Originally Posted by quiet

nah. all you need to do is hook up with some ex-pats that are already established. ko lipe at southern most tip of Thailand, for example, *IS* paradise. i know a married couple (both white) who have ran a bar there for 5 years. now they have a huge sail boat and are doing tours. i lived there for around 4 months (6 months total) about 2 years ago, they hooked me up with all the non-tourist deals. i even worked at their bar a little bit, just for shits and giggles (i don't need to work), never really had much of clue what i was doing, but i was master of the ipod lol. we went again last year for 3 months, spend most of our time on ko bulon, tarutao and lipe. i think bulon is going to be the next lipe. totally undeveloped, cheap as hell, no motorized vechicles, endless deserted beaches, perfect water, and there is only one bar and two restaurants on the entire island. we met a (western) guy, who just totally dropped out of society, built a simple hut, lives off the land fishing and gardening every day. he gives some of his fish to one of the resturaunts, and in return, they give him the land for his hut and garden. wears nothing but a leather thong. pretty fucking funny. but anyway, the point is, there are options, you just have to seek them out. pattaya and phuket suck. not trying to offend, but, well, yeah. suamui is good for a couple of days, same with phangan (everyone, once in his or her life should attend a full, or even better and less talked about, half moon party), but most of the gulf of Thailand (east coast) is a tourist trap now. ko tao is still pretty cool, that is about as good as it gets on the east coast imho. if you want east coast, head to Cambodia: sihanoukville. awesome place, tons of ex-pats there.

as far as the muslims in the south go, i would avoid the suntun [sic] area, etc. boring as hell.

girls, i was either traveling/living with my cousin, or with my girl over there, so i never even tried to go that route. i have only heard bad things about hooking up with thai girls long-term. serious horror stories lol. i wouldn't go there with a 10 foot pole.

it's not Thailand, but in Ventiane, Laos (which rocks btw), this guy we met had a quarter of the meat on his arm bit off by a crazy Lao prositute. he told everyone he fell off his scooter, but then after a couple of beers told us the real story. we felt bad, but you kind of have to laugh at the craziness that is south east asia. /blabbermouth.