Beginners guide to Thailand

[allross]

I am planning my first trip to Thailand in a couple of months. There is a lot of information out there, but I am looking for a complete beginners guide for an idiot novice- can anybody recommend one? Or would some more experienced members be happy to answer a few stupid questions from me?

Appreciate any help!

[Your Chef]

Plenty of information in the Thailand threads. May I suggest you look at my early posts?

[Gas Man 40s]

June - October = rainy season, I’d avoid

[METEOR]

June - October = rainy season, I’d avoid

I've been in August/ September a couple of times and on koh samui the weather was fine. But not the liviest of places for girls.

[Stickitin]

Truth is you could travel there any time, the weather is never a deal breaker, although Nov-Feb would be the least hot and more pleasant months.

[allross]

Thanks all for the replies and I will certainly do some more reading up. I guess I have 3 stupid questions that I was hoping to get some advice on.

Firstly when people talk about bar girls is this just go go bars or does this include the girls you see playing pool etc. in beer bars?

How do you tell which massage places offer more than massage- looks like lots of places all over the place- is it the same as here?

Finally I have been offered a somebody to show me around by a lady I see regularly. If I go for this how much should I pay daily for a guide or potentially a guide/personal companion?

Any thoughts gratefully recieved.

[METEOR]

The girls playing pool will almost certainly be girls you can take out of the bar. Don't get caught up buying a girl loads of drinks as they're usually £4-5 a go so soon adds up. And if you don't fancy a girl just politely say no as you'll get swamned as soon as you enter a bar.

The massage places which will offer extras will have girls sat outside who will grab you as you walk past and basically say that they'll give you a happy ending so pretty obvious. The places that don't I find look a bit more professional and usually have older women in them and they don't approach you when outside. But I think I read on the main thread that those places are giving happy endings due to wanting the money. But yeah it will be obvious and try to experience a soapy massage.

Can't comment on how much to pay a guide as never has one. Guessing it would be a female?

[Steely Dan]

External Link/Members Only

Finally I have been offered a somebody to show me around by a lady I see regularly. If I go for this how much should I pay daily for a guide or potentially a guide/personal companion?

Guide? No need.  It is not that hard - you will be an expert in no time.  And clearly you don't want a companion - will just get in the way.

[jonn]

Talk about overcomplicating things - choose a place to stay, Patong is good for a first trip. Book a hotel close to walking street for 3 nights, go to the nearest bar with girls in, choose a girl sort a deal with her and repeat. No need for any help or guidance. You'll be an expert in 48 hours.

[dpicardsalvage]

OP I think you are overthinking this a bit...

Thailand is the easiest place I have ever punted (never punted in Asia before then or since mainly in Europe) but there isn't a lot to it.

The main piece of advice would be you have loads of choice and no doubt probably even more now so you can afford to be picky.

[stealthygit]

I am planning my first trip to Thailand in a couple of months. There is a lot of information out there, but I am looking for a complete beginners guide for an idiot novice- can anybody recommend one? Or would some more experienced members be happy to answer a few stupid questions from me?

Appreciate any help!

a good idea would be to join a thai forum, i'm presuming you are visiting Pattaya and possibly Bangkok, best forum for questions re punting + many other things, is Pattaya addicts,

ive been to Pattaya numerous times, in fact i was going to be there any day now but i cancelled due to the over complicated entry requirements.


re on e or two of your questions, essentially all the gals you see in bars and gogos are available, you pay a bar fine which can range from about 200 to 500 baht in the bars, (numerous of the bars also have short time rooms on the premises) to as much as 1500 in the gogos that tend to have the 'classier' gals, what you pay the woman herself is variable again, 1000 to 1500 for a short time, or 2000 and above for overnight, however many gals will try to get more out of you and the top class gogo gals will ask for often silly sums of baht,

 There are also growing numbers of 'gentlemans clubs' in Pattaya, which are closed dooe bars in essense but with a more relaxed lounge like atmosphere, again with short time rooms on site, but take aways on offere so to speak.

In Pattaya almost all massage parlour ladies offer extra services but as an earlier poster said those parlours where the ladies wear a 'uniform' in  my experience only happy ends and occasionally blow jobs were available, however full on service is available at many other places such as the parlours on Soi Chayiapoon annd Soi honey bother situated in the central Pattaya area of Soi Buokao which is a major 'entertainment' area now.

there are also the nearby 'suburbs' of Pattaya called Jomtien and Nakula that have bars and massage places,

as you can sense there is a lot to learn but its a dream place for the punter basically everything from a quick BJ in a somewhat sleezy little massage parlour to a gogo goddess who men would kill to fuck them !!

so just to reiterate join Pattaya addicts, your questions will be answered, tons of pics and trip reviews, loads on food, golf (i play golf there and its fantastic to) + allsorts of other info

i envy you your first time !!
Cheers

[Steve2]

There are also several bars that offer bar crawls to several "Gentlemen's clubs"

Check out External Link/Members Only.

Several useful videos there

[allross]

Many thanks everybody- much appreciated. The plan is to head to Bangkok and down to Pattaya after a few days.

I would like to visit some islands while I was there- Ko Lan maybe- and hence I thought the guide might be a good idea for a few of the days I was there. Just no idea what teh going rate is.

I will read up as suggested- again many thanks and perhaps I will stop over thinking things and relax a little bit!

[Gas Man 40s]

 Bangkok - ‘Art Box’ between Nana and Soi Cowboy

Decent drinking area, with food stalls and live music
Have some Mossy spray on though

Gullivers other side of road to Nana Plaza - not what it once was but decent place to avoid the girl hassle and watch sport - massive screen, basic but decent food, a few pool tables

Also food wise, if u walk from Nana towards Soi Cowboy, there’s a McDonalds, below it is a supermarket, if you go in the supermarket it has a food court - fantastic value for money and very nice local cuisine .
Basically go to the cash counter, give them some baht, they load this onto a card, use the card at the different stalls, end of trip, cash in your card, similar thing in a lot of supermarkets

There a massive one in Pattaya, shouldn’t be too hard to find, name escapes me

Bangkok > Pattaya

I’d get a private taxi, order one from Pattaya, easier for them to find you in Bangkok

In Pattaya , use the Baht Buses

1 route is along the coast to Walking Street

Used to be 10 Baht, maybe 20 Baht a trip now?

You can get off where you like just ring the buzzer

[exhippy]

Hi I have just spent 10 weeks in Thailand . My first time punting here. I have been counting so I have seen 23 women - a mix of freelancers, most from ThaiFriendly which is a must and massage places some of which are great. I have made a lot of comments on the main thread for Thailand. Bangkok is best for full service massage parlours. It depends on what you want - if you want noisy, girly sports bar you are fine in Pattaya, around Nana in BKK etc. i personally hate them. I am in Pattaya at the moment which is not Thailand, it is some weird places inhabited by beer bellied Russians and English. But the girls are very cheap. I was offered 700 on Beach Road last night! (£16). But the nicer women are on ThaiFriendly. Overall my experience is if you treat the women well as people not meat, you will have a great time.
Ko Lan isn’t particularly nice but the beaches are better than the horrid ones in Pattaya. But if you want to go to a lovely island , go to Ko Samet from Pattaya. You can take a taxi for £25. Stay a few nights, the beaches are heaven and it is relative empty at moment. If you want a punting island , then go to Phuket. If you want a deserted one then Koh Phayam half way between Bangkok and Phuket is just that

[HERTSBLUE]

June - October = rainy season, I’d avoid

Only rains for an hour usually then it's fine I golf out there in June.

[Gas Man 40s]

Only highlighted rainy season due to mosquitoes

Yes, mosquitoes are present in Thailand all year long. However, their numbers increase during and right after the rainy season (June until October) because of the remaining puddles of water, in which females lay their eggs

Some people don’t like getting bitten

[Diamond Dave 2]

Many thanks everybody- much appreciated. The plan is to head to Bangkok and down to Pattaya after a few days.

I would like to visit some islands while I was there- Ko Lan maybe- and hence I thought the guide might be a good idea for a few of the days I was there. Just no idea what teh going rate is.

I will read up as suggested- again many thanks and perhaps I will stop over thinking things and relax a little bit!

If you are visiting Bangkok first I suggest you visit a few BJ bars. £20 for a beer and a top quality blowjob.
Thailand Redcat (Google him) has some really informative guides.  Follow those and you won't go wrong.

[billybob69]

Many thanks everybody- much appreciated. The plan is to head to Bangkok and down to Pattaya after a few days.

I would like to visit some islands while I was there- Ko Lan maybe- and hence I thought the guide might be a good idea for a few of the days I was there. Just no idea what teh going rate is.

I will read up as suggested- again many thanks and perhaps I will stop over thinking things and relax a little bit!

As in a tourist type guide? It really depends on what you want to get out of it. If you want a guide with real historic knowledge it is probably going to cost you professional rates.
Alternatively you bar fine a girl for several days therefore on "long-long terms rates". You get to bang her a couple of times a day and she tells you where the boat leaves, how to get a taxi, what is good to eat etc. But don't expect a lot more. I would say that you could get that for 4000 baht a day (her expenses extra).
You might want to have a look on Thai Friendly. Essentially freelancer hookers who might be up for something over several days.