Bangkok didn't do a thing for us & we won't be returning
 

We've just returned from a 6 week trip to Cambodia and Laos (hope to get a comprehensive trip report together in the next few weeks), and we ended our trip with 4 nights in Bangkok. When I was making plans for our trip, I had asked here about Bangkok and got a lot of very helpful replies, so I thought I'd report back on our thoughts after our visit.

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...e-about-it.cfm

I'm posting this mini trip report because I want to provide the perspective of a non-Bangkok-fan for future travelers who are trying to decide if Bangkok is a fit.

In a nutshell, we didn't like Bangkok. It was the least favorite place we visited on this trip and for us ranks way down on the list of places we've visited throughout the world. As a contrast, in this trip we also visited Phnom Penh and had zero expectations for the city. We liked Phnom Penh a lot more than we thought we would.

We're quite well-traveled, we've visited lots of less-developed countries and cities, we're in our 60s, we fall in the mid-range or moderate traveler category, we aren't shoppers, and we aren't foodies looking for top restaurant experiences. Now we can say we've had a taste of Bangkok, but we've already decided if we ever fly though Bangkok again as a major hub we'll just be in and out only using it for transit purposes.

For both my husband and me, our first impressions weren't very good. We thought maybe as we became more familiar and gave it time, the city would grow on us. It didn't. For us, the city is too spread out, mostly unattractive, not a good city for people who like to walk, too hot and humid, only interesting in certain spots, has too many generic stores, and is difficult to deal with as far as being easily visited. Bangkok wasn't all bad, and I can definitely say that we did see some interesting places, but what we saw was enough for us. We won't be returning to see what we missed out on.

We always find rivers and water-based things interesting, so the saving factor for us was that we stayed at a very small, funky hotel (Ibrik Resort on the River) directly on the river. When I say on the river I really mean it. Our room was at river level, and we had a deck right on the water. This provided us with hours of entertainment as we watched the boat traffic up and down the river. For us this place was a good fit, but it is not for everyone.

Upon our arrival in Bangkok on a Friday afternoon we found out that we were in the city for a long holiday weekend--Makha Bucha which is a major Buddhist holiday commemorating the spontaneous gathering of some 1250 disciples of the Buddha nine months after his enlightenment. The fact that this was a holiday on Monday was a mixed blessing for us. On the one hand, there were lots of people off for the long weekend and some things were closed because of the holiday. On the other hand, we got some fabulous cultural insights by observing what was happening at the temples on Monday (the actual day of the holiday).

As far as the biggie tourist sites, we visited the Grand Palace and the temple with the Emerald Buddha. Due to the holiday the throne rooms in the palace were closed, and the temple was absolutely mobbed on Monday by religious adherents coming to pay their respects. We also visited five or six other wats and the Royal Barge Museum. And, we made several trips by boat up and down the river and took two rides on the skytrain. The neighborhood right behind our hotel was more of the old-fashioned, traditional area, and we walked through the area a lot.

On Sunday we signed up for an all day tour by small boat through the narrow canals of Thonburi where we also visited some off-the-beaten-path wats and a food market where locals come on the weekends. We didn't see any tourists at this partially floating market at all. The tour was pricey but we felt we got our money's worth it, and we had an excellent guide. We'd recommend it (other than the Thai puppet show) http://www.thaicanaltour.com/

So there you have it. I know lots of people like Bangkok, but it wasn't for us. If we hadn't already had pre-paid hotel reservations, we might have listened to some fellow travelers we met towards the end of our trip. When they heard our Bangkok plans for four nights, they told us it was two nights too many. They were right when they said there is lots to do in Bangkok, but they just didn't find it worth dealing with the aspects of the place they didn't enjoy. We'd agree with them.

I think Bangkok is one of those polarising places that people either love or hate.

My first visit was in 1987, the next visit was nearly twenty years later. Since then I've returned about 5 times trying to "get to love" Bangkok, but I just don't.
Nowadays I still use it as a transit point, and try not to leave the airport.

Everyone's different.

Yes, we are all different. I'm glad you gave Bangkok some time - sorry you didn't love it like I do. Thanks for reporting back.

Julies, I wasn't fond of Bangkok either, until I stayed in the very room you did. I was thinking as I read the beginning of your description, if only julies had stayed at the Ibrik in the room over the water with the bathtub that drained into the river, she'd come to like it as I did. And it was definitely my best experience in the city. If I go back again, having since stayed in other parts of the city less pleasantly, I'm sure I'll stay in the same neighborhood, although the Ibrik itself has gotten too expensive for me. But I'll always remember the sound of the boats just outside my bedroom and the water lapping under the floor.

Thanks for reporting back. Can't say I'm surprised, lol. The river is fascinating, though, isn't it?

Looking forward to the rest of the report (I liked PP too).

Different strokes for different folks. I've been going to BKK since the 90s and still love the place and wish I could live there 6 months out of the year.

Happy Travels!

Julie, I love this post, and its honestly, the "why" not just the opinion. Not because I've been to Bangkok, and have an opinion one way or the other based on experience, but because it's great to read a variety of reactions--especially for someone like me who's not been there.
A few yrs ago I had time for a three day/ two night stopover Delhi to SFO. Choices: Bangkok or Singapore. Coming from the chaos of India, I figured SG might be more of a restful stop. Sounds like, at least based on what you wrote, I made a good decision at the time.
Looking forward to the rest of your travel stories of this trip.

Julies - so sorry it wasn't for you. But now you can say you've done it and understand what people are talking about when they talk about Bangkok. Looking forward to reading along.

I posted this precisely because I know that different people have different takes on the same places. And, what makes a place interesting or attractive to me may not be what others are looking for in a place. I believe the travelfish website refers to Bangkok as a love it or loathe it place. I wouldn't go so far as to say we loathed it, but we were definitely further on that end of the spectrum.

MmePerdu--Staying at the Ibrik on the river was the one thing that really made our visit to Bangkok somewhat likeable. We kept reminding ourselves how we'd really feel even more dislike for the city if we'd been in a typical hotel room somewhere else. I laughed when you descrtibed the bathtub draining into the river because I swear at high tide I could also hear the sink gurgling as the gentle waves went up and down. I'm also glad to hear your take on staying in various locales in the city because we wondered if perhaps our dislike of the city was based on the fact that we had stayed in a "different" locale than most people do.

To us, the river was the best part of the city.

Thanks for reporting back. I agree, everyone has different tastes. I'm planning on 6 nights in Bangkok next month, but I'm hoping I enjoy it more than you! I will have to look into the hotel you mentioned, the bathtub sounds pretty awesome!

I agree with you, I lived and worked there for a year and I only go back if in transit.

Most of the people are fantastic but it does attract a lot of low life's.

The city is a soulless urban sprawl with very limited things of interest for me.

Even the river is a bit depressing to me, it's so polluted probably, but at least a lot of the hotels are world class without the matching price tag

Didn't mean to write probably as I know it is :)

Sorry you "lost" 4 days of your trip esp at the end. I always find travel, live and learn. That's what it's all,about really. Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip.

Btw, I appreciate your honesty. Sometimes these boards seem only to focus on the good and it makes it hard to evaluate if you might like a destination. I appreciate
hearing both sides.

We have been to BKK 5 times, we love it! Great shopping, restaurants, and fabulous hotels and it has good transportation infrastructure.

sorry it didn't work for you. our first trip was so so, but after that it became our #1 spot... working on trip 20 now

Bangkok is my favorite city, but I appreciate that not everyone agrees. At least you gave it a try!

"Great shopping, restaurants, and fabulous hotels and it has good transportation infrastructure."

I think this is where individual differences and desires come into play. I can see why someone who was looking for the above would enjoy the city. However, as I said in my report, we aren't shoppers, we aren't foodies looking for great restaurant experiences, and we aren't into wanting the luxury hotel experience. If people (like us) aren't looking for those things, then it is easier to see why we found it unappealing.

We are all different.

"Great shopping, restaurants, and fabulous hotels ..."

Entirely agree with what julies said about this. Which is one reason why I suspected she would not be a BKK fan.

Yes, reading julies posts nd TRs, I thought it highly unlikely BKK would appeal to them.

Thanks for sharing your experience with BKK, julies. As others have said, I, too, am not surprised that it didn't appeal to you.

Although I don't think it's a place that you'd ever care for, ending a long and active trip in an intense place like BKK is, in my experience, almost a guarantee to dislike it. BKK, and many large cities, have a certain kind of energy that require stamina and, at the end of the trip, I've found that I have much less to give a place. For instance, we began our SE Asia trip in BKK, and while I didn't love the city, we appreciated it; on the other hand (as an example), we ended our trip to Spain in Madrid, and both of us just didn't connect to the city, and I suspect it has a lot to do with our flagging energy level at the end.

This is in no way a critcism, julies, of your reactions to BKK -- just sharing my own experience and what works for our travel style and what doesn't.

progol--Interesting observation on your part. I really don't think that the fact that this was the end of our trip made a difference, especially since prior to our arrival in Bangkok we'd made a conscious decision to take it easy for a few days in Luang Prabang and then did a relaxing two day boat trip on the Mekong to the Thai border. In October we ended a three week trip to Sicily with 4 or 5 days in Palermo (another city many consider intense). We really liked the city and wished we'd had more time there.

The plus of ending in a place we didn't really like was that we weren't wishing we could extend our trip and stay for a few more days.

Now a question for those of you who love Bangkok and make many return visits: Does your visit center around staying in a luxury hotel at an affordable price and eating at fancy restaurants at an affordable price and spending your days shopping for nice clothing etc. at an affordable price?

I confess to being somewhat ambivalent about Bangkok. I have visited many times over the last 25 years, mainly for the convenient transport links from Europe, but would not rank Bangkok in my top ten cities of the world. As far as SE Asian cities go, I much prefer places like Phnom Penh, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh which I suppose are much like Bangkok was 25 years ago. Maybe it is just nostalgia?

The fancy restaurants I am happy to miss, as I much prefer street food and the small "hole in the wall" type places For which Bangkok is rightly famous.

Not a great fan of shopping and we usually stay in budget to mid range accommodation these days, but if we do splurge in a 5* place, Bangkok would be the place we do it simply because it is one of the cheapest places in the world for that sort of accomdation.

We ended our year in Asia last November with a week in Bangkok in a very nice hotel with executive lounge access. We did enjoy the "free" Gin and Tonics, the buffet breakfast etc.etc. But the irony wasn't lost of me that one night there would have paid for a week elsewhere on our trip!

As we left, like you, we didn't want to stay longer and in fact we couldn't help feeling that that stay may well have been our last..

julies-- Good point about Palermo (and I'm hoping we feel the same way about the city as we'll be there in May at the end of our trip!).

So perhaps it's a little bit of an immediate reaction to a city as well as where one is in a trip. If a city grabs you, then it really doesn't matter whether you're at the beginning or end of a trip, one finds the energy to explore. But if you're tired, and near the end, there's less energy to "work" it, if you know what I mean. Funny, we ended our trip in Siem Reap, and we were not at all taken by it -- and you began your trip there and thoroughly enjoyed it. So perhaps we would've felt differently about Siem Reap if we started our trip there.

I completely agree with progol about energy and with it Initiative flagging at the very end of a trip esp a long one. Often I am on sensory overload after exploring so many sites and different cultures. But obviously we are all different and that's what makes Fodor so valuable.

I don't see the comparison between BKK and Palermo at all. Palermo to me is about half as intense as BKK, assuming one even considers Palmero intense. The size alone doesn't compare. I loved Palermo and think BKK is ok, but nowhere near a top city for me.

You say you won't return. Are you sorry you went? There are places, Bangkok among them, that I'm very glad we saw but wouldn't be high on a revisit list.

I love Bangkok and spend several nights in the city at least four times a year. I don't spend my days shopping for fancy clothes, eating at fancy restaurants or staying in luxury hotels. I have lots of fun things on my "to do" that include exploring and wandering aimlessly, traveling on the local boats, and searching out unusual museums, craftsmen, neighborhoods, and sights. I love to try new food; sometimes it's street food, other times food courts and yes, sometimes expensive restaurants.

I've stayed at the Peninsula and the Oriental, and lots of other moderate and up and coming hotels as well. My trip earlier this month included a $28 local inn and a $99 chain.

But I can't connect how budget or how one spends their time to how much one will love a city, and I'd say that applies to ANY city. Good travel experiences can happen by accident or by good planning; you can easily dislike a place because the weather was wrong, the timing was off or you simply weren't feeling up to it. Some places I alternate between liking and hating. Bottom line is that travel is intensely personal and there is no way to know if you'll like it till you get there.

Love your last sentence, Lcuy!! And liking a particular hotel, restuarant etc, that happens to be IN a city is NOT the same as liking that city.

@lcuy<<<But I can't connect how budget or how one spends their time to how much one will love a city, and I'd say that applies to ANY city. Good travel experiences can happen by accident or by good planning; you can easily dislike a place because the weather was wrong, the timing was off or you simply weren't feeling up to it. Some places I alternate between liking and hating. Bottom line is that travel is intensely personal and there is no way to know if you'll like it till you get there.>>>

Nice paragraph. It's about as simple as that.

Hi all -- I continue to love this thread as I do think it is vitally important to have differing opinions on a city from which to ultimately make a very personal travel decision. I also really connected to what lcuy wrote because she pretty much summed it up in a nutshell.

I have a question and comment though...I have only done two big trips to Asia having spent much more time on the African and European continents, so I'm just getting started. We have done a Vietnam/Laos /Cambodia combo and a Japan/Bali combo. So of course, Thailand is on our list, as well as many other places. In terms of just pure entertainment from reading the forums, I love nothing more than to sit down to a Bangkok thread because the people who go often and stay long just love the city so much it jumps through the computer screen.

So I want to try it but now I'm a little confused. I happen to like large luxury hotels or small comfortable inns. I hate shopping for anything I can find in the U.S., so I'm not at the designer stores you can find on 5th avenue, but I love to stroll and pop into locally run shops for crafts, textiles, art, jewelry, and other accessories. I love to eat street food, in hidden restaurants only frequented by the locals and Michelin rated restaurants on occasion -- not for the expense but for the art and flavors. Lastly, I love to stroll and wander aimlessly hopping from taxis, to trains, and to boats with threadbare plans. And I also like a private tour with an air conditioned car when a specific day calls for it. So for those who love the city, does this sound like Bangkok? I would love to give it a try for a few days before moving onto other destinations in SE Asia.

Lastly, to me Bangkok is to the Asia forum as Johannesburg is to the Africa forum. Joberg happens to be for me what Bangkok is for so many of you. I have gone over 20 time, it feels like home and I'm planning my next trip before I finish the last. Yet most people who absolutely love South Africa don't care for it and use it as a gateway to Capetown, safari, the Garden Route, etc. I always feel this is such a shame as the history, the struggle and and the pulse of the country is found in Joberg, along with great museums, restaurants, arts and crafts stores, world-class hotels and boutique inns and so much more. And don't get me wrong, I adore Capetown and have also pretty much experienced all of the other more frequently visited parts of the country and gone off the beaten path many times before. Anyway, most posters advise first time travelers to skip Joberg, really finding nothing of value in the city. Sometimes I suggest otherwise, sometimes I don't because as we all already know it's different strokes for different folks. And there is no doubt that most people will find South Africa intoxicating either way.

As I'm writing I think I've talked myself into trying Bangkok! You never know what you will like until you try it. Thanks Julies for starting a great thread and thanks lcuy for your great observations.

"But I can't connect how budget or how one spends their time to how much one will love a city, and I'd say that applies to ANY city."

If people who love a city say, when asked why, that it is because of the shopping, the restaurants, and the high-end hotels at budget prices - and their trip reports bear this out - and those are in no way your interests, it is a good bet that you aren't going to be a fan of the city in question. Especially when also told that the city is very hot and humid, badly polluted, and has horrible traffic, and its fans don't dispute those facts. Given that there are more places than there is time available to visit them, it pays to be selective.

Hi Julies, I'd love to write detailed info for you on what I love about Bangkok. But I am currently in Kauai where I took quite a tumble the other day and shattered my shoulder. I had a partial should replacement on Friday. I'm afraid the is about the limit of what I can type.

Kathie--so sorry about your shoulder. I hope your recovery goes well.

Oh Kathy, I am so sorry and hope you have a speedy recover. I broke my shoulder last fall in Cortina, IT and recovery was long and difficult. I hope better for you.

Kathie - I'm SO sorry to hear that! I hope you have good care in Hawaii and a speedy recovery. (And a first rate PT available in Seattle.)

Sorry to hear of your accident Kathie. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Warm Sunday greetings from upcoming work-related week in the San Francisco Bay Area to the OP, julies -- and thank you kindly for your thoughtful impressions of Bangkok. Launched a fine thread. (And good recovery to you, Kathie.)

My life-long love affair with the City of Angels commenced as youth, a ~half-century back, staying at the Mandarin Oriental with my parents and siblings. (City traffic a bit lighter in the 1960's.) Will always have such fond and sentimental memories of that initial holiday with my family.

Current work has me in Bangkok on a quarterly basis. As with other cities I visit for meetings, usually just one to three days of office buildings, hotels, airports. Will say, I do try to coordinate certain working visits with a weekend rendezvous with the loved one, usually down by the river. We have wonderful friends in Bangkok; many in the aviation and lodging industries.

Am very fortunate to call Singapore home for family, work and residence. That said, will always have a soft spot for Bangkok. Good travels to you and all from SF Bay Area,

robert


... Singapore Airlines, You're a Great Way to Fly ...

Kathie,

So sorry this happened, but wishing you a speedy recovery!

Oh no Kathie !
Sorry to hear that, speedy recovery to you.

When starting this thread, my hope was that it would be as a part of a dialogue on a city that I feel engenders strong reactions one way or the other.

Kathie--a partial shoulder replacement; I'm sorry! I hope your recovery advances in a timely manner. The bright side of it (if there is one) perhaps is that this happened while you were in the US rather than in some remote, foreign location where quality medical care is not readily available.