Disability Travel - Thailand for disabled

Hi ...
what do you think about Thailand as a holiday destination for a disabled person? Anybody was there to share his experences or anybody that wants to go in future?
Do you think that Thailand is a disabled friendly place? And which particular cities do you prefer?
As a resident of bangkok-although not Thai-i will post in this thread info and interesting staff about Thailand and disability but i want to get some feedback from you as well.
:)

I'll be travelling to Bangkok for the first time next month.
I can't yet contribute to this thread but I do have a question.
I've seen reports on shopping in Bangkok which mentioned that you can buy goods at the markets and the sellers would forward the goods onto your hotel (even for those who can manage the steps on the transit services/local trains I understand that there's little room for bags and luggage).
When I travelled as a wheelchair user and as a convalescent in Japan I found the luggage and goods forwarding services (takkyubin) to be a real blessing as it allowed me to travel everywhere without having to carry very much.
Have you used anything similar in Thailand?
I have the phone number of a company who does this from the airport but they have no online presence.

About delivery service in Bangkok, different shops they have different policies. Is depending as well how far is your hotel or how much money you spend in the shop.
In general..big super markets as tesco lotus ,big C etc if you buy a lot of stuff they use to deliver to your place for free.
Most of Department stores , as Emporium and Siam Paragon not have delivery setrvice at all, although they have a hands free service..during the shopping you not need to carry what you want to buy,they carry it for you...but they cant bring it to your hotel. they do it only IF YOUR ORDER SOME PARTICULAR ITEM IN ADVANCE FROM PHONE...and you ask for delivery.
:)

Thank you!
That’s very interesting, and it does answer the mystery of why so few of the locals on the transit systems carry bags around despite their reputation for being keen shoppers.

I have a chronic back problem and am undergoing physiotherapy for my right wrist. I also have a strong aversion to travelling in cars without a seatbelt (I can’t describe it as a phobia as it seems like a perfectly rational fear to me) so I’ll be avoiding taxi rides.
Despite this I still believe Bangkok will be a wonderful place to spend a week with a small toddling child.

Having done some rudimentary research I’d ruled out using a stroller on the pavements/walkways, the kind of strollers that can deal with rough uneven terrain are too heavy for my back to deal with and my wrist would never cope with pushing small wheels over bumps and broken paving. My plan is to transport my daughter with a carrier (Beko or Deuter kid comfort) but that will leave me unable to carry nearly anything else.

How are the pavements in the Silom area? Are they so bad?
I wouldn’t expect to be able to use the stroller throughout Bangkok, but should I rule out short excursions also? (I suspect my daughter might be a little cooler in a stroller than encased in fabric and hitched around me)
I’m undecided as to whether I should leave the stroller in the airport left luggage or have it delivered to the hotel for this sort of short walk.

Do you have an opinion on this?

I dont know exactly what is your condition physically and how much effort you can give pushing the stroller but, yes, is way better to take the stroller with you,.
First of all in some places pavements are not too bad especially in areas as Silom that is considered as better than others...
Second and more important ..in the center of city is a network of bridges and corridors that connects the main shopping malls , so you can go from mall to Mall for...kilometers..without to need to go down to pavements...
So get the stroller with you..you never know when you will be able to use it.

Hi ...
what do you think about Thailand as a holiday destination for a disabled person? Anybody was there to share his experences or anybody that wants to go in future?
Do you think that Thailand is a disabled friendly place?

I would not describe Bangkok as a disabled friendly place. Access to the BTS stations usually involves climbing several flights of stairs. The BTS trains are often standing room only. Sidewalks are busy, with narrow lanes due to street vendors. :)

Things now are much better than before....i dont know when you been to Bangkok last time

About BTS, the wheelchair-accessible sky train stations are:

- Chong Nonsi, Krung Thon Buri, Wongwan Yai, Asoke, On Nut, Mo Chit and Siam
Asoke and Mo Chit have interchange with the underground MRT
Mo Chit is near the Chatuchak weekend market
Siam is near the shopping malls

MRT, the metro system, is in total accessible as all the stations have elevators..

I will agree of cource with this part ....'Sidewalks are busy, with narrow lanes due to street vendors.'...but is not like this everywhere int he city .

i could discribe Bangkok as a disabled friendly place...without use the strict american or european standars...
If you compair with the others cities of south east asia..Manila, Jakarta, Phnom Penh Etc Bangkok is far better...
But how was your experience in total restlessinRNO ? when you been there?

That is encouraging！thank you.

(re PM) Whilst a tour is something I may consider for the future it isn't an option this time. My trip is purely an opportunistic one - happens to be 'on the way' between London and Tokyo - and my budget is extremely minimal. I feel grateful and realise how privileged I am to even get this chance to potter around central Bangkok.
I'll be glad to report back.I'm no longer a wheelchair user but I've not forgotten what it was like.

Just saw your last message and laughed at the part about 'strict European standards'. It's lovely to see that Bangkok is trying to tackle accessibility issues, puts Rome to shame. Some parts of Europe are awful in this regard and require you to use private transport.

lol..although i am Greek i am not a european expert....i was naive enough to think that at least in west Europe things are easier for disabled people and all the main cities are disabled friendly...So Rome is that bad?

lol..although i am Greek i am not a european expert....i was naive enough to think that at least in west Europe things are easier for disabled people and all the main cities are disabled friendly...So Rome is that bad?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/8679575-post14.html :(

About hotels in THAILAND

when somone check the lists in internet with the disabled friendly hotels in Bangkok , he can find more than 150 hotels that they claim that have disabled faciliies. Checking most of these hotels , and going there myself, i realised that in reality most of them just they are lying....nor disabled rooms nor any facility found in most of them..
OF COURSE .i found also a few -about 10- that they have really what they promised.
The same thing occurs to the all main touristic cities of country.THEY ARE VERY GOOD PLACES TO STAY IF YOU ARE DISABLED but is difficult to find out about them from internet...
Do you have any personal experience about hotels in THAILAND? any hotel hat is recommented or not recommented?
For example for Bangkok in my opinion Amari Atrium is highly recommented , although its location is not exactly the best.

We just went to Thailand over New Year's with an 11 month old infant. We took our large Uppa Baby stroller with us and used it around Bangkok. We were very happy we took it - allowing our infant to nap at various points as we went around town. But I definitely carried it (with him in it) up and down a lot of stairs. Even when there was an elevator in a mall/public place, there was often stairs leading to the elevator landing!

So you say it is getting better, and I definitely saw signs of that. And other places like Phuket were fine. But Bangkok in particular is not yet a very disabled-friendly place. One of my guides explained it to me as the buddhist fate in life concept - if you are disabled, that is your path to travel in this life, and whatever adversity you encounter is to be accepted.

But for anyone who is disabled, I would not let that prevent you from going to Thailand -- the country is wonderful. I would just plan out and research almost every place you want to go in advance so you can be prepared. dimitrisdtc - sounds like you are here to help with that type of planning.

I agree with you dbuckho. Bangkok is not yet a really disabled friendly city but certainly is not disabled unfriendly.With a bit of effort and armed with good informations somebody can travel there smoothly and enjoy his trip even in a wheelchair.
by the way..what did you like more about the city? What did you dislike ? any feed back about the hotel that you stayed, even you been using just a strolelr how you rate it regarding its disabled facilities?
Although i have already i large database with similar info always i want to get more...any tips and advises from travellers are great for me.

I love to walk to see new cities. In Thailand the sidewalks - especially for wheelchair or other ramp access was spotty at best. Many sidewalks still have large steps down to cross the street at intersections. And some sidewalks are rough or broken concrete. And some are fake cobblestone making walking or wheel chairing rough.

When we visited Bangkok a few years ago we did a couple of organized tours, such a floating market, with a group and they were fine but for touring within the city we found the prices of private guided tours quite reasonable and were able to see what we wanted at our own speed without needing to keep up with a group. I can't give specific recommendations since it was a few years ago and I don't have the company details.