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Join Date: Jan 3, 2010
Location: Huntsville AL
Posts: 1,428
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Dream on Sukhumvit Soi 15 looks nice from the outside. However...
I normally stay at Royal President, about a block farther up Soi 15.
At first glance, the rooms at Royal President are significantly larger than the rooms at Dream, at about HALF the price.
Yes, Royal President is guest-friendly.
Now, Royal President is an older hotel, and SOME of the rooms could use some renovation, but, IN MY PERSONAL OPINION, the place is quite comfortable and the staff is first-rate.
A note on usage from here on: When I say "Suk", I mean Sukhumvit. This is the main road through the main tourist section, and a major east-west thoroughfare in the city.
I've also stayed at the Ambassador Hotel on Suk Soi 11 (OK but not my first choice), Royal Benja on Suk Soi 5 (NOT guest-friendly, NOT recommended: the last time I stayed there, the area was getting noticeably questionable, thanks to the drug dealers overflowing from Soi 3), and the Nana Hotel on Suk Soi 4 (across the street from Nana Plaza: you should stay there ONCE, for the experience, but you are out of your ever-lovin' MIND if you stay there more than once).
As for activities, it just depends on what you like to do. Your hotel will have a tourist excursions desk, and they will have lots of options.
At this point, a warning: Until you've logged several trips, DO NOT get into a tuktuk, unless it is operated by your hotel. DO NOT get into a taxi that is parked outside your hotel, unless the hotel's guard hails him and vouches for him. DO NOT accept any offers from taxi drivers for long hire, or tours: he is almost certainly going to take you to any number of overpriced rip-off jewelry stores or tailors. He gets a commission from them.
If you need a tailor, I can recommend Patrick's on Suk Soi 11 without any hesitation whatsoever. I've been doing business with them for over ten years, with no trouble at all. (OK, they had some trouble ONCE getting a suit jacket right, but they did get it right and the results were outstanding.) I buy first-rate full custom work from them in Bangkok, for prices less than I pay for off-the-rack in the US, and the quality is better. The catch is that I have to be in Bangkok for fittings and fabric selection, but I charge that off to vacation time anyway.
There are at least two branches of Kinokuniya Books in Bangkok, one in Siam Paragon Mall and very easily accessibly from the skytrain. Kinokuniya is almost as dangerous for me as Amazon: I almost always find at least one book on every trip that DEMANDS to go home with me.
On my last trip, at FlightExperience, in Ekkamai Gateway Mall, I logged 8 hours in a fixed-base 737 flight simulator, learning to fly an incredible airplane. Cost was around $160/hr, with instructor. By comparison, dual time in a Cessna 172 will cost me about $200/hr in the US, and, according to the FlightExperience chief pilot, closer to $300/hr in Bangkok. He did his pilot training in San Francisco, and he is an OUTSTANDING instructor. Our first hop, back in September, was a very gentle half-hour. Our second time out, two hours on New Years Day, was NOT gentle: He knew EXACTLY how hard he could push me, exactly what I could handle, which was FAR harder and farther than I would have believed I could be pushed, and I have NEVER IN MY LIFE worked so hard OR had so much fun doing it!
Full Disclosure: I'd logged five good hours with their other instructors before our second hop, and I suspect but do not know for certain that he'd talked with them, or maybe reviewed notes, before we flew. We spent close to half an hour talking before the second session started, much of it briefing what we were going to do. At one point, I'd pulled my copy of their flight manual out of my case, he opened it, and he found the notes I'd copied from the manual and organized, to help me memorize the procedures. He clearly liked seeing those notes.
Sports Academy on the second floor of the Ruamchitt Hotel is a small, very friendly, extremely well-run pool hall. They open at 4 PM. They ruined me forever for bar 8-ball on a typical bar table with typical bar corkscrew cues. At one point, the manager gave me a couple of pointers, and it made a MASSIVE difference in my game.
There are good restaurants EVERYWHERE. Charley Brown's has the best Tex-Mex I've found anywhere on Planet Earth. They are as I type this moving to new digs off Suk Soi 19, an EASY walk from Dream and almost as easy from Royal President. Love Scene on Suk Soi 23, just down from Soi Cowboy, is a Thai restaurant, open 24 hours as far as I can tell. Best way to learn Thai food is to pick up two girls from Soi Cowboy, take them to Love Scene, let them order, and share, family-style. You have to be a LITTLE bit careful: occasionally, the girls will go wild and order everything in sight, but the damage to your billfold won't be that bad and the food will ALL be good.
If you're desperate for American food, there are two Hooters outlets, one on Suk Soi 15, I don't remember in which hotel, and one on Soi 4, attached to Nana Hotel. I've had the chili at the Hooters on Soi 4 several times, and it is not bad at all. Full Disclosure: an old friend (female) works there, and part of my reason for going there every so often is to say "Hi."
There's also a Tony Roma's in Terminal 21 shopping mall, on Suk, between Suk Soi 21 and Asoke. AND, if you're REALLY desperate, there are several McDonalds outlets.
If you like seafood pad Thai, there's a little covered patio on Suk Soi 3/1, just off the corner at Sukhumvit Road. A plate of seafood or shrimp pad Thai and a glass of Thai iced tea will set you back less than 100 baht (call it US$3). I eat lunch there fairly often when I'm in town.
Best tom yum kung (spicy soup with shrimp) or tom yum thalay (spicy soup with seafood) in Bangkok is a very close race between Food Center 4/5, on the south (even-numbered soi) side of Sukhumvit, and Have A Zeed By Steak Lao in Terminal 21. I routinely hit both places when I'm jonesing for tom yum kung. 3rd place, and it is a close third, is Old Dutch, mentioned elsewhere in this ridiculously long post.
Legitimate Thai massage: Tarntip Massage, in Suk Soi 7/1, is outstanding. Go for the two-hour Thai massage, or the two-hour oil massage. Damage will be about 600 baht, which is less than US$20.
For the girls in the gogo bars: Barfines will vary, depending on the club. Individual rates for the girls will vary. The rate for "short time" (one round) vs. "long time" (all night) will vary. I'm 5'5", just under 300 lbs. I have to pay more. C'est la vie. You should have no difficulty finding an amazing companion for the night, including drinks at her bar, barfine, maybe dinner for two at Love Scene or Old Dutch (on the corner, Soi Cowboy and Suk Soi 23), for, oh, 7000 baht: about US$200.
The food at Old Dutch is quite good, but be warned: they cook Thai food for Thai palates. It will be good, and it may well be SPICY. (I love Thai food, and I can USUALLY handle Thai spicy. Sometimes I have to be careful.)
The only MP scene I do, as opposed to legitimate Thai massage at Tarntip, is at the notorious Eden Club, on Suk Soi 7/1, across the street from Tarntip. Going rate is about 4100 baht for two girl PSE for about 90 minutes, on the premises.
Gogo bars I'd recommend: Tilac in Soi Cowboy, Suckers in Nana Plaza, Suzie Wong in Soi Cowboy. Angelwitch in Nana Plaza has been good to me in years past, but pickings have been slim the last few years. Spanky's in Nana Plaza is promising, but I've just never managed to spend a lot of time in there. Straps in Nana Plaza looks good, but ALL of the girls there are in fact post-op ladyboys.
I can't recommend any place in Patpong: I've heard too many ripoff horror stories to feel like taking chances in that area.
Dollhouse in Soi Cowboy has a good reputation, but, the one night I was there, there was trouble that required police intervention, and I tend to be gun-shy about things like that.
Baccara in Soi Cowboy caters mostly to Japanese salarymen on vacation, and their prices reflect it.
Cactus in Soi Cowboy used to do outstanding feasts on Tuesday and Thursday nights, but the new owners ended that, and the guy who's been running the place forever was not too happy about it: he did the cooking, as well as running the joint, and he LOVED to cook and he was GOOD at it. I spent an hour or two just shooting the breeze with him one night last trip, and we BOTH had a good time.
STAY OUT OF THE ARAB BARS. (Google "arab bars bangkok": any number of sites will give you the list.)
I say again: STAY OUT OF THE ARAB BARS.
And a final note: If your tastes run to BBWs, you are going to find them VERY difficult to find in Bangkok. On the other hand, you will have very little difficulty finding outstandingly beautiful, slim, in-shape women, with beautiful smiles and very good attitudes.
And this is long enough.
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