thailand :: bangkok :: general

[brissyboy]

I recommend using the atm card more then the visa, safer that you don't give out your cc details. Or maybe set a limit on there.

[tac0tron]

Just returned from Bangkok a few days ago, I had much fun, and did quite a lot of shopping. Food was pretty good and really affordable!

[billard]

For cheap knockoffs, theres a new place openend up in Bangkok, Platinum mall. It's somewhat like MBK, but I guess, cheaper! The thing is they sell wholesale, i.e. you buy 1 it is this price, but if you buy 3, its a whole new price.

[fabric]

Hey guys, my friends and I are heading over to Thailand in October. Planning to do the usual tourist things, check out the islands, and try and get some shopping, as well as sufu recommended stuff etc done also, so I will need to read through this thread and get a better idea of things a little closer to then.

I've heard though, that it will be monsoon season during that time. Just wanted to get an idea as to how bad it can get weatherwise and how much, it may affect my overall holiday or not? it can't be that bad right? hehe

[Analyst]

To the Sufu Veterans / people in the know

(Sorry to bold) I have a co-worker / friend there that would like to have some suits & shirts made.

How much of the 1st couple of pages are still relevant & if none - could I ask someone to provide me w/ current addresses(s) to quality suitmakers ???

Thank you / He's there for about 2 more weeks.

Will +rep

Sure.

I would still recommend Rajawongse in Nana in between Sukhumvit Soi 4 and Soi 6. I don't have their exact address but it's to the right of the Landmark Hotel, directly next to a Subway shop.

Suits are 12000 THB. Shirts are 1000 THB last time I checked. They should be able to squeeze in two fittings within the two week timeframe.

I've gotten suits and shirts cut there over the last few years. Just be specific about what you want i.e., no pleats, working buttons, double vents, etc. Good luck!

[snkr]

Anyone going to Steve Aoki at 808 tonite?

I've been there that night!

Would you go for Ed Banger on Aug 2?

Talking about party scene in Thailand, it's about to start.

Only few good club in bangkok and only few people would get into these kind of music. I mean something not Hip-Hop.

[Analyst]

Thinking of checking out Grandmaster Flash at 808 tonight.

[billard]

For tailors, I'm quite happy to use and recommend Crown Tailors inside of Soi 8 on Sukhumvit. Suits at reasonable prices and shirts are amazingly cheap as well.

[poly800rock]

Thank you +Repped as promised

analyst knows what he's talking about. especially in the land of smiles.

[xcoldricex]

Thinking of checking out Grandmaster Flash at 808 tonight.

so how was it?

[Analyst]

Coldrice,

I didn't make it out unfortunately. Ended up working a little later than expected. Same thing happened when DJ Craze was in town at Q-Bar.

But I've seen Grandmaster Flash a few times back in DC when he used to show up at the old Buzz parties. Still a great performer though....

U coming to TH soon?

[snkr]

so how was it?

My friends said he was sucks that night, nothing different from Route 66 Club.

But this week's Ed Banger is cannot be miss.

[eff]

I thought route 66 is pretty good/famous for it's hiphop?

[gentleman]

heya folks...ive been reading as much as i can on these boards...my best friend and i were thinking of taking 2 weeks in december to go to south asia...ideally, we were thinking of flying into bangkok for 4 nights or so and then traveling and flying back out of bangkok.

its such a daunting task and im completely oblivious to whats cool and good in that area and i ask for yr help. im looking for another 2 destinations that are cheap to travel to from bangkok for an additional 4 nights each...im completely open and not entirely sure if i want to spend my entire trip in thailand.

im oblivious to plane flights in the area...how much would a flight to saigon cost? is that even a possibility considering my issues?

im really looking for great food and to get away...away from stocks and nyc and everything...the last thing i want is to find myself in the company of fat british folks somewhere.

that said, i still want to stay in relatively nice hotels and not looking to skimp but not waste money either.

like i said, if you guys can recommend some other destinations, id be most appreciative.

[john11f]

just moved to Bangkok 4 months ago. beautiful city. really really good food. it's just crazy nowadays with the protests and all.

anyone who can hook me up with some reefer?

[fabric]

Hi guys,

I’ll be heading to Thailand with a group of friends in about 2 weeks. Have been reading through this thread and have gotten some good info already, but seeking some more specific info so I would appreciate(+) any help.

1st question is weather. What’s the weather conditions like at the moment over there? hehe

Bangkok

Tailors: ive read on this thread include Toms International, Crown and Rajowonse. The impression I get is that they are all around the Sukhumvit district, so they should be sufficient. Any other shopping recs that Thailand/bkk is reputable for?

Nightlife: Some of you guys have mentioned club 808 and Route 66. Cant seem to work out whether these are both good or one is bad or what hehe. Any recs on what other clubs would be worth checking out, music policies/styles, location, links to the clubs etc?

Ink: Also looking to get some ink done. Where are the good tattooists/piercing parlours and locations in bkk?

Activities:

We’re planning to travel outside from bkk also and head down to the islands and full moon party, usual tourist stuff but in between that, do u guys have any recommendations on where to go to book cheap/reasonably priced tourist activities and trips? We’ll be in Thailand for 2 weeks so I assume flights would be necessary to save travel time or are other methods of transport bus etc just as efficient to get to certain places?

Hope this all makes sense and thanks in advance for any assistance, cheers guys!!!

[brissyboy]

Don't ever go to royal tailors on sukhumvhit road, material is inferior and the post sales service is even worse. Got back home and wanted to order matching jackets for the trousers and the price suddenly jumped 3 times.

[fabric]

Don't ever go to royal tailors on sukhumvhit road, material is inferior and the post sales service is even worse. Got back home and wanted to order matching jackets for the trousers and the price suddenly jumped 3 times.

ok thanks for the heads up...

what about nightlife and travel activities/arrangements away from bkk..

any rec's on where to go and do and where not to??

[todesengel]

buses are surprisingly reasonable as far as time/cost between major tourist areas. you can get to the islands (koh tao, pha-ngan) from bkk for like $20, takes about 8 hours (overnight). pajillions of people sell tickets, but shop around for prices and watch your shit on the bus.

[fabric]

buses are surprisingly reasonable as far as time/cost between major tourist areas. you can get to the islands (koh tao, pha-ngan) from bkk for like $20, takes about 8 hours (overnight). pajillions of people sell tickets, but shop around for prices and watch your shit on the bus.

ok cool, thanx man..dont think id be keen for an 8 hour bus trip, but will consider buses for shorter trips..How much are domestic flights for example? say from bkk to the islands? cheers!

[todesengel]

bkk to samui one way looks like ~$100 on either thai or bangkok air, the only airlines that fly direct there. Gotta get to pha ngan from samui though (assuming you want to go to the pha ngan full moon party, which you should), that's probably an extra $10 or $20 each way. getting to places that either nok or air asia fly will be way cheaper, but they have limited destinations.

keep in mind that the flight is probably around 2 hours, plus airport and transportation time on each end.

[fabric]

bkk to samui one way looks like ~$100 on either thai or bangkok air, the only airlines that fly direct there. Gotta get to pha ngan from samui though (assuming you want to go to the pha ngan full moon party, which you should), that's probably an extra $10 or $20 each way. getting to places that either nok or air asia fly will be way cheaper, but they have limited destinations.

keep in mind that the flight is probably around 2 hours, plus airport and transportation time on each end.

yeh the full moon party is on 14th oct so we're gonna try and make our way down for that...getting to bkk on the 3rd so will try and do all the sightseeing and cultural stuff in between...whats the weather like there at the moment?

great, thanks for the info guys...really appreciate it!

[the breaks]

Heading to BKK after new years.. any sufu style shopping to be found there these days?

[Analyst]

Thailand is going through a tough time right now. Chronic political issues here have killed consumer confidence and business sentiment. And with the global recession that's hitting the developed world now, Thailand's economy is going to be hit in a bad way in the near term as demand for exports comes to a halt.

A lot of places that were previously discussed have closed down. Playground on Thong Lor is gone and its sister Manga inside Central World at Chit Lom have also been boarded up. Denim Style in Siam Square is also closed.

Let's see. Blackjack inside Erawan (Chit Lum stop) has lots of Raf by Raf Simons, Helmut Lang, Y-3, Marc Jacobs, etc. Its sister Club 21, also inside Erawan has Dior Homme, Issy Miyake, Comme de Garcon, Junya Watanabe, etc.

Recently, I stopped by Cloud 9 inside Gaysorn Plaza, which sits across the street from Erawan, and was surprised to see Rag and Bone and Band of Outsiders on the racks.

I haven't been to Tanner Lee & Na for a long time but their small shop is in the MBK mall in Siam Square. They carry imported Japanese denim and marks up by about 33%. But they have lots of Evisu, Warehouse, Studio D'artisan, Take 5 collabs, Stormy Blues, Denime and Yamane; all in limited sizes. Tanner knows Benny from Take 5 in HK. He has a bit of a sour attitude but his wife who also helps run the shop is really nice.

If you're looking for denim in Bangkok, the fake levis and evisus are better buys, I think. For the real thing, it's better to go to HK or Tokyo. The Chatuchak market out toward Lad Prao (Mo Chit BTS stop) should have plenty of denim as well as small shops run by emerging designers etc. Go there only on Saturday or Sunday morning.

The Suan Lum Night Market next to Lumpini station also has tons of small shops. Hit or miss. But it's probably a good place to browse at night and wonder around its maze of closet-sized shops and kiosks. The sad thing is is that this place is supposed to be shutting down since the lease has been up since early 2008 and the property was purchased by the Central Group, who plans to open another super-mall to rival the Siam Paragon shopping mall. But even though the vendors are supposed to have vacated the premises, the shops are still bustling as far I can tell.

I'm probably leaving out some stuff, so please let me know if you find anything new. Have a great trip. The weather is amazing right now.

[Analyst]

Things in Thailand are not so good at the moment. Actually it's been in pretty bad shape for the past few months.

As of yesterday, the anti-government protesters dubbed the PAD forced Thailand's Suvarnabhumi International Airport to close, stranding thousands of passengers at the airport. Last I heard the bank's forex branches and restaurants in the airport had closed leaving those stranded to depend on handouts from police and the protesters.

I don't expect the situation to be cleared anytime soon. The pissing match between the government, which the protesters view as a proxy for the disposed PM Taksin, and the so-called People's Alliance for Democracy, or PAD, is starting to escalate at a rapid pace. The PAD wants the PM to step down and wants to appoint their own members into the government. The government wants to hold on their seat since they view that they were "democratically" elected. That said, I'll tell you right now that Thailand is not ready for a democracy. The poor, rural people in the North will always vote for their self-interest. And can you blame them? The wealth gap in this backwater nation is so wide that corruption will always be a way of life until you address the root cause to that issue. And that's never going to happen anyway.

I feel that more violence is imminent as the police and military sit on the sidelines.

In my view, the PAD no longer represents the people and are only pursuing their own self-interests. And as of late, most professional Thais in Bangkok are turning against the PAD as their latest actions are destroying the country's tourism sector and any future hope of economic recovery. If history repeats itself, Thailand's latest political situation won't be cleared until 2011-2012.

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving I feel horrible for the Americans that are trying to get home to their families but are still stuck at the airport. My heart goes out to them.

Fuck, I'm depressed.

[brissyboy]

I had a similar picture on the front page of the newspaper here in Australia. Crazy times.

[poly800rock]

damn, i was actually just driving and listenig to NPR and heard about the shit going down, then got an email from a friend who is stranded and can't get out of bangkok by plane, so she's on a bus to cambodia. I got home and hopped on google chat to see if analyst was on to see if I could get an update. Shit, analyst, that stuff is nuts. Hope you're safe buddy. keep us INFORMED.

[Analyst]

damn, i was actually just driving and listenig to NPR and heard about the shit going down, then got an email from a friend who is stranded and can't get out of bangkok by plane, so she's on a bus to cambodia. I got home and hopped on google chat to see if analyst was on to see if I could get an update. Shit, analyst, that stuff is nuts. Hope you're safe buddy. keep us INFORMED.

At last, the airports are now open and are resuming flights. They should be fully operational in about two weeks.

After much anticipation, the Thai government has been disbanded. Again. The anti-government protesters claimed victory as the Thai Supreme Court ruled that the current Prime Minister must step down and would be banned from politics for five years for elector fraud. But this victory was "won" at a terrible cost to the country, economically and politically.

Looking ahead not much will change. The party of the current PM will form a new group under a new name, already dubbed "For Thais". And new elections will be held which will install a new PM, from unsurprisingly the same government party. And again this PM will be successfully "democratically" elected by most poor, rural voters in the North and Northeast who received 10$ and/or a water buffalo in return for their vote. Obviously, the Thai country is not quite ready for a democracy, which has been tossed around here as a trendy buzzword.

The same anti-government party will protest the election results, without suggesting a viable alternative solution, and will start their protesting again. Thus is the political life in Thailand. 19-20 coups in the last forty years or so. At the heart of the matter is the "untouchable" subject of succession planning regarding the current monarchy.

Strict laws ("lese mejeste") prohibit any kind of so-called negative remarks against the monarchy. Thailand is the only country in the world that upholds this law.

On the flip side, maybe this lawlessness and slight anarchy in Thailand is what makes it such an interesting country. I'm not sure if I would want the stability or predictability of another Singapore or Hong Kong. The nightlife and partying is still amazing, if not better than before. The street food is tops. The Thai attitudes of sabai-sabai and jai dee are still there. Maybe the Kingdom of Thailand is just fine as it is, after all.

[vrsicks]

The ultimate Bangkok shopping guide

http://www.sneakersociety.com/wordpress/?page_id=4720

[andreweezer]

So, I was planning on going to bangkok at the beginning of May.. Bad idea now?