Review: Bangkok Food Tours

Holy 1700 is expensive. You can probably arrange them yourself for under 500THB/person, though it is the fact that Bangkok is quite hard to navigate that they see the opportunity to jack the price up.

I think the meeting point is because there are also tons of hotels around Chamchuri Square.

And to be honest, asked me off hand, where I regularly commute on around that area, I don't know where Royal Orchid Sheraton is either.

It seems unfortunate that there was as much driving or a closed temple or pad thai. It almost seems like what a Thai person THINKS a tourist wants instead of using the opportunity to really show what Bangkok has to offer and what amazing food u can have if you are more adventurous. At least you were all together which always makes it fun.

Maybe i'm just old, but whats the difference between a laundry shop and a 'laundry shop'? I havent been to Thailand in 15 years but would love to go back someday. SE Asia has been our destination of choice these days. Unique and affordable and one of the few parts of the world that still comes off as unique.

I took this tour on the 22nd of december, I think we almost ended up in the same tour!

It was lovely and the guide was actually the same for you and me. I agree with the part that the english was a bit hard to understand, but I also felt the was sweet and funny, which i really appreaciated.

Our entire group was so much fun that I actually didn`t think the tour duration was too long. Whenever we started at a venue we were talking about our lives back in our countries and sharing experience, is was really fun.

Again, coming from Brazil and knowing Bangkok from a couple of trips, I didn`t think the price was half bad. Whenever I am in Bangkok I`m always having some kind of hard time staying away from scams or similars. People try to charge you more for everything, from the restaurants, to the flowers, taxis and tuktuks. 50 dolars is pretty inexpensive for a 04 hours tour with everything included. Even if the food is not expensive where they are selling, you literally have to just go and eat.

🙂

@Tiffany -- Loving these write ups; especially with the perspective of taking a large family. My wife and I absolutely loved our brief stay in Bangkok at the Millennium Hilton--where the club lounge has great views and great (free!) food and drinks. That being said, there's just something about a $2 chicken pad thai hot off the street. Too good!

@ innocenat -- Yeah, Bangkok is a big enough city that I wasn't upset that they didn't know where it was, just felt badly that they'd been sent off with the wrong instructions.

@ SOLTATIO -- Agreed, was totally set up for tourists. Which, that's probably who is willing to spend that kind of money on these things, so can't criticize the business model! And we did have a great time.

@ Alex -- Welllll.....would you generally put on formal wear and a lot of makeup if you were planning on ironing clothes?

@ Jake P -- Right? Loved the street food throughout our trip!

@Fernando - do you recall the name or location of the rooftop bar on the tour? Going to Bangkok in the future and I'd love to have a drink there. Views look really cool.

I'm sure I'm just being super dense, but I still don't get the laundry shop comment.

@bling

Some sort of brothel would be my guess, this is Bangkok after all.

The rooftop bar is probably the bar at Sala Rattanakosin hotel ( http://www.salaresorts.com/rattanakosin/).

Tiffany, you gotta love folks that fault you for staying at a hotel that is "corporate" etc. in Bangkok when this website is dedicated to the best use or points and miles, etc. For folks that want the "authentic, local experience, you should probably be spending more time on the "Lonely Planet forums" they sort of dedicate themselves to that type of travel.

@ Eric J. -- Hell, I'm faulting myself for staying at a hotel that was that "corporate"!

The Nana nightclub VIP party tour marked on your map looks more interesting.

A lot of the tuk tuk drivers can't read so that's why when they're shown addresses, even in Thai, they have to ask for directions instead.

I did a tour with this same company, but I chose the Yaowarat Street Food tour. It sounds as if maybe it's a little better value in terms of price to food ratio - it's cheaper and I think we had food from 14 different places (although at some of them we didn't even sit down). I really liked it.

No idea if we did the same company, but we did the exact same tour, 100%, including the mystery rooftop bar. It was a good time.

Always agree on the tuk-tuk fare BEFORE you get in.

And if a driver says 'no' to your offer, you know you've found the approx. 'market price.' Move on to the next tuk-tuk and adjust your offer accordingly.

I am not long back at the hotel after doing this tour tonight and agree with most of the writer's comments. However, I felt the $50.00 price was well worth it as the logistics of arranging it yourself would be a huge challenge for most. It was a little on the long side but I would still wholeheartedly recommend the tour to anyone wanting to experience the culinary delights of Bangkok.

We lived in BKK for two years and I've never heard brothels being referred to as "laundry shops". Though the girl who used to do my laundry was always in full make up and stiletto heels, but that's BKK, the girls are beautiful and VERY proud. 🙂

Tiffany, I really enjoy your writing style. You should have your own blog. keep up the good work

Thanks for the review. My wife and I will be in Bangkok next month and love food.

I'm still bummed about the lack of slutty Mrs Claus pics, but do appreciate your review and excellent wrangling of words...

@Tiffany- I love Pratunam Khao Mun Gai and I heard great things about the Pad Thai Thip Samai. Sorry to hear about the Tuk Tuk situation. I actually enjoyed taking UberBlack around town with BTS SkyTrain. I can't wait to hear the rest of your trip!

If you're still in Bangkok go to Terminal 21 mall at Sukhumvit and Asoke. Besides being a huge mall they have an incredibly cheap food court on the top floor. I think my wife and I got dinner for $2 for both of us. It's basically locals only, because we were the only westerners there. You exchange some baht for coupons and use those to pay. Then you exchange your leftover coupons back into baht. I have no idea why they do it like this, but they do.

As a local, those places are authentic I can assure you. The chicken rice and the Pad Thai places are one of the most famous in town. The tour is kind of pricey but unless you want to test your chances against scammer Taxi and Tuktuk (That is the aspect I am not so proud of my home town), tour is the way to go to ensure less scamming. It's always a good idea to ask the hotel to provide the hotel map in Thai since not so many Tuktuk/Taxi drivers are fluent enough to communicate clearly in English.
Always have a hotel contact point in hand in case you get scammed, the hotel staff would know what to do such as contacting the tourist police or negotiate with the scammer.
But after reading your last review on Royal Orchid Sheraton, I am not so sure the staff would gladly provide such service ; )

Next time, try Shangri-La/The Peninsula if you want to stay next by the river. Unfortunately, Sheraton/Hilton seem to be the only major chains that have property next by the river.

I love trying to eat local - I've been on two similar tours, one in Iceland and one in Bucharest!

I absolutely love your writing style and this sentence 'The organizational guru in me wanted to die a little at the logistics of this entire operation' made me so happy. Hurrah for us organizational types!!

Who's the dark haired girl taking the selfie pic? She's cute! 🙂

@Ken
The reason food court in BKK/Thailand use the coupon/cash card system is usually there is revenue sharing between vendors/shopping malls something like 70/30. This system helps shopping malls keep track of sale of each vendors.

I agree with SOLTATIO - this was totally tourist food, or what Thai folks think tourists want to eat. It's a shame that they did not give you any TRUE local food. Thanks for the review - I'll make sure I don't go on that tour when I go to Thailand!

@Art - Thanks, that makes sense.

We took an all day food tour with Chile Paste tours when we were there at the end of November. Much better organized, way more food, probably about the same price. Great guide who was easy to understand - she vacations in Oregon, so her English was excellent.

We also encountered an illiterate taxi driver, so showing Thai directions didn't help. Fortunately, we were at the Hyatt, so repeating Erawan seemed to get through and we ended up a few blocks away. Pretty good considering he spoke no English and we spoke no Thai!

@ brad and Soltatio- sorry, I'll have to agree with the local, snory, and concur that the food is authentic Bangkok street food. I've been to both the chicken rice and the pad thai place with my local Thai friends before, and almost everyone there is local. I hadn't been to the Guay Tiew Kua Gai place before, but definitely local, and one of the best I've ever had.

I thought the tour was good value, considering it included a 4 hour tuk tuk rental, and a beer at the Eagle's Nest (rooftop bar at Sala Arun, which is where they take you). I added up B500 worth of food, plus tuk tuk, plus the guide- you could maybe save $10-$20 doing it on your own, but it would be a lot of hassle, and take you longer...

Price seems to have been bumped up to 1800 baht now.