RustyC

Well, that's a part of the one-stop nature of the place. Though in certain lines like the DVDs the technological changes have taken the edge off (streaming, downloads, people with 4K TVs thinking DVDs might as well be 8mm films quality-wise). Smartphones and tablets likely don't make the software biz what it was. And watch vendors don't like to display what they have, whereas 20 years ago the fake Rolexes/Breitlings, etc. were shown openly. Now Patpong has the most selection but asking prices are through the roof.

MBK is also very useful in the tacky-souvenir-buys arena, as you can find a lot more for that (or gifts) in less time than it would take with street vendors or at the weekend market.

dsquared37

I was being sarcastic, the cops were obviously paid off and the declaration was laughed at through all quarters of Bangkok.

RustyC

Yeah, they can be as bumbling as wrestling referees when the manager tries to divert their attention while the wrestler pulls an illegal move (or takes something out of his pocket).

At least in tourist places like MBK and Pantip and Patpong many vendors have to use "runners" to fetch the goods. In Thai-oriented ones like Seacon Square the stock is probably on hand.

SunLover

Authorities in Thailand are cracking down on short-term AirBnB rentals: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/...ent/td-p/17494


SL

glennaa11

I'm not terribly surprised. That is happening all over the place. The condo I live in has strictly forbidden any short term rentals/AirBnBs and the board regularly searches for listings and shuts them down. Thanks for the heads up.

Annalisa12

Great.. so my $10 Vans are real!

leungy18

I'm sort of in the same boat as the OP, so I didn't feel like starting another unnecessary thread. Two parents, two teens -- but I'm one of the teenagers and I'm doing all the planning. Flights are booked, 5 days and 4 nights in BKK -- most of the time in Day 1 and Day 5 will be spent on a plane or in the airport.

My parents want a 2-bedroom suite where they get their own bedroom and I share the second bedroom with my brother. So far my main hotel choices are down to the AVANI Riverside, the Sivatel, and the St. Regis. If any FTers here have any recommendations or experience with any of the aforementioned hotels, that'd be awesome.

Does anyone have any ideas for what to do during the very first evening? Flight lands at 2 pm.

I've also got 2 full days planned out -- chilling around temples, a dinner cruise, night markets, Jim Thompson's House, and the mega-malls. But I don't know what to do for my 3rd full day -- I'm thinking about a day trip to Pattaya, and then a dinner buffet when we return to Bangkok.

My questions are: 1) What's a good private car service between Bangkok and Pattaya? 2) What are some good things to do in Pattaya? 3) Where's the nicest buffet in Bangkok?

Thanks, guys.

CJKatl

Let's dispose of Q3 first... I'm not a buffet guy so you will need to leave that to others.

Q1: I prefer Bell Travel Service, which is cheaper but requires a little shuffling. What happens is they pick you up at your hotel in Bangkok. You get in a van. The hotel will put your luggage in the back of the van. The van takes you to a terminal where you switch to a bus. Your luggage is taken care of here. The bus takes you to a terminal in Pattaya where you switch back to a van, which takes you to a hotel. You will need to roll your back from the bus to the van. It is not only cheaper and very reliable, but ninety minutes on the very clean, not crowded bus is much more comfortable that riding in a car. $400 Baht/person. ($36 for four with a tiny charge for a second checked bag)

Q2: Putting aside Walking Street, rent a driver for the afternoon and go to a few sites. The Sanctuary of Truth is a carved wood temple. On my FB page, it's got more likes than pics from any other tourist site in the world. It's beautiful and usually not very crowded, so you can walk around peacefully. Also, have the driver bring you to the big golden buddha, which has cool statues, little booths and stunning views. Nearby to there is a small temple on top of Pattaya Hill, next to a radio transmitting tower, that also has great views of the city. If you have not already seen a floating market or an elephant preserve, there are both in the area, too.

As for the hotel, the Marriott at Sukhumvit Soi 57 is a favorite of mine. You can get a two room suite with an attached second room, which the hotel calls a two rooms suite, for $143/night USD. The rooms are all on high floors with great views. You are steps from the BTS station. With the suite, you get Concierge Lounge access, which means a breakfast buffet with stuff made on the spot, snacks and finger food in the afternoon and evening and free self serve drinks. The suite's huge full bath includes a soaking tub next to a window with incredible views. It's very Bangkok more than standard Marriott and is, IMO (shared by others) better than the more expensive JW Marriott. The neighborhood, Thong Lor, is slightly removed from the usual tourist spots so it will give you a quieter yet more authentic neighborhood feel than you would get on the River or closer to the malls. There is a rooftop bar with panoramic views.

CrazyInteg

As a teenager in Bangkok traveling with parents, and wanting to do a day trip to Pattaya (but having dinner in Bangkok), I would say to skip it. That's a lot of traveling for not a large benefit.

First of all, you say day trip. There would be no luggage involved, because your luggage would stay at your hotel in Bangkok. You would probably want to pack a small backpack with some stuff for your day trip though.
The types of things I would recommend for you, they have those same types of things around Bangkok. Water park? They have in Bangkok. Animal parks/attractions? They have in Bangkok. Unique temples? They have in Bangkok.

Let's say you all woke up at 6am, left the hotel by 6:30am, arrived to the bus station at 7am, then got lucky and left very soon after arriving to the bus station. You could be in Pattaya by 9:30am or so.
Now, you want to be back to Bangkok for a buffet dinner. At 7pm? Well, you're going to hit some evening rush hour traffic. You will need to arrive in Bangkok early enough for you to go back to your hotel to take a shower. Then need time to get to your dinner destination. So you would probably want to be at the bus station in Pattaya by 2:30pm to make it to dinner in Bangkok at 7pm.

Is all that work worth it to spend 5 hours in Pattaya?

cslewis

How about training Muay Thai!?

glennaa11

no reason for your family to go to Pattaya as far as I'm concerned despite how much the mayor and governor might want to market it as a "family" destination. The beaches are not great. And it's still much more of an adult destination.

As always it's hard to say without knowing what sorts of things you all like to do. Depending how much you are into historic places you could do a day trip to Ayutthaya and/or Lopburi.

Maybe a visit to Muang Boran which I found very interesting - scale reproductions of famous temples and buildings from around the country in a giant park. You use a bicycle or cart to get around the park. When I went many years ago we rented a golf cart to drive around the park.

For a place to stay you might consider one of the many serviced apartments around the city. You should be able to get a 2 bedroom apartment with plenty of space for not a lot of money - certainly for less than the St. Regis anyway. I've stayed at the Frasier Suites Sukhumvit which I liked but it's a bit of a hike from the BTS. I've also stayed several times at the Siri Sathorn. But again it's not located right on the transport line, but it's not a long walk - maybe 10-15 minutes from Silom. But there are tons of them - just search for Bangkok serviced apartments. It's not quite the same amount of service as a regular hotel though if that is important to you.

jphripjah

I can't think of why two teens and their parents would want to make a day trip to Pattaya either, but if they did, wouldn't they take a taxi instead of four people on the bus?

CrazyInteg

Sure. It would need to be a mini-van taxi. It would save some time, for sure. But they are still going to be somewhat pressed for time to be back in Bangkok for dinner time. Taxi rental for the day would be what, 2000-3000 baht for the day? I have no idea.

No matter what, I do find it very odd for a teenager planning to take his parents to Pattaya, no matter the length of time. Unless the teen is 19 and their family is very open, to uhhhhh, stuff. Although on my first trip to Pattaya, I had no idea what the city was like. I was just going to meet up with friends there. "Hey, how come all these.......OHH! wow"

leungy18

Yeah...I've decided to just stay in Bangkok for the 3rd day.

RustyC

Well, Pattaya can be very eye-opening for teens, but maybe not in the most helpful of ways . Better to get a few more years under your belt, join the Navy and maybe you can take a shore leave there.

As for Bangkok, if you stay along the river then you're following that oldest of tourism traditions, dating back to before the Skytrain or subway when traffic elsewhere was too disastrous. You can take the water taxi boats (unique and fun) to reach Chinatown, the Grand Palace, Wat Po, Wat Arun and Khao San Road, among other possibilities. It's also worthwhile to hire a longtail to go through the Thonburi klongs. The Skytrain (linkable at the Sathon Pier water taxi stop) can go to the interior and the malls, of which MBK and Siam Paragon are likely most useful. It also stops near all the naughty-nightlife meccas, though really Patpong is more like a giant night market and Soi Cowboy in the early evening is full of conventional tourists because of all the neon signs and just looking around and maybe having a drink outside the bars. It's becoming like Amsterdam or 42nd Street or Bugis Street in being a tourist-parody version of what it was.

YMMV, but one thing from my own experience is that JET LAG makes it very hard to do stuff after 7 p.m. or so in the first few days. I have a 12-hour offset (the worst case) and usually what happens is waking at 4 or 5 a.m. and crashing around 7:30 p.m. or so and moving that back 60-90 minutes per day. Maybe you avoid this or can plow through, but I'd caution against making too many assumptions about immediate ability to adjust. I tend to load up the first few days with day-oriented stuff.