Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Nice house.

Where is it? Rent or own? How much?

And degen, you are mistaken when you say thai people are accepting. Thai people are raciest. Its in their blood and has been that way forever. Skin color determines social status. Dark skin means you are poor and have to work slave jobs in rice fields while white skin means you are rich and can shop in bangkok all day hiding from the sun. Its sad but thats the way it is. For the most part it is correct though but unfortanitly the thais sometimes transfer these views over to black people and assume they are poor, etc.

But again, there are not many blacks in Thailand. There are some areas in bangkok with a lot but you dont really see to many. Honestly I think you will still have a great time and not run into the things I described. I wouldnt worry too much.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]
How do they view Persians?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think the important part here is that you're American. In the southern part of thailand, there are violent muslims. But if you're wearing regular clothes, etc, I don't think you'd be bunched in with them..

I was shopping at the Thai version of wal-mart yesterday, and I saw a muslim family. The mother was wearing the tent thing that they wear with the slit in the eyes. It was really weird to see this in person, and it really opened my eyes to that religion.

I think women suck in a lot of cases, but making someone walk around in this thing is just bogus.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]
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One thing I'm surprised is that no one has mentioned the fact that farang can't own property.

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So if you lived there you have to rent? That does sound like a bummer. Whats the point of an investor visa (or whatever that was called)?

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I guess its been pointed out that there are ways around it. For example, our house is in my wifes name.

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that isnt a way around it.

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You are right, that was poorly phrased. I should have just said what my situation was.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Deg means they will smile at him and say Yes Sir!

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

I still need to find some [censored] dim sum here in Samui.

Looks like I will just have to settle for MK or Fuji today

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]
Nice house.

Where is it? Rent or own? How much?

[/ QUOTE ]

Chiang Mai. (Actually Hang Dong, lol)

We own it.

Tao rai?? Wow, you're becoming Thai.

[ QUOTE ]


And degen, you are mistaken when you say thai people are accepting. Thai people are raciest. Its in their blood and has been that way forever. Skin color determines social status. Dark skin means you are poor and have to work slave jobs in rice fields while white skin means you are rich and can shop in bangkok all day hiding from the sun. Its sad but thats the way it is. For the most part it is correct though but unfortanitly the thais sometimes transfer these views over to black people and assume they are poor, etc.

But again, there are not many blacks in Thailand. There are some areas in bangkok with a lot but you dont really see to many. Honestly I think you will still have a great time and not run into the things I described. I wouldnt worry too much.

[/ QUOTE ]

Farang, I agree with this. And, I think it should be said that we are all just speculating when we're trying to express thai people's views , etc.. We are getting their opinions from them, and often they suck at english, etc.

something I'd like to say about poker...

The thai's would be dumb to try and stop farang from playing. People doing this are bringing A LOT of money into their country. Why would they want to stop this. I think if anyone ever got in trouble, explaining this point of view my be very helpful to them.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

"Tao rai?? Wow, you're becoming Thai."

If it was a rental I was curious as to how much it was

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

The girls will love you the most when you go to a more remote area of Thailand. When you're in BKK or Chiang Mai, the thais are used to Farang. But if you go to a small town like Lampang or whatever, people will really be going out of their way to get your attention, say hello, shake your hand, etc.. I went to a coffee shop with my wife and her friend, and the waitress was basically drooling over me. She was smiling and giggling uncontrollably. I've never experienced this in my life. She was VERY hot too. If I wasn't married, I prolly woulda married her right there..

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]
"Tao rai?? Wow, you're becoming Thai."

If it was a rental I was curious as to how much it was

[/ QUOTE ]

Ya man, i was just playing.. But, similar houses rent for $500. They don't have much furniture in them, though.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

20,000 baht for a house like that isnt bad at all.

I think the CM area has some good deals. Im thinking I should spend 3 months somewhere in the area for a change of pace sometime.

Not too many farang up there huh?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]
farang0,

I'm not planning on moving to thailand, I'm saying I think I'll take a 2 week-1month vacation/poker trip there.

These pics of the man/women scare me though, because I see a chance of myself getting drunk enough where I don't know the difference.

[/ QUOTE ]
They aren't all that hard to spot. This is a friend of mine with some bar "girls."

http://www.nd.edu/~mbosley/oz/thai%20hookers.jpg

Speaking of, does anyone have any funny stories or experiences with kathoey? I feel like there could be some great stories out there.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

CM has plenty of Farang. You can rent the homes in my neighborhood by the day, so three months would be fine too.

Obviously, lemme know when you plan on being up here.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

thankfully I dont have any experiences to share about katoeys.

You gotta watch out for them though. They are huge pick pockets around lower sukhumvit. They try and grab your balls but snatch your wallet at the same time. Whenever I have to be in that area I walk in the street to avoid them.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

with the recent crackdowns, is it still possible to get a visa at the airport for 30 days? can you still drive/fly out of the country and renew it indefinitely?

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

this thread is insane

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

This thread is goot

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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with the recent crackdowns, is it still possible to get a visa at the airport for 30 days? can you still drive/fly out of the country and renew it indefinitely?

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You can do this to a total of 90 days, then you cannot return for 90 days.

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So where do you go for 90 days?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

You can avoid this by getting a multi entry visa. You can get a one year visa or even just a 3 month single entry visa.

So you land in thailand, stay for 30 days. Go on a visa run and stay for 30 more days. Go on a visa run and stay for 30 more days. Now you can fly to Singapore or Austrailia or China and get a 3 month Single entry visa. You come back with this visa and you can stay for 90 days with no visa run. After these 90 days are uo you cant do 3 more 30 day visits in thailand with visa runs and start the cycle over again.

Alternativly you can visit a Thai embassy in USA or whereever and get a 1 year visa. This visa is actually good for 15 months going for visa runs every 90 days. You can get a new one each year and never have to leave thailand (except breifly every 90 days for a visa run)

We are in the process of starting a thailand website that will answer everyones questions. It will also allow you to interact with other travelers who are in Thailand and everyone can learn from each others experiences. We should have something going in about a month.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Can you drive with your normal U.S. drivers lic? Motorcycles too? Are scooters/motorcycles common or feasible there? What about auto or motorcycle insurance? Thanks a lot for all of the information!

Thank you,

Jim Kuhn
Catfish4u
[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Any recommendations on who to go with for a visa run on Khao San road? I have to do it by Wen.

I know I could just walk down the [censored]' road and find 200 places but I figured if one of you guys knew a good place I'd cut out the time.



PS


HEY WHERE YOU FROM? USA? CALIFORNIA? NEW YORK? TUK TUK? HEY WHERE YOU GO? TUK TUK? SIGHTSEEING 10 BHAT ALL DAY

oh how I missed bangkok

thanks

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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is that a serviced apartment? if so, you can get a big discount if you rent a regular place and sign 6mo lease.

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No it is with a signed lease. I got it through an agent though so I am probably being overcharged 2000 baht. I looked at about 11 different places before settling on this one. Decent view and the location works really well for me. 3 mins from sky train platform. The interior furnishings were more my style than other places.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

For visa runs in Bangkok the price is about 1800-2000 baht. They leave from around the sukhemvit area early in the morning and get back from Cambodia around 3pm if I remember correctly.

There are a few companies. Check how much they agents want because they might offer you the same price and leave right from your hotel. If they want more then 2000 baht then goto 7/11 buy the bangkok post and look in the classifieds to find several phone numbers of visa runs. I have used Jack Gold visa runs several times.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]
Any recommendations on who to go with for a visa run on Khao San road? I have to do it by Wen.

I know I could just walk down the [censored]' road and find 200 places but I figured if one of you guys knew a good place I'd cut out the time.



PS


HEY WHERE YOU FROM? USA? CALIFORNIA? NEW YORK? TUK TUK? HEY WHERE YOU GO? TUK TUK? SIGHTSEEING 10 BHAT ALL DAY

oh how I missed bangkok

thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

you missed bangkok? wow I hated that place.Since you are heading in that direction, I would recommend checking out cambodia and angkor wat.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Yeah, Jack GOLF,I cant type.

What did you hate about bangkok? I mean, yeah its got bad traffic and smog but its a pretty fun city and I really enjoyed my time there. Were you there for just a short trip or something?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, Jack GOLF,I cant type.

What did you hate about bangkok? I mean, yeah its got bad traffic and smog but its a pretty fun city and I really enjoyed my time there. Were you there for just a short trip or something?

[/ QUOTE ]

Just travelled around thailand and was in and out of bangkok for, well pretty much everywhere we went. I'm sure you know what I mean. We were on a pretty tight budget so we were staying in places w/o AC and it was hot and dare I say, there wasn't much to do during the day? I mean we went to mbk, on the skytrain, hung out on top of the d & d a lot (didn't stay there usually though) or played pool. So basically, when i say bangkok i mean koh san road. I guess it just didn't compare to the islands or beaches.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Well if you sit on KSR all day then ya bangkok sucks.

KSR sucks.

But its a whole different game when you are actually living in Thailand so I can def understand.

Post deleted by Mat Sklansky
 

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

nana plaza at noon? Holy [censored]

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

I was in BKK a few months ago, I'll probably go again soon. I am pretty used to the 'negotiating for everything' type of culture that is there (been to BKK and other similar places many times). There was one thing I was stuck on however. When I wanted to take a taxi for a relatively long distance (e.g. Sukumvit to Chatuchak market or Chinatown) I could never get a taxi to do it for the metered fares, they would always try to negotiate a set price (they'd start at 250-300 and I'd negotiate it to about half). Sometimes I'd try four or five cabs, but no luck. I know the difference I'm talking about is not a lot of money, I just hate getting ripped off.

Anyway, did I just suck at negotiating or is what I encountered (i.e.,it being impossible sometimes to get a metered fare) standard?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

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...does anyone have any funny stories or experiences with kathoey? I feel like there could be some great stories out there.

[/ QUOTE ]

My friend and I made up a bunch of these stickers and bombed BKK about a year ago. We got chased by a katoey down in Silom one night putting the stickers up. LOL

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2641/katoeypu8.jpg

PS. This is one of the most convincing Katoeys I ever saw. Doing an impromptu striptease in front of the Coffee World on Sukumvit. Be careful out there boys...

http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/9614/img0225aom5.jpg

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Any recommendations on who to go with for a visa run on Khao San road? I have to do it by Wen.

I know I could just walk down the [censored]' road and find 200 places but I figured if one of you guys knew a good place I'd cut out the time.

thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

i think jacob means Jacks Golf

They are good. Just ask for one with AC bus and a movie.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have used jack golf visa runs in the past and they are ok, but there is a newer (better) one in my opinion. They leave Bangkok later (9:30am) and arrive back at the same time as the jack golf bus (which leaves at 7:30am!)

Here is the info. The bus is brand new and they played better movies than Jack golf too.

www.thaivisarun.com

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Refuse all taxis that wont put the meter on. If you are insistant then they will turn it on.

It helps if you know a little thai. When they try that [censored] with me I put them in their place and tell them I know whats up and the meter either goes right on or I get in the next one.

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]


The islands and beaches of thailand are heaven. Kinda hard to beat that. Bangkok can be pretty awesome though, day and night.

Go see the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Or go to Nana plaza, bars there open at like noon [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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Speaking of Buddha, when in Bangkok, you have to see the Wat Trimit Golden Buddha in person. 3 meters tall - Solid Gold. It is sick. It's in Chinatown.

http://img430.imageshack.us/img430/5...0063imglx0.jpg

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Great picture. What are your other favorite spots in bangkok

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

[ QUOTE ]
Great picture. What are your other favorite spots in bangkok

[/ QUOTE ]
Lumpinee Park, Golf Courses, Ball in Hand Pool Halls (either one), Qbar and Bed Club (back when I was clubbin).

The view from State Tower (Sirocco Sky Bar) is also pretty sweet.

http://www.blissism.com/weblogpix/tr...y_bar_view.jpg

Short Shorts at the pool hall:

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/8...1673imgyu0.jpg

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

Sirrocco [censored] ROCKS! My favorite bar in Bangkok. Shhhhh, keep this place quiet!

Which pool hall is that? The old Brunswick zone on Soi nana?

Re: Ask Degen Anything About Living In Thailand
 

I agree with you about racism in Thailand.

Thais are, in general, very nationalist also and don't have much respect for any foreigner, american, german or whatever. You are just a guest here, nothing more ...

I think a lot of people get fooled by the "smiling" nature of thai people, the reality is that they have their dark sides too but it can be difficult to spot them for us, westerners.