catweazle08

a few days ago we were sitting in a bar and one of the beer girls showed us a cylindric shaped bottle opener.

you just push the thing down and up again (i guess you can imagine this move, looking back to your teenage years) and sometimes(!) the bottle was open after.

it was definately not a high quality product, but it was a fun thing to play around with.

the opener had "heineken" written on it, so it was clearly a promotion tool, not for sale.

has anybody seen this openers for sale somewhere?

thx in advance

the internet cafe sounds good, but it´s a tv-series with lots of episodes. guess i have to find out, how much the hour is.

transfering the dvd to usb: im pretty sure that somebody at pantip plaza can do this. lets see

thanks!

thought about that option too, but only need to see this one dvd,

how much would it cost me?

i got my asus netbook and unfortunately no cd-rom or dvd-player on it.

i bought this dvd i want to see, but have no clue, what to do.

yep, stupid, i know...

there is no tv in my room, if so i would have to organize a dvd player as well.

i assume/hope somebody here has been in the same situation and knows the solution.

or should i go to panthip plaza and they figure smth out?

thx for the help in advance!

yes, i don´t worry. been there too many times,

i just feel shitty.

if u can´t sleep, don´t try. read a book or whatever.

i got my netbook next to me and louis c.k. on youtube will do the trick...

wouw, thx guys. very useful.

needed two hours this morning to feel normal.

i think there is a woman working in a pharmacy around the corner, who will have to face an interesting conversation with a farang soon...

i searched for insomnia before posting, but couldn´t find anything.

never heard of the sugar thing, is that serious?

and the accupunkture sound very interesting! meditation also

yes, i won´t die sleeping 4-5 hours and i get along someway, feels more like a transformation into a zombie.

hey,

im having insomnia now for a while. i get 4, maybe 5 h a night of sleep and this is going on for about 10 to 11 days.

And it gets to a point, where i wake up in the morning and feel so shitty, that i don´t even want to drink a coffee. i know, sounds weird.

i thought about taking some sleeping pills, but on the OP i don´t get sleep, i get a chemical knock-out.

i can go and see a thai doctor, but i don´t know a good one and im pretty sure he will sell me some pills (without a description) and that´s it.

had a hard week last week finding an apartment, stressful plus other things to work out, but i calm down now and take things slow. but thats a factor, of course. and bkk is always affecting u someway (traffic, pollution...)

i give u an example: woke up at 6am yesterday and fall asleep at 4-5 am, 22-23h awake! and then woke up again at 9am. it´s crazy.

had insomnia before while travelling, but not this.

any advice or help is really appreciated (except "drink three large chang beer"). thanks in advance.

ps: i heard there is a shop in bkk selling 9h of sleep, i go and get some. but it´s not the original sleep, its a copy...

Ok, it´s done: i found a place and its the sarasinee mansion!

http://mansionsarasinee.com/

to be honest it was a complete no brainer.

i know the area a little and it´s close to chatuchak, my so far favourite place in bkk. guess im gonna spend a little more there now.

they offered me two apartments (because i asked them to show me two!!!) one smaller (for 10.000 baht) and one larger with two balconies and up on the 7th level, so theres a good view. i can see saphan kwai station from my balcony, it´s maybe 150 meters away. the fridge will come soon. it´s maybe 2000 B more for the bigger room, but wanted to give myself a little treat. WIFI for free, and furniture is nice.

thx to everyone for contributing!

overall recommendation: if u want to rent a place for 4, 6 or 12 month, try the apartments and pay deposit.

if u want to do this 1 or 2 month, i recommend a hotel! (now i know!)

there are many good recommendations in this thread, hope it will be useful for somebody in the future.

@dieter: the guy said no pool on the roof, hmm?!

if u see a tall guy with small face probaply wearing t-shirts with prints and sitting in the coffee place with a netbook , come over and say hello!

im very happy to go away from khaosarn, its ok in the evening for 6 h (or the first 2-4 days when you arrive in bkk), but the rest of the day, no thx.

the khlong taxi boat is a little walk from the democracy monument. the way to platinum at the end is about 12 baht, (1 stop earlier is siam, i think) and i remember i was really happy when i discovered this years ago. fun fact: these khlong taxis are not mentioned in the lonely planet.

the public busses from democracy monument to siam square are 15 and 79, but don´t be surprised to wait 30 or 45 minutes.

when i take a taxi from khaosarn, i NEVER ask the taxis and tuktuks waiting there for you.

when i look at them i see a giant spider, sitting in his web and waiting for a farang to get trapped. a thai friend said, that they even charge him tourist-prices, when he asked for a ride! sorry, but i really hate these guys.

the taxis driving by are the ones to pick and it doesn´t hurt to walk a bit to the main road and away from khaosarn. if they don´t turn on taxameter, just get out. discussing makes no sense, this might happen 3-5 times, persistence is key. my experience and personal opinion is, that the older drivers don´t try to rip you off.

so i think i will spend a few minutes on my balcony and enjoy the view...

update:

http://bangkokomni.com/

looked great on the website, called them, they speak good english. But the 17000 are not available. wifi is 1000 b extra.

avenue mansion 1

sounds good.

i tried to contact them, mail-adress doesn´t work. i keep on trying.

KV Mansion

looks really great but it´s at on nut. contacted them and try to figure out the monthly rent. lets see... hope their rent tis ok, this could be the one!

i checked out the 9apartments website and i thing it´s a good one. they have a lot of categories for the search, which, especially in bkk, is very useful. contacted a few yesterday.

Baan Dhana (BTS chong nonsi) answered and they are under 10.000 B. i hope i can check them out tomorrow! another "hot" one...

somebody recommended "king royal garden inn", but they don´t do monthly anymore, just daily at 1000 Baht.

PR Place (Boutique apartment)

got a recommendation for this one. been there today. got an offer for 14.000 on a monthly basis. the place was large and a bit dark, but the furniture was not really good looking. aircon only in the bedroom, Lan-cable, fridge, etc. at extra cost. you can try this one, but not my cup of tea for 14.000B. and the boss was almost friendly...

got one offer for an app at 16.500 a month. didn´t like it but it was close to siam square! (can´t find their card at the moment, sorry)

http://www.atriumratchada13.com

one of the more flashy and expensive ones, looks really nice and they invited me to look at the place. hope i get this done tomorrow. sounds good so far...

one big issue for the apps is the short rental time, they want you to rent for 6, or at least three month.

another one is contacting them. sometimes nobody answers on the phone and the mail, sometimes they don´t speak good english, so u have to go there, and i think many of you know how exhausting that can be in "little" bkk.

went to a travel agency today. the woman seemed to be credible. she said most hotels at skytrain-areas charge 1000 B a night and don´t offer monthly, so u pay 30.000 (or better not).

she recommended the sathorn area to me and the sukhumvit 77-93 area, but right now i have no idea, how i´m gonna use this information. been busy with the other options.

Plan C: if the appartment (a) and the hotel ( near skytrain don´t work out i go for plan c, a hotel near khao sarn (or better a few kilometers away from ) and maybe close to the khlong taxi at the democracy monument. i guess i can find a cheap place in that area and the khlong taxi is a good connection to the center.

any recommendations for this area are welcome.

let´s see what wonderful moments i will experience tomorrow. i think u just have to be really persistant!

thx for all the information and ideas!!

i think there are some useful places there and who knows, if the place is really impressive i pay mor then 10k.

@stickylies: can u post the name of the place?

keep u updated...

@swiss: read my post again. there´s a tiny dot changing the meaning completely.

and i´m not gonna explain myself or my travelling! sorry...

if you were a friend or somebody i met and can connect to, different story.

@ scobie: "I can picture their faces: a mixture of puzzlement, embarrassment both for themselves and him, all liberally laced with a good dose of <deleted>"

i ask all of the questions yesterday to two thais i know. they try to answer a few, but couldn´t answer all. during the process they looked very normal to me.

"traveling around Thailand is bound to be full of inaccurate perceptions and mistaken assumptions. Writing these down as fact and presenting them to even less informed people is unfair and perpetuates misconceptions."

yes, this is an argument. maybe i do this, maybe not. facts or personal opinions are a big difference. but i´m not trying to compete with travel guides. prices for baht-busses etc. i don´t like to cling to much to guides on the road and i don´t really recommend it either,

@jasun: thank you very much! and on point. liked it. Figured out a lot of it yesterday in the evening by myself. guess i need to get away from khao sarn. the place makes me sick.

beer at mochit: my thai friend yesterday told me, that there is a new law since a few month not to drink alcohol on public transportation. that´s the reason why the 7/11 directly in the terminal and the small shops, where the buses leave don´t sell beer. (maybe 1 or 2 km away different story) he also said, that if you ask around, some of them sell a can to u. they hide it.

yes, i misspelled traveller. go and joke or judge about it.

at this point i think this thread can be closed, if this is ok for u. but if you want to post some info or points of view, no problem.

again thanks for the information.

when the books done, maybe i will post the link here, but just for fun! not as an recommendation or ad.

cya

it´s a very interesting phenomenon to see people in this thread talking about me and judging me instead of talking to me, which is a little bit disrespectful in my personal opinion. well, it´s the internet, people don´t have to be nice. but i try...

and again: IT IS NOT ABOUT THAI CULTURE,

its for people coming to thailand for the first time and giving them the chance, not only to see all those things, but to understand a little bit more about it (and make their trip much easier).

of course these 8 questions (i regret now posting it) are everything you have to judge my project/book (or even me as a person), so i guess i understand your posts in some way. i talked to a thai i know two hours ago and did some research and of course some of them are stupid.

but to be honest, no one here has any clear picture, what´s already written down in the book. you can only judge/see those 8 questions, which is a extremely limited point of view.

should i defend or explain myself? hmm... no.

but i take this whole thread as a motivation.

"if u do it, you gotta do it right".

the few chapters i have about thai-culture or some typical behaviour of thai-people are definately the most difficult part (and by far not the biggest) and there is a general risk of "generalizing", but i will ask thai people about there opinion about it (got three people so far) and of course i will be very careful about criticism!

the irony for me is: some of the questions are stil not answered, but that´s ok, because some are really stupid (now i know) and the others... i figured it out today by myself.

@beetlejuice: visited thailand 7 times. some of the topics you mentioned excist already as ebooks (i don´t know if these books are of good quality) and target more to people, who want or already live here. im not doing that because i can´t.i write for the typical traveller not expat. so my experiences are more about travelling thailand then thai-culture. thanks again for your ideas and the effort! i appreciate it. if you want we can meet for a few beer on my bill! will be around bkk a while.

@tim: i don´t know if its worth a book! honest answer! and one of the real interesting parts will be finding a good price. some ebooks cost 99 cent some 40 dollar and more. but the conversations i had with travellers i meet here in thailand for many years are valuable for them. i get good "reviews" of course it´s a different story for expats. ...learned that one today.

@amykat: you get my version of the answer to the eternal "why" for free if you want.

@jbrain: i disagree. but no worries.

i think the term "book about thai culture" was a big mistake. and i can understand, why some (or especially one) of you are a bit confused.

at the moment it´s just a mixed bag of chunks of information, most of them useful for tourists, who come here for the first time.

yes, some questions are not about thai-culture directly (like the finger signs) and i didn´t do any research for the term americano on my own, sorry, my fault, will not happen again. (need faster wifi)

yes, the editing was sloppy, i have no desk or table in my room, so trying do write on my bed, but that´s no excuse, i know.

english is not my mothertongue, i will hire freelancers, who are native speaker and a few people from thailand about their opinion, then some cover-designers and so on...

@elektrified: well, the books probaply not gonna sell much at all for many reasons. so, no theres no share and i completely understand your argument. on the other hand, i have no idea, if i use this stuff in the book. there will be a tricky phase at the end of the whole process, where structure, table of contents and more will be done, and i guess deleting complete chapters will be a part of it.

if anyone of you don´t want to contribute, that´s completely ok. if i left the impression to "use you" for my personal benefit, i seriously apologize!!! that´s definately not my intension.

i enjoy the creative process of writing this book very much. i have no idea, if the book is going to be good or bad. some days i think it will be good, somedays i think its a bad idea (especially today).

there are many ebooks about thailand out there, a lot of competition, but i really enjoy the process. and there are many more reasons why i do it, but that´s just too much for the moment.

thanks for all the help so far to every single one!

if anybody is interested i can post a few of the topics i got. maybe that´s a good idea to clearify, maybe the post was a bad idea...

next time, i put much more thought to what i post here...really.

@ beetlejuice: absolutely great explanation to the point! big compliment!

im currently writing an ebook about thailand and found a few tricky topics. i ask already a few thai-people, but they don´t know.

if you are looking for a challenge, let´s go:

1. many thai-girls (and asian women in general) pose on pictures with these "finger-signs" close to their face. victory or an "L". why? where did it start?

2. why do they use straws so often? hygienic reasons?

3. the nightbus from bkk to mukdahan took 2 hours longer then from mukdahan to bkk, why?

4. some places in thai-cafes, receptions or general rooms (i see this often on the way to the toilet) are stacked up with stuff, that doesn´t look valuable. to be honest to me it´s sometimes completely messed up in the backrooms. are they just to lazy to through away the stuff in their own rooms? or is there a good reason to not through it away? (i can show you a pic of the reception at my cheap hotel, it looks crazy.)

5. On Mo Chit bus terminal, nobody is selling beer. why?

6. the minimum wage is 300 baht. which jobs are in this category?

7. a normal coffee is often called "americano", why?

8. i think there are two different lao beer brands. one with a white batch available in most places and one with the yellow batch. drank the one with the yellow batch in savannakhet, tasted great but never saw it in thaiuland. is this one available somewhere around bkk?

maybe its not that difficult? i don´t know.

thanks for replies, have fun with this one

Sure, why not!

thats ok too, i always mix skytrain and metro and all these options...

hi,

somebody recommended this forum to me, he said many experienced expats are using this site.

the last days i was trying to find an app in bkk near skytrain, but only for two month. didn´t make any progress, the biggest problem: they don´t want two month contracts, at least 6 or 12 month...

so my plan b is to find a hotel on a monthly basis. i can pay 10.000 Baht, maybe even more if the place is really worth it.

i look for at least 25sqm and a fridge in the room. visitors should be allowed and near a skytrain-station, (but not far out like on nut)

i think this must be possible and i hope for some advice. if you recommend 5 or 10 hotels, even better.

thanks for your support and ideas.