Calex-Yes B700 per person. We were at the Royal Orchid Sheraton both times and no problem. The Oriental is only a few blocks away, so I suspect it will work. However, the lobby of the Oriental is much more formal and patrolled by several hotel people, the Wat Pho masseurs may have to call up for confirmation.

We got massages all over Thailand. The best was at the Royal Princess basement in Chiang Mai. However, my experience was that the best value in BKK was the Wat Pho Hotel visit. The Spa massages were more elegant and had more peripheral additions, but they cost 3 or 4 times as much.

Are the What Pho Massages all by men? I prefer women. Can you get them?

Im not gay or anything but profesianl male masseuse are the best for deep massages. but again your typical thai massage is not good for deep muscle tissue relief. so if a thai guy does give you a massage it may feel a bit too soft and creepy.

note. i'm no export in this matter or in much af anything..

There were both men and women working at the Wat Pho massage school.

I am not homophobic but feel strange with a man touching me.

Cityboi first I indeed think you are homophobic. Somebody recommended you to get a ?Tom Yum Gai? the day you arrived.

Due to your ignorance, you instantly thought he meant ?Some Yummy Gay Boy?.

No he simply recommended you Thailand?s famous spicy, sour chicken soup ?Tom Yum Gai.? Can I recommend you to buy a Lonely Planet, ?Thailand: A Travelers Survival Kit? and read a little about Thailand before you come.

Think it will benefit you!

So much for it, If you like to eat at the "cabbages and condoms" just take The sky train outside your hotel.

The station at your hotel is Ploen Chit and you get out at Asoke, and you will be very close to Soi 12.

"Cabbages and condoms" has good Thai Food and good ambiance, and it is runned by Thailand?s biggest Non Governmental Organization, PDA.

For massage I find that the hotels own in house service is very expensive. In Wat Poe itself no monks give massage. It's a massage school at the famous temple, and you are very likely to get massage by a trainee.

For the best massage I suggest Marble House. It's very clean, and the staff is very professional. It?s in the Soi (small street) just opposite the Montien Hotel, at Surawongse Road. Thai massage: 2 hours 330 Baht.

Another excellent massage place is Siam Sawasdee at Silom Road, next to a Boot Pharmacy and close to the end of Silom whith the Robinson department Store. Best foot massage in very comfortable chairs. 1 hour 200 baht.

Again take Sky Train from your hotel ?Ploen Chit? and get out at Sala Daeng, go to the exit which is at the right side of the trains driving direction, and you almost land at the Siam Sawasdee.

And if you by the way take the Sky train further than Sala Daeng, then you will end at the station called Taksin. From here you can take the express boat up the river (8 baht I think) and get out at the Golden Palace. See it early morning, as Bangkok is a warm city.

I'll leave the massage advise to the rest of the posters, sounds like they have you "covered".

In terms of what to do at 2 am the answer is sleep.

Best bet for resetting your body clock to your new location is to immediately (as in the minute you board the flight for your destination) start to behave according to what you would do at that time in your destination time zone.

So....arriving at midnight would typically mean go to bed and get up in the morning and head out to enjoy the day.

Thanks for the help Asiagus. We have a joke here when ordering Asian food.People oder "Some young guy"Hope you were not offended as that was not the intent.Thank you for the advice on jet lag.

Whe3n we called the Wat Pho Massage School to arrange our massages, they asked whether we wanted men orwomen or combination. My wife and I elected to both have women. I get deep tissue massages all the time in the states from a man. The Thai women somehow manage quite well to massage sore muscles.

Can you rent your own motor boat in Bangkok?

Take the express boat to Nonthaburi and rent the boat there, think it's around 600 baht for two hours.

Ask it to sail to the canals (Khlongs) opposite the Bangkok site of the river.

Is there a gym close to the JW Marriott that does spinning and other exercise classes?

there is a huge gym on the 4th floor of the jw which has all the eqpt you could possibly want and it looks out over the pool area

something cool too do is go too lumpini or or any park at 5.30 - 6 PM and join the locals in arobics. sometimes there are about a hundred or so people.

There are two chains of good health clubs in Asia, one is California Fitness and the other is Clark Hatch. They both have clubs in Bangkok (see addresses and links below). These are not generally open to the public for a walk-in, but you might check. Also, check with your health club in the US to see if they have an associate relationship with either chain. I was a member of California Fitness in Hong Kong for several years and was able to use facilities in their associated clubs in the US and other parts of Asia. Might be worth a try.

As noted above, the health club at the JW Marriott is large and well-equipped so unless you really need a class you might just be better off working out there.

California Fitness: www.calfitness.com.hk (has a Hong Kong address as the clubs head offices are there)

Liberty Square Club
Liberty Square Building
287 Silom Road
tel: 66-2-631-1122

Clark Hatch: http://www.clarkhatchthailand.com. They have about 10 clubs in various locations, some are located in hotels.

Sorry, forget to complete my post:

I belive the health club at the JW Marriott is also open to membership to the public in Bangkok, and I belive they may offer aerobic classes. You should contact the hotel to confirm this.

Is Lord Jims in the Marriott good for the first lunch?