Bangkok

Next week i'll be in bkk for 5 days....besides the sex scean around the silom which i know about what other places do people like to see....so far i've done The grand palace ..wat po temple and the shops and big stores

[joe552]

maybe try an evening dinner cruise or one of the floating markets? :dontknow:

Cheers Joe...was going to do the floating market last time but did'nt get round to it

[joe552]

It's a bit touristy, but I enjoyed it - worth a couple of hours in the morning. I think there might be a couple of different ones and I can't remember where we went, so maybe check with a tour desk.

[christianpfc]

This question is very general, but I can recommend http://wikitravel.org/en/Bangkok

[RonanTheBarbarian]

I liked the Jim Thompson house. It is about an eight minute walk from National Stadium Skytrain Station.

It is small, but perfectly formed. (Jim put it together from four traditional Thai houses). They have recently built a bit of a museum on the grounds, but the main thing is the house. They do guided tours of it every 15 minutes or so.

Thompson was almost certainly gay, but that isn't mentioned in the tour. It is fun though to quietly note all the obvious signs of it the home decor etc. as the tour guide natters away.

The little restaurant in the grounds is a relaxing spot for a cool drink too.


If you are into culture, a day trip to Ayuthaya and the Bang Pa-In Palace is well worth it. I did a tour where they bring you to Bang Pa-In and Ayutthaya in a bus and then back in a boat down the Chao Phraya to Bangkok. Any of the tour agencies will have similar trips.

[cameroncat]

A trip to "Ancient City" is worth a half day trip. Many acres filled with appear to be about 50% scale reproductions of famous buildings/temples from all over Thailand. Also a trip to the Alligator farm can be interesting. Don't forget the world's largest swap meet on the weekends at Chatuchak Park.

[anonone]

Is the night market near Lumpini park still around? I enjoyed it, but heard some time ago there was pressure for them to close it up....
Had a fun outdoor food court thing going on with live music on stage, along with the standard "market" stuff.

[Rush, Yet Again]

It closed awhile back anonone, the recently opened Asiatique at the river is supposed to be a good alternative. It has over 1,000 shops with many of the old vendors from Suan Lum there including the puppet theater.

Christan did a great post here on the Erawan Elephant Museum you can find by searching for it. ItтАЩs a great daytime outing.

Wandering through the narrow lanes in Chinatown and Little India opens you to a different segment of Thai society; ditto for Khaosan Road though thatтАЩs not so much about Thais as it is a different underbelly of farang society.

The Mahathat Amulet Market is interesting on Sundays when it seems half the town shows up to buy the strangest religious paraphernalia, the one behind Wat Ratchanadda isnтАЩt quite as exotic but tied in with checking out the Loha Prasat makes for an interesting visit plus you can then slip across the street for lunch with locals at Thip Samai Thai which has arguably the best pad thai in the city.

The Bangkok Art and Culture Centre by MBK is worth a visit, itтАЩs free, the exhibits change often, there are usually a few interactive exhibits to please the kid in everyone, and itтАЩs becoming a hangout for the cityтАЩs young artists.

[Maxxy]

Evening dinner cruise on the Chao Phraya river is good, I went on the Chao Phraya Princess and had a good time. Also I recommend a trip to Ayutthaya, I went there last year and really enjoyed it, the trip was via Bang Pa In.

[pong]

if someone does not even give the slightest hint about what he likes to, the answer is: open that guidebook, they all do the main sites.
If you have more time @hand: google for site like bangkok-daytrips, linked to a family of sites run by the PakNamfora.
Frankly: BKK does not really have that many real touristy sights as about any medium sized Europe city would have. Plus that many parts traffic is a hell to just get there. The average tourist stays for 3-4 days (divided up at start and end of grand tour) and does 1 day of the main sites, then shops+the other vice things BK is so famous for. Temples and shoping centres tend to look all like the 13 in a dozen after the first initial enthusiasm wanes. As does about any BKK neighborhood.
What makes this city so liveable-for me at least, are the Thai people and just wandering around at normal/untouristy neighborhoods always bring surprises. This city also changes extremely fast and any time I get there new surprises are somewhere to be found-by just wandering or plain good luck. So-do not be so afriad, get out and explore. ANywhere are milions of taximeters to bring you safely back to palceyoustay.

What makes this city so liveable-for me at least, are the Thai people and just wandering around at normal/untouristy neighborhoods always bring surprises.

I have to agree, the last time I ended up almost boring myself in BKK by sleeping late, going to all the same places and seeing the same people / things everyday so one afternoon jumped on the BTS, went to the river and jumped on the cheap public ferry and went one way up river trip, my full intention was to come back down again but ended up enjoying the view so much that I stayed on until the very last stop ( I have NO idea where that was) so had to get off, then went a walk around a great local food market, had some great thai food and ended up going exploring on a pedal driven tuk tuk and on going back to the boat station the boats had finished for the night and had one hell of a time getting a taxi to drive me back to silom as no one wanted to leave their local area and hit the bkk traffic as it was that far away ( a 600 or 700 baht cab fare late at night I recall) so yes, I would agree, get out there and"do stuff" and be sure not to fall into the trap of just doing the same old same old which I find is SO easy to do when in BKK.

[a447]

If you are a foodie,

.......try the high tea at the Oriental Hotel and go to the food hall in Siam Paragon. If you look up you'll see the internet cafe. Right below the cafe is Mossburger, the famous Japanese burger chain. Facing the gourmet market, take the left passageway and you'll come across Beard Papa. It's a Japanese chain store that specialises in cream puffs. (No, S-G. I didn't misspell it!). They are amazing! Then head off to the left again to the canal and you'll find le Notre, the famous French patisserie. Try his tiramisu!
And there's a great selection of restaurants which have just opened on the 7th floor of Zen.
And there is a fantastic French patisserie right by the entrance to Central World (coming from Siam Paragon).

Ah....I could go on and on and on and......

[christianpfc]

went to the river and jumped on the cheap public ferry and went one way up river trip, my full intention was to come back down again but ended up enjoying the view so much that I stayed on until the very last stop ( I have NO idea where that was) so had to get off...
Most probably Nonthaburi, station N30. From there it's not far to Pak Kret (island in the Chao Phraya), which is worth a visit as well (according to internet, I haven't been there yet). There are river boats from Bangkok (green + yellow flag, from selected piers according to my map, no personal experience) to Pak Kret as well.

[martin911]

Ni --i did something similar with the Bf one day -- as he is a Bkk resident i had thought he would be able to show me sights in Bkk i had not seen before -

Nope it pretty much fizzled out after he showed me the very gay Union Mall --so i did what you did --dragged him out of bed one morn headed to one of the boat stations --and just cruised for a few hours (not the usual type Colmx !! )

He was getting bored so we hopped off (no idea where we were and got taxi back )

I find the river in Bkk is fascinating -- great way to spend time in Bkk

[Sooty]

I was with a Thai resident of Bangkok who had lived there most of his life. We were near Siam Square and a Japanese tourist stopped him and asked him the way to the Erewan Shrine. He had absolutely no idea what the Japanese was on about but being Thai couldn't say "No idea" and pointed him in the wrong direction. I live in the world's greatest city (London) and I'd be hard-pressed to tell a visitor places of interest to visit apart from Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St Pauls and Greenwich. That's what guide books are for, surely? By the way who are all these ignorant people here who refer to the city by its airport acronym? Educated people don't refer to the cities of Vancouver as YVR, San Francisco as SFO or London as LHR, to choose three at random.

[christianpfc]

When I was studying in Berlin, I was too absorbed in my studies, so I didn't have time for sightseeing. But now, working near Paris, I don't make the same mistake: I go for sightseeing most weekends.

Before each holiday in Thailand, I do some extensive preparations (mostly with internet) to choose places to visit.

What's wrong with airport acronyms or 3 letter abbreviations for cities? I use BKK for Bangkok and PTY for Pattaya, and a lot of inhabitants of Chiang Mai use CNX on camfrog or gayromeo.

[RonanTheBarbarian]

There seems to be a tradition amongst expats in Southeast Asia to use letter acronyms for cities, especially those made up of two separate words, or above three syllables (such as KL for Kuala Lumpur, PP for Phnom Penh, VT for Vientiane, etc.)

It predates wide knowledge of airport codes, and I dont think it really had anything to do with them (anyway airport codes are three letters, and the classic SE Asia abbreviations such as KL and PP and LP are two letters - BKK is the only common one that has three).

I always shorten Chiang Mai to CM myself. I think use of CNX for Chiang Mai is mainly an American habit brought in by Yanks who think the "system" is based on airport codes (like with their talk of JFK and LAX).

By the way who are all these ignorant people here who refer to the city by its airport acronym? Educated people don't refer to the cities etc etc ........

What you mean the ignorant people who actually live there then ? As that's where I first came across the acronym Bkk being used..... and does it REALLY matter, it's hardly a matter of education more just a matter of typing something fast that everyone knows what you mean, which I'm guessing when it comes to Bkk most people do.

[RonanTheBarbarian]

Thinking about it further, i drew up a brief list of acronyms for towns and cities in SE Asia that seem reasonably common in messageboards and the like.

First, two letter ones:

Hong Kong - HK
Phnom Penh - PP
Siem Reap - SR
Chiang Mai - CM
Chiang Rai - CR
Luang Prabang - LP
Vientiane - VT
Kuala Lumpur - KL


Secondly, three letter ones

Bangkok - BKK
Pattaya - PTY
Nakhon Si Thammarat - NST


Four letter ones:

Only one in this category : HCMC for Ho Chi Minh City. Most westerners seem to refer to it as "Saigon" in conversation, but when writing a lot of them call it HCMC.


A brief look at the above list would suggest that the fondness for Westerners calling SE Asian cities by acronyms probably stems at least partly from the fact that the seems to be an inordinate amount of town names made up of two separate words, at least from a western European perspective.

[anonone]

By the way who are all these ignorant people here who refer to the city by its airport acronym? Educated people don't refer to the cities etc etc ........

What you mean the ignorant people who actually live there then ? As that's where I first came across the acronym Bkk being used..... and does it REALLY matter, it's hardly a matter of education more just a matter of typing something fast that everyone knows what you mean, which I'm guessing when it comes to Bkk most people do.

I recently received an email from my Thai teacher. She is native Thai and lives in Bangkok. She referenced "BKK time" to ensure no time zone misunderstanding.
I can assure you, neither she nor I are ignorant.

Criticizing and demeaning others without provocation strikes me as far more ignorant behavior...

[martin911]

Just another grumpy old fuckstick (not you Anon ) with nothing better to do than moan/gripe about what others care to post -- :laughing3:

So now calling Bangkok "BKK" for short means the writer is ignorant -- Oh it must be very quiet wherever soot lives !!

Speaking in that line were is BritT --not seen him here in ages lol ! :dontknow:

[fountainhall]

a Japanese tourist stopped him and asked him the way to the Erewan Shrine. He . . . pointed him in the wrong direction.
The Japanese should not have been surprised. Having lived in Tokyo, they are the worst when it comes to directing anyone anywhere!


who are all these ignorant people here who refer to the city by its airport acronym?
You obviously do not live in Asia. People travel a lot more here and it is quite usual to refer to some cities by their airport acronym тАУ especially on message boards. It is to do with convenience and absolutely nothing to do with ignorance.

Incidentally, itтАЩs not just Asia. How many times do you read about LAX when posters refer to Los Angeles? Most of the time!

[joe552]

surely, fountainhall, LA is commonly used to refer to the city, while LAX only refers to the airport? I agree with your other point, though.

[Neal]

surely, fountainhall, LA is commonly used to refer to the city, while LAX only refers to the airport? I agree with your other point, though.

correct

[joe552]

jeez, I got something right - that's surely another glass of wine from DaBoss?

[fountainhall]

Certainly in the west, most people refer to LA. On the other hand, I do hear people in Asia, when asked where they are going in America, say LAX, whereas they would never say SFO, ORD or DFW. In the Philippines, LAX has become almost generic for LA.

I always wonder how many Japanese say they are going to FUK - when they mean Fukuoka!

jeez, I got something right - that's surely another glass of wine from DaBoss?

"Another" ??!!! lol - at the rate you're going trying to get even the first one out of him I wouldn't hold your hand on your arse or be dying of thirst waiting on that "other" one perhaps ! lol :-)

[joe552]

I'm just an eternal optimist :happy7:

yes I was going to say that you do seem to be a glass half full and not a glass half empty sort of guy.......but on reflection so far that's been glass TOTALLY empty and looking like it's going to stay that way for a while if someone else has their way ! lol

[joe552]

all will change on June 6th when I'm actually sitting in Neal's bar lowering his excellent vintage wine. by my reckoning, I'm due about 2 bottles. :alc:

ha ha I'm guessing that the only thing that will be lowering will be the amount of Baht in your wallet once you get the check bin for the "free" wine that you thought you were drinking :-) lol

[joe552]

Neal wouldn't be so devious, surely :dontknow:

And HOW long have you been going to Thailand exactly - bars, check bins, add ons ??? lol - and no I'm sure Neal himself wouldn't ( unless it's his best wine your drinking and then I'd imagine the gloves are off ! :-) - and stop calling me Shirley !!! lol

[joe552]

- and stop calling me Shirley !!! lol

sorry, I forgot you only use that name on Saturday nights :occasion9:

[thaiguest]

I liked the Jim Thompson house. It is about an eight minute walk from National Stadium Skytrain Station.

It is small, but perfectly formed. (Jim put it together from four traditional Thai houses). They have recently built a bit of a museum on the grounds, but the main thing is the house. They do guided tours of it every 15 minutes or so.

Thompson was almost certainly gay, but that isn't mentioned in the tour. It is fun though to quietly note all the obvious signs of it the home decor etc. as the tour guide natters away.

The little restaurant in the grounds is a relaxing spot for a cool drink too.


If you are into culture, a day trip to Ayuthaya and the Bang Pa-In Palace is well worth it. I did a tour where they bring you to Bang Pa-In and Ayutthaya in a bus and then back in a boat down the Chao Phraya to Bangkok. Any of the tour agencies will have similar trips.
Jim Thomson, one of the most enigmatic people to alight in Asia; the quiet American, intelligent, reserved, artistic, humane and mysterious to the end even unto the circumstances of his death. I walked around his house and grounds for the umpteenth time some months ago and overheard a lady say; " this could only have been built by a gay man". I think you're correct, gay for sure.