sercoed

Phuket is a tourist nightmare. Bangkok has everything a tourist should see. Temples and nightlife. To get a birdseye view of Thailand go to SiamNiramit. Great show and gives you an idea about Thai culture. A short visit to Pataya to enjoy the bar scene if you want a bit a action but Bangkok definitely has the best options for a first time visitor. Cheers, Sercoed

Thanks KhaoYai. Will check it out.

Yes, we are flying to Phuket in early March for a one month holiday. Already booked the flights but reading about insurance looks like a really big obstical being over 75. Cheers

Anyone else over 75 looking for health insurance specifically covering covid. It seems impossible or super expensive. If anyone has any ideas please let me know

I lived in Rayong for six years. A couple of times a year the big companies had beach cleaning days at Mae Rhum Peung. The only trouble was that they gave out free food and various other little gifts before the cleanup started. After they had their fill most just got back in their cars and drove off. Where they were set up was usually the cleanest parts of the beach. Total waste of time. Cheers 

Thanks for all of your responses. Looks like there are a lot of problems. Some things are just hard to leave behind. Cheers

We are moving from Rayong back to Australia in September this year and wanted to ship a small quantity of household effects, maybe about 100 kilos. After checking the internet and prices I thought maybe someone in our neighborhood had some boxes left over from when they moved here that they would want to sell for a reasonable price. Thanks in anticipation. Eddie 

When I first came to Bangkok they were a great way of getting around. Cheap, got thru' heavy traffic easily

 and were very cheap, especially when the wife either accepted their fare or waved them away. Nowadays they are a waste of time and only good for a one off tourist trip. In 1982 when I got married a tuk-tuk got us from the Thai Passport Control to the Australian Embassy before they closed and I gave him 1000 baht tip. This was in peak hour. You had to be there to see it.

6 hours ago, NongKhaiKid said:

Gives CNN an excuse to have special coverage and trot out their panel of ' experts ' who just keep repeating the same things hour after hour, incident after incident.

Agree 100%. They are just so lazy and they love it when all they have to do is just keep on the same subject with all their experts and ignoring all the other news.

I married my wife in 1985 in Bangkok. I came over from Australia with a return ticket and a one way for my future wife. My time frame was 2 weeks and everyone laughed at me and said it was impossible. In those days it wasn't as easy for Thai women to get passports as it is to-day and we received it the day we were to fly out. The Australian Embassy closed in the early afternoon and we paid a tuk-tuk driver 1000 baht to get us to the Embassy. It was scary especially in Bangkok traffic back then but we did it. My lovely wife and I are now living in Rayong (which was one thing I swore I would never do). Thanks for listening

I am using this site  http://ifirstrow.eu/sport/olympics.html 

You can have multiple sports open and the same time and using the pause button keep track of what's going on.

Yes, at Map Tha Put they want a copy of every Thai visa in your passport every time you extend. God knows what for since they're the ones who issued them and have all the applications etc. Have often been tempted to ask them where they keep all this paperwork and how, if ever, they can go back and check old documents. Would take a staff of thousands and a huge warehouse.

I used to drink Klosters when I first came to Thailand. Whatever happened to it. I talk about Klosters beer and everyone says "what".

That doesn't look like a tunnel to me. More like a cutting. Maybe they just haven't got around to putting the roof on yet

"Renowned religious expert" - now there's an oxymoron if ever there was.

Hi everyone, I have done a Thai language course in Rayong and want to do some more. AUA here in Rayong offers a very good course but they need at least 7 members to be enrolled. I have tried several times to get enough people to enroll but with no luck. There are 2 of us at the moment who want to get started so we need at least 5 more to get everything going. It starts with Monday and Wednesday evening 7 - 9PM and Saturday 1-3PM. I have done part of the course and it is excellent with a Thai teacher, a booklet is provided and costs only 3,600 baht for the full course of 24 hours. You can e-mail me here at sercoed@hotmail,com or directly to the Administrator of the course at [email protected] Hope we can get some starters soon. Cheers, Eddie

As a non American looking in I am amazed at how the selection of a nominated runner for a party is run. It is organized and controlled by the media. It is a huge business run by them and generates billions of dollars. Even though I have read that only 50% of the people vote TV channels virtually run 24 hour coverage of the race ( I only receive CNN and BBC). At least the Democrat debates have had some substance while the Republican debates should not even be called debates. The American political system should be scrapped and a whole new system should be devised before they talk themselves into becoming a has been nation.

What? So everyone should ignore the rules if it doesn't suit them? Sometimes, that is what is wrong with modern society. Some people are brought up thinking that there are no repercussions to anything. I think that if we surveyed the yays with the nays on this matter we would find that all of the nays were younger people who weren't spanked when they did wrong. I hope this post gets some positive response. Have more to say on this subject but will let the posters open it up first.

Bloody religion. They can't all be right but they definitely could all be wrong.

Here in Rayong at Mae Rem Phung beach they have started to clear all businesses and resorts that have claimed right up to the edge of the road as part of their property. They have ripped up all cement encroachment, pulled up shanty houses that have been there for years. This has now extended all the way up from Beach Road to Sukhumvit Road. Even the legal restaurants on the beach side have had to clear the footpath where they had all their fish tanks etc. Finally.

I married my Thai wife in 1985. I came to Bangkok with a ticket to Australia for her and 2 weeks to do it all. In those days it was hard for Thai women to get a passport so that took most of the time. The Australian Embassy was also a big hurdle and after getting the run around I demanded to see an Australian and then things ran smoother. We got married in a registry office. One of the funniest things, though not at the time was obtaining a police clearance. It had to be doone on the last day before our flight. I was sitting with her while she negotiated with the officer when some hotshot walked up . I was dressed in shorts, T-shirt and leather scuffs and this guy said I shopuld dress properly in the King's department. I got up and left and thought that was it, we had lost. But, the wife came thru' and we made it back to the Embassy just before closing and got the visa. We flew out the next night. Everyone had told us it couldn't be done but we proved them wrong. A lot have things have changed since then, of course, especially Australian Immigration. Hope yopu enjoyed my story..

The same thing happened to us in Rayong, twice. The first time the cop backed down, the second time they wouldn't and wanted us to pay 2000 baht at a booth. Wife refused so they gave her a ticket and kept my licence. When we went to Police HQ. the people there said there was no such charge and tore the ticket up and gave my licence back. However, we went to the local licencing bureau and got the certificate, cost about 200 baht. Better safe than sorry. It is only really for commercisl vehicles. Just another scam by the locals.

I have done a course at the AUA section of the Trades school in Rayong and it is excellent. I would like to do further studies but there is always a shortage of Falang lined up to do the course. So if there are any like minded people out there Jamie Hyland is the bloke to contact at [email protected] .His mobile is 0853356707 or the web site for the school is www.auathailand.org/rayong

Muffinzman, I am getting an Australian pension here and I can tell you it's not 45,000 baht a month. It's $426 Australian a fortnite which works out to 23,856 baht a month at 28 baht to the dollar. Cheers, Sercoed

Thanks for that simple1. Cheers, sercoed