I'm going to Bangkok Aug 5-8 with my wife and kids (18 year old girl, 17 year old boy). I have read through many posts with interest. My general plan (given arrival midday on the 5th and departure on the 8th for Phuket) is :

1) arrange for transport (Tong or Ratt) from airport and maybe visit a tailor to get measured for the shirts. My wife and daughter want some dresses made but we have a week in Phuket and that might be the place to get them done. We will not do any real touring - we are staying at the Majestic Grande Sukhumvit and maybe we can look around that neighbourhood? I'd like to eat somewhere interesting but make it a early night.
2) Next day - go to weekend market in morning via skytrain (I think we can get there easily). QUESTION - will we have difficulty communicating with vendors? Should we hire a guide to help us communicate/negotiate? Once we have finished shopping I guess we have to go back to hotel - maybe rest and go out again. Would it make sense for a canal ride at dinner time? I have read that Cabbages and Condoms is a good restaurant - but for lunch or dinner?
3) Day 3 is Grand Palace/Jim Thompson house, etc in morning - we are hiring a guide. I assume that is half a day? any thoughts on what to do to round out the day?
4) Day 4 we leave early afternoon so limited time - thoughts on anywhere to go that is quick?

I would like to see a good show or 2 - we were going to see Thai Dancing at the place across from the Oriental - but its closed for renos in July/Aug. Any good alternatives? I have also read about the cabaret shows with cross dressers - is that worthwhile? any suggestions?

we are specifically avoiding going outside bangkok given limited time, but I think we have a couple half days that could be filled with something. So - outing recommendations, resturants (we are daring and want to have fun - just don't want to get sick), etc - love to hear from people.

I will post a separate thread on Phuket.
thanks

Check out Mahanaga for dinner- www.mahanaga.com. You don't need a guide for weekend market - vendors speak enough english. Cabbages and condoms is ok for lunch or dinner. Day 3 too hectic for a morning. Do Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun in the morning then go to JT house, have lunch there and see the house. Or if you feel like go to Siam Center malls very near JT house. Food court has amazing food. Plan a nice dinner tonight - BED SupperClub or Face would be my ideas.

Do appreciate that August is bang in the middle of peak rainy season on Phuket.
I was there at the weekend and I had such sympathy with a family from down under who rushed in to where I was having a coffee to shelter from the rain. We got chatting and without wanting to emphasise about the weather they mentioned how 'surprised' they were and thought it freak weather. I mentioned gently that is after all 'was' the rainy season.
Apparently they had 'thought that' but someone on a forum ( not this one I would add ) told them that they were there last June and it was glorius sun!

Kata and Karon beach had huge waves, red flags flying, wind and rain, driving north there was minor flooding but very heavy rain.
You 'can' risk it but I really think you should considor the Gulf side in August, I lived many years on Phuket and we were flooded out more times then I want to remember in the rains.

Mahanaga looks really interesting - any sense on prices?

Re Phuket - yes I do know it is rainy - we debated a lot about it - we are OK with rain each day if there is also sun (ie heavy rain once, then breaks up) - we thought about Ko Sumai but for various reasons came back to Phuket. We will keep our fingers crossed!!!! We hoped to get some diving done somewhere, liked the thought of sea kayaking, want to go in the interior .... so guess we'll see

Do the Calypso Cabaret at the Asia Hotel- do a search on this forum for Calypso Canaret and you will find all the details- its a great show for all- if you miss it - you are the loser.

Hi, i hope u enjoy BKK, I am actually going back this December. The weekend market in Chatuchak is wonderful, talk about shopping till you drop. One thing though if you actually plan on buying a lot of stuff, I would recomend taking a taxi instaed of the Skytrain, the skytrain can be crowded and carrying a lot of stuff may be diffcult. We took the skytrain to Chitlom whne we when shopping at the Central World Plaza, which was also fabolous. If you take the taxi to the weekend market, if you don't mind paying the tolls, you can tell him to stay on the expressway, and the drive there is not that bad. We went to Muay Thai Boxing at Ratchadamnoen Stadium, that was really fun. What part of the city are you staying in? We stayed in the Sukhumvit District, but it was really easy to get around the whole city. Just be sure that you pick up the little wallet size card that ur hotel should have that will have the address and map where ur hotel is. That way u can just hand that to the taxi driver. Also always have the phone number to your hotel. If you have ur cell phone, the taxi driver can talk to the front desk and they can better tell him how to get u back. but for the most part we found communcation to be very good.

You will have lots of fun, have a great journey.

rachael

A few thoughts based on our 5 days in Bangkok in April. I would get to weekend market at 10AM on Sat, or 9:30 on Sunday, any earlier and you will find a number of places not opened on Sat. until 10-10:30. we made that mistake.
A taxi is RIGHT. While we are not avid shoppers it is so much easier with a taxi and cost is $4 USD if you are very far away. We enjoyed Ratt though her English needs improvement she is soooo service oriented. In town transport with her is 2500Baht for a 10 hour day. I cannot comment on womens apparel but I was very satisfied with Monet Sarto for slacks (I bought 8 pair of slacks-130-140 superfine lightweight wool- & 2 130 superfine sport jackets). My wife was not really satisfied with her cruise wear top/slack outfits. He is very good for mens clothing. I had contacted Ravi Tailors and he only wanted to work on mens clothes and offerred to refer us to a seamstress. My wife should have done that.
But with Monet, Jack who owns it, insists on at least 3 fittings, preferably 4 in 3 days. Make sure you try on the finsl product before you leave. Ask him to cover the DHL shipping. He will end up absorbing 50-60% of the shipping cost, But, have him ship it the day you are scheduled to leave Thailand or a week after so you are home when it arrives and he has time to finely tailor your clothes. Usually it takes DHL 7+ days to get it to you. It arrived and all my clothes fit but my wife was not happy. But, in a $1100 purchase including shipping of the purchase my portion was $750-$800USD of the total.
He is next to the Marroitt Resort & Spa. He will open as early as 9:30 for you if you plan to make major purchase and will stay open until 9PM if necessary.

Another vote for the "lady boy" show Cabaret Calypso - your teens will think it's a hoot. Very entertaining for all.
Julie of julietaxi.com is an alternative to Ratt/Tong. Julie's English is excellent and we had a wonderful day with her - ask for her specifically. She has drivers who work for her and I don't know about their English.
We had dinner at Cabbages and Condoms and enjoyed it a lot. Lunch would be fine, too, I'm sure.
Agree with the other comment about doing Grand Palace and Wat Po together. Save JT for lunchtime or a different day. I'd combine Wat Arun with a canal tour rather than trying to do it on the morning you do Grand Palace/Wat Po. Also, late afternoon is a fine time to do a canal tour. (Or that could be what you do on your last day since it only takes a couple hours and you can get to the river quickly via Skytrain.)

If I may shamelessly plug my trip report (again)...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34762799

It's lengthy, but the Bangkok section is at the beginning and the very end and may prove helpful.

Good luck!
Karen

I think Cabbages and Condoms is better for dinner as the atmosphere is better and the garden is lit up beautifully with hundreds of fairy lights. We went for lunch once and it was quiet, no buzz or atmosphere and a bit of a disappointment compared to the evening.

THe China House in the Oriental has Peking Duck that is the best we have ever...ever had. One shared large soup and the duck is more than enough. The tab will be $60 with service/tax or $80 with a drink/wine/cocktail.
I strongly recommend you take a Premier Taxi (not regular taxi) and not Ratt, Tong or Julie for trip from airport.Sometimes I have read of real mixe-ups. Cost was 18-19 USD and I gave 3USD tip because we had a lot of luggage. Regular taxi is about 12-13USD.

Ample number of these Premier cars at 5-6PM. No wait.These are not limos for that is not necessary you just want a comfortable ride to hotel after long flight. Regular taxi had a 10 minute line.

i ahve a restaurant listing for bkk if you are interested, just ask:

[email protected]

i personally did not like cabbages and condoms all that much...the kids probably would like the concept however...the food is only average at best....harmoninque and tongue thai are far superior, imo..

for the first nite stay right at your hotel and eat at Shaz....simpsonc510 tells us it is fantastic...in any case in that general vicinity there are tons of places to eat...

maha naga is quite expensive for thai food, but has a great atmosphere kathie reports to us...i will try it in november...

i will post a bit more to you later

calypso cabaret at the asia hotel is fantastic...you can order your tickets and your exact seats on line and pickup at the box office....the skytrain connects directly with the hotel...you all will get a hoot out of it...the show is about 1.5 hours....mostly american music....oldies...

tie your boy down in bkk....its a boys/mans paradise...enough said...

i too would not combine the GP and jim thompson but it is doable...have a nice lunch at JT upon arrival and then take the tour....english tours are only at certain times...the tour is about 40 minutes at most...

i would skip the oriental show quite honestly....you can see them elsewhere, like in phuket

you can eqsily fill your other time with pool time, shopping or wandering around to other places or nice meals...

a klong tour with wat arun combined is the usual method....

a really nice day would be the GP in the morning (2 hours or so), then lunch, then a klong tour and wat arun at the end of the day...then a swim as you will be tired...

Note that while Mahanage is "expensive" for Thai food, our bill last November/December was US$47. Our bill at China House for the Peking Duck, their finest Jamsine tea and a shared fresh mango pudding was US$44. The exchange rate is such that they will be a bit more expensive now.

Mahanaga - it's Thai fusion and a very mixed bag in my opinion. It has lovely surroundings but that's about it. Service is terrible if there are big groups around to take away attention of a nice family dinner. Food is ok - what do you expect for 'fusion'?
Cabbages and Condoms is also quite mediocre.

China House is fantastic - I know, why go for Chinese in Thailand? But it's really good: dim sum and duck!
Also reckon Baan Kanitha and Somboon Seafood win over C&C and Mahanaga any day.

Anyhow, have fun

bkk---could you be a bit more specific about the food and why you did not like it at maha naga??

also---i did not think this is the kind of place that would cater to large groups, i.e. tour groups...??

bkkmei, I seem to remember that you had posted about a bad experience at Mahanaga where you felt ignored because there was a large group that seemed to get all the attention from the waitstaff (Bob, I didn't have the sense that it was a tour group). We had excellent, attentive service. And while Mahanaga lists itself as Thai fusion, all the dishes we had were really Thai. I'm sure there are more fusion-oriented dishes on the menu.

I really wasn't that impressed with Mahanaga. I like Face much better.

Brad, we also had excellent food at Face. Face received some mixed reviews here, mostly due to service complaints (ours was ok, but a bit slow), but one regular poster stated that she had awful food there. I think every restaurant has it's off days.

Both Face (the restaurant and the spa) and Mahanaga are on our agenda again when we're back in November. By the way, we also ate at the Indian restaurant at Face, it was very good, but not as good as the Thai restaurant in our opinion.

Can Bob, BillT , Karen or anyone give me some advice re the Calypso Cabaret at the Asia? What is the set up? ie Is dinner included, do you sit at seperate tables or long ones or is it like a theatre ? I will be travelling with one other person but not sure if my friend will be interested. Mainly I wanted to ask is it feasible for one person to go alone and enjoy the show? Thanks.