johna

The basic flights (United Airlines) were pretty uneventful, so I'll concentrate here on some useful information for people who might be heading to Thailand. All dollar figures are in US dollars.

Oh - on our flight out, we heard the flight attendants confirming that a couple two rows away from us (non-revs, we learned) didn't get meals - they had been standbys, and UA hadn't boarded meals for them! Apparently that's one of the risks of flying non-rev. I later noticed them eating, so I guess two of the "regular" passengers had turned down their meals. Which weren't bad, but nothing great, either.

One reason the flights were uneventful was that we were able to get exit rows the entire way - thank you to FlyerTalkers who helped me identify the "best" coach seats (is that an oxymoron?) on a 747! Even though the third seat had been "blocked out" for me as a Premier Executive, there was somebody in it on all four flights. Since two of the flights (the HKG-BKK legs) weren't full, it made me wonder just how useful United's blocking is.

One other airplane comment: the lavatories on both Thai Airways (our flights within Thailand) and Cathay Pacific (my OneWorld "mileage run" to Hong Kong and back) had signs in English (but not in Thai or Chinese) warning that the water is not drinkable. And they also had dixie cups available, which surely gave the wrong impression to passengers who don't read English!

Be forewarned: the Bangkok airport ATM doesn't accept Plus [Visa] system cards, only Cirrus [MasterCard]. We ran into the same problem at some ATMs downtown, but otherwise obtaining cash was no difficulty (most accept both).

Upon arrival, don't bother with the car service booths at the aiport - they'll charge you the equivalent of $17 for downtown, plus highway tolls. Instead, just go outside to the taxi line (as we did when we got back from our week up north) and pay about $10 including tolls. But as you might gather, we used the car service when we arrived initially. We only had dollars (because of the ATM problem), which they said they'd happily accept…but they didn't mention that we'd also need Baht to pay the highway tolls!

We were glad we chose a hotel on the River (the Sheraton Royal Orchid), both for convenience and because watching the river activity from our window was so fascinating. Next door we could catch a "water taxi" to points of interest for $5-8. It wasn't until after several trips that we realized next door the other direction there was also an excellent river bus system (similar to Venice's vaporetti) that made the same trip for 10-15¢ (they operate from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.); some of the boats are expresses and cost a bit more. Although it took a bit longer than a river taxi (but was still pretty quick), who cared with so many things to look at - the cost differential was just the icing on the cake. Most of the major hotels on the river are close to a river bus stops.

The convenience of staying on the river becomes apparent as soon as you step foot into Bangkok's traffic - a 10-minute river taxi trip (20-25 minute river bus) takes at least 30 minutes by car. But at least taxi fares were cheap - about $1.50 for one 2½-mile ride. Only once did a cab driver refuse to use the taxi meter; we simply got out and hailed a different cab.

Tuk-Tuks (sort of a three-wheeled open golf cart), on the other hand, don't have meters. They can be a fun ride, but take a few regular taxis so you know what price to negotiate. Their first price will always be significantly more than a taxi, often by 100% or more. Actually, we preferred taxis for the air conditioning as well!

(One fellow we chatted with said that his hockey team would negotiate prices for the several Tuk-Tuks they needed at once…and promise double to the driver who got to the destination first! While I don't recommend this, he seemed pleased with the incredible (scary?!) rides it generated!!.)

In either case, have your hotel write out your day's destinations in Thai so you can give them to the driver(s). (Post-its are useful for this). The reason is that most drivers don't speak English, but won't admit when they don't understand you. So when we asked for the "Royal Barges" one day (which we should have done by boat, but that's another story!), he only understood "Royal" but knew that most tourists want to visit the Royal Palace so that's where he headed!

Watch out for the "closed for Buddhist holiday" scam that some drivers will use to steer you away from sightseeing and into shops (where they get a kickback). We had been warned about Tuk-Tuk drivers trying to pull this fast one, but two pedestrians also tried the ploy! In both cases, our destination was only a block away, so we went anyway…and found them both open, regular hours.

The National Museum was a disappointment to us both. Things were poorly displayed, and labeling (in both English and Thai) was minimal - nothing was put into context. For example, the Buddhist paraphernalia exhibit included a multitude of fans; we had no way of knowing what these fans are used for. Or "during the reign of Rama IV", but no dates to help out!

A massage at Wat Po ($3-10 depending on length) is as wonderful as everybody says. The atmosphere, though, isn't great: a big pavilion with lots of massage chairs (for foot massages - quite an experience!) and beds. Plus you may have a 20-45 minute wait (get a number when you first arrive, then go see the temple's other attractions such as the reclining Buddha. If you prefer privacy and/or air conditioning, there are lots of other places you can be more pampered.

We spent a week in the north (Chiang Mai) in addition to a (split) week in Bangkok. From Chiang Mai, we did a wonderful four-day excursion further north with an outfit called Track of the Tiger tours (http://www.track-of-the-tiger.com). It included two days on their bamboo barge going down the Maekok River (stayed at their "jungle lodge" overnight, with bamboo huts and mosquito netting!), complete with visits to numerous hill tribes and a 1½-hour elephant ride (touristy, but the scenery was spectacular and feeding the beasts was great fun); another day of the tour was spent in the "Golden Triangle" area (where Burma [Myanmar], Thailand, and Laos meet). While we recommend the outfit, we never did find out why their package price (~$450 pp) was so much more than putting the same trip together from their "UP2U" mix-and-match option (~$375). Guess which approach we used?!

Our hotel in Chiang Mai (the Montri Hotel) was equivalent to perhaps a low end Holiday Inn. But the location (right at the eastern wall of the old city) was terrific, and the cost ($19/night for a superior room couldn't be beat! At that rate, we kept the room during our three nights away, rather than have to pack and store everything. And their laundry service was cheap, too - 12 days' laundry for two people ran about $21.

The food in local restaurants was uniformly wonderful and cheap - we had trouble spending $15/day/person for three meals. (It ticked me off that the bigger hotels that cater to tour groups and business people would charge U.S. prices in their restaurants. Charge what the traffic will bear, I suppose.) I avoided street food like the plague (I have AIDS), so I can't comment on it; The hockey player above reported that his team did eat street food, and about a third of them got sick at one point or other. We enjoyed Harmonique (try their stir-fried chicken with ginger - lots of fresh ginger, but not at all "spicy." And Kalong Seafood was impossible to find (including the fact that there's no English sign!), but delicious once we got there (it took two tries - e-mail me for directions!) My guidebook (Fodor's) had commented (correctly) that "If you are even slightly observant, you'll notice that much of the staff is transvestite." But interestingly, my friend's guidebook (Frommer's) also recommends the restaurant, but makes no comment about the staff! We wondered whether they hadn't noticed, or just didn't think it appropriate to say anything?!

Well, I've gone on long enough. My rants about the food on Cathay Pacific and the snootiness at the Oriental Hotel are on other threads; now that search is back up, I'll let you find them if you're interested. All in all, it was a wonderful trip, and I highly recommend the destination!


[This message has been edited by johna (edited 11-24-1999).]