attention parents of teens - your intel requested

[beth in siam]

my awesome 17 year old (step)son arrives from Toronto over the December holidays for 3 weeks. my husband and I moved to BKK in July, so this will be his first visit -

apart from the obvious, i am open to suggestions as to what YOU might think a 17 year old guy would enjoy....we want him to experience Bangkok and all of its amazingness.... (ok...but not "that kind", so let's be reasonable here....)

anyone here have teenage boys? what's their thing here??

my goal is to keep him away from the computer and gaming.

[ukrules]

What you find reasonable and what a 17 year old guy finds reasonable might be slightly different.

[Soutpeel]

we want him to experience Bangkok and all of its amazingness.... (ok...but not "that kind", so let's be reasonable here....)

You mean BG's & prostitution ?...

didnt you know there is no prostitution in Thailand, according to TAT..

[gazmat]

I had my 19 year old son here in Bangkok for a couple of weeks earlier this year. He enjoyed the Khao San Road area, the Paragon (especially the cinema), the Chao Praya river boats, Patpong area at night, Wat Pho and watching the madness at Nana with a couple of early evening beers at Big Dogz. Mainly though it was all about Khao San.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[impulse]

I don't guess 17 year old's park the El Camino out on the fire roads and drink Boone's Farm Apple in the back while listening to The Who on 8 tracks any more?

No?

Sorry, I'm useless then.

Edited October 20, 2013 by impulse

[ToddWeston]

Since he's in Toronto get him to go to Pacific Mall in Scarborough/ Markham and then hit Spadna - he'll see lots of stuff seen here so it won't be so foreign and he'll have something to compare.

When my 2 nephews (twins) 17 now visited last year they spent every waking moment playing games until we kicked them out and said go explore here's a BTS pass and they started to hit the malls -'luckily my Thai nephew hung out with them on weekends. They never liked Siam Paragon, Centralworld or MBK - Mega Bang Na was their favourite hang out place and Asiatique was just okay, Terminal 21 was for movies only they were bored after one visit.

Because there were two of them and their both 180cm I had no worries, they went on their own to River Kwai for the day by train, They also enjoyed the river boats and started to explore each stop - Khao San Road, Grand Palace and Chinatown - they learnt short cuts I never knew about. They also found poutine - yikes. They both loved Sampeng Lane in Chinatown and bought lots of stuff for friends there.

One of them is fairly artistic and he took a silver craft course at the Cultural Centre - across from MBK for a day and starting making god awful skull jewellery for his friends back in T.O I think it cost 1500 baht or so.

Week ends they started to hang out at Jatujak and one of the brats managed a few dates with a shoppe girl there.

We asked them if they wanted to go for a foot massage and it was no no no no - one night Uncle Todd allowed a wee sip of Leo and off we went a few nights before their departure, next day they were back as soon as the place opened and had a full body massage in the morning and another foot rub that night and still talk about it.

My nephews moaned they couldn't get diet pop everywhere, hated the Internet (which was a good thing), missed their friends (get the magic jack app it's free to call Canada) and moaned about not having Swiss chalet and no Timmy's (but don't we all) McDonald's was awful but they loved the food courts.

I have a call with them this week I'll ask them and post back if there's something I missed or they didnt tell me

Edit : I was just reminded why they need to see pacific Mall and sort of Spadina - so they can see the fashion is pretty much the same if you look. The boys arrived with the typical heavy knit clothes and frankly at that age they smell :) but when they went to Pratinum it jogged their memory and started buying fashionable lighter clothes they knew they could wear back home.

Edited October 20, 2013 by ToddWeston

[beth in siam]

hi everyone ~

thanks so much for your input so far - it's appreciated!

there are some really good ideas and insights...especially @ToddWeston.

@impulse - there's only so much Neil Young that i can force my (step)son to listen to...

@gazmat - we were thinking of taking him to KaoSan, spending some time with him, and then leaving him to explore
I am going to send him Nancy Chandler's maps of BKK and KaoSan...plus we've already sent him a Lonely Planet.

@ukrules - you are SO right! this is why I am reaching out to all of you --- i figured that some of you may have gone down this road, so why not pick your brains

@soutpeel - ummmm....

(if only there were a sarcasm font, right?)

@ToddWeston - all awesome insights!!! he already knows Pacific Mall and Spadina - i just don't think that he knows what he's getting into with crowds!!! this is going to be so much fun to watch him experience this all!!!

my husband is planning a side trip - just the two of them ---- Cambodia or Vietnam...i think that's a great idea!!!
also, thai boxing, of course....

thanks again everyone --- keep those ideas coming!!

cheers,

[cpofc]

I don't guess 17 year old's park the El Camino out on the fire roads and drink Boone's Farm Apple in the back while listening to The Who on 8 tracks any more?

No?

Sorry, I'm useless then.

Boones Farm Strawberry?. Brings back memories. First saw it at the 'San Paquita Club', the EMs Club, Subic Bay Naval Base in the 70's. A very popular beverage for the young Yank Sailors.

you would have to watch 'Kings of Restoration' or 'Pawn Stars' to see an 8 Track today LOL They would be 'antiques'.

When my teeenage American niece and nephews were here last all they seemed to be interested in was, eating, connecting to the internet and checking their facebook pages, watching DVDs and communicating with their mates back in the US. Ipads, Ipods, Smart Phones are the rage.

Although a few days at the beach is always popular too.

[cpofc]

oh, and clothes and fashion. The latest designer labels etc.

[beth in siam]

@cpofc - exactly!!! we don't want him spending all of his time with the computer/iPod/cell phone and sleeping....otherwise we could have just gone back to Toronto to visit, rather than him come here.....
that being said: i'll take him to MBK/Siam Sq and Pantip to get his fix