Thailand - please help me pack

[appleslice]

Hi I have seriously lost my sense on style and I go to Thailand in a few weeks and need to know what to pack please can somebody help

what will you do there? City? Beach?

Both Bangkok 3 days and beach the rest

depending on which beach, it's fairly relaxed/informal/lots of hippies. got to cover up at night because of mosquitos/dengue fever (I think I'm right about that). If you're in a proper resort I guess you'd need to dress up more?

Bangkok boiling hot/humid. I'll try to remember what I did when I was there and add more in the morning

I did the same thing a few years ago - first Bangkok then hitting a few islands - I just took as much of my summer wardrobe as I could stuff in my backpack!
But definitely take a couple of long sleeved light tops and jeans, it can be a bit cloudy too.

long sleeved cotton top (serves to protect from mosquitoes and sunburn, and you will want to be modestly dressed to visit Wat or Princess) - though Bangkok is great for shopping and there are lots of things like that for sale on Khao San road and elsewhere.

i went to Ko Phi Phi, Ko lanta, Ko samui etc...planty of beachwear for sale in ko phiphi but more expensive than BKK.

I would take a sarong and a swimming costume. Everything else you need, you can buy. We lived in Bangkok for four years and the clothing is dirt cheap.
Do buy a decent mosquito deterring lotion (off is good), they are shockers and dengue has risen 50% in the last ten years.

Take a light cardigan, because the air con can be brutal.

I used to live there (I can't BELIEVE I am stuck in freezing SE London this winter)

Basically no man made fibres. If your legs rub together (as mine did when I was pregnant) then the humidity and heat will drive you up the wall, so that can rule out dresses.

Ghost clothes are good. Floaty cotton stuff, Some stuff with long sleeves as it can get cold in restaurants or anywhere with aircon. Long palazzo pants and vest tops.

Flat shoes as the roads are rutted and dusty and a shambles.

Hat, suncream, sunglasses.

Ditto dengue prevention. Know a few people who have had it and it ain't pleasant and can leave you ill and run down for ages.

Clothes are cheap there, but sizing is small. I'm a size 10 and was considered a heiffer.

Good point otchayiniye, consider being a size 18, then you are truly chang sized

no
i am too jealous to help

If you're in Bangkok for sightseeing also, take a very thin shirt over a vest to cover the arms and thin trousers to cover legs. Sometimes you have to cover the heels for the temples too.

I always covered my shoulders with floaty 3/4 tops too. Nothing remotely revealing as you would wear on a summers day in the UK.

I am in Bangkok, Phuket and Krabi I am a size 10/12 is bikini ok in the beach resorts?

Will take a cardi and linen trousers.

What about the flight would wearing pj's be ok?

And at night I thought about taking some dresses

I'd take very light dresses you can dress up a little to wear in the evening.
I never needed anything warm there, so maybe only take one versatile cardi.
Take something to wear over your bikini, it's common in resorts to see people eating lunch etc in their swimsuits, but it's more polite to Thai culture to cover yourself up.
I also had a thin muslin shirt that I took in my bag to temples and put on when I got there, and a sarong can be very versatile too, over your shoulders, as a dress, as a skirt etc.

Tinted moisturiser/sunscreen if you need more than a block on your face, waterproof mascara, flip flops. There is a Boots in Bangkok, Tesco etc, so dont panic if you forget anything, it's easy to find.

I bought a straw hat from Next to take over there, carried it on the plane, then realised (should have known really, I'd been before) that they were half the price and very easy to find in Bangkok (doh!)

Thanks Miss Melly was going to take factor 30

I went to Malaysia and Singapore earlier this year (city, beach and jungle) and knew there was a reason why I had made a list:

(I was breastfeeding, so an added complication!)

My plan was trying to travel light but wash while I was there.

Emma Jane Breastfeeding vests 3
Foldable straw hat
Cotton nursing bra 2
Flesh coloured bra
Knickers 7
Boden khaki multi stripe silk skirt
Boden pink silk skirt
Phase eight brown linen trousers
Boden turquoise floral cotton cardigan
Monsoon brown viscose beaded tunic top
White pashmina
Brown pashmina
White Royal Robbins travel shirts 2
White boden beaded cotton top
Pink john lewis silk & wool cardigan
Pink spot Mamas and Papas tankini
White embroidered Monsoon cotton beach dress
North Face zip off trousers/shorts
Beaded flip flops
Ecco sandals
Comfortable lace up shoes
socks 2 pairs

I took a separate outfit for any flights - a teeshirt, slightly warmer trousers and one of the cardigans. I also wore the lace up shoes - thinking of 'Lost'!

Just to say, that list looks like a lot but it all folded down very small and fitted into one of the hand-luggage sized suitcases.

appleslice, about travelling in pyjamas: I fly long-haul quite often and I don't think I've ever seen anyone in pyjamas either on planes or at the airport. You might want to rethink that one!

Tops with sleeves, unless you are staying in resorts. I took loads of vests to Thailand and didn't wear any of them - bare shoulders are not really ok.

I recommend buying some specific travel clothing - the Royal Robbins travel shirts on my list are specially woven to be UV protective and insect proof yet breathable. One of those over a breastfeeding vest was my default outfit.

I tried on most of my other linen tops before I went but realised that I would probably just burn though them!

"Tops with sleeves, unless you are staying in resorts. I took loads of vests to Thailand and didn't wear any of them - bare shoulders are not really ok."

Having lived there, I'd say that's not true. Sure, wear 'decent' clothing for temples, but normal gear is fine on a Westener in anywhere but the muslim south (where it's dangerous to go anywhere)

Rural Malaysia, that's different. Urban Malaysia it's fine in sleeveless tops. Chinese non-muslims don't particularly cover up anyway.

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam - normal dress. Singapore (where I've also lived), basically you'll stand out if you don't wear designer!

Only think that is frowned upon is topless bathing, but I have seen it on the islands.

Oh, and as people have mentioned it, breastfeeding is perfectly fine in ANY of those places -- I was concerned about it but I think that was more me being a first-time mother with a baby who wanted to be on the breast all the time.

You don't need any special gear for that. I hated those emma jane tops and stuck to underwired Anita bras.

Thanks for the posts have started to make a list of what to take.

what do you advise to wear on the flight?

bear in mind that it's normally quite cold on planes - but it will be really hot when you arrive. I flew to arizona last week (where it's still 95) - and I wore a tsirt, skinny jeans, uggs and a big drapey cashmere cardigan wrap thing. I put sandals in my carry-on and a clean tshirt, but if I were going to bangkok I'd probably add a tube skirt (you could fold that up very small) - or a pair of shorts, and change before landing because it is horribly humid when you go out of the doors there