uncleTomOfFinland posted:

For some uncomprehendable reason Vietnam now requires that even us lucky ones who get 15 days visa-free have to be out of country for at least a month starting this year. Now im 65 dollars poorer and stuck in Phnom Penh with nothing to do.

kenner116 posted:

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

Luffles posted:

considering staying in Thailand for like, six months, any suggestions on the easiest way to go about it?

also, what should I do if I want a better connection, like real rear end fiber or something?

Negligent posted:

Also HIV takes up to 3 months to be detectable in tests

Bardeh posted:

Are you in a house or an apartment? If you're in an apartment you might be able to get True or whoever to install Fiber to your room with your landlord's permission, but it'll cost a bit and be a hassle. Also, if you don't have a work permit the ISP will probably want a year's payment up front.

Luffles posted:

apartment, I may be able to convince my friend to sign for it we'll see. the current internet, tothotspot or some similar bullshit likes to disconnect me and take 5-10 minutes to reconnect with a WiFi login page that tends to fail to connect.

Negligent posted:

I have my own ADSL router in a h rise condo and that poo poo still drops out several times a day. I go outside look at the cable spaghetti and am amazed anything works at all

Chantilly Say posted:

Get a teaching job, you don't really need to teach and you can stay as long as you want!

Negligent posted:

Yeah I got a double entry, 60 day tourist visa for $90 AUD. From memory each entry can be extended 30 days. That would give you six months.

Bardeh posted:

As for your other question, I assume you're talking about how to get a Visa to stay that long? Your best best would be to get a double-entry tourist visa. You can get these at most embassies, Vientiane and Penang are the most popular places to go to get them probably.

E: I'm not sure if those two places will do double entries actually. It varies for each place for whatever reason. I know that you can get one from Savannakhet in Laos, but it's not the most exciting place to visit.

Atlas Hugged posted:

I know more than a few teachers who most definitely have less qualifications than a goat to teach and yet they continue to teach year in and year out regardless of how many times they get fired.

Atlas Hugged posted:

Trust me, I have a more intimate knowledge of how all of this works than any man could ever want.

Sheep-Goats posted:

Atlas Hugged posted:

Please donate any unwanted alcohol to me.

NaanViolence posted:

I am considering applying for this teaching gig in Malaysia. It is in Subang Jaya. Does anyone know anything about the area? I suspect being 20km away from KL is a good thing, but I have heard terrible things about the traffic. I doubt anyone has experience teaching in both places, but having taught two years in China it would be great to know if Malaysia is at all similar in terms of work culture.

http://reachtoteachrecruiting.theresumator.com/apply/jobs/details/dpMmway

ReindeerF posted:

The main reason you hear so many shots going off during burning season is that the farmers set a shitload of rudimentary shotgun traps in the woods that are triggered by tripwires. When the tripwires burn, BOOM. We've heard the same thing in places like Khao Keaw when they do the annual burning too. It's quite something to hear for sure!

Squalid posted:

O.o eurrgh probably a good thing I'm only hearing this now that I'm done stumbling along game-trails every day. Poachers keep taking the SIM cards from our camera traps too, though bizarrely they often set them back up afterwards. Typical of Thais to be so considerate, even when robbing you!

Bardeh posted:

Yes, you'll have to leave and come back. What visa are you on at the moment?

Atlas Hugged posted:

Fortunately the other Bangkok goons make great drinking buddies. God save me.

Lascivious Sloth posted:

Heading to Myanmar very soon for a few weeks. What should I check out?

duckmaster posted:

I went to Mandalay earlier this year which is apparently a smaller version of Yangon. Random Burma info (sorry about my writing style, I'm very hungover):

• I was actually very surprised by just how built up it was. The main thing is that there are almost no western brands to speak of. Coca Cola is some weird rip off (Panda Kola or something?) and a packet of local cigarettes was 80 cents but Marlboros were about $5 and almost certainly fake. There are motorbikes everywhere but they're all Chinese rip offs. The hotels we stayed in had air conditioning and flat screen TVs but again all the brands were weird Chinese poo poo. We went to a temple on the top of a cliff; running up the side of the cliff was a tower about 5 stories high which we were told was the way in. I groaned and said "I hope there's an escalator in there!" and everyone laughed at the complete implausibility of this. Unbelievably there was.
  
• The street food is garbage, and that's compared to Cambodia. There are beer gardens everywhere which do food, it varied from "acceptable" to "actually quite good" to "how can they charge me $3 for a loving samosa". They don't drink as much as Thais (who in turn don't drink anywhere near as much as Cambodians) so the beer gardens are busy but very chill. Beer ran at about $1/glass for Myanmar Beer (the best one) or 40 cents for this other type which was godawful. Prices for spirits are through the roof by SE Asian standards.
  
• The cultural differences are, how shall I put this, "unique". Apparently in Burmese culture it is considered impolite to assume anyone wants anything and even more impolite to ask for anything. This makes hospitality a hilarious farce as waiters desperately avoid eye contact whilst you wave your hands at them like some kind of deranged maniac. People do a strange kissing thing to get waiters attention which you'll feel very self conscious about but it works so whatever.
  
• Internet is a hilarious joke. The internet cafes are officially censored but this is so lax now that you're highly unlikely to notice (I got onto the BBC website just fine). Next to each computer there will be a little sign telling you how to log in through a proxy so you can avoid the censorship entirely, heh. It's sub-56k so you won't be doing much surfing. Apparently Ragoon is much better though, but you'll pay accordingly.
  
• There are actually holes in the pavement so keep your eyes open, although the pavements in the busy areas will be alright (ish). I don't mean little potholes either, you stick your leg in one of these things without noticing and you're breaking an ankle.
  
• The only issue with using water for washing is that it may or may not be hot and how you have adjusted the tap will have absolutely no influence on this whatsoever.
  
• People tend to speak a few words of English particularly anyone involved in transport. Mototaxis hang around in areas with a tiny sign saying TAXI hanging somewhere (this may be stuck behind a tree for no apparent reason). I don't think I got offered a single one on the street in a week in Burma, but they did offer when I walked past them. For longer journeys the locals jump in a pick up truck which you can do too but you'll pay double the local rate and they look pretty dangerous. I really wanted to go on one but my friend wouldn't let me and we had to go 50 miles by taxi, grr. Taxis are very much more Cambodian style (a clapped out Toyota Corolla with no fan) than Thai (a big pink Subaru Impreza with wifi). We hired one for $15 for 4 hours but unlike Cambodian ones he didn't let me smoke
  
• Minibuses between towns were quite good and actually more or less on time. Book through a guesthouse or hotel though, every travel agent we went to was quite clearly in the wrong job. One weird thing about long distance transport is there will always be a Burmese man or woman sitting in the passenger seat; I assumed this was some sort of government minder to stop us pesky foreigners seeing places they don't want us to see which I thought was awesome. Unfortunately it turns out they're just the "spotter" for the driver. Because Burma was a British colony they used to drive on the left but the Junta decided they didn't want to be British so they told everyone to drive on the right instead... but all the cars were right hand drive. Because of the sanctions any imported cars were smuggled in and cost a fortune, but nobody wanted a left hand drive car because then they'd have to learn to drive it so all the imported cars were right hand drive as well. Even the Burmese car manufacturer - owned by the Junta - couldn't be bothered to train their workers in building left hand drives so they just kept building right hand drives. So now everybody drives on the right in a right hand drive car and has to employ someone to drive around with them so they don't die. Seriously.
  
• The towns and cities are incredibly safe for foreigners mainly because the penalty for assaulting one is literally "disappear". How you feel about the moral implications of that is up to you but it does keep crime down!
  
• Ride the railway, seriously. Centuries of exploitation and genocide by the British Empire are completely nullified by the railways we built all over the place.
  
• Nobody will talk politics with you for obvious reasons, although I did run into a small (maybe 50 people) democracy demonstration. The police were just standing around chewing khat. In Cambodia they just open fire and this is _allegedly a democracy!
  

So yeh. YMMV and I may be wrong about some things. It's definitely different and I sort of liked it but I wouldn't live there. Ragoon is probably far different though, the expat crowd in Mandalay is miniscule.

Luffles posted:

Visa on arrival until the 13th.

Chantilly Say posted:

Get a teaching job, you don't really need to teach and you can stay as long as you want!

NaanViolence posted:

I am considering applying for this teaching gig in Malaysia. It is in Subang Jaya. Does anyone know anything about the area? I suspect being 20km away from KL is a good thing, but I have heard terrible things about the traffic. I doubt anyone has experience teaching in both places, but having taught two years in China it would be great to know if Malaysia is at all similar in terms of work culture.

http://reachtoteachrecruiting.theresumator.com/apply/jobs/details/dpMAln

Bardeh posted:

I'm guessing they probably don't mean to rob you, they just think the SIM is a memory card and they don't want to be on camera.

Luffles posted:

lets drink together it will be romantic weird completely normal.