So if anyone wants to know what it's like losing your ATM card your first week in Bangkok and then having to rush across town through rush hour traffic to find the sole branch of your American bank on the 33rd floor of some random skyscraper in order find out they close at 3:30pm every day for some reason, forcing me to beg the secretary to let me in, in order to have them call your branch in the states to cancel the card, all the while speaking zero Thai and not having a cell phone, lemme know.


Anyone have a suggestion on how to get cash while I wait for a new ATM card? I have a couple credit cards but can't think of any way to access the funds in my bank acct. without the debit card.


Edit: Also does anyone have a rec for a decent/not too expensive hotel in Phuket to crash at for a couple nights while I look for a place to rent? In addition what are the chances of me being able to find a place for rent and move in within a couple days of arriving?

Hmmm.

Know what its like in several different ways.

When WhoIam originally came with me to Phuket some 3 year ago, his only card got shudown by the bank. He went ******ed amount of hassle getting it back up again (like 1mo + maybe). For him it was a survivable headache in that he just shipped me FTP $$ and I gave him cash till his $$ chain was functional again.

I had my ATM card stolen back in the day when I was the sole 2p2er in Phuket. I had to wait like 6 weeks with all the fraudulent affadavits and whatnot plus mailing timlines before I got my new card from back in the states. The last 10 days were teh suk! 50/THB/day for 10 days.

Use the credit cards in the time being until you get your new Debit. Fees sukzzzer but you still hae access to credit thus THB so you should be ok.


PSA: I tell anyone who listen when they 1st get here to rapidly abandon the western wallet style of carrying all you cards with you. NTB's recco is take in cash what you think you might spend + 1KTHB and 1 (ONLY 1) card of any type out with you, ESP if you are hitting a nightlife scene.

always have more than 1 card! not when going out but with u on the trip and leave the other in hotel

Hey buddy,
I am here as a poker player with my gf who is ex air force of 8 years. she is currently using her mgib for school while on this "vacation". we plan on being here over a year and she will be getting paid through the gi bill. there are a few things to take into consideration. she is taking online classes through the US so there are no problems with transferring credits/dealing with getting bull**** classes here.

another thing to consider is that you have to put up the money upfront or get student loans because at the moment the gi bill is backed up roughly 6 months or more.

as ron said, the girl situation can be hazardous to any man coming here and they should realize the possibilities of having to "buy a water buffalo" for some issan girl down the road.

you can never prepare yourself (especially young military farang) for what can go on here.

on a more serious note, they should also be prepared to take classes less than full time at first (therefore getting less than the 1300$) as it is really hard to buckle down and get **** done esp. in the beginning. they should have some sort of savings-i am a newbie but would think around 10k to get them on there feet while doing part time. after that staying here going to school full time is definitely feasible on 1300$ although i would still probably recommend a US "distance learning" program as it would be easier to xfer back to a degree program at home.

pm me with any questions you have and i will TRY to help you.

as a note- i am new to thailand and i am not military but gf was, so i will help as much as possible.

...yup.

another piece of advice: spend 4-6 weeks right off the bat learning the alphabet and basic reading (as a major part of your general learning scheme). the understanding you get about tones, etc. will vastly accelerate your learning.

I'm confused, you're saying pretend to be a fish so that Thai people will incorrectly assume they can take advantage of you, allowing you to therefore gain some kind of edge based upon their incorrect assumption?

Or you're just saying they are friendlier to new tourists?

no. i think Ace was / is after a girlfriend, not a one-off or even a few weeks' worth. could be wrong about that, but i was agreeing that if you want a real girlfriend you will greatly increase the number of women you're eligible with if you can speak some thai (even a little) and are living in muang thai at least semi-permanently.

I have a adsl in my room (6mbit) that works great. CAT CDMA didn't work very well here, quite weak signal in this area. Some public wifi is available at central hill place, but I have no experience with it.

The VIP Bus has aircon on at full blast. I thought that a long sleeve shirt would be fine, but I was freezing the whole way there. Make sure to dress warm when you go with it (next time?).

Yeah, it depends what one is after. If you are single, going on a holiday to Pattaya or something, definitely pretend to be new, play along and enjoy the ride. When they try to pull some tricks on you that they wouldn't try on someone with more experience you'll learn about who you are dealing with and of course can avoid anything you don't feel good about.

hearing you and I think danny talk about the cool places you've travelled through asia def made me want to move to Thailand more, not less.

Maybe Ted will take me to HK(or was it Taiwan?), Now that I know what DOESN'T work with his female friends there I'm sure we'd have a good time.

no your right.


although I kinda regret not taking the one from Kata to Koh Phi Phi at least(left to Phi Phi day after I met her). She was A LOT of fun.

Anyone in Chiang Mai starting to experience problems with their CAT CDMA at certain times ?

ie 2.00am - 4.00 am ???

+ it just seems to be getting slower week by week.


Anyone else ??


On the subject of CAT CDMA ......i got 3 months free when I signed up ......in September.

Er......its Feb and still working (mainly)

Dont want to ask them about my connection problems, as they then might notice I'm not paying.

After I moved across the city (from east to west) mine has pretty much sucked. For 6 months I only grinded on the CDMA and it was great, now it d/c's every 20 mins and is slow as hell. I presumed it was because I had moved further away from the signal tower but it might be something else. I'm going to buy an AIS super 3g card instead, so far they seem far, far better.

If you don't pay the bills it will keep working for around 6 months and then they will cut it off. Then you can just go in and pay the outstanding bill to get it reconnected.

Thx Myrion.


I was up near the Uni on Suthep rd and all was fine.......till I moved East !

To Chang Klan Rd (Galae Thong)

" I'm going to buy an AIS super 3g card instead, so far they seem far, far better "

I presume you know people who are actually grinding on the AIS ????

Ta

haha thats quite funny, I've moved exactly the opposite way. I used to live on Chang Klan (a house right next to galae Thong), and now I live on Suthep road. I'm guessing it has something to do with CAT cdma then and not where we are in relation to the signal tower. Wonder why it sucks all of a sudden.

Juha, and all the other CDMA users in Phuket, how are they working down there?


Screech has been using the AIS super 3g for a couple of weeks now and says it works great. i'm prob going to try test drive his for a session or two and then go buy one if it works well

Where can you buy the AIS one in CM?

3rd floor of the airport plaza. I've not seen it for sale in Kad suan kaew but it probably is also.

Cool, thank you.

you can't be too far from a tower or the connection will suck so even a smallish move (like 1km for example) can affect it a lot. like you said cdma worked well from your house for both of us.

from my place in phuket cdma is as grindable as my adsl but I only use cdma when adsl is completely down. the connection from some rooms in the mansion is not that good but other than that it's been working well for all the people here that i know of

I'm currently in Bkk and going to Chiang Mai for a few days. After that I want to travel down to Singapore. I have around 20 days, anyone has some tipps where to go? Ko phi phi? Puket? Kuala Lumpur? Hua Hin? Ko Samui?

i think im gonna make a trip to hk/macau for my next visa run in a couple months, come back kap!

i see this small motard bikes all over chiang mai, kawasaki ksr110.
anyone knows a place in CM i could rent one of those for a few days/month?
seems like a fun bike to start with anyone drove it?

If you walk around on the east side of the moat, near Thapae Gate and the top of Loi Kroh Road you will see quite a few rental shops with them outside. I've never tried one as I have no idea how to ride a bike with gears, but I'd like to try sometime

Yeh it worked great before, rigged