BangkokHank

I have been escaping from Thailand during the hot season for decades now. Using the air conditioner is not the same as being able to walk outside in the cool, fresh mountain air.

Over the years, I have discovered many places in Asia to escape to. Alas, none of them are in Thailand. My favorites include Mussoorie (in the Himalayan foothills) and Ooty (in Tamil Nadu), both in India. Both of these places have perfect weather in March/April, (cool, and little to no rain) and both of them are resort towns with plenty of hotels. The good thing is that those towns, although they are resort towns, are not in their high seasons during Thailand's hot season. So they experience their best weather of the year in March/April while the hotels are not full - and are therefore more reasonably priced than in THEIR hottest season. Darjeeling and Nainital are other options, although I haven't visited them yet.

During this year's hot season, I will be going to Dalat in Vietnam, which is easier to get to than India, and even cheaper. It is possible to get a decent hotel there for about 600 baht a night.

Twice I went to Nuwara Eliya in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka, and last year I spent the entire month of April there. I also once visited the highlands of Myanmar during Thailand's hot season, but I wouldn't go there now due to the political instability. And once I went to the highlands of Taiwan, which is also worthwhile - but a little bit far away.

So to summarize and conclude: Your wish to avoid the hot season is understandable, but I'm afraid that there is no place in Thailand to do this - at least no place that I know of. However, there are several suitable places more or less in the region, some of which I have mentioned above, and perhaps more that other people can add to this list. (You can check the temperature and rainfall of just about any place on the internet these days. I go for places that are between 15-25 degrees Celsius with little to no rainfall.) If Dalat works this time, then I will make it my go-to place for future hot-season escapes. (I have been to Dalat a dozen times during my seven years of working in Vietnam, but I have never been there during April, so I'm not sure how it will be.)

4 minutes ago, TheAppletons said:

 

  Close.  The x-ray machine can "see" the laptop but the batteries and other components are so dense that they may obscure other objects in your bag.  That's why security wants travelers to remove them from carry-on bags.

It must be a good feeling to know everything. I envy you.

7 minutes ago, TheAppletons said:

(Note to self:  airport x-ray machines can see what's inside of your carry-on bag.)  

They can't see everything. For example, they can't see laptops (apparently), which is why we have to remove them from our carry-on bags and have them x-rayed separately.

I recently returned to Bangkok from Vietnam. While I was in Vietnam, I exchanged a little more than a thousand US dollars into Vietnamese dong (VND) for everyday expenditures. And because Vietnam is a rather low cost country, I went to the bank and changed my bigger VND banknotes into smaller ones. The result is that I had about five hundred relatively small denomination banknotes with me when I left Vietnam. (I kept them because I plan to go back to Vietnam again next month.)

When I was going through security at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City, I had put all of my VND banknotes into my carry-on backpack. After passing through security, I was stopped by a security officer who said to me, "Show me the cash in your bag." I thought to myself, "Whoa, their x-ray machines can detect cash!" Presumably he thought I was moving large sums of USD cash, which would have been illegal had I not declared it. I showed him my money, and since the total value was not very high, he let me through without any problem.

The point of this post is to make people aware that the x-ray machines at airports are definitely capable of detecting cash. In all of my years of traveling, I had no idea about this, as this is the first time that I've traveled with so many banknotes. So if you were thinking about trying to move large stacks of banknotes without declaring them, say to avoid taxes, then you should assume that your cash will be detected by the airport x-ray machines. Just a warning.

At Rama 9 Park just before sunset on 12 Feb 2024.

4 minutes ago, jayboy said:

 

You may have finished with Covid.But has it finished with you?

Yes. I'm not "vaccinated", so I have nothing to fear.

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I am amazed how many people still go to Phuket, for holiday or to live there.

I was there the first time 30 years ago and at that time it was an obvious rip-off. Did it improve over the years? Obviously not.

I wonder if anybody who decided to live there do any research? 

Almost exactly the same for me. The only difference is that it was 29 year for me instead of 30. Ha.

I went there once - in 1995 - and I HATED it. I vowed never to go back there again, and I haven't. It started with the taxi from the airport, who stopped at an expensive hotel on the way to my destination after trying to convince me that MY hotel was full. I found the people there to be unfriendly (I almost got in a fight with a drunk local), and it was just generally unpleasant. Even if they paid me, I wouldn't go back there again.

4 hours ago, thaipo7 said:

Israel is the only friendly nation in the Middle East.  We should keep them viable at any cost.  

With friends like Israel, who needs enemies?

56 minutes ago, The Old Bull said:

Wow, the rich Jews sure have a lot of clout in Washington, obviously more than the rich Ukrainians.

The rich Ukrainians ARE Jews.

5 hours ago, uttradit said:

Thai women look 10% younger than their age so the 16yos would look 14yo.

 

Maybe the perp in this case was not aware of the precise formula for converting Thai looks into real ages?

Another case of Israel luring the US into fighting its enemies. The US military has NO business being in the Middle East. It should be at home, protecting America's own borders against the ongoing invasion.

Tell them that in your culture, it's normal for the girl's family to pay the dowry - so where's your money? Keep asking them for money - until they start avoiding you.