game4shame

KSR is a shithole. Stinks of piss/shit/vomit, middle of nowhere, tourist trap, full of backpacker cocks getting ripped off by tuk tuk drivers and fortune tellers.......dreadlock-growing, fire juggling, tye-dye wearing, naive, cheapskate backpacking f**kwits. What a shithole.

It has its positives. I quite like some of the local talent. Also, a wide range of cheap and abundant food. All in all, plenty of fun times to be had there.

Local talent? You mean Freelance Prostitutes?

You may indeed acquire a 50THB Phad Thai if that's what floats your boat. However you'll also have to endure middle class kids thinking they're on some form of spiritual crusade because they've spent a month on the same tiny stretch of Bangkok street, paying 300THB a night in some bed bug-ridden cesspit whilst drinking big Changs from 7/11 every night.

KSR is a shithole. Stinks of piss/shit/vomit, middle of nowhere, tourist trap, full of backpacker cocks getting ripped off by tuk tuk drivers and fortune tellers.......dreadlock-growing, fire juggling, tye-dye wearing, naive, cheapskate backpacking f**kwits. What a shithole.

3 hours is general recommendation for international flights but it's overkill IMO. 2 hours is plenty.

I've seen me rush to the airport for an international flight, get there 1.5 hours before, and still have time for a couple of beers.

rule of thumb:

international departure - 2 hours

domestic - 1 hour

the BKK smoking rooms are some of the best I've experienced in that they are easy enough to sit in if you're just a softcore occasional smoker, yet very little smoke escapes the rooms into the main terminal.

some of the other airport smoking rooms I've seen are absolutely disgusting.

AMS for example - I am shocked that a major european airport A. allows smoking indoors and B. forces smokers into those terrible little smoking booths - I'd say they are big enough for 5 people yet there's always about 10 60-a-dayer's when I'm there. I suppose on a positive note, they are guaranteed to make smokers think twice about lighting up!

that's the beauty of HKT compared to USM for example - variety of choices for air travel.

I have flown all possible domestic airlines to BKK from HKT.

personally, my first choice would be bangkok air - they occasionally have good deals but at short notice they are unlikely to have reasonable fares.

my next choice would be airasia - the aircraft is generally new, the FA's (in my experience) are good (and sometimes fit), they fly to soo-wanna-poom and their fares can be very very reasonable if booked at the right time. (I flew CNX-HKT for approx 1500THB in the summer whilst thai air wanted 7000THB for same day!)

then there's thai air, nok and 12go. well, the less said about them the better. thai are ok, nothing more, and rarely competitively priced. nok air and 12go do the job and that's about it + they fly to no mans land aka don muang - they are real 'no frills' airlines whereas I have always found airasia to be a class above them.

maybe they realized what's written on the picture i'm posting

I got an email through offering 1950THB BKK-USM, I thought 'mm, looks like they're finally seeing sense'....til I read the 'tax excluded' smallprint. :jerk:

good grief, I've met some cheapskates in my day, but some of the posts in this topic are beyond belief.

'splash out' the 120THB (or whatever it is) and take the bus.

Why dont you get the 21.00 Jomtien bus from as far as i can remember entrance 8 cost 124b and the driver will stop at Pattaya klang and Pattaya tai to drop you off..

I have used this bus before and was very impressed. only been to pattaya a few times before and always had a lift organised or took a taxi.

I tried this bus service after a bit of internet research and it exceeded expectations. nice new, clean, spacious coach, a sensible driver and an absolute bargain at 124THB.

are you travelling domestic or international?

iirc the BK is in domestic departures. unless there's one in the international side too?

Have used them once and thought them to be excellent. Sadly have not been able to find good deals from them on LDN-BKK since.

same here - used etihad once approx 3 years ago. v impressed and would use them again. however, I've found their competitors have offered better deals for the periods I've travelled since.

similar (if not better) promotions from emirates departing uk too. nice to see emirates offering reasonable deals when so many of their competitors have lost the plot altogether.

well, the once great lamai certainly needs something.

the days of buzzing choc-a-block bars are long gone unfortunately.

daily mail = narrow-minded, right-wing paper.

full moon gap year party-goers = toffy nosed brats trying to be outlandish.

both awful. neither worth caring about.

as mentioned by a previous poster, spend a bit of time in bkk, especially if you're looking for good nightlife.

there's always somewhere new to try + various styles, from seedy to stylish.

phuket. has the beachy/nightlife feel + easy access to a variety of different places by road, air and boat.

I know OP said he wants to stay in one place but basing yourself in phuket means you can do day trips to places like phi phi, similan etc or couple of night trips to the likes of chiang mai or udon through competitive/reasonable air fares from/to HKT or krabi via road or boat.

you can also fly to hong kong or singapore.

if you want to base yourself somewhere you haven't mentioned, you could try samui. I loved samui initially but I've been there so many times the novelty has worn a little. but if you've never been it could be a good choice.

80THB per day? don't push the boat out. there's plenty of choice at approx 50THB per day.

B.A. are still a great airline. A few years ago in an emergency budget the airport tax was increased, I had a flight that was used BKK-Lon but the return was after the tax increase was implemented.....B.A. were the only airline in the world to honour their original pricing whereas all others made customers pay the extra tax prior to flying or even at check in.

they could do that, coz their original pricing was already much more expensive than their competitors - probably had a good bit left over per passenger!!

joking aside, I've flown with BA a few times and IMO they're good but their tickets are rarely flexible and their prices are usually considerably higher than others so I usually don't bother booking with them.

middle eastern airlines set the standards IMO - emirates, etihad and qatar. all good and usually good fares and conditions.

you sure are on fire smokie - ever considered stand-up?

it's not the 100THB cost - it's the fact that the pool and area was always busy before and now that they've hiked the price up several times, there's nobody. thai business strategy = lose a few customers, triple the prices.

I'm simply trying to lift your spirits now its clear you can no longer afford to visit Samui. I hear Bulgaria's got some cheap charter flights still.....!

oh ho ho - you crack me up smokie.

I can afford to holiday anywhere I want in thailand, and I have - how about yourself? been around thailand? or just prop a bar in lamai with your farang mates?

I prefer to get value for money. if you want the thais laughing at you coz they've just ripped you off then go ahead, be my guest.

besides, I thought you too had an issue with eg bkk air pricing? oh, you've conveniently forgot that.

Hmmm ... at the beginning of June my work took me to the Samui Palm beach resort in Bo Phut - owned by the family that owns BA.

It turned out that this huge resort had only 23 guests - 19 of them were comps for employees of BA.

Can't help wonder if the giant hike in fares might be connected in some way ...?

R

doesn't surprise me at all - there's also the huge 'buddy' resort/complex in lamai. way over the top and I'd be shocked if they were anything like full.....ever.

the pool over the road at buddy used to be nice, until they started charging for the use. I think it was initially free as long as you ordered food/drinks then they started charging - initially 40THB, then 80THB and now 100THB. needless to say they now have few customers and the pool and surrounding decking is getting shabby.

samui greed strikes again.

100 Baht to use the pool??......Its an outrage!!....What I can use it all day for that price?.....Ridiculous nonsense shocking abuse of regular guests that is....speak to the consul is my advice bloody cheek!!.....bah humbug....

you sure are on fire smokie - ever considered stand-up?

it's not the 100THB cost - it's the fact that the pool and area was always busy before and now that they've hiked the price up several times, there's nobody. thai business strategy = lose a few customers, triple the prices.

bkk airs USM fares (or should they be called 'not fairs'?) cannot be justified by using the 'it's included in the package holiday' card. there's loads of holidaymakers/tourists that aren't on a package holiday.

I - and EVERYONE I know who holidays in thailand - only buy a flight to BKK then take it from there.

I've spent many a day on my laptop in BKK tutting at bkk air USM prices before booking a flight to HKT/KBV/CNX for a fraction of the price.

Maybe you should compsoe a few letters and send them to Bangkok Airways outlining your ongoing! complaints with their pricing structure.....a bit more constructive than repeatedly telling us all what we already know.

Who knows perhaps they'll give you a freebie.....but don't hold your breath!!

At the very least you'll get some closure from it.....better still so might the rest of the posters here.......

oh dear mr smokie - time of the month?

selective amnesia too - I quote your contribution from another thread:

With prices at nearly 5000 Baht one way near three times the cost to Phuket for example who could blame anyone for staying away?....just plain crazy!!

and what does 'compsoe' mean?

if you're gonna get smart, do it properly.

These suggestions of not carrying your ATM card are ludicrous. If people are willing to terrorize you with weapons while being kidnapped, somehow I think that, "I left it at the office," just wouldn't wash. I think the operative phrasing would be something like, "Fine, take us to your office/home/wherever and get it!"

agreed.

'sorry mr mugger I don't have my card with me'

'no problem, mr farang - off you go, have a nice holiday.'

can't really see it.........

+ thai 'face' <deleted> would mean they'd look ridiculous if they came away empty handed from an attempted mugging.

I think better advice would be to avoid quiet areas (eg bangrak) when you're alone at night, especially when drunk.

it's terrible what happened but we shouldn't run scared for these f*ckers. just be careful.

If these people only got 20K out and then called it a day, they were amateurs (or the victim didn't have much money in the bank). The single amount in one transaction that the machines can dispense is 20,000 baht, but you can then repeat the process. I am pretty sure the minimum for each day is more than 20K, but it may vary from bank to bank.

20k is about £400 these days - I'm sure my bank limit is £350 per day ATM withdrawals although my credit cards are more.

What I am wondering is, why did these fellows target this particular foreigner? This somehow doesn't seem random to me. Did he have some problems with the locals? Not that he was "asking for it," but just wondering if these Thais knew him from somewhere beforehand.

I thought this too - possibly knew where he drinks, knew he would be alone, knew he'd have a few THB. Im in no way condoning it but there is a chance the mugging was planned and not just random

domestic flight check-in - 1hour prior to departure.

C'mon this happens all the time. Two years ago, a gang of three walked in to my friend's house on the ringroad in Chaweng, tied him to a chair and with a box knife, forced him to reveal the password number, then sent one of them to a Lamai ATM which they knew did not have a CCTV and began withdrawing his funds. As they are limited to so much a day, they decided to keep him alive until the account was cleaned out. They were stymied by neighbours and beat a hasty retreat leaving him with his throat cut and sitting in a pool of blood. Now the police who acted on this case were excellent, all plain clothes and all looked like the average Thai yobbo and they persued this case until the gang was caught. Moral; Conceal your ATM card at all times ( "sorry it's in my office") and never underestimate the Thai police, most of them are not in uniform.

maybe I need to re-think my cynicism re the thai police. reasonably good ending (under the circumstances) to a tragic story.

to OP - story sounds horrendous. the mugging is bad enough but the beating is totally uncalled for.

I note it happened in bangrak which is obviously much quieter than lamai/chaweng so easier to target a lone farang late at night.

I assume your friend is also a resident. the yobs might've known him or seen him around and thought he might have a THB or 2 lying around.

it's a tough one if he lives there - he could report it (via the tourist police) to the police whilst he's in kanchanaburi.

guess this happened at nighttime - if so - there is a lesson somewhere....

what's that then? don't go outside in the dark?

game4shame,

Having worked in the tourism industry on Samui for the last 11 years, I know plenty of people who have package deals to Samui, all inclusive from European airport straight into Samui airport. Shame on those people, disregarding your personal knowledge in such rude way. Horrible these tourists nowadays.

disregarding my personal knowledge? I believe you are not a native english speaker limbos so I'll put your puzzling reply down to that.

you know plenty of people on package holidays? well, maybe you do - I know plenty of people NOT on package holidays. when I say plenty I mean all friends and the majority of people I meet.

Im not saying that there's not package tourists - of course there is (although I question just how benificial an all inclusive family is to the samui economy) but that shouldnt be used to justify bkk airs USM prices.