da keebsta knicca posted:

If you are in Bangkok go clubbing in RCA it is better I think and you can hang out with the local young middle class. Also if you are in a group bottle service is actually a money saver...

Sheep-Goats posted:

RCA for those who don't know is short for Royal City Avenue and is a street with a lot of clubs on it. It used to be kind of a hellhole that was semi-notorious for having clubs full of thirteen year olds but they remodeled it a lot in like 2006 or something and now it's fairly nice. Best movie theater in Bangkok is also out there (because it shows a lot of weird little foreign movies and such and is also nice inside) and probably my favorite all you can eat barbecue place is nearby.

That being said there are tons and tons of great clubs in Bangkok and the best place to go changes from month to month.

Pompous Rhombus posted:

If you wind up there, get the Long Island Iced Tea, it's strong as hell. Spicy is a terrible club but it's pretty awesome for people watching for that same reason (a delightful intersection of clueless tourists and freelance hookers).

Gazebo on Sukumvit Soi 1 is/was one of the better after-hours places (I'm not sure what the rules are like now); very chill and not full of prostitutes. There's a big seating area and a separate room with a dance floor.

Sheep-Goats posted:

Lack of nightlife is a signature effect of a dive town. If you find a spot with nightlife that usually means the diving can't be all that great, and vice versa.

Steve. posted:

I didn't mind the night life... it's fairly simple. Beach, bar, music, beer, buckets, random fireworks, and so on. I didn't go anywhere particularly fancy... but the places I went to definitely didn't suck, either! What didn't you like about it? I'm not being critical, just curious.

Sheep-Goats posted:

Re: prices on Koh Tao, yeah, still stunningly cheap if you're coming from the west. I didn't like the nightlife on Tao just because it was so minimal and subdued -- maybe it's just the part of Tao I was on but people really seemed to be concentrating on diving.

Steve. posted:

Where on the island were you? Sairee can get crazy at night, particularly Lotus Bar. Ah, Lotus... good times.

da keebsta knicca posted:

Went to a party in Thonglor last night at a club called Demo. Night was called CMYK, pretty good electro night actually, with a lot of I guess would be pretty rich thais. 300Baht for a Long Island Ice tea but all you need is one to get flattened. But it is pretty hard to party with the locals unless you know a couple. Most actually have pretty english but they are all in their own groups like the same party would be like back home. However, I still think way better then partying on Koh San.

Pompous Rhombus posted:

I don't really know where to start with this.

Pompous Rhombus posted:

You don't see why someone would take using "Iisaan" as a pejorative to be offensively classist?

Lien posted:

okay, so I'm looking at going to Thailand with a friend in late April/early May. We want to do a padi open water diving course, but we're both studying in China right now, and are fairly strapped for cash. Anyone know of any good diving places that will be relatively cheap? All of the stuff I've found so far seems to run about 300CAD which is a bit much for my budget.

Ted Ed Fred posted:

Does anyone have any recommendations for hostels in or near to Khao San Road? It'll be my first time in Thailand so I don't mind spending a bit more than normal on the first few nights if it's a nicer place that I can get over my jet lag/culture shock in. One with a bar would be ideal as I'd like to meet some other travellers as I'm heading out on my own.

I fly out next Monday (April 5th) and arrive on the 6th. I'm nervous and excited in equal measures!

In most of the guest houses is it OK to drink/clean your teeth with the tap water, or should I always use bottled water?

Is anyone going to be around in Bangkok next week and want to meet up with a friendly mid 20s English guy?

Drudkh posted:

what should i budget for a 6 month SEA tour?

Broohaha posted:

I'm in between jobs right now so no health insurance... how dangerous for me to go to Thailand for a month without any vaccinations? For the record, when I enrolled in grad school I had to get a bunch of inoculations though I don't remember what they were.

kenner116 posted:

Pompous Rhombus posted:

Citizens of countries bordering Thailand can usually cross with a little crappy document and their national ID card, it's probably what the Thai government's website was referring to.

If you lose your passport and there isn't time to replace it before your flight, an embassy/consulate can also issue you a temporary travel document.

Haggins posted:

How bad is Singapore on the wallet? I heard they have the best food in the world, but I can't imagine wanting to stay more than a few days

Ringo R posted:

A couple of grenades hit Silom about an hour ago. People started to run and I thought I could get away on the Skytrain. However, they stopped running as one grenade hit the roof.

So I had to spend a massive 200 baht on a taxi ride home But Bangkok is quite exciting these days.

Broohaha posted:

My trip is from 5/1 to 6/1. I'm gonna get there 5/1 and plan to spend 2 days in Bangkok. Then I want to go South to the beaches and plan to spend 2 weeks there (any recommendations?; i want the sweet beaches of phuket and phi phi but without the oppressive touristyness, if possible). Then I'll go back up to Northern Thailand and either do the northwest thing, including Chiang Mai or maybe I'll go east to Cambodia/Laos/Vietnam (I'm keeping an eye on something like this, for example: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/KRR)

2. What is the cheapest/most reliable/comfortable method of transportation (especially for my initial Bangkok --> southern beaches trip)? From what I've read, it's overnight rail. Is that the case?

madcow posted:

So I am supposed to be booking a trip to Phuket soon, but reading this thread is really making me think I should be booking it to any other place except for Phuket. The trip is only for 6 days or so, is Phuket really that bad or does it still have its charms beneath the touristy crap?

In other words, if I am not really interested in getting hammered on the beach everyday, will I regret spending my money on going to Phuket and wishing I went somewhere else in Thailand instead?

The pictures look so nice.

Ringo R posted:

...their girlfriends (carefully selected from a bar the night before) who is half their age and size and can not stop ordering overpriced food on the beach because the silly old men is paying. Dahling, dis very aroi na, order four for you, me and my friend me.

ZeroDays posted:

Regarding the purchase of clothing in Bangkok, is it generally cheaper (than in UK), and would it be a good idea to pack little, and grab what I need when I land? What about shoes? I'll bring a pair of course, and grab sandals/whatever when I get there, but am thinking of nicer shoes. Debating over whether to get them here or just wait.

freebooter posted:

So I've been in Thailand for about a week and pretty loving disappointed. We came in by train from Malaysia and went to Ko Lipe, Ko Lanta, Ko Phi Phi and now we're in Phuket (which is a wretched hive of scum and villainy).

It's beautiful and gorgeous... until you get close, and see the rubbish and filth all over the beaches, and the degradation of the coral reefs. All the marine life is dead and all the coral is bleached. Ko Phi Phi has some amazing landscapes, but there's rubbish on even the most secluded beaches and a layer of scum and filth on the water for the first 20 metres or so off-shore. This is somehow worse than a crummy beach elsewhere in the world; you can tell that it USED to be beautiful, but it was ruined long since.

90% of the Western tourists here are Europeans and North Americans who
a) don't know what a good beach looks like
b) are wasted half the time so don't care anyway.
I seriously don't get the appeal of flying halfway around the world just to get trashed and buy cheap poo poo.

Also Phuket is a loving appalling place full of sports bars with old Western men and Thai girls, or hawkers trying to sell you poo poo. We're imagining Bangkok to basically be a larger version and will be heading to Cambodia as soon as we can.

I could put up with the heat, the hawkers and the squalor if only there were some kind of redeeming features; something awesome or beautiful.

madcow posted:

So is anything actually open in the Bangkok airport in the middle of the night (e.g. 1 am) in terms of restaurants/stores? I have a nearly seven hour layover there, so I'll be looking for things to do assuming I can't sleep.

ReindeerF posted:

If you make it to KL, head over to Jalan Alor, which is a nifty night market street in the area of the main hotel/guest house district at Bukit Bintang.

joemers posted:

Looking at the escalating situation in Bangkok now my girlfriend and I are pretty wearing of going to Thailand now, we are suppose to arrive June 3rd anyone have any update from there or surrounding areas?

We were thinking of flying from Bangkok to Siem Reap in Cambodia. Could anyone recommend a nice place to stay there?

ReindeerF posted:

Last time I was there I swear they had a bungee jump from it or something - does that ring a bell? It's right next to City Forest (?) which is also a fun way to spend an hour if you want to get some nature, but don't have time to head out into the actual beautiful Malaysian countryside.

Broohaha posted:

So I got here last night. Plan is to meet friends in Krabi on the 18th but I have couple days to burn in the meantime. Christ almighty is this place boring without other people you know. I drove a moped around all day, which was fun. But I was feeling super-lonely and depressed so I tried to walk down the main drag on Patong and it was all just... dunno, artificial? too loud? too full of creepy europeans and boring family travelers where ko pha ngan was full of lively and interesting people? Definitely not nearly as welcoming and fun as Ko Pha Ngan, where you can just go to the beach, douse your head in a couple buckets and start making smalltalk with a cutey from Sweden or Ireland or the UK.

ReindeerF posted:

I disagree on Cambodia. I've been quite a number of times by air and it takes about 5 minutes. You get off the plane, get in line, hand them your documents and there's sort of a visa conveyor belt in front of your made up of Khmer people stamping and affixing things. At the end of the line you get your passport back with a visa. Laos was about the same when I went through the land border.

All that said, Cambo does have an online visa thing (they've had it for years, which is difficult to believe):

http://www.mfaic.gov.kh/e-visa/start.aspx

I've never used it because I can only imagine the ways it could go wrong. Still, their visa processing stuff at the airport does seem uncharacteristically state of the art for Cambodia, so who knows. If you use it, though, you'll miss the chance to stare at all the 2 inch long hairs growing out of moles on various Khmer officials' faces.

ReindeerF posted:

Sister-me mad you for put poto on web site na kaa. You no good heart not take care neber anysing you. Always look another woman and neber gibb anysing sister-me even she good heart jing jing na kaaa.

Ringo R posted:

Sure, outside which 7-11 นะค่ะ?

ReindeerF posted:

I'd be up possibly, but I'll be out of town on some form of drinking and not thinking about work vacation with a friend that was going to be in Luang Prabang until I found out about their 11:30 curfew (!!!). If you guys get together the 19th or 20th, let me know, I'll be back and may be around.

Ringo R posted:

Oh that's a monday, not sure if it's a good idea to drink then. Not that I plan to get wasted but hmm, will have to get back to you on that as the date gets closer.

Ringo R posted:

This. Make girlfriend squeeze out a halfie, dump him/her in girlfriend's village until age 18. Pimp him/her to Thai soap operas (if white enough, no actual talent required). Sit back and watch the money roll in. If money does not roll in quickly enough, "leak" a sex video.

^{No offence, brendanwor! We just kidding na}