Will be there most likely. ^

I leave for Tokyo tomorrow, and probably won't have email access unless I find a decent deal on a laptop in Akihabara. As I said, I arrive in BKK late on the 22nd. If you guys are planning other events, please leave me a message at the Conrad. You can PM me for my name. Have fun!

Will be arriving late the 19th. Hotel car pickup.

But what's the tipping protocol in BKK? I know that in some Asian cities it's almost and insult to tip. How about Thailand?

Sounds like thinks are very inexpensive there so am also not sure how many baht I should obtain before my arrival.

Hope to find internet access when I get there so I can contact you folks starting on the 20th.

Any other tips for a first time Thailand traveler?

rtabuck. You have a PM. Cheers,TK

All. I'll PM those who have indicated an interest with further details over the weekend (or even before). TK

Exchange rate is terrible outside of the country.

Use the ATM or change US money when you land. We can't advise on how much to change, but both ATMs and Money Exchanges are all around. If you bring travellers checks, they charge a fee PER CHECK... so bring $100 and or $500 ones only.... not $20s

The same with cash; you get a better exchange rate if you exchange $50 and $100 bills. Speaking of which, try not to bring any 1996 $100s.

Good luck with Internet access here in Thailand. As a result of the earthquake off the south coast of Taiwan on/about 27 Dec, bandwidth between Thailand and much of the rest of the world has been lost.

The four main cables are being reparied slowly over the next two months, but speeds have gone from bad to nearly zero over the past two weeks.

p.s. The exchange rate (USD) in the country is also terrible.

Now, now, transpac, the exchange rate is only 'relatively' terrible, it used to be THB25 to USD 1 in the mid 80's (fixed by govt).

THB/USD 2004 - maybe THB 41 = USD 1
THB/USD 2007 - THB 35 = USD 1

So a 6/35 change is a 17% loss of purchasing power.

THB/NZD 2004 - THB 29 = NZD 1
THB/NZD 2007 - THB 23 = NZD 1 (and it was down to 21.8 in Oct)

So a 6/23 change is a 26% loss of purchasing power. Ouch!

Cheers, TK

Well I got here. About 2:30 AM so wasted most of the morning getting caught up on sleep and trying to recover from a Minnesota cold.

Don't have anything much planned for the rest of today other than cocktails in the exec lounge.

Got an afternoon tour planned for tomorrow (21st) but should be back to the hotel by 6PM.

So if anyone wants to hook up, PM me.

Told Oreck I would contact him on the 21st as he is arriving late tonight.

It's warm here. ^

I have PM'd those (see below) who said they were keen with a map and meet-up details. briefly, Gullivers Tavern, Sukhumvit Soi 5, 19:00 hrs, far right end of the bar (or as near as -poss depending on the crowd).

Those coming are (hopefully):
Oreck, LH747FTL, rtarbuck, transpac, akk333, nnl3823, seanthepilot, lecter, and Thai-Kiwi.

Anyone else that is keen, PM me for the maps etc.

Cheers, TK

I am planning on coming!

I have an appointment near there at 18:30. If I'm finished early I'll stop by.

Thanks everyone for a most pleasurable evening in BKK. Always fun to meet fellow Fters. And this was a great bunch. Sorry didn't get a chance to visit with all of you as much as what I would have liked, but there's so much to do and so little time.

Thanks, especially for Thai-Kiwi's help in putting this together. Amazing that so few of us were visitors and so many locals. Apparently you need outsiders to have a get together. So I volunteer to return again so such another meet may take place.

Thanks to all the posting for a first time visitor too. The taxi driver "suggested" that it would be 100 baht to get back to my hotel. So I took your advice and told him I would get out of the cab immediately, so he turned on the meter for a 45 baht ride.

Thanks again.

Will do this again.

^ ^

Thanks to all those who turned-up. Always good to see some familiar faces, and to meet some new.

Lots of stories compared, but no notes taken - which probably means we should do it again....

Cheers, TK

I really enjoyed meeting everyone. Top notch bunch! Let's do this more often.