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Speaking of India, my wife just applied for a visa in DC and only got a 1-year multiple entry. I got a 10-year back in 2013 and thought it was the standard like China. Not sure if they changed their standards, or we did something to piss off the Indian consulate.
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Apr 13, 2019 03:52
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 10:51 |
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Question on Vietnamese visas. We are planning about a month in SE Asia for a 3-month "around the world" trip we are doing. We intend to be in Vietnam for a couple weeks and would prefer to get a Visa in DC (we live close) rather than deal with it in India or Bangkok, etc. They apparently have eVisa, but it requires you enter and leave from the same place. We don't want to do that. The problem is we don't know when we will be entering/leaving Vietnam. From their website you can enter on or after the initial day of your visa up until the expiration date. There is also a choice for a 3-month visa or 1-month visa. Anyone have any issues with getting a 3-month if you ask for it?
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Apr 22, 2019 16:58
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Quick question for all of you who Americans who have done longer term travel in the past. How do you handle health insurance abroad? I am going back and forth between COBRA and a travel insurance plan. In the past I have used World Nomads, but I was also a lot younger and stupider with this stuff back then. Below is what they offer for their coverages. Not looking for a primary care doctor here, but more something to cover us should we get into trouble:
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Apr 26, 2019 18:07
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 I now have an IRCTC account and can book these loving trains online Don't get me started on how aggravating this was.
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May 14, 2019 22:18
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Currently planning out the India portion of my trip. My current plan is to do Kathmandu->Varanasi->Agra->Jaipur->Amritsar->Delhi. I can do this all via train travel, but I would have a very long day (10h on train + 4 hour layover in Delhi) between Jaipur and Amritsar. Doubly so since I would have to change train stations in Delhi with our bags. I could also just take a 90 min direct flight for $42 on a SpiceJet puddle jumper. All logical reasoning would be to take the flight, but I have this romantic initiative in my head to go overland from Beijing to Delhi, of which I am accomplishing up to this point. Flying breaks the chain, but it would just make so much more sense. Tell me I am being completely ridiculous with this.
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May 15, 2019 03:54
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webmeister posted:Any particular reason you're doing Amritsar between Jaipur and Delhi? Seems like Jaipur -> Delhi -> Amritsar would make more sense. We are still going to be on a train from Gorakhpur-> Varanasi -> Agra -> Jaipur and then from Amritsar -> Delhi. I am not worried about missing scenery. We are likely flying out to Bangkok from Delhi, which is a nice cheap, 4h flight. If we fly out of Amritsar with a connection in Delhi it becomes an 8-10 hour flight with a large layover. I've already been to Delhi, so trying to limit our time there. To be honest, we are probably going to be trained out by the time we get to Jaipur. We have two overnight trains in AC1 and AC2 respectively. Then CC from Agra to Jaipur. This is on top of the 40h trip from Beijing to Lhasa a few weeks before. Ultimately this is all tentative too. We may decide to arrive in India sooner, or limit our time there. I just want to book something as a fallback given how hard train reservations can be. Also, might avoid Jaipur altogether. Thoughts on that city? Cheesemaster200 fucked around with this message at 19:45 on May 15, 2019 |
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May 15, 2019 15:51
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So our plans have changed again. Proposing to do Varanasi->Delhi (nicer, quicker train), then do a day trip to Agra using the fast trains. I have already been there, so it is mostly for my wife who wants to see the Taj Mahal and would otherwise prefer to skip India. This also makes hotel logistics a lot easier. From there we can do a back and forth to Amritsar (again using the fast trains), and maybe another trip to either Shimla or Jaipur. We might even decide to go Delhi->Mumbai over a number of days with stops in Jaipur, Udaipur and/or Jodhpur before flying out.
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May 16, 2019 03:13
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Hong Kong and Singapore are best in my opinion. Easy metro links to the center city, and there is a lot to do/eat.
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May 20, 2019 16:07
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Does anyone have any experience taking the slow boat from Chiang Mai -> Huay Xia -> Luang Prabang? The only thing I can find on it online are obnoxious travel blogs from insufferable people who can't stop lamenting on how travel woke they are.
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May 21, 2019 22:08
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ReindeerF posted:Don't forget rollie bag, selfie stick, straw hat, elephant pants, murse, 14 friends and vape pen. Don't forget a bright hot pink tank top with a Chang logo on it.
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Jun 18, 2019 14:54
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e: wrong thread.
Cheesemaster200 fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Aug 18, 2019 |
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Aug 18, 2019 14:58
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Anyone know if there is still a ferry from Rai Leh west to Phi Phi Don? Does it run regularly? Additionally, what is a good place to stay there? I have a budget of $100-200 in the off season (mid-october). While this probably won't jive with the internet "i'm a traveler, not a tourist" crowd, I am looking for someplace I can walk to the main strip of bars and restaurants. I don't want to have to take a longtail to get to/from the resort or hotel.
Cheesemaster200 fucked around with this message at 11:16 on Sep 3, 2019 |
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Sep 3, 2019 09:04
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Back in Bangkok for a couple of days. This city is getting increasingly fancier every time I come back here. They are streamlining taxis at the airport and have these new machines that direct you. I took a 90-minute traffic choked taxi ride for a mere 400 baht on the meter without a peep from the driver to rip me off. I felt bad for the guy so gave him extra. Also went to the new Siam Icon since it is next to my hotel. The place is pretty nuts, even by Thai/Asia megamall standards. This may also be an illusion as I have progressively upgraded my accommodating every time I visit here. Ten years ago it was a dump at Khao San; now I am at a riverfront Hilton. The ironic thing is that so many places near Khao San have gotten expensive that the price difference isn't that much.
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Oct 5, 2019 08:04
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kru posted:Is that the place with the wee boat you can take to the MRT? Yeah, it's actually quite a nice location that is in striking distance to most of the city, including rattanakosin with the express boat. On another note, I don't know why anyone travels in the peak season in Thailand. We just stayed at a resort on Koh Lanta for 1/5 of the price offered in the high season, there was nobody on the beach and it rained for a maximum of an hour each afternoon. Also impressed on how much cleaner Thailand is as a whole. Compared to Bali where the beaches become trash heaps in the rainy season (and likely the non-rainy season), everything was immaculate even after the rainstorms. Bangkok was even devoid of trash compared to what it used to be.
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Oct 12, 2019 04:12
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ReindeerF posted:This is Thailand 0.4. We were also in Railay for 3 days before Koh Lanta and all the bar owners said they just opened last week, so I could see that being a bit of a downer; especially since that was a primary draw of going there for us. I think we really timed that perfectly. A lot of the beach bars on lanta also closed early (e.g. 9-10PM) due to lack of customers. On another note, I had this woman from the Thailand tourism authority (or whatever) doing a survey about my trip in the Krabi airport. They asked why I came here, what draws me to Thailand, etc. I kind of wanted to create a whole sexpat story to make the interview really awkward. Talk about how I get a new missus every time I come to Thailand and put "women" as the primary reason for traveling.
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Oct 12, 2019 04:50
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Why does every cafe and bar only play crappy indie cover versions of western pop songs (with a focus on Ed Sheeran) in SE Asia. I was at a coffee shop yesterday that had an hippie acoustic version of "Hey Ya!" by Outkast and I literally had to leave when they got to the "shake it like a polaroid picture" part of the song. Vietnam pirates just about everything else imaginable, I would think they could get a bootleg copy of the actual goddamn song.
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Oct 17, 2019 07:34
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If you have time, I definitely recommend doing a temple farther afield. Beng Mealea was my favorite; much less crowds and it has a more of "wild" feel to it compared to the controlled visit you will get in Angkor proper.
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Nov 4, 2019 01:52
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There are a bunch of high-end hotels up by the river and that long promenade adjacent to the financial district. Less traffic, but also a bit sterilized (for vietnam at least).
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Nov 5, 2019 01:27
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webmeister posted:100% this, though it’s a worldwide thing. Anywhere that offers you home currency payment instead of local currency, the rate will be an absolute ripoff. It’ll even give you a scummy scary-sounding warning about the exchange rate, but it’s a lovely scare tactic. We recently had an experience in Beijing where our hotel automatically charged us in AUD instead of RMB, and the rate was literally 25% different. On a five night hotel stay the difference was a few hundred dollars, enough that we actually complained to the bank and got it refunded. I saw a few ATMs in Europe somewhere that would have multiple prompts trying to get you to take out money is USD rather than the local currency. Each prompt would be like "Do you trust your bank to exchange TURKISH LIRA???", "Are you SURE you want to do that"?
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Nov 13, 2019 16:56
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Tab8715 posted:I’m landing in Bangkok at 10AM next Tuesday and leaving the following Sunday at 1PM. Is it reasonable to stay in the city and goto Pattaya? It’s freezing -10f and the beach sounds great. From BKK, the flight to Krabi is roughly the same amount of travel time as a drive to Pattaya. If you want a beach, fly into Krabi on a 12PM flight, go to Ao Nang for Tuesday and Wednesday nights and then fly back Thursday afternoon to Bangkok. Spend Friday going to the Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun. Enjoy the nightlife on Thursday and Friday nights. Its a rushed itinerary, but doable.
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Dec 24, 2019 16:05
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 10:51 |
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cyka blyat posted:These are top tier suggestions. Gonna check out that gibbon stuff. I still say Mexican food is one of the things that Asia just can't figure out. I think its because of the reliance on Cheese, which is horrible across the board over there.
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Jan 18, 2020 04:45
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