gnc blows in america, way way overpriced, and even worse here. i seriously just laughed when i happened to see a gnc and went in to check the protein price.

tyty for the thaibodybuilding site, that is definitely the best option so far, with prices only being about ~30-50% higher. also good selection and free delivery. if i find anything better i will let you all know.

Does anybody have any recommendations for cheap accomodation in BKK and Chiang Mai. I got some real good advice before for phuket, if anyone knows of anywhere good between 300-700 baht a night I would be grateful.

I've been told that me and roomate are fish for paying 1k baht/day for ours, I think a fair price is probably 700b/day for a good, english speaking(obv) assistant.


Shipping your assistant is not the ideal play btw, from what I've seen and heard.



And no Joel, that does not mean you can ship mine just because I'm not(don't think shes a fan of the piercings anyways)

700 is a kind of fair price if you are just getting her out on a casual basis to work a full day doing who knows what (picking up your laundry?!?)

If you are employing her on a fulltime basis and paying her 1000 baht per day (~20k per month) then you are paying her more than what doctors and engineers are paid in Thailand.

If she has a university degree and is managing your stock portfolios and doing your tax returns then fair enough, but if you are paying her that much just to cook and clean then I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous and you are most likely the laughing stock of wherever you live and are truly a farang in the "low hanging fruit" sense of the word.

engineers, and especially doctors, earning less than 20k baht per month is tremendously inaccurate. keep in mind also this is bkk not mukdahan.

~10-20k / mo for 20-25 year old bangkok woman using english on the job is a pretty average salary, depending of course on the job and the area.

1000 baht/day is 30,000 per month.

Not when the job is basically a maid, and I really doubt as an "assistant" to a couple of poker players she is putting in full 8 hour days.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/11633984/Thailand-Salary-2007

Handy Salary guide there. Like I said, unless the assistant is actually a financial advisor/stockbroker/whatever, and although im not entirely sure what she does for these guys apart from their shopping and cooking, i'm pretty sure she is not doing those jobs, 1000 baht per day is a completely ridiculous salary.

is there any gym in BKK that is open 24/7?

I looked around earlier on google, maybe im noob but couldn't find anything.

yes 1k x 30 = 30k, i was going from the 20k in your post, figuring we were saying she only works 2/3 days or something.

obviously it all depends on if they're getting their money's worth.

nah we have a maid to cook and clean, obviously. We pay her too much too, but frankly its not worth a 2-3k baht to go find another one.



We did talk about hiring a busto falang to manage our assistant(s)/maid...500b/day, feel free to apply!


also- LOL

haha ya seeing my gf's eyes when she found out how much you guys were paying for assistant was awesome

imagine how wide they would get if she heard how much some on 2+2 have paid for an assistant in the states/europe.

ya 1k baht/day is a steal in US terms. pay that per hour and still get attitude.

+1

To 2p2ers in BKK,

I am coming to stay in BKK for a week or so early/mid July purely to degen it up. I live in Koh Samui atm. Want to stay within 5 min walk of Soi Cowboy at pretty nice hotel with good internet. Any reccomendations?

hmmm im probably going to be coming around the same time. good places to stay at would be much appreciated.

awesome.

Hmm not sure anywhere like 5 min walk from cowboy, but soi 11 Fraser suites is pretty baller, internet is really good, like 10 min walk to cowboy, 5 min walk to nana degenfest.

I have not used a 12call sim in over 9 months, will I be able too top it up or will I have to buy a new one?

try the grand millennium hotel on that road. balla and even less than a 5 min walk to cowboy and the asok mrt!

Looks good enough for me, booked 9th - 12th July, first bottle/round on me.

Up for some degen stuff?

Top-up, can.

Stay at grand millenium

Any recommendations for a hotel/guest house type thing for me and GF to stay in at Chiang Mai while we look for a place?

I'm arriving in Phuket in about 4 weeks, then heading to Chaing Mai.

Got my immunizations today, OMG I have a real problem with needles basically passed out and had to lie down for 15 minutes...... lol

Just found Mountainview Guesthouse has been recommended here before, anyone stay there recently? Also do we need to book that? or just turn up as it is the low season and not sure how long we will need to stay.

What sort of budget do you have for Chiang Mai? How long will you be planning to stay?

Planning to stay in Thailand for about a year, but this includes travel around the whole are (Vietnam Laos etc) and may want to switch to Phuket or somewhere else at some stage.

I don't know if renting a place for 6 months+ is going to be a good option but is there much in the way of short term (1,2 month) rental houses/condos? BTW was looking at renting for around 25-30k a month.

Thanks for the help