CNXBKKMAN

The modern scanners they use in the UK and USA are not accepted as safe in many countries. Many European countries won't use them for that reason. If I was pregnant I would opt out and get a pat down , wipes for explosive residue etc . 

      I opted out of the scanner at LAX on a domestic flight only because you can if you want to. They are not compulsory. The TSA people remained polite, asked me to stand aside whilst everyone else was snaking through. The TSA staff shout "opt out opt out at 7" something like that. After about 15 mins somebody finally comes and does a pat down. I got the impression that if you opt out the TSA are in no rush to process you so don't do it if you are running late.

You mention you will fly back to Thailand after the trip and that PR immigration require a return/onward ticket. Simplest thing would be to buy a return ticket? What airfares have seen online with Cebu Pacific or Air Asia? 7000 or 8000 baht return should be doable if you are a bit flexible.

Lots of advice on here but I would say if you want to get your visa and have an enjoyable trip. Fly to Udon. Minibuses meet the flight and will take you to Nong Khai or the border for 200 baht. Travel hand luggage only so you walk straight off the plane onto the minibus.

Stay first night in Nongkhai or Vientienne. Imo the only area to stay in Vientienne is by the river. Lots of restaurants hotels and guest houses alongside the Mekong. Cheap guest houses can be found too. If you don't want to take a Tuk Tuk rent a bicycle for $1.50 a day. That will get you to the consulate in 10 mins , save you money and allow to explore the city at your leisure.

Coffee is sold everywhere no idea why people advise to take 3 in 1's !! Lol.

Get some USD in Thailand before you arrive at the bridge. Pay in dollars and save on the visa fee.

Factor in a night in Nongkhai on the way back if you would like to to slow your travel down a notch. Enjoy a beer and sunset on the riverfront. One hour to Udon the next day.

Biggest tip is don't stay near the consulate on some boring nowhere street. Stay by the river and have an enjoyable stay.

The last couple of years have been unusually dry resulting in the drought and near empty reservoirs . Last year the hot season seemed to extend into June with many days at 37'c and it may have rained only once in the whole month. This month has been wetter than normal although none of it seems to have made its way into the local resevoirs. August , September, October are normally the months when it can seem to rain everyday at some point but not the last couple of years.

Thank you.

And what about the humidity?

I do not mind the rain at all, actually, it is only the high humidity.

Some places rain a lot, but the humidity is not usually all that high.

These days, if I do not run the aircon, it is too uncomfortable to work for very long.

Perhaps in the city the humidity is not as noticeable, however if one lives close to the mountain, then there are trees, shade, and of course this makes a great habitat for all sorts of good and not so good insects.

Humidity will remain high until the rainy season ends early November. It is very humid and sweaty at the moment but for me it way better than the hot season especially the one that just ended. I am still marvelling at the fresh air and visibility.

The last couple of years have been unusually dry resulting in the drought and near empty reservoirs . Last year the hot season seemed to extend into June with many days at 37'c and it may have rained only once in the whole month. This month has been wetter than normal although none of it seems to have made its way into the local resevoirs. August , September, October are normally the months when it can seem to rain everyday at some point but not the last couple of years.

In Chiang Mai today, the humidity feels super high.

Two days ago, we had a huge and constant downpour, which left everything super soaked, and impossible to dry the upper layers of the ground.

This means that mosquitoes are now swarming like we had not yet seen this year, in my opinion.

This is probably the most uncomfortable weather one can experience in Chiang Mai.

I realize that the rain is necessary, however this is not your typical monsoon rains.

I think these very long downpours are atypical, and also more uncomfortable than the type of rains that Thailand normally gets, which is downpours for a shorter time during a 24 hour period, but still much sun to dry things out and increase the comfort level.

I am giving up on enjoying the outside air for a while, and will use the aircon 24 7

Not much fun.

It's defiantly more humid but I actually prefer the current weather to the recent hot season and 40+'c that we had day after day. I am still getting used to the fresh air and being able to see far far into the distance. Much better weather for cycling and going out exploring even if there is a shower.

Re reservoirs the one I see the most is the one at the back of the 700 year stadium. Nothing seems to have made it into there yet. The level may have actually dropped.

Kannot maybe the best thing to do is to sell the water to the rest of the villagers. You paid for the pumps, electric, bore hole, wear and tear etc. Work a fair price out including a profit? No need for namjai in a drought if you don't like the neighbours and they don't like you.

Big puddles of water around Chang Phuak Police station, Convention Centre and 700 stadium to HTT. This was around 16:00. I missed the rain but if freshened the air up noticeably.

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.

Every now and then some news reports appear showing that UK police are not perfect in recording crime especially when it's beneficial to them in some way.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30081682

Can we expect the RTP stats to be super accurate? When there is a big crime like the murders on Koh Tao the detectives never seem to be very skilfed. These are the guys who label a death , a murder, accident, "broken heart" or whatever.

The facts and stats in Thailand are not very accurate or complete. You can only get fuzzy results from fuzzy stats. If OP only wants hard facts well he will be disapointed in Thailand.

I would love a GPS marker or google maps link for those ?? I have a bit of an odd streak and like to have a look at oddball things like this.. I even have a taste in houses that runs a bit into the ramshakle old ruin, I like the faded granduer and like you say, think it pairs so well with some kind of out of date top end car.. Nothing says fallen from grace like a mansion not maintained and a 80s merc on bald tires

You see the same (but not as unused) in Chiang Mai lakeland.. Another moobaan that must have shot to be super high end, has some real grand homes built in it, but only a fraction of the lots got sold.. Yet instead of getting them sold, making it work, I was told the asking price of a TW in there was >40k +- 16 mil a rai, to be next to the airport noise, with no maintenance and no security and a broken down clubhouse.. Surely not !!

I think Chiang Mai Lakeland will rise from the ashes at some point. It's closeness to the city and design gives it some uniqueness. When the empty lots gets built on and more people live there safety shouldn't be an issue.

About two weeks ago a posted a pair of gloves in a Thai post padded envelope at Chiang Mai airport post office. Air mail to the UK. I declined EMS just normal airmail "tamadar" (Thai for normal or standard). I made no customs declaration. I watched the staff stamp "air mail" on it a couple of times. They guy said it will take two weeks but amazingly it was delivered in one week. I was shocked actually.

However post from the UK like Christmas cards and the like sent to me in Chiang Mai, more often than not does not arrive. So much so that I tell people don't bother posting stuff to me.

Sometimes the check-in agent can be in automatic pilot so be ready to point out requirements if the demand something that is not correct. Remember the check-in agent may have started their shift at 3am , don't get paid much and has already checked-in hundreds of passengers. You can't expect them to know everything either about the all the worlds passports but they can check and find out when prompted.

It depends on what passport you hold and your destination country. An american passport holder needs 6 months validity, one clean empty page and a visa for Vietnam. A British passport holder going to the USA just needs the passport to be valid during the visit. So passport is expiring in 7 days but visiting New York for 3 days and leaving before expiry everything would be fine.

Needing 6 months validity is common for a lot of countries but also a lot of countries don't have that requirement. Whenever your PP gets in the last 6 months its time to get a new one if you want an easy life. Its always worth checking the entry requirements of your destination if you want stress free travel.

Last Oct. I got a round trip JAL ticket from BKK. I purchased the ticket from JAL website with no problem (no visa information was required), but when I was going back to BKK, JAL check-in (at Narita) told me that I have no Thai visa and they can not issue me any boarding pass. I explained them that I am an American and I do not need a visa since I can get a 30 day visa exempt on arrival. They asked me if I can show my return ticket to US or any other ticket to out of Thailand or if I am a Thai resident ( retired or "married to Thai" or any Thai identification card). My answer to them was no to all. But I told them that your airlines has sold me a round trip ticket in Thailand without asking me any question and now you are not letting me to go back to Thailand that I came from.

After 1-1/5 hour back and fort they came up with this idea that since visa is not required for Americans (It was only suggested) in "rules sheet" (they showed me) we issue you boarding pass, but they told me that I shall have problems with Thai immigration on arrival and I answered "I will handle that". I arrived to BKK and got 30 day visa exempt on arrival without any problem.

It's the passengers responsibility to meet the entry requirements of where they are travelling to. If you arrived at check-in without a passport would you argue that the JAL website allowed you book a ticket and never said anything about needing a passport?

It is safest to have an onward flight booked, otherwise the airline may not allow you to check in. Thai immigration does not actually check. If you look affluent, and speak to the supervisor, the airline will usually allow you to check in if you sign a form indemnifying them against any financial cost they could incur if you are refused entry into Thailand. I have quite frequently traveled to Thailand without a visa, and never been refused boarding, but airlines are becoming more strict. If you are of a nervous disposition, have either a visa or an onward flight reservation.

On my return to Thailand, from the UK (Manchester) this year, just after Christmas, the young woman on the check-in desk suddenly announced I wouldn't be allowed to board the (KLM) flight and so obviously wasn't allowed to check-in, as I had no flight booked OUT of Thailand, and was flying in intending on getting just the standard 30-day visa-exempt stamp. Even though I pointed out that I hadn't arranged a 'proper' Thai visa simply because I would actually be flying out of Thailand again two weeks later to start work in China (and had the China Z visa, from London, in place to show for it!), still I was told I would have to book a ticket and return to check-in again.

I am not usually of anxious disposition, far from it, but pretty flustered at 4am(!!), and not having ever encountered such a scenario previously on my many flights to Thailand, since first coming in 2007, I struggled somewhat to 'calmly' argue my point, before being sent to the KLM Customer Service Desk, where I again began to embark on lengthy discussion/ debate (I wasn't embarking on anything else, it seemed!!.. sorry.) as previous. What I had to accept, however, was that airline policy for certain countries, including Thailand, and something which is determined according to KLM's decreed understanding of actual Immigration policy of the respective country/ ies (they've got a hefty manual for it!!) meant technically I really should not be allowed to fly into Thailand WITHOUT a valid onward or return ticket showing I will be leaving again before the expiration of the permitted 'stay' period, in my case 30 days.

Having looked through my passport and accepting my (now calm as possible, just tired!) reasoning that I'd simply never had a problem before entering Thailand, and regularly flew [back] in, albeit usually with a long-stay visa, tourist or otherwise, MINUS said evidence of future departure, the Customer Service Manager lady decided that I could, after all, be allowed to check-in and so, later, (thankfully) board!! (Phew!!). I was however, still stirred enough to dwell more than I'd wish on what may happen at the Thai end, in Bangkok, if these rules were truly being enforced, and so found a ticket online whilst in Departure (to China, my intended future work destination), the details of which I saved to my phone.. just in case. I couldn't actually even book the ticket, for some online technical reason, but I hoped the details of the flight would suffice if needed. At Bangkok, the tough-looking lady on the desk end of my Immigration queue, simply looked slightly quizically through my 'busy' passport and then actually seemed pretty happy, when I told her 'No.. no visa this time', to just do me the 'honour' of quickly stamping the 30 days therein, just as always I'd always intended/ hoped/ prayed!!..

Sorry to seem so long-winded, but these events did happen, and did catch me totally unawares, and my full realisation, including on a sleepless and very long flight into Thailand, was that I really could have been flatly turned away at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, without any recourse or right of reply. Not a pleasant thought, especially as I was very much looking forward to a brief, relaxing, return to Thailand, before work commitments would take me elsewhere for some time. (.. and yes, I'm posting this from China!)

Considering you did need a flight to China you could have saved all that trouble by booking it before you you left the UK. Anyway won't go into that but before and after Christmas the airlines are super busy especially to Thailand. Flights are full, maybe over booked, bad weather the day before somewhere, lots of passengers missed their connections. Too many passengers not enough seats. Message to check-in agents, anyone who doesn't meet the entry requirements boot them off the flight!

It's not just an issue for Thai immigration. Sometimes the airlines want to see it. When I flew EVA last time, they wanted to see a onward/return ticket because they didn't notice the visa in my passport. Once I showed them, it was no problem getting my boarding pass.

Was that a physical ticket issued by the airline or a printout?

It's very hard to get an old style paper ticket, the ones where the check-in agent rips out a coupon. Some airlines will provide one If you pay a fee like $50. Nowadays 99.9 % are e-tickets meaning electronic tickets which only exist on the computer. You or the airline can print the itinerary out or even write it out on a piece of paper, or show the details on the phone screen. Whatever you print or show make sure it shows the actual ticket number on it.

What does the airline want to actually see:

• A print out of an email sent from a ticket purchase made online or...
• The physical ticket issued by the airline (not a printout copy)?

And if an email printout is OK - This can be self manufactured through Photoshop or any other digital methods.

The airline wants to see you meet the entry requirements of the country you are flying to because if you don't they may be walloped with a huge fine and have to fly you back to where you came from. The flight may be full, more trouble and expense for them.

But as many people say they don't always check so you can gamble if you like. They have checked me for onward tickets or valid visa's when I have flown to Thailand maybe less than 10 times out of more than 50 flights.

Note what you actually need depends on what passport you hold. There are different requirements for different nationalities. Some countries require your passport is valid for a further 6 months. Some just that it is valid. Worth checking for peace of mind knowing that you won't be turned away at check-in.

Say you have booked the cheapest ticket, fixed dated non refundable. You get turned away because you don't meet the entry requirements, onward ticket, visa, maybe your passport is not readable and falling apart etc etc.

You need to buy a new ticket, you might have to find a hotel for the weekend until the consulate opens to get a visa, you might have to trudge home in the rain when you should have been lying on the beach over here.

I would say to the OP get a tourist visa for peace of mind plus you can stay longer. OP did say he wants to explore.

nothing compares to thailand in my book it's the best, but thats just me

Taiwan can be good but mostly ok. If you spend any length of time in Taiwan its always a happy day when you are leaving flying back to Bangkok or wherever. IMO Taiwan is only better than Thailand if you have a big interest in chinese culture or want to study the language seriously.

If you are not a fan of the heat in Thailand you won't be a fan of the heat in Taiwan either. I would say the summer months in Taiwan are as hot or feel hotter than Bangkok. It does cool down in the winter in the north(taipei) . The south stays hot all year round and doesnt cool much even in the winter.

I don't go to Tesco or Tops very often but even with my infrequent visits I have been charged the wrong price and not in my favour either. Is it just honest mistakes made by the supermarket staff or a policy to boost the stores numbers to hit some target when the pressure is on?

It's a bit of a generalisation but a lot of locals are not very good at mental arithmatic. Do the supermarkets rely on this that some customers can't work out if they have been charged too much? This equally applies to the staff, they are not great at maths or the attention to detail required in store with thousands of products. Also it's possible that the wages paid do not encourage the staff to get the store running as slick as it could?

Thats the scary thing about the terror industry. The budgets are so high the vested interests have a lot to loose if everything simmered down a few notches. They are financially motivated to keep everyone more scared so they can keep us more safe. The FBI, Homeland Security etc are always busting terror plots in the USA. Doing a good job keeping everyone safe but when you look at the details the "plot" was made up by the FBI in their own offices. They then go out and find some retard and entrap them in the plot. They then bust this retard for terrorism and blow their own trumpets about preventing some major terrorist threat. Its never ending.

Hi.we will be traveling to Pattaya this coming October..I was wondering what is the easiest way to travel by land from Pattaya to phonm phen..

I would gladly appreciate an information for safe way because will be travelibg with my daughter's and not expensive to travel by land..

I would take the bus to Trat. Spend a night there. From there you can cross into Cambodia and go onwards to Phnom Penh by bus or take the boat to Sinoukville and visit the beach before going to PP.

Easiest and fastest way is a flight from DMK and if you have a cheap airfare on Air Asia it might be the cheapest way also.

You are not stuck at the border! the route into Thailand is get on a bus to Phnom Penh and get a tourist visa or take a flight from Siem reap or Phnom Penh and fly to BKK where you should get a 30 stamp with no problems ( you might want to have an onward flight booked out of thailand within those 30 days, ready to show immigration if asked). You could be back in Thailand within hours if you jump on the next flight?

Is there any reason why I can't get into Thailand overland? It's a huge change of routes considering I am flying out of BKK soon.

You know the answer to this already the border staff at the land crossing won't give you a 30 day on arrival. So move on to the next options. Air Asia from PNH might be worth a try and a $5 bus ride to Phnom Penh. Do it like a tourist and see the sites. Spend a few days on the beach at Sinoukville.