Travel advice

Yo watmm,

I'm currently organising a trip to SE Asia for December and January.

Flying into Bangkok, probably flying out of Bangkok. 2-3 weeks in-between.

Questions.

1) Where do I want to go, and what do I want to do? Current thinking is week in Thailand, week in Vietnam, week on beach somewhere.

2) Cheap flights, both to get there and if I need to fly about Asia.

3) Anything else? Done Europe and N. America, N. Africa, but never Asia.

If we can keep the sideway vagina jokes to a minimum please.

bukkakapo

I went to thailand earlier this year. Most of the things to do/see were not in bangkok IMO. Theres the Mall of Bangkok but that was about it. (then again I don't like crowds etc so maybe that was it...)

I strongly recommend you find your way over to Railay. I think you can reach there via the night train. Kho phi phi is amazing too.

Head over to Kho phangan for a full moon party, it's the opportunity of a lifetime. There are stands here and there that sell mushroom shakes, and theres about 20,000 people partying on the beach until sunrise. When I went there was 7 or 9 stages playing different electronic music. There was some pretty cool evil sounding tech house on one of the stages that had my attention for awhile.

I'll dig out my journal for some more specific recommendations

what kind of things are you into? IE like... are you pretty fit? kayaking, rock climbing etc..?

I think Railay was my favourite. It had a few resorts so lots of good food and decent accommodations but it wasn't brutally busy like kho phi phi and Bangkok.

Also if you want a list of "safe places" for weed and stuff let me know and I can email you the ones I know. There are tons of corrupt police and even private citizens that will try and entrap and extort you (but you probably know that already)... There are some safe places though.

was there like 10 years ago..

it was my first big trip, and my biggest mistake was to bring stuff there. since you've been around you might know this, but everything is cheaper there, including backpacks et al. Bangkok has everything, from 2nd hand traveller's stuff to high tech thingies. Don't buy anything here. imo, pack a toothbrush and a towel and travel super lightly.

The other thing I learned was that planning ahead is overrated. You'll super quickly run into people who have been to good places and will tell you about them.

There are so, so many backpackers and expats there.

So imo, it's a pretty good chance to just go there and do whatever, just make sure you catch your flight back (or not) and don't catch anything else.

also, do not take malaria medicine unless you actually get malaria.

^^^ all awesome advice

so personally, we went from Bangkok to the Angkor area in Cambodia, then via boat/bus/train to southern Cambodia, where I learned how to motorbike, spent some time exploring that area with some expats, then went back to Bangkok, then to Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai area) to do more motorbiking. All in all it was very weird and awesome.

Thanks, good stuff, keep it coming.

as a practical thing to mentally prepare for, the line between locals trying to squeeze a few dollars out of you and locals who are just genuinly nice is very blurry.

basically anywhere you go, there will be kind, nice local people offering their service with something, to take you somewhere, be a guide to some place etc.

like one thing which will happen is, you manage to explain to a tuktuk driver that you want to go somewhere, off he goes and takes you to some brothel or some clothing shop or something. the shop owner gives him a gas coupon for doing that. it's no use getting angry with them... play along & smile, spend a minute inspecting the merchandise, kindly indicate that you're not interested. This should be enough for the driver to get his coupon anyway, and he'll be happy to bring you to your destination.

  On 9/15/2013 at 10:33 PM, phling said:

as a practical thing to mentally prepare for, the line between locals trying to squeeze a few dollars out of you and locals who are just genuinly nice is very blurry.

basically anywhere you go, there will be kind, nice local people offering their service with something, to take you somewhere, be a guide to some place etc.

 

like one thing which will happen is, you manage to explain to a tuktuk driver that you want to go somewhere, off he goes and takes you to some brothel or some clothing shop or something. the shop owner gives him a gas coupon for doing that. it's no use getting angry with them... play along & smile, spend a minute inspecting the merchandise, kindly indicate that you're not interested. This should be enough for the driver to get his coupon anyway, and he'll be happy to bring you to your destination.

that being said, when I was in Thailand there were a lot of warnings about tuk tuk drivers that will take you somewhere and make you take all of your money out of an ATM. =(

lol that would be quite a shitty situation innit.. you're right, being careful is a good idea... after all, from an average SE Asia guy's perspective we are big clumsy meatbags oozing money.

Hong Kong used to be a great stopover before the Chinese handover, now the pollution is so bad they have to fake their own scenery

http://kotaku.com/crap-air-makes-for-fake-tourist-photos-in-hong-kong-1182144346

come to visit me in Shanghai!

Also, if you somehow convince me you're not a dreadlocked, neckbearded weirdo I'll intro you to my friends in Vietnam who could make your trip fucking awesome.

usually hostels have fluent english speaking staff and far better resources for people who are travelling

most business hotels are only good for taking a lady with you

if you just want to sleep and have good advice then hostels are the way

had so many good experiences by using hostels, turned up when it was a birthday party for hostel staff and all the guests were invited followed by karaoke

met a NZ guy that knew a lot about buddhism when i was in west china etc

then other times you will meet ppl at the hostell who have just been to where you're going and can give you tips and random facts etc (that temples shut for repairs, try this better route through the national park to avoid all the tourists, they burn yak turds to keep warm in winter)

enjoy

Take a plane from Bangkok to Trat, and boats to the islands. Koh Chang, Koh Mak and Koh Kood. Really beautiful places, and not so tourist dense as the south western parts of Thailand. From there, it´s just a short trip to Cambodia and further to Viatnam.

Also; travelling in Thailand is really easy, so just go with the flow. Don´t have too many plans.

Trat airport:

Thanks everyone.

  On 9/16/2013 at 3:50 AM, lumpenprol said:

come to visit me in Shanghai!

 

Also, if you somehow convince me you're not a dreadlocked, neckbearded weirdo I'll intro you to my friends in Vietnam who could make your trip fucking awesome.

Jesus christ lumpen, this is watmm, I'm a weirdo, but I do not have fucking dreadlocks or a neck beard. Surely my carefully cultivated 10 year watmm persona negates any possible idea of that. This does sound like the start of a story that ends with me facing a Vietnamese firing squad though.

I spent about a year travelling SE Asia (do I get a medal?) about 14 years ago (ouch!)

Most likely nowadays my advice maybe redundant. But advice isn't much really much anyway, just take a good attitude with you, a sense of adventure and a load of common sense. Take risks but don't be foolish, be easy going but don't get indimidated. You get my drift.

Seeing as your only going for a few weeks just treat it as going on holiday and have a good time, don't think you are going on a National Geographic trip, or on a trip to find Kurtz.

Don't over complicate, just have fun. Simples.

I can give you more advice if you need. I spent about 5 years travelling with my backpack round the world, I know a teeny bit about these things

That's that then lol

i would love doing a prolonged trip like this.

insult the royal family as often as possible in public.

the ladies with the adam's apples are....

Go for the scenery stay for the ladyboys.

  On 9/18/2013 at 1:32 PM, MadameChaos said:

the ladies with the adam's apples are....

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

no wait, why ruin the surprise?

 

Sexy?!!

  On 9/19/2013 at 11:55 AM, impakt said:

 

  On 9/18/2013 at 1:32 PM, MadameChaos said:

the ladies with the adam's apples are....

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

no wait, why ruin the surprise?

 

 

Sexy?!!

let's just say they may well have the full package.

Haha :D

Did a bit of Cambodia in with thailand and vietnam.

Got all the way to the top of angkor wat.

There was a loud obnoxious yank there with a neckbeard, shouting, "I've had enough of all this history shit."

Left friends and went to Phu Quoc for a bit of solo relaxation.

Found a piece of beach to myself, literally no one else in view. Woman and child appear on horizon. Walk all the way along to me, stop 4m from me when the woman decides to try to make the kid go to the toilet against his will. Turn around and walk all the way back again. #Asians

Russian sex tourists everywhere.

Came home at the weekend and ended up drinking in Dalston. Clearly the entire male population hadn't received my memo that a beard, undercut and shit tattoos now makes you look like a Watkins inspired paedo. Foreigns are dreadful, but Londoners are worse. Nice to see watmm is still 93% massive cock jockeys with all the charisma of a dismembered vagina though.