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what are my best options for spending 6 months to a year in thailand traing? what about work? and if i have to foot the whole bill myself, how far would 10 k take me realiscically?
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Hey man,
Visit my site Dan's Muay Thai MMA.com A Place for all Mixed Martial Artists I spent a month in Thailand earlier this year. I have a whole Traveling Tips section, which covers plenty of stuff including exchange rates, visas, and earning money while in Thailand. If you have any questions, post on my site, or email me directly through the site. Thanks.
Dan -
Thai Government visa info page is here Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand
The upshot is that it looks like the rule is you can only stay in Thailand on a tourist visa for 90 days. You must then leave the country for at least 90 days before you may re-enter on a tourist visa.
A good possibility is getting a student visa. It seems that camps will sponsor you. However, you CANNOT WORK while on a visa.
And if you get a work visa, you have to work, which could cut into your training time.
The student visa process is described here (From the point of view from someone applying from the UK - contact your local Thai consulate to see if it's the same for your nationality, what ever it is). http://muaythailand.com/articles/read.php?article=125
The Thai government requires you to have proof of sufficient funds for your stay. The amount they require to show is 20,000 Bhat. Fortunately that translates to about $560 US.
10,000 USD would probably be sufficient, depending on your lifestyle.
Some basic information regarding costs from Lanna Muay Thai
Costs: (for example - Lanna is located in Chiang Mai. Costs will be higher in beach resorts, Bangkok)
(1000 Bhat = $28 US (according to XE - The World's Favorite Currency and Foreign Exchange Site )
Accommodation Costs:
Boxing camp 3,000 baht / per person per month
Guest House from 150 baht / per day up to 400 baht / per day
Apt / condo from 3,000 baht to 10,000 baht / per month
Houses from 8,000 baht / per month upwards.
Note - where I was staying I had to pay extra for the electricity I used. Running an air-conditioner and a lap-top (to watch DVDs/VCDs) adds up.
Food -
I was spending 15 to 30 Bhat per meal for great road-side local food. Similar prices in the open-air restaurants near Chiang Mai university)
Western food (sometimes you've got to have it!) maybe 200 to 400 per meal
UPSHOT - It can be done!! Go for it!Comment
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PS: Here's the thread I started when I was in your position. It's from 2004, so prices have gone up in some areas, but not by that much.
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aseepish, actually i think if you enter from Malyasia, they will give you a 90 day visa. Burma is only 15 days. So you could visit the country with no visa, stay for the first 30 days, make a visa run to malyasia which takes about a day and a half, and get it extended for an additional 3 months.Comment
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You could be right. The rules are in a bit of state of flux right now.
The 90 day max rule from muaythailand.com was posted in March 2008.
Malaysia is great if you're in the south, it wasn't really an option for me in Chiang Mai - a six hour (one-way) bus ride to Mae Sai (border with Burma) wasn't too bad. Back in 2005 that could buy you another 30 days. But 15 now? I would not want to make that trip every two weeks!
Spending a couple of days in Penang to avoid all that doesn't sound so bad!
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yeah, the 15 day rule sucks. Basically, you need to try to make a visa arrangement before you go now.Comment
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get tourist visa on the malay border, if you pm me i can send you the website for a place in malaysia that will let you stay there and get your visa all for you in malaysia, totally legal and above board no tricks or rubbish and speak fluent english.
you can do this 3 times in a row, which takes you over 6 months.
for 6 months in thailand you will need id guess at around 4000usd or2k english.Comment
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