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ReindeerF posted:You would pretty much have to anchor me off Patong, completely away from Patong and next to a floating stage to get me to say anything positive about Patong too, heh. Sounds pretty cool, though! I can understand not liking Patong, I only spent a couple of hours on shore and it was overwhelming. Walking along that one road towards the Lucky Star mall place was terrifying. Had these sloth like creatures shoved in my face and way too many scary looking dudes trying to grab my arm to take me to ping pong girl shows, hmmm. I'd still like to go and have a bit of a wild night there sometime though - although being a woman alone in an area like that would be a terrible idea. Saw some Russian dude wearing a mask harassing women and filming them which was pretty messed up. Currently based in Chalong which is far more relaxing and less touristy from what I can see. I do hope to explore Thailand properly and get away from the crowds - but I don't have much of a choice on my destinations at the moment. Really interesting about the Russians though, thankfully my partner can just about read Cyrillic so when we're handed menus in that it's not too much of a hassle.
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Jan 2, 2013 04:40
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Ooner posted:Ho Chi Minh City is completely awesome. Is new years day a big thing here just like NYE because last night the streets were absolutely packed and there was some kind of concert thing in the park near our hotel. The motorbike traffic is such a crazy change from anywhere I've ever been. Man you should have told me, I was in that area too on NYE. loving crazy traffic on Nguyen Hue/Le Loi, never seen anything like it. I was finally able to leave District 1 at around 2AM and the traffic was still crazy packed. When do you leave HCMC? If you want to drink some beers tonight or whenever, let me know. I've been here for a year and a half and know the city pretty well.
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Jan 2, 2013 05:05
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Solefald posted:Greeted the new year anchored off Patong, watched Basement Jaxx and Pendulum performing live on some floating stage and a stunning amount of spirit lanterns and fireworks. I think I will have to return to Patong for New Years, it's a very magical experience. Were you on the big yacht, or one of the smaller ones? The party on the beach was fine, and not at all like walking around the streets. The big floating stage thing tanked hard. Apparently they wanted to start at 3pm but didn't even finish setting up until around 7. Glad I didn't waste money on a ticket to that. Being on a boat sounds like a cool place to watch the lanterns though.
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Jan 2, 2013 06:20
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Reminder that I'm in Phuket from the 5th till the 9th, so if anyone's about lets have a pint. 
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Jan 2, 2013 07:40
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Senso posted:Man you should have told me, I was in that area too on NYE. loving crazy traffic on Nguyen Hue/Le Loi, never seen anything like it. I was finally able to leave District 1 at around 2AM and the traffic was still crazy packed. When do you leave HCMC? If you want to drink some beers tonight or whenever, let me know. I've been here for a year and a half and know the city pretty well. We actually spent NYE in Bangkok and came to HCMC the next morning. Here tonight also and all day tomorrow and we leave for Cambodia Friday morning. We are already planning on hanging out with some local friends tonight but email me (cmcquivey at me dot com) your phone number and I'll text you and maybe we can meet up as well!
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Jan 2, 2013 12:25
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ReindeerF posted:Samui, Pattaya, Phuket and the others I'm used to hearing about violence in. Maybe a Thai Charles Bronson needs to come out at night and clean up the town to make it safe for the citizenry once more. It would make a great (comedy) movie. That bald headed Thai actor that's in every movie can star in it too.
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Jan 2, 2013 20:25
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I've read through the last 10-20 pages of this thread and the first posts and I am sorry if these topic have been covered a billion times before, I just read alot of random stuff over the last few pages. Basically I'm an expat working in Saudi Arabia and I am super bored of just visiting Turkey every time I have to get out of this place (you always want to get out of riyadh at every opportunity). I have a window between the 12th Jan till the 20th to go somewhere,and I really really want to. I have never traveled on my own before, I have taken every vacation in Turkey so far, i'm 28 and I am scared shitless of solo travel. So the three destinations I have to decide between is Hong Kong - Macau, Thailand and Singapore. I have a reasonable budget, nothing crazy (around 4k-5k $ at most for the whole thing) and basically I just want to have a lot of fun. I want to go see new things, meet alot of cool people ( i don't care if they are locals, or white tourists, in fact the more the better) just get drunk a lot and even indulge in some of the sex, i'm not gonna lie. Thailand seems to be the most ideal place, cheap, lots of places to party and a lot of ladies ( and ladyboys obviously :s) but as I said, I have never traveled alone and I basically have no time to plan anything, I'm just going to book a flight tonight and leave in a week. I was planning on going to Phuket and branching off from there, seeing some temples and cool beaches would be awesome and having a nice party scene would help of course. Can you fellow goons suggest any destinations within thailand for me to check out, because it seems like there are a poo poo ton of awesome places to be at and I do only have 7-8 days. Any additional survival tips? How do I avoid getting my limbs chopped off by angry thai youths etc.? Any help would be cool. Also any cool suggestions for HK or Singapore are also always welcome 
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Jan 3, 2013 14:54
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Azmodaii posted:I'm just going to book a flight tonight and leave in a week. Yes do that. I'm sure you'll be fine in Thailand and you might even meet a few goons.
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Jan 3, 2013 16:50
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With seven days you shouldn't really try to visit more than two places. A few suggestions: Bangkok and Koh Samui (fly) Bangkok and Chiang Mai (fly) Leave Bangkok immediately for Angkor Wat (fly) and then visit Koh Chang on your way back (bus) If you have some specific interest for being in the region travel to a location that offers it and stay there for the duration. Do not try to incorporate another big city or county into your trip. Go to HK or Singapore next time. Be nice and no one will do anything to you. Even if you're a huge rear end in a top hat probably no one will do anything to you. It ain't Saudi. People in Thailand (including most of the expats) are socialized, commutative, understanding of differences, and genuinely helpful / kind. Most if those machete attacks in fact stem from Saudi money radicalizing small Muslim schools in the South of Thailand. They rarely target foreigners, they rarely occur outside of the true deep South (like the bottom two provinces) and are at that point totally random, so don't worry about it at all. Modus Operandi posted:A longtime engrish language school manager once told me that one of the sports for youth motosai gangs down in Phuket was driving and hacking people with machetes late at night. I heard something similar going down in Bangkok too but it was supposedly an isolated serial killer tag team doing it. In Phuket feral Thai youth is a real problem. It seems like there's been an upswing in beach town violence in the last few years in Krabi and Phuket especially. This actually does happen all the time. The people doing it know that if the police catch them there will be no trial and their families will never find out what happened. Extrajudicial killings are an issue in Thailand but are mostly reserved for the drug trade and succesionists (which is the stated goal of many a motosai machete guy). raton fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Jan 3, 2013 |
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Jan 3, 2013 17:28
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Did we ever come to a consensus about the best travel insurance for the price. One you can get within a week? Only out in se Asia for 2 weeks.
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Jan 4, 2013 04:30
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From what you describe, I'd second the Bangkok/Koh Samui thing Sheep-Goats suggested, that's an extremely easy itinerary that'll give you some of everything you described within your time frame. Angkor/Koh Chang would be more rewarding (and honestly, not a whole lot more difficult) but you can always come back once you're a little less intimidated by solo travel. No point in stressing yourself out when anywhere you go in the region will be exciting and new, right? Just be reasonably cautious and you'll be fine. I'm talking really basic stuff, like don't get blasted and hire some guy to tattoo you with a guitar string on the beach, and don't carry around your entire trip budget in cash. Thailand is generally extremely safe, but it's not going to stop you from making bad decisions on your own. DontAskKant posted:Did we ever come to a consensus about the best travel insurance for the price. One you can get within a week? Only out in se Asia for 2 weeks. WorldNomads was by far the cheapest I could find for the value, covers almost everything, and has a good rep, but I never actually had to cash in on it so take it with a grain of salt.
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Jan 4, 2013 05:14
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Well, I have at least my first night booked for when I fly down on the 5th. I'll be...somewhere...in Thailand starting on the 6th (but probably more the 7th, I need a day to sorta detox from this week) to the 18th. Where I'll be staying, well...we'll see, I suppose!
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Jan 4, 2013 05:39
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Thanks for all the help guys! I bought my tickets to BKK from Riyadh last night, will be landing on Saturday 12th at around 18:00, and will leave on Sunday the 20th. I have decided that I really really want to see Angkor Wat and will spend a day doing that, I also definitely want to check out Koh Sumai and even head down to koh phangan. Unfortunately i've found out that I will be missing the full moon party, but I've seen that there is a half moon party mentioned, is it worth attending one of those and if so is it also in Haad Rin? Should I bother with that stuff or are there any places close to Koh Sumai that I can hang out at? I am curious about pattaya, from all the blogs i've read, everyone mentions it's worth checking out for a day or so, and I would also like to see phuket. I do realise this is quite a lot of stuff to want to do but I think 8 days should be enough to cover it, any advice is welcome of course. Also are there any prepaid sim cards i can easily acquire since I doubt my Saudi GSM card will work there... thanks again for all the advice.
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Jan 4, 2013 07:24
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There is nothing good about Pattaya. I have to go there in a few weeks to collect some baby sharks to release here on Koh Tao and I'm not looking forward to it...
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Jan 4, 2013 07:41
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Huge shout-out to ReindeerF for joining us on our first Beer Lao drinking fest of 2013. Here's to slightly poor decisions and delicious northeastern Thai food forever. Unfortunately I think I've already lost a good chunk of my rudimentary Thai lesson, heh. Next on the itinerary is either hop to Koh Chang or the Koh Tao/Koh Phangan neck of the woods. Let a goon know if anyone else is in the area, or has suggestions.
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Jan 4, 2013 08:21
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You're going to kill yourself with all this travel, losing minimum 5 hours every day for transit, waiting, flights and transit on each leg. As well, you can't do direct connections on some of these legs, so you'll have to fly from, say, Angkor to Bangkok and then Bangkok to Samui. That's going to mean 6-8 hours of travel varying by connection speed - all so you can spend the night, wake up the next day and go somewhere else. Do what we're telling you and you'll thank us. Narrow your locations to 3 max, 2 ideally. Start in Bangkok for a couple of days, head over to Angkor Wat for a couple of days, head back through Bangkok and down to Samui for a couple of days and then back to Bangkok for your last night. That's reasonable. This idea of doing 7 cities in 8 days is very overplanned-ly American and will result in a vacation that sounds good when you talk about all the stuff you did, but that will actually limit your ability to do things and enjoy yourself. Other people will think you had fun, but we will know the truth, heh. MothraAttack posted:Huge shout-out to ReindeerF for joining us on our first Beer Lao drinking fest of 2013. Here's to slightly poor decisions and delicious northeastern Thai food forever. Unfortunately I think I've already lost a good chunk of my rudimentary Thai lesson, heh. I think Finch is down there somewhere.Finch! posted:There is nothing good about Pattaya. I have to go there in a few weeks to collect some baby sharks to release here on Koh Tao and I'm not looking forward to it... ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Jan 4, 2013 |
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Jan 4, 2013 09:14
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Alright thank you very much, I'll limit myself to those places then. One final question regarding where to stay... where would you recommend a hotel for Bangkok? Old town or Pat Pong? I plan on staying in a normal 3-4 star hotel if possible, nothing too cheap or expensive, location wise where would be the best? I plan to do everything I can in Bangkok for a couple of days, shopping, maybe a temple run and nightlife of course.
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Jan 4, 2013 09:19
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Azmodaii posted:Alright thank you very much, I'll limit myself to those places then. http://www.on8bangkok.com/ http://heavenatfourhotel.com/ As a bonus, you'll be surrounded by Gulf Arab families clothed in traditional garb who are then surrounded by ladyboy hookers and beggars. It's a total circus, but you're just a few steps away from sanity on Soi 8 or via the BTS station. Can't vouch for either of those personally, but I have passed by them and they seem fine.
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Jan 4, 2013 09:59
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Azmodaii posted:Alright thank you very much, I'll limit myself to those places then. Stay on one of the other streets in Silom if you want to stay downtown but keep in mind the whole area is a collection of giant, loud malls. Personally I like Soi Rambuttri because it's (relatively) mellow but you can walk to a lot of the cultural attractions and it's only about two blocks to Khao San where a ton of the tourist bars and clubs are. Patpong is the foreigner redlight district. The only reason I can think of to stay there is if you're concerned about finding prostitutes, and you really shouldn't be. They will find you. duralict fucked around with this message at 10:03 on Jan 4, 2013 |
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Jan 4, 2013 10:01
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Oh. My. Zeus. posted:Were you on the big yacht, or one of the smaller ones? The party on the beach was fine, and not at all like walking around the streets. The big floating stage thing tanked hard. Apparently they wanted to start at 3pm but didn't even finish setting up until around 7. Glad I didn't waste money on a ticket to that. Being on a boat sounds like a cool place to watch the lanterns though. We were on a smaller yacht quite far out, made travelling to and from land on a small dinghy while drunk a bit of an adventure. The sound from the stage was pretty dire from every angle, seems like an awful concept really but I suppose plenty of people had fun with it. Oh and I found a pizza place in Chalong and it's somehow the best pizza I have ever had in my life. huh.
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Jan 4, 2013 10:03
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I've met a few people over the last couple weeks who are going to SE Asia for the first time. I envy them.
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Jan 4, 2013 10:18
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eviljelly posted:I've met a few people over the last couple weeks who are going to SE Asia for the first time. I envy them.
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Jan 4, 2013 10:35
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I moved into a new flat by the way, so get ready for some updated 'Balcony Chat'
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Jan 4, 2013 10:43
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eviljelly posted:I've met a few people over the last couple weeks who are going to SE Asia for the first time. I envy them. Less than a week till my turn now. Super excited.
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Jan 4, 2013 11:21
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eviljelly posted:I've met a few people over the last couple weeks who are going to SE Asia for the first time. I envy them. I've met a goon two days ago who preferred Saigon to Bangkok. 
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Jan 4, 2013 11:47
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Senso posted:I've met a goon two days ago who preferred Saigon to Bangkok.
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Jan 4, 2013 11:53
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ReindeerF posted:Senso has stooped from making up things to making up people! This city gets to you, man. I'm in The poo poo. No seriously, ask Ooner who posted recently in the thread. 
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Jan 4, 2013 12:29
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Solefald posted:We were on a smaller yacht quite far out, made travelling to and from land on a small dinghy while drunk a bit of an adventure. The sound from the stage was pretty dire from every angle, seems like an awful concept really but I suppose plenty of people had fun with it. It is very important that you tell me the name/location of this place.
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Jan 4, 2013 14:24
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I found a Shakey's Pizza, who... gave me food poisoning 
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Jan 4, 2013 15:41
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Thailand is by far the best choice of the countries you mentioned for party time! If you go to Phuket, go to Bagna road (a road full of bars and prostitutes) and start drinking from the beach side. Bar hop your way inland where the nightclubs are. By the time you reach them you'll be drunk enough to dance all night and wake up with a lady(?) and not remember anything! That's more fun than you'll ever have in Turkey.
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Jan 4, 2013 16:38
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Again, I'm flying to Phuket in T-minus 4 hours so if anyone's around goon a goon up! Ringo - got a mediocre place I can head to without being hassled to hell by bar girls, or somewhere at least my girlfriend will be enough of a deterrent that I can drink in peace?
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Jan 4, 2013 19:01
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$105 of travel insurance for a $2000 trip for 2 weeks. Seems like a lot or is that just what travel insurance costs. This is through the company USAA works with.
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Jan 4, 2013 19:33
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That sounds like a lot (for my European standards). That's only slightly less than what I pay for a year of continuous travel insurance.
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Jan 4, 2013 19:44
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I think I'll be traveling to Hanoi sometime in either august or September. Probably for two weeks with a couple friends of mine. A mutual friend has been living there, and has extra room for guests, so we won't have to pay for any lodging. I know I'll have to get a visa from the Vietnamese consulate. Is there anything else I should be aware of? Anyone have experiences they want to share? This trip is in the very preliminary stages. It's been something I've wanted to do, but didn't really think was going to happen. Over a Christmas, I told a friend we should go to Vietnam to visit our other friend, and we kinda joked about how we would like to, but its so far/expensive. I got a text from her today saying, "Let's go to Vietnam, when works for you?!"
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Jan 4, 2013 23:07
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I'm flying to Thailand at the end of March/early April after I heal from getting Lasik. I'm thinking I'm going to try my hand at being a digital nomad, finding whatever work I can a long the way, maybe even start an export business or something. We shall see. The plan so far is Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos (where I'll get a double entry Thai visa) and back to Thailand. I was wondering if you guys could give me any tips on my rough itinerary for the first leg of my journey. I think I'd like to stick to Central Thailand for my first leg and hit the north and south when I'm back again. I'm a little intimidated by Bangkok (solo traveling) so I was going to come back to it after a week or two. I'm not into sex tourism or the party scene, I'd rather hangout at temples and eat great food, spin poi and work on the internet from a bungalow. Here's what I was thinking... Nakhon Pathom, Kanchanaburi, Sangkhlaburi, Bangkok (for Songkran), Ayutthaya, Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi, Trat & some islands before I enter Cambodia Trying to do this on the cheap but I should have ~$5,000 and a round trip (just in case) ticket by the time I leave. Let me know what you all think! Thanks!
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Jan 5, 2013 00:57
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Skandiaavity posted:I found a Shakey's Pizza, who... gave me food poisoning Walking down the beach in Boracay, my friend from California and I ran into one on accident and she practically melted down in excitement. Anyway, flying to Bali in January for my 2nd Southeast Asia trip, first solo, and have a few questions. Is Kuta really as bad as its' reputation? I do want some of the party atmosphere, but I don't want my entire time there to feel like freshman year of college, either. I've been to Ko Pha Ngan during the full moon, how does it compare? And if Kuta is that bad, what is a better place to stay in Bali? Secondly, my original plan was to do Bali, then do the Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam swing. One issue I've had though is despite many people recommending it to me, I can't really figure out what I actually want to do in Laos. My impression is the OP on it seems kind of dead on, it is a good place to go sit around and smoke weed or drink beer. Is there something I am missing? I'm sure there are interesting sights and food and what not, but it seems to really not compare to surrounding countries. Why is it so highly recommended? Also, if any goons want to meet somewhere, I'm looking at being in Bali from the 17th until the end of January. Bangkok probably the first week or so of February and then the Ko Pha Ngan, Ko Samui, Ko Tao trio. After that, up in the air.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:05
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Visa lady called today. Said our visa's were already issued and all I need to do is overnight new photos and IF (IF!) she receives them Monday, she'll send our passports back meaning we'll get them Tuesday for our Wednesday 9am departure. Assuming everything goes correctly. FINGERS loving CROSSED.
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Jan 5, 2013 04:33
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MothraAttack posted:Next on the itinerary is either hop to Koh Chang or the Koh Tao/Koh Phangan neck of the woods. Let a goon know if anyone else is in the area, or has suggestions. ReindeerF posted:Dude, was loads of fun - find me again on your way back around sometime Yep, I'm on Koh Tao! I'll be in KL and Penang for a few days on the 10th of this month, KL again for a wedding from February 14th to 19th, then back to Australia until September before coming back here for another few months (probably). Koh Tao is crazy busy at the moment and I expect Phangan is the same, although the typical route is full moon party -> Koh Tao. There are a lot of full moon morons around at the moment. Tips: Although Mae Haad is the "main" town of Koh Tao, there's no compelling reason to stay there unless you like lots of shops and some ferry piers and no beaches. Sairee is the main beach area, though Chalok is another good option. It's mostly a scuba diving island - loads of people do open water courses here. I'm training with Big Blue Diving but there are loads of other options. Koh Phangan is actually pretty cool if you get away from Haad Rin. I really like Thong Nai Pan Noi or Thong Nai Pan Yai. They're out of the way but popular, if that makes sense. Very relaxed, but it's easy to find a party. quote:Agreed, though he mentioned sex tourism in his original post. While you can do that just about any tourist area, Pattaya and he might be a match made in heaven. Ah. I must have tuned out.
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Jan 5, 2013 05:45
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Work cocked up my visa poo poo, so I needed to get a return ticket before I could fly from BKK to Manila. So I'm heading to BKK the 1st of March. Yay.
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Jan 5, 2013 07:21
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G-Hawk posted:Is Kuta really as bad as its' reputation? I do want some of the party atmosphere, but I don't want my entire time there to feel like freshman year of college, either. I've been to Ko Pha Ngan during the full moon, how does it compare? And if Kuta is that bad, what is a better place to stay in Bali? Kuta is basically Khao San Road vastly extended and crossed with a Californian outdoor minimall. The beach is relatively nice (especially compared to the more eastern side of Denpasar) but honestly the draw is entirely the bars, clubs and clothing stores. It doesn't really match the full intensity of the FMP, but if you visualize Haad Rin plus designer clothing stores, that's pretty close to what Kuta's like. I can't say enough nice things about Ubud, which is just as touristy but vastly more attractive and interesting. Bali's also tiny, so it's totally plausible to just rent a moto for a day and tool all over the island until you see somewhere you like (the volcanoes and Besakih Temple are worth a visit, and you can easily reach them in a day). quote:Secondly, my original plan was to do Bali, then do the Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam swing. One issue I've had though is despite many people recommending it to me, I can't really figure out what I actually want to do in Laos. My impression is the OP on it seems kind of dead on, it is a good place to go sit around and smoke weed or drink beer. Is there something I am missing? I'm sure there are interesting sights and food and what not, but it seems to really not compare to surrounding countries. Why is it so highly recommended? Laos is the kind of place that is just really easy to love. Honestly the tourist attractions are relatively weak (Champasak, the Plain of Jars, and Luang Prabang are all pretty cool, but they can't really compete with the mindblowing stuff in Cambodia). What it does have is a lot of beautiful natural scenery, especially right along the Mekong, and a generally very high quality of life for backpackers. It's kind of cliche to toss around "laid-back" but that's really the defining characteristic of Lao tourism, it's very much a take-a-break country. It's also kind of a bottleneck so it's easy to make some buddies you see turning up for weeks afterward in other places, which is more important than you might think.
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Jan 5, 2013 09:05
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