Singapore to Hong Kong question

[Able Seaman H]

As a Singapore citizen, resident and general Singapore cheerleader I have to agree that a trip to BKK pre- or post- cruise would be a great plan. Leave your major luggage at the Singapore hotel, please pick one of the regional airlines which fly there multiple times a day very cheaply and don't go lowest price on the Bangkok hotel, the middle tier hotels there are quite excellent. I first went to Bangkok 30 years ago and it was a bit of a trial, now it's a place to go to de-stress from life at home with modern hotels, great restaurants and a really relaxed atmosphere.

 

So it's all round to your place for a party then :)

 

For non Singapore residents your suggestion would mean flying into Singapore, getting to a hotel, dropping off luggage, going back to the airport, flying to Bangkok, then flying back to Singapore then getting on the ship. That's a lot of hard work.

 

Better to fly into BKK, spend 2 or 3 days there, then fly to Singapore enjoy another 2 or 3 days before boarding the ship.

 

You are right in saying Bangkok has a fantastic selection of hotels and I agree in exploring the upper echelons of the quality bracket which can be enjoyed far cheaper than many parts of the world. A couple of suggestions though there are hundreds more:

 

Dusit Thani hotel. Nestled on the edge of the Phat Pong night market and entertainment district it provides an oasis of calm to walk back to after the madness. Enjoy strolling round Lumphini Park just across the street and the Si Lom sky train station is right by the hotel giving access to the rest of BKK. Convenient to get to by road from the airport.

 

In some ways the grandfather of 5 star BKK hotels everyone who's anyone has stayed there at some point. Go for one of the club rooms which afford access to the club lounge for breakfast, daytime refreshments and evening drinks & nibbles. My personal favourite are the wood panelled rooms which almost make you think you are on a wooden junk or gentleman's yacht cruising the city's rivers.

 

The Peninsular Hotel. Located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River this is a top notch heavy hitter with massive public spaces which exudes class. Enjoy afternoon tea as a Colonial gentleman (or woman) would have done!!

 

A room overlooking the river allows you to watch BKK in action from a birds eye perspective. A good sized swimming pool and Spa facility. Free shuttle boat every 10 minutes or so takes you across the river to the Saphan Taksin Sky train station for easy access the rest of Bangkok.

 

Whilst there are hundreds of thousands of dining options in BKK my personal must do at some point is Din Tai Fung in the Central World shopping complex. We don't have them in London and the original Taipei version is more "authentic" but it is top shelf Asian comfort food. Xiao long bao soup dumplings. Master the art of eating them and enjoy :)

 

Hong Kong at the end of the cruise also has a couple of DTF restaurants, I've done the Miramar shopping centre branch !

 

Henry :)

Edited February 28, 2018 by Able Seaman H

[rols]

 

Whilst there are hundreds of thousands of dining options in BKK my personal must do at some point is Din Tai Fung in the Central World shopping complex. We don't have them in London and the original Taipei version is more "authentic" but it is top shelf Asian comfort food. Xiao long bao soup dumplings. Master the art of eating them and enjoy :)

 

Henry :)

 

I haven't been to the Din Tai Fung in Bangkok, we have a few of them here and they are all excellent. We mostly visit when we want not-too-heavy a meal usually at short notice, although we avoid Friday night when the line is half way round whatever mall you're in. You've made me pine for the flattened pork chop dish they serve. The soup dumplings are also wonderful but I will caution anyone who hasn't tried them before that it's better to leak the soup onto the spoon and sip than ingest the whole thing and start looking for the nearest throat burn unit, the inside of those puppies is hot.

 

In BKK we went to Nahm, with a cautionary expectation it may not be as good as the reviews and it really was as good. Our favourite hotel there is the Mandarin Oriental, it's the first place I went to in Bangkok 30 years ago and it's ridiculously expensive and absolutely wonderful.

 

I think the point here is, don't visit Bangkok for 4 hours from a ship parked at the container port of Laeb Chaeng, go there, take a hotel room for a few days and enjoy what I consider one of the best and (to my mind) most improved cities in Asia.

[Able Seaman H]

Nothing to disagree with in that lot rols :)

 

The biggest thermal shock I ever got was in Taipei. On my own, don't speak mandarin, the restaurant didn't speak English so lots of pointing and nodding. Got a bowl of stuff in a sort of soup and a steamed bun like the lady opposite me. I opened it up to reveal the purple inside and left it there for 5 or 10 minutes to cool down whilst I ate my stuff in a bowl.

 

As I bit into it the napalm like filling had retained all but half a degree of its core temperature. I was transported to the centre of the earth and my mouth stung for a week afterwards :)

 

The joys of Asia. I love the area as you never know what's around the corner. Where about s are you based, not sure where "here" is.

 

Henry :)

[frantic36]

Henry, thank you for your video and the comments re Sanctuary of Truth. I had heard about it before, but after googling further after your video, it has sealed the deal when we go to Laem Chabang. Luckily we have already spent time in Bangkok.

 

Julie

[wripro]

Agree with the others that Laem Chabang is far from Bangkok and traffic is horrendous. What we did was to book the ship's excursion that was just the bus ride back & forth. We didn't want to risk going on our own and missing the boat. We also booked a private tour for Bangkok. Our guide picked us up at the shopping center where the ship's bus dropped us off, took us to see the Grand Palace, a temple or two, the Jim Thompson main store (my request) and then returned us back at the shopping center well in time for the bus ride back. My only complaint was not enough time in Bangkok. This was on Crystal, so I don't know if Seabourn provides the option of a back & forth bus.

 

Your only complaint was not enough time in Bangkok. Well, that is the whole point, isn't it? This may be someone's only time ever in Bangkok and to allow so little time is criminal imo. Even if SB docked at Klong Toey a 5:30PM departure time is not enough. For Laem Chabang it's ridiculous.

[Able Seaman H]

Henry, thank you for your video and the comments re Sanctuary of Truth. I had heard about it before, but after googling further after your video, it has sealed the deal when we go to Laem Chabang. Luckily we have already spent time in Bangkok.

 

Julie

 

Glad it helped.

 

Your taxi will drop you off and wait for you in the entrance area at the top. You wander into the office area and pay your entrance fee. Then you wander into the area proper. It's a sprawling park, the temple is down a load of stairs at sea level and there are various restaurants, elephants, possibly a horse and cart which may or may not transport you up and down the hill side.

 

Wander round the temple at your leisure. The workshop where they do the carving is on site as well. A good chance to grab a bit of simple Thai food.

 

Great photo oppotunities and a chance to stretch your legs on dry land. We got a local taxi from the port. I think we had a bit of a haggle, you negotiate with the dispatcher and they talk to the drivers.

 

If you want to go into Patong the driver will take you. In my case the girls went shopping whilst I wandered round the temple complex.

 

Henry :)