Exercises in celibacy - trip to Thailand and Vietnam in Jan 2025

[zoomomancs]

23 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

That photo (below) reminds me of a trip that I did years ago when we (Woody, Non, and myself) did this similar trip - when we were sold by the boat tour agents on the river a tourist trip of 3 countries.....

FALSE sneaky Advertising - we departed on the Mekong river from Thailand, floated by as close as was legally possible to Myanmar (boat guide told us - sorry due to the situation we cannot disembark on the Myanmar territory - I was very disappointed), then we moored on a Laos island (Don Sao) that was in the middle of the Mekong river that was in Laos territory and we were allowed to disembark - with no stamping of passports, as this Laos island was tiny, where its sole purpose was to give some local merchants a chance to sell us stupid tourists some trinkets and souvenirs and to earn some hard currencies.

So, my desire to enter into Myanmar was temporarily thwarted.

However, my 2 lovely tour guides, Woody and his partner Non, took me to the 3 Pagoda Pass Market - which sits on a mountain pass at the border with Myanmar.  While roaming around this market (unattended as Woody and Non did not think that I would do anything stupid) when between the market stalls some sexy guys waved at me to come over to behind the stalls - which I stupidly did - and then Woody and Non realized that I had inadvertently crossed over into Myanmar - they both rushed to the edge of the invisible border and called me back into Thailand - it was quite a commotion, as I was the stupid American not knowing / understanding what I had just done.

So, technically, I was in Myanmar for 10 seconds -  but no passport stamps to prove it.

I once did an afternoon trip to Tachilek in Myanmar, getting a minibus from Chiang Rai, which can serve as a visa run if needed. Worth a go if it's still safe and doable. 

[zoomomancs]

3 hours ago, Marc308 said:

Hi Vinapu, Squirrel House is listed at US $39 today. Doesn't look too bad. But yes BBB Inn was definitely cheaper.

And in 2014 BBB Inn had 6 very sexy Vietnamese lads working massage. I'm still in touch with some of them. Sadly the coup sent them home.

[macaroni21]

43 minutes ago, zoomomancs said:

And in 2014 BBB Inn had 6 very sexy Vietnamese lads working massage. I'm still in touch with some of them. Sadly the coup sent them home.

Coup? There has not been a coup in Vietnam since 1963. Do you mean the coup in Thailand in 2014? But if so, why would a coup cause them to be sent home?

Or do you mean the 2021 coup in Burma? Why would that send them home either?

[bkkmfj2648]

50 minutes ago, vinapu said:

They also made sure to point to everybody present that this farang put protector on bare feet, how brave  guy he is !

Vinapu - please show us a photo of your "protector on bare feet".... I am very curious as to what they look like.

Us readers may also want to use this technique....  or is it patented like the Vinapu Tuck....

[bkkmfj2648]

52 minutes ago, vinapu said:

Thai official was speaking English and politely explained that owing to situation in Myanmar not only locals can cross on day pass and foreigners must fly over border

Almost exactly what happened to me, when I arranged my first 7 days of traveling together with Woody and his partner Non.  I had specifically told Woody when making the plans for this trip that the MOST important part of the to-be trip was to cross over into Myanmar.

Well, that day arrived - perhaps it was back in 2013 or 2014 - I wrote a previous trip report about this - and when we got to the exit Thailand gate - Woody was told that if he crossed with me that he would not be allowed back into Thailand - as Woody was still a refugee from Myanmar (now he is all legal with proper documents to live in Thailand).  Woody insisted that I cross over anyway - but I would not go without my precious Woody.  So, still to date, I have not yet entered into Myanmar - and like most of us here - wee are waiting for this never ending Myanmar conflict to end.

Woody saw how saddened that I was and he surprised me by taking me to that exact same point where you can overlook into Myanmar (this was before they built the glass Sky Walk overlook) AND Woody invited one of his friends who lives in that Myanmar border town = Tachileik to cross over into Thailand and join us for lunch up on the overlook - so that this Myanmar guy could explain to me about what we could visibly see in Tachileik.  We were originally supposed to eat lunch with this guy in Tachileik and he would give us a tour.  So, in lieu of our original Myanmar plan, I was still very happy and appreciative.  And, how could anyone be angry with adorable Woody.....

[zoomomancs]

1 hour ago, macaroni21 said:

Coup? There has not been a coup in Vietnam since 1963. Do you mean the coup in Thailand in 2014? But if so, why would a coup cause them to be sent home?

Or do you mean the 2021 coup in Burma? Why would that send them home either?

It was the coup in Bangkok in 2014. Maybe the hotel manager was over anxious and told the lads to go home to Vietnam. But the army were almost sat outside BBB Inn along Rama IV before the coup so it was an anxious time for everyone.  

[vinapu]

14 hours ago, zoomomancs said:

I once did an afternoon trip to Tachilek in Myanmar, getting a minibus from Chiang Rai, which can serve as a visa run if needed. Worth a go if it's still safe and doable. 

as it was  explained to me by border official  , at the moment only  Thais and Myanmarese can cross  border there at the moment. Quite possible not even all as he used wording ' only local people are permitted"

[daydreamer]

It was the same in 2023, we were not allowed to cross the bridge into Tachilek from Mae Sai.  At that time, nobody, even locals were allowed to cross.  There was a large barricade blocking the bridge.  I believe the bridge had not re-opened at that time from the pandemic border closure.

I did cross into Tachilek about 20 years ago, paying the same $10 fee @vinapu mentioned.  Don't worry, you didn't miss much.  I walked around a few streets and was glad to be back in Thailand after an hour or so.  I have traveled into Myanmar, to Yangon and Bagan, and I enjoyed that, but Tachilek has nothing much of interest.

 

[vinapu]

21 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Vinapu - please show us a photo of your "protector on bare feet".... I am very curious as to what they look like.

Us readers may also want to use this technique....  or is it patented like the Vinapu Tuck....

your word is my command

[vinapu]

Day 7

As I said before I felt we did not have enough time at Golden Triangle  so I decided to repeat visit there , specially motivated by the word that there is another Sky Walk there.

 We decided to take bus to Chiang Saen, city few km downstream from actual Triangle ,  which seems to act like capital of the border region.

 It was an idea of mixed brightness because bus departed 1 hr. later than scheduled , we were told they didn’t  not have driver available. Oh , well, we are on vacation . While waiting I managed to show finger to farang wandering through bus station and taking pictures of all and sundry without even bothering to ask. Fortunately he got the message and stopped.

 It took about 1 hr to get to our destination.

 

Finding Sky Walk proved chore , we did not see any advertisements of any kind but after asking few locals we took an advice and took tuk-tuk to the place . It’s few kilometers downstream of Mekong so even further from Triangle. View is precious as walk id high on the mountain. There's  temple on road level and they provide free lift up the hill as well as down but for getting down we opted for a nice walk through the jungle .

 I was not surprised that there were only few visitors on that new shiny sky walk, what one can expect if no information about it , never mind direction where it is was available or at least we did not spot any. It was worth the trouble though as view of  area with Mekong prominently bisecting it was great and air up there much fresher than on road level.

 

There was no ready transport from there available , we tried to stop something but traffic was sparse. Passing  Thai girl smiled at S and he asked her how we get back to civilization. Ever industrious , she pulled her phone and called her friend to come with tuk-tuk and take us to Sop Ruak. Soon we were on our way , it’s about 10-12 km from walk to actual Triangle. That lift  cost 200 baht

 She dumped us in front of local restaurant so we had our meal there and then walked toward Golden Buddha guarding confluence. Then S spotted that they offer river cruise by the boat including visiting Laos market on other side which can be visited without visa , just for 50 baht admission fee. Boat was 800 including waiting time in the market so of we went. While cruise was worth it market was nothing special but I bought some Laos coffee and super tasty Dark Lao beer to support host country’s  economy.

 

After saturating ourselves with triple border area it turned out that getting back to Chiang rai in the afternoon may be bit problematic as there’s no bus in the afternoon from Sop Ruak and  we were suggested two options – taxi to either Chaing Saen or Mae Sai and bus from there but we solved it easy way, why not to take taxi to Chiang Rai instead. Again lady from the t-shirt stand where we asked for options had a friend with car and she suggested she will call her and in 15 minutes we will be on the road.

Indeed this is what happened  and in 55 minutes we were already in our hotel ,my pocket lighter by 1500 baht.

 

 After shower S went to the hotels’ gym and I checked my e-mails. There was nasty one from  my credit card- somebody from Nigeria    charged my card for 300 odd dollars but they stopped it and wanted me to confirm if it was really me. I couldn’t call collect so decided to call regular way, got connection very fast , told them that it was not me as I’m quite far from Nigeria now. As per procedure they cancelled cad immediately and will be issuing new one ( which when I returned home was already waiting for me).

 

But it was not end of my troubles as there were three hotel charges  which were supposed to go through that card in coming days but Agoda made it easy to use another card, thank God I had that one.

S returned from gym about time I finished sweating card stuff  and to went it off I offered to go for banana pancakes for supper while he is taking shower. On my way I was timely cheered up . in one of local restaurants few guys were having a meal and when they saw me approaching one screamed “KFC man” , they laughed and so did I.

 

Goes without saying that S did his best to console me after all that tribulations and enforce what I know already – that he is an excellent travel companion.

[bkkmfj2648]

12 minutes ago, vinapu said:

There was nasty one from  my credit card- somebody from Nigeria    charged my card for 300 odd dollars but they stopped it and wanted me to confirm if it was really me. I couldn’t call collect so decided to call regular way, got connection very fast , told them that it was not me as I’m quite far from Nigeria now. As per procedure they cancelled cad immediately and will be issuing new one ( which when I returned home was already waiting for me).

 

But it was not end of my troubles as there were three hotel charges  which were supposed to go through that card in coming days but Agoda made it easy to use another card, thank God I had that one.

Same thing happened to me during my 62 day stay in Cebu.  It is very irritating and annoying.  Thank God that I had other additional cards that I could use. My new replacement card arrived to my former condo in Budapest (it is a card that is only issued to EU residents) and one of my ex employees lives there now and he will ship it via DHL to me here in Jomtien.

[Keithambrose]

12 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Same thing happened to me during my 62 day stay in Cebu.  It is very irritating and annoying.  Thank God that I had other additional cards that I could use. My new replacement card arrived to my former condo in Budapest (it is a card that is only issued to EU residents) and one of my ex employees lives there now and he will ship it via DHL to me here in Jomtien.

When I lost my Amex card, Amex sent me an online card to use, while waiting for plastic replacement.  I was impressed!

[bkkmfj2648]

16 minutes ago, Keithambrose said:

When I lost my Amex card, Amex sent me an online card to use, while waiting for plastic replacement.  I was impressed!

Great on Amex.

In my case, it was the SKRILL card and they made available to me a new virtual card ready to use on the same day that I made the fraud claim in Cebu.

So, I was also impressed with SKRILL.

 

 

[macaroni21]

While I have had similar experiences with unauthorised card transactions (none have succeeded so far, thank God!) and have had cards replaced by mail to my address, I have never had a virtual card as urgent replacement.  Can you explain how exactly a virtual card looks and how it is used? What are the limitations compared to a physical card?  Does it have a short life until one goes home and activates the new physcial card?

[vinapu]

Day 8

 Since we are returning to Bangkok today  we raised up early to be first for breakfast and then set to visit few recommended temples in the city core. It was actually S’s idea not to waste time in the morning.

At 11 we were back  in the hotel , asked them to organize taxi to the airport and when we went down to check out she was already waiting. 200 baht.

Upon arrival in Bangkok first thing we noticed was temperature, it was much hotter than in Chiang Rai which really doesn’t come as surprise but still…

I feel bit under water with light fever and bit of running nose, thanks god S did not get anything from me.  Eh, being young again !

Afternoon spent in the room as I tried to medicate myself  to be ready for bar hopping with ichigo tonight and it seemed to work. At 9 pm we met outside of Banana Club  , had our drinks and news exchanges and resolved to try Moonlight. At 10 pm on Saturday night it was surprisingly sparsely filled but just before show  spectators arrived in masse.

I had two boys sitting with me but decided to become celibate tonight  so no buy will catch some bug from me from being too close. After midnight , after show they had some singing and it was fun to extend that in fact ichigo and me were last clients to leave the bar at 1.30.

 I decided to celebrate celibate night with bowl of chicken rice soup at Foodland (62 baht)  and then went to hotel where around 2 am I collapsed on the bed and slept without interruption till 10.45. I really caught something somewhere as it’s not like me.

................................................................................................................................................................................ 

Day 9

 I slept only one night at Baan Silom as today I’m trying new hotel Squirrel House in former BBB In n space on Rama IV. Just out of curiosity and for old times sake. In the past BBB Inn was my home away from home in Bangkok.

I already posted my impression in that hotels thread.

 Since waking up that late did not leave me much time to pack up I had my breakfast only after I checked out at noon.  Waitress in Foodland did not blink an eye though.

 Room was not ready  so I went to Central Rama IX to kill the time , after 2 hours I was let in the room and spent afternoon inside, still feeling bit sickish.

  Late lunch / early dinner at G ’Bangkok , today it was first and only time I was not that happy with my meal there. I guess cook fell in love or something but I decided to let it go , told curious waiter that I was not THAT hungry after all .

At 9pm again highest level meetup with ichigo at Banana .It was fun people watching    so we went to Atlas just when show started. Of course I was immediately attacked  by tip seekers but kind of stand my ground , at least initially .

 Atmosphere was great and show even better with very progressive number by ladyboy performer  so we had fun big time. Around midnight as expected 12is12 showed up fresh from airport. He did not have any problem to recognize me and suggested we change scenery for the talk ( it was first time we met ) to a quieter place so we opted for Foodland . Ichigo went to his hotel and two of us spent next 2 hours talking . At 2 we parted ways and I went to my room to celebrate second celibate night.

It did not work for me though  because I did not sleep well that night

[bkkmfj2648]

4 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

Can you explain how exactly a virtual card looks and how it is used?

I have a couple of virtual cards.  I started using them when I started to feel uncomfortable displaying my physical card details when making sensitive transactions.  You never know with all of the millions of unseen and anonymous cameras and smart phones around us constantly - who is surveilling us when we make transactions.

In my recent experience with my SKRILL debit card being compromised while I was in Cebu where the fraudulent debits were happening at first in Dubai, then in the USA, and then in Canada - it was quite alarming.  With the SKRILL fraud team we believe that my debit card details may have been compromised just before I left Thailand for the Philippines, when I received an upsell email from Cebu Pacific with a weblink, which I clicked on, to upgrade my luggage allowance.  I remember that my Thai boyfriend was here in my condo room with me and he was helping me to photograph from the weight scale my weight before (not holding my luggage while I was on the scale) and after (with me holding the luggage while I was on the scale) so that we could calculate the delta of the weight difference.  Cebu Pacific's base weight limit is 20kg, so I bought additional weight to the maximum of 32kg - even though I only had 28kg for my 62 day trip - as I wanted to have some spare kilos available to me for the return flight in case I bought souvenirs and presents back to Thailand.  So, SKRILL thinks that when I entered my debit card details into that weblink to buy more luggage kilos, that my debit card details were somehow compromised.

Below is a random image that I captured from the internet - but it illustrates what anyone of my virtual cards would look like in the bank and/or debit/credit card provider app.  They present it as looking as the physical card (with certain details intentionally hidden to keep prying eyes and/or surveillance cameras from taking a quick snapshot of your debit card details) - I would imagine because that is what we are all familiar with.  

To reveal the details of the hidden numbers within the app, you usually need to enter in your password or in more strict cases perform a 2-factor authentication and/or enter in an OTP (one time password) that you would receive either via; email, SMS, or to your WhatsApp number.  

-->  Note that if you are traveling abroad do not accept the use of the OTP methodology option via SMS (text message) - because your home country's SMS may never arrive to you internationally and/or may become very expensive to receive because of roaming charges.  I have found that OTP via WhatsApp as being the most reliable and best option.

Below is what AI says about virtual debit cards - as it can explain it better than I can.

4 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

What are the limitations compared to a physical card?

The only limitation that I have encountered with the virtual card is if you would desire to use it at an ATM to withdraw cash.

I have heard that some sophisticated ATM machines have a way to read from your virtual card to allow you to withdraw cash - but I have never seen it in practice.  When I ask Google - it says that it is not possible:

But yet here in Thailand - I have seen with my own eyes certain ATMs where you can withdraw cash without inserting a card.  I am not sure if the end-user is using Apple Pay or Google Pay via NFC (for contactless payments) to perform these types of ATM transactions.  Google states the following possibility to link a virtual card to your Google Pay or Apple Pay and withdraw cash at an ATM in Thailand using the contactless payment feature:

4 hours ago, macaroni21 said:

Does it have a short life until one goes home and activates the new physcial card?

I believe that its life is as long as your physical card is (until expiration date that is stamped onto your physical card).  You have the option within the app to set the virtual car limit to ZERO - thus rendering it useless.  I am not sure if you can "turn it off" - without it being canceled.   Anyone here reading this know ??

The physical card and the virtual card are independent of each other - from the point of view of being active or not.

 

[10tazione]

4 hours ago, vinapu said:

Waitress in Foodland did not blink an eye though.

She should have taken the opportunity and confess her love to you. I mean, how many times are you in foodland without the company of a man?

Btw. being ill on holiday is a big mistake. I made that mistake myself a few times.

[10tazione]

I use a Wise account and can generate myself up to 4 (?) virtual debit cards. I can activate, deactivate them immeditately as i like and also delete them and create a new ones. They are debit cards though, not credit cards. I use them mostly outside EUR-countries for online payments for 2 reasons:

• data of my regular credit card stolen a few times
• exchange rate much better

When I pay with the physical card in a shop, i activate the card (1 button + fingerprint authentication on phone app) and as soon as the transaction shows up in the wise app I deactivate it again.
I fill up the account via bank transfer from my bank account which is free and takes not more than a few minutes time until it shows up in the wise account  (in EU). I only fill up to a limited amount for safety reasons.
My regular credit card I mostly use in EUR with known big companies like Agoda, Amazon, some airlines (but not the Thai ones, bad experience). Since I like to have 70% of my holiday accomodation prepaid I don't even take it with me on holiday anymore. I only take the physical wise debit card, my bank debit card for atm transactions and a lot of cash.

Unpleasant scenarios would be:

• stolen cash => still can get cash from atm
• stolen all cards => still have cash and virtual cards
• stolen phone => still have cash and bank atm card; for wise card need to login in browser; since my phone is 2nd factor for login it could be some trouble
• stolen everything (phone, cards, cash) => puh; ask friend to send money and hope this never happens

[BangkokDreamer]

16 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

When I lost my Amex card, Amex sent me an online card to use, while waiting for plastic replacement.  I was impressed!

If you have the app. Most cards have a function you can turn off and on. I only turn on my card to make a purchase and then I turn it off right after. It helps avoid fraud. The same with my debit card. I turn it on to withdraw money and turn it off again right after. 

[macaroni21]

Thanks for the detailed information about virtual cards. 

Two thoughts occurred to me: I'm not all that keen to have too many things concentrated in my phone. A couple of years ago, a friend dropped his phone into a river while he was on a ferry... you can imagine how the rest of his holiday went.

Secondly, I too have been using preloaded debit cards more than credit cards when travelling. It's a good way to manage risk especially in countries where trust is not totally justified.

@bkkmfj2648 the thought that a proper airline like Cebu Pacific can compromise your data is scary. 

[jason1975]

8 hours ago, vinapu said:

 I went to my room to celebrate second celibate night.

It did not work for me though  because I did not sleep well that night

Of course you didn't sleep well! There's no warm body for you to hug!

[ichigo]

8 hours ago, vinapu said:

Day 8

 Since we are returning to Bangkok today  we raised up early to be first for breakfast and then set to visit few recommended temples in the city core. It was actually S’s idea not to waste time in the morning.

At 11 we were back  in the hotel , asked them to organize taxi to the airport and when we went down to check out she was already waiting. 200 baht.

Upon arrival in Bangkok first thing we noticed was temperature, it was much hotter than in Chiang Rai which really doesn’t come as surprise but still…

I feel bit under water with light fever and bit of running nose, thanks god S did not get anything from me.  Eh, being young again !

Afternoon spent in the room as I tried to medicate myself  to be ready for bar hopping with ichigo tonight and it seemed to work. At 9 pm we met outside of Banana Club  , had our drinks and news exchanges and resolved to try Moonlight. At 10 pm on Saturday night it was surprisingly sparsely filled but just before show  spectators arrived in masse.

I had two boys sitting with me but decided to become celibate tonight  so no buy will catch some bug from me from being too close. After midnight , after show they had some singing and it was fun to extend that in fact ichigo and me were last clients to leave the bar at 1.30.

 I decided to celebrate celibate night with bowl of chicken rice soup at Foodland (62 baht)  and then went to hotel where around 2 am I collapsed on the bed and slept without interruption till 10.45. I really caught something somewhere as it’s not like me.

................................................................................................................................................................................ 

Day 9

 I slept only one night at Baan Silom as today I’m trying new hotel Squirrel House in former BBB In n space on Rama IV. Just out of curiosity and for old times sake. In the past BBB Inn was my home away from home in Bangkok.

I already posted my impression in that hotels thread.

 Since waking up that late did not leave me much time to pack up I had my breakfast only after I checked out at noon.  Waitress in Foodland did not blink an eye though.

 Room was not ready  so I went to Central Rama IX to kill the time , after 2 hours I was let in the room and spent afternoon inside, still feeling bit sickish.

  Late lunch / early dinner at G ’Bangkok , today it was first and only time I was not that happy with my meal there. I guess cook fell in love or something but I decided to let it go , told curious waiter that I was not THAT hungry after all .

At 9pm again highest level meetup with ichigo at Banana .It was fun people watching    so we went to Atlas just when show started. Of course I was immediately attacked  by tip seekers but kind of stand my ground , at least initially .

 Atmosphere was great and show even better with very progressive number by ladyboy performer  so we had fun big time. Around midnight as expected 12is12 showed up fresh from airport. He did not have any problem to recognize me and suggested we change scenery for the talk ( it was first time we met ) to a quieter place so we opted for Foodland . Ichigo went to his hotel and two of us spent next 2 hours talking . At 2 we parted ways and I went to my room to celebrate second celibate night.

It did not work for me though  because I did not sleep well that night

I had fun hanging out with you! Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future

[10tazione]

36 minutes ago, macaroni21 said:

the thought that a proper airline like Cebu Pacific can compromise your data is scary. 

I got 2 times within 2 years an email from Bangkok Air that their customer data has been stolen. One time was in clear proximity to my credit card being misused. Since then, I don't use my main CC anymore for Bangkok Air bookings, actually for all regional flights outside Europe.
The other case of my cc being misused was in proximity to topping up my AIS simcard. Lession learned.
A classical credit card from a security standpoint is a pretty stupid thing.

[thaiophilus]

9 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

I have a couple of virtual cards.  I started using them when I started to feel uncomfortable displaying my physical card details when making sensitive transactions.  You never know with all of the millions of unseen and anonymous cameras and smart phones around us constantly - who is surveilling us when we make transactions.

Physical cards can be virtualised too. If you add a physical card to Google Wallet you can use your Android phone to make contactless transactions on the card account, but as an extra level of security it uses a virtual card number, not the one on the card.  I assume iPhones have an equivalent.

[vinapu]

3 hours ago, ichigo said:

I had fun hanging out with you! Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future

The same here ! I hope too