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The FMP has more in common with a monthly music festival than any nightlife. It shouldn't really be a surprise that there aren't many things that match up with it in the region, it's sort of like asking "are there any towns in the US that are like Burning Man." Yes there are, but none of them are perfect analogs. If you liked the crowd demographic, any backpacker island will do you fine. If you liked the sheer amount of consumption and intensity level, go to any megalopolis with a nightclub district like Saigon or Bangkok. Kuta (Bali) is probably the closest you'll find that has both, which is why we're all pointing you that direction. Don't get too ruffled about the airfare differences. You can get to anywhere in SE Asia except Siem Reap from Bangkok or Singapore for under $100, you just might have to buy your own connection separately. 
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Apr 22, 2013 22:44
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duralict posted:Don't get too ruffled about the airfare differences. You can get to anywhere in SE Asia except Siem Reap from Bangkok or Singapore for under $100, you just might have to buy your own connection separately. Whats different about Siem Reap? our return leg is SR-KL via AirAsia.
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Apr 23, 2013 04:03
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Siem Reap only has an airport to service tourists, so they price gauge more. Denpasar (Bali) price gauges the same way for intercontinental flights, but the regional connections are usually cheap.
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Apr 23, 2013 05:24
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Where the Hell is this? Looks more like what I imagine Bonnaroo or Dark Carnival to be like or something, heh. EDIT: Except it can't be because no one's fat. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Apr 23, 2013 |
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Apr 23, 2013 10:34
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duralict posted:The FMP has more in common with a monthly music festival than any nightlife. It shouldn't really be a surprise that there aren't many things that match up with it in the region, it's sort of like asking "are there any towns in the US that are like Burning Man." Yes there are, but none of them are perfect analogs. If you liked the crowd demographic, any backpacker island will do you fine. If you liked the sheer amount of consumption and intensity level, go to any megalopolis with a nightclub district like Saigon or Bangkok. Kuta (Bali) is probably the closest you'll find that has both, which is why we're all pointing you that direction. Ah, I wasnt expecting exactly similar to the FMP, it was more the combination of the isolation from the real world / intensity of partying / backpacker crowd / cheapness that was a nice novelty. I found the nightclub areas in Bangkok (and any other major city I've been to) cant quite compare because theyre a bit more...absorbed by the city? It doesnt have that same festival atmosphere as you aptly described the FMP. I had heard Vang Vieng was similar so was hoping somewhere else had appeared to replace it. I didnt think of the fact that the Asia budget carries wouldnt show up on my search engines (similar to Ryanair in Europe) - was wondering why I was seeing connections prices of $300usd flying Singapore to Bali. Budget ones seem to do it much more reasonably, around $100-150. Blut fucked around with this message at 13:18 on Apr 23, 2013 |
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Apr 23, 2013 12:25
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Don't fly Indonesian carriers! Heh.
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Apr 23, 2013 12:44
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ReindeerF posted:Don't fly Indonesian carriers! Heh. If there is one takeaway from this thread, it's right here
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Apr 23, 2013 15:52
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ReindeerF posted:Don't fly Indonesian carriers! Heh.  (ok I do live in Surabaya get off my back man)
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Apr 23, 2013 15:59
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Its not the springs its the sudden quick stops into mountains.
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Apr 23, 2013 17:10
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Oracle posted:Its not the springs its the sudden quick stops into mountains.
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Apr 23, 2013 18:01
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poo poo, I might have to leave Vietnam indefinitely on June 1st. gently caress gently caress gently caress I'm not ready I don't want to go.
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Apr 24, 2013 05:24
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and concrete! (they also give a whole new meaning to "wheels up party")
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Apr 24, 2013 05:30
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Senso posted:poo poo, I might have to leave Vietnam indefinitely on June 1st. gently caress gently caress gently caress I'm not ready I don't want to go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjB8z0Bvi14
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Apr 24, 2013 05:40
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Senso posted:poo poo, I might have to leave Vietnam indefinitely on June 1st. gently caress gently caress gently caress I'm not ready I don't want to go. Aren't you going to the south of France? I hear pants are mandatory there.
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Apr 24, 2013 05:41
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duralict posted:Aren't you going to the south of France? I hear pants are mandatory there. Yeah, I'm supposed to move to Montpellier to follow my wife and kid. But I was counting on leaving at the end of July and now HR tells me they cannot push back the plane ticket date further than June 1st. Which means I have to give my official resignation notice before Friday and get all my poo poo fixed and taken care of in one frantic month. That is, unless I convince my company to buy me a new ticket on a later date but that's not done yet.
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Apr 24, 2013 05:54
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More like the South of Pants.
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Apr 24, 2013 06:01
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I can't believe you're on some sort of expat package with real HR and still hang out at TnR.
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Apr 24, 2013 06:06
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Any Bangkok goons want to grab some drinks this weekend? I get in super late thursday night and will be in town doing pretty much nothing but shopping in the day and hopefully drinking at night until next wednesday.
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Apr 24, 2013 06:47
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Smeef posted:I can't believe you're on some sort of expat package with real HR and still hang out at TnR. I do make quite a lot of money compared to the other expats in my office - but not enough for a villa in Thao Dien, a maid, a chauffeur and all that bullshit. I'm separated from my wife and she has the kid (this is why I'm moving to France, to be with my kid) so I send her a third of my salary. That leaves me enough to go out and get shitfaced quite often. I don't really like TnR but it's one of the rare spots still open when Go2 closes at 6AM heh.
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Apr 24, 2013 08:10
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Yeah, let's be clear: Late night (early morning?) bars are not a source of shame here in Never Never Land, almost regardless of venue. Build your list, guard it with your life! Of course if you're in a town like Phnom Penh where some areas never seem to really close and people seem to just never stop drinking, ever, until keeling over dead in the street, then it's not really an achievement, but in Bangkok (and I'm assuming Saigon) it takes a little effort to get past the taxi tout disco traps like Bossy and Spicy (ugh) and make your way into the local expat crowd, and even Thai late night lairs. One I don't use anymore since I don't live on that side of town is Wong's, which has quite a lot of character thanks to Sam, the owner, and his bizarre tab-totaling process. Not exactly hidden, but most tourists don't know about it and it has a very local, loyal clientele (or did last I checked, I haven't been in a couple of years at least).
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Apr 24, 2013 08:48
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Yeah, I think it's the same in Saigon. For the past 2-3AM places, I know of: - Go2: tiny, seedy club, packed with non-aggro prostitutes, aggro Aussie tourists and aggro regulars who will PUNCH YOUR FACE if you look at their favorite working girl. The usual poo poo dance music. My favorite because it's walking distance from my home and because absolutely everybody else in the city claim to hate the place and I love trashy horrible places that always have action. - Long Phi: Small French bistro, the owner is a buddy, the kitchen never closes, cheap, good music. - TnR: Typical western-looking pub, you get there and it's like you're outside Vietnam. Good prices, OK music. - Boston: Where the most hardcore Go2 prostitutes go after it closes, good place to watch late night football matches. - Last Call: Expensive hipster trendy place. While in theory it never closes, it's so small that you can easily refused entrance after 3AM.
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Apr 24, 2013 09:19
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Wong's sucks rear end now. It's gotten so popular that you really can't move inside. Wong has gotten crankier than ever and violently ejects people for almost no reason (as opposed to doing so for minor infractions in the past). The crowd is super poseur, acting like Wong's is some big secret and chainsmoking just because that's what you do at Wong's. Also, either Wong is a dirty rear end cop or he has an identical twin brother who is a cop, because his photo is on the org chart in the local police station. Despite having a lot of tourists by virtue of its location, Sawasdee Hotel (or Place or something like that) on Rambutri is a surprisingly dependable venue for 24/7 boozehounding. On another note, I'm leaving Thailand at the beginning of June.  I'll be back in Southeast Asia for some final travel hurrahs in July and August, and then off to Red China.  Edit- Re: Saigon: It's a shame they shut down Q Bar in the basement of the opera 2 years ago. Yes, you could not take a piss inside without being sexually assaulted and seeing men performing sex acts on one another, but they let anyone sit out in the grass and drink all night. Smeef fucked around with this message at 09:32 on Apr 24, 2013 |
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Apr 24, 2013 09:28
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Senso posted:Yeah, I think it's the same in Saigon. For the past 2-3AM places, I know of: I saw violence at Go2 on such a regular basis. One time the bouncers through this Asian American girl down the stairwell thinking she was some Vietnamese girl they could get away doing that to. She ran out into the street screaming in English that they attack women in Go2, and a dozen staff and police converged on her begging her to calm down and apologizing.
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Apr 24, 2013 09:38
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Senso posted:I do make quite a lot of money compared to the other expats in my office - but not enough for a villa in Thao Dien, a maid, a chauffeur and all that bullshit. I'm separated from my wife and she has the kid (this is why I'm moving to France, to be with my kid) so I send her a third of my salary. That leaves me enough to go out and get shitfaced quite often. I don't really like TnR but it's one of the rare spots still open when Go2 closes at 6AM heh. Does this mean you're too busy to get shitfaced with 7 aussies next week?
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Apr 24, 2013 09:47
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Smeef posted:I saw violence at Go2 on such a regular basis. One time the bouncers through this Asian American girl down the stairwell thinking she was some Vietnamese girl they could get away doing that to. She ran out into the street screaming in English that they attack women in Go2, and a dozen staff and police converged on her begging her to calm down and apologizing. Ah, classic! Last weekend, some dude with an afro got jumped on by 6-7 guys and it ended in the street, I was in the bathroom and followed the drama from the top balcony. I've had a muscle douche shove me hard across the room because I dared talk to the girl he was with (a working girl friend). I've had cuts on my hand due to glass shrapnel because a guy next to me smashed his glass in the face of another dude. I've seen a fight between two guys because one stepped on the clean white shoes of the other one... And I have in my wallet a card for an almost-full Black Label bottle. Good times.   Kommando posted:Does this mean you're too busy to get shitfaced with 7 aussies next week? 1. 7 aussies who want to get shitfaced or not? 1a. Next weekend I should be free to get shitfaced or do other normal human-type things too. 2. Let's go to Go2 anyway! Senso fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Apr 24, 2013 |
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Apr 24, 2013 09:49
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Smeef posted:Wong's sucks rear end now. It's gotten so popular that you really can't move inside. Wong has gotten crankier than ever and violently ejects people for almost no reason (as opposed to doing so for minor infractions in the past). The crowd is super poseur, acting like Wong's is some big secret and chainsmoking just because that's what you do at Wong's. Also, either Wong is a dirty rear end cop or he has an identical twin brother who is a cop, because his photo is on the org chart in the local police station. I have a few other spots I hit, but these days I'm usually done by 01:00 at the latest, so if I'm out in town then more than likely I'm on a stool at Bourbon Street chatting with Doug and trying to steer the topic away from politics or whatever's on Fox News at the moment. If I'm out later than that, well, who can remember these things? On the topic of violence in general, I literally never see it here except on rare occasion on Khao San when some touts start whacking a tourist around for something or another. I've never seen anyone get thrown out of a bar violently or trounced that I can think of. Perhaps I'm a little too old and boring. Probably if I went to RCA or something I'd catch it. I have seen it in Phnom Penh, in fact I think Tytan was there for one episode, but the nutters who make their way to PP quite often provoke the poo poo out of people and deserve it. EDIT: Actually, I was headed to the late night shawarma joint one night over by Nana and I saw one of those African pimp guys who hangs out on the corner yelling at a cop non-stop, trying to hold him at bay, while he alternated yelling into the phone. I stopped to watch the whole ordeal and got close enough to hear some things. Eventually, the cop, who was on his walkie talkie yelling to someone else, picked up a big orange traffic cone and started swinging it at the African dude. I couldn't figure out what happened, but African dude's bike was on its side on the ground and I guessed he got busted and was trying to get his pimp boss to call their cop contact to get the local cop to leave him alone, because you don't physically threaten and scream at a Thai cop as a foreigner in a heavily corrupt nightlife sex district and just expect to get away with it. It feels weird saying this now, but while I've never been a denizen of Nana, there was a time even just 5-6 years ago when you could walk down Sukhumvit itself from, say, Soi 8 to the mouth of Soi 3 (home of delicious late night food and international standard medical care) without all the beer bars and foreign prostitutes and drug dealers impeding your progress. As hard as it seems to believe, Nana has gotten worse. Or, more correctly, it has metastasized. Smeef posted:Despite having a lot of tourists by virtue of its location, Sawasdee Hotel (or Place or something like that) on Rambutri is a surprisingly dependable venue for 24/7 boozehounding. Smeef posted:On another note, I'm leaving Thailand at the beginning of June. 
ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 10:26 on Apr 24, 2013 |
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Apr 24, 2013 10:12
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Sorry to be this guy (since it seems like it comes up all the drat time) but I've got an afternoon to kill in Bangkok and my wife and I are looking for something touristy to do. We were working there for 2 months 2 years ago and have already seen: Wat Po, the Grand Palace, river tours, weekend market, MBK, walked through soi cowboy just because, elephant and tiger tours, bridge over the river Kwai, and Wat Arun. Are there any other worthy attractions we've missed out on not related to late night alcohol consumption? Is the Jim Thompson house worth seeing if you're playing tourist?
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Apr 24, 2013 10:41
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ReindeerF posted:EDIT: Actually, I was headed to the late night shawarma joint one night over by Nana and I saw one of those African pimp guys who hangs out on the corner yelling at a cop non-stop, trying to hold him at bay, while he alternated yelling into the phone. There are foreigner (not to say black) pimps in Thailand? I'd assume any foreigner trying to mingle in that business in Vietnam would get stabbed quickly.  EDIT: Can't wait for the new page to stop seeing that crazy GIF.
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Apr 24, 2013 11:02
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ReindeerF posted:I have seen it in Phnom Penh, in fact I think Tytan was there for one episode, but the nutters who make their way to PP quite often provoke the poo poo out of people and deserve it. I don't remember this, was I drunk? But yeah, the only violence I've really heard about here is when people have been provoked. Stupid self-inflicted injuries on the other hand are far more common, like my friend who tried to 'surf' a motodop while drunk. It didn't end too well. I did see quite a big brawl on pub street in Siem Reap once, but it was only involving foreigners and, well, it's pub street. Senso posted:EDIT: Can't wait for the new page to stop seeing that crazy GIF. You just know someone is going to quote it.
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Apr 24, 2013 11:22
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Senso posted:There are foreigner (not to say black) pimps in Thailand? I'd assume any foreigner trying to mingle in that business in Vietnam would get stabbed quickly. In an odd bit of irony, the one place that Africans are banned (or at least were for a while) is Gulliver's in Nana. So they can pimp outside, but can't (or maybe couldn't) come inside, heh. It had to do with the opening of Gulliver's coinciding with the sudden influx of the Africans to that specific area of Nana. This may have changed, though, as I haven't been to Gulliver's there in forever. Tytan posted:my friend who tried to 'surf' a motodop while drunk. It didn't end too well.
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Apr 24, 2013 13:30
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Have any of the SA-SEA crowd taken a chance at learning Bahasa Indonesia at all? I know most of the crew here are Thailand/Vietnam by and large but I thought I'd ask. I'm starting grad school in August with a Southeast Asia Studies program focusing on regional security, but one of the requirements for the degree is learning a Southeast Asian language and they won't accept Khmer, the one language I actually have a base in. My choices are Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese, Thai, and Burmese, and out of the four I thought Indonesia made the most sense in terms of accessibility and for future diplomacy/business opportunity.
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Apr 24, 2013 15:03
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I spent only one week in Indonesia (not Bali) and from what I see, it looks pretty "easy" compared to Thai/Burmese (different characters) and Vietnamese (funky tones). A lot of words are borrowed from Dutch, English, French, etc. So I don't know about future job opportunities but if I had to learn one of these languages for a class, I'd take Bahasa Indonesia. It should also open doors to Malaysia too, which isn't bad. VVVV I love the way they roll their R's, it's like a mix of Indian and Spanish, I don't know. It (not just that) makes it so easy to speak quickly - it just rolls off the tongue - even if you don't know the language that well, compared to tonal languages. Senso fucked around with this message at 15:53 on Apr 24, 2013 |
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Apr 24, 2013 15:20
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Senso posted:I spent only one week in Indonesia (not Bali) and from what I see, it looks pretty "easy" compared to Thai/Burmese (different characters) and Vietnamese (funky tones). A lot of words are borrowed from Dutch, English, French, etc. So I don't know about future job opportunities but if I had to learn one of these languages for a class, I'd take Bahasa Indonesia. It should also open doors to Malaysia too, which isn't bad. * Berapa? <how much?> * ribu <money> * Mao <want> * ini <that> * satu <1> * nasi <rice> * ayam <chicken> * bebek <duck> * goreng <fried> * tidak <no> * no, use meterrrrrrrr <to taxi drivers: don't try to rip me off dickhead I know how much this should cost. I'm not paying upfront: put it on the drat meter> * apaaaaaaaa? <I'm sorry, I don't understand> * Buleh <whiter than rice in a blizzard> * Hey hey misterrrrrrrrr <greetings, how are you?> The grammar involves putting these in whichever order you feel like. "I would like one of those" is "Mao satu ini". "How much does that cost?" is "ini berapa ribu?" Learn to roll your Rs like a goddam landslide and you've got the hardest part down. everything else you just point at and look lost. Indonesians are super-friendly (not being sarcastic: they're awesome, lovely people) and they'll always try to help you out. They may expect a tip for doing so: 1-2k rupiah ($1-$2) usually does it. SurreptitiousMuffin fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Apr 24, 2013 |
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Apr 24, 2013 15:36
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Well, this isn't a matter of tourist understanding-- I'd be taking whichever language I choose for two years at grad school level, in small (<5 people) instruction groups, so I think it'll be a bit more intensive. But yeah, the script is a big part (the last two languages I've studied have been Japanese and Khmer, and the hell with writing both of those), and the Malaysia connection was a big part of what I've been thinking too. I'm going to be trying to parlay this into State Dept. work, most likely, but business consulting and the like could prove attractive at some point.
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Apr 24, 2013 16:12
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Bahasa Indonesia makes the most sense economically and in terms of transiting to Malaysia and maybe even to at least Luzon in the Philippines. Burmese would be the best speculative bet given the opening up of the country - assuming you actually wanted to spend time there. Emerging/frontier countries are the biggest gambles, but hold the greatest possibilities. Thai would probably be the worst choice, with Vietnamese a close second. The only way this changes is if you're in the diplomatic corps or an NGO with a focus on one of the two countries. If it were me, personally, I'd probably go with Burmese and focus on Burma since there's so much going on and it's so interesting, but that's me (like you I'd prefer Khmer). Bahasa Indonesia sounds like the natural choice from a pragmatic standpoint. It's a familiar alphabet, it gives you inroads to two other countries' languages and the country in question is considered one of the big growth economies, meaning that there will probably be a use for it.
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Apr 24, 2013 16:25
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CronoGamer posted:Have any of the SA-SEA crowd taken a chance at learning Bahasa Indonesia at all? I know most of the crew here are Thailand/Vietnam by and large but I thought I'd ask. I'm starting grad school in August with a Southeast Asia Studies program focusing on regional security, but one of the requirements for the degree is learning a Southeast Asian language and they won't accept Khmer, the one language I actually have a base in. My choices are Bahasa Indonesia, Vietnamese, Thai, and Burmese, and out of the four I thought Indonesia made the most sense in terms of accessibility and for future diplomacy/business opportunity. I would encourage you to pick the language based on a long term cultural interest rather than some career gamble. Even two years of college classes isn't really worth two months of study in-country and in that business it's difficult to predict exactly where you'll land and your NGO is going to supply translators when it matters anyway (and in SE Asia these are dirt cheap). Choosing this way also had the benefit of making studying the language easier due to being motivated about it now (instead of starting Indonesian now and then realizing for other reasons you'll never go there after burning a few months on it and now being stuck with 1.75 more years to go). Indonesian is a notoriously easy language though.
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Apr 24, 2013 17:56
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ReindeerF posted:Wongs Never knew Sam and Wong weren't the same person. I never went much anyway, but sadly it's no longer the same endearing place you described. Likewise I'm rarely out past the first last call these days so am not sure what a good substitute would be. And yeah we're overdue a beer by about a year and half. I'll be in Palawan until the 6th but will be down after that!
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Apr 24, 2013 18:01
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People in the know have told me that Burma is a bit overrated at the moment. Sure you're seeing a surge of interest now but this is mainly from industries like natural resources and consumer goods that go everywhere. Maybe Burma will take some lower end manufacturing from Vietnam and Cambodia, too, but that's about it in the short term. Until the government and all the ethnic conflicts are sorted out, which will probably take the better part of a decade, you are not going to see a massive FDI boom. Indonesia is where it's at in ASEAN for most companies right now, and that's not going to change anytime soon.
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Apr 24, 2013 18:50
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Spicy is the worst.
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Apr 24, 2013 18:57
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When you get into Bossy/Spicy area, it's difficult to be superlative. Toss in Thermae and whatever that stupid club is in the basement of the Novotel at Siam Square and you have a quadfecta of horrible.Smeef posted:And yeah we're overdue a beer by about a year and half. I'll be in Palawan until the 6th but will be down after that!
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Apr 24, 2013 19:42
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