Advice from some friends....
Advice from some friends on Thailand...
From Brendan:
About elephants - "So the north of Thailand is the place to do the caring for elephants thing. I am not 100% on the name of the place but I know it is very near Chiang Mai. It was the best one that I heard of, I'm not sure that you can stay there, but the people I was speaking with went and bought food for the elephants with the carers, then fed them, then spent the whole day hanging out with them until very late and all seemed immensely moved by the experience." (Brendan and I figured out that this is the one I had found and applied to a few days earlier.)
About the language - "...a really good one to learn early is "Mai, khop kuhn maak ka". Which means "No, thank you very much". (replace ka with khap for a guy in case you want to tell someone else this little gem of info... otherwise the locals will think they are a ladyboy hehehe) When people harass you a lot, if you spit Thai back, they normally say ok, seeya."
About the locals -
"The best thing to do when you arrive is tell the "helpful" locals/touts that you have been there 5 times already and you donÂt want a ride around the city of Bangkok for only 40 baht or one dollar American via the tailors, gem shops and back alleys of the city. If you do want to do this one day, go with someone who knows what is going on. It can be a cheap way to see some of the sites, but you have to know what is open when, as they are always telling you that what you want to see is closed today for some bullshit reason even if you are standing out the front of it and people are walking in and out. A good one they say is that it is only for the Thai people that day which is a load of shit also except during Song Kran."
I've never been in a place where people were trying to rip me off left and right. Not that I was aware of at least. This is going to be fun.
From Acorn:
"stay at koa san road and at the top end of
the street go down an alley way (small) and just ask
around. dont drink on koa san go up turn right then ur next
left (its cheaper)
so then go up to chang mai for a jungle trip (this is where my elephant place is) ,
then go to koh pan ngan and go to had rin beach and stay at
paradise bungalows (get there a week before full moon)
and stay at d10 (i don't know what that means) ,
ask for yao (yow), say you know mik and acorn.
also a couple of days in koh tao wont go a miss.
fuck phucket (that'sconvenientt to say) and
koh samui- prostitutes and mcdonalds!"
So the Full Moon Party is this huge party that happens once a month on this island every time there's a, you guessed it, full moon. Check it out, even Wikipedia knows about it.
The funny thing is, that because of the success of the "full moon parties" some companies started throwing "half moon parties" and "black moon parties". Apparently, they're more underground, so have better DJs for people who care about that stuff, but they also have a cover charge, and less people (as in the annoying, backpacker, came-here-cause-they-heard-you're-supposed-to people, like me I guess.)
Anyway, the island also has massages, spas, motorbikes for rent, Thai boxing gyms and all that stuff. And you can get your own bungalow for like $14 a night (that's for a room with 2 beds)! This place is nuts.
But what good is a room with two beds if I'm by myself? Staying in some place with dorm beds by yourself is one thing, but on a huge party island? I think I want a friend with me. Alki got accepted to her conference in Hawaii, so now I'm just waiting to see if she can get time off from her lab. I think Danny will have to be back in the States by then (January 14th, 2006 is my date, yup yup.) Maybe Brian will come if he ever gets back to me. Or maybe I'll meet someone in my travels (hopefully they're not a serial killer, JUST KIDDING MOM!!)
Some other websites I've been looking at are...
www.passplanet.com/Asia - recommended from a book I bought.
www.travelindependent.info - got in during a google search, but it's working out well.
That's all for now. I guess I should go to sleep.
From Brendan:
About elephants - "So the north of Thailand is the place to do the caring for elephants thing. I am not 100% on the name of the place but I know it is very near Chiang Mai. It was the best one that I heard of, I'm not sure that you can stay there, but the people I was speaking with went and bought food for the elephants with the carers, then fed them, then spent the whole day hanging out with them until very late and all seemed immensely moved by the experience." (Brendan and I figured out that this is the one I had found and applied to a few days earlier.)
About the language - "...a really good one to learn early is "Mai, khop kuhn maak ka". Which means "No, thank you very much". (replace ka with khap for a guy in case you want to tell someone else this little gem of info... otherwise the locals will think they are a ladyboy hehehe) When people harass you a lot, if you spit Thai back, they normally say ok, seeya."
About the locals -
"The best thing to do when you arrive is tell the "helpful" locals/touts that you have been there 5 times already and you donÂt want a ride around the city of Bangkok for only 40 baht or one dollar American via the tailors, gem shops and back alleys of the city. If you do want to do this one day, go with someone who knows what is going on. It can be a cheap way to see some of the sites, but you have to know what is open when, as they are always telling you that what you want to see is closed today for some bullshit reason even if you are standing out the front of it and people are walking in and out. A good one they say is that it is only for the Thai people that day which is a load of shit also except during Song Kran."
I've never been in a place where people were trying to rip me off left and right. Not that I was aware of at least. This is going to be fun.
From Acorn:
"stay at koa san road and at the top end of
the street go down an alley way (small) and just ask
around. dont drink on koa san go up turn right then ur next
left (its cheaper)
so then go up to chang mai for a jungle trip (this is where my elephant place is) ,
then go to koh pan ngan and go to had rin beach and stay at
paradise bungalows (get there a week before full moon)
and stay at d10 (i don't know what that means) ,
ask for yao (yow), say you know mik and acorn.
also a couple of days in koh tao wont go a miss.
fuck phucket (that'sconvenientt to say) and
koh samui- prostitutes and mcdonalds!"
So the Full Moon Party is this huge party that happens once a month on this island every time there's a, you guessed it, full moon. Check it out, even Wikipedia knows about it.
The funny thing is, that because of the success of the "full moon parties" some companies started throwing "half moon parties" and "black moon parties". Apparently, they're more underground, so have better DJs for people who care about that stuff, but they also have a cover charge, and less people (as in the annoying, backpacker, came-here-cause-they-heard-you're-supposed-to people, like me I guess.)
Anyway, the island also has massages, spas, motorbikes for rent, Thai boxing gyms and all that stuff. And you can get your own bungalow for like $14 a night (that's for a room with 2 beds)! This place is nuts.
But what good is a room with two beds if I'm by myself? Staying in some place with dorm beds by yourself is one thing, but on a huge party island? I think I want a friend with me. Alki got accepted to her conference in Hawaii, so now I'm just waiting to see if she can get time off from her lab. I think Danny will have to be back in the States by then (January 14th, 2006 is my date, yup yup.) Maybe Brian will come if he ever gets back to me. Or maybe I'll meet someone in my travels (hopefully they're not a serial killer, JUST KIDDING MOM!!)
Some other websites I've been looking at are...
www.passplanet.com/Asia - recommended from a book I bought.
www.travelindependent.info - got in during a google search, but it's working out well.
That's all for now. I guess I should go to sleep.
posted by beth at 4:22 PM
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