Can anyone answer a few Bangkok Questions please?

Donnie

'Chang' is the word for Elephant.

I sure you can negotiate a reasonable rate for a half day or day, if you so wished.
Ayutthaya is not that 'touristy', so don't expect everyone to speak English. The other side of the coin is that you may get a less jaded experience.

Donnie

Here is a map of Chatuchak(Jatujak) Market; http://bpak.waan.googlepages.com/Jatujak_Map.jpg

It gives you an idea of the size and may help you to plan your visit.

GIRLPOWER_2

Donnie is all that map the market :eek: .. please tell me it's just a section of it?

alison74

Just answered the PM you sent me and briefly looked at this thread.

Damnoen Saduak IS touristy but is the best place to experience the floating market.

I have been there twice now on 2 different trips. 2 weeks ago, I got picked up by 7.30am, and driven there (2 hours plus 15 minute transfer by long tail boat) Then had to pay 150 baht extra for a 40 minute ride amongst the market.

We were allowed 90 minutes there, so it seemed a little rushed for my friends who had not been there before (I think 18 months ago, I was there for over 2 hours which was plenty)

We left at 11.30am and it was very much still open.

Back in Bangkok by 1.30pm and 400 baht lighter. Maybe there is a more 'private' way you can do it, but whatever way, it will take a whole morning to do and we had good traffic.

Yes, the map Donnie provided is for the WHOLE Chatuchak market and to be honest, I wasn't that impressed and it was claustrophobic and the other market I mentioned to you in my PM is FAR superior.

I will wait to hear from you via PM before posting more

littlereddevil

There is an elephant sanctuary up beside the River Kwai somewhere I can't remember exactly where but we did it all on the same trip.

GIRLPOWER_2

Thinking about the bridge thing. read somewhere that you can get a train over the river kwai on the death railway and end up somewhere that the back packers stay. you can then stay in a floating room on the river for a few quid..
anyone know what i''m talking about or done this???
was it worth doing??
what was the train like???

Can anyone answer the above please.. also anyone know where the above mentioned elephants place is in relation to the area?

Thanks in advance.

alison74

Girlpower

I forgot to mention last night............I have done the River Kwai Death railway thing so it's easy for me to say NOT to do it but for you I would still say it's not worthwhile, mainly because it would take a day to do it and you are so short on time. (Unless of course it is anything to do with family history for you)

There is a musem to go round, which is obviously depressing, but the ACTUAL bridge would take 5 minutes to walk over or you can pay a small fee to get a train over it, but that takes even less time.

I don't know where you mean to stay that is backpacker floaty place......... but I stayed in a floating rafthouse (1 of 8) a car ride and then boat transfer away from the Bridge i.e they call it River Kwai rafthouses, but not really near the bridge.

Yes the rafthouse was lovely, but could have been anywhere in the world.

This is my personal opinion and you can do with it what you wish, but considering you have such limited time, I would give the bridge a miss.

djm71

Be warned that you need to take everything that the locals say to you with a huge pinch of salt of more often than not there's a hidden agenda - for example if you are walking down the side of the Grand Palace towards the enterance then people will tell you it's just shut in order to try to steer you towards something they have an interest in getting you near. They will be incredibly helpful and draw you a map towards some other spectacular temple and as luck will have it today will be some day of special religious significance and as a added bonus and a complete coinsidence the Thai govenrment have decalred that all taxi and tuc tuc rides will cost no more than 20 baht for vistors for today only as long as you visit the famous Thai Government Export Warehouse (what do you mean you've not been yet?) etc.

DON'T BELIEVE A WORD OF IT!

It's a con to get you into their mates taxi or tuc tuc down the road - yes they will take you to some temple but then it will be the hard sell at this export warehouse, ie their uncles shop etc

Similarly the seemingly nicest friendliest taxi driver will tell blatent lies to get you to go to places they want you to - ie the sex shows have been re-regulated so now they close at x o clock so he'll reccomend you go to this place instead etc or the temple you are walking towards won't let you in because of your footwear but you can get in to this other place instead.

These friendly street guides will call you over, ask what you are looking for and give you blatant lies. They work in tamden in taxi / tuc tuc drivers and presumably the stuff they scrawl on the map identifies them and they get some sort of commission or it's their family business.

Thailand is my favourite holiday destination ever in the world but I'm not keen on Bangkok for this reason as you just can't trust people, I've never visited a city where so many people are out to rip you off and have no qualms about doing so. We were lucky in that we had friends who lived there for years so were aware of all the scams but even so when we were out on our own (ie the Grand Palace story above) it's incredibly easy to get sucked in as they seem so genuine and nice.

It's got far worse in recent years and when we were there earlier this year it was simply ridiculous, non-stop lie after lie and it would be so easy to fall for it all.

It's got to the point where it's really tainted the place for me and whilst we'll certainly go back to Thailand next year it probably won't include Bangkok or if it does it will be a quick couple of days

In summary just assume everyone out is out to rip you off and you won't go too far wrong - bit harsh maybe and of course not everyone is like that but as usual it's the bad apples that spoil it for everyone. Have we had taken people at face value we'd not have seen many of the things we wanted to as a result of lies and it's got much much worse now. If you need to ask directions or helpfuil people offer you assistance be very cautious and ask yourself what their alterior motive could be.

I don't want to put you off cos it's an amazing place but I don't want you to get ripped off or miss out on some of the sights either so just be careful

alison74

I agree with djm71.

Just don't be fooled by the smiling Thais.

A polite but firm, 'No thank you' as you walk off will give them the message.

I have PM'd you about your other questions

jasonrat

In summary just assume everyone out is out to rip you off and you won't go too far wrong - bit harsh maybe and of course not everyone is like that but as usual it's the bad apples that spoil it for everyone

i think thats totally unfair. you only have to have your wits about you and not fall into scams. just like everywhere else

Just don't be fooled by the smiling Thais.

again another general assumption which isnt fair

If you need to ask directions or helpfuil people offer you assistance be very cautious and ask yourself what their alterior motive could be

I'm surprised you even go back