hermespan

factors I consider in order of my priorities, in descending order...

- can get outside country of residency, length of stay, fee, renewability, speed, multiple entries, simple rules, number of questions, how many originals, whether photo require, can use agent (option only). Some national governments are good for length of stay (e.g. India - 6 months) but are slow (India requires a security check in nation of citizenship). Others, e.g. Cambodia, are practically eternal but are annoying in rules (if you enter on a tourist visa can only renew once, and that for a minimum of 3 months?) China requires you go in Vietnam anyway to the NON-capital city of HCMC. So, there is no perfect visa nation. I'm going to guess best is Malaysia and worst is North Korea. Comments?

Independent European art film set in S.E. Asia seeks seasoned foreign residents who want to tell their unusual stories. Private message me for details

Of course this is a Thai speaking country. i just happen to be a native speaker of a world language (Chinese, English). In Canada busineses cater to Chinese by offering materials in Chinese. In Philippines and Cambodia, likewise English. But I agree that Thailand has always been (even during 17th century attempts by the French to meddle) a monolinguistic, monoreligious nation with little to no interest in joining the world community or fostering a cultural mosaic, for better or worse. Malaysia's 'One Malaysia' is fiction, but at least doing business in English is not a problem, perhaps *because* of the diversity. After all, as the colonial powers have left it is neutral to speak English whereas speaking Chinese, Malay, Tamil or Malayalam carries social and political baggage. Of all Asian nations, the mentality of Thailand reminds me a Laoation (Theravada Buddhist) Japan (proud and inward). These aren't bad things of course, just inconvenient if one is Anglophone Mahayana or FrancophoHindu.

Silly me. My credit had just expired. When I went in to a True centre and asked for notifications to be changed to English I was told impossible. You'd think I was asking for Sanskrit.

Ii see a black market in registereed SIMs opening up here. 'You want privacy? Let us register for you'. In fact, this is standard prcoedure in Indonesia, albeit at no cost to purchaser. Kiosk vendors do it all the time. Used to be true in Cambodia too, but now there there is a staff of who knows how many monitoring the communications of foreigners (and presumably locals too). Shinwatra's company is the most fascist about enforcement as they are in bed with the Americans.

<deleted>? I purchased a prepaid truemove data plan about a week ago at their very helpful office in a big mall. Apparently, I already had a SIM card from my last trip in my device. Truly had forgotten. Anyway, all is well except for many, many sexually-oriented blocked sites (FACT, a political anti-censorhsip site about Thailand was not among those blocked). Controversial sites seem to be OK and the blocking of porn sites seemed to be random or just those that included key words in the title.

Anyway, last night I get a message (in Thai naturally, though I would have thought the salesman would have switched the languages of notifications, but he also didn't do whatever is required to set me up for that Truemove WifI plan that supposedly allows access at hotspots such as 7-11.

At notice that displays on every single webiste I go to now (btw, it is not from the WITC or whatever the censorship bureau is called, it is indeed from Truemove) is only one button to click on. I get a bunch of spaces to fill out: name, pawssword. ID card etc. One option is register by email, so that seems less hassle and more private but even that does not work. I have tried a variety of combinations of true, partialy true and entirely false information - nothing works. Using my real name and real passport number does not work. Not exactly Hotmail, more like Cuban government.

It's as if the system is going by whatever I might have registered under a year (?) ago for my SIM card. But indeed did I? I do not remember.

Do I have cause for concern that I have been singled out, or is this just a matter of after a week automatically everyone must register. Which makes me wonder why the salesman didn't warn me this would happen.

And isn't this going to cost telecom companies a whole lot of time doing the apeprwork if they actually have to enforce this? If I was the company I would say to the government, 'if you make us enforce this, due to the amount of labour it will take, we will go out of business.'

Which company is challenging the state most agressively on this matter? Is the government requiring registration of roaming services of foreign telecom. You see the whole can of worms this opens.

One thing I found very useful shooting in Louisiana, USA is never travelling with the air-con in your vehicle. That way there is no sudden condensation risk when you step out into the humidity.

I need to hire some professionals, but it appears that due to language difficulties I must use an interpreter. I just realized now the reason why potential interpreters are so interested in what the independent contracters will be paid. It's not for communication purposes. It is for business purposes. Anything I pay them will be gravy. Their bread and butter will be from doing it Asian style, taking fees from both ends, but especially the talent. This was a big problem with the last Thai intermediary who took the lion's share, and without telling me. So, the solution is either do it western style, warning them that if they are caught double dipping they won't be paid at all (this is bound to fail, perhaps even if I pay handsomely). Or, eastern style, just accept that they will do it the Asian way and don't feel bad about whatever business transpires between the professionals and the interpreter, who will be in the role of a go-between more than interpreter. And knowing this, pay them less.

Still annoys me though.

Not only does squatting encourage the natural response to evacuate, it is much more hygienic. Who wants to sit where someone else gas placed their sweaty bum? Just make sure the hose reaches. Toilet paper is a disgusting habit.

It was a breeze.

Firstly, the airline did not even have Customs forms. Secondly, when I asked for such a form at Customs the young lady looked at me as if to say 'we don't take that seriously anymore, but if you insist...' I was taken back to an office where they found the correct form. I filled it out. One girl seemed to be showing the other girl how to do this obsolete prodecure. She asked to see the money. I had prepared it all in clear clean bags to keep it obvious and simple. They asked for the amount and took my word for it after doing a count of the totals I had printed on the bags and perhaps did an eyeball estimate. They weren't interested in any of the regional currencies in small amounts, but just the total in USD and CAD. They didn't seem to care about the distinctions between TCs and cash. I showed them my Canadian declaration of itemized FXS rates, precise currencies etc and they took my word for it being correct.

Best of all they gave me a receipt. Even the Canadians don't do that as a matter of practice though the courteous Canadian officer I spoke with did a quick stamp and "X dollars reported" on a post it note which I put in my passport.

Conclusion: Nothing to worry about based on my limited experience.

I am curious if it will be the same 'don't be silly' routine in other Asian nations, especially in the region.

Mind you, I don't travel with $300,000.

Greetings from computer ignoramus land. While I do have a newish SONY Vaio laptop with DVD reader and USB3, I am not familiar with computers and have more interesting things to do with my time. If I can't do the task easily, quickly and successfully I would rather hire a professional. I suspect that any high school nerd could do better.

I have 30 DVDs of imovies (format I do not recall), can these be 'ripped' to a 1 Tb external hard drive at an affordable cost? My budget is THB3000 or I will take the heavy and bulky folder to Vietnam or Cambodia and hire someone there, as I expect the cost would be a third.

I would do it myself if it takes 'only' 8 hours, but a computer savvy friend says that it takes 2-3 hours per DVD! My hesitation of hiring a computer expert is mostly the risk of malware. And of course whether or not he/she actually is an expert.

If you look at foreign investment in Myanmar, most of them have connection with local people and they go through black market to send in/out of Myanmar. If you'r in Ausi, it is better for you to approach to myanmar shop there to send the money over to myanmar, you give them ausi dollar, collect kyat in myanmar. Likewise for other countries. If a country without myanmar shop then I don't know

I believe what you are speaking about is the casual/ethnic/community/'unregulated' money transfer system known in South Asia as hundi or halawa. It is not illegal everywhere so calling it 'black market' is stretching it. Perhaps you mean it is illegal in Burma? It makes total sense that it is not necessary to go through big banks and governments or even modern western companies such as Western Union ($$$). All it takes to transfer money one mile or ten thousand miles through ten borders is two email accounts and two merchants who trust each other. All the rest is Big Brother. No money actually goes anywhere in any case. All it is is ledgers accounting. Baby accounting.

This makes sense in Singapore where there are many Burmese. It is less practical in Canada. And what's more, maybe I haven't decided where and when I want to send money. I need maximum flexibility. I might buy land in Burma, then again I might find a better deal in Laos of Vietnam. It depends - wherever I can negotiate the best deal.

So, back to the original question. One has cash. Do you take USD or other hard currencies (that one has in banknotes) for maximum simplicity, speed and good FXS rate? Or does one have to choose only one of two features? I am asking this question to see if two currency conversions are worth the spread for the usability feature. No point saving exchanging CAD for USD if nobody in developing markets such as Burma wants CAD, or gives such a lousy rate that it would be better to have exchanged it back home.

A related question is whether it is better to exchange CAD (or indeed GBP etc) for kyat in Singapore or once one gets into Burma?.

If it makes a difference, I am not talking about huge amounts like $100,000, just 5-30K.

In my 25 years going to S. E. Asia, I missed Thailand in the golden days of opportunity, experienced the halycion days of Cambodia, apparently missed getting in in time in Vietnam, and who knows about Burma? Now that I have a small nest egg It's time for move to move from tourist to investor mode.

Where is next, Laos, East Timor, isolated regions of Cambodia? Opinions please. For me a golden opportunity is very few government regulations, low cost of living but expected to become a tourist destination in 5-8 years. I can tolerate reasonable corruption, lousy infrastructure and crappy ffood. But I have no patience for rules and regulations and taxes.

So, Burma is not going to have a market economy say like Singapore. It will be going the way of sicialist USA and limit cash movement to piddly amounts like this is 1980. Ten thousand dollars is chump change.

Unless things have changed we all know that the US dollar rules in Myanmar (well, I suppose Chinese Renminbi too).

But what about businessmen, speculators, investors and heck plain old tourists whose source of funds is neither USD or CNY? Everytime we change the currencies from wherever we bank, work or live (not necessariky the same places) we lose points to sticky fingers of money changers. Every foreign exchange step costs money. The *theory* of bring US cash makes sense, but not all of us are Americans, nor do we all get paid in USD or even bank in USD or in the USA.

Say an Australian, Brit or German wants to buy an apatment in Mandalay. If he changes his local currency into USD in Perth, London, Berlin he will lose a small percentage. But is the percentage lost LESS if he converted from Euro or whatever in BURMA itself? Or can he convert from his currency into Kyat and insist that the selling price be in kyat?when I was a tourist in Yangon in 1996 and 2011 I didn't compare to see if it woukd be better to bting in CAD to convert to kyat in one transaction, or whether to change CAD in Canada to USD abd put up with a double conversion (CAD -> USD -> kyat

My gut feeling is to bring USD cash, but there are numerous factors to consider...

1. laws

2. enfircement

3. best deal

4. simplicity

Sorry for typod, but normal thAIVISA does not work effectively on android, an if I use android app I can't increase font suze, so choices are tupos or blindness.

Does a moderator care to comment on why this forum has its own version of les majeste enforcement, and on a related note, forbidding posting of links? Is it a commercial or legal reason, or both?

Original Poster mentions challenge in Thailand in salespeople giving full and proper fit service. Indeed this would be one advantage of buying in Canada. Here bike shops make a great effort to determine what is suitable. Everything from asking prospective customer many questions, making recommendations, and permitting test drives. Aside from language issues (English fluency being much poorer than my second 'homes' of Cambodia and especially Malaysia) I doubt Thai bike shops areworking hard for return business.

My plan is to actually buy a bike in Taiwan and their there first. Everybody tells me Taiwan is the bicycling epicentre of the world.

burdawg asks and I reply...

Canadian, normal height, no bike at present. Let me be clear on this... I am a leisure rider who wants to explore exotic countries (Siam isn't exotic but it is convenient, I have been visiting Thailand since 1989 and I like it as a place of good infrastructure relative to cost). My second concern is cardio health and to lose some weight. I actually prefer train and ferry journeys. So, my goal is to buy a folding upright of 16-27 speeds, something small enough to easily pack for a give-it-a-rest non-bike journey. Some folding bikes look like belong in a Shriner's parade though. Recumbent bikes interest me. In addition their 'cool' factor supposedly they are a lot more comfortable, although harder to learn, worse on hills and more dangerous (low) in insanely dangerous driving places.

The Boss warns about lack of familiarity with electric bikes and the (logistical or cost?) challenge of recharging. Good pointd, but what precisely did you mean? Visiting Vancouver, Canada bike shops (this city is a biking oasis relative to most metropolises) I was given more sobering advice... batteries are considered dangerous goods (or did he mean only pre-lithium monstrosities?) and subject to extra airline fees.

Thank you AjarnP

I am learning from your topography and comfortable riding distances.what got me to thinking about cycling long distance in Thailand is having a middle age paunch and recalling when I lived in CNX for 5 months in 2001 and enjoying bicycling around town after nightfall. so cool, flat and quiet. Then anyway! Excursions into the countryside were refreshing.

However I am not a technically inclined guy and have no experience with fancy bikes.

burgdawg wrote...

"You will be stuck in this border town... No way are you getting past the army check posts. Laos and Thailand are best places to tour."

Stay outta VietNam and Cambodia."

The first assertion surprises me. What has changed? About 2002 I travelled by truck etc from Tachilek to a rebel group controlled border town near China (opposite Ruili). No problem from either group. Regarding your second point, care to elaborate? Does it have something to do with theit ghadtly road accident reputation?

Another reason I didn't buy the handles is they come in two sizes and don't know which size of bars on bike I will end up with.

BTW, I am not one of the spandex tour de france types. I am a semi geezer in half-decent shape who is happy to do 100 km a day, stoping here and there whenever I feel like it. In my case, I don't see the point in buying a six million dollar bicycle of titanium.

I am researching biking sites as to the pros and cons of Siam vs. Malaysia, Myanmar, etc. Along this line perhaps some bicyclists (long distance or suburban) would care to critique: safety, unique features, ease etc. For the moment I expect to buy a half-decent easily repairable bike (electric or 100% manual haven't decided) in JB or Singapore and make my way slowly to Chiang Mai.

I mean versus bringing from region (Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam) or Canada or even East Asia, i.e. Taiwan. I expect to set myself up for long distance bicycling in Siam. Just wondered if Thailand is fully equipped and competitive. Saw some fabulous ergonomic German-designed bike handles at a Vancouver bicycle shop but did not buy as I expect everything is available in Bangkok and Chiang Mai and no hauling stuff across the Pacific

MBI writes that BKK bank issues TCs, and that one must bring one's airline ticket. What do you think is the purpose of this restriction? Hong Kong or Singapore banks I doubt would. He also says that the bank website reads that one can get them in multiple currencies. Does anyone have experience purchasing USD1000 AMEX TCs in Thailand or elsewhere?