Kimao

I used to fly tiger air straight to clark from bangkok but i don't think that route is still available. Flying to clark vs manila is ideal as it will save time and money. However, if you fly to manila and want cheap transport to angeles there are many options. Look at flythebus or swagman for options. Private taxi isn't too bad either depending on your budget. I've done both. Tiger air has some issues booking online and their flights are often late or delayed. However it's par for the course for philippines airlines. You mentioned going to AC and Olangapo (Subic Bay) both within 9 days. I'd recommend AC for the whole trip vs breaking it up. Subic can be ok but it is smaller and less user friendly than AC in my opinion. 9 days you can have fun in AC and get a good handle on things. Try splitting your time between walking street (field's ave) and the older section beyond. As for changing tickets that's usually not an option on a cheap ticket. I tried to change a flight on Airasia inside thailand and was quoted more than buying a new ticket.

I've been considering a trip to Koh Chang actually. Probably heading to Pattaya again this week but maybe next outing with be the big island. I agree that there are gems to be found everywhere and I probably could have explored more places, but with a fairly large bar scene (less than Bangkok and Pattaya, about on par with Huahin) I expected more from Udon.

Notwithstanding this trip, I'm still looking for new spots to visit and explore. If any of you have found interesting or unique places off the beaten path (Bangkok central/ pattaya) please post.

Lately I've been trying to travel around a bit more to see new places and get out of the big city a bit. I've recently moved just outside of Bangkok (Patum Thani) to that end as I was tiring of the traffic and state of affairs in my last area. After reading stickman's recent article regarding Udon Thani I thought, well why not give it a shot. Boy was I disappointed. The trip over was painless enough- I flew from Don Muang to Udon for about 800 baht with a duration of about 1 hour. Taxi from the airport to the hotel located in the 'city center' was 200 baht standard. No real options for finding anything else. Got to the hotel, checked in and decided to wander about. First impressions- Hit the massage and bar areas first and despite being early afternoon there were a decent number open. Mostly empty, but a few had a number of older gents who appeared to be locals at their favorite spots sharing a beer and watching sports. Of the other, less occupied bars there was a common theme- two staff, one 30s-40s Thai woman and one large ladyboy. I kid you not, this was the case for the first 4 bars I approached. I'm usually keen to have a game of pool and a beer even at a bar that's not right up my alley so I still stopped by but was largely disappointed at what I saw. A number of massage places were open and I did the rounds checking out the girls sitting outside enoying their lunches or mid-afternoon snacks. A good portion had been snacking a bit too much and were a bit large for my tastes. I spotted one really cute one but as I walked over another guy parked his motorbike in front of the shop and headed straight in with her. Such is life. Spent the next several hours roaming around the rest of the bar areas and decided to pop into central and the market area adjacent to it. Stickman had reported that the general populace was noticeably friendlier and happier to see foreigners. This was not evident in anyway. Throughout my stay I switched from the tourist foreigner not knowing a lick of Thai to the expat with a fairly expansive knowledge depending on the situation and tried to judge which yielded better results. Both were fairly evenly disappointing. As the evening wore on I ventured back to the bar areas and made several more rounds bringing my total bar visits to about 15-18. Sadly, at night the pickings remained slim (and yet not slim size-wise) and the number of really beastly ladyboys was surprisingly high. I had often heard that LBs tended to head to BKK as it is a more modern and accepting society versus where many were born and the associated traditional mindset. Perhaps the demand by foreign visitors is making that not the case. To wrap up this rather long-winded post I'll say that I was disappointed to such a degree that I checked out of my hotel later the next day, abandoned my return flight set for 4 days later and purchased a ticket from Udon to Utapao and spent the next few days in Pattaya which is a known commodity to me. TL:DR - if you are considering Udon for a visit, my recommendation is to give it a pass.

Rolando- More often than not you'll hear Gin Khao Roo Yung over Sawatdee. You will then answer either, "Gin khao leaw" already eaten, or, "Yung" Not yet. Also, to sound a bit more natural try saying Wadee kap as a shortened form of Sawatdee. It's also very common as a passing greeting to ask Ja Bai Nai, where are you going? Answers will be, Bai Tiaw -out for fun, Bai Thura -errands, or, you guessed it, Bai Gin Khao, out to eat.

Unless the song is something like learning the alphabet I'm not sure how that will go. I did learn a lot of japanese with childish songs to remember verb conjugations and the like, but haven't heard any of those for Thai. If you are eager to learn and feel you have a good handful of vocab down i'd really recommend activity-based studying. For example, ordering food- learn common words and set phrases you'd use in a restaurant. Taking a taxi, picking up a girl, meeting relatives, getting out of an awkward situation, etc. etc.

You can't hop off and ride another day. Your ticket is only good for the day and route on the ticket. Depending on how busy the route is you can buy tickets right before they depart but it may be full. A day or two before usually gets you want you want. Usually you are at each station for just a short time and wouldn't walk to walk away and risk missing the train. However, at every stop many vendors will board the train and sell everything imaginable, including alcohol. That was supposed to have stopped after the young girl was raped (big news story) and they clamped down on some regulations so I'm not sure about now. When I ride the train I just show up a little early and grab a bagful of stuff from 7/11 or some prepacked Thai meals that are sold on the platform.

As has been discussed in other threads, I tend to agree there will be more and more coyotes across the bars as this will retain the 'adult' feel of the entertainment areas, but the availability of women (particularly on the cheap) will lessen.

Very interesting article, House. There are probably a lot of police bigwigs who are similarly worried about being replaced and trying to do whatever they can to keep their positions. If a cleanup happens in pattaya I imagine things don't bode well for Bangkok's sex trade

I've been to Lebua and it was awful. Extremely overpriced, pretentious food. Spent 20-25k baht on dinner for 4. The skybar was very crowded and over rated as well.

I like Capri and a pub next to checkmate (I don't like checkmate though) There is a very expensive French restaurant (sorry all the names are escaping me) that was just awful. Not surprisingly we were the only 4 customers.

I've been there probably a dozen times. Some good food but everything is over priced. Great place to take a non bargirl (or a bargirl that you just want to pamper) as they will enjoy posting Facebook photos from the food to the shops to the river. During holidays like LoiKrathong it is extremely packed there to the point you have to walk a mile minimum to get out of the traffic.

On my iPhone I just click "full version" at the bottom of the page below the "post" button, then click, "more reply options" and you will have an attach photo option that can access your camera roll. If you want to go back to mobile view just click "mobile version" and you're back. Maybe there's an easier way, if so I'm up for hearing it too.

Hope he continues cleaning up various scams and problems around Thailand.

I too enjoyed them for a quick few rounds before or after the discos. Often get some interesting characters coming together there and can be a lot of fun. Those small bars on sukhumvit can be ok but anymore they are overrun by Africans and ladyboys so I haven't stopped at one for a while. Will be interesting to see the next thing that goes if and when the Junta hones in on the adult areas more.

Nana plaza is usually 350 and checks ID. The one just past Hilary 2 (the Hilary bar with a guitar shaped sign sticking out) is 300 and less stringent with ID.

The vans were kicked out for encroaching (more like existing 100%) on public road and walkways. They were told to move to private property and actually lease their spaces. Before they would just pay fees to the police and Tessakit to let them operate. Don't know how permanent their absence will be but they haven't been there the last three times I've been to Soi 11. Food stalls were still operating and plenty of illegal parking happening. A lot more laws are being applied around Thailand, albeit still rather inconsistently.

Now that the cocktail vans are all gone it feels a little empty around soi 11. I would have preferred they kept the vans and just stopped all the parking of taxis, motorbikes and shuttles.

My friend lives on the top floor of the residence portion of chatrium. Amazing river view. You can get a Tuktuk to Asiatique or Patpong very easily for 100 baht. You are overpaying but if you are staying at Chatrium that shouldn't be a big issue. There is a complimentary river shuttle to Saphan Thaksin BTS station that arrives every 20-30 mins which will give you easy access to Nana BTS, although not the closest location for sure.

7/11 has some as noted, but family mart has another brand that I buy but the name escapes me. They also sell featherlight ultra condoms which I really like and 7/11 does not.

I just played the farang card. Walked up to the front checkin counter with my empty prescription bottle and said I wanted these. They called someone over who even spoke decent English and too me they only have .25 and .5mg tabs. I said I'll take the .5 and waited less than 10 mins. Another person came back with a small bag and walked me to the cashier. My friend brought back some sleeping pills from Russia for me. They put me out pretty well but leave me really groggy in the morning. Xanax really is the best for my insomnia even at low dose.

Took a private taxi from my apartment to rayong (pier for koh samed) for 2k baht. Will take it again in the morning. 2.30 hours beats transport to bus terminal and longer, more uncomfortable ride on minibus.

You can get alprazolam (Xanax) from a Thai hospital without too much trouble. They don't have 1-2mg, just .5 and .25. I tried many pharmacies around sukhumvit and even had my empty prescription bottle with me (I used to take 2mg for insomnia) but none offered it. Went to a hospital somewhere in Rangsit and the doctor gave me about 30 tabs of .5mg. Cost was very very low but I can't recall how much. He was shocked to see I had a 2mg prescription. I had a 3mg prescription for Lunesta but that would be real pricey without insurance.

I know a number of girls who have gotten nose jobs and the prices really do vary to the extent you've heard. A girl I know got one for a purported 100k and was not thrilled as she has a small nick that remained on the left side that looks slightly darker. A waste as her nose was perfectly fine before the operation. She should have opted for a boob job. One of my Thai staff paid about 12000 for a nose job at a small clinic and is happy with the results. After a nose job when acne appears it seems to remain for quite some time and looks unsightly. There are literally hundreds of places if not thousands offering cosmetic surgery. Often hospital surgeons run clinics on the side and rent out rooms as needed to perform operations on their off time. Walk into a few clinics and consult with a few doctors and see who she likes. You'll get a good idea just from the consultation. And remember, this is Thailand you can always ask for a discount.

This has potential to create quite a stir. We will see if the red shirts follow through with the plan to 'take over' the chaeng wattana protest site. I don't see either side giving in. I think I hear a bird chirping, "coup coup"