Thailand Advice

[redbullzeye]

I know quite a few of you have been to Thailand and Bangkok Red lives there and all that.  Do you have any advice, recommendations, places to go/avoid etc, that I can pass on to my 19 year old lad who is planning to go out there for a couple of months.   I wouldn't have a bloody clue

[Simon Pieman]

Make sure he has a feel before going off with one of the local 'ladies'.

[BANGKOK RED]

Depends what he wants to do really, although being 19 I doubt that the visiting temples is high on his 'to do' list.

Is he going with the GF, a few lads or on his tod?

He should definately try at least a few days in Bangkok, alot people cant stand the traffic and pollution but the place is something else. Khao San road is good for a night out, and right next to the grand palace should that tickle his fancy.

Patpong, Nana plaza and Soi Cowboy are top nightspots. Personally I prefer Soi Cowboy but then Cowboy because it is less sleazy. But anyway. And you should definately let him know that taking the piss out of fat, sleazy German sex tourists in teh go-go bars is hugely entertaining.

Kanchanburi is s'posed to be top notch, as is Chiang Mai although I have never made it to either and so can't really comment.

If he is with a bunch of lads then he MUST go to walking street in Pattaya, the beach is shitty but there are unlikely to be many places in the world better than Walking Street for a lad's holiday.

The Islands are amazing of course, I prefer Koh Samet because it is fairly close to Bangkok and reasonably priced. If he wants an Island with a bit of nightlife then he should look to Phuket or Koh Samui, Koh Samui is also just a short boat trip away from Koh Phang Nang where the famous full moon party is held. Although they are a bit of a trek from Bangkok.

Also if he is going for 2 months then he should consider getting a 3 month tourist visa from the Thai Embassy in London first. He could just get a 1 month visa on arrival but then after that expires he would need to do a "Visa run", which would involve travelling to Cambodia, Laos, Burma or Malaysia to get a new stamp.

[redbullzeye]

Cheers for that BR.  He's going with a few lads and wants to head for the islands after a couple of nights in Bangkok.

[BANGKOK RED]

Cheers for that BR.  He's going with a few lads and wants to head for the islands after a couple of nights in Bangkok.

No worries, be sure to let him know about the visa thing though, it could really bugger up his holiday having to go to Cambodia or something otherwise (Unless he wants to that is)

[suttonred]

I can recommend kanchanaburi, 19 or not the bridge and war graves are very inspiring and so is the boat ride to get there. ah soi cowboy and patpong, is miss two banana's still doing the biz br?

[Northern Red]

Kanchanburi is s'posed to be top notch, as is Chiang Mai although I have never made it to either and so can't really comment.

I recommend Kanchanburi - it was my favourite place in Thailand (bar the relief of the Banglampu (Koh Sahn?) Road and it's partly western comfort after the poverty of India)

River Kwai history and the horrors of the Burma railway are the top tourist 'attractions' with plenty of well balanced accounts. We did a guided tour which was Waterfall Swimming and climbing, followed by a visit to the various places to do with the Burma railway, then finished with a trip on the steam train over the bridge-over-the-River-Kwai.

We stayed in one of the river raft houses to start with, but the romance of it is spoiled by hundreds of massive roaches, so the better comfort is in the new build apartments on the main road. We found the locals really nice and the local eateries were superb, but it's a chilled out place rather than a party land.

As for the islands - I'd avoid Koh Samui - We went and it might has well have been Majorca.
Although if he does go there, he needs to do the boat trip around the national water park out at sea (I can't think what it's called - EDIT: Ang Thong*) great diving, snorkelling and kayaking in crystal blue waters (better than the Barrier Reef which I later visited) - it's one of the islands the film The Beach was filmed on...

[RappersDelight]

in 2 months he's got time to move around so i'd recommend doing an elephant trek in chang mai. its got the trekking on foot and on elephant and bamboo rafting. i did the 2 day 1 night trip which was enough for me. it's proper cheap anyway.

northern red, you say koh samui is like majorca but i wouldn't agree with that, it depends where you stay. i was with the mrs in thailand so we stayed in a quieter part of the island in chong mon which was ace. although for lads going its probably not the place he's looking for.

pervy pattaya is popular with the lads as mr bangkok says.

defo do the full moon party on koh phang nang. a night not to be missed. the buckets are ace! it very popular though so may need to book in advance. i had to stay in a shitty place near the port cos left it late.

i quite liked krabi and also close to phi phi islands (where the beach was filmed)

if he wants to go scuba diving then i think koh tao is the place to go. i didn't fancy diving but it was very popular on that island.

its quite hard to recommend though cos i was with the girlfriend so our travelling will be completely different to what your son will be doing!

[redbullzeye]

Cheers Chaps I'll pass the good words on.  I don't think he's got anything specific like diving in mind, in fact, I don't really want to question them too hard about what they plan to be up to!  Just as long as they stay safe and have a great time

[oxford_fan]

avoid samui. go there to get to phangan/other places. i can personally recommend phangan and the full moon, and hear from friends that ko tao and phi phi are well worth a visit, my mate has some awesome photos from the latter.

[BANGKOK RED]

avoid samui. go there to get to phangan/other places. i can personally recommend phangan and the full moon, and hear from friends that ko tao and phi phi are well worth a visit, my mate has some awesome photos from the latter.

I have been to Phi Phi and it is arguably the most gorgeous place that I have ever been to, you couldn't imagine a better paradise.

Iv'e not been since the Tsunami though and by all accounts it was absolutely devastated. Worth a google though to see how it is now though definately.

[Mexicano Rojo]

my friend was in phi phi last week and said it was back to normal. thais are funny as fuck he told me they were speaking to a bar man about the tsunami and he was laughing at all the people snorkeling on the coral when the wave hit, suddenly there was no water and they were all lying on dead sharp coral in there swimming trunks!

[janaage]

my friend was in phi phi last week and said it was back to normal. thais are funny as fuck he told me they were speaking to a bar man about the tsunami and he was laughing at all the people snorkeling on the coral when the wave hit, suddenly there was no water and they were all lying on dead sharp coral in there swimming trunks![/quote]

Do you mean the swimmers were dead?!? :shock:   Or they were laying on the coral on the dead coral in their trunks (but they were still alive??)

[Mexicano Rojo]

no they were all alive but lying on dead sharp coral as in very very sharp. cut to bits they were. the thai bloke thought this was fucking hilarious!

[janaage]

Oh that's alright then, I thought this heartless Thai (and Mexican) were laughing about corpses in swimming gear lying dead there on the coral.