Xircal

"A large Thai lizard". Like the ones that drive tuk-tuks you mean?

Stay three nights at C&N hotel and you'll get a free airport transfer to Patong. The hotel is located about 50 meters from Jungceylon and Bangla Road.

Phang Nga: about 90 mins north of Phuket by car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phang_Nga_Province

Forget Phuket Town: it caters mainly to Thais and there isn't much to do for Westerners.

Patong is the nightlife capital of Phuket and where all the action takes place. There are literally hundreds of restaurants, bars and several discos all is within easy reach of wherever you decide to stay. Bangla Road is the main drag for bars and eateries and they close the road to traffic from 7.00 PM. There's also a shopping mall called Jungceylon close to the eastern end of Bangla Road.

If you're looking for an apartment to rent AirBnB has plenty of them in Patong and surrounding areas.

The Kee resort is close to the beach, but also slap bang in the middle of the action.

Never mind. Could be misconstrued to mean something else and in light of the current administration, I decided to delete my remarks.

But I see many of condos to rent short term i.e. 7 days on AirBnB even though the owner is a foreigner. Here's a typical example. Neither of the individuals in the image appear to be Thai.

So what's the deal there? Are these poor souls simply not aware that the goalposts have been moved yet again and they're now putting themselves at risk by conducting a business without a WP?

BritTim's reply to my post (above) led me to go check the IATA rules on visas. So this link may be useful to the OP: http://www.iatatravelcentre.com/TH-Thailand-passport-visa-health-travel-document-requirements.htm#

After filling in the respective details, the site will display the result regarding your proposed length of stay.

Just to confuse the issue still further a new monthly rollup will be releaaed on the 3rd Tuesday of every month called the Monthly Rollup Preview. It's mentioned in a query from a user called Old Dog and was posted September 3 in the same blog.

This Infoworld.com article on the subject is also worth a read.

The only question which might arise is with the airline. I booked a three month return flight to BKK with Finnair a few years ago but only had a 60 day single entry tourist visa in my passport. At first they refused me boarding since I didn't have a valid visa for a 90 day period.

Fortunately though, it was the second time I'd obtained a 60 day tourist visa and was able to show them that one together with 30 day extension I'd obtained in Phuket.

When I'd flown the first time it had been with a different airline and they hadn't queried my visa in the same way that Finnair had down. Hopefully you won't have the same problem.

I wouldn't call Thai girls cheapskates, but they do get addicted to money after working in places like Pattaya and Patong very quickly. For them it's a whole new way of life to the one they grew up in in Isaan where the family home is usually a wooden frame with a number of corrugated iron sheets nailed to it.

They have electricity, but no running water. The water supply comes from a central tank which supplies the village and is refilled every month or so and quickly accumulates algae which comes out in large blobs when you turn the tap on.

Taking a shower comprises of a large water container and a bowl. You use the bowl to wash off the soap after you've cleansed yourself. It's also cold water needless to say.

Similarly the toilet is just the squat variety comprising of a porcelain bowl in tthe ground and a bowl which you fill with water to flush it with. The excreta travels down a pipe into an underground tank which is emptied once every two weeks by a tanker which siphons off whatever is in there.

There's no rubbish collection and villagers just dig a hole in the ground, dump all the rubbish in it and burn it. Anything which doesn't burn just gets dumped at the side of the road.

Poor families can hardly afford to send their kids to school and pocket money amounts to just one or two Baht a day: enough to buy a bowl of rice, but not much else.

After growing up in that kind of environment it's hardly surprising that Thai girls maintain the way of life they grew up in when they go to the big cities. Somebody, - Stickman maybe? - made a 1 - 5 list of what is important to all Thai girls.

1. Family
2. Money
3. Possessions
4. Thai boyfriend
5. Farang

I think that's the right order, but I stand to correction on that point.

As other contributors have remarked a large proportion of the money they make gets sent back to the family to repay the debt they owe for taking care of them during they early years. Some famililies pressure their children to get a farang boyfriend as soon as possible so that they can lift themselves out of the grinding poverty they're used to. For the girls and gay guys, becoming a hooker is an easy way of achieving that goal.

As for sharing a room with other girls I can understand that too. Because the family is the focal point in their lives, sharing the room with other girls provides some degree of comfort for the loneliness they feel from not having their parents nearby.

Criticising somebody without knowing what their circumstances are or how they grew up is grossly unfair in my opinion. Just imagine yourself as a child in the conditions I've described here and perhaps you'll have a better understanding of why they choose to live as they do.

From October 2016 Windows Updates will only be available as a single Rollup. This Rollup will include all the security updates for a given month together with all the reliability and telemetry updates bundled into one package. Microsoft also intends to gradually include all the previous non-security updates which have been released since the last baseline. For Windows 7 the baseline will be SP1 and for 8.1 it'll be KB2919355 a.k.a. Windows 8.1 Update. These will include all the telemetry and diagnostic updates which some of us have managed to avoid since they first started appearing back in May 2015.

In addition, all forthcoming Rollups will be cumulative and will include all the previous months updates. See: Further simplifying servicing models for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1

The only exception is the Security-only package which includes just essential security updates. This package won't be available via Windows Update though and will have to be downloaded manually from the Microsoft Update Catalog site. Normally, you would have to use Internet Explorer to download from there, but there's an option to use an Rss feed to download the package with any browser. Here's an example: clicking the link will take you to the MUC site for that particular update (KB3187022 in this case) which includes a link to the KB support article: http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Rss.aspx?q=KB3187022

To download an alternative package all you need do is to change the KB number. The rest of the URL remains the same.

The danger for those of us who don't want keyloggers and snooping apps on our systems is that Microsoft can package anything it wants into the single Rollup just like it does with Windows 10. The only advantage that Windows 7 and 8.1 users have is the option to configure Windows Updates to "Never Check For Updates" or "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them". Windows 10 updates on the other hand are mandatory and cannot be rejected.

By downloading the Security-only updates package every month we can at least avoid that telemetry cr*p.

To check what's coming down the Windows Update chute, check this site which is cumulative: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/894199

From time to time, Microsoft also releases a so called Servicing Stack update which is a tool to service a Windows image. These won't be included in either the all-in Rollups, or in the Security-only updates, but will appear in both Windows Update and the MUC site. Servicing Stacks are usually released to address issues which have arisen and in some cases are mandatory in order to receive future updates. Failing to install one will often result in an error message which reads: "This update is not applicable to your computer" when you try to install an update.

There was an academic study conducted not so long ago which examined a wide range of commercial VPN services and which of them use protocols which are vulnerable to attack. The worst of these is Hide My Ass since it only offers VPN over PPTP which was cracked several years ago and OpenVPN.

OpenVPN is vulnerable to a Blowfish exploit known as a SWEET32 attack for the moment since the vendor hasn't provide a fix yet: http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036695

The study is well worth a read and will no doubt surprise some of you who have recommended VPNs which are inherently insecure: https://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~hamed/papers/PETS2015VPN.pdf

The only two VPNs which can be recommended are VyprVPN and Astrill. VyprVPN can be found by scrolling down to: 5.3.3 Advanced DNS configurations on page 87 and to Astrill at the top of page 88.

However, Astrill has been criticised on some sites as having unhelpful support leaving VyprVPN as the only one left.

You can still get Windows 10 free of charge provided you use the assistive technoligies site: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/01/microsoft-windows-10-upgrade-free-assistive-features

But aside from the privacy issues, Windows 10 uses your upload bandwidth to share updates on your computer with other users: http://www.ghacks.net/2016/08/17/windows-10-update-delivery-optimization/

And here are some other valid reasons why you shouldn't upgrade: http://itvision.altervista.org/why-windows-10-sucks.html

2 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

 

That 2nd link is from the year 2000.

The 1st link says it is a private road and is dated 2012.

Soi Sabsabai is a private road which is why they can charge 20 Bt for motorbike parking.

It has always been a private road.

It does indeed. But the Phuketwan article also seems to point to it becoming a public road again.

Who would buy a road though?

I've never seen an ad saying "Road for sale" before. Does everyone driving up and down it have to pay rent?

What about the land on either side? Does he own that as well? If not, does he have to pay rent to the person whose land his road sits on? That would be funny.

3 hours ago, stevenl said:

No, most people only fill out flight info when they depart. this is not standard on the card.

No, databases are not linked and the process is not fast. Even stronger, a normal police report is not entered in any database.

You can believe whatever you wish but the fact remains that immigration requires you to complete the card you receive prior to landing on both sides to include your personal details, where you propose to stay and both inbound and outbound flight numbers. That has been my own experience. If you wish to dispute that by all means do so, but you're only fooling yourself.

But allow me to point to out that when you arrive at immigration, they will record your details in their database. Part of that process is taking your photograph which is why they have you look at the camera. So they know what you look like and what your passport details are. Those details are also recorded in case you appear on Interpol's wanted list or if you're on a missing persons list.

Even if you somehow make it through immigration without entering your departing flight details it hardly matters since in order to leave the country you have to present your passport.

So if in the case that a guest skips paying his or her hotel bill, the local police only need to contact immigration and provide the guest's passport number which the hotel will have a record of and the thief can be detained when he presents his himself at immigration.

Even if the culprit somehow or other makes it through immigration and on to the flight, those details will remain on file and should the visitor return at some time in the future, they could be refused entry and will either have to spend their vacation on the wrong side of the immigration desk, or purchase a ticket home which won't be cheap.

3 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

 

He was a clever boxer Muhammed Ali. He'd literally tire his opponent out having them running all over the ring getting frustrated and using up all their energy. And then he'd wait until just the right moment and go for the kill. He always seem to time it so perfectly. 

8 hours ago, Old Croc said:

Yes, a private road owned by someone up there.

I remember a farang (Frenchman?) being stabbed to death for parking his bike there a few years ago. 

It's a public road. Somebody posted the same question to Phuket Gazette and received a response from Pol Maj Yuthave Nakanakorn, Crime Control Inspector, Kathu Police Station that it's a public road.

Copy/paste this string into Google and it'll be the 2nd link in the list: Soi Sansabai private road

I seem to remember that I'm not allowed to post direct links to Phuket Gazette articles.

12 hours ago, stevenl said:

Hotels do not have your flight information, and even if they were to have it it is not easy and takes time to have the police stop you.

Of course they do. It's written on the immigration card which you have to submit to immigration on arrival. When you arrive at your hotel, they make a copy of it along with your passport.

You'll be surprised at quickly the police act when a crime involving a foreigner is reported.

3 hours ago, GOLDBUGGY said:

I am sure the Airport Police and Immigration would drop everything they are doing and go to High Alert after your telephone call, and be on the lookout for someone who is trying to skip the country before paying his hotel Bill. Maybe if the President called, but from you I highly doubt they would even listen to you.

 

First of all, and without a Police Report first, they have no grounds to arrest or hold anyone. Secondly, what proof do you have that he didn't pay? How do you know for sure that one of your employee's didn't put this cash money in their pocket, and forgot to tell you about that later? To have someone arrested at an International Airport on their way out, and put them in jail, they are going to need something stronger then your telephone call saying they did that. At least I hope they do.    

That's not how it works. Complaints are made to the local police who enter details in their database. That database is also linked to immigration. They check reports of any crimes or misdemeanors which took place while the guest was staying anywhere in Thailand. If his or her details are connected to something on file, they're going to be held at the airport. No two ways about it.

From there it will just go through the motions. Immigration will contact the local cops who in turn will contact the hotel. A hotel rep will go from there to the airport and identify the culprit. But this all takes time and in the meantime, the guest's return flight will have already left and the cost of a return flight ticket at the airport will probably be at least 10 times the amount the hotel bill cost.

3 hours ago, stevenl said:

True, but the TS claimed hotels have flight info from arrival card. Could be true, but only if that card has been copied and the guest has already written down the departure flight information.

 

To get any action from (airport) police, first the hotel would have to go to the local police station, and with the paperwork from there go to the court to get an arrest warrant. And that will take time, normally around 2 days or so. Airport police or immigration can not and will not stop somebody from departing, just because a hotel claims they owe them money.

When I arrive at my hotel the front desk asks me to present my passport and immigration card. They subsequently make a copy of both. The immigration card has both arrival and departure flight numbers written on it.

As regards your second comment, the hotel will contact the local police who act very quickly where it concerns foreigners. Nobody has to contact immigration because the local cops will enter details into the police database which is also linked to immigration. When the thief attempts to go through immigration that database will be checked for any problems which have arisen during the guest's stay in Thailand. You can guess the rest.

16 hours ago, GOLDBUGGY said:

You or your friends have never taken an early morning flight or at least a Flight before Check Out? Odd? 

 

Why is that odd? It depends what part of tthe world you're from which determines when return flights are available. In my particular case there's only one return flight departing SIN-AMS which departs at 23:55.

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SIM Cards are easy to find but I am not making reference to just Thailand. I am making reference to International Travel. Most airports carry SIM Cards, but most times I don't bother hunting for one. I found that as long as I had the Internet or Hotel Telephone, I never needed one.

I don't see what bearing that has on this particular topic or how it relates to events in Phuket.

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Some confusion on the Mini Bar issue. I though it was connected to you not wanting to make a deposit on a room for Mini Bar possible use, or later being charged for products you did not use. After all, this is what this post is all about and why a person should or should not make a deposit of 3,000 Baht. .

I don't see the point of your argument. Even if the guest asks for the minibar to be cleared Sleep With Me  is still going to require a deposit since it's stipulated as such on their site. So the reason for wanting it cleared has no bearing on the matter.

1 hour ago, GOLDBUGGY said:

I couldn't tell you as I never stayed in a hotel that allowed drunken parties to continue to the point they wreck the place and break a TV. As already mentioned accidental damage happens to everyone. Maybe they won't charge you for a $2 lamp that never worked in the first place, but I can assure you that if you burn a hole in a mattress with a cigarette butt, they will make you pay.

 

I don't smoke so no chance of that happening to me.

But I note that you referred to your boss footing the bill so I guess you're a business traveller rather than just a tourist like myself. The type of hotels I stay in are those in the 2 or 3 star category and frequented by rowdy groups at times so the chances of something getting broken are quite high.

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As also mentioned I try to avoid using my Card Card in Thailand as I have been ripped off using it here before for a hotel stay, but when booking online you pretty well have to use it. Unless you call the hotel yourself and make a reservation, which I have also done in the past. You are probably safe in a 5 Star Hotel but I don't take chances unless I have to.

I stayed in a 5 star hotel way back when when I used to work for a living (I'm retired now) and enjoyed the opulent surroundings, but my meagre pension doesn't allow that anymore I regret to say.

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Long Distance Telephone Calls form a Hotel? To be honest I don't use this very much anymore as I use the Internet, but on occasion I have had people who needed to call me their. If you stay in one country then a Mobile Phone should be okay, but in the past and if you didn't have roaming, then this isn't any good. I think most mobile phones these days do have roaming now, but I don't know as I said I use the Internet and the Hotel Telephone. If my Boss is paying the Bill why should I use my own stuff or run around at every airport I stop at looking for a sim card?

Well as I just mentioned, if someone else is footing the bill then I guess you won't want to use your own phone. But unless your mobile is locked to an ISP, local SIM cards are available in every 7/11 in Thailand and there's at least one of those on every street corner in places like Patong. Also there's an AIS store in Jungceylon on the 3rd floor and most of the other mobile phone stores there sell DTAC and True SIMs as well.

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Ones preference in hotels is about as different as people are. For some having a swimming pool and exercise room and non smoking rooms is a must, where for others having a quiet smoking room and good bed is more important. To be honest I have never heard of anyone demanding to have there mini bar cleaned out of everything before they get into their room. Especially when they can lock this min bar with a key. You are the first.

I always ask the hotel to remove the contents of the minibar which is just a small 'fridge because I want to use the space for my own food and drink not because I think they would rip me off.

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If the hotel lets you stay many nights and not securing your room first by Credit Card or paying for the room after a night, or a a Deposit, then they are taking a big chance on you. 

I've been staying there on and off for around 10 years now so they know me.

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True that most hotels take precautions to avoid getting ripped off. Like taking a copy of your Passport. But that really doesn't help them much if at check out they discover you have left town and half way to Europe on an airplane. The Police won't issue an International Warrant for you through Interpol just because the hotel claims you never paid your Bill. Probably not even a warrant in there own country. It is not a major crime.

Most visitors fly Economy and return flight times are fixed and can't be changed so it's highly unlikely that anyone would be able to skip the hotel bill and leave the country easily. Those that fly business class or premium economy aren't really the kind of people that would want to rip a hotel off by not paying the bill.

But assuming somebody was able to do that and get away with it you can be certain that it'll be noted in police records and if that individual were to return to the country immigration may refuse him entry on arrival. That's what's going on at the immigration desk when you arrive in Thailand. They're checking the database to see if there are any outstanding bills that haven't been paid, or if you're on a country's missing persons list, or if you have a criminal record.

9 hours ago, GOLDBUGGY said:

You mention damage as a possibility for a deposit but don't understand why. I personally think that willful damage is extremely rare in a hotel, but on the other hand accidental damage happens quite frequently. Especially if you are a smoker. So far in my many stays in hotels I have paid for a new quilt in Rome and Malta that I burnt a hole in, and a new mattress in Crete.

 

It depends on the establishment and the clientele of course, but a bunch of drunken louts can easily break a TV set or a mirror in the bathroom, but don't report it immediately to the receptionist. There have been occasions when I've soiled the sheets or broke a bedside lamp, but I always report such things to the front desk immediately and ask them if they want me to pay for the damage. I've yet to be told that I do.

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But as you mention you would pay for that at check out as they do have them check for things like this first. But that is only good if you have the money to pay them. If you pay by Credit Card they already know ahead of time you are good for that money, so then no need to ask for a deposit.  But what if you don't pay by Credit Card, don't pay your room in advance, and don't make a deposit? What could happen then?

I only pay by credit card when I'm booking online. If the hotel wants me to pay on arrival I pay cash.

But it depends on the hotel's policy as to whether the guest pays on arrival or departure. If it's the latter but they plead poverty then that's tantamount to deception and would warrant the police being called. The guest's personal property can be confiscated and sold to pay whatever debt is owed if necessary. But faced with the prospect of spending time in a Thai prison, I think the guest would miraculously find the money from somewhere in no time at all.

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Have you ever added the total price to everything that is in a Mini Bar? A Long Distance Telephone Call from a hotel room overseas? The cost to replace all the towels and linen? In this lies the problem. You are assuming all people will go to check out to pay for things but they don't. Some people skip town after emptying the mini bar, filling there suitcase with towels, and running off with the room key before paying for their room. To catch a 9 am flight from Bangkok to Europe.

 

I always ask them to empty the mini bar l before I check into the room. I've never had a problem with that.

Long distance phone calls? Don't you own a mobile phone?  Buy a local SIM and you'll find it'll be a lot cheaper than what the hotel is likely to charge you.

Most if not all hotels make a copy of your passport and the form immigration requires you to provide your flight details on and if anyone attempts to skip town without paying, a quick call from the police to immigration will soon get the culprit carted off to the nick while charges for theft are filed with the authorities. Don't forget that check-in times for international flights are usually two hours minimum after which you'll have another hour or so before you can board the aircraft. Since the hotel has the flight details, there'll be at least 3-4 hrs to catch the bugger before he or she leaves the country.

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Personally I don't think this deposit is for your room so much as other things. It is not a great loss to them if you don't pay for your room.  It is almost a certainty that this hotel has other rooms that night that remained empty. So this would just be another room they could later show as empty. But mini bar products have to be replaced and they do have to pay for long distance telephone calls to, so this would come out as a direct loss to the hotel.

Eh? Not a great loss if you don't pay for your room? I doubt very much if the contents of the minibar will amount to anywhere near the total cost of a room over several days. As for the long distance calls, I think most people use their own phone these days don't they? I know I do.

As for the minibar, there's usually a tariff to be found somewhere in the room which details the cost of drinks. So it's down to the guest to keep a running total of what he or she has consumed and then to stick to that in the event of an argument. Most hotels won't want to remonstrate with guests when there are other visitors around since it could result in bad publicity on tripadvisor or one of the booking agencies review sites.

I'm reminded of the main drag into town just on the corner of Soi Sansabai and Rat-U-thit where the potholes in that section of road have grown ever bigger and deeper during the last five or six years. The only addition which has been made there are those steel rails to block anyone trying to cross into Bangla at that point. The road itself is in a terrible state and when it rains, you risk getting drenched if a pickup happens to pass and drives though the miniature lakes which form there during a downpour.

Same goes for the corner of Soi C&N where a fish restaurant is located. Over the years I've seen that restaurant bring a bucket of cement and a trowel and fill in the potholes which have formed since nobody else seems to bother. The Soi alongside the rebuilt Tiger bar complex is the same and probably many others. Where is the municipality? Which department is responsible for the upkeep of the roads? Why don't these people do their damn jobs?

There are millions of tourists around the world all looking to go somewhere where they can get good service and where there is an efficient transport system to ferry them around from place to place. Thais just don't seem to be able to comprehend that in order to attract tourism especially those who come back every year, they have got to invest in infrastructure. TAT does its best with all their marketing campaigns but the reality just  doesn't match the situation on the ground when visitors arrive.

Ten years ago they could get away with it, but not now. With the advent of social networks like Facebook and sites like Twitter which can instantly relay bad experiences and be read by millions within seconds and it's a marketing disaster for the country.

Of course your average tuk-tuk driver can't read anything which isn't written in Thai and is probably oblivious of their reputation elsewhere in the world. So they carry on upping the price and as soon as some mug pays it that then becomes the standard rate until the next hike. They also clog up the roads and damage vehicles which dare to park in what they consider to be 'their parking spaces' and then they expect visitors to flock to them because they have a monopoly. The motorbike taxis aren't that much better and visitors can expect double or triple the rates thais are likely to pay.

Business being so bad this year is going to mean a big hike in hotel and taxi rates in 2017 I'm sure sad though that may be.