holiday in thailand :D suggestions of stuff to do!

[remps88]

hey all. me and about 8 of my fellow 19/20 year old mates are leaving for thailand on sunday.

we have planned this trip for a while now, always adding to it and gradually getting more and more exited. we leave on the 30th from melbourne, flying into kuala lumpar in malaysia. we are planning on staying down that way for around 5-6 days, because our original plans were to treck our way up towards phuket slowly, but turns out there is terrorism problems and such down south on the border, so we are going to fly/train out of their about 6 days in and land in phuket i think.

now, what we have been told so far by everyone who can even spell thailand is to GO TO THE FULL MOON PARTY!! and we plan to.

apart from that, is has been a mix of, enjoy the exchange rate, get yourself a custom tailored suit for around $30 bucks, and TRY and figure our which ones are the "ladyboys!"

we fly out of bangkok on something like the 7th of december. its gonna be 6 weeks of madness and awesome times of relaxaton and partying hopefully.

just thought id throw it out there to see if there is anything specific people suggest we do, try, dont do, avoid, and if they want, spill with their experiances so we can gain knowledge from your good/and bad, experiances.



so, when i say the words thailand holiday, what do people think of first?? let me have it!

[Yellow_Festiva]

Travel insurance is what I think of first ;)

[OffRoadFalcon]

I think of Thai food... love it. My family get's takeaway on Fridays, Pizza once a month (from a decent pizza shop), and a Indian and Thai on the three fridays. Yum yum yum. Enjoy your trip!! Make the most of it! (have spave in your suitcase for a 15 year old? I'm sure I could fit?)

[Bucknaked]

I think of, I wish I was back there .

Have a great time. You'll love it.

[Feathers]

There are a couple of previous threads on Phuket here, which may help you.

By far the best thing we did while based in Bangkok was visit the Tiger Temple. It's an early start and a 3 hour trip out to the temple, but you can include a stop at the River Kwai and war memorial in some of the tours. We booked that through our travel agent before we left Australia.

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...light=thailand

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...ghlight=phuket

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...es-Phuket.html

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...s-Bangkok.html

[QIK006]

Originally Posted by remps88

TRY and figure our which ones are the "ladyboys!"

You can guess all you want, but there is only one way to truly know

Good luck on the hunt, my only tip is keep the light on!

[whitesoarer]

Hey mate. Some good advice I can give you is if you end up on Patpong Road, don't go to ping pong shows that aren't on the ground floor. A group of us got rolled for about $300 AUD when we went to a 2nd floor one, apparently this is pretty common. It was a very uncomfortable experience and I would not wish it on anyone.

Stick to ground floor clubs and you should be OK.

[MITCHAY]

My mate just got back on Monday and loved it. 2 weeks cost $3k for everything. You won't have any trouble getting girls that's for sure lol

[Mickxr8]

Going by your ages I`d say get out phuket asap , bangkok will be buggered for a while (floods) , pattaya for nightlife and girls ( can hook you up with some expats there that run bars etc, steer you the right way ) , koh samui then powerboat to the full moon party ,
Chang mai is nice , fly up train back , couple of days jungle trekking etc
Kanchanaburi is also well worth a visit , bridge river kwai, war cemetery etc
( jolly frog is a good place to stay there, basicand cheap but lots of fun to be had,
Cant really go wrong with thai food its great, experiment a bit , only time we got crook was "kfc" go figure ? lol
Usual stuff like travel insurance, have a copy of all your passports , Id etc and carry them separately
NEVER leave your drinks unattended or drink tap water
Thai people are very nice and if you treat them with respect they will go out of there way to help you
Enough for now lol

[HenryFordJr]

Have you seen The Hangover 2? Don't do any of that lol..

I am going there myself next April, looking forward to it..

[trippytaka]

Yeah stay away from Bangkok my mate is heading there tonight to see his fiance and she said the whole place is flooded - the crocodile farm flooded and 1500 crocs are now swimming around the streets. LOL.

I have been to koh samui. It's a great chilled out place, and good to visit if you want to leave from there to a full moon party - you leave from the warf.

HEad out to the marine reserve on a day trip. http://samui.sawadee.com/angthong/ it's beautiful. I went diving there through the caves. Amazing place.

It really depends on which island you're heading to. Koh Phangan is where the full moon parties are. It's OK. Good place to party. Just be careful there http://fullmoonparty-thailand.com/

Make sure you're on the beach somewhere to watch the sunset as the monsoon comes over. It sounds a bit of a fairy thing to say, but with a beer in your hand it's wesome to watch the weather come over and sit in the rain finishing off a beer.

[blueoval]

Im Thai, and I haven't been back since being adopted. Got to put that on my bucket list.

As for 'Ladyboys', not even the hand grope will be enough to tell what your getting since Thailand is the most popular place for sex change operations in the world. Discover at your own risk I say.

From what my mates tell me, if you stick in the well touristy areas you should be ok. Just have your wits about ya, look out and keep an eye for each other there and you should be fine. Stick to bottle water!

[Fev]

I've only done Phuket, not the mainland.

Phuket Fantasea was a really cool stage show/circus/theatrical story. Its in Kamala, about 10 mins north of Patong, the main tourist city of Phuket.

DONT SHOP IN PATONG. GO TO PHUKET TOWN!!! Patong was all 40% off - say 300baht for a t-shirt. Went to Phuket Town and the same exact shirts were 150baht so I didn't even bother haggling.. Shame I went there on the last day of the holiday though lol.. Price hikes are the same in the big shopping centres too..

And if you want to get a great seafood lunch in an awesome location for VERY cheap there is a great restuarant stocking all sorts of fresh live seafood out just next to the mudflats about 10min drive from Phuket Town on the east coast. No idea what it was called or exactly where though sorry! We just asked a random taxi driver and for 40baht(!!!!) he took us out there, waited and brought us back to town!

Phuket Town is much better imo, its less touristy, less annoying tailors, less being harassed, less massage parlors and less dirty smells.

Only got sick twice - was there for 14 days. First time was after drinking my weights worth of Bintang. Teach me for taking advantage of the self serve keg sitting on the bar lol and then once I'd gotten home I was like a food sieve. It was the damn Burger King I had at the Phuket airport!! That being said we mostly ate at the hotel which was 5-star lol but I did eat street vendor food - BBQ charcoal chicken skewers for 5b a pop and they tasted so good!

I did a Phi Phi Island speed boat trip. Cost $60aus for an entire 8 hour day including transfers from the hotel. We visited 'The Beach' from the movie, James bond island, Monkey Island, a couple of other islands, about 2 hours of snorkling, the viking cave, had a full buffet lunch provided, soft drinks and fruits and stuff on the boat etc etc. The guide was a dude called "MIIIIIIIIIIIIS THAILLAAAAAAAND" but shim was very funny.

There is a massive jewelery store there - almost the size of bunnings with sharks in aquariums and stuff. If you wanna get some cheap but good shiny things for some women back home i reccommend that too.

In fact pay a taxi driver like 600baht for the day, he'll drive you around everywhere you want to go, be your own personal tour guide. Most hotels have a couple of guys that can help

[Feathers]

Originally Posted by mickxr8

Only time we got crook was "kfc"

That's what got us too!!

The Pizza Company is pretty good though!!

[remps88]

wow everyone thanks so much!! only been like 20 hours since i put this thread up and between beers i just decided to check it for a response! highly appreciated all the info you guys have shared!

[remps88]

oh yeah, and we all have organised travel insurance and paid for it and got about 3 injections apiece so in that way we are covered.

has anyone heard or had an experiance when it comes to hiring a scooter/motorbike/jetski and then been attempted to be ripped off by the guys?

also, if they wanted like, collateral or something... i figured you wouldnt give them your passport, but what could you use?


ping pong shows apparently are awsome, cant really think of the "awesome factor".... same as strippers to me, paying to watch? id rather buy a real chick (hopefully a chick anyway :P) a drink and have my own show!


will be staying away from bangkok till much later in the trip so hope the crocs have ****ed off by then. haha. and dont you worry there will be numerous amounts of nights and mornings where the beach and the sunrise/set will be involved. thats why we made it such a big trip. so we dont rush to do anything really. just can go at our own pace.

the guys im going with have spent around 17 months in europe and such travelling already, but for me, this is my first overseas trip. so exited!!!

[Buttnekid]

every time I have been I go down the front beach road at Patong opposite the Maccas/Bombay Indian restaurant and pay 150 baht per day or 700 baht for the week, and AUD$50 note as deposit - they record the serial number and give you the same note back when you return the scooter. Never had a problem, just check over it before you take it and make sure you note any major damage. Always wear a helmet otherwise it will cost you $500 baht fine.

Massages are awesome, like $7 for a 60 minute, just pick a clean place and you will be sweet.

I am jealous, you will have a ball!

[JoelBluexh]

Hi remps88, i literally just got back home today from a 10day holiday in Phuket. and it was also my first trip overseas. it was soo much fun, cheap everything, cheap drinks,cheap clothes. in regards to jetski hire we just avoided them all together you'll notice it if there a bit dodgy. get a second cheap/crap wallet and use that to put your cash/travel ex cards in. it means if its gets stolen/lost you only have to call up your travelex card provider and cancel that card. also keep any secondary cards and your passport in the safe at the hotel with anything you dont want to go missing.

we went a did the phi phi island tour on a speedboat and it was amazing well worth it.
Bangala road is a road you will NEVER forget i hope you like alcohol because the is probably over a hundred bars and clubs or more down bangala. also if you get a chance go to "White Lounge" you buy a ticket for like 300baht then 500baht on entry so $25AUD and for 2hours OPEN bar all drinks all you can drink plus they do buckets well worth it, i guarantee you will not remember the rest of the night.

with clothes try and buy multiple items because you can get them cheaper, i was getting tshirts shorts for around 150baht or less each. general rule is whatever they say go a bit less then half of what there asking and go from there. and if still you dont like it just walk away.

ATMs try and avoid using multiple atms if theres one at your hotel only use that one. i got caught out at a atm down the road it buggerd up the information on it so i had to cancel that card just to be sure it wasnt skimmed.

tuk-tuks. are simply a pimped out daihatsu hijet with neons and subs and wheels and dirty big cannons lol. we never payed more then 150baht for a tuk tuk. same with clothes you gotta bahtar they normally say 200baht first up and if they wont take you for 150baht go to the next one .

PING PONG shows! go down bangala between 6pm-10pm and youll try hard NOT to find one, nearly every second person askes you if u want ping pong. they say "free show" but when you get inside the first drink you buy is between 800-1700baht, and if they pull you up on stage, join in youll get a good laugh!

if you want to know anything else just shoot me a pm. ill be happy to tell you.

Joel

[AU101]

Originally Posted by Fev

It was the damn Burger King I had at the Phuket airport!!

I reckon that made me sick too! I had it before we flew home and that night I was in a world of pain! Was either that or the plane food/water

[Fev]

Yeah lost about 5 kgs in 3 days! It didn't kick in til I was back in Sydney thank the heavens! I would NOT have wanted that problem while I was on the plane.