i did a 10-day in prachinburi and it is actually very remote...it's about a 4 hour or so bus ride outside of bangkok.

it is lovely as far as the grounds go. you get a private room. the food is great! i would definitely recommend this location.
it is traditional vipassana goenka meditation. the other location (phitsanulok) i have heard is nice but is a little less traditional...using walking meditation, etc.

Hi,

Here is a link for a site in the south. I have not personally attended this venue, only North Fork in CA, however have heard many rave revues from other travellers. YEAH THAILAND.
www.suanmokkh.org/ret/ret-sm1.htm

Hi,

I forgot to mention another site on Koh Pangha. It takes place at a temple on the southern end between the port and Had Rin....much closer to the port. My yoga teacher attended with her boyfriend and they came home engaged! She said it was great. The details are given in the lonely planet guide.

ms

I don't know about those particular centers but I would say that if you decide not to go to an official retreat center...do something on your own!

I went to Bangkok a few years ago solo and I just visited the Temples there on my own with a guidebook.

Every morning I would pick out the temple that I wanted to visit and then go to a Starbucks to have them write the name of it and directions to it on a piece of paper in Thai.

Then they would tell me where to stand for the bus and I would hop on and hand the cashier the paper. They would shoo me off the bus at the appropriate stop. It was a great system. I didn't have so much luck with Taxis or the tuk tuks...I think maybe some of the drivers can't read or will seriously just drop you off somewhere random if they really don't want to take you where you want to go.

All of the temples in BKK there have nice meditation gardens and are very nice inside (for meditation) as well. There are Thai-to-English translators available if desired on an hourly basis. Most of the monks didn't seem to speak English but you can probably hire a translator if you want to talk to them. If you are female just don't touch them or hand them anything directly...you have to sit the item down so they can pick it up.

I had a great time just exploring on my own without a group and it was very inexpensive. Some of the organized retreats I've seen advertised here in the US for Thailand seem expensive to me based on knowing what the actual cost probably is for them to run it in Thailand...if you get over there and get pay for your retreat while you are there it might save you a bundle as well.

I also went to the phallus shrine area which I highly recommend if this is appealing to you.

There are also some good Thailand/BKK forums here on Tribe. You can post questions there as well for good info, I'd bet.

Also wondering, are there any other Vipassana retreats (in Thailand and elsewhere) besides Goenka's that are run on donation-basis? Or is there usually a fee you have to pay?