Conde Nast: BKK article
 

Pardon me if this has already been mentioned here.

I was waiting for my TA the other day, and I picked up a Traveler magazine (March 06) and found a wonderful article on BKK. The photos of Sky Bar and Bed Supper Club are great. It's neat to look in a magazine and say, "I've been there, I've done that..." All our BKK regulars here in downstate Illinois have now seen the article and are happy to see a positive spin put on our favorite city.

Oh, and then I asked the TA if she would "throw away that issue in my direction" and she said I should just take it.

Further inspection, the article following BKK was hilltop towns in France and Italy. I was pleased to see one I've visited... Civita de Bagnoreggio (sp).

Carol

BKK is your favourite city - are you serious?

Actually, fuzzy, yes. BKK is right there at the top of my long list. Sydney is number two, btw.

BKK is exotic and exciting and friendly. It's soooo different from small town midwest USA. I love all the activity, the hotels, the food, my friends there. What's not to love about BKK? Would I want to live there, probably not. But I always enjoy my twice a year visits and wish they could be much longer than just a couple of weeks.

Carol

Exactly how many BKK regulars are there in downstate Illinois. WE thought you and your family were unique.

Andy
Actually, bradinbangkok has invited about a half dozen of his friends, and each one has returned (some return VERY often).

DH and I have tried to get friends from Germany and Italy to join us in BKK sometime. I think Germany will actually do it in the next couple of years. Italy? Not..

BKK regulars from the midwest are the reason BKK is booming!!! lol
Carol

Who would have thunk it? A cadre of BKK fans in the Heartland. Brad must be very persuasive.

carol---throw some bamboo into the cage!!

fuzzylogic - Please elucidate. ((*))

Hi Jed,

I like BKK well enough - there's loads to see and the street life is vibrant and the food is great even when it's cheap and cheerful. It is for sure a place I would rather stop in than Singapore. But my favourite city - NO. Because the traffic is outrageous; the air quality is appalling, and it is frequently very ugly.

Yep, many other cities in Asia share those unappealing characteristics - but then we weren't just talking about Asia were we? We were talking about favourite cities anywhere?

I was talking about favorite city anywhere, yes. And I've traveled to five continents so far, so I've seen a lot of cities. I just really love the exotic feel of being in BKK.

The question is, fuzzy - are there any cities or any culture or any thing that you do like?

We found Bed Supper Club to be a bit tacky and food only satisfactory. It is unique, but there are 3 in the USA, try local places, for good food.

stan---if you found bed to be tacky, what did you rate as top drawer for eating in bkk??

We like BKK but I think overall- scenery, cleanliness, climate, etc I probably would put Sydney at the top. There were no negatives for Sydney- every aspect was great! (Ok it does not get top billing for exotic)

Craig - my, what's rattled your cage?

If I have to spell it out for you fuzzy:

INSTEAD OF SAYING YOU DON'T LIKE BANGKOK, SINGAPORE OR WHATEVER, WHY DON'T YOU GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF SOMETHING YOU DO LIKE.

Does this make it any clearer? What rattles my cage is you never seem to have anything positive to say. Also you seem to have a bigoted stereotypical view of Americans which you have expressed on at least two recent posts.

I just watched a very enjoyable program on Thailand on HD Theater. There were interesting segments on Thai silks, dance, ceramics, shadow puppets, beaches (Koh Chang looks great) and the Eastern & Oriental Express train, besides a number of other things.

You can take the Orient Express for a "short" ride from BKK to CM. Sounds delightful... for $1050 per person, dbl occupancy, incl meals and coffee and tea AND sightseeing during a stop in Ayutayah (sp). And at $1050, that's the "cheap seats" (smallest compartment) on the train. The trip is from 10:30 in the morning, stopping in CM for the afternoon, and then over night on to CM, arriving in the morning. Quite an expensive way to get to CM...

But in any case, the program was really very well done. If you have HD channels, you should check out this program sometime.

Oh, I found out that "hanuman" is the name of a monkey god!

craig---i've never seen you this made...the person is not worth the effort...

Craig, if you had been offended by those couple of posts you alluded to, it would have been much better to deal with them there rather than allowing your angst to spill over into this one. As this particular thread stands (and for those of us unaware of what you are alluding to), it does appear that you spit the dummy over a harmless/friendly jibe.

I think the matter has been raised on other posts where fuzzy has made anti-American remarks but it doesn't stop him/her making them. They really irritate me too - and I am not even American but British! I just find indiscriminate dislike of any group of people hard to stomach.

There is also a consistency in making negative and provocative comments and not positive ones. Nice positive comments do appear to be few and far between when it comes to Thailand. I often wonder why one would bother continuing to read the thailand forum posts - but I am thinking that reading posts in which one is not interested is just an unusual way of filling empty moments and that it is a pity that the poster can't find something more fulfilling and worthwhile to do.

You folk should lighten up a bit. What I said was BKK - "are you serious".

A very, very, famous line from John McEnroe. Meant in a lighthearted way to stimulate discussion.

Obviously not.

If you take offence at that then either (a) you don't know the quote or (b) maybe BKK is the only place you have ever been in Thailand or (c) you're over sensitive for reasons that only you would know.

And to Bella - what exactly do you mean by "Nice positive comments do appear to be few and far between when it comes to Thailand".

Please quote examples and then maybe we can discuss. And for the record I have been to Thailand many times - why - cos I like it. But I get sort of bored by the endless posts about the same places - don't you ever want to visit somewhere other than BKK, Phuket, Chang Mai, etc, etc. I read this board in case someone - you never know - wants to branch out.

I don't think that's reprehensible but obviously you do.

My overriding impression is that you don't make positive comments about Thailand.

If you do actually like Thailand, then I can only conclude that you are only posting reactively - criticizing others ideas and experiences - and not proactively about your own adventures. Not sure that I would say this is reprehensible - but it does mean that in my eyes your posts are not always a pleasant addition to a thread.