Thursday, June 20, 2013

Thailand two years on

We have just arrived back from a family trip to Thailand.

We have been saving since Christmas for the trip and have been looking forward to it.

This post is more about what I perceive as the changes I saw in Thailand since we were last there two years ago, I'll do a post on the actual holiday at a later date.

I know the Thai baht is at an all time high against the pound, but from what I saw in Bangkok prices have gone up across the board.

It first it me at the hotel, we were staying at the Centara Grand at Lad Prao, on the first night we took my in laws to the food court in Central. Don't get me wrong, the food is nice and up to western standards, the bill however came in at nearly £50! Whilst that is still cheaper than the UK for the same meal, the difference wasn't that great.

The following day, whilst sitting round the pool, Elizabeth had a can of coke and I had a can of Chang. The bill came to over £8, this I thought was way to much. This could have been more to do with the hotel pricing policies rather than expensive Thailand. I've never paid anything like this at an hotel anywhere.

Petrol as gone up from around 30 baht to 36 baht, although name a country were it hasn't gone up? To me though I used to pay 60p a litre now the price is nearer 83p.

The standards and quality of Bangkok in general seems to have got better and restaurants were we went to on our last trip have all expanded and turned in to bigger concerns. Food in the classic restaurants are still excellent, I was disappointed with some of the chains. It seems that quantity is taking over from quality, meals at Sizzler, Pizza Hut and Pizza Co were definitely bordering in-edible! A plastic sweet taste that didn't seem real.

Maybe because of my diabetes and the lack of sweet things in my regular diet I found a lot of food in Thailand way to sweet, I don't know why so much sugar as to be added. I had a lemonade, wanting something sharp to take away a first. Unfortunately, you guessed it, it was super sweet.

Outside of Bangkok, things are a bit more real life. Prices are a lot better and again the quality of food and attractions seems to be a lot better. Dual pricing is still a bit of an issue, I do wish the UK would adopt this policy, free for locals and charge tourists extra.

Overall, I was really pleased with the way Thailand is going, there is still the massive difference between rich and poor and I saw plenty of times how the rich treat the poor. This will never change....












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