prism

a bump post just raises the thread back up to the top and people will see it and maybe comment.

internet answer.

True internet if you can get it otherwise go TOT.

Also talk to people nearby and find out what works well. The performance can differ a lot by location and service infrastructure.

Ok, I'll comment too.

Try Maxnet's 3BB premier service for the best international speeds. I've heard True internet is good if you can get it in your area.

I vote for some HD programming. Europe and the U.S. has had it for years. Much of Asia has it now. I'd be willing to upgrade my receiver as long as the price is reasonable. The price for the DVR is too high.

Try Airport Plaza, third floor.

For your child to become an American citizen, you must submit a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) at either the American Embassy in Bangkok or the Consulate in Chiang Mai. Go to their website to start the process. It's a easier if you get married before the baby is born and have the marrage registered at an Amphur. I registered my kids and they now have dual citizenship. (American and Thai).

Good Luck!

"The zoo, situated about 650 kilometres north of Bangkok, has been the target of criticism for poor management and mistreatment of animals in the past."

I hope that people don't equate the Night Safari with the Chiang Mai Zoo which has far superior management and treatment of animals.

Also keep in mind that they enforce the 45 minute check in requirement before flight departure. One time I was a few minutes late and they only let me on my flight because I didn't have any bags to check in.

In my experience, I find that the morning flights are more punctual and the afternoon and evening flights experiences more delays.

Great info from the OP. Thanks

Even if you toggle the EGDE button to "off" in SBsettings, the iPhone's Push functions will still activate your carrier's Data(Internet) service if your Cellular Data service is not disabled. You will still be charged. Make sure you change your APN settings to a fake one AND your Push e-mail, location services are turned off. Not turning off the Push functions when your Cellular Data service is disabled will slow down your iPhone and suck up your battery life.

I installed a "FAKE APN" Toggle to my SBsettings app. from Cydia. Now I can switch the Data services on or off on the fly.

Had my twin boys registered for birth abroad at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok a couple of years ago (My wife is Thai). It's a bit of a process but it's not difficult. Go to the Embassy's website for more info.

Now my boys have a U.S.A passport and a Thai passport. Wish I did.

I think it is MORE than a coincidence we get this news a day after the - no more back to back tourist visa news.

In my opinion this is a backlash from the recent documentary big trouble in tourist Thailand which was aired on UK TV the other day.

I agree. I watched the documentary and it didn't put the Full Moon Party in a positive light. Much of it focused on drug use at the party.

http://www.jepbungalow.com/5/

Always stay here, cheap clean and functional rooms, great position by the beach and amazing evening meals on the beach....brilliant!

I agree. I recommend trying the restaurant even if you are not staying there.

Double trouble over here too.

Jaxon (front) and Jason. About 20 months old.

Like the OP, we have twins too and they've been staying in the master bedroom since we brought them home. I too have a separate bedroom for them ready to go. The rules change when you have twins. I couldn't imagine not having them sleep with us in the beginning. The idea of one of us running to their room every hour or two to tend to them didn't seem practical. Now they are 20 months old and I'm looking forward to them sleeping on their own room. It's an Asian cultural thing to co-sleep but, until what age? At least one of them sleeps in his own crib now. I've been coaxing my wife to get them to sleep in their own beds for the time being. Hopefully my twins being boys, they'll want to sleep in their own room soon.

It's a cultural clash between east and west with us, but I usually give my wife the final say since she's been a great mom to our twins. I also enjoy watching them sleep sometimes.

I do think it'll be a good idea for them to sleep in their own room once they start pre-school at around age 3 yo. The farang in them is going to want their Independence eventually. I'll keep working with my wife on that plan.

Best thing is do whatever works best for the parents and the kids.

The new THAI promotional fares will see an all-inclusive round-trip start at Bt2,810 for domestic routes, while regional flights start at Bt4,300.

Just booked a flight on Thai Air Asia yesterday. CNX (Chiang Mai) - BKK, 1400 baht round trip all inclusive.

For the past couple of days, whenever I open my browser I have been getting these annoying MaxNet Movie Buffet pop-ups appearing in the upper left hand side of my screen.

Am I the only one getting this or are there other MaxNet users having the same problem?

I'm getting them too whenever I open my Hotmail. My pop-up blocker on Firefox shows me who's being blocked whenever it's activated. It's Maxnet Movie Buffet.

Tacky!

Hi all,

The family will be visiting Krabi the first of July for a few days and will be staying at Ao Nang beach. We would like to take a boat tour of the Islands and also a day trip to koh Phi Phi. Can anybody recommend any Tour agents to book these through? Not looking to cheap out. Just want an agent / office that is honest and reliable and the transportation to be safe at a fair price.

Thanks!

You wil find hundreds of tour agencies on beachroad in Ao Nang. Probably your hotel can help you too.

Have a nice trip !

Thanks!, but I was wondering if anybody had any experiences with any of them.

Hi all,

The family will be visiting Krabi the first of July for a few days and will be staying at Ao Nang beach. We would like to take a boat tour of the Islands and also a day trip to koh Phi Phi. Can anybody recommend any Tour agents to book these through? Not looking to cheap out. Just want an agent / office that is honest and reliable and the transportation to be safe at a fair price.

Thanks!

whoops, meant Chiang Mai (help please Mr.Moderator)In Bangkok there is a place called Bella pizza, anyone who has been there will know the texture of the dough, is there a place in Chiang Mai that is the same type?

Never been to Bella Pizza in BKK..my favorite in BKK is Limoncello's on Sukhumvit soi11...Brick wood burning oven..very good pizza, unfortunately Chiang Mai has lots of medicore pizza places. No consistantly outstanding pizza place exists in Chiang Mai! You'll just have to try the mediocre places untill you find one that you can appreciate. maybe others will chime in and give you their reccomendations.

I agree with you about Limoncello's in BKK. Best Pizza I've had in Thailand.

There is a place on Mae Jo road not to far past Rimping on the same side as Rimping that has good authentic pizza they also have all of the Italian styles of pizza which may not appeal to everyone. It's the kind of place that might get annoyed if you asked for corn and imitation crab on the pizza if you know what I mean. As far as the prices go well, you get what you pay for, I'm assuming the majority of the ingredients are imported or homemade.

I hope you are not recommending Pizza-mania, very mediocre in my book. I've heard very good reviews of Girasole off of walking street. Authentic Pizza baked in a real brick oven.

Waiwai regarding the Internet, I have exactly the same problem in Pat. I am paying for the fastest conn. I can get but sometimes I can't even download BKK post front page , and complaining to the provider (TOT) many times but no cure so far. I think the whole net in Thailand are completely overloaded.

Priceless, thanks for the info regarding air pollution, very interesting and informative.

Stew thanks for that man, yes I know the shop, something like:Ricks Power Coating, nice guy talked to him once.

Buy a Harley again Stew, you wont regret it, I am a member of HOG Thailand and we go many places all over the country and are getting VIP treatment where ever we go by everybody incl. the police who often waves us over for red light when we thunder through small towns, he he.

Thanks again to everybody

Guzzi, I'm getting good internet service with TTT's Maxnet in CM; 1000 baht/month for 2MB premier. Had TOT in Pattaya before and it was BAD.

I'll be swinging by Pattaya next week. Is Wranglers Harley shop still there? Guy from Florida owns it from what I remember. They had some sweet bikes. Humm... I'll have to check my finances. I'll keep an eye out for any other big bike shops that work on/sell Harleys in CM. I'll post what I find.

Guzzi,

I was in the same boat a couple of years ago. I lived in Pattaya, met a girl and eventually she became pregnant (with twins!). We didn't want to raise them in Pattaya either. We moved up to CM when the babies were 3 weeks old. It's much better up here for the following reasons:

1) Housing is cheaper. You can buy a very nice house with lots of land for 5 - 7 million baht.

2) Good selection of restaurants, Thai and Farang.

3) Several grocery stores that sell farang and thai food. (Rimping, better then foodland)

4)There is some nightlife here but it's not the party town that Pattaya is. There are a couple of places where a Harley guy can hang out at.

5) There is a big bike shop where I've seen a couple of Harleys at, in town. I used to be a Harley rider myself before I moved to Thailand. (very sad to give up that bike)

6) Better quality of life here, CM is big enough to have everything you need but it's still manageable.

7) There are several good schools to choose from, international and bilingual.

Things I miss about Pattaya:

1) The beach scene

2) Bangkok Pattaya hospital. Chiang Mai Ram is okay, and I like our Pediatrician there but it's not as nice as BPH. (BPH has some hot looking nurses too)

3) The bar scene, but most of that is behind me now since the twins were born and of coarse, since I got married. Pattaya is still short flight away.

Okay, the air is crap here for a couple of months but it's nice now. Not as many Harley riders here as Pattaya but I've seen a few. Come up here and check it out.

If you need anymore info, PM me. Wish I still had that Harley.

~Stew

Would there be any interest from Americans and other NFL fans in being able to watch recorded games from the previous weekend on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights. All the weeks games would be available but I am trying to work out if their would be a viable audience.

Watch where?

Go to the U.S. Chiang Mai Conslate's website for more info. You have to sign up before going.

Actually there is no indication of having to sign up except for non-US guests who have to send an e-mail to notifiy. There is no signup page.

True, but I do remember being turned away last year because it was already full. I just e-mailed them our names anyway to make sure we can attend.

I heard that the US Consulate has a 4th of July party for those Americans in the area...

Is this something that we have to sign up for, or just show up? Do we need proof of being an American? Can we bring non-American friends (English, Aussie)?

Or, is this even worth going to... what do they do? Is there food and drink provided? for sale?

Thanks for anyone who may know anything about it!!!

Go to the U.S. Chiang Mai Conslate's website for more info. You have to sign up before going. I was turned away last year because I didn't sign up early enough and it already full.

It's a great way to spend an afternoon and meet other americans. Worth going to and other nationalities can be your guests.

- 30 year leases are currently no more protective to the lessee than a standard one year residential lease.

Could you explain just why that is please?

As I see, it a lease of 1 year or 30 years is an agreement between a lessor and a lessee with no rights of reassignment by the lessee without express permission of the lessee and is not directly binding on anyone other the original lessor and the lessee. If the lessee is a natural person and he dies before the end of the lease, the lease terminates. If the lessor dies or sells the land before the end of the lease, the lease is not automatically binding on the new owner who did not enter into the original agreement. Many have argued otherwise but they are usually property developers and lawyers who want to separate farang buyers from their cash. Anyway what hope have you or your heirs in a Thai court against a well connected Thai land owner? Long leases in the UK and other developed countries are binding on all future parties and allow reassignment automatically. There is also a legal process in the UK for lessees of long leases close to expiry to apply for renewal on reasonable terms. 90 or 99 years is not the maximum lease term in term in the UK as many Thais seems to believe. There are many 999 year leases.

If 90 year leases ever see the light of day, I will be curious to see how many foreigners will be able to exercise the clauses in their lease agreements that say they can convert their 30 year leases with promises of two more 30 year leases to 90 year leases, as soon as the law allows with no additional cost. Land owners are bound to renege en masse and get away with it.

Wrong.

Any lease of over 3 years must be registered at the local land office and then it's listed on the land's chanote. This gives the lessee rights that the contract will still be binding even if the land changes hands. The problem is when the original 30 years expires. The renewal clause is not registered and the owner(s) of the land can fight a renewal.

90 years would be great as long as the lease is transferable. I believe the 30 year lease is not.