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Finally back from Siem Reap, and I am drained, but for other reasons. Everyone talks about Korean food being rough on the white man's stomach, but for some inexplicable reason my relatively tame diet in Cambodia destroyed me. I am so confused, but am welcoming regularity. Also, am I just crazy or is the street air pollution as bad as it feels in those areas? Guangzhou and Seoul I am fine in, but I can't breathe in SE Asia.
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Jan 29, 2012 14:31
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Where did you go? Just Siem Reap? I thought the air quality was fine in Siem Reap, although the dust being kicked up in the Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat areas can be bad, I guess. Phnom Penh is pretty bad I suppose. Other than that, I can't imagine anywhere else in Cambodia that would have bad air.
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Jan 30, 2012 08:06
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Sheep-Goats posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUg04hCqGDg  I need to video a Thai version of this. Ample opportunities.
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Jan 30, 2012 09:28
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eviljelly posted:Where did you go? Just Siem Reap? I thought the air quality was fine in Siem Reap, although the dust being kicked up in the Angkor Thom and Angkor Wat areas can be bad, I guess. Phnom Penh is pretty bad I suppose. Other than that, I can't imagine anywhere else in Cambodia that would have bad air.
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Jan 30, 2012 16:39
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ReindeerF posted:
I still haven't figured out why Thai people absolutely insist on backing up into parking spaces. It's far easier to just park normally and back out when you're ready to go instead of wasting time/clogging up the lanes while people are trying to find parking spots.
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Jan 31, 2012 08:41
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My boss just got a position at the Phnom Pehn International School with his wife for next year. I'm hella jealous. Apprently they take care of you really well.
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Jan 31, 2012 10:55
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B-Rad posted:My boss just got a position at the Phnom Pehn International School with his wife for next year. I'm hella jealous. Apprently they take care of you really well. International School jobs can be super cushy. I met a guy in Bangkok who was making 110k baht a month (at the time about 2800 bucks, with the exchange rates today it's more like 3500 bucks) with access to full medical coverage and a retirement plan. And he was living in Bangkok. With Songkrans off. There's more info about how to get them in my Teaching English as a foreign language thread, but generally you have to be a teacher in the US (or the UK or wherever) first and then apply from home -- many of them actually shy away from EFL teachers.
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Feb 1, 2012 01:49
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Sheep-Goats posted:International School jobs can be super cushy. I met a guy in Bangkok who was making 110k baht a month (at the time about 2800 bucks, with the exchange rates today it's more like 3500 bucks) with access to full medical coverage and a retirement plan. And he was living in Bangkok. With Songkrans off. I couldn't believe how high the salary was (75k+ a year), considering its in CAMBODIA, and they give you a house. Also, 15 personal days, 15+ paid sick days, full dental and medical, etc. etc. Mines not quite as good as that, plus its in Beijing (the worst city on the planet). I think most of the good jobs in SE Asia are to be had through the Search Associates fair in Bangkok every January (https://www.searchassociates.com)
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Feb 1, 2012 06:44
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Modus Operandi posted:I still haven't figured out why Thai people absolutely insist on backing up into parking spaces. It's far easier to just park normally and back out when you're ready to go instead of wasting time/clogging up the lanes while people are trying to find parking spots. It's the norm in Japan too. More of a pain in the butt to park, but safer when you pull out. B-Rad posted:I couldn't believe how high the salary was (75k+ a year), considering its in CAMBODIA You just answered your own question there 
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Feb 1, 2012 10:14
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Went to Terminal 21 today. The escalators gave me vertigo
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Feb 1, 2012 15:54
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Anyone ever heard of knockoff cameras? My friend with his nice camera just returned home and I'm tempted to buy a new camera in Hanoi. I've seen knockoff iPods and headphones and such and I'm wondering if there are cameras as well?
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Feb 2, 2012 07:11
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huhu posted:Anyone ever heard of knockoff cameras? My friend with his nice camera just returned home and I'm tempted to buy a new camera in Hanoi. I've seen knockoff iPods and headphones and such and I'm wondering if there are cameras as well? Never heard of such a thing, but the prices anywhere but Singapore and HK are generally not very good due to duties on cameras (and even those two are just about what you pay in a retail store in the USA).
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Feb 2, 2012 08:21
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In this section of an address for Thailand: Tapeeleang, Muang, Suphanburi 72000 Thailand What is the: Postcode : 72000? City: Tapeeleang, Muang? State Province : Suphan Buri? Country: Thailand - I figured this part out! Yay me!
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Feb 3, 2012 21:52
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Goodpancakes posted:In this section of an address for Thailand: Tapeeleang = subdistrict/tambon, Also written Ta Pee Liang (Thai romanization is non-standard and awful) or Tha Phi Liang. In Thai: ท่าพี่เลี้ยง Muang is short for Muang Suphan Buri, the district/amphoe. Since it's the capital of the province of the same name they just write Muang for short. Thai: เมืองสุพรรณบุรี Suphan Buri is the province, I'm not so sure about the numbers I've always been confused by them also. Thai: สุพรรณบุรี
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Feb 4, 2012 03:10
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The 72000 is indeed a post code. They're assigned arbitrarily by some goomba in an office in Bangkok somewhere. Bangkok address are all 10xxx as far as I know.
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Feb 4, 2012 03:52
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My girlfriend and I are starting to put together a rough itinerary for our planned month-long Vietnam/Cambodia at the end of this year. I just want to run what we're currently thinking by this thread. We've both got friends and family familiar with the area as tourists, but we don't know anybody intimately acquainted with either country as it's been in the past couple of years. So if anything jumps out as "lol no don't go there, it's terrible" please say so. Fly from Brisbane to Ha Noi 4 Ha Noi (4) Daytime car/bus/whatever to Ha Long Bay 2 nights Ha Long Bay (6) Daytime travel again back to Ha Noi 1 night on Reunification Express to Hoi An (7) Hoi An for 6 nights, from which we'll visit Da Nang and Hue (13) Reunification Express overnight to Nha Trang (14) 0 nights in Nha Trang, daytime travel to Da Lat 2 nights Da Lat (16) Daytime travel from Da Lat to Saigon 7 nights Saigon (23) [Here's where we start to get a bit shaky on what's actually feasible] Daytime travel from Saigon to Phnom Penh 3 nights Phnom Penh (26) Daytime (?) travel from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap/Angkor 3 nights Siem Reap/Angkor (29) Daytime (??) travel from Siem Reap to Bangkok 3 nights Bangkok (32) Fly home from Bangkok to Brisbane So that's 32 planned nights in South East Asia. Our budget isn't going to be particularly tight. We've currently got AU$10,000 between us squirrelled away for travel and another 10 months in which to save, so we're currently assuming a conservative budget of $10,000 to spend on the ground in SE Asia (i.e. not including airfares), but realistically we're going to have closer to $15,000, possibly even more. But best to plan around the minimum rather than the maximum. We're assuming, as rough estimates: $100/night for beds to sleep in, splurging a bit in Hoi An and Bangkok and being more frugal in Ha Noi, Saigon and Phnom Penh. From what we know, this budget out to keep us in pretty comfortable digs. ($3200) $50/night to feed and water ourselves. Neither of us are the slightest bit interested in clubbing or nightlife and are keen to eat local food, so this is probably a pretty generous estimate. ($4800) $1000 for major travel [trains, buses, cars etc. from city to city]. We really don't know how reasonable this estimate is, but it sounds adequate from what information we've been able to gather. ($5800) $40/night for minor travel [getting around town in cabs and tuk-tuks and whatever] and general sight-seeing expenses like admission to temples. ($7080) ~$1000 for guides/translators in major cities [we're expecting to have private guides with us for probably 10 days in total, mostly in Saigon, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap] I have family who have stayed in touch with guides they've employed in the places where we'd want to have them, and from what I know this is probably a reasonably accurate estimate and seems like ridiculously good value. ($8080) So that leaves very close to $2000 to spend on silks and trinkets and general extravagances. I realise this is probably a large budget for two students to be travelling around SE Asia on, but it'll be our first overseas trip together and we've been saving independently for travel for quite a while now. We both agree we'd rather be in Vietnam for three weeks in comfort than blow our whole budget on a frugal week in Venice. We're both wildly enthusiastic about seeing as much of Vietnam as possible and also about Angkor Wat. Neither of us are particularly interested in Bangkok as a destination in and of itself, but we both agree that it would be a bit of a shame not to spend at least a couple of nights in such a major city while we're in that part of the world. But, if for some reason Bangkok is more of a detour or hassle than it seems like it ought to be from looking at a map, the last three nights are by no means an essential part of the trip. So, bearing in mind that this is a rough itinerary, and the proposed trip is 10 months away, how buttfuck retarded is our plan?
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Feb 4, 2012 08:45
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7 nights in Saigon? 3 would be enough for me :/ Unless you have friends/family there, I'm not sure what you'd do there for so long. I took a two day trip from Saigon to Phnom Penh via Mekong. It was only slightly interesting on the first day. Second day was just transportation.
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Feb 4, 2012 09:14
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I think more than 3 nights in ANY big city is a waste of time. I also don't think you can even find $100/night hotels in many of those places - you are grossly overbudgeted (although that's obviously better than being underbudgeted). IMO with a budget like that, you should be flying more so you save time, and reducing your hotel budget to about $50-75/night (which still gets you mega luxury hotels).
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Feb 4, 2012 09:34
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eviljelly posted:I think more than 3 nights in ANY big city is a waste of time. I also don't think you can even find $100/night hotels in many of those places - you are grossly overbudgeted (although that's obviously better than being underbudgeted). However, maybe 7 nights is too much for Saigon. Maybe we'll cut it back to four nights or something. My father's been to HCMC a couple of times though and thinks it's the duck's nuts just as a place to chill out, so I've probably got skewed info as to just how much there is to do there. My dad can amuse himself endlessly with the most mundane poo poo. Again, this is a first-draft itinerary so if a week in Saigon sounds excessive that's exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. Thank you  .With regards to flying more, you might be right. However, we do want to go on the Reunification Express overnight at some point, mainly because we're both strange people who really like train travel. But flying from Da Nang to Saigon is a possibility that seems to make sense. Maybe we'll just visit Da Lat for a night or two from Saigon. Travelling on the ground in Vietnam has a certain appeal, though, but I don't know how exciting Saigon -> Phnom Penh -> Siem Reap -> Bangkok would be over land so maybe we should look into flying those distances too. We know the $100/night is an excessive budget for accommodation, but we figure whatever we don't spend out of that budget we'll be able to convert into fun later on anyway, either back home or in the form of a couple of nights in gently caress-off luxury in Bangkok or something. We want to chill out and put our feet up somewhere pretty nice Hoi An, but $50/night is probably far closer to what we're going to spend on hotels in bigger cities. Honestly, so long as it's air-conditioned, clean and not a big hike from the action, we'll be fine with it, so we can probably save a lot here. Whatever. Again, preliminary calculations and, like you said, better overbudgeted than under. What we've saved already was originally intended for a European jaunt, but we eventually came to the conclusions that, being young, somewhere actually culturally foreign would be more fun than simpering around Paris or whatever. Also, we're toying with the idea of pushing the trip to January/February so we can be in Vietnam for Tet. Good idea or hilarious mistake?
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Feb 4, 2012 09:59
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Am I a fool for thinking I can do the loop in Thakhek,Laos alone without previous motorbike experience? Also, what is the cheapest way to stay to stay in Thailand for 17 days as a US citizen doing a land crossing? Should I just pay the overstay fee or hope that if I mark 17 days on the application at the border that they'll give me a 30 day visa? huhu fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Feb 4, 2012 |
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Feb 4, 2012 11:58
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Cwapface posted:Also, we're toying with the idea of pushing the trip to January/February so we can be in Vietnam for Tet. Good idea or hilarious mistake? Your budget is fine if that amount of money is not a big deal to you. If you're spending some long term savings for it, you are really wasting your money. These countries are cheap and hotels from 10-20 dollars are already really nice. Eating street food is cheap as hell and delicious (often better than expensive restaurants). If you're going to be in Hoi An, I highly recommend these guys: http://www.motorbiketours-hoian.com/ Rapsey fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Feb 4, 2012 |
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Feb 4, 2012 12:22
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Cwapface posted:Hoi An for 6 nights, from which we'll visit Da Nang and Hue (13) If you're coming down from Hanoi you can probably just stop off for a night or two in Hue, rather than do it in a day trip from Hoi An. Also if you did spend less time in Saigon you could fit in a trip to Sapa in the north, which is well worth seeing. Depends how much travelling you want to do though. Your budget's more than enough, so after the train travel in Vietnam you could probably catch a flight to Phnom Penh and one up to Siem Reap, if you don't want to waste days travelling.
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Feb 4, 2012 14:27
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Hell, I live in Saigon and I don't think I'd stay there for 7 days as a tourist, unless you love big city night life. It's a cool city, there are museums and good restaurants, etc. but you could use some of that time to visit the Mekong Delta, or Mui Ne/Phan Thiet (beaches not too far from Saigon).
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Feb 4, 2012 16:34
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Once you've counted and catalogued the number of old men who look suspiciously like Ho Chi Minh sitting around on the sidewalks and parks and then tested the cyclo touts to see how many kilometers they'll follow you for it seems like you'd run out of things to do.
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Feb 6, 2012 12:28
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Wow, it's been a while since I checked back in on this thread. makes me realize how long it is since I left Cambodia... drat. Good to see it's still going strong. Does anyone have any experience with going to Palawan, in the Philippines? I'm hoping to head there (especially El Nido) in early May for a week or so with my girlfriend, but we're finding it pretty expensive to get there (we're flying from Japan). Getting to Manila isn't too bad, around $600 roundtrip... but just adding the Manila-> Puerto Princesa leg bumps it up another $1200. Anyone familiar with this, any alternative ways of getting there we can look at, or know any good reliably cheap airlines in the Philippines?
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Feb 6, 2012 14:10
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Was sitting at a table earlier when I heard a lady bitching about how unoriginal Laos and Vietnam food is because it uses noodles and rice so often. She went on to praise Italian food because it uses pasta so often. 
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Feb 6, 2012 14:37
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CronoGamer posted:Wow, it's been a while since I checked back in on this thread. makes me realize how long it is since I left Cambodia... drat. Good to see it's still going strong. I just did that trip to El Nido two weeks ago. I don't know how you are finding flights that expensive. I paid $600 RT to P.P from Seoul. I see that they fly from Osaka. Checking their website from Osaka its about $800 for a RT to P.P. Which is still really expensive. Try and find the cheapest to Manila and then cebu pacific to P.P. You can try Philippine Air. I see flights from Tokyo to Manila for 25,000 yen.
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Feb 6, 2012 14:43
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Cwapface posted:Surely you don't mean more than 3 nights in any big city in the world is a waste of time. Just SE Asia is what you mean, right? Cwapface posted:Honestly, so long as it's air-conditioned, clean and not a big hike from the action, we'll be fine with it, so we can probably save a lot here. Cwapface posted:Also, we're toying with the idea of pushing the trip to January/February so we can be in Vietnam for Tet. Good idea or hilarious mistake?
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Feb 6, 2012 15:04
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GZA Genius posted:I just did that trip to El Nido two weeks ago. I don't know how you are finding flights that expensive. I paid $600 RT to P.P from Seoul. I see that they fly from Osaka. Checking their website from Osaka its about $800 for a RT to P.P. Which is still really expensive. Try and find the cheapest to Manila and then cebu pacific to P.P. You can try Philippine Air. I see flights from Tokyo to Manila for 25,000 yen. Doing a little more research after seeing your post, I realized that the problem is because Japanese travel rates more than double during that week since it's the week everyone in Japan gets the same vacation time and travel companies jack their prices up accordingly. I tried changing the itinerary so we could travel from Seoul (to see if it would be cheaper just to get out of Japan, and then fly over for less than it would cost direct from Japan) and the flight from Tokyo to Seoul is almost the same price as from Seoul all the rest of the way to P.P. Christ.
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Feb 6, 2012 15:08
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Anyone have experience clothes shopping in Malaysia? I heard that clothes in general are very cheap and ok quality? I might be looking into getting a custom suit. How much should I be looking to spend?
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Feb 7, 2012 02:52
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I'm around halfway through reading through this thread, but before I take off to China I wanted to drop a line in here and mention that i'm going to be in Bangkok starting February 20th until whenever (no planned anything after my first stop in SE Asia). I know there are a few people in here who used to live in Bangkok giving some advice but if anyone is still living there and want to meet up for drinks/activities once i'm down there i'd love to meet up. Nothing beats knowing locals in a foreign city. Just reply here or send me a PM with your e-mail and we'll try to set it up!
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Feb 7, 2012 02:55
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CronoGamer posted:Wow, it's been a while since I checked back in on this thread. makes me realize how long it is since I left Cambodia... drat. Good to see it's still going strong. I was in El Nido in November. It's paradise and you should definitely go. Manila to El Nido on Seair or ITI should run about $200 USD each way. It's a dirt runway and those are the only two carriers that fly there. Alternatively you can fly through Puerto but it's a 6-8 hour van ride and it blows. 15 people crammed in 4 to a row and it costs about $10. I paid $25 for PP to Manila on Cebu Pacific. Your prices are ridiculously high; take a closer look at the cheap Filipino airlines.
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Feb 7, 2012 03:20
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TheLizard posted:I was in El Nido in November. It's paradise and you should definitely go. Manila to El Nido on Seair or ITI should run about $200 USD each way. It's a dirt runway and those are the only two carriers that fly there. Yeah, those absurdly high prices are what it takes to get out of Japan during the one week of the year that everyone is permitted to take vacation. Sucks hard, but my gf is on the case trying to figure out a way to get out for cheap. Where would you recommend in El Nido? Where did you stay? Is it worth it trying to get to places like Miniloc or Lagen or whatever, or are they just for the high-class resorts there? Anything better about those places than the other islands in the area? Is there anything to see in Puerto? Would it maybe make sense to fly in to P.P., hang out there or nearby for a day or two, then head up to El Nido, or should we just go straight to El Nido?
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Feb 8, 2012 08:39
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CronoGamer posted:
There are three basic options: 1) Stay in town 2) Stay on the beach to the right of the town proper 3) Pay out the nose to stay on one of the island resorts We chose option 2 because we wanted to be on the water and El Nido town is not much to look at. It's a 15 minute walk on a dirt path through a local collective to a series of hotels. We stayed at the Golden Monkey (no AC, double room for $40) and it was fine. The owners were super friendly. CronoGamer posted:Is there anything to see in Puerto? Would it maybe make sense to fly in to P.P., hang out there or nearby for a day or two, then head up to El Nido, or should we just go straight to El Nido? If you go to PP, go before you go to El Nido or you will be sorely disappointed. The Underground River is cool but SUPER touristy. If I were to do it again I would spend the extra $200 and just fly out of El Nido direct (we were trying to save money). Do you dive? El Nido has some fabulous diving for cheap (3 dives for $60). The island hopping is also great, but if you dive you go to a lot of the same places for lunch etc. Tour A is the best island hopping tour.
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Feb 8, 2012 14:07
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Awesome, thanks for the specifics. I do dive, but my gf doesn't. It's been a while since I got my cert though and I can't remember- do you know how long it takes? Would it make sense (money and time-wise) for her to try to get hers while we're there? If you have any clue, that is, no matter if you don't. Option 2 sounds reasonable to me, we were hoping to be on the water too. Excellent. We're gonna try to figure out if we can afford the Japan airfare but if it goes through I'll be sure to come running back with more questions.
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Feb 8, 2012 14:46
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Hey there, does anyone have any recommendations for places to eat and things to do in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah? I'm a-goin to Borneo next week.
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Feb 9, 2012 01:07
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I'll be in Makati, Philippines for 2 weeks on business. What's the cheapest place to get a massage? (not looking for a happy ending)
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Feb 9, 2012 04:37
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mdaddy posted:I'll be in Makati, Philippines for 2 weeks on business. Just go to any popular bar/restaurant strip and if you cant find a massage parlor close by then you aren't actually in the Philippines.
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Feb 9, 2012 04:51
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Sheep-Goats posted:This picture pretty much captures why people love going to Thailand.
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