Hey guys,
I will be heading to Thailand in mid September for a week or so. Should I spend the whole of my trip in Pattaya or will it be better for me to spend 2 days in Pattaya, 2 days in Hua Hin and the final 3 days in Bangkok.

You can buy 24" Phuket.. I think I saw it for 14 000 baht in 1 store in Patong.

Hi guys,
Thanx for the answers and info, much appreciate.
A nearby beach would be major plus, and if housing and internet on Phuket/Samui is good, we defiantly going to chill over there.

If I get this right our best route will be ass following,
Come over with laptop. Land in BKK – Head south to Koh samui/Phuket- Stay in hotel, look around for nice house, and buy a Monitor over there- open a Thai bank account. And it time to get ur *** on!

Leaves me with a few questions:
Phuket of Koh samui? Is it true that Phuket is more crowded, bigger and more expensive?, koh samui then again has a more quite and relaxed vibe ? What
would be other major differences between them?

Would Internet connection on Samui be good for grinding sng’s ? And is it equal to connection on Phuket?

Looking for forward to some reactions, thx
(Btw from the Netherlands)

hey everyone

thanks for the amazing responses/stories.

I'm thinking about going to Thailaind sometime soon so I have some questions.

If I'm going to stay for about a month, could i get by on finding a (decent) place to rent/food for like ~$2k? (and not be scared of running out?)

What would you say is the best place to stay if you're not too much into the drinking/party scene but still want to meet some girls?

If I were you and staying only one week I would probably just stay in one place and not waste time moving around and changing hotels all the time. In the end it takes a lot of time...

several stores carry them and some will probably order one for you if they dont have one. central, jungceylon, big C, homepro all have big electronics shops to list a few.

havent been to samui so cant compare them but about phuket: with internet you have a few choices and you wont have a problem with it. monitor&bank account no problem.

Some tourist traps obviously get crowded in high season (mid november-~april) and are busy other times of year too but if you dont need to stay at the main beaches then it is not too crowded.

And it is relaxed enough, that's why i like phuket. the views are awesome, roads are nice to drive on (mostly) and you got all the services you need.

budget questions are really difficult to answer if you dont tell more what you want and need.

i am not into drinking/partying and I like phuket. I am in chiang mai at the moment and after a few days it looks pretty cool too. Everything so much cheaper than Phuket and Bangkok. not sure how much i would miss phuket's scenery though

Thank you sir. I think pattaya to bkk is alright as it takes only about 2 hours if I'm not mistaken. I've decided more or less to just spend half my time there in pattaya and half in bkk.

Cheers.

thanks TROK thats good to know.

anybody seen 24" monitors on koh samui?

wow are you THE peachykeen ?

Hi all,

Looking to head to Thailand for a month or so in February with a couple of mates to grind/chill out a bit. We have a couple of questions that we hope you can help us with....

1) We have been pretty much primarily looking to go to Phuket as we are wanting somewhere with good beaches and a nightlife but also somewhere where we can chill out a bit as well. Is there any other places where we can get this maybe for a little cheaper then a place like Phuket?

2) We don't want to be cooked up in a hotel for a month. Although not really looking to travel about that much once we get there, so we would want an apartment/ condo type thing. Basically want to know what to look for and what we should expect for a budget of around £250-£300 ($400-$500) each for the month. Internet is a MUST! Any links to sites which rent for reasonable prices would be great also!

3) Internet......Its vital that we have good internet over there as we all need it to work/grind. Can you get dongle type things like in the UK....??

4) We heard that the best thing to do is head over and search for apartments whilst over there...so if we were to do that, whats a good hotel to stay in for a couple of nights whilst we find something?

5) Must dos and don'ts in Phuket would be good!


That's all i can think of at the minute but any help would be gratefully received!

well i'm A peachykeen but i dont think i'm THE peachykeen your thinking of.

just picked the name out of the air, wasn't aware of another when i picked it.

1) I guess PokerSpiv is going to come mention Pattaya but I haven't been there yet myself and like I have said before I haven't heard anything nice about it yet so can't recommend it. I also haven't been in any other place that would fullfil those requirements so can only recommend Phuket

2) Well if you are 100% that you are only staying for a month I would probably book some place beforehand. The problem with this is that you can't know if the place has (reliable) internet. haven't look for a long while but I have been shown places from www.siamrealestate.com and www.houseinphuket.com

3) you can get CDMA but they are pretty expensive to buy as new (7-12k) and then you should be able to resell it which is probably something you don't want to do(or not have time to do). Not sure if you can share one and one wouldn't probably be enough for you anyway.

4) well there are loads of hotels. just look from some agent's website for a place within your budget. kind of difficult to recommend anything especially when i haven't stayed in any hotels in phuket.

5) do: go through the view points around phuket, go through the beaches, check out the night market in phuket town, spend 1-2 nights in Phi Phi Islands (or take a day trip)

that name is used by Eric Liu an FTP red pro and semi-famous HSNL player.

i doubt you'll find a 24" monitor in Thailand anywhere other than Bangkok and maaaaybe Chiang Mai or Phuket, but very doubtful.

Very easy in both Chiang Mai and Phuket also

It is my opinion that this isn't wise to do in any country that you are visiting for that long, ESPECIALLY if you are staying for one month. And especially in such an inexpensive place as Thailand. The only exception is if you are planning on staying, and paying a premium for, a room in an established Hotel chain with a great reputation. Otherwise, you are taking all the risk by booking ahead of time and its not necessary.

You have much less of a chance of being overcharged, and a better chance of getting a great room for the money, by being able to inspect the room in person as well as being able to negotiate, or just get a price quote, in person. Otherwise, you may be unpleasantly surprised with the room or the price, especially when you see what else was available to you when you get there.

My recommendation is to arrive and book any cheap room that is decent for the first night or two, and then use some extra time on the fist day to scout out a really great room at a decent price. A month is a long time to spend, and so the extra steps are worthwhile.

Does anyone ITT have recommendations for places to stay in:

BKK (hotel) for 7 days in/around March.

Budget: ~$200

Phuket for 1 month+ in/around March.

Budget: ~$500

agree with you mostly. one month is not a long time though

You just have to decide what you value more. obviously you will be overcharged when you book in advance online but there are also plus sides on this like having everything ready for (imo) short trip.

Also one month goes pretty fast so how much do you value the time you might be spending looking for the place and negotiating the deal. You also have much better chance of getting your deposit back if you go through agent.

If I were this group coming here I wouldn't spend the month grinding here. Make the money beforehand and have a vacation. Especially when the trip is not for another 6 months. It is not easy to get everything settled in a month in a foreign unknown country especially if most (if not all) haven't been here yet. I would want everything to be ready for my first trip.

That is what my group of 4 did the first time. We obviously paid huge overprice for renting a villa for two weeks(to have a holiday and look for a place where we would move in later for a longer time) but if I would come here again for the first time I can't say I wouldn't do the same again.

I agree with all of this. If I were going anywhere for one month or less there's noway I'd want to waste a few days searching for somewhere. It might cost a bit more booking in advance but it's worth it imo.

First of all March!! Like to plan ahead? Don't think you can book that far out and the economy is dictating prices of hotels so any info now would be old by then.
That said I don't think $30 a night will give you a whole lot of nice options in Bkk. If you are willing to jump up to the 14-1500 (44USD) baht mark it will give you a whole range of decent value for money options along Sukhumvit. I find wotif the cheapest atm. Here is a search for Sukhumvit <1500 baht. I have found the Citadines places pretty decent value. Merisess was also pretty good for that rate.

Yeah I am so excited about going it's the planning which makes things atm bearable/gives me the knowledge that what I am doing now will be worthwhile in the future!

What you've said is the kind of thing I am looking for so I can adjust budgets accordingly now, while I have time to earn.

I will be going with 1-3 friends, all young (20-21), male and up for chilling/some luxury/gym/pool at the hotel. I just did some research on Tripadvisor and 3 cheap good looking options came in at $60 $72 and $84, so it looks like mayb 5 days would be better, with around $70per night? Thanks for the response!

BKK: you won't get much with that budget. $200 is 7k baht which mean 1000/night. that doesn't get you much more than a bed with a/c.

Phuket: 17k/month. again, you won't get much more than a small room with fridge/ac/bed though it won't take the whole 17k.

if you are fine with that then there are plenty of choice in both locations

Yes, it is true.

Also true.

Phuket is a much bigger place, has a much bigger economy, a lot more tourists and a lot more resorts. Phuket also has more surf than Samui if you are into that. Phuket is much easier to get to than Samui, with many international airlines flying directly into Phuket airport, whereas only Bangkok Airways fly to Samui and charge a premium for it.

Both places have a few different centres with different feels to them, but in general Samui is quieter and more "small town" type place, whereas Phuket is a wealthier and more developed place. You will see more backpackers in Samui, more older travellers in Phuket.

Internet access is pretty much the same in either place as far as I can tell.

If your going on vacation, than it doesn't matter. You probably have the money to burn. Just book the best hotel that you can find on the net. However, this still isn't full-proof when booking in this part of the world. However you cut it, you could be way underwhelmed when you get there, especially for the price. I guess it also depends on your expectations. I would book a super nice place to get a nice place. If you book an average looking place online, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Theres a HUGE difference between a traveler and someone on vacation. I disagree with one month not being a long time for a vacationer. For a traveler, or a resident, one month is nothing. For a vacation, one month is a very long time to spend in a place that you don't like, and cant get out of because you paid too much in advance.

how prevalent is HIV?

you probably have full blown aids just from posting in this thread

lol