thailand :: bangkok :: general

[sepia007]

http://metropolitan.como.bz/bangkok/default.asp

i was there over the christmas/new years break. very very sparse....think stark meets schrager. the themes inside are similar to the st. martins lane in london or the mondrian in la. lots of white walls, versus wood paneling. rooms very very comfortable. one huge plus, for the mac powerbook/ibook crew......fully working airport ready hotel. the whole place, lobby, restaurants and rooms are wired for wireless. ibooks check you into the hotel at the front desk!!! just opened in december, and nice location on sathorn road, down the road from the old sukothai . all in all, wicked hotel. :thumbsup:

[Jean Snow]

I am so jealous. I've read quite a few articles on that hotel since it's opening, and it really seems like a nice place. But cheap as I am while travelling, I doubt I'll ever stay there.

Jean Snow

http://jeansnow.net

[sufu1]

me like

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superslave1

http://superfuture.com

[eric2019]

Like too - though there's not much photos on the site. Likewise don't think I could affford that while traveling - once I get to the position of 'Super Fashion / Hollywood photographer", I'll just buy the hotel.

E

-----------------------------------------------

It's not LA, it's Hell-A !

[sepia007]

well, the most expensive thing about thailand is the plane ticket. you can stay in bangkok for $35 dollars or $350.

[daryl]

...and I want to make sure I check everything out.

I think I have my bases covered on the shopping tip with Siam Square, the Chatuchak weekend market, the Suan Lum night market. I might check out bed and q-bar for some night time activities.

Anything else? I'm sure there is more.

I'll be there with my girl later this week through the weekend then we're probably going to ko samui for a week. Is there anything I should not miss in ko samui?

Thanks to those who have posted in the past on this subject. The search function help me start my Bangkok research.

[sam79london]

Have a great time - Thailand is amazing!

Chatuchak is crazy - get there early as it gets packed. So much fake crap there tho - watch out for the levis as they look legit at first glance! Local crafts and home furnishings are a great buy.

Samui is good - you should head over to Koh phang Ngan (Wrong spelling im sure) as it is only a short ferry ride and has a much more chilled out vibe (even tho it is becoming too touristy)Beware if it is near full moon tho as the Loonies arrive in their droves!

have fun

Sam

sam79london

[Analyst]

At this time of the year, check out Samui rather than islands like Phuket or Koh Phi Phi. Great place for fresh seafood and beaches.

For shopping, in addition to Chatuchak, go to Siam Square for some small boutiques carrying interesting Thai designers.

Bed and Q-Bar usually book the global DJs. Astra in RCA does as well.

For places where locals hang out, I would go to Thong Lor around Sukhumvit 55. Soi 10 has a place called Boose. Ekkamai (close by) around Soi 11 or 14 has a place called Nung-Len (means chilling out) and Esco Bar, which is nice.

I currently live in Thong Lor. Great neighborhood with a lot of great places to eat. Let me know of any other questions.

[daryl]

thanks guys. leaving in a few hours. should be a good time.

analyst - any places you recommend to eat in your neighborhood?

[Analyst]

Definitely. If you want amazing street food check out the entrance to Soi 38 Sukhumvit. It's on the other side of the THong Lor BTS stop. You'll find two awesome congee stands and also some great ba mee or noodle stops.

If you want something less traditional I would highly recommend going to Kuppa. It's in the Playground complex around Thong Lor Soi 21. Good mix of traditional THai and Western food. chill music and you pretty much have the place to yourself. Greyhound Cafe is also good. Greyhound is a local Thai clothing label that also started a chain of cafes. You can also find them at the Emporium (Sukhumvit Soi 23) and Gaysorn (close the World Trade Center). In THong Lor, the Greyhound cafe is in J Avenue, which like a block from the starbucks on Thong Lor Soi 13. Oh, Blue Spice next the Centerpoint condominium around Soi 11 looks good but have not been yet.

What else....there's a couple more places around Soi 10 i think but have not checked out. Matcha and Coffebean.

Anyway, let me know of any questions. Back channel.

[Analyst]

anyone here in THailand? I just moved here and am wondering if there are any locals on the board????

[makeupvic]

I might be a bit late to offer any advice, but if you are going to Ko Samui, i would recommend to hire a jeep and drive the whole island for a day or two. Go to the Chedi spa not far from Poppies resort and you can have an outdoor massage that's out of this world, alongside your girlfriend.

Ko Samui is one of my favourite places in Thailand, you'll love it. Chaweng is very tacky now, but their are far better places to discover on Ko Samui!

[Analyst]

sigh.

[poly800rock]

What you doing in Thailand? Why worry about clothes when you got amazing beaches great city, and beautiful women.

I loved thailand.

went up and down the country.

Started down south went to Ko Sok national park where I saw a cobra and went tubing down the sok river, then up the coast, I went to Koh Lanta which was insane, rather would have gone to Koh Chang near burma, but the monsoon season wasn't letting us. Man, Thailand is too much for words, and there are more things to do in life than clothes!

tons of stuff for sale now on ebay: corpus, hollywood ranch, levi's premium, vintage etc.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZtriggerkid

[chase]

woo hoo

went to koh samui, ko phangan n phuket in march last year, then went to bangkok in december.

then i jus got a free ticket to bangkok off my credit card!

thailand is nice man, esp for farangs.

n there is so much to do, lotsa of places to go.

then bangkok has a whole design and archi vibe man. there is even a thai wallpaper!

I am now lookin for a job in bangkok, so wat do you do there? any vacancies in your company or industry? Pls msg me.

post. http://www.post.fm

DESIGN. ART. MUSIC. SINGAPORE. BROADCASTS.

[poly800rock]

will be in thailand again in may....i have ~2 weeks, wondering if i should go down to the beaches or just party in bangkok....been there before and covered most of the sites, just looking to hang out...recommend any places?

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZtriggerkid

[Tisswat]

Quoting a post by Analyst (in http://city.superfuture.com/city/supertalk/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=11027):

Quote: Off topic, but regarding the nightlife in BKK, there's pretty much everything that suits your tastes:

RCA (off Rama X): busiest party place in BKK for local urban youth/professionals. check out Route 66 for best hip hop in BKK on any night of the week. astra, two doors down, for regular DJs playing progressive house/drum and bass. EZ Rollers from London just played last night. Slim, one door up from Route 66, is decent too.

Ratchada Soi 4: less familiar with this spot but i hear it's pretty crazy. it's also a local party spot but for a different crowd. lots of massage parlor girls partying after work at 12am and older mafia like dudes.

Around Asoke on Sukhumvit you have the Bed Supperclub and QBar. high cover and expensive drinks. lots of tourists/westerners/nasty working girls from Isaan.

Thong Lor (Sukumvit Soi 55): Escudo around Soi 15 is an excellent small hip hop club for hi-so local Thais and hot girls. on Soi 10 there's Boose, which is the typical Thai pub/restaurant that hosts a live band playing Thai music. basically the opposite of the crowd that parties in Ratchada Soi 4/Pump-Up/Hollywood

Silom Soi 4 (right next to Patpong)- here's a string of hip-hop clubs such as Speed and others. haven't been here in a while.

Ekkamai (up from Soi Thong Lor): you have Nung-Len, which is exactly like Boose. Overcrowded and live Thai band. next door, you have Esco Bar...hip hop/house DJ and not as crowded as Nung-Len.

anyway, that's a flavor of the nightlife in BKK. Khao San has a lot of the backpacker crowd:israelis, germans, aussies. Japanese hang out on Soi 49 or Soi 33 Sukhumvit or Taniya on Silom at all the hostess bars. I didn't cover the red-light district (s), which are a whole other story. good luck!

reporter: "what do you think about western civilization?"

gandhi: "i think it would be a good idea."

[englandmj7]

I have spent ALOT of time (several months) living in Thailand and I personally hate Bangkok; it is probably the worst big city in the world. Taking that into consideration I would recommend hopping in a private limo van and taking the $40 trip down to Pattaya. Pattaya Beach is great; tons of shopping (lots of fake shit but also a very nice mall) bars, and restaurants. Walking Street is an amazing place for nightlife and is much better than Patpong in Bangkok. Pattaya is the fastest growing / hottest place to buy housing in Thailand right now. From there, take the 3 day tour/trip to the River Kwai. You stay on the river in floating house boats; it is fucking beautiful and extremely fun........

Skip Phuket

[poly800rock]

Quote:

I have spent ALOT of time (several months) living in Thailand and I personally hate Bangkok; it is probably the worst big city in the world. Taking that into consideration I would recommend hopping in a private limo van and taking the $40 trip down to Pattaya. Pattaya Beach is great; tons of shopping (lots of fake shit but also a very nice mall) bars, and restaurants. Walking Street is an amazing place for nightlife and is much better than Patpong in Bangkok. Pattaya is the fastest growing / hottest place to buy housing in Thailand right now. From there, take the 3 day tour/trip to the River Kwai. You stay on the river in floating house boats; it is fucking beautiful and extremely fun........

Skip Phuket

--- Original message by englandmj7 on May 1, 2006 03:13 PM

yeah, i dont think bangkok is the way to go, but i'm unsure of my timetable.....probably go to the andaman sea side for beaches...

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZtriggerkid

[Analyst]

You definitely want to not stay too long in BKK. But if you're there, get off of the beaten path meaning obviously the tourist/westerner traps like Patpong, Nana, Khao San, Soi Cowboy, etc.

If you're going to the islands, I'd check out Koh Phi Phi in the Andamans. Take the flight to Krabi and then the boat to PHi PHi. Beautiful diving and about 20-30M of visbility. The rainy season is approaching so depending on when you land, you might want to consider the beaches in the Gulf of Thailand. Koh Samui is so so but the diving from Koh Pha Ngan is also amazing, especially the chimney formations at Sail Rock or the Ang Thong Marine Park.

[Landy]

this is kinda a stupid question, but i might be in BKK in may. i was wonderin how safe the city is for me to go wanderin around by myself at nite.

[englandmj7]

You can get mugged/beaten in ANY city in the world if you are in the wrong area at night.....BKK is no different; the worst thing that is VERY likely to happen is that you get horribly ripped-off and intimidated at an off-the-path strip club or bar....just be cautious and don't carry alot of money with you, and avoid "upstairs bars" in Patpong at all costs. Thailand is a buddhist country, and is generally a safe place to be in regards to Asia........

[poly800rock]

I've never had a previous problem with walking around by myself in bangkok. I'll probably end up staying on Khoa San just b/c its so cheap....but thanks for the advice, will have to drop by the old thorntree to see what the wheather is like on the andaman sea,,,as those islands are amazing....anyone here ever go to ko jum or ko chang on the andaman sea side? or is monsoon season already here?

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZtriggerkid

[Landy]

Quote:

You can get mugged/beaten in ANY city in the world if you are in the wrong area at night.....BKK is no different; the worst thing that is VERY likely to happen is that you get horribly ripped-off and intimidated at an off-the-path strip club or bar....just be cautious and don't carry alot of money with you, and avoid "upstairs bars" in Patpong at all costs. Thailand is a buddhist country, and is generally a safe place to be in regards to Asia........

--- Original message by englandmj7 on May 4, 2006 09:05 AM

well yeh of course i know that. i grew up in the southwest side of houston and i lived in a rough spot of brooklyn. i was just wondering cuz some asian cities like tokyo and hong kong are completely safe. you can walk around the wee hours of the night and not worry about any kind of violent crime. i'm in HK right now, but if you go over the border to shenzen, it's a completely different story. if you wander far off, you can get robbed in broad daylight. the people of some parts of mainland china are very very poor making something like $200 USD a YEAR. cities like shenzen are a migrant cities that attract people from the impoverished areas because they seek work. when they can't find it, they resort to other means.

i was just curious about bangkok. thanks for the input guys.

[Landy]

well i'm going to heading to bangkok in 2 weeks. i get one saturday nite, so if i had to pick one hiphop club to go to to get my groove on and holla at some girls; which one should it be?

[Analyst]

Route 66 at RCA.....

[poly800rock]

leaving today!!!

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZtriggerkid

[Tisswat]

Make sure you guys post some reviews in here when you get back..

reporter: "what do you think about western civilization?"

gandhi: "i think it would be a good idea."

[poly800rock]

headed down to RCA yesterday after rereading this thread and checked out Route 66. Def a pretty cool scene. They were playing that "rolling dirty" song and I wonder if people out here know what "rollin dirty" actually means...cuz i'm sure there are more often than not, rollin dirty out here. BKK is def a lot better when I'm out of the ko san road area...i found myself hating this place before but I realized I only hate backpackers and shit....

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZtriggerkid

[Guest]

Quote:

headed down to RCA yesterday after rereading this thread and checked out Route 66. Def a pretty cool scene. They were playing that "rolling dirty" song and I wonder if people out here know what "rollin dirty" actually means...cuz i'm sure there are more often than not, rollin dirty out here. BKK is def a lot better when I'm out of the ko san road area...i found myself hating this place before but I realized I only hate backpackers and shit....

--- Original message by poly800rock on May 28, 2006 09:33 AM

Yeah, you definitely want to get away from Khao San or Nana, where most grubby backpackers hang out. Route 66 is fun. Cute girls and good music. DJ Buddha, awesome Thai-American DJ from Brooklyn, plays there on the weekends. It gets a little crowded inside for me these days but my friends and I usually get a table outside, rather than fighting through the mob of people to go to the bathroom.

Thailand's nightlife is segmented into local and non-local places to hang out. For example, you'll never find local Thais at any place like Patpong or Nana or Soi Cowboy. Or, even places like Bed Supperclub, Q-Bar, Glow (great music and drinks but mostly farangs and Isaan working girls), unless Carl Cox or Tiesto is playing.

Young Thais (ages 21-25) party a lot on the RCA (Royal City Avenue) strip which includes a string of clubs lined together: Route 66 is the most popular followed by Slim. Both play hip hop. Astra and Flix are decent too and usually book the international drum & bass or progressive house/trance DJs. Hip-hop has become the music of choice for alot of younger Thais. Its kinda cool see the local b-boys breakdancing on the Skytrain platform on Victory Monument stop or the freshly sprayed tags on the construction around Satorn road. I haven't check out the new clubs around Ratchada but I hear that a lot of hip hop clubs are opening there.

For the other group of young Thais (ages 25+), who don't like hip-hop much, go to Thonglor Soi 10 to restaurant/pubs like Boose or Gigabyte, which usually feature a live band playing Thai music and songs that caught on here and never expired (i.e., Zombie by the Cranberries, By the Way by the Red Hot Chili Peppers). These places usually get really popular really fast and then dry up when something new comes along, like Huk around Thonglor Soi 18 (used to be the old Song Selung club but plays Hip Hop and has hookahs). The owners then invest a ton of money to remodel the club and then promote/market the hell out of it by enlisting the services of a promotion agency who ensure that certain models/entertainers (called "Prettys") show up.

At both of these type of places, you'll find mostly Hi-So (Thai slang term meaning high society) young Thais from prominent families and young professionals. Thailand has an informal caste system, segmented by wealth. Economically, Thailand is still an developing country and its populace still basically into two groups: Wealthy and poor. While there is an emerging middle class, I would argue that the gap is still pretty wide between rich and poor.

The bottom half go to Ratchada to party at clubs like Hollywood, Dance Fever and other places around Soi 4. Here you'll see mostly tables of young girls (mostly non-Bangkok working girls with their "Sias," or much older patrons). The crowd here can get a little rough and fights and stabbings are frequent.

I moved here about seven months ago for work but my perspective is mostly through a Thai lens, as I am ethnically Thai and I usually go out with my cousins. I'd love to get any perspectives from the Westerner side....