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I've only come across UK outlets in Singapore...
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Jul 16, 2010 07:22
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I've got most of my diving trip sorted out, but I'm looking for some advice. We're planning to spend a week diving on Koh Phi Phi or Khao Lak in December. Keeping in mind that we're then planning to spend one month on Koh Tao, does anybody who has been to either or both other locations have any insight? Dive quality/ease of getting around/night life/where to stay/other stuff to do/how relaxed or not each place is? I'm under the impression that Koh Phi Phi will be more of a party scene (which I'm not sure we'll want one our way to one month of diving/party) but Khao Lak will offer better diving and some seriously cool national parks etc.
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Aug 24, 2010 00:19
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And another question! What is driving like in Thailand outside cities? I'll have roughly twelve days to get from Chiang Mai to Surat Thani, and I'm thinking the following could be an interesting option... Chiang Mai -> Pai -> Mae Hong Son -> Khao Lak -> Surat Thani. Is this a crazy idea? Budget Rent-a-Car claim that twelve days hire of a 1.8 litre Civic will be around 24000 baht, including tax and fees and so on. There will be two of us, possibly three - are we better off flying or is driving going to be a cool experience? Google Maps has given us the following: http://tinyurl.com/24by2uk Finch! fucked around with this message at 08:29 on Aug 26, 2010 |
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Aug 26, 2010 08:23
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Thanks, Pompous Rhombus and Sheep-Goats. Much appreciated. I've been to Mae Hong Son once before, and arrived by river from Pai and left by plane for Chiang Mai. Unfortunately the river won't be any good for rafting when I'll next be there, and I'm going with some friends who haven't been to the north before, and I figured driving would give us a lot more flexibility and it doesn't appear to be much more expensive than flying. I hate bus travel. I want to stop every few kilometres to check something out, and flying past loads of food places just pisses me off. Perhaps the idea isn't as silly as I thought. Definitely worth considering further. Pompous Rhombus, you're right - USD4 per gallon is something like AUD1.18 per litre, which isn't bad at all. My car eats litre upon litre of 98 octane at AUD1.65 per litre! Thanks for the tips, guys. It sounds as though being careful and respecting the conditions will go a long way towards keeping us safe - much the same as we do here, anyway. Shouldn't be too scary then... Sheep-Goats, thanks for the info regarding Phi Phi and Khao Lak. We're still undecided, but if we rent a car then Khao Lak will be the easier option. Night life can wait for Koh Tao... my luxurious 18000 baht per month apartment is five minutes from Lotus...! Finch! fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Aug 27, 2010 |
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Aug 27, 2010 01:22
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Slow Graffiti posted:Try to do a day trip to Macau - or spend a few nights there. If one ignores the casinos (which is difficult, they're everywhere) or at least ignores the gambling, it's a very interesting place that's so different to Hong Kong. Well worth checking out.
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Sep 5, 2010 03:12
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Mongolian Squid posted:What are the cheapest options for getting to Indonesia (Jakarta) during the later December timeframe? To Jakarta from where?
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Sep 8, 2010 02:49
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Late December is pricey! The best I've found is AUD 1547 Baltimore/Jakarta return with Korean Air (two long layovers, though) departing Baltimore on December 4 and returning January 26. Leaving Baltimore later in the month means an extra AUD 800, at least.
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Sep 8, 2010 05:29
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Bali is beautiful, but Kuta is just a shithole. Avoid. If you can, try to wrangle a visit to East Timor. That country needs all the tourists it can get!
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Sep 12, 2010 02:44
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What are the must see sights of southern Thailand? I'll have ten days between Khao Lak and Koh Tao, and want to see something cool. I'm interested in food, scenery, and something a little off the main tourist radar... Beach/island resorts aren't a priority but I'd happily visit somewhere like Khao Sok National Park, Songkhla, Nakhon Si Thammarat, and so on if there's any compelling reason to do so.
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Sep 20, 2010 09:43
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DreadLlama posted:TL;DR: I am bad at travel planning. Someone who is more competent than me please tell me how to get across Southeast Asia. Sounds like a challenge! AirAsiaX will take you from Chengdu to Kuala Lumpur and return for around 2500 RMB. From there, take a train north to Chumpon on Thailand and then a ferry to Koh Tao. Reverse to go home. The train to Hanoi from Beijing is around the same price, then you gotta get from Hanoi to Koh Tao, too. WikiTravel has this about bus travel from Kunming: quote:There are international departures to Laos and Vietnam, though these services are not always running. The bus to Laos goes all the way from Kunming to Vientaine, and cost approximately US$50 and last 40 hours if you go all the way(this is not confirmed, but there have been some reports that, due to better roads built in the last few years, the whole journey now only takes 28 hours). You can get off at stops in between like Luang Prabang, and the cost of the ticket is cheaper. Either way, its a long ride and a little expensive, although not more than one would expect. The buses are clean but make stops in unexplained places for short periods. As for necessities, the bus stops along the way at dingy restaurants and even nastier restrooms at gas stations. Still, its a manageable journey if you need to go from Laos to Kunming or visa versa. Skip Chiang Mai and get the train from Vientiane to Bangkok... you'll almost certainly need a Laos visa in advance, though.
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Sep 27, 2010 02:09
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Jakarta is just a big, dirty, smelly, boring city. Jogja is similar but far less boring. Try something different and visit Sulawesi or Sumatra. Krakatoa and Lake Toba could be interesting.
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Sep 29, 2010 10:01
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Travel insurance is essential. http://www.worldnomads.com offer fairly comprehensive travel insurance for people regardless of where they're from. If you're Australian, I like http://www.covermore.com.au
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Sep 30, 2010 01:08
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Steve. posted:What are the must see sights of southern Thailand? I'll have ten days between Khao Lak and Koh Tao, and want to see something cool. I'm interested in food, scenery, and something a little off the main tourist radar... Anyone? I've added Surin Islands to the list, but I still need some assistance...!
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Oct 5, 2010 01:01
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brendanwor posted:Khao Sok National Park is really beautiful. loving awesome to go for a 4km or so walk through pristine national park and then top it off with a swim in a lagoon, like I did last year, and it's also really accessible what with only being a couple of hours drive from the coast - you can leave in the morning and be on Koh Tao by lunch. Recommended. Awesome, thanks. That's just the sort of thing I'm after. Any tips re: the connection from Khao Sok to Koh Tao? Google hasn't yielded much, I'm guessing there's a morning bus to Surat Thani or Chumpon or something... Shampy posted:Well, my buddy and I booked our tickets. Your post came unfortunately a tad late so we went ahead and also booked a cheap flight through airasia to Vietnam 3 weeks into our trip. We wanted to go to Vietnam regardless so we'll probably take advantage of the ticket too. Thanks though, I appreciate your help man! Make sure you get a visa in advance for Vietnam... ... or just go to KL instead 
Finch! fucked around with this message at 08:20 on Oct 6, 2010 |
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Oct 6, 2010 08:14
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phenx posted:Guess my question is how bad is October in south thailand we'll I be stuck inside for most of the time, or will i just have to time my going outside to avoid massive downpours? The few hours of monsoon are kind of fun, to be honest. There's nothing like getting stuck under an umbrella drinking cheap beer and eating loads of roti whilst the street floods to reinforce that you're not at home... Shampy posted:We're planning on taking care of that when we land in Bangkok. No issues there, right? That's easy to arrange, provided you can hang around for a few days as the visa application is being processed. Have fun!
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Oct 6, 2010 11:56
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brendanwor posted:Yeah, to Surat Thani is the way to go. There are indeed buses you can get from outside the main gate into the park (which is close to the main road between Phuket and Surat Thani). Alternatively you can probably get your guesthouse to organise a taxi or a songthaew for you, like me and my friends did. Takes about 3 hours or so to get to Surat Thani and then another 3 hours or so to Koh Tao. Just make sure you leave Khao Sok early enough to make the morning ferry; we left at about 5.30am, pretty sweet drive through fog etc on the way though. Sweet. Thank you very much. There will probably only be two of us so we'll figure out the best time/cost ratio when we're there. Do you recall which ferry company you took? I know Seatran used to go to Surat Thani (or Don Sak, I forget) but there's no longer any mention on their website, same for Songserm (I know they used to do Surat Thani to Koh Tao) and Lomprayah. Raja Ferry don't visit Koh Tao, so whatever we do it looks like there will be a connection between ferry companies in there somewhere.
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Oct 6, 2010 23:57
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brendanwor posted:Man, you're absolutely right. I'm pretty certain we went with Lomprayah, but this was almost two years ago now, and none of the major operators (like you said) seem to offer direct connections to Koh Tao anymore. Not too big a deal though, I guess you can just get Raja to Samui then switch to Lomprayah to Koh Tao? Yeah, it shouldn't be hard at all. I was just wondering if there was something that I'd missed If all else fails it turns out that the dive shop I'll be diving with on Koh Tao have a smaller operation at Khao Lak, so I'll ask them how they get people back and forth.
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Oct 8, 2010 00:27
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fritz posted:Does anybody have any strong opinions on the concept of taking a bus from Kuala Lumpur to Malacca, spending a few hours there, and then taking a bus to Singapore? The strongest I feel about that is that you should spend more time at Malacca - it's a fascinating little city. Delicious, too. I could spend a week or more there just eating before I even start to see the sights! Finch! fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Oct 8, 2010 |
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Oct 8, 2010 03:11
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Ah, drat. I did Malacca quickly too, and I've regretted it ever since. Next time!
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Oct 8, 2010 03:44
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Learn to dive there!
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Oct 17, 2010 10:44
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I think I may have asked this earlier in the thread but I can't find it now...  I've decided to visit the Surin Islands national park. I'm thinking two nights should do it justice - any advice?
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Oct 20, 2010 08:40
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Klogdor posted:yay, taking the lomprayah bus at 9 tonight, going to be in koh phangan tomorrow morning I did the 6am bus last year, to Koh Tao. It wasn't bad... except the airconditioner on our bus broke, so it really really really sucked. If the journey had gone on for much longer I seriously think people would have come close to dying. I tried not to fall asleep, because I wasn't sure if I'd wake up. The bus was 50/50 Thai/whitey and we were all struggling. Lots of people fainted and there was nearly a mutiny... I think I downed 6x Gatorade, 6x water, and 6x beer between arriving at Chumpon and arriving on Koh Tao. I was still pissing yellow.
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Oct 20, 2010 13:52
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Klogdor posted:Wow, that seems pretty bad, our bus was really cold, but the only big annoyance were two finnish guys that were high on.. something and playing lout music all night. Looks awesome. I'm booking my Phangan adventure in the next few days - probably Haad Yao, but we'll see. Part of our group got on the same bus/ferry combination to Koh Tao the day before us and told us that the bus was absolutely freezing cold, so the five of us went out and bought light weight jackets to take with us... haha.
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Oct 22, 2010 04:44
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Pompous Rhombus posted:VIP buses are pretty much all ice-cold in Thailand; despite how counter-intuitive it sounds a light jacket is actually something I recommend buying when you get there. If you're going to be in the mountains, particularly during the winter months, it actually can get pretty cold outside as well; it was dropping into like high-50's/low-60's in northern Cambodia at night in January when I was there, and the mountains in Thailand and Vietnam can get even colder, I think. Oh yeah, I definitely know about the ferocity of the aircon in the buses. I always take a light polarfleece in a vacuum/compression bag. Unfortunately my friends thought Asia = hot (and to be fair we were there in September so it was quite hot!) so they were woefully unprepared. In the end, we needed ice jackets rather than warm jackets. Also, seconding Borneo. It is awesome. Kuching is one of my favourite cities in Malaysia, and I will go back at some point. I spent two weeks in both Sabah and Sarawak and was so sick with a head cold that I didn't do anything more than climb Mt. Kinabalu but I was so sick the guide wouldn't let me attempt the summit 
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Oct 22, 2010 06:11
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So I've put the finishing touches on my upcoming Thailand underwater adventure... Bangkok, Khao Lak, Surin Islands National Park, Khao Sok National Park, Sukhothai, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, 1 night in Kuala Lumpur and 12 hours in Singapore and then home. Can't wait! Edit: I went to the Honorary Thai Consulate here in Adelaide yesterday to apply for a 60 day tourist visa. Both single and multiple entry visas are free until March - jackpot. Turn around time is only a few days. Finch! fucked around with this message at 03:22 on Nov 6, 2010 |
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Nov 6, 2010 03:19
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Spiderling posted:Can anyone recommend a good budget guest house or similar in Bangkok close to the train station? I believe the earlier train leaves just before 6am to Aranyaprathet, so I don't want to be fluffing around trying to navigate across a city I'm unfamiliar with. I like this place in Bangkok: http://www.nirasbankoc.com/ The guys there will get a taxi easily enough - they got one for me at 4:30am last year! It's not far from the train station, but it's too far to walk comfortably. Have a look at Nok Air for flights: http://www.nokair.com. They fly from a more central airprot (Don Mueang) and have some pretty cheap flights. I'm seeing 3900-ish return.
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Nov 7, 2010 10:01
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Ringo R posted:Steve., I don't know when you're leaving or how long you're going to stay but just remember that the tourist visa "starts" once it's issued (at least the ones I've had). There'll be a date on it that says "Enter before (date)". Just thought I'd let you know so you don't get a tourist visa months in advance which will be expired once you arrive Thanks for the heads up. I leave in less than a month, and I'm due to pick the visa up in a couple of days. If it's not kosher I'll get another visa issued - although the woman who was handling my application seemed to think I had the timing right. My understanding (admittedly just from reading various Thai embassy websites) was that the visa had to be used within x number of days from the date of issue, but if the bearer entered Thailand during that period then the 2 month visa period or whatever started from the entry date. We'll see - getting there on an expired visa would suck brendanwor posted:I can also back up that Nok Air is absolutely fine to fly with, having flown the BKK-HKT route with them. They're owned by Thai Airways. Sweet. I'm doing Nok Air BKK/HKT in mid December, too. Anything is better than 1-2-Go was, right?  Now, if only I could find a working email address for Bangkok Airways. Both their mail servers are busted, and I need to change a reservation...
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Nov 8, 2010 01:06
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Ringo R posted:Yes, you are correct. Sorry I wasn't clear. What I meant was that if you want to re-enter the country and get an additional 60 days, you must do that before the "Enter before X" date Ah! I see what you mean now...! Unfortunately I don't think I'll be taking advantage of the multiple entry visa - "real life" back here starts again in early February, and as much as I'd love to spend 120 days in Thailand and even longer in nearby countries it's not really feasible... yet I think the woman who was doing the paperwork just wanted to give me a multiple entry visa because it was free and didn't require any more effort than ticking one box rather than the other. No additional travel documentation, nothing. I guess it might be useful if I get bored on Koh Tao and want to go to Penang for a few days or something, though. I miss Penang 
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Nov 8, 2010 07:23
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Klogdor posted:Soo, I'm currently in Bangkok, planning to meet some friends in Singapore next weekend, and for some reason I want to take the train to KL and then a train or bus to Singapore after a night there. will this be a painless experience ? I heard something about having to wait 8 hours in butterworth.. Have a look here: http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm#Singapore Check out the various railway websites linked to, as they'll have more up to date timetables. Essentially, yes, there is a long wait in Butterworth. However, if you haven't been to Penang then turn the stop over in to a few days. I lived in Georgetown for six months when I was sixteen and I haven't been back, despite many visits to Malaysia since. It's an awesome place, and I have some great memories... With regards to KL to Singapore, I'd get a train. I've taken a super luxurious awesome bus, and it still sucked. The train has to be better, if only because one can take a piss when necessary and can walk around... and the view out the windows of highways is very boring. Another option would be to skip another visit to KL and fly from Penang to Singapore for cheap. Edit: I've been reading your blog through Google Translate I'm heading to Big Blue in late December and I'll be there for one month. Ali, the pancake dude outside the 711, is awesome. You picked more or less the worst possible time to visit Koh Tao, but back in 2008 I did the same thing and had a great time - low visibility underwater, incredibly rough ocean, flooding on the land, and some amazing storms. You've some some sweet photos, too
Finch! fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Nov 11, 2010 |
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Nov 11, 2010 13:23
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The Wildcard posted:Anyone else going to be in the country around that time? I'll be in Thailand from December 5 until January 22. I'll be on Koh Tao from December 20 until January 18. You'll be there in peak tourist season, so finding a place that isn't overrun with tourists will be difficult. Some places (Phuket) are worse than others (Koh Tao), but there are some places that are completely untouched - but it sounds like you want something in the middle. I suggest Koh Tao: it's not off the grid, but it attracts a different kind of island goer than somewhere like Phuket or Koh Samui - younger, more relaxed, mostly there to dive, no sex tourists. There's one main beach area, and then half a dozen smaller, more isolated, less visited bays with little villages (some without a small village at all). It's easy to get to from Singapore, too: Train to Chumpon, ferry to Koh Tao. I wouldn't discount Malaysia, either. It's well worth visiting (you'll have to visit if you get the train anyway). http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm and http://www.seat61.com/Malaysia.htm should help with the train stuff, but don't rely upon the timetable posted there.
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Nov 22, 2010 00:38
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The Wildcard posted:I'm kicking around the idea of taking the train up through Malaysia, I imagine it would be possible to get off the train at some point, explore for a bit (a day or so, whatever) and then catch the next one the rest of the way, no? My concern is all the travel advisories I'm seeing for Southern Thailand/Malaysia, should I be concerned as someone traveling alone? Plus apparently they have curfews in Bangkok, but I'm not planning on spending a lot of time there anyway. Nobody else seems to be worried about this, so I'm guessing I'm over thinking it. Yeah, it's possible to do that - but you have to book each led separately. As far as I'm aware, there's no facility for stop overs. I'd probably break the journey up in Kuala Lumpur for a couple of days, and Georgetown (Penang) for a few more. You'll need to stop at Butterworth anyway, and that's mainland Penang. Travel advisories for Southern Thailand and Northern Malaysia are all fairly valid, although they're reasonably alarmist. There is bad stuff happening there on a regular basis, but train travel should be OK. The bad guys are very polite: they like to keep the violence amongst themselves, and the main train line is very much on the tourist trail. I don't know anything about curfews in Bangkok. I know there were months ago, but I thought they'd been lifted and only applied to certain areas, anyway. I'm guessing people more down with what's going on there could probably help out a bit more. Travelling solo will be fine - you should be as concerned (or not) as if you were travelling in a group. It's all very much on the well oiled tourist trail, so you won't be forging any new territory but you will find yourself being ushered from place to place so quickly you'll arrive wondering what the hell just happened. I find this is usually a good resource, and fairly up to date - much more so than government issued advisories, anyway: http://www.asigroup.com/HOTSPOTS.asp
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Nov 23, 2010 00:45
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brendanwor posted:Nope, no curfews in BKK unless you happen to be red shirted and with a large group of similarly dressed friends. Sweet. Hopefully there's no more drama - I'm counting down until I'm there (less than two weeks!).
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Nov 23, 2010 07:27
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DNova posted:Does anyone have recommendations for places to learn SCUBA diving from accredited schools? I have literally no experience and would consider getting the basic certifications if it was affordable enough. I have heard that East Timor is THE place for this. http://wikitravel.org/en/Koh_Tao Apparently diving in East Timor is pretty good, but the industry infrastructure isn't developed.
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Nov 28, 2010 12:15
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DNova posted:Thanks for the SCUBA recommendations. Looks like an open water certification should cost around $300-400 on Koh Tao, which seems pretty good. I'll probably just snorkel though. Snorkelling on Koh Tao is alright, but it's mostly a dive island - most of the really cool stuff to see is too deep for snorkellers. You could do a free diving course, though - that could be fun With regards to polo shirts, they're fine and are definitely a change from the standard "I WENT TUBING IN THE VANG VIENG" wife beaters beloved by some many... people. If you can find some that don't look too retarded and aren't too pricey, shirts like the Nike Dri-fit golf polo shirts are great - they're light weight and made of a moisture wicking, non-smelly, fast drying fabric that's perfect for travel in South East Asia. Nike and various other companies make them, and it's possible to find them in solid colours or patterned, without stupid logos. I'm taking 5 with me (but not red  ) to Thailand in a few days.Temples usually require elbows and knees to be covered - a polo with elbow length sleeves should be OK.
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Dec 1, 2010 07:15
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lightpole posted:As much as I loathe the heat and turn into a sweaty mess outside of 60F I keep ending up in Asia. You just described me... I hate heat, despise humidity, but can't stay away from Asia.
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Dec 1, 2010 11:27
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I can happily report that Bangkok in December is not as hot as Bangkok in September or October A while ago I booked a walking tour with a Thai dude, and we did it yesterday. It was excellent. Small groups (just the guide, my friend, and myself) and a lot of interesting sights. The guy's a machine - encyclopaedic knowledge. Even though we visited a few of the sights I'd seen before, like Wat Saket and Wat Pho and so on, being with someone who knew WTF was pretty cool. It wasn't cheap but I'd do it again tomorrow if I could. $150 for six hours, excellent English, small private groups only. The dude's name is Chawanwit Kupdhabhorn - call him Kay - and he's licensed. kgym_chawan @ hotmail.com. Very highly recommended. I made the mistake of hanging out with a bunch of Qantas guys last night. This unfortunately meant the misery that is Soi Cowboy. I can't really complain - I wasn't buying the beer - but that place sucks. Tomorrow: Don Mueang to Phuket, Phuket to Khao Lak. Time to get my underwater on!
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Dec 7, 2010 03:51
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GZA Genius posted:Hey so I will be in Koh Phangan during the Lunar party in January and I am trying to book a relatively cheap place on the island (around $20-$30/night) I dont want to be right on Haad Rin since I will be staying an extra 3 nights after the 19th and I want to be in a more remote section of the island. Does anyone have a good recommendation for a hotel? I'll be in Koh Phangan then, too. We're staying at a place named Thongtapan - It's on Thong Nai Pan Noi. It looks alright, but I can't remember pricing. It should be on their website. Accommodation on the whole island books fairly quickly for times around full moon parties, particularly for those (like the one in January) that are in peak season...!
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Dec 9, 2010 11:29
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I just got back from an aborted two night three day trip to Surin Islands National Park. I'm back in Khao Lak a day early because... it sucked: - All the coral is dead because the water temperature is too high. - The weather is seriously weird for this time of year and I gave up on the place after 24 hours of near constant heavy rain. - There was a big rear end thunderstorm on the first night with massive wind and torrential rain. - The tents provided don't handle more than a gentle breeze or light drizzle; they definitely don't handle the kind of storm mentioned above. - Snorkelling sucks after 3 days of scuba diving and snorkellers are weird. On the positive side I hung out with a really cool Thai family for a couple of days, and the food at the national park was actually pretty good. In essence: prepare to be constantly wet, cold, without any sleep, and not see poo poo underwater.
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Dec 13, 2010 05:05
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I'm at Sukhothai, until tomorrow night. It's an awesome place.    I have survived a caving trip at Khao Sok, and can happily report that Khao Sok is absolutely beautiful. I'll be on Koh Tao for a month from December 21st - will probably start dive master training but won't complete it this trip. If anybody's going to be about and wants to hang out for a beer or ten with a dumb Australian, get in touch.
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Dec 19, 2010 07:22
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Man... the last few days have been a bit crazy. At Sukhothai, we went to the bus station to get a bus to Phitsanulok so we could then get a train to Bangkok. We bought the bus ticket, put our poo poo on the bus, then were told to sit and wait - not in the bus - for a while. Then the bus drove away. Without us, but with our bags. We were eventually reunited in Phitsanulok, with much laughter at whitey. Phitsanulok was pretty lovely but we hung around at the train station for a while and drank beer with two Thai dudes who spoke no English, then they left and we hung around with a deaf Thai couple and communicated with lots of drawing. The dude was cool - they were going to Bangkok because his wife is pregnant or something. He also told us to be careful of bad dudes at the train station, but there were no bad dudes. Only cheap beer and good noodles. Midnight train, first class sleeper to Bangkok, taxi from the train station to the airport, and we were checked in to an earlier flight than I had booked and were escorted to the plane which was waiting for us. I guess it's no surprise that my bag didn't arrive on Koh Samui with me, but it is a surprise that my friend's bag did: we checked in together and our bags were in the same tub heading down the conveyor belt. Anyway, now I'm on Koh Tao and have the clothes I'm wearing and some jeans and a jacket - both of which are useless here. I caved yesterday and bought a new polo shirt, so now I just look like a hobo but don't smell like one. I've had a look at my travel insurance details and the claim process is a pain in the arse, but I guess I'll see what happens.
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Dec 23, 2010 07:45
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