Don't want to comment specifically on what happened. Just wish there had been a "welcome" to overstay. However, it seems everyone has been intent on showing me their worst since arriving. Not sure what to make of this symbolism, and not sure if I want to...

The only good thing I'll say about Thailand is at least they have the good sense to recognize a King, and when someone is their spiritual superior. (And not talk bad about him).

You got 250 million goofballs in America all think they're Gods and everyone should submit to their will when they literally have no idea what that word means.

The funny thing is, you are going to miss Thailand once you are gone.

What advice are you looking for? I spent a month making my way around most of the South Island. Would rather answer in this thread so everyone can benefit (assuming I can provide any benefit) tho

Best part of New Zealand is their Fush an Chups other than that most are in Australia.

Enjoying the Sun ,Surf Sand and each other. I have some very good friends that are / were from NZ and they put Aussies to shame in that when one scores a job they get all the Cuz Bros work as well. Not all work hard but they turn up each day and pretend.

Very Similar to what the Italians ,Greeks did early days on the Snowy River Scheme. They paid for other family members to come out and then they are forever indebted to their Godfather. Then the Chinese etc did the same and the lazy Aussies and $10 Poms all went on the Dole.

New Zealand has Fantastic scenery, great Fushing, and some of the best snow fields and for such a small population put most Countries of the world to shame with their Success. Oh and No Snakes???

We are going from Auckland to Queenstown in a bit less than 2 weeks. Yes it's a lot of driving but wife has aunt's and cousins across the country that she wants to see and hasn't been in 25 years. Also limited by kids school schedules thus the shortened trip. Traveling with 2 teenage daughters who travel easily.

Basically I want to know how brutal this will be and what is recommended for one hole in our schedule. We like outdoorsy stuff, hiking, beaching, biking, as well as some cultural stuff in Rotorua for example:

Dec 21-23 Auckland
Dec 24-25 Rotorua/Redwoods
Dec 26 Wellington
Dec 27 Ferry to South Island drive to ???? (Hammer Springs was recommended but I don't really give a **** about geysers and such)
Dec 28-29 Christchurch (she has a lot of family there and is where her dad grew up)
Dec 30 Otiake (again a family stop)
Dec 31-Jan 3 Queenstown
Jan 3 Fly Queenstown-->Auckland-->San Francisco-->Home

What would you recommend in the north of South Island for a day? Does anything look out of whack?

It's a shame to cover so much ground so fast but still sounds like a fun drive.

Don't know anything about NZ but you can go coast to coast in murica in 2 weeks and still have some time to get a whiff of the roses so you should be ok.

bwslim69 -

That's going to be pretty brutal. If you haven't already done so, you probably want to map out the driving distances so you can see how much of each day is going to be used up just driving around.

The coastline drive between Blenheim and Christchurch is scenic with some interesting stops that include a few seal colonies. Kaikoura is worth a stop, if only for Ohau Falls.

Another option to consider is going south down the west coast, which is much more interesting than the east coast. After the ferry, head to Nelson, then take 6 thru the mountains over to the coastline, check out Punakaiki and Greymouth, then cut back thru the mountains on 73 going thru Arthur's Pass over to Christchurch.

Have you been to Queenstown before? I went there and lasted about 30 minutes. It's super crowded, super touristy, and overloaded with overpriced "adventure sports" garbage. And you'll be there right at the height of tourist season. You may want to look into Wanaka which is a toned down version of Queenstown. Will still be touristy, but nowhere near as bad as Queenstown.

Any consideration for driving thru Queenstown (so you can see I speak the truth) and heading to Manapouri instead, then making the drive up to Milford Sound? You can't beat that area for hiking and general outdoors stuff.

If I had 7-8 days and 3 of them had to be in Christchurch/Otiake, starting in Wellington, here is what I'd consider:

1 - Fly from Wellington to Invercargill, hire a car, head west on 99 along the coast, then up 95 into Fiordland National Park. Spend the night at Milford Sound.
2 - Hike the Milford Sound area for a bit, then on to Queenstown for the night.
3 - Realize Queenstown is lol, Head up 6 to Haast and cruise the coastline north. Stay at Fox Glacier for the night.
4 - Take a right on 73 into the mountains thru Arthur's Pass, make it to Christchurch that night.
5 & 6 - Christchurch
7 - Day trip to Otiake, back to Christchurch to drop off car and fly out.
(includes a buffer day)

Another option:

1 - Fly to Christchurch, family time
2 - hire a car, drive to Otiake in the evening
3 - Otiake during the day, drive to Queenstown in the evening
4 - realize Queenstown is lol, drive to Milford Sound
5 & 6 - spend two amazing days hiking the mountains and exploring fjords
7 - drive to Queenstown, fly out
(includes a buffer day)

I spent a month on the South Island focused on outdoors stuff. Milford Sound and the surrounding area blew everything else away. Queenstown was pure lol, just standard "adventure sports" garbage that you can do in lots of places. I'm an advocate of skipping things that you can easily do elsewhere and focusing on the stuff that is unique to the location.

In 50+ countries of travel, never have I been anywhere comparable to the Milford Sound area. Do a google image search on "Milford Sound" and "Milford Sound hiking" to see what I mean.

Lots of good stuff here. I've never been to NZ. Wife lived Queenstown but hasn't been there since like 94/95. May look at other options. Thanks for all of this


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bwslim69 - I forbid you to go to NZ unless you promise to make it to Milford Sound.

Seriously, just do some google image searches and you'll understand. Make sure to do one including the word "hiking" so you will see non-fjord stuff.

Please make a tr with you doing the same pose in the same spot as that last pic too.

So, I need to extend my 2 month tourist Visa in Thailand for another month (it expires Monday, but probably need to do it before the weekend). I know I read somewhere how to do this, but I'm not sure if it was here or Thaivisa.

Not sure what I'm doing longer term than that. I did come into some cash where now I can fly out of Thailand for a couple weeks and get another 2 months + 1 month extension when I come back.

The problem is generating cash like this regularly since I'm in significant debt from American "capitalism" - I was hoping Thai capitalism might be different - (still getting ripped off, but compared to the bending over in America it's little league.)

Guess I'll just get the month extension and see what unfolds.

Thank you for keeping us updated. Look forward to your next report

https://news.bitcoin.com/koreas-larg...ptocurrencies/

"Fake internet money"

Guess I was hoping for a bit of commentary on destinations with business opportunities. I mentioned I was considering Eastern Europe. One of my reasons for Thailand and SEA was English speaking authors have had success here in the past, after being passed over in the West.

Jake Needham who wrote The Big Mango (and 9 other books) is still yet to find a publisher in North America despite being picked up by a pub house in Singapore and becoming a bestselling author in Asia.

I've submitted my work here to both Bangkok Post Publishing and Nation Multimedia Group as whatever format they wish to distribute it as - magazine articles, books, digital content. But I'm getting the same stonewalling here as in the West.

So, I was curious if any English speakers were having success in Eastern/Southern Europe or other places.

If you were being sarcastic with your reply like, "no one cares", it seemed after my first few posts in the AMA thread people were very concerned about my well being with remarks of "schizo" or "crazy". So, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt they're genuine and sincere people and not pushing an agenda like 99.99% of the rest of the world (a guy can hope at least).

maybe your work is just really ****? Post something here so we can read it

That's the point Needham demonstrates though. ****ty in N. America doesn't necessarily mean ****ty in Asia. Also, I think there's rules here against advertising. But if you google "eyes wide shut analysis part 1" you may be able to find my work.

I'm a freelance writer. I have not written for any Asian companies, so you may disregard what I say, but I firmly believe quality is quality, anywhere in the world.

If you're experienced and skilled, use Upwork.com to find jobs. I'm not balling by any means, but I'm pretty green, and I make enough off Upwork to live in SEA no problem. I barely work. If you put in enough hours applying for jobs, producing quality work, and getting good feedback, I don't see any reason you can't make enough to pay down your debts.

I guess I'm just trying to understand how/why a fellow 2+2'er (Harvie) who runs a blog that seems mostly about picking up Thai girls gets featured and plugged in the Bangkok Post, yet my work which should also theoretically resonate with an overwhelmingly religious country of 95% Buddhists doesn't get a second look.

Seems the religion here is not Buddhism, but the almighty dollar just like America. I got no problem with that. Just looking for someone to point me in the direction of the right palm to grease is all.

And if someone with deeper pockets already greased a palm to "hold me down" - it'd be cool to find out how much my bounty was. You know so I could put it on a wanted poster like Jesse James or something.

I don't want to overstep, but I think you spend too much energy feeling like a victim. Look up internal vs. external locus of control. I was severely external before (like you seem to be now), and making an effort to switch toward internal helped me a lot.

What does it matter if someone else is succeeding and you think it's unjust? Getting upset over it doesn't help you. Focus on what you can change.

I don't think it's unjust, and I'm not getting upset. I'm happy for the guy and the writer of the article (and publisher) - I was only trying to point out inconsistencies people may not have noticed. Like if you were walking around the earth and found a spot where there was a gravity anomaly and you started floating around - you'd probably mention it to someone.

I am also very careful with my words (but still try to make a point or point things out). And if you notice I used the word "seems" (synonym for "appears") a couple times in that last post. So, I freely admit my observations may indeed be "illusions" caused by where I'm standing or my current perspective. Doesn't mean illusions aren't worth talking about though.

OK fair enough.

Good luck! I've never tried submitting to publications myself, but I'm interested to see how it goes for you. What's your content about?

Have a random question which is not worth creating a separate post for, so thought I'd ask it here--hope this is an appropriate place!

This guy http://www.ramblinrandy.com/asia/philippines/ has a travel blog that he's monetized, and he claims he flies for almost nothing, i.e., first class tickets for $29. Clearly it's click bait, but I was just wondering if anyone knew what his angle / scam is?

I only ask, as in years past I truly did score some sick deals, i.e., flew USA to Hong Kong for basically free. I scored that flight by paying a yearly fee to join something called "The International Association of Air Couriers" (doubt it even exists anymore) and in exchange for giving up my baggage allowance (and willingness / ability to traveling last minute, as in literally the next day) I was able to fly to Hong Kong for free.

And when Spirit Airlines was new (maybe for the first two years?) I joined the "$9.00 Club" and scored several $9 flights (plus taxes and departure fees of course) to places like Costa Rica, Mexico, etc.. I tell people that and of course they think I'm lying, so part of me can't help but wonder "hmm, maybe this guy does know something" but then I come back to reality and call bull**** on him myself.

So, anyone got any idea what he's selling??

There's a day hike at the south end of the North Island that goes past Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. It's well worth a day out of your schedule if you can find the time.

Basically he advertises their product in various ways and he gets discounts.

You know when you see those travel blogs that recommend certain hotels or tour buses or whatever in their reviews of places? They aren't genuine recommendations. They're ads disguised as recommendations.