JDee

Looking forward to checking it out next week!

What about Benjawan Becker's book, "Thai for Beginners"? I have that and the CDs. Just digging into it as well as Pimsleur. I'm assuming the book/CD combo is better than Pimsleur, given the other comments made. Anyone studied this book?

Okay, now I've completely wimped out. Rescheduled flight to June 2. Gotta' love the Japanese. All contracts are to be viewed as "rules-of-thumb". They changed my flight dates even though my ticket was fixed w/no reschedules, cancellations or re-routes. Still, if things are bad when I arrive on the 2nd, I'll stay in the hotel airport overnight and grab me a ticket to Cambodia or Vietnam the next morning. Enough is enough.

This is from the "Rough Guide to Bangkok" forum, posted on May 7th: Default Re: Travel advisory We advise against all but essential travel to, or through, the far southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla, due to the insurgency in these areas. See the Terrorism / Security section of this Travel I have ignored this advice for the last 7 years,why take any notice about what these idiots tell you.Its Thailand not Somalia common sense keeps you safe.In the areas listed above more likely to be bitten to death by mosquitoes,or hit on the head by a falling durian. More falangs are killed in Thailand by motorbike accidents,or jumping from high places. So avoid motorbikes and high buildings and you will probably stay safe. Others were making similar comments earlier in the month. Now that I'm taking a closer look, there are a few who have changed their tune recently. Looks like there are about 5k people in the Red Shirt Rally Site, many of them women and children. They seem to be on the verge of dismantling the standoff and I hope that's the case; Trust me, I am definitely a sissy. But I was convinced that if I stayed away from the containment zone, I'd be perfectly safe. However, you're right. That's why I changed my travel plans. And if my ticket was refundable, I'd have canceled altogether. It's definitely not worth "finding out" whether it's risky or not hanging out and playing at Soi Cowboy (about a mile away) while all this crap is going on.

Well, I'm planning to come out this Friday (will arrive around 1 a.m. Saturday 22nd) from Japan. My original plan was to stay in BKK but after reviewing Stickman's updates on his site and having some good discussions on "Rough Guide to Bangkok" forum, it seems like a bad idea to go there just yet. This is more out of inconvenience than fear of being shot or something. I speculate that a lot of this is overblown hype. Some of the guys on the other forum were saying Thailand is in a "civil war". I don't think it's anywhere near that (yet) and others on that forum agreed with me. But there is a standoff and the containment zone (not necessarily the center of the action) is right downtown. Any party animals will be within about a mile or two of that area. :rotflmao And others will be inconvenienced by some of the access cut off by closed public transit and many closed streets. Lot's of embassies are closed now too so if you want to get a visa and visit a neighboring country I imagine that could be tough (although I'd do some more research before giving up hope). My new plan is now to head for Pattaya for a few days. Then if it's safe and convenient enough to fly to Chiang Mai, I'd like to visit there for three days. After that, the most convenient thing would be to do my last leg in Bangkok as I fly out very early on May 31st. However, if I have to, I'll just look for a hotel near the airport the night before I leave and stick with two destinations. Really disappointed as I'd wanted to see a lot of tourist attractions near/in Bangkok. I'm a history buff and not necessarily a beach lover. So I hope there's going to be more than just a 24-hour-a-day party in Pattaya (I like that too but can't handle too much...must be getting old).