hey!

just moving to new condo and landlord said that internet provider is TOT.

anyone have expience from that one?, heard that is goverment owned.

just feels not safe to play internet poker while using goverment internet!

ty!

dont worry about it being government owned

TOT can be good or it can suck. it depends on your location, if you are sharing it or if it is your own (ldo) and which package you have etc

unfortunately the only way to know is to actually play on it

My parents did it last year... Singapore-Vietnam then back again and up to Penang.

/old people

any travel advice on this possible trip?:

bangkok
--> phi phi (via flight to surat thani, bus(?) to krabi, ferry to phi phi)
--> samui (via ferry back to krabi, bus(?) back to surat thani, ferry to samui)
--> phangan (via ferry)
--> bangkok (via ferry back to samui, flight to bkk)

Plan would be 4 nights in bangkok, 4 in phi phi, 3 in samui, 2 in phangan, 1 more in bangkok

Also I know it's a really annoying question but could anyone give me a ballpark figure for travel expenses here? would 25-30k baht be a reasonable estimate?

any help is rly appreciated, thanks

Krabi has an airport. Surat Thani is not close to Krabi, so don't fly there to go Phi Phi.

25-30k seems a really high estimate. Check prices on these sites. If you fly back via Surat Thani instead of Samui you can save money.

www.airasia.com
www.nokair.com
www.flyorientthai.com/
www.thaiairways.com/
www.bangkokair.com

samui is near surat thani and phi phi is between phuket and krabi

so your plan needs a bit adjusting

also just my opinion but i dont see the point of visiting all 3 of samui, phangan and phi phi. just a lot of travelling/switching hotels etc at destinations that cant be that different

and what do you want to get for the 25-30k? food+alcohol+accomodation+transpo etc ?

i think it should be fine! my location is bkk and its my own high speed adsl

ty for u help lessu

if someone told you it is "high speed adsl" it still doesnt mean anything yet

like i said try it out. generally it is good idea to have some backup connection too. in bkk i believe the best option is a 3G stick. dont know which operator but hopefully someone gives you that info

So this would be more efficient:

bangkok
--> phi phi (via flight to krabi, ferry to phi phi)
--> samui (via ferry back to krabi, [what's the best way to get to samui from here?]
--> phangan (via ferry)
--> bangkok (via ferry back to samui, flight to bkk)[tme, are you saying I should get a ferry straight from phangan to surat thani for the cheaper flight back to bkk?]


Yeah I realise they aren't too different but I still think I want to visit them all while I'm there - where would you recommend spending that time instead? This will be my first trip to thailand, I basically want to spend a fair amount of time at beaches, hit a few clubs, and do a few touristy things like seeing sights, maybe snorkelling etc

I want to get a good feel of the island life so I figured those 3 would be good places to start

I was estimating 25-30k for purely travel, baring in mind I would likely be paying for the flights/ferries etc on the day of the trip; even with that said, did I overestimate the cost of that then?

thanks a lot guys

you can get from krabi to surat thani by bus

or you could take the ferry from phi phi to phuket instead and fly to samui directly. which ever you prefer

i cant see you spending 25k on travel expenses alone but i also woudnt know to give you a better estimate

for bkk-krabi flights you can check airasia.com for a budget option
and in case you decide to fly from phuket to samui check bangkokairways.com

Sean how about looking at a ****ing map of Thailand before booking your trip. That's the best advice I can give you right now.

I am not sure if I have any better plan for you. You seem to have a good idea what you want and hopefully you have travelled enough already to know how much travelling takes away from your holiday time

you have only a two week holiday and I assume you are coming from somewhere where flights take at least 10 hours to get here

after that you will be spending pretty much the whole day moving from bkk to phi phi, phi phi to samui, samui to phangan and phangan to bkk. that is 4 days out of your 14 day trip where you wont be doing much else than moving from place a to b

maybe this is just me personally but even if i wanted to see a lot of different places while visiting a new country (continent?) for the first time i still wouldnt want to spend that much time travelling

anyways good luck on your trip and ask around if you had more Qs

I'm trying to get advice on the most cost efficient way to get to all the places I want to go, that's the kind of thing this thread is for right? No need to be rude

edit: lessu that's all rly helpful cheers

http://www.dell2u.com
for dell 27"/30"

yep, i know that!

just bought AIS 7.2 Mbps 3G stick for back up and so far its been good.

speedtest showed 3.8m/0,5m

wow!! and even cheaper than prices in europe!

Has anyone been to http://www.banjedyod.com/ serviced apartment?
I found no reviews and little information about the place.

Thx !
,
Ironman

I've briefly been for a BBQ on the rooftop and checked out one of the rooms - it seems really nice, everything is new and the pool looked good. Personally I like the location also, but it depends on which side of town you prefer

^ This Ban Yed Yod place looks really sweet. Anyone knows if the wi-fi there is good for grinding?

some days ago I got a tourist visa in Kuala Lumpur with one entry but now I'm thinking abount going to Macau for Chinese New Year so I would need a new visa. Unfortunately I had 4 overstays already. Do you think I will get a new visa in Hong Kong or are they mad at me now?

Do you guys know where it's easy to get a new visa even with many overstays? Would be nice if I could get multiple entrys.

agreed ban yed yod looks legit for 9000bt a month. just wondering if that i standard for a serviced apartment or on the cheap side ?

Hello, How much money in cash i can get in Thailand, without having worries?
I heard sth. very small, like 500e/20k Baht

you can go to immigration and get a re-entry permit for 1000 baht. when you come back from macau you will keep using the same tourist visa entry you are using now so you get to use the whole 90 days. if you only came back a few days ago that might be better option than taking your chances with the HK thai embassy

you mean taking with you from home to thailand? i think the limit is $10000

the 20k is the standard limit an ATM allows per transaction (though some ATMs allow 25 or 30k)

Trip Report / Random Advice:
- just withdraw from ATMS, 20K at a time. Last time I checked that's about $650/$670 after fees. Why on earth would you bring cash and get raped by exchange rate booths? Also, don't use ATMs by exchange rate places, just use normal ones (you will get a better rate, I stupidly withdrew 10K at airport on arrival and got a worse exchange rate).
- Bangkok is fun, only been there for one night though, will be there more at the end of the month and can comment more on it then
- Samui is pretty chill for hanging out / going to dinner with friends / chilling on the beach. Phangan is really touristy and IMO you could just skip it entirely, full moon party was I suppose worth seeing but I likely wouldn't want to check out next year's
- Living expenses.. can vary, everyone has different standards, etc, but I would say USD 2K / mo is enough to live reasonably (going out a fair bit, travelling around a bit).
- internet in Thailand in BKK and Samui is 100% OK for grinding from my experience so far (close to 3 weeks now), I wouldn't worry about it (although you probably want wireless backup)

I assume you are american? you guys get money from ATMs so cheaply compared to us euros.

changing cash euro at an exchange booth you get "raped" only for 1-1.5%. had a friend change some euros 2 weeks ago and he paid 1.2% compared to xe.com rate

if we(=finns) use an ATM in thailand with a finnish bank's card we pay around 4-5% (150b at thai end + 2 euros + 2.5% + the rate they use isnt the mid market rate (=xe.com))

so remember only to suggest using ATMs to other americans