Four more weeks until our first trip to Thailand. Hurrah! A few questions for the veterans...

1. How do you read addresses? For example:
29, Soi 38, Sukhumvit Rd
61 Lang Suan Soi 2 Road
I am assuming they are telling cross streets, but its a bit comfusing!

2. Is there any need for a cell phone? We've never bothered with a phone internationally, so we aren't sure if it is necessary. Is it cost prohibitive to use the hotel phones?

3.Thoughts on tipping? Drivers, restaurants, housekeeping..

4. Going from Marriott Resort and Spa to the airport, when should we leave for a domestic flight (leaving at 3:30pm on a Monday?)

Thanks so much,
lachica

lets see...

addresses are a bit hard..

sois are smaller roads off a bigger road....so soi 38 is a sort of main road off of sukhumvit which is a very main road and 29 is the street number on soi 38....sometimes you would have 29, soi 38/1 suk rd, which is a small soi off of soi 38...even taxi driver have problems...just leave plenty of time when you are going places and ask your hotel to write directions for a taxi driver in thai for you....most drivers will not understand you other than soi 38 sukhumvit....

i see no need for a cell phone...we never have used one in 10 trips...we use the hotel phone...or you could get a phone card and use a pay phone in the hotel lobby if you did not want to pay the hotel up charges for long distance calls...

tipping...this is all over the map...i tend to be generous for good services...

taxis: i round up to the next higher 20B or 50B...so if the bill is 60, i would give either 80 or 100....it really depends on the driver and how he treats us...

in restaurants, if the tip is not added, which it is in all hotel restaurants (10%) then i leave at least 10% and for great service as much as 20%...europeans leave nothing and thais don't leave much either, but for good service i think the server deserves a tip...bad service, only change is left...

housekeepers...i leave good money if they keep the place nice, leave extra towels and lots of flowers in our room...100B per day or more for special services...

i also tip the doorman at the marriott early in my stay...it pays off and i always tip him for baggage left at the hotel...

the bellman i give a decent tip upon arrival--maybe 100-200 B, depending on the amount of luggage...these are sometimes the doormen too...

i would leave between 1 and 1:30 for your flight...i always go early...

enjoy

rhkkmk explained the street numbering system pretty well. I would only add that Soi 38 will be well along towards the eastern end of the Sukhumvit Rd.

I do find the suggested tipping scales outrageously exorbitant. Even those mentioned relevant to the Marriott are
clearly out of all proportion to the accepted standards; the 30% to 60% for taxi drivers is is simply ludicrous. Surely you are tipping on behalf of a group of tourists?

Harzer

tipping---they asked what i do and so i explained it....it is still far less than what is the custom in usa...remember this is for good to excellent service...if i am not happy with a taxi, i SLAM the door when i exit and that is my tip....

i should add something about sukhumvit addresses....as you go down sukhumvit from low to higher numbers of the sois, the odd numbered sois are on your left and the even ones on your right, but soi 10 and 11 (if there is one) are not opposite each other....so soi 38 could be opposite soi 17, so you need a map to really understand how it works..

Addresses; I think Bob has this basically correct. It is just a bit confusing when a Soi runs between two main roads, e.g. between Sukhumvit and Rama 4, as it is not always clear which street the Soi is related to.

Generally, the Sois are odd numbered on one side and even numbered on the other side of the road, so they don’t necessarily “keep in step”.

I can’t see why you should need a cell phone, which if you are from the USA probably won’t work anyway, but hotel charges can be outrageous.

Tipping, for normal service 20 Baht is fine. US style tipping is way over the top and is seriously disruptive. As a resident I have never known anyone to tip housekeeping; they do their job and get paid for it. For taxis, round up to the next 10 baht, or maybe 15 if the meter is close to a ten Baht increment.

I would leave the Marriott about 1:00 pm. to catch your flight.

Soi 38 is right at the Thonglo skytrain exit. Thonglo is one stop past the Prom Phong stop where the Emporium shopping mall is. It's the soi that Face Restaurant is on. The soi layout is mixed up along Sukumvit. For example, the apartment building where I stay is at Sukhumvit soi 24...Emporium Mall area...Prom Phong skytrain stop...almost across from me is soi 39, but to get to soi 38, I have to take the skytrain one stop east of me....about a minute and a half on the skytrain. A "soi" is like a lane or a smaller street. Happy Travels!

You should not have a problem finding cheaper places to make your phone calls to home. I agree, you don't need a cell phone. I have one, but I am always staying in contact with friends and members of my group traveling together, when in BKK.

I am also a pretty good tipper. I do like to tip the people who service my apartment, the people who shampoo, cut, color my hair, do pedicures, manicures, etc. I usually let the taxi driver keep the change, up to the next 20 baht (ie.. if the ride is 51 baht, I'll give 60)

I am heading for BKK end of August. I don't suppose you'll still be there?

Carol

tag---i like being disruptive...

Thanks for the responses thus far. Much appreciated.

Carol- We leave the 20th. Do you arrive later?

Bob- I've been trying to contact AAC limo to no avail. Tried their template online and the email addresses listed on their web page. Any ideas?

others have had problems as well...the address i use is:

[email protected]

they list 6 e addresses at the bottom of their web site....mine, above, is not listed???

i think i would send my request to all of them...

if you don't get through, don't panic...as you leave customs, turn left....follow the signs to the taxi door...ignor people who approach you and don't ask their help....just before the exit door on the left is the AAC desk....they will have cars available 24/7 for you....remember they want cash...atm's are very close to their desk...

one other thing...many thai companies do not send automatic confirmations...you have to ask for one...so they may in fact have a res for you but just have not acknowledged it...odd way to do business, but you get used to it...i always call when there to reconfirm and they always act in a stange way to this call....it is assumed that the res is made and all set...

The other problem you may encounter is that your email program may screen out many foreign emails. I have found more than once that I had a reservation confirmation that got shunted into the spam box by my email program.

ALchica
I'll arrive in BKK late on the 29th. I'm sorry we won't be there at the same time...
Carol

Bob-

Evidently you have the magic email address for AAC. I heard from them this am. Thanks!

Lachica

LAc-please refrain from saying nice things anbout Bob. While he IS very knowledgeable, he can also be insufferable. Like when he's awake.

Hee hee. Y'all crack me up. I'll try not to feed Bob's ego, but I did finally manage to square things away with AAC! Thanks Bob.

Panda and Bob, tell me where you had good Thai in Cambridge. We are in Providence, and always on the lookout for good Thai.

we ate at similans which is right across the street from the lechmere mall complex (i think it is now called galeria mall)...its on first street, right next door to the afganistan rest. which is quite well known...lots of on street parking as well as a garage at the mall...about the best thai food i have ever had...and no pictures on the menu so gpanda had some trouble ordering....the menu was in english...

hope you will attend our GTG on Oct 7 in cambridge?? we will probably go to this restaurant that nite as a group

send me an e mail at [email protected] with your e address and i will put you on the mailing list----have we done this already??

bob