hey guys. ive read the stickies in the forum here and skimmed some of the Lonely Planet Thailand book, but i'd like a little more info.

ive wanted to go to thailand for a very long time and im finally going to be doing it for approx 3 weeks starting in early november. ill be going with my long term gf, so ill be looking to do some romantic things as well as fun party stuff and snorkelling/scuba, jungle tours, etc.
ive been to Bali before so i have a little experience travelling in SE Asia.

so here are some questions:

1) we're flying into bangkok. how long should we spend here? what should we do?
i am in love with thai food. i'd eat it every day if i could. what are some of the best restaurants to go to? i want to eat the best thai food i can possibly eat.
i'd probably like to check out some thai kick-boxing as well.

the restaurant Sirocco http://gridskipper.com/archives/entries/058/58924.php looks really cool. would u guys recommend this place?

2) ill be spending my birthday in thailand. i'd like to stay at a really nice hotel on a beach (probably have a villa. nothing over $500usd/night)
what do u guys recommend?

3) will probably want to stay on 1 island for a week or so to do some grinding and relaxing. where's best? probably an island that has at least a little something going on so i dont get bored.

4) best way to pay for hotels/restaurants? credit card or baht? i dont want to be bringing big stacks of baht to pay for expensive restaurants so if credit cards are an efficient way to pay for stuff that would be great. what are the charges on atms there for cash withdraws from n.america?

5) best places to snorkel?

6) how would i go about getting bananas while im here?

6)give me an itinerary for 3-4 weeks in thailand. give me your favorite things to do!

bananas are available at the supermarket

or is that a euphemism for drugs/sexual activity?

I live in Asia now and brought my gf from the US over last year for a week in Thailand. We skipped Bangkok and went straight to Phuket and Phi Phi islands. Only stayed in Phuket for one night, but there is definately kickboxing stuff going on there.

I can answer any questions you have about Phi Phi. I loved it. No cars, only foot paths thru the village. Lots of restaurants and bars and full moon beach parties.

We stayed at a super romantic resort called Phi Phi Island Beach Resort. It's located about a 15 minute boat ride from the village. Completely serene and beautiful. I payed around $150 US a night for a beautiful bungalow about 50 yeards from the beach. It wasn't located directly on the beach, those were a little pricier. The beach and pool were great, and the staff and food were excellent also. Check it out on tripadvisor.

There was a small village directly behind the resort also that had some cheap local restaurants. They fed off the resort, so the food was pretty good. That is also where I went to hire a longboat to take us back and forth to the village a few nights for dinners or drinking. It was cheap, and we payed in a four hour block so the captain just waited until we were done. We came back and he was drunk on the beach. Off we went into the ocean night. My gf was freaked but I figured the guy had done it a thousand times. I thought it was pretty funny.

Anyway, feel free to ask questions, I'm happy to answer. If you're interested I can post a few pics of the resort a little later.

All in all, I would reccomend the islands, don't waste your time in Bangkok.

Have fun

bananas are a euphemism yes.

bonus question:

best airline to fly LA-BKK ?

you'll get as many answers to these questions as there are people participating in the forums. those of us who live over here, mostly stayed at the places that most appealed to us (I'm a Phuketeer, for instance) and then as we became more intimately familiar with our locales, cared about them more. so you'll see aggressive debates throughout the "ask us" thread about where to visit, with most people's answers being "those other places I don't stay at the most are ok, but mine is the bomb"

i'd spend the time to browse the ask us thread for a few hours, decide from that what sounds most appealing to you, then start to solicit advice from the 2+2'ers who live there.

Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phuket, and Samui are all reasonable places to stay, but people will tend to see things through the lenses of their own preferences even when you spell yours out well... so take it all with a grain of salt. if you decide to take some time in phuket, i'll probably be one of the ones dishing out advice on where to eat, and how to find "bananas" whatever that's really a euphamism for.... probably weed I guess?

Thai Airways direct flight ainec

Best to avoid banana's in Thailand. Quality is bad, prices are high and penalties if caught are stiff.

i dont see any reason not to use credit cards at the higher end restaurants / malls / hotels etc

from LA to BKK I suggest thai airs direct flight like mentioned already

itinerary:

3-4 days in BKK, one week in phuket (maybe include day trip/spend one night on phi phi islands), few days in chiang mai. pattaya is probably something you are not looking to show your girlfriend. spend the rest of the time on the islands/places others mentioned. i havent been to those so cant really recommend

like rutang says everyone will have a different plan for you. it doesnt look like you have a tight budget for your trip so i would just go to some of the main places here and then see how long you want to stay at each of them. flying is cheap here even for semi last minute bookings

Thai Airways is very, very nice, as is Cathay Pacific & Singapore Air. The direct flight though is the way to go, unless you simply want to add on a stop in Hong Kong or Singapore, neither of which is a bad idea. In fact unless you def. know you're going to return to southeast Asai, I think it'd well be worthwhile to add 2 days to your trip and do a free stopover in one of those cities. Singapore makes USA look like a 2nd world country, & high-end shopping is out of this world. Food in Hong Kong is amazing (though not cheap), plus you could jump over to Maccau & play some poker!

If you do decide to spend some time in Bangkok, try to arrange it so you're there over a weekend so you can visit Chatuchak Weekend Market. It's more than a bit overwhelming, but w/out a doubt the best place in BKK to buy gifts & souvenirs to take home. Would be best to visit during your last weekend in Thailand so you don't have to haul stuff you buy all over Thailand with you. Pick up a copy of Nancy Chandler's map/guide to weekend market to make finding you're way around a little easier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatuchak_Weekend_Market

Almost anywhere you eat food will be great. Street food can be awesome. Definitely eat at least one dinner in China Town; just walk around until you see a place you like, or simply pick the busiest place w/ the most # of locals (not other tourist) eating--they know which restaurant is good.

Though I don't think any of the buffets in BKK have the best food available in BKK, I think it's worth it to eat at one of them just for the experience. HUGE selection, good quality, reasonably priced for what you're getting, and OMG what a dessert bar! Can't get anything like it here in USA. IMO the nicest hotel & best buffet in BKK is at The Peninsula, directly across the river from the famed Oriental Hotel. There is a free ferry to Peninsula directly next to the Oriental so you don't need to bother with taxis to get to that side of town.

Absolutely no problem using credit cards at any hotel & middle/high end restaurants in Thailand--you'll actually get a better exchange rate, and you have consumer protection against fraud just like you do in USA, Europe, etc.. Carrying around all your vacation money in cash is moronic; at the very least get traveler's checks, but IMO credit cards are the way to go. Obviously you will need some cash, as smaller restaurants, shops, & street market stalls/vendors in BKK won't accept credit cards. No problems using credit cards in Phuket & Samui, smaller outer islands might be somewhat more problematic, especially at smaller independent restaurants / guesthouses. Basically you just need to carry walking-around money with you.

As others have already mentioned, everyone has their own opinion as to best beaches, best places to stay, eat, etc. If you're looking for a beach area w/ good mix of everything, i.e., nice places to stay, eat, shop, party, but also able to chill & relax & get away from it all, then Samui gets my vote.

However, Phranang is one of the most beautiful / interesting beach areas on mainland Thailand, super-easy to get to from BKK due to direct flight to Krabi, and it doesn't get much more baller or romantic than this: http://www.rayavadee.com/
Not a lot to do there, however, except relax, go rock-climbing, kayaking, scuba diving, drinking on the beach @ sunset. Highly highly recommended.

Better yet, do a little online research and rent a private sailboat / catamaran (most likely based out of Phuket) & spend a couple of days sailing/motoring along the coast. Many people would consider it an experience / trip of a lifetime. Amazingly beautiful area of the world.

Have a great time, be safe, and under no circumstances whatsoever should you buy any high end gemstone or jewelry while you are there. Yes, Thailand is a great place to buy rubies & saphires if you know what you're doing &/or are in the gemstone business. However, if you're not an expert or in the business, at the very least you're going to vastly overpay but more likely be completely ripped off. Consider yourself warned.

Finally, feel free to ride in a Tuk-Tuk once just for the experience of it, but afterwards stick to taxis. Taxis in BKK are ridiculously cheap, air-conditioned, and usually very clean; tuk-tuks are completely the opposite plus more expensive than a taxi if you're going more than a couple of blocks away.

Tuk Tuks blow.

so i booked thailand tonight for next friday. thanks for all the help guys.

is Chang Mai worth going to if we're mostly wanting to beach-bum it up in the south? its so far out of the way...
we have 3 weeks in thailand and we're leaving out of koh samui.

No, it is way out of the way. All the beach stuff is south of Bangkok and Chiang Mai is north.

If you plan to go to Koh Samui I'd recommend Napasai (napasai.com) for your birthday. It will be about $500/night but well worth it if you get one of the beach villa's.

Chiang Mai is nice, quite chilled out compared to Bangkok and lots to see. If beaching is your main this I'd probably do something like 3 days Bangkok, 4/5 days Chiang Mai, then head to one of the beach resorts. Flights are cheap and easy between Bangkok/Chiang Mai/Phuket.