Right, much to my dismay I've been given Christmas Day off and need to find something to do to fill the most cretinous date on the calendar. Somewhere to eat is the main priority (I've got DVDs) - preferably with minimal, or no, staff dressed in Santa outfits, incongruous songs about snow when it's pushing 30 degrees outside and, most of all, no outrageous price-gouging.

I'm thinking Soi Arab as one possibility, but is there anywhere else that's not too far off the beaten track where I'm not going to get ripped off and there isn't an overpriced turkey or a chippolata sausage in sight?

WOW, aren't you a jolly old sole

I am going to spend the day at Wat Thamkrabok visiting a farang monk , good friend of mine.

Just an idea, if get so bored why don't you make a visit at the I.D.C., talk an hour or two with people in the need?

I am going to spend the day at Wat Thamkrabok visiting a farang monk , good friend of mine.

Just an idea, if get so bored why don't you make a visit at the I.D.C., talk an hour or two with people in the need?

What is the IDC, and Wat Thamkrabok...where is that...anything particularly interesting there?

Immigration Detention Centre. Probably the worst place in Bangkok to spend the festive season.

I am going to spend the day at Wat Thamkrabok visiting a farang monk , good friend of mine.

Just an idea, if get so bored why don't you make a visit at the I.D.C., talk an hour or two with people in the need?

In my next life as a saint i will do this sort of thing and visit people in need in jail... but as i am not a saint yet...i will be happily getting smashed on come cold leo..

You won't even notice it being Christmas day.... sun shining people still doing everyday jobs and going to work....what reminds me are the random texts and phone calls from home.... "happy christmas".....

enjoy

I am going to spend the day at Wat Thamkrabok visiting a farang monk , good friend of mine.

Just an idea, if get so bored why don't you make a visit at the I.D.C., talk an hour or two with people in the need?

In my next life as a saint i will do this sort of thing and visit people in need in jail... but as i am not a saint yet...i will be happily getting smashed on come cold leo..

You won't even notice it being Christmas day.... sun shining people still doing everyday jobs and going to work....what reminds me are the random texts and phone calls from home.... "happy christmas".....

enjoy

If you really knew me -which it's not advised... at all!- ; you would note that I am much more an antichrist than a saint!

Thanks for the replies, and I will look into calling in on the IDC at some point over the 'festive' season.

My orginal post was really about places to eat that will be free of the overcrowding, price-gouging, incongruous music, decorations, drunken idiots and misbehaving Farrang kids which make Christmas so unbearable at home. Boredom really won't be a problem per se. Any ideas?

Any Thai noodle stall will do. Face it, you really just want to whine.