barlinnie

Don`t touch them with a barge pole.

I've been ripped off and I know of many more who have unfortunately fell into they're clutches.

Use ICO at your own risk, but YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Hi, I won't be using them again. I am just enquiring on behalf of a friend who used them two years ago for his house purchase and needs to contact them for some paperwork. But thanks for the warning!!!

Try Ban Wangtan, down the Hang Dong Road, opposite the big Sony sign, take the soi all the way along to the mooban. Restaurant and very big swimming pool. You will need some sort of transport though as it is a few kilometres from the Hang Dong Road.

Does anyone know whether ICO are still operational?. They did some work for us several years ago when we bought our condo, but have been hearing recently that they are no longer in business. Anyone have any information on them?

Hi, we have a 10-year old BMW sitting on our drive back in the UK - same as your Magna, not worth much now because of fuel cost. We have made enquiries about bringing it over, but have received the same advice as you - not worth the bother! Such a shame - we would have loved to have it here with us.

I heard there was a small bomb in a telephone booth outside Mandalay Disco. I don't know how big it was, cannot find any news about it.

Yes, that would be the place - I couldn't think of the name of the disco! Just hope no-one was hurt..

Did anyone hear a very loud explosion in Moon Muang Road last night, somewhere opposite Lai Thai Guest House. We were in Soi 2 and heard it, didn't sound like a car backfiring or fireworks. When we left in a tuk-tuk, we saw some emergency vehicles there,and our driver said it was a "boom" which we assumed to be "bomb"?

I don't want to fault your son without more facts, but I've been in Udon for 13 years and know 10's of others who use Udon's Immigration Service. When people encounter problems at immigration, it's invariably the fault of the individual. In all likelihood, there's more to the story than what's being put on the table.

Hi, It's now apparent that the mistake was made because the document they pinned inside his passport stated that they had received notification of his staying in Thailand for a another 90 days and the next would be due on 29 March. In effect, it's a reporting visa and not an extension. I took a photo of this document at the time as I thought both my husband, myself and other son would be able to do the same thing. The mistake was his but he should have been told this by the immigration people there, and he could therefore have avoided paying the 20,000bt overstay fine. Anyway, now he knows and next time will make the journey to Nongkhai!

Has anyone had any problems with the new Udon Immigration Office? My son went there three months ago to renew his 90-day visa and had the appropriate form stapled into his passport. He went there again yesterday for a further 90-day extension and they said the last one was not valid, removed it from his passport and threw it in the bin. He was told that he would now have to go to Laos to renew and pay the 20,000bt overstay fine.

He checked this with the Tourist Police who said the same thing, so he has gone to Laos today to pay his 20,000 bt fine and renew the visa. A lot of money when it is not his fault, but seems there is nothing he can do about it!

It looks like your son has a multiple non-immigrant visa and has to leave the country every 90 days. What he did last time is make a 90 day report, which was a mistake. You don't renew a multiple entry visa at immigration. For another 90 days you have to leave the country. Immigration should have pick that up when he went there the first time, but unfortunately didn't.

Check your son's visa. Does it say "multiple" ?

Yes, it is a multiple non-immigrant visa. He used to live in Chiang Mai and regularly went to Maesai to renew, so was aware about leaving the country. He moved to Udon Thani last year and when the time came for making the visa run (to Nongkhai??), a farang he met told him that they could now do it at Udon's new immigration office. Obviously, we now know that is not the case - he knows that in future he must leave the country for renewal. Still, it's a shame they did not point this out to him at the time! Might be worth mentioned as well that he was not the only one there the other day, there were a couple of other people in the same boat.

Thanks to everyone who gave me constructive advice, instead of just commenting on my signature, which is a combination of my husband's name and mine - nothing to do with a certain establishment in Glasgow!!!!!

Sorry, none of this makes any sense at all! Something like your signature.

Sorry you didn't understand my problem, but what has my signature got to do with anything?

Has anyone had any problems with the new Udon Immigration Office? My son went there three months ago to renew his 90-day visa and had the appropriate form stapled into his passport. He went there again yesterday for a further 90-day extension and they said the last one was not valid, removed it from his passport and threw it in the bin. He was told that he would now have to go to Laos to renew and pay the 20,000bt overstay fine.

He checked this with the Tourist Police who said the same thing, so he has gone to Laos today to pay his 20,000 bt fine and renew the visa. A lot of money when it is not his fault, but seems there is nothing he can do about it!

Has anyone had a similar problem?

Yes, it is open on Sundays. We renewed our visas last month and I have checked my passport - the visa is stamp-dated 21 Feb, which was a Sunday.

I much prefer Chiang Rai to Mai Sai, but Doi Mae Salong (the Chinese mountain with few farangs, Chinese food, Chinese language, cool weather and lovely scenery) might be weorth a short side trip.

Thanks to all who responded to my request (some replies were received a little late, after we had already left). We stayed at Ben Guesthouse near the Hospital. Absolutely fabulous - a beautiful new Lanna teak house with bright clean restaurant, swimming pool and very comfortable beds. Rooms are priced at 250-650 bt. depending on whether you have your own private bathroom and whether fan/aircon. Because we were late, we took the last two rooms at 650 but worth every penny. We would certainly stay there again, but should they be full, I have made a note of all your recommendations for future trips. Thanks again!!!!

The Tourist Inn in Jed Yod street is about 250 to 400B a night. I buy my bread there and only spoke to the manager this week.

Thecheaper rooms would be fine, no need for aircon this time of the year.

Thanks for the recommendation. I have looked it up but unfortunately cannot make an online booking and the telephone number I found on another website does not seem to working. Wherever we end up staying tomorrow night, I will look up the Tourist Inn and see if I can get the right number or email address from them, for our next trip. Thanks once again.

Having to do the visa run to Maesai this weekend and want to spend the night in Chiang Rai. Can anyone recommend an inexpensive clean hotel or guesthouse not too far out of the city?

Can anyone recommend a decent hotel or guest house (not too expensive) in Chiang Rai? We want to stay over for one night while doing a visa run.

Was it a foetus or a baby??? The report states

The 7.5kilogram foetus was reportedly healthy and showed no signs of disease or birth defects that would have caused a miscarriage.

That's HUGE...or just plain wrong.

That's what I thought! That's around 16lbs? Can't be right - must be a misprint surely?

Was it a foetus or a baby??? The report states

The 7.5kilogram foetus was reportedly healthy and showed no signs of disease or birth defects that would have caused a miscarriage.

That's HUGE...or just plain wrong.

New Case Of Foetus Death Emerged, related to vaccination for type A (H1N1) ?

I thought it was fetus.

"Foetus" is the correct spelling - "fetus" is the US spelling.