Trenton42

In two years of living here, I've only been to Patpong 4 times. And I wouldn't have gone the other night, except I was willing to give the pizza joint a try. Seeing the night market the other night, just reminded me how much I dislike Patpong. But if I do find myself there again, I'll try to get the bar's name for you. Foodland Patpong sells Cuban white and amber rum, but not Cuban black rum (aged 7 years). For me, that's reason enough to stay around Nana...

If I got the location correct, it's now a restaurant called 'Thai 24.' When I was there, they had a pig on a spit out front, and were selling portions for 150 THB. I do believe there's a bar on the other corner you mentioned, but I don't recall the name, and it'll probably be quite some time before I wander into Patpong again.

Bad news -- took a walk around Patpong last night, and it looks like Marco Polo's has ceased to be. The quest for a decent pizza in Bangkok continues...

TOT does not filter this site, nor does AIS or True. I don't know if there is any additional filtering at McDonald's. You might notice the people in the pics are wearing university uniforms; they come from wealthy enough families. Many tourists that don’t wander far from Sukhumwit have a skewed idea about the Thais. In a lot of ways, the worst of Thais go to Sukhumwit to have at the scraps left behind by the farangs. Although Thailand is indeed a third world country and has a lot of poor people, without having a middle class, Thailand has more than their fair share of rich people. A few years ago when someone spotted a chubby go-go girl, they started this myth about the “McDonaldization” of Thailand. The simple truth is that chubby go-go girls didn’t get that way overnight, and they were most likely chubby back in the village. ‘Pompooey’ is an ancient Thai word, and Thai food is notoriously high in sugar and fat/oil. BTW, popped down to Pattaya last night, and cruised by a McDonald’s on Beach Road; no signs, and no Wi-Fi. There are lots of places in Bangkok and Pattaya to get free Wi-Fi, but for the time being McDonald’s doesn’t look like it’s one of them.

Passed by the McDonald's on the corner of Sukhumwit and Soi 4. Sorry to report no Wi-Fi signs, or signal. True Wi-Fi is available, and Bully's Pub is only a few meters way -- good food, great air conditioning, strong Wi-Fi signal, and the tables in the back of AC if one's battery is running low.

Thanks for the pizza recommendation. I don't miss much from the old world, but haven't found a pizza in Thailand worth going back for after two years of looking. Will give Marco Polo's a try...

I second Jool's. They have a reasonable Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding and everything!

I don't care for the food and can't recommend one, but lower Sukhumwit (both sides) has too many Indian restaurants to count.

It looks like McDonald's World Wide Wi-Fi Initiative hasn't made it to the Future Park McDonald's/McCafe quite yet. Here's a picture showing the entrance, with a sign alerting customers to the available Wi-Fi. If I would have paid a little more attention, maybe I could have included all of Ronald's head... Here's another shot showing a close-up of the sign. As one can see from the close-up, it's a TOT Hotspot provided by Thailand's national telephone company. Unfortunately, it's a pay service. While scanning for available Wi-Fi, I did notice that True was available inside that McDonald's, which might be a help to some. I also noticed that Mezzo (coffee shop) and French Caff (also a coffee shop) both offer free Wi-Fi to customers. The sun is setting now, and I'm off to the bars to see who'll tickly my fancy tonight. I'll be doing some walking around Bangkok tomorrow, and will stop in to a few McDonald's to see if I can find any better news. P.S. Sorry about the size of the photos, but I'm limited with what I can do with my phone.

I don't go to McDonald's often, but as of November they didn't offer free Wi-Fi. I'm now on my way to Future Park, and will test the McDonald's when I get there.

Starbucks in Bangkok charge for Wi-Fi. And I'm pretty sure McDonalds in Bangkok does as well. True has installed Wi-Fi APs along lower Sukhumwit (from Wireless Road to Klongton), and also down Soi 4 a bit (I can easily pick up the signal at Big Dogs and GBB, but haven't tried it farther down the soi). True Wi-Fi is also available along Silom Road, Sathorn Road, Rama IV Road, Ratchaprarop, Rama I Road, New Petchaburi Road, Asoke Road, Charoen Krung Road, and Ratchadamnoen. Plus the outdoor zones of Lumpini Park, Benjasiri Park, Siam Square, Kao San Road, Jatujak, and Thonglor (from H1 to Market Place). If one has a True SIM, they can get one-day unlimited access for 29 (256Kbps) or 120 THB (1Mbps) depending on the bandwidth one wants, by sending an SMS to 9434; 1Mbps for 120 THB send SMS "1day" -- 256Kbps for 29 THB send SMS "wifi29" The amount is deducted from one's SIM card, so be sure there's enough left in your card before sending the SMS. Also available at many of the True Wi-Fi APs is an offering called ‘Green Bangkok.’ The Green Bangkok service allows unlimited connect time, but the bandwidth is limited to 64Kbps, which is plenty quick enough for checking email or browsing forums with photos turned off. One must register for the service with name and ID number (such as passport). And just because it is impossible for them to check, I’m not going to suggest one try spoofing the application. I understand True also offers 4Mbps bandwidth at their Wi-Fi APs, but this requires a special card available at True or TrueMove shops. The prices are; 1 hour for 150 THB, 3 hours for 450 THB, 5 hours for 600 THB. The 1-hour card has a 3-month validity, and the 3 and 5-hour cards have a 6-month validity. There have been some reports saying the True’s system isn’t smart enough to determine how one is connecting to their network, which means if one is in an area that is covered by True’s 3G (Siam Paragon, for example), one can sign-on to the 3G network using their True Wi-Fi or Green Bangkok password. Pretty sweet.

I won't be using it either. The last think I'd want to do after traveling for 20 or so hours, is schlep my bags on to the Rail Link, transfer to the Subway at Makkasan, transfer to the Sky Train at Asoke, and then drag my bags down to the Nana. A couple hundred THB for an air conditioned taxi sounds like a good deal to me!