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DontAskKant posted:What kind of dog is the livestock dog down here. Is it the same breed that the Chinese and Koreans use? Oh god he's turning into a North Vietnamese. Get him!
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Aug 14, 2013 06:53
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Sheep-Goats posted:SE Asia coffee story: The thread needs more effort posts like this. I imagine that Thai-Burma border region is going to change a lot in the next few years since the overland route to Yangon has opened.
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Aug 14, 2013 08:33
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Looking for some advice here fellow travelers, Me and a friend are taking a 2-3 week vacation in october, we have stuff to do in Singapore for 2 nights or so and then basically a good 2-3 weeks to do other stuff in the area... As two single guys who are expats in the Gulf (Saudi) and looking for some good fun, a fair amount of partying, drinking etc. where would you guys recommend? I've already been to Thailand and am planning a trip there in January so apart from there we're looking at our options. Hong Kong / Macau for a week then the Philippines (Boracay?) is a possibility, maybe Bali is doable instead too... and I would also like to ask if Malasia is good for that sort of thing, I haven't heard much and I want to believe it's Thailand's more tame, muslim brother? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, we've been stuck in Saudi for a while now and need to get loose 
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Aug 14, 2013 11:28
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Do not go to Malaysia to party. I'm not saying you can't have fun, but every other country around here is more fun for having fun, heh. Without knowing more, I'd say something in Indonesia if you don't want to do Thailand three times in a row. The Philippines can be fun, but I've never met anyone with hugely positive things to say about Boracay. No one I know hated it, everyone's just like, "Eh, it's a less popular Phuket/Bali/whatever with cheaper beer and worse food."
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Aug 14, 2013 11:51
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To be honest it's pretty hard to go wrong in SEA if you're looking for partying... any decent sized town (or island) that's popular with travellers is a pretty safe bet. Thailand is the most obvious choice since it has a tonne of options, but I've had some great nights out in Vietnam and have heard good stuff about Indonesia too. And Cambodia of course, but I'm probably kinda biased there.
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Aug 14, 2013 12:44
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Kant walks into the hotel (actually a travel agency), a desk attendant appears. Kant uses 'I have a reservation' Attendant uses 'do you want to take tour ' Kant uses 'I have a reservation supercharged with smart phone power' it is mildly effective. Kant uses 'let me see the room's Attendant uses 'meh ' it is not effective Kant uses 'this room lacks 3 key features ' Attendant uses 'vanishing English ability ' Kant uses 'I'll pay 14' it is not effective. Attendant uses 'English extinction ' Kant submits. Round 2 Attendant uses 'let me keep your passport for 4 days' Kant uses 'ARGLEBARGLE!' Attendant uses 'slightly inaccurate exchange rate' Kant balks. Kant walks off and watches Vietnamese Journey to the West and uses a beer.
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Aug 14, 2013 12:50
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Tytan posted:And Cambodia of course, but I'm probably kinda biased there.
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Aug 14, 2013 13:22
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DontAskKant posted:Kant walks off and watches Vietnamese Journey to the West and uses a beer. More beers tonight?
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Aug 14, 2013 14:48
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Found out the super in the building I'm about to move into in D.C. is Cambodian. Man, I can't wait to see his face the first time I speak Khmer to him.
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Aug 14, 2013 18:14
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How nervous should I be of all this passport-surrendering business? Any places where it's just a scam, or conversely something I should just roll with? The idea of giving up my passport makes me crazy nervous. And how carefully do they check? I have a decoy expired passport along with my legit one.
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Aug 14, 2013 22:59
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In Vietnam it's the norm. You can pay upfront if you'd prefer and not surrender your passport. They do check because they have to write down visa info and stuff.
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Aug 14, 2013 23:01
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I remember when I first got here traveling it was a real shock to me. Now, I don't even think twice anymore. The only places I wouldn't give it to are the scammy beach rental types, but detecting those is mostly a matter of experience (avoid mechanical vehicles in Phuket and Pattaya for example). Most places in Thailand don't ask to keep it unless you're renting something, but it is pretty common in neighboring countries. I can never figure out, or remember where it's a legal requirement or where it's just business custom. The real problem comes in when you need to rent something at one place and get visa paperwork done at another. It's like some business owners have never considered this. Can usually be solved, though, by having one business owner call the other since everyone knows one another or their cousin or uncle. I loathe putting down hundreds of dollars to rent a mountain bike or something, so I just tell them to work it out between themselves.
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Aug 14, 2013 23:04
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Weird. I can roll with that, though. My city is currently swarmed with cruise-ships. Goddamn tourists! 
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Aug 14, 2013 23:20
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I posted a link to this in the D&D thread, but it's so loving good that I have to crosspost: http://theactofkilling.com/ There are sporadic screenings, but not here in Southeast Asia that I've seen. You can find it elsewhere pretty easily.
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Aug 15, 2013 01:17
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Smeef posted:The thread needs more effort posts like this. I imagine that Thai-Burma border region is going to change a lot in the next few years since the overland route to Yangon has opened. Also, ignore the dude who said Javanese coffee is good. You would expect Java to have good coffee but it really doesn't. Ordering 'coffee' in a cafe gets you unfiltered filter coffee with five tablespoons of sugar, stone cold from all the milk in it. It's diabetes murder coffee with little floating brown bits in it. If you spend five minutes arguing, you may get lukewarm unfiltered black coffee with three (only three!) tablespoons of sugar in. There are no other options. ReindeerF posted:I posted a link to this in the D&D thread, but it's so loving good that I have to crosspost:
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Aug 15, 2013 03:42
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Pixelante posted:How nervous should I be of all this passport-surrendering business? Any places where it's just a scam, or conversely something I should just roll with? The idea of giving up my passport makes me crazy nervous. In Vietnam it's normal as a very normal thing and depending on how the procedure for registering your stay with the local police is handled wherever you are they may actually be required to keep it for a short time at least. This is true for locals and foreigners. Don't worry about it at all, they do it all the time so are going to have a safe-ish place to keep it with all the other passports/ID cards.
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Aug 15, 2013 03:52
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:Also, ignore the dude who said Javanese coffee is good. You would expect Java to have good coffee but it really doesn't. Ordering 'coffee' in a cafe gets you unfiltered filter coffee with five tablespoons of sugar, stone cold from all the milk in it. It's diabetes murder coffee with little floating brown bits in it. If you spend five minutes arguing, you may get lukewarm unfiltered black coffee with three (only three!) tablespoons of sugar in. There are no other options.
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Aug 15, 2013 03:54
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Pixelante posted:How nervous should I be of all this passport-surrendering business? Any places where it's just a scam, or conversely something I should just roll with? The idea of giving up my passport makes me crazy nervous. In Vietnam, it's the law - everybody (foreigner or local) not sleeping at home has to be declared to the police. So in theory, your aunt visiting for a few days, that girl you picked up in a club or your buddy crashing on your couch should all be duly documented at the nearest police station. In reality of course, nobody does that. Police sometimes do random sweeps in cheap hotels but that's about it.
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Aug 15, 2013 04:01
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Fun with Southeast Asian laws! In Laos it's illegal for a foreigner to cohabit with a woman that he is not married to. Of course it's intended to tamp down on adultery and sex tourism, but it also means that you and your girlfriend or fiancee can't sleep in the same place. I have a friend up there who is now married to a Laos national who was in this predicament. He's not a worry wart and has been here for nearly 20 years, but he said they do take it a bit seriously there and it's a way for some local person with a grudge to cause trouble (which is how most goofball laws here work - see lese majeste in Thailand). So, before he got married he'd hang out and then go back to his hotel. Also, it's illegal for foreigners over 50 to marry Cambodians or Laotians. My friend's friend was a guy over 50 and his wife of many years died. Most of the property and their store was in her name, so, aside from the loss, it also created an instant explosion of family drama as the assets came up for discussion. I'm not sure if the reverse is true for women and men in either case, but I don't think they bothered to word it that way. Until a decade or so back, a Thai woman lost her right to own land when marrying a foreigner, but that got changed. Cambodia's marriage law is fairly new, so they're really avant-garde! What other goofball foreigner-related laws do we have around here? I'm sure Vietnam has some. I remember it wasn't too long before my first visit that they lifted the restrictions on inter-provincial travel. There used to be some kind of checkpoint system throughout the country and all kinds of areas were off-limits to foreigners. \/\/\/  The only part I'm trying to figure out is the gay bar in Mae Whatever Whatever. You guys must have gone to Pai or Chiang Mai or something.
ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 07:12 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 04:32
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Smeef posted:The thread needs more effort posts like this. I imagine that Thai-Burma border region is going to change a lot in the next few years since the overland route to Yangon has opened. A college friend visited me this weekend, marking my first visitor from home to our kooky little border town. Highlights included a decayed dog jaw on the sidewalk, a shady Burmese river market, a rack of lamb at a gay bar and having a resort pool to ourselves for the afternoon. Don't change too much, western Thailand!
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Aug 15, 2013 06:50
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ReindeerF posted:Fun with Southeast Asian laws! Oh man. I thought it was just that foreigners couldn't cohabit with Laos'. Oh well. Not like I was planning on hooking up with backpackers anyway, but it was nice to imagine the option was there. 
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Aug 15, 2013 08:33
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There are similar rules in parts of Malaysia and Indonesia.
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Aug 15, 2013 08:40
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Pixelante posted:Oh man. I thought it was just that foreigners couldn't cohabit with Laos'. Oh well. Not like I was planning on hooking up with backpackers anyway, but it was nice to imagine the option was there.  lemonadesweetheart posted:There are similar rules in parts of Malaysia and Indonesia.
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Aug 15, 2013 08:44
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So much for the bucket list. 
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Aug 15, 2013 08:46
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ReindeerF posted:I'm sorry that your dreams of congressing with a geographic entity are just not possible Pretty sure they have those laws in malaysia/indonesia too. Sorceror/witch = Bomoh in bahasa melayu/indonesia
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Aug 15, 2013 09:06
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lemonadesweetheart posted:Pretty sure they have those laws in malaysia/indonesia too. Sorceror/witch = Bomoh in bahasa melayu/indonesia
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Aug 15, 2013 09:12
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One of the most interesting things I've learned since I got here is how they integrated animism and mythology into Islam and in some cases Christianity. I might be over-estimating it but you hear things about ghost villages and some of the movies they put out with ghosts and monsters in them and how it intersects with their faiths is really interesting. Some of it is clearly viewed as backwards/evil/unfaithful whatever but there is still a healthy amount of you don't gently caress with these things as well despite the Islamization movements that started in the 70s/80s. People here are obsessed with demon babies too.
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Aug 15, 2013 09:39
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Yeah Cambodia is similar. Buddhism is the official religion and is obviously a massive part of their culture, but a lot of their actual beliefs are much more animistic, especially in the provinces. Lots of ghost stories, people making offerings to spirits etc. It's definitely an interesting mix.
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Aug 15, 2013 11:40
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Burmese animism is pretty prevalent in rural areas. Of chief importance is the worship of nats, a pantheon of spirit-like beings that trace their roots to Hinduism and indigenous beliefs. Mediums, sometimes of the third gender, can channel nats. Interestingly, Thai spirit houses have accompanied Thai-led development in some areas of eastern Burma, and the locals are worried that the Thai houses upset the nats. There are also weizzars, who are essentially wizards/shamans with some superhuman attributes (such as flight on some occasions), and are surrounded by folk tales of immortality and powers. I think belief in weizzars is gradually dying out, though.
MothraAttack fucked around with this message at 13:09 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 13:06
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and here I thought an opera house in a city of 8+ million would have a functioning website and a phone number besides a guy yelling no. Silly me. Also Chinese celery is not Gai Lan and my plate is not where you put your trash outside restaurant lady. Did find my first 5000 dong napkin, and two French ladies flipping out about it. E: Vietnam where even the hustle is half-assed. No lady this is not my gf please stop winking. Why do jazz clubs this small need speakers all around. Apparently Hanoi is the place to get knockoff apparel and shoes larger than size 10. I like the vendors better in Hanoi, I keep getting pissed off before buying something in Saigon. I saw my first sexpat. Spent about an hour riding around finding a quiet-ish coffee shop to do some tutoring then realized the ridiculousness of what I was asking for. If I moves here I would still be cooking for myself a lot more until I found trusted restaurants. DontAskKant fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 14:58
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When I was in high school, we took a field trip to visit a certain religious sect. That sect believes that Jose Rizal, national hero of the Philippines, was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. They also consider his two most famous literary works, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, as holy scripture. What surprised me is that they are apparently recognized by the Catholic Church as a legitimate sect. Belief is a weird thing.
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Aug 15, 2013 15:39
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lemonadesweetheart posted:One of the most interesting things I've learned since I got here is how they integrated animism and mythology into Islam and in some cases Christianity. I might be over-estimating it but you hear things about ghost villages and some of the movies they put out with ghosts and monsters in them and how it intersects with their faiths is really interesting. Some of it is clearly viewed as backwards/evil/unfaithful whatever but there is still a healthy amount of you don't gently caress with these things as well despite the Islamization movements that started in the 70s/80s.  If you want a really weird Islam/Indonesian folklore mix, go to Madura. A lot of the locals in Surabaya are scared shitless of the island because it's where all the nasty practitioners of the old magic live and work their stuff. The closest I've come to it was when a guy in the market tried to glamour me. I'd been warned about it by some of the guys at work- they have one go 'cast the spell' then his mate comes up and picks your pockets. So Dumbledore came up and started following inches behind me, tapping me rhythmically on the shoulder. Whenever I turned around, he's stop walking but keep tapping. True fact: you're supposed to hit them in the crotch to let him know "I am wise to your magic." It's never happened again which is sad, because I want to hit another wizard in the balls. The word I've seen here for Indonesian magic is 'Dukun', which is also the name for the guys who use it. edit: From the Mouth of Teens in class today. "Mister where does your girlfriend pray? Is she Muslim? Catholic? Christian?" "Uh .... Catholic?" "Where do you pray?" "Christian."  "YOU HAVE DIFFERENT RELIGIONS!" SurreptitiousMuffin fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 15:42
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New thread title: I want to hit another wizard in the balls. Someone move to Saigon with me and start a gypsy jazz band. I got trumpet covered. It's a scandal that a city this big is missing so many things. Someone explain to me why only my right ankle has mosquito bites and no where else. DontAskKant fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 16:20
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ReindeerF posted:What other goofball foreigner-related laws do we have around here? I'm sure Vietnam has some. I remember it wasn't too long before my first visit that they lifted the restrictions on inter-provincial travel. There used to be some kind of checkpoint system throughout the country and all kinds of areas were off-limits to foreigners. Houses rented to foreigners have to meet different standards in regards to registration and fire safety (there's probably other things too) which ofcourse means those places that are specially setup for renting to foreigners have inflated prices. That's pretty easy to get around though. We get special number plates that have the Vietnamese acronym for FOREIGN ('NN' - Nuoc Ngoai) on them. All sorts of property ownership exceptions (which makes sense in a communist, sorry 'market orientated socialist', nation where all land is still the property of 'the people'). The one that grates the most for me is that we need special permission to enter areas 'close' to borders (close can be a fair distance in some areas) and out lying islands - which just so happens to be where a lot of the really cool places to explore by motorbike are. Have been held up, questioned and then turned around by the border patrol multiple times now - it's normally good natured but it ruins the trip since you can't continue on your planned route. Backpackers will run up against this when visiting Ha Giang but because it's so heavily touristed the permit process is really streamlined.
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Aug 15, 2013 16:34
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The thing about Thai spirit houses upsetting the balance is loving brilliant, Mothra. I had a long discussion with the special lady friend last weekend about spirit houses. I'm always out in the countryside running or something and you'll frequently come across these piles of cast-aside spirit houses just on the side of the road, sometimes near a spirit tree (another great topic). I asked her what was up there and she said, basically, you can't just dispose of a spirit house when it looks lovely or when you tear down a property or whatever, because the garbage man won't take it and the dump won't take it and mainly it is very bad juju, so one person will leave one somewhere in the middle of the night and then another person will leave theirs there and pretty soon it's like a midnight dumping ground. Religious hypocrisy is alive and well and hilarious the world over. She also said that there are Muslim (and other ethnicity/religiosity) companies who dispose of spirit houses, kinda like Ghostbusters. When I heard this I realized my destiny: I will launch and run Thailand's largest spirit house disposal firm. We'll be like the Orkin man. Just a bunch of drunk farangs sitting around an office until the phone rings.Tytan posted:Yeah Cambodia is similar. Buddhism is the official religion and is obviously a massive part of their culture, but a lot of their actual beliefs are much more animistic, especially in the provinces. Lots of ghost stories, people making offerings to spirits etc. It's definitely an interesting mix. SurreptitiousMuffin posted:
There's plenty of cray cray poo poo in Thailand too, but generally it tends to be less crazy than Burma or Cambodia except at around the edges from what I can glean which is pretty appropriate to the differing levels of development, and there's very little of that fusion of Muslim-islander wizard stuff that goes on South of here. We do have seers and black magic practitioners and all that, of course, and every ethnic subculture brings its own with it (this being a mecca for migrant labor regionally). The main things here, at least in Central Thailand, are the fortune teller and the monk, who seem to serve alternating purposes. The fortune teller tells you what's going to happen and the monk protects you from what's going to happen or addresses what's already happened. In practical terms, that means when you buy a new house, buy a new car, open a business, get married, have a baby and all that, you go to the fortune teller to tell you when and how and then you go to the monk to execute. Whether this happens, and how it happens varies quite a bit if you're Thai-Chinese or traditional Thai or Mon or Burmese or Khmer and so on. I've got some goofball cultural misunderstanding stories along these lines. One random thing is that the word for fortune teller is Moh Doo (more like Mohr Doo). When you first arrive, the first usage of Moh that you find is usually doctor, so Moh is doctor. Doo is sight or seeing - as in, to look. So, Moh Doo sounds a lot like eye doctor when you translate it literally instead of figuratively. One day at the office, someone said she was getting married and needed to go see the Moh Doo and I was like, "You have to have an appointment with the eye doctor when you get married in Thailand?" and was appropriately laughed at. EDIT: I forgot to add the Sadu in the fortune teller/monk thing. She casts spells. I know one who lives in the forest on one of my running trails. She has liquor bottles everywhere and a wooden hut and idols and carvings. I should take a photo sometimes. It's a really pretty trail and her little hoodoo hut makes for a brilliant addition. She's just kind of weird and almost never leaves the hut. Part of the job is you have to appear to be possessed or touched and dress like Nell. EDIT EDIT: Also, my problem is that while I meet and greet a lot of people and try to talk to rural folks and things, the majority of my contact is with educated Bangkokians, so I don't know all the truly insane poo poo that goes on. Any wisdom about crazy poo poo that rural people do in Texas I'm good on, but in Thailand, I'm just not as informed at all. Mothra surely knows more, even given his shorter stay. EDIT EDIT EDIT: Also, my favorite day to day monk thing is strings around entire buildings. loving strings in this country. ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 19:20
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Also, alright Smeef, with your Goddamn effortposts Here's an effortpost on the river boat in Bangkok: The Chao Phraya Express, or "the boat" (there are actually canal boats too), is a favorite of tourists visiting Bangkok. It combines the rustic, wooden mystique of travel by boat in Bangkok with the ability to get around to a bunch of stuff that doesn't involve shopping malls and skytrains. The boat itself is supported by a network of ferry piers and it meets with one skytrain (BTS) station at Saphan Thaksin. I have lived on the river for nearly three years now and I take the boat all the time, so I'm pretty familiar with it from rear end in a top hat to elbow. The main office is actually right across the river from my condo, though this has no bearing on anything. Here are some things to know:
ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 21:38 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 20:58
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) bridge, so the stop has moved to Wat Soi Thong for now. Probably a kilometer away, and change.
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^ I think my hotel is by the river, so this may be super helpful. Cheers dude. ^ What currencies and denominations are best to have as a traveller? I paid up front for most of my accommodations and travel, but still responsible for food, cabs, shopping. Seems like USD are the smartest to have, but I'm guessing I should break down the $50s my bank dropped on me? I also got a chunk of THB, but wasn't sure how much Vietnamese currency to get for a week.
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Aug 15, 2013 23:16
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For cash USD always and above everything else. For local currency in SE Asia about fifty bucks equivalent for whatever that is local is usually what I walk around with in my pocket. You put your US card in the local ATM and it gives you local money. There used to be places in SE Asia without ATMs (like "Cambodia") but now it's hard to find that.
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Aug 16, 2013 00:23
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Pixelante posted:^ I think my hotel is by the river, so this may be super helpful. Cheers dude. ^
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Aug 16, 2013 00:57
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Yeah, Cambodia is dollarized, but everywhere else if you're bringing in big bills they should be US and large. Large bills get better exchange. If you're using dollars to spend then you want small. Anytime you get a large bill, change it. In Thailand go to the 7-11 and buy something small. In Cambodia go to a money changer and so on.
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Aug 16, 2013 01:26
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