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Cheesemaster200 posted:Additionally, anyone (especially you expats) have some suggestions for some non-standard activities in the city? (ie. aside from Wat Pho, Wat Arun, etc) What do you mean by non-standard? You mean, non-tourist activities? That would depend on what you're interested in.
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Jul 19, 2011 23:58
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I pimp this every now and then but start out at Hualamphong Station around dinnertime, walk down Yaowarat, then head left and follow the river to Thanon Phra Athit. Along the way you'll pass a night market (at a major bridge), the 24 hour flower market, the Grand Palace (closed), Thammasart University, and if you detour a few blocks as you're leaving Yaowarat, the Thieves Market (not that awesome IMO). From Phra Athit you can cut down an ally and wind up on Ramburtri, which you can stay on or follow out to Khao San for some drinking. It's a couple miles, but not really strenuous if you're in decent shape. Pretty decent photo-taking opportunities throughout if that's your thing. Bonus: do it with other people and stop at convenience stores buying booze along the way. Beers, or Big Gulps full of Sangsom + Coke work well.
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Jul 20, 2011 00:27
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Cheesemaster200 posted:So my trip is about a week out, trying to get the first few days in Bangkok hashed out. Anyone have suggestions for decently (1000-1200B max)priced accommodation in a place which isn't on Khao San Road? Lub D is a good hostel near the train station. Rooms are clean and price is great for being so near Siam square. http://siamsquare.lubd.com/bangkokhostelrooms.html
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Jul 20, 2011 01:47
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Yeah there are a few hostels on/near Silom now along the Lub-D lines -- I tried googling for this one pink website (not FYAD) that had a list of ten of them but I can't find it now. Tomorrow I will finally write that "Outer Silom" post I promised like two months ago and post it as it's a pretty good "things to do in Bangkok that not every white son of a bitch does but which are still awesome and authentic" kind of deal. Be aware that any time you book a hostel in Bangkok online (which you should with the popular ones like Lub-D) you should make sure the room fee is included in the price you pay online (otherwise they tack on some more money and it ends up being 30 or 40% more than you expected) rather than just being a deposit. Also, different sites have wildly different prices for the same place. The place I stayed at in Bangkok the last time I was there (can't remember the name right now, I'll probably think of it later) had prices ranging from 2600B a night to 1100B a night on different sites for the exact same rooms. The only way I found out about this was by tipping the little kateoy check in guy 200B for fixing a problem with my room the first night and then asking him for all the info I wanted -- I also sent him a text before I arrived in the city the next couple of times and he gave me the best room in the price block each time. One interesting thing you can do while in Thailand that many don't is to spend a day or two (or month or two) living in a monastery. Here's something somebody wrote about it: http://www.travelfish.org/feature/173 raton fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Jul 20, 2011 |
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Jul 20, 2011 03:35
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Cheesemaster200 posted:So my trip is about a week out, trying to get the first few days in Bangkok hashed out. Anyone have suggestions for decently (1000-1200B max)priced accommodation in a place which isn't on Khao San Road? Cheesemaster200 posted:Additionally, anyone (especially you expats) have some suggestions for some non-standard activities in the city? (ie. aside from Wat Pho, Wat Arun, etc)
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Jul 20, 2011 15:53
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Silom Silom is one of Bangkok's major thoroughfares. When people say Silom they usually are referring to the street itself, however the area around the street is also often referred to as Silom as well. It used the be the banking district and a big expat area (especially for missionaries and the hospitals and churches they brought with them) but a lot of that stuff is spread all over the city now. Anyway, let's get oriented:  Silom and environs In the map above I've circled a number of things in purple. Starting at the top right you see two train symbols next to eachother and then one a little further toward the center. These symbols comprise the Silom Subway and Sala Daeng Sky Train stations. It's one of the few places in the city where the underground subway system intersects with the above ground sky train (usually referred to as BTS) system. During some early red shirt yellow shirt violence this was also the station that had a few grenades shot onto it from a nearby encampment (the red shirts say it was a yellow sympathetic cop that did it, the yellow shirts say it was red shirt hooligans). The intersection these stations sit on top of is an absolutely major one and the green space in the very upper right hand corner is Lumpini Park, one of Bangkok's major green spaces and certainly its most celebrated -- it's worth a walk through on its own and is a favorite of cosmopolitan joggers, making it Bangkok's version of Central Park more or less. There's also a nightmarket that's PG rated on the SE corner of the park which is just out of frame. The large purple circle near the trains is the notorious red light district of Patpong. Actually, it was notorious back in the Vietnam days when it got its start, now it's mostly notorious for the claustrophobic nightmarket that springs up on its streets every night only to melt away during the daytime. Patpong is still a fully functional sex-for-sale area but it has a reputation for older banged up girls and, of course, the oft-mentioned PING PONG BANANA SHOW (thanks, Thaivisa.com! -- a word of warning though, a few of these shows turn into extortion rackets where you can't leave without paying an enormously inflated bill for your two beers, but most are legit -- be nice to the tout with the card that will find you in the market and he'll be nice back and not take you to a shithole). The market is a great place to buy bootleg DVDs as the selection is quite good but you'll have to bargain quite hard. You can see Thanon Thaniya near the park -- that's Japanese Patpong and it's worth a walk down at night to see all the Thai ladies dressed up in Japanese hooker garb and calling away in what Japanese they know to passing potential Johns, it also has a few decent Japanese street food stalls tucked away in its corners. The H shaped street at the other end of the bubble is Patpong itself (both little streets) and in between them (marked with a 4) is "Silom Soi 4" which just means Silom's Alley Four but which is the biggest concentration of gay oriented bars in Bangkok -- these aren't for whoring (though I'm sure that goes on there too) like the rest of the area, they're legitimate and classy gay bars that many gay Thai people and gay expats visit (and there's a shitload of gay Thais). Another thing of note in this bubble is that one of Foodland's branches is near Silom on one of the Patpong sois (soi means alley) and this places is the major purveyor of international groceries and such in Bangkok, so if you want to make guacamole or require A1 steak sauce you might want to drop by here to get what you're after. Lastly, if you want to see a 5'4" Thai man with a ten inch cock bust an apple in half with his rear end in a top hat go ahead and see the PING PONG BANANA SHOW SEXY MAN they have in the no joke hardcore gay soi ("Soi 2") pretty much behind Th. Thaniya off of Surawong road (that yellow one directly to the north of the purple circled area I'm talking about now) -- they also have rentboys there, of course. Mostly to the west of Patpong you can see I've circled the ever popular Lub D hostel, and near the hostel I've drawn in a little purple house. This house is the Neilson Hays library which is the largest collection of loanable English language books in Thailand and also has a little message board / flyer kind of area where you can connect with the artsier diaspora in Bangkok. I met a handful of cool people going to events put on by various embassies or other semigovernmental organizations that I found out about here. Just below Lub D and the library you can see I've circled "Thanon Silom". This is Silom street (Thanon means street duder). We will get back to the temple I circled in red. A ways to the south of Lub D you can see a small circled "Robot Building" which is indeed a big rear end building that looks like a robot (thanks, 1980s). The big circle on the bottom of the map is my old neighborhood, the X more or less marks where I lived for most of the time I lived in Bangkok, it's the building opposite the 7-11 on Satorn Soi 11 if you want to stop by and ask if they remember me. The area I've circled is actually crisscrossed by the most confusing warren of tiny rear end (like one meter wide) alleys that I've ever seen in my life. There's a mosque back there, there's some big rear end weird Indian temple, there's a Chinese graveyard with a big rear end stack of cauldron sized broken water pots. The area between this large circle and park, roughly, is Bangkok's most diverse, and I'm going to offer a guide below to one little chilled out part of it to give you a few high quality things to check out in the area that represent an aspect of Bangkok that expats come to love but that tourists often don't see. This is the area around Wat Sri Mariamman, usually known to Thais as "Wat Khek" which means "The Indian Temple." It is this area that I refer to in this post as Outer Silom.  Outer Silom, as opposed to the inner part over by Patpong Getting There If you're in a taxi you can usually tell the taxi driver to go to "Wat Khek." (Pronounced "waht - kehk", rhymes with "fought check"). However, many of Thailand's cabbies are from upcountry and may not know where it is, or else they may wonder why some farang wants to go to that place because farang usually don't go there and he may doubt you mean what you're actually saying. You can reassure them by saying "Silom Soi Yee Sip" which means Silom Soi 20. You'll see the temple as you come down Silom and can just tell him to stop near it -- "jort nee khap" while gesturing toward the side of the road. You can also come visit quite easily after stopping at Sala Daeng BTS. There are a number of busses that run down Silom street and they don't make turns between Patpong and where you're going, so you can literally get on any bus that's going away from the park (if you were just in Patpong that means you have to cross the street to get going the right way). Just wait near a bus stop (they're marked with blue bus signs, you can also just look for clusters of Thais waiting around for the bus) and when one stops climb on and have a seat. Different busses are different prices and price varies by the distance you go, so when the conductor lady comes up to you and looks at you (the driver doesn't collect money, there's a separate employee that does that wandering around on the bus) just tell her Wat Khek and hand her a 20 baht note, which will more than cover the trip. She'll fold the note between her fingers and give you your change and a bus ticket out of her clappy little coin box. Sit near the door so you can hop out at Wat Khek, it won't take long to get there.  Wat Khek, bitches Here it is, one of my favorite temples in Bangkok. Wat Khek is centered around an idol that sits in the center of the temple that was brought from some place in Indian or Sri Lanka quite a while ago. The temple is tiny but absolutely flamboyant, each little statue on the surrounding wall is painted in bright colors, and it's a very active site of worship for the Indian community in Bangkok (which is, in part, centered around this area, they also have their own soi over in the Chinatown area). There's no fee to visit but the folks taking care of the temple will expect you to take off your shoes before crossing the threshold onto the grounds. It's a claustrophobic space but if you come to visit you might as well take off your shoes and look around in there. They have some absolutely mind blowing festivals centered around this temple so if you happen to be in Bangkok around the time of one of its various Poojas ("festivals") it'd be an absolute sin to not show up -- you'll have to ask when you're there when the next thing going on might be as I sure as poo poo don't know how to find out otherwise. They don't allow photos inside of the temple but you can stand outside and take photos of the wall, which is the most ornate part anyway. Across the street is a buncha drat flowers you can buy and offer to the god inside if you like:  A Buncha drat Flowers, gotta make God happy or he won't grant your wishes There are also devotional shops to the right of that picture that sell hoppy doopy Indian music of various sorts. And, of course, a 7-11 so you can buy yourself a bottle of water and a cool drat washcloth in a little packet so you can scrub yourself down if you're hot. Further down the Soi is one of Bangkok's best Indian restaurants:  The Chennai Kitchen, serving up well made (and hard to find!) staples of Southern Indian cuisine What's special about the Chennai Kitchen is that they serve Southern Indian fare. I live near the Indian epicenter of New York City currently and even there it's somewhat hard to find Southern Indian food which is not much at all about saucy curries and grilled chicken legs and nan. That sort of Indian food is mostly Northern fare, and it's no surprise that that's the Indian fare we're familiar with outside of India as that's the poorer region of Indian, and emmigrants don't typically come from the rich part of a country. Southern Indian food's signature dish is a sort of crepe, different types of which are made from a variety of different flours (gram flour, lentil flour, etc). The crepes are served crispy and rolled up into a roughly hollow open burrito type shape and often feature a spicy potato filling and a side dish of dipping sauce, plus sometimes a variety of chutneys to mix things up a bit. They're called dosas, the one with the potato inside is just called masala dosa. South Indian food may be hard to find where you live so if you have the space this may be your chance! Chennai Kitchen makes a good one. But hey, maybe you're in Thailand to eat Thai food? If so...  Tukta's Food Stall, my favorite street food in Thailand You should probably visit my number one overall favorite food stall in the city of Bangkok! It doesn't have a name, but it's run by this lady here in the picture whose name is Tukta (that means doll in Thai) -- look for the big blue umbrellas. It's dirt cheap and there's all kinds of crazy poo poo you can try there. It's down Silom Soi 20 a little ways, Soi 20 is straight across the street from Wat Khek and it's labeled with a "2" rather than "20" on the map, but when you get there what you'll see is a sign that says Silom Soi 20. The stall's standout dishes in my mind are the Grap Pow Kai ("basil chicken") which is prepared here in a slightly unique way, as is the mark of all truly great streetfood it's not the textbook local dishes that blow you away it's the slight variations locals make. Perfectly spicy, there is an addition to the sauce in Tukta's Grap Pow Kai (oyster sauce?) and something else about the preparation that takes it a step above any other Grap Pow Kai I've had. She also makes a simple dish that consists entirely, as far as I can tell, of shitake mushrooms, cabbage, and pork stock and it's something I could eat a goddamn bucket of it's so good -- I've tried doezens of times to reproduce it here in my kitchen in New York but I loving can't. If you're really lucky you'll be there on a day when she's making small Manilla clams in a red curry sauce (she told me on my last visit that she doesn't make it very often any more as clams have gotten really expensive) which are just perfect. I've never once gotten the shits eating here either and the whole soi leading up to her stall (and beyond it) is full of numerous other small restaurants for you to sample from on your way out. Unless one of her sons is there manning the stall you can't expect any English so you probably won't be able to communicate that Sheep-Goats sent you, but I like to think that in her heart she'll know -- I did tell her that I was going to put a thing about her restaurant up on the internet after all. One thing I usually get after eating at Tukta's stall is a coffee from the place in front of the Family Mart (a convenience store with a blue stripy sign that says Family Mart, common in Thailand) which is almost right on the corner of Soi 20 and Silom itself. An espresso there costs like half of what it does elsewhere in the city and there's absolutely nothing wrong with 'em -- get it iced if you want all the Thai people do anyway. So we've got some of the best Indian food and my favorite Thai street food stall within a few stones throws of eachother. Wanna get absurd about it?!?!? Well, do ya!?  Jing Siang Rolt, Bangkok's most real-deal Chinese restaurant Turn left at the Milk Plus store on Silom Soi 19 to get here. You know that Chinese people don't eat too much of that food you find in North American Chinese restaurants, right? I mean, they eat some of it, but that isn't what keeps the nation's belly full. What you see Chinese people eating, especially in the north of the country, is noodle soups, cold (often tofu based) appetizers, steamed or fried dumplings, poo poo like that. I lived in China for a while too and am a notorious figure in the China thread here in the Tourism and Travel subforum because I didn't like it and basically think that mainland China sucks (Taiwan is great though). A lot of the food sucks too, to be honest, you just don't see the love and attention put into the food that you'd expect -- mostly a lot of oil and cheap, sub par ingredients. The food I do miss from China (that's Chinese -- I'm taking Muslim minority kebabs out of the equation for now) is hand drawn noodle soups and the cold appetizers I mentioned above. They got 'em here. Boy do they. (And at one particular place here in my neighborhood in Queens nya nya nya). If you keep going down past Soi 19 you'll see a mall on your left called The Silom Galleria. It's a place where people buy gems and antiques, but it's only really remarkable for how empty it is. I don't know if it's worth you walking down here to see it but the place weirds me out when I'm inside and like 75% of the stores are just shuttered spaces, sometimes they don't even have the lights on in the halls, and then there's an occasional gem store here or there. Not every mall in Bangkok is packed to the gills with grinning hiso teens! Maybe you can make some kinda "dark" art photo in here and post it to Deviant Art along with your photos-of-dead-birds collection. Spooooooky. Of course, there's stuff in the other direction from the temple too, back toward Lumpini Park.   Indian neighborhood and tailor shops?! You don't say! The first picture is the tailor I went to the last time I was in Bangkok. The second is the tailor I used to go to but he was closed when I got there so I just said gently caress it and walked across the street and went in to another place. You'll see all kinds of nitpicky bullshit guides to tailoring in Thailand in different places. Let me explain right off the bat why you go to a tailor to help clarify the situation -- you want clothes that fit. Clothes that really and truly fit. That's what you pay a tailor to do. All this stuff about material and whatnot is secondary, and, for the most part, any tailor worth his salt will be able to build clothes for you that fit just right. If you want to get some tailoring in Thailand done just go into any tailor's shop that's convenient for you and that isn't near Khao San road (they only set up shop there to rip people off, literally anywhere else is fine). You could use ReindeerF's favorite tailor who has a convenient location in MBK, you could go into either of the places I have pictures of up there, you could go into the place next to (or even inside of!) your hotel. The guy will ask you what you want. You will then tell him what you want and ask you to select which material out of the many bolts of material in his shop you want it made out of. You will go and look at and feel every material that looks interesting to you and select one -- pick something that looks sharp and feels nice. The tailor will then make an appointment for you to come back for a fitting and talk money at which point you will bargain very hard without getting aggressive. No tailor gets the shirt / suit / pants right on the first go. Whatever you order he will measure you for it and then send an order to his lemmings back across the river to make it. You then come back and try it on and he marks it for adjustments. This process is critical to really getting what you want. Suits and dresses typically require three or so fittings to get everything set perfectly. Shirts usually just one, but sometimes two. If you want ten shirts made he should make just one first then have you come in for a fitting and once you're satisfied with the fit he will order the other nine. If there are no fittings he's not a tailor and you won't give him any of your money to begin with unless you're an idiot. The last thing I will say about tailors is that for some reason 22 year old guys go in there and order two suits and that's it. Why? All you're going to do is hang it up in your parent's house when you get back and then get fat over the next few years and be unable to wear it. Get some shirts instead -- I got ten made the last time I hit a tailor and they're loving wonderful and I wear them all the time. Get some pants made, even jeans, as they'll make you look pretty dapper compared to off the shelf stuff. Be a little creative with your clothes if you want -- get a contrasting color stitched in to the inside of your collar or the underside of your cuffs. Make the backing for the zipper on your fly some small floral print instead of the same material your pants are made out of. Instead of a flat colored lining in your suit jacket get a bright or patterned one, or order a half lining instead of the full one (half linings are nicer but are more work and therefore you don't see them in off the rack suits). If you have a suit made get a patch pocket on the breast instead of a slit. Don't go overboard but other than a good fit the other things tailors offer is personal touches on your clothes that you can't get in stores. Really, in the end, the difference between a okay tailor and a great tailor is that the latter will have good taste and will make some of these suggestions for you (while reading your mind about which ones you actually want) -- but honestly just an okay tailor will put you in clothes that you won't be able to match back at home no matter how much money you have to spend in the mall. That seems like a lot of stuff for such a small, non-central area of one city. But there's one more great thing in the neighborhood I want to mention.  Chang Massage, the best bang-for-your-buck Thai massage place I know of It's more expensive than the shithouses on Khao San, yeah, but it's also nice inside, the staff gives a poo poo, and I've always gotten a very well done and professional massage when I went here. I'm sure there are better places in Bangkok but lots of those places are also going to be in hotels and want near western prices for what they do. gently caress that, I go here. No funny stuff at this place, by the way. If that's what you're after head back up the road toward Patpong. That's Outer Silom, folks! A great thing to add on to your visit to Patpong and an easy way to spend a few hours doing something real in the city that a lot of tourists never see. Read the posts following this one to see what other goons have to say about the area. raton fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Jul 21, 2011 04:29
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You forgot the hardcore gay sex tourist street in the upper part of the map which you can access from Thanon Surawong. I forgot the name of the soi but it's between Lub D and the big circle to the right. That's where you can catch the guy's equivalent to the ping pong shows, but more hardcore. Well equipped Thai dudes performing amazing loving shows and OH NO WAIT HOW DO I KNOW THIS NO NO NO NO I DENY EVERYTHING
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Jul 21, 2011 07:09
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Great post goats! Thanks, I'll definitely check out that little neighbourhood next time in Bangkok!
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Jul 21, 2011 09:58
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Sweet, I'm going to be staying around Silom in August for a few days, I'm going to check out some of those places.
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Jul 21, 2011 10:30
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Ringo R posted:You forgot the hardcore gay sex tourist street in the upper part of the map which you can access from Thanon Surawong. I forgot the name of the soi but it's between Lub D and the big circle to the right. That's where you can catch the guy's equivalent to the ping pong shows, but more hardcore. Well equipped Thai dudes performing amazing loving shows and OH NO WAIT HOW DO I KNOW THIS NO NO NO NO I DENY EVERYTHING Yeah... I "forgot" that. Might as well mention it I guess, since Pound My rear end Patpong is basically right behind Middle Aged German Tourist Lady Patpong (aka the normal one).
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Jul 21, 2011 10:34
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Epic post, and gently caress you love your kak everything don't you Sheep-Goats I highly recommend this restaurant http://www.eatmerestaurant.com/ on Convent Rd just off Silom, owned by a friend's cousin. Very good if you aren't on a shoestring budget.
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Jul 21, 2011 11:24
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^^ Hey Soi Convent, something I did forget about. There are a bunch of nicer restaurants and pubs there, kind of an embassy crowd for lunch / after work.
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Jul 21, 2011 12:03
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Sheep-Goats posted:^^ Hey Soi Convent, something I did forget about. There are a bunch of nicer restaurants and pubs there, kind of an embassy crowd for lunch / after work. Coyotes has some passably good, but expensive, Mexican food on Soi Convent, and on Wednesday night girls drink free margaritas. If you are cheap like me you can just get the girls to slip you an extra cup.
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Jul 21, 2011 16:32
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B-Rad posted:Coyotes has some passably good, but expensive, Mexican food on Soi Convent, and on Wednesday night girls drink free margaritas. If you are cheap like me you can just get the girls to slip you an extra cup. The best Mexican food in Thailand is in Chiang Mai (name escapes me, ReindeerF knows). I never found a place in Bangkok that was great, although Sunrise scratched the itch well enough.
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Jul 21, 2011 16:53
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Pompous Rhombus posted:The best Mexican food in Thailand is in Chiang Mai (name escapes me, ReindeerF knows). I never found a place in Bangkok that was great, although Sunrise scratched the itch well enough. Miguel's, sister operation to Mike's, which is the best hamburger in Thailand. One American expat filling in Thailand's culinary gaps all on his own. I've met him too and he's a nice guy and hires some disabled folks to work in his places which is great as usually the disabled often just get locked up in a dog kennel and hidden from view in Thailand. When I lived in Thailand the best Mexican that could be had was in a place on the second floor of Nana plaza :iamafag: It wasn't that good either. raton fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Jul 21, 2011 |
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Jul 21, 2011 17:53
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Ringo R posted:You forgot the hardcore gay sex tourist street in the upper part of the map which you can access from Thanon Surawong. I forgot the name of the soi but it's between Lub D and the big circle to the right. That's where you can catch the guy's equivalent to the ping pong shows, but more hardcore. Well equipped Thai dudes performing amazing loving shows and OH NO WAIT HOW DO I KNOW THIS NO NO NO NO I DENY EVERYTHING I used to live in the area and work with a largely gay company, so I even learned all the goofball local little codes for poo poo that I hadn't known. Sort of like the rainbow stickers in America and other various symbols that key you in. Over here some businesses will have a big g on the door handle and other poo poo. In closing, Bangkok is a land of contrasts. Gay contrasts. EDIT: Best Mexican food in Bangkok is here. Second best varies by what dish you order and would probably (my opinion) be here, here or here. I'll probably get some blowback on the last two, but consider I grew up eating Mexican food from a bottle as a baby and I am talking contextually IN BANGKOK, heh. The second to last imports poblano peppers and makes an authentic chile relleno (most everything else is blah or average and the chips and salsa sucks) and the last one has a cheezy mexican restaurant atmosphere along with good fajitas and a couple other things, but is pricey as gently caress of course. Basically stick with La Monita as it's in town at Phloen Chit BTS stop (Mahathun Plaza) and easy to get to. Que Pasa is up in Nonthaburi and while it does a couple of things pretty well, it's not worth a drive. I could've included Coyote on the list, but I dunno. It is good food but it's like super duper Cal-Mex and they do annoying poo poo like heap olives on your nachos. There are other select places to go for individual dishes done well, but never ever go to Patty's Fiesta (Patpong) or, in my opinion, Charlie Brown's even though people recommend the latter inexplicably. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 12:13 on Jul 22, 2011 |
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Jul 22, 2011 12:05
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Landed in Phnom Penh 10 hours ago. I've had two assault rifles pointed at my head, been attacked by a swarm of bees, rode on the back of a moto through crazy traffic at night in the rain with fools going the wrong direction, shot an RPG and a grenade launcher, and saw a pile of human skulls (killing fields). Cambodia is like the Wild West 2.0
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Jul 22, 2011 16:15
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I was just in Phnom Penh for 3-4 days and the only similar thing that happened was the crazy traffic, but that's Phnom Penh, heh. The rest is understandable, though I'm a bit surprised about the assault rifles. I got caught in a brief shootout there years ago, but Phnom Penh was a lot rougher then - how the Hell did you get assault rifles pointed at your head? The only people who have them are the bodyguards, the military and the guys at the range.
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Jul 22, 2011 18:17
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Man, I can't wait for a reprieve from the heat over in Thailand...
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Jul 22, 2011 20:32
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I edited my Outer Silom post to include more hard gay action (and a couple more pictures for orientation / directions that I'd forgotten to upload) so maybe now it's good enough to deserve a link somewhere in the Thailand section of the OP or wherever  Edit: Also here is a fruit review for you scrubs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djJqQIvWLdU He is wrong though mangosteen is the best not durian. raton fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Jul 23, 2011 |
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Jul 23, 2011 04:36
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Haha I was just kidding about including the hardcare gay soi. Would have put your write up in the OP anyway (it's there now). Great jurb! Here, have some of these eggs I ate in the Philippines:  
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Jul 23, 2011 13:50
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quote:you can see Thanon Thaniya near the park
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Jul 23, 2011 15:40
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You can't go into the go go bars with a camera usually (because they're running a business in there, not a photo op) but no one who works in any of Bangkok's sex districts (or at least the major foreigner oriented ones -- Nana, Cowboy, Patpong) has any illusions that they're running some secret operation. There aren't really visible bouncers either (except at the few ping pong shows that you don't want anything to do with -- others are fine) and it'll be the female staff that usually runs off undesirables. If you take a camera down any of those areas you'll probably get more people posing for pictures or using the camera as a conversation starter so they can get you in to their operation than anything else, really, other than people who just see cameras all day long out there and don't even notice them any more. In the Thaniya video I linked to I'm pretty sure he had his camera right out in the open and the behavior you see there is pretty much the same you see when you don't have a camera either. Mai pen rai. Ringo R posted:Haha I was just kidding about including the hardcare gay soi. Would have put your write up in the OP anyway (it's there now). Great jurb! Here, have some of these eggs I ate in the Pps. drat baluts. Near my house in China there was a vendor in the market who sold barbecued hard boiled eggs. He'd show up with a bunch of peeled boiled eggs in containers at the beginning of the day and roast them three at a time on skewers over a little charcoal stove. I often got some eggs from him, but one day my order turned out to be three baby chickens covered by a thin film of egg rather than actual eggs. I had to go around the corner before spitting out the beak and head I was chewing on because I didn't want to offend him. It turns out his eggs were in various gestational stages and you could pick between them as your own tastes dictated. The day I got the baluts I think he just only had those left so he couldn't slip me something more appropriate (it was my first time abroad and I was like 22). raton fucked around with this message at 16:36 on Jul 23, 2011 |
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Jul 23, 2011 16:24
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Do you guys have any recommendations for stuff to do or places to eat in Chiang Mai? I'm figuring out a rough schedule for the month I'm staying in Thailand, and I'm settling on spending a large portion of my time in Chiang Mai because that's where the muay thai camp that I want to train at is located, and it's cheaper. Beyond muay thai though I have nothing else really planned.
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Jul 24, 2011 10:42
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Jerome Louis posted:Do you guys have any recommendations for stuff to do or places to eat in Chiang Mai? I'm figuring out a rough schedule for the month I'm staying in Thailand, and I'm settling on spending a large portion of my time in Chiang Mai because that's where the muay thai camp that I want to train at is located, and it's cheaper. Beyond muay thai though I have nothing else really planned. I was just in Chiang Mai a few weeks ago. I stayed at a nice hotel (Lanna House) near the Tha Phae gate. It seemed to be a pretty happening area, but you can walk to anywhere within the walled part of the city pretty quickly. Must sees are Doi Suthep, Wat Cheddi Luang, and I guess some sort of elephant trek if you're into that. You can also see the Karen ring-neck people, but its kind of a human zoo and I felt sort of lovely afterwards. Bamboo rafting was a let down, you just sit on a raft and float through the jungle. No rapids or anything. My favorite thing about Thailand is the street food so I don't have any restaurants to recommend. But you should try the Khao Soi. Its a regional dish and its drat good. I had planned to rent a scooter and do the Mae Hong Son loop , but couldnt do to time constraits, but its something to look into if you have a long weekend.
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Jul 24, 2011 13:51
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The only time I ate inside in Chiang Mai was at this Italian place called Roberto's (I think) run by a very friendly Al Pacino look a like and his Thai wife. Roberto had studied art in Amsterdam so I spoke a little Dutch with him, which is why I remember, but his pizza was actually quite nice as well. Located on Ratchamanka near Moon Mueang.
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Jul 24, 2011 14:03
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Tuff Ghost posted:Landed in Phnom Penh 10 hours ago. I've had two assault rifles pointed at my head, been attacked by a swarm of bees, rode on the back of a moto through crazy traffic at night in the rain with fools going the wrong direction, shot an RPG and a grenade launcher, and saw a pile of human skulls (killing fields). How much did the RPG and grenade launcher cost? When I was there years ago I was talking with a tout and he was telling me it'd be like $200 and I got to kill some livestock while I was at it, I just wanted to shoot it a la carte (sans killing an animal) and he said that was a no-go. I got the impression he was bullshitting me, but it wasn't really compelling enough to go out to the range to find out for myself.
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Jul 24, 2011 14:23
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Pompous Rhombus posted:How much did the RPG and grenade launcher cost? When I was there years ago I was talking with a tout and he was telling me it'd be like $200 and I got to kill some livestock while I was at it, I just wanted to shoot it a la carte (sans killing an animal) and he said that was a no-go. I got the impression he was bullshitting me, but it wasn't really compelling enough to go out to the range to find out for myself. $200 for the RPG and $10 for each shot of the blooper. I had heard before I came out here that you could shoot it for $100, but after about 15 minutes of digging the touk-touk driver he went from $300 to $200, and that's about all I could squeeze out of him. After agreeing I found out that he knew someone who knew someone that arranged everything so I feel that if you got a little closer to the source it would be cheaper. They did offer a cow to shoot at, but I could never do that. The whole situation was really shady. I changed cars twice and picked up the weapons from a random house on the side of the road that was locked behind a huge gate. We drove for about an hour outside of Phnom Penh and came up to a military barracks out in the middle of some hills. It had a range attached that we used. It really didn't seem like it was set up for tourists, more like a backdoor way some of these military dudes could make some money.
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Jul 24, 2011 15:47
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Should I go the route of Krabi & Ko Phi Phi or Ko Samui & Ko Pha Ngan? Looking for a place where I can chill on the beach and/or hang out at restaurants/bars on or near the beach. However, I am not looking for a crazy frat boy party scene. My idea of a good time is hanging out a bar that plays classic rock or Jimmy Buffet rather than a dance club that plays Rhianna or other pop trash. Not planning on going around a full moon party.
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Jul 24, 2011 17:50
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Cheesemaster200 posted:Should I go the route of Krabi & Ko Phi Phi or Ko Samui & Ko Pha Ngan? On Samui it's much more sex pensioners, package tourists and a pretty strong stag party/guys trip crowd there that can be a little rough. Chaweng is the busiest and the most overdone, Lamai is more expats (and a seedy beer bar culture), Bo Phut is quieter with an uglier beach area, but a cute fishing village thing. Mae Nam and Lipa Noi would probably be to your liking. Krabi is going to be more laid back all around, yeah, and more local with actual local Thai people that weren't shipped in to work the tourist trade. Phi Phi I keep hearing gets hordes of day trippers and has limited, expensive hotel and food options, but I haven't been myself. Cheesemaster200 posted:My idea of a good time is hanging out a bar that plays classic rock or Jimmy Buffet rather than a dance club that plays Rhianna or other pop trash.
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Jul 24, 2011 18:59
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You're a Krabi / Phi Phi kind of guy, Cheesemaster. You'd do fine on Phangan also though as it's a huge island with a wide variety of "scenes." Plan for more Krabi time than Phi Phi as the latter is more, uh, touristy. There's a loving awesome cave down there you should try to visit, too. I'll look it up for you when I get back home. As for the music you'll be able to find a place here and there that plays mostly reggae and old Cat Stevens and the Eagles, but for the most part the music selection in Thailand is pretty poo poo. The best you can do, honestly, is to find some place that's mostly playing Thai country music even though you won't understands a word of it, but those places are rarely on the beach. Here's the cave: http://blog.malaysia-asia.my/2011/05/khao-kop-cave-in-trang-thailand.html (I know it says Malaysia up front but the cave is in Trang province in the South of Thailand). The cave is awesome on its own but the real kickass part is the long ride at the end where it's like the first picture you see on that page for a solid ten minutes of underwater boat travel. poo poo rules. Getting there is a bit hard (Thai friends from Hat Yai drove me there in their car) but the page I linked to said there are tours that leave from Hat Yai town itself (the nearest hub) nowadays. Can't really go there in the rainy season as the best part of the trip will be unavailable due to high water. Tuff Ghost posted:The whole situation was really shady. I changed cars twice and picked up the weapons from a random house on the side of the road that was locked behind a huge gate. We drove for about an hour outside of Phnom Penh and came up to a military barracks out in the middle of some hills. It really didn't seem like it was set up for tourists, more like a backdoor way some of these military dudes could make some money. Haha Cambodia rules. raton fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Jul 24, 2011 |
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Jul 24, 2011 20:09
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Thanks for the tips. Krabi also seems to be significantly cheaper to fly into than the Ko Samui cartel, so that works out well. My reference to the music though was more of an indication of what kind of mood I am into. I would much rather stay somewhere low key, enjoy a few drinks, meet people and take in the atmosphere rather than fist pump with a bunch of drunk Australian frat boys. Though any bar that plays classic rock at reasonable levels is okay in my book. There was this one place in Hue though that had the ambiance of the Rolling Stones and other such music, serving bottles of Hue beer on the porch. It was a touristy place, but it had a really nice ambiance to it.
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Jul 24, 2011 23:47
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Oh, there are tons of places like that. The bros concentrate on just of a few of the most obvious beaches if they even escape the pull of tubing in Luang Prabang and/or whoring in Pattaya to begin with. They're a negligible problem in most of Thailand. One rule that will almost entirely eliminate contact with them is to always take the government bus (instead of a private one like Lompraya), which you should do anyway. At first the private seems better because the price is the same and you don't have to trek to a particular bus station to catch it, but the private always has a bunch of lovely catches -- usually you end up waiting for it for a couple if hours after they tell you to show up, or else they stick you away from a pier to wait for transport to their ferry as opposed to the next one, etc etc. Plus your company is more Thai (a huge improvement over the bus going farang even without the side benefits of possibly making a local friend -- also far smaller chance of there being small children) So if you end up on ground transport keep that in mind -- it always works out better on the government bus. Train is fine too, but a little more expensive and a little slower.
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Jul 25, 2011 00:31
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Cheesemaster200 posted:Thanks for the tips. Krabi also seems to be significantly cheaper to fly into than the Ko Samui cartel, so that works out well. If you want to have some chillax motorcycle adventures, take a bus from BKK to Kanchanburi, rent a scooter there, and drive up to Sangkhlaburi. There's a ton of stuff to stop and see on the way (national parks, Hellfire Pass, some reservoirs), and it's very scenic. Downside is I don't think you can rent big bikes in Kanchanaburi, so you're stuck with a 125cc scooter (which is fine given the roads are in nice shape, but still). Kanchanaburi also has a monkey school (they train them to climb trees to harvest coconuts) that's worth checking out, as well as the best Indian food I've ever had at Ali Bongo.  Kanchanaburi by ethics_gradient, on Flickr  Thailand's Longest Wooden Bridge, Sangkhlaburi by ethics_gradient, on Flickr  Monkey School by ethics_gradient, on Flickr  Hellfire Pass by ethics_gradient, on Flickr  3 Chedis, Three Pagoda Pass, Thai-Myanmar Border by ethics_gradient, on Flickr
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Jul 25, 2011 00:37
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Tiger temple is near Kanchanaburi also. They even had two baby tigers I could wrestle with when I was there, but that was years ago now so I'm sure they're grown up. Still, a dozen or so tigers mostly out in the open (the resident monks move them around on chains -- a hundred pound Thai monk has about as much control over a three hundred pound tiger on a leash as you'd expect) is pretty cool even without the babies, and if you're brave you can volunteer to feed them milk pellets out of your hand. They love milk pellets. They do not love the color red, though (according to the monks, and after seeing the way one girl's red shoes were gone after by one of the babies I believe it) and you will be strongly advised to not crouch down to take photos as the submissive act of crouching draws a lot of the wrong kind of attention from the tigers. Oh, and of course the bridge over the river Kwai is in Kanchanaburi town itself.
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Jul 25, 2011 00:46
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Sheep-Goats posted:Haha Cambodia rules. Here's a video of me at the range http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGiUFPm1vag
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Jul 25, 2011 09:59
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Tuff Ghost posted:Here's a video of me at the range No matter what's going on if you have three or four Cambodian dudes yell at eachother in the background everything automatically seems haphazard and slightly dangerous.
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Jul 25, 2011 20:15
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Sheep-Goats posted:No matter what's going on if you have three or four Cambodian dudes yell at eachother in the background everything automatically seems haphazard and slightly dangerous. ... especially when it involves an RPG
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Jul 25, 2011 21:28
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I could swear I heard an "Allahu ackbar" get cut off at the end there, heh.
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Jul 26, 2011 06:31
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 23:20 |
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Sometimes I wonder if I should feel guilty about wishing I'd lived in Phnom Penh in the late 90s, when it really was the wild west of Asia.
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Jul 26, 2011 20:29
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