Back from Thailand-Impressions
Discussion
Just back from a 2 and a bit week trip to Thailand. Although it's a popular holiday choice with Brits thought I'd share my experience. Although reasonably well travelled we'd attempted to organise 2 trips to Thailand previously to be put off by some political instability which in hindsight was nothing to worry about necessarily.
We stayed in Chiang Mai, then down to Khao Lak before finishing in Bangkok (made sense due to returning flight time but more on that later).
Flew with Emirates via Dubai from Newcastle. Flights were only £420 with a 2 hour layover in Dubai-hard to beat that for value. Flight was maybe only 2/3 full on both Newcastle legs so there was a chance to fully stretch out on the middle banks of 4 seats. Plane on the Newcastle legs had the large flat screens and were newer than the other legs.
We had a 2 hour wait for our flight to CM, Bangkok airport is big, there were big queues for immigration which we sidestepped due to the connecting flight it seemed. CM situated in the north west of the country, can be cool to the locals at this time of year or for those from warmer climes for me it was hot at times in the day and warm enough in the evening to be comfortable in shorts and t-shirt. I really liked Chiang Mai, it had a certain rustic nutty charm about the place. We stayed close to the night bizarre, did quite a few trips white water rafting was good and went to an elephant park. The food was one of the best things for me about Thailand, by UK standards it's very cheap to eat out, enjoyed a lot of street food and the vendors in the market who had there own pop up type place serving some of the best curry I've ever had for about 80p.......
Chose Khao Lak as a beach destination as we believed the weather to be better than the east side and wanted somewhere laid back. The time of year we travelled is a transitional time in terms of weather from wet to dry. It rained 5/7 days starting anywhere from 1500-1700hrs with heavy thundery downpours lasting 1-2 hours. Unless you're someone who like to sunbathe from sunrise to sunset this didn't bother us. Pretty much wiped of the map in the Tsunami the resort is essentially built on a long straight road with a number of bars and restaurants lining the non beach side of the road. We've been to many beach type destinations, The Maldives are IMO pretty difficult to top as a purely beach destination but Khao Lak compares favourably, due to the selection activities/trips available in addition to a good selection/standard of hotels. It's cheap to eat out too, we'd have 2 courses, beers, cocktails and get plenty of change form £20. We did a few trips visiting Islands, the national parks etc.
On to Bangkok. I think I had an issue changing gears from total chill out to a big manic city. Ideally we'd have visited Bangkok first but our return flight was at 0200hrs so it made sense to finish there. It's a place of contrasts, big flashy malls, top end hotels at reasonable prices, street bars and food vendors and of course the red light districts. Me and the mrs accidently wandered down Soi Cowboy without realising what it was. I enjoyed Bangkok, the Mrs more so as she like to shop, Sky Train was great for getting around, 4 nights was probably too much for me but I reckon this was in part due to the order in which we did our destinations.
Thailand is cheap to cheaper for most things when compared to the UK, particularly for food, £1 or cheaper beers easy to find. High end hotels are cheap when compared to the West and perfectly nice hotels and B&B's can be had for a tenner a night or less.
Had a cracking holiday, in comparison to a similar duration of trip we had to Italy earlier in the year it was pretty much half of the cost. Sex trade was quite obvious, more so in BK than CM. Old blokes with young Thai girls on their arms. Was in a bar a couple of nights and a solo western bloke would wander in, and get talking to a bloke who I assume was a pimp then a thai girl would appear while the bloke checked her out sometime they'd disappear together other times I assume they were rejected, intriguing and odd to me guess I've lived a sheltered existence.....
We stayed in Chiang Mai, then down to Khao Lak before finishing in Bangkok (made sense due to returning flight time but more on that later).
Flew with Emirates via Dubai from Newcastle. Flights were only £420 with a 2 hour layover in Dubai-hard to beat that for value. Flight was maybe only 2/3 full on both Newcastle legs so there was a chance to fully stretch out on the middle banks of 4 seats. Plane on the Newcastle legs had the large flat screens and were newer than the other legs.
We had a 2 hour wait for our flight to CM, Bangkok airport is big, there were big queues for immigration which we sidestepped due to the connecting flight it seemed. CM situated in the north west of the country, can be cool to the locals at this time of year or for those from warmer climes for me it was hot at times in the day and warm enough in the evening to be comfortable in shorts and t-shirt. I really liked Chiang Mai, it had a certain rustic nutty charm about the place. We stayed close to the night bizarre, did quite a few trips white water rafting was good and went to an elephant park. The food was one of the best things for me about Thailand, by UK standards it's very cheap to eat out, enjoyed a lot of street food and the vendors in the market who had there own pop up type place serving some of the best curry I've ever had for about 80p.......
Chose Khao Lak as a beach destination as we believed the weather to be better than the east side and wanted somewhere laid back. The time of year we travelled is a transitional time in terms of weather from wet to dry. It rained 5/7 days starting anywhere from 1500-1700hrs with heavy thundery downpours lasting 1-2 hours. Unless you're someone who like to sunbathe from sunrise to sunset this didn't bother us. Pretty much wiped of the map in the Tsunami the resort is essentially built on a long straight road with a number of bars and restaurants lining the non beach side of the road. We've been to many beach type destinations, The Maldives are IMO pretty difficult to top as a purely beach destination but Khao Lak compares favourably, due to the selection activities/trips available in addition to a good selection/standard of hotels. It's cheap to eat out too, we'd have 2 courses, beers, cocktails and get plenty of change form £20. We did a few trips visiting Islands, the national parks etc.
On to Bangkok. I think I had an issue changing gears from total chill out to a big manic city. Ideally we'd have visited Bangkok first but our return flight was at 0200hrs so it made sense to finish there. It's a place of contrasts, big flashy malls, top end hotels at reasonable prices, street bars and food vendors and of course the red light districts. Me and the mrs accidently wandered down Soi Cowboy without realising what it was. I enjoyed Bangkok, the Mrs more so as she like to shop, Sky Train was great for getting around, 4 nights was probably too much for me but I reckon this was in part due to the order in which we did our destinations.
Thailand is cheap to cheaper for most things when compared to the UK, particularly for food, £1 or cheaper beers easy to find. High end hotels are cheap when compared to the West and perfectly nice hotels and B&B's can be had for a tenner a night or less.
Had a cracking holiday, in comparison to a similar duration of trip we had to Italy earlier in the year it was pretty much half of the cost. Sex trade was quite obvious, more so in BK than CM. Old blokes with young Thai girls on their arms. Was in a bar a couple of nights and a solo western bloke would wander in, and get talking to a bloke who I assume was a pimp then a thai girl would appear while the bloke checked her out sometime they'd disappear together other times I assume they were rejected, intriguing and odd to me guess I've lived a sheltered existence.....
smifffymoto said:
Only one thing to say really...........How the fook do you walk down Soi Coowboy without realising,my kids know about Cowboy,Patpong and Nana Plaza.
It's going to be fun in February with my FIL in tow
It was just around the corner from our hotel, I'd never heard of it before-but afterward google it-turns out scenes from the Hangover Part II were filmed there. We just kind of went looking for a mini mart and next thing we knew we were in it It's going to be fun in February with my FIL in tow
I must admit I wanted to sit and have a beer and just people/lady boy watch but the Mrs was having none of it!a311 said:
It was just around the corner from our hotel, I'd never heard of it before-but afterward google it-turns out scenes from the Hangover Part II were filmed there. We just kind of went looking for a mini mart and next thing we knew we were in it I must admit I wanted to sit and have a beer and just people/lady boy watch but the Mrs was having none of it!
We are going first couple of weeks in March, 3 nights Bangkok, Centre Point Terminal 21 Hotel, which is just round the corner from Soi Cowboy, if that is where you stayed some feedback on how it is would be good. I must admit I wanted to sit and have a beer and just people/lady boy watch but the Mrs was having none of it!Then we fly to Phucket for the relax element of the hol, though we have lots of plans for there too.
We certainly plan to walk to Soi Cowboy for a drink and a look at the girls, but I will have to be on best behavour and not look too much
Caldo said:
Interesting read as I am heading to CM soon, what elephant park did you go to? How did you find it? Seem to get mixed reviews on some, with some people finding them cruel etc.
Not CM, but my son went to an elephant sanctuary in Malaysia to do voluntary work when he was in his late teens, he was supposed to be there 3 months but quit after around a month because of the way the elephants were treated. It was supposed to be a rescue sanctuary but was actually run for profit not for the benefit of the elephants.Caldo said:
Interesting read as I am heading to CM soon, what elephant park did you go to? How did you find it? Seem to get mixed reviews on some, with some people finding them cruel etc.
We went to Elephant Nature Park: http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/An ethical choice we found.
Basically a sanctuary for working/abused Elephants. Anything that that offers riding means in Thailand that the animal has been through a ritual known as 'The Crush' the Elephant is locked in a cage, tied and unable to move, beaten with sticks, chains or bullhooks, sleep-deprivation, hunger, and thirst to "break" the elephant and make them submissive to their owners. Despite their size and strength Elephants backs haven't evolved to carry heavy loads.
ENP its self look on TA people rave about it. Personally while I commend what they're doing, it's quite commercial-perhaps my expectations were somewhat unrealistic. We just did the day trip but considered an overnighter. You spend a lot of time moving from point A to B, and will get to meet a lot of Elephants and get up close to feed, bath and stroke them and get lots of photos. I've done something similar in Africa and it was a better set up IMO you were assigned one beast for the day. I'd recommend it, it's a nice drive up into the hills too.
It's also a sanctuary for stray dogs, was quite funny watching one herd, one Elephant kicked one of the mahouts gently, he fell off his stool and trod on a dogs tail, dog attacks elephant, all dogs start fighting and elephants perform min stampede.... When I looked over my shoulder the rest of my group had covered about 100m in 0.1 seconds running off including my mrs.......
Corpulent Tosser said:
We are going first couple of weeks in March, 3 nights Bangkok, Centre Point Terminal 21? Hotel, which is just round the corner from Soi Cowboy, if that is where you stayed some feedback on how it is would be good.
Then we fly to Phucket for the relax element of the hol, though we have lots of plans for there too.
We certainly plan to walk to Soi Cowboy for a drink and a look at the girls, but I will have to be on best behavour and not look too much
We stayed at the Continent-basically over the road from Centre Point but a much smaller property. We looked at the Centre Point-it's certainly well regarded but got a good deal on the Continent. The Mall is quite impressive (they all are) went to the cinema one evening there. It's a good location right on the Sky Train-good for getting about and a couple of quid for a day pass.Then we fly to Phucket for the relax element of the hol, though we have lots of plans for there too.
We certainly plan to walk to Soi Cowboy for a drink and a look at the girls, but I will have to be on best behavour and not look too much
The walk down Soi Cowboy brought out the feminist in my wife and ranted a bit at me for wanting to get a drink and watch for a bit! The reality seems to be these girls aren't sex slaves and make good money. If a punter wants to take one of the girls away for a bit of how's your father the set up seems to be you pay a 'fine' to the owner of the bar to take the girl away and whatever else you do and payment is between you and them.
My only regret is not doing Bangkok earlier as previously stated I found it hard going from totally chilling out to what is quite probably one of the worlds most manic cities!
Your experience is exactly what I always say, Thailand is what you want to to be, go there looking for seedy places you will find them, but they are also easy to avoid/ignore.
Animal sancturies are mainly profit making, the Gibbon sanctury in Ah NAng was good the guy used to put food down and they would come out of the trees, no one there they lived wild. The Orangutang sanctury in Kota Kinablu Borneo is nothing more that a profit center for the hotel.
Animal sancturies are mainly profit making, the Gibbon sanctury in Ah NAng was good the guy used to put food down and they would come out of the trees, no one there they lived wild. The Orangutang sanctury in Kota Kinablu Borneo is nothing more that a profit center for the hotel.
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