Thailand and...?

[Rod Hagen]

Hate to be a contrarian dick, but currently in Thailand and just don't get what the big deal is.

 

75% humidity before 930a, friend's asthma got so bad from the street traffic, thought he was going to die. thai food, which I love, no better than B/C restaurants in LA Thai town. certainly not a bar person, not a shopping person, already had my fill of temples.

 

HKT (rocked, glorious beach destination, but also too hot), BKK NOT my cup of babbo, up to chiang rai next but wishing the trip, which i don't hate but is a let down, was two night's shorter.

 

i will admit that this trip we're going pretty upscale, so not necessarily in touch w/the backpaker/fudgepacker crowd, but there are destinations where lowscale/midscale neither increases nor decreases your experience (one really doesn't need 4-seasons in Prague or London or NYC because it's the sites you're there for) but I can't imagine 1,2,3 star would have enhanced our experience in this city. In honduras jungle for several months I slept in a non-air conditioned room on a cot and loved it. here, that sounds REALLY unappealing.

 

love to travel and have done so midscale upscale, downscale, west, east, south, north, but "everyone" loves Thailand. (I also don't get San Diego, Chicago, or Rome) what am I missing?

 

-RH

[kjun]

Rod, I'm not sure you are missing anything. Some like it and some don't. Just like any place else. Some only go there for the cheap sex. The boys available are many, varied and much less costly than most places. However, after a couple of days I need other things to be entertained.

 

It is very hot most of the year and if that is a big downer for you then you are in the wrong place. I don't like Vienna because every time I have been there it was overcast and dreary. Most people I know love it. You just missed the cooler season (Late November through January). Being there at that time may have made it more palatable to you. It helps a lot to enjoy Asian culture. Especially, Thai Culture. They are different from Westerners. The temples bore me very quickly but there are many other adventures to be had. The markets are very much fun. Super national parks and waterfalls. Bangkok is the same size as, but it is not New York City. Each can be fun in its own way.

 

It also helps to get into the countryside and amongst the people to enhance a great adventure. Meeting people is easy here and I like the Thai people.

 

Finally, Thailand is also very affordable.

 

the Cajun

[Rod Hagen]

Meeting people is always enjoyable and helpful, that's true. and nobody loves waterfalls, wildlife, and nature more than I do--especially if I can climb it, bike it, ski it--but the mere thought of trying to chat locals up over a beer tonight on a furnaced terrace in silom soi 4 (which to be honest struck me as kind of a parody of a gay neighborhood in Asia) or trekking tomorrow morning through a national park in this heat, far from the true hot season mind you (April apparently being Danteesque), makes my nose peel and my neck sweat.

 

I realize that unbeknownst to me I personally may be insufficiently endeared to Asian and/or Thai culture to make the effort (Thai people seem especially smiley, kind, and helpful, and the food is fantastic, but I already knew that), yet I can't imagine that I'd be any cheerier if Turkey, a country and culture I know I love, were always at least this hot.

 

Liked the Flower Market and its beautiful and/or delicious wares, but just can't help comparing it to say the spice market in Istanbul. And if I do, the FM pales.

 

Oh well, different strokes. I'll most certainly never love, or even like, Palm Springs, the most beloved gay enclave since Key West.

[Rod Hagen]

p.s. Vienna is OK, but SALZBURG is the Austrian city to see. And it won't dampen your experience if the weather is dampened.

[swallows22]

Rod, know you have been here before, but SYD is just fine although we are having a bit of rain. Mardi Gras is starting this week.

Happy to shout you a few drinks/dinner, particularly since i missed you the last trip to LA. Cheers! R.

[fedssocr1]

The heat and humidity can be oppressive there, especially in BKK. And the pollution in BKK (particularly when it is hot and humid) really is debilitating. I was lucky during my stranding in Bangkok during the airport mess that the weather was absolutely perfect and the humidity relatively low. Maybe take a ride on the river and it will be a bit cooler.

 

You may want to head up to Laos instead. When I was in Luang Prabang in November it was quite cool at night and warm during the day. But the air was clean. Gorgeous scenery there and plenty of cute guys although they are a bit more restrained than their Thai cousins.

 

I think if you are not interested in temples or sitting on the beach or cheap sex with cute boys then Thailand will probably not be appealing.

 

Personally I just enjoy being there. You can always go hang out in the giant malls to get away from the heat like the locals do. I never really spent any time in Silom Soi 4. I like to hang out on Soi Twilight and watch the scene there while I eat at Dick's or Maxi's.

 

Take a day trip out to Ayutthaya to see the ruins of the old capital. I spent a few days a couple of years ago in Isaan (NE Thailand) seeing the old Khmer sites there. And then it was off to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and all of the sites around there. This year I am headed to Sukhothai for Loy Krathong.

 

I think the thing I like about Thailand is that it is very different than what I am used to. SE Asia is a whole other world than being in the US or Europe.

[+ Lucky]

An enjoyable trip I took was to the River Kwai and nearby Cambodian ruins.

[Rod Hagen]

Back home. Thanks everyone. I thought the neighborhood Dick's etc. is in is called "Silom Soi 4"???

 

BKK grew on us. Not one of our favorite cities (Istanbul, Sydney, NYC, etc.) but it absolutely grew on us.

 

Chiang Rai/G.Triang. was fantastic.

 

Thanks again everyone.

 

RH

[fedssocr1]

Nope Dick's is on what is usually called Soi Twilight. Silom Soi 4 is a little alley off of Th. Silom. Soi Twilight is off of Th. Suriwong where most of the boy bars are located.

[Rod Hagen]

I saw "Dicks" so we must have been on the "right" street.