Khun Bob

I did a quick search on this forum and didn't see anything, so apologies in advance if this has been covered to death and I have missed it...

When I studied Thai a few years ago I was given some photocopied sheets by my Thai teacher, with dotted outlines of all the Thai alphabet, consonants, vowels and other special characters. Each line would have the same character/group of characters repeated several times, and indicate where to start writing each character from. By overwriting what was on the page, you could get the technique of writing the Thai alphabet in a near perfect way. The photocopied sheets were from a book and weren't very clear as they may well have been copied from copies and so on.

I just wondered if someone knew of an electronic document (pdf or whatever) which had something like this in it, so I could download and print it however many times ?

It may be possible to create my own, I guess if there is an outline Thai font (dotted), it would be straight-forward to create whatever I wanted in a word processor. If anyone has any suggestions on this or any other way, I would be interested to hear also.

I believe there are books you can buy in Thailand and maybe elsewhere with this sort of thing in them. I haven't seen any and I'm not in Thailand at the moment. I would prefer an electronic copy that I could print as the outlines would be perfect when printed every-time, rather than having to photocopy a book. Of course I could scan the book and then print the scans...

Seems that the 5 sms limit isnt lifted after 1 day. I sent 5 sms to my thai mobile on 13/4 and have just tried sending a further sms. I'm still getting the message :

"Phone number +668xxxxxxxx cannot receive SMS messages at this time."

And my Thai mobile didnt receive an sms stating I have to send an sms to receive and sms from YM user.

So I wonder *if* the limit is reset and when that may be ?

If you have a DTAC sim (Pre-pay or post-pay) you can register for online access to you account and can send 50 sms to other dtac nos per month free. You can also send to other networks in Thailand for 2bt/sms. This is good as you type on the keyboard and can send Thai character sms's. Plus it is sent as if it has come from your phone, so you get the reply back there too.

The other method I have of sending sms, is as mentioned earlier, using a Finarea/Betamax guise. I use VoIPDiscount as I have credit there. But most of the guises allow sms to be sent as if it came from whatever phone you have set-up with them for a cost of 3 euro cent / sms. I havent tried sending Thai character sms with this, but I have a feeling it wont work. If someone knows otherwise, please let us know.

For comparison of Betamax/Finarea (actually they have some other name now I dont recall) guises prices see :

http://www.backsla.sh/betamax

There are a few doing Thailand for free on there, after you have topped up. Unfortuneately this does not compare the cost of sms, but from what I have seen they all seem to be the same price. But best to keep checking as when VoIPDiscount introduced sending sms it was free for a few months !

Hope this helps !

@crev wrote "Yahoo messenger limit of 5 sms per day"

I'm glad you mentioned this as I have been trying YM out and hit the 5 limit. Actually when sending sms, there are other sms's sent to the recipient too. The first extra sms states a YM user is sending you a message and to reply, send a message back and there are charges. When all 5 sms have been sent, another extra sms is sent to the recipient stating that to continue using YM sms you must reply to a yahoo sms and there are charges.

In my case the actual sms I sent to the recipient used the (reply centre) no 1924668001 and the extra sms's sent by yahoo, as described above, were from 1924668001

I have looked around on the yahoo site and elsewhere to see if I could find out the cost of replying (sending) and sms to the no 1924668001 and drew a blank. My guess is that yahoo have use of a series of numbers (shortcodes) in Thailand and can associate one of these with the number a YM user sent the sms to, so as to know where to route the reply to (or something like that anyway). I'm just wondering if these are very expensive and if there is some sort of hidden opt-in to receive more billed sms's as a result of replying to the yahoo reply centre.

The sms's sent by yahoo really push replying, because of course, that is why they are offering the service. You could of course ask for the reply to your thai mobile phone. Also the extra sms's sent were in english which, for some thai people, will not be read. I just wonder if anyone has managed to send Thai language sms via yahoo messenger ?

Cheers

The new cashcard+ will be some sort of restricted visa debit card that will allow purchases of goods and services outside of the UK but not use in ATMs. I do not know what kind of Visa Debit card it will be (Visa Electron?) and need to do more research on this.

Basically the Nationwide wants to get rid of people who just use their cash card account for overseas atm withdrawals.

What would be useful to know is if it would/may be possible to use the new cashcard+ for an over the counter withdrawal in a Thai bank ? Now as they haven't been issued it will be hard to know 100%. However, if anyone who knows about the various flavours of Visa Debit cards could comments on what would work for over the counter and what would not , this would be most useful...

Options seem to be :

* Request an upgrade of your account to full flex account - unless your going to use this account as your main account and have a regular salary payment made into this and have direct debits on it and you have a good credit score, you may be out-of-luck

* Apply for a new flex account with full visa debit card - this may be a better option that an upgrade

* Apply for a Cumberland Building Society account - they have a card that has no fees for overseas atm withdrawals - you need to live there to get it !

* Apply for a santander zero current account - gives a card that has no fee overseas atm withdrawls

* Apply for a santander zero credit card - it may be possible to preload the account and then get fee free with no interest atm withdrawals

Some useful links are

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showth...ionwide+upgrade

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showth...ionwide+upgrade

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showth...ionwide+upgrade

Hope this all helps - would be good if people can post *relevant* experience on here. For people that depend on this, it may make things harder/more expensive when the Nationwide implement this change, which they claim is for our benefit (read cutting the costs to the Nationwide) - which is still a Building Society, that is suppose to be run for the benefit of the members (it can make a profit from :-) )

Thanks for mentioning the resident / non-resident rates. I mentioned this when I was opening the account and I dont think it was understood or an issue to KBank. All the time deposits I have with KBank have the initial interest rate printed into the passbook. But not having had a time deposit with KBank before I dont really know what will happen till I get the passbook updated again after the first term has run.

SCB have an interesting offering at the moment. I cant remember the exact details but it is a 2 year term and in the last 6 months the interest increases to over 4%. It seems to be down to the discretion of the manager / senior person in the bank whether they will allow you to open this or state it is Thai people only.

I was tempted to go for a money market fund with K-Asset, but decided against it in the end. However the following may be of interest to people looking at funds :

http://www.finansa-asset.com/fund_result.a...mp;Fund_Type=MF

Thanks for the reply.

So with the tool mentioned I would need to locate each bus stop, on the map and this would gibve me the coordinates of it ? Seems like potentially a lot of work, or am I misunderstanding something ?

Is there anyway in Google maps to do a search on a particular feature and just be given a list of these, then from that do some coordinate conversion ? Note - I haven't used Google Maps at all.

Cheers

Google Maps has bus stops on the map of Bangkok, but you are probably looking for a table of coordinates of the bus stops for each route.

If you want to look up the coordinates of bus stops on Google Maps, you will find ThaiVisa's look-up tool useful (pinned topic at the top of this forum):

http://directory.thaivisa.com/geocode.php

--

Maestro

If you wish to start a franchise you could call it "Hut Locker" (a play on Foot Locker?)

However, now it seems you have been pad-locked and de-frocked on TV ! You could say "No TV, Houdini !"

Your potential competitors who sell traditional key-based padlocks may wish to use the company name :

"Key dee gwaa thort !".... Roughly translated means : a good key is better than lots of hot air !

If this post is deemed inappropriate, please delete as appropriate...

But be careful that Krungsri may be able to set their own exchange rate instead of using the rate of mastercards - this is only with the red cash card - with the blue visa cards the exchange rates of visa's is used and is usually close to that of the interbank rate, plus there is the 0.84% that nationwide charge.

i have a normal nationwide cash card which always worked in every asian country i had been in. i didnt get charged when i used the yellow bank machines, not sure whats the name of the bank but i will be using them again

Thanks for the good info and links.

I'm going to try and open a 6 month fixed deposit today with KBank which has a special offer on for the Chinese new year. Today is the last day and I have a brochure on it. Just have to be careful about the resident/non-resident situation. I only have a rental agreement for a room and a non-imm visa.

Kbank rates are not the best and presently only marginally higher than the 0.50% offered by a savings account there.

I tried to find out from the KBank contact centre on friday how the fixed deposit runs - ie where the interest is placed, when it is placed, if the interest rates increase how this is passed on to a renewal of the fixed deposit term and other questions and got nothing at all from them. Also the branch I visited seemed to provide different info to that of the KBank website. I'd just hate to invest in a fixed deposit where I lose control by not being in Thailand and get a lower interest rate than a savings account for being classed as non-resident (although in a thread previously referred to, it states that KBank do not distinguish between resident and non-resident).

Will try and see, and if things don't work out apparently I can close the fixed deposit down before the end of the term and still receive the same interest as a savings account on the amount invested.

Does anyone know of a source of place marks/way marks for the bus stops in Bangkok ? A partial set would be fine to get going with.

The latest ThinkNet Bangkok Map software has some bus routes on there but these don't appear to be something that is discussed in the documentation. Also for the few bus routes included, it appears to be represented by a single point. This isnt really what I'm looking for.

I intend to contact ThinkNet to see if they have what I'm looking for, but of course this would come at a price. I have not see bus stops marked on any of their products I have seen, but I suspect that may well have this info.

If anyone could shed some further light on this or suggest further lines of enquiry, I would appreciate that.

Thanks in advance...

no key Sher lock !

key niaw

mai leum pin (that beautiful sounding guitar of isaan)

haam dun dii

gunchae fai faa

kang raeng fai faa

Over the past 2 weeks I have been to many Thai banks and they have uite a few different varieties of fixed deposits and have some special offers as it was Chinese New Year.

Does anyone know of a service or something that allows the various fixed deposit account from the many Thai banks to be compared ? Just a list of the bank, terms and rates would be fine. The special offers would be icing on the cake.

TIA

Also if anyone can share their experience of opening, running and closing down their fixed deposit accounts, I would be, and probably many other people, interested to hear what you have to say.

Have a UK Nationwide Bank Blue Visa Debit card and use AEON or certain Krungsri ATM machines.

Alternatively do an over the counter withdrawal into your Thai bank account (Kasikorn bank is the easiest bank to get an account with, and the best Thai bank for non-Thais). It may be possible to do without a Thai bank account and just get cash. Best way for this to to request more then 30K baht as this is more then any Thai ATM will give in one transaction and is above what most banks will allow for a withdrawal on a single day.

There are lots of other options, you just need to search the forum....

Title says is all really.

The website doesnt say anything and when I have asked in bank I am told "it is yet to happen"

TIA

Thanks for both the replies...

Jdietz - Yesterday (and many other days) I've looked at the front of the bus and if the route is the regular route it will have a blue board with white lettering on, stating the bus no and the destination on the left hand side (ie not on the drivers side) of the wind screen. If the destination is diffrent from typical then a red board will be used (me thinks). In all the times I have travelled on free buses I dont recall seeing an additional board at the front saying it is free, but there must be something there as Thai's I have overheard have said the bus arriving is free. This is why I am totally intrigued as to how they knew - I couldnt see anything stating it is free and I can read Thai (very slowly admittedly).

You both seem to be confirming what I have experienced here in NgamWongWan too is that there is less free buses now.

Next time I'm on a longish journey, I'll try to find out from the ticket person what the situation is...

Last time I asked where all the green buses had gone to be told they had been replaced by orange buses. Then a few minutes later the driver was extatic to see a green bus. When I asked the ticket guy about this he didnt know why - just seemed kind of ironic to me. I like the metal seat at the back of the orange buses... And they have the padding you can sit on at the fron too, just like the old green buses.

I seem to recall that the carriages with the greatest risk of derailment are the first 2 or 3 and the last one. All the people travelling to Butterworth are usually in the first two passenger carriages. In front of this is the cargo/srt staff carriage and then the engine at the front. Further back from the 2 Butterworth headed cars is the part of the train that travels onto yala (or one of the three southern most thai states).

From recall it seems to be that the accidents happen between had yai and yala, not so much on the bkk to butterworth route, unless there has been particularly bad weather.

Best to be about 2 or 3 carriages from the back of the train for the lowest risk.

Fortunately Thai trains don't travel too fast, so that should limit the number of carriages that derail and overturn.

I have been on a butterworth to bkk train when the train collided with a very expensive mercedes on a crossing, just outside of had yai. No problem with the train. Lots of people got out to look at the car, then after about 30 mins all back on the train and off to had yai.

Are there no longer any free buses ? I know it is only the basic buses that may be free during what is considered to be commuting hours, not the air con buses.

There doesn't appear to be any indication on the front of a bus that it is free. But when I have been sitting within earshot of Thais I have heard them say the bus arriving is free, so they must know how to tell somehow.

Does anyone know the seat numbers on the Bkk to Penang train where there is a power sockets between ? There are usually power sockets just on one side of the carriage. Last time I travelled I just didn't make a note of the seat numbers and am regretting it now. Also, has anyone had success if actually asking for specific seats when making a booking at a trains station ?

You can see a picture of the interior of the carriage here, and one picture shows the power sockets...

http://blog.siampedia.org/?p=1969

Thanks

I was offered a job with Durakit Pundit Uni (DPU) in Laksi, 5 years ago, purely on the basis of me emailing them with an interest in collaborating on research, and also offering to teach for them. I have a first class bachelors degree and PhD from a UK university. I have several years UK university teaching experience and student project supervision. I have many years of relevant industrial experience. There was no interview and the position offered a monthly salary of 55,000 baht. This was an 8am to 5pm Mon - Fri job and I think it may have been necessary to be present on Saturday morning. The was an initial teaching commitment of 3 hours per week. It was on their international program, so all the teaching was to be in English. I didn't stay there as they weren't to keen nor quick to sort out a work permit for me. I was not comfortable to work without a work permit.

I live near the Uni now and occasionally go on campus and the students are amazed to see a foreigner. I have seen very few foreigners there. However, all round the Uni are massive adverts in English advertising the international programmes. Some adverts have many photos of a various collection of foreigners that look like lecturers. One advert even has foreign students in Thai Uni dress. In all the times I have been there and around about I have never seen a foreign student at DPU !<br /><br />HTH<br /><br />

Ive seen it run twice as my hotel looks straight out to the elevated track at Phayathai. On both occaisions there was less than 4 people I could see on the train. I would take a video if I had some idea of when the train was running. As far as I can tell at the moment the service is running maybe once or twice a day.

It is very quiet - significantly more than the regular thai trains. There was also a lot of water coming down the legs of the elevation when there was the large storm yesterday !

Actually, if anyone is interested, something very heavy came through phayathai very early on friday morning as it really shook the hotel I am staying in. I have been here now for nearly 2 weeks and nothing has made the hotel "rock" like this. No idea what it looked like as I didnt get up to look. Just very unusual for what I know of !

HTH

Are you sure that foreigners can cross there ?

I think the OP is asking whether this is an international crossing point, rather than a local trading border where locals cross just showing ID card or day pass. I thought there were 4 international crossing points from Thailand to Malaysia:

1) Sadao (T) / Changloon (M)

2) Padang Besar (T) / Kaki Bukit (M)

3) Betong (T) / Keroh (M)

4) Sungai Golok (T) / Rantau Panjang (M)

But maybe someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Small points - and I don't want to appear to be nitpicking - it is of great significance to me though...

on point 2 - Padang Besar (T) / Kaki Bukit (M)

My understanding was that Padang Besar is the Malaysian side / name and Pekan Siam is the Thai side / name ?

I've been to Kaki Bukit village and it is around 1km+ further inside Malaysia from Padang Besar.

The Nationwide no longer pays commission charges to VISA on your behalf. Their debit and credit cards now incurr a 1% commission charge which will be levied on top of the Thai transaction charge. The only UK card that I am aware of that is still free is the Post Office Mastercard. I don't know whether the same is true of their debit cards.

The Nationwide FlexAccount card without debit/credit facility is completely free of charges.

Yes, but the Cirrus/Maestro/Mastercard exchange rates are apparently loaded by 2 to 3 % and will be worse than Visa's. So even with the 0.84% charge that Nationwide are passing on to customers, you may be better off using a Nationwide Blue Visa Debit Card.

If anyone could do withdrawals using both the red and blue cards, within say 5 mins of each and post the details or exchange rates here, we may all see this.

From my own past experience, Mastercard's exchange rates *have* been consistently worse than Visa's.

The only credit card I'm aware of and is widely available, that may allow you to pre-load and potentially get free ATM withdrawals (not including the local ATM withdrawal charges in Thailand, which are avoidable) is the Abbey Zero MasterCard credit card.

Of course there is the small chance that you could get an exchange booth to use your credit card and put the transaction through as a 'purchase' not a cash advance, there by getting your interest free period and not having to pay any other charges associated with a cash advance/withdrawal. This has been / can be done, but I haven't seen it mentioned much. Of course you would be at the mercy of the booth's own exchange rates, potentially.

Regardless, credit card wise, I think even with the .84% Visa charge Nationwide are passing on, and given the good exchange rates provided by Visa compared to Mastercard loading the exchange rate by 2-3% (as I have seen mentioned on TV), the Nationwide credit card would be the most cost effective.

What would be very useful is to have a good comparison of Visa's and Mastercard's exchange rates for GBPTHB, EURTHB and USDTHB. I haven't seen a good and thorough comparison of these yet...

Anybody more then me think that super rich is actually behind this website it always show the best rates.

Only for cash, which compared to the others listed, I would expect SuperRich to be the best.

Have a look at TT or some of the others and you will see Siam City Bank is typically best...

As an aside, I treid to get an account on Super Rich's website :

http://www.superrich1965.com/Eng/about.aspx

but had problems registering and sent them an email through the contact us facility. I was astonished to get a reply and within 7 hours ! :

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Re: Contact Us - Cant register

Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:56:38 +0700

From: Superrich1965 Superrich1965 <[email protected]>

References: <200907270959717.SM08824@nineweb7>

trying to fix the system, sorry.

On Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 9:59 AM, wrote:

Everytime I try to register I am told the code to type at the bottom

is wrong. I think there is a problem as I am typing in the right

code. Can you please fix this or can I just email you my details

and you send me a login ?

Thanks

Correspondent bank... Just out of curiosity had a look on Wikipedia :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correspondent_account

Explanations not that good.