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what should i budget for a 6 month SEA tour?
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Apr 1, 2010 00:53
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Drudkh posted:what should i budget for a 6 month SEA tour? ??? This is not enough information. How much money do you have? Do you want to stay in hostels? Apartments? 5 star hotels? Do you want to eat street food or at Western restaurants? Do you intend on drinking cheap beer from 7-eleven or sipping cocktails on hotel rooftop bars?
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Apr 1, 2010 03:26
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brendanwor posted:??? I'll probably stay at mid-range guesthouses. I don't really drink, but that doesn't mean i wont occasionally, and ill probably eat a combination of western/street food. I'll be traveling through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.
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Apr 1, 2010 04:19
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Drudkh posted:what should i budget for a 6 month SEA tour? 8,000 to 80,000 dollars. Drudkh posted:I'll probably stay at mid-range guesthouses. I don't really drink, but that doesn't mean i wont occasionally, and ill probably eat a combination of western/street food. I'll be traveling through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. Oh. Well with the dollar where it's at right now (32 THB per dollar  ) probably nine grand. I'd say six grand is the minimum for someone not used to the region trying to get by on as little as possible but still trying to move around and see stuff.
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Apr 1, 2010 04:21
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Sheep-Goats posted:(The answer is Ethiopian food. I couldn't find Ethiopian food when I lived in Bangkok either.) 
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Apr 1, 2010 09:30
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ReindeerF posted:This is an excellent point and it bugs me too. I asked some real live Ethiopians and they basically said, "Yeah, we don't know of any." Disappointing! I had assumed maybe at least one place down in Nana would have some, but so far nothing There's at least one, my professors were talking about having gone to it.
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Apr 1, 2010 14:02
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Pompous Rhombus posted:There's at least one, my professors were talking about having gone to it.
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Apr 1, 2010 15:05
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Just a quick bit of advice needed please. I've seen a few hostels asking to hold passports/ID as a deposit on your room. Is this legit? I understand travel agencies needing your passport to sort out visas, but other than that I can't think of any other time I'd like to hand my passport over to people. Am I being paranoid?
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Apr 1, 2010 17:30
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It's legit. I forget what Thailand's laws are, but some countries over here are required by law to hold them (I think that's true, never verified it). I don't think that's true in Thailand, but I've lived here long enough now that it hasn't come up in years and I just don't know. It's certainly not abnormal for them to ask for it though in my memory. Sort of a deposit. I wouldn't sweat it. Don't rent a jet ski though, heh.
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Apr 1, 2010 17:45
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Ted Ed Fred posted:Just a quick bit of advice needed please. I've seen a few hostels asking to hold passports/ID as a deposit on your room. Is this legit? I understand travel agencies needing your passport to sort out visas, but other than that I can't think of any other time I'd like to hand my passport over to people. It's legit, but they will also often accept a photocopy of the ID page of your passport instead. Get a copy, tell them you need the original for whatever reason (going to consulate) if they press. I also used my passport copy as ID for bars and even as deposit on a bike one time (plus a thousand baht) so I got a lot of use out of it. Many places just want to see it to copy down your passport number for their register, which they're supposedly required to do (though some places don't), it's fairly rare that they want to actually hold it. I personally wouldn't part for it just for a room for the night and would just move on to the next place, but if I was new to the country and dog tired from the flight, knowing what I know now, I'd just hand it over and move on the next day. Nothing to be terribly worried about. I think maybe my first week in Thailand I saw a French woman freaking out about the currency exchange booth asking for her passport and then making a copy of the ID page. "Miss, I want your name! It is ille-gal! You can not do this!" and the Thai lady in the booth just had this look on her face like she been dealing with that bullshit all day. The French woman just kept up with it and eventually, for the sake of getting the line moving, I just tapped her on the shoulder and asked her "In what country is it illegal to make copies of passports?" You're right to be cautious with handing over your passport but sometimes when you travel there's no way around it, even if you're not in an embassy. Pompous Rhombus posted:There's at least one, my professors were talking about having gone to it. ......maybe. I personally searched all of the habitable bits of Suk. Sois 2 and 3, including all the weird little alleys one day looking for one. Found Egyptian (greasy fried pigeon OH WOW). No Ethiopian. raton fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Apr 1, 2010 |
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Apr 1, 2010 19:36
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Ted Ed Fred posted:Sent you an email, maybe see you in Bangkok next week! Hey, when/where are you guys meeting up? I'd love to join for a beer outside of 7-11. I'm up for a 7-11 crawl on Khao San rd, will be wearing my fisherman pants.
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Apr 1, 2010 21:11
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ReindeerF posted:The mythological Ethernopoan restaurant rears its head. Get directions! First result in Google for "ethiopian restaurant bangkok", claims to be only one in Thailand. ReindeerF posted:It's legit. I forget what Thailand's laws are, but some countries over here are required by law to hold them (I think that's true, never verified it). I don't think that's true in Thailand, but I've lived here long enough now that it hasn't come up in years and I just don't know. It's certainly not abnormal for them to ask for it though in my memory. Sort of a deposit. I wouldn't sweat it. Your passport is the property of your government and you aren't supposed to surrender it to some random foreigner. That said places will ask for it, although in Thailand it's normally just to copy down your details when you check in. In Vietnam I'm pretty sure it's the law you have to leave it with the desk though, and I've never really been bothered by it. Wherever you are, motorbike rentals in particular will usually want to hold on to your passport as a deposit, rather than asking backpackers to come up with $500 or $1000 to leave. Can make it a PITA if you want to rent a bike for a multi-country trip, you often have to leave a deposit that exceeds the actual value of the bike, which is why buying one and selling it later is attractive for longer trips.
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Apr 1, 2010 21:55
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I remember being all paranoid about the passport thing, especially after the coup (I was like wtf if they start shooting, I gotta get to the embassy STAT) but I honestly don't think I ever turned it over.
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Apr 2, 2010 01:19
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Pompous Rhombus posted:First result in Google for "ethiopian restaurant bangkok", claims to be only one in Thailand. Pompous Rhombus posted:Your passport is the property of your government and you aren't supposed to surrender it to some random foreigner. That said places will ask for it, although in Thailand it's normally just to copy down your details when you check in. In Vietnam I'm pretty sure it's the law you have to leave it with the desk though, and I've never really been bothered by it.
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Apr 2, 2010 06:51
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I haven't had this occur in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia or Vietnam (not to say it doesn't happen obviously - but I too would be pretty wary of handing over my passport - don't see why a photocopy wouldn't be sufficient).
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Apr 2, 2010 08:15
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I think this has been beaten to death but, the hotels/hostels I've stayed in in China (Beijing, Xi'an, Nanning, Guilin, Yangshou, Detian, Qinzhou, and Hong Kong) all asked to look at it and either photocopied it or wrote down some information and gave it back to me. I think it's like hotels in the US asking for your driver's license. They just ask for passports from foreigners because it's easier. I could understand them wanting to hold it as a deposit of sorts if you borrow/rent something but I personally would rather not give up my passport in case I needed it while exploring the area for whatever reason.
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Apr 2, 2010 09:42
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Vietnam is the only country that always takes your passport, but in my experience they also always gave it back to me when ever I requested it, when I needed it for rentals etc elsewhere. Never an issue.
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Apr 3, 2010 08:57
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Would anyone happen to know the wind direction in southern Thailand around Febuary/March? I am planning a cycling trip in southern Thailand and was wondering if it would be better to take a train from BKK and cycle our way up or the other way around.
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Apr 3, 2010 16:29
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PrinceMetal posted:Would anyone happen to know the wind direction in southern Thailand around Febuary/March? I am planning a cycling trip in southern Thailand and was wondering if it would be better to take a train from BKK and cycle our way up or the other way around. Some yachting website that has that stupid poo poo up where you can't highlight words to copy them posted:Prevailing winds from November to April are northeasterly and from May to October southwesterly. That's for the Andaman coast so I assume it applies to the whole peninsula. http://www.thailandtraveltours.com/thailand-sailing-yacht-thailandsailingyacht.htm And what do you mean "cycle our way up?" Are you coming from Malaysia or going to Chiang Mai or what?
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Apr 4, 2010 10:08
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Sheep-Goats posted:And what do you mean "cycle our way up?" Are you coming from Malaysia or going to Chiang Mai or what? I was thinking about taking a train to southern Thailand, from BKK and bicycle back to BKK or biking down and then taking the train to BKK. We'll be restricted by time since we'll be coming in from Cambodia cycling through Isaan and can only do one way one our bike so it'll more fun with a tailwind.
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Apr 4, 2010 19:14
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Ringo R posted:Hey, when/where are you guys meeting up? I'd love to join for a beer outside of 7-11. I'm up for a 7-11 crawl on Khao San rd, will be wearing my fisherman pants. I'm free to meet anytime in the next couple of days. Staying at Lub D in Silom. Shoot me an email at uncle.ivan.sa@gmail.com.
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Apr 6, 2010 15:53
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Pompous Rhombus posted:
Burger King patties tasted totally weird. Thailand had weird tasting beef all around. Like I would get a craving for a ton of red meat and order a steak and it would be some weird buffalo or something. Cambodia had good beef I found though, also Lucky Burger there had the best burgers I thought. They where like little sliders almost with the same sort of seasoning as A&W. Cambodia KFC was also tops. I seriously eat at all the fast food places when I am different countries to compare them. But I am usually in places for over a month, and need greasy food when I am hung over. Also sushi was expensive as hell, and not that great. But I am from Vancouver so I duno. I did find it funny this one resturant had like 17 people working in it and there was 3 tables of customers, and the place had maybe like 20 tables total.
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Apr 6, 2010 23:38
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If I have a budget of just $5K USD or so and live fairly simply (like in hostels), how long do you guys expect I could last in Vietnam/Cambodia? How about Thailand?
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Apr 7, 2010 03:02
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da keebsta knicca posted:Burger King patties tasted totally weird. Thailand had weird tasting beef all around. Like I would get a craving for a ton of red meat and order a steak and it would be some weird buffalo or something. I found the meat in Cambodia pretty poor, to the point where I became a vegetarian for the last two weeks or so because it just wasn't worth the bother of eating. (I'm a pretty committed omnivore, so this was quite a feat.) This was all local food I was eating though, I was traveling with this Indian-Brit guy who was even cheaper than myself, so my diet was like 95% street/market food. I think I lost like 5-7 pounds the 30 days I was there from diet and walking around, and I really didn't have a ton of weight to spare to begin with. The seafood in Kep is great, although I never tried sushi. You'd order it and watch a lady walk out the back, hike up her skirts, wade out into the ocean and grab your lunch out of a bamboo cage, bring it in to the kitchen to cook  TRefitty posted:If I have a budget of just $5K USD or so and live fairly simply (like in hostels), how long do you guys expect I could last in Vietnam/Cambodia? How about Thailand? Does this include airfare? You can stretch your money pretty far if you stay in one place for a while. Buses, taxis/tuk-tuk's, tours, admission fees and the like, while not massively expensive on their own, do add up if you're doing new stuff every second or third day. By contrast, renting a place at a weekly (or monthly) rate, finding the cheapest good eats around, and just hanging out in the sun, reading, socializing with locals or your fellow travelers, etc works out to be significantly cheaper. You'll miss out on breadth, but you do get depth, and if you just want a change of weather/scenery/pace from back home it might be the ticket. In Thailand, the more touristed places often have classes that teach Thai cooking, massage, kickboxing, language, etc for people on holiday. Thailand and Vietnam are a bit more expensive than Cambodia and Laos on average, although still quite affordable. There really aren't a lot of hostels/dorms by the way, most commonly you will be staying in a guesthouse. Price will vary widely depending on location, popularity, season, and amenities. $10/night should get you a private room, probably with hot water shower in all but the expensive places (Bangkok, Phuket, etc). Honestly, aircon isn't necessary and I actually prefer not to have it; fans are much better for keeping mosquitoes away.
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Apr 7, 2010 03:58
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Honestly, aircon isn't necessary and I actually prefer not to have it; fans are much better for keeping mosquitoes away. I'd like to invite you to my simple abode and let you sleep one night without aircon. You'll that's amore for sure! Especially this month, my god it's hot. But seriously, it probably depends on what climate one is used to (don't try it you silly Scandinavians) and whether the room in question has good ventilation or not. Due to the superior building standards in the region your room will probably have ventilation even in the most unexpected places. I've heard Bangkok gets really quiet during Songkran as many Thais return home. True?
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Apr 7, 2010 06:24
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Ringo R posted:I've heard Bangkok gets really quiet during Songkran as many Thais return home. True? The caveat this year is the red shirt protests. Most people expect them to break up by Songkran, but apparently there's talk of them possibly hanging around and having Songkran at major intersections throughout Bangkok which would RUIN MY HOLIDAY. Still, march on nascent democracy. EDIT: And, yeah, it's Africa hot during Songkran season. I can go without aircon and just use a fan once I acclimate, but a lot of that depends on the place itself. Room in the middle of a guest house not on the top floor and not on the corner (so it's not being baked on more than one side by the sun) - that's probably tolerable while backpacking. Can't work and live permanently in that kind of heat, though.
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Apr 7, 2010 10:47
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In my experience beef in Cambodia is even worse than Thailand. Anything but mince is almost inedible it's so tough. Even the loc lac I've had, which is marinated in lime and supposedly very tender, is stringy and chewy as hell. Luckily the pork is usually delicious.
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Apr 7, 2010 13:56
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Ringo R posted:I'd like to invite you to my simple abode and let you sleep one night without aircon. You'll that's amore for sure! Especially this month, my god it's hot. But seriously, it probably depends on what climate one is used to (don't try it you silly Scandinavians) and whether the room in question has good ventilation or not. Due to the superior building standards in the region your room will probably have ventilation even in the most unexpected places. I'm from Florida so  ReindeerF posted:True. It's why I never go anywhere on Songkran anymore. I love the whole week of being able to get around Bangkok without a hassle. The water play gets a little old after about the second day (like when you're riding to work on the back of a motorbike and get soaked), but it's a small price to pay for being able to get from point A to point B without sitting in traffic. Did someone say Songkran in Bangkok? Here, let me flog my pics from Soi Cowbow/2008 again:          
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Apr 7, 2010 15:31
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Songkran in Sukothai is slightly cuter:
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Apr 7, 2010 16:27
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So I have nothing to do for a few months and am thinking about doing the travel through SE Asia thing. I did a search and found a pretty good deal (I think) for airfair--$1200 roundtrip from DC area to BKK. Plan would be to spend the entire month of May in SE Asia. I want to try and keep my expenses under $3k so this gives me about $1800 to plya with. I went to Borders today and tried to look at some of the travel guides but they're so extensive it's mindboggling. Here are some initial questions if anybody can help me out: -Is there one guide that is better than any other and which I should use exclusively? -I will be going by myself. I tend to get bored when I'm by myself. How easy/hard is it to meet up with other single travelers while there? Is this something I should try to arrange before leaving or can I count on being able to meet and socialize with other travelers while there? -One of the guides I looked at mentioned several guided tour companies that create itineraries for you while you're in the region. This seems like an enticing thing to do, albeit more expensive probably. Does anybody have experience with these tour companies? -I'm not at all an experienced traveler (never backpacked before or traveled anywhere solo) so I don't want to get in over my head. That makes me think I should stick to Thailand exclusively and not go to other countries lest I overextend myself. At the same time I want to see and do as much as I can so part of me wants to go to as many different places while I'm there. Any thoughts on this? Just travel around Thailand or go to one or two other countries while I'm there? -The hardest part of this whole thing is trying to put together an itinerary. What is the best way to do this? Just go through a Lonely Planet guide and start jotting stuff down? Any ideas? Broohaha fucked around with this message at 03:49 on Apr 8, 2010 |
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Apr 8, 2010 03:46
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Broohaha posted:Here are some initial questions if anybody can help me out: I've been given the Eyewitness Guides to some countries as gifts by well-meaning relatives and while they're well-written, cover a decent-ish amount, and have interesting little culture/detail notes, they're terrible for backpackers because they only list a few midrange options with the rest towards the high end; they're oriented more for "real people" like your parents on holiday. Rough Guide is maybe the #2 choice but it's second place by a large margin, Lonely Planet is what the majority of people use. I personally use the LP guides to give me a rough idea of where I want to go, and supplement it with some Googling beforehand. A lot of times you'll find cool stuff in none of the guidebooks on people's blogs, or postings on travel forums like Travelfish and Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, as well as local ones like Thaivisa and khmer440. You can also cruise Couch Surfing and ask locals for their recommendations, or even arrange to hang out with them. The best source IMO is other travelers, it's always great to pick people's brains if they're coming from the direction you're going. The information is much more likely to be accurate/current, and you can ask questions. I usually mark up my Lonely Planet guidebooks with suggestions, phone numbers, addresses, directions, etc. It's kinda neat to hang on to the old ones and look back through them. For $1800 and only a month, you actually ought to look at some of those tour companies. It's more expensive, but on the plus side you waste less time and it's a lot easier than doing everything by yourself. I'm not saying do a tour for the full 30 days, but I'd consider taking at least a couple. Thailand's supposed to be kind of a soft landing for first-time travelers, but to be honest the other countries really aren't really more difficult if you're staying on the main backpacker trail. The main concern would be time, a month actually isn't as much time as it sounds like. I think just Thailand, or Thailand and one other country (maybe Cambodia, you can see most of the cool stuff in a 10 day loop or so) is best for that amount of time. For planning, I go through and make notes of all the stuff that looks interesting to me. I look at it on a map, look up transportation options, and get a rough idea of the route I'm going to take and how long I'll spend in each place. More of than not I wind up changing it when I get there, but it's nice to have a starting point.
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Apr 8, 2010 04:38
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Broohaha posted:1) Is there one guide that is better than any other and which I should use exclusively? 1) For you, SE Asia on a Shoestring guide by Lonely Planet. Don't cart it around with you. Tear out the page with the map you need for the day, stuff that into your pocket, leave the guide back at the hostel with your bag. 2) It's harder to not meet other travelers than it is to meet them in SE Asia. Seriously if you don't hump at least two English girls in two weeks there then I just don't know about you man... 3) NO DON'T. Do it your own drat self. It's not that hard and once you get past your trepidation you'll be the kind of guy who has the confidence to just pack up a bag and take his chances instead of the kind who sheepishly looks at package tour websites. 4) NO DON'T. As in, don't just stick to Thailand. Burma ain't for you, probably, but you would have absolutely no issue going to any of the other neighboring countries. In particular I recommend that first time travelers to SE Asia at least pop into Cambodia to see Angkor. If you had already been there and just liked Thailand you could easily spend all of your time there and have a great vacation and see tons of cool stuff. But artificially limiting yourself to Thailand because your new? Nah. Do what you want to do. 5) At the front of the Lonely Planet they have a few suggested itineraries. Start with one of those, then go to the parts they talk about in there, and see if there's stuff nearby you'd rather see than the choice they gave you. Then come into this thread and post your itinerary and interests / goals for the trip and the posters in this thread will help you fine tune things. Here's a starting plan for what I would probably do in your situation, changing things along the way of course: -Two days in Bangkok, one to unwind, one to see a couple of temples and walk around on the streets. No ambitious goals of sites to see, the only thing I'd try to do for sure is get ahold of a Thai sim card so you have a Thai phone number while there -- if you're comfortable using your US phone in Thailand bill-wise then you could just do that, too, but Thai people are really bad at meeting you at X place at Y time so you pretty much need a phone to work out meet-ups should you work yourself into a few of them. -Cambodia. Go to Siem Reap and see Angkor for three days. Go down and see Phnom Phen for two. Give yourself a few days of travel/recovery time in here and there and we're talking another week. -Back to Bangkok. Spend a day looking around the city and buy yourself a nighttrain ticket to Surat Thani. -In Surat Thani pick an island and go visit it. There are three main islands there. Samui is the most developed island in Thailand and beaches there range from hotels and nightclubs down to bungalows and banana carts. Tao is where people go to learn how to scuba dive. Phangan is one of the least developed islands in Thailand and is fairly cheap -- it's most known for its all night long full moon party on it southern most beach that takes place each full moon, an event that's by no means a must see, but maybe you're interested. -Back to Surat. Head north up to Chiang Mai, spend a day or three in that city. From Chiang Mai you can go on a hilltribe trek, or, if you want, go to Mae Hong Son (even further North and West) and arrange a trek from there (treks are better from Mae Hong Son because not every hilltribe village up there has three or four tourists coming through it every day like some of the villages near Chiang Mai do). Three or four days of walking in the jungle and meeting weird people who live on mountaintops. Back to you city to rest up for a day, then back to Bangkok. -Bangkok for three or so days. One day for drinking. One day for shopping. One day for covering any bases you didn't and then getting ready to go home. That probably doesn't cover every single day. Most people would expand a bit on their way back up from Surat by stopping at an island on the Andaman coast for a few days as well and doing, say, five days on Tao learning to scuba dive and then five on Krabi looking at the weird rocks. Others would expand by going to Laos or Malaysia and trimming a few days off of the island. raton fucked around with this message at 06:46 on Apr 8, 2010 |
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Apr 8, 2010 06:41
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Thanks for the helpful posts. I will follow up soon with more detailed questions. In the meantime, I've heard there are cheap, flat-rate trains and planes for tourists visiting Europe. Is there a similar thing for SE Asia? If so, it would be awesome if I could go from Bangkok to Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong, etc. and not have to worry about planning and booking such things weeks in advance.
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Apr 8, 2010 20:00
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Broohaha posted:Thanks for the helpful posts. I will follow up soon with more detailed questions. You can go from Singapore to Bangkok by train no problem (and Thailand has a pretty decent rail network), but Laos has nothing and after a quick Google, Cambodia's primitive rail service looks to have been suspended. Vietnam's is very good though. You can take buses just about everywhere, usually a bit faster than the train. Air Asia and to a lesser extent Tiger Airways are budget carriers that serve much of the region and are quite reasonably priced. It's best to book your tickets as far in advance as you can though, as the cheapest seats sell out first.
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Apr 8, 2010 20:29
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Broohaha posted:In the meantime, I've heard there are cheap, flat-rate trains and planes for tourists visiting Europe. Nope, you just pay what everyone else pays. As PR said, book cheap seats in advance. Also book the higher end seats in advance (Sleeper grade 2 or whatever they call it, I forgot) as they can sell out quickly too. I took a bus from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi one time and I think I paid 25 baht. That's like 75 cents. I also found a weirdo bus that went to Chiang Mai from the capitol that ran for 45 baht, which is just over a dollar. These prices are cheaper than what you'll usually pay, but still, a first class fully reclined private sleeper on the train to Surat is like 20 bucks so your travel budget isn't a big issue in the region.
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Apr 8, 2010 21:20
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Yeah. And in addition to the trains from Bangkok through Malaysia to Singapore, you can quite easily get buses (with only a day or two's purchase in advance from any travel agency) from Bangkok through Cambodia to Vietnam or vice versa. Just keep in mind that this is quite a large land area you'd be covering, and when you can spend 40 or 50 bucks on a flight with AirAsia or other LCCs and cover that same area in a fraction of the time, it might be worth considering. Eg. I flew with NokAir from BKK to Phuket a few weeks ago for $40 or so, took all of an two hours, versus a train which would have been overnight to Surat Thani (and they're not very comfortable) plus a few hours on a bus. Depends on how wisely you want to use your time I guess.
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Apr 8, 2010 21:58
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I have just booked a ticket to BKK leaving 20th April. I should have just under £6k when I land and intend to travel around SE Asia until it runs out. That is the extent of my plan so far. I probably won't stay in Bangkok too long but should I book somewhere to stay on Khao San for the first couple nights or is it fairly easy to just get a taxi and look for somewhere once I arrive? Also I noticed some PITR posters in this thread so I may as well ask, is there anywhere in Thailand that has live games that will not get me arrested/robbed and how likely am I to run into somewhere to stay that has a decent enough wifi to play online? I'm starting to think I might be able to cover a good chunk of my living expenses putting in half decent volume at 50NL, if I'm delusional please let me know!
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Apr 8, 2010 22:58
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Bill Door posted:I have just booked a ticket to BKK leaving 20th April. I should have just under £6k when I land and intend to travel around SE Asia until it runs out. That is the extent of my plan so far. I probably won't stay in Bangkok too long but should I book somewhere to stay on Khao San for the first couple nights or is it fairly easy to just get a taxi and look for somewhere once I arrive? Gambling is illegal in Thailand except for lotteries (doesn't stop Thais, at any rate), but if you found some games it'd be at an on-the-downlow gambling den. A lot of Thais go across the border to Cambodia to gamble, Poipet is known for its casinos. It's also seedy as gently caress, so I dunno. Some Western friends of mine went ironically last year and they were fine, but it is one of a very small number of places in SEA where I've actually felt kinda unsafe. Generally you'll only find wifi at some midrange places and on the higher end, it's very unlikely it'll turn up at your standard guesthouses. I dunno how internet cafes are with allowing online poker (given that it's also illegal), but with the noise level you generally find at them it's probably not somewhere you'd want to be spending large blocks of your time at anyways. In decent-sized towns, especially those that see Westerners, you might be able to find a cafe or restaurant with Wifi, which is probably your best bet. The government may go as far as blocking the major online poker sites, you might want to look in to a VPN or something.
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Apr 8, 2010 23:09
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Bill Door posted:Also I noticed some PITR posters in this thread so I may as well ask, is there anywhere in Thailand that has live games that will not get me arrested/robbed and how likely am I to run into somewhere to stay that has a decent enough wifi to play online? I'm starting to think I might be able to cover a good chunk of my living expenses putting in half decent volume at 50NL, if I'm delusional please let me know! I've never heard of live games in Thailand but I'm sure they exist somewhere especially these days. I would expect them to be populated with as many farang as Thais. I wasn't playing poker yet when I lived in Bangkok. Three or so years ago Thailand was actually a really popular place for poker players to move to and I generally get the impression that, at least back then, no one was paying any attention to online poker. Of course, things may well have changed. As for wifi that's somewhat spotty. Some hostels have it but the dominant way people get at internet while traveling in Thailand is still to go to Internet cafes. If you search around you can find one where you could tuck yourself away in the corner and play poker -- they don't mind if you bring in your own computer and plug it in. I'd probably say you should take your question to 2+2 regarding the current state of online poker in Thailand. As far as B&M casinos the only one I'm aware of in the area is just over the border in Cambodia in the wretched town of Poipet. I have no idea if they even have live poker in the Poipet casino though. A quick Google search brought me this thread at Thaivisa's forums which makes me more or less not want to play poker in Poipet, not that I was heading that way anyway.
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Apr 8, 2010 23:29
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I played on stars a few times at internet cafes while it was raining back in 2006. Tons of people on 2p2 live over there and play I think, there are 2 huge threads in their travel forum about Thailand. With 6k plus say you win 1000 a month at NL50 you could stay for at least a year I'd imagine if you wanted. A few pages ago people were saying they lived in one place decently for under a grand. I just started playing poker again and if I quit my job I'll probably do the same thing, except I suck so any money from poker will be a bonus. I think I am gonna go back to Asia again this year or next and if I can get to winner at the games I'm def bringing a laptop and trying to stretch the trip to 6 or 7 months.
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Apr 9, 2010 00:05
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