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Welp, got scammed hardcore today on my way out of Thailand. I missed my flight back to the US last night due to me loving up the timing between my flights from Siem Reap and BKK. My airlines desk was closed and I was pretty loving stressed out when a dude in a suit and tie with an official looking airport badge and lanyard walks up and asks if I need help. I tell him what happened and he says he can help me out. He hooks me up with a hotel and I give him my info and I head to the hotel for the night. The hotel (Queens Garden) was kinda lovely but I chalked it up to being a last minute thing and was decent for 1000 baht. The next morning the guy calls me up saying he changed my flight and I'm good to go in the morning. He comes by the hotel with another dude and gives me all my flight info and then puts me on the phone with my airlines "representative" who tells me the price for the change is 4000baht. I expected to pay something like that for the new ticket and pay the dude and be on my way. I get to the airport later on in the day and head to my airlines desk. I ask about the charge and they say "There is no charge, its all free" I was pretty steamed after this and went right to the airport info desk who took me to the airport police. After looking at about 500 mugshots of airport scammers I find this guy. They call him and tell him to come to the airport immediately and return my money and face arrest (he said that it was a service charge for helping me change my flight, but he very obviously lied about everything from the get go). I felt better after seeing the police go crazy to try and help me identify the guy, but they really didn't do too much to try and get him. They just told me that they'll follow him and if he doesn't return my money by the time my flight leaves they'll wire it to into my bank account. Well I left BKK without any of the cash and I've pretty much expected to never see it again. I really feel like a big idiot because I felt like I was too smart to get scammed. But I was just in a bad spot after missing my flight and I was happy to get some generosity from a stranger. Oh well, watch out goons. Never take help unless you ask for it, at least in BKK! Tuff Scrote fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Jul 27, 2011 |
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Jul 27, 2011 14:47
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So I am leaving tonight and I am unsure if I should still pack a rain jacket and/or bring my lonely planet books. The books are always nice to have and have served me well in the past, but they are heavy and bulky, especially since I am planning on going to three countries. They are also really nice to have to read on a train/plane/bus/etc....
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Jul 27, 2011 17:33
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Tuff Ghost posted:Scam story Cheesemaster200 posted:So I am leaving tonight and I am unsure if I should still pack a rain jacket and/or bring my lonely planet books. The books are always nice to have and have served me well in the past, but they are heavy and bulky, especially since I am planning on going to three countries. They are also really nice to have to read on a train/plane/bus/etc....
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Jul 27, 2011 17:51
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I agree with Reindeer on yes books no rain jacket. ----- Tuff Ghost I'm sorry to hear you got scammed. Eventually everyone that takes risks and really travels either almost gets scammed or outright gets scammed, and after the first time you become a much harder target. It probably would have been better if it hadn't happened, but look at it this way -- now you can go to Nigeria or Madagascar and know you've got some armor against that kind of poo poo. I had a guy try to rope me in to a blackjack scam on my second day in Bangkok. He wasn't as good as your guy and I saw through what was going on well before I lost out on anything, but it's a story people love to hear me tell to this day and I feel the experience provided me with a good inoculation against most of that crap going forward. Not only that, but I'm also fairly sure my experience and a timely warning for another farang saved him some of the same one day on Koh Phangan. raton fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Jul 27, 2011 |
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Jul 27, 2011 19:06
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Sheep, was that the now rather famous scam where you get to play a game of cards with one of the locals, they teach you how to cheat on another local and you keep on winning until this one hand comes up and they try to get you to bet some of your own money on what is a "golden opportunity"?
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Jul 28, 2011 00:00
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Rojkir posted:Sheep, was that the now rather famous scam where you get to play a game of cards with one of the locals, they teach you how to cheat on another local and you keep on winning until this one hand comes up and they try to get you to bet some of your own money on what is a "golden opportunity"? Yes, that's the one. I realized on the way there that this was probably a scam but went with it because I like poo poo like that -- protip for scammers, don't also offer to make targets movie stars because "you know a guy" in Hong Kong. The host fronted me a hundred bucks, his buddy suddenly showed up to play cards just after he taught me how to cheat (I pretended I didn't know how to play blackjack at all at a time when I actually had an okay grasp of what blackjack players call basic strategy, which is the statistically right move at any given time and the base for card counting). I went upstairs to play, went on a run while my new buddy the dealer gave the most over the top retarded signals to hit or stand. Once I got to the point where a loss was going to be more than I had won (occurs on double down spots) I refused to take his signal and insisted on losing my stake back to zero. For a good solid minute he tried to convince me to take a hit, whispering out of the side of his mouth, trying to get his "son" to encourage me, all the while my supposed foe was trying very hard to not notice. He left right after that and the "son" offered to take me back to my hostel. I didn't want them to know where I was staying so I said no thanks, walked outside and tried to figure out where the house was so I could tell the cops about it later, but it being my second day (and well before the days when your cellphone had a camera) I couldn't get any traction there. Ended up just hopping into a cab. Good times for me -- in retrospect though I should have either offered to go in with them for the learning experience (now that'd be a story! however I'm probably not suited for it as I really don't like loving people over) or not gotten involved as obviously there are a number of ways that could have gone bad. It's the kind of story you don't mind telling dad, but that you'd never tell mom, if you know what I mean. This was around 2005, by the way.
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Jul 28, 2011 00:47
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I arrive in HCMC tomorrow. I'm staying until I get bored and then I'm going to head to a beach. If anyone wants to meet up, let me know.
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Jul 28, 2011 04:51
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Andro posted:I arrive in HCMC tomorrow. I'm staying until I get bored and then I'm going to head to a beach. If anyone wants to meet up, let me know. We can try to organize something, but I work all week and have a wife and kid so I'm not the typical partying backpacker. I went out once in a district 1 bar and I forgot the name so I can't even recommend go night life spots.
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Jul 28, 2011 05:30
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I'm going to be going to Thailand, Cambodia, and Java with my girlfriend. We heard from a friend that has travelled SE Asia that it's a good idea to wear wedding rings because some hotels won't rent out rooms to non-married couples. This seems unlikely for, say, Thailand, but it sounds possible for the more conservative Java. Any truth to this?
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Jul 28, 2011 06:14
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Jesus Rocket posted:I'm going to be going to Thailand, Cambodia, and Java with my girlfriend. We heard from a friend that has travelled SE Asia that it's a good idea to wear wedding rings because some hotels won't rent out rooms to non-married couples. This seems unlikely for, say, Thailand, but it sounds possible for the more conservative Java. Any truth to this?
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Jul 28, 2011 06:58
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Jesus Rocket posted:I'm going to be going to Thailand, Cambodia, and Java with my girlfriend. We heard from a friend that has travelled SE Asia that it's a good idea to wear wedding rings because some hotels won't rent out rooms to non-married couples. This seems unlikely for, say, Thailand, but it sounds possible for the more conservative Java. Any truth to this? Most places have signs but don't actually enforce it on westeners.
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Jul 28, 2011 11:02
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Would there be any difficulty getting insulin in Thailand? I'd bring my own but it's going to be really hot when I'm going and it can't last more than a couple hours in 95+ heat e: been googling with some conflicting answers, would be awesome if anyone has any personal experience, though mitztronic fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Jul 28, 2011 |
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Jul 28, 2011 20:38
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Senso posted:We can try to organize something, but I work all week and have a wife and kid so I'm not the typical partying backpacker. I went out once in a district 1 bar and I forgot the name so I can't even recommend go night life spots. I am not a partying backpacker either. You want to get dinner this weekend? I am staying in District 3.
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Jul 28, 2011 21:09
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Andro posted:I am not a partying backpacker either. You want to get dinner this weekend? I am staying in District 3. All right, contact me at sensoz@gmail.com. If you have a cellphone, send me your number if you want. We can aim for Saturday night.
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Jul 29, 2011 15:21
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Sheep-Goats posted:It's the kind of story you don't mind telling dad, but that you'd never tell mom, if you know what I mean. I know what you mean, when I was in India last year I got roped in to meeting a 'business man' who wanted me to export gems back to the UK and said I would make £10,000 easily, he even phoned up some English girls on his mobile who all said it was genuine, I knew from the beginning it was a scam but they did buy me several beers in a very nice air conditioned 5 star hotel, in the end I just walked out of the 'meeting' and somehow managed to find my way back to my hotel, looking back it was pretty stupid of me to go to a meeting in a country I don't know with complete strangers without even knowing where I was. Turned out to be similar to this scam http://www.indiamike.com/india/agra-f61/agra-gem-scam-t2393/ Of course this was just one of many scams I encountered in 2+yrs of travelling but had the potential to be financially crippling if I was stupid enough to fall for it.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:15
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mitztronic posted:Would there be any difficulty getting insulin in Thailand? I'd bring my own but it's going to be really hot when I'm going and it can't last more than a couple hours in 95+ heat I don't expect you'll have any problems, there are lots of pharmacies in Thailand and they're not at all picky about dispensing meds. There are also plenty of Thai diabetics. I'll ask about it from some Thai people here in NYC later tonight for you.
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Jul 31, 2011 02:44
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I read up on the Manila-love post, but what's the deal with Cebu? I'm flying over to Bangkok from Korea, and it looks like it'll be about the same price for me to have a stopover in Cebu as it would be to fly straight over to Bangkok. I've got time to burn, so that's not really much of an issue, but is Cebu actually worth going to for 3-5 days?
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Jul 31, 2011 03:53
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Made my way from Koh Tao to Penang yesterday - departed Koh Tao at 10am by Lomprayah ferry, arrived on Koh Samui, jumped a Lomprayah bus to USM, flew Firefly from USM to SZB, and Firefly from SZB to PEN. 12 hours in transit, ugh. I stupidly booked a flight from SZB to PEN four hours after I arrived in Malaysia, which meant I had three hours with nothing at all to do. I forgot that immigration and customs in SZB are faster than even Singapore. I'm staying at an awesome place on Lebuh Chulia, named Muntri Mews. Agoda hosed up my booking and the room I booked wasn't available, so they put me up in one of their more expensive properties more or less across the road. Think a beautifully restored and extremely elegantly appointed Chinese clan house/mansion, but with modern touches - enormous LCD television, icy cold aircon, a genuine Eames lounge chair with ottoman, and a bathroom the size of the room I had on Koh Tao. Shame I was too exhausted to properly enjoy it - I had a shower and crashed almost immediately. Combined with an excellent breakfast of Nasi Lemak (which I maintain is still the greatest breakfast dish on Earth) and Jasmine tea that didn't suck, I'm quite content to hang around in their cafe until my new room becomes available. UNESCO can wait, I need to chill out for a few hours!
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Jul 31, 2011 04:16
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eviljelly posted:I read up on the Manila-love post, but what's the deal with Cebu? I'm flying over to Bangkok from Korea, and it looks like it'll be about the same price for me to have a stopover in Cebu as it would be to fly straight over to Bangkok. I've got time to burn, so that's not really much of an issue, but is Cebu actually worth going to for 3-5 days? Cebu's quite a bit nicer than Manila, IMO, and you can easily eat up the 3-5 days by spending them in both the Cebu and Bohol islands (the ferry from Cebu City to Tagbilaran, Bohol costs between $4 to $10 one way).
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Jul 31, 2011 05:28
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Arts and culture in Bangkok, bitches: Listings: [1] [2] Embassies and NGO cultural operations: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Venues: [1] [2] Thai University related art and performance: [1] [2] Arthouse movies: [1] Miscellaneous: [1] Now with actual formatting! raton fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Nov 17, 2011 |
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Aug 1, 2011 03:19
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I'll be spending a month in SE Asia, starting in a couple of weeks. I've been studying this thread so I think I have a hint of an idea of what I want to be doing. A friend of mine who will be in the area around the same time has said that he's set up a few days hiking in Papua, Indonesia, with a local tribe and meeting locals out there. What would be involved in doing something like this? It seems like I'd have to get to Jakarta and then get another flight or a long boat ride, followed by several days. Was planning on bringing a hiking pack and shoes anyway, but what would something like this entail beyond what you would otherwise have for a SE backpacking trip?
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Aug 2, 2011 22:00
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lmao
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Aug 4, 2011 02:21
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Sheep-Goats posted:lmao I think I've found my new profile picture.
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Aug 4, 2011 03:58
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what?? a man's gotta eat
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Aug 5, 2011 05:00
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I'm going to be in Bangkok tomorrow night around 7pm. I'm hoping to see if I can get a bus straight to Phuket but I don't think it's possible as from what I can see the last bus is from the Southern Station around 7pm or so? Anyone know of any routes or options that I have open or will I just have to stay in Bangkok for the night?
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Aug 5, 2011 06:24
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You can go by airplane.
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Aug 5, 2011 09:20
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Air Asia has a flight from BKK to Phuket at 9:25 for about $70. It just depends on whether that's worth it to you.
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Aug 5, 2011 23:43
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I (read: my family) own a guesthouse in Jakarta, Indonesia. http://kuninganjunction.com Granted, the price is geared towards long-term stay for expats, so it might be a bit steep, but just putting it out there  , also if you have any questions about jakarta/java island in general, customs etc, I might be able to answer so ask away!
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Aug 8, 2011 02:26
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I'm heading to SE Asia with my girlfriend for a couple of weeks in November this year. So far we've sketched out a good two week itinerary going west from Saigon across Cambodia to Ankor Wat and then on to Bangkok. After this leg we want to head for southern Thailand and relax on the beaches for a few days before heading home, does anyone have any recommendations for where we might head? We're pretty keen on avoiding heavily touristed areas as much as possible (I realise this is an improbable dream in Thailand), we just want somewhere quiet with good beaches and not a lot of nightlife. We don't have a tiny backpacker budget though we aren't 5-star travellers either. e; I should mention as well that we're Australians and reasonably well-seasoned travellers. webmeister fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Aug 8, 2011 |
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Aug 8, 2011 06:05
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So after a long week in Burma (Rangoon -> Mandalay -> Bagan -> Rangoon) I am back in Thailand, currently in Chiang Mai. Burma was a bit of an adventure. It was like India lite, and a bitch to travel around. It was a very interesting little excursion, but I am happy I am back in Thailand. Renting a motorbike tomorrow and doing the GT Rider loop around Chiang Mai with this girl I met. Then I am doing a whitewater trip, then a full day cooking course (hopefully). Then I decided to take a flight over to Luang Prabang. I already did the whole riverboat thing down the Irriwaddy, so I don't need another two days wasted sitting on a boat being uncomfortable. Questions I so far have: - Why do they apologize for the inconvenience at the terminus of the MRT - Why do the police in Lumphini park patrol around on pink girly bikes with baskets? The Chiang Mai sleeper train is awesome. There was a drunk police officer with his pistol out in the dining car, while drinking, showing the waiter how to use it. I was giving him this horrified look as I was watching and he was like "no no no, not loaded" and lauged. Also, my guesthouse in Chiang Mai decided to install a new booster pump in response to low water pressure complaints. I was taking a nap at the time when they turned it on as my bathroom exploded due to the existing lovely plumbing not being able to take 400 psi water pressure. ahh Thailand...
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Aug 8, 2011 13:02
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They felled a coconut tree that was next to my bungalow one morning. I got woken up by the chainsaw, weilded by a solitary Thai guy out on the beach, and went to a nearby 7-11 (at the time it was the first one to open on Koh Chang and was like two days old) with the idea in my head that I would come back to my bungalow in the early morning hours and sit in the felled tree with a coconut hand selected from the tree, drinking it somehow (I had no way to open it but that didn't enter into the equation). I heard it crash into the ground from the 7-11, maybe a hundred yard walk away, accompanied by the random shouting in Thai I'd later come to expect during even slightly noteworthy happenings, and I started walking back immediately. I arrived to find just about every Thai person on the island sitting on the tree with a coconut in hand, already topped with a straw stuck into it. There wasn't another coconut left to be found and ten minutes later all those people had disappeared again.
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Aug 8, 2011 13:31
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Cheesemaster200 posted:Burma was a bit of an adventure. It was like India lite, and a bitch to travel around. It was a very interesting little excursion, but I am happy I am back in Thailand. Ooh! If you have the time and patience please write a tripreport. I'm very curious about Burma and I plan to go there next year so anything you write on the subject is appreciated.
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Aug 8, 2011 16:49
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plaindot posted:I (read: my family) own a guesthouse in Jakarta, Indonesia. This is cool someone ask him some questions!
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Aug 8, 2011 17:19
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Burma is incredible. I spent three weeks there in 2003, and it was my favorite place in mainland SEA.
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Aug 8, 2011 20:11
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I'd love to read a trip report too, Mr Cheesemaster200 Always wanted to go to Burma but lovely transportation options in the country put me off, although I'm sure it would turn out to be a cool adventure anyway.
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Aug 8, 2011 20:43
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Ringo R posted:I'd love to read a trip report too, Mr Cheesemaster200 Transport is brutal. Think 16-hour bus rides out of Yangon on tortuous roads. There is a well-defined tourist quadrangle around Yangon, Inle Lake, and Bagan. Border areas are off-limits, as well as most of Shan Division and Chin State. I arrived the day after Aung San Suu Kyi was re-arrested at Mogok, carrying a Bangkok newspaper with news of it. Most of the people I encountered in the next three weeks had no idea. There's a near-total information blackout in the country. Felt nice on vacation, but couldn't imagine living like that. I've been to Cuba too, and Burma feels several orders more repressive than Cuba. Obviously this doesn't affect tourists, but the people seem broken by the junta. They tend to be the sweetest, most welcoming people I've encountered anywhere. TheImmigrant fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Aug 8, 2011 |
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Aug 8, 2011 21:40
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Anyone interested in Burma should try to get their hands on the awesome Burma Chronicles, by fellow Quebecois Guy Delisle. He spent a year there, with his wife and kid. The drawings and story are simply amazing. It strikes home for me as I'm in Vietnam with my wife and kid, I guess. He also did books on his years in Shenzen and Pyongyang, as a director for some cartoon studio and they are also excellent. Here's a preview of his style, an excerpt of his Shenzen book. Senso fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Aug 9, 2011 |
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Aug 9, 2011 03:25
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The Shenzhen book is a great look at what expat life in China is really like, not a false note in it for me.
raton fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Aug 9, 2011 |
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Aug 9, 2011 03:31
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I'm finalizing my plans to go visit SE Asia soon, so I expect to be pestering y'all for tips in the coming weeks. I'm considering making Malaysia my first stop. My family happens to be flying out of country (Korea) on the 8th, so I'm considering going to Kuala Lumpur the same day, and then going to Bangkok on the 13th. I MUST be in Bangkok by the 13th, but the 8th is more flexible - I'd prefer to go to the airport with the family, but I don't have to. Is 5 nights enough time to dink around in Kuala Lumpur and maybe the surrounding areas? Or am I really missing out if I don't go for at least X days? I could possibly leave as early as September 2. Also, although I can look through the thread and use the google machine, if you have any specific awesome/unusual tips on where to stay, where to go, what to see, etc. in or near Kuala Lumpur, please share. Thanks goons!
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Aug 9, 2011 10:42
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Senso posted:Anyone interested in Burma should try to get their hands on the awesome Burma Chronicles, by fellow Quebecois Guy Delisle. Don't know if you know him or get a kickback, but Mr. Delisle just sold two books! Morricone fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Aug 9, 2011 |
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Aug 9, 2011 17:47
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