I am planning to go to Thailand and Vietnam in early Jan.
2000. Is the Y2K bug going to mess up my plans (ie
reservations, money & general everyday stuff) in SE Asia or
will it just make it "more interesting"?
Thanks
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SE Asia is a rule unto itself. It seems to run OK in some kind of strange fashion, you never know quite how. I am also travelling to Asia (India October 99, Thailand December 99 and Vietnam around Feb 99). The main problem is the date 9/9/99 as 9999 is machine code to end all programs.
Not much help really to your original question, sorry
I think the best spot for Y2K avoidance are countries with
no computers. I am going to a Laos village( can't decide
between vang vieng or pakbeng) in late dec 99 & hopefully i
will be stuck drinking beerlao & laying back amongst
friendly souls until supposeded crsis dies down. If i was
spending NYE in thailand I would make sure i have a few big
rolls of baht in the esky.
Y2K is exagerated by IT consultants to charge huge rates (I
know I am one :-)) My personal opinion on the matter is
don't let it stop you doing anything. I would take out
enough money for about a month just in case, if every
computer is down go old CASH will still work.
Since Thailand and Laos use the Buddhist calendar, it's the
year 2542 here already. So what's all the fuss about Y2K? It
already happened more than 500 years ago! (Disregarding the
fact that the 21st century doesn't begin until 2001 ...) And
Malaysia and Indonesia use the Muslim calendar, which means
Y2K is more than 600 years in the future.
The worst possible scenario is that the airline company
that you flew with goes belly-up over the millenium and you
can't get back home.
With wages being as low as they are in these countries, you
will be working for a long time to get the money for
another ticket home (and remember that your visa will
probably be only for one month, so may be fined here as
well!).
I heard of someone who couldn't pay for the exit tax
getting out of Cambodia, so he had to busk (playing his
harmonica!) for 15 days to rake the cash to get out! The
problem was that the money he earned each day barely paid
for his accomodation for each night!
Don't take the risk. Stay at home over the millenium.