Bangkok

[djc206]

schmalex said:

Look at KL as an alternative via Malaysia Air.

It’s good for, maybe, 2 days with kids. Stay at Shangri-La in J Sultan Ismael.

Otherwise, do have a look at the UAE I’ve either get Emirates or Emirates.

Otherwise, there’s Doha with Qatar Air - they’re cheap as chips since Saudi accused Qatar of funding terrorism! (people in glass houses...), but I doubt there’s a lot to do there for kids (happy to be proven wrong!)

My recent experience of Malaysia Airlines wasn’t a positive one. My unplanned experience of Qatar Airways on the same trip was fantastic but agreed I’m not sure there’s much in Doha.

Surely flights via one of the ME countries are cheap OP? All have nice hotels and no shortage of sand.

[hyperblue]

cat with a hat said:

Don't go to Pattaya. It is the seediest place I've ever seen. I felt sorry for any families that accidentally ended up there.

Quite, I have no idea why anyone would take a family there. Been there a few times this year with work and was somewhat baffled that it seemed a popular holiday destination for families from Asia/India. Wouldn't recommend venturing onto the beach either.

If you have to go there, stay at Royal Cliff or the Intercontinental at the south end, at least they have their own beaches.

[djc206]

hyperblue said:

cat with a hat said:

Don't go to Pattaya. It is the seediest place I've ever seen. I felt sorry for any families that accidentally ended up there.

Quite, I have no idea why anyone would take a family there. Been there a few times this year with work and was somewhat baffled that it seemed a popular holiday destination for families from Asia/India. Wouldn't recommend venturing onto the beach either.

If you have to go there, stay at Royal Cliff or the Intercontinental at the south end, at least they have their own beaches.

My old landlord owns Secrets in Pattaya, I’ve never been but he had a girlfriend younger than his son last time I saw him.

[schmalex]

...Swiftly followed by Soi Cowboy, Patpong and then a short hop over to the Beach club Cafe in KL..

The King certainly knows where to visit...

[anonymous-user]

schmalex said:

I wouldn't stay more than 2 nights in Bangkok to be honest. It's a stinking, seedy sthole. I've been there 5 times this year on business and I just can't stand the place. However, the Shangri La hotel is quite nice, as is the Hyatt Royal Orchid. Jack's Bar, between Shangri La and Mandarin Oriental is a decent place to eat some great food, drink some cheap beer and watch the sun go down over the river.

As a beach resort, Hua Hin is OK. It's about a 3 hour drive from Bangers. It's not particularly spectacular - the beach is just a long strip of sand with warning signs every 50m for jellyfish. The Marriott Beach Club there is quite nice (we stayed there in July while doing an exercise with the Thai Military). There are some decent restaurants and bars, but it's still pretty seedy.

The chip on your shoulder likely indicates that you have consistently failed to perform an adequate Mick Dundee test and paid the price.

[TheGuru]

davgar said:

thanks
adding the stopover in Singapore adds another £1k to the flight costs
need to find away of doing this more cheaply

Stick with Bangkok then, also has the advantage that Thai Airlines are the best economy class out there. Singapore will also add to costs as it's not a cheap place.

Plenty for the kids to do in Bangkok if you stay there in a nice hotel - Siam Ocean World, River boats, Siam Niramit show, Reclining Buddha temple, shopping malls etc. Fantastic food as well.

It's not the most visited city in the world for no reason

schmalex said:

Look at KL as an alternative via Malaysia Air.

KL has pretty much zero attractions, the airport is a pain to get to and the people are not particularly friendly

Edited by TheGuru on Monday 11th December 05:08

[smifffymoto]

We took our kids for the first time in 2006,they were 6 and 10 years old.We have been 6 times to Bangkok,our kids love it.

[schmalex]

DoubleTime said:

The chip on your shoulder likely indicates that you have consistently failed to perform an adequate Mick Dundee test and paid the price.

Lol! I don’t have a chip about it. I just can’t see what the fuss about Bangkok (and Thailand in general) is about. From my experience, it’s been totally ruined by pissed up westerners and Asian sex peddlers.

[TheGuru]

schmalex said:

Lol! I don’t have a chip about it. I just can’t see what the fuss about Bangkok (and Thailand in general) is about. From my experience, it’s been totally ruined by pissed up westerners and Asian sex peddlers.

You just go to the wrong places, the types you have described are a tiny part of Thailand - and found all over Asia. You'd hate Japan too.

[cat with a hat]

schmalex said:

davgar said:

thanks
adding the stopover in Singapore adds another £1k to the flight costs
need to find away of doing this more cheaply

Look at KL as an alternative via Malaysia Air.

It’s good for, maybe, 2 days with kids. Stay at Shangri-La in J Sultan Ismael.

Edited by schmalex on Sunday 10th December 21:29

I can understand why you'd think parts of Bangkok have been ruined by sex tourists, but there is nothing in KL.

Definitely not worth paying extra to go there over Bangkok!

You could 'see' KL in 1 day and not feel like you've missed much

Edited by cat with a hat on Monday 11th December 08:27

[schmalex]

cat with a hat said:

schmalex said:

davgar said:

thanks
adding the stopover in Singapore adds another £1k to the flight costs
need to find away of doing this more cheaply

Look at KL as an alternative via Malaysia Air.

It’s good for, maybe, 2 days with kids. Stay at Shangri-La in J Sultan Ismael.

Edited by schmalex on Sunday 10th December 21:29

I can understand why you'd think parts of Bangkok have been ruined by sex tourists, but there is nothing in KL.

Definitely not worth paying extra to go there over Bangkok!

You could 'see' KL in 1 day and not feel like you've missed much

Edited by cat with a hat on Monday 11th December 08:27

I completely agree. There is nothing in KL. I’m there every few weeks and get very bored of the place.

[schmalex]

TheGuru said:

schmalex said:

Lol! I don’t have a chip about it. I just can’t see what the fuss about Bangkok (and Thailand in general) is about. From my experience, it’s been totally ruined by pissed up westerners and Asian sex peddlers.

You just go to the wrong places, the types you have described are a tiny part of Thailand - and found all over Asia. You'd hate Japan too.

Possibly, I do. However, I’m stuck with having to go to Bangers or various other towns with military / Intelligence installations and haven’t really enjoyed what I’ve seen.

I’ve not visited Japan yet, but I think I have to go to Tokyo in February so we’ll see...

[djc206]

schmalex said:

Possibly, I do. However, I’m stuck with having to go to Bangers or various other towns with military / Intelligence installations and haven’t really enjoyed what I’ve seen.

I’ve not visited Japan yet, but I think I have to go to Tokyo in February so we’ll see...

I hated Tokyo, I think you need to get out of the city to see the real Japan but I just can’t be arsed taking the risk of hating the place at great expense to go back. Weird reserved people, stupid noises being played everywhere, overly complicated at every opportunity. Nah I like the chaos of SE Asia more and it’s cheaper.

[King Herald]

swerni said:

Starting in nana plaza, were you touring the seedier side of the region...

We never actually ventured into Nana Plaza, or Soi Cowboy, Patong etc. I’d seen enough of them in my years living in Asia before I met the wife.

We actually did some of the tourist sites, hit Chatuchak flew market, biggest one in the world, for a day, took a long tail down the smelly canals for a few hours. (More miles of canal in Bangkok than Venice). Then we headed down to Pattaya, wife wanted to see it. That lasted two nights, and it was as big a dump as I always remembered. Even so, we went to Nong Nooch Orchid Gardens, ate in some nice sea food restaurants, hired a motorcycle, toured around the region etc.

It was an interesting week. She enjoyed it all but it was no shock as we had been to Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand several times before.

Edited by King Herald on Monday 11th December 16:31

[Taaaaang]

It's more than possible to spend as much time as one would like in BKK without ever encountering a "pissed up/sex tourist/etc/etc".

The high end hotels and restaurants/shopping malls/rooftop and expensive bars are on a par with anywhere else in the World.

Now if someone said they didn't want to go to BKK because it was too crowded or smelly, I could understand.

The rest is just prejudicial nonsense.

[XJSJohn]

davgar said:

thanks
adding the stopover in Singapore adds another £1k to the flight costs
need to find away of doing this more cheaply

Lived in both, (currently live in SG) There is no cheap way in Singapore ..... But there is lots of kid friendly stuff including Sentosa, Night Safari, East Coast, or Orchard Road which is wife friendly (but not wallet). Taxis, Trains and Buses are cheap, everything else is not. Dont save money by staying in a cheap hotel like "Hotel 81" or "Fragrance", they are basically used as short time rooms (thought Bangkok was the seedy place)

Bangkok is as seedy or as cultured as you want it to be, either Nana and Cowboy or Central World and Pavilion, or chatchuchak market and Wat Pho etc etc.

[TheGuru]

XJSJohn said:

Dont save money by staying in a cheap hotel like "Hotel 81" or "Fragrance", they are basically used as short time rooms (thought Bangkok was the seedy place)

The bottom line is that Asia has different values regarding sex and prostitution. It's rampant all over Asia, whether you are in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, China, Japan etc.

It's all over the place in Singapore, more so that Thailand in some respects. Like mainstream shopping malls with loads of 'massage' shops on the top floors, hundreds of 'buy me drink' hostess bars full of Filipinas or PRC's, hotel bars will have workers hanging around, the red light areas of Geylang, Orchard Towers, Rowell Rd, loads of Thai Disco's, Craigslist and other online sites etc.

Geylang has actually been cleared up a lot, the Hotel 81 and Fragrance places are now often used by coach loads of PRC and Malaysian tours, and many westerners looking for budget accommodation. However Sundays they are particularly busy selling hourly rooms to the masses of Filipina maids and their Bangladeshi boyfriends, as well as the steady stream of Singaporeans meeting up with mistresses.

[anonymous-user]

OP, since you are travelling with kids there are a few recommendations I can make.

1. Siam park - https://www.siamparkcity.com/en/main.php

2. Khao Kaew Open Zoo - 1 1/2 hours south east from Bangkok. Nice day out. There is some very nice countryside around that area.

3. There are various wake boarding and jet ski options just on the outskirts of the city in places like Bo Din, Minburi. Google is your friend.

4. You want to hit a beach close (ish) to Bangkok? Head to Koh Si Chang. If you time it right and leave in a Taxi from Bangkok in the morning, you will be on a beach by lunch time. (or a cliff side..... http://www.pareehutresort.com/)

Enjoy!

[King Herald]

schmalex said:

...Swiftly followed by Soi Cowboy, Patpong and then a short hop over to the Beach club Cafe in KL..

The King certainly knows where to visit...

I spent a lot of time in Thailand back in the day, learned to speak, read and write the lingo reasonably well, which was fun.

Nothing more enjoyable/exhilarating than flying around bangers in the wee hours, on the back of motorcycle taxis, drinking Singha vomit and chatting to the scum of the earth in various seedy local drinking dives.
Everybody is your friend if you buy them a beer.

Sometimes I’m very surprised I’m still alive.

[Fats25]

I was in Thailand last week. I first went 11/12 years ago, and spent a couple of nights in Bangkok, and a couple of nights in Pattaya, and the rest in Ko Samui. Was a boys trip, and we hated Pattaya as it was really seedy. We thought Pattaya was only walking street.

Went back last year for a golf trip to Phuket, and stayed away from Patong, and in some really nice places. Patong still close enough for seedy if you wanted it. This year went back again on same golf trip (Thailand is perfect destination as have Brits, Americans, Aussies, and many expats living in UAE - so easy travel for all). The trip was 2 nights in Pattaya, and 5 in Bangkok. Mostly because most of us didn't want the incessant seediness of Pattaya every night.

Next year it will be reversed, 2 in Bangkok and 5 in Pattaya. We were pleasantly surprised that there is more to Pattaya than Walking Street.

Admittedly we did not do tourist things, no beaches etc, just golf and beer. However the point I am making is it does not need to be seedy bars (every night ).