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Pompous Rhombus posted:I went with Yali Couture when I was there. It's somewhat more expensive than most shops, but it had the most consistent positive reviews of any place at the time (summer 2008). Got lots of complements on the Hugo Boss they knocked off for me when I got back to the States. Seconding Yali. I got an amazing pair of boots from them a few months ago, they do excellent work.
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Dec 6, 2011 19:56
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Anyone living in BKK wanna grab a beer sometime? Also is there anywhere to play bball? No luck finding a court  . I live by Asoke BTS.
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Dec 6, 2011 20:56
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Caedes posted:I'm planning to go to Bali in March with the girlfriend for about three weeks, this thread was great for my previous trips to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia but there isn't a lot of info I can find on Bali. I was just in Bali and Flores for 3 weeks. I can recommend Atlantis dive based in Sanur.Super profession, great group of people. If you do the open water you will do your dives in Tulamben at the site of the USAT Liberty shipwreck which was awesome. On the drive up there you will see some wonderful scenery. Bear in mind you will need to set aside 3 or 4 days for the diving alone. Don't spend any more time than you absolutely need in Kuta. It was just about bearable in November when there was hardly anyone there. Ubud is far nicer and there are many cool temples around there. Pura gunung kawi was like being in Indiana jones. Consider climbing gunung batur. It is expensive but really beautiful. You can combine it with exploring the kintamani area which has coffee plantations (Oka is a good one to visit). Don't go to tanah lot for sunset, go to uluwatu instead. Both are crowded but ulu's setting is far less offensive with minimal hawkers. Also there are a bunch of really cool beaches along the west coast of bukit where you have to go through cliffs and caves to reach them such as Padang Padang. They may be busy with surfers in march but it will be way nicer than Kuta in every way. Food wise, i had a great meal at warung igelanca on Jl raya in ubud. The 1000rp pork sate being cooked on the pavement down the road was also amazing. Bumbu Bali in Tanjung benoa is expensive (relatively) but the most beautifully presented indo food ever. I've heard the gillis are amazing but if you fancy something even more off the beaten track Flores is spectacular. The Komodo national park is incredibly beautiful and has fantastic diving. Being in the presence of wild komodos was a powerful experience. We also stayed on Kanawa island for 3 nights which was really cool.
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Dec 7, 2011 00:38
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Dr. Eat posted:Anyone living in BKK wanna grab a beer sometime? I could have sworn there were some by National Stadium BTS, but maybe those were soccer? Can't remember exactly.
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Dec 7, 2011 02:04
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Dr. Eat posted:Also is there anywhere to play bball? No luck finding a court I met some expat EFL teachers there, super nice guys, they took me on the town. Thai play zone only. Last night I did the whole Koh Phangan mushroom shake motorbike ride of doom after sunset. Almost died x40000 times. Stupid, reckless, most fun I've had in my entire life. Ended up lost and right when I stopped to ask for directions in some town I noticed my flat tire. Booked a pickup taxi for me and the bike right on the spot, hopped in back and played guitar for the ride home. The smile on my face when we got to my inn haha... Thailand is good.
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Dec 7, 2011 03:06
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Dr. Eat posted:Anyone living in BKK wanna grab a beer sometime? As for basketball, there's a regular set of running games at the courts in the back of Lumpini Park if you're on the Silom side of town. There's also a bigger and more competitive set of games in some courts on Sukhumvit, but I can't remember where. A friend of mine played in those, I played at Silom. I'll email him and get the location. It might have been an open court night at one of the international schools as I recall, but I'm not sure.
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Dec 7, 2011 03:57
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Jenkin posted:Seconding Yali. I got an amazing pair of boots from them a few months ago, they do excellent work. I'll third Yali. My proportions are very strange (read; kinda fat) but they did their best. A bunch of girls I know got knock-off stuff made and they've had no complaints at all.
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Dec 7, 2011 06:25
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This thread has inspired me. I am 20 years old, and I am dead set on getting a TEFL and teaching English in Thailand. The country looks stunning, and I would love to dedicate a few years to Muay Thai training. I am very undisciplined, and that worries me a bit... but I feel like catapulting myself into a situation where I have no choice but to adapt is going to be a great experience. Any advice for a naive, would-be adventurer, or comments? And holy gently caress is the thought of learning another language intimidating.
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Dec 7, 2011 12:52
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Thailand ain't much of an adventure these days. Go to Laos or Cambodia instead. Or Myanmar, if you're really up for an adventure in SE Asia.
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Dec 7, 2011 14:40
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I looked into teaching more... I definitely romanticized it without researching it. I had a friend tell me of a friend of his who has a job in Korea where he helps old women practice their English, and earns an incredibly comfortable amount. I was hoping I could find something similar. I read http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/teaching.html and he seemed incredibly well informed on what teaching in Thailand is like, and covered all the bases to the T. I was(am) unrealistically looking for something with much more free time. Any suggestions on what type of work I could do abroad? I don't need anybody to tell me about a miracle job, just point me to some fields I could feasibly get into without a Bachelor's? (Or if that's out of the question, gently caress it, I could get one)
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Dec 7, 2011 17:01
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Sixty-Proof posted:Any advice for a naive, would-be adventurer, or comments? Get a job(OR TWO) now. Save up for the whole year. And I don't mean live a fun life in the states with nights out or buying every video game or whatever vices you might have, I mean go to work, pack your own lunches, cook your own food and stay in. Then, next winter, sell your car if you have one, and you can go to SE Asia with a few grand to have an adventure. The fun to dollar ratio from USA to SE Asia is out of control Meet people, see what environment you would be teaching in, or even if teaching is what you would want to do(teaching abroad =/= adventure abroad.) Come home when you're out of money like the rest of the bums. I'm one and a half weeks into my 4 month excursion(first time out of the country) and I have more stories than I can count. Eviljelly is right in that Thailand does feel a little "on the rails", but old roller coasters can still be really really fun. I have met maybe 5 other people from America and they were all EFL teachers. English is the language that unifies every other traveler, and barely anyone bothers to learn the language. Can you point to things and read a calculator? If so, congratulations, you are ready to deal with the locals. Oh and the women. Christ, the women. Do it.
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Dec 7, 2011 19:15
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Sixty-Proof posted:I looked into teaching more... I definitely romanticized it without researching it. I had a friend tell me of a friend of his who has a job in Korea where he helps old women practice their English, and earns an incredibly comfortable amount. I was hoping I could find something similar. I read http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/teaching.html and he seemed incredibly well informed on what teaching in Thailand is like, and covered all the bases to the T. I was(am) unrealistically looking for something with much more free time. Any suggestions on what type of work I could do abroad? I don't need anybody to tell me about a miracle job, just point me to some fields I could feasibly get into without a Bachelor's? (Or if that's out of the question, gently caress it, I could get one) English teaching in some countries requires a Bachelors, in other countries, it's "Required" but negotiable. Without some serious experience or gumption in other fields, you'll probably be hard off breaking into something else, but it can be done. Depending on how old you are and your current cash situation, long term, you'd be best off finding a local college, coming over as a student and just getting a degree in something as a regular student. Not sure what other countries have as far as programs go, but in China you can get it paid for entirely by the government (and even if you can't it's cheap as all gently caress). It's not a small endeavor by any means, as those 4 years are preceded by up to 2 years of language classes. Coming out of the deal, you'll have a degree, strong relationships, no student loan debts and some relative ease in finding a "real job". In the meantime, yea, clean the gently caress up with private English tutoring. The only downside I see to Thailand is the restrictions on what work foreigners can do. Sparing all that, fff, find an English teaching job that has minimal hours, enough perks to cover the basics and rely on side-work for a bigger payoff. Start out someone 3rd tier with no competition and lower pay, the experience will enable you to snatch up better gigs later in more desirable places. Personally though, I'd invest my time in either a degree or setting up some sort of business after a few years. The gravy train won't last forever. It'll probably suck at first, but it's worth it. Without having to deal with banks and companies determined to squeeze every last loving penny out of you every single month, you'll probably have more disposable income doing far less "work" than you'd be doing in the US without a degree and serious experience.
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Dec 7, 2011 19:58
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Sixty-Proof posted:This thread has inspired me. I am 20 years old, and I am dead set on getting a TEFL and teaching English in Thailand. The country looks stunning, and I would love to dedicate a few years to Muay Thai training. I am very undisciplined, and that worries me a bit... but I feel like catapulting myself into a situation where I have no choice but to adapt is going to be a great experience. Any advice for a naive, would-be adventurer, or comments?
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Dec 7, 2011 20:19
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Sixty-Proof posted:1) I was(am) unrealistically looking for something with much more free time. 1) Hahaha good loving luck. 40 hours a week is too much for you? Sorry man, but that's what "job" means. Also http://vimeo.com/29289965 it's a joke man don't take it too seriously 2) As a 20 year old with no experience or degree? Other than teach English? No. There really aren't any jobs you could get outside of your home country. I mean, you can do under the table construction or factory work that in Thailand is usually done by illegal Burmese (and pays accordingly) but something tells me you'd rather work at some skel EFL operation that doesn't mind you being as old as the students and inexperienced / unqualified (they do exist). Oh hey I did forget that you could run your own business -- probably some kind of fly by night import/export operation, but that would require some starting funds and a little market/sales savvy which maybe you have and maybe you don't. Tell us what you've done with yourself so far and maybe we can help you find something nonstandard along those lines. 3) See 2. 4) http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3302316&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 Muay Thai in Thailand is a little expensive if you're not already on an okay salary back home (like making 30k+ a year). I had done kickboxing all through highschool (I have a 7-2 record with 2 KOs) but never found a spot for training in Thailand while I was there, and I was there for two years, because on balance the cost was just a bit much to justify me going for it (as opposed to traveling or whatever with my break times -- while I was teaching my schedule made most of the formal camps and whatever not possible). Also your name means 30% alcohol which means not even technically liquor strength, again, maybe you know that and maybe you don't. raton fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Dec 8, 2011 |
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Dec 8, 2011 01:48
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Sixty-Proof posted:I looked into teaching more... I definitely romanticized it without researching it. I had a friend tell me of a friend of his who has a job in Korea where he helps old women practice their English, and earns an incredibly comfortable amount. I was hoping I could find something similar. Forum user andro here teaches in Korea and said he made a good amount of money. We're in Vietnam, my wife does part-time teaching at $20/hour, a few hours a week. She has a TEFL certificate but it got stolen, she does not have a university degree. At $20/hour, you could live quite well here doing 20-30 hours a week, especially if you shared an apartment with other expats.
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Dec 8, 2011 03:31
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Teaching 20 would require about 40 hours a week of total work, though, especially if you're talking all privates who will all need their own materials somewhat and who will be at different levels. Plus a few hours for finding them, minus a few bucks when they don't show up (but minus those dollars too sometimes), etc.
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Dec 8, 2011 03:34
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40 hours * $20 = $3200/month NET (if you're going the private classes way). You're rich with that much money in Vietnam, even if you miss a few classes or a few students here and there. So I assume for a 20-years old guy who wants to chill and doesn't care about living in a villa in An Phu, doing 20 hours on average is more than enough.
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Dec 8, 2011 03:43
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Senso posted:40 hours * $20 = $3200/month NET (if you're going the private classes way). You're rich with that much money in Vietnam, even if you miss a few classes or a few students here and there. So I assume for a 20-years old guy who wants to chill and doesn't care about living in a villa in An Phu, doing 20 hours on average is more than enough. 20 hours work 20 hours prep.
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Dec 8, 2011 04:15
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I have a month off from teaching in Beijing and decided to spend a little more than I was going to by heading to Bangkok for a week. I've read through the thread and have a good idea of most things. I was just wondering if anyone knew some cool day trips I could take outside the city and be back by night. I just want to relax on my vacation, but I assume I can see most things in Bangkok in a few days. Also any recommended places to stay/eat/see/etc. that may not be in most guides would be welcome.
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Dec 8, 2011 05:26
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Sheep-Goats posted:1) 40 hours a week is too much for you? Sheep-Goats posted:Tell us what you've done with yourself so far and maybe we can help you find something nonstandard along those lines. Sheep-Goats posted:4) http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3302316&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 Sheep-Goats posted:Also your name means 30% alcohol which means not even technically liquor strength, again, maybe you know that and maybe you don't. Thanks for the comments everybody.
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Dec 8, 2011 06:06
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Sheep-Goats posted:
I'm training in Chiang Mai for 2 months and its costing me 8000 baht/260$ a month for training twice a day and a free bunk in the fighters room. I had never done Muay Thai before and nor had lots of the people training here and its been good fun. I would agree that just doing one off sessions is not such good value at 400 baht a time.
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Dec 8, 2011 06:10
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Sheep-Goats posted:20 hours work 20 hours prep. If it takes you 20 hours to prepare 20 teaching hours of lessons then you are not doing the whole teaching ESL in Asia thing correctly.
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Dec 8, 2011 06:30
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Arakan posted:If it takes you 20 hours to prepare 20 teaching hours of lessons then you are not doing the whole teaching ESL in Asia thing correctly. If you're a first year teacher and are teaching 10 to 20 privates a week (for a total of about 20 hours a week) and don't spend about 20 a week on prep you're probably a poo poo teacher.
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Dec 8, 2011 07:24
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Arakan posted:If it takes you 20 hours to prepare 20 teaching hours of lessons then you are not doing the whole teaching ESL in Asia thing correctly. It depends on the situation; if you're tutoring privates with varying levels and interests, prep can take a lot of time, especially at first. On the other hand, you could get some who want you to use a book, or the higher-level ones who just want to do open-ended conversation with you explaining unfamiliar expressions/grammar/vocabulary as it comes up. If you're at a school, you may be required to teach straight from the book, which involves minimal prep time in most cases. You also often wind up recycling the same lesson for kids in the same grade (and possibly tweaking the difficulty for higher/lower grades). I'm in Japan and have to be at school 40 hours a week, but usually only 18-20 of that is classroom time. My prep time varies, depending on what sort of lesson my Japanese co-teachers want to do, and if I've done something similar at a different school already that I can crib from (I teach at 3 high schools). Personally, I'd love to be teaching at a high school in Thailand (I studied Thai for a year in Bangkok when I was an undergrad), but the lovely pay and legal constraints on work outside of teaching are dealbreakers. If you're young and don't have anything better to do then by all means go for it (you probably wouldn't be teaching at a public school though), but don't expect to have much to show for it professionally or financially when you're done. Korea, Japan, and Taiwan all pay enough to let you live comfortably, travel around (both in the country and internationally), and save money on the side, but are much less lenient about the degree thing than Southeast Asia is. I won't say it's impossible to do TEFL without a degree, but you're really hamstringing yourself without one. Senso posted:Forum user andro here teaches in Korea and said he made a good amount of money. Thailand is more strict about visas though; unlike Vietnam, you can't outright buy a business visa. Stolen TEFL certificate sounds like an interesting story... Private Snowball posted:I have a month off from teaching in Beijing and decided to spend a little more than I was going to by heading to Bangkok for a week. I've read through the thread and have a good idea of most things. I was just wondering if anyone knew some cool day trips I could take outside the city and be back by night. I just want to relax on my vacation, but I assume I can see most things in Bangkok in a few days. Don't get me wrong, I really liked living in Bangkok, but if I was taking a weeklong vacation from Beijing, I'd want to go somewhere a little more... slow-paced. Anyhow: There are a number of daytrips you can do, like Ayuthaya, Kanchanaburi (although really you could spend a night there, or do 3 days/2 nights if you grab a scooter and head up to Sangkhlaburi/Three Pagodas Pass), the floating night market in Amphawa, etc. You can do them on your own or with a tour... the tour may wind up being cheaper just from the economy of scale of heaping a bunch of tourists together. One of my favorite things to do when people were visiting was catch the subway to Hualamphong, start out at the train station, and walk through Chinatown (to and then down Yaowarat Road), then hang a left and follow the river all the way to Phra Athit Road, which passes a night market, the 24 hour flower market, Thammasart University, and the Grand Palace (closed at night though). From Phra Athit, you can cut down an alley and wind up on Soi Rambutri: follow it out and you'll be across from Khao San Road. I usually ended the night with drinks at the Gas Station Bar (RIP), if we weren't hammered already from stopping and grabbing booze at convenience stores along the way. It's pretty great if you're into photography.
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Dec 8, 2011 07:56
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Ziggy Piggy posted:I'm training in Chiang Mai for 2 months and its costing me 8000 baht/260$ a month for training twice a day and a free bunk in the fighters room. I had never done Muay Thai before and nor had lots of the people training here and its been good fun. I would agree that just doing one off sessions is not such good value at 400 baht a time.
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Dec 8, 2011 08:38
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Don't get me wrong, I really liked living in Bangkok, but if I was taking a weeklong vacation from Beijing, I'd want to go somewhere a little more... slow-paced. Anyhow: Yeah I live a little outside of Beijing, but still on the subway line. Basically if its warm and I can drink during the day while being away from screaming children it will be relaxing. Thanks for the advice.
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Dec 8, 2011 09:49
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Stolen TEFL certificate sounds like an interesting story... Not really, it's mostly embarrassing. When we arrived in Saigon, we lost a suitcase at the airport, going through the customs. It was such a mess, people pushing each other, the x-ray machine was crammed full of suitcases and nobody was verifying who was taking what. Once we got to the hotel, we realized the missing suitcase. I went back to the airport and asked around. I just couldn't believe it - they had it! BUT. Some dude obviously went through it first and took a few things, including our folder with ALL the paperwork needed for my wife, my son and I to live here. We had a few photocopies and scans somewhere else but yeah. Some Vietnamese guy has all the paperwork needed to steal the identity of a family of Canadians. And teach TEFL. Of course, reporting the theft to the airport security guys only generated dumb smiles and that famous hand-wave (like shaking a puppet side to side) they do when they mean "I don't know/give a gently caress". Other than that crazy setback, we love it here. Oh yeah, some jerk stole my motorbike helmet yesterday. In the "secure" parking lot of an IT hub. 
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Dec 8, 2011 09:51
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Private Snowball posted:Yeah I live a little outside of Beijing, but still on the subway line. Basically if its warm and I can drink during the day while being away from screaming children it will be relaxing. Thanks for the advice. Thung wa laen is the place for you... so stupidly relaxing and cheap and no one trying to rip you off.
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Dec 8, 2011 18:00
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Rapsey posted:What gym and how long have you been there? http://muay-thai-santai.com/ been here a month so far. Its a bit outside town (15km) in a suburb called Sankamphaeng. I know people training in town who pay the same gym fees and have accommodation for around 3000 baht a month.
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Dec 9, 2011 04:15
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Just had my first day in Phnom Penh. I arrived last night but I went right to bed once I reached my hotel. This city is interesting, kind of reminds me of some towns in Mexico I've been to. Went to the gun range and shot an AK, and then went to the Killing Fields. I didn't really want to go to the gun range but the mototaxi guy said "well you're here, why not", so I figured he was right. Obviously he gets kickbacks but who cares. Well shooting is overpriced and disappointing and kind of dumb. Not really sure why people get so psyched about shooting things. I did manage to hit all the coconuts though. Tomorrow I'm checking in to Encounters, and I'll go to the Central Market, the main palace, and the museum. Not really sure though... feels like I'm missing something about this city. I did a good deal of walking around and it's just, I dunno. Crappy. I don't think this is what I came overseas for, so after Encounters I'm headed east. Anybody else here? Let's get a 75 cent beer. stratdax fucked around with this message at 11:09 on Dec 9, 2011 |
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Dec 9, 2011 10:53
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stratdax posted:Tomorrow I'm checking in to Encounters, and I'll go to the Central Market, the main palace, and the museum. Not really sure though... feels like I'm missing something about this city. I did a good deal of walking around and it's just, I dunno. Crappy. I don't think this is what I came overseas for, so after Encounters I'm headed east. Heh, I thought the same thing when I first came over... but I'm still here 3 years later!  You leaving on Sunday? I have to go to work tomorrow, else I'd offer to show you around a bit. I'll probably be out tomorrow night though if you wanna grab a beer.
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Dec 9, 2011 12:59
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Becker's "Thai for Beginners" is pretty decent for self-study, but make sure you get the version with the CD. There's an intermediate and advanced book by the same author as well, although fair warning that "Advanced" was about on par with the third "basic" course of my Thai course in Bangkok (see below). Still, it will put you miles ahead of the average expat or traveler in Thailand and well-armed for basic conversations and everyday needs. Pompous, can you give me some info on when the intensive thai programs are scheduled to start, how many hours per week and what days, and a website link for Chulalongkorn U? I'm feeling motivated to learn languages after learning a bit of spanish in central america, and am looking for a challenge and want to have something else I'm doing when I go back to Thailand for more MT training (after 4 months full time I felt like I had actually made serious strides), so I'd like to find something to occupy my nights with when I'm worn out physically. I had a Romanian friend who lived in Thailand for 13 years and was fluent, and having him translate the funny gossip was amazing. I absolutely loved knowing rudimentary thai and having Thais gossip about me assuming I was clueless, like the time the old lady giving me a thai massage was speculating with another about the beautiful girlfriend they assumed I had... The OH poo poo look on their face when you enter the conversation is awesome. Plus I was living in Rangsit (man the flood pictures from there were ridiculous, 1-2 meters of water) and English wasn't spoken at all. *EDIT* Their webpage was surprisingly helpful for english speakers for a Thai website. I think with the scheduling as it is I'll probably only be able to do the first course, but I'm going to be working on Becker's course beforehand. Is it possible that I could become adept enough to skip T1 given ~3 months of perhaps 6-8 hours per week working with that book and tape? I've got Thai friends on facebook to converse with if that helps... What is the typical demographic for the students, do you know? And do they include necessary farang phrases such as "how much is your bar fine?" *shudder* rhazes fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Dec 10, 2011 |
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Dec 10, 2011 17:02
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It's at Chula so the requisite phrases shift to something like "Which senators do you have a backdoor with?"
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Dec 11, 2011 00:13
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Tytan posted:Heh, I thought the same thing when I first came over... but I'm still here 3 years later! Hey do you know where I can get a power converter in PP?
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Dec 11, 2011 04:37
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stratdax posted:Argh I missed this. Ah well I just went to bed early anyway. Ah not to worry. Do you know where Monivong Boulevard is? There's a few electronic shops along there - PTC computers should have converters, as will ICE computers next door (they're both not far from the central market). Or there's a big electronic shop in Sorya mall which will probably have them too (just ask a tuk-tuk/motodop to take you to 'Sorya', it's near central market too... in fact, the market might also have converters come to think of it).
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Dec 11, 2011 05:33
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Based on my Thailand reading, I know that March is when the hot season begins and tourism slows down some because of it. Originally I'd planned to head to Bangkok in early February for a two-week adventure, then it became late February spilling into early March, due to financial reasons. Is there that drastic of a difference in temperature and amount of tourists between early Feb and late Feb/early March that I should try my absolute best to get there before March? Note: I'd actually like to be there during the busier tourist season, in order to meet people easier. Thanks a bunch.
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Dec 11, 2011 11:34
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rhazes posted:Pompous, can you give me some info on when the intensive thai programs are scheduled to start, how many hours per week and what days, and a website link for Chulalongkorn U? Yeah, Intensive Thai is one of the few departments at Chula that seems to be able to keep malware off its official site  I think you could, if you were able to stick with it. If you knew reading/writing already (Becker's book is good for introducing this early) you'd actually have a decent amount of the second course under your belt. With that said, the second level would still be good reinforcement for the reading/writing, and the rest of the content is also really good. Typically in Beginner it starts out at about 50% Western, 50% Japanese. By Intermediate it's pretty much all Japanese (there was me, a British guy, and a Korean, the rest were all Japanese either learning for work or because they hoped to find work); most of the Western students lack a strong reason for learning and drop out because the course is difficult and pretty time-consuming, not to mention expensive. I wouldn't describe myself as super-humanly motivated, I was there on a contract so I couldn't leave until Advanced 2. The professors say the class makeup varies from class term to class term, but that was generally the norm, and how it was when I was there. We had a short lesson on the impolite pronouns (just so we'd know what they were if we heard them), but other than that basically zero of the stuff that can get you into trouble. The course is aimed at professionals and academics, although the Basic level is useful for anyone looking to get a foundation in the language, and Intermediate is pretty good if you want to build up a more everyday functionality (read newspapers, etc). Advanced was pretty much a total waste of time but they may have fixed that since. Thai people have zero expectations for Westerners speaking their language, even after three straight years of almost constant disuse, I still get people asking if I'm half-Thai every now and then (am a 6'1" white guy with brown hair and green eyes).
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Dec 11, 2011 11:45
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Pro-PRC Laowai posted:Thung wa laen is the place for you... so stupidly relaxing and cheap and no one trying to rip you off. I live in Bangkok and this man speaks the truth. Whenever I get vacation I go to thung wa laen. If it gets too relaxing for me there, I hop over to Koh Tao or Koh Phanagan.
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Dec 11, 2011 12:02
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I've been dying to go to southeast Asia for a long time. One of my Thai friends is currently trying to get me an internship at his company for next summer or fall or both. To say I am excited about this prospect would be a severe understatement. If I found the right place in Google Earth, it is located in Thepharak or possibly Bang Na. If I have interpreted the geography correctly, these places appear to be suburbs of Bangkok proper. Is that the case? Is anyone familiar with these areas? I would love to hear anything about them.
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Dec 11, 2011 13:09
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Bang Na used to be mostly known for its giant highways (called Bang Na and Sukhumvit) which carry you rightward out of the capitol. I think there are also a couple of large college campuses there. These days the BTS has made it out there so things are changing I'm sure, but I used to hear "I stay Bangna" and wince a bit at that being a bit far from the city for convenience's sake. Think lots of 3 and 4 story concrete structures with shops on the bottom floor and apartments up top lining the road which give way into crowded single family dwellings that are basically of the same type but a story or two shorter. There's probably a huge Tesco or two, and social life will mostly be trips in to the city proper or streetside restaurant/bar operations, possibly with a kareoke machine. Live near the BTS and take a bus or something to your internship would be my advice. MyStereoHasMono posted:Based on my Thailand reading, I know that March is when the hot season begins and tourism slows down some because of it. Originally I'd planned to head to Bangkok in early February for a two-week adventure, then it became late February spilling into early March, due to financial reasons. 1) Hot + hot = hot, and since you aren't familiar with normal hot you won't really know the difference. It's pretty bad! You can still handle it! 2) You really don't want to deal with the high tourist season in Thailand. Even in the low season the more popular areas are tourist saturated, in the high season the word "inundated" is absolutely appropriate. Also one of the best things about Thailand in particular is how easy it is to meet locals as opposed to leeching purely off of other tourists for companionship. 3) Songkran is in April. It's a pretty cool time to visit Thailand. Most expats see it as more a hassle than anything, but it's pretty cool if you're a tourist. raton fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Dec 11, 2011 |
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Dec 11, 2011 14:32
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