There are very few  countries that need a visa for visiting Thailand for up to 15 days and the nationals of most Western countries can stay for 30. This is a simple stamp in the passport on arrival although if you just got off a A380 it might take you 10 minutes queuing at the immigration desks. Members of ASEAN countries have even greater benefits (a bit like EU borders - oops! Should I have said that?)

Ultra modern mass rapid transport (overhead and subway trains) make transfer from the airport to the centre of downtown a doddle and extremely uncomplicated at not more than 20 minutes and just over a dollar or two for a ride; a taxi costs only 10 dollars so 4 sharing is even cheaper than the railway or the bus.  

Signage everywhere in Thailand is in English, even in the tiniest rural villages. Plenty of facilities everywhere for people of reduced mobility (ramps everywhere for wheelchairs, special toilets, etc.). Most people under 30 can speak enough English to point you in the wrong direction.

Despite the silly reports in the Lonely Planet, BKK is an extraordinarily safe city, no mugging, and hardly any pickpocketing. Most petty crime is done by the foreign tourists themselves.

Transport  in town by proper air conditioned taxis or the touristy tuk-tuks (motorcycle rickshaws for the more adventurous) costs only 2 - 4 dollars for a ride that in a black cab in London would cost over 20 quid.

Road traffic in the city is dense, but not as bad as central Berlin, London, Manhattan, Paris, or Marseille. In fact I don’t mind driving around it at all. Helps to know where you are going though (but I do, and I know the shortcuts through the back alleys).

Unlike DC, Hong Kong, or Esino, a compact venue with a very short walking distance to/from accommodation and reasonable eating places is absolutely no problem. Everything is flat and there are no hills (no collapsing in the street from asthma attacks like on the steep slopes in the rare air of Esino Lario) Something like the government Chulalongkorn University (Thailand’s Oxbridge) campus is right  in the middle of town and there are budget hotels up every alley. 

For those who feel they must  exploit the conference  for some sight seeing, BKK is a hugely fascinating city. Even has what I believe is the world’s largest shopping mall (Panthip Plaza) dedicated entirely to  IT. Fast river and canal boat-busses also provide a dense transportation network in and around the city and suburbs (only 20 mins from the backpacker ghetto (rooms from 4 quid a night) in Banglamphu district to  Siam Square, the downtown epicentre.

Tourism speech over.

Kudpung

On 17Oct, 2016, at 15:15, WereSpielChequers <werespielchequers@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Chris,

That sounds like a really good option for 2018 or later, especially when you consider how open Thailand is for visitors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Thailand

Also it would be the first Wikimania in the far East for five years.

If Bangkok traffic is as bad as its reputation,  would it be possible to get a compact venue with food accommodation and conference all in walking distance?

WSC

On 17 October 2016 at 07:33, cs <cs@edubkk.org> wrote:

I am seriously interested in organising a Wikimania in Bangkok.

The Thai Wiki does not have a functional chapter, but there is a user group chaired by a professor at Thailand’s major Medical College, and we have collaborated on various projects. 

With our combined knowledge we could get a team together fofr 2018 0r 2019 probably 2019 would be best. .

I have experience in event management. Taweetham has lived and studiedfor his PhD in Australia and has attended several Wikimanias. I have lived in Thailand for nearly 20 years and was a professor at a government university in Bangkok for several years.

Bangkok has an ideal geo location, it’s a very modern city with excellent transport and communications infrastructures.  (two large interation airports only 20 mins from the city centre; highly developed urban rapid mass transport systems; first class Internet).

Food, accommodation, and other facilities for visitors cost roughly one sixth of those in Western (USA, Canada, Australia, Europe,) or Westernised economies (HK, Singapore, etc).

Chris

(Kudpung)

On 17Oct, 2016, at 07:24, Ellie Young <eyoung@wikimedia.org> wrote:

This is a follow-up to a posting to this list by the Wikimania Committee in July soliciting proposals for people who might be interested in hosting a future Wikimania (especially 2018 and 2019), as follows:

​"​

We are now looking for proposals of teams and locations. This is not a

​ ​

bidding process; we are keen for this to be a light-weight, simple request for suggestions. You don’t need to have a venue locked down, contracts drafted or sponsors lined up. You can have a quick look at the “judging criteria” which were used for 2016,[2] but the key part is commitment. In deciding where to hold conferences, we have to take into account additional factors about potential sites such as cost,

​ ​

accessibility, and security. ​

​"​

I will be following up with various people who have expressed interest in the coming week.  If anyone  else is interested in discussing the possibilities (the team/prospective host need not be tied to a particular venue), please get in touch with me directly by October 30, 2016.    We will be working with the WM

​F ​

in the coming months in finalizing a venue/team for 2018, and we also want to get an early start at identifying potentials for the following year.​

Thank you,

Ellie Young

WMF Events Manager

eyoung@wikimedia.org

​

[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2016_judging_criteria

​ 

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