RIO HANDS TAKE A STAB AT LOS

After having taken a number of great trips to Rio, my buddy Naps and I decided to try the other great mongering destination: Thailand. Since Naps has a HUGE thing for asian women, he was an easy sell. It was this allure for hot asian women and exotic locale that also convinced two other friends to go. These friends (Pokerface and Mrjoe) have extensive experience throughout Brazil and wanted to try out something different.

With two or three months to plan, we all decided to meet in BKK around the end of January and try to stay for about 2 weeks. I combed through virtually every board I could find in order to do as much advance work as possible. Since none of us had been there before, we had to glean as much info from prior trip reports as possible. These reports are the culmination of all our research and experiences in LOS. Much of it hardly new to the more SEA-experienced mongers, but I am trying to be thorough so that other newbies might benefit from some of our research and trial and error.

1. Travel:

Unless you live in Hawaii, travel to LOS from the US is FAR and long. Naps and I live on the West Coast, so we had the “easiest” route. After long deliberation, we chose the LAX to TPE to BKK route, since it was, overall, the cheapest and shortest. We had a choice between China Airlines and EVA airlines. Economy fares for both were about $750-800 (prices slightly elevated due to proximity to Chinese New Year), and Deluxe Class on EVA was just under $900. We ultimately chose EVA for two reasons. One, we wanted a little extra legroom on the Deluxe class and were willing to spend an extra $100 to get it. The second reason was that the layover in Taipei on EVA was about 1.5 hours shorter. As anxious as we were to get to BKK, that extra time seemed interminable. One extra reason to take the Taipei route is that you can arrive in BKK at around noon instead of at midnite. On our first day, we did not want to have to rush to the hotel, check in, and clean up before starting our pursuit.

Our buddies were far more unfortunate than us. Coming from the east coast and the Midwest, they took the polar route through Tokyo and arrived at the hotel at around 1:30 in the morning. In addition, I think their trips took 4 to 8 hours longer.

2. Accomodations in Bangkok:

In doing my research for hotel accommodations in Bangkok, I focused on a number of factors: (1) location in Sukhumvit near Nana; (2) mid to upper level accommodations that are reasonably priced; and (3) of course, guest-friendly. I passed on Nana Hotel and Dynasty Inn, because I feared that they were TOO close to the action and perhaps the rooms would be pretty worn. I also passed on Majestic Suites after reading that their rates were high considering their small rooms.

As a result, I ended up choosing among the Omni Towers, the Grand President and the President Solitaire. In the end I chose the Omni because it seemed to offer the best value for the money and a better location. Although I never visited the other two hotels, I ended up quite pleased with the Omni. We all got one-bedroom suites for about $50/night, including breakfast and all service charges. Both the bedroom and living room were well-sized, the air conditioners worked well and it had an in-room safe in the walk-in closet. There was no extra charge for paying with a credit card.

There was a little coffee shop in the lobby with two computers with internet access. The actual connect rate was sort of pedestrian since it was a dial-up connection, but at least the throughput was consistent. For those staying for a week, you can get DSL in your room for 1000B for the week. Also in the lobby were beauty salons, laundry and a mini-mart where you can buy toiletries, drinks and snacks.

The walk from the Omni to Nana Plaza was about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on your walking speed. It was another good 5 minutes to the Nana Skytrain station. Overall, I was quite pleased with the Omni and would stay there again.

3. Cell phones:

Prior to arriving in BKK, Naps and I borrowed from our friends their tri-band phones. One of the first things we did upon arriving in BKK was to get SIM cards for the phones so that we would be able to contact each other no matter where we went. We all found that having a cell phone with a local number was a huge convenience.

If you want to bring a phone from the US to use in BKK, the phone must be (1) tri-band GSM and (2) unlocked. If your phone is not unlocked (most phones sold through cell companies are not unlocked) you can get your phone unlocked in Bkk.

Your other option is to just buy a new or second-hand phone in Bkk. Just go to the MBK shopping mall, where there are literally hundreds of phone vendors. If you are not planning to use the phone back in the US (for instance if you don’t use GSM at home), you don’t need to buy a tri-band phone. You can buy a dual band phone that will work just fine in LOS (and in most other countries like Brazil as well).

Once you have an unlocked phone, all you have to do is buy a SIM card. All the phone vendors at MBK sell them. There are three main cell service providers in LOS: DTAC, AIS and Orange. We chose DTAC and were happy with the service. It was easy to set up, since they had English directions. For those looking for a SIM card fast, you can buy one at the Jaymart store located at the Nana BTS station. Although the prices varied at MBK, the average deal was about 400B for the SIM card, which included 200B in credits. With most call averaging about 2.5B per minute, the cost of keeping in touch with buddies was very low. Calls from your cell phone to the US were 9B/minute.

4. Money

ATM’s are available everywhere. No problem accessing money. Including the $3 fee my bank charges, I consistently got an exchange rate of about 38.35. This is only slightly below what the regular money exchange places were charging. The benefit of using an ATM is that you just don’t have to bring as much cash with you to LOS. Credit cards were widely accepted as well, but I recall some Massage Parlors tacking on fees of between 1.5% to 10%.

5. Pharmaceuticals

For the most part, prescription medication is VERY cheap here. The only exception being cialis. Out of curiosity, I asked and was quoted 2700B for a four-pack. Way cheaper in Brazil. Remember, though, you should comparison shop and try to avoid the big name pharmacies (they quoted me something that was almost 10 times what I ended up paying for it at a smaller pharmacy).

6. Links

For those of you tempted to follow in these footsteps, here are some really great links:


http://www.bkktonight.com/
http://www.nanapong.com/index.htm
http://www.bangkokbargirls.info/bangkokbargirls.asp
http://www.freelancerbar.com/
http://www.bahtbus.com/
http://www.pattaya-at-night.com/pattaya.html
http://www.thaiduncan.co.uk/index.html#top
http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/girls.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sanukmaps/
http://voidxxxx.tripod.com/massage/thaimassage.html#SUKHUMVIT
http://www.whorist.com

Esdude,
I look forward to reading your trip report since I'm a veteran of Thailand and I'm about to make my first trip to Brazil/Rio in October before I head over to Thailand/PI. Glad to see/hear you pick EVA and the Deluxe class. I live on the east coast and have made the trip many times. EVA is a great airline to selected and the Deluxe class is nice since you get more room/better seat and own TV monitor. I've upgraded to Business class a number of times and naturally it is quite nice. I'm interested to hear how you compare the Thai women to the Brazilian girls. One thing that I will miss while I'm in Brazil will be the Thai massage. I love those things, especially after a good session in the morning with your tilac/pooying. Look forward to reading more from you. Hope you made it to Pattaya. Some guys love it there while others hate it. I'm in the former group.

augustart

p.s. I'd also add this site to your list for
guys to check out for trip prep to the Land of Smiles (LOS).
http://www.nanaplaza.com

Esdude, it certainly appears you did a very thorough job of prepping for your maiden trip. This will certainly take the sting out of the sensory overload of a new destination. Looking forward to your impressions of LOS from a RIO vet angle.

Esdude,great report,thanks!Cleared up a lot of confusion I had on phones.I have been to LOS many times years ago to race sailboards in the Siam Cup but only 1 trip to reminise since 15 years ago.I was in Rio for a long trip [6weeks] last year.I still have a hard time deciding which is best!Now I realized I`ll just have to do both!

Esdude,

I'm thoroughly looking forward to read your reports. I've been inactive in SE Asia for three plus years except recent quick Pacific Rim tour in January which was for business so not much opportunity for mongering.

Good tip about the route using EVA airlines as it makes things much easy and nice if you can get to BKK during daytime.

I've been in Brazil (mainly in SP) a few times a year for last several years and would be interest in your 'Consumer Report' comparison.

?S$???
Great start to the report - obviously you did a lot of research.

I, too stayed at the Omni on my first trip and still think it's great value for the money and totally agree with you about EVA Deluxe - great for the money and LOVE arriving at noon instead of the middle of the night (plus it's easier to fall asleep on the plane).

Looking forward to the rest of the report.