Going solo to Thailand for a holiday , need advice or tips ! wil +rep good comments:)

I stayed in bangkok for 2 days after a 3.5 week trip across vietnam and cambodia.

It wasnt anything special, from stories from mates and pics ive seen, beach towna look alot better than bangkok so take that advice.

Just general things about SE Asia.
- Keep your wallet in a zipped pocket or in a pouch under your shirt.
- If you wear your bag on your back, just be mindful of dodgy looking people. I wore mine on my back the whole trip, contrary to advuce given before i left and I was fine.
- Try not to withdraw massive amounts of money at one time.
- Being by yourself, if your gonna get drunk in a bar, be careful.
- Always drink bottled water (most hotels give you free water) its pretty widely available.
- As previously stated, never pay full price.
- If your in a town for more than two nights, if you find a good english speaking taxi driver, get his number, they will show you plenty of stuff you never would have found out by yourself.
- Try not to be to uptight about everything you hear will happen to you, otherwise youll spend the whole time in the hotel and not enjoy yourself.
- Keep in mind its a whole new world over there in terms of culture and morals. So respect that.

 

i disagree with about 85% of that ^^^

kept my wallet wherever was easiest, back pocket, front pocket, hand. never got stolen
didnt bother wearing my bag, shorts/t-shirt/flip flops allll the way
used to carry round 6,000 baht at all times in the wallet in my back pocket or rolled up in a ciggie packet
was never careful drinking in bars. in fact, woke up in an alley way one night. cool story actually. covered in mozzie bites. wallet/id and all cash intact.
- always drink bottled water - yeah ok, agreed
i didnt haggle with a single person. just said "how much" they said price, if it was too much i walked /story
fk taxi's, walk and get tuk tuks

 

I should have clarrified. Wallet is more so if your in crowded areas or markets, guy on our trip got it stolen out of his pocket in a cambodian market. Mine almost got ripped out of my hand by the passenger of a passing scooter as I out cash back inside it on the side of a road. Sonit can happen.

I think you are extremely lucky not to be dead. Waking up in an alley way alone in a forgeign country after obviously being to drunk to control your body/actions anymore. Thats poor advice to tell someone thats a good idea. Or that its ok because you got away with it.

With the withdrawing money thing. Just dont do it in a dodgy area of town or with heaps of people watching. Because on the off chance a criminal minded asian see's you loaded with cash, gaurenteed hill have a crack at taking it.

Haggling gets stuff cheaper. End of story.

All of the things I said a reducing the risk of something happening, im not saying "if you don't follow these pointers something WILL happen".

 

lol, that moment you realise your haggling about $0.02AUD

 

The awesome moment when you haggle down enough stuff to buy another beer or two that afternoon.

 

if you think everyone in thailand is trying to rob you:

 

Thats why I said this earlier.
All my tips were there as things to be weary of.
Its pretty easy stuff to follow. Just means your lowering the risk of something happening. In my eyes, none of what I said will detract any fun from your holidays or be extremely inconvinient.

But hey, by all means dumpster, get so drunk you pass out in an alley way, im sure you'll have lots of fun! It comes with a rock solid gaurentee of no danger lol

 

not that i know of. most times id just work out that the "rolax" watch i was about to buy was like: 10 bucks, front the cash and walk out.

 

Getting it cheaper is getting it cheaper. You dont haggle down the 5baht increments obviously. But why pay 900baht for a shirt when you can get it for 300baht for example. As said above, gives you a few extra beers at the end of the day or a nicer hotel room.
Saying not to haggle just because its 'cheap' to us, is like saying if you were really loaded and came to Australia why not pay $180 for a T-Shirt just because you can.

 

We aren't a third world country...

 

Never been but one piece of advice I can give is if your hiring a scooter to get around, wear/hire a helmet!

A life long friend of my wife was on the back of a scooter with her bf and got cleaned up by a car late last year.
You may have seen the story on the news/the footy show.
The police tried to blame her boy friend for the accident but luckily it was caught on camera by someone.
Going with what everyone else was doing, locals etc... they didnt hire/wear helmets.
She past away shortly after surgery from head injuries.
Such a hard time for everyone involved.
RIP Nicole

 

The flight is usually pretty good. One more piece of advice, defo shell out the extra $20 or so for the 'entertainment package' on the flight. Makes it much more bearable. lol. I flew Jetstar and for an extra $18 you get given an iPad thats loaded up with movies/TV shows/Games/Magazines to keep you entertained. Would have been a very long flight without it!

 

The type of country has no relation to the point I was trying to make. I was merely saying for the sake of speaking 2 sentences or so and bartering, why pay 3 times more then the 100 customers before you paid for an item. Bartering doesn't offend people over there, its a part of everyday sales and is expected pretty much. Simply saying 'Thats a bit expensive' will drop the price by a few hundred baht.
Also keep in mind the OP will be staying there for a long period of time and will be earning what the average wage is while working over there (not much) so being money smart will be a major thing for him. You cant compare that to if you have a few grand saved up to go over for 2 weeks hols and can spend up big at every opportunity because you'll be home in 10 days time to return to earning fortune by their standards every week.

 

Been going to Thailand for 15years never had any trouble
Don't ever ever ever say anything bad about the King
You're more likely to get ya wallet/bags knocked off by other farang (foreigners)
Here's some useful words
Prik nam plah (Fish sce)
Garl kip wan gai (green curry)
Yum woon sen goong (glass noodle with prawn)
Thai curry with chick
(Gann Ga ti gai)
Karl soy (steam rice)
Lah dee sawat (goodnight)
Singh lek nung quat(Small bottle Singh)
Luk gong (farewell)
Hy sung kalung (egg)
Hunyow maams dog
Glab barn (go home)
Pom imm (I'm full)
Senap di kawl (local dog)
Moooo menOw (pork with lemon)
Yum woon sen (glass noodle)
Poomow Pet pet (more)
Nung (1)
Popgun mi poor knee krup(ka for chics) see you tomorrow
Kai yut sai (stuffed Thai omelette)
Tapa coong (papaya salad)
Sing kawl (lunch)
Num pung (honey)
Pop gun mi pi nah (see you next year)
Yup very food related


Sent from my iPhone using My thumbs

 

Sahwadeekah is what you will hear all the time , and you will prob end up saying a lot to ou of respect to say hello

Thailand was great , although we went to koh samui and the other guys also went o to bk but they said it was not nice n the preferred kohsa , Phuket , any day over bk as it was too busy , concrete jungle , dirty ,n rude .

The islands are amazing and certainly a place I want to re visit .

The thai People in kohsa mui are so polite ,the Indians are rude n direct ( even some of the Aussie Indians found them annoying )

The food was sensational and yeah you pay less but portions arnt huge which is why non of them are fat !

Night clubs are fantastic !!!
Clothes are cheap but are also cheap quality , as are sunglasses .. We still stocked up anyway cause well ... It's cheap
Thai girls are beautiful , although I count help looking at the front part of the neck area all the time lol
Cars are super cool , well in Thailand u begin to say that's awesome but I'd never do that to mine in Australia !
Haggle as much as u can but keep in mind that all shop attendants are diff , some are rude n some will want to do business ...say they will have fake beats headphones for about 1000 baht but down the road they are 700 baht now 700 baht is only $23 .00 so u have to calculate lot with ur phone before u disrespect people .. Because believe me the will remember u !

Please find out about professional n long time running " day safari trips in 4wds " things like this are amazing .. !!!!!! For about $50 Australian u will go out all day n get fed for an experience of fun !

I have so much more but I gotta go to work ..

 

^^^ quoting the truth.