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Also how are you getting hosed on exchange rates, doesn't the ATM give you the option of using A) lovely atm owner rate B) the default Visa/MC rate, which is usually decent E: Or alternatively change bank because apparently yours sucks Negligent fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Feb 11, 2015 |
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Feb 11, 2015 11:37
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Luffles posted:I'll be looking for an apt in bangkok tomorrow, any suggestions? I have a few locals showing me around but everyone knows goonvice is the best advice. If you live beyond On Nut, rent drops, but the BTS costs an exchange 10baht for the privilege of traveling through On Nut station.
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Feb 11, 2015 11:58
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Hello, SE Asia Thread! I'm going over to Thailand and Vietnam for my job next month, however I'm going to be done with work on Friday and starting again on Monday (apparently people over there don't work on weekends, go figure...). Flights are already set up, I'm flying from Bangkok to Hanoi in the late afternoon of Saturday, so I've got a whole day (Sunday) to kill in Hanoi and maybe half of Saturday in Bangkok, depending on whether my office can set up some meetings that day or not. Any suggestion on what to do? 
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Feb 11, 2015 21:37
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Mikl posted:Hello, SE Asia Thread! I'm going over to Thailand and Vietnam for my job next month, however I'm going to be done with work on Friday and starting again on Monday (apparently people over there don't work on weekends, go figure...). I really liked Note Cafe in Hanoi. Order your coffee downstairs, but head up to the air-conditioned lounge, leave a note behind, and spend some time reading all the notes left by prior patrons in all languages. It'll also give you some handy practice crossing heavy traffic as a pedestrian in Vietnam. (The trick is to just walk, do not jump, do not freeze, do not run; be Neo in the Matrix. Be Zen. Be untouchable. Pretend you're a ghost. Whatever gets you through .)
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Feb 11, 2015 23:09
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20QBe43tyVM
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Feb 12, 2015 02:39
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Mikl posted:Any suggestion on what to do? Buy sandals and skip your return flight.
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Feb 12, 2015 08:02
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Negligent posted:Also how are you getting hosed on exchange rates, doesn't the ATM give you the option of using I've never seen an option besides A. And this is apparently only option at all the banks I've talked to. Thing is, I hate not being able to make the most informed decision possible. Accepted that I have all the knowledge I can at the moment though. In Bangkok till Sunday afternoon. I'm staying out in the suburbs with friends right now. How would I go about finding a shadow puppet show or a muay thai bout? Just google and trust that?
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Feb 12, 2015 16:07
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For boxing just go to Lumpinee Stadium any evening: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293916-d557923-Reviews-Lumpinee_Boxing_Stadium-Bangkok.html. It's dual pricing but whatever, it's the premier venue for that worldwide (except big money matches usually happen in Japan). The shadow puppet thing is dead as far as I'm aware. They might have shows like that at that Joe Lewis puppet theater located on the edge of Lumpinee Park but I don't know. I asked some Thai people about it one time and they said they hadn't seen one on offer anywhere since a temple fair when they were small. raton fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Feb 12, 2015 |
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Feb 12, 2015 16:46
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Negligent posted:For finding housing in bkk last month: thanks. I got delayed by SriLankan airlines and put in a hotel but this will come in handy when I actually arrive.
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Feb 12, 2015 20:59
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I'm leaving for Vietnam next weekend, 3-week trip. Nothing planned besides our flights (enter hanoi, exit ho chi minh). I've visited thailand 2 years ago and the most fun we had was staying in Chiang Mai for five days, rent a scooter and just explore the countryside all around Chiang Mai (up to Doi Inathon, Sam Kaephang, Mae Sa-Samoeng loop, ...). Will I be able to do something like that in Vietnam? I have no international drivers license, only a european, and I've heard some stories about vietnam traffic...
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Feb 16, 2015 12:15
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Valiant Pudding posted:I'm leaving for Vietnam next weekend, 3-week trip. Nothing planned besides our flights (enter hanoi, exit ho chi minh). I've visited thailand 2 years ago and the most fun we had was staying in Chiang Mai for five days, rent a scooter and just explore the countryside all around Chiang Mai (up to Doi Inathon, Sam Kaephang, Mae Sa-Samoeng loop, ...). Will I be able to do something like that in Vietnam? I have no international drivers license, only a european, and I've heard some stories about vietnam traffic... Having been to Vietnam a little under 2 weeks ago and being reasonably confident driving a moto in Cambodia outside PP I would be at least be very careful in Vietnam. My experience is pretty limited but the vietnamese seem to be kind of homicidal when it comes to driving.
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Feb 16, 2015 15:23
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I believe the operative phrase is "armed with a belief in reincarnation and little else..."
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Feb 16, 2015 17:46
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Oh come on, like it's any better in Thailand or Cambodia.
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Feb 16, 2015 18:35
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I've driven in Bangkok traffic and while not pleasant its not too bad. I come from a country that already drives on that side of the road though.
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Feb 16, 2015 20:56
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Senso posted:Oh come on, like it's any better in Thailand or Cambodia.
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Feb 17, 2015 04:34
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Vietnamese driving is very zen. I found the drivers there to be way less assholish about driving than Malaysians. Just take your time and you'll be okay.
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Feb 17, 2015 06:42
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After checking out 8 apartments, I've made a few thailand discoveries. High speed internet means between 5-10 mbps shared among tenants. "Fiber optic" is code for 15 mbps shared. Google maps and compare the ads location to bts because "near bts" is code for "you can take a motorcycle taxi to bts" You can spend 5k baht/month and get a pretty nice place as long as you don't mind being like 20-30 minutes away from everything. I'm going to give in and spend the 15k-20k baht to get a nice place with 'good' internet just so I don't keep spending nights in lovely hotels with shittier free 'wifi'. I splurged on a true sim for like, 700 baht for 3 GB of data and access to the true wifi. I get free 2g internationally with t-mobile which is cool but it's so loving slow the $25 or whatever to be able to make local calls and texts was definitely worth it. I'm in love with street food here and siam paragon is amazing.
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Feb 17, 2015 08:41
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Yeah, internet and living arrangements here are a fraught topic because of all the bullshit. When it comes to the internet, old sperglords love to sit around posting their "speed tests" (lol) but these are highly irrelevant to international internet life, so I tell people to just go and try to stream video or perform syncs or something that you normally need to do and see what happens over a range of time. As always, you're best off with your own dedicated connection and any shared connection is going to gently caress you royally somehow at some point unless you're very lucky. On living arrangements, if you're willing to live a bit of a hike from the BTS then you can basically get down to sub-3,000. Problem is that the amenities, as you have concluded, won't be what you want. Given that I classify reliable, high speed shared internet access alongside the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus I'm ignoring that part, but you should be able to get accommodations that are baseline acceptable for 7,500+ in the right areas. I'm in Ari and a very nice place just went up for rent here for 9,000 a month - and this is considered an up and coming, hiso part of town (I don't care for it, but it's where I live). If you want to jump over to the MRT in particular you can get quite low and still serviceable.
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Feb 17, 2015 10:25
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The thing with Internet is to go to True as soon as possible and get yourself a dedicated router the first chance you get. You might have to have a work permit to do this, I can't remember.
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Feb 17, 2015 10:59
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oh yeah bois. posting from my new bkk apartment on the sixth floor with a view of dilapidated tenements. EIGHT WHOLE MEGABEANS of DEDICATED INTERNETS a FRIDGE that costs 300 baht a month and comes with a 1,200 baht deposit all in, 11k for rent and 500 for internets and 300 for fridgerent. ten minutes walk from siam paragon, which is pretty killer tbh. i was about to lose my poo poo about internet speeds and the testing thereof before i realized i forgot to shut my vpn off Luffles fucked around with this message at 12:49 on Feb 17, 2015 |
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Feb 17, 2015 12:07
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they wanted 1,400 for sheets and pillows per month and i asked how amazing they were and she smiled and shook her head like she didn't understand me or the cameras watching for her to upsell me were on
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Feb 17, 2015 12:09
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Luffles posted:oh yeah bois. posting from my new bkk apartment on the sixth floor with a view of dilapidated tenements. not bad
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Feb 17, 2015 13:37
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They are probably loving you on the utilities as well, if it's not included in the rent.
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Feb 17, 2015 13:45
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Still, ten minutes from Paragon for ~11k isn't too bad.
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Feb 17, 2015 14:12
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Negligent posted:They are probably loving you on the utilities as well, if it's not included in the rent.
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Feb 17, 2015 14:28
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Leaving Thailand in less than a month now... I will miss it here greatly. That's what I said 5 years ago when I left the first time too. Surat's a pretty nice little town. I definitely could've lived in worse places the past two years. There's a Central Plaza now... with a McDonald's and Starbucks. I posted in the China thread, and caberham kindly responded, but I figured I'll post here as well. I'm thinking of going to Hong Kong for a few days next month to see if I can find a job. I've heard that it'll be much easier to find a job in person. Does anyone know a good place to start? Maybe a good location to be in? I only ask because there seems to be a little cross-pollination with the China thread occasionally. I'll check out Hong Kong jobsdb like caberham suggested. So if anyone passes through Surat in the next 3 weeks, I'll be happy to meet up. Otherwise, I'll be in Bangkok some time after that.
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Feb 18, 2015 05:39
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Well, trip report from Sukhumvit: The new supposed ban on alcohol advertising I read about hasn't changed a single thing. I asked some people about it, and they didn't understand what on earth I was saying. Good people watching on Soi 4 as usual, prices estimated 10% up from last year. 50 Baht extra fee on top of meter price for taxis from the airport. Taxi drivers seemed much more keen to use meter in general than on my last trip, though. I also went to Phnom Penh for the first time, which I found really nice. It looks like a primitive hole in the ground when you appear, and my agoda-booked hotel was a construction site when I arrived; at first I thought a bomb had gone off... the taxi driver spoke to some guy there, then took me to a nearby hotel with the same owner. It was kinda crappy (Queen Wood Hotel), but had the basics, so I survived. PP is really nice to walk around in I think, and there are so many areas to eat, drink and enjoy nightlife. It is also by far the easiest city to navigate by foot due to the street numbering system. I love how 99% of restaurants and bars have outdoors tables. Friendly people, English as good (meaning bad, but passable) as Thais, and I didn't get scammed nor robbed even though I as usual walk around at night drunk alone with lots of money in my pocket. I guess the only time I felt in a biiiiit in a shady situation was when the tuk tuk driver drove through a day market, where it was almost completely dark, and I could see stall owners sleeping and fussing around in their stalls - I guess they live there or stay in order to ensure their goods don't get stolen? Weird downer: Heart of Darkness in PP is apparently now a gay disco - it was like 80% cambodian gay men, 10% westerners, and 10% Khmer hoes. Pontoon disco across was "normal", and pumpin'. I then went to Saigon in Vietnam. Great city to walk around in during the day, pretty and plenty of things to look at, many places to eat, but boring alone during the night. Probably a nice place with friends. Lack of outside serving culture was a bummer though, I hate sitting inside when I'm on vacation over there except for when I feel I just gotta have some aircon. I found the viets abysmal at English, and thoroughly uninterested in other people than their own. Prettiest women I've ever seen, but what good is it. Laughed at the girls driving around on scooters dressed as if it were winter. Finished in Phili where I met my friend.
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Feb 18, 2015 15:17
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Pilsner posted:I then went to Saigon in Vietnam. Great city to walk around in during the day, pretty and plenty of things to look at, many places to eat, but boring alone during the night. I... I can't... What? How? In which area were you?! There are bars and restaurants open all night everywhere in District 1!
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Feb 18, 2015 16:40
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Senso posted:I... I can't... What? How? In which area were you?! There are bars and restaurants open all night everywhere in District 1!
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Feb 18, 2015 18:53
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Pilsner posted:I was on Thai Van Lung street, and walking around nearby it just seems like you have to hunt quite a bit to find some places, unlike other cities that have concentrated fun, so to speak. Isn't there a policy of closing early in general? The city seemed rather dead after midnight, but I'm sure you just have to know the right places, and they aren't as outdoorsy. You were like 2 minutes walk from Apocalypse Now, which can be fun. But yeah, the area that never sleeps is Bui Vien/De Tham/Pham Ngu Lao - a not-too-short walk from Thai Van Lung. But that's where people drink on the sidewalk, you've got a few clubs and bars that close at 5-6am, etc. You can eat and drink all night long, that's where it's at. You'll know for next time!
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Feb 19, 2015 00:20
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Pilsner posted:Weird downer: Heart of Darkness in PP is apparently now a gay disco - it was like 80% cambodian gay men, 10% westerners, and 10% Khmer hoes. Pontoon disco across was "normal", and pumpin'. How times change, those ratios were basically reversed when I was last in there like 3 years ago. Pontoon seems to be the only club here that does consistently well (although it's nowhere near as fun as it used to be IMO). Most other places seem to become super popular for about a year, then die a death when somewhere new opens up.
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Feb 21, 2015 10:36
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That's how nightclubs work everywhere dawg.
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Feb 21, 2015 13:49
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Pilsner posted:I was on Thai Van Lung street, and walking around nearby it just seems like you have to hunt quite a bit to find some places, unlike other cities that have concentrated fun, so to speak. Isn't there a policy of closing early in general? The city seemed rather dead after midnight, but I'm sure you just have to know the right places, and they aren't as outdoorsy. Had a similar experience 3 weeks ago and ended up slumming it at the backpackers bars. I actually ended up liking Hanoi significantly more.
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Feb 21, 2015 14:08
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Well it looks like fire season came and left early in my district, just north of Thap Lan National Park. I was lucky even to see it, everyone expected the burn months after I'm scheduled to leave. And now two big storms have come and greened up the bamboo grass, likely meaning the end of wildfires this year. I'm sorry I'm leaving before the charred areas sprout. My friends and I got some good pictures though!  Although hunting is illegal here, you could hear gunshots echoing from all directions when this photo was taken. The fires are often set by local villagers to clear away bad spirits, the fact that barking deer and serow are also driven from cover is just a bonus.
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Feb 22, 2015 22:37
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Heading to Myanmar very soon for a few weeks. What should I check out?
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Feb 23, 2015 06:41
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Hope you guys had fun in BKK. I flew Malaysian airlines and survived.
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Feb 23, 2015 07:06
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Lascivious Sloth posted:Heading to Myanmar very soon for a few weeks. What should I check out? Uh... besides making sure your visa is set up in advance?
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Feb 23, 2015 07:18
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It took less than one day for the Visa to come through online at: evisa.moip.gov.mm/NewApplication.aspx So that's all good. Anything else I should know about or definitely visit?
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Feb 23, 2015 07:34
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Squalid posted:Well it looks like fire season came and left early in my district, just north of Thap Lan National Park. I was lucky even to see it, everyone expected the burn months after I'm scheduled to leave. And now two big storms have come and greened up the bamboo grass, likely meaning the end of wildfires this year. I'm sorry I'm leaving before the charred areas sprout. My friends and I got some good pictures though!
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Feb 23, 2015 08:12
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I did the normal Yangon(+Twante)-Inle Lake-Mandalay-Bagan loop, plus Pyin U Lwin and Hsipaw. Ride the circle train around Yangon. It's really slow and rocks back and forth, and people will sell you betel nut. Take the train between Pyin U Lwin and Hsipaw, there is a 115-year-old bridge (Gokteik viaduct) that is quite impressive given the general state of infrastructure in the country. Bicycle and hike around the countryside whenever possible. Hsipaw and Pyin U Lwin have some nice waterfalls, and the weather is more bearable there since you're up in the hills. Burma photos
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Feb 23, 2015 08:25
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