|
RangerScum posted:Agreed, but I only get so much vacation per year. Going to go somewhere a little closer next time, or save up every possible vacation day and take a 15 day trip or something.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2010 18:39 |
|
|
# ? May 21, 2024 15:34 |
|
I was in SE Asia about about 3.5 years ago so my information might be a little outdated but I spent 4 months backpacking through Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Vietnam. Be glad to answer any questions. I flew into Thailand, took the bus from Thailand down to Malaysia and Singapore, bused back up to Malaysia and flew from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh Cambodia on AirAsia. I then bused overland from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City. I spent approximately 3500USD in 4 months not including flights and I was eating and drinking pretty well. I would love to go back; I tried going this Christmas but flights were full so I ended up in Central America instead. I enjoyed Thailand and Cambodia the most. I thought Vietnam was the most scenic (spent about 3 weeks there) and did an bus tour from Saigon up to Hanoi however I definitely found Vietnam to be a lot more aggressive than Thailand. In fact Vietnam was really the only country where I had a bad experience. In Nha Trang I got surrounded by a gang of moto-bike girls while walking home one night. They brushed up against me and I pushed them away, five seconds later I noticed I had a giant rip in my jeans and my wallet was hanging out. They basically cut my jeans with a razor blade in an attempt to steal my wallet however they didn't get it. I definitely got a bad vibe in Nha Trang but I still highly recommend Vietnam. Sapa and Ha Long Bay were two of my favorite places on my trip. I'd love to go back one day and do a motorcycle tour like Pompous Rhombus but I'm afraid it will probably be a few years before I can afford that again. I kept a travel blog (http://blog.macado.org) with pictures if anyone is interested though I'm sure there is more updated information elsewhere. Also, I know this has been mentioned a million times but the best advice I have is bring as little in the way of clothing and other accessories as possible. You can buy pretty much everything you need there. Also, it's a hundred times easier to travel when you have a smaller backpack. You really don't need a massive hiking bag like I saw so many people using unless you're planning on doing some camping or hardcore backpacking. It's also much easier to get a ride on a motobike if you're not carrying around a huge backpack. I wouldn't recommend this at all but I basically didn't get any shots or vaccinations before going there other than a tetanus shot. As long as you're not going into deep jungle or well off the beaten track I think most people would be fine though I guess if health insurance is going to pay for it you might as well get them. Same advice about malaria, I used a combination of pure DEET and a mosquito net. I'm still alive if that means anything.
|
# ? Feb 8, 2010 19:26 |
|
Cheesemaster200 posted:I can't be one to talk though, I am in the same situation where I don't have much vacation time and I want to go to all these far off places... The vacation has to be on the terms you can set. It would be fantastic if we could all have 4 months off to travel through southeast asia (and props to the people who can/are adventurous enough to) but sometimes we have jobs. Sometimes they are jobs that we like that we couldn't possibly get more than a week or two off, or aren't willing to quit to take a few months off. I went to thailand for 8 days a couple weeks ago. Was it long enough? No, but I had to be back at work on monday. I still had a blast, though and I'm off to Malaysia for a week on friday. Unfortunately I couldnt get the vacation in a giant block, but that's life. When I was in Thailand I had a ton of people scoff at my one week trip, telling me I wasn't seeing the true Thailand cause I wasn't backpacking for a month. Maybe in a way they are right, but you know what? gently caress them. It's YOUR vacation. Take the opportunities you are given and enjoy the hell out of it, no matter how long or short they may be. The way I look at it is: would you rather go somewhere and say "it just wasn't long enough" or not go at all?
|
# ? Feb 9, 2010 12:53 |
|
Bulging Nipples posted:The vacation has to be on the terms you can set. It would be fantastic if we could all have 4 months off to travel through southeast asia (and props to the people who can/are adventurous enough to) but sometimes we have jobs. Sometimes they are jobs that we like that we couldn't possibly get more than a week or two off, or aren't willing to quit to take a few months off. I went to thailand for 8 days a couple weeks ago. Was it long enough? No, but I had to be back at work on monday. I still had a blast, though and I'm off to Malaysia for a week on friday. Unfortunately I couldnt get the vacation in a giant block, but that's life. When I was in Thailand I had a ton of people scoff at my one week trip, telling me I wasn't seeing the true Thailand cause I wasn't backpacking for a month. Maybe in a way they are right, but you know what? gently caress them. It's YOUR vacation. Take the opportunities you are given and enjoy the hell out of it, no matter how long or short they may be. The way I look at it is: would you rather go somewhere and say "it just wasn't long enough" or not go at all? It also helped that, because I am employed, I had a bigger budget to work with. This let me take flights everywhere and essentially remove myself from the budget traveling which so often takes up time.
|
# ? Feb 9, 2010 17:19 |
|
I have a few quick questions about Thailand, Kanchanaburi in particular. There's a few day tours I've been checking out online that look interesting, but all of the tours that involve bamboo rafting also seem to be tied with elephant riding, which I'm not keen on. Is bamboo rafting something that can be organised independently outside of a set tour? Or is it just a matter of going on one of these tours and then saying no to the elephant ride part? ...Is bamboo rafting down the River Kwai even worth it? Opinions welcome. Also if anyone has stayed at either Blue Star Guest House, Sabai @ Kan or Ploy Guest House in K'buri, your opinions would be welcome also. Right now I've got my eye on a bungalow at Blue Star which sits over the river, but I haven't booked anything yet. Three weeks until we head off!
|
# ? Feb 11, 2010 01:56 |
|
Bulging Nipples posted:When I was in Thailand I had a ton of people scoff at my one week trip, telling me I wasn't seeing the true Thailand cause I wasn't backpacking for a month. Maybe in a way they are right, but you know what? gently caress them. It's YOUR vacation. Urggh nothing pisses me off more than smug backpackers telling other people about the ONLY way to travel.
|
# ? Feb 11, 2010 02:05 |
|
freebooter posted:Urggh nothing pisses me off more than smug backpackers telling other people about the ONLY way to travel. Just ask them about how sad it is hill tribe villages are getting electricity and running water.
|
# ? Feb 11, 2010 02:15 |
|
Yeah, that's ridiculous. If you're some smelly loving backpacker in fisherman pants walking down Khao San or visiting Chiang Mai, you're still as much of a tourist as anyone else.
|
# ? Feb 11, 2010 04:07 |
|
SonicDefiance posted:I have a few quick questions about Thailand, Kanchanaburi in particular. There's a few day tours I've been checking out online that look interesting, but all of the tours that involve bamboo rafting also seem to be tied with elephant riding, which I'm not keen on. Is bamboo rafting something that can be organised independently outside of a set tour? Or is it just a matter of going on one of these tours and then saying no to the elephant ride part? Honestly, the best way to do SE Asia and even moreso Thailand is to just show up and then determine what you're going to do. If you book something like that online in advance it's going to be at least 4-5x more than what you'd pay if you just walked in. Walking in also allows you to negotiate the price, because they will try to gouge you big time. So don't plan. Have a very, very loose list of things/places and that is it.
|
# ? Feb 11, 2010 06:45 |
|
SonicDefiance posted:I have a few quick questions about Thailand, Kanchanaburi in particular. I spent one New Year's in Kanchanaburi. It's a fairly small town and I rented a bike and managed to find where the bars were by just following younger Thais around on their bikes. Ended up running into some of my former students there at a bar and saw a hot as gently caress performance by some local performer on the stage. While I was there I also went to the more touristy areas. They have a smallish market near the bridge that's tourist centric, and a mess of bungalows all over there next to eachother, many of which have rooms on little rafts on the river. I was staying in a hotel more toward the center of town as I'd just decided to visit Kanchanaburi for New Year's (having spent the previous one in Bangkok mostly sitting in a taxi) and took the local Thai bus there. I don't understand why you would want to go rafting but not elephant riding. The two are inextricably linked tourist pastimes in my mind, I was never interested in either. The only advice I have along those lines is that, if it's an option, sit on the elephant's head rather than its back as it's a much more comfortable ride (and the elephant obviously doesn't give a poo poo). Two things that are cool to do in Kanchanaburi: 1) Visit the tiger sanctuary. Go on one of the arranged songtaews (pickup truck turned bus via benches in the back and a little roof) out there, probably set up through your bungalow operation. There's a totally non-eventful tiger temple near it and people who try to find it on their own end up at this stupid little nothing temple next to the road instead (like I did) and give up on seeing the tigers (I didn't -- I found a monk instead and he gave me directions to the actual sanctuary). When I went they still had two baby tigers you could play with (they played loving rough though, goddamn tiger scratched the poo poo out of my shoes), but they're grown up now. Still, if you're brave, you'll probably get a chance to pet a live tiger while a monk feeds it condensed milk pellets. Don't wear red, the monks all told me that it attracts the wrong kind attention from the tigers -- also don't squat down or bend over to take pictures, for the same reasons. 2) Buy some little Burmese cigars. They come by about 50 in a cellophane bag, have a greenish wrapper (I think it's supposed to be banana leaf) and are slightly bigger than a cigarette. Very mild sweet smoke. Because Kanchanaburi is toward Burma you can often find them there. As per the post above me, booking anything online is unnecessary. I doubt the gouging is as extreme as I See Things says it is, and even if it is and you end up paying ten bucks a night for a three dollar a night room oh no Batman that's seven bucks you'll never see again. The reason to not book online isn't a money issue, it's an options issue upon arrival. Pompous Rhombus posted:Just ask them about how sad it is hill tribe villages are getting electricity and running water. "Thailand is not a real country any more. I have been coming to this island since the 1970s and now there are so many bungalows and people running businesses." -- Fat German Tourist brendanwor posted:Yeah, that's ridiculous. If you're some smelly loving backpacker in fisherman pants walking down Khao San or visiting Chiang Mai, you're still as much of a tourist as anyone else. "It's not always spicy. It's never spicy. I've been living in Chiang Mai for a month and I eat cashew chicken all the time and I've never had it served spicy before." -- Canadian Woman Tourist in Fishermen Pants raton fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Feb 11, 2010 |
# ? Feb 11, 2010 09:32 |
|
The tiger temple there is ok, I was there not too long ago, but it's not hugely special or anything. The tigers are all pretty zonked out from eating and just sit there yawning while the guide person takes pictures of you with them, they make you sign a piece of paper which says it's your fault if you get eaten by one of them and not their responsibility lol, they didn't seem to notice we all wrote poo poo like donald duck in the name section of ours. If you're gonna go there don't take the minibus tours from bangkok, splitting a cab fare then bus to the tigers/bridge will be way cheaper. Rafting could probably be fun but it's not white water rapids or anything.. so I guess I'd skip it and the floating market place near it as well (it sucks big time) oh sorry i just re-read that post correctly, why not elephant riding? it's badass & there's fuckall else to do in that town Noir desir fucked around with this message at 10:01 on Feb 11, 2010 |
# ? Feb 11, 2010 09:58 |
|
I won't be booking any tours online in advance; I meant that I was just looking around on some sites to see what kind of things were available to do. I'm not interested in riding elephants or anything to do with tigers because I'm not interested in supporting those practices - probably the only animal-related thing I will end up doing is visiting the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, although I am still doing a bit of research into that. Doesn't really faze me if I don't go bamboo rafting to be honest, but I noticed that the two activities (that and elephant riding) do seem to be linked in every tour that I've seen, so I was just wondering whether it was something that could be done ad hoc if we decided it might be a nice way to pass some time. Noir, how long were you in Kanchanaburi for? That's the first time I've heard that there's not much to do around there, although most people whose reports I've read/heard seem to only have been there for no more than a couple of days. We're only staying for one night, two days, so we will probably be quite busy most of the time. As well as the historical stuff around town I'm quite keen to go to Sai Yok and/or Erawan. SonicDefiance fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Feb 11, 2010 |
# ? Feb 11, 2010 12:27 |
|
SonicDefiance posted:I have a few quick questions about Thailand, Kanchanaburi in particular. There's a few day tours I've been checking out online that look interesting, but all of the tours that involve bamboo rafting also seem to be tied with elephant riding, which I'm not keen on. Is bamboo rafting something that can be organised independently outside of a set tour? Or is it just a matter of going on one of these tours and then saying no to the elephant ride part? I stayed at Blue Star, not on the river though. The cats had a major nocturnal throwdown outside my bungalow between 3am and 5am, I gave up on sleeping and walked around town before sunup, which was fun. Actually, I recommend waking up crazy-early at least once in Thailand, as you get to see Real Thai People(tm) going about their business, monks going out for alms, etc. I visited the WWII cemetery, chatted with some garbagemen, and then got breakfast in the town square as the first shop was opening. There is an *awesome* Indian restaurant down the road from Blue Star called Ali Bongo. It's the best Indian food I've ever had. Aside from that, I stumbled across the Monkey School at Kanchanaburi, which was an interesting enough little diversion. There are also a number of worthy sites/stops on the road to Sangkhlaburi, which is itself fairly picturesque. [Cue motorcycle recommendation.] On the Tiger Temple, I haven't gone but I know some people accuse the monks of drugging the tigers. I doubt that's the case: aside from that being pretty antithetical to Buddhist teachings, tigers are generally nocturnal so it's really no wonder they're sleepy and sluggish during the day. I used to work at a zoo in high school, the tigers there were the same way. I guess if you want to see them all frisky, try and get there as early in the day as possible. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 19:45 on Feb 11, 2010 |
# ? Feb 11, 2010 19:42 |
|
Bangkok photo ops I'm by no means an expert on Bangkok but thought I'd share some good spots for photography in Bangkok. Please add yours if you know of any. Bayoke Tower Tallest building in Thailand. I've only been there once though. The view was nice and it wasn't too crowded so it might even be possible to bring a tripod if you're dorky enough. They charge a bit over 200 baht (2 years ago) to enter but one free drink is included in the sky bar. Skytrain Goes through the city like a snake. The view from it is sometimes quite spectacular, especially when it reaches the bends around MBK and it all looks like a scene from Bladerunner (somewhat). To get good photos you need to go to either the very front or rear of the train because anything inbetween is covered in advertising. If you can't think of anything to do one day, buy a one day Skytrain pass and ride both lines from end to end. The walkways to the Skytrain stations also offer good views of the constant traffic jams below. The Victory Monument station is good for this. Chinatown This area is always bustling. It's really crowded and you're likely to get run over by a car while taking a photo but it'll be worth it when you recover the memory card from your broken camera (ok, not really). There's almost an endless amount of things to take pictures of. Might not be too exciting if you're coming from Hong Kong though, but at least people should be friendlier than those grumpy HK people! Bobae Tower Or actually the Prince Palace hotel. On the 11th floor there is a nice outdoor area with a pool and restaurant. The view from here is quite good. Entry is free and nobody checks if you're a guest of the hotel or not, unless you look super suspicious. Go to the higher floors for even better views.
|
# ? Feb 11, 2010 21:33 |
|
Oh god, you want a good photo op, go up to Sky Bar/Sirocco restaurant, 63rd floor of the State Tower on Silom. The most amazing night views in BKK. Drinks and food are quite expensive though, and that's by western standards.
|
# ? Feb 11, 2010 21:57 |
|
The 360 degree executive bar in the Bangkok Hilton (not that one!) has amazing views - I'm not sure if you even need a pass to get up there either.
|
# ? Feb 11, 2010 22:36 |
|
Photo-wise (or if you just want to sight-see), I like to start at Hualamphong station in Chinatown after dinner, walk down Yaowarat and then follow the river all the way to Banglamphu/Khao San. You can pass the Thieves Market with a slight detour, otherwise sticking to the river takes you to a metal bridge (a popular hangout for local teenagers) with a medium-sized night market, as well as Bangkok's 24/7 flower market. It's extra fun if you stop at convenience stores along the way and buy booze as you go.
|
# ? Feb 12, 2010 04:00 |
|
Ringo R posted:Bangkok photo ops I'm not a big fan of the river taxi in general but you can get some pretty kickin pictures from it. Get on at Sapahn Taksin (the southern most stop, there's a bridge and a BTS station there) and get off wherever you feel like on your way north. One of the stops is at Khao San if you want to see that, but not every boat that leaves from Sapahn Taksin stops at Khao San and it may be hard for you to figure out which one you're on. If you miss the Bunglumpoo pier just get off at the next stop (so long as it's on the East side of the river) and take a taxi back. Another place to get off potentially is the pier right next to Wat Pra Kaew so you can go see the Emerald Buddha and Wat Po. If you visit Chinatown be sure to also stop by Little India (Pauhwarat) which is right next door. Best photo ops in Chinatown IMO are the gold stores and Trok Sampaeng (a narrow little alley with shops in there that used to be called the Thieves Market). Be aware that both Chinatown and Pauhwarat are loving grotty and dirty and crowded and bustly and inconvenient even compared to the rest of Bangkok, so don't plan on spending more than a couple of hours there before you start your escape. There are, of course, many cool temples to visit. Rather than trying to hit the major ones, just stop by whatever temple you happen to be walking past when something seems to be going on there (best times for this are usually in the evening -- you may see a monk induction ceremony, a funeral, or any number of seasonally oriented things). They're also pretty stunning breaks from the heat and noise of Bangkok. Monks are often a bit better educated than the general Thai population and a somewhat surprising number of them will be able to have a basic conversation with you in English. My favorite temple is actually a tiny Indian one simply called Wat Khek (which means "Indian Temple") by most Thais -- it's on Silom between Sois 13 and 19 somewhere, I don't remember the exact cross street. It should also be mentioned that the hooker cauldron that is Nana Plaza makes for some pretty cool pictures, as does Soi Cowbowy, the other fairly genuine sex for sale depot. Patpong, Bangkok's third hooker haven (and the last out and about with neon for farang one), is more of a fake watch and DVD market these days than it is a genuine sex alley, but the nearby Japanese oriented soi (the girls are in kimonos instead of bikinis or school girl outfits and make little Japanese noises at passing prospective customers instead of yelling HELLO HANDSOME MAN!) is pretty cool. There's even some fairly authentic Japanese street food over there if you look around a little bit, a ramen shop, a curry den, that kind of thing. raton fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Feb 13, 2010 |
# ? Feb 12, 2010 04:32 |
|
brendanwor posted:If you're some smelly loving backpacker in fisherman pants walking down Khao San or visiting Chiang Mai, you're still as much of a tourist as anyone else. Ah, so that's what they're called. Been wondering why EVERY backpacker wears them. Must be written in Lonely Planet or something. I'm sure they're comfy but drat... Sheep-Goats posted:It should also be mentioned that the hooker cauldron that is Nana Plaza makes for some pretty cool pictures, as does Soi Cowbowy, the other fairly genuine sex for sale depot. Just don't try to take any photos inside the naughty bars or people will be upset!
|
# ? Feb 12, 2010 04:46 |
|
kru posted:The 360 degree executive bar in the Bangkok Hilton (not that one!) has amazing views - I'm not sure if you even need a pass to get up there either. If anyone wants to choose the "emigrate and/or work in Thailand as something other than a teacher" option I can give advice on that. Rhombus knows way more in general about traveling Thailand and Southeast Asia than I do (not to mention Thai history, reading Thai, speaking Thai, etc). Kind of sad now that I say it out loud! gently caress you Rhombus! Making me look bad, slacking students with your free time and mandate to learn the language and history. Heh. Actually, one thing I think I can say is that I know the outer environs of Bangkok really well. If anyone's interested in getting a little outside of Bangkok and seeing some everyday life with oddball temples or markets thrown in I can help out with that. I also know the river boat routes and what not exceptionally well. And the offer to take anyone running in the plantations and jungle-y areas still stands.
|
# ? Feb 12, 2010 14:25 |
|
Pompous Rhombus posted:
Seconding the restaurant. On the whole kanchanaburi tour, I did one that was offered at my guesthouse (sugarcane guesthouse, which was nice). You do the waterfalls, elephant ride, rafting, railroad+temple, trainride, and the bridge itself. The falls are fantastic and I could have stayed there a lot longer, jumping of rocks, getting free fishmassages elephant ride is ok, but rather boring. The "rafting" is... well... they take you to your raft with a motorboat, then the friggin' thing drifts downstream for half an hour at the pace of an old lady, who's just been hit by a bus... And then the motorboat brings you back to the place you started. Not really worth it. What I didn't know is that you can take a different tour, where you do the museum and cemetary instead of the elephant-raft thing. If you have any interest in the history of the place I recommend you do this.
|
# ? Feb 12, 2010 22:04 |
|
If you're heading up to Kanchanburi, try a dish with 'het kone' (local variety of mushrooms). One thing you pick up on in Thailand pretty quick is that most cities and regions have some local dish or vegetable or something that they're known for. When Thai people drive more than 5 minutes away from home they're required by laws handed down from the Ayutthaya Dynasty to return with bags of local food to distribute to friends, family and co-workers. True story. Totally not true story, actually, but it might as well be. The mushrooms probably won't blow your mind, but when in Rome and all that. I enjoyed them - in fact tom yam het (tom yam with mushrooms) is what I usually eat instead of shrimp, so het kone is an interesting variation. Not as cool as waterfalls or the railroad museum, but a little local color that's probably not in the guidebooks. The trail running's really cool up there too if you take off into the foothills and such, for what it's worth. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Feb 13, 2010 |
# ? Feb 13, 2010 00:12 |
|
Saturday night in Bangkok. Someone's been out drinking, a lot. Someone who cannot stand the lovely lady in my avatar. So this someone sent me a pm
|
# ? Feb 13, 2010 19:41 |
|
Hah, totally sober - can't drink while I'm on these pills. My first fungal infection =D That avatar just screams kaaaaa through my soul, heh.
|
# ? Feb 13, 2010 22:12 |
|
Sheep-Goats posted:Random Phnom Penh list: ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 15:23 on Feb 14, 2010 |
# ? Feb 14, 2010 15:20 |
|
Fiskenbob posted:I'll leave it to someone else to write a segment about the Philippines. Like you, I don't feel I visited enough of the country to write a decent piece. Manila, The Philippines Things to avoid in Manila:
In all seriousness, it's not a very interesting city, there's a lot wrong with it and anyone who takes the time to fly to the Philippines should just skip on down to an island or, if you feel compelled to hit up a city, spend your time in Cebu or Davao or somewhere else. Manila is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. That being said, if you feel compelled to go, below are a few things to note - keep in mind I was there not as a backpacker, so I don't know the Ermita scene at all:
I have a number of friends there and I have zero qualms with Pinoys, but most of them acknowledge that Manila is a shithole and the only reason many people go there to begin with is that there is zero opportunity in the province. People from Cebu seem to be a lot happier, for what it's worth. The descriptions here do not at all apply to my time spent outside Manila, where I found laid back, friendly, smiling people, where it wasn't necessary for every business to be guarded by men with guns and where people weren't constantly trying to rip you off. The Philippines can be a great place and very charming, just avoid Manila (and probably Zamboanga and Sulu, heh). ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Feb 14, 2010 |
# ? Feb 14, 2010 17:04 |
|
Well, I'm in Phnom Penh, just started job searching last week, but no hits yet, and I'm getting a bit antsy. Does anyone happen to know of a Khmer class in the city? I'll ask over at khmer440 too, but I like you guys more. Likewise, if anyone knows good places to meet people, I'd love to hear about them. I've found some decent places by the riverside, but there's pretty much the same formula of a few cool young people passing through, bargirls, and depressing expats. So far my best experiences in the city have been wandering aimlessly around the slums for hours. The people are generally really friendly, and will often gather me around while the one English speaker in the group practices on me. The children are also wonderful. I've also had fun exploring the peninsular area across the Japanese bridge. It's full of bizarre construction projects, schools, slums, and a little Muslim enclave. Here are some photos taken around Phnom Penh, if anyone is curious: http://picasaweb.google.com/elindert/Cambodia2010
|
# ? Feb 15, 2010 12:12 |
|
Would be great to read some more stuff on the Phillippines. Think it will be my next destination in SE Asia. Too bad the Visa extension is so bloody expensive - $70 AUD for a 2 month Visa but I only want to extend the visa-free period by 5 days.
|
# ? Feb 15, 2010 13:27 |
|
superwofl posted:Would be great to read some more stuff on the Phillippines. Think it will be my next destination in SE Asia. Too bad the Visa extension is so bloody expensive - $70 AUD for a 2 month Visa but I only want to extend the visa-free period by 5 days.
|
# ? Feb 15, 2010 22:00 |
|
Astian posted:I've found some decent places by the riverside, but there's pretty much the same formula of a few cool young people passing through, bargirls, and depressing expats. I spent about five days in PP and that's pretty much my wholesale impression of the place. You're looking for English teaching work? I think it can be had there but you're going to have to dig around a bit. Not a ton of extra money floating around to pay teachers with after all.
|
# ? Feb 16, 2010 02:47 |
|
ReindeerF posted:The visa thing is pretty easily handled by basically paying a bakshish fee. It's not like Thailand where an overstay is quasi-serious, you basically just go "yeah I overstayed" and then not only do you pay just a tiny fine, you also bypass most of the airport waiting lines. At least last I checked this is how it works. Just read this thread and it doesn't seem so positive. Looks like the rules changed a bit in 2008: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1669236
|
# ? Feb 16, 2010 09:39 |
|
superwofl posted:Bakshish = tip/bribe? Have you done this before yourself? When did you last do it? I just don't wanna end up having to pay the overstaying fee which I read is about 1000 pesos, and then have to pay for the visa extension too which is 3000 pesos, and possibly miss my flight. http://www.philippineembassy-usa.org/downloads/NonImmigrantVisa.pdf 3 months, $30. Probably take a day to process. The local embassy's right on the skytrain on Sukhumvit and there's probably one in your country. Because of the number of Balikbayan Pinoys working abroad there are a lot of consulates (one in every Jollibee!). As for reality, people on expat forums LOOOOVVVVEEE to spin gloom and doom about how every little thing will land you in jail. The guy on the post you cited talking about biometrics is a typical idiot in this vein. The Thai Visa forums are a contest for how quick the local "experts" can post about how not having your passport on you at all times will lead to being throw in jail and of course they always know someone who this happened to. Rhombus might have seen it because of people he knows, but I've been here four years and have never seen even one of the worst case scenarios they carry on about. It's no different than any other forum culture, everyone's trying to sound important. There's a guy on ThornTree who tells everyone coming to Thailand to take malaria medication and argues with anyone who says otherwise. The reality of how things work is usually much different than what people harp about on these forums and my experience in The Philippines reinforces this. If you look at the question here that's much more recent you'll see more realistic sounding advice (i.e. "my lawyer told me to just pay the overstay at the airport"): http://en.allexperts.com/q/Philippines-201/2009/11/cost-3-month-overstay-1.htm If you come to Thailand and overstay and go to the immigration office they will flat out tell you (assuming it's under a few months) to just go pay it at the airport. As you can see, The Philippines works similarly. So, yeah, do it the right way to be safe, but if you don't I wouldn't get too worried. Mostly it's a cost benefit thing.
|
# ? Feb 16, 2010 11:01 |
|
Ah $30 isn't bad at all. A lot more reasonable than 3,000 pesos which is around $60-70US. Just checked the Aussie Philippino embassy and it says $30 US for a 3 month Visa too. Don't understand why it's 3,000 pesos in the Phillippines. Would you have a rough itinerary for 26-30 days in the Philippines Reindeer? I'm thinking I'll fly into Manilla or Clarke, maybe go up to the area north of Manilla (Baguio), then make my way down to Coron and across the Islands to Palawan. Spend a couple weeks there and then go to Cebu, fly from Cebu back to Singapore. I don't want to cram lots of stuff into the trip or spend too much time on the bus/boat. I've done that too many times before - I just wanna keep it at a slow pace, be able to stay an extra couple days at a place if I meet some cool people/find a wonderful place. Is it best to fly around between the islands or boat it? To be honest I haven't bothered to read too much about the Philippines yet I feel like a dick asking lots of questions before I've read much but I'm reading some stuff now. Thanks! superwofl fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Feb 16, 2010 |
# ? Feb 16, 2010 11:53 |
|
Just chiming in on the new thread, used the last one a lot to ask questions about my current trip. In Vietnam at the moment and just bought a Minsk, I was going to get one in Hanoi but ended up traveling south without a bike and grabbing this in HCMC It has it's problems but it goes, and I didn't pay a lot for it as Minsks go. As I mentioned in the last thread someone tried to steal it from outside my hotel on the first day of owning it, that really sucked and we've experienced similar things once or twice in Vietnam which really bummed me and my girlfriend out, but then you encounter other people who completely make you forget about things like that.. Today for instance, we stopped at a garage on the outskirts of HCMC to pick up some 2 stroke oil for the bike, after fetching the oil and paying for it I got literally man handled into the room where all the oil was stored by some completely smashed locals, they sat me and my girlfriend down and handed us both a can of cold beer and just started toasting and chanting "happy new year" over and over. There was a big language barrier but it was really funny and pretty cool. It was 12 noon and these guys were hammered, in the space of 10 minutes they must have shook my hand 20 times and toasted new year 60 times. Great stuff.
|
# ? Feb 16, 2010 13:05 |
|
superwofl posted:Ah $30 isn't bad at all. A lot more reasonable than 3,000 pesos which is around $60-70US. Just checked the Aussie Philippino embassy and it says $30 US for a 3 month Visa too. Don't understand why it's 3,000 pesos in the Phillippines. The only thing I know to tell you that I really, really, really always wanted to do is to figure out how to rent a stay with one of those islands where they take you out by local catamaran or canoe and you're the only person on the island with the villagers. Some friends of mine could probably arrange this if you're interested. It's not a luxury thing. There are 7,000 islands in the Phils and because there's virtually no tourism there are all these islands with real villages where people are thrilled to have some foreigner show up and drop a little money and stay for the week or weekend (I don't mean that in a coarse way, but tourism's a major source of income, so if you're respectful then there's nothing wrong with showing up and dropping some cash). The whole thing sounded awesome and I really wanted to try it, never got the chance so I don't even have details. This guy does great threads (read all his travel threads if you're headed to the Phils): http://teakdoor.com/philippine-forum/13039-wayne-kerrs-busuanga-island-expedition-philippines.html Sorry I can't be of more help! ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Feb 16, 2010 |
# ? Feb 16, 2010 16:27 |
|
Fox1 posted:As I mentioned in the last thread someone tried to steal it from outside my hotel on the first day of owning it, that really sucked and we've experienced similar things once or twice in Vietnam which really bummed me and my girlfriend out, but then you encounter other people who completely make you forget about things like that..
|
# ? Feb 16, 2010 16:31 |
|
ReindeerF posted:I tried to temper my review of Vietnam when I posted the original thread about 4 years ago, but it was the most dishonest and aggressive place I encountered in SE Asia outside The Philippines. Plenty of wonderful people and great experiences, but way more than its fair share of hucksters and ripoffs. The Philippines is probably just as bad, frankly, mostly due to English. Still, the further you get from the water in Vietnam the better everything is from what I gather. I've got friends that lived there for a decade now and they pretty much concur that it's way more aggressive, but they also enjoyed their time there and don't have any substantive complaints. When/where did you go there? I had no problems outside the touts in Hanoi, and even then they were nowhere near as bad as the ones at the major sites in Bangkok.
|
# ? Feb 16, 2010 22:39 |
|
Can I buy antibiotics over the counter in HCMC?
|
# ? Feb 16, 2010 22:48 |
|
Flip goon here, and ReindeerF's description of Manila is p much accurate. I lived there for 6 years and it is pretty miserable. Don't take that to apply to the rest of the islands though. For some reason poor people from the provinces just flock to big cities in search of opportunities, with sadly little means of making a living. My family moved around a lot when I was young and I've kept up the tradition, so I've seen a lot of the islands. I'm in Cebu now, and it's ideal as a base for traveling to the surrounding islands and the rest of the Visayas and Mindanao. It's a beautiful country, and it's sad that not many locals have the perspective or economical freedom to get around and really appreciate it. Many foreign travelers I've met say the same. In any case, I'd be happy to answer questions from anyone curious about this nutty country. Edit: I can do a writeup if requested, but ask about a specific island or region -- there are simply too many. fartmanteau fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Feb 17, 2010 |
# ? Feb 17, 2010 04:26 |
|
|
# ? May 21, 2024 15:34 |
|
Thanks for the info, Reindeer. Will look into the island village idea. edit- just read the link you gave me. Those sorta pics are the reason I wanna go to the Philippines. Hey, nasoren. Any tips for what I should do with 26 days in the Philippines? These are the things I would like to do: trekking in the jungle, trekking in the mountains, snorkelling or maybe diving if there's anywhere really special, swim with those whale sharks at Donsol, look at pretty places, eat good food. These are the things I don't want to do: lie on a beach all day, be surrounded by tourists, try to see too much stuff in one trip. Palawan is one place I know I definitely want to see but there's so much else I don't know where to go. I haven't booked any flights yet so I could start/finish in either Manila or Cebu. Oh yeah I'll be there during Easter, anything cool going on then? Don't a lot of people crucify themselves in the Philippines? FloorMat posted:Can I buy antibiotics over the counter in HCMC? Googled for you and found this: http://www.adoptvietnam.org/travel/VNclinics.htm#local%20pharmacies%20and%20antibiotics superwofl fucked around with this message at 10:25 on Feb 17, 2010 |
# ? Feb 17, 2010 10:03 |