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Haraksha posted:This isn't really an option for me. I'd have to send all my money to America, which would cost me a wire transfer fee and conversion fee, because my Taiwanese ATM card won't work in Thailand. Then when I took money out of the ATM in Thailand, I'd have to pay additional charges to convert my dollars to baht and use a foreign ATM. Does it not have the little Visa or Cirrus or whatever logo on it? You do pay a fee for withdrawing from the ATM, but it's worth the convenience and security IMO. If cash is really the only way to go for you, I'd consider getting traveler's checks in USD, Euros, or whatever and getting them changed in Thailand as you go. More secure, even if it is a bit of a PITA (finding a bank/non-shady money changer to cash them).
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Jan 25, 2011 05:48
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Are HSBC ATMs common in southeast asia?
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Jan 25, 2011 06:02
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They are common enough in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia but that's all I can say.
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Jan 25, 2011 07:05
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Is anyone from the US going to be visiting Thailand/coming back to USA in the near future? I want to get a hold of some textbooks without paying jacked up international shipping rates. Weren't you meant to be heading over there early this year dude?
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Jan 25, 2011 09:29
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brendanwor posted:Weren't you meant to be heading over there early this year dude? End of last year, and found out I can't; it'd likely void a contract I'm under and I'd be out US$16,000. 
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Jan 25, 2011 14:04
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Does it not have the little Visa or Cirrus or whatever logo on it? Went to the bank today and appearantly I can use the mastercard to get money from the ATM's. Will take cash too of course. Are there ATM's in Vientiane in Laos? Or is it better to exchange money in bangkok before I go there? Also, on the whole club thing. I think I'll check out "glow". It claims to be the only underground club in bangkok. But I think they are using the term rather loosly. But they seem to have some berliners over when I'm there, might turn out ok. Otherwise I'll check out RCA. Btw: saw this today on boomkat, and was reminded about this thread: http://boomkat.com/downloads/370229-various-finders-keepers-thai-dai
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Jan 25, 2011 21:50
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Rojkir posted:This is a really helpfull thread! This was several pages ago, but does anyone have any info on this? I'm looking at doing something similar and I can't seem to find info online about renting decent road bikes.
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Jan 25, 2011 22:38
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mrfart posted:Are there ATM's in Vientiane in Laos? Yes
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Jan 26, 2011 01:27
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DNova posted:Are HSBC ATMs common in southeast asia?
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Jan 26, 2011 08:57
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Booked a flight to Bali this morning, fly out on Friday night. Will be in Indonesia until the 25th of Feb. I think I'll get outta Bali straight away, not sure where I'll go yet though. I was thinking Sulawesi, maybe Lombok/Flores/Timor...or maybe even Papua. Anyone here been to Lombok/Flores, or Sulawesi? What did you do and how was it? If any goons in Indonesia wanna hang out/grab a drink with a 20YO Aussie guy let me know here.
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Jan 26, 2011 09:30
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eviljelly posted:This was several pages ago, but does anyone have any info on this? I'm looking at doing something similar and I can't seem to find info online about renting decent road bikes. This is the closest to a proper road bike I got so far: http://www.crouchingtigertours.com/booking/bike-hire.html And these guys provide a self guided route with bike included (bike seems kind of poo poo, I just want the route but they specifically mention that they don't just sell the route). http://www.clickandtravelonline.com/tours/self_guided_cycling_tours.html
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Jan 26, 2011 12:04
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superwofl posted:Booked a flight to Bali this morning, fly out on Friday night. Will be in Indonesia until the 25th of Feb. I think I'll get outta Bali straight away, not sure where I'll go yet though. I was thinking Sulawesi, maybe Lombok/Flores/Timor...or maybe even Papua. When I went to Indonesia I didn't go to those places apart from Bali (went to Java, Gili Islands and Borneo), but friends of mine said Sulawesi and Flores were fantastic. Much more off the beaten track. Apparently snorkeling/diving in Sulawesi is amazing.
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Jan 26, 2011 13:39
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Are there airlines that do Siem Reap to Phuket cheaper than Bangkok Airways? Or would we be looking at doing Air Asia down to KL and then to Phuket?
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Jan 26, 2011 13:40
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Abugadu posted:Are there airlines that do Siem Reap to Phuket cheaper than Bangkok Airways? Or would we be looking at doing Air Asia down to KL and then to Phuket? Siam Reap just isn't a cheap airport to fly into.
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Jan 26, 2011 14:12
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Abugadu posted:Are there airlines that do Siem Reap to Phuket cheaper than Bangkok Airways? Or would we be looking at doing Air Asia down to KL and then to Phuket?
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Jan 26, 2011 16:13
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DNova posted:Are HSBC ATMs common in southeast asia? I saw in Vietnam all the time. Hope that helps.
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Jan 26, 2011 16:28
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Siam Reap just isn't a cheap airport to fly into. Ditto. This. If you really want to fly and don't want to pay too much extra, there is an air asia from BangKok to Phnom Pehn. From there, buses depart every half hour and the ride takes 6 hours at night - including rest stops and loading people/bags. Last time I fly one way from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City was a 120 us inclusive. It was expensive  Just bus to Siem Reap from Phnom Pehn. Average Travel agency will charge you 10 dollars for a pick up. But if you go to the bus companies direct, you can get a cheaper rate. I paid 18,000 reals (4.50) at Capital Tours for a single trip. And argued/bargained with the tuk tuk for 3000 reals from the city centre to there. Almost half of what the tourist agency charged but a lot more hassle to deal with. At the very least the bus from Siem Reap to Bangkok was only 10 us dollars. What was really absurd was the bus pick up in Siem Reap. It was a slow old bus going at around 60kmh-70kmh and took 3 hours to get to poipet. But the minivan to Khao san was awesome. Driving at blazingly fast speeds and even with half an hour of traffic reached khao san in 4.5 hours. Immigration was a pain to deal with, an hour of waiting. Might be a bit more if you book a mini van from Khao San to Siem Reap. But if you are willing to pay a bit more and have time, might as well take the air asia route from phuket and fly into Kuala Lumpur (visit another country!), and fly into Phnom Pehn. Cambodia is slightly cool at night right now. I thought I escaped the cold but now I want to go to another trip because the weather is still too cold and there is no heat here  I thought I was happy in Hong Kong but the euphoria only lasted 3 hours. Maybe I should just move to the north of the YangTze river.Can someone elaborate about traveling to Indonesia and phillipines? How easy/hard is Island hopping by ferry? I heard Brunei is hard to get to and you need to show proof of leaving the country. A nice thing about the Islamic countries is that alcohol consumption would be prohibitively expensive which in turn would lower my travel expenses 
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Jan 27, 2011 18:28
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caberham posted:Can someone elaborate about traveling to Indonesia and phillipines? How easy/hard is Island hopping by ferry? I heard Brunei is hard to get to and you need to show proof of leaving the country. A nice thing about the Islamic countries is that alcohol consumption would be prohibitively expensive which in turn would lower my travel expenses I didn't use the ferry directly (bussed it), but Indonesia has a pretty extensive network. The country itself is cheap, there's tons to see and do, people are very friendly, and the language is way easy. I always recommend it in this thread but it seems like most people give it a miss because it's not on the overland route or whatever. There are ferries between Sumatra and Malaysia (and I think between Singapore and some outlying Indo islands, which in turn have ferry links to Java?) IIRC. I skipped Brunei although I originally meant to see it - it's wedged between the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah in Borneo and I was traveling from one to the other. The only real road of note on that part of the island runs along the coast (and through Brunei), so if you're doing the whole of Malaysian Borneo it's pretty hard to miss. I wound up skipping it because I freestyled my flights into/out of Mulu National Park rather than booking a RT ticket from Miri, the closest town in Sarawak (Mulu is generally only accessed by plane, I think you can hike but it takes like a week, or sometimes a boat runs in the rainy season). There were a couple of seats on a Twin Otter flying out to Kota Kinnabalu in Sabah when I was ready to leave, so I hopped on that instead. Alcohol: if you're really that cheap and don't being lo-so you can just buy from grocery/convenience stores and drink wherevs. In general, local spirits are the cheapest buzz; in Thailand I had a pretty fun and cheap evening splitting a bottle of Sangsom (Thai rum, can buy at any 7-11) with another guy, dumping it in some Big Gulps, and walking around BKK all night taking photos. #goonlife #heyiwasincollege You can get a 700mL bottle of lao-lao (local whiskey) for like $1 at a market in Laos, I don't think the other countries are much different. Laos is a pretty cheap country to drink in in general; I remember going out to "the club" (italics necessary) in Luang Prabang and a big bottle of Beer Lao being like 18,000 kip, which is less than two bux. Also, alcohol and other intoxicants are frowned upon in Buddhism as well. Basically, don't act like a drunk moron whether you're in a Muslim country or not. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Jan 27, 2011 |
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Jan 27, 2011 19:01
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forgive me 42 pages... I booked a flight to Bangkok last November on the cheap from Korea from the 13th-28th. I've traveled a bit before and am really just looking for a beach where I can spend about 7 days straight looking at the ocean, relaxing, and reading a book. A place far away from everyone. I found something like that about 5 years ago in Sinai. Any suggestions?
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Jan 29, 2011 12:23
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Xanin posted:When I went to Indonesia I didn't go to those places apart from Bali (went to Java, Gili Islands and Borneo), but friends of mine said Sulawesi and Flores were fantastic. Much more off the beaten track. Apparently snorkeling/diving in Sulawesi is amazing. Any recommendations for Bali or Java?
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Jan 29, 2011 14:01
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superwofl posted:My flight to Bali got delayed 24hrs because of volcanic ash, now any flights outta Bali are a lot more expensive on the dates I'd fly to sulawesi so I'm just gonna go overland to Jakarta. Climb Bromo (if it's not volcano'd out), and spend some time in Yogyakarta. Near Yogya, there's Borobudur (Buddhist monument) and Prambanan (Hindu monument). For Bali I found a nice quiet homestay place in Ubud and rented a bicycle to see what was around. Ubud is still fairly touristy, but it's a nice little inland town and there's a lot to see. Kuta Beach sucks and I could not wait to get out.
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Jan 29, 2011 14:47
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politicorific posted:forgive me 42 pages...
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Jan 29, 2011 19:07
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If you want peace and tranquility and don't mind paying top dollar then try one of the 5 star hotel private beaches? In Bali, the Ritz carlton actually has a small shuttle to a private beach with guard out in the back. They even have a nice open air bungalow built sticking into the ocean for SPA ON THE ROCKS! Like 200 USD an hour or something like that. Or try a small Island out in the Philippines? Or the maldives, pricey and far enough to be a huge deterrent for lots of people.
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Jan 29, 2011 19:29
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Climb Bromo (if it's not volcano'd out), and spend some time in Yogyakarta. Near Yogya, there's Borobudur (Buddhist monument) and Prambanan (Hindu monument).
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Jan 30, 2011 04:26
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Guys, get some palm fap from this lady at JJ market.
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Jan 31, 2011 04:12
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Ringo R posted:Guys, get some palm fap from this lady at JJ market. I think I will this sunday. Also, my brother desperately wants to buy a suit in bangkok. Now, I've heard more bad things than anything else about this. So, is it possible to get a great, fairly cheap suit in bangkok, and what would be a good place to look for one?
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Jan 31, 2011 05:27
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So I'm heading from Bangkok towards Ho Chi Minh over the next couple of weeks, planning on getting there by mid Feb, but no idea how long it will take me to get through Cambodia, so maybe late Feb (was planning on hitchhiking, but unsure now as I woke up a couple of days ago with a fever and it's still hitting me). I'm thinking about organising some Couch Surfing before I get there, but anyone have any good suggestions for guest houses? I'm hoping to find some people that would be up for buying motorbikes with me and traveling towards the north with me for about a month, or longer. I then want to go into Laos and travel back through the south to Cambodia. Any suggestions on where I might find people? Planning on doing it on a smaller bike. If anyone wants to meet up, or has a place to stay, let me know! james.pijpstra @ gmail.com
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Jan 31, 2011 08:59
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Is it just me or are all the discount fares from the states (SEA specifically) to Bangkok only for trips under 1-3 months? I'm beginning to eyeball EVA Air's 1-year open-ended ticket at $1300, even though that feels really high. Just wanted to ask if there was something really obvious I'm missing before I buy it. For what it's worth, I'm looking to leave in like 2-3 weeks. 2 is better. Yes I know that's kind of short notice and not helping things, which is all the more reason why I'm trying to get this done in the next 24 hours. Pompous Rhombus, I'm coming carry-on only so I don't exactly have a ton of empty space but if they are small, light textbooks (rarely spotted in the wild, I think Attenborough did a spot on them once) then I might be able to help you out. I tried PMing you but it looks like you don't have plat. You can shoot me an e-mail at BigSuaveSA on gmail if you think we can work something out but if you're talking several big textbooks (which I'm kind of assuming you are) then I probably won't be much help. Just throwing that out there.
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Jan 31, 2011 09:18
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BigSuave posted:Is it just me or are all the discount fares from the states (SEA specifically) to Bangkok only for trips under 1-3 months? I'm beginning to eyeball EVA Air's 1-year open-ended ticket at $1300, even though that feels really high. Just wanted to ask if there was something really obvious I'm missing before I buy it. Yeah, a lot of the discount fares are like that, if you're going to be longer than 3 months then you'll most likely have to deal with it :-\ STA Travel is another one that's good about flexible returns, IIRC there's no fee to change the date the first time, it only costs extra if the fare falls in a different, more expensive window. They also let you do layovers for up to 90 days for no additional charge, it's a nice way to fit a week in Tokyo or something in. When do you think you'll be back in the States? The books I'm looking to get are kids textbooks so maybe not too bad; my plan is to Billy Madison myself through as much of the public school curriculum as I can, since there really isn't an extensive body of Thai-as-L2 material out there. Ringo can probably round them up for me. Do you think you might have checked bag going back? Like you, I travel light, but I usually buy a cheap bag at a market and load it up with goodies to bring home at the end of the trip. Ignore this if international is charging for checked bags now, it's... been too long  I'm gonna rebuy plat this week (why oh why did I have to spoil George R R Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire"  ), so we can move it to PM.
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Jan 31, 2011 12:39
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Good call on STA but it seems to be a non-starter for me. I tried poking around their website and it seems that I don't qualify since I'm 26 these days and neither a student nor teacher at the moment. Does the fact that I'm thinking of dropping the extra $500 (r/t) so I can sit my fat goon rear end in the 'premium economy' seats with power outlets, 1.5" wider seats and 6" more legroom seem ridiculous? Seriously it almost seems worth it for the laptop power alone but as a tall motherfucker I'm thinking the legroom would be nice too. On the other hand that is like a month's living expenses over there for ~30 hours of being slightly less uncomfortable and more entertained than I otherwise would be. Decisions, decisions... Shoot me a PM/e-mail and we can work something out but for clarification, are you looking to get books from the US to Thailand (what I thought you were asking initially) or are you talking about bringing books from Thailand to the US (what it seems you're talking about in your last post)? Edit: Also, that's a pretty hilarious way to get banned. Well done. BigSuave fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Jan 31, 2011 |
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Jan 31, 2011 20:18
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Rojkir posted:This is the closest to a proper road bike I got so far: Cool - thanks for the info. The Kona Dew is not what I would pick as a touring bike, but it's certainly competent enough, I think.
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Jan 31, 2011 20:21
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BigSuave: Check Tripeedo and look for flights to various intermediary locations (Taipei, Hong Kong and Shanghai are good bets, and BKK-Bali-LAX is a surprisingly cheap route) - you can find some pretty good prices. Also consider a one-way ticket if you're staying that long - it'll let you stopover in a different place on your return leg, and you're not stuck paying a change fee if you change your date. It'd be better to spend that $500 on almost anything else, if you can't stand being locked in a tiny box for 16 hours I'd try finding a way to make it two shorter stretches rather than pay extra to be ever so slightly less uncomfortable.
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Jan 31, 2011 21:27
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Duralict, thanks for the advice. Through travelocity (via Tripeedo) I ended up finding a Korean Air ticket with 1-year validity for $900 and it only costs $100 to change so I'll still be well ahead of the $1300 fare, not to mention the $1800 one. Plus their economy has power on this flight and the seats are pretty nice and well spaced out so I think I'm going to jump on this. E: Booked. And oh man are my seats on the way there crappy. That will teach me to book a week in advance. Anyway, I arrive in Bangkok at 1AM on Sat the 12th so if anyone wants to get a beer or something shoot me a pm or post in this thread and I'll try to keep my eye out. PM would be better though, you cheap bastards. BigSuave fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Feb 1, 2011 |
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Jan 31, 2011 22:53
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mrfart posted:I think I will this sunday. I heard most of the places near khao san are mostly ripoffs, but me and a few friends got some suits tailored at a place named james tailor/james fashion, it seemed legit (and had some good stuff written about it on the internet) and pretty professional , I think a suit comes in at around 5-6000 baht depending on fabrics and stuff.
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Feb 1, 2011 00:29
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BigSuave posted:Duralict, thanks for the advice. Through travelocity (via Tripeedo) I ended up finding a Korean Air ticket with 1-year validity for $900 and it only costs $100 to change so I'll still be well ahead of the $1300 fare, not to mention the $1800 one. Plus their economy has power on this flight and the seats are pretty nice and well spaced out so I think I'm going to jump on this. Korean Air is ridiculously nice, you'll be fine even with bad seats.
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Feb 1, 2011 05:42
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Yeah all my flights have their updated economy sections and the seats look pretty nice and the power plugs are a big bonus. My only bummer is I'm in the middle on a long-rear end flight but at least it's only 3 wide and not 5. I just don't look forward to climbing over people but whatever, that's what they get for taking the aisle  . I grabbed a seat without someone in front of me but I have a feeling it will fill up between now and then since there were only about 5 seats left. At any rate I'm just happy to be hurtling through the air at 500 mph instead of taking a steam ship or something.
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Feb 1, 2011 06:27
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I am on Ko Tao right now. If any goons want to meet up, let me know! Also, Magu was logged in on this computer at this internet cafe and I went ahead and logged him out instead of posting a banme. You're welcome.
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Feb 1, 2011 08:54
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Haraksha posted:I am on Ko Tao right now. If any goons want to meet up, let me know! Maaaaaan, I wish I was there. I left on the 23rd, and I'm back home now. It sucks. I hope you have more luck with the whale sharks, bull sharks, other weird whales, and manta rays than I had when I was over there. I didn't see poo poo. Where are you staying? Sairee or somewhere else?
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Feb 1, 2011 13:53
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Klogdor posted:I heard most of the places near khao san are mostly ripoffs, but me and a few friends got some suits tailored at a place named james tailor/james fashion, it seemed legit (and had some good stuff written about it on the internet) and pretty professional , I think a suit comes in at around 5-6000 baht depending on fabrics and stuff. My tuk tuk driver asked if I could spare 10 minutes of time and he would drive me to the tailor and then get a coupon for a free tuk tuk ride. I have taken a look inside the place and the salesmen are very aggressive. Cutting wise is not bad and the cloth selection is pretty wide. Too bad they don't have a colour swatch so you can't compare textiles too well. A good tailor for a suit take 2 or 3 more reffittings. Regardless of what the salesmen say you should allocate enough time to get it right. Price wise if you picked a shirt extra, and 2 ties they can knock off 1000-1500 THB right off. They sell really aggressive and I don't like it too much. However, they promise to deliver it to your hotel which is a great bonus. If you are in the holiday mood and want a suit, go for it. Go see some touristy stuff near the old town and before you head back to khaosan or your hotel ask your tuk tuk for a FREE TRIP. He gets a gas coupon and bargain hard that you will buy something and he should give you a free ride in return. tl, dr: Price wise for a suit it's not too bad. Hong Kong is slightly cheaper by 10% for the same fabric. Shop orders a bunch of lemmings in the countryside to get it done ASAP .
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Feb 2, 2011 07:57
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Steve. posted:Maaaaaan, I wish I was there. I left on the 23rd, and I'm back home now. It sucks. I'm at Ban's.
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Feb 2, 2011 08:01
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