Travel Tips: Thailand
Songkran
If possible time your visit to Thailand for the Songkran festival, Thailand's lunar new year. It starts slowly and innocently enough - a small child or old lady may approach you to ask if she can throw a tiny cup of water over you, for good luck. Three or four days later the festival is in full swing and thousands of westerners and Thais are running around like maniacs armed to the teeth with huge water pistols, buckets and water filled bicycle pumps engaging in a mass water fight. Great fun. Cover your camera and bank notes in plastic banks though.
Dude looks like a lady
You can see free Thai boxing, Thai dancing and a ladyboy cabaret while having a meal in a group of restaurants near the night market in Chiang Mai. After the ladyboy show you can have your picture taken with them. Be warned that you have to pay and if you don't that they are bigger and probably tougher than the boxers.
Airport taxi drivers in rip off shocker
On first arriving in Bangkok we agreed a price with a taxi driver to take us into town. At our destination he doubled the price by saying it was for each person. Naturally annoyed we insisted on our correct change and refused to leave his cab until we got our money. He tried to drive off so I opened the door forcing him to stop. Eventually he gave up and handed us our money. To avoid such a palaver have some small banknotes available - though this can be difficult when you have just arrived in a new country.
Check what's going on in town before you arrive
We don't tend to book in advance when arriving, preferring to haggle and get the best price from a few hostels and hotels when we get to town. Most of the time this works fine but sometimes something big is going on and we come unstuck. In Bangkok, it was Chinese new year and everywhere was full. After fighting with a cab driver (see above) we met up with some other travellers in the same position and, after helping a guy who'd been drugged and mugged, stayed up drinking until the dawn checkouts next day. Overall it was a fun and eventful night but book in advance if you would prefer to go to sleep.
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