been meaning to make this post for awhile, discussion of motorbike safety above makes me go ahead and bring this up...

there are a lot of motorbiking deaths in thailand. a part of it is how common drinking and driving is, and another big part of it is helmet use. i'll skip the sermon on drinking and driving, as I hate being a hypocrite.

your odds of getting into an accident over here are pretty high, but if you take the proper precautions, odds are it will be a minor thing when it does happen, and some combination of road rash and/or broken bones when it's bad. your fatality rate will skyrocket if you don't properly wear a good helmet.

that said, don't just assume putting a plastic bucket on your head will suffice. those nerf helmets that come with rental bikes will probably do a pretty good job of preventing a concussion if you get hit in the head with a wiffle ball bat, but isn't going to actually drop your fatality rate much at all.

I recommend buying your own helmet. while not up to the standards of high quality motorcycle helmets back home, for 400 baht you can get something that should do a pretty good job of preventing an accident at a reasonable speed from killing you easily. for 1k baht you can get a helmet that will do a damn fine job of preventing your death *and* from your face being mangled. I usually wear a full face helmet cause i'm too awesome to die, and too handsome to lose my jaw.

my first trip to phuket i bought a half decent helmet for a few days of riding a bike, and just gave it to the hotel receptionist i'd rented a bike from (it was her bike, not the hotels) you could just give the helmet to some random kid you see riding a bike with a ****ty helmet, if you like.

the other thing is, tighten up your chin strap, and actually buckle your helmet. the number of times i've seen a motorbike accident where someone was being carted off and their helmet just slid right off their head is absurd. If you can wedge the helmet off your head without unbuckling it, it's gonna come off in an accident. even if you cant, but you can move it around easily, it might end up choking you or smashing your nose to bits.

and what about a back protector?
it will heavily increase your safety.
on the other hand it`s incovinient and hot.

just like a helmet......

i actually want one of those cool jackets, but they're not anywhere near as cheap or convenient. also, i doubt there are many XXL's over here so i'd have to import the thing.

but really, while it does increase your safety, nowhere near as important as a good helmet, properly fastened.

ok thanks for info on bikes, they sound pretty dodgy so ill probably avoid them unless im with people who specifically want to go out on them.

+1 on get one that protects your jaw. scars most other places are not a big deal but you're going to feel pretty stupid if you scrape your face all to ****

I wear one of these and still scraped my chin/cheek up nicely last time i crashed. should really buy a new one

Has anyone bought "BP World" luggage?

As I understood its a Thai made travel cases. looks quite decent, but I don't have a clue how to determine quality and durability.

costs a little moore than 100 usd (3495 THB), so not supercheap

My helmet prevented brain damage from a motorbike crash this weekend... Def +EV to use one. Also, be careful if you drive from Chiang Mai to Pai... it's a rough road.

I'll be there with someone else

True is stable so far,but testing shows some pretty weird results

city down mbps up mbps latency ms

bangkok 38.4 5.5 19
berlin 41.6 50.4!(no typo) 232
london 4.6 2.4 237
madrid 1.4 0.7 236

new york 8.4 1.4 19!(impossible!)
los angeles 3.9 6.8 239
toronto 2.4 1.4 20!

buenos aires 1.9 0.7 20!
moscow 2.0 1.1 239

tokyo 41.7 50.5!! 247
singapore 42.1 5.4 241
mumbai 1.2 0.5 243
sydney 3.7 1.0 242
tel aviv 10.1 0.6 19!

you get low results because the file you are downloading and testing with is cached somewhere locally so it doesn't really test it to those countries

you need to find a speedtest that doesn't cache the files

upps,wanted post this in chatter thread.

anyway,yeah you`re prob right.
i guess the tests with 19 and 20 ms latency are cashed in bangkok.

do the test that I linked in the other thread and post results from the LA server

can someone please recommend me a good hotel in bbk, $40 - $80 per night with grindable internet?

I stayed here the last time I was in bangers, nice place and decent internet. Degen nightlife on your doorstep too.

http://thedawin.com/

smart suites on soi 11 suk fit that description last time i was there, which was about two years ago.

Hey guys, I'm sure to have some other questions, but I'd appreciate some help with my current problem with my trip to Thailand. I need to book 2 flights: one from Bangkok to Phuket and one from Hat Yai to Bangkok (I was planning on traveling from Phuket to Hat Yai by bus, so if this is a terrible idea I'd take some feedback on that, but I'd like to save the money there if possible). So far I'm having trouble with booking the flights.

For the Hat Yai to Bangkok trip, I am trying to book through Thai AirAsia. I didn't realize this before, but it's a known problem that they don't do well accepting American credit cards (neither me nor my fellow traveler has been able to book through them on their website or Wegolo.com with a BoA Visa). I can use my wife's or my parent's American Express card, which is supposed to work, but since it's not my card it could be a problem at check in, as some people say they ask to see the credit card used for the tickets when you check in. The Hat Yai-Bangkok trip is pretty tight; I can only do it on one particular day and I would prefer one particular time. Anyone have suggestions for workarounds here? Will I possibly be able to buy a ticket at the Bangkok airport a week and a half before the flight back from Hat Yai? I guess worst case scenario I could take a train but that would waste an entire day in Bangkok for me.

Given all the issues with AirAsia, I'm thinking that I might book on Bangkok Airways to get to Phuket instead. Any feedback on this airline? Will I be able to book through them online using an American Visa card? The price on their website seems to be WAY lower than on Orbitz or Cheaptickets but I'm guessing there will be some extra fees associated with them.

Try http://www.nokair.com/
You can pay for your ticket at the ATM, you will need a Thai phone number to receive an SMS on though.

I went to Hat Yai from Phuket on a bus. Its a long ass journey, probably about 8 or 9 hours.
You might be able to get a mini-van which would be a little more expensive but quicker.

You dont need to show your credit card for Air Asia flights (I was never asked on multiple flights) you need your passport and your reference number only.

You can book at an AA booth at the airport, but it costs an extra 500 baht or something to have someone click the buttons for u.

Hmm how would you go about getting a mini-van? And was the bus easy to find and book? I don't speak any Thai...I'm hoping the hotel can help me. I'm pretty confident in my travel abilities but it seems like there are a lot of scams related to travel in Thailand.

And I see I was mistaken about the credit card with AirAsia - seems like it's only necessary if you book less than 12 hours ahead.

this is not true.

airasia doesn't require you to show a credit card at check-in. you can book flights for other people without travelling with them. i have done so several times (including another poster here)

there won't be any extra fees, i assume you hit some promotion that the search engines don't see or they are using some ridic exchange rate. bangkok airways includes 20kg of luggage etc to the ticket price. they even offer free food (unlike airasia which is 100% low cost airline)

i've flown them 3 times last time being a month ago connecting to my euro flight. very professional and i would rank them above airasia though for these short flights you could use any airline that flies in thailand

(not orient thai (1-2-go before) though. they crashed on phuket 2007 killing like 90 ppl, been on EU blacklist since then and they were even grounded in thailand for couple of months for security reasons 07 or 08. around that time they changed their name from 1-2-go to orient thai. since there are many airlines to choose from this is enough reason for me to never use this airline)

Well, the ticket was bought at the bus station.

Hotel should be able to help you and will be legit. When i went I was actually waiting at 7/11 for the bus to Phuket Town from Karon, but instead the guy who works the front desk night shift had just finished and offered me a ride to the station and he sorted the ticket for me and everything - he was a total bro.

I dunno how u get mini-van. Just tell the front desk you want to take a van to Hat Yai and they should be able to sort it. Its unlikely youll get scammed if you book it through your hotel. Or just ask for a quote first. Tickets are prolly about 600 baht for a van (thats a guess but its def. <1k)

I would pick a VIP bus over a minivan unless you are really small, only advantage with minivan is that they start as soon as their full while a VIP bus have fixed departure time, but it s much more comfortable, i did phuket > penang in those minivan and regretted it since i could have used a vip bus to hat yai instead

Yeah, don't get a mini-van. You might get there an hour earlier but it will be the most uncomfortable 7 hours of your life. Not to mention that it's by far the most dangerous way to travel in Thailand (short of riding your own motorbike down there).

Cool, thanks everyone. Does this seem about right for the busses: http://www.sawadee.com/transfer/bus-hatyai.htm? Are there other companies? I was going to take a 2nd class one because I need a morning departure. The length of travel really doesn't matter to me that much, I was actually looking forward to taking in Thailand from this point of view, though I have no idea what the country is like between those two cities.