places that are much friendlier.
There are obviously much nicer places to be in Bangkok, we saw some of them, very nearly had a high speed crash in a cab with a pick up locking up and spinning trying to avoid us!
Arrived in Bankok around midnight last Monday. In our hotel room for 01:00 about 5 min walk from Khao San road in a place called Rambuttri Village inn. Decent place, quiet enough with a nice rooftop pool. Good breakfast, and cheap.
Went for a walk around first thing, got on a Tuk Tuk and asked to be taken to pick up the hop-on hop-off boat tour of Chao Phraya so we could see the sites from the water and get about easily... He took us somewhere else where his friend would give us 'good price' on private tour... 2400Baht each! Sacked him off and walked.
Picked up the boat we were looking for, around 200 baht each I think for the whole day. Saw Wat Pho and Wat Arun, had a mooch then went to the Grand Palace. 1 hr free tour with free entry to a traditional Thai dance show for afters... That was well worth seeing, the heat was mega though, and having to wear trousers on the palace tour was a killer.
6:30pm and we went to meet a friend and his wife who have lived here for a while. Had a nice meal then we went to see the sites on Soi Cowboy. We had a laugh, got many a hard on, and crawled in around 4am
Next morning we set off in a Taxi to Ban Phe Pier and over to Koh Samet. We stayed about 20 minute walk from Sai Kaew on a beach called Ao Wong Duean, The C Samet
Meandered around the area for day 1
Chilled for day 2
Walked the circumference of the island on day 3
Boat tour with 6 islands and some snorkelling on day 4
Then a taxi back to Bangkok on day 5
Met up with the same couple from before, watched sunset from their 37th floor infinity pool then went for cocktails and decent food before a looong trip back
Bangkok to Beijing 5.5hr flight
3hr wait
Beijing to Helsinki 8hr flight
2hr wait
Helsinki to Heathrow 3hr flight
3 hr drive back home.
Overall I wouldn't say I was wowed by Thailand, although I do appreciate it was a very limited stay, I feel they're happily watching tourism kill the place. Sad on Koh Samet, the tour tells of the beautiful coral teeming with life. For the first 30m from the beaches all of the coral is dead though, and what coral does remain lies in such murky water it's difficult to really feel good about it. Many of the beaches littered with plastic debris, lots of the rugged west coat has piles of rubbish that has washed up. And yet, everywhere you look there are Thai National Park rangers charging visitors 200Baht each... Wouldn't hurt them to walk around with a bin bag. Ao Wong Duean was by far the nicest beach we saw though.
Khao San road is just like Benidorm. Officials everywhere but nobody taking pride in anything, nobody is cleaning the place with any intent. I'm a pretty worldly guy, I get by without needing much help, but when trying to talk to locals they only seemed interested if I was waving cash around. Very hostile people, I've been to far poorer places that are much friendlier.
There are obviously much nicer places to be in Bangkok, we saw some of them, very nearly had a high speed crash in a cab with a pick up locking up and spinning trying to avoid us!
Sounds like a short but sweet trip. Ko Samet is really nice given its proximity to BKK. I don't know why people say go to Khao San Road. It's the worst place to go to in Bangkok apart from jail. Touristy, tacky, rip off merchants and hippy douchebags on every corner.