Bangkok
 

Does anyone have any good local eating, sightseeing or local culture recommendations in Bangkok?

Have a suit made

Visit a temple

Check out the flower market

Street food or any hole in the wall Thai restaurant are perfect (a particular favorite dish of mine is Tom Yam Kung or Tom Yam Moo). If you want to ruin KFC for yourself (forever) try Thai Fried Chicken off a food cart. The mushroom and pork sausage is to die for, especially with some green chilis. If I go on talking about Thai food this will be 10000 words long so I'll stop myself here. Curries and Pad Thai are a very small part or what Thais really eat.

As for local culture go to Pattaya and hope you have the willpower to leave at some point.

Haaaha..

Why you want to leave (assuming your not broke)?

To go make more money and repeat the cycle.

I've never been to Pattaya, but I've heard there is one bar and one club with a few pretty girls in each one. And once in a while you might see a pretty girl walking on the street....and maybe a couple who look like girls, but...

There is a reason there is a song about one night in Bangkok.
Nana Plaza. The bars are temples but the booze ain't free:-)

Another chance for me to say:

Shut up Cliff, since you don't know what you are talking about.

Agreed,

Cliff, you're clueless.

I normally use a little anecdote to demonstrate Pattaya's reputation to the unaware... If you google "world's 10 most sinful cities" you'll find that 2-10 vary from person to person, but number 1 is always the same.

I'll take your Nana Plaza and raise you Pattayasaineung Soihok, literally the greatest street in the world.

Sarcasm....sometimes it doesn't work...

If it was intended as sarcasm my apologies, but reading sarcasm can be quite hard (since tone matters).

This is like asking what to do/where to eat in NYC.

Bangkok is massive.

Tripadvisor is a good starting point ("Bangkok activities" or "tours")

Also Google "Bangkok scams" to know what to avoid.

Street food is the best and safe.

Family owned restaurants if you want a sit down place. Go where the locals go, not where the hotel concierge recommends.


Have fun - it is the best city in the world!

For the best (legit) massage in Bangkok, go to Baan Phuan, on Soi 11 Sukhumvit, right across the street from the President Palace Hotel. I've spent many months traveling all over Thailand, and have probably gotten 500 massages...Baan Phuan was/is the best. Was just there 6 months ago.

And for the other type of massages...it's Sukhumvit after all, so if you can't find what you need, you probably couldn't find the localizer at Suvarnabhumi anyways ;)

Ahem, second best city in the world.

Don't eat nothing you can't fry.

Actually I've only ever eaten street food all across Thailand, from Bangkok to Ko Lanta to Chiang Khong to Phayao to Ayuthaya, and I've never once gotten sick. Plenty of wonderful fresh fruit, and yes, plenty of papaya salads. After the first trip to Thailand I ignored the 'don't eat anything that hasn't been cooked thoroughly' rule, and have never had a problem. I have never spent a day in Thailand when I didn't have at least one helping of street food mango-n-sticky-rice. Utter heaven.

India on the other hand...my God. Eating street food there is courting death :eek: Ate street food twice in India, and got violently ill both times. The concept of food hygiene is utterly lost on those folks... (and I'm half-Indian, so I can say that with some authority...)

Just ignore that guy and eat anything you want...

I have a friend exactly like this. When he's in Pattaya he will only eat food from McDonalds (dial 1711 for delivery McDonalds - 24/7), while I eat off the carts. He complains about food poisoning every few days and always complains about "Buddha's Revenge", on the other hand I never have any issues.

I'll be there at the end of the week :)

All the previous comments still apply. Nana Plaza is still the place to be :)

If you are into young hookers and/or lady-boys, then you are correct.

The last time I was there, my husband and I were both propositioned by young hookers, old hookers, ugly hookers, lady-boys, boy-ladies and every other permutation out there. These folks were equal opportunity in every way known to man.

:D

Seriously. Makes one wonder if your Schnauzer has better values.