Thailand

[Stevo985]

Ah, you're right. Hadn't noticed that.

Is there much difference between the airports?

 

If we do it it probably won't matter because we'd spend a couple of days in Bangkok anyway. BUt if you were doing it connecting it might be an issue

[djdabush]

Don Mueang is the old airport, since they opened Suvarnabhumi it's been relegated to the airport hosting the budget airlines. From my limited experience the traffic can be a little worse going to Don Mueang so depending on the flight time it might be worth bearing that in mind.

[Xela]

Sorry to hijack the thread :-(

Where is the best place to stay in koh samui?? Dont want it too sleazy but dont want it dead. Chaweng seems to be the main place. Is it decent for couples? ?

Also is there enough to do in koh tao other then diving to warrant staying for a couple of nights??

 

Chaweng wasn't sleazy when i went, but it was 2007 and has probably grown in size massively since then. I stopped in Choeng Mon Beach, only a short taxi from Chaweng. It was quiet and had direct access to the beach. Here it is:

http://www.imperialhotels.com/imperialboathouse/default-en.html

 

 

 

I wasn't taken by Chiang Mai. Its not a bad place, I just didn't see the appeal of it. I'd done the elephant trekking in a different part of Thailand previously (trying to remember where!)

Another guy on here said the same. Alot of people on travel forums all say chaing mai is the must go place in thailand. Although when I did my euro trip everyone was saying salzburg was a must. As pretty as it was, after an hour I was bored out my brains so can take travel sites with a pinch of salt.

 

 

Chiang Mai was nice, more 'traditional' and cheaper by far. I just found it boring though. Bangkok has a buzz like a major international city, but its not really trueThailand if that makes sense? I love massive cities and neon lit streets though. If you like the quieter way of life then Chiang Mai is good for that. There are still plenty of bars but not as rowdy. 

 

Great stuff.

 

GF is now leaning towards just flying to HK and winging it. But think Samui etc will be the part of Thailand we go.

Everything I've googled seems to say that's the best weather in July. Phuket etc will be wetter.

 

A coupe of years ago, me and my mate did a similar thing. Booked main flights with the intention of winging it. However, as we were quite lazy and had hangovers most mornings we found it a real struggle to make plans and execute them. We ended up staying too long in some places and flights are more expensive when you book them last minute based on my experience. It may work for you, but it didn't for me. I generally need a plan to make sure I do stuff! 

 

The only problem with catching the cheap flight to surat thani then the boat to samui I noticed was that the whole thing took over 4 hours. As im only there just over a couple of weeks I think id rather save time and fly directly to samui in less then an hour.

Currently my plan was to only spend 2 nights 2 days in bangkok and 4 nights 3 days in chaing mai. Im debating whether to reduce a night in chaing mai to spend an extra night in bangkok?? Although all I keep reading again on travel forums is chaing mai is much much better then bangkok.

Also very wary of political unrest in bangkok. 3 people killed today, I believe 8 the other day and grenades have been thrown. Something to keep an eye on for sure.

 

I'd rather fly direct from Bangers to Samui than faff about in Surat Thani, then get a ferry. Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways fly into Samui but charge a fair whack for the honour of doing so! Depends on budget and time.

[Stevo985]

Based purely on trip advisor "z hotel" and the jungle club seemed decent places to stay in Chaweng.

Dead cheap too, like 14 quid a night. For the room, not each

[donnie]

Sorry to hijack the thread :-(

Where is the best place to stay in koh samui?? Dont want it too sleazy but dont want it dead. Chaweng seems to be the main place. Is it decent for couples? ?

Also is there enough to do in koh tao other then diving to warrant staying for a couple of nights??

Chaweng wasn't sleazy when i went, but it was 2007 and has probably grown in size massively since then. I stopped in Choeng Mon Beach, only a short taxi from Chaweng. It was quiet and had direct access to the beach. Here it is:

http://www.imperialhotels.com/imperialboathouse/default-en.html

I wasn't taken by Chiang Mai. Its not a bad place, I just didn't see the appeal of it. I'd done the elephant trekking in a different part of Thailand previously (trying to remember where!)

Another guy on here said the same. Alot of people on travel forums all say chaing mai is the must go place in thailand. Although when I did my euro trip everyone was saying salzburg was a must. As pretty as it was, after an hour I was bored out my brains so can take travel sites with a pinch of salt.

Chiang Mai was nice, more 'traditional' and cheaper by far. I just found it boring though. Bangkok has a buzz like a major international city, but its not really trueThailand if that makes sense? I love massive cities and neon lit streets though. If you like the quieter way of life then Chiang Mai is good for that. There are still plenty of bars but not as rowdy.

Great stuff.

GF is now leaning towards just flying to HK and winging it. But think Samui etc will be the part of Thailand we go.

Everything I've googled seems to say that's the best weather in July. Phuket etc will be wetter.

A coupe of years ago, me and my mate did a similar thing. Booked main flights with the intention of winging it. However, as we were quite lazy and had hangovers most mornings we found it a real struggle to make plans and execute them. We ended up staying too long in some places and flights are more expensive when you book them last minute based on my experience. It may work for you, but it didn't for me. I generally need a plan to make sure I do stuff!

The only problem with catching the cheap flight to surat thani then the boat to samui I noticed was that the whole thing took over 4 hours. As im only there just over a couple of weeks I think id rather save time and fly directly to samui in less then an hour.

Currently my plan was to only spend 2 nights 2 days in bangkok and 4 nights 3 days in chaing mai. Im debating whether to reduce a night in chaing mai to spend an extra night in bangkok?? Although all I keep reading again on travel forums is chaing mai is much much better then bangkok.

Also very wary of political unrest in bangkok. 3 people killed today, I believe 8 the other day and grenades have been thrown. Something to keep an eye on for sure.

I'd rather fly direct from Bangers to Samui than faff about in Surat Thani, then get a ferry. Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways fly into Samui but charge a fair whack for the honour of doing so! Depends on budget and time.

Thanks for all this xela. Geniuinly appreciate everyone's advice :-)

[donnie]

Based purely on trip advisor "z hotel" and the jungle club seemed decent places to stay in Chaweng.

Dead cheap too, like 14 quid a night. For the room, not each

£14 a night seems cheap for samui?! Its defo way more expensive then bangkok, chaing mai, etc for hotels. Im looking at £60 a night rooms in samui and the hotels are incredible. Sea views, private swimming pools, jacuzzi.

Saying that ive seen some decent hotels in central chaing mai and bangkok for as little as £4...ive booked my first night hotel in bangkok. Payed £13 for the night.

[Xela]

Personally, I love HK. I had a similar idea to go to either KL or HK - I'm so glad I ended up in HK. You'll find plenty to do in the three days that you're there.

As for nightlife: there are some great bars down in Lan Kwai Fong. If the weather is good then people drink on the streets, and it's easy to bar hop - great atmosphere.

If you want to impress the missus one night then take her to Aqua. It's a slick bar/restaurant on the 50th floor (or something) in a tower over the other side from HK island (in Tsim Sha Sui) so has a fantastic view at night when HK is all lit up.

Hotels can be pricey in HK; it depends what you're looking for. We stayed in a hotel called Langham Place in Mongkok. I highly recommend it.

Wherever you end up, don't worry tooooo much about location. As long as you're near to an MTR station then it'll be easy to get around. It's bloody fantastic.

As for Thailand: at that time of year, just be 100% sure about the weather. The West (Phuket) and the East (Samui) will be experiencing different weather systems.

You could just book your flight to Bangkok and take it from there & go where the best weather is forecasted to be. As others have said though, it's probably better out East that time of year.

You'll find your money for hotels goes a long way in Bangkok - even the Lebua Tower (5* hotel used in the Hangover Two movie) is more reasonable than you'd think.

If you end up in Samui then Chaweng is the obvious choice and is where all the action is, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. There are loads of little shops selling souvenirs, fake goods, suits etc along the main strip so it gets a rep of being a bit tacky.

There are plenty of places to stay right on Chaweng Beach, though, and you can find something for any budget.

Maynam and Lamai are decent, quieter alternatives (but if you do find yourself wanting to head into Chaweng then it's about a 15min cab ride).

Once you're in Samui, you can get a fast ferry/catamaran over to Koh Phanghan and Koh Tao. Koh Phan can be bedlam if there's a full moon party, although the northern part of the island has a more chilled, beach bar feel.

Koh Tao is the smallest of the three islands and is the most laid back.

 

Good post fella! You do talk sense, sometimes 

 

To add to the HK points above, as stated Lan Kwai Fong is a great area to go out drinking in, especially as everyone congregates on the street and it can feel like a festival atmosphere. However, i'm more of a fan of the Wan Chai area. Its a bit grimier and less polished than LKF but there are some cracking bars there like Carngies, Joe Bananas and Mes Amis. If LKF is the place to take your missus, then the Wanch is where you go with your mates!    Both these areas are on HK Island and not too far from each other. Over the other side in Kowloon, you've got Knutsford Terrace in Tsim Sha Tsui which has some decent eateries and bars. 

 

If you do make it to HK then make sure you're there on a Wednesday as this is a cracking night to go out on. Happy Valley racecourse for the weekly races. Worth going if you're not even a fan of the nags, its just a great social thing to do and dirt cheap to get in, about HK$10, which is about £1. Then after that, taxi to Wan Chai for 'ladies night'. Every Wednesday, in most bars in Wan Chai, women drink free. When you consider the cost of booze there, this is a good saving. Brings loads of women out. Expat workers, HK locals, more dubious ladies of the night and holidaymakers. Obviously the increased female presence in the area brings more blokes out and it can get pretty busy, but the atmosphere always seems to be good. Just avoid the bars with the velvet curtains and scantily clad Filipino women outside. These are triad owned clip joints and you'll get wallet raped. Not that you'd go in one with your lady anyway 

 

Just writing this makes me want to go back! 

[Stevo985]

Based purely on trip advisor "z hotel" and the jungle club seemed decent places to stay in Chaweng.

Dead cheap too, like 14 quid a night. For the room, not each

£14 a night seems cheap for samui?! Its defo way more expensive then bangkok, chaing mai, etc for hotels. Im looking at £60 a night rooms in samui and the hotels are incredible. Sea views, private swimming pools, jacuzzi.

Saying that ive seen some decent hotels in central chaing mai and bangkok for as little as £4...ive booked my first night hotel in bangkok. Payed £13 for the night.

check out trip advisor mate.

That jungle club isn't right on the beach, but its close and it looks pretty awesome for 14 or 15 quid a night.

That is literally for a hut and a bed though. Its nice but incredibly basic. But even their slightly better room, where you get a TV and hot shower and a balcony etc is only 30 quid a night.

Z hotel is right on the beach. Obvs I'm only going off the net, but looks really decent for the price.

[djdabush]

Just a note to say that http://www.travelfish.org is your friend when looking at booking hotels in SE Asia, caters for all budgets too.

[Stevo985]

Cheers for all the posts in here chaps. Really wasn't expecting so much help!

 

Think we've settle on the idea of flying to Bangkok, spending 3 or 4 days there, then flying to Surat Thani (or direct to Samui depending on prices) and spending a week on the three islands there (plus full moon party)

 

Think we're just going to book the flights before hand and the first/last night's accommodation, and then just wing it in between.

 

Still undecided about Hong Kong and/or Kuala Lumpur either side. On one hand I'm thinking no to keep the prices down. On the other it would seem a shame to go all that way and "only" visit one country.

 

But return flights are so much cheaper, it really bumps the price up if we were to fly into HongKong and fly back from Bangkok (for example)

[Xela]

What sort of prices you getting at the minute for Bangkok return flights?

 

I used Emirates when I went to Bangkok and Hong Kong in March. Flew into one and out the other and it wasn't that much more expensive and it included the flight between the two destinations as well. Although HK to BKK on Air Asia is quite reasonable as well. 

[Stevo985]

What sort of prices you getting at the minute for Bangkok return flights?

I used Emirates when I went to Bangkok and Hong Kong in March. Flew into one and out the other and it wasn't that much more expensive and it included the flight between the two destinations as well. Although HK to BKK on Air Asia is quite reasonable as well.

return to Bangkok is about £570

Return to Kuala Lumpur is about £500 but more than £70 return to Bangkok so would work out more overall.

Think Return to HK and to Bangkok was even more still.

What I'd like to do is book single to Bangkok from London, then the return leg from Kuala Lumpur (or HK) and then get an internal flight from Thailand to KL. But making it two singles as opposed to a return take the flights up to like £700 (as far as I could tell)

Might be what we end up doing anyway, just a shame you can't make it a "return" from a different destination (if that makes sense)

[donnie]

What sort of prices you getting at the minute for Bangkok return flights?

 

I used Emirates when I went to Bangkok and Hong Kong in March. Flew into one and out the other and it wasn't that much more expensive and it included the flight between the two destinations as well. Although HK to BKK on Air Asia is quite reasonable as well.

Mine were £560 return from bham to bangkok via dubai with emirates. Maybe could have got it cheaper if flew from a london airport but cant be arsed with the hassle of getting all the way down to london so would rather pay slightly more to fly from brum. I much prefer birmingham airport to heathrow and gatwick anyway. Much much smaller and so easier and quicker to get around.

[Xela]

 

What sort of prices you getting at the minute for Bangkok return flights?

I used Emirates when I went to Bangkok and Hong Kong in March. Flew into one and out the other and it wasn't that much more expensive and it included the flight between the two destinations as well. Although HK to BKK on Air Asia is quite reasonable as well.

return to Bangkok is about £570

Return to Kuala Lumpur is about £500 but more than £70 return to Bangkok so would work out more overall.

Think Return to HK and to Bangkok was even more still.

What I'd like to do is book single to Bangkok from London, then the return leg from Kuala Lumpur (or HK) and then get an internal flight from Thailand to KL. But making it two singles as opposed to a return take the flights up to like £700 (as far as I could tell)

Might be what we end up doing anyway, just a shame you can't make it a "return" from a different destination (if that makes sense)

 

 

£550-£600 is about par for the course for an Asian long haul return with a decent airline and good connection times if its not direct. Although saying that I saw KLM doing HK returns for about £450 recently. Sorely tempted. 

 

You can make it a return from a different airport if the airline services both the arrival and departure airports. Its booked as a 'return' when going through the booking process and paid for as one flight, not as two single flights. You need to go to the multi flight option on Kayak and input the first flight as BHX - HKG and the second flight as BKK to BHX*

 

Also worth checking out the flight between the arrival and departure airports. I did:

 

Birmingham to Bangkok

Bangkok to Hong Kong

Hong Kong to Birmingham 

 

All on Emirates, all paid for as one overall flight and even got a free upgrade to business class flying into Hong Kong. Total cost was about £630 by memory

 

* Or whatever destinations you decide on

 

 

What sort of prices you getting at the minute for Bangkok return flights?

 

I used Emirates when I went to Bangkok and Hong Kong in March. Flew into one and out the other and it wasn't that much more expensive and it included the flight between the two destinations as well. Although HK to BKK on Air Asia is quite reasonable as well.

Mine were £560 return from bham to bangkok via dubai with emirates. Maybe could have got it cheaper if flew from a london airport but cant be arsed with the hassle of getting all the way down to london so would rather pay slightly more to fly from brum. I much prefer birmingham airport to heathrow and gatwick anyway. Much much smaller and so easier and quicker to get around.

 

 

I agree. I paid a bit more to fly from Brum last time after doing London for a number of years. Only go to London if I want to go direct to Asia. 

[mikeyp102]

Has anyone been or knows anyone who has been as an individual traveller?

[Wainy316]

Thailand can definitely be done solo.  You're always meeting people along the way, especially if you're staying in hostels and stuff.

[chappy]

You'll have people to travel around with within a day or so anyway, don't be put off by heading out there on your own

[mikeyp102]

Cheers guys. Has anyone ever done any volunteer work over there?

[Demitri_C]

my mate wants to do a two week stag in thailand, i dont think i can afford it but he seems to think we can do hotel and flights in january for about £750 is that about right would you say? how much do people think on average you need for thailand including sedning money on average?

[Stevo985]

A 2 week stag?
 

I'd tell your mate to simmer down and do a long weekend like normal people!

He's probably not far off with the £750 estimate though