wump

Okay now the army has just lost my support and I've been supporting them for a long time. Helping the mafia... Way to go, great general. 

20 minutes ago, Bastos60 said:

Regulations differ from country to country. But local duties are applied to any applicable product sold in duty free shops. The name is just legacy (refering to import/export duties)

"Duty-free shops (or stores) are retail outlets that are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country. Which products can be sold duty-free vary by jurisdiction, as well as how they can be sold, and the process of calculating the duty or refunding the duty component."

So you telling me King Power selling these 680 Baht camels has paid more than 300 Baht (including any duty/tax) for it? Highly doubt it. You can already see their rip-off when a Sang Som is 50% dearer than in 7-11 even though it is supposed to be tax free.

1 minute ago, WhyYouTalkMeBad said:

You forgot the sky train. Fast icy cold 45 baht and no PITA Thai drivers annoying you with stupid bar girl questions, where you from, you have family blah blah

Then you'd still have to get a regular taxi or use Uber/Grab from the station. But might be a better and quicker option for some.

11 minutes ago, Bastos60 said:

BKK is really one of the better airports around. Everything is easily accessible. Check-in lines move really fast. Compared to some countries, immigration isn't so much of a hassle, even customs are pretty fast.  I regularly fly from Amsterdam and Brussels, Brussels immigration queues on return trips are a real pain with waiting times longer than immigration queues from arrival and departure in BKK combined, for less people. 

 

I read someone complaining about cigarettes being 40$ a carton but the last time  I bought cigarettes  it was still way cheaper than the retail prices outside of the airport. But you have 
to keep in mind that cigarettes at duty free shops are not really 'duty' free. They are actually tax free. A carton of camel yellow costs roughly 780 Baht while in retail they are 900 baht. 
If you want to buy them duty and tax free, you will have to fly with an airline that sells them onboard (15€/carton) , or if you have a stopover in one of the middle eastern airports. 
In BRU the same cigarettes in a duty free shop cost about 40€/carton.

 

Everything you need is found without much effort, car rental, taxi, limousine, bus, sim card, food and information. I would put BKK in my top 20 best airports.

Checkin-lines depend on the airline. Choose a crappy one and you will wait 1 hour+.

Also, your cigarette argument is invalid. Cigarettes in duty free shops don't have ANY duty (hence the name) or taxes levied on them. Anything over 10$ for a carton of Marlboro is 100% profit for the duty free shop. Same goes for liquor.

Shopping on the plane is exactly the same tax-wise as technically you are already out of the country.

7 minutes ago, Here It Is said:

I always travel business class so have priority lane access, notwithstanding I go through the Thai lane with my wife.  Five minutes max whatever way we do it and our bags come out priority.

 

 

Well if you fly business then I rest my case, these few extra pounds certainly won't matter. Just thought you were the average Joe on holiday, hence my argument.

5 minutes ago, Here It Is said:

Please don't complain on my behalf as I've nothing to complain about.  My wife and I are perfectly happy with the AOT service.  Talk about comfort and efficiency!

 

And what's wrong with hiring a private driver on a website (well-established services available), he holds up your name sign and you pay 500 at most? Scared of a 2 hour immigration queue? This is very uncommon and even if this was the case you could still opt for the AOT service.

Edit: I flew business class once, got the fast track and in the end still wasn't out of the airport quicker as I still had to wait for my bag.

3 minutes ago, Here It Is said:

AOT does me fine.  Take what suits you best.

 

Anyway, aren't we supposed to get back on topic?

 

 

This topic is now about taxis and think the consensus was the the survey is bullshit. BKK is an excellent airport, period. Was ranked in the top 10 or top 15 in the world the last time I checked.

Okay, the rip-off taxi charges you 600 instead of 360 Baht and the rip-off AOT limo takes 1600 instead of a reasonable 500-600. Now who's the bigger cheater?

And I very much agree with post #36. If people keep paying silly prices, it will only get worse. I would have nothing to complain about if you'd actually get your money's worth but you are not. Kinda like not being able to shop in duty free anymore because people will just pay anthing "because they are on holiday and it's still a bit cheaper than at home".

At the risk of arguing over the internet again, the average UK salary is 7.55 times higher than the Thai one. Still think you're getting a good deal?

1 minute ago, Here It Is said:

Up to you.  But you talk about ripoff meter taxis and your constant issues with them.  £38 at today's exchange rate is fantastic compared with where I could get to in London (end of the road) but AOT provides me with a seamless service at a bargain basement price.

 

If me post helps another then that's a good thing.  Ignore it if you so wish and continue with your constant battles.  I've had my fill of metered taxis so choose the easier option.

Okay, I won't argue with you if 38 quid means nothing to you and you want to jump the queues. You want to enjoy your holiday, fair enough.

But please don't call it "bargain basement price". It certainly is not and I am sure it'd still be profitable at half the rate.

7 minutes ago, Here It Is said:

Up to you.  1600 baht for a stress-free ride to DMK is good enough for me.  Pay an all-in-one fare and go.  And I don't have to have a case seated on my lap, run the risk of no air-con and have to deal with a potential belligerent driver.

 

Anyway, I love Swampy.

1600 Baht? You're having a laugh. Even if I could afford it, this service is certainly not worth an extra 400-500% of the fare. Why would anyone support this rip-off?

Even in Australia a taxi would be cheaper than this.

Sure, if there is a long queue just take a scam taxi (can always be had from the counter I'm not allowed to name). They park in the airport garage. Still cheaper than a limousine.

4 minutes ago, Here It Is said:

Doesn't make Swampy a bad airport, does it?

 

Get the AOT Limo from departures.  Knowledgeable and friendly drivers, no queues, air-con, Easy Pass and plenty of space in the boot for your luggage.  Not cheap but very efficient and have never been ripped off.  Fantastic service every time.

Or just go to the normal taxi queue in the basement. If he refuses to use the meter, get out and he'll have to pay the 50 Baht surcharge himself. Problem solved.

Edit: May I ask how much the limousine is? Like 1000 Baht? A taxi into town is only 300-400.

If I see stuff like Toblerone or Ritter Sport it's like 300% more expensive than in a German supermarket where there is already a tax of 19% applied. Cigarettes (being 5-10$ a carton without tax) sell for 30-40 euros. A complete joke. I still remember when in Cambodia, Winston Lights in the shops where 5.13$ a carton and 12$ in "duty free".

But my argument was not so much about money but about convenience. Apart from the long walks and sometimes sour immigration officials I find Suvarnabhumi to be an excellent airport. Very easy to find your way around (your checkin counter, your gate, your taxi/train etc). Nothing like the old days with the taxi touts at Don Muang. I also like the travelators and the opportunity to get everything at a reasonable airport price (I think a water in the new vending machines is 15 Baht?). In Germany you'd only get proper prices in BK and McD at the airport (except for Munich where they have an actual supermarket where you get a large premium wheat beer for 33 Baht).

Totally ridiculous having Frankfurt in a better rank than Suvarnabhumi. It's a crappy airport where you won't even find your check-in counter because they are somehow spread randomly throughout the entire building. Duty free is overpriced, as is anything else (coke in a vending machine for 3.50€, anyone?). Looks old and outdated as well. The only positive thing is the nice immigration staff and not having a separate immigration for every single gate manned by two people like Berlin-TXL has.

15 minutes ago, mok199 said:

that is abslute rubbish.and you insult all of us who have spent years learning this language....what other promise can you make me'' lose 10 lbs in a week''...

Actually, I can. If you're talking about American pounds and you weigh over 100 kilos.

Maybe you should read "Thai for Beginners" which does an excellent job at teaching the writing and the tones. I am really not the smartest guy on earth, but I read 10 pages of the 150-or-so page book every day for an hour having beers at the beach and have no problem reading Thai now. Never bothered learning the vocabulary though, so not of too much use (but helps with getting the tone right with the few words I can speak). 

If an adult can do it, it must be even easier for a child. I agree that they could probably do away with a few letters but in general the Thai script does a quite effective job. Looks certainly nicer than Vietnamese or the mega-complicated Cambodian script.

I am all for introducing spaces though. I have absolutely no idea how these guys can read subtitles in a movie whenawholesentenceisdisplayedforafractionofasecond.

US and UK spelling is almost identical. No need to change anything. Neither systems are phonetic or make any sense. Thai is actually much better in this regard as it is nearly 100% phonetic. In EN, you have to memorize every single word.

I guess a lot of you guys can't comprehend just how hard it is to learn English for Thai or Chinese people. Starts with pronouciation and they find tenses and prepositions extremely difficult as they don't use them in Thai. They have to learn everything by heart, that's why you mostly only hear the literal translation from TH to EN which is essentially bar girl English.

IMO the best way to study English is watching TV with subtitles. Did it for me and seems to work well. Nordic countries (except Finland) all have their TV programmes subbed and they all speak excellent English.

6 hours ago, mok199 said:

thai is an extremely hard language to write .

Untrue. I can teach you Thai writing in 20 hours. Just not allowed to :)

Forgot about that one. Quite small though and there is a lot of raw sewage flowing in nearby.

They are talking about Dong Tan Beach which is between Jomtien and Pratamnak... nothing to do with Pattaya beach and certainly no traffic there.

On 6/9/2017 at 0:53 PM, bangkokairportlink said:

Hello,

 

Can you explain me if they are talking about bringing sand to enlarge the beach ?

Or is it something else ? On which part are they doing beautification ?

 

Thanks.

They are going to do what they did in the rest of Pattaya. Cut down the 30+ years old trees that provided shade and cooling and replace them with skinny grey palm trees that provide no shade at all (they look the the photo in the op). Serves the vendors renting umbrellas I guess.

The whole this is such a shame. This is literally the last area in Pattaya that has these large trees.

On 6/9/2017 at 3:04 PM, koo said:

The topic has been tagged as containing video.  Where is it?

 

EDIT: Ah, it is on a commercial website designed to sell your personal data, so just forget the whole thing...

Videos on here don't work with adblock on. Only found out on page 3 that there's a video of the thing.

Who would be so silly and use E85 at the prices?? 

Maybe go to a real restaurant with 50% Eatigo discount?