Bangkok Reports

[QUOTE=Evianist]A few things I've learned from my thai gf:

-While Isaan girls generally enter the bar industry by their own volition, in northern thailand families will sell their daughters to brokers who then supply them to bars. This is quite common.

-The big thing for older thai men is "sideline" girls. This means under 20 years old, and often quite young. Thai men don't like them over 20. She said she had a friend in chiang mai who was 13 and working sideline. The girl kept a log and had been with about 300 men that year. My gf said she asked the girl why she kept a log, and apparently all the sideline girls did it because they were having a contest, purely for sport, to see who could bed the most men. Price for sideline girls is only about 500 baht.[/QUOTE]

Fuckin disgustin

it has been awhile since this topic was updated, so i thought i'd post a trip report. hopefully it will be of some use to future visitors arriving at bkk for the first time.

as your flight nears bangkok the airline will provide you with an immigration form to fill out. take your time and complete it neatly and correctly. (don't forget the back side.) government bureaucrats the world over hate sloppy paperwork.

when you get off the plane your first stop will be immigration. follow the signs, taking the moving walkways as needed. hint: try to get off the plane first, and walk fast. if you get to immigration early the lines will be much shorter.

when you approach the immigration checkpoint there is a confusing sign that says "visa on arrival 140 meters" with an arrow pointing in a direction that is away from the immigration checkpoint. at the bottom of this sign it says in small letters "aot." this is a company that offers high-priced car service, along with "special handling" through immigration. don't fall for this scam. follow the overhead signs to the official immigration checkpoint.

discussion of thailand immigration law is beyond the scope of this report. so do your research and make sure you know what will be required for entry. i am a united states citizen, so i qualified for a 30-day "visa on arrival." officially the thai authorities reserve the right to require proof of financial solvency and evidence that you've booked "onward travel." my inspector didn't ask about those things. in fact, he didn't say a word. he stamped my passport with a visa indicating i could stay for 30 days, and he stapled to one of the pages a form i'll hand in when i leave.

after you pass through the immigration checkpoint you'll be in the main baggage claim area. rep001tered among the carousels there are booths to change money. they all offer the same rate. you can get a better rate in town, so don't change too much. make sure to get some hundred baht notes so you can pay the taxi fare.

finding the correct baggage carousel can be tricky. there are monitors showing all the incoming flights, but instead of listing the flights by city of origin they are listed by arrival time. even more confusing, if the flight originated in, say, chicago and connected in tokyo the origin may be listed as chicago instead of tokyo. also, many airline flights these days are "code share," so a single flight may have three different airlines and flight numbers associated with it and the monitor displays all three in rotation. i had to stand there for a good five minutes, forcing my jet-lagged brain to figure it out.

while you wait for your luggage, read the signs explaining the customs rules. most travelers will qualify for the "nothing to declare" line. near the baggage carousels there are free carts. very nice. load up your stuff and make your way to the exit, which is located on the opposite side of the hall from where the immigration inspectors are located. if you have nothing to declare, look for the green signs. the authorities reserve the right to inspect your luggage for contraband, either by hand or via an x-ray machine. i was waived through. i've read elsewhere this is common for western travelers.

once you clear customs follow the signs for "public taxi." you'll pass numerous people who work for car services who will try to sell you an expensive ride into town. unless you're made of money they are generally a bad deal. if you arranged with one of the independent taxi services (mr. t or mr. toom, for example) for a ride to points distant (like pattaya) look for your driver in this crowd.

if you're just going into bangkok via public taxi, you'll have to descend to the lower level. they have these nifty moving ramps that are a cross between an escalator and a moving sidewalk. very handy if you have a heavy baggage cart. at the bottom of the ramps you'll see door number four.

exit through door four and you'll see the taxi dispatcher. you'll also see a sign explaining there is a 50 baht surcharge for airport pickups. once you tell the dispatcher where you are going she'll fill out a form. one part goes to the driver and you keep the other half. all the major hotels are well known, but if you're headed someplace off the beaten path now is the time to ensure that the driver knows where's he's going. my hotel e-mailed me a map with the streets labeled in thai, but the dispatcher and the driver said that was unnecessary.

most of the taxis are toyota corollas with the "limo" package. as far as i can tell, this adds room to the back seat at the cost of a smaller trunk. if you're traveling alone there will be plenty of room for you and your things. (i most definitely do not pack light, and i was fine.) but if you're in a group or you have tons of baggage you should probably tell the dispatcher so she can rustle up a large vehicle.

once you get started the cab driver will ask: "highway?" tell him yes. he'll use the toll road, which is much faster. there are two tolls between the airport and downtown and you have to pay both. at the first toll plaza give the driver a hundred baht note. he'll pay that toll and hold on to the change. at the second toll plaza he'll pay that toll and give you some coins back. if i recall correctly, the tolls were 80 baht in all. so the added cost to save time is well worth it.

i was staying at the grand millennium, which is located near the intersection of sukhumvit and asok. the fare on the meter was 315 baht. with the surcharge it was 365 baht. tipping is not expected, but i gave the driver 400 baht.

so all in the taxi from the airport to downtown bangkok cost 480 baht. at the current exchange rate that's about usd $16. that's definitely a bargain compared to the car services, which charge thousands and thousands of baht. and i'm proof that a first time visitor who doesn't speak a word of thai was easily hire a public taxi.

hope this was helpful.

bunky

[QUOTE=Bunky]

If you're just going into Bangkok via public taxi, you'll have to descend to the lower level. They have these nifty moving ramps that are a cross between an escalator and a moving sidewalk. Very handy if you have a heavy baggage cart. At the bottom of the ramps you'll see door number four.


Bunky[/QUOTE]


Here's a tip - don't bother with the public taxis. Go to the upper level (the departures area) and go outside the airport. Cross the street and get into a taxi that has just dropped a passenger off. You'll waive the 50 baht surcharge.

[QUOTE=Bunky]It has been awhile since this topic was updated, so I thought I'd post a trip report. Hopefully it will be of some use to future visitors arriving at BKK for the first time.

Hope this was helpful.

Bunky[/QUOTE]


Bunky, you have done a great job and I sure wish I were smart enough to cite your report in the Reports of Distinction. It would also be a good reference under the Airport info. ~TTG

[QUOTE=Mangofan]Here's a tip - don't bother with the public taxis. Go to the upper level (the departures area) and go outside the airport. Cross the street and get into a taxi that has just dropped a passenger off. You'll waive the 50 baht surcharge.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I do that too but not that I'm a cheap fuck... I usually want to avoid the swarm of tourists and queuing for a Taxi.

Also, be firm, many of the taxis that just dropped off a passenger will try and get you to agree on a fixed fee. Just say "Meter" and if they are not interested, move on to the next taxi.

Airport taxi:

The tolls are 45 and 25, so a total of 70 baht, not 80.

315 on the meter from the airport to Asok/Nana is also a bit much. Should be more like 275, unless you're sitting in traffic.

You don't need to tip. Thai people never tip taxis.

The driver will always claim he doesn't have any change, so make sure you have smaller bills.

Another trick:

If you get into your taxi and he makes some comment about not using the meter and it being a fixed rate of 400 or 500 or 5000 or whatever, get out of the taxi and go back to the dispatcher and ask for a different driver. Your driver will be forced to go to the end of the queue, which potentially means an hour or more of waiting for a customer. Your new driver won't try to pull the same thing.

I always have 3 suitcases , its late and I am about to spend $2000-$3000 in the next couple weeks having fun,
I have just been on planes for 18 hours
I just say meter or do you want 400 baht , normally they go for the 400, which is the same they would get with meter, tolls and 50 baht airport fee and a small (less than $2) tip to round it up.
These guys make nothing for long days , if they get a fare to Soi 4 or Sukhumvit they have a chance for another fare, They are probably not going to head back to the airport and get in line again since all the flights have landed for the night.

Yeah screw the ones that want 1000 Baht , but its never happened to me yet

BK

[QUOTE=Goatboy55]For all visitors to 5 star, do they have LB in there? I was a bit drunk and was looking at a girl (number 1) but my LBdar was going crazy (probably due to the drinking) and I declined.

Was this a prudent move?[/QUOTE]
Never used to be, but yes, now there are 1 or 2 LBs.
A great bar for classic rock'n roll. Not a great bar for pick up.
Good luck.

[QUOTE=BKK Dreaming]I always have 3 suitcases , its late and I am about to spend $2000-$3000 in the next couple weeks having fun.[/QUOTE]This is my thought process as well. There's a limit to how much effort I'm going to make to save 0.01 percent of my total holiday budget. Moreover, when I'm posting something aimed at total novices, I generally leave out the super-inside-baseball tips. The Old Asia Hands always provide those in the followups.

Bunky

[QUOTE=Bkk Rookie]What does all this mean? Well, I'm not going to ban myself from a bar just because it has ladyboys. If I did that I'd have no place to go. But, I'm not taking anyone from the tall-team at Mandarins ...[/QUOTE]From my experience as long as you are friendly the girls/LB will usually tell you the truth. Sometimes a drink or two really helps as well with getting the truth out. I admit I have said the line "I won't be mad if you are a LB, just tell me the truth" and smile at them. This strategy has not failed me yet and if I don't believe what I hear, there are always more girls out there that I can find. No problem.

Cheers

[QUOTE=Evianist]Airport taxi:

The tolls are 45 and 25, so a total of 70 baht, not 80.

315 on the meter from the airport to Asok/Nana is also a bit much. Should be more like 275, unless you're sitting in traffic.

You don't need to tip. Thai people never tip taxis.

[/QUOTE]
Just because Thai people don't tip it doesn't mean it is right for tourists not to tip ---------- Bangkok cab drivers struggle to get a living, a 50 baht tip is nothing to most farangs, being a tight-arse is not clever.

[QUOTE=Jimmy Red Cab]Just because Thai people don't tip it doesn't mean it is right for tourists not to tip ---------- Bangkok cab drivers struggle to get a living, a 50 baht tip is nothing to most farangs, being a tight-arse is not clever.[/QUOTE]
I usually tip 100 to/from the airport.

When I'm taking a taxi in town I'll round up around 10 or 15 baht. The taxi drivers are always very happy and the vanilla Thai women are always impressed by the act of kindness since, as mentioned, Thais don't tip. BGs typically expect that you are an ATM anyway so are not impressed.

[quote]Just because Thai people don't tip it doesn't mean it is right for tourists not to tip ---------- Bangkok cab drivers struggle to get a living, a 50 baht tip is nothing to most farangs, being a tight-arse is not clever.[/quote]

Ok for you, but I'm not a tourist; I live here. And tipping doesn't make you a champion poverty fighter. If you want to be generous try a legit charity rather than giving your excess to some shady tourist vulture taxi driver.


[quote]The taxi drivers are always very happy and the vanilla Thai women are always impressed by the act of kindness since, as mentioned, Thais don't tip. BGs typically expect that you are an ATM anyway so are not impressed.[/quote]

Normal thai girls find it slightly embarrassing if you tip often since it means you're a clueless tourist and therefore she's probably a bargirl. Actual bargirls of course don't mind if you throw your money around.

I'll tip a taxi driver if he's particularly helpful and honest, but that only happens once in a while.

[QUOTE=Evianist]Ok for you, but I'm not a tourist; I live here. And tipping doesn't make you a champion poverty fighter. If you want to be generous try a legit charity rather than giving your excess to some shady tourist vulture taxi driver.

Normal thai girls find it slightly embarrassing if you tip often since it means you're a clueless tourist and therefore she's probably a bargirl. Actual bargirls of course don't mind if you throw your money around.

I'll tip a taxi driver if he's particularly helpful and honest, but that only happens once in a while.[/QUOTE]


I am not a tourist too and I use taxi almost everyday and I use taxi for the airport at least 40 times a year and I tip; in most of the cases.

Parenthesis: And before another smart comment about poverty fighting let me say that I donate at least 3% of my annual income (before taxes) to charities and if you think 3% is small let all of you "charity lovers" know that if every non-poor person in this planet would donate 1,2% of his annual income then we can easily stop poverty.
End of parenthesis.

You don't tip because you want to end up poverty; you tip because you are happy with a service and because you know also that your tip will be appreciated. Full stop.

As I say, I use taxi from and to the airport at least 40 times per year. And when I take a taxi from the airport I always take a public one from the taxi stand. With one exception (over the last 20 months) I get a fine service, nobody tried to cheat me and the taxi driver was polite, helped me with my luggages and made sure that we were taking the best available direction to my destination.

This attitude of giving advice to visitors to "not tip" is quite pathetic. If someone doesn't want to tip fine but if another one wants to tip then do not try to proselytize him with your personal (and probably unacceptable for many others) pathetic behaviors. If a non-tipper want to make a campaign of non-tipping then better to start an NGO and explain why we should not tip in Thailand but please spare all these big words about charities and philanthropy and the "vulture taxi drivers". Especially the ones in the taxi stand in the airport are pretty fine guys. Is this a reference to the taxi drivers waiting outside Soi Cowboy? Some of them might be characterized like that but again, they respond to a demand you know, and if someone is happy to pay the amount they ask then it is fine OK.

And don't please use the ridiculous excuse that the customers that they accept high prices are spoiling the market. No they do not they just respond to an offer that it is there for them and NOT for the others that they will go by the meter. The market will change when and if the price per Km. get higher.

Another point, the final one, that Thais do not tip. No they tip and I've been many times with Thais in taxis and restaurants and bars and hair salons and they tip. The minimum, 20 baht yes, because probably this is what they can afford, but THEY TIP. And Thai girls (as ALL women on this world) are quite happy when you tip because they understand that you are a nice guy and they probably want to be with a nice guy. The "bitter" and unsatisfied ones probably do not like seeing their guys tipping.

In a nutshell: it is everyones right to tip or not. When the ones that they do not tip accuse the ones that tip for me that only means that the non-tippers are probably feeling bad because they don't tip and they want to make everybody like them.