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Tytan posted:Sucks to be you lol.
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Feb 21, 2016 19:21
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Quandary posted:Luang Prabang is a really cool town. Very very charming. It gets a bit old after two months, but it is lovely. Make sure you try the French restaurant on the main street (towards the river junction, about a five minute walk from the night market). Tamarind is around there too--they're probably the best local food you're gonna find. They also do a cooking class if you have time. For meeting locals, you can go volunteer on a daily basis with Big Brother Mouse, or just hang out in the library for a bit--there are usually young adults and teenagers in there, hoping to practice English. e: If you're female, make sure you get out of the way of the novice monks roaming town. They can't risk accidentally touching you. Pixelante fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Feb 22, 2016 |
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Feb 22, 2016 02:27
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FaceEater posted:Reindeer and Tytan both warned me about the shack that used to serve as Air Asia's hub terminal at Kuala Lumpur airport, known as the LCCT or Low Cost Carrier Terminal. I will have you know that it's been replaced by klia2, which topside is world class if you're into shopping and lounges and such. But at the wing for international departures, lol. They have 3 internal security checkpoints followed by a wing of 20 something gates in a hallway where if I stick out both my arms I can just about touch the walls on either side, and the luxurious Gloria Jean's Coffee or a place called "Puffy Buffy" which I heard a teenager describe as smelling like dry dog or cat food. But hey, free wifi and a few outlets next to the chairs. And one water fountain in the whole wing! Sucks. Yeah seriously, gently caress klia2. It's great that it's not the shack terminal anymore but every time I've been through klia2 I've had to walk for at least 30 minutes to get anywhere (and I usually walk at a pretty good clip). And yeah it's loving bullshit that there's one water fountain in the whole place and it's right at the start. Hope you filled up your bottle before starting your trek, otherwise it's a 10-minute roundtrip back from your gate! Question time: My wife and I are in the process of selling our house so that we can travel the world on an essentially permanent basis. We're intending to travel with basically no plans, going wherever we want or find interesting, and our first port of call is going to be SE Asia. So, are there any amazing off-the-beaten-track places or hidden gems that you guys would recommend? We've already seen a bunch of stuff in SEA, like Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh, Singapore, parts of Malaysia (KL/Penang/Langkawi), HCMC (my wife has done most of Vietnam but I've only seen HCMC), plus Phuket and Bali like most Australians. Our rough plan at this stage is to start in Bali (see the parts of it that aren't Kuta/Seminyak/Ubud), Lombok and Gili, head over to Yogyakarta to check out Borobudur and the volcanoes over there. After that it's a bit less defined, but we're planning on doing (in no particular order): Sabah, Kinabalu, Brunei, Laos, mainland Thailand and some of the east coast islands (Koh Samui etc). We'll probably do coastal/northern Vietnam, the Philippines and Myanmar as well before heading back to Australia at Christmas and then heading to a different continent. We're intending to save China/India/Japan for later in our travels. So yeah, would love to hear some ideas/tips etc from you guys. Places to go, places to avoid, times to avoid certain areas, whatever. As I mentioned we'll be selling the house, so we won't need to backpack or travel ultra-cheap, but won't be luxing it up either. In terms of style, we're interested in most things - local culture & food, museums, lying on the beach, snorkelling, hiking (but not adventure stuff particularly). Neither of us are big drinkers so party towns aren't really our bag.
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Feb 22, 2016 05:33
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webmeister posted:Question time: Sumatra was surprisingly nice and definitely more interesting than Java overall. Lake Toba, Lake Maninjau, and Berastagi are all worthy destinations. I just traveled the part between Medan and Padang overland by bus. I was going to go all the way down the island but the "Trans-Sumatran Highway" is just a narrow mountain road, so I just flew between Padang and Jakarta. Flights are very cheap, I think Medan to Kuala Lumpur was 30 USD. The highlight of my two weeks in Sumatra was definitely motorbiking around Samosir Island at Lake Toba. It was about 100 miles around and probably ranks among my top two motorbike rides along with the Bolaven Plateau in Laos. https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenner116/albums/72157628184343279
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Feb 22, 2016 10:25
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E: yes, Tytan, please do see about the Zepp eh? Will be back in town around the end of the week. E2: on second thought... Ally McBeal Wiki fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Feb 22, 2016 |
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Feb 22, 2016 13:30
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IDP is a joke but it's a lot easier to rent a vehicle with one. And driving without proper insurance is just not kosher 
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Feb 22, 2016 13:50
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Mmm yeah cabe thanks for giving me pause about that story. To contribute: Bolaven Plateau, Laos, Motorbike out to Tad Tayicsua and spend the night. Don't hike alone to the falls and bring good shoes and go to falls #2. Beautiful. Ally McBeal Wiki fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Feb 22, 2016 |
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Feb 22, 2016 14:10
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webmeister posted:Question time: First is the money issue. Are you aiming for hotels? Even at $15 per night, which gets you really really basic accomodation, that's $450 per month. Ok, that's not exactly living rich, but I assume you've done some calculations. On top of this you need to factor in that in some cities (if not many cities) or touristy areas, you can't get a hotel room for $15; it'll cost more, and/or it will be very scummy. Bring wet wipes and prepare for cockroaches. Then food, even in cheap countries, $15 per day for two, including water and the odd snack, is in the low end. Are you ready for street food that's either super basic, or some Fillipino crockpot that's been stewing for 5 hours in a lukewarm roadside shop? It's only 50 cents for a portion, but what will your stomach say? Eating even at a low-end resturant (a step above McDonald's) in a capital city should be at least $4-5 per head including drinks, so that's easily $10 per head per day. Go to a nicer restaurant or well-reputed fastfood place and you're looking at $6-10 per head per meal. Then comes all the travel expenses. It really adds up, flying across countries in Asia isn't as cheap as you might think. I've paid about $100 just to go from Phnom Penh to HCMC, one-way. Flying from the "mainland Asia" to Philippines and back can easily be $200 per head, if not more. Going to Japan is similarly expensive. The only really cheap flights I've seen are domestic, and I've also done Thailand to Cambodia for like $45. Anyway, if you're willing to sink enough cash into it, all of this isn't really a problem, just be aware. My biggest advice is anecdotal and might not apply to you, but here goes: It kinda sucks not having something that resembles a home in the long run. The last few times I've stayed 2 weeks in SEA (Philippines), I realized that even if some sugar daddy paid for it, I would be annoyed in the long run just living in hotels, eating out three times per day, and taking taxis everywhere. What sucks is that you cannot do anything on your own. You can't cook, can't mix a drink, you can't even drink the tap water, you can't drive anywhere, you even have to call someone to get more goddamn toilet paper; you constantly have to wait and rely on the service of others. No matter how good it is, it gets tiring. Thus, without having actually tried it, my advice to you would be to shack up in a semi-permanent apartment somewhere central and nice, then use that as a hub to fly / travel to other destinations. Take one trip per week or something. If you have the money, shack up in Bangkok somewhere reasonable, and establish a little home where you can do basic cooking, have a fridge, a TV and a computer, and have that as your "home". Some people might say, "watch cable TV while travelling? what a waste of time!", but frankly, no one wants to spend 12 hours a day sightseeing, going to museums, eating out, partying or traveling. Like everything in life, you enjoy good things in reasonable amounts, not all day every day. You could then perhaps switch "home" to another country every few months. Now that sounds like something awesome.
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Feb 22, 2016 16:26
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The no end-date and no money limit seemingly makes it an intriguing proposition. If you had 800,000 in cash at hand, you could have a pretty great time for years on the cheaper continents, while scrimping in Europe. If you continued to earn vis a vis internet based work, then all the better. Some of the issues just mentioned could be alleviated by spending a few weeks now and again in serviced hotels, which a lot of travelers don't want to do because of the price.
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Feb 22, 2016 17:00
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If you want north Vietnam and don't want Hanoi or Ha Long bay (you want them, though), I'll suggest Sapa. Really beautiful hiking around there, nice and cool weather.
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Feb 22, 2016 23:55
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Thanks for the tips and for the thoughts as well Pilsner! I hear what you're saying (and part of me agrees), but I'm fairly confident on the budget front. Overall our budget is probably going to be in the range of $20-$25k AUD each per year (roughly around USD $100/day between us). Should be more than enough to travel comfortably across Asia, obviously in Western countries it won't go too far. If we invest the money from our house sale properly and get decent returns, that will cover most of those costs. I know a couple of people who've done a similar thing (eg this guy is a good friend of mine) so I definitely know it's possible. And my wife's a travel blogger, so she has loads of contacts and stuff that should make things easier (and hopefully save a few dollars here and there). And yeah I imagine at times it will suck not having a Home, certainly in the short term. We love our house and will be super sad to leave it, I'm giving up a great well-paid job, and I can't imagine how hard it'll be to leave our little dog (he's having an extended stay at my in-laws). But life's about making changes - we both love travelling, exploring and having new experiences. Might as well give it a shot now while we have the money, the health and the experience to do it.
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Feb 23, 2016 01:57
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kenner116 posted:Sumatra was surprisingly nice and definitely more interesting than Java overall. Lake Toba, Lake Maninjau, and Berastagi are all worthy destinations. I just traveled the part between Medan and Padang overland by bus. I was going to go all the way down the island but the "Trans-Sumatran Highway" is just a narrow mountain road, so I just flew between Padang and Jakarta. Flights are very cheap, I think Medan to Kuala Lumpur was 30 USD. The highlight of my two weeks in Sumatra was definitely motorbiking around Samosir Island at Lake Toba. It was about 100 miles around and probably ranks among my top two motorbike rides along with the Bolaven Plateau in Laos. FaceEater posted:Mmm yeah cabe thanks for giving me pause about that story. Ibblebibble posted:If you want north Vietnam and don't want Hanoi or Ha Long bay (you want them, though), I'll suggest Sapa. Really beautiful hiking around there, nice and cool weather. Thanks for these guys, will definitely check them out!
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Feb 23, 2016 02:03
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Do a hilltribe trek out of Mae Hong Son.
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Feb 23, 2016 03:52
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Heard a story about a backpacker who went missing, was found, then went missing again 
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Feb 23, 2016 06:36
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Sheep-Goats posted:Do a hilltribe trek out of Mae Hong Son. Ride a motorcycle around there too. A scooter is doable, but a larger bike is worth a bit extra to enjoy the ride itself.
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Feb 23, 2016 07:43
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air- posted:Heard a story about a backpacker who went missing, was found, then went missing again Apparently she's turned up, she was just in a coffee shop in Krabi airport - she ran away from the authorities when they approached her (which was probably what she was referring to when she told her mother that 'people were after her'.) It sounds very similar to the guy the other month, also in Krabi, who turned up just fine a few days later. It's probably no coincidence that Krabi is where people return to after spending a few days on Phi Phi etc. and going overboard on mushroom shakes and things when they have no prior experience with psychedelics.
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Feb 23, 2016 08:29
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If you need to find a 21 year old British girl overseas just bait a trap with a baked potato, a bottle of lager, and an offwhite penis.
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Feb 23, 2016 08:52
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Sheep-Goats posted:If you need to find a 21 year old British girl overseas just bait a trap with a baked potato, a bottle of lager, and an offwhite penis. 
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Feb 23, 2016 09:01
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Sheep-Goats posted:If you need to find a 21 year old British girl overseas just bait a trap with a baked potato, a bottle of lager, and an offwhite penis. My penis is no white. What do I do?
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Feb 23, 2016 09:16
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There's a pun here at "jacket potato" that I can't quite reach. Heh.
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Feb 23, 2016 09:39
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FaceEater posted:There's a pun here at "jacket potato" that I can't quite reach. Heh. Spuds, suds and puds
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Feb 23, 2016 10:29
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webmeister posted:Spuds, suds and puds Colors of the flag I rekkin
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Feb 23, 2016 11:12
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I LOVE PP! any suggestions on decent hotels for longer (couple week) stays? webmeister posted:Thanks for the tips and for the thoughts as well Pilsner! My wife and i are doing roughly the same thing. Now we have only been out for a few months at this point but our budget of 130usd a day has been plenty though indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia so far but hotel living does get tiring. We have some buisness to do in japan for a while, but after that it looks like we will put down roots somewhere for a while. Traveling all the time is exhausting. We also left our good paying jobs (and dog at the inlaws) to go while we could and i cant recommend it enough. Just get ready for the rough days. bird cooch fucked around with this message at 11:50 on Feb 23, 2016 |
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Feb 23, 2016 11:39
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bird cooch posted:I LOVE PP! The penthouse at Velkommen is unreal, and for a long stay I believe the price can be negotiated. And even their asking price seems reasonable.
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Feb 23, 2016 13:16
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I had a bunch of other plans for this year but they fell through so I'm going to return to SEA!  Currently hustling my rear end off to get the last few miles I need for a round trip award flight as it's way more flexible than one ways then I'm good to go. Going to start with Nepal, do a couple of treks then to Thailand and probably become a dive bum on Koh Tao. Might go for a divemaster cert and see if I can get some sort of digital nomad job to supplement my income a bit. I missed this thread and the regulars 
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Feb 23, 2016 16:10
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Bardeh posted:Apparently she's turned up, she was just in a coffee shop in Krabi airport - she ran away from the authorities when they approached her (which was probably what she was referring to when she told her mother that 'people were after her'.) True: quote:I have had the misfortune to have met her once as I'm from near her home town - and she really does have a head in the clouds (and is a ferocious bitch). She was probably hopped up on something and had a bad trip, which would explain her dazed state and apparent sense of paranoia. Plus side she didn't turn up dead.
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Feb 23, 2016 23:32
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I too am glad that the pretty white girl was found safe and unharmed after what sounds like the most uneventful drugs binge in the history of backpacking. An international search after five days missing and she was found in a coffee shop in an airport. Fear and Loathing this was not.
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Feb 24, 2016 01:12
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Shoulda just done the dicktrap thing like I said
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Feb 24, 2016 02:10
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duckmaster posted:I too am glad that the pretty white girl was found safe and unharmed after what sounds like the most uneventful drugs binge in the history of backpacking. An international search after five days missing and she was found in a coffee shop in an airport. Fear and Loathing this was not. I guess from the post that she did call home, arranged to go, then didn't make it to the plane. Maybe the cops will make her apologize like they did with that other guy who was lost-and-found on Krabi.
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Feb 24, 2016 03:06
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Chantilly Say posted:I guess from the post that she did call home, arranged to go, then didn't make it to the plane. Maybe the cops will make her apologize like they did with that other guy who was lost-and-found on Krabi. I'm inclined to give this girl the benefit of the doubt here and suggest that her problems started with her parents, not with her. I've met so many people in my life who were taught absolutely nothing as children about drugs and alcohol - and when I say that I don't mean "they're bad" but "this is what you do if you get into trouble with them". I've known people who will straight up refuse to go to hospital when they've been taking Christ knows what and are throwing up blood because 'drugs are illegal'. That's technically correct but it's the possession which is illegal and not the actual act of taking them. Any doctor in any country isn't going to give a poo poo what you've been taking as long as you're honest about it so they can help you, and even in the few countries where the police are likely to raise an eyebrow after the fact the doctors are going to give you a head start anyway. The problem is that when young people go travelling abroad approximately 0.1% of them actually get told this poo poo. Now 50% of parents probably don't know any of it themselves and the other 50% think their Special Little Snowflake is "too mature" for that stuff but if they dont tell them then who will? Do the parents in this thread want their daughters to get filled in by me in a sleazy bar in the middle of nowhere? And when I say "filled in" I mean "filled in with advice on how to do drugs safely" not "filled in with my penis", although I'll be doing that too. I'm not an expert on drugs by any stretch of the imagination but the sheer ignorance on the subject by parents is mondblowing. They seem more worried about malaria and dengue and motorbikes and yet it's alcohol and drugs - things which are pretty freely available at home and which their parents ought to know at least loving something - which are the real problems. Someone should do an e-book guide for parents whose kids are going backpacking with this poo poo in it. I'd do I myself but it would have a negative influence on the number of pretty young white girls actually being allowed to go overseas and I can't be responsible for that.
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Feb 24, 2016 05:10
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Yeah, also my thought when she made it to the airport and didn't take the flight is that for reasons only she knows, and I'm not a mind-reader over here, she doesn't want to get on the plane. Could be legit, could be dumb, I have no way of knowing.
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Feb 24, 2016 05:56
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webmeister posted:And yeah I imagine at times it will suck not having a Home, certainly in the short term. We love our house and will be super sad to leave it, I'm giving up a great well-paid job, and I can't imagine how hard it'll be to leave our little dog (he's having an extended stay at my in-laws). But life's about making changes - we both love travelling, exploring and having new experiences. Might as well give it a shot now while we have the money, the health and the experience to do it. Not having a home can suck. There are a few ways around that, though, particularly if you sell in Australia at the ridiculous prices people seem to be paying now. Keep an open mind to finding a place you love and buying or renting a house long term. You'll have a home and a business if you list it on Airbnb or similar. Every few months I spend a few hours researching the idea of building a villa on Koh Tao or Langkawi or whatever. I even thought about a hostel in Penang until I realised just how batshit crazy property prices are there, too. That and I'm not quite ready to walk away from my business here in Australia. Because most of Asia is Asia it's not easy to do it completely risk free. I'm not talking about the risk of not making any money, but the risk of some kind of dodgy dealings leaving you with nothing.
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Feb 24, 2016 06:24
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Yeah, I imagine after the first year or two we'll want to slow down a bit and travel at a more genteel pace. Spend a month in Tuscany, or learning Spanish in Mendoza, or volunteering in Ethiopia. There's actually a friend of mine travelling to every country in the world (he's currently on 187 out of 197) who does something similar - he owns an apartment in Bangkok that's nominally his "home", but he spends 6-9 months of the year travelling.
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Feb 24, 2016 06:42
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Bardeh posted:Apparently she's turned up, she was just in a coffee shop in Krabi airport - she ran away from the authorities when they approached her (which was probably what she was referring to when she told her mother that 'people were after her'.) With that said, no one should be required to spend time in that coffee shop if it's the one I'm thinking of.
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Feb 24, 2016 13:56
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You can already feel a change in the air toward how Thai and other Asians view foreigners. 10 years ago, it was much more positive and friendly. It's still friendly because of the currency differences and relative wealth of nations, but in 5-10 more years?
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Feb 24, 2016 16:45
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XyrlocShammypants posted:You can already feel a change in the air toward how Thai and other Asians view foreigners. 10 years ago, it was much more positive and friendly. It's still friendly because of the currency differences and relative wealth of nations, but in 5-10 more years? Isn't this guy cool  Wish he was busking or something
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Feb 24, 2016 17:21
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dat hat tho
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Feb 24, 2016 18:05
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I can make out like four characters on that sign.
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Feb 24, 2016 19:00
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Uber is entering the motorcycle taxi market in Thailand. Apparently they (or someone else?) already do the same in Jakarta. https://newsroom.uber.com/thailand/ubermoto-en/ I hope they don't try to regulate the quality of the bikes like they do the cars. A motosai ain't right unless it's a heap. raton fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Feb 24, 2016 |
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Feb 24, 2016 21:43
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ReindeerF posted:These idiots. Treating this place like it's a loving zoo for their amusement. I'm fully on board with the "Hey, Thailand is willing to sell it!" crowd, but I get really sick of the foreigners for whom it's just a big zoo. Going to immigration with no shirt on, wearing their giant backpacks on crowded city trains, pulling this drug-addled dumbassery and causing international incidents. In fairness, I feel the same way about the idiots on Everest who need a helicopter rescue. Here it's so avoidable, though. We've all done stupid things, but this is just treating another country like poo poo because you think it's there for your amusement. It's a little crotchety but I agree. Especially in a city like Bangkok which has so much to offer, and half of the poo poo tourists there are just getting blitzed and waggling their eyebrows at you talking about "the girls."
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Feb 24, 2016 21:49
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