Geronimo42

This company acts as agents for a number of apartment owners and I thought that I would try one of the Bangkok apartments instead of my usual suite at the GRand President.
 
I booked and paid for 15 days on the 34th floor of the State Tower down near the river. The reviews were nearly all excellent and the photographs were great. The view from the 34th balcony was fabulous.
 
I arrived at 8pm and boy was I dissapointed! Dingey and grubby and in need of immediate attention. One air con only just worked and the other sounded as if it was suffering from a terminal illness. The bed was so soft it nearly enveloped me. This was not a cheap apartment. There were four chipped and unmatched mugs in the so called kitchen and that was it. The kitchen and bathroom cupboards wwere full of old boxes, polystyrene and general shit and hadn't been cleaned out since Noah's day.. Granted the view was great, but I dont visit Bkk for the hotel views.
 
I rang the Grand President that night and they gave me a great deal on a newly refurbed suite, so first thing next morning I was out. I did my money but who cares. I had a comfortable suite for the rest of my stay. The stay at the GP cost the same as the apartment(?)
 
Beware if you are considering this type of accomodation. I'll stick to hotels and well know serviced apartments in the future.

Silicon lube definitely the way to go. Can thoroughly recommend 'Wet Platinum".....never dries out!

I have always stayed in the deluxe suites here and get a great monthly deal . The staff a fantstic,The suites are huge and the beds very comfortable but after my last stay in November it will be my last. The suites are starting to look a little ragged about the edges, but the nighly fight to try and walk from the suk to the hotel, is too much. Alco carts footpath restauriants and zilch room on the road. Like wandering through a inner Dehli suburb.
On my next visit I will be try AirBB down on the river, easy to get to nana and cowboy by MTR and a taxi home afterwards. AirBB deal seesm good. I will be there beginning of march so I will let you know.
Soi 11 went from a place for a nice gentle stroll to madness in only three of four years incredible IMHO not nice.

No

Sorry SAG got to disagree quite forcefully here on points  1 and 2. 
I write from the perspective of someone who lives in the Australian bush and snake bites here are a fairly common occurence.
If someone tried to kill a snake after being bitten they will in all likelihood be bitten again this double or trebles the amount of venom in their system. Couple this with the effort of trying to kill the thing and the person has a real good chance of dying or being very very sick for a very long time. 
 
Tourniquets are a big no no, a compression bandage or wide strip of clothshould be used. The person should be kept CALM and the wound left unwashed so that the snake can be identified. 
The following site run by the Australian government gives some good protocolshttps://www.healthdirect.gov.au/snake-bites
i think the average monger has about as much chance of being bitten by a snake in bkk as being mugged by a visiting martian. 
Be careful what you pass on as truth, it could end up with someone dying. 
No black mambas here but a good variety of other nasties. I have always found that by leaving them alone they leave you alone. The vast majority of snake bites here are caused by people trying to kill them.
Sorry to ramble on but I think it’s important that people have the right information in this case.
 
 

Not thought of it like that, I can see what your saying, just once I am settled in I can't be arsed to up sticks again!

Privacy vs Security is a fine balance and one may not realise how important Security is until one needs it. 

I know most pharmacies are lax about things like prescriptions but are they really handing out ARVs over the counter?

I'm assuming you do test for hiv on a regular basis. If not then do yourself a favour and go test. Taking Truvada on its own if you were hiv positive would be a bad mistake.

In silom pulse, if you come armed with a couple of recent hiv tests showing you are negative and you take a quick pin prick test they will give you Truvada there and then. They will take a blood sample and email the results of your liver function test within a day. It's not exactly as rigorous as the red cross I suspect but it's better then nothing.

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Landmark Hotel would be the closest. Afaik all the 5 star hotels in Nana vicinity accept LB guests. It's much harder to find hotels that dont. 

Thanks again, oliver17 !
You were absolutely right: I took chances and it worked out well! Blue skies, not more smog than usual, temperatures in the okay range, no rain, some busy bars but not extreme though... 
Only drawback when traveling to Bangkok around Chinese New Year: higher than usual hotel prices... :-( 
Thanks :-)

Love it Mikel! This is one if the reasons i rarely go to Nana much rather explore around soi 22/24 and china town. I have seen hong king go from a get anyhing place in the 60s and Bugis St in Singapore dissapear in all but name. Everything is still available in these places you just have to look. Speaking the language helps. Adventurous! I get the  feeling that’s a dirty word these days !!

Information much appreciated & thank you for sharing . 

Love it Mikel! This is one if the reasons i rarely go to Nana much rather explore around soi 22/24 and china town. I have seen hong king go from a get anyhing place in the 60s and Bugis St in Singapore dissapear in all but name. Everything is still available in these places you just have to look. Speaking the language helps. Adventurous! I get the  feeling that’s a dirty word these days !!

Love it Mikel! This is one if the reasons i rarely go to Nana much rather explore around soi 22/24 and china town. I have seen hong king go from a get anyhing place in the 60s and Bugis St in Singapore dissapear in all but name. Everything is still available in these places you just have to look. Speaking the language helps. Adventurous! I get the  feeling that’s a dirty word these days !!

I found a place and have booked.

Hey there Manga
I've seen 2 in 10 years of visiting.
One was a bright yellow/green one down by the canal path at the end of soi 15 and the other was a python in Chatuchak Park.
But saying that, Oliver is right, the soi dogs and rats are a lot more prevalent!
Your biggest risk will be some of the two-legged sharks you may encounter.
Cheers
SAG

Hey there Geronimo
You are most probably right, but I was just repeating what we were taught in basic training many years ago. Saying that, like many things in that military it was probably wrong!
Cheers
SAG

Sorry SAG got to disagree quite forcefully here on points  1 and 2. 
I write from the perspective of someone who lives in the Australian bush and snake bites here are a fairly common occurence.
If someone tried to kill a snake after being bitten they will in all likelihood be bitten again this double or trebles the amount of venom in their system. Couple this with the effort of trying to kill the thing and the person has a real good chance of dying or being very very sick for a very long time. 
 
Tourniquets are a big no no, a compression bandage or wide strip of clothshould be used. The person should be kept CALM and the wound left unwashed so that the snake can be identified. 
The following site run by the Australian government gives some good protocolshttps://www.healthdirect.gov.au/snake-bites
i think the average monger has about as much chance of being bitten by a snake in bkk as being mugged by a visiting martian. 
Be careful what you pass on as truth, it could end up with someone dying. 
No black mambas here but a good variety of other nasties. I have always found that by leaving them alone they leave you alone. The vast majority of snake bites here are caused by people trying to kill them.
Sorry to ramble on but I think it’s important that people have the right information in this case.
 
 

Was there 8:weeks ago for the first time, and for a big city, was fairly pleased with how it was kept.  Lived in a few  big US and Canadian cities over the years and visited most of the others and it was on par or a little better in that regard. Lots of new v old contrast IMO. But as a new board member who just went there this week for the first time aptly put it to me when asked about his first impression - “it’s a different planet man”. Anywho, I see it as kind of an escape into a different dimension.  Our own little Star Trek.......or Twilight Zone episode. Keep the good shit coming boys, great reading ! Reality is always stranger than fiction ..........!

Sorry SAG got to disagree quite forcefully here on points  1 and 2. 
I write from the perspective of someone who lives in the Australian bush and snake bites here are a fairly common occurence.
If someone tried to kill a snake after being bitten they will in all likelihood be bitten again this double or trebles the amount of venom in their system. Couple this with the effort of trying to kill the thing and the person has a real good chance of dying or being very very sick for a very long time. 
 
Tourniquets are a big no no, a compression bandage or wide strip of clothshould be used. The person should be kept CALM and the wound left unwashed so that the snake can be identified. 
The following site run by the Australian government gives some good protocolshttps://www.healthdirect.gov.au/snake-bites
i think the average monger has about as much chance of being bitten by a snake in bkk as being mugged by a visiting martian. 
Be careful what you pass on as truth, it could end up with someone dying. 
No black mambas here but a good variety of other nasties. I have always found that by leaving them alone they leave you alone. The vast majority of snake bites here are caused by people trying to kill them.
Sorry to ramble on but I think it’s important that people have the right information in this case.
 
 

Sorry SAG got to disagree quite forcefully here on points  1 and 2. 
I write from the perspective of someone who lives in the Australian bush and snake bites here are a fairly common occurence.
If someone tried to kill a snake after being bitten they will in all likelihood be bitten again this double or trebles the amount of venom in their system. Couple this with the effort of trying to kill the thing and the person has a real good chance of dying or being very very sick for a very long time. 
 
Tourniquets are a big no no, a compression bandage or wide strip of clothshould be used. The person should be kept CALM and the wound left unwashed so that the snake can be identified. 
The following site run by the Australian government gives some good protocolshttps://www.healthdirect.gov.au/snake-bites
i think the average monger has about as much chance of being bitten by a snake in bkk as being mugged by a visiting martian. 
Be careful what you pass on as truth, it could end up with someone dying. 
No black mambas here but a good variety of other nasties. I have always found that by leaving them alone they leave you alone. The vast majority of snake bites here are caused by people trying to kill them.
Sorry to ramble on but I think it’s important that people have the right information in this case.
 
 

It could be worse - what the North American Mid West is going through at the moment looks like zero fun!
SAG

Bangkok has smog , high heat, 1 zillion percent humidity, monsoon rains - and all of that can happen in the same day. The point is, there is no ideal time weather-wise to visit BKK. Pay no heed to weather projections predicting what will happen 6 weeks from now, because even the best forecasters have no friggin idea on whether it will rain on March 3 or whatever. It's a waste of time reading them, much less planning a trip based on them.  
Plan your trip for whenever it is you really want to go. As for the weather, you can't control it so why obsess over it?  Just go when you want and hope for the best. 

Just rung that up for them, 350 baht for the room please. You guys need to figure out who barfines who. Or is it whom.? 

Jesus, get a room you two.