I doubt bkk is much hotter than Phuket. It's not that hot--you get used to it pretty quickly. I wear pants every day and often long sleeves as well. If you were walking around all day with a backpack or something you would be miserable, but you're mostly just moving from air-conditioned environment to air-conditioned environment.

There's maybe a 1 in a million chance you could be playing poker in an internet cafe and a cop could walk by and try to extort some money from you. My plan in this situation is just to point out the thousands and thousands of baht in play at the tables. It couldn't possibly be real money I'd be more concerned about key loggers and [censored]. Obviously playing from your room is way better than sitting in an uncomfortable chair with a bunch of randoms. Sometimes hotel wifi can be slow to the point of unplayability though.

edit: yeah, it's not that hot by Australian standards but obviously it will seem hotter since it's winter in Australia now.

Random tip: If you're American, tell people you're from New York. Most foreigners think NYC is the most magical amazing place on earth and their eyes will light up when tell them it's where you're from. I never know how to answer this question anyway and usually give some awkward answer like "Well, I grew up in Rhode Island but then I lived in Pittsburgh for five years and now I'm just kind of traveling."

Do you just download partypoker on the cafe's comp and login? Also, do you know the best way/place to get a fast and stable connection in thailand as far as apartments or houses?

I imagine that's what you would do. If you did this I woul change my password every day at a different place. My only internet cafe experience that involved poker was in Laos and I had a laptop. I've written about internet in Phuket, I'm not sure about Bangkok, where I assume you'll be going.

most good hotels in bangkok have a good internet connection.
hell i pay 7000 bahts a month for my apartment in an hotel and i have a 4mb connection for 20bucks a month, and the whole building is wifi.

Only one is in use actually ( for flights with passengers anyway )

Actually both are, because Suvarnabhum (new airport) has had so many problems. One runway has cracked, and the airport could'nt handle all the traffic anymore. Now some domestic flights are moved to Don Muang (old one).

All international flights fly from Suvarnabhum though.

don muang was so ghetto but it'll have a warm spot in my heart forever.

What do you do about phones over there? Are cellphones an option?

Yes. Plenty of pre-paid phone options. Super easy to get a used phone at one of the many cell stalls in bigger shopping centers. Refill your $$ at 7-11 with ease.

KJS

More TR detail RQD!

How art thou enjoying BKK (aside from the heat)?

You going to venture south or north?


And after 6 days in BKK, what's your gf's name and are you planning the wedding yet?

LOLZ About a week ago, I went up to Hat Kamala to see what the nightlife was like (considering getting a house nearby). There were about 15 bars in operation with about a 5 bargirl/waitress to 2 customer ratio except for a "BeerGarden." Inside the "BeerGarden" were a lovely bunch of sweaty 50 someting, paunchy, Germanz drooling over 20 something Thai Girls. Been here over 3 months now and it's still hard to get used to that sight.

QFMFT This is going to make life a lot more complicated for a while.

I just spent a month in Vientiane and I'm really missing it. I'm sure this is because life has kicked me in the ass about 8 times since getting to Bangkok. Let me know if anyone is interested in a 3-month old Dell 24" monitor for a good price. Unfortunately I'm not joking.

Anyway, not going to bore anyone with my sob stories. The 2+2 clubhouse here is awesome. Someone had a portrait of Sklansky made that's it least 9 feet tall; it reminds me of Mao in Tienanmen square. There's always at least 1 game going and we all call each other by our 2+2 names.

RUSERIUS? Can you elaborate on the clubhouse? IE: how big is it, who live in it, activities you guys partake in total members, etc...

B/c that sounds like a real incentive for me to move to BKK, chilling w/ some white ppl who I can relate to, and not be all on my own.

Finally got the pix of my gf's camera:

Enjoy:


WhoIAm on his Bday getting cake smeared on his face by the "schoolgirls" of Sharky's Bar


A bunch of Bargirl Butts


An interesting bar sign


A V Young muay Thai fighter


A V Young muay Thai fighter again

Haha, just joking about that but it could actually happen one day. This month I'm living in the same place as Offdabeat, but I don't think that qualifies as a clubhouse.

I don't remember this, but I do remember (and appreciate) getting the cake.

KKF was telling me over some Changs that Sklansky actually visited the clubhouse a few months ago but he didn't really talk to anyone, he was more interested in the two dark Isan girls he was with.

I was pretty sure he wasn't into light skinned polite pink-nippled chiang mai girls.

By the way i just discovered that the school where I teach/grind a bankroll have a female ( 16-18 years old and more ) volleyball team.

what to do OOT ?

by the way

Great let's get rid of the military and back to good old corruption.

how did you get a dell in thailand?

i want to buy a unit in that new condominium on the chao praya river... too bad i am running horrible this year.

make sure none of them just got done with her.

Damn, if only they were legal. Oh wait, the age of consent is 15. Just don't pay them.

I'm picking my sister up at the airport tonight. I'm going to keep calling her so she has to look at her phone and say "Shhhhh, it's my brother" before answering. If you don't get it, I'm not going to explain it.

Forgot to mention that I took a bus from Laos to Bangkok and several times it was boarded by military and/or police who demanded to see our passports. Standard? It might have something to do with the military wanting to keep pro-Thaksin people out of bkk. I read in the Bangkok Post yesterday that the junta "can't guarantee the safety of Thaksin if he returns." I think we can all read between the lines here.

KKF, I packed the monitor in one of my suitcases.

Just got home from my first trip to Thailand [BKK, Koh Samui, Koh Tao) and what an awesome trip that that was! I was there with my fiancé. Thanks all for the tips.

Positive
<ul type="square">[*]Koh Tao (ended up spending 90% of our vacation on this island)[*]Scuba diving (holy [censored] I'm addicted, the best thing ever)[*]Fishing (barracudas (that restaurants coocked for free to us since we brought the ingredients) and other unknown fish)[*]Coconuts (tasty!)[*]Thai people (the ones not trying to sell you stuff)[*]Food (very good, very cheap)[*]Fake t-shirts (that I washed and shrunked)[*]Waterfalls[*]Bangkok[/list]
Negative
<ul type="square">[*]Chaweng, Samui (what a tourist trap!)[*]People trying to sell you stuff (annoying)[*]Anything with no A/C [*]Fist fighting tourists (brits. entertaining though... so might be positive)[/list]

Is there a section of Bangkok with a lot of middle eastern or Indian people? I need to buy some self-lighting charcoals for my hookah and this seems like the logical place to do it.

I'm feeling kind of ambivalent about Bangkok. I'll reevaluate the city when I:
1. Have more money
2. Actually can access to the money I have.
I'm starting to realize that I really need to work on my Thai if I want to live here. In Patong and Vientiane I was fine using English and maybe 30 Thai words/phrases that I could mix in. I mean, I know how say "no sadism" but I need to know how to say "turn left" or "wtf is this food you're selling."

I really liked Vientiane and I'm considering going back there to stay for at least a few months. I've done some research and quality internet access is available but it doesn't come cheaply. It could be around the same price as my rent depending on where I live and how fast and reliable I want my connection to be. Lol, the best plan is a dedicated 512k wireless connection for US $5k/month.

When I was picking my sister up at the airport, the thought occurred to me that if you were really broke, you could just live there for free and support yourself by playing poker on the free wifi. Your only expense would be food but sleeping well would obviously be a problem. Prop bet anyone?