Bangkok Travel Answers

Top of the price range and great location is the Mandarin Oriental. In Bangkok airport there are shops selling orchids specially packed for you to take on the flight home.

Problem with plants and fruits at a airport is enforce and most items confiscated and thrown away. i would not , myself bring home a plant from anywhere unless you are traveling by auto and crossing borders. Manderin is great as well as the Pennisula for hotel. There are soooooo many hotels in Bangkok that it is too hard to chose.best prices are on AGODA. Punch in your dates and rock on. cheers tommy x

Quite apart from any rules in Thailand, and for getting on the plane, in order to import plants with roots into Turkey (legally), Turkish Customs will require you to present a phytosanitary health certificate that you would have to get from the Thai authorities before departure, and you may also need a licence to import such plants into Turkey - which it would only be worth seeking if setting up a business to do this. So either take your mother boxed orchid flowers, which you can purchase at Bangkok airport (and remind her that orchids are the easiest plants to propagate orchids from a cutting!), or buy her an orchid plant when you get back home (which will have been imported by a business having the necessary licences and health certification). I thought it might be possible to order them for delivery to Turkey, but can only find such possibility for wholesale, not retail: http://www.thaiorchids.com Of course it's up to you if you want to purchase orchid plants at e.g. Chatuchak market and then have problems with security check (as you will presumably need to ensure that they have water) on leaving Thailand, as well as managing to smuggle them into Turkey without killing them. And if Customs finds them, not only will they be confiscated if you don't have the necessary documentation, but you might also be fined. Whichever hotel you choose, it seems to me you'll have to travel elsewhere in the city to see other temples and palaces. The Grand Hyatt Hotel is right next to Erawan shrine, or at a lower budget level, so is the Erawan Shrine Hotel. Royal Hotel Bangkok is near the Grand Palace. For other possibilities see hotelclub.com/Thailand/Bangk... - hotels.com/de1647609/hotels-... and gothailand.about.com/od/wher...

So you are only in Bangkok for 3 days, make sure you visit the Grand Palace, Wat Arun at night when it is lit up, perhaps on a river boat, and Chatuchak weekend Market where you can just about buy anything. Maybe a day trip outside Bangkok to ayuttaya or river trip to Bang Pa In

No problem finding hotels closer to temples and palace but there is NO one hotel good for everything. Unless you intend to just return to your hotel after visiting

I'd say get a hotel near the skytrain or metro, so you can move about town easily. +1 for a daytrip to Ayuttuya. The one we did included a boat cruise (with lunch) back down to Bangkok. A Floating markets tour is worth seeing. Yeah it's a tourist trap, but I loved it.

No problem finding hotels closer to temples and palace but there is NO one hotel good for everything! Unless you intend to stay at your hotel and not go out after seeing the city you will still be spending money on taxis for nightlife, shopping or eating out. There are hotels near the city rail service, the Skytrain, where in your off time you can walk to restaurants, nightlife and shopping and still use the Skytrain to take you to other areas like Chatuchak, MBK, Siam area and other locations. You can also use rail service to connect with Airport Rail Link for your ride to and from airport. You will be paying for taxi rides somewhere no matter where your hotel is. Local travel agencies can set you up with tours. Travel agencies have many choices. They pick you up at your hotel, take you to the particular tourist site and bring you back to your hotel. For do-it-yourself palace visits and tuk-tuks Google up "palace scams Bangkok" and "tuk-tuk scams" Bangkok FIRST to be forewarned. fodors.com/community/asia/sc... thai-blogs.com/2007/03/03/th... Good luck.