Re your first post in this thread Mark...not sure if enough expat regulars use this forum to make it work?

The majority of posters who used your other forum seemed to be occasional visitors to LOS, just interested in a couple of weeks away from home...shopping spree in BKK, "luxury" hotel on a beach on Phuket or Samui, spa treatments, upmarket restaurants and possibly an elephant trek in Chiang Mai if they're feeling adventurous.

As you pointed out, holiday-makers like these tend to be very resistant to advice from expats....the suggestions expats and long-term travelers make seem far too difficult and complicated to bother with and, as far as they're concerned, are a waste of precious holiday time. I get the impression they're far happier getting tips from people like themselves. Fair enough, expats and longer-term travelers don't do the same things as them as a rule anyway and can't really help with 5* hotel comparisons because they don't stay in them that much.

The amount of money Jaxw said she spends in two weeks is enough for me to travel in SEA for two months, get off the beaten track, see exceptional places, have exceptional experiences and meet people you'd never cross paths with back home. Far more worthwhile memories when you're on your deathbed and reviewing what you did in this life IMO but that's just my take on things. I know Thailand and a few other places in SEA quite well now but a lot of the info I could give just isn't asked for very often. Maybe when the forum takes off things will change and there will be a wider spectrum of users.