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Nope not really.
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Apr 6, 2014 21:14
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Anarkii posted:Could you elaborate a bit on your time in Luang Prabang? I know it's a pretty quiet place, but I thought this thread considered a pretty great destination. I was there volunteering to teach English to kids, about half of whom were novice monks. It was worth it to me because I wanted a quiet place to settle in for a bit, and you get to make friends with locals in a way tourists just never get to. Those of us who were there the longest concurred that 6 weeks was the sweet spot for living there. If you're a tourist, I'd say 3-4 days tops, and those would be some lazy days. By comparison, there are a lot of places in SE Asia where three days would barely be enough. It's just a very, very small town without a lot to do once you've climbed Phusy, visited the waterfalls, ridden an elephant, and taken a cooking class. It is beautiful, the people are very friendly, and the markets have some locally made things you can't get elsewhere. The bar scene is chillax, the temples are lovely, and you'll see orange-robed novices all over the place. It's a place that's quiet, safe, pleasant, and quite attractive in a quaint kind of way. I'd have gone mad with boredom inside of six months if I'd stayed, though. Laos is great, and I do love Luang Prabang, I just say that no one is "Team Laos" because all the stuff you can do in Laos can be done elsewhere at greater convenience. It's just nice that it's off the beaten-trail a bit, though once Air Asia starts flying there, I bet it'll get more touristy.
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Apr 6, 2014 22:59
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sinking belle posted:Posting from Langkawi right now and yeah this is the place to be if you wanna go out on the lash and/or stock up on alcohol and smokes. RM25 for a carton of djarums and RM4.20 for a 500ml Heineken is very much my poo poo. Plus it's only like RM80 to get the bus from KL and back. Sold. Cool pics Nemo.
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Apr 6, 2014 23:49
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tzz posted:I just bought a round trip ticket to Bangkok... for Tuesday. It was only 500 bucks, so I had to do it. If you're planning on going to Koh Tonsay (which has probably the best beach in that area) you might wanna cover up for the boat trip. Other than that drink plenty of water and you'll be fine. I've been down that way plenty of times during the hot season, I doubt it's any worse than other countries in the region. That said, since you mentioned you'll be over pretty soon, when were you thinking of heading down there? Next week is Khmer New Year, so it'll be fairly busy and travelling may be a bit of a nightmare.
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Apr 7, 2014 03:33
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Yeah depending no how long you're staying, you'll also be here for Songkran. Should make some interesting travel. Avoid night buses.
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Apr 7, 2014 03:35
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Also it's CRIME CENTRAL. Several people I know have been mugged, but luckily the police are
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Apr 7, 2014 05:40
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Tytan posted:If you're planning on going to Koh Tonsay (which has probably the best beach in that area) you might wanna cover up for the boat trip. Other than that drink plenty of water and you'll be fine. I've been down that way plenty of times during the hot season, I doubt it's any worse than other countries in the region. I don't even know yet, so far I only know I'll be landing in Bangkok on Wednesday. I was thinking about heading straight to PP for a couple of days, because I've always wanted to see the killing fields and the genocide museum, and then making my way to Kampot, chilling around that area for a week or two before coming back to Bangkok to meet some friends. Maybe it's a bad idea and I should just stay in Thailand, though. I didn't take into account the crime season.
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Apr 7, 2014 10:21
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Well if you do make it over to Cambodia, try to avoid travelling on Saturday or next Wednesday, since that is when most people will be going to/from the provinces. Also note that a lot of places will be closed during that time, and Phnom Penh will be pretty quiet (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but still). As for crime, it always increases just before major holidays, but it's still not that bad if you take the usual precautions (don't flash loads of cash, don't walk around holding your expensive phone or anything that can easily be snatched, don't get drunk and wander around alone at night). You may find the same thing occurs in Thailand anyway, but I'm sure the Thai goons can confirm that or not.
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Apr 7, 2014 10:47
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Can you still launch RPGs at cows in Cambodia?
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Apr 7, 2014 14:40
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I don't know about crime, but it's the worst time to travel by car in Thailand because of all the drunks.
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Apr 7, 2014 15:47
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^^^ I heard you can also throw grenades at chickens. I was never offered anything other than regular shooting range stuff, though. Well, I'm going to take the risk. I'm from Barcelona, so I'm not an expert in muggings but I should know enough to avoid pickpockets. I booked a couple of nights and I'll get out of Phnom Penh on Friday morning to avoid the weekend rush.
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Apr 7, 2014 16:07
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tzz posted:^^^ Can you eat what's left of the chicken? It's a terrible waste of a chicken. Grenade cooked chicken. poo poo, that's lethal. Speaking of cooking, I'd like to do some. I miss it because I cooked most of my meals back home and although I've yet to have a poo poo meal eating out in corner stores and curry houses, cooking is something I really love T_T
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Apr 7, 2014 16:25
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If you go to the floating village on Tonle Sap you can buy a live fish, attach it to a rope, and dangle it over the crocodiles. They get excited about live food.
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Apr 8, 2014 02:23
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So uh... what's everyone doing for Songkran? I'll be on Koh Tao. I'll also be in Bangkok for a few days until May 1st - let's drink some beers.
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Apr 8, 2014 02:45
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Finch! posted:So uh... what's everyone doing for Songkran? I'll be on Koh Tao. I'm back in Hua Hin now, probably won't leave before Songkran, so... In other news, Koh Phayam is very pretty, I would recommend for people to go there... for two days. Unless you're a pot addled hippie, in that case stay for a month. Otherwise, it's really boring.
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Apr 8, 2014 05:50
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Thanks for the Krabi recs. Didn't know about the monkeys, so the niece is probably going to get a kick (until we start comparing her to them). Not sure about the mountain climbing myself since I'm poo poo at it, but I'm gonna give it a look. Also thanks MrNemo for diving pics. If you're really into diving in Malaysia, I'm told Sipadan is loving amazing, although the hostage situation right now means it's probably not the best time to go...
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Apr 8, 2014 13:45
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Has anyone done any trekking in the Cameron Highlands? I'm going there tomorrow. Should I join a tour? Any recommendations? Cheers.
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Apr 8, 2014 14:12
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Pixelante posted:If you go to the floating village on Tonle Sap you can buy a live fish, attach it to a rope, and dangle it over the crocodiles. They get excited about live food. Oh God this place is the biggest racket in SE Asia. I felt like my tuk tuk driver had betrayed me after taking me there.
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Apr 8, 2014 15:26
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"Tourist Expresses Sense Of Betrayal At Hands Of Tuk Tuk Driver" is a Not The Nation headline waiting to happen.
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Apr 8, 2014 20:52
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MothraAttack posted:Oh God this place is the biggest racket in SE Asia. I felt like my tuk tuk driver had betrayed me after taking me there. Have you ever went through Poipet? I don't even know if "racket" is a strong enough word for that place.
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Apr 9, 2014 02:04
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MothraAttack posted:Oh God this place is the biggest racket in SE Asia. I felt like my tuk tuk driver had betrayed me after taking me there. Er... like all the tourist stuff in all the world, ever, is a racket. Didn't cost me anything to go, "yep, them some big crocodiles covered in blood," and hop back on the boat. (I was already on a tour of the bird sanctuary, which was loving awesome.)
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Apr 9, 2014 02:36
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Cheesemaster200 posted:Have you ever went through Poipet? I don't even know if "racket" is a strong enough word for that place. Yeah Poipet is gross but it actually cost less than 30 minutes on Tonle Sap. Our boat drivers turned off our boat in the middle of nowhere and spent 20 minutes trying to convince us to spend $20 for one bag of rice for the "orphans," which we refused. Afterwards we saw those sad-rear end crocodiles, crawling around in beer cans as a kid poked them, and were then taken back to the docks where we had paid $40 for the boat tickets. Turns out another couple had been charged $50 -- we thought our rate was steep but fair beforehand, only to check Trip Advisor afterward and see that rookery was standard. Apparently some people pay $75 for the orphan rice bag ("it's so expensive for boats to bring it here!"), so our guys at least thought we were cheap already. Surprise, surprise: if you do buy the rice, they take it from the "orphans" at the end of the day and return it to the store. I think it depends how you go there. A larger pre-booked tour like Pixelante did shouldn't stiff you, and there's areas where they don't run the orphan scam. So, fair warning to anyone, don't go to Tonle Sap if it's not prepaid or part of a larger itinerary. ReindeerF posted:"Tourist Expresses Sense Of Betrayal At Hands Of Tuk Tuk Driver" is a Not The Nation headline waiting to happen. Hahah, please let's write this and see if they take it. MothraAttack fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Apr 9, 2014 |
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Apr 9, 2014 03:40
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Cheesemaster200 posted:Have you ever went through Poipet? I don't even know if "racket" is a strong enough word for that place. EDIT: I finally transited it enough times that I poked around for restaurants, looked for some interesting local markets and what not. The place really does suck that bad. I mean, yeah, once you get away from the border it's not so absurdly scammy, but like a lot of shithole border towns it's full of unfortunate people trying to scratch out a living where two countries meet, peppered with a few rich folks who run things - and like not a single thing more other than the road out of town. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Apr 9, 2014 |
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Apr 9, 2014 05:31
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There was a backpacker who immediately after deboarding our bus was convinced by some shady guys to go to the "Cambodian consulate" before crossing the border. We spent an hour at the border station and never saw him again. Crossing Poipet is a like a litmus test for seeing if you're up for solo travel in northern India or Egypt or somewhere noticeably scammier than SE Asia. Of course, Poipet lacks any of the charms those places have.
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Apr 9, 2014 06:13
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Yeah, I've always heard that Cairo is insanely scammy. Never been. My worst experiences have happened on the Mexican border, where I've been shaken down three times, run away from the cops twice and been put in the police pickup and tossed in jail on a shakedown once for being a "coke mule." That cost $75 to get out of. All of these experiences resulted from being white in public after about 11:00 PM in places like Nuevo Laredo and absolutely zero criminal or even obnoxious behavior. Shakedowns in Asia: 1. 200 baht helmet fine, heh. My favorite India story was from a friend who teaches there occasionally. He walked out of the airport and a beggar wiped poo poo on his shoe and asked for a tip to clean it off. I was like 0_o. I'd say the reactions I get on India are pretty mixed (discounting the ashram "spiritual experience" crowd who also claim to have spiritual experiences in Pai), but most people who make it out of the big cities and Goa seem to find something cool about it, so I'd like to go someday. I assume it's like the gem and jewelry district in Bangkok?
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Apr 9, 2014 06:30
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They did that same scam in NYC back in the day but with your windshield. They've moved on to banging into you and dropping their bag of garbage, then getting really mad and demanding you pay for their "medicine" which apparently is goop that comes in a glass jar. Which is a scam they used to do in Taiwan (some "vendor" would push a vase in front of your feet when you were walking along and not paying attention and then demand you pay for the antique you destroyed). Anyway the gross seems to reside in India or China and the scary in South America. What does SE Asia monopolize other than the goofy. E: I tried to explain what a goofball was to more than a few Thai people but it was like explaining the sea to a fish. raton fucked around with this message at 06:45 on Apr 9, 2014 |
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Apr 9, 2014 06:39
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ReindeerF posted:I assume it's like the gem and jewelry district in Bangkok? This, but it's made worse by the woefully inefficient and corrupt law enforcement & bureaucracy. It's not that easy to distinguish between what are actual scams and what are not. For example, a common SEA scam - You're going to see a cool place, and get accosted by a stranger insisting you need a tour guide and it's 10bux. In Thailand, you'll probably tell him to gently caress off and march straight through and see if anyone stops you; or check the internet for specific access info because Thailand is a relatively small country which has plenty of western tourists so there's information aplenty. In India, if you try that, you'll probably get stopped by a guy in police/security guard uniform who'll tell you to pay a fine or something. Now you're not sure if this guard is legit, let alone the tour guide. This is the reason not a lot of people manage to backpack off-the-beaten-track in India. Either they do package tours of Jaipur, Delhi, Agra, party in Goa or pseudo-spiritual ashram stuff in Kerala and the like. Also it doesn't help that the 2 best places to visit in India - Kashmir (including Ladakh) and North-east (shares a lot of similarities with Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet) needs official permits and the like for foreigners. Anarkii fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Apr 9, 2014 |
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Apr 9, 2014 06:51
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For what it's worth, Northeast India is absolutely worth the logistical headache and is relatively scam free. It actually shares a lot of cultural and geographic similarities to Burma in places, so you could almost lump it in with the greater SE Asia complex -- minus the nightlife and hijinx, of course, since it's India still. Once the Burmese/Indian border becomes a tourist crossing in the next decade-ish, the Bangkok to Kathmandu route is going to be one hell of a trail.
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Apr 9, 2014 07:45
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Never been to Burma, but you're right about Northeast India being in the SEA group in terms of character. Even the people there look different enough from Indians that there's a lot of racial problems for them when they work in the "mainland". The food is pretty awesome too. Pork is the staple meat, and they often smoke it for preservation. And then there's Bhoot Jalokiya, which is/was the world's spiciest chili pepper which Nagas love to put in everything.
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Apr 9, 2014 08:21
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I hope this video will convince all of you to visit beautiful Singapore, the land of surprises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDOqIYqrldg
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Apr 9, 2014 08:39
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Oh God the pork in NE India is phenomenal. The Khasi also cook with bay leaves so some of their dishes have this weird American creole flavor profile. And since this thread always needs pics, here are some I took in tribal areas of India and Burma. Village pork shop  Millet beer  Tree root bridges  Ethnic Karen celebration  Rebel monk  Wait this ain't right 
MothraAttack fucked around with this message at 09:11 on Apr 9, 2014 |
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Apr 9, 2014 09:09
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Gail Wynand posted:I hope this video will convince all of you to visit beautiful Singapore, the land of surprises: haha that is amazingly atrocious
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Apr 9, 2014 09:55
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I love the look on the guy's face right after he gets the final "surprise". Like he's trying to hide his sheer terror.
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Apr 9, 2014 10:30
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Gail Wynand posted:I hope this video will convince all of you to visit beautiful Singapore, the land of surprises:
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Apr 9, 2014 11:02
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So i have been watching this what i assume is a spider bite from Cambodia for two weeks now. And im happy to say that my arm is not falling off after all. I even showed it to my village witch doctor who watched it for a while and was like uhhhhh? does it hurt? Kinda resembles a tick bite that we have in Finland. Stupid bugs. Barfolemew fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Apr 9, 2014 |
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Apr 9, 2014 16:01
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"Iz a angry elf bite Marko!"
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Apr 9, 2014 16:11
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=?m0NU9KULHO8
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Apr 10, 2014 08:27
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Sheep-Goats, did you just post a link to Youtube's homepage?
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Apr 10, 2014 12:39
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Shhh. If you point out a mistake he'll lose face. Kreng jai na ka.
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Apr 10, 2014 18:22
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I don't know what happened, it's going berserk on my phone.
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Apr 10, 2014 18:38
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