Thailand November-advice for first timer

[thehawk]

Berw said:

They loved going to Nickey,s Handle Bar in Patong and playing pool with the ‘Hells angels’,

Nicky is a top bloke and the restaurant/bar serves great food. He also has some fine Lambhorghini's and Harleys to ogle at, can also get drives around the island/airport transfers etc.

[XJSJohn]

Berw said:

Every thing you all say above is true, but Roti for breakfast isn't Thai it came from Indian Muslim and is much more Malaysian, (the chocolate roti in Ray Lai is Thai) I can get Roti outside my house any morning so I try to avoid on holiday, by the way it is awful for your health my cardiologist won’t touch it, much better to try and get chapattis.

Roti Prata and fish head curry gravy .... one of the thinks i miss from Singapore, all the prata here is sweet stuff!!!!

[thehawk]

If you are after some cheap fares :

http://www.lionairthai.com/en

[anonymous-user]

Nikis best car is the fiat 500 cabro thing, no doors great way home if you get drunk

[Henry-F]

Berw said:

Every thing you all say above is true, but Roti for breakfast isn't Thai it came from Indian Muslim and is much more Malaysian

The Rotti we have is an after dinner desert drizzled with condensed milk.



There is a strong Muslim presence in Krabi province as well as Buddhists who you would traditionally associate with Thailand. A right old mixture !!


Henry

[XJSJohn]

Henry-F said:

There is a strong Muslim presence in Krabi province as well as Buddhists who you would traditionally associate with Thailand. A right old mixture !!


Henry

The southern 3 states are mostly Muslim, and there has been a rather large conflict going on for the past xx decades there that involve hundreds of deaths a year from car bombs and so on - it just never gets reported in the international news and they keep it well away from the tourists, (so its perfectly safe, even travelling in more dodgy areas) although the military presence in towns like Hat Yai and Songkla can be surprising if you are not aware, some times comparable to the checkpoints in Northern Ireland in the 80's in some locations if they suspect something is happening)

NOTE - in no way am i putting people off - i happily and willingly go south to Phuket, Krabi and Samui and always enjoy myself / meet great people - but there is another world down there that the tourists generally don't see.

[Henry-F]

We are very aware of the issues and the Malaysian involvement. As you say though it doesn't serve to profit either side if the tourist industry is affected. You would need to travel some distance south from the areas we are talking about to be in any danger.

Phuket probably has less obvious Muslim influence particularly if people are visiting places like Patong but it is there. The floating restaurant next to the Bang Rong ferry pier (to the Koh Yao islands) is in a Muslim village and well worth a visit if you want to see a very different side of Phuket to Patong. You will also see a few monkeys!

Driving around Krabi province you come into Muslim villages with a load of goats wandering around, plenty of cats but no dogs. There are also loads of minarets from which you will hear chanting at various times of the day calling believers to prayer.

This is going to sound rather politically incorrect and I don't mean to cause offence by it but Thai Muslims are a lot more laid back and less confrontational than many on the planet. As with so many parts of Thai life some of the boundaries can become a little elastic

We see Muslim and Buddhist Thais working along side each other with no conflict. An occasional joke about having to sneak off to pray every now and again when the workload gets too much but all very amicable.

Anyway, a rich tapestry of cultures sights, smells and tastes to explore.

Henry

[anonymous-user]

Never been a real problem in krabbie, there was one bomb in hatyai in 2004. The rumour is that the Chinese sorted out the people who did it, there was another incident in early 2012 during Phuket bike week, never happened since, the problems really are on the eastern side, and even there I've only heared of one incident involving a foreign spot, I won't say tourist spot, as most people on the east cost travel up on weekend from work in N E Malaysia, my mate who lives on the east cost rides up the east cost to hatyai fairly often he has never had a problem in dact he says the people are great as there are so dew tourists.

[thehawk]

Even in the deep south, as a Westerner you would not be targetted. This is a fight between the locals and your real risk would be just being collateral damage if a bomb exploded nearby. I'd have no problem going anywhere in the south apart from Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani.

[themanwithnoname]

Just booked to go back to Phuket in February, staying in Rawai and going doing some diving on the Similans. Cannot wait. Missed out on Nicky's Handle Bar last time, but will definitely check that out.

[AJS-]

Bangkok to Chiang Mai is a long hot and largely boring train ride. I'd be tempted to fly (Nok or Air Asia should be cheap) and hire a car up there.

Having lived there and having a limited interest in/tolerance for big cities 2 days at a time in Bangkok is plenty. Break it up with a trip to Kanchanaburi (Bridge over the River Kwai) or Hua Hin for beaches. Within a couple of hours of Bangkok and nice places to be.

[a311]

Thanks for all the replies and delay posting back. Booked the return flights to Bangkok tonight @ £470 Newcastle via Dubai even less with a bit o cash back to come. This will give us time to think about our exact itinerary. Due to the flight time on the way back (0200hrs local) I'm tempted to do the Bangkok part last heading straight to Chaing Mai, South for some time in a beach resort and back to Bangkok.

Still up for debate but thinking Khao Lak, I want to devote a decent wedge of time to Chaing Mai as it appeals most to out of the city and the beach so probably 3/4 Nights in Bangkok 5 in CM and 6/7 on the beach.

[Chimune]

we took overnight train from bankok to chumphon then to koh tao. cheap and utterly brilliant. we binned the rest of our travel plans and stayed there for 10 days.
you might get a good deal with a murderer on the loose !

[XJSJohn]

2 things to be aware of - it is (supposed to be ) the wet season now, so Chang Mai should be getting lots of rain storms and floods. At the moment it is not however (el ninia year or some such eco blather) but this may change, so keep an eye on the weather relative to how much time to spend there. (although November is supposed to be the end of the wet). The plus side of the end of teh rainy season is there are some good fun activities to do there in-between temples and markets, such as the white water rafting and zip lining (flight of the gibbons is fantastic fun)

Personally i would not bother with the train but that's me, its slow, clunky and hot (in theory you cannot drink on the train any more either .... )

Beaches in the south at that time of the year, you are looking at Krabi, Phuket at the surrounding islands!

give us a shout when you are in Bangers, will take you out for a few beers :cheers:

[a311]

XJSJohn said:

2 things to be aware of - it is (supposed to be ) the wet season now, so Chang Mai should be getting lots of rain storms and floods. At the moment it is not however (el ninia year or some such eco blather) but this may change, so keep an eye on the weather relative to how much time to spend there. (although November is supposed to be the end of the wet). The plus side of the end of teh rainy season is there are some good fun activities to do there in-between temples and markets, such as the white water rafting and zip lining (flight of the gibbons is fantastic fun)

Personally i would not bother with the train but that's me, its slow, clunky and hot (in theory you cannot drink on the train any more either .... )

Beaches in the south at that time of the year, you are looking at Krabi, Phuket at the surrounding islands!

give us a shout when you are in Bangers, will take you out for a few beers :cheers:

Thanks for the offer. We've decided to do Bangkok last, so when we arrive we have 3hr 45 mins to get our luggage and get on a Bangkok Airways flight to Chaing Mai. Still debating the split of days. Any hotel/area recommendations for BK?

Cheers

[thehawk]

a311 said:

Any hotel/area recommendations for BK?

What is the budget and what do you plan to do?

[XJSJohn]

thehawk said:

a311 said:

Any hotel/area recommendations for BK?

What is the budget and what do you plan to do?

took the words right out of my mouth !!!

Would Suggest Sukhumvit (Ploen Chit / Nana / Asoke end, its not all sleaze there, honest!!!) or Chinatown / Riverside, both areas are close to plenty of tourist stuff, shops, food, booze and easy transport to other areas.

[a311]

XJSJohn said:

thehawk said:

a311 said:

Any hotel/area recommendations for BK?

What is the budget and what do you plan to do?

took the words right out of my mouth !!!

Would Suggest Sukhumvit (Ploen Chit / Nana / Asoke end, its not all sleaze there, honest!!!) or Chinatown / Riverside, both areas are close to plenty of tourist stuff, shops, food, booze and easy transport to other areas.

Sorry for the delay. No set budget, on one hand I'm loathed to pay too much for somewhere to sleep but as it's the last leg of the holiday willing to push the boat out a bit, £100-£150? We'll have 5 days in BK so a couple of trips outside the city and the usual touristy stuff.

Cheers

[XJSJohn]

That sort of budget will get you a lot, can probably even look at some of the higher end hotels for that. Remember to make sure you are at the main road end of a soi (side street) as it can be a long wet / hot walk on crappy pavements to get to transport - 500 meters walking in BKK feels like 2 km anywhere else because of the heat!

Have a look around Siam, Asoke, Riverside as areas to stay.

[Bezerk]

I'm making a couple of stops through Bangkok (first timer) in January.
One of the places I'm staying is Lebua at State Tower, and a suite is approx 80GBP a night.
150 will get something very fancy I'd think.

Sorry for the thread hijack, but @John

Is the traffic really that bad? The first time I arrive, I get into BKK at 18:40 on a Saturday night.
What time do you reckon I'd make it to Lebua (thinking dinner reservation)?
I will be travelling via Emirates chauffeur service if that makes a difference.

I then fly out on the Monday and need to catch a flight from BKK at 13:45. This time just a regular taxi.
Reading nightmare stories of traffic so was going to leave at 10am? Is that way too early?

I'm then back about 2 weeks later but staying in Sukhumvit then.

Thanks a lot.