Travel Addicts/Advice Thread

Sundry Chitchat
2539

This is why I didn’t go to Commander’s Palace. If it was just like “collared shirts” then OK fine but it was “Business Casual”. I’m on vacation, I don’t have that, and maybe I could have got away with an outfit I had but like, bite me. If you’re going to make it hard to go then I won’t go. I went to Brennan’s because they explicitly said casual dress was OK.

It was adults only yeah. It was stories about infidelity and prostitutes and so forth. My plan was pretty much to wander around the city drinking anyway so I thought I may as well hear some stories. The storyteller was good at his job. Had a pretty good time.

2540

I’m curious if anyone has been to Bangkok, Mexico City, and Istanbul and how Bangkok compares to the latter 2.

My fave cities in the world are Istanbul, Paris, and Rio (CDMX not far behind), so my gf and I are enamored with massive cities, preferably highly walkable, interesting architecture, good public transport, culturally rich. (Rio is kinda weak in some of those, but the beaches are the best I’ve ever seen and also the best setting for a large city I’ve seen)

Anyway, I’ve never been to SEA before. The old 2+2 Travel forum kinda put me off of it b/c it seemed like only a place for sexpats, but I’ve been looking into Bangkok more and it actually looks super cosmopolitan, quite a lot to do, good architecture, culture, etc.

My gf and I both work from home, so I think we prefer lots of chaos and action when we go outside, so the normal negatives of those massive metropolises are actually pluses for us. We mostly avoid traffic anyway.

I’ve been looking into the Thai Elite Visa and it might be a good option for us. It costs like $17k I think, but it’s good for 5-10 years. Probably a ripoff, but it would be nice to not have to think about visas and bureaucracy for a while, and Bangkok would be a great home base to see much of that part of Asia. We’re both hugely interested in Korea/Japan as well, and flights are convenient to visit.

2541

Bangkok is definitely a megacity. Not quite as mega as Istanbul but mega nonetheless.

I haven’t been to Bangkok in over a decade. So I can’t say how much of it has changed but I don’t recall it being particularly walkable. I guess some neighborhoods were walkable but I didn’t go on any long walks. Traffic jams were always a thing sort of like Istanbul. Used public transport most of the time but at night I’d grab a cab.

As for the Thai Elite Visa, that doesn’t seem like something the Thai embassy specifically offers. Seems more like a product sold by commercial visa consultants. Wonder if they’re exploiting some kind of legal loophole with this.

2542

Scott’s Cheap Flights is great, but it might be a bad move for my life. Multiple times a day I get an email from them that makes me regret having responsibilities.

2543

What sucks is that website only gives discounts for US flights. I only fly once round trip per year to US.

Probably gonna get a free trial soon to see if I can grab a discount during that time for it.

2544

Business casual isn’t shorts and a T these days?

(Oh oh the robot thinks I’m stalking you now. Sorry bout that. Must be the wine talk or RMNP talk or something.)

2546

I don’t recall wearing a suit at Commander’s Palace. Just a long-sleeved button down and khakis (went to NOLA during winter obviously).

2547

Dress shirt and sweatpants, imo.

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2548

I “attended” a meeting this week wearing a sport coat and shorts.

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2549

You don’t need a jacket at Commander’s. No shorts is their only hard rule. You would probably get looks if you went too casual though.

2550

I’ve only been to those cities as a tourist, but Bangkok being a more modern, sprawling metropolis has a much different feel than CDMX or Istanbul. While there’s some nice temples on the river and around town, you don’t get as much feel for history or culture in Bangkok like the other two. You’re not really going to find those airbnbs in old beautiful buildings in the historic sections of the city like CDMX and IST, it’s way more new builds and high rise apartments. The local favorite pastime is hanging out in the nice air conditioned malls. The public transportation is great though, and if you’ve never experienced Asian megacity public transit, it’s a must. The BTS skytrain is phenomenal and gets you to all the main sections of the city. You really really want to be by a BTS or MRT stop because the city is very spread out and not exactly walkable, and traffic is of course god awful.

The food is amazing, I love the street food, but everything is great from mid range to high end. Also Thai people friggen love mall food courts, they’re huge, cheap, and surprisingly good. And once you’ve eaten enough Thai food, you have a restaurant scene that is a lot more diverse than in Mexico or Turkey, like basically every world cuisine at your doorstep. Bangkok is a huge melting pot.

The nightlife is world class too, the girls and sexpat stuff is only a small part of it. There’s quirky dives, rooftops, rolling bars, whisky joints, all night clubs, all the backpacker stuff on Khao San Road, it’s incredibly diverse. And I actually do find it quite entertaining to walk around Nana Plaza or Soi Cowboy just to take in how ridiculous it all is.

Although it seems like you’re jumping the gun a bit even considering buying a $17,000 visa without having spent any time there yet! Summers are incredibly humid, dry season gets some terrible bouts of air pollution, the traffic is awful, parts of the city are downright gross, a lot of people don’t make it all that long :0 Most of the digital nomads seem to prefer Chang Mai. But definitely check it out and see for yourself!

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2551

My first Spanish tapas restaurant experience was in Bangkok.

2552

Thanks for the rundown, it actually sounds pretty great to me except maybe for the heat and lack of walkability, but we could just adjust and mostly go for walks at night and I’m sure it’d still be great.

Re: Chiang Mai, any time we’ve settled in a city of 1.5 million or fewer people we’re ready to move on after a month or two, we’re just massive city people.

Yah, we’d for sure check it out for at least a week or 2 before committing to an expensive visa.

We’re looking for a massive city to settle in that ticks most of the boxes I mentioned in the earlier post, while still being pretty affordable, and hopefully having a reasonably easy visa/residency system for a multi-year stay.

Some of the contenders:

Mexico City - My gf is from there and I lived there 3 years, so we’re looking for something different, otherwise it’d be a solid option.

Rio - We both love it, but hate the location. Not very convenient to Europe, Asia, USA, etc. And Brazilian bureaucracy is a nightmare.

Buenos Aires - Haven’t visited yet, but I’d imagine I’ll love it, and insane value right now. Again, the problem is location, it’s not convenient to almost anything.

Istanbul - Probably our favorite city in the world, but we tried for a year-long visa and were denied. We might try again if they ease up or possibly buy a property for the auto-residency (75k USD minimum)

Bangkok - Already mentioned above, but would be an interesting city and a cool base for travel all over East Asia. My gf already seems way into the idea.

A lot of the other larger cities are either really tough visa-wise (most of them in Europe, Seoul, Tokyo) or crappier versions of cities already listed (Manila, Jakarta, Lima, Bogotá).

2553

Maybe Vietnam should be on your radar too?

2554

Hanoi does look interesting, but I think there aren’t any reasonable long-term visa options. Also we’ll have a tiny dog with us and Vietnam is supposedly pretty dangerous w/dog thieves.

2555

And?

2556

You are not meant to finish an entire order of olives when dining solo.

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2557

Yea Bangkok is definitely a great travel hub, too bad Thai long term visa policies are kind of sucky too. Easy to stay long term in Cambodia though!

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2558

That’s the thing though, regardless of whether they actually really mean business casual, or whether they just think it’s a swell idea to put “gotta be business casual” on their website despite not meaning it, the next step on my flow chart is “blow me” either way.

2559

Been to Bangkok once. Enjoyed it. But once was enough for me.

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