Traveling To Thailand

[TRIPxCORE]

I see many posts on here from people that just started traveling to LOS or from people that are coming for their first time. Lots of the first timers are on here asking questions and whatnot.

Anyway, when I first came to Thailand there was a lot of farang in the country already but not nearly as many as there is now. This was only back in 1997 too, when I first came here. Its so unbelievable how much Thailand, and BKK especially, have changed.

So out of curiosity I wanted to ask these new visitors to LOS why do you come here? Of course the obvious answer is for Thailand's famous nightlife but I want to know what is precursor to making you come here. Do you overhear someone from where you live talking about it and it made you want to come? Did you see something on the television about Thailand and thought it would be a nice place to visit? After all, even I notice a lot more specials on TV about Thailand nowadays. Did you come because you seen a movie that was based in Thailand and it looked exciting? Movies such as "The Beach?"

For the farang that have been living in or visiting LOS for a long time, I am certain that you have noticed the change. In my first few years of coming to LOS, it was all single guys getting on the plane and a few backpackers. Now, it's not uncommon to see families coming with their children and sometimes even with their grandparents. You never used to see that. I think its great for Thailand but I was curious as to what made them want to come to LOS.

[Donz]

First time i went for the chicks/beach/culture/drinking/have cheap holiday.

Now its the same munis the chicks.

I dont know what draws me to it, i just want to go atleast twice a year for some reason.

Its like im addicted to it or something

[robitusson]

The cost of living is a huge part of being here for everyone I think, at least initially anyway.

[britmaveric]

Work then love!

[coldcrush]

I like to go to talk to the monkeys and slap elephants asses

Also to see my wife child and family....I first went just to see my friends new restaurant and wife, then wa steaching, then just stayed and stayed awww yes and stayed.

Back in blighty working and I miss the beach and Chaing Mai so much...be back soon enough..

[tutsiwarrior]

for various reasons I've been to Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and BKK...sometimes to visit friends who I met while working elsewhere, other

times out of curiosity. I hope to visit Ayuthayya and Kanchanaburi in the near future. They're close to where I live in Suphan and now with my recently purchased super duper tourist minivan I can pile in the family and give the kids something to see. It's about them appreciating their cultural heritage and etc...

myself, I'm happy to sit in front of the hotel UBC cable with a vodka and grapefruit juice in air conditioned comfort...

[game4shame]

I first came, reluctantly , as a backpacker a few years back. It was just a few weeks stopover on the way to Oz. A mates mum, would you believe, came up with the idea as an alternative to a Singapore stop.

I didnt think id like the country, didnt know much about it, hadnt planned for it at all and just wanted it past quickly so we could get to Oz.

Needless to say it was, and probably always will be, the best holiday ive ever had.

Ive now been back every 6 months or so since. why? because the country has everything I could want from a holiday - girls, nightlife, tropical climate, low cost, good food, cheap booze, friendly people, relaxed in the beachy areas and the alternative pace and variety of BKK etc etc etc.

[BKK90210]

Always for...... original thai foods!

[Guest endure]

The main reason I like Thailand is that it has a level of surreality(?) that's like a magnet. Every time I visit I see something that validates the saying that 'truth is stranger than fiction'. How can you resist a country that's such a scintillating mixture of the mundane and the bizarre?

[juggler]

first time for "the beach" (not the film). I remeber it was 2001 September, but friends told me about full moon.....about 10 years back and said it was all good, so I went to koh tao and travelled round. sanook sanook

second time for the woman I'd met the first time. (singular)

third time - i guess for the same reason but it all turns into a blur somewhere round there.......

I just looked up http://www.imdb.com/ to see when the beach was released, purely out of interest. (2000). On their webpage is a MXflash advert which ends up as a triangle, not completely dissimilar to your very own avatar tripxcore

Britmaverick

Work then love!

You got it the right way round,

I wonder if i'm employable with four years work history which is essentially holiday

anyhow you only live once.......or do you?

[daleyboy]

Well originally i was supposed to be going to Mexico with a friend to get some travel experience for a job i was offered. He let me down just as i was going to book the tickets, so left me stuffed for somewhere to go.

Then i thought about a friend of mine, she was travelling around Thailand with her bloke at the time, so i managed to get hold of her and asked if she fancied some company for a couple of weeks. And the rest they say is history, met my missus on my first visit, and have been coming back ever since. I was living in Bangkok for a fair while and then we decided to come back to the U.K. Now that was the worst mistake of my life

[game4shame]

The main reason I like Thailand is that it has a level of surreality

Spot on - definitely one of the attractions is the surreality.

I said before in the 'what things make you love thailand' thread, every day in Thailand you'll see or do something you cant at home .

If you're after a 'get away from it all' holiday, Thailand's hard to beat IMO.

[gburns57au]

If you have been there, no explanation is necessary

If you havent, no explanation is possible

[Jeff1]

If you have been there, no explanation is necessary

If you havent, no explanation is possible

That sums it up nicely .

[mrbojangles]

If you have been there, no explanation is necessary

If you havent, no explanation is possible

That sums it up nicely .

Yep, nice one Burnsy

[britmaveric]

Very true, if you've never been you won't understand.

[soic]

For me, I came here because of my best friend. He and I worked in the Balkans together making US Mail runs to Kosovo and Bosnia. He was raised for a short time in Thailand, when his father was in the service. He used to beg me to go to Thailand and party. I was happily married at the time, I thought so anyway... We went to work in Iraq and he kept bugging me to go. He and some of our co-workers traveled to Thailand constantly. I was a stick in the mud. He was killed by a road side bomb in Iraq. I later got divorced and decided to see what the fuss was all about. I fell in love with Thailand the first day I spent there. I wish I would have listened earlier. Although I don't think that Thailand could of handled the two of us at one time. In the early days of the Balkans the company rumor was... "If there was a vice that could be thought of, we either knew about it, sponsored it, enjoyed it, or profited from it" We always swore that we were framed.

Now I have a home and a business and can't imagine ever wanting to stay anyplace else!!!

[game4shame]

The main reason I like Thailand is that it has a level of surreality

Spot on - definitely one of the attractions is the surreality.

I said before in the 'what things make you love thailand' thread, every day in Thailand you'll see or do something you cant at home .

If you're after a 'get away from it all' holiday, Thailand's hard to beat IMO.

actually, is 'surreality' a word? I think surrealism is the correct term we're after!!!

first dodgy spelling in Bambis birthday thread and now shocking grammar!!! Mods, we have a case for a 'spellchecker' option!!

anyway, back on topic, another thing that draws me to Thailand now is the lack of cheesy 'oi-oi' 18-30 style package holiday <deleted>!!

Edited March 16, 2006 by game4shame

[alexth]

I first came here after a thai girl I knew, she was working in Czech Republic as a cook, after she came back in Thailand I missed her and thought to pay a visit, the only thing I knew about Thailand it was that it's in Asia, that it's cheap and that has plenty of hookers...I loved this country from the first moment I've landed, the food, the streets, the lifestyle...I still love them except some of the people and some concepts (it's ok to be a hooker, it's ok to put money in the first place, it's ok to disrespect a man because he/she is a farang...I'm still waiting for the moment that will proove the contrary), anyway, I enjoyed Thailand about a month and went back home with serious plans to come back for good, after the next 4 month I got here, found some mates from back home, met my girlfriend, after 3 years...I am still happy, but I'm not quite sure I will spend the rest of my life here...there are many things that I understand but I can't just agree with, as a tourists it's the best experience of my life, as a person...I feel I'm being pushed down...

Edited March 18, 2006 by alexth

[ourmanflint]

I'm coming back to LOS because of... in no particular order... the weather, the cost of living, it's location in Asia, the food, the chaos... the ladies!.. Air Asia!!

[think_too_mut]

Last time I was in Europe 15 years ago, before RyanAir and other low costs.

Met with a swedish family at Pattaya park last week and asked them how comes they went that far from home with a 18 months old baby.

They said, although travel itself is cheaper to Spain or Canary Islands, everything else is much more expensive and the weather now is 20C top during the day, 10C at night. Nothing like Thailand.

So, for a 2 weeks of bathing in tropical waters and sun they would spend about 30-40% less in Thailand than closer to home (even 20% cheaper than in Turkey they said).

[ding]

The voices tell me to

Never spin in circles faster than your angels can fly!

[jdinasia]

hmmm First trip was as an old backpacker .... in 97 .... 4 months starting in Bali. Had converted to Buddhism before taking the trip ... spent the time being a culture volture and hanging out with some Aussies that seemed to be on the same circuit as me.

Missed the"bar scene" other than some beach bars almost totally. Continued in that trend until I moved here :-)

[astral]

I came out of curiousity and fell in love with the country,

so I got myself a job in Bangkok.

That was 20 years ago...................

[ProfessorFart]

Real - Surreal, Reality - Surreality.

Perfectly valid if you ask me!

Why did I come here first time? Weather, cost, women and song.

[khunlungphudhu]

I went to LOS the first time because I was ordered to go, by the British Army no less, the second time, still with the Army, to get married to the girl I met the first time.

Forty years and two Thai wives later, still visiting and loving it even more all the time.

Always something new to see or do every time!

Hoping to give up the travelling this year tho, at that end!

[PattayaEx]

I see many posts on here from people that just started traveling to LOS or from people that are coming for their first time. Lots of the first timers are on here asking questions and whatnot.

Anyway, when I first came to Thailand there was a lot of farang in the country already but not nearly as many as there is now. This was only back in 1997 too, when I first came here. Its so unbelievable how much Thailand, and BKK especially, have changed.

So out of curiosity I wanted to ask these new visitors to LOS why do you come here? Of course the obvious answer is for Thailand's famous nightlife but I want to know what is precursor to making you come here. Do you overhear someone from where you live talking about it and it made you want to come? Did you see something on the television about Thailand and thought it would be a nice place to visit? After all, even I notice a lot more specials on TV about Thailand nowadays. Did you come because you seen a movie that was based in Thailand and it looked exciting? Movies such as "The Beach?"

For the farang that have been living in or visiting LOS for a long time, I am certain that you have noticed the change. In my first few years of coming to LOS, it was all single guys getting on the plane and a few backpackers. Now, it's not uncommon to see families coming with their children and sometimes even with their grandparents. You never used to see that. I think its great for Thailand but I was curious as to what made them want to come to LOS.

well, the fact is, it is addictive ...and ofcourse the cheap sex