Hacker Beach Episode 14: Difference between revisions

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== Location: Koh Lanta, Thailand ==

We'll be gathering on the island paradise of Koh Lanta in the south of Thailand.

We'll be gathering on the island paradise of [https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Ko_Lanta Koh Lanta] in the south of Thailand.

== Date: January 2026 ==

As always, we'll be hanging out somewhere on the island the ~~whole~~ month of January. You can drop by anytime in January and someone else should be there already (at least from a few days after NYE onwards). Some people join only for a week, others for two or even the whole month. Whatever floats your boat.

As always, we'll be hanging out somewhere on the island during the month of January.

You can drop by anytime in January and someone else should be there already (at least from a few days after NYE onwards). Some people join only for a week, others for two or even the whole month. Whatever floats your boat.

== What to Expect ==

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If you are traveling from a country with high risk of Yellow Fever infection, you may be required to show a proof of vaccination against it (i.e. an entry in your little yellow booklet). There was absolutely no validation or check of anything for the people that already arrived.

== Getting ~~around~~ ==

== Getting Around ==

Most places on Koh Lanta Yai can be reached via the main road stretching about 20 km from Sala Dan (where the pier is) in the north to Koh Lanta “Old town” in the south.

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Many people rent a scooter (Honda Click type) with prices ranging around 250-350 THB per day these days. There are discounts for longer rentals that can be negotiated. The rental places will ask for a passport or other id as a deposit during the rental which should be avoided. A cash deposit is usually possible as an alternative.

Wearing a helmet is mandatory and highly recommended even though it’s not always enforced by police. Many locals usually don’t wear one. But please be safe and do. There are many road accidents every year, some fatal~~. Due to the remote location, an ambulance may take a while to get to you~~.

Wearing a helmet is mandatory and highly recommended even though it’s not always enforced by police. Many locals usually don’t wear one. But please be safe and do. There are many road accidents every year, some fatal.

You can also rent e-bikes or normal bicycles. The latter can be a challenge though, esp. towards the ~~south~~ of the island where it gets a bit hilly.

You can also rent e-bikes or normal bicycles. The latter can be a challenge though, esp. towards the South of the island where it gets a bit hilly.

Taking a tuktuk is easy and safe. You can hail them on the main road. Be sure to negotiate a price before the trip. Should be in the 50-100 THB range for trips within a neighborhood, or 150-250 THB for trips to the next beach over.

Renting a car is ~~very~~ uncommon.

Renting a car is uncommon. Thailand is driving on the left.

== Accommodations ==

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You can coordinate sharing on the XMPP channel, if you're not already planning to join with a small group.

Some people in the group have expressed a preference for the Phra Ae (aka “Long Beach”) area for accommodation and gatherings. Previous non-hackerbeach episodes usually centered around this area. It has a popular coworking space (kohub) which is good for concentrated work and socializing and a ton of nice beach bars/restaurants to spend the day with a laptop, such as the funky fish.

Some people in the group have expressed a preference for the Phra Ae (aka “Long Beach”) area for accommodation and gatherings. Previous non-hackerbeach episodes usually centered around this area. It has a popular coworking space ([https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/9366861447 kohub]) which is good for concentrated work and socializing and a ton of nice beach bars/restaurants to spend the day with a laptop, such as the [https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/703061123 funky fish].

There are plenty of options to stay in Phra Ae and it’s easily reachable by scooter (which is the preferred mode of transport for many) from Klong Dao beach to the north and Klong ~~Kong~~ beach to the south which are two alternative favourable areas for accommodation.

There are plenty of options to stay in Phra Ae and it’s easily reachable by scooter (which is the preferred mode of transport for many) from Klong Dao beach to the north and Klong Khong beach to the south which are two alternative favourable areas for accommodation.

== Power sockets ==

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== Internet ==

LTE and 5G internet access is available throughout the island. ~~Someone might also bring a Starlink terminal~~. ~~The island does~~ not ~~have fiber internet except as backhaul (AFAIK)~~

LTE and 5G internet access is available throughout the island.

A lot of places have free wi-fi. ~200 Mb/s synchronous bandwidth is not uncommon.

== SIM cards ==

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There are also international eSIMs available online for Thailand. The usual vendors of those should have you covered. Topups for all providers are available on Bitrefill as well.

== ATMs ==

== ATMs & Payments ==

Currency is Baht (THB) which is widely used. Some places will accept $ or € but it’s not as common as in other places.

ATMs are available at convenience stores and are safe to use but will add a small fixed surcharge for withdrawals making it more economical to withdraw higher amounts.

Credit cards are accepted in many places but cash is still preferred in the smaller restaurants and food stalls.

Credit cards are accepted in many places but cash is still preferred in the smaller restaurants and food stalls. It's also common for merchants to let their customers pay for the card processing fees (4% extra seems to be common here, since it's usually 3% plus flat base fee for them).

~~Currency~~ is ~~Baht~~ (~~THB~~) ~~which is widely used~~. ~~Some places~~ will accept ~~$ or € but it’s not as common as in other places~~.

A cashless alternative is to send money to Thai QR codes (e.g. PromptPay) with BTC via Lightning Network: https://plebqr.com — It will take a few minutes for someone to accept your payment offer and do the QR payment for you, so it's best to use this at restaurants and bars, where you have a few minutes time after getting the bill.

== Invite-only XMPP chat for participants ==

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As a mobile chat client, we can recommend [https://conversations.im Conversations for Android], and [https://monal-im.org Monal for iOS].

== Sessions ==

Unconference-style sessions, i.e. anything from short talks to longer workshops, are always a nice addition to Hacker Beach.

Please suggest and coordinate on XMPP. Once we have a couple of sessions confirmed, we can use the WordPress events plugin again.

== Participants ==

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* raucao

* hcs0

* sandiego

* icy

* donpdonp

* fluob

* anon

* ''(your name/alias here)''

You can also [https://plektos.app/event/naddr1qqjxywtpxajnsd3k95uxzwpe956rwe3394sn2dph95engd3jvdsnze3svd3nxqgkwaehxw309ahx7um5wghxkmmnd4hhxtn0wfnsygql0yzccaazynjmugnv3upyetx66nt5rp2awhke7y288w5whphpevpsgqqq0jeqacu4av RSVP on Nostr] instead.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 == Location: Koh Lanta, Thailand ==
-We'll be gathering on the island paradise of Koh Lanta in the south of Thailand.
+We'll be gathering on the island paradise of [https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Ko_Lanta Koh Lanta] in the south of Thailand.
 == Date: January 2026 ==
-As always, we'll be hanging out somewhere on the island the whole month of January. You can drop by anytime in January and someone else should be there already (at least from a few days after NYE onwards). Some people join only for a week, others for two or even the whole month. Whatever floats your boat.
+As always, we'll be hanging out somewhere on the island during the month of January.
+You can drop by anytime in January and someone else should be there already (at least from a few days after NYE onwards). Some people join only for a week, others for two or even the whole month. Whatever floats your boat.
 == What to Expect ==
@@ Line 51: / Line 53: @@
 If you are traveling from a country with high risk of Yellow Fever infection, you may be required to show a proof of vaccination against it (i.e. an entry in your little yellow booklet). There was absolutely no validation or check of anything for the people that already arrived.
-== Getting around ==
+== Getting Around ==
 Most places on Koh Lanta Yai can be reached via the main road stretching about 20 km from Sala Dan (where the pier is) in the north to Koh Lanta “Old town” in the south.
@@ Line 59: / Line 61: @@
 Many people rent a scooter (Honda Click type) with prices ranging around 250-350 THB per day these days. There are discounts for longer rentals that can be negotiated. The rental places will ask for a passport or other id as a deposit during the rental which should be avoided. A cash deposit is usually possible as an alternative.
-Wearing a helmet is mandatory and highly recommended even though it’s not always enforced by police. Many locals usually don’t wear one. But please be safe and do. There are many road accidents every year, some fatal. Due to the remote location, an ambulance may take a while to get to you.
+Wearing a helmet is mandatory and highly recommended even though it’s not always enforced by police. Many locals usually don’t wear one. But please be safe and do. There are many road accidents every year, some fatal.
-You can also rent e-bikes or normal bicycles. The latter can be a challenge though, esp. towards the south of the island where it gets a bit hilly.
+You can also rent e-bikes or normal bicycles. The latter can be a challenge though, esp. towards the South of the island where it gets a bit hilly.
 Taking a tuktuk is easy and safe. You can hail them on the main road. Be sure to negotiate a price before the trip. Should be in the 50-100 THB range for trips within a neighborhood, or 150-250 THB for trips to the next beach over.
-Renting a car is very uncommon.
+Renting a car is uncommon. Thailand is driving on the left.
 == Accommodations ==
@@ Line 71: / Line 73: @@
 You can coordinate sharing on the XMPP channel, if you're not already planning to join with a small group.
-Some people in the group have expressed a preference for the Phra Ae (aka “Long Beach”) area for accommodation and gatherings. Previous non-hackerbeach episodes usually centered around this area. It has a popular coworking space (kohub) which is good for concentrated work and socializing and a ton of nice beach bars/restaurants to spend the day with a laptop, such as the funky fish.
+Some people in the group have expressed a preference for the Phra Ae (aka “Long Beach”) area for accommodation and gatherings. Previous non-hackerbeach episodes usually centered around this area. It has a popular coworking space ([https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/9366861447 kohub]) which is good for concentrated work and socializing and a ton of nice beach bars/restaurants to spend the day with a laptop, such as the [https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/703061123 funky fish].
-There are plenty of options to stay in Phra Ae and it’s easily reachable by scooter (which is the preferred mode of transport for many) from Klong Dao beach to the north and Klong Kong beach to the south which are two alternative favourable areas for accommodation.
+There are plenty of options to stay in Phra Ae and it’s easily reachable by scooter (which is the preferred mode of transport for many) from Klong Dao beach to the north and Klong Khong beach to the south which are two alternative favourable areas for accommodation.
 == Power sockets ==
@@ Line 81: / Line 83: @@
 == Internet ==
-LTE and 5G internet access is available throughout the island. Someone might also bring a Starlink terminal. The island does not have fiber internet except as backhaul (AFAIK)
+LTE and 5G internet access is available throughout the island.
+A lot of places have free wi-fi. ~200 Mb/s synchronous bandwidth is not uncommon.
 == SIM cards ==
@@ Line 89: / Line 93: @@
 There are also international eSIMs available online for Thailand. The usual vendors of those should have you covered. Topups for all providers are available on Bitrefill as well.
-== ATMs ==
+== ATMs & Payments ==
+Currency is Baht (THB) which is widely used. Some places will accept $ or € but it’s not as common as in other places.
 ATMs are available at convenience stores and are safe to use but will add a small fixed surcharge for withdrawals making it more economical to withdraw higher amounts.
-Credit cards are accepted in many places but cash is still preferred in the smaller restaurants and food stalls.
+Credit cards are accepted in many places but cash is still preferred in the smaller restaurants and food stalls. It's also common for merchants to let their customers pay for the card processing fees (4% extra seems to be common here, since it's usually 3% plus flat base fee for them).
-Currency is Baht (THB) which is widely used. Some places will accept $ or € but it’s not as common as in other places.
+A cashless alternative is to send money to Thai QR codes (e.g. PromptPay) with BTC via Lightning Network: https://plebqr.com — It will take a few minutes for someone to accept your payment offer and do the QR payment for you, so it's best to use this at restaurants and bars, where you have a few minutes time after getting the bill.
 == Invite-only XMPP chat for participants ==
@@ Line 102: / Line 108: @@
 As a mobile chat client, we can recommend [https://conversations.im Conversations for Android], and [https://monal-im.org Monal for iOS].
+== Sessions ==
+Unconference-style sessions, i.e. anything from short talks to longer workshops, are always a nice addition to Hacker Beach.
+Please suggest and coordinate on XMPP. Once we have a couple of sessions confirmed, we can use the WordPress events plugin again.
 == Participants ==
@@ Line 111: / Line 123: @@
 * raucao
 * hcs0
+* sandiego
+* icy
+* donpdonp
+* fluob
+* anon
+* anon
 * ''(your name/alias here)''
+You can also [https://plektos.app/event/naddr1qqjxywtpxajnsd3k95uxzwpe956rwe3394sn2dph95engd3jvdsnze3svd3nxqgkwaehxw309ahx7um5wghxkmmnd4hhxtn0wfnsygql0yzccaazynjmugnv3upyetx66nt5rp2awhke7y288w5whphpevpsgqqq0jeqacu4av RSVP on Nostr] instead.