International > Thailand
Thailand tips
DaeguMike:
I love Thailand! ;D
A great website for SE Asia is travelfish.org.
Good info for traveling overland from Thailand to Cambodia is on talesofasia.com.
Air Asia is a good budget airline, especially if you buy early and get the promo price.
At Bangkok airport, if you take the taxi, most of them will try to rip you off and say 500 baht. Just smile, and say meter, and they will always turn on the meter.
They now have the skytrain that goes from the airport into town. Then you can link to the other skytrain lines and the subway line.
You can take the airport bus (only till approx 11:30 PM) to Khoa San Road. The subway doesn't go there.
In Bangkok, some taxis will not want to use the meter, especially if you go during heavy traffic. You might have to ask a few, but you can find a taxi that will use a meter.
When it rains, more taxis will refuse to use the meter. But you can find one if you keep asking.
You will almost never get a taxi that is parked at a tourist area to use the meter.
In Bangkok if you want to use the public buses, get that map with has the bus routes on it.
Bangkok's Khoa San Road is the backpacker's paradise (or expat's nightmare).
The weekend market is a huge swap meet. Good prices if you can negotiate. Wholesale prices if you buy a lot. Hot, muggy, and crowded. Can get there easily on the subway. Open only on the weekends.
Phuket and Samui are the 2 largest islands; they're great.
Phuket and Samui has opposite seasons. Phuket has good weather in December; Samui is good in June. But weather is never a guarantee.
In high season in Phuket, the tuk-tuk drivers will totally rip you off. They just park, wait and gouge the tourists. Sometimes it's more expensive than a taxi back in the states. There is Patong "mafia" taxi system. There are cheap public buses to Phuket Town. From Phuket Town, there are public transport to all the beaches. But they only run till evening.
Pattaya has a great transport system. But it's right in the middle of the adult entertainment center of the world. :P Beaches are a little better south of Pattaya in Jomtien, and you can get away from that adult scene, if you want.
Thailand has good cheap hospitals. Bumrungrad hospital is good. Highly recommended.
Bangkok has great Korean food. LA, Seoul and Bangkok has the best. Bangkok's K-town is at Sukhumvit soi 12.
The young disco scene is at RCA 2. Route 66 is the huge one. Funny, but Route 66 has the normal discrimination. It has a cover charge for foreigners, and none for locals. It's funny because in SE Asia, that type of discrimination is reversed. Normally the tourists are let in free dressed awfully, while the locals are given the 3rd degree.
fishead:
Here are a few tips. If you arrive in the afternoon there is a bus that goes straight to Ko Sarn road. It's much cheaper than Taxis. If you plan to stay in the Kho Sarn road vacinity be aware that hotels off the main drag offer better deals and are somewhat safer. Drugging guests food is a popular scam amounst locals only eat the food at restaurants. Don't fall for the Tuk Tuk scams most of the products they push are of inferior quality than what you would find just randomly walking into a shop yourself. Stay away from Jewelery shops recomended by locals. Always insist your taxi driver takes you to the place you want to go they sometimes may say it's closed or no good just to get a commision on an overprized inferior product. Avoid second floor bars in the Patpong district these are notorious for offering free shows and then suddenly tough guys show up and you are asked tp pay an outragious price.
There is also a bus that goes straight from Bangkok airport to Pattaya. It's about 300 baht. You can land in BKK and be on the beach on the same day.
If you are a real beach nut you are better off going to Krabbi it has some of the most beautiful beaches in Thailand. You can stay cheaply in Krabi town and then take a longboat to Railay beach. When you get to Railay beach there is a small path through a cave you can take that will get you to an even more beautiful beach.
From Krabbi there are all kinds of day tours you can take. These fall between 500 baht to 1000 baht. These include a lunch snorkeling gear and transportation from your hotel to the islands. There is a breathtaking island Hong Island with a lagoon. You can quite literally swim and watch parrot fish swim with you. Watch out for the sea Urchins. You should watch where you step. They appear in clusters. You will see none and suddenly they will be all over the place.
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