Bangkok One Last Time

Ah, Bangkok - just one last time (it's the only way to get home!) Oh how Ive missed it with it's nightmare traffic, grubby river and quaint temples right in the middle of busy intersections.





However it's also a great place to pick up some tailored suits and shirts at bargain prices. The real trick is trying to separate the good tailors from the bad tailors, because frankly, there are thousands of them - in fact around Suhkimvit 11 (Nana) there's practically nothing else.

Don't, don't, don't go with any taxi driver or tuk tuk driver - it's all about the kick backs the driver gets rather than providing you with a quality tailor. If you want to be ultra safe then use a tailor with a shop in the foyer of one of the major hotels, you will pay more however you will have some come back with the hotel as well as the tailor.

Also bear in mind that whatever the "headline" offer is i.e. $199 for three suits, three ties etc etc this will be for their lowest quality offering. To get real value for money you would be well advised to look at their highest quality fabrics then negotiate the best deal you can.

So in the three days before I fly home I'm getting some cashmere suits and some 120 cotton shirts tailored.

I chose Narrys in the end; they don't have touts working for them, they have substantial colour ads in the press, and they visit the UK twice a year. All signs of a good bet.

OK that's it from me. Just two fittings then it's off to the airport, but I'll be back with some final thoughts in a couple of days.

Mr C

Bye Bye Bangkok

So this will be my last entry from Bangkok, for a while at least. I'm heading off to Thailands second city, Chiang Mai in the far north of the country. Chiang Mai serves as a launching point for treks into the jungle, rafting, lion taming (only joking) and other such rugged outdoor manly persuits.

I decided to use one of the thousand+ agents in Bangkok to handle the booking of travel and acomodation for me. There is a national travel agency like ABTA called TAT (Thailand Authority for Travel?) and as long as agenst have a licence from them you should be ok.

They in turn booked me on a flight offered by the local version of Easyjet, a canary yellow airline called One Two Go! The fee for a one way flight, the princely sum of 29 GBP, not forgetting the airport tax from this LPG, green fuel friendly country just 1.25GBP. I could have travelled for less than half that on the overnight train however that would take over 12 hours while the flight is 90 minutes.

So what are my thoughts on Bangkok? It's a suprisingly clean city, with every street based businessman rising at 6.30am to scrub the whole pavement outside his or her business - try getting London shop keepers to do that!

It's also a city that perhaps tries a little too hard, its hectic 24 hour party and shoping culture and continued touting of everything under the sun from Tuk Tuks and Taxis to ping pong shows and "boom-boom" can quickly wear you down.

However with hindsight it would be an excelent base form which to set out on a number of excursions - to the floating market, to the bridge on the river Kwai, to the summer palace etc and then return to Chinatown for dinner at an upmarket restaurant. Perhaps I'll try this approach on my homeward leg.

So here are some final images of the big city: (I will add more later but this connection is soooo sloooow)

the strange white elephant, revolving clock roundabout??

The bankrupt Shell franchise, hastily converted into a night cafe
The independence monument
The poverty, even on the Kho San, amidst the fast paced trading

Next: Jungle Trekking in Chiang Mai

In the Beginning..

So here we go, less than 24 hours until I take off and at 1 am in the morning I'm still not quite ready. Bear with me, if this plan works out the posts that follow will I hope be both informative and entertaining!

On the advice of friends who have "done Thailand" I'm traveling light, 3 of each of the essentials, underwear, socks, credit cards. I'm cheered by the thought that all being well I can breeze through Heathrow with just hand luggage and hopefully avoid the otherwise chronic stress that all major European airports seem to inflict upon their customers.

Travel Supermarket came up trumps with a 1 month return flight for just £330 - unfortunately our wonderful government slap another £149 in tax on top very nearly 50%

I have opted to take the train into Heathrow, not the easiest journey thanks to our inadequate grasp of public transport in this wonderful country, into Marylebone and then back out on the tube which will take the best part of 2 hours to cover the 40 odd miles. However it has the advantage of avoiding car parking fees and the flexibility to extend my trip without working about the licensed bandits at NCP fleecing me for every penny I have!

Anyway enough wingeing from me. There is a subscribe button somewhere below from "Atom" which will bookmark this in your browser and make it easy to check in with my progress from time to time. If anyone uses particular services Digg It etc let me know and I'll add the buttons.

Ok its late and I need to book my first couple of nights hotel accommodation at www.thailand hotels.com and get some sleep. Watch this space!

Mr C