Bangkok Trip Report Nov.2012

[FuninPlural]

-I noticed that the Land of Smiles has less people smiling than ever before (this was my 3rd time visiting). One person in particular (girl working at a Dunkin' Donuts near Terminal 21) was so lifeless in her customer service I was shocked. I think I received about 10 service smiles at different malls and shops throughout the city, and maybe like 2 authentic smiles (I was there for about 15 days). One authentic smile at the Phunee massage spot when they said I slightly resemble Obama and the other from a stranger in the BTS station (I should've proposed to the stranger, I was literally so shocked to receive a smile in Bangkok)

-Twice at Big C I received the wrong change from the person at the counter (so that was about 2/6 times). It only amounted to about $5 USD, but its the principle of the thing that matters here.

-I rode a Tuk-Tuk for the first time (I was with my girlfriend and this was a touristy thing that she wanted to do so we rocked with it). The second time, the guy wanted to charge us alot (comparative to what is considered the norm) and we talked him down in price, but then he would not shut up about wanting to take us to a suits shop. He literally went on for 5 minutes and I almost wished that I would've just paid him his original asking price and avoided his trying to get us to take a detour altogether.

-I went to get a taxi from the airport and I told the lady Udom Suk BTS, she then told the taxi driver that is where we should be taken. Then as soon as we are entering the taxi he is trying to tell us that he is going to take us to On Nut BTS, and I literally have to keep telling this fool Udom Suk BTS a whole bunch of times. We arrived safely. I tipped the taxi drivers each time. In NYC I only tip if service is good. Here, I guess the tip is so little money and there is such a f*cked up infrastructure, that I guess I felt compelled to tip just as a thank you for us actually arriving to the place we asked to be taken to. During the first part of my trip all of the drivers automatically put on their meters, but 2 of the last 3 cabbies had to be told to do so. The last one on the way back to the airport, was told "Can you put on the meter please?" And he fumbled around in his mind for a price to quote us, but I guess he didn't know how to say it, or couldn't find a pen to write it down, so he just turned on the meter (bear in mind neither of us spoke any Thai, but also bear in mind that we only had like a light piece of luggage, so it wouldn't have been a major hassle to exit one cabbie for a better option.)

-The chocolate buffet at the Sukhothai Hotel is incredible. Not even so much for the chocolate part, but more for the puff pastries and other tiny sandwiches on the other side of the room.

-I also recommend the GreyHound restaurant. I believe it is in Emporium. It was very tasty as we had ordered things with salsa in them in the freshness was great.

-The HealthLand trip was just to get a foot massage, as my girl had suddenly been struck with "that time of the month", and she was scared to get a full massage while she was going through that. It was a nice massage, but they end up throwing like 2-3 minutes of Thai massage at the end (same thing happened at Phunee) and I just went with the flow. If you don't went any Thai massage (as it can be painful to some), please stop them as soon as they are about to start.

-I ended up getting a mixture of bad stomach woes (it happened to me last time in Bangkok too), so I actually didn't end up going to a fancy restaurant with a sky view (it may have been for the best though as I didn't want to spend my money on that one night.).

-Ice Monster's regular size is too big. Please stick with the teaser size. Some flavors make you get a regular size though, so please have someone to share with.

-The Calypso Cabaret show was very good.

The JJ Market was worth the trip (I had been before), but my girlfriend asked me "What makes it different than any of the other markets we had seen thus far?" Then when she saw its size and the fact that it had tiny bunny rabbits going for like $3 USD she saw the difference.

-I didn't really encounter that many mosquitoes this time. Maybe this season is not the best for them, or maybe its just cause I upped my living quarters while on this trip?

-Siam Ocean World was really good and inexpensive

-Can't recall anything else to comment on

*Special Thanks to any and all who helped provide info. for my questions on these forums

[TongueThaied]

Thanks for the nice report. But I would suggest, if you want to see the smiles in the Land of Smiles, get the hell out of Bangkok. There is Thailand and there is Bangkok and ne'r the two shall meet. Bangkok is a fascinating city no argument with that, but next time, come to Thailand, too!