My Thai gf was trying to find me a cheap ASQ 2-3 weeks ago. a: there were already many in Pattaya on the list and b: there was nothing cheaper than 36k

@Garrett **********

oh nice. I was just basing that 600 on the previous comments. Never really looked into it. How long is the contract? at 450 a month I quite like the freedom of PAYG and 4G 4mbps serves my needs fine. Gf tried to hook me up with cheap unlimited but it was 18 months or something, and given how unwelcome they make us feel here it's a gamble lol

unlimited good speed seems to be 600 standard. I spend about 450 a month for a 30GB allowance (150 baht for 10GB or 10 days) for my phone on a pay as you go TrueMove SIM I got at the airport (told the staff it needs to not have an expiry date, not sure exactly what the SIM type is). Top up at 7-11, never run out of data despite watching a fair amount of fb and insta videos. You might consider that for your phone and ~600 a month for AIS fiber for the house. But then again I almost never make phone calls because most people and businesses can be contacted on whatsapp, line, fb, insta etc (and I have wifi for video calls). If you have to make actual phonecalls or lengthy video calls on the go, maybe unlimited is better.

amazing special offers on almost all hotels, especially in areas popular with foreign tourists. You can just shop around or book last minute on an app, unless they're insisting on an address for the duration (edit: as someone else pointed out you might need something booked for the first few nights, many apps have free cancellation)

And yet that garbage still piling up now, people are still putting it there. It's not all from foreign tourists

but if 'letting mother nature breathe' helps fix cognitive dissonance for you and lets you fully enjoy having it all to yourself with no negative thoughts then congratulations.

@Kool ******

the natural environment is rebuilding? Take a look at Koh Lanta. The sea is a giant garbage bin which used to be emptied by local tourism industry and is now overflowing with plastic because 99% of beach front tourism closed. At least true when I was there a couple of months ago. It may have improved a bit now

I'm just glad I can speak Mandarin

Chinese nouveau-riche tourists don't usually care about local charm or culture (there will be exceptions, of course) and soon they will probably be in a 'travel bubble' so tourism industry as a whole may survive but it will likely be rich developers and big global chains profiting from it because most local businesses will already have gone under before that

just read that back and it wasn't meant to be confrontational, sorry if it came across that way. But point still stands. When I'm on my favourite beach and thinking how wonderful it is that it isn't packed with tourists, I try to catch myself... it may eventually be packed with big name chains and concrete as a result