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imnotinsane posted:Can I get the single entry tourist visa at the crossing or would I have to go to the embassy in Vientiane and apply for it there?
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Nov 19, 2012 14:03
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGqvRmzHa5w That's a lot of cars...
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Nov 19, 2012 19:20
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Cheesemaster200 posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGqvRmzHa5w More than likely that is his entire entourage. Security, assistants, and everything. Catered an event once for President Clinton. The amount of work that goes into just a lunch is amazing. Not only that the amount of security involved would astound you. I believe his car travels with him where ever he goes.
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Nov 19, 2012 19:26
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Knowing Thailand's affinity for latching on to a good old VIP motorcade and counting the number of vans, I'd guess half of that are local Somchai muckety mucks who wanted to say they rode in the caravan, heh. Thanks for loving up traffic, O'BUMMER!!!
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Nov 20, 2012 01:21
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Do the Philippines count as Southeast Asia? I just made a reservation to visit Manila over Chinese New Year. Great deals there ever since that guy killed all those Hong Kong tourists.
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Nov 21, 2012 01:46
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Yep, though, culturally, the parts I've been to feel more like Mexico than Southeast Asia. Their tourism industry's never recovered from the kidnappings and murders that have been going on for decades now. It's a shame too as they're generally lovely people - and it's a stunningly beautiful country in many places (avoid Manila).
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Nov 21, 2012 03:13
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Has anyone been to Sapa in northern Vietnam recently? I'm in Hanoi december 1st and am trying to figure out if Sapa will just be clouded in at this time of the year or if I should make the trip north.
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Nov 21, 2012 06:25
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ReindeerF posted:and it's a stunningly beautiful country in many places (avoid Manila). There's gotta be something cool in Manila, right? If nothing else I'm sure I can have fun in Chinatown 
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Nov 21, 2012 06:56
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I visit Manila twice a year typically and honestly I just do all the same stuff I do at home. Go to restaurants, movies and other nonsense. I am gonna be there around that same time for a wedding, I never really know what to do there.
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Nov 21, 2012 07:47
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Bloodnose posted:
My girlfriend and I thought this on our layover on the way back from El Nido. So we went to the Mall of Asia. Don't bother. It's pretty much just a regular mall, just... a lot of it.
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Nov 21, 2012 08:51
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Yeah, I think most of us have had the exact same experience. "I'll find something, it can't be all bad!" After months of it I finally decided I wasn't the problem. Same with the food. I spent a pretty fair amount of time there with Pinoy friends and it still sucked. Of course if you like hanging out in malls there's plenty to do, heh. There used to be a cool area in, I think, Ermita? This was before I ever went. Tons of sidewalk cafes and such, but it's mostly all gone. If you google around for cool restaurants in Manila you'll find all these entries for this patio cafe or this sidewalk cafe or this neat-sounding place and when you start to research they're all closed and have been for years. About the only place that I sort of enjoyed going out was Remedios Circle, but it wasn't awesome or anything, it was just about the only area that had some character and more than one or two options outside of a mall or an expat enclave. Everything else was either a plaza like Metrowalk or a security zone mall like Greenbelt or some expat pub in Makati. As for non-eating/drinking stuff to do, you can always spend a few hours at Intramuros and go down and check out the bay, look at Roxas (or the shell of what Roxas was supposed to be anyway, it's a depressing as gently caress area now). You can also hop a ferry or bus to somewhere if you want to get out and there are dinky day trips like Tagaytay to do. I recall one of my more interesting afternoons being wandering around the area around Intramuros and stumbling into a massive old Catholic church there with a wedding going on. We stood up in the balcony and took pictures, it was really a beautiful ceremony. The city was basically bombed into smithereens during WWII and was rebuilt ugly as Hell, so there's not much left to look at, unfortunately. What is there is like an amalgamation of the worst of Mexico and the US. EDIT: Just hang out at Jollibee in MegaMall 24/7 for a true Manila experience is what I'm saying. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 09:48 on Nov 21, 2012 |
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Nov 21, 2012 09:45
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 Now I'm not looking forward to my vacation at all.At least it was cheap enough for me to book a really nice hotel room. I can just stay in my 5-star suite the whole time, right? 
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Nov 21, 2012 10:38
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Bloodnose posted:
What part of town are you staying in? Makati? Ortigas? Comedy Roxas Option? ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 11:29 on Nov 21, 2012 |
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Nov 21, 2012 11:26
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Doesn't Manila have a large populations of Koreans? Every Korean I ran into seemed to have stayed there for months learning English but I think they just get drunk instead. I am sure if you found some random Korean people you could get smashed and eat lots of food and probably pay for nothing. Down side is you would probably have to drink Soju.
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Nov 21, 2012 11:29
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Heaps of Koreans, yeah. You nailed them, pretty much. Just go to a wealthy part of town (or google English School in Korean probably) and follow the chain-smoking, hip hop looking teens alternately sneering at and intently ignoring the locals.
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Nov 21, 2012 11:35
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Manilla is okay to live in, but for holidays you can do so much better. See if you can't get tickets to Palawan if the other spots are full up. The underground river is pretty cool and El Nido shits all over Boracay in terms of being the best beach ever. I'm on Palawan right now and it is so good. Never going back to Boracay. If you're stuck in Manilla, get drunk, find some new friends, get them to take you to cool places to get drunk. Like Central, which is a terrible place for staying sober. You buy pitchers of shots, they all look fluorescent in various disgusting colors and cost pretty much nothing. Wouldn't have found it without locals guiding me.
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Nov 21, 2012 15:29
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I don't drink. This is sounding worse and worse. I'm mostly a culture tourist. Old poo poo and museums are my bag. Capitals are usually great for that stuff. Especially museums. It's why I chose Hanoi last spring over HCMC and I definitely don't regret that.
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Nov 21, 2012 17:29
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Bloodnose posted:I don't drink. This is sounding worse and worse. I'm mostly a culture tourist. Old poo poo and museums are my bag. Capitals are usually great for that stuff. Especially museums. It's why I chose Hanoi last spring over HCMC and I definitely don't regret that. Lots of pork everywhere. Be warned  Go to Cebu and Manilla, lots of museums there
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Nov 21, 2012 18:23
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Bloodnose posted:I don't drink. This is sounding worse and worse. I'm mostly a culture tourist. Old poo poo and museums are my bag. Capitals are usually great for that stuff. Especially museums. It's why I chose Hanoi last spring over HCMC and I definitely don't regret that. Don't limit yourself to Manila; it's only one city out of many in Metro Manila. If you want to experience Philippine (city) culture, go walk around. The traffic is hosed during rush hour, but outside of that you'll make decent time getting to other cities, and maybe get to see something interesting instead of another commercial center. Apart from museums, there are definitely some grand old churches scattered around the metropolis if you're into that. For starters, there's the Baclaran Church along Roxas Boulevard, and the Quiapo Church if you elect to take Espana Boulevard/Quezon Avenue going towards Quezon City. I remember seeing what I think was a Gothic church around Quiapo, and goddamn did it blow my mind since it was huge and really looked the part. It's best if you have a guide though, since getting around the cities will be a bitch since the MRT/LRT (rail stations) will only get you so far before you have to deal with the messed-up road layouts and potentially shady neighborhoods. Edit: I just realized, since you'll be in Manila during Chinese New Year: go to Binondo. It's Manila's Chinatown, and it's a guarantee you'll see some cool poo poo. There's an old church there too, with moss growing everywhere! toasterwarrior fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Nov 21, 2012 |
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Nov 21, 2012 20:35
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Just under 4 weeks until I leave for Thailand. We decided to make a side trip to Ao Nang. Our flight gets in on December 25th at 8 AM and we leave on the 27th at 7:55 PM. I'm looking for some suggestions on some things to do while we're there. So far my plan looks to be something like arrive, check in, and just chill on the private beach that the resort has and go out at night to eat and see what's going on. On the 26th, we'd go on a 4 Island Tour. And on the 27th, our departure day, go check out the land sights so the Tiger Temple and stuff like that. So obviously in the afternoon of the 26th, and the 27th, is there anything else to do? Sights I should see that could fit in my schedule or any changes I should make to my plans?
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Nov 25, 2012 20:29
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Stop in at a nearby tourism office to claim your award for shortest holiday to Thailand ever.
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Nov 25, 2012 20:35
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It's not that short haha. I'll be in Bangkok for the most part from December 20th to January 7th. We're just making the side trip to Ao Nang that short because I don't want to pay for another night in a hotel and the amount of time there seems to be sufficient.
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Nov 25, 2012 20:38
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First day at new job in The Pore - wish me luck goonbros!
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Nov 26, 2012 02:12
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kru posted:First day at new job in The Pore - wish me luck goonbros! eviljelly posted:Stop in at a nearby tourism office to claim your award for shortest holiday to Thailand ever. 
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Nov 26, 2012 03:24
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Looks like the farm I'm going to work at has no internet, but there are like 3 internet cafes in the town. Good poo poo, but since my laptop is falling apart it feels kind of dumb to spend a bunch money (use macs, so that's a min of $1000 haha) just for getting/storing music and online banking. How stupid is it to do quick and basic online banking at an internet cafe? I know people talk about key loggers and stuff, but I generally only keep a bit in my checking account and most in my savings. Worst case scenario, my checkings account gets wiped, but that would be a small amount anyway. The moment my savings account get hosed with I could most likely get my money back. Would be pretty hard to actually steal that money. Getting a cheap rear end netbook would be an option, but I don't remember seeing people use their own lapatop in internet cafes. Books are covered, since I have a kindle and can mount that poo poo anywhere and throw some  on it. Music and banking have yet to be solved. Any ideas?poo poo, if I was going to be in Isaan country, then I would probably be happy to hear morlam/luk thung all day, but I'm guessing that stuff gets less/no play in N. Thailand.
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Nov 29, 2012 04:26
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Could you use a mobile phone to do internet banking? VVVV If you already have a smartphone and it is a GSM one you could probably take it with you. Its about 450 baht for unlimited data with dtac but I think its only about 2gb of downloads before it cuts you off. If not you should be able to buy a pretty cheap smartphone in Thailand. It probably wont be a good one but it will still work. imnotinsane fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Nov 29, 2012 |
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Nov 29, 2012 04:53
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I was thinking about that. I could, but that would require a smartphone with data, and I'm going to have a cheap pay-as-you-go cell. I guess there are limits to cheapness/frugality :/
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Nov 29, 2012 05:07
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The data plans are robust enough to handle dinky poo poo like internet banking, you just have to turn them on, which can be stupidly complicated depending on what kind of SIM you guy and from which company. Of course if you're going into town anyway, just jack into wifi on the iPhone or whatever and do it that way. I've had to do a fair amount of online banking via mine over the years and it's not always fun, but it works.
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Nov 29, 2012 05:59
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My bank has a pretty nice app that makes transfers between accounts easy as hell (which is my main online banking task). I guess I might have to upgrade from my unlocked Nokia brick phone to get something that has basic web-browsing functionality.
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Nov 29, 2012 06:05
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moflika posted:My bank has a pretty nice app that makes transfers between accounts easy as hell (which is my main online banking task). I guess I might have to upgrade from my unlocked Nokia brick phone to get something that has basic web-browsing functionality. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 06:24 on Nov 29, 2012 |
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Nov 29, 2012 06:17
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ReindeerF posted:Every poo poo mall, market or Big C common area has some dude hawking used notebooks and PCs for nothing. Nice, I'll definitely be on the look out for that. Thanks!
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Nov 29, 2012 07:05
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Bangkok Drinking Report Day 1: -Happy Hour at Long Table was awesome. They gave me a flower boat and I launched it in the water as part of Loi Krathong. 5 drinks deep now. -Headed for "Beer Garden Soi 7" after, at the recommendation of Wikitravel. Full of old white guys probably Brits or Europeans, and prostitutes. Talked to a few girls(?) but left after just 3 drinks since I guess all the attractive ones had the night off or something. -Made a random pit stop at "Cheap Charlie's" since it was right there and had interesting decor. Charlie isn't kidding about the cheap part. Drink #9 here, didn't stay for more since it was literally just me sitting on the street. -Off to Q Bar, 500thb entry included two drinks. Quickly blew through those, then imposed upon two girls sitting at one of the bars. Turns out they are sisters working at some kind of cosmetics importer, even had business cards. Is it wrong to be suspicious of all Thai women drinking at foreigner hangouts in Bangkok? Lost count around 13 or so, but didn't stay out too late.
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Nov 29, 2012 09:30
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zmcnulty posted:Is it wrong to be suspicious of all Thai women drinking at foreigner hangouts in Bangkok? No. My friend took a girl home one night that he met in RCA. The next morning she woke up and said "Okay, you pay me now."
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Nov 29, 2012 09:49
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moflika posted:
Does Thailand have 3G in most places? You have free access to unlimited 3G in most countries with a Kindle to download new books and poo poo, but what a lot of people don't realize is that the Kindle has a web browser built in, too. It's slow as gently caress, and typing can take a while, but it's great to have in a pinch. I bring it when I'm traveling anywhere now, half for the books but half to be able to access Gmail anywhere with a phone signal.
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Nov 29, 2012 10:51
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CronoGamer posted:Does Thailand have 3G in most places? You have free access to unlimited 3G in most countries with a Kindle to download new books and poo poo, but what a lot of people don't realize is that the Kindle has a web browser built in, too. It's slow as gently caress, and typing can take a while, but it's great to have in a pinch. I bring it when I'm traveling anywhere now, half for the books but half to be able to access Gmail anywhere with a phone signal. Good point! I mean, my Kindle 2 is old as hell and not international, but I guess this as good of a reason as any other to upgrade! After searching, it looks like it's slow as hell (in Thailand), but that's better than nothing! Edit: YES!!, tried (in the US with my old kindle) to access the mobile site of my bank, and it worked! Probably will be slower in Thailand. Plus, bigger screen than an iPod touch and has a keyboard! moflika fucked around with this message at 11:52 on Nov 29, 2012 |
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Nov 29, 2012 11:25
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zmcnulty posted:Is it wrong to be suspicious of all Thai women drinking at foreigner hangouts in Bangkok? Lost count around 13 or so, but didn't stay out too late. Chair Huxtable posted:No. My friend took a girl home one night that he met in RCA. The next morning she woke up and said "Okay, you pay me now." CronoGamer posted:Does Thailand have 3G in most places? Your best bet for serviceable 3G is TRUE and you can see a coverage map on their page. It's about what you'd expect - a few major cities, a couple of tourist beaches, some motorways between major cities and that's about it. You can actually get a 3G stick from CAT (the government telecom) that has better rural coverage, but I've never figured out how to do it. Queries always return an answer of, "I don't know, my wife got it sorted." AIS 3G is awful and DTAC is okay, but has lots of network issues this year due to some poor technical choices and a couple of political issues. If you're going to be in Bangkok, Chonburi, parts of Phuket, central Hua Hin, Chiang Mai, etc, then TRUE 3G is worthwhile - I streamed the Presidential debates all the way from around Chantaburi to Bangkok, for example, with about 3-4 hiccups total. Locally, in and around Bangkok, it's a full replacement for DSL, frankly. Humorously enough, Cambodia has more and better 3G speed and coverage. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 12:37 on Nov 29, 2012 |
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Nov 29, 2012 12:25
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I can't remember from my last trip, but are most internet cafes running windows or linux? And do owners bitch about you downloading software on there (iTunes) quickly to get something done? This would be in rural Thailand if that makes a difference. I have memories of crazy amounts of gaming taking place in internet cafes (which would mean Windows for sure), but I'm guessing that was in Vietnam 
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Nov 30, 2012 03:46
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Constant gaming, they run Windows (from what I've seen) and the owners don't care, but sometimes the net cafe management systems they have will restrict what you can do.
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Nov 30, 2012 04:31
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They usually have software on so that each time the computer boots it does so from a default install and any changes made by users the day before are erased. So they also usually don't care if you download stuff onto their computers.
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Nov 30, 2012 04:34
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Ok cool, in that case I should have no problems.
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Nov 30, 2012 04:37
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