Bangkok, I went some years ago, assume everyone is trying to rip you off and steer you to one of these jewellery supermarkets which is also a rip off (I assume..) I wouldn't spend more than a few days there personally, you will see more gold Budduahs (the huge reclining one is worth a look, as is the solid gold sitting one) than you can shake a stick at so see a few of these and don't miss the Bridge over the River quai excursion. Also great for fake rolexs and football tops, but don't expect the watches to last too long.
Can only agree with Razil, would only stay for a couple of days. was there 3 years ago and all you read about people trying to rip you off is exactly as it is. as long as you appear a little confident and take no crap, you will be fine. definately visit the river quai and grand palace
If you are interested in temples and history, then suggest you visit the Phra Nakhon Si Ayuthaya (ayuthaya or Ayudhya for short) which was the capital for 400+ years. It which should take you about 60 mins from Bkk.
If you want bars and girls they go up in Naughtiness from Nana plaza, Soi cowboy to patpong.
Hotels depends on what you want to spend. for a reasonable hotel I would recommend the Royal Benja which is just round the corner from Nana and cost about £25 a night.
For good fakes go to Patpong market, rough pricing pay 1000-1500baht for a top Watch(breitling) around 700baht for fake lighters (dupont), best value is the art work great fakes in oils.
Book your hotel at www.sawadee.com, I recommend avoiding the really cheap places, in Bangkok, cheap really means god awful.
Places to visit: The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Keow (next to each other), Wat Arun/ the Temple of the Golden Dawn, the Temple of the Golden Mount (especially on a clear day).
Scams: if someone comes up to you outside a temple/tourist place and "befriends" you be aware, he'll suggest a place for you to visit (this temple is only open on Mondays/whatever the day of the week it happens to be) and he'll insist on getting you a tuk-tuk at good prices, before you know it you'll spend a chunk of your time at his cousin's tailor shop, the Brother-in-laws jewellery emporium and so on.
Other scams are offers to buy cheap gems etc which the vendor will be unable to export himself.
The Thai people are lovely and you are more likely to be charmed rather than conned out of your money.
There is the Khao San road, where all the backpackers and gap year travellers hang out while getting their henna tattoos and hair extensions, that is full of Irish pubs offering breakfasts all day and stalls selling counterfeit CDS, DVDs and leisure wear etc. Personally I didn't this area much though a lot of hotels are in this area and there are loads of bars that open in the evening.
Negotiate for everything as there are western prices and local prices.
It's worth going to Kanchanaburo (River Kwai territory) but if you do book a three day/two night trip and stay on the raft hotels on the River Kwai itself and visit not just the bridge and the Commonwealth Cemetery but the Death Railway itself and beyond. Also worth visiting is Chiang Mai in the north west, though it takes all day by coach, you can though book a sleeper coach in the train and go over night.
Patpong...there is a good Irish bar at the end, at the Silom station end called O'Reillys with premiership football and a Thai Beatles band that seems to play regularly, as for the rest of Patpong, good luck...
I'm lucky enough that i've been out to Tokyo loads of times with work... truely fantastic city, but surprisingly not an awful lot of 'traditional sights' to see as most of them were destroyed in the earthquake in the 1950's. There are a few old temples to have a look at and Mount Fuji is only an hour away by train.
Next to no one speaks English, and plastic is not widely accepted (there are International ATM's which your cards will work in but these can be hard to find). The transport/tube system is fantastic, easy to navigate and dirt cheap. But Cabs are very expensive, and will often not pick you up as a 'Ganjin' in certain areas of the city, they also have bizarre dollies on the head rests and a mechanical door opening device! The city is very safe and you'll be unlikely to see any trouble.
The best place is to visit areas of Toyko rather than specific places. Akihabra is the electronics district is like nothing i've seen before, while Harijuku and Shibuya are younger trendier areas of the city, just go and have a wander around laugh at the bizzare sights - 40 year old men dressed as school girls wandering about!
Japanese have a very low tollerance of booze so most of the traditional bars a Yakitori places where you can eat finger food while boozing. Tradtional restaurants are very accomodating and have plastic food and pictures on most of their menus so you can see what you're ordering! Ninja and Alcatraz are themed restaurants, offer fantastic food, speak English/English menus and offer an experience you will never forget! There are other themed restuarants that are around, the church is litterally a very realistic recreation of a church on the 6th floor of a building in Tokyo!
Roppongi is the westerners playground and has a lot more western style bars. The Gas Panic chain are worth a look, offer cheap booze and are normally full of Australians and Yanks with a few Japanese girls who want to sleep with a Western Man before they settle down! The best club i've found is Lexington Queens which on a Thursday has model night which is rammed full of western models who get free Entrance, they also only let western people in, it's where the celebrities go when they're in tokyo but is really relaxed and laid back and nothing like London celeb hangouts.
Other things to do... try the onsen (tradtional japanese spa) over by the bay, get up early 4am and visit the fish market, sing kareoke at one of the numerous places, Have a drink at the Park Hyatt 52nd floor bar (lost in translation bar) although it's very expensive at $50 per person just to sit down!
Just go and explore, you'll have a great time...
*This post was brought to you in association with the Japanese tourest Authority and T*
TBH - I would fly to Chang Mai, shouldnt cost you more than 2000 baht rtn and it is only an hour.
If you are going to go up north you could go to Nong Khai and pop across to Lao.
Patpong is ok, a bit to seedy for my liking too many fat english and germans!
Gold is not a rip off if you go to one of the big shopping centres, but remember the gold is purer and as such is not worth much to western jewellers if you try to off load in the uk.
Not sure what you really want to do but Shinjuku(east side)at night time is worth visiting, easy to get to from tokyo,also there are plenty of interesting musuems to visit,they have a John Lennon musuem,numerous temples,tokyo also has the worlds largest disney sea park.As T mentioned you should really try and visit the fish market an opportunity not to be missed and well worth it. I'm sure you'll have a great time and as T mentioned it's very safe and trouble free.
Guys thanks alot for the info, will take it all on board.
I mean i'm going away for 1 year in total, Tokyo and Bangkok are just the first two "major" cities I will be visiting so its good to find out a little info from people before I go.
I'm going as a backpacker, gap year, lazy sod ass git.. whatever you want to call it.. but i'm young and don't care! Its been hard as anything saving half your wages each month but sure it'll all be worth it.
In regards to Tokyo I will be only staying for around 3/4 nights. Think I may be heading to a town called Asakusa (spelling?) and staying there, just spending a few days experiencing a different country. I leave Japan through Osaka.
With Bangkok my ticket is booked for 1 month in Thailand. This means I go into Bangkok and leave via Bangkok. Yet I want to just spend say 4/5 days in Bangkok at the start and maybe do some sort of trek to the islands and chill out abit. Don't really want to go off the beaten track too much as will be doing this in other countries.
Also if anyone knows anything about Sydney i'm staying in Collaroy over christmas time and into the new year, if anyones been or heard anything good/bad about it then would love to hear from ya.
Asakusa in Tokyo? It's an area of Tokyo famous for it's temples. it's much more traditonal area very nice, but don't forget to see the modern areas of the city as well!
3-4 days is probably perfect, it's a great city and loads of fun, but you can see everything in a couple of days, and on a backpackers money any longer will burn a hole. Osaka is like Birmingham is to London...
I never did the travelling thing which now i've been working for 10 years is something i really regret. Enjoy the experience as you've got 44 years when you return to work untill you can go again!
Asakusa is north east of the city, this is a temple town and home of the famous Kannon temple,very popular with visitors,i think it's also has a zoo. Lots of cheap souvenir items if you want to buy something, also this is where they brew(i think) asahi beer. You will also find plenty of youth hostels which are cheap. if you need to know ANYTHING before you go,accomadation or travel details you can contact me on here before you go and i will probably be able to help you out. domo arigato
Bangkok is well.... its a bit dirty and there are a few boys that are on the make over there... some people love it for all the fake jeans and the fact the place is buzzing and alive... I personally felt like i wanted a wash and got anoyed with the constant bartering particularly with a hangover ...
Get to the islands thats where its at .. ko phi phi is stunning and you can get a long boat to some amazing beaches and bars ... and just sit and drink and think how lucky you are...
if you smoke do not flick your fags on the floor in Bangkok or you may get a bloke in uniform(not a cop) who will try and shake you down for as much as pos... it took me 40 mins and a massive row and a young thai guy to help me out of that one and all they finished with was silence and me backing away slowly very weird...
Badger and T, thanks for the info on Japan. Don't think its the easiest of countries to start off in but will stand us in good stead hopefully. Thanks for the info and will post up later if I got anything that I need to know. Quick question to both.. Where are the Modern parts of Tokyo and is it all easy to access in the space of a day. Thanks guys.
Cheers Mascot, I've heard some strange info on bangkok. Like you say, people trying to con you etc. Do you know how easy or long it takes to get to the beach islands from Bangkok, is it better to fly or take a coach? Never mind if you don't know.
Depends where you are going, there are a lot of islands and coastal resorts in the Gulf of Siam, Phuket will take ages to reach as its more or less the furthest point away from Bangkok, while Pattaya, where I think Bangkok Addick has his guest house (Pineapple??) is only a couple of hours away.
1) Bangkok -> Kanchanaburi 2) Kanchanaburi -> Sangkhlaburi 3) Sangkhlaburi -> Chumphon -> Ko Tao 4) Ko Tao -> Ko Pha Ngan 5) Ko Pha Ngan -> Ko Samui 6) Ko Samui -> Bangkok
I Found this Bangkok to Bangkok route on a website. What do people think of that?
no Bangkok addick is in Phuket. pattaya is one to steer clear of i would have thought.
he welcomes all charlton fans so you must stop there. pineapple
get yourself down to Phuket there you can get to many islands. my fave place near Krabi is, Phra Nang beach but i havent been back for 7 years and think its been built up... you can get to ko phi phi from phuket. if you're short on time and have the cash fly to phuket but road transport is fine.
you prob also want to get to Samui and of course Koh Pangnan which is every backpackers must for a full moon party... ahh memories.
colloroy is a lovely place. I was a manly girl but all the North Shore beaches are lush, Curl Curl is my fave but all along the beaches are beautiful.
From the New Airport, Pattaya is about the same distance as the airport is from the centre of Bangkok.
However if you fly down to Phuket, I believe you will need to fly from the old airport. This may all change as cewrtainly Thai airways were looking to move back to the old airport.
If you want somewhere more peaceful and less spoiled head down to Hua Hin, you may even see his royal highness at his summer residence.
Failing that go to Phuket and join one of the Muay thai schools for a month, they are not expensive but by the end of it you will be super fit and you will pick up some useful thai.
Absolute piece of piss to get around on the underground, train signs are in English as well as Kanji and it's all fairly obvious. If you're fine on the underground you'll be well at home with Tokyo metro, everything is colour coded and easy to follow. You can easily cover off much of the city quickly and cheeply
Shibuya, Harijuku, Roppongi and all modern... but the joys of Japan is you'll find a shrine and the very tradtional, next to a love hotel or crazy bar which in turn will be next to a starbucks or McD's
Word of advice, if you plan to use a hole in the wall card tell your bank that you are going to be travelling in Thailand, unfortunately I didn't and they blocked my account thinking that someone may have gotten hold of my card and pin number, it took a long call to get it unblocked.
[cite]Posted By: tom_cafc[/cite]Cheers Mascot,
I've heard some strange info on bangkok. Like you say, people trying to con you etc. Do you know how easy or long it takes to get to the beach islands from Bangkok, is it better to fly or take a coach? Never mind if you don't know.
Tom
Tom,
Mate its really not difficult, I flew out to phuket and it took about an hour from Bangkok and then transfer from airport was about another hour driving past whole families of six on one motorbike!!
phuket has got loads of bars and hookers then you do a boat for about 1 hour 1+ half to phi phi don and phi phi ko i think its called and theres places to stay on phi phi don really nice, drinks, massages a few thai kick boxers training and then if you want you can get a long boat to other beaches near by like long beach and beyond and from patong beach in phuket you can do snorkelling or go see monkey island, I was lucky enough to see some dolphins swimming when i was there it was wicked...
hope that helps ....
Also Ive only been to Bangkok and phuket so its probably worth listening to others that have covered the north as well to work out best bit.. as someone said on here earlier Phuket and patong beach has got a few fat older english and germans who are there for the hookers... once you get to the islands though its beautiful...
Bangkok is ok, but don't spend too much time there. Pollution and gridlocked roads are a pain.
I've been to Phuket a couple of times and it's a great island. Take the time to have a tour around to the beaches and temples. Couple of good Irish bars in Patong with excellent bands.
You should also take a trip to Phang Nga Bay. The boat trip from Phuket Town is fantastic, lots of opportunity for snorkelling. and some good sights on the way such as James Bond Island and Koh Pannyi fishing village.
As for Tokyo, I've only been there once. Enjoyed Roppongi and found some good restaurants. The Sony Building in Ginza is an incredible place - 6 of 7 floors of entertainment.
Forgot to mention, my son had a few months backpacking in Asia / Australia /Fiji a couple of years ago, and one of his best memories was visiting the bridge on the River Kwai. Not sure where you also intend to go, but he said that the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia were amazing. He also rated Malacca highly.
His other recommendations for island visits (which I can endorse as I have also been there) are Penang and Langkawi.
Comments
:P
If you are interested in temples and history, then suggest you visit the Phra Nakhon Si Ayuthaya (ayuthaya or Ayudhya for short) which was the capital for 400+ years. It which should take you about 60 mins from Bkk.
If you want bars and girls they go up in Naughtiness from Nana plaza, Soi cowboy to patpong.
Hotels depends on what you want to spend. for a reasonable hotel I would recommend the Royal Benja which is just round the corner from Nana and cost about £25 a night.
For good fakes go to Patpong market, rough pricing pay 1000-1500baht for a top Watch(breitling) around 700baht for fake lighters (dupont), best value is the art work great fakes in oils.
let me know if you need anything specific
Book your hotel at www.sawadee.com, I recommend avoiding the really cheap places, in Bangkok, cheap really means god awful.
Places to visit: The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Keow (next to each other), Wat Arun/ the Temple of the Golden Dawn, the Temple of the Golden Mount (especially on a clear day).
Scams: if someone comes up to you outside a temple/tourist place and "befriends" you be aware, he'll suggest a place for you to visit (this temple is only open on Mondays/whatever the day of the week it happens to be) and he'll insist on getting you a tuk-tuk at good prices, before you know it you'll spend a chunk of your time at his cousin's tailor shop, the Brother-in-laws jewellery emporium and so on.
Other scams are offers to buy cheap gems etc which the vendor will be unable to export himself.
The Thai people are lovely and you are more likely to be charmed rather than conned out of your money.
There is the Khao San road, where all the backpackers and gap year travellers hang out while getting their henna tattoos and hair extensions, that is full of Irish pubs offering breakfasts all day and stalls selling counterfeit CDS, DVDs and leisure wear etc. Personally I didn't this area much though a lot of hotels are in this area and there are loads of bars that open in the evening.
Negotiate for everything as there are western prices and local prices.
It's worth going to Kanchanaburo (River Kwai territory) but if you do book a three day/two night trip and stay on the raft hotels on the River Kwai itself and visit not just the bridge and the Commonwealth Cemetery but the Death Railway itself and beyond. Also worth visiting is Chiang Mai in the north west, though it takes all day by coach, you can though book a sleeper coach in the train and go over night.
Patpong...there is a good Irish bar at the end, at the Silom station end called O'Reillys with premiership football and a Thai Beatles band that seems to play regularly, as for the rest of Patpong, good luck...
Next to no one speaks English, and plastic is not widely accepted (there are International ATM's which your cards will work in but these can be hard to find). The transport/tube system is fantastic, easy to navigate and dirt cheap. But Cabs are very expensive, and will often not pick you up as a 'Ganjin' in certain areas of the city, they also have bizarre dollies on the head rests and a mechanical door opening device! The city is very safe and you'll be unlikely to see any trouble.
The best place is to visit areas of Toyko rather than specific places. Akihabra is the electronics district is like nothing i've seen before, while Harijuku and Shibuya are younger trendier areas of the city, just go and have a wander around laugh at the bizzare sights - 40 year old men dressed as school girls wandering about!
Japanese have a very low tollerance of booze so most of the traditional bars a Yakitori places where you can eat finger food while boozing. Tradtional restaurants are very accomodating and have plastic food and pictures on most of their menus so you can see what you're ordering! Ninja and Alcatraz are themed restaurants, offer fantastic food, speak English/English menus and offer an experience you will never forget! There are other themed restuarants that are around, the church is litterally a very realistic recreation of a church on the 6th floor of a building in Tokyo!
Roppongi is the westerners playground and has a lot more western style bars. The Gas Panic chain are worth a look, offer cheap booze and are normally full of Australians and Yanks with a few Japanese girls who want to sleep with a Western Man before they settle down! The best club i've found is Lexington Queens which on a Thursday has model night which is rammed full of western models who get free Entrance, they also only let western people in, it's where the celebrities go when they're in tokyo but is really relaxed and laid back and nothing like London celeb hangouts.
Other things to do... try the onsen (tradtional japanese spa) over by the bay, get up early 4am and visit the fish market, sing kareoke at one of the numerous places, Have a drink at the Park Hyatt 52nd floor bar (lost in translation bar) although it's very expensive at $50 per person just to sit down!
Just go and explore, you'll have a great time...
*This post was brought to you in association with the Japanese tourest Authority and T*
If you are going to go up north you could go to Nong Khai and pop across to Lao.
Patpong is ok, a bit to seedy for my liking too many fat english and germans!
Gold is not a rip off if you go to one of the big shopping centres, but remember the gold is purer and as such is not worth much to western jewellers if you try to off load in the uk.
I'm sure you'll have a great time and as T mentioned it's very safe and trouble free.
I mean i'm going away for 1 year in total, Tokyo and Bangkok are just the first two "major" cities I will be visiting so its good to find out a little info from people before I go.
I'm going as a backpacker, gap year, lazy sod ass git.. whatever you want to call it.. but i'm young and don't care! Its been hard as anything saving half your wages each month but sure it'll all be worth it.
In regards to Tokyo I will be only staying for around 3/4 nights. Think I may be heading to a town called Asakusa (spelling?) and staying there, just spending a few days experiencing a different country. I leave Japan through Osaka.
With Bangkok my ticket is booked for 1 month in Thailand. This means I go into Bangkok and leave via Bangkok. Yet I want to just spend say 4/5 days in Bangkok at the start and maybe do some sort of trek to the islands and chill out abit. Don't really want to go off the beaten track too much as will be doing this in other countries.
Also if anyone knows anything about Sydney i'm staying in Collaroy over christmas time and into the new year, if anyones been or heard anything good/bad about it then would love to hear from ya.
CAFC
3-4 days is probably perfect, it's a great city and loads of fun, but you can see everything in a couple of days, and on a backpackers money any longer will burn a hole. Osaka is like Birmingham is to London...
I never did the travelling thing which now i've been working for 10 years is something i really regret. Enjoy the experience as you've got 44 years when you return to work untill you can go again!
Lots of cheap souvenir items if you want to buy something, also this is where they brew(i think) asahi beer.
You will also find plenty of youth hostels which are cheap.
if you need to know ANYTHING before you go,accomadation or travel details you can contact me on here before you go and i will probably be able to help you out.
domo arigato
Get to the islands thats where its at .. ko phi phi is stunning and you can get a long boat to some amazing beaches and bars ... and just sit and drink and think how lucky you are...
if you smoke do not flick your fags on the floor in Bangkok or you may get a bloke in uniform(not a cop) who will try and shake you down for as much as pos... it took me 40 mins and a massive row and a young thai guy to help me out of that one and all they finished with was silence and me backing away slowly very weird...
Don't think its the easiest of countries to start off in but will stand us in good stead hopefully. Thanks for the info and will post up later if I got anything that I need to know. Quick question to both.. Where are the Modern parts of Tokyo and is it all easy to access in the space of a day. Thanks guys.
Cheers Mascot,
I've heard some strange info on bangkok. Like you say, people trying to con you etc. Do you know how easy or long it takes to get to the beach islands from Bangkok, is it better to fly or take a coach? Never mind if you don't know.
Tom
2) Kanchanaburi -> Sangkhlaburi
3) Sangkhlaburi -> Chumphon -> Ko Tao
4) Ko Tao -> Ko Pha Ngan
5) Ko Pha Ngan -> Ko Samui
6) Ko Samui -> Bangkok
I Found this Bangkok to Bangkok route on a website. What do people think of that?
Tom
he welcomes all charlton fans so you must stop there.
pineapple
get yourself down to Phuket there you can get to many islands. my fave place near Krabi is, Phra Nang beach but i havent been back for 7 years and think its been built up... you can get to ko phi phi from phuket. if you're short on time and have the cash fly to phuket but road transport is fine.
you prob also want to get to Samui and of course Koh Pangnan which is every backpackers must for a full moon party... ahh memories.
colloroy is a lovely place. I was a manly girl but all the North Shore beaches are lush, Curl Curl is my fave but all along the beaches are beautiful.
However if you fly down to Phuket, I believe you will need to fly from the old airport. This may all change as cewrtainly Thai airways were looking to move back to the old airport.
If you want somewhere more peaceful and less spoiled head down to Hua Hin, you may even see his royal highness at his summer residence.
Failing that go to Phuket and join one of the Muay thai schools for a month, they are not expensive but by the end of it you will be super fit and you will pick up some useful thai.
Phuket is till accessible from the new airport with a couple of airlines.
Tom, I'll respond to your e-mail later.
Tom
Shibuya, Harijuku, Roppongi and all modern... but the joys of Japan is you'll find a shrine and the very tradtional, next to a love hotel or crazy bar which in turn will be next to a starbucks or McD's
Tom,
Mate its really not difficult, I flew out to phuket and it took about an hour from Bangkok and then transfer from airport was about another hour driving past whole families of six on one motorbike!!
phuket has got loads of bars and hookers then you do a boat for about 1 hour 1+ half to phi phi don and phi phi ko i think its called and theres places to stay on phi phi don really nice, drinks, massages a few thai kick boxers training and then if you want you can get a long boat to other beaches near by like long beach and beyond and from patong beach in phuket you can do snorkelling or go see monkey island, I was lucky enough to see some dolphins swimming when i was there it was wicked...
hope that helps ....
Also Ive only been to Bangkok and phuket so its probably worth listening to others that have covered the north as well to work out best bit.. as someone said on here earlier Phuket and patong beach has got a few fat older english and germans who are there for the hookers... once you get to the islands though its beautiful...
I've been to Phuket a couple of times and it's a great island. Take the time to have a tour around to the beaches and temples. Couple of good Irish bars in Patong with excellent bands.
You should also take a trip to Phang Nga Bay. The boat trip from Phuket Town is fantastic, lots of opportunity for snorkelling. and some good sights on the way such as James Bond Island and Koh Pannyi fishing village.
As for Tokyo, I've only been there once. Enjoyed Roppongi and found some good restaurants. The Sony Building in Ginza is an incredible place - 6 of 7 floors of entertainment.
His other recommendations for island visits (which I can endorse as I have also been there) are Penang and Langkawi.