CNXBKKMAN

If there are 4 people traveling and the seats in the plane are in rows of 3. You are never going to all be sat together. Seems like the cabin crew were just doing their jobs regarding safety. You don't really have much of a complaint to be honest.

One of the best if not very best electrolyte drink is plain old boring water. But there is a massive global sport drink industry which prefers you spending more money on their drinks. I imagine the pregnant women is not doing anything extreme like cycling up Doi Inthanon in the midday heat. Drink water and eat healthy. Thai food and fruits is full of salts, minerals etc.

This is completely wrong. "Electrolytes" are salts dissolved in water: they are called this because dissolved salts form positive and negative ions which can allow an electric current to flow in a liquid.

Sodium chloride or common salt, for example (an essential part of the diet), forms an electrolyte solution when dissolved in water because it forms positively charged sodium ions and negatively charged chloride ions.

Pure water is NOT an electrolyte, and electrolytes are not for "hydration". Hydration is replacement of lost water, and is what water does.

Electrolytes are replacement for lost essential ions, including, and most essentially, sodium, because you lose large quantities of sodium and other ions when you sweat.

This is why animals go to salt licks and lick salt: to replace lost salts. This is what electrolyte solutions do too. Because electrolyte drinks contain water they of course hydrate you as well as replacing lost essential ions.

But water alone will hydrate you, but it will not replace lost salts unless the salts are dissolved in it already. It is not a"an electrolyte"!

I still go with my advice...Drink water , eat healthy. Thai foods and fruits are full of salts minerals etc......No need for electrolytes powders unless like i said you are cycling up Doi Inthanon or similar. Even riding up a mountain in Thailand you would be fine with water mixed with sugar and might not need any salt in the mix. Thai food is rammed with salt so most people never need to worry that you are not getting enough.

One of the best if not very best electrolyte drink is plain old boring water. But there is a massive global sport drink industry which prefers you spending more money on their drinks. I imagine the pregnant women is not doing anything extreme like cycling up Doi Inthanon in the midday heat. Drink water and eat healthy. Thai food and fruits is full of salts, minerals etc.

I would agree with writer about the wifi and the long walks to the aircraft. The rest is wrong though.

6am in the morning, riding at speed, probably angry, no crash helmet, big powerful bike......... Accident or was he an accident waiting to happen. Death is sad, but common sense and self control or lack off appears to be the issue here. From what I am reading, he only had himself to blame. In any country in the world, you drive/ride as the road and conditions permit. Speeding is not part of that deal.

6am on a sunday morning meaning the night before was saturday night, a popular night to go out an enjoy yourself and have a few beers or more. Argument in the early hours with his GF. Goes off on a ride at the end of the night beginning of the next day. Possibly very tired at this point and then the speed of the bike. What was the road surface like at the scene. Loose dirt , pot holes from the road works? Did the scooter rider swerve around hole or a compacted pile of dirt stuck on the road?

RIP to the unfortunate guy but there will have been a whole load of factors leading up to this tragedy.

10 years back , the then new budget arm of Qantas called Jetstar started with this insistence that , "We wont let you on if you havent got an onward ticket" stuff at check-in at the airport.

At the time I was visiting LOS every 3 months and Thai Airlines , the national carrier , never asked when I went with them. Malaysian either.

Initially I stood my ground with Jetstar , politely insisting I was "exploring" overland and saying things like I would be training/busing to Vientiane etc.

On the second occasion it almost got heated when I refused to buy a 'sacrificial' ticket to KL I was told I had to buy , and spoke with a supervisor who insisted that Jetstar had a 'right' to see some sort of tour programme outlining my planned onward overland tour - and even agreed that it could be an itinery made on my own computer !

Im sure it was true that they were supposed to see that the tourist had onward travel plans , but I think it was equally true that they saw this as a great way to sell tickets that often wouldnt be used.

It worked for them , as in the following months , numerous friends dropped $100 to $ 200 buying 'onward bound' tickets that they would never use , issued at a moments notice by Jetstar ..

I continued to test the waters by not pointing out I now had recently acquired a Retirement Visa in my crowded passport as I never felt it was Jetstars business or "right" to make me construct an itinery , and the staff would really get quite insistent or even angry ....

It's essential to check the entry requirements for your destination. If you wanted to visit Thailand and get the 30 day visa exempt stamp on arrival you have to have an onward flight booked outside of Thailand within that 30 day period. This is isn't a Jetstar rule it's the Thai immigration requirements. If you don't want or need an onward flight get a tourist visa. Travelling around in a fog of ignorance is just asking for hassles and grief.

If you walk into a bank in Thailand; dressed smartly, with a passport and a rental contract, with a Thai (who can translate) in tow and a decent sum of money to deposit - you will have no issues whatsoever opening an account both local or foreign currency. If, on the other hand, you turn up in a wifebeater, shorts and sandals with 1,000 Baht and a tourist visa - you will be told to sling your hook 9 times out of 10.

If the bank thinks you're a decent person with large sums of money available to them - they will want your business. If they think you're an ignorant *** with no money - not so much.

It's Asia so do things the Asian way. Or don't and whine about it on ThaiVisa instead.

What is "dressed smartly"? And i am " decent sum of money to deposit "?

I come to bank "shorts and sandals" with stamp, just say write my adres( not show an contract) give my passport and give 700 Baht and BINGO account openned..

What is "Asian way"?

I arrived in shorts and t-shirt and on bicycle. In full view of the staff as the whole front of the bank is glass. Account opened no problem.

I opened a Bangkok bank account last year for my 400,000 In CM. Passport and O visa were enough. Staff were friendly and helpful. I transferred money from the UK with London Bangkok Bank. That worked without problem also. All the banks can be hit and miss depending on branch and staff member you are sat in front of.

On this topic though, anyone recommend a 'better' site than Expedia? I've been using it since my college days and it's reliable. Wondering if there is something better. A lot of locals recommend Skyscanner.... but I'm kind of concerned when flights and sometimes entire airlines are left out by their search algorithms. For example July 2 to July 12 (returning), business class Bangkok to Tokyo. Expedia has the Delta flight at around 37,600 Baht per person but Skyscanner, which supposedly 'scans' dozens of sites (including Expedia), doesn't even allow the Delta flight to pop up. Yes, I know Delta business pales in comparison to most of the Asian carriers, but I prefer their seats when compared to say Cathay or Asiana regional business class. Sure wish Emirates did a BKK-Tokyo route.

It's best to look at a few sites Expedia, Skyscanner etc . When you find something the next step is to book it direct with the airline or your trusted travel agent. The reason being if there is bad weather, delays, cancelled flights the airline and agent will look after better than an Expedia/kayak type website that have very few human staff and poor customer service. Just try ringing those websites to talk to someone on a foggy morning at Heathrow. If if they are at fault it's very hard to get your money back or any help. The airline will always help the passengers who booked direct with them before the passenger who booked on"cheapoairfaredotcom". Same thing if you need to make changes to your flights before or even after you have travelled.

There is plenty of genuine bad things that happen in Thailand but there seems in the last year to be plenty of bogus bad news that gets reported and spread around the world as the truth. All the tourist insurance scams in Phuket and Pattaya. Invent a crime to get a police report. People being "held against their will" and have gone "missing". Global social media campaigns kick off to find them.

Every other backpacker seems to decide they had dengue fever and tell the world on social media.

You don't even have to subscribe to Netflix. Plenty of burning log videos on YouTube. But, they wouldn't have done much to warm up the place during those three or four nasty cold days in January:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fYL_qiDYf0

I stayed at the Luxor Las Vegas last November. It was cold at night about 7 'c. Coming back to the room and putting the burning log channel on the big flat screen was bizarrely very pleasant.

Thai air currently have deals to Europe 16,500 return ,my advise/recommendation to you is to get on the internet,Thai air,Eva air prices don't change that much ,they do however have special deals out of season sometimes that are easy to monitor yourself.you can even get email alerts when prices change.

You are a DIY agent using the internet. You quote 16500 return with TG. You offered to be tomwct's agent. Imagine he accepts your offer, he gives you 17500 baht for saving him the time and trouble. He is so happy he gives you 18,000 when he hands the cash over. You book it for him and make a 20,000 baht loss because you didn't include the taxes and charges. Your first booking and you are a failure as an agent. You're fired! You even said it was easy money lol.

not really because Thai are actually offering flights at 16500 everything included

Look at the bottom of the image. It clearly states taxes and charges are not included in 16,xxx baht airfare. Those taxes could quite easily be 20,000 baht or more.

The OP has stated his old agent would book him on a flight and hold it for weeks or months waiting for a better price to appear. When the best price was secured the agent would call him back and "ticket" the reservation. The OP would then pay for the ticket. Try doing that on the internet, its impossible. You do need a good agent and a booking history with them to get the best service.

Thai air currently have deals to Europe 16,500 return ,my advise/recommendation to you is to get on the internet,Thai air,Eva air prices don't change that much ,they do however have special deals out of season sometimes that are easy to monitor yourself.you can even get email alerts when prices change.

You are a DIY agent using the internet. You quote 16500 return with TG. You offered to be tomwct's agent. Imagine he accepts your offer, he gives you 17500 baht for saving him the time and trouble. He is so happy he gives you 18,000 when he hands the cash over. You book it for him and make a 20,000 baht loss because you didn't include the taxes and charges. Your first booking and you are a failure as an agent. You're fired! You even said it was easy money lol.

There are lot of reasons why good agent is better than the internet. They can save you hours and hours of time on complex bookings or even a simple return. They can save you a lot of money. If an agent puts together your travel plans in 30 mins and it cost 30,000 baht total and you know he makes 10% on that would you book it? Or you could spend hours over several days doing it yourself and come up with 33,000 baht. Which would you book. Many people will book the 33,000 because they assume this is the cheapest and are also oblivious that the online booking sites take commission on the airfares or the airline just makes more profit if you book direct. Its best to use both the internet and an agent.

It depends where you live in Thailand. I assume you want the agent to be local. The search box, top right area of the screen should have the answers. Its a question that gets asked a lot. CNX P&P Travel is a good agent in Chiang Mai if that helps.

Does anyone remember the mid air collision between the russian airliner and a DHL aircraft over Switzerland? When the investigation was completed one of the facts was there was only one air traffic controller on duty in Zurich and this guy made an error.

I think we would all assume Swiss airspace and French airspace is totally safe with multiple air traffic controllers on top of everything but the crash over Switzerland proved that to be wrong. The french controllers say they are striking over safety and that may be very true.

I think its official name now is Rayong International. I think Pattaya Airport would have been the most obvious and straightforward name to present to the world.

I was at reservoir at the back of the 700 year stadium yesterday. Over the past couple of weeks a backhoe has been at work laying a large pipe to the reservoir. I assumed that was to enable the last of the water to be taken out. Yesterday a large pump had been set up outside and was working. When i got inside the reservoir and had a look the pump was actually pumping water into the reservoir not taking it out. I know nothing of water management but this must be right thing to do?

Hard to believe that many believe a multi story parking station and new terminal will solve the problem.Short term yes, long term no.At some stage the airport will be moved

It took 30 years from initial decison to completion for Suvarnabhumi. A bit of forward thinking required here.

Access to Hang Dong Rd ????................at 10 am .this morning traffic on HD Rd was nose to nose from Big C,mae Hia to Airport Plaza and if you are going to the airport you have to do the long loop past Immigration

If the airport really wanted to a road could be built starting from the runway as you approach the city coming up from the south just after Big C. You would turn of the hang dong road around the runway area. It would skirt the inside of the airports perimeter fence and take you straight to the airport.

The huge car parking space at the back airport plaza/ baan and beyond could have a short road link to the airport. The car park area could have a ground transport station link to rest of the city. i think a mono rail line to the airport or cutting through the area would be a smart move.

If a mono rail ran from the airport would it run towards Nim then down Huay Kaeow Road or to airport plaza and towards the moat ?

Where would the line go from there out in the direction of Doi Saket?

Wasn't the major expansion of CNX airport a firm plan proposed by a certain ex-Prime Minister at least 10 years ago?

Correct

... surprisingly, on an area he owns plenty of land

You can bet your bottom satang that *any* project that requires moving the airport will have "personal benefit" factored into the choice of location.

That will be the biggest driver for any new airport being built. A group of influential people and politicians making a huge amount of money on the land and contracts to build it. If those conditions line up a new airport will be constructed.

I think it's best split the mainland Chinese into two groups. Group tour tourists and independent tourists. The group tour people are shown in the video. They don't have English language skills and are happier being herded around and acting like a herd. The independent tourists have booked their own flights on Air Asia or similar , have some English skills, are younger, more educated, have googled up all sorts of info on the destination and are out to as much as they can. They are more sophisticated and unlikely to be seen having a dump in the moat or visiting a buffet like in the video. Driving skills are poor.

It's easy to generalise though. I saw a small tour group of mainlanders at BKK check-in level. There was about 12 sat on the floor outside a Family Mart having a one of the tours meals. They all had instant noodles from the family mart and used the shops boiling water. They looked quite happy. As I got closer I could read the tour group stickers they had stuck on their shirts. It was a Vietnamese tour group and not Chinese at all. To be honest if I was Vietnamese or a mainlander and all I could afford was one of these ultra cheap tours dining at Family Marts. I would join it in a flash. Much better than staying at home or working in some awful factory making iPhones 12 hours a day or worse. I bet they love it in Thailand.

The best way forward is for these buffets to adapt to the customers. The buffet can be served by staff from dim sum style carts or from behind a counter. The tourists can be given the food and not have the option of taking it themselves. It will reduce the chaos and the waste. They can still eat as much as they want.

Difficult to comprehend why the Chinese tourists act like this. When on an Air Asia flight from Phuket to Bangkok in early February this year, the plane was full of Chinese passengers. Immediately upon landing everyone was on their feet and grabbing their bags from the overhead lockers. The plane had to stop on the runway and wait for ten minutes of air traffic to be cleared before proceeding for another ten minutes to the terminal. In that time there was a near riot on the plane with the Thai Air-hostesses desperately trying to persuade everyone to put their bags back into the lockers, sit down and belt up again. The Chinese gave the Air-hostesses serious verbal grief and this continued when we finally started to disembark. Unbelievable behaviour. I am sure many of us have witnessed similar scenes in a variety of tourist settings where the Chinese are shouting, barging past, spitting and being generally foul. What IS the matter with them?

I was on a Sri Lankan flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok 20 years ago. It was full of mainland tourists. After the meals were eaten the mainlanders put there trays on the floor in the aisle and tossed all the rubbish on the floor as well. The cabin crew had to pick it all up. As soon as the wheels hit the runway everyone was up opening the overhead lockers. The cabin crew were shouting, trying to get everyone back in their seats but they were verbally abused and one stewardess had rubbish thrown at her. I can vividly remember her being hit by bread roll and it bouncing off. She was furious but kept her cool.

I flew China Southern to LAX last year and was very apprehensive about flying with them. A380 flight I was worried it would be hellish. No problem at all. BKK to Guangzhou only a couple of old timers jumped as the plane touched down and were quickly ordered back into their seats. Into LAX only one guy jumped up on landing, like he was in a race but was quickly put back in his seat. The male cabin crew on CZ seem to bigger than average Chinese and although neat and tidy and courteous they definitely look like they can handle any agro that may occur.