My Thoughts and Tips on Thailand
I have been to Thailand seven times now on business, although I spent five nights in Koh Samui island on holiday. My last visit was for seven weeks, taking me to Bangkok, Saraburi and Koh Samui. I found the hotels and food to be very cheap, and good quality. The weather is hot and humid and I did get a few insect bites. The best time to go is Jan to March when it is cooler and less rain. The people are friendly to foreigners, Thailand is called the Land of Smiles. You should not say anything against the royal family or Buddha. Touching another persons head is considered rude. If you come up against a problem do not get angry and start shouting, smile and work through the problem, stay calm, this is part of Buddhist culture, getting angry will not help you. In most tourist areas English will be spoken. As a a foreigner you are known to the Thais as a farang (meaning Westerner).
I travel extensively for a living, 6 months a year overseas for the last 14 years, and during my first visit to Thailand, in a town outside of Bangkok, someone entered my room at night while I was sleeping and stole my bag. This was later found in a toilet with my ticket and passport, minus travellers cheques. So lock your door at night.
Bangkok is a huge fairly modern city, the traffic is terrible. You can get most western things there if you look for them. There are plenty of Pharmacies. The hotel prices are reasonable and the food is good. You must visit the Grand Palace and the temples, and a boat trip on the river is good. You should be suitably dressed to visit temples, and there is usually an entrance charge for foreigners. The Grand Palace has a 200 Baht entrance fee for farangs, but not for Thais.
Thai food is generally very hot, especially the Thai salads (it is hotter than Indian food), fortunately it is not all hot. However, it is cheap and healthy, (I lost weight) and generally the western food is more expensive and poorer quality. My advice is to try to eat the Thai food and avoid the western food. A small seafood salad is only about 70 B, chicken soup with coconut milk is about 120B and is a main course. The sea food is usually excellent, although things like lobster and tiger prawns do start to get expensive at 100+B/100g. On my third visit I did get a case of diarrhoea so take your "Arret" with you. In central Bangkok I found a very reasonably priced Japanese restaurant that did a mixed plate of Sashimi for 300B ($8), washed down with cold Sake served in a little wooden box for 150B, this is great value.
The stories about the naughty night life in Thailand are true. If you see a beer-bar on Sukhumvit with Thai girls surrounding the bar, then they are all available, some of the girls working the bar might be available also (probably not true in Gullivers on soi 5 there might be some good girls there enjoying a night out). If you take a girl out of the bar, you generally have to pay a bar fine, plus pay the girl. If you are going as a couple then the wife should take a pair of handcuffs with her. Especially in Bangkok and Pattaya, where there are thousands of beautiful young Thai girls wanting your husband/boyfriend and his money. Even if he is old, bald and has a big belly, his wallet will still be highly desirable by these young girls. If you go as a couple, then go to Phuket rather than Pattaya, Phuket is more family friendly and the beaches are better. For more on the naughty Thai night life see Stickman's guide to Bangkok. Oh, I forgot to mention the lady boys, I am told that the Adam's apple is the giveaway. Pattaya has plenty of gay go-go bars, so it seems that Thailand is very gay tolerant, probably due to its Buddhist religion.
The year 2003 in Thailand is 2546 based on Buddha's birth in 543 BC. The Thai identity cards have the year of birth based on the Thai calendar, so you can always verify whether your new found girl-friend is under age or not. If she is, you could be spending time in the Bangkok Hilton.
The main beer is Singha Beer (6%), also Kloster and Heineken, beer Chang is available and is usually cheaper than the others and a bit stronger (6.5%). Typical bar prices were about 65 Baht for a small can of Singha ranging to 120++ in a five star hotel. My three star hotel in Saraburi charged 100 Baht for a large bottle (0.5 l) in the restaurant. If you like Spirits the Thai whisky (Mekong, named after the river), with the orange label, is more like rum than whisky and is quite drinkable, a half bottle can be bought for 80B ($2).
My five star hotel in Bangkok charged 2,800+/night ($70++), three star hotel in Saraburi 800/night ($20), and my bungalow on Ko Samui island was 1,500/night ($37), all included breakfast. I could find a perfectly reasonable 3 star hotel in Bangkok for about 1,200 B ($30). If you go at Christmas and New Year, watch out for the compulsory gala dinner. Also flights to Bangkok get booked early and can be expensive during the Christmas season. The only cheap flights from London were the Russian Aeroflot.
I had no problem getting money out of ATM using my switch (checking) card. Charges were usually 1.5% and the exchange rate was reasonable. A good tip I heard of is to withdraw an odd number like 9,900 Baht so you get plenty of useful 100 Baht notes.
I found using my English mobile phone within Thailand was very expensive (£1/min) and I was not charged by the second either, unless you use SMS (text messaging) which was very cheap 4.5p/message. If you go as a couple, both with mobiles, that 5 second "I am coming to the room, dear" call, will cost you dear, send a message instead. You can buy a SIM card for about $20. If you come from the USA you will need a tri-band phone.
Getting from central Bangkok to the airport by taxi is about 300 Baht, you may be asked to pay the toll charges (another way of ripping you off). From the airport to the city better to prepay the taxi. A hotel limo is over twice the cost. Getting around Bangkok in a taxi can be time consuming, a tuk tuk can also be used for about the same price as a taxi but you are exposed to the car fumes, but you get a better view of the city and it is more fun.
Bangkok has plenty of Westerners there. Pattaya is where the sex tourists go and the beaches are not so good. Phucket is more family friendly and the beaches are better. And Koh Samui caters for mostly foreigners rather than Thais. Bangkok Airways will fly you to Koh Samui for about $125 return. I organised my 5 day holiday in Koh Samui through one of the local travel angencies, I was not ripped off. There was a 400 baht departure airport tax from Koh Samui.
There are lots of thing to buy as souvenirs. I was fascinated by the soap carvings, there are plenty of wood carvings and of course Thai silk. I thought the prices were cheap. If you are the type to buy wood carvings buy a spare suitcase out there.
Coming from England, a stay under thirty days did not require a visa. But you are fined if you overstay.
There was a 500 Baht airport tax on departure.
For currency conversion see here
Page 1 of 1