Trip Report Part1 (Belated)

[Guest]

For my December trip (better late than never)

Arrival
Slightly longer immigration queue than normal, about 30 minutes. Luggage was ready when I got through.

Foreign Exchange
Bangkok airport
Upstairs £1 = 41.?? (I didn’t consider the figure worth writing down, but it began with a 41.  What is the point ?)
Downstairs £1 = 43.75 (competing booths at entrance to railway station)
XE = 43.93.
So that’s a loss of 0.4% compared with mid market. Remarkably good. Even if you are taking a taxi to Pattaya, it could be worth a detour downstairs. I was heading into Bangkok using the rail link.

Rail Link
45 baht. Good value.
Just for comparison, the rail link from the airport into KL costs 55 ringit, equivalent to is 442 baht, which is rather pricey for a low gdp country. Euston to Heathrow costs me just 136 baht *
 

Hotel
Baan Silom Soi 3 (again). Clean spacious rooms with comfortable beds. Could benefit from some better windows to keep noise out, but I’m happy to carry on starting holidays here.

Bars
Having read that the dreadful mamasans have been purged, I returned to my old favourite, Classic Boys. The mamsans left me in peace !

A good selection of boys on stage, including several twinks. This turns out to be the best selection I saw all trip, including Pattaya. So the bar has probably won my “best boy selection” award at least 5 times in 10 years.

Offed a very cute 24 year old from Laos. Off fee 600, drinks 2 x 380 & tip for waiter leaving me in peace 100. Total = 1460. Bangkok gogo bars are expensive, but it’s my first night & I don’t spend much time in this city.
Boy tip 1600 Smiles & leaves without asking for more.

My remaining 2 boys in Bangkok were via phone apps, so there was not a great deal of time spent bar hopping on my 3 days in town. I think the tips agreed were about 1000 & 1200. One of them had to leave early, as his father was on the phone asking him to go out with him & his brother. I suppose saying he’s busy servicing a client would cause embarrassment. Considering he wasn’t there long, I tipped about 500 baht, which was in proportion to the level of service received at that point (he was good while it lasted).

After that, I considered taking a bar boy, but eventually spotted a cute massage boy in one of the massage shops near Tawan.

I visited Screwboys, but the only boy who really looked outstandingly cute seemed disinterested in the whole process & incapable of making eye contact. To be honest, I was quite fussy by this time, having already taken a Gay Romeo boy earlier that evening. I also visited Nature boys. Two boys in the bar, one of whom was OK. However, he sat on the other side of the table & kept his underwear on, so not meeting expectations on both points (and yes, I always shower & put fresh clothes on before heading to the bars). This reserved service was quite a change from about 5 years ago, when all the boys would be getting everything out. At one point, all they used to wear tiny green aprons, which just about covered the essentials.

Considering the deficient service, I’ll give this bar a miss next time.

 

(* Exchange rates at the time I started drafting this)

[witty]

Train from airport to KL is 55 Ringgit, not 550.

 

Thanks for the interesting start.

[Guest abang1961]

Train from airport to KL is 55 Ringgit, not 550.

 

Thanks for the interesting start.

But the bus fare was RM 12 and lands you in KL Sentral too!

I really don't know how much time is saved?  - think waiting for the train/bus to depart the airport.

 

 

And yes there is a Super Rich at the basement 2 of Su. Airport....but a short trip to the food court,yes it is where I get my fix of Thai food in Magic)...is a blessing after a 2 hr flight from Singapore...

[Guest]

Train from airport to KL is 55 Ringgit, not 550.

 

Thanks for the interesting start.

Thanks for the correction, I modified the original post to correct the typo.    The Baht conversion has no typo.

 

Maybe a bus to KL is cheaper, but I think making the train price comparison is fair, as this is an equivalent standard of travel. 

 

The Bangkok airport railway is certainly a comfortable & good value service.

[witty]

Assuming waiting times for ticketing and arrival of transport being equal, the train will get you to KK Sentral (the transport hub in KL) in 30 minutes, while the bus takes slightly over an hour. Uber or taxis costs upward of RM80(USD20) taking about an hour or more depending on your final destination in the city. Your last leg after reaching KL Sentral will add another thirty minutes to your journey from airport to hotel and an additional fare.

[spoon]

There are cheaper way to still travel by train to kl, which require u to take the transit train instead of the express one, go out in one of the station and go in again and wait for the next train, usually 20min wait, and itll bring the cost to about rm23, 200+ bath, still not cheap but if u have time, thats 50%+ discount for a 20min wait. The city center is about 50km away from the airport though, compared to 20-30km for bangkok. But yeah, bus is cheaper, but bus in thailand is also way cheaper too lol

[vinapu]

Foreign Exchange

Bangkok airport

Upstairs £1 = 41.?? (I didn’t consider the figure worth writing down, but it began with a 41.  What is the point ?)

Downstairs £1 = 43.75 (competing booths at entrance to railway station)

XE = 43.93.

So that’s a loss of 0.4% compared with mid market. Remarkably good. Even if you are taking a taxi to Pattaya, it could be worth a detour downstairs. I was heading into Bangkok using the rail link.

 

 

while rates at airport railway station are very good indeed it needs to be mentioned that those booths are open only when trains are running i.e. 6-24 so all those arriving past midnight can't take  that advantage.

 

Only good news about exchanges upstairs is that no need to shop for rates as all are uniform in those.

 

waiting for Pattaya bars installment impatiently