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Pompous Rhombus
Mar 11, 2007

Fox1 posted:

By any chance does anyone know a good motorcycle mechanic in Cambodia? (Phnom Penh preferably)

May be too late on this but you should try getting it fixed in Vietnam first! I'm not saying it will be impossible to fix, but I've never seen a Minsk in Cambodia. Worst case scenario, there will probably be someone who's "got a guy" in Vietnam that they'll call and will put the parts on a bus headed to PP for you.

As far as shops, ask a moto-taxi driver if you find one who speaks English. Expats might know, or inadvertently steer you towards a more expensive one.

freebooter posted:

Vietnam: Or is it just your 30 days of being in the country for the dates you specify on your application form, enter no earlier and exit no later, absolutely inflexible?

Yep :-\

Ringo R posted:

Sneakin' in

Ahahaha... my Japanese classmates used to do the same thing.

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kru
Oct 5, 2003

Strong Sauce posted:

First off I have an unlocked iPhone so I would like to get a prepaid with a couple of minutes. Where is the closest place to buy a card once I get out of the airport?

Dunno about closest, but hit the top deck of the MBK for anythign you need.

joedevola
Sep 11, 2004

worst song, played on ugliest guitar
[Giant gently caress off epic essay I just wrote about my recent trip to Thailand because I have to go back to work tomorrow and if I go to sleep IT'LL HAPPEN TOO SOON.]

Thailand is very hot. Heat zaps my appetite for everything but sleep, but I still managed to have some Times while I was there. We (the Mrs and I) first got into Bangkok proper at about 3AM, so we were forced to sleep the first night on the Khaosan road, which is not a place I like. It's a permanently crowded street filled with grumpy hawkers selling old bits of wooden tat and fake IDs, with bars playing too much bad dance music. Apparently the Thai cuss of choice for deadlock sporting fucknuts who think its OK to wander around a major metropolitan city shirtless and shoeless like they're John The Baptist translates to 'bird poo poo foreigner.' Khaosan is full of those wankers. The place is a joyless hustle, and I was glad when we found our next hostel, the Cozy Inn, near Hualamphong train station. The staff were very helpful and friendly and all that good stuff you hear about Thai people. The next day we went to Wat Pho to look at the reclining Buddha and take photos of the statuary and be impressed by the shiny, pointy temples. I've always enjoyed devotional music and architecture, and Thailand has some of the most beautiful examples of the latter in the world.


The next day we picked 'the torture museum' out of the Lonely Planet at random and spent most of the afternoon examining execution apparatus and sprawling in a beautiful walled park that had previously been a large prison. Lying on my back in the grass and squinting up at the birds hopping from branch to branch of the tree I was using for shade, I couldn't help but have a guilty chuckle thinking of how crummy the weather must have been at that exact moment back in Seoul.


We decided on a vague itinerary of island hopping in the South, then heading back to spend the last two days in Bangkok. We took the overnight train to Chumporn, then a ferry to Koh Tao. I like taking the train, even at night, crammed into a second class sleeper seat with a faulty reclining mechanism. There's something elegant about travelling by train. I didn't even mind waiting three hours in the cavernous train station. I spent the time listening to the Mrs being interviewed by a Thai English language student, watching pretend tough guys do Thai martial arts on the immense LED TV screen at the front of the station and being careful not to tread on the stray cats that snuck around beneath the seating, snatching fallen food scraps from drowsy commuters.

These gaps of dead time may be my favourite part of travelling. I get no masochistic thrill from the basic physical discomfort which my finances dictate I suffer whenever I travel, and 'people watching' grows old pretty fast - rather I enjoy the enforced mental siesta that comes with taking buses, trains, ferries and other non jet-powered means of conveyance. Arriving in a new place makes me anxious, and even after I get situated I start to worry that I'm not doing enough, not being active or living sufficiently in the moment. But when I'm on the move, I feel relaxed. I had a few excellent books with me and a lot of music, but there's only so much reading and listening I can do, and bouncing around in transit was one of the few effective remedies for the permanent drowsiness I experienced in that climate (Red Bull being another) so I spent many hours over the ten days with nothing to do but sit, think and watch the landscape pass by. At home I spend all my time working, drinking or cramming pixels into my eyes - being denied all my usual avenues of distraction was the real holiday.

I know not everyone feels this way. While walking around the train station to stretch my legs I saw a young guy lying on the ground, with his head propped up on his backpack watching a movie on an expensive looking Apple laptop. I caught a glimpse of the movie as I walked past him. He was in Bangkok, Thailand, watching a movie set in Bangkok, Thailand. I saw a great deal of netbooks (tiny, inexpensive travel friendly laptops) at the various resorts and bars we visited, and the more I saw them the more irritating they became. I've had computers in my life since I was about five, which is more impressive than it sounds since I'm about fifty years old, and I've always considered myself an evangelical supporter of useful consumer electronics, but I found myself harumphing at these people like a grumpy old man. Rather than talking to their friends or playing with the sleepy, attention deprived bar pets or just staring at the horizon and thoughtfully picking their nose - they were on Facebook. In almost every instance the tiny laptop people were always looking at something on Facebook, and they'd do it for hours. I don't know if I have a point, it just bugged me.


Anyway, I liked the night train a lot even though I got very little sleep. The night landscape as seen from a train is beautiful in a way that's difficult to describe without sounding like a wanker. Taking the bus back up to Bangkok once we'd had our fill of sand paper bed sheets was torture. The roadside bauble of choice in Thailand is the fluorescent strip light bulb. They're used everywhere, I saw seven hundred thousand of them between Chumporn and the Capital. At one point the combination of sleep deprivation and constant, retina-shredding fluorescent light noise had me almost totally convinced we were travelling in an immense circle. We seemed to pass through the same town every twenty minutes. I could see too much to ignore, but never enough to focus on. By midnight I was one dismal, vacant roadside Tikki bar away from total madness. The only interesting thing I saw the whole way back was a huge, flat, spot lit construction lot occupied by a single JCB digger, belching dirt into a pit like a sick dinosaur. My opinion of the bus may be unreasonably soured by our seats, which were placed right in front of the on board shitter. Towards the end of the journey the stench of the bog combined with an unfiltered cloud of two dozen sleeping people's manky service station arse guff forced me to take olfactory refuge inside my own t-shirt, which honestly didn't smell much better.

The train was different. In addition to smelling a lot better, cutting a less circuitous path through the country meant the darkness was rarely broken, and when it was it would be by things so distant or so isolated from any terrestrial context that they seemed to be floating.

Koh Tao is the smallest of the big three backpacker friendly islands in Thailand. The thing there is diving, which neither of us had any real interest in, so our time was pretty uneventful. At one point The Mrs and I had a conversation with three young American women who were travelling for a few months after college. We were discussing the pros and cons of living in Korea, myself for and she very much agin. We were sitting up sharing a very nice Cantaloupe hookah and they were sitting on the floor between us. Something about this arrangement tickled me a lot, as we passed the pipe back and forth dispensing our wisdom to these youngsters who were (literally) looking up to us. I don't know, it seemed funny at the time, I was pretty drunk.


Later that night, or maybe the next, The Mrs went to bed early and I decided to stay up for a little while to enjoy the last of a mild beer buzz and look at the stars, which were very bright on account of the lack of light pollution and a waxing moon. I picked a point where we'd laid out earlier in the day, between two huge round boulders that bisected the beach - being careful to make sure there was nobody around - I lay on my back and put my headphones on. About five minutes later I felt drops of beer spatter my face and heard a bottle breaking to my immediate left. Sitting up I turned around to see the silhouettes of two people sitting on a wall in front of some as yet uncompleted bungalows, a woman and a bald man. In an English accent I heard him say "[something] off!" while the (evidently Thai) woman offered loud apologies. I had to decide what to do quickly, and picked up my flip flops and walked back up the beach to where I was staying, trying to work out why it happened as I went.

The only legitimate reason I could conjure was that he was somehow invested in the construction of the bungalows and thought I was some sort of vagrant, squatting on his real estate. What is much more likely is that it was a drunk tourist who had picked up a bit of local strange and, having only noticed me after sitting down with her, considered my unintentional cockblocking provocation beyond endurance. His accent was a bit of a giveaway. There's a whole generation of swivel-eyed, teeth nashing droogs inhabiting the UK's cities that, on applying for plane tickets, should simply be locked in a loving cage and fed ketamine for however long they were planning on going away. It's not like they'd notice the difference. Whatever the reason, it threw me into a depressed, anxious funk that I didn't fully escape for a some time. gently caress that guy.

We took a ferry to Koh Phangan a few days later. While I was getting a drink a flawlessly sketchy looking dealer offered me some sort of leaf to chew, promising that it would have me "running on the water." I declined, but it did amuse me to see how nervous his total lack of subtlety made the staff of the ferry, with whom he seemed to have an understanding. We pitched up at a place called [name omitted] largely because it was the first pamphlet we looked at after stepping off the ferry. It turned out to be a good decision. It was a little removed from the Hat Rin peninsula where the Full Moon Parties are, but since the moon was new we weren't that interested in staying right on sunset or sunrise beach. We got a ridiculously well appointed room for 1000 baht a night, and spent the next few days walking into Hat Rin to swim and sunbathe or lounging around the little private beach next to the hotel. The place was run by a family, whose most prominent representative spent a great deal of time and energy making sure we were comfortable - part of which included assuring us that they had an understanding with the local police, so that should we want it would be no problem to hang out there and smoke weed. While we declined that we did take advantage of their happy shakes before going into town on Saturday night. Since we split it neither of us got especially buzzed, luckily I compensated for this by drinking quite a lot. We got to the beach apparently very early - it was almost completely deserted, despite all the tables, bean bags and stalls having been set out and lit up. It may have been the happy shake or the zombie movie atmosphere of the beach, but it wasn't until 11 or so when lots more people showed up that I loosened up enough to enjoy myself. We forswore buckets on account of old age and clashing chemicals and wandered from place to place, watching the fire throwers and the young people trying to dance in the sand. At one place where we stayed long enough to take part in a weird balloon stomping game, there was an old fella clearly tripping his balls off on something evidently very potent. He was drenched in all manner of blinking LED tack, dancing with everybody and posing for photos. It was fun for a while, but when I started to picture his serotonin hangover the next day the novelty wore off, and we quit the beach. The next couple of days were spent in a very pleasant haze of sunbathing and naps.


Getting off the bus to Bangkok again very early in the morning, we booked into the first halfway acceptable place we found, and arranged to meet old friends from China and Seoul during our last day. The first part of the day was spent sending postcards and souvenir shopping, then in the early evening myself and The Mrs reconnected with an old friend from her days in China and his girlfriend. We ate and took off to a fancy bar at the top of the Banyan Tree hotel, 60 floors up. After a little sartorial confrontation (the dress code required shoes and trousers, which they helpfully supplied) we enjoyed one slowly sipped round of extremely expensive drinks with one of the most exclusive views in the city. Sensing that we'd missed our mutual friend from Seoul, and having been to the top of the city we decided to spend a little time in the muck, and The Mrs' friend who lived in Bangkok some years previously took us on a quick tour around some of the red light districts. For a little while we became Sex Tourist-tourists, we were suddenly on a confusing and slightly depressing meta-vacation. Soi cowboy is like a large chunk of Las Vegas squeezed into a narrow sliver of downtown Bangkok. Bar girls and beggars lined the street while haunted, unsmiling middle aged men strode around purposefully or lounged on the patios of the bars, attended to by more or less naked young women. My favorite part of Soi Cowboy was the Dutch bar we decamped in for drinks, it was full of weirdly passive aggressive signs pre-emptively excusing the lousy service. They said things like "Our food is prepared with love, not a STOPWATCH" or "We'll be nice - IF YOU ARE". Nobody else found this as funny as I did. After traipsing around a couple titty bars we ended our holiday in a very nice street near the Khaosan Road, sharing a slightly harsh apple hookah and talking about China, Korea, our various points of origin and potential future destinations.

It were a gud holiday.

[/Giant gently caress off epic essay I just wrote about my recent trip to Thailand because I have to go back to work tomorrow and if I go to sleep IT'LL HAPPEN TOO SOON.]

I went to Thailand five years ago, but I went by myself back then and didn't really have a good time. It definitely seemed to be easier to get around this time, but that may just be on account of having more money and being a bit more experienced at travelling. I can't recommend the place near Hualamphong enough, they were incredibly nice and the general atmosphere of where it is is a ton nicer than the Khoasan area. If anyone wants the name of the place near Hat Rin they can PM me, I just didn't want to put it in the main text in case they got in trouble. I doubt their weed is that good anyway.

For those of you who have may have lived on Koh Tao or know a lot about it, if I'd decided to get into a fight with that dude and it had got serious, what was the worst that would have happened legally? Not being an internet tough guy, I'm just curious.

joedevola fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Feb 25, 2010

Strong Sauce
Jul 2, 2003

You know I am not really your father.





Ringo R posted:

Learning the numbers is probably most important because if you stand there looking like a retard when they tell you how much the entrance fee is, you're busted :) They usually write the fees in Thai too (thinking that it'll prevent foreigners from complaining about double pricing) so learning to read numbers would help a bit too. Only the most popular temples in Bangkok has entrance fees for foreigners though, Thais get in for free. All other temples are free for everybody in my experience. Dressing as a Thai probably helps a bit too. Wear long pants and a shirt, don't wear a singlet and shorts. Useful phrases:

Staff: You buy ticket now you fake bad man
You: Pom pben khon thai = I'm Thai and you're obviously blind

Staff: Gee khon? = How many persons?
You: Khon dee-ow = One person (also means "alone")

I think a penalty for getting caught is highly unlikely. Just play a dumb tourist: I no sa-peak Engrish, solly!

Hrm.. yeah seems like numbers will be my downfall. Do the free ones (for Thais) just let you pass through?

Also are there any fees I have to pay when I land at the airport? Or do I pretty much just have to get past customs?

Strong Sauce fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Feb 25, 2010

Pompous Rhombus
Mar 11, 2007

Strong Sauce posted:

Hrm.. yeah seems like numbers will be my downfall. Do the free ones (for Thais) just let you pass through?

Also are there any fees I have to pay when I land at the airport? Or do I pretty much just have to get past customs?

Hang back inconspicuously and watch what locals do. My trick with moto-taxi drivers was to hand them a 100 baht note (50 for a short hop) and wait for change: there's usually an unwritten standard fare that locals (even white folks, who have done the route enough times) know, but if you actually ask they may inflate the price. Moto taxi guys in Bangkok are usually pretty honest though, much better than your average tuk-tuk driver anyways.

No fees on landing, you used to have to pony up the departure tax when you were leaving but I think it's integrated into the cost of your plane ticket nowadays.

Things n Stuff
Jun 7, 2005
Degrassi Junkie

Sheep-Goats posted:


Maybe:
Phuket: 1 day, hope to catch some Songkran
Krabi: 3 or 4 days -- extend for the activities you mentioned if necesscary
Phi Phi: 3 or 4 days -- extend for the activities you mentioned if necesscary
Travel to Siem Riep in Cambodia: about a day, fly if you can, rest up
Angkor Wat: Two or three days, fly to Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai: Two or three days, fly to Mae Hong Son
Mae Hong Son: One day for the town, three or four days for extended hilltribe trek
Rest of time: revisit a favorite (more beach, more NE, whatever) and concentrate on doing nothing much
Second to last two days: Bangkok (a few temples, a few nightclubs, a few malls, maybe Jatujak, maybe Chinatown)
Last day: Back to Phuket for your flight home

These little inter-region flights aren't too pricey and don't have to be booked to far in advance to be affordable.

Hey, thanks!
I've actually sorted out most of my travel plans, it's just the islands that were giving me a headache. So far, it looks like this: Bangkok - (overland to ) Angkor Wat - (overland to) Ho Chi Minh - (Fly to) Phuket - (fly to) Chiang Mai - (overland to) Kanchanaburi if we have time - (overland to) Bangkok, and then we fly back out of Bangkok. Other than booking the flights, I don't want to make 100% firm plans, in case I love somewhere and want to stay, or hear about somewhere nearby that I hadn't even thought of, or something else comes up.

If it were just me, I'd likely have cut a couple places and taken it a bit easier, but my boyfriend REALLY wants to see some stuff, and I REALLY want to see some other stuff. So, there we are.

raton
Jul 28, 2003

by FactsAreUseless

joedevola posted:

For those of you who have may have lived on Koh Tao or know a lot about it, if I'd decided to get into a fight with that dude and it had got serious, what was the worst that would have happened legally? Not being an internet tough guy, I'm just curious.

Other than getting beaten up by him, nothing. The police are never going to take the side of a bottle hurling British fuckface over mildly drunk dude in his 50s carrying around his walkman and looking a little confused. If he was somehow friends with the policeman or whatever you'd probably be taken out of sight and let go. If he was friends with an rear end in a top hat policeman maybe he would pretend there was a 1000B fine first. Odds of that happening are one in a thousand.

Your guess as to why that happened is probably accurate. Every fight I saw in Thailand was between an Aussie and a Brit, usually just after a Rugby match got finished. A vile drunk is still a vile drunk when on vacation and he probably didn't have a reason to throw anything at you other than he was drunk and mad that you'd, um, interrupted his heart to heart with the lady he'd somehow picked up earlier that week.

Strong Sauce posted:

Hrm.. yeah seems like numbers will be my downfall. Do the free ones (for Thais) just let you pass through?

Also are there any fees I have to pay when I land at the airport? Or do I pretty much just have to get past customs?

The most irritating double pricing bullshit I ran into was when I visited Dream World, which is an okay amusement park outside of Bangkok. Often when confronted with the staggered admission fee I'd just say "Khon Thai khap" and smile show them the bank card I had from a local Thai bank with my picture on it along with the Thai fee. This isn't an option for tourists as they won't have the card, but I lived there and felt I should be getting the Thai price anyway. This didn't work at Dream World, where I had to pay 800B instead of 500 to go in. You also have to pay a separate fee if you want to see the Snow World attraction, which is indoors and has some North Pole animatronics and snowmen you can take a picture with and a sledding hill -- fee is the same whether Thai or foreign for that.

It's important to remember, though, that even if the admission fee is 200B for farang and 20 for Thai people it's not a huge deal to just pay the extra 180B. Oh noes four dollars. It's annoying, yeah, but come on. You'd spend four bucks on a small popcorn back home for a movie. Like the heat it's just an annoyance and if you aren't possessing of aircon (in the case of ticket prices that would be a little charm and probably the ability to belch out at least a few phrases in Thai) it's better to just passively let the heat be hot and get on with what you're doing than to get fixated on it and start fanning yourself and panting. So basically my advice is to just take it in the pooper and then laugh at that one bitter German in line wearing a singlet, fishermen's pants and no shoes who wants to have an argument in distorted English with a ticket girl who couldn't care less.

When you come in you get in a customs line, look at the little webcam, they take a picture, usually stamp your passport without looking up from their comic book, and you walk out and get your taxi in. And just like everyone tells you, go to the departures gate and snag a taxi that's just disgorged its passengers rather than dealing with the moronic line for the arrivals. Unless it's 3AM or something an no one is departing anyway.

raton fucked around with this message at 09:39 on Feb 26, 2010

Strong Sauce
Jul 2, 2003

You know I am not really your father.





Sheep-Goats posted:

stuff
Thanks for that, unfort my flight lands at 1AM. I'm planning on staying until morning though.

raton
Jul 28, 2003

by FactsAreUseless

Strong Sauce posted:

Thanks for that, unfort my flight lands at 1AM. I'm planning on staying until morning though.

Still may be worth a try if the line is long. Bangkok is a major flight hub afterall. The last time I flew in I think I got in at midnight and had a cab the minute I walked out the door.

joedevola
Sep 11, 2004

worst song, played on ugliest guitar

Sheep-Goats posted:

Other than getting beaten up by him, nothing. The police are never going to take the side of a bottle hurling British fuckface over mildly drunk dude in his 50s carrying around his walkman and looking a little confused. If he was somehow friends with the policeman or whatever you'd probably be taken out of sight and let go. If he was friends with an rear end in a top hat policeman maybe he would pretend there was a 1000B fine first. Odds of that happening are one in a thousand.

Thanks, I'm actually 28, I was joking about being older because, y'know... late 20s angst and that. Anyway, my main concern was what would have happened if I'd hurt him at all. Now I'm sort of annoyed that I didn't. OK, internet tough guy discussion over.

raton
Jul 28, 2003

by FactsAreUseless

joedevola posted:

Thanks, I'm actually 28, I was joking about being older because, y'know... late 20s angst and that. Anyway, my main concern was what would have happened if I'd hurt him at all. Now I'm sort of annoyed that I didn't. OK, internet tough guy discussion over.

Oh if you got in a brawl and won then you'd either walk off and never hear about it again or they'd catch you and throw you in the clink and you'd probably end up paying a 10k-20k baht "fee" or so for the privileged of taking the taxi back to the airport.

Also there's a good chance his chick would have bashed you in the back of the head with a rock when you weren't looking. You did the right thing.

moflika
Jun 8, 2004

What initiation?

Well, for starters, you have to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka...
Grimey Drawer
Should I even bother with a "holster style" wallet/passport holder? http://www.design-go.com/en/detail_38813.html

I'm going to be on the move for 2 months and not planning to hit many seedy places, so I'm guessing just keeping poo poo in the front pockets should be fine. Fake wallet in the back and all should be good.

A holder seems like it might be annoying and unneeded, but I'm not sure. Thoughts?

Noir desir
Jul 9, 2007

by Ozma
Yeah, I'd go for one, I mean don't carry it everyday (I just carry enough cash in my pocket for whatever I'm doing & a ride home/dinner etc and leave passport/credit card locked in the hostel but never bothered with the fake wallet or whatever) but I found it really useful for peace of mind when on a bus or in a plane or airport or something because I'm really absent minded and tend to just leave stuff sitting somewhere if I don't have somewhere to put it. After i left my passport + a hundred or so $us in a netcafe in an airport for a few hours once I just found it so much easier to wear the stupid looking thing when I'm on the move between place to place :)

Lrrr
Jan 17, 2010
I used one of these to keep my cash hidden. http://www.eaglecreek.com/media/products/main/40441/40441-BK.jpg A lot more comfy than those holster things, and I would think more secure too. Its not too hard to spot those underneath a t-shirt after all. Can't use that for passport though, I always keep that in my front pocket along with whatever cash I think Ill spend for the day. If you get into a shady (or crowdy) area just put your hand in the same pocket, and you are safe for pickpockets. Sure you can still get mugged, but held at gunpoint or whatever I would be happy to give up any cash they can find and my passport anyway. Any loss like this is probably covered by your insurance anyway, and you will be able to get a new passport/travel papers from your embassy/consulate wherever you are.

mrfart
May 26, 2004

Dear diary, today I
became a captain.
I bought one of those moneybelts.
Never used it.
I bought fjallraven (or how the hell do you write that brandname)pants with zippers on all pockets and an extra hidden pocket on the inside. Fantastic gear really. Light, don't sweat too much in it, etc... pretty expensive, but I'm really glad I bought them.

moflika
Jun 8, 2004

What initiation?

Well, for starters, you have to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka...
Grimey Drawer
Yeah, I feel like if I buy it I'll just not use it. I would put them in my pants, but they are so drat thin that I don't know how well that is going to work. O well, might as well buy one just in case!

On the plus side, I just packed everything I'm going to need into my old backpack http://www.cuttingedgetactical.com/bugout5031three-daypass.aspx and I still have plenty of space. Looks like I can get rid of those ideas of bringing a 40+ liter bag! :cool:

edit: O yeah, any hippie backpackers have any advice on foot care? Powder, Spray, and other way? I'm going to be wearing the same drat trail runners for 2 months, so I'm assuming I should do something.

moflika fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Mar 2, 2010

Pompous Rhombus
Mar 11, 2007

moflika posted:

edit: O yeah, any hippie backpackers have any advice on foot care? Powder, Spray, and other way? I'm going to be wearing the same drat trail runners for 2 months, so I'm assuming I should do something.

Buy a cheap pair of flip flops for farting around in when you get there (or alternatively, a nice pair at home that won't fall apart). I won these special lightweight socks in a raffle at a bicycle race that breathed so much better than regular socks, also washed/dried much easier. You can wash socks/underwear in the sink with a bar of soap if you can't be bothered to take them to a laundry. I guess you can technically do the same with regular clothes but it's not worth the hassle when a little Cambodian lady will happily do your laundry for $1/kg.

Frost
Dec 6, 2003
Don't let the Frost bite you
I just got back from a 6 weeks trip through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, so I can chime in on any questions people have and will write some thoughts later.

One good tip though: If you put 2 days of Khao San Road at the end of your trip you won't be so sad you're leaving. That place is only good for buying souvenirs for your family and boring the poo poo out of you. Especially when it's a buddhist holiday, they are not selling any alcohol and you can't sleep from the noise. I probably walked around the general area for 6 hours that night, which actually turned out to be a lot more interesting than Khao San.

Other than that I came out of the trip with a lot of love for Cambodia. Friendly people all around, easy travel and a lot of interesting sights and activities. Just saying, I went up and down Bokor Mountain on a scooter and it was the best thing I have done in recent years. Now I know what Breakbone fever must feel like.

Frost fucked around with this message at 08:14 on Mar 2, 2010

Pompous Rhombus
Mar 11, 2007

Frost posted:

Other than that I came out of the trip with a lot of love for Cambodia. Friendly people all around, easy travel and a lot of interesting sights and activities. Just saying, I went up and down Bokor Mountain on a scooter and it was the best thing I have done in recent years. Now I know what Breakbone fever must feel like.

The road up to Bokor doesn't make you unable to hold down more than a piece of fruit or two a day and cause every part of your skin to itch all night though :smith:

How is the road now? They were in the process of paving it when I was there (well re-paving, there were still a couple of stubborn patches of French asphalt clinging to existence here and there) in 2008, but that looked like a hell of a job. Also, have they lifted that bogus bribe to get in because it's "closed for construction"?

edit:

Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 12:25 on Mar 2, 2010

Ted Ed Fred
May 4, 2004

fuck this band
Hey guys, I posted months ago in the old thread when I'd just bought my ticket, but now the time is approaching and I leave for Bangkok in just over a month. I get in April 6th at about 3:30pm in the afternoon.

Is anyone going to be in Bangkok around that time? It's my first time in Thailand and I'm pretty excited. I'm thinking of booking myself into a guest house in or around Khao San Road for the first few nights and then seeing what takes my fancy. I have no plans set in stone other than enjoy myself and meet cool people.

Frost
Dec 6, 2003
Don't let the Frost bite you
The first 2 or 3 kilometres after the checkpoint are asphalt now and I paid 5 Dollar to get in. The rest pretty much looks like in your picture, just a little steeper and wider. Most of the time it is wide enough so two cars can pass each other without problem now, and there is "gravel" on some patches. If football-sized pieces of rock count as gravel! I'd say 3 hours up and 2.5 to get back down.
I wanted to get a blind massage afterwards but instead I just fell asleep in the hammock with half my beer unfinished, it was an awesome day.

illionaire
Apr 18, 2005

It's all about the
Yenjamins,
baby

Frost posted:

I just got back from a 6 weeks trip through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, so I can chime in on any questions people have and will write some thoughts later.

One good tip though: If you put 2 days of Khao San Road at the end of your trip you won't be so sad you're leaving. That place is only good for buying souvenirs for your family and boring the poo poo out of you. Especially when it's a buddhist holiday, they are not selling any alcohol and you can't sleep from the noise. I probably walked around the general area for 6 hours that night, which actually turned out to be a lot more interesting than Khao San.

Other than that I came out of the trip with a lot of love for Cambodia. Friendly people all around, easy travel and a lot of interesting sights and activities. Just saying, I went up and down Bokor Mountain on a scooter and it was the best thing I have done in recent years. Now I know what Breakbone fever must feel like.

I'm doing two weeks in Cambodia and 'Nam starting on the 13th. My current plan is to land in Siam Reap and head South to Phnom Penh before swinging across the border to Ho Chi Minh City, then hit up a bunch of cities on my way North toward Hanoi, where I fly back. Any generic advice?

Pompous Rhombus
Mar 11, 2007
Lmao, Thai government extends the free 60 day tourist visas and is throwing $10k of riot insurance into the deal. Goes into effect April 1 (seriously?) and should last a full year.

Frost posted:

The first 2 or 3 kilometres after the checkpoint are asphalt now and I paid 5 Dollar to get in. The rest pretty much looks like in your picture, just a little steeper and wider. Most of the time it is wide enough so two cars can pass each other without problem now, and there is "gravel" on some patches. If football-sized pieces of rock count as gravel! I'd say 3 hours up and 2.5 to get back down.
I wanted to get a blind massage afterwards but instead I just fell asleep in the hammock with half my beer unfinished, it was an awesome day.

My hat is off to you, that is one hell of a road!

Ringo R
Dec 25, 2005

ช่วยแม่เฮ็ดนาแหน่เดัอ
Lol @ riot insurance :D The red shirts are planning something big this month so it might come in handy! Also, if they keep giving away free tourist visas, why don't they just extend the visa-free stamp?

Edit: Is there a way to change the thread title?

Ringo R fucked around with this message at 21:09 on Mar 2, 2010

Frost
Dec 6, 2003
Don't let the Frost bite you

illionaire posted:

I'm doing two weeks in Cambodia and 'Nam starting on the 13th. My current plan is to land in Siam Reap and head South to Phnom Penh before swinging across the border to Ho Chi Minh City, then hit up a bunch of cities on my way North toward Hanoi, where I fly back. Any generic advice?

2 weeks each I assume? If it's two weeks total, you should cut out Vietnam altogether and stay in Cambodia, you need that time to enjoy yourself and the country and not spend it on busses.

Siem Reap: Find one or two persons to rent a tuk tuk for the day with and explore the temples. Or rent a bicycle for 2$, it's not that far from the town to the site (6 or so km but it's soul crushing to get up at 4.30 to make it there in time for the sunrise, without any breakfast either, argh!) and you will be climbing and hiking a lot, so maybe the tuktuk would have been the more relaxed idea.
Also don't go to the "Temple Club" near the old market, don't dance to 10 year old techno music and don't make out with cute Khmer whores, you will feel bad afterwards for supporting the sad swamp of prostitution they have, even if you didn't end up doing the whole thing with them.
Also don't say "good night man!" to a ladyboy who annoys you. On second thought, do it!

Pnomh Penh: Go to the Olympic stadium around sunset and enjoy the atmosphere, the people doing sports and the view. Go to the Killing Fields or the S-21 Genocide museum, maybe you can even stomach both. I was quite done after the museum.

Afterwards, if you want to relax from the big city a few days with swimming and all, you should go to Sihanoukville and get a Bungalow. If you want to relax in a quiet and really friendly town go to Kampot. No good beaches but you can swim in the river at some bars upstream and you should get a scooter to explore the surroundings (Bokor Mountain, Kep, Pepper farms etc). In both places you will most likely stay longer than originally planned.

General advice, try to stay off the beaten tourist path for a bit and your experience will be even more amazing. I'm not saying to stray into the jungle and step on a landmine, I mean try not to take the easy option for whatever you are planning to do:
Bokor Mountain on a scooter was a lot more fun than if I had went with a tour in a minivan, playing volleyball with the locals on some remote pepper farm I came by while just riding around on my scooter was fun, walking a bit through small back alleys to get to your destination instead of taking a moto taxi etc.
Try to talk to the people, most Cambodians love to chat with you and putting in a little effort you will really be able to say you have learned something about a different culture afterwards. After a little chat you will be invited to the most random events that are going on in people's lives. I walked by a wedding and got invited for drinks, my friend spent a day in a school for deaf and mutilated kids, just making merry with them and the list goes on. That is a hundred times more rewarding than taking a boat cruise and getting drunk with other tourists.
And no matter how many times you got asked if you needed a tuktuk or sunglasses today, always be polite and act as if people were offering you help instead of thinking "oh here's another one who wants my money" You will be a lot less stressed out by everything if you manage to get in the right mindset.

Vietnam:

My experience in Vietnam wasn't a 100% nice, a lot of grumpy people and they tend to be all about the money, but maybe I just ran into the wrong people. I'll give it another chance next time.
When in Saigon, go to Ben Tranh market in District 1, and bargain all day for souvenirs and for fun. Rent a scooter and zip, crawl and stand in the most impressive traffic I have seen in my life. Even more insane than Bangkok.

Don't go to Phu Quoc Island, it's just expensive with nothing to do because only old people with more money than you go there. Has some pretty beaches but the ones on the west side all have water lice and swimming gets annoying after 10 minutes of getting bitten. East coast is just 2 tourist beaches in the south and not much else.

The Vietnamese are really good at giving you wrong directions and information because apparently it's impolite to just say "I can't help you" I ended up walking so far and finding out I was told bullshit so many times.

I don't know, I only spent 10 days in Vietnam and didn't have that great a time, maybe someone else can give you better pointers on it. Didn't see anything of the north, maybe it's nicer there.

Frost fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Mar 2, 2010

illionaire
Apr 18, 2005

It's all about the
Yenjamins,
baby
Where did you stay in Siem Reap? I'm debating either Green Garden or Chen La guest houses, but those are both straight out of a Japanese tour book from eight years ago. Any recommendations? Make that a question for Phnom Penh as well, since I'll be going there too.

Frost
Dec 6, 2003
Don't let the Frost bite you

illionaire posted:

Where did you stay in Siem Reap? I'm debating either Green Garden or Chen La guest houses, but those are both straight out of a Japanese tour book from eight years ago. Any recommendations? Make that a question for Phnom Penh as well, since I'll be going there too.

I was in the Tropical Breeze Guesthouse in Siem Reap, I shared a room with a friend for 8$ (wifi and pool table) very nice, clean and quiet plus the owners are nice people. They also have a dorm for 2 or 3 bucks. It's on the east side of the river, across from the old market and down the road 3 minutes walk.

But the Garden Village is as cheap as you can get if you don't mind hordes of backpackers. Outdoor dorm for 1$ if you want and the Sunset Bar on the roof is nice. But as I said, it's THE place for backpackers. Personally I get tired of being around too many of them after a bit. (Yes, I know I am a backpacker too)

In Phnom Penh just go to the Guesthouse district next to the Olympic stadium and south of the O Russei market and start the room asking dance. Plenty of cheap and ok places.

This is the only useful application for the Lonely Planet btw. Use it to find a starting point for guesthouse search, use the maps to get around. Everything else in there is bullshit. Especially the "warnings". Before I left I was making GBS threads bricks at the prospect of going to these wild and foreign countries and now I can only laugh about myself because everything turned out to be just easy if you use your brain a bit.

Frost fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Mar 3, 2010

pblol
Jun 27, 2008
My girlfriend and I are planning a three week trip in SE Asia. We do not know when/if we will be back so we are trying to see as much as possible in the shortest amount of time. Our plan is to fly in and out of Singapore and back to Singapore after making making our way to Ho Chi Minh. This is also the cheapest based on our current location as Tiger Airlines does cheap Singapore flights.

Looking at the wikitravels for the 2 legs of the trip it should be very possible time wise. Singapore to Bangkok Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh

It should take a little over 24 hours travel for Singapore to Bangkok and then 30 hours for Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh. Is it a reasonable assumption that we would have enough time to stop a few places for a few days along the way and not be overwhelmed with the amount of time spent in transit? Also if we can only spend one or two days in the area what are some of the things we should definitely do? We're in India right now so we have a pretty good idea of temples and all that jazz.

pblol fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Mar 4, 2010

raton
Jul 28, 2003

by FactsAreUseless

pblol posted:

Also if we can only spend one or two days in the area what are some of the things we should definitely do?

What do you mean by "the area?" And is this a two day trip or a three week trip? I don't understand what you're asking for.

Top three overall things to do in the region IMO are a hilltribe trek (multiple day out of Mae Hong Son is the best option), Angkor Wat, and spend some time on a Thai island. I've also got a huge hardon for Bangkok but it's not for everyone.

pblol
Jun 27, 2008
What I meant to say was we will probably only be able to stop in a 6 or so places that we could possibly spend more than a day or so in. So we will probably stop in major cities. Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh etc. But I'm doing a lot of research into stuff along the way. Just trying to make sure 3 weeks won't be too rushed.

The hilltribe thing looks really cool.

Fox1
Apr 30, 2004
Meh......

Pompous Rhombus posted:

May be too late on this but you should try getting it fixed in Vietnam first! I'm not saying it will be impossible to fix, but I've never seen a Minsk in Cambodia. Worst case scenario, there will probably be someone who's "got a guy" in Vietnam that they'll call and will put the parts on a bus headed to PP for you.

As far as shops, ask a moto-taxi driver if you find one who speaks English. Expats might know, or inadvertently steer you towards a more expensive one.


I got it fixed temporarily, but I'm in Phnom Penh now and it's just died again and I'm getting tired of dealing with it. A mechanic here has offered me a part exchange on a nice dirt bike that I'm considering, but I have some worries.. Any idea on the papers/documents I need to take it in to Laos and then eventually Thailand? As I think he may only write me up a bill of sale, he mentioned he had no papers for it but that it was no problem because it has Cambodian plates, although I doubt that's the case. I've also read that if you do get it into Thailand you have to leave with it also or face a massive fine, I want to sell it on in Thailand though.

PS the Vietnam > Cambodia border at Ha Tien was a joke, when I asked about the bike I got more shrugs than anything else "did you ask that guy?" when I say he didn't care they just say go ahead. Crazy.

Frost
Dec 6, 2003
Don't let the Frost bite you
Man, I love those Minsks. In Battambang I met someone who had ridden from Laos through Vietnam and till BB on one, and the design is so close to the east German MZ I have here, the mechanics and all, next time I will try to ride on my own wheels as well.
He also didn't have any license plates or papers for it and managed to not get in trouble so far, but I think he said something about needing plates for Thailand. I have nothing else to help you.

Pompous Rhombus
Mar 11, 2007

Fox1 posted:

I got it fixed temporarily, but I'm in Phnom Penh now and it's just died again and I'm getting tired of dealing with it. A mechanic here has offered me a part exchange on a nice dirt bike that I'm considering, but I have some worries.. Any idea on the papers/documents I need to take it in to Laos and then eventually Thailand? As I think he may only write me up a bill of sale, he mentioned he had no papers for it but that it was no problem because it has Cambodian plates, although I doubt that's the case. I've also read that if you do get it into Thailand you have to leave with it also or face a massive fine, I want to sell it on in Thailand though.

PS the Vietnam > Cambodia border at Ha Tien was a joke, when I asked about the bike I got more shrugs than anything else "did you ask that guy?" when I say he didn't care they just say go ahead. Crazy.

For Laos all I had was a little laminated card with a bunch of poo poo written in Vietnamese, I'm not sure how essential it was. As far as cops hassling me while there I had no problems, even riding around with half of a Vietnamese license plate for more than a month.

Because you're a tourist you might be able to get by without papers but I'd be wary of buying that bike. For all you know, it was stolen in Thailand and smuggled across the border, and it gets impounded as soon as you cross (I kinda doubt they've got a computer system for that sorta thing but you never know).

I wouldn't count on selling it in Thailand, as it is whoever buys it is going to have to factor in import duties on the bike into what they're going to give you, unless they know someone in Customs or something. According to their website, total taxes and duties for permanent import of a motorbike would be 77% of assessed value. Perhaps Malaysia would be easier, I dunno.

I would either sell the Minsk and get a bike with legit papers, or get that yours looked over and put in tip-top shape by a good mechanic.

My next plan for a trip is to buy a Minsk in Vietnam and just ride it as far as possible until it totally shits the bed and dies or I'm out of time/money. I'd just give it away, get a certificate of destruction, or leave it in a theft-friendly environment and file a police report if necessary at the end. Obviously not the best idea if you're riding a bike that's actually worth something though.

Uncle Ivan
Aug 31, 2001
How did you guys go about getting Vietnamese visas? I called the NY embassy and they say the price is $80. Online I see a bunch of shady websites that seem cheaper. Considering that I'm only going to be in Vietnam for 4 days, I'd like to save some money on the visa if possible. Can anyone recommend a visa service that they used?

Pompous Rhombus
Mar 11, 2007

Uncle Ivan posted:

How did you guys go about getting Vietnamese visas? I called the NY embassy and they say the price is $80. Online I see a bunch of shady websites that seem cheaper. Considering that I'm only going to be in Vietnam for 4 days, I'd like to save some money on the visa if possible. Can anyone recommend a visa service that they used?

They're legit, I went with one that was advertising through Google. Just find a company, google their name and see if other people have used them, and if it looks good, go for it. They basically take your paperwork and apply for the visa for you in Vietnam, you can pick it up at the airport when you arrive. No good if you're arriving from a land border though.

I don't think I even paid $80 for my 3 month multi-entry "business" visa.

Frost
Dec 6, 2003
Don't let the Frost bite you
I used http://www.vietnam-visa.com/ to get mine, (1 month, single entry) it cost 20 bucks, maybe you can find a cheaper website to do it.

On top of that you will have to pay a 25$ fee to immigration upon entering, there's no way around that.

epix
Aug 7, 2004

Frost posted:

I used http://www.vietnam-visa.com/ to get mine, (1 month, single entry) it cost 20 bucks, maybe you can find a cheaper website to do it.

On top of that you will have to pay a 25$ fee to immigration upon entering, there's no way around that.

I used them also, took like 2 days for them to email me the papers, very fast service.

I have a layover in Seoul for 18 hoursish, anyone recommend a decent hotel that's not too expensive (less than $US100).. nothing fancy just a place to stay for the night.

Ribsauce
Jul 29, 2006

Blacks in the back.
What are the current costs for each country in SE Asia? Just basic (private) room, street food, and a couple of beers at night?

I think I might quit my job in a few months and I want to go back to SE Asia before I start working again. I'm probably near my last chance to do this.

If I buy a Minsk in Vietnam what countries can I plan on seeing exclusively on it? Lets say time isn't an issue, only money. From the guide it looks like maybe just Laos and Vietnam but someone mentioned having a Minsk in Cambodia. What should a time and budget requirement look like for doing as much as I can on the Minsk.

I'm in no rush. If I do this the plan is to touchdown I guess in Saigon with at least 6 grand, buy a minsk, and travel until I'm broke (full plan is to sell everything I own..literally everything, put 8k in my start up when I return fund, and spend every other dollar traveling). I'm not even sure what city I will move back to in America. One I don't have to own a car is all I care about. Anyways, I want to do all I can on the motorcycle then sell it and travel regular style like I did last time.

ReindeerF posted:

If anyone wants to choose the "emigrate and/or work in Thailand as something other than a teacher" option I can give advice on that. .
I messaged you a few months ago about jobs. I am the auditor at the regional CPA firm. I will be a CPA as soon as my application gets approved. We talked about trying to lock up a job before I got there and how hard it would be. What about if I am already there? It doesn't have to be auditing or accounting, just anything interesting that isn't teaching English or whatever. A business degree, 18 months in public accouting, and a CPA, will that get me anything? I can't speak or read Thai either but I might try that Rosetta Stone thing or something before I come if it would really help to even have basic skills.

Ringo R
Dec 25, 2005

ช่วยแม่เฮ็ดนาแหน่เดัอ

Ribsauce posted:

What are the current costs for each country in SE Asia? Just basic (private) room, street food, and a couple of beers at night?

Check the second post. And yes, definitely sell all your stuff before going. That way you don't need to rely on a lazy friend to do it and it never gets done.

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Ribsauce
Jul 29, 2006

Blacks in the back.
drat I am a massive dumbass. I read most of this a long time ago, so I reread the first post then skipped down to the motorcycle one before hitting reply.

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