Planning To Visit July 2013

[eaglelex]

Hey everyone. Ive enjoyed reading through most of the threads here, and I have enjoyed talking in private with a few of you.

Here is the question. My gf and I are planning on flying from the US next July to meet a childhood friend who is also visiting LOS.

We are probably headed to Phuket. With probably a quick trip to Bangkok via plane mixed in there somewhere. Any advice? He seems to think he knows what hotels to stay at since he has been there numerous times in the past. However he will only be with us a few days then we are on our OWN!

The trip is to explore how we feel about LOS and see if it is something we might want to consider moving to later. (Retiring)

As always any advice is welcomed! We are in our 30s if that means anything.

Thanks so very much everyone!

[WebBangkok]

Should be fun.

I suggest you not to go to Phuket though, that place is a bit og a hell hole now. Its run down and IMO not that great.

But depends on what your going there for, if its the nightlife then it does have a pretty good/wild one.

Looking to relax on an island, I say Koh Chang or Koh Samet is much better than Phuket and its close to Bangkok (sort of).

I hear some islands are great around Phuket too, I have not been to all of them, so I cant give your any input on those.

[eaglelex]

thanks so much. I know my buddy has to go to Phuket because he has business there to attend to. My gf and I are basically looking for a beach vacation with some nightlife but its also a hunting exhibition to see if we would like to move to LOS. so we are lost balls in high weeds right now so to speak..... any advice is very appreciated. i think we are just flying in and either staying where he suggests a few nights then we might venture out to see what we can find on our own. lil scary but not bad! i appreciate everyones help here!!

[jamescollister]

thanks so much. I know my buddy has to go to Phuket because he has business there to attend to. My gf and I are basically looking for a beach vacation with some nightlife but its also a hunting exhibition to see if we would like to move to LOS. so we are lost balls in high weeds right now so to speak..... any advice is very appreciated. i think we are just flying in and either staying where he suggests a few nights then we might venture out to see what we can find on our own. lil scary but not bad! i appreciate everyones help here!!

Thailand outside of the tourist hot spots is a friendly easy going place, just set off. You will get by and have an adventure thrown in, Jim

[Semper]

Koh Phi Phi?

Bring your own food though.

[eaglelex]

thanks Jim!

[jamescollister]

thanks Jim!

If you get this far out come and visit, can always throw another mat on the floor, but bring beer. Jim

[SimonD]

Don't expect to see the real Thailand in the tourist traps. A few days in Phuket or Pattaya will probably last you a lifetime as you are already a couple. As James Collister says rural Thailand also has a great deal to offer and a totally different pace of life. Get the bus or train and take life as it should be lived - at a slower pace. You'll meet more genuine Thais and see more of the real Thailand that way than by staring out of a aeroplane window. As for where to go and what to see, buy a map and stick a pin in it.

Jim also needs help with the land so bring some gloves and stout boots along with the beer...

[MrRealDeal]

Bangkok is just as real as issan and both are Thai ..... rural is no more real than city, it's just one is rural and one is city ....... However you will find less tourists in rural areas. It's different but no less or more Thai.

It's just nonsense to think you need to be in some poor village to find the real Thailand ...... The real Thailand also includes expensive nightclubs in Bangkok , fine dining , luxury shopping as opposed to the sunday market , ect ..... and you don't find much of that in your "real thailand". Most Thai people are trying to leave that crap to come to the real thailand which has little to do with rice farming and more to do with international manufacturing and city amenitys.

To suggest that city Thai people are somehow less real is also nonsense , I understand you said to get away from the tourist traps and thats true, so most of my commenting ins't specfic to your post, just the ongoing posts that somehow you need to be in rural Thailand to find real thai people or a real thai lifestyle. ....... Which is ............ incorrect

[Thaddeus]

Bangkok is just as real as issan and both are Thai ..... rural is no more real than city, it's just one is rural and one is city ....... However you will find less tourists in rural areas. It's different but no less or more Thai.

It's just nonsense to think you need to be in some poor village to find the real Thailand ...... The real Thailand also includes expensive nightclubs in Bangkok , fine dining , luxury shopping as opposed to the sunday market , ect ..... and you don't find much of that in your "real thailand". Most Thai people are trying to leave that crap to come to the real thailand which has little to do with rice farming and more to do with international manufacturing and city amenitys.

To suggest that city Thai people are somehow less real is also nonsense , I understand you said to get away from the tourist traps and thats true, so most of my commenting ins't specfic to your post, just the ongoing posts that somehow you need to be in rural Thailand to find real thai people or a real thai lifestyle. ....... Which is ............ incorrect

So, by that reckoning, he could go to Blackpool to experience real English lifestyle, yes?

[transam]

Bangkok is just as real as issan and both are Thai ..... rural is no more real than city, it's just one is rural and one is city ....... However you will find less tourists in rural areas. It's different but no less or more Thai.

It's just nonsense to think you need to be in some poor village to find the real Thailand ...... The real Thailand also includes expensive nightclubs in Bangkok , fine dining , luxury shopping as opposed to the sunday market , ect ..... and you don't find much of that in your "real thailand". Most Thai people are trying to leave that crap to come to the real thailand which has little to do with rice farming and more to do with international manufacturing and city amenitys.

To suggest that city Thai people are somehow less real is also nonsense , I understand you said to get away from the tourist traps and thats true, so most of my commenting ins't specfic to your post, just the ongoing posts that somehow you need to be in rural Thailand to find real thai people or a real thai lifestyle. ....... Which is ............ incorrect

Rubbish.

[MrRealDeal]

Bangkok is just as real as issan and both are Thai ..... rural is no more real than city, it's just one is rural and one is city ....... However you will find less tourists in rural areas. It's different but no less or more Thai.

It's just nonsense to think you need to be in some poor village to find the real Thailand ...... The real Thailand also includes expensive nightclubs in Bangkok , fine dining , luxury shopping as opposed to the sunday market , ect ..... and you don't find much of that in your "real thailand". Most Thai people are trying to leave that crap to come to the real thailand which has little to do with rice farming and more to do with international manufacturing and city amenitys.

To suggest that city Thai people are somehow less real is also nonsense , I understand you said to get away from the tourist traps and thats true, so most of my commenting ins't specfic to your post, just the ongoing posts that somehow you need to be in rural Thailand to find real thai people or a real thai lifestyle. ....... Which is ............ incorrect

So, by that reckoning, he could go to Blackpool to experience real English lifestyle, yes?

I dont know where or what that is .....being american I will say that going to New York City is just as real America as Montana where I live just different

[MrRealDeal]

Bangkok is just as real as issan and both are Thai ..... rural is no more real than city, it's just one is rural and one is city ....... However you will find less tourists in rural areas. It's different but no less or more Thai.

It's just nonsense to think you need to be in some poor village to find the real Thailand ...... The real Thailand also includes expensive nightclubs in Bangkok , fine dining , luxury shopping as opposed to the sunday market , ect ..... and you don't find much of that in your "real thailand". Most Thai people are trying to leave that crap to come to the real thailand which has little to do with rice farming and more to do with international manufacturing and city amenitys.

To suggest that city Thai people are somehow less real is also nonsense , I understand you said to get away from the tourist traps and thats true, so most of my commenting ins't specfic to your post, just the ongoing posts that somehow you need to be in rural Thailand to find real thai people or a real thai lifestyle. ....... Which is ............ incorrect

Rubbish.

It's not rubbish ..... Disneyland or Pattaya are not the "real" parts of the countries , but Bangkok or New York City are "real" parts of the countries , different and city but just as Thai or American ...... Tell people from London or NYC they aren't real English or Americans and see how far that flys ! ...... Or people from Bangkok they aren't really Thai ! lol

[transam]

Bangkok is just as real as issan and both are Thai ..... rural is no more real than city, it's just one is rural and one is city ....... However you will find less tourists in rural areas. It's different but no less or more Thai.

It's just nonsense to think you need to be in some poor village to find the real Thailand ...... The real Thailand also includes expensive nightclubs in Bangkok , fine dining , luxury shopping as opposed to the sunday market , ect ..... and you don't find much of that in your "real thailand". Most Thai people are trying to leave that crap to come to the real thailand which has little to do with rice farming and more to do with international manufacturing and city amenitys.

To suggest that city Thai people are somehow less real is also nonsense , I understand you said to get away from the tourist traps and thats true, so most of my commenting ins't specfic to your post, just the ongoing posts that somehow you need to be in rural Thailand to find real thai people or a real thai lifestyle. ....... Which is ............ incorrect

Rubbish.

It's not rubbish ..... Disneyland or Pattaya are not the "real" parts of the countries , but Bangkok or New York City are "real" parts of the countries , different and city but just as Thai or American ...... Tell people from London or NYC they aren't real English or Americans and see how far that flys ! ...... Or people from Bangkok they aren't really Thai ! lol

Of course they are Thai but there is a real unspoilt Thailand with real Thai folk not influenced by the west's trappings, yet. There is a difference, l have been around LOS and know. My home town is still a haven of Thai culture and dare l say respect for a foreigner, get it every day.

[MrRealDeal]

I don't want to hijack the thread so I will make a new one someday I guess , but my last comment here would be I live in Bangkok and get the same , and you will find western trappings all over rural thailand nowadays , they have internet in Isaan for example. Our difference is really about old fashioned or modern I guess .... And I don't consder anyplace on earth that is living in the past to be the real part of the country , in fact it's less real to me because the realist part of any place in the world is the part that is advancing not the parts that stagnate.

I don't consider parts that are behind the times to be more real but simply old fashioned. And since most people want to or try to live in a modern world , for example Thai people everywhere love cell phones , I consider the people who live in the real world to be real people , I wouldn't consider a farm in America that uses horses instead of Tractors to be more realistic or "real" but in fact an oddity and less realistic of American farming for example. It's old fashioned not realistic.

[SimonD]

@ MrRealDeal,

You appear to have a knack for not only putting words into other people's mouths but putting your foot in your own...

[transam]

I don't want to hijack the thread so I will make a new one someday I guess , but my last comment here would be I live in Bangkok and get the same , and you will find western trappings all over rural thailand nowadays , they have internet in Isaan for example. Our difference is really about old fashioned or modern I guess .... And I don't consder anyplace on earth that is living in the past to be the real part of the country , in fact it's less real to me because the realist part of any place in the world is the part that is advancing not the parts that stagnate.

I don't consider parts that are behind the times to be more real but simply old fashioned. And since most people want to or try to live in a modern world , for example Thai people everywhere love cell phones , I consider the people who live in the real world to be real people , I wouldn't consider a farm in America that uses horses instead of Tractors to be more realistic or "real" but in fact an oddity and less realistic of American farming for example. It's old fashioned not realistic.

Of course stuff is changing in rural Thailand, they have and want the latest gizmo's, BUT, everywhere l go in my area l get treated like a film star, or near, with all the traditional greetings. Down south for me on visits, different ball game, looked at as a pain in the ass which l can only assume many farangs are and they are pissed off with it.

[MrRealDeal]

I get your point , but I also think that treating Farang like a movie stars days are coming to a close, I get treated like that as well even in citys and it probabbly has as much to do with how you present yourself , so once again I would say the old fashioned idea that Farang are movie stars is not the "real" thailand but an old antiquated way of thinking Thai people understand that and its going by the wayside pretty fast even in rural Thailand.

The real Thailand is giving tablet computers to children not holding up Farang as movie stars or farming rice ....... sad as that may be to some it's the truth

[transam]

I get your point , but I also think that treating Farang like a movie stars days are coming to a close, I get treated like that as well even in citys and it probabbly has as much to do with how you present yourself , so once again I would say the old fashioned idea that Farang are movie stars is not the "real" thailand but an old antiquated way of thinking Thai people understand that and its going by the wayside pretty fast even in rural Thailand.

The real Thailand is giving tablet computers to children not holding up Farang as movie stars or farming rice ....... sad as that may be to some it's the truth

Sorry but your wrong. I go weight lifting ALONE at a Uni gym and the kids show me respect in the Thai manor. I go play snooker and the same thing from the staff, young and old. A lady at snooker, one day l said to her, ''Nong sow'' (my young sister), The emotion from her cos l said you my young sister you would not believe, Thai stuff, now l her older brother, and every time l go, her brother is there. Difficult to explain but l hope you get my drift.

[MrRealDeal]

I don't disagree with that , and didn't mean to say thats not the way it is , I tried to explain I get treated the same way , so i'm missing what you are saying I am wrong about ? ........ What I am saying is with the introduction of tablet computers and internet ect , those attitudes and behaviors are likely to evolve \ change amoung Thai people , once they realise that Farang are just people like them.

I hope I didnt' make it sound like I don't understand all that or that I don't get treated the same way , I'm just saying it's gona change eventually and is slowly changing now. I mean how many drunken tourists does it take before you stiop holding them in high esteeme ? How many U-tube vids of Farang in Thailand do kids in Issan need to see before they change their attitudes ? It's just modernasation and education that will change it and that is coming slowly but surely every day.

I expect and hope the trend ends up being that while you and I might contine to get the same treatment because we deserve it or earned it , I expect in the future people will need to earn respect here just like most everywhere else not just be held in high esteeme by default. You can't fool all the people all the time ! ...... at least not forever

But I defenitly get what your saying .... the lady that owns the little shop I buy smokes at LOVES to tell people I am her friend just because i'm a Farang, being a nice person is secondary ...according to my wife ! lol

[Thaddeus]

...according to my wife ! lol

Your wife married some one who ends every other post with lol.

Sorry, forgot, it's 15 in Thailand isn't it.

[MrRealDeal]

Yeah I have a sence of humor and you accuse people of marrying 15 year olds and you wonder why I'm happy and married and you are .......... well lets not go there

[Thaddeus]

I didn't accuse you of being married to a 15 year old, I said your wife may be.

And I'm very happy thank you.

[MrRealDeal]

Here is the responce you will get for all posts in the future ............. lol

[SimonD]

I didn't accuse you of being married to a 15 year old, I said your wife may be.

Thaddeus, don't torment the unfortunate. Stop! Stop now...!

[MrRealDeal]

You will also get the same ............ lol