wynzlo

I'm thinking about continuing Thai language studies with a one-year course, so I've started researching options. Here's what I've gathered so far...

AUA
http://www.learnthaiinchiangmai.com

Payap University
http://ic.payap.ac.t.../thai/about.php

Pro Language
http://www.prolanguage.co.th

YMCA
http://www.ymcachiangmai.org

Walen
http://www.thaiwalen.com

There are past threads on this topic, but some schools seem like they might be gone. For example, do Cornerstone and Talk Talk still exist?

CMU has a new website for their program (http://www.cmutefl.com), but I'm quite wary after last year's fiasco. Like the last one, this new website is not hosted on a legit CMU domain. Anyone actually attending classes there?

Anything missing from this list?

Just got back from a very nice trip to KL and figured I'd post a report...
    
Instead of flying direct from Chiang Mai with AirAsia, I flew to BKK Saturday morning to visit some people, then Saturday evening flew BKK to KL.


Saturday

• Purchased some ringgit at Bangkok airport to cover transportation. Had tried to purchase some in Chiang Mai, but the banks I tried had none to sell.
• Touched down in KL around 9:45pm, long lines at immigration took about 45 minutes
• At a little counter near the exit, purchased an AirAsia bus ticket to KL Sentral station for 90B. Lots of buses running, left in under 10 minutes. The nonstop bus trip took about 1 hour.
• Arrived at the lower level of KL Sentral. My hotel was within walking distince – so close that taxi drivers weren't interested in taking me, but they were happy to offer directions. Hotel ended up being a 5 minute walk from KL Sentral station.

Sunday

• Spent the day touring around the city after picking up maps and info from the tourist information center inside KL Sentral station

Monday

• Woke up late and headed for the KL Sentral train station at around 9:30am (when the Thai embassy opened). The LRT train to Ampang Park cost 20B and took about 15 minutes. The Thai embassy is a 10 minute walk straight down the same street the Ampang Park train stop is on.
• There were maybe 40-50 people waiting inside the consular area of the embassy. Took a queue number (friendly guy reminded me to grab both copies of the ticket) and sat down.
• Number was called after about 45 minutes. Went up to one of the two counters handling visas, handed over the following: visa application form, photocopy of passport picture page, copy of AirAsia receipt for return flight, one passport photo which was a leftover from Chiang Mai immigration. No questions asked, the guy handed me a receipt and told me to return at 2pm next day.

Tuesday

• Returned to the Thai embassy at 2:15 to find a group of 20-30 people outside the gate. Turns out they don't even open until 2:30pm. They did open the gate on time and everyone flooded in. It was first-come-first-served, they didn't use the queue numbers from the day before. It still only took 10 minutes to get my passport back with its shiny new single entry tourist visa

Wednesday

• Around 10am I took the same AirAsia bus, from the same spot at KL Sentral station, back to the LCCT airport. There was no ticket booth, I just bought a 90B ticket on the bus.

Some notes:

- I have a U.S. passport with 1 non-B and 1 double tourist visa
- I assumed I was flying into the main international airport terminal, but I was wrong. AirAsia typically flies to a different terminal, LCCT, which is 20km away. This means there is no train direct from the terminal.
- Buying ringgit at the KL airport is crazy expensive. Bangkok airport was significantly cheaper, and of course banks in the city are cheapest.
- There is a 1 hour time difference! When it's 8:45 in Bangkok, it's 9:45 in KL.


Accomodations:
I stayed at a place called Hotel Summer View right near KL Sentral for 1300B/night. It was simple, clean, and cheap, with edible buffet breakfast and friendly staff.

Staying near KL Sentral is super convenient as it's the transit hub of the city. The area nearby is called Brickfields, a.k.a. Little India. I had the most amazing Indian food of my life there. One great restaurant was called Jassal, a few shops down from the monorail station near KL Sentral . It's the place that has display cases outside full of Indian desserts.

However, other than Little India, there's not a whole lot else in this area. If you don't feel like dealing with public transportation, KL Sentral area is probably not a good place to stay. If you want to get out and explore the city and outskirts, then it's very convenient.

Material i found helpful:

- The Wikitravel page on Kuala Lumpur has great information, particularly the descriptions of various districts within the city
- This transit map PDF proved quite handy. It's from 2006, so there have been some minor changes since then, but the information is useful


Attractions:
There is tons to see around KL. People who say it's boring obviously haven't made an effort. Two highlights for me were the Batu Caves and the Lake Gardens.

Batu Caves is one of the famous tourist attractions and definitely worth a half day trip. There is now a train station right outside the park entrance, so you can go direct from KL Sentral. The train ride is about 30 minutes each way and it costs only 30B round trip. There's no entrance fee at the park either. Perhaps more fun than the park were the hoards of monkeys.

The Lake Gardens is a one of the most beautiful city parks I've ever seen. The plant life is stunning and they maintain the park well, with hardly any garbage to be seen (same can't be said for the Brickfields area where I stayed). There are great walking paths throughout the park. I wish I had brought some running shoes. At the north end is a nice little sculpture park alongside the national monument. At the south end is the national museum. It's easy to spend an entire day wandering around these places.


Impressions:
One more thing worth mentioning is that KL is not Thailand. I found that I'm quite accustomed to smiling at people and seeing a smile returned. Well, this often doesn't happen in KL. That, combined with the constant and blatant stares from people, was a little unnerving at first, but I quickly realized that's just the way it is.


View from hotel, KL Sentral station is under the twin hotels on the right

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Lake Gardens park

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Batu Caves

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For about a month now I've been using a water delivery service for drinking water. The water comes in glass bottles and tastes pretty good, but it's getting a little expensive. I'm getting 36L per week, which is costing 160B - not really expensive considering the convenience, but I have a feeling it's costing much more than other services.

There was one recent thread about Glacier which has some useful information. I'm wondering if we can gather some feedback on other companies too.

I'm guessing a lot of members here use water delivery services. Could you post which one you currently use and what you get from them? Preference for glass or plastic?

What I'm using now:

Dew Drop
40B/case, 1 case = 12 x 750ml glass bottles
deposit: 200B/case

Getting 4 cases delivered each week, costing 160B total. Water tastes fine. The bottles are a litte banged up, but look and smell clean inside.

Yes, water may be a dull topic, but it's certainly an important one.

So I've had this one plain black cotton t-shirt for a few years now. It's the most perfect t-shirt I've ever worn. Nothing out of the ordinary, it just happens to fit absolutely perfectly. Funny thing is, it came from a former roommate who left it behind when he moved out. Fate? I think so.

It's starting to wear though. Now I'll continue wearing it until it won't stay on my shoulders any longer, but in the meantime I'm hoping to find somebody here who can clone it. I'm thinking I'll start with just a handful of clones - maybe three to begin. If it works out well, I may start forming an army to replace my entire wardrobe.

Does anyone have personal experience with skilled sewing professionals in Chiang Mai who might be up to the task?

For those thinking this is absurd, you obviously have not yet found your perfect shirt. I wish you the good fortune of it happening within your lifetime.

Tourist visas have been free for the past year. Recently there have been reports of some consulates charging for them, many issuing only single entries, and some flat out denying people.

Do you think consulates in neighboring countries will be more relaxed about tourist visas once they're making money again? Will they likely be more liberal about single vs double entry since they charge per-entry?

Obviously only time will truly tell, but I'm curious what the more experienced members here predict.