Living in Sydney/travelling alone

theNude · 23 Jul 2009 at 12:12

Howdy,

In less than a month i will be moving to Sydney for 6 months after a week in bangkok.

I will be travelling alone and will be staying in a hotel for the first few weeks whilst i find a flatshare in the Bondi beach area, i am budgeting around 700 bucks a month for a room, doesnt have to be amazing, just somewhere to crash, leave my stuff etc. Any tips on looking for a place? any scams i should be aware of?

Also travelling to Bangkok by myself to chill out for a week, want to travel down to a moon party and go nuts. Will be robbed? killed? any recomendations on places to visit? which is the best cheapest way to travel around thailand?

Help is appreciated

Thanks

Dude.

Guest2 · 23 Jul 2009 at 12:32

theDude said:
Howdy,

In less than a month i will be moving to Sydney for 6 months after a week in bangkok.

I will be travelling alone and will be staying in a hotel for the first few weeks whilst i find a flatshare in the Bondi beach area, i am budgeting around 700 bucks a month for a room, doesnt have to be amazing, just somewhere to crash, leave my stuff etc. Any tips on looking for a place? any scams i should be aware of?

Also travelling to Bangkok by myself to chill out for a week, want to travel down to a moon party and go nuts. Will be robbed? killed? any recomendations on places to visit? which is the best cheapest way to travel around thailand?

Live in Manley area of sydney, its nice.
Bangkok to chill for a week - good luck with that
no you wont get robbed, unless you are stupid
doubt you will get killed unless you get drunk and start on a bouncer or something in patpong
visit - go to ko phangan, ko tao, ton sai, railey, phi phi, forget samui
travel by bus, you get a night for free effectively and its cheap as. plus you meet people on the bus and its fun stopping at the crappy places

Van Hellseek · 23 Jul 2009 at 13:39

Just watch out for the taxi drivers and tuk tuk drivers. They're all a bunch of rip-off scammers. And don't let them take you to TAT, Jewelers, or tailors!

What hotel were you planning on staying at? Make sure it's "girl friendly" if you were hoping to have some fun.

Guest2 · 23 Jul 2009 at 13:45

seek said:
Just watch out for the taxi drivers and tuk tuk drivers. They're all a bunch of rip-off scammers. And don't let them take you to TAT, Jewelers, or tailors!

I disagree, you can get a free tuk tuk lasting an hour and only have to stop at 3 jewelers, tailors or TAT stores. I was doing this was a mate and it was great fun, tuk tuk driver collects his commission, you have fun winding up the shop owners and also get a free ride. Our driver even knew what we were doing and had a laugh with us

The shoe shop we went to was the most funny. I said i wanted his shoes and that they were by far the best (they were terrible) when he or anyone else for that matter asks where you are from, just ask them questions like where are they from, what is their name etc.

They dont know what to do and leave you alone

Viper² · 23 Jul 2009 at 13:50

Guest2 said:
Live in Manley area of sydney, its nice.

Manly is a very nice place but I prefer Queensland to NSW tbh.

Jamesdavid3 · 23 Jul 2009 at 14:20

theDude said:
Howdy,

In less than a month i will be moving to Sydney for 6 months after a week in bangkok.

I will be travelling alone and will be staying in a hotel for the first few weeks whilst i find a flatshare in the Bondi beach area, i am budgeting around 700 bucks a month for a room, doesnt have to be amazing, just somewhere to crash, leave my stuff etc. Any tips on looking for a place? any scams i should be aware of?

Also travelling to Bangkok by myself to chill out for a week, want to travel down to a moon party and go nuts. Will be robbed? killed? any recomendations on places to visit? which is the best cheapest way to travel around thailand?

Help is appreciated

Thanks

Dude.

How much money in Total are you taking for all this.?

Guest2 · 23 Jul 2009 at 14:31

I imagine £150 for a week in bangkok ( i presume by bangkok you mean thailand) Why just a week in thailand?
$4200 on room rent in sydney is about £2000 plus another £2000 to spend

so my guess is about 5k. Personally id rather travel SE asia then do 2 months in Oz (not just sydney) Sydney gets old after a week

Jamesdavid3 · 23 Jul 2009 at 15:18

Guest2 said:
I imagine £150 for a week in bangkok ( i presume by bangkok you mean thailand) Why just a week in thailand?
$4200 on room rent in sydney is about £2000 plus another £2000 to spend

so my guess is about 5k. Personally id rather travel SE asia then do 2 months in Oz (not just sydney) Sydney gets old after a week

£2000, for the two months renting?? thats so expensive..

Guest2 · 23 Jul 2009 at 15:22

no, 6. Thats why i said it would be better to do SE asia and oz for 2 months.
Scrap that, if i was doing 6 months id do 3 months SE asia, 2 months oz, 1 month NZ

or even better 2months SE asia, 1 month oz, 1 month nz, 1 month fiji, 1 month brazil

Thailand has way more to see than australia, why are you only doing one week thai and 6 oz? Do you have a job/family there or something?

megakid · 23 Jul 2009 at 15:28

theDude said:
Howdy,

In less than a month i will be moving to Sydney for 6 months after a week in bangkok.

I will be travelling alone and will be staying in a hotel for the first few weeks whilst i find a flatshare in the Bondi beach area, i am budgeting around 700 bucks a month for a room, doesnt have to be amazing, just somewhere to crash, leave my stuff etc. Any tips on looking for a place? any scams i should be aware of?

Also travelling to Bangkok by myself to chill out for a week, want to travel down to a moon party and go nuts. Will be robbed? killed? any recomendations on places to visit? which is the best cheapest way to travel around thailand?

Help is appreciated

Thanks

Dude.

Ive been living in Bondi Beach for close to 5 months now and you can easily find a flatshare (room for yourself) for $180 a week (that's your approx budget). Although you could live in Manly (no idea on prices around there), it's pretty far away from the centre of town, far more than Bondi Beach. Bondi Beach has the huge shopping complex, Bondi Junction just 20 min walk or 5-10 min bus away and the city is just a further 15 minutes on the bus... Manly is atleast a ferry journey away.

If you want to find somewhere in Bondi, look on gumtree.com.au

theNude · 23 Jul 2009 at 16:11

Jamesdavid3 said:
How much money in Total are you taking for all this.?

I am only taking a couple of grand max, my flights are paid for by the company and i will be getting £150-£200 a week for a place to stay for the first month.

A week in thailand just to have fun escape the grind for a week, if ihadnt been in hospital last week i was on my 2nd day off for the year.

have job offer in sydney so will be staying there for 6 months. if i have any cash left will be touring west coast and then maybe vietnam on way home

might get bored of working in city and travel to queensland to pick fruit!

theNude · 23 Jul 2009 at 16:19

megakid said:
information

cheers dude, will be working from bondi junction so looking near there/beach. whats the cost of living like? i wont be on great basic wage (sub 40k) until i hit my targets for monthly bonuses.

How much is a night out for dinner/beers? getting around the city by bus/tram? i think i will get a bike and cycle to work as i do now in London.

drizzy · 23 Jul 2009 at 17:11

A night out in Sydney will probably cost you about the same as a night out in London in my somewhat limited experience.

dozer · 23 Jul 2009 at 18:25

dont carry any drugs with you in koh phangan, was stopped on a deserted dirt road by a police roadblock, seems very common. 10yrs in a thai jail is not what you want.

theNude · 23 Jul 2009 at 18:40

try to steer clear of any drugs anyway

Van Hellseek · 24 Jul 2009 at 11:47

Guest2 said:
I disagree, you can get a free tuk tuk lasting an hour and only have to stop at 3 jewelers, tailors or TAT stores. I was doing this was a mate and it was great fun, tuk tuk driver collects his commission, you have fun winding up the shop owners and also get a free ride. Our driver even knew what we were doing and had a laugh with us

The shoe shop we went to was the most funny. I said i wanted his shoes and that they were by far the best (they were terrible) when he or anyone else for that matter asks where you are from, just ask them questions like where are they from, what is their name etc.

They dont know what to do and leave you alone

What a complete and utter waste of time.

I'd rather pay the pittance they want for the ride and just get to where I'm going.

Guest2 · 24 Jul 2009 at 12:00

seek said:
What a complete and utter waste of time.

I'd rather pay the pittance they want for the ride and just get to where I'm going.

Or have something fun and see proper bangkok. back street engine repair shops, dodgy gem stores etc. far more fun than getting a taxi back to your hotel and sitting in the pool. that can be done anywhere

One of the best things i did in bangkok was catch a bus and just get off at a random stop somewhere. No tourists, no one speaking english

I ended up walking into some sort of thai parade around the times of the riots. Everyone was wearing yellow, live music playing, free food given out, no western people anywhere. Everyone was looking at me like i was mad, but was handing me free stuff and having a dance.

Dont just go and do the usual tourist rubbish

Van Hellseek · 24 Jul 2009 at 12:30

Well I'm sure we both agree that he at least needs to watch out for the crazy motorbikes. Even on pavements!

SuperMan · 24 Jul 2009 at 12:46

I say let the tuk tuk drivers take you anywhere. I pretended to be a mute and was told that I had been cursed by a witch at birth lol.

With regards to Sydney I don't think you will get bored especially if you have enough cash. Start surfing aswell amazing fun. I spent two weeks in a hostel in kings cross fiver a night and was amazing.

Guest2 · 24 Jul 2009 at 13:44

SuperMan said:
I say let the tuk tuk drivers take you anywhere. I pretended to be a mute and was told that I had been cursed by a witch at birth lol

lol. that sounds like fun.

With regards to Sydney I don't think you will get bored especially if you have enough cash. Start surfing aswell amazing fun. I spent two weeks in a hostel in kings cross fiver a night and was amazing.[/QUOTE]

I got picked up by my mates mum in a soft top merc then driven back to their 6 bed house with swimming pool and games room. The first night we went out to mates local and won a free meat feast meal then went to one of his friends house parties. I stayed at his parents with him for 5 nights. Was a nice change to 2 months of hotels!!