Travel The MEGA Travel Thread!

[StarOceanHouse]

I'm glad you had fun as well! Where you in Chiang Mai during Loi Krotang? It's incredible there during the festival.

 

[carl]

Sounds like you guys fell in love with the country in a really good way. Makes me envious, I'd love two weeks in the kingdom.

 

[attempt4]

If you want a chilled out, laid back, luxurious (but not luxury prices) hostel in Bangkok then google Refill Now. It's well away from Koah San Rd and the main touristy areas, loads of local cafes n shops nearbye and it's not too far from the airport. Sky train and river taxis nearbye. It's great. I stayed there for 6 weeks.

How much does that cost for a 6 wk stay (in pounds)??

 

[Jamshyd]

This is how you do it.

So, according to this, the average appears to be around 550 baht per night.

If you convert using Xe,, you'll find that that is around 12GBP.

12 X 7 X 6 = 504

But yeah, you're going to find people are pretty nice if you ask questions, but this kind of thing you ought to learn how to do on your own if you want any semblance of planning ahead.

But anyway, this is actually pretty above-average price for a hostel, although Spade DID say it was luxury.

 

[attempt4]

This is how you do it.

So, according to this, the average appears to be around 550 baht per night.

If you convert using Xe,, you'll find that that is around 12GBP.

12 X 7 X 6 = 504

But yeah, you're going to find people are pretty nice if you ask questions, but this kind of thing you ought to learn how to do on your own if you want any semblance of planning ahead.

But anyway, this is actually pretty above-average price for a hostel, although Spade DID say it was luxury.

Yeah ok, i understand where you are coming from, but my supposed naivety aside, I just wanted to hear something from the horses mouth. Thanks for the input though, much appreciated.

Obviously, if I was doing this very soon, I would be researching like a motherfucker. I just felt like asking him how much it cost him in pounds, out of sheer interest for the guy's personal experience.

no worry me can think things with my brains me thinks!

 

[Samadhi]

I'm glad you had fun as well! Where you in Chiang Mai during Loi Krotang? It's incredible there during the festival.

No, we missed it by a week (if we'd booked one week later, we would have been in Koh Samui for it - next time we're going to head to Chiang Mai in Loi Krathong Week - we've heard from a number of people that it is really amazing).

Carl - we did - i loved Thailand (having been there before) but had never been to the north - it's by far my favourite part of the Kingdom - Now i just need to find a beach on the same latitude so we miss the typhoons

 

[MynameisnotDeja]

I chose to head to Laos instead of Chiang Mai last time. I'll definitely make a stop there next time I go.

 

[Bearlove]

I'm so sorry to hear about jf

Our time in Thailand was amazing - We spent 3 nights in BKK - and completely agree with the above although we only had one guy try the gem-scam on us, we were pretty much left alone. Whenever visiting Wats, we always had appropriate clothing on, so that was no issue. We decided against all but 2 'tours' while in the country. Next time, we'll do it all on our own. I loved getting lost in the back streets of bangkok, eating the street food, meeting new friends. Spent a wicked night on Soi Cowboy with a group of new friends - nothing untoward, but got to know a handful of the girls better, had drinks with them, danced to Blondie covers... brilliant!

Chiang Mai was by far the best though - completely different to anywhere else i've been to in Thailand - so laid back, the locals are completely chilled - even in the Night Bazaar where they are at their most "sales aggressive", it was all friendly. The shopping - don't get me started. The quality of the clothing, shoes, jewelry, handicrafts...everything, was beyond compare. So cheap too, compared to other areas. We're kicking ourselves that we decided to wait until we got to Koh Samui to finish shopping! We took 2 tours while there, one to Lampang (Thai Elephant Conservation Centre and Hospital) and to Doi Inthanon National Park (highest point in Thailand)...we can definitely do it cheaper next time!

We only got to Koh Samui for 4 nights - during our time in Chiang Mai, we were following the torrential flooding on the island due to a tropical depression that got REALLY bad. 15 mins before landing on the island, our flight was diverted back to BKK due to flooding on the runway! We ended up spending 4 nights on Phuket - 2 in Patong (the 5th gate of hell) and 2 in Kamala Bay (really really lovely) but it rained for all but 5 hours. We got 1 beautiful day on Samui, but the rest was raining, showers, flooding.

So... didn't get my 8 nights of sun, surf, sand, cocktails on the beach, but had a BLAST! My husband and i had a wonderful honeymoon - by the end of it (flooding, me falling over in the flooding and hurting my knee quite badly, the driver at samui airport locking his keys in the car and us having to wait an hour for the other driver to arrive with the spare key - which was the wrong key lol - spending time at Samui airport isn't too hard, as Bearlove could attest to) we were just laughing at the comedy of errors and (mis)adventures.

I love the country and can't wait to go back - especially to Chiang Mai, we've seriously fallen in love with the place

We did it the other way around :D - we started our journey in Samui (two days after the serious flooding). We were booked to stay in the Chaweng Grove reshotel but on arrival it was obvious they were busy building a new bar next to the pool (it was obvious as we were staying poolside and the drillling started at 7am :0). We checked out and move a few doors up to the Centara Hotel which is simply gorgeous! We did the usual, chilling out poolside and watching the thunderstorms, drinking our way though the cocktail lists, hiring mopeds, crashing said mopeds, elephant parks, waterfalls and so much random food (I fell in love with Papaya salad, hot enough to numb your mouth for about half an hour). We weren’t on a shopping trip so only wanted to buy a few things (pirated xbox games mainly :D). We moved from Samui to BKK and stayed in the Kempinski hotel which I have to say is the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in (about 300 US$ [ish] per night). In BKK we ate the most random things ever though (usually served BBQ’d and on a stick!) .

I do think that the next time I visit Thailand I will go to BKK first, get the shopping and the hustle and bustle out of the way and then go Samui to chill out big style.

First impressions of the place = Loved it !
Would I recommend to others = YES
Would I go back = Again and again !

If I had to name a downside - mosquitos

 

[Esoterik]

Jamshyd, I saw saw in another thread that you said you thought Thais were socially phathological.

I've been teaching here now for two months and although I love it, there are some things about the Thais that bother me, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they were socially pathological.

I just wondered what induced you to say that?

 

[Jamshyd]

UPDATE!

So the fates had it that this long-postponed trip actually IS going to happen, albeint greatly abridged, in THREE DAYS!

My ACTUAL trip is going to be to the US, but I decided to use my credited ticket to Cancun and then fly to LA from Oaxaca I will have 10 days to get from Cancun to Oaxaca. This can be done from within mexico (the better option for those there to see Maya ruins), or by passing through Guatemala via Belize. It is a no-brainer that I chose the latter. I intend to spend at least 3 days in oaxaca, both to have leeway in order not to miss my flight, and to experience what I've been told is Mexico's most beautiful city.

I will land in Cancun on the 16th which I intend to leave immediately en route to the border with Belize. I do not intend to stay in Belize for more than a night because I see it is expensive and not particularly interesting, although people tell me the mountains on the Guatamala border are a great hike.

In Guatamala, I have limited myself to Tikal and the Atitlan area (probably base myself in panajachel after reading up on it thanks to Daysonthetrain's suggestion .

From there I head directly to Oaxaca. Reasonable, no? I resisted my compulsive tendency to make numberous border-crossings the highlight of my trip

Any tips, comments, suggestions are welcome!

---

MM: Love you guys. One day (maybe soon actually) as the weather becomes fairer, I will absolutely pay you a visit .

 

[Ximot]

I much prefer the Lao people and the Cambodian people to the Thais, they're as dishonest and corrupt but more obviously so, to the point of being charmingly honest about it. The Thais are just an unpleasant lot... especially the Thais of the tourist islands and Bangkok.... north seems to have nicer folks... of course I generalise. As one culture-shock book puts it, the Thais are the "best friends money can buy" ... i say forget them... not least their proneness to anger and unexpected viciousness, two-facedness etc etc... sometimes I feel that the reason why Laos and Cambodia has really got nicer people is that they have a recent war/genocide history, so people have learnt to chill in the aftermath of that. I guess kindness is the only response left after what happened there. The Thais have not had this ... yet? ...

Oh, about Cambodia... OTC pharm check 2010... random sightings, I didn't pursue this all too seriously.

benzos... diazepam, alpraozolam, bromazepam, lorazepam, nordazepam
opiates... codeine, dihydrocodeine (yes, without paracetamol ), morphine
antidepressants... tianeptine
nootropics... piracetam

Of course also viagra and cialis... and probably all the other antidepressants but i didn't look for them.

I didnt manage to find any proper stimulants. had kind of hoped to find adderall or soemthing, but no luck...

 

[Ximot]

To all the Thailand proponents who have only ever spent time there as a tourist /short-term visitor and love the fake smile so much... i am sorry but your impressions may well be just of a thin veneer that is easily seen through once you spend a bit of time that goes beyond checking out the beach and the friendly fruit vendor and the bars and the restaurants, a nightclubo or two and the tshirt and the handbag shop ... just my experience though.

 

[Ximot]

... We did the usual, chilling out poolside and watching the thunderstorms, drinking our way though the cocktail lists, hiring mopeds, crashing said mopeds, ... I fell in love with Papaya salad ... get the shopping and the hustle and bustle out of the way and then go Samui to chill out big style.

you confirm pretty much what i tried to suggest with my post above - you did the tourist stuff that requires little interaction with local people not specifically trained to deal with rich westerneres who have loads of cash to wave about... what did it cost you to have the moped fixed? Thais can get quite feisty when this sort of thing happens...

I agree with you on the papaya salad all the way, that stuff is amazing!

Your last statement... about Samui.... i like lamai beach off-season cos it's pretty quiet... biut I've bee going there for 10 years and I know a place or two that'll still do you a room for 400 baht or so. Which is still about triple what it was 10 years ag0... it's gone way upmarket... all resorts... for those who chill by the poolside and never get to see the real country. Most Thais have never seen the beach, cos they can't afford it... But Chaweng......... I dislike it thoroughly. Why must people come to a tropical island paradise and do what they consider to be "chill out big style" and then this consists of mainly just loud music and mindless consumption? There's an ice bar there that has subzero temperatures while it's 40deg c plus outside.... you get mittens and a hat when u go in i think... and a pair of boots to make your carbon footprint, and you pay for the pleasure. Then there is Q bar... branch of the Bangkok trendy disco... they have international dj's
flown in for your holiday pleasure, including Roni Size and many other big names I couldnt care less about. So you can chill to the beat at 150bpm, lovely.
I mean seriously, WTf for???? if tha is your fancy then stay at home or do it in bangkok... leave nature be... or am I just getting old?

 

[Bearlove]

you confirm pretty much what i tried to suggest with my post above - you did the tourist stuff that requires little interaction with local people not specifically trained to deal with rich westerneres who have loads of cash to wave about... what did it cost you to have the moped fixed? Thais can get quite feisty when this sort of thing happens...

I agree with you on the papaya salad all the way, that stuff is amazing!

Your last statement... about Samui.... i like lamai beach off-season cos it's pretty quiet... biut I've bee going there for 10 years and I know a place or two that'll still do you a room for 400 baht or so. Which is still about triple what it was 10 years ag0... it's gone way upmarket... all resorts... for those who chill by the poolside and never get to see the real country. Most Thais have never seen the beach, cos they can't afford it... But Chaweng......... I dislike it thoroughly. Why must people come to a tropical island paradise and do what they consider to be "chill out big style" and then this consists of mainly just loud music and mindless consumption? There's an ice bar there that has subzero temperatures while it's 40deg c plus outside.... you get mittens and a hat when u go in i think... and a pair of boots to make your carbon footprint, and you pay for the pleasure. Then there is Q bar... branch of the Bangkok trendy disco... they have international dj's
flown in for your holiday pleasure, including Roni Size and many other big names I couldnt care less about. So you can chill to the beat at 150bpm, lovely.
I mean seriously, WTf for???? if tha is your fancy then stay at home or do it in bangkok... leave nature be... or am I just getting old?

I do know what you mean but I had just finished a clubbing holiday in Ibiza so I was clubbed/burnt out - I just needed a beach/pool and a bar and I had fancied Thailand for a while so went there as a taster.

We stayed in Chaweng at the Centara Hotel and TBH didn’t actually venture that far around the Island, mainly because we arrived one day after the floods so the place was water logged to say the least. I did see the Ice bar (its around the lake isn’t it?) but again the thought of getting all dressed up to have a drink simply wasn’t what I was looking for. We didn’t club or even go into the main touristy bars (they were pretty awful and some were just downright sleazy) so mainly drunk in the small bars behind the main strip or the loft style bars with live singers etc

The Moped only cost us 500 baht which was nothing considering that a tire got burst and the front panel dented / paint scraped off etc (we were expecting a lot more)

We moved to BKK after that and stayed in the Kempinski (amazing hotel) – we had fun but it wasn’t for us and we much preferred the laid back holiday we had in Samui (so much so were trying to get back next month to explore the island a bit better). Im not sure what we will think about it now that the island will be busier though?

I agree with you about how built up the lovely beaches etc are - some places need to be left alone, not every tourist resort needs techno music, nightclubs and all you can eat buffets.

The best character we met was an ice cream vendor on the beach - after we said we didnt want an ice cream she politely asked if we would buy her one instead :D. She stayed with us until she finished her ice cream and then off she went!

 

[Black]

I agree with you about how built up the lovely beaches etc are - some places need to be left alone, not every tourist resort needs techno music, nightclubs and all you can eat buffets.

absolutely, the thais have a talent to destroy magical beaches. any sane person who has seen (at least photos) of had rin on koh phangan in the early nineties and had rin now will surely agree. this place has been turned into a drunken, noisy funfair.


two more weeks until i go back to thailand again. i'll be spending the majority of the time in northern thailand and laos this time, but i'll still pay a visit to koh phangan.

does anyone have recommendations for good beaches on phangan with a laid back traveller vibe in february? i really liked had yao (west) when i was there a few years ago in september, but have heard that it's now more noisy with nightclubs and that there's a lot of coral pieces in the water in february...

 

[Slain]

Thailand.

In all now, I've been there so many times I can barely count them all. Spending 3-4 weeks there annually.

After all this time and the places I've traveled I'd still consider Phi Phi Island my all time favorite place. I'm there almost every year from Jan to Feb. You must come say hi if you're ever there

 

[StarOceanHouse]

does anyone have recommendations for good beaches on phangan with a laid back traveller vibe in february? i really liked had yao (west) when i was there a few years ago in september, but have heard that it's now more noisy with nightclubs and that there's a lot of coral pieces in the water in february...

check out this place called cookie's in ao plaay laem. I've never been but one of my friends said she loved the place. not very touristy and very laid back from what she told me.

 

[Ximot]

On Ko Pha Ngan I liek Had Salad beach (northwest) and also Bottle beach (I think Norteast) ...

I like Railey island off Krabi, somewhere near Phi Phi (which i haven't ben to due to the hype). But even on relatively quiet Railey one is at risk of having shitey pop and tech bass blasting into the wee hours, and if one wants to sleep at, say, midnight, because all one actually wants is RELAX, forget it... the bass penetrates all...

The Thais have an incredible talent for destroying their natural environment indeed. And they're Quiet-o-phobics and thake the city noise pollution right with them to nature. Even secluded beaches far off the international tourist trail in Rayong or Chanthaburi (all sort of near Pattaya but not really) that are visited almost by Thais only are noise polluted... imagine sitting down for a quiet seafood dinner and a drink and alll you wanna do is enjoy the food and company and a little talk and the waves of the sea in the background... perhaps there is a subtle chill music at klow volume in the background... now, imagine that suddenly, after your order, just minutes before you get served your main dish, the music is pumped up to the fucking max, it's pop-tech of the worst kind, and you've got a speaker blasting right in your direction... all because right now it's Friday night and Fri/Sat has a firejuggler show on starting at this time and they will refuse to turn it down for ya... how could I know that? idiots. anyway, wherever a crowd of restless thai city idiots gather you will get noise noise noise... try the idyllic kanchanaburi floating river huts for a peaceful karaoke stay. Oh, and NEVER EVER go on a speaker/tv-equipped thai tour bus (acually, same goes for myanmar or cambodia) without quality earplugs or a fully charged mp-player with in-ear headphones to drown out the irritation. I just don't know how they can handle all that noise and not go insane. Must ba all the Buddhism. Strange, cos since I got into Buddhism I actually started embracing silence and got over my perma-music addiction . . . oh well.

 

[Black]

thanks for the recommendations!

bottle beach is indeed nice, i was there before, but only for one afternoon. it might be nice to stay a few days there if the rest of the island is too crowded due to high season (or increasing tourism).

the noise addiciton of the thais is funny in small doses and annoying when you're more exposed to it. apperently they believe that noise keeps away evil spirits. i once witnessed some kind of ceremony in preparation for a party on phangan, where they lit heaps of firecrackers to keep the spirits away...

 

[StarOceanHouse]

On Ko Pha Ngan I liek Had Salad beach (northwest) and also Bottle beach (I think Norteast) ...

I like Railey island off Krabi, somewhere near Phi Phi (which i haven't ben to due to the hype). But even on relatively quiet Railey one is at risk of having shitey pop and tech bass blasting into the wee hours, and if one wants to sleep at, say, midnight, because all one actually wants is RELAX, forget it... the bass penetrates all...

I don't recall Railey being an island. Railey was probably one of my favorite places in thailand. Very awesome climbing spots with great views. The whole place seemed more chilled out. I don't remember hearing any pop there. It seems like most of the places there had reggae.