wump

I once had to wait 45 minutes for my Uber to arrive (the app kept telling me 8 minutes but he kept driving away). I guess he accepted the ride before getting lunch? And that was for a 1150 Baht airport trip 

2 hours ago, Mattd said:

AS ubonjoe states, your easiest and cheapest option would be to purchase a cheap one way ticket departing Thailand within 30 days of your Emirates flight arrival in to Thailand, via one of the low cost airline websites, then use this to show Emirates upon boarding.

Enter Thailand on the 30 day visa exempt entry, extend this entry by a further 30 days at the immigration office local to where you will be staying in Thailand, then proceed as you planned for Penang.

 

Most sensible advice. Buy a throw-away ticket out of the country with a low cost carrier or buy an expensive flight with THAI etc that is 100% refundable and just cancel it once in the country.

Don't call Emirates. The girl at the check-in counter won't know what conversation you had with some call center agent. Better be safe and get your ticket. This way you will also be on the safe side with immigration in Thailand seeing you having a flight out within 30 days and granting you visa exempt entry. 

The extension for the visa-exempt entry is a breeze... costs 50 euros and takes about 1 hour of your time.

10 minutes ago, tandor said:

..that reckless young man..he obviously is not that poor..he is well nourished, has nice clothes, nice bike, out late and on his way in a hurry...you need money to buy all this and run a bike etc etc...i hope you win in court and they are forced to pay up in full..good luck..and hope your injuries heal quickly.

It's obviously all about saving face. Big loss of face havin to pay up to a farang.

5 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

If the ING card is a VISA or Mastercard this should not happen.

Exchange rates are set by the CC organizations.

Just make sure you withdraw in Thai Baht and not fall into the DCC trap (Thai bank converting to your currency).

I think he was talking about the foreign currency conversion fee which currently sits at 2.5% with ING Australia.

Edit: This fee is only waived if A$1,000 has been deposited in the past month. So the rebate is only good for trips up to 1 month or for people who have regular deposits regardless of whether they are in the country.

You don't need to be able to read a map with GPS coordinates. The app simply tells the driver "Turn left in 100 meters" etc. and "you have reached your destination". Why would you need to be able to read a map for that?

Can someone fill me in about the  'มัน' (man) thing? Is it disrespectful or not? I always complain when I hear it and they either say "sorry" or explain it is a friendly term that friends use? 

Op asked for a private room. Either take the one in Soi Chayapoon @180/day or just stick with an apartment and pay monthly... plenty for about 4-4,500 around Buakhao and Bongkoch. If you don't mind the area, the apartments around Sunee Plaza are 2,500/month so should be no more than 250 if paying daily rate.

I usually just drive to the shop and tell them to follow me on my bike. Once upstairs in the apartment the guys get their tip for carrying the stuff up and they take away the empty crates back to the shop.

This way I won't have to explain where my place is.

I agree with the poster above. Even if you drink a carton every day the savings are minimal at the end of the month. The independent ones have the benefit of free delivery right into your apartment. They will also carry your empty crates for free (soda/coke/water).

I think with Big C and Tesco you can't get the carton price on delivery and I'm pretty sure Makro don't even deliver.

If this wasn't standard procedure I doubt that the IO would have done all the paperwork for the 30 seconds I was over and with no personal benefit to him.

Be aware that checkin only opens some 3 hours before departure and figure about a 30-40 minute queue at immigration at this time of the day.

7 hours ago, Mattd said:

They almost certainly will put an overstay stamp in his passport if clearing immigration after midnight, as he is then on overstay, even if it is only a few minutes / hours, agree no fine will be applied, if he can go through before midnight and doesn't have too long to wait for his flight, then agree, better doing that, keeps the passport clean.

Nothing wrong with the stamps. If it's only 2 or 3 and a couple of days nobody cares. 

But you WILL get a stamp if passing immigration even at 12:01am 

15 hours ago, LennyW said:

There are many family run wholesellers around, you will see the places with stacks of boxes of beer at the roadside, they always tend to be about 5-10 baht a box cheaper than Makro, also Makro only sells during certain hours same as 7/11.

 

Depends exactly where you are located.

But in Makro you won't get cheated :). Also, if you buy by the box the time restriction doesn't apply as you can reach 10 litres easily with one box and a bit.

I heard it's cancelled due to the budget being allocated to 'protection of the environment'?

18 hours ago, AlQaholic said:

So why doesn't Uber get in touch with the taxi organizations, and offer "UberTaxi" along with UberBlack, UberBig and whatever other services they have now? I think many people will use UberTaxi, even if it is slightly more expensive than the cheapest Uber driver, just because it is a licensed and insured taxi. And if it was as convenient as an Uber driver, no contest.

What you describe is 100% GrabTaxi and does already exist.

The replies of this guy somehow remind me of the owners from the Amy's Baking Company episode of Kitchen Nightmares.

And add 300 Baht joiner fee to that if the room was not booked for 2 people :).

You should read this one. Reasonable points made yet rude reply from owner. Beer and coke have no expiry date? I'd challenge him to drink a 5 years old beer from a bottle and we'll see about that.

Edit: Is this some kind of comedian? 

Quote

Guests did stay at backpackers before , so the smell of fresh linen and fully renovated hotel may well be unpleasant.

It doesn't matter how fake the reviews are in this case. A guy who puts up a website and openly advertises a 60 Baht charge on "how to operate the safe" is clearly either greedy or in the wrong spot by being in the 'hospitality' industry.

And to be honest, apart from ONE youth hostel in Australia I have never stayed in anywhere in the world where I couldn't drink my own beer in my own room. This guy is a joke.

I think nowadays most banks will block transactions outside the country by default and you'll have to talk to your bank before going abroad anyway.

Apart from not drinking beer from 7-11 on your balcony (strictly forbidden) the hotel has another couple of outrageous charges: 

Lose key and tag: 2000 Baht

Bloodstain the bed linen: 3500 Baht  

2 minutes ago, thailand49 said:

This might be true but most cards I know of from the U.S. unless you ask them to remove the limit is $500.00 so based on the exchange rate currently you might at 16,000 baht.

I'm from Europe and with all of my bank accounts I can adjust the limit in my online banking. Takes less than a minute. 

Sounds like a nice guy. Especially when he is straight out lying in his responses for everyone to see

Quote

Thailand does not have 1/10 or 1/5 or 1/3 or 1/2 of 1 baht so amount was rounded to the nearest baht 2156 baht

Guest refused to pay 2156 baht and stated he will only pay 2155.50 (note amount owed is 2155.60) 

To put it in perspective, 1/2 a baht is $0.01

Staff obliged providing guest pays with exact change as there is no 1/2 baht change.

No? What's the 50 Satang coins for then? I'm not saying he should use them but to deny they exist is just a lie.

5 hours ago, TheRascal said:

You've got no chance around Nana and very little around Asoke. 

So not true. Just get in and state your destination. Don't open the door and ask for "meter?". I spent about 2 weeks this year in the Nana area and except for very short rides have always paid the meter price.

1 hour ago, wimpy said:

Just returned from Kuala Lumpur. $0 ATM fees for foreign debit cards. How civilized.

To be fair, some banks do charge. Also depends on your own card. Some ATM might or might not charge a fee, depending on your card. Haven't worked this one out. Has something to do with the card issuer, not just VISA/Mastercard.