What to do, What to do

[Bit Beefy]

Hey Guys & Gals,

Id be interested to know what people use to travel with, a backpack or suitcase. I normally go with a suitcase and find myself packing literally 2 or 3 different outfits per day with sandals, flip flops, trainers & shoes to match the colours of my shorts, tshirts, trousers etc.

Im trying to get out of this habbit as if it wernt for the leaniency(Terrible Spelling) of thai airways my bag would be well over & id be charged accordingly.

I see people with these small backpacks, that have been traveling for the last 2-3months and me on a 2 week break with a case the size of the average fridge freezer. Howd u do it? or how do they do it? What is a neccesity when packing a back pack. im going for a month this time and will be doing alot more travelling about than usual so a back pack i think is more practical. When camping, hiking or climbing with a backpack its been for a week tops. This is for a month.....

Any advice?

Cheers

Beef

[stogie bear]

Small carry on and buy clothes there...

All my formal work shirts are about five dollars and large sized T-shirts are less than three bucks. Go to a mall or market and stock up on stuff when you get here and take it all home.

If I was travelling here from abroad I'd bring a smal carryon with toothbrush etc. Then spend a day in Bangers in a nice hotel recovering from jet lag then go shopping and stock up on clothes for the beach, then ship out!

[Bit Beefy]

Cheers Stogie.......

[Guest]

Beefy, very sensible advise from Stogie. Travel light to Thailand, and you say you will be here for a month, a half day out of your schedule for shopping is not a great task. Hit one of the large Malls or markets, and stock up. In Bangkok, "Pratu Nam" (next to Indra Regent hotel) is probably one of the best for selection. Shoes,socks,shirts in fact the lot. Over the years I have always travelled with far too much, and have been trying to cut back lately, but it's not working! I'm off again at the weekend, and I swear I will only pack what is completely necessary!......Maybe...... The Cynic

[Guest]

Travel light and get anything you need in country!

[stogie bear]

Erm... one thing Beefy... you being a black guy and Thai guys being... well, what Thai guys are...

How can I put this delicately...

BRING YOU'RE OWN CONDOMS!!!

[Guest]

Erm... one thing Beefy... you being a black guy and Thai guys being... well, what Thai guys are...

How can I put this delicately...

BRING YOU'RE OWN CONDOMS!!!  

Pissing myself laughing!!!

[Blue Ballz]

I always seem to take too much shit when I come over. The last time I went last month I was there for about 10 days and DETERMINED to bring only one carryon/rollerboard. Happy to say I was successful and it was more than enough. It is especially essential that I have my bags with me as sometimes I am not 100% certain of which plane/route I might be going on.

For you lot who say buy everything there, thats a good idea you can get most of what you need in LOS, but if you buy lot of shit (shorts, shirts,underwear etc..) what do you do with all the stuff you bought when its time to come home? If you plan on lugging all that shit back with you isnt that defeating the purpose-on the back end of your trip anyways? AS ALWAYS-BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!!

[Bit Beefy]

Dont believe the hype Stooooog.....LOL.....

The Thais have developed a special canope that can be used as protection....

[Guest]

i find it better to pack light in thailand as western size knock offs are easy to find.
PI is another story the markets there are more for locals

[Guest]

I agree with all the previous posts, but definitely have opinions on this matter so I'll chime in.

Before I came to this great land (only to settle here for going on 2 years), I covered a good chunk of asia with one, medium sized, backpack. Meanwhile I watched other folks getting on and off boats/trains/buses with enough gear to survive a nuclear holocaust.

Absolutely a backpack is the way to go. Get the biggest comfortable one you can carry on on any airline. Speed past the luggage pickup and straight to customs/immigration, with your gear comfortably centered on your back, not straining your wrists or rolling behind you.

If you're buying a new backpack, consider security. I've seen travelers with insane wire mesh things around their backpacks with padlocks, but that might be a bit much. But maybe you can find a good model where you can easily lock the zippers (combo only, I'd only lose the key) and maybe lock the whole thing down with a cable to a radiator pipe in your hotel room somewhere out of sight. If you find such a model, let me know. Or just buy me one and I'll pay you when you get here. No, you're not going to prevent a determined thief, but you might stop a a LB on the run who's slipped you a roofie. It has happened.

And as others have said, bring next to nothing. Start with a nearly empty pack, it will fill up soon enough. Except your favorite condoms, and maybe k-y liquid, if you have such preferences. Durex "comfort" and Durex "Top-gel" is about all you'll get here. They're OK. For me anyway.

As for stocking up in malls, I don't even know if I'd go that far. Wear a comfortable pair of sneakers and pants, then pick up sandals and shorts/bathing-trunks when you're here. Then pick up new clothes/abandon dirty clothes as you go. Here and there. Malls, touristy shops, wherever you happen to be. No hurry. Support the local economy wherever you go, and buy from people who treat you nicely. Fuck the greedy bastards who try to lay guilt trips on you to buy their shit.

Most importantly, ROLL YOUR CLOTHES. There are obviously differing opinions on this, but I've been converted and will never go back. Rolling your clothes makes them take up practically no room, and they come out relatively unwrinkled when you unroll them. You can fit about 100 rolled t-shirts in a backpack.

Day packs: Then of course, you may want a day-pack to take around to store store your phone, smokes, current novel, and various purchases. You can buy a knock-off North Face (saw one in Bangkok recently that actually said: Mouth Face. See if you can get that one!) for very little.

When you get ready to go home, pick up a cheap bag to take home your souvenirs.

What else...

Travel towel - sporting/camping stores sell these things I've seen called "camp towels". It's like one of these things you'd use to dry your car after washing. Real small and light. I must say, mine treated me well across Cambodia, Viet Nam, Indonesia, etc. Sure, if you're staying in halfway-decent hotels in Thailand, that's the least of your concern. But if your out and about, they're quite handy for a quick wash-up in a restroom, and take up almost no room. And dry very quickly.

Liquid soap - You can get it there or here, but it's handy to have about the smallest leak-proof container of a skin-hair(if you're lucky enough to have any)-friendly soap on hand. Much better than dealing with bars and those stupid boxes you're supposed to put them in.

Shaving gel - If you are a fan of gel-type shaving cream, they ONLY have it in the large size cans here. Which is fine. But in the US they have those travel size ones that are that much smaller. Then again, I go through a small one so fast that I've given up on this issue.

Telephones - If you have a phone that will work on whatever frequency they use here (I have a tri-band for this reason, but never remember which band is which), definitely bring it. Pick up a 1-2-call sim card. If you don't have one, when you're here buy a basic Nokia 3305-or-something (about 3500 baht) immediately and activate it. It will pay itself off in no time. One thing I've learned, slowly and painfully (pay attention if you haven't gotten this yet, this info is GOLD) is to BE DISCRETE! (damn I've fucked up on this). The point being, you might walk into a fantastic ladyboy bar, say on Patpong beach, and see 20 lbs you want to fuck. Buy them a drink or two, give them a 100 baht tip, and get their number! Just hand them your phone and they'll know how to work it! Call them and arrange a meeting in the afternoon, when you're horniest anyway, and none of the other girls know about it. Then the next night, you can give them a wink and move on. Or go back for more. Boy I wish I'd figured this out sooner. In Bangkok, this has the obvious added benefit of saving you the 600-baht bar fine. Then, when you leave, if you don't need the phone, give it to a ladyboy friend who doesn't have one. I guess the bar girls mostly do (succesful ones anyway) but I know dozens in Chiangmai who don't have one, and would gladly fuck your brains out for a telephone.

Beer- OK, this is off-topic, but while I'm spewing opinions about travel in Thailand... If you're a beer-drinker, drink Beer Chang (bee-a shahng) in large bottles (koo-waht-yigh) with ice (nam-kang-dooay). Fuck Singha beer. "Upscale"-aspiring places will only have Singha (victims of agressive Thai marketing) plus heineken and carlsberg (victims of aggressive european marketing), but this Singha (pronounced: bee-a sing) shit in particular is vile. Chang is a bit rough taken straight, but with ice melted a little, as Thais drink it, it's bliss. Quite strong and dirt cheap. This could be a whole forum topic in its own right.

Silly Fools - OK, this is even further off-topic, but if you are a fan of ROCK, check out the thai band Silly Fools while you're here. (They're playing a rare concert appearance in CM in March actually. Tickets already in hand). These guys are so fucking cool and for real its ridiculous. From the heart. Thai kids love them, and if you know their songs, trust me your young thai friends will think you are that much cooler. But I truly love Silly Fools. Pick up a CD if you come across one. Especially their second most recent title: Juicy, which, judging by their most very recent release, may represent their pinnacle.


I guess that's about all I have to add for now. But don't forget to look me up when you're here. I'll either be in Chiangmai, Bangkok, or hopefully in Phuket.

Enjoy.

[Bit Beefy]

Hey Chuck thank u for that in depth breakdown, much appreciated i hope others will show there appreciation. You said u see people struggling around with these huge suitcases and enough shit for a war. Thats me.... When i come to thailand i normally just do, bangkok, pattaya, phuket, bangkok home. This time i will travelling about more and getting on and off boats, busses, plane after plane so i thought id invest in a backpack... What would you recomend, i saw a nice one for £80 its a 80litre with a small detachable back pack that u can attach to your chest via some pretty links, i checkd out to see if it has nice zips for security and they do, nice padding etc. so its a travel bag and a Day bag in one. Its got a cover and a whole heep of other stuff..... As for thr phone i use my Tri band Nokia 6310i and put that thai chip in it, i top it up so loads when im there so it stays live while im not there...You are rite about seeing all the LBs/GGs and wanting to shag um, i get them to put there number in my phone but i make the mistake of giving them my number to and spend most of the trip dodging them as they just ring and ring and ring. In the western world considering something means considering it. In thailand if u show interest u have just made a promise....lol...As for beer, yuk....lol...never liked the stuff...an aquired taste i wish i could aquire it as its alot cheaper than brandy...

As u know chuck ill be in the land from the 9th April, just PM me your cell, if ure plans are the same as b4 well meet up in Chiang Mai, if not well bump in somewhere along the way.....

Cheers again

Hollar back

Beef

[Guest]

No problem Beefy. We shall meet up.

Now let me go off on another topic I've given some thought: making the trip.

The following has served me very well:
-Inflatable neck pillow
-Sleeping blindfold
-Ear plugs
-Sleeping pill (one of these new-breed ones by prescription, ambien, stillnox, etc, or just a valium or something)
-Strong cocktail (Scotch for me)

Take the pill. Wash it down, defying doctor's instructions, with the cocktail, recline the seat, inflate the pillow, insert plugs, don the blindfold.

Timing is everything: Try to do it so as to force yourself to sleep on schedule with the place you are arriving. This gets you up and about that much sooner. You'll still be groggy for a day, but you'll be functional. And the next day you'll be ready to rock.

Don't know about flights from the UK, but flights from the US are brutally long. Connecting flights make it that much more difficult. You obviously don't want to be drugged-up and slogging through airports. So best if you can time it to arrive at like 11 am. Time your forced sleep so you get up at 9 or 10am. Then grab the free breakfast on the plane and you are golden.

[Guest]

ONE MORE THING. Making the trip part 2.

(Or maybe more if I think of them after I post.)

1) Wear comfortable, and warm, clothes on the plane. As I said above, bring, by way of wearing, pants. You probably only need one decent pair of pants for a month in Thailand in the warm season. Which lasts all year. You can get them laundered while wearing your swimsuit or shorts. But make them as comfortable as possible for the plane ride. Or fuck it, wear comfortable sweat pants (that's what we call them in the US) and pack a decent pair of khakis you won't mind going out in.

2) Carry no metal objects - In said pants, have a secure pocket to contain passport and ticket/boarding pass, some cash in bills, and NOTHING ELSE. Pack coins (or leave them in the airport as tips), phones, belts with buckles, whatever, in your backpack. This speeds you considerably through metal detectors. No digging out your shit and putting them in bins and all that rot.

3) Did I say warm clothes? - wear socks, sweat pants, a t-shirt and warm comfortable layer on top. Plus a knit cap if you so desire (as a bald-shaved-headed man, this is key). Damn sometimes these planes are cold.

4) Did I say comfortable clothes? - remember, you'll be drugged and/or drunk and sleeping on this plane ride. Not trying to look good.


Anyway, not trying to go micro-manage this, but I do a bit of traveling myself, and have found some of these things useful.

I'm planning to buy an around-the-world ticket and spend this summer in the Phillipines/US/Europe/India/Who-Knows-Where myself.

[Guest]

I had a terrible time buying a decent shirt in Rayong and I find that tshirts are the only things that are easily purchased in Thailand otherwise you will really struggle to dress well. Getting a genuine pair of Armani jeans was a nightmare. I always take all my own genuine designer geer including my $3000 Armani Suit and my italian leather shoes. I like looking good for my ladyboys and I dress to impress. Turning up in a tshirt wearing a base ball cap backwards certainly says alot about you as does wearing surfing shorts in bars - bloody uncoof and cheap.

I'd love to see the ladyboy steal the suit off my back ! I also like wearing all my bling jewellery particularly my diamond pezelled real rolex watch and my 24carat gold cross with encrusted rubys and emeralds which I wear outside my ralph lauren shirt. I also wear a solid gold 24carat gold bracelet together with my very special signet ring which is again solid gold and encrusted with my own coat of arms as well as 3 very special diamonds. I also like to wear my gold earings sometimes depending on how gay I am feeling.

No I always pack my samsonite suitcase full of my most luxurious silk shirts,suits,trousers and shoes. I reckon I must pay at least another $700 on extra luggage but hey I am worth it !

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