JB:

Yep, a quick skype snapshot - barely does her justice. She cooks and cleans too! Close to perfect english as well. I waited a long time to settle down as I am 42 (she is 35) and was a bar owner / operator for 10 + years and I am very happy with my choice.

I am fairly useless on the soccer field, but if you need a body when I am there - I am down. I will PM you as my visit approaches.

I am american, but I was born in Augsburg, Germany when my father was a doctor for the US army - does that preclude me from playing?

Hey,

Firstly I apologize if this has been discussed, but this thread is 16k posts long.

I'm going with some friends on a trip to Thailand/Bali/HK starting Tuesday. I went to the Travel Clinic the other week and was given some shots(Partially b/c I haven't had some standard ones since high-school, and partially specifically for the trip). I was also prescribed Malaria pills(Doxycycline). Since then from basically everyone I've talked to thats been to Thailand has told me not to take the pills b/c they or their friends have experienced negative side-effects.

From what I understand BKK is close to 0 risk, but we plan on travelling throughout the country.

Can I get some comments on this? ty.

vancouver special:

I got malaria when I visited Bali last year. 90% sure it was from a mosquito bite (I got several every evening). I went to the travel doc in NY before my trip, so I had some antibiotics with me that knocked it out, but it was bad. I was shivering / teeth chattering with a raging fever and I do not want to mention what happened from out of my ass.

The meds / antibiotics the travel doc gave me, before I left, for just this purpose did the job right away. I was better in a couple of days.

Hope this helps in any way.

Q regarding Moneybookers:
It keeps telling me that residents from my country (THailand) cannot do transactions with gambling companies. Does it all go through fine anyway? Or are your accounts all registered outside of Thailand but you use them inside THailand anyway?

You get that problem when trying to deposit. Withdrawing works fine though.

this does not sound like malaria to me.

disclaimer: I am not a doctor, but i play one on 2+2

the vig is like 1.5%, ive been wiring 5-10k at a time. there are probably fees for intermediary banks and a slightly worse exchange rate from the xe.com rate.

hey so im having a friend ship me some stuff from the US, not a huge package, just some books/deodorant and some supplements. Anyone know the cost to ship from usa to thailand and if i should go w/ fedex, usps or something different?

From Wikipedia:

Symptoms of malaria include fever, shivering, arthralgia (joint pain), vomiting, anemia (caused by hemolysis), hemoglobinuria, retinal damage,[10] and convulsions. The classic symptom of malaria is cyclical occurrence of sudden coldness followed by rigor and then fever and sweating lasting four to six hours, occurring every two days in P. vivax and P. ovale infections, while every three days for P. malariae.[11] P. falciparum can have recurrent fever every 36–48 hours or a less pronounced and almost continuous fever. For reasons that are poorly understood, but that may be related to high intracranial pressure, children with malaria frequently exhibit abnormal posturing, a sign indicating severe brain damage.[12] Malaria has been found to cause cognitive impairments, especially in children. It causes widespread anemia during a period of rapid brain development and also direct brain damage. This neurologic damage results from cerebral malaria to which children are more vulnerable.[13][14] Cerebral malaria is associated with retinal whitening,[15] which may be a useful clinical sign in distinguishing malaria from other causes of fever.[16]

The chills / fever / sweating (profusely!) were my biggest symptoms. I was also completely anemic.

What was coming out of my ass certainly could have been food related.

klink, I looked into how much it would cost to send a 5lb container of protein power and it was $90 to thailand. So you can use that as your barometer.

Anyone know how good the internet connection is at Palm Village?

Hey guys,

I'm in Thailand at the minute, ko samed to be exact, I'll be in Thailand for 6 weeks but my understanding is that my visa only lasts 30 days? I'm from the uk. Is there any simple way around this that doesn't include going to a different country and coming back here.

Cheers, and sorry if this has been discussed. Don't feel like going through all those pages whilst chilling on the beach!

Would consider moving to thailand as of January. If anyone else wanted to get a poker pad together or if any current poker houses need a new flatmate. About me 24. Midstake 6max pro. Always trying to improve my game. Like most sport and partying. PM if interested.

I paid 55 dollars for a 3.5 kg packages with USPS, so your price quote is excessive

Depends if you want action or quiet beaches. If you want action Chaweng. If you want quiet then basically any other beach. I really like Fishermans Village (Bophut). Quiet, beautiful and very cheap - probably best hotel value for money that I've seen basically anywhere in the world ($20 a night for rooms that should be $100+ imo).

Best way to do Samui is to get a motorbike and a hotel someplace then hit up the whole island - it isn't that big.

If it were me I would just overstay my visa and pay the 500 THB per day fine when I left.

Disclaimer: There are (small imo) risks with doing that. The first is if you get picked up by the cops while you are overstaying, you could face criminal charges and will probably spend at least a night or two in jail. Second is that there have been some (dubious imo) reports lately that immigration is not automatically simply allowing people to pay the fine and go.

If you don't want to overstay (nitty decision but understandable) then you'll either need to get a tourist visa before you come from any Thai embassy or consulate abroad - or leave the country and re-enter while you are here.

Great info. Thankyou. How much does a motorbike cost?

Also is the best option just to book flights and hotels to the islands while over there? I have a week booked in Bangkok but I haven't booked anywhere else because a friend said it's cheaper booking everything over there due to promos?

If it isn't or you have some good websites to book from I'll book from over here.

Call the Thai embassy or at the very least check visahq.com.

For me, it was 90 days and it's probably 90 days for you as well.

I've found latestays.com to be the cheapest - at least for the places they have listed. That said, there might be some more elaborate promos out there to make stuff even cheaper.

Also, one trick for latestays is that you can figure out their 'secret' hotel by googling the description.

we can assume when he says "visa" he means 30 day exemption

So I'm gonna be in Thailand for 20 days. I have the first 6 days booked in BKK. Recs for the other 14?

I'm kinda going by myself but will be meeting up with a girl I have been sort of seeing (not going out there to see her, it's just coincidental she had booked thailand before we met). I don't know how long I will be seeing her for so presume I'm gonna be by myself for the next 14, what do you guys recommend? I'm really looking for beaches and nightlife after BKK but I'm not a degen.


My friend went tubing in Laos and highly recs it, what about you guys?

i paid $90.00 to ship to US East Coast, 3 kg.

Tomorrow I am going to Koh Larn, from Bangkok, and plan on staying at Samae beach. I am wanting to do some bicycling and fishing. Am i right to assume i will be able to readily find these services/equipment along the beach? Pros/Cons of deep sea fishing? Any recommended spots, feel free to advise

anyone have experience bringing perscriptions into the US? (xanax, tramadol) where should i go in BKK to get perscriptions?

You have to have a prescription to get them into the US.

Have you ever been to Bangkok? You can get prescription drugs on every corner...