Things to see and do in Thailand !!

[wanna.spoon]

in mid march?..thought that was a new years thing :s

Sent with my Wang~

its like every month when there's a full moon...

take it your going with your missus or something because you mentioned "we" so ping pong show is probably out of the question...

[D.K.C]

Go watch muay thai at Lumpinee or Rajadamnern Road boxing stadiums in Bangkok. Costs about 1500 THB a ticket but totally worth it.
Don't bother with the shitty little boxing stadiums in Phuket, they're a scam, the fights are all fixed but you get a free t-shirt!! lol.

[xolent]

Depends where you'll be in Thailand,

if you're in BKK...

- There's the shopping centre districts such as MBK, Siam Paragon etc. Top level of MBK has markets and movies, just know how to bargain and if it seems too good to be true, then it most likely is. I bought a spare PSP battery for the plane ride, Sony packaging and Sony batt for $5, turned out to be a fake, noticed only some minor differences from the genuine. And know where to bargain and what not, I saw an English fella talk shit and try bargain at a DEPARTMENT store and harassing the guy, my god I wanted to step in and punch him in the face. He was really derogatory and was after a pair of chucks and blasted the guy saying "this is fake, what the hell is all star? I asked for converse, this is fake, you give me all star, I want converse" (chucks don't clearly say converse on the outer haha).
- Go watch a Muay Thai fight at either Rajadumnern or the more famous Lumpinee Stadium, there's fights during most days of the week. This is pinnacle of Muay Thai, this is the creme de la creme of the sport. The other places you find in most touristy places in Thailand have foreigners (some are good but not as a good as a Thai) fight bumb, overweight taxi drivers that fake their losses in order to make the foreigner feel superior and go home and brag about how he smashed a Thai

Phuket

- Big Buddha, it's located on the mountain and it's an awesome sight and gives you an awesome sight!
- For the beaches I'd highly suggest going to either Nai Harn beach or Rawai (southern tip of Phuket)... it's the total opposite of the shit hole that is Patong beach, it's nice and calm. Even the locals swim there.
- Jungcylon (sp?) shopping centre is just another shopping centre, nothing fancy there but this is where I discovered this Jap chain restaurant (not sure if they're worldwide) called Fuji, and my god the Salmon there was the BEST salmon I ever had. We ordered so much food and it was all so fresh, ordered heaps of Sashimi, got desert and these fancy Milk Tea drinks and ended up being $40? Absolutely the best Salmon I've had. My god. I can go on and on about it. Have I told you how fresh the salmon was? My god.
- There's plenty of places to eat, Phuket has this "phuket lobster" thing going on, and it's just like a Balmain bug if you ask me, and it's okaaaaaay price wise.
- Phuket has a zoo also and it's worth taking a trip out there with the family, I went there to take photos with the little baby monkeys haha but be wary it can get expensive as they charge you something like 1-300BHT for a photo, per person (it all adds up as I realised once you think about transport, the number of photos with animals, food to feed the animals, food to eat there, merchandise etc etc)

KSM

- I didn't really like KSM that much so I can't comment but I went to see their "big buddha", not really interesting
- Chaweng is the main spot, it's one loooooooooooooong arse road. Just the usual, meh.


I think the most important thing bout Thailand is knowledge of scams and stuff, because Phuket, the touristy places in BKK and KSM are all touristy, meaning there isn't really any real locals there, most of the people there come from the poorer parts of Thailand to make a living. It's a sad reality really.

Be wary of the following

- When going into bars such as Bangla rd (if you decide to just go with the mrs), becareful of entering a bar on your on accord and a guy following you. That guy will pretend he works there and serve you with a cardboard with their prices, what you don't know is he's just an average guy. He'll charge you say, 500BHT for a drink, when all he does he goes up to the bar, buys a drink for 200BHT and keeps the 300 to himself, you could of done that yourself.
- As above, the guys with the signs will harass you on Bangla rd trying to get you into a bar/ping pong show etc.
- The guys that stand outside your resort and pretty much every other guy that drives an "average" car/suv with no stickers that hang outside a certain area, are the "taxi mafia", they control their own area and not really a "mafia" interms of Al Capone and what not but they own that area and sort of control their prices in a group. You still don't fuck with them 'cause they have their own connections. But be wary, they might smile and offer the right prices but always enquire about the price and gauge at other prices before you make a decision. These guys make money also but taking you for a tour around "selected" jewellery/pearl/silver shops (they get a small fee by just taking you there) so be wary when they try to slip you the question. Be wary of jewellery scams too, as some tend to be fake or whatever, make sure you do your research!!! Be wary and KEEP YOUR OPTIONS OPEN when they suggest to take you somewhere nice to eat/drink/sight-see as they get money out of that too, and it might be overpriced and a really shit service (like they give a fuck, they just want money). Seriously, watch out for these guys when they try to slip you the question, some will blatantly ask you but some will try to act like they're your buddy and during the trip will try to slip you the question. If you're not interested I always said in a joking way that I'm running out of money or had no interest in jewellery
- Try to avoid jetski's and hiring scooters from dodgy guys, they're their own mafia too. Patong beach is notorious for these scum bags, one of my friends got whacked $1000US (30,000BHT!!!) because apparently the jetski didn't work once they returned it. Same goes with scooters, be wary as some will try and steal it with a spare set of keys or minor scratches and charge you a ridiculous amount to repair for the smallest ding.
- I can't think of anymore, it's true that Thailand is the land of smiles, but as the cynical fucker that i am, they're smiling for a reason. Once you show that you're not interested in what they have to offer or are not an avenue of making money, watch how fast the smile fades away. It's true for most of the touristy places, and it's such a sad reality, and I don't really blame them. I think deep down inside they don't like foreigners but it's the only avenue for them to make a good living off. The smiling concept is quite opposite to Vietnam I think (I'm Viet)... those fuckers just straight up want to extort money from you without even smiling. Atleast they do it infront of your face 5555.....

[wal32r]

Subbed! Leaving 2nd March, going tubing in Laos too. Interesting to hear everyones experiences

[WAN94N]

lmfao ..im viet and.ur commebt is pretty true aboyt our culture. just feela like asia is out to rip us off!

Sent with my Wang~

[wanna.spoon]

I actually copped more problems from foreigners rather than the locals when I went...

be wary of many of the foreigners that go there... there are many out there that go there just to service their vision of grandeur... they are just small men with tall poppy syndrome... don't mess with those fucks last thing you want is to even spend 15 minutes in a Thai gaol... they are gutless and wont do shit anyway... they'll get what's coming to them and get stabbed in an alleyway...

[WAN94N]

....guess thats nother way to see it.

Sent with my Wang~

[Goose]

when you get to patong beach hire an R6 from the bike joint infront of burger king. take it up the moutains and follow until you hit Karon Beach, its real nice, then follow up and check out all the little beaches. The bug buddah is good and should be almost finished by now. def get a jeep to do that one , me n kel hired a jeep and its an eye opener trying to negotiate those roads(drivers) in a car. When you go to bangla rd (the darlinghurst rd of thailand) walk into the middle of the street after 5pm on the beach side and yell out "can anyone sell me a suit" watch all the Indian/thai flock like seagulls.
"suit,suit"
"tuk tuk"
"g'day mate" (hotrrible accent)

these are the 3 things you will hear the most!!

[WAN94N]

Sounds like u had a blast with the locals Goose. Am i going to have a lot of trouble with communication? Ie everyone will hav some sort of idea of what im saying?

Sent with my Wang~

[An41]

you will have no trouble whats so ever with communication, Thai's understand and communicate really well. All you need to take with you is an open mind and common sense.

It helps a lot if you were travelling with someone who was thai, you can get discounts on almost everything. When I travelled with a few friends and my girlfriend, her thai friend was able to book us quad bike trips,white water rafting, phi phi island and other day trips at 60% off.
Its true Thai people do act nice to lure you but they are genuinely as nice and go out of there way to help. Vietnam is a dog eat dog culture. I have travelled many times to Thailand as a young kid and still till this day, I've had 99% good experiences and 1% terrifying.

You can honestly wing it, thailand is super easy to navigate. Avoid floating market, its feels too fake.
My only bad experience was cause I was absolutely too stupid to listen to my brain, I knew it was a bad idea to go to a ping pong show in pat pong, was in there for 30mins and got extorted 600 baht/person,i was mad at the time but my girlfriend and our friends can laugh about it now.haha

[WAN94N]

Damn wish i knew a thai person over there lol actually meeting a.friend there but.she doesnt speak thai. Not going to bother with the thai floating markets as i will be in the mekong delta region of vietnam the week prior

[[ekkY]]

if travel around april around the 2nd week
its the songkran festival, new years
so whereever you go, you get wet and dirty from locals wishing you a happy new years

other people here have mention all the basic of what to see and do
also, get a sak yant tattoo and visit ancient city
get outta bangkok and visit the country sides, they are so beautiful

[WAN94N]

Will only be in Thailand from 17-24 march so I'll miss out

[WAN94N]

i know there.is a market aroind.every corner, but are.there.any stand out ones.in koh samui and bangkok?

Sent with my Wang~

[Will]

Very informative thread!

I'll be going mid-april =)