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ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

Chair Huxtable posted:

It's all fun and games until Thais start rolling their eyes at you because you don't pronounce London correctly.
Try booking a ticket to Houston, Texas sometime. They're worse than loving New Yorkers with that poo poo.

Fourth Largest City :argh:

\/\/\/ 555

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Jun 28, 2013

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Chair Huxtable
Dec 27, 2004

Heavens me, just look at the time


ReindeerF posted:

Try booking a ticket to Houston, Texas sometime. They're worse than loving New Yorkers with that poo poo.

Fourth Largest City :argh:

"Ohhhhh, A-mer-EEE-ka! Very good! New York Cee-tee?"
"No, Ohio."
"Ohhh. Caa-lee-pho-nee-ah?"
"No, Ohio."
"O-ba-ma?"
"... Yes, I like him too."
"Haha, okaaay!"

Edit: Truthfully, I roll with the punches here on things being pronounced oddly. The only time it actually bothers me is when the other teachers at my school go on about the "foe-nix" lessons. I can handle any word being mispronounced BUT the word that we use to define how letters sound in words. Drives me up the wall.

Chair Huxtable fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Jun 28, 2013

raton
Jul 28, 2003

by FactsAreUseless
Pep SEEEEEEEEEE

MrNemo
Aug 26, 2010

"I just love beeting off"

Chair Huxtable posted:

I can handle any word being mispronounced BUT the word that we use to define how letters sound in words. Drives me up the wall.

Pronunciation always gets me. It's not pronounced pronounciation God damnit! In more relevant news Kuala Lumpur is still a nice place, having come from Beijing I still don't understand where all this air pollution is. Seriously people aren't going outside at times Beijingers would be enjoying the nice day. Just in case anyone was thinking of coming to Malaysia and was worried about that.

duckmaster
Sep 13, 2004
Mr and Mrs Duck go and stay in a nice hotel.

One night they call room service for some condoms as things are heating up.

The guy arrives and says "do you want me to put it on your bill"

Mr Duck says "what kind of pervert do you think I am?!

QUACK QUACK
Serious question here.

I am heading to the islands in south Thailand for the next full moon party with a girl I've met. We are bussing it out of Cambodia, train to Bangkok, flying to Surat thani then ferry to the islands. All fine and organised, but I have sorted myself out with a 30 day visa because I know I will only get a 14 day visa exemption as we're crossing by land.

The problem is that this girl has been in Cambodia for a few months and I don't think she realises that how completely different the two countries are. She seems to think she can slip a Thai immigration officer US$20 and he'll give her a 30 day exemption, ie what you'd get if you arrived by air.

I am 99% sure this is not the case and will result in at best a very irate immigration officer and at worst refused entry and possibly even a few days in an infamous Thai prison cell. I am willing to accept that I am wrong but I want to be sure of the facts before I put my foot down.

For reference my Thai visa cost $48 through an agent, so I certainly don't think $20 will cut it.

Alan_Shore
Dec 2, 2004

Has anyone done this? My girlfriend and I are travelling from the UK to India and Nepal from October 'til about April. Then we're thinking about heading over to Chiang Mai to find teaching jobs. She already has a CELTA, and since I have no English teaching qualifications I'm thinking of doing a four week CELTA course there then looking for work. Is this crazy?

Chair Huxtable
Dec 27, 2004

Heavens me, just look at the time


Alan_Shore posted:

Has anyone done this? My girlfriend and I are travelling from the UK to India and Nepal from October 'til about April. Then we're thinking about heading over to Chiang Mai to find teaching jobs. She already has a CELTA, and since I have no English teaching qualifications I'm thinking of doing a four week CELTA course there then looking for work. Is this crazy?

No, this is not crazy. In Chiang Mai jobs can be a little harder to get because it's where everyone wants to live. I wouldn't worry about doing your CELTA unless you don't have a degree already. There are umpty-billion jobs in Thailand for teachers, if you're a little bit flexible you can find one (or two) easily. Also, a lot of the CELTAs and TEFLs here don't transfer to other countries because Thailand is... well, Thailand.

If you want more information, drop your email here and I'll send you a message.

raton
Jul 28, 2003

by FactsAreUseless

Alan_Shore posted:

Has anyone done this? My girlfriend and I are travelling from the UK to India and Nepal from October 'til about April. Then we're thinking about heading over to Chiang Mai to find teaching jobs. She already has a CELTA, and since I have no English teaching qualifications I'm thinking of doing a four week CELTA course there then looking for work. Is this crazy?

https://www.ajarn.com

Chiang Mai has the biggest oversupply of potential teachers of probably any Asian city on a per capita basis. Depending on your demographics it may still be quite possible for you to find work. After you do you will have to make a visa run to an adjacent country to get a work visa.

duckmaster posted:

Serious question here.

I am heading to the islands in south Thailand for the next full moon party with a girl I've met. We are bussing it out of Cambodia, train to Bangkok, flying to Surat thani then ferry to the islands. All fine and organised, but I have sorted myself out with a 30 day visa because I know I will only get a 14 day visa exemption as we're crossing by land.

The problem is that this girl has been in Cambodia for a few months and I don't think she realises that how completely different the two countries are. She seems to think she can slip a Thai immigration officer US$20 and he'll give her a 30 day exemption, ie what you'd get if you arrived by air.

I am 99% sure this is not the case and will result in at best a very irate immigration officer and at worst refused entry and possibly even a few days in an infamous Thai prison cell. I am willing to accept that I am wrong but I want to be sure of the facts before I put my foot down.

For reference my Thai visa cost $48 through an agent, so I certainly don't think $20 will cut it.

Short answer: it might work, probably no one will get mad if it's handled correctly (eg: she doesn't embarrass anyone or get them in trouble, that will certainly draw some ire) but it's a stupid idea when she could just go through an agent like you did.

raton fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Jun 30, 2013

eviljelly
Aug 29, 2004

duckmaster posted:


The problem is that this girl has been in Cambodia for a few months and I don't think she realises that how completely different the two countries are. She seems to think she can slip a Thai immigration officer US$20 and he'll give her a 30 day exemption, ie what you'd get if you arrived by air.

I am 99% sure this is not the case and will result in at best a very irate immigration officer and at worst refused entry and possibly even a few days in an infamous Thai prison cell. I am willing to accept that I am wrong but I want to be sure of the facts before I put my foot down.

For reference my Thai visa cost $48 through an agent, so I certainly don't think $20 will cut it.

Worst case she can pay the 500 baht/day penalty when she leaves. It's not a big deal to overstay a bit.

Alan_Shore
Dec 2, 2004

Chair Huxtable posted:

No, this is not crazy. In Chiang Mai jobs can be a little harder to get because it's where everyone wants to live. I wouldn't worry about doing your CELTA unless you don't have a degree already. There are umpty-billion jobs in Thailand for teachers, if you're a little bit flexible you can find one (or two) easily. Also, a lot of the CELTAs and TEFLs here don't transfer to other countries because Thailand is... well, Thailand.

If you want more information, drop your email here and I'll send you a message.

Thanks for your advice you guys! I just figured having a CELTA would give me the edge over those with only degrees/TEFLs, and I will probably be teaching in other countries too in the future.

Chair, my email is majin_lyndon(at)hotmail.com if you can give me more info!

duckmaster
Sep 13, 2004
Mr and Mrs Duck go and stay in a nice hotel.

One night they call room service for some condoms as things are heating up.

The guy arrives and says "do you want me to put it on your bill"

Mr Duck says "what kind of pervert do you think I am?!

QUACK QUACK

Sheep-Goats posted:

Short answer: it might work, probably no one will get mad if it's handled correctly (eg: she doesn't embarrass anyone or get them in trouble, that will certainly draw some ire) but it's a stupid idea when she could just go through an agent like you did.

The main problem is that I don't think she'll be able to handle it correctly. I have a vague idea (after 5 weeks in SE Asia, stop me if I'm talking poo poo) that Thailand is trying extremely hard to pull themselves up to first world status and some young white girl thinking she can wave some dollars around and do what she wants is just going to insult someone. That poo poo flies in Cambodia but I don't think it's a good idea in Thailand.

I think I'm just going to put my foot down and say she either gets a visa, takes the 14 days and extends, or we get off the bus and cross seperately.

I'm not bailing someone I've known for a month out of prison.

unless she has sex with me afterwards, but this obviously goes without saying

Ringo R
Dec 25, 2005

ช่วยแม่เฮ็ดนาแหน่เดัอ
Yeah just stay away from her when gets taken away for questioning.

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

duckmaster posted:

bribing an immigration officer
You can bribe someone to get to the front of the line, but you can't bribe an immigration official to change your stamp because it would be impossible for you to get 30 days at a land crossing and the officer who stamped you out would see it in the computer and could cause trouble. I have had some funky visa stuff done, but it was done at Bangkok central immigration via a fixer who had an Aunt working there. I wouldn't try it myself.

Even in a situation where you can bribe someone, you have to be very careful about how you do it. You don't just slip them money. When it comes to bribing officials in a situation like this there's a whole ritual in Thailand (as with everything) about asking for help and then the other person pretending like they don't know what you mean and then pressing your case and finally money changing hands folded into a passport or something.

F Chiang Mai in the A :argh:

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Jul 1, 2013

xcdude24
Dec 23, 2008
After about ten days with Dengue, I'm finally able to go home on Wednesday. My case was pretty mild (it was maybe a bit worse than the flu), but it obviously screwed my vacation up (as well as my post-vacation job situation) quite a bit. That being said, I fully realize I just got really unlucky, and I'd definitely recommend Thailand. It's awesome here.

raton
Jul 28, 2003

by FactsAreUseless
About six months ago I PM'd Our Dear Leader (ReindeerF) asking for a rundown of SE Asian non-poo poo-tier works. Jobbos. Me missus said:

Me Missus posted:

I've been discussing this recently with some different people, actually. My opinion was that pretty much only these field would be reliable in terms of educational background (everything else is just legwork):

1) Energy: So, anything to do with geology, drilling, safety, engineering, exploration, etc. There are heaps of firms, but for this area I know you could check out Chevron's regional openings for an example. Of all the professions outside of teaching, this is the most sizable and dependably overseas that I've seen - and it pays very well with good benefits.

2) NGO Stuff: This is a little tougher to draw a box around, but any of the bajillion NGOs over here are routinely hiring. I know, for example, that I constantly see ads for Oxfam, Greenpeace and some other biggies, but there are jobs in every imaginable kind of development here and in countries like Cambodia. I know there are degrees like developmental economics, but if I were you I'd get in touch with some, or check out their listings and see what they seem to want.

3) KPO/BPO: There's not much of this in Thailand because of the poor education, english and telecom infrastructure, but companies like IBM and Accenture are hiring people into India and The Philippines and many Eastern Europeans countries as managers to handle local employees (it's the new expat package - you get basically a normal American job overseas and no extras, heh). BPO is Business Process Outsourcing and the K in KPO is Knowledge. Basically, managing IT Projects, managing call centers, managing stuff businesses outsource.

4) Factory Management Stuff: I honestly don't know how people swing this, but I have quite a few friends who come through or end up here managing factories for Western companies like Philips, Stanley Tool and so on. I don't know what degree gets you from point A to point B, but it's definitely a viable career path.

5) Food & Hospitality: They don't make the absolute top money, but this is one field where there are tons of foreigners brought in. Hotel managers do pretty well at major hotels like Sofitel. Chefs do not so poorly. It goes downhill from there, but there are a *lot* of hotels here and I do meet quite a few Westerners in the field. I know there are specific degrees from schools like UH's Hilton school.

6) This is all I can think of right now!

He had a GET OUT OF THE US thread before but I can't find it now.

Related to this (and my avoidance of working through a Precalculus for Dummies book in anticipation of an upcoming math placement test -- please lord let me not take loving Precalc again) I found a link to a cool post that I couldn't open, but thankfully there exists the Wayback Machine Internet Web Site.

Most concise thing I've ever read about international NGO work!

Link!: http://web.archive.org/web/20130121...-do-about-that/

Text!:

Remember when you first hit control C and control V and it was a loving revelation that you didn't have to retype poo poo aww yeah you forgot bout that didn't you (it's going to say "posted" next and ruin my flow) posted:

The following post is written by Alanna Shaikh. Alanna has lived in Egypt, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, where her son was born in 2006. Along with her husband and son, she currently lives in Washington, DC in an extended family household with her parents and three small dogs. Alanna, her husband, and her mom juggle care for her son with care for her father, who has Alzheimer’s Disease. [Ed: :qq: ]

I recently ran into a blog written by a young person (I will assume a woman, but I am not sure) who was frustrated with her attempts to volunteer abroad. She wanted some kind of international service, ideally in a refugee camp. An idealistic person, she was willing to do anything, even sweep, drive, or clean. Yet no one would take her. She was disappointed, and didn’t understand why no one wanted her when she was willing to work completely unpaid. I hear that from a lot of people I meet. They are enthusiastic and passionate about wanting to help, but they can’t find any way to do it. It’s unfortunate, but it’s not surprising.

This is why: when I worked for an international NGO, it cost us $16,000-$20,000 to put an unpaid volunteer in the field. The cost included health insurance, housing, food allowance, and transport costs. Even if a volunteer paid for their own plane ticket, we couldn’t ethically send them to Sudan or Sri Lanka without providing food, housing and health care. Those costs add up fast. For $16,000 in most parts of the world, you can hire a trilingual local person with better skills than any volunteer American. Add to that the possibility that the volunteer will flip out in the new place, and be unable to cope. For an NGO to justify sending you as a volunteer, you need to be skilled enough to be worth the cost and the risk. In other words, trying to be a volunteer isn’t really much different from looking for an entry level salaried position. The following advice applies to both paid jobs and volunteer work.

You can make yourself worth the cost of hiring by having the right skills. Luckily for the international job seeker, NGOs are looking for a decent range of skills. The first and most obvious is clinical skills- doctors, nurses, PAs, EMTs, or midwives. They also need finance people – CPAs are great but a budgets and bookkeeping background will suffice. Technical experts on agriculture are very much in demand, as are water and sanitation engineers. Lastly, and this is what most of us get in on, they generally need writers. Any NGO doing development or emergency relief work spends about half their time writing reports on what they already did, applying for grants to do more things, and writing success stories to encourage private donors. They need native English speakers to write this stuff. If you don’t have any of the necessary skills, you can gain them. You can train to be an EMT, or find a job where you work with budgets. Writing newsletters or grant applications for your local animal rescue group, neighborhood association, or homeless shelter isn’t exactly the same as writing them for an international organization, but it’s close enough to get you hired.

You can cut down the risk of hiring you, too. Get some international experience. If you’re still in college, do a year abroad and don’t go to Europe. Europe doesn’t count when you’re applying to be a program officer in Indonesia. Go somewhere difficult, that will teach you how to adapt to rough conditions and very different cultures. If you have finished college, do some traveling, and then list the places you’ve visited on your resume. It’s not the same as living abroad but it proves you have a passport and can navigate a foreign city. Do a job in the US that is as similar as possible to the job you want to do abroad; that will reassure potential employers that you’ll only be facing one new thing at a time.

If you really want to work abroad, go. Move to the country you want to work in. It’s easy to be a volunteer when you are already living there, because no one feels the need to pay for your housing, insurance, or anything else. If you live nearby, you are genuinely a pair of free hands, and plenty of NGOs will want to make use of you. After about six months of volunteering, you’ll have enough in country experience and know enough about NGO work in the local context to be really useful. At that point, some effective networking should get you paid employment.

There are a couple of things I deliberately didn’t suggest here. Don’t go on a pay-to-volunteer trip. Very few organizations respect those as real international experience. I also don’t generally suggest the Peace Corps. The good thing about Peace Corps is this is that the government will pay for your travel and health insurance, while also giving you a small stipend (plus a few other benefits). The down side is that the Peace Corps is actually quite selective, and you also don’t get to choose where you go or what you do but you promise to do it for two years. For the tiny monthly salary, you are making a lot of commitments. It isn’t for everybody. On the other hand, it’s experience that employers value, because it’s so very hard.

More info along these lines: http://humanitarianjobs.wordpress.com/about/why-is-it-so-difficult-to-get-your-foot-in-the-door/

raton fucked around with this message at 06:28 on Jul 1, 2013

MothraAttack
Apr 28, 2008

Alan_Shore posted:

Thanks for your advice you guys! I just figured having a CELTA would give me the edge over those with only degrees/TEFLs, and I will probably be teaching in other countries too in the future.

Chair, my email is majin_lyndon(at)hotmail.com if you can give me more info!

Just finished a few months in Chiang Mai where my girlfriend was teaching briefly, and most of our social circle were TEFLers. Exactly what the other person said regarding the CELTA is true -- they're not really especially recognized in SE Asia like they are in Europe or South America. Employers tend to put 100-hour online diploma mill TEFL certs in the same broad category as a CELTA. The most crucial aspect is to dress nicely, be a native English speaker and have a real bachelor's degree from an accredited Western university. Then you're good to go. The main hiring season in Chiang Mai runs from early April to late May. Most government schools or private language schools will pay you between 20,000 and 40,000 baht monthly, judging by your qualifications and the crap shoot of it all. And, yes, I said 20,000. The situation Sheep Goats describes is spot on. The oversupply is so vast that wages are greatly depressed relative to the rest of Thailand and even SE Asia. You could earn more in Phnom Penh if my understanding is correct. Most, but by no means all, will provide visa assistance and health coverage. Teaching at an international school or the better government schools pays more (50,000+ baht per month) but often require at least a few years proven teaching experience, often in conjunction with a teaching certificate from your home country.

Be sure to ask yourself seriously if Chiang Mai is really, really what you want. I met several people with degrees and even two years of TEFL who were earning less than 30,000 baht monthly (and I also met people who had never been in a classroom that were clearing 40,000 starting). It's cheaper than Bangkok, but the wages are lower and the options outside of teaching are fewer. On the other hand, you could probably roll into any city of a quarter million-ish people in Isaan, the north or the south and land a teaching gig that will pay at least 35,000 monthly with even cheaper living costs than Chiang Mai. Get a government job in a provincial town of 100,000 or so and you'll have a bona fide Thai experience, still be able to tap into a tightly knit expat community and, as a couple willing to live similarly to locals, even be able to save several hundred U.S. per month each. In Chiang Mai if you're hoping to go out more than two nights per week, each want a motorbike and want to live in a good location with air conditioning then you're not going to be saving much with the salaries provided by about 70% of jobs in the market.

For context, we live in Mae Sot where government teaching jobs start between 30,000 and 35,000 baht at the entry level. As a couple willing to use bicycles as our primary transportation, our living costs are about $400 per month each, including all rent, eating out almost every meal and going out on the weekends.

If you have any questions about NGOs, too, feel free to ask since that's my field, although what Sheep Goats posted is pretty spot on.

MothraAttack fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Jul 1, 2013

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

Sheep-Goats posted:

Our Dear Leader
More like Our Dear Loudmouth, heh. This thread is my only forum outlet anymore and we're like the only regional thread with no expat community, so I overcompensate by posting too often - like this!

There's a whole lot I'd add to my list there in retrospect, but one thing I should've put down is that any position where you're bridging a cultural gap can be valuable (e.g. sales). The oversupply problem in Thailand extends to all industries. As a former farang CEO I worked for put it (paraphrasing), "You can pay foreigners nothing because everyone wants to live here ahahahahah." No one really cared for him, obviously, but that's the prevailing attitude. Outside of a few key specialties where international pressure demands true expertise (e.g. security consultant for stock exchange) or cultural familiarity (five-star hotel front of house manager), skilled foreigners are an expensive risk with little reward to local business owners, whether those owners are foreign or Thai.

The best way I've found to explain Thailand's employment economy is to look at it from a different perspective than you usually would. Here's a country that has a high supply of cheap labor that a statistically few people sit on top of to make money. Productivity and efficiency and Doing Things The Right Way costs a lot up front and has marginal long-term savings, but doesn't represent immediate profit, so the answer to every job you didn't get was "hire five cheap people who don't know what they're doing" because why should the business owner pay you five times as much as one local person or 3-4 low-skill foreigners if they're not going to make any more money? This is how cheap labor economies act when they're still on the upswing. Until labor gets expensive and/or your economy switches to service and R&D most jobs just need warm bodies.

The people who do truly well mostly start their own companies, which is what I've done recently.

MothraAttack posted:

On the other hand, you could probably roll into any city of a quarter million-ish people in Isaan, the north or the south and land a teaching gig that will pay at least 35,000 monthly with even cheaper living costs than Chiang Mai. Get a government job in a provincial town of 100,000 or so and you'll have a bona fide Thai experience, still be able to tap into a tightly knit expat community and, as a couple willing to live similarly to locals, even be able to save several hundred U.S. per month each.
If I were looking to dick around in Thailand for a year or just arriving with no prospects, this is what I would do. I currently live one province North of Bangkok and have for two years. It's not strictly rural and it's developing fast now, but I cross the river and I'm in plantations talking to farmers and eating fruit off their trees (that they give me, NOT THIEF) and so on. Places like Udon, Ubon, Chanthaburi, Chiang Rai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Hua Hin, Krabi, Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Pathom, Mukdahan, Petchaboon, Lampang, Suphanburi, Ayutthaya, Pitsanulok, Khon Kaen, Rayong, Sri Racha, Chonburi and pretty much anywhere else that has a direct bus route from Bangkok are mostly big enough to have modern conveniences (i.e. malls, fast food, movie theaters, etc) while still offering a more laid back traditional way of life. You won't have the sheer density of social activities that Bangkok offers, but with the pervasive airports and bus routes in Thailand you can be in Bangkok any time you want for less than 1,000 Baht. This is probably something Chair can speak to if she feels like it :)

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 10:49 on Jul 1, 2013

lemonadesweetheart
May 27, 2010

Quick question: A friend and his family are coming over to Malaysia and he's looking for a decent family oriented holiday spot in SEA. I've said if he stays in Malaysia, Langkawi is probably his best option but can anyone make any recommendations for outside of Malaysia (or even inside Malaysia if you think somewhere would be better).

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

lemonadesweetheart posted:

Quick question: A friend and his family are coming over to Malaysia and he's looking for a decent family oriented holiday spot in SEA. I've said if he stays in Malaysia, Langkawi is probably his best option but can anyone make any recommendations for outside of Malaysia (or even inside Malaysia if you think somewhere would be better).
Through a close friend from home, I have this group of mostly American expat friends in Hong Kong who are all wealthy and travel a lot and they all take their kids to Phuket and Samui constantly. Rent a villa, let the kids run wild at the beach and so on. I personally don't think much of Phuket, but I actually have grown fond of Samui over the years and think of it as probably Thailand's best *mass-market* beach/island locale when compared to Phuket, Pattaya and the others. Phuket probably takes the cake in terms of attractions, though, with all the various zoos and adventure trips and parks and shows and things, but I just don't like the attitude around there, frankly, among either the expat community or the locals you'll encounter as a tourist.

A friend of mine lived there for a decade or so and knew the place really well from running a business. He had a great piece of trivia that explains a lot. When Phuket was nowheresville prior to three or four decades ago, the only thing there was tin mining (see the Indigo Pearl Resort) which was all inland. Among the wealthy families that controlled things for generations, inland property was handed down to the smart industrious kids to take care of and support the family. The black sheep and boneheads got the littoral property. Fast-forward three or four decades post-tin mining and guess who ended up in charge of the place.

Chair Huxtable
Dec 27, 2004

Heavens me, just look at the time


... Exactly what MothraAttack said. He's kind of got your bases covered, but I'll still send you an email in case you have some nitty gritty questions. Truthfully, I tell most people that if you want to teach in Thailand, Bangkok is sort of where you want to work. It's central, which makes it easy to travel on long weekends and holidays. If you work in Chiang Mai, I can promise you're not leaving northern Thailand for the semester. Ditto for working in the south.

raton
Jul 28, 2003

by FactsAreUseless
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtOl3HGjU3k

2:45

MothraAttack
Apr 28, 2008
Something I forgot about Chiang Mai is that a lot, maybe as much as a quarter, of the young expats are self-employed online. Some are doing legitimate work. An online call center worker here, a podcast producer there, but you will keep running into 24-year-olds who literally blog for a "living" and call themselves "digital nomads" while undertaking no efforts to speak Thai because next year they'll be in Italy or Bali or wherever. Seriously you'll run into someone like this every week, it's really confusing.

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro
In my experience in this part of the world, they're about 50% affiliate scammers posing as creative types, 30% niche marketers & freelancers, 10% offshoring-themselves types (a la Finch!) and 10% "other" including online poker players, porn producers, Pirate Bay founders and other odds and ends.

A couple of years ago up there, the police rounded up some young foreigners without work permits playing as a band at bars who advertised on facebook openly (surely some competing bar reported them). I think you can get away with a lot more in Bangkok, but Chiang Mai's a very small city, really, and everyone knows everyone's business even worse than here in Bangkok. They'll cull the herd from time to time.

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Jul 2, 2013

Deep State of Mind
Jul 30, 2006

"It was a busy day. I do not remember it all. In the morning, I thought I had lost my wallet. Then we went swimming and either overthrew a government or started a pro-American radio station. I can't really remember."
Fun Shoe
So which group do you belong to, ReindeerF?

Senso
Nov 4, 2005

Always working
Last month in Vietnam... Getting hit by a wave of melancholia these days...

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

Bloodnose posted:

So which group do you belong to, ReindeerF?
I alternated between consulting for companies around the world and full-time stints working as a marketing director before starting my own company, but then I wasn't a 24 year-old living in Chiang Mai. I was four days from 31 when I moved here and had been working in my field for about nine years at that time, so I had different goals than a "Digital Nomad," heh. I should point out that moving here was not a financially beneficial decision in terms of earnings, so I haven't made out like a bandit or anything, but I didn't plan to, so that was okay. We'll see how the company does.

Senso posted:

Last month in Vietnam... Getting hit by a wave of melancholia these days...
That's what you get for leaving!

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 09:35 on Jul 2, 2013

caberham
Mar 18, 2009

by Smythe
Grimey Drawer

ReindeerF posted:

I'm pretty awesome :words:

The only thing that makes me jealous is you hooking up with a random person next to you and joining the mile high club :argh:

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

caberham posted:

The only thing that makes me jealous is you hooking up with a random person next to you and joining the mile high club :argh:
I'm definitely not awesome, I just engineered a very portable, low-demand lifestyle and tailored my career to suit it. I ride a bike with a stupid bell and panniers most everywhere I go, or take boats, trains, buses and so on. I cook and eat locally and trail run for a hobby. You can make and spend a lot of money here, but I came here for a more relaxing, organic life with friendly people who don't ask me what neighborhood I'm thinking of buying in (and now that I'm marrying a Thai-Chinese girl my dream is crashing down around me :argh:), so I did the other thing - made less and spent less.

I didn't completely hook up with that girl (Ingrid), heh, but came close - dammit.

lemonadesweetheart
May 27, 2010

Are Thai-Chinese as kiasu as Malaysian/Singaporean Chinese?

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

lemonadesweetheart posted:

Are Thai-Chinese as kiasu as Malaysian/Singaporean Chinese?
No, heh, much more integrated here. I mean there's a distinct cultural difference in many cases, but that specific characteristic you're referring to is something we make fun of ethnic Chinese Malaysians over. We get them in for events sometimes and if there's a buffet then you can forget eating that night. The stereotype of Singaporean Chinese is about what you'd imagine, they're considered uppity and rude, always looking down on Thailand (the latter of which is not universally true, but accurate enough as stereotypes go).

I have a retired Singaporean friend who went to school in the West and married a Thai woman. He's hysterical and we make fun of all the stereotypes about one another. The first time I met him, he was yelling "WHO MAKE THE MONEY!??" at another friend of ours who participates in civil war re-enactments - he couldn't believe that people did this without anyone turning a profit. "SOMEONE SELL THE TICKET AH?" Really laid back guy, though, but (shock) owned an import-export business, which is what you were issued in Singapore as part of your birthright from the mid-twentieth century onward, I think.

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Jul 2, 2013

Chair Huxtable
Dec 27, 2004

Heavens me, just look at the time


caberham posted:

hooking up with a random person next to you

Doesn't that happen to everyone who comes here? At least once?

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

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ReindeerF posted:

In my experience in this part of the world, they're about 50% affiliate scammers posing as creative types, 30% niche marketers & freelancers, 10% offshoring-themselves types (a la Finch!) and 10% "other" including online poker players, porn producers, Pirate Bay founders and other odds and ends.

My experience is a bit different when it comes to the "work on the Internet" types I've encountered. It might be related to geography or whatever, but I'm not quite sure. Maybe I don't ask the right questions.

I've met a bunch of freelance programmers/designers/administrators/writers/architects/photographers/whatever - I'd say these are by far the majority, but they often have their fingers in other pies to help out on the side. Bar work, scuba instructing, whatever. These guys generally don't make a lot of money but they have a great time. Often early to mid 20's.

Following that are people doing what I do - have a real world job or business that's doable from anywhere. These jobs/businesses are in pretty diverse fields - everything from computers to engineering to public relations and event management. I once met a Latvian guy who owns a few construction cranes (presumably in Latvia) and hires them out. All kinds of poo poo. We generally have a bit more money (real world income, Thailand expenses) but work much harder (often close to real world hours). We also come and go quite often, and because work is our priority we tend to disappear and reappear at short notice. Usually mid 20's and on.

After that come the bloggers/marketers/poker players/forex traders/"I run a website" types. Probably only 10% to 15%. I haven't met anybody too dodgy, but maybe they try to sound as though they're in the above group. No real age group.

The vast minority (sub 10%) are seriously creative types. I've met a few inventors and guys developing some crazy businesses - everything from medical to aviation inventors, and finance or even publishing companies. These guys work the hardest but usually live in a tiny bungalow in the mountains of Koh Phangan with total living costs of $300/month while they wait for someone to buy their next big thing. These guys are often in their early 30's, but not always.

Finch! fucked around with this message at 11:03 on Jul 2, 2013

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro
Yeah, I think part of it's environmental. My experience professionally here is primarily in Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Manila all of which are hives for boiler room scammers, money launderers, spammers and ripoff artists of all kinds. Go to any startup event and you'll meet a bunch of web people. Start asking questions that beat around the bush and I've often found that behind whatever their story is, they're funneling traffic to affiliate networks of some kind (Acai Berry, payday loans or whatever the latest scam is). Of course I've met plenty of legit people too, from developers and designers to guys who've launched some notable little companies (the Pagemodo guys are around here somewhere and rolling in it). Very few people I meet fall into your category, Finch!, but I have known some - oddly enough, the ones I've known have ended up flunking out of Thailand eventually. One died this last week, sadly. Two others blew through tens of thousands in investments with nothing to show for it (actually, one ended up with a bargirl wife and two rooms in the same condo building to get away from her, before taking her back to the US - sex tourists :iiam:).

A lot of my friends in the last several years are older guys who originally came on expat packages or with diplomatic missions or just started businesses here twenty or thirty years ago, though, so this skews my viewpoint these days quite a bit. A random friend of mine is the guy who started the first pot cafe in Amsterdam and fought the legal challenge that started it all. Thailand's full of interesting characters, but a lot of the networking events here are preyed upon by the scammers - one of my favorite example was a couple of years ago, when a well-known boiler room magnate was on the poster for the AMCHAM 4th of July party :ughh:

On the plus side, at least these are still a minority in Bangkok. Pattaya must be a living Hell.

EDIT: If you're interested in following Thailand's dark side, this blog is awesome.

\/\/\/ Yeah. SE Asia is Spring Break for people who are too old for Spring Break, basically.

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 12:08 on Jul 2, 2013

Senso
Nov 4, 2005

Always working

Chair Huxtable posted:

Doesn't that happen to everyone who comes here? At least once?

Yes, definitely.

lol internet.
Sep 4, 2007
the internet makes you stupid
Was in Indonesia for a couple weeks. Yogyakarta, Bali, and Gili Islands.

- Yogyakarta, Gili Islands, FFS bring some earplugs. They have loudspeakers blaring praying chants at 5am. In the Gili T, it's basically impossible to escape because it's so small. In Yogyakarta, not sure if it's everywhere or escapable but the place I stayed had me awake everyday at 5am.

- Bali wasn't as bad as I thought, but I stayed off the main strip, closer to southern end of Kuta. I walked down it one night, and it does kinda look like a shitstorm. I found the Balinese people there genuinely nice. Also less chance of encountering muslim prayers on loudspeakers.

Singapore - ton of smog, avoid if possible

ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro
I read once that the loudspeaker things all dates back to the various government propaganda programs of the post-colonial era (pro and anti-communist, mostly) throughout the region. Supposedly in Thailand they were part of the CIA's program to institute a national Thai identity which was tied closely to rehabilitating a certain institution (Thailand as we know it basically being a 20th century invention). I dunno how true any of that is, but I can't think back to a time in North America when we had anything similar. Civil Defense sirens, maybe. Nothing like the local big man yakking on the speaker for thirty minutes every morning, giving you the forecast, the royal news and then whatever local stuff he feels like gabbing about.

EDIT: We were doing a trail run in a new area this year where they basically never see foreigners, which means we were running through their gardens and plantations and such, and the local restaurant guy had the local pu yai announce over the loudspeakers in the area not to be alarmed if they saw foreigners running around, we were just there for tourism or something. It was helpful, but I did find the whole episode pretty comical. IF YOU SEE THE WHITE MAN IN SHORT PANTS RUNNING TOWARD YOU, DO NOT BE AFRAID...

ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 12:36 on Jul 2, 2013

duckmaster
Sep 13, 2004
Mr and Mrs Duck go and stay in a nice hotel.

One night they call room service for some condoms as things are heating up.

The guy arrives and says "do you want me to put it on your bill"

Mr Duck says "what kind of pervert do you think I am?!

QUACK QUACK
Doctor has prescribed me two weeks of severe antibiotics for a quite aggressive infection and highly recommended I don't consume alcohol for this time.

What the gently caress else am I supposed to do in Cambodia. My life is over.

Senso
Nov 4, 2005

Always working
^^^^ That leaves happy pizza I guess!

ReindeerF posted:

I read once that the loudspeaker things all dates back to the various government propaganda programs of the post-colonial era (pro and anti-communist, mostly) throughout the region.

In Indonesia, they are used for the muslim prayers. Personally, I loved it. It made me feel so far away, to hear the muezzin all the time.

lol internet. posted:

- Yogyakarta

Did you like Jogja? I really liked my two weeks there, though I would probably not live there more than 6 months (city is too small). I have found memories of the Kesuma restaurant, La Asmara bar with live bands every night and the great graffitis everywhere (I got one tattooed on my arm eh). I'd love to go back there for a few days.

Chair Huxtable
Dec 27, 2004

Heavens me, just look at the time


duckmaster posted:

Doctor has prescribed me two weeks of severe antibiotics for a quite aggressive infection and highly recommended I don't consume alcohol for this time.

What the gently caress else am I supposed to do in Cambodia. My life is over.

Jesus man, do you have gangrene or something? You know that while it's easier to get that here, it's still really really rare.

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ReindeerF
Apr 20, 2002

Rubber Dinghy Rapids Bro

duckmaster posted:

Doctor has prescribed me two weeks of severe antibiotics for a quite aggressive infection and highly recommended I don't consume alcohol for this time.

What the gently caress else am I supposed to do in Cambodia. My life is over.
Get a mountain bike and set out around the countryside. That'll fill up a week.

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