Just looking at the map and planning a trip with the good looking one. So many places to go. Yet you read the news and tourists are in Phuket or Pattaya whinging about Russians or some scam. No imagination. Go somewhere else.

 

I went to Loei last month. Stunning place. Saw about 10 farangs tops.

 

Now looking at a few northern towns like Lampang, Phrae, Nan, Phayao onto Rai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 minutes ago, bignok said:

Just looking at the map and planning a trip with the good looking one. So many places to go. Yet you read the news and tourists are in Phuket or Pattaya whinging about Russians or some scam. No imagination. Go somewhere else.

 

I went to Loei last month. Stunning place. Saw about 10 farangs tops.

 

Now looking at a few northern towns like Lampang, Phrae, Nan, Phayao onto Rai.

Agree with that! Went to Nan for the first time recently (March 2566). Stayed overnight in Phrae and at Bo Kluea. Very pleasant. 

Because they have easy access to these locations (international airports). Because they can do a huge range of activities from swimming over riding elephants to shopping or partying - enough to provide a contrast to their daily routine lives and work. Because in the tourism centers it's super easy to find a good hotel. Because they can easily communicate in English. Because local transport is a lot easier. And because it's really hard to learn about places like Loei if you are not familiar with Thailand. I agree there are plenty amazing places in Thailand outside the tourism centers but I think it's easy to see why the tourism centers are what they are.

 

PS: I wholeheartedly can recommend Nan. Especially on a motorbike. One of my favorite areas in Thailand! Enjoyed it more than the famous Mae Hong Son loop.

 

1 hour ago, bignok said:

Yet you read the news and tourists are in Phuket or Pattaya whinging about Russians or some scam.

And then other tourists go to other places in Thailand and complain that the locals don't speak English, don't offer proper (western) food, that the food is too spicy, etc.

For most tourists it's a good idea to go to tourist places.

Go all over Thailand on motorbikes, but still nice to drop in a few days in Hua Hin, Ao Nang, Phuket, Khao Lak, Koh Phangan, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Pai And Pattaya just to mentioning a few places. But every place you mentioned, is quite popular Thai destinations. 

 

Restaurants, Shopping (western food and wine that is stored correct) and decent hotels to decent prices low season. 

7 hours ago, bignok said:

Just looking at the map and planning a trip with the good looking one. So many places to go. Yet you read the news and tourists are in Phuket or Pattaya whinging about Russians or some scam. No imagination. Go somewhere else.

 

I went to Loei last month. Stunning place. Saw about 10 farangs tops.

 

Now looking at a few northern towns like Lampang, Phrae, Nan, Phayao onto Rai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fang Hot Springs & star gazing....

Easy for those of us that live here to criticize the falang tourists but it makes sense to me. We have the support to go everywhere either on our own or with Thai family. The outer trips are for later visits but it is expensive to visit frequently. I would happily take a holiday in Samui, even though the food is pretty lame,

 

Are the Russians in Phuket more annoying than the Indians in Pattaya or the Nigerians in Bangkok? The Thai touts and Tuk-Tuk scammers are a bigger problem everywhere.

Eisfeld said it best. 

 

I'll bet the good looking one would rather stay in a 5 star hotel with beautiful pools and photo ops. How many rice fields and temples does one need to see. Having nice restaurants handy is awesome as is having a 7, motorbike rental, a few bars for the old man to have a look. But you book a 5 star hotel and the rest falls into place.

Why ... simply because it's easy, and they may have problems self entertaining.

 

On the subject of Nan, headed that way very soon, anyone know what # road this actually is:

59 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

On the subject of Nan, headed that way very soon, anyone know what # road this actually is:

#1081

 

I killed a couple of day over at Reddit Thai Tourism. They all follow the same route:  BKK-CM-Southern Beach (Ko Phi Phi for the adventurous ones, but 90% book Phuket). 

 

90% of the people want to spend 90% of their time on a nice beach.  Thailand = discount Maui.

 

When my jaded self thinks about it, that 3 destination route is a great vacation. So good that they will repeat it if they return.

 

Also, 90% of the people on Reddit are on a two-week schedule. That's including flight time. So 4 days per place, with a lot of must-do scheduled activities like a dinner cruise and the elephant camp to cram in.

 

In my native New York, there's a glorious medieval monastery that was transported brick by brick by some dead Rockefeller, a half an hour out of midtown (The Cloisters). Not one in 10,000 tourists will ever see it. Or even know about it. Instagram has further consolidated the list of what's a must-see attraction. 

 

And then there is the curiousity factor. I just had breakfast with a bunch of Americans in Vientiane. They were shocked to learn of the existence of Luang Prubang, the prettiest place in SEA. 2 hours away.

 

 

 

9 minutes ago, LaosLover said:

 

I killed a couple of day over at Reddit Thai Tourism. They all follow the same route:  BKK-CM-Southern Beach (Ko Phi Phi for the adventurous ones, but 90% book Phuket). 

 

90% of the people want to spend 90% of their time on a nice beach.  Thailand = discount Maui.

 

When my jaded self thinks about it, that 3 destination route is a great vacation. So good that they will repeat it if they return.

 

Also, 90% of the people on Reddit are on a two-week schedule. That's including flight time. So 4 days per place, with a lot of must-do scheduled activities like a dinner cruise and the elephant camp to cram in.

 

In my native New York, there's a glorious medieval monastery that was transported brick by brick by some dead Rockefeller, a half an hour out of midtown (The Cloisters). Not one in 10,000 tourists will ever see it. Or even know about it. Instagram has further consolidated the list of what's a must-see attraction. 

 

And then there is the curiousity factor. I just had breakfast with a bunch of Americans in Vientiane. They were shocked to learn of the existence of Luang Prubang, the prettiest place in SEA. 2 hours away.

 

 

 

Do you like Vientiane? I found it very old school.

I have some roots and friends here due to a historic preservation project I did in Laos, so for me it's easy to kill a week here. For the average person, a quick peek into their half a dozen very eccentric Wats and a trip to the Buddha Park will do it.

 

Vt is prob the best place to eat out cheaply in Asia. A Peking duck is $7. We went to where Obama had sushi. 5*-level, $20 a head. Lao food is like a French/Issan fusion. A lot of Lao restaurants are converting over to Korean, because that's where the money is.

 

Sorely tempted to move here. $350 for a decent 1 bedroom in the middle of the tiny downtown. Prob the most erudite and culturally-focused expats in Asia. Anyone taking the trouble to live here is de facto a little interesting.

 

It used to feel more old style Graham Green with all the 50's sun brick, flat roof buildings, but there's a frenzy of huge hotel-building going on that defies all tourist math-logic.

 

In my own hotel, they guessed wrong and installed a solar water heating system that doesn't really work in the cloudy rainy season. The  Vientiane solution: 2 free drinks at happy hour (well drinks only) and more smiling. That's why I love this place.

Lots of Vietnamese food there

Answer: They like it

Like the Thai-Chinese run Thailand, The Vietnamese-Lao rule this place.

 

So that's two diff French-influenced Asian cultures influencing each other -which means that Luang Prubang is a rare preservation semi-success and that you never had croissant so good outside of Paris, which you can have with a plate of first-class lab on the side.

 

They're very big on duck larb, which again come from the Vietnam/French/Laos mashup. It's hard to go back to regular larb. And here, the rice powder is roasted daily, not out of a jar.

 

I like cultural shmush places, like CM (Chinese/Thai/Hilltribe). No place is as shmushy as Laos. 

I liked it for 2 days then got food poisoning

I recently had my daughter and her husband, baby and his parents here for holiday and we eat out for 2 weeks in Phuket and i have to say i was totally disappointed about most of the places we went to, mostly around Kata and Karon thats where they were staying, 

Most of these places are geared up for tourist first i noticed was the small portions they wouldn't dare serve that to Thai's, the only decent places were the farang owned places,

We went to a well known restaurant here, one ordered a burger it wasn't even cooked, 

There is a Turkish place in Karon was pretty decent or as good as it gets when you have Burmese working in the kitchen 

My daughter wanted to order some pizzas one night at the hotel they wasn't even cooked.

I can imagine if tourist find a couple of places they like they will feel safe 

 

There's also the tourist service worker shortage that's only going to worsen. So if Phuket can't staff the front desk, what hope does Nan have? And that further impedes the tourist development of out of the way places.

 

In Pai, every place has a sign up looking for people. If I'm a tourist worker, I'm seeing Pai as a no-tip zone and heading to Phuket.

20 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I recently had my daughter and her husband, baby and his parents here for holiday and we eat out for 2 weeks in Phuket and i have to say i was totally disappointed about most of the places we went to, mostly around Kata and Karon thats where they were staying, 

Most of these places are geared up for tourist first i noticed was the small portions they wouldn't dare serve that to Thai's, the only decent places were the farang owned places,

We went to a well known restaurant here, one ordered a burger it wasn't even cooked, 

There is a Turkish place in Karon was pretty decent or as good as it gets when you have Burmese working in the kitchen 

My daughter wanted to order some pizzas one night at the hotel they wasn't even cooked.

I can imagine if tourist find a couple of places they like they will feel safe 

 

Patong and Nai Yang have good restaurants. Nai Yang has a great beach too.

15 hours ago, bignok said:

Just looking at the map and planning a trip with the good looking one. So many places to go. Yet you read the news and tourists are in Phuket or Pattaya whinging about Russians or some scam. No imagination. Go somewhere else.

 

I went to Loei last month. Stunning place. Saw about 10 farangs tops.

 

Now looking at a few northern towns like Lampang, Phrae, Nan, Phayao onto Rai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ummmm. Thats what tourism is.

 

Replace 5-6 with 1-2 for boring places or 10+with places that have lots of accessible interesting places

Same reason as tourists comes back to same Mediterranean places like Mallorca (Majorca) and Rhodes year after year. I have friends that has had their summer holiday on the same island for 30+ years, and I have tourist friends here that have spent their winter holiday on the same Thai-island for 15+ years...

15 hours ago, bignok said:

Just looking at the map and planning a trip with the good looking one. So many places to go. Yet you read the news and tourists are in Phuket or Pattaya whinging about Russians or some scam. No imagination. Go somewhere else.

 

I went to Loei last month. Stunning place. Saw about 10 farangs tops.

 

Now looking at a few northern towns like Lampang, Phrae, Nan, Phayao onto Rai.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The places you listed are the same reasons why I don’t visit Nebraska Kansas and Iowa….and throw in Oklahoma!

5 hours ago, bignok said:

Do you like Vientiane? I found it very old school.

.I was there when there were no concrete river walks  just dirt and a couple of bamboo beer bars. Coke not allowed but Pepsi was????.Surly staff and rip off Samlaw drivers most places.One nice lady selling baguette sandwiches at one stand.

Next time I went back it had ALL changed a multitude of bars each with a UN bludger's Landcruiser parked out side it seemed ????.Very commercial along the river front ,tourist shops.Baguette stands everywhere in the same street that used to have one .Farang resturants and food chains.

 

2 minutes ago, khunPer said:

Same reason as tourists comes back to same Mediterranean places like Mallorca (Majorca) and Rhodes year after year. I have friends that has had their summer holiday on the same island for 30+ years, and I have tourist friends here that have spent their winter holiday on the same Thai-island for 15+ years...

Blackpool and Skegness????

 

4 minutes ago, findlay13 said:

One nice lady selling baguette sandwiches at one stand.

 

 

She still there, by the fountain.

 

Otherwise, it's all still at least 50% shut down here. The post-covid comeback will take a long time.

5 minutes ago, cardinalblue said:

The places you listed are the same reasons why I don’t visit Nebraska Kansas and Iowa….and throw in Oklahoma!

They have people stealing gold chains there?

In the 70s travelled Thailand the roads less travelled, slept in temples, had great conversation and frienship with every foreigner we met. 10 years in India, Goa and the country, always welcomed. 

1 minute ago, Colabamumbai said:

In the 70s travelled Thailand the roads less travelled, slept in temples, had great conversation d. 

Yeah, but the world changed.

 

Before I went to Pai last week, I could blow up the Google map and identify every bar and restaurant. I could then usually go to Youtube and see the restaurant in action.

 

By the time I actually set foot in Cheese Madness for a grilled cheese sandwich, I felt like I already had had it.

7 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

Fang Hot Springs & star gazing....

really. Fang Hot Springs is crap now to what it used to be when I first went there 8 years ago. Most of the streams have dried up. Now it's just a reasonable place to cycle to, stay 5 minutes take a photo or 2 and then cycle home.