Bangkok

Geoff B wrote:
"Wobbley Bobbley" said...

I would advise anyone new to BKK to begin at Khao-san. It is known as
the backpackers area, lots of reasonably priced hotels, boarding
houses, and plenty of bars, lots of Farangs who can give advice, and
some genuine massage parlours too, (as well as a few of the other
type!).

I wouldn't advise anyone to start at Khao San. In fact, I'd suggest that
anyone who really wants to see and understand the city should avoid it at
all costs !!!

Don't be so hasty. It depends on why you go to Bangkok.

I'll agree with you that if you are looking to see something relevant
to Thailand or to have any kind of decent holiday, you're right.

But if your goal is to hang out with a lot of low-life drunks and drug
addicts, have an occasional bar fight, find illegal drugs, get ripped
off, share your room with cockroaches and mosquitoes, get hassled by
the cops and otherwise prove all the stererotypes about backpackers
then Khao San Road is the place to be.

Wobbley Bobbley wrote:
On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 22:49:41 +0800, "LAW" wrote:

Please advise the best place for massage and night spot

Tks


I would advise anyone new to BKK to begin at Khao-san. It is known as
the backpackers area, lots of reasonably priced hotels, boarding
houses, and plenty of bars, lots of Farangs who can give advice, and
some genuine massage parlours too, (as well as a few of the other
type!).

If the original poster takes nothing else from this thread I hope he
takes the simply advice to avoid Khao San Road like the plague. You
couldn't find a worse area in Bangkok.

Everything you see or hear wrong about backpackers and foreign
travellers is on display there. No one in his right mind goes there.

"Tchiowa" kirjoitti
legroups.com...

Wobbley Bobbley wrote:
On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 22:49:41 +0800, "LAW" wrote:

Please advise the best place for massage and night spot

Tks


I would advise anyone new to BKK to begin at Khao-san. It is known as
the backpackers area, lots of reasonably priced hotels, boarding
houses, and plenty of bars, lots of Farangs who can give advice, and
some genuine massage parlours too, (as well as a few of the other
type!).

If the original poster takes nothing else from this thread I hope he
takes the simply advice to avoid Khao San Road like the plague. You
couldn't find a worse area in Bangkok.

Bull. There should be nothing wrong with this 400 meter long strip. For
instance many areas close to Sukhumvit Road and Patpong are are a zillion
times worse.

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 12:14:34 +0200, "Markku Grönroos"
wrote:


"Tchiowa" kirjoitti
glegroups.com...

Wobbley Bobbley wrote:
On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 22:49:41 +0800, "LAW" wrote:

Please advise the best place for massage and night spot

Tks


I would advise anyone new to BKK to begin at Khao-san. It is known as
the backpackers area, lots of reasonably priced hotels, boarding
houses, and plenty of bars, lots of Farangs who can give advice, and
some genuine massage parlours too, (as well as a few of the other
type!).

If the original poster takes nothing else from this thread I hope he
takes the simply advice to avoid Khao San Road like the plague. You
couldn't find a worse area in Bangkok.

Bull. There should be nothing wrong with this 400 meter long strip. For
instance many areas close to Sukhumvit Road and Patpong are are a zillion
times worse.

Something I do like about Khao San Road is that its one of the few
places that have both ordinary Thais and foreigners mixing and
enjoying themselves. There are a couple of live music bars there which
during weekends are probably about 90% Thai and the rest foreigners.
The area certainly used to be little more than a backpackers ghetto,
but anyone who thinks its still like that is quite out of date.

I'm not surprised that the type of people who prefer to hang out at
places with semi-naked girls 'dancing' around a pole would hate Khao
San Road.

Chris

Hi,

anyone who really wants to see and understand the city should avoid it at
all costs !!!

I find it a pretty cozy place with beer and internet joints. The hotel scene
is truly poor. Perhaps those who spend 100 bahts for their accommodation may
find the neighbourhood decent. Location is good though. Ratanakosin,
Pahurat, Chinatown, Dusit and the river are not far away.

Personally, I prefer the area just west of Khao-San. Hostels are still cheap but
provide a minimum level of comfort (more if you pay the extra buck). Food is
easy enough to get by, though for the genuine type you will have to walk a bit
(again, not towards Khao San). And transport options are ok.

Khao San is ok for the internet places and maybe the odd pub... as someone else
said, it's just for the backpackers looking for the semi-authentic thing, more a
display of what Westerners expect Asia to be than reality. I did not like that
much but it can be fun walking around the place at night.

Ralph

Chris Blunt wrote:
On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 12:14:34 +0200, "Markku Grönroos"
wrote:


"Tchiowa" kirjoitti
glegroups.com...

If the original poster takes nothing else from this thread I hope he
takes the simply advice to avoid Khao San Road like the plague. You
couldn't find a worse area in Bangkok.

Bull. There should be nothing wrong with this 400 meter long strip. For
instance many areas close to Sukhumvit Road and Patpong are are a zillion
times worse.

It's a cesspool.

Something I do like about Khao San Road is that its one of the few
places that have both ordinary Thais and foreigners mixing and
enjoying themselves.

You can't be serious, Chris. I hope you're not getting into the
backpacker "you have to live poor to see the *real* Thailand" mantra. I
mix with and have a good time with ordinary Thai every day and never
get near Khao San Road. I mix with Thai in my apartment complex, at
work, in restaurants near my home, in my wife's village up north,
everywhere. You don't have to hang out with unemployed drug addicts
travelling the world on their parents money in order to associate with
"real Thai".

The only Thai you'll see on Khao San Road are those who are "on the
game". Normal, average, ordinary Thai despise the place. The Thai that
go there know that a high percentage of the farang in Khao San Road are
drug or alcohol abusers and usually young, new to Thailand and
incredibly naive. Suckers waiting to be taken.

Tchiowa wrote:
Chris Blunt wrote:

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 12:14:34 +0200, "Markku Grönroos"
wrote:


"Tchiowa" kirjoitti
ooglegroups.com...


If the original poster takes nothing else from this thread I hope he
takes the simply advice to avoid Khao San Road like the plague. You
couldn't find a worse area in Bangkok.

Bull. There should be nothing wrong with this 400 meter long strip. For
instance many areas close to Sukhumvit Road and Patpong are are a zillion
times worse.


It's a cesspool.


Something I do like about Khao San Road is that its one of the few
places that have both ordinary Thais and foreigners mixing and
enjoying themselves.


You can't be serious, Chris. I hope you're not getting into the
backpacker "you have to live poor to see the *real* Thailand" mantra. I
mix with and have a good time with ordinary Thai every day and never
get near Khao San Road. I mix with Thai in my apartment complex, at
work, in restaurants near my home, in my wife's village up north,
everywhere. You don't have to hang out with unemployed drug addicts
travelling the world on their parents money in order to associate with
"real Thai".

The only Thai you'll see on Khao San Road are those who are "on the
game". Normal, average, ordinary Thai despise the place. The Thai that
go there know that a high percentage of the farang in Khao San Road are
drug or alcohol abusers and usually young, new to Thailand and
incredibly naive. Suckers waiting to be taken.

Are you people talking about my hotel. Stayed there several years
ago and enjoyed it quite well.
http://www.r24.org/bangkok.nu/bangkok/nanahotel/

--

BILL P.

In article .com,
says...

I wouldn't recommend staying there or going there unless you are on an
absolute minimal budget or you want to meet other travellers. There
are far more interesting places and much better hotels, restaurants,
and bars elsewhere in Bangkok.

It's an excellent place to organise trips which use Bangkok as a hub.
Easy to get visas, plane tickets, tours etc.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - 6000 photos from Asia, Africa and Europe

William Boyd wrote:
Tchiowa wrote:

Are you people talking about my hotel. Stayed there several years
ago and enjoyed it quite well.
http://www.r24.org/bangkok.nu/bangkok/nanahotel/

Nope. The Nana Hotel is no where near Khao San Road. Plus, even though
Nana is definitely a low budget, tourist hotel (2-star, maybe) it is an
order of magnitude better than what you'll find in Khao San Road.

Let me put it this way: The Grand Sheraton is a hotel for people with
good jobs. Nana is a hotel for people with regular jobs. Khao San Road
is for people with bad drugs.

"Alfred Molon" kirjoitti
s.com...
In article .com,
says...

I wouldn't recommend staying there or going there unless you are on an
absolute minimal budget or you want to meet other travellers. There
are far more interesting places and much better hotels, restaurants,
and bars elsewhere in Bangkok.

It's an excellent place to organise trips which use Bangkok as a hub.
Easy to get visas, plane tickets, tours etc.
--
It is odd to consider Khao San an utterly sinful place. About any leisure
zone in Europe is about as "naughty" (I don't think I will ever visit Ibiza,
at least not during July or August). Okay, I have recognized a few painted
women at the Gulliver's bar. The place should also be so bloody "genuinely
Thai" (whatever that is). Whenever one is sipping beers under the open
skies, he should do so with aboriginals. This is most demanding in Asia
where public house tradition is so much different from Europe. On the whole,
I do also find the strech of asphalt a place of Sodom and Gomorrah. I have
escaped bounding brimstone myself.