Oh sick Koh Pga Ngan it is. Chiang Mai is really tempting me now, but I'm worried about spending $200 to fly up there and back to Bangkok if I'm only gonna be there for 3 or 4 days. How did you get up there ski? Buses ok?

Also, ed, when you get to bangkok you're gonna get ripped off by a taxi if you don't know what you are doing. There are shuttles that you can get for like a 100baht that go to kho san road, or if you want to get a taxi go find the meter only line and go there and they will take you on the taxi meter. If you go outside of the arrivals door there will be cab drivers who won't use the meter and try to get you for more. I've heard of people paying like 750 baht for their cab ride. I'm not sure what the proper amt is but I imagine it should cost maybe 150 - 200baht on the taxi meter, hopefully someone can correct me if that's too high - it's been like a year.

buses to chang mai were hell for us, but we may have gotten unlucky. we just went with your run of the mill cheapish, travel agency bus. they'll typically go overnight but still take time.

Another option that we never did were to take trains. I think this might be more expensive then buses, but would probably be a way better option. They book up fast though, so you need to book in advance.

RE Taxis

SImple answer is ALWAYS use metered taxis (and make sure they turn the meter on) when in Bangkok. There is an easy to find meter taxi stand just outside the airport (you just have to wade your way thru tons of indy taxi touts both inside the terminal and outside offering xxxxxx fare to wherever) I paid about 200-250THB to a centralish part of BKK from the airport.

Re BKK Hotels

You don't have to stay on Khao San Rd (backpacker/granola/broke westerner area) to stay less expensive. Most of the bigger hotels with flashy websites are more expensive. If you look a little harder you find value. I stayed for 4 days at 550THB($16)/night in a decent neighborhood, 5 min walk from the subway. That price was gained by my Thai GF but still even as a farang walkin you shouldn't pay more than 1000THB($28)/night and sleep in a secure, comfortable environment with easy access to the rest of the city.

when i arrived in thailand i didnt have a guide book, hotel, map or the slightest knowledge of thailand. i ended up taking an illegal taxis and that was one of the funniest experiences of my life and i look back fondly of it, maybe because i didnt get robbed.

dont research things too much. you want there to be some adventure to it. my 2cents.

I've taken flights and Trains. Buses are always my absolute last resort. If you wanna save money take a night train from Bangkok for like $~30USD. Basically you leave at 6pm. End up in the bar car with other travelers by 6:15pm, drink until 12 then fall asleep (lay down beds) and you're there.

there are bars in the trains? i never noticed any.

Earlier in the thread it was mentioned party poker is blocked by the thai government. KKF and Ski, how do you guys play on party from thailand? I'm going to visit for a month or so this summer and would love to be able to play at party again.

I recently asked Bill about hotels in bkk and he said this:
"sukumvit 11 has the ambassador and grand president which i beleive are about $50 a night and i think you can save money and book online, or so i've been told. cheaper than that there are loads of options but i'm not really sure of names or anything."

Koh Samui / Thailand first timer - Chaweng or Lamai?

I'm going to stay at Koh Samui for 10 days in June. I'm going with my spouse. We're near our 30s.

Things that we enjoy doing on a holiday:
<ul type="square">[*]Snorkling (coral(ish) beaches preferred)[*]Sun bathing (on the beach, not the pool)[*]Eating local food (in restaurants)[*]Some kind of a privacy[*]Shopping[*]Live music + few beers[*]Other activities (safaris, excusrsions etc.)[/list]
Things that we (she ) dont enjoy:
<ul type="square">[*]Crowded beaches (o rly)[*]Sound of jet skis (o rly)[*]"Spring break" athmosphere (past that)[/list]
So far the Nora Beach Resort (3800 TBH/night) on the northern Chaweng Beach looks like the winner. I'm gonna make the reservation for the first three nights from that hotel unless something comes up in this thread.

Also, any general tips for a first time traveler like me?

PS. So far I only have my flights booked to Bangkok so feel free to suggest other places than Samui if you feel so. Thanks.

chaweng is like the patong in phuket of samui(hooker n nightlife central) atleast north/central chaweng is.. its a seven kilometer long beach so hard to pinpoint action, but this is a place where you walk up and down and get pestered by taxidrivers honking at you every 10seconds, be prepared. lamai is quieter i have only stayed there one night but its a bit smaller more relaxed. chaweng is like the capitol of samui and if you are traveling as a couple i would probably say live in lamai and visit chaweng. you will have more privacy in lamai.
advice? dont play 4K/night for a room

Tempest122 i played at party while i was in paton phuket. i talked to some other players at the cafe and they said it depended on where you where in the contry, they said the could ent connect to party in pattaya e.g
i dont know if it was the poor connection ore the poor hardware(ore both) but it lagged HELL and i got disconnected and autofolded more than 5times in 5minutes..

"samui is way mroe developed and resortish and just had a weird feel to it. it didn't have that much of a local feel to it. more commercialized i guess. There was nothing that stood out about the island either.

ko phangan has the full moon party and is much smaller and really awesome imo."

honestly is there anything on this earth more commercialized then the full moon party. kohpangan is cheap, thats about all it is.. the beach is PACKED with topess hot... sweds?! thats not what you travel halfway across the world too see, not a person over 40 at the island and the avrage is farang/ age 20.8/britt 33%/scandinavian 33%/israeli 33%

and alot of resturants are runned by israelis at this island for some reason

i thougt the place sucked ass but if you are the type of person that enjoy ibiza you will have a blast for 150b per bucket there.

3800THB/night sounds on the sicker side of sick in terms of prices IMO. Not been to Samui, but you could easily fulfill all your desires/requirements on multiple parts of Phuket without ever coming into Patong (most touristy/nightlifey part). If you want some advice bout specific areas/accom on Phuket drop me a PM.

PS I'm 33 with a 31yr old Long term Thai GF. So this isn't coming from a "young spunker".

you might be able to get a discount on a flight in june. there is as court ruling on the 30th which could spark violence and more political uncertainity. maybe even another coup!

The Constitutional Tribunal may dissolve the two biggest political parties on May 30, and if the first draft of the new constitution holds up, the party system could lose most of the clout gained under 10 years of a democratic charter.

Unpredictability has characterised Thai politics for decades, but this year's host of uncertainties has got even the most seasoned political analysts scratching their heads.

"This is the most confusing period in Thai politics that I can remember," admitted Chris Baker, co-author of several books on the topic with his wife, academic Pasuk Phongpaichit.

One of great unknowns is whether or not Thailand's two largest political parties will be dissolved and their leaders barred from politics for the next five years.

On May 30, the Constitutional Tribunal will decide the fates of the Thai Rak Thai Party, founded by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the Democrats, the country's oldest political party which celebrated its 60th anniversary this year.

The two parties face charges of committing fraud during the April 2, 2006, general election, the results of which were annulled on May 8, leaving Thailand in a political wilderness from which it has yet to emerge.

Other questions looming on Thailand's political horizon include whether or not a nationwide referendum will reject the kingdom's 18th attempt at a constitution, whether there will be a general election by the end of the year and whether the extremely popular but equally divisive Thaksin will return from exile and if the military will stage a counter-coup in an attempt to clear up, once again, all this political uncertainty.

Much depends on the outcome of the May 30 Constitution Tribunal ruling.

If the tribunal decides to dissolve the Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties, street protests can be expected by the two parties' followers, which number about 14 million and 4 million, respectively.

If the tribunal decides not to dissolve the parties but to bar their executives from politics for the next five years, that will raise other questions.

"If they bar a significant number of politicians from politics, questions will arise about how meaningful the next election will be," said Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat party.

While it is clear that the Thai military do not want to see the political comeback of Thaksin, whom they deposed with a coup last September 19, it is less clear to what extent they intend to throttle the political party system.

Judging by the first draft of the new constitution by a military-appointed committee, Thailand's political parties are set to lose a lot of the political clout they won under the last 1997 constitution, deemed the country's most democratic charter to date.

The 1997 constitution was scrapped with the coup.

Many clauses in the newly drafted charter are designed to prevent the emergence of a strong premier and one powerful political party, as happened under Thaksin and his populist Thai Rak Thai party between 2001 to 2006.

"This is an elitist constitution," said political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of Chulalongkorn University's Institute of Security and International Studies. "The spirit of this constitution is to put down Thaksin and the Thaksin regime or anything like Thaksin again."

But there are indications that the charter will be significantly amended by the time it is presented for a referendum in August or September this year.

For instance, an amendment committee has already dropped a controversial clause that would have created an "emergency council," an appointed body to resolve future political crises, and it is likely to change a clause bringing back appointed, as opposed to elected senators, as was stipulated under the 1997 charter.

If the new constitution weakens Thailand's political parties too much, the politicians are likely to mobilise their followers to reject it in the referendum.

"Any attempt to make the elections not meaningful, and to restore the rule of the bureaucracy, will only invite trouble. That's the bottom line," said Abhisit.

When Thai politicians say "the bureaucracy," they include the military, who basically ran the country from 1932, when they overthrew the absolute monarchy, until 1992, when a brutal army crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Bangkok finally ousted the generals from the political scene.

"They've been trying to burrow their way back for the past 15 years and got nowhere until this coup, and then suddenly they're back," said Baker in reference to the Thai military.

Over those 15 years, however, much has changed in Thailand, and the "bureaucrats" may be in for a surprise if they force their hand too much.

"Public expectations are much higher," said Thitinan. "People are smarter, more sophisticated. They have had ten years of the 1997 constitution and five years of Thaksin, so they've had a foretaste of the things they can get."

Democrat leader Abhisit, who may well lose his job this month, agreed.

"The one certainty is you can't roll things back," said Abhisit. "One way or the other we will return to elections very soon."

LOLZ Unlikely, but if you do, possibly with flowers sticking out of their gun barrels like the last coup.

In another thread that got locked, Mmerli wrote First of all, Phuket is not the place to go for a stable internet connection. The best I can say about it is that it often worked when we wanted it to. This is referring to our second connection because our original wasn't functional for over 8 days before we switched companies. Thailand broadband isn't even in the same league as what we're used to in the west. I can't imagine what 6 simultaneous users would be like on the connection we had.

You say you don't want a palace, but a place with 4-6 bedrooms is going to be pretty baller by definition. Like anywhere else, real estate in Thailand is all about location so you're going to pay a lot more for a place near the beach or the center of town. NewTeaBag and I looked at some places that were huge and inexpensive, but they can best be described as being in suburbia, and this was something we wanted to avoid.

Any place this large is going to have maid's quarters and hiring a maid would probably be worth it with so many people. For about $150-200/month you can get someone full-time who's trained to deal with Westerners.

This may be true but also it may be true that our place, "Vista Ville" were not so on the up and up about what they were providing. In my current temp spot, I am playing on a stable 500K, shared, TOT connextion with no problems of any sort.


PS WRT to vista ville: Leaving day proved to be quite an episode that involved significant argument, Puk nearly getting in a fight with the agent, Jit, smiling vista ville maids, an engish speaking man named, Victor (who no one had seen or heard of before) on the phone, an angry owner, the signed lease contract which Jit then claimed to not have understood when she signed it, and eventually a Tourist Police Officer mediator.

The end result was I got douched for 1200 of the deposit (they originally wanted to withhold 5000). So next time we meet up you owe me a beer Singha!

KING WARNS JUDGES ON DISSOLUTION

Trouble sure to follow

His Majesty the King yesterday expressed his grave concern over the upcoming Constitution Tribunal verdict on the future of two major political parties and asked the country's top judges to do their best for the country and yet brace themselves for heavy criticism.

The message, which emphasised the country was on the brink of possibly another major crisis, was conveyed to top Supreme Administrative Court judges who were granted an audience to present the monarch a gown to commemmorate his 60-year reign.

The King described the verdict, due next Wednesday, as a "highly important" decision, which would cause a lot of trouble no matter how it turns out.

"It will be a highly important decision, which will cause you [judges in general] trouble no matter what," he said. "There will be trouble whether political parties remain or not, because [on one hand] political parties need to exist."

The monarch said even he himself was not supposed to speak out on this delicate matter.

"Regarding this issue, you [Administrative Court judges] are not supposed to say anything because you are not involved. Even I can't say if there should be or there shouldn't be political parties, or whether parties should be dissolved or not. That's why I said the gown you gave me gave me trouble. It came with no power. Whether one will wear the gown or not, there will be no power. Just like you. You have no power [regarding this matter] as well," he said.

The King asked the visiting judges, led by Supreme Administrative Court President Ackaratorn Chularat, to "rightly interpret" what he was trying to say.

"Whatever court you belong to, judges need to make the right interpretation, otherwise the country will be doomed," he said.

His Majesty reiterated that the upcoming verdict and reaction present Thailand with a potential crisis.

"You [Administrative Court judges] have the responsibility to judge, but not with the hammer. You can only decide within your heart whether the Constitution Tribunal makes the right ruling. Your responsibility and duty are to criticise the ruling. I have no right whatsoever to say if they are right or wrong, but in my heart I have to know whether they have done right or wrong. If they are wrong, there will be trouble whether or not political parties remain. I have the answer in my heart but I have no right to say it. Neither do you. But you must have the decision in your heart as to whether the Constitution Tribunal is right or wrong.

"But there will be trouble and damage, whatever ruling is made. Any decision can be a mistake. Therefore, there has to be some criticism. If there can't be official criticism, there has to be personal one. That's why I told you, you brought me trouble by bringing me this gown, because this gown means I'm also an Administrative Court judge.

"[We] can't issue any ruling because we are not the Constitution Tribunal. Being the Constitution Tribunal, they have the right to be involved in many things. But if you listen to radio over the past two days, there has been heavy criticism about the courts. You [Administrative Court judges] have to find a way to protect your fellow judges.

"...You took responsibility following what I said in Hua Hin over a year ago and consequently many things happened. And those things have their causes. But the things got entangled. And soon they may be more so. You must be well prepared to dispense some criticism - not as judges, but as individuals or specialists - to prevent our country from sinking and people saying we have done nothing or trying to solve the problem.

"You have the responsibility to prevent the country from sinking, to give more knowledge to knowledgeable people, or to educate those who have no knowledge, so that they will know which direction Thailand should take. You can think, and you can say it, because you are the ones with the knowledge. Please keep on trying to improve our country's situation, which is not good at all this year," the king said.

Next Weds should be fun for yall in Bangkok. I'll be happy down in Phuket.

I think the King's public statement to the judges was a definite warning but also a thinly veiled message for the general populace for calm in the face of whatever the Weds decision should be.

I imagine should the most extreme end come out (low liklihood) and both of the major Political parties get the 5year ban then there will be heavy protests possily spilling into riot. That said, many of these protestors are paid travellers from the Northern provinces certainly willing to shout for money but prob far less interested in fighting/bloodshed over The Thak Sik Thai or Democratic parties.

Looks nice, the north part of Chewang beach isin't hooker central like a lot of Chewang (and lamai).

Check out "Jungle Club" while you're here. One of the best places to bring a gf I think.

I was concerned that we had broadband from two separate companies and had problems with both of them. This may have to do with being so far off the beaten path--let us know if you experience any trouble.

I don't understand how there was a problem with Vista Ville. We added a number of explicit clauses to the lease that were signed and initialed by both parties. I think one said something like "the lease can be terminated at the end of any month by either party with no penalties." Meh.

I'm glad I'll be in Laos on the 30th. I can't wait to see how they blame farang for this.

This is a online diary some photog keeps and it has a 7 part photo tour of his month long trip to Thailand.

http://www.ikeepadiary.com/diary/200...ame_index.html

Nice, we need more trip reports like this. So far I've just looked at part one--those are some ugly ladyboys in that show.

Oh okay that is what I was told elsewhere It's obviously very important that we can get a quality connection.
What place would you recommend over there then?

Okay but since myself and the people I have talked to all play in the NL100-NL400 range the rent/person/month should probably not go beyond say 500$
Do you think this is realistic?