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I went to Thailand intending to stay till the money ran out and hopefully learn a new language at the same time. I was in Thailand from December 2001 until June of the next year, a total time of just over 6 months. The first two months traveling were with a close friend of mine and the remaining four months were on my own. After my friend departed I rented an apartment in Chiang Mai for 6 weeks and took Thai lessons (speaking and writing), before hitting the road again. I traveled primarily in North and North-Eastern Thailand, but also visited Laos on two seperate occasions in order to obtain new visas and look around a little. The map on this page shows the path I took through Thailand and Laos (click on it for a larger version).
I used a borrowed 35mm camera throughout the trip. Going through about 11 rolls of 200 and 400 ASA film. All developing and prints were done in Thailand. Usually at the Kodak Centres that can be found in most medium-sized towns.
Most of my funds were kept in my regular Canadian bank account and accessed with my ATM card which supports the Plus system. I saw logos for both the Plus and Cirrus systems on virtually every ATM in Thailand. As a backup I brought along an extra card with a different serial number and several travelers cheques.
Although international calls can be made from almost any post-office, I only tried this once. For the entirety of the trip I relied on email to keep in touch. Any town large enough to have a post-office will typically have an internet cafe around somewhere. If they don't they'll at least have an internet booth in the post-office itself.
I purchased open-ended round-trip tickets, but if I had it to do over again I would have just bought one-way tickets. Babysitting the return ticket is an annoyance and tickets are so cheap in Bangkok that I'd have paid the same or less.
The places I went in chronological order (places I went more than once are only
listed once):
Ubon, Khorat, Ko Chang, Surat Thani, Wat Suan Mokkh, Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang,
Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Lake Nam Ngum, Nong Khai, Khon Kaen, Mae Sariang,
Tham Lot, Soppong, Pai, Lampang, Nan, Phrae, Um Phang, Hota, Mae Sot, Lopburi,
Bang Pa-in, Bangkok, Udon Thani, Sakhon Nakhon, That Phanom, Savannakhet,
Nakhon Phanom, Sri Racha and Ko Si Chang