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Pompous Rhombus posted:Not really, just stay out of Bangkok and you should be fine. Even in Bangkok, I don't think it would devolve into a situation that's very harmful for tourists minding their own business.
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Apr 12, 2010 03:41
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Broohaha posted:Ah crap; so you guys think Thailand is a no-go right now because of the violence? What's going on now seems comparable maybe to the riots in Seattle during the WTO convention. Not even the LA riots. Bangkok might be inconvenient (which is like saying 'this rock is a little harder than normal') but the rest of the country/region is still going to be excellent. People are way too cautious with where they'll travel.
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Apr 12, 2010 04:27
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Just want to tell you guys really nice thread, my long-time girlfriend is an international student from Thailand and I'm finally making the trek over there this summer to see it. But, being a Thai citizen she doesn't really realize there's crap I need to know/do about visas, shots etc. (it'll be a three/four-week trip so that free 30-day visa sounds great), so thanks for the advice and I'll be reading this thread some more in the coming months (trip will be late July/early August?). And maybe I'll remember to write down some stuff and share it with you all? She's really excited to show me her home country and I'm sure she'll have some great advice for me to pass along. Also, according to her there are nationalist groups for red, yellow, blue and white now  but I don't know how prevalent each is, or what they're fighting for (I read about it like a year ago and forgot)
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Apr 12, 2010 04:31
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/\/\ - Going to Thailand with a girlfriend = fail. Nah, just kidding (sort of). Be prepared to eat some interesting food. Don't think eating at Thai restaurants back home will prepare you for it.ReindeerF posted:All of this. Thai businesses aren't always brilliant about marketing, so sometimes you'll expect some kind of deal when it's obvious they should be making a deal and instead they'll sort of blank-stare you, smile and say "sorry." Still, I think right now will largely be a buyer's market and a good time to negotiate rates and fares. Was going to say I've heard of hotels raising their rates because of fewer customers. E: Oh and here are some more riot pictures: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/unrest_in_thailand.html Ringo R fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Apr 12, 2010 |
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Apr 12, 2010 10:30
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Ringo R posted:/\/\ - Going to Thailand with a girlfriend = fail. Nah, just kidding (sort of). Be prepared to eat some interesting food. Don't think eating at Thai restaurants back home will prepare you for it.  Plus we actually never eat Thai food unless she makes it, so I've had the poo poo burnt out of my mouth many times before.I'm getting so excited just talking about it 
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Apr 12, 2010 17:25
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I'm in between jobs right now so no health insurance... how dangerous for me to go to Thailand for a month without any vaccinations? For the record, when I enrolled in grad school I had to get a bunch of inoculations though I don't remember what they were.
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Apr 12, 2010 20:39
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Broohaha posted:I'm in between jobs right now so no health insurance... how dangerous for me to go to Thailand for a month without any vaccinations? For the record, when I enrolled in grad school I had to get a bunch of inoculations though I don't remember what they were. Not a major issue at all. The stuff you got for grad school was probably an MMR and DTaP booster plus a Tuberculosis titer. Maybe they also made you get a Mono vaccine.
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Apr 12, 2010 21:11
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Broohaha posted:I'm in between jobs right now so no health insurance... how dangerous for me to go to Thailand for a month without any vaccinations? For the record, when I enrolled in grad school I had to get a bunch of inoculations though I don't remember what they were. gently caress it man, you don't really need them IMO (unless you're heading to a very unpopulated area, into the jungle etc.). You think most Thai expats get vaccinated when they head home a few times a year? This nonsense with people getting malaria tablets when they're only going to Bangkok and Phuket = over the top. Edit - just confirming as per PR's post below that you should absolutely have travel insurance though. brendanwor fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Apr 13, 2010 |
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Apr 12, 2010 22:12
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Broohaha posted:I'm in between jobs right now so no health insurance... how dangerous for me to go to Thailand for a month without any vaccinations? For the record, when I enrolled in grad school I had to get a bunch of inoculations though I don't remember what they were. You shouldn't go to Thailand without some basic medical coverage. Myself and at least one other goon in the old thread have been hospitalized for random tropical diseases, and while medical care is cheaper than in the US, a Western-type hospital stay can run you a couple grand a week. If you need to be medevac'd from a podunk country like Laos or Cambodia that doesn't have good hospitals, that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. STA Travel has some basic insurance that comes with the ISIC card, which while it wouldn't help you much with small stuff, would absorb the brunt of a more serious illness/accident. If you can't get an ISIC card I'm sure there's something else similar.
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Apr 12, 2010 23:46
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As I recall, Rhombus was hospitalized with the same thing I had, Dengue Fever. The thing about Dengue Fever is that once you're diagnosed they basically can't do anything about it. You just exist in pain for a period of a week to a month (for me it was a month, ugh), drinking lots of water, and then it goes a away. In a very small percentage of cases it becomes hemorrhagic and you die from internal bleeding. I elected not to admit to the hospital because they were just going to stick an IV in me and charge me to lay in a room being hydrated, heh. I have gummint insurance and other coverage, but Hell with that! A lot of the poo poo you get here in Thailand is basically, "Oh we can't actually DO anything for it." stuff, heh. The one thing I can tell you from my lab work and consultation is not to be a dumbass like me and take ibuprofen as it further lowers the platelet count. Most tourists end up using it, in my experience, due to motorcycle accidents and the like and if you do need coverage you'll wish you'd gotten some. My advice, though, would be to avoid American insurance carriers. Especially if you have BCBS or Aetna or a typical American policy, don't upgrade the policy to go overseas and expect it to actually cover you, get a travel insurance policy from a different carrier. I've had a couple of friends end up in the hospital with injuries over time and their coverage refuses to cover them based on the usual litany of bullshit excuses (pre-existing condition, anything they can come up with). Broke a bone in an accident? Used to play football? Tough luck! ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 07:38 on Apr 13, 2010 |
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Apr 13, 2010 07:35
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News in Thailand: 1) Current Prime Minister offers to hold early elections in three months. 2) Red shirts reject offer and demand immediate elections and a dissolution of parliment. Whether this is posturing or not is unclear, but they seem pretty serious about it. Bangkok Post posted:Red shirts reject latest offer for a dissolution The toll of the protests so far: Bangkok Post posted:276 hurt in red riot still in hospitals raton fucked around with this message at 08:24 on Apr 13, 2010 |
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Apr 13, 2010 08:12
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Another really important development today was the election court ruling that dissolves the Democrat Party. That's going to be the mechanism that dissolves the house. Arguably it's a face-saving measure along the same lines of Samak's purported cooking show ruling that was just an excuse for him to get out of office without backing down. Anyhow, yeah, it's beyond demands, now there's a legal ruling that pretty much effectively will dissolve the current coalition.
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Apr 13, 2010 09:35
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ReindeerF posted:Another really important development today was the election court ruling that dissolves the Democrat Party. That's going to be the mechanism that dissolves the house. Arguably it's a face-saving measure along the same lines of Samak's purported cooking show ruling that was just an excuse for him to get out of office without backing down. Anyhow, yeah, it's beyond demands, now there's a legal ruling that pretty much effectively will dissolve the current coalition. Leaving Bangkok for a few days. Will it still be here when I come back?
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Apr 13, 2010 10:25
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Ringo R posted:Leaving Bangkok for a few days. Will it still be here when I come back?
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Apr 13, 2010 11:05
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ReindeerF posted:Awk Bai Amaat! Awk Bai Ringo R! Awk Bai! Awk Bai! AWK BAI! AWK BAI! 
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Apr 13, 2010 18:48
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kenner116 posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmz4zRfbqpY Haha.
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Apr 13, 2010 22:09
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So I just got in touch with a friend who said he might be interested in traveling to Thailand with me. Unfortunately he doesn't have his passport and neither of us know how long it will take him to obtain one. He and I are wondering 1) how long it will take to obtain a US passport and 2) if he can enter Thailand without a passport. On the official Thai site they say this:quote:5. To apply for a visa, a foreigner must possess a valid passport or travel document that is recognised by the Royal Thai Government and comply with the conditions set forth in the Immigration Act of Thailand B.E.2522 (1979) and its relevant regulations. In addition, the visa applicant must be outside of Thailand at the time of application. The applicant will be issued with a type of visa in accordance to his or her purpose of visit. For more information on types of visas and general requirements for each type of visa, please see Types of Visa and Issuance of Visa. He and I are both going to do more research obviously but I wanted to see if anybody here is familiar with how to go about getting this "travel document that is recognised by the Royal Thai Government." Anybody? (My friend is a born and bred American citizen who lives in the midwest, btw).
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Apr 14, 2010 00:25
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Hey look it's a compilation of Thai commercials (Thai commercials are the best commercials): http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/play/10-crazy-commercials-hit-thai-tvs-decade-985994?TrackID=obpaidBroohaha posted:He and I are both going to do more research obviously but I wanted to see if anybody here is familiar with how to go about getting this "travel document that is recognised by the Royal Thai Government." Anybody? (My friend is a born and bred American citizen who lives in the midwest, btw). I think that just gives them a loophole if they want to use it. I've never met someone who went to Thailand without a passport. Furthermore, I find it highly unlikely that you'd be able to get this mythical document any faster than you'd be able to get a normal passport. IDK how long passports are taking right now but there is an expedition fee you can pay. I'd guess somewhere in the neighborhood of a week to a month if you expedite. I got my passport back in 2002 (almost time to renew it!) and it took like two weeks to arrive non-expedited. BTW you should always order the extra pages when you get a new passport, the default pages aren't nearly sufficient give the way visa stickers are applied in there. raton fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Apr 14, 2010 |
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Apr 14, 2010 01:03
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Broohaha posted:So I just got in touch with a friend who said he might be interested in traveling to Thailand with me. Unfortunately he doesn't have his passport and neither of us know how long it will take him to obtain one. He and I are wondering 1) how long it will take to obtain a US passport and 2) if he can enter Thailand without a passport. On the official Thai site they say this: Try a little Googling, not hard to find: http://www.travel.state.gov/passport/get/processing/processing_1740.html You need a passport, there is no way of getting around it.
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Apr 14, 2010 02:02
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Haha what? "How do I travel internationally without a passport?" Really?
brendanwor fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Apr 14, 2010 |
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Apr 14, 2010 02:19
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brendanwor posted:Haha what? "How do I travel internationally without a passport?" Really? Maybe his midwest friend just broke out of prison and needs to make his way to a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US!
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Apr 14, 2010 02:26
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brendanwor posted:Haha what? "How do I travel internationally without a passport?" Really? Citizens of countries bordering Thailand can usually cross with a little crappy document and their national ID card, it's probably what the Thai government's website was referring to. If you lose your passport and there isn't time to replace it before your flight, an embassy/consulate can also issue you a temporary travel document. To answer the original question, check the Department of States' current estimate for processing. From what I've heard it's not as bad as it has been in recent years.
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Apr 14, 2010 03:36
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Citizens of countries bordering Thailand can usually cross with a little crappy document and their national ID card, it's probably what the Thai government's website was referring to. Sure, but the guy's American, not from a neighbouring country. And getting issued a temporary doc is obviously different to an initial passport issue anyway. I'm a dual Thai/Australian citizen, and I certainly can't get out of or into Thailand without a passport.
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Apr 14, 2010 04:01
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brendanwor posted:Sure, but the guy's American, not from a neighbouring country. And getting issued a temporary doc is obviously different to an initial passport issue anyway. I'm a dual Thai/Australian citizen, and I certainly can't get out of or into Thailand without a passport. Well, you asked
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Apr 14, 2010 04:55
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I saw this addressed earlier about Cambodia, but I am interested in the shooting ranges in the countries I will be visiting. I will be going to Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia in the summer. I NEED to blow some animal up with an RPG. Can this be done in any of these countries? If so, is it just the same procedure where I ask a taxi driver and he takes me to some shady field?
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Apr 14, 2010 05:17
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NukkahPlz posted:I saw this addressed earlier about Cambodia, but I am interested in the shooting ranges in the countries I will be visiting. I will be going to Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia in the summer. I NEED to blow some animal up with an RPG. Can this be done in any of these countries? If so, is it just the same procedure where I ask a taxi driver and he takes me to some shady field? Cambodia. Phnom Phen. Make a gun motion to any motorcycle taxi driver. Goat + RPG is 200 to 250 bucks. Chicken and a handgun is 20. Elsewhere? No. Certainly not Malaysia. Pompous Rhombus posted:If you lose your passport and there isn't time to replace it before your flight, an embassy/consulate can also issue you a temporary travel document. I'd like to add that those things aren't equivalent to a passport because they expire in six months (typically) and many countries won't let you in or especially won't issue you a visa (even a month long tourist visa) if your passport is set to expire in less than a year. The Canadian I met my second day in Bangkok who had decided to have a bowl of soup with a congenial ladyboy told me as much, since he was now on a temporary travel document after said ladyboy drugged his soup and took all of his money and identification. ...He was so bummed out about not being able to go to Laos to weed lake or whatever that he just went home at the end of the week instead of seeing what he could see in Thailand. raton fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Apr 14, 2010 |
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Apr 14, 2010 07:05
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Sheep-Goats posted:Cambodia. Phnom Phen. Make a gun motion to any motorcycle taxi driver.
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Apr 14, 2010 11:06
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drat that Japanese Encephalitis vaccine costs $350 per shot and it takes two shots. I think I'm gonna skip it; the odds look good. What am I looking at as far as costs for operating a iphone with a data plan in Thailand? I know I gotta get it unlocked. I don't plan on being tied to or dependent on my iphone during my trip, but goddamn it's too useful to leave at home. It'd be nice to have a phone for emergencies but I'm more interested in the data plan for various apps. What's cover like and what happens when I go into another country? I may not even bother if it only works in Thailand. Haggins fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Apr 14, 2010 |
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Apr 14, 2010 22:42
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Haggins posted:drat that Japanese Encephalitis vaccine costs $350 per shot and it takes two shots. I think I'm gonna skip it; the odds look good. Yeah, Japanese Encephalitis vaccination is a bad idea (both cost and risk wise) unless you're going to be out in the rice paddies planting all day or something. Just treat every mosquito as a potential assassin. You can buy a SIM card and refillable credit at just about any convenience store in Thailand, other countries work the same way. It's pretty cheap; if you're just checking e-mail and other low-bandwidth stuff you don't need a data plan. I'm not sure if you can even sign a contract for data plan on a tourist visa, I just used the refillable credit stuff when I was there. It's best to keep your SIM cards in one place and clearly labeled, they're tiny little things and can easily get misplaced. Generally they'll last through a couple of months of inactivity (you going to another country) before the service provider resets the number. The networks tend to switch over really quickly in my experience, I don't think I was more than 100 feet into Cambodia (at a semi-disputed border, at that) when I got an SMS from AIS telling me I was roaming.
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Apr 15, 2010 03:35
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Haggins posted:drat that Japanese Encephalitis vaccine costs $350 per shot and it takes two shots. I think I'm gonna skip it; the odds look good. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Ais-Prepaid-Data-net-t337711.html Sounds like for a few hundred Baht a month you can have unlimited GPRS access (3G is largely imaginary in Thailand unless you're at a mall, a True shop or on the BTS, heh). "One Two Call" is the same thing as AIS basically - it's the name of their prepaid plan, so when you go to the 7-11 or whatever to get a card you say "One Two Call" and how much you want. The instructions in that link above would seem to tell you how to get the plan. One thing I might suggest if you're going to be in relatively modern areas like Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, etc, is to go to a True shop and see if they'll sell you a monthly wifi hotspot account. It cost me like 250 Baht per month back when I had a separate one and there are hot spots all over Bangkok and a number in every city of any size. Generally quite a bit faster than the local EDGE/GPRS stuff. If you have Chrome with the Google Translate app built in you can surf this pretty easily and see what I mean: http://www.truewifi.net/th/02hotspots/search.jsp Still, there are WiFi hotspots for free all over the tourist areas, so it's not necessary to get any kind of package. True's hotspots are just handy because they're often in public places around town (particularly in Bangkok) so you don't have to go buy a tea or whatever to use them, you just jack in.
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Apr 15, 2010 12:43
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Read an article in the paper today predicting that the government of Thailand will fall in a few weeks, when I'll be in Bangkok. Thoughts? Whether it does or not I'm not concerned for my safety, but my already xenophobic/paranoid relatives will be, which will be annoying.
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Apr 17, 2010 11:49
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Each institution of the government exists independently, basically. The monarchy is sort of a backstop for all of them while The King is alive, meaning that things only ever get so bad (at least for the last 30 years-ish). Those separate institutions have a lot of issues with their ability to remain part of a coherent government, but by and large the bureaucracies and various police and military institutions continue to function before, during and after a coup. They may be purposely ineffective at certain stages to avoid becoming involved in the politics, but the water stays on, the taxes get collected, the cops give speeding tickets. So the elected part of the government may fall, but the rest of the government is so used to it that the country pretty much keeps on chugging. We have a coup here, often no shots are fired and offices don't even close for the day. It's more violent this time so far, but I imagine that either A) there will be some face saving measure for one side or the other allowing that side to back down or B) His Majesty will have to get involved and tilt the machine, effectively setting the pieces back to square one. All that being said, yeah, there's a decent chance that the current governing coalition in parliament may dissolve, or the House may dissolve or the military may launch some kind of half-coup. There are all kinds of rumors, yes. I seriously doubt you, as an independent traveler, will have anything to worry about. You can tell your friends and family that the worst case scenario for you involves not being able to shop at really fancy malls and, potentially, having to re-route out of a different airport. This is my favorite article of the last day or so: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LD17Ae01.html
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Apr 17, 2010 12:15
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ReindeerF posted:Still, there are WiFi hotspots for free all over the tourist areas, so it's not necessary to get any kind of package. True's hotspots are just handy because they're often in public places around town (particularly in Bangkok) so you don't have to go buy a tea or whatever to use them, you just jack in. Just as an addition to this excellent post: a True wifi login also works on KSC hotspots - which are found in almost every Starbucks.
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Apr 17, 2010 13:37
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Does anyone know anything about English teaching opportunities in Myanmar? Word on the street/Internet is that a few options have begun to open up over the last couple of years, and I've found an ad or two online, but nothing regarding English teacher/expat lifestyle in the country.
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Apr 17, 2010 16:50
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Astian posted:Does anyone know anything about English teaching opportunities in Myanmar? Word on the street/Internet is that a few options have begun to open up over the last couple of years, and I've found an ad or two online, but nothing regarding English teacher/expat lifestyle in the country. I don't have it bookmarked anymore, but there was a blog written by a lady living in Myanmar teaching at an international school that gave a pretty decent picture of life inside the country as an expat. It didn't sound super appealing, the utilities were always going out in Yangon, internet access was kind of intermittent, etc. You could try googling around.
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Apr 17, 2010 17:26
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Pompous Rhombus posted:I don't have it bookmarked anymore, but there was a blog written by a lady living in Myanmar teaching at an international school that gave a pretty decent picture of life inside the country as an expat. It didn't sound super appealing, the utilities were always going out in Yangon, internet access was kind of intermittent, etc. You could try googling around. I'll try searching around more for that blog and any other info I can find. Most sites I've found are pretty useless. Myanmarvisa.com, for instance, has a total of two posts on it. I'm content in Cambodia right now, but I've been kicking around the possibility of moving on to another country in a year or so if I don't return to academia. Astian fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Apr 17, 2010 |
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Apr 17, 2010 17:51
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Astian posted:
whats the average pay look like in cambodia? Vietnam seems to be 19-$35 if you have a TEFL, so I'm considering getting one as soon as I head back to the states and then returning there. But Thailand and Cambodia are also really appealing to me.
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Apr 17, 2010 20:48
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What is it teaching like in PP? Was it hard to get the jurb? What are the students like? - - -    
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Apr 17, 2010 20:49
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Astian posted:Does anyone know anything about English teaching opportunities in Myanmar? Word on the street/Internet is that a few options have begun to open up over the last couple of years, and I've found an ad or two online, but nothing regarding English teacher/expat lifestyle in the country.
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Apr 17, 2010 21:06
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Ringo R posted:
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Apr 17, 2010 21:07
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