Here is the picture that TJDick sent to be posted. Personally, I have never seen this plug with the grounding hole in Thailand. However, I did see of lot of plugs that look like this. That is, the combo American/European style plug but without the grounding hole.

TJDick said all the plugs he has seen in Thailand look like this.

The plug pictured is what you find in Europe...in new places...and my guess is that in Asia you only see them in modern, high-end spots...not the kind of places I hang out at.

It's a great receptacle (isn't that what we love about Asia...those great receptacles!). You'll note that it accommodates the following:

(1) a standard traditional blade type where the two blades are the same size and there's no ground;

(2) a polarized blade type (one blade larger than the other) with no ground;

(3) a 2-prong round plug, standard Asian / European dimensions, with no third ground line

(4) the ultra-modern 2-prong round plug that has a third line for ground.

But you'd better not assume that that's what you'll find everywhere. If you have a 110/220V hair dryer from the West whose plug is polarized (one blade larger than the other), you're gonna have to drip-dry unless you get lucky and have this (rare) kind of receptacle around.

You should have an adapter set that allows you to do everything, on the assumption that what you're gonna get is a receptacle that'll only take two round prongs. Adapters are readily available at Radio Shack (you might be forced to buy a kit with a half-dozen adapters in it, most of which you don't need), or, in San Diego at least, as singles at Le Travel Store on 4th St., downtown; better.

Fortunately most dual-voltage laptops and razors have non-polarized blade plugs...but I've seen hair dryers and immersion water heaters with polarized blades. You can file the large blade down to match the smaller one if you want to save yourself an adapter. But you've still got the straight-blade-in-a-round-hole problem to fix.

To tell you the truth, I've *never* seen the type of plug pictured above except at Inchon Airport, brand-spankin' new, near Seoul. My US$15 to US$20 hotels in BKK take round prongs and non-polarized blades only. In Cambodia it's usually just the two round prongs.

I'd do the adapter buying in the west rather than waiting til you're in Asia. Of course they've got them there, and cheaper, but I've been sold some funky stuff offshore, where the blades aren't the right distance apart...for Mongolia I suppose...or where the round prongs have a smaller than usual diameter, such that the plug just kind of hangs loosely in the receptacle and doesn't bend to suit without falling apart in your hands. Whatever you buy here will work because the dimensions are standard.

The girls typically come equipped with working single, and occasionally double, round receptacles that are of the one-size-fits-all type. No picture available.

Is the voltage 220 or 110? I can't seem to find a clear answer on this.

220V

Thanks, I'll buy the necessary equipment.

I never bring a voltage converter anymore. The only things I ever plug in are battery chargers and Laptop computers. They all convert AC to DC current and operate on both 110 and 220 voltage. Check your chargers for compatability before you go out and buy something you do not need.

What are you bringing that would require a converter ??

One more note: despite all the disclaimers, Russian powered devices work in Thai power recepticles. Apparently, the dimensional difference between the Russian 2 prongs and the Thai 2 prongs is so small that the Thai recepticles can handle it. So, my Russian stuff works fine in Thailand, no adapter needed.

I once bought a converter and have rarely used it for the reason given by KM. About the only time I did was when I had an inexpensive battery recharger that only worked on 110V. Most electronic devices these days that one would be apt to bring along can work on 100 - 240 V, and will be labelled as such. OTOH, if your equipment is valuable and prone to problems if the electricity surges, there is at least an argument for a surge protector since the electricity in Thailand arguably is less stable than in the U.S.

Hmmm. That's interesting, I'd never noticed that the bottoms of both my camera battery charger and laptop power supply say "110-240v input." That's all the equipment I need to plug in. Gee, I went to a lot of unnecessary trouble in Natal and Sao Paulo.

Thanks for saving me some $$, KM. I'm glad I'm a procrastinator.

Yes, you probably don't need a power converter -- few devices do. But you will likely need a receptacle converter to change from the 2 to 3 prong US design to the 2 to 3 round prongs used in Thailand. The picture above shows a more modern receptacle that has slits to accept the US style flat prongs. But, older ones don't. I usually use one of those plug converters that just changes the shape and is small and very travel-friendly. Then I plug a small multiple outlet recepticle with surge protection in and then I'm good to connect all my devices. (Man I gotta cut down on gadgets!)

(Message edited by rastaman on March 07, 2005)

(Message edited by rastaman on March 07, 2005)

Rastaman

Many of the plugs in Thailand will accept the local, as well as 2-prong US devices.

Personally, I travel with a small, 2-prong converter I bought in Singapore. I plug it into a 3-prong 2 meter extension cord I bought here in the US. This gives me 3, 3-prong outlets that can be moved. Having 3 outlets is REQUIRED when you travel with the inSANE quantity of equipment that I do.

I WAS surprised when I checked the backs of certain devices here in the US. I was looking at small travel chargers for AA batteries and found that most sold in the US are for 110v ONLY!! Bahtman discovered this on his last trip to Thailand when the charger he brought from the states started smoking when he plugged it in while staying at The DI in Bangkok...

E

Here is the setup in my hotel in Laos.

This configuration seems common in Laos. Notice all the really cool exposed wire and things to grab in the dark when you are looking for the switch. Voltage seemed to be somewhere between O and 250 Volts. Of course that is why they issued candles with your room. For the times where the power was at zero volts or maybe at 10 volts, which generates a funny noise from your fan and a faint glow from you light bulb filament. Personally I suspect they were running the entire town off of a Coleman camp generator. I was not brave enough to plug in any of my own gear at this location but notice it will accept either blade prong or round prong devices if you want to see if it will explode or not.

I assume this was not taken at the Marriott.

IAS

Where is the DSL ethernet plug ??

I stayed in the "quality room", I am assuming that Khun_mor would probably be dissatisfied with the "quality room", Really you should kick in the extra 100 Baht for a "Superior room". I believe those even have in room toilets.


BTW if anyone was wondering, the pink thing in the photo is the Mosquito net. Or "deluxe canopy bed" depending on how you want to look at it.

What's the superior room ?? No bare wires to send 220volts thru you as you try to piss in the middle of the night ? Or maybe two " windo "

I'll take it !