sezzo

Going by the lack of replies it looks like Dynasat is no longer a viable alternative to UBC, or in my case watching sport from Oz.

Will have to investigate it again when I get back there soon.

I bought a Dynasat setup about 2 years ago and apart from a few times when the system needed to be rekeyed I have been pleased with the results. I have been back in Oz for the past 10 months and am close to returning full time to my thai home.

I have done a search of this forum and the most recent post on Dynasat was in Jul 07. Now my question is, how is the reception with Dynasat nowadays. Before I left I was receiving sporadic receiption but as I was leaving Thailand for a while I didnt bother getting the new codes inserted. Is there still a problem with this or has everything been smoothed out now.

Interested to know the latest.

I have been living in Khemarat for the past 3 years. Presently I am in Oz for the next few months but will be returning there in Feb. Renting apartments/houses should be no problem although you will need your girlfriend/wife to help you out to negotiate the finer details. A friend of mine rents a small 1 bedroom house right on the Mekong river for 2500 baht per month. There are plenty of "resorts" in town to stay at while searching for a rental. UBC is readily available in Khemarat but that will need to be organised in ubon or over the phone by a Thai speaking person. Ubon is about 105 kms south of Khemarat and there is buses going there every 1 or 2 hours for a price of 60 baht per person. Not real comfortable but its there if you want it.

Dont expect farang style bars in Khemarat as there are only about 6 or so permanant expats in town. The ones that do live there get together quite often to have a few beers and a yarn.

If you need any more info PM and I will gladly assist you in any way. Maybe we can catch up for a beer in Feb.

Carl

Last year around this time, a farang friend (from Khon Kaen) and I, along with our wives and kids went to visit Soi Sawan waterfalls near Pha Tiem national park in Ubon. Now we approached the ticketing box at the entrance and were told that it was 400 baht for the farangs and 40 baht for the thais. This would have brought the total to 1040 baht. On hearing this my friend turned and walk away telling all that could hear and understand english that he was not impressed. As we all started moving back to the car park the attendant told my wife that 600 baht for the lot of us would be fine.

It was 600 baht well spent as those waterfalls are magnificent when there is plenty of water around.

Dont always accept the written price and maybe get your wives/girlfriends to maybe negotiate the price down especially if in a group.

About 2 years ago when my wife and I were in Oz for a holiday, she bought a whole heap of those woolies/coles bags for presents. The ones that they sell in the shops for putting shopping in instead of using plastic bags. When we got back they were a hit with all the family and friends in the village.

So now every time I go back to Oz I make sure I buy about 10 for presents when I return. Mind you this is when the relationship has already started. Not sure if they would be a good idea when first meeting everybody.

hi all

anyone bought glucosamine in ubon.just back from the uk didnt bother bringing any thought i would get it easy here.

thanks in advance

There is a good pharmacy in the street on the left before you cross the bridge to go to Warin. Its about 200 m down that road on the river side. I get all my pharmacy stuff from there and I know they have glucosamine as a mate from Khemarat has got some there before. The old couple who own the shop speak quite good english too.

Good luck

thanks for your help guys ,i will try both

thanks

i got it in the chemist where you said [no more aches and pains]

Good on you mate

hi all

anyone bought glucosamine in ubon.just back from the uk didnt bother bringing any thought i would get it easy here.

thanks in advance

There is a good pharmacy in the street on the left before you cross the bridge to go to Warin. Its about 200 m down that road on the river side. I get all my pharmacy stuff from there and I know they have glucosamine as a mate from Khemarat has got some there before. The old couple who own the shop speak quite good english too.

Good luck

I have been living in Khemarat which is about 65 kms east of Amnat for the past 3 or so years. There are quite a few farang in the vicinity of Amnat (up to about 60 radius). PM me and I will give you some more info.

You can drive/ride down to about 300 metres from the border and leave your bike in a big tourist type carpark and walk down to the crossover point. The start of the stairs to the temple is about 50 m from the crossover point. No passport/visa required.

Definately worth a visit but get prepared for a steep climb.

You can always get a water bore drilled. I got a 100 mm bore drilled down to 35 m for about 14000 baht. 7000 baht for a pump and there is plenty of pressure there for the house. The water quality is excellant for washing, cooking etc. We also have 8 1600 tanks as well but we still buy the 20 litre bottles of water for drinking.

There is an immigration office in Phibun Mangsahan which is about 50 kms out of Ubon on the way to Chong Mek (Thai/Lao crossover point)

> Not knowing Mukdahan at all it will be an experience.

Re. Beer. I seem to remember a Tesco on the road into Mukdahan, but doing a quick online search and Tesco's web site I can't confirm that - I'm probably thinking about another town maybe UR, I don't get down that way often these days.

There is definately a Tesco in Mukdahan, albeit a smaller version of the ones in bigger regional centres.

...another thought.

I seem to remember reading some time ago that the passenger ferry here over to Laos was closed for farang travel, and they were being directed over the new Friendship Bridge.

The 50 Baht crossing was a nice divertion for an afternoon while I was in the area some time ago.

That certainly is correct. The new bridge opened in Dec and Im pretty sure the ferry for visa runs finished the same time. The ferrys are still being used to take cargo across the river but all human cargo go via the bridge on busses at a small charge. There is a new immigration office on either side of the river now and Ive been told there is a new building for buying duty free type stuff on the Lao side.

I live about 80 kms fromMukdahan and go there quite often for daytrips (shopping etc). I have stayed at the Ploy Palace once a couple of years ago and it was quite a nice hotel. I think about 900 baht per night with good rooms but from memory the breakfast was pretty average. There is a restaurant close by that does have farang food which Im told is quite good. As you leave the front of the hotel turn left along the road out front and then first corner turn right. About 50 m down is this restaurant. Next to this is a coffee shop run by an american guy called Ralph. He would know more about the nightlife in Mukdahan.

There are a lot of nice restaurant along the river bank as you coninue another 500 m past the riverside markets. Very nice places and excellant Thai food.

Enjoy the area

I got my initial 1 year car licence a few years ago and I was required to show my passport with Non Imm O visa, international driving licence, a stat dec (translated from eng to thai) statiing my address in Thailand , and my Oz drving licence. No medical exams, no driving tests no eye, colour blindness or depth perception tests required. The cost was 100 baht and it took about an hour to be finalised.

I think that every individual licence and registration office has their own particular procedures and requirements so go and ask your local one. On the date of expiry I went to the office and was issued a 5 year one for 500 baht with none of the above documents required. Just the 500 baht cost of the licence.

Would anybody be able to tell me what the internet connection is like in Si-Saket and Ubon areas ?? Is broadband up here yet ?? Thanks

I use a laptop with a gprs-aircard and AIS or 1-2 call sim, not fast but it works, even when the weather is bad. I know that the school in the village has broadband but don't know if it's a landline or satelite.

Hi can you do yahoo/msn chat with video with gprs speed ?

I have used GPRS with AIS for about 12 months in northern Ubon where I get a full strength phone signal. I have used msn messenger chat (as in talking rather than typing) quite a few times. I found that if I am talking to someone with broadband there is no or little problems occuring but if I talk to someone on dial up the quality is poor and we revert back to typing the messages. I havent used video with the gprs so cant comment there.

Thanks, sounds pretty good but not for vdo if the talk/chat is fading

What kind of cost does it come to ? Do you use any of their packages ?

I was using the 200 baht/60 hours per month package. Mind you I only used it for emails, MSN Messaging and a bit or other surfing. It was perfect for my needs

Since I put that post on the forum I have rung around a few shipping business's to get prices. The cost of just the shipping is much more than the car is worth, so therefore I will not worry about going through the hassles. It was just an idea I had while I had nothing better to do at work.

Thanks

I am presently back in Oz for about 12 months and have bought a cheap small car to run around while Im here. This small car would be perfect for my wife to learn to drive and to use back home in thailand when I get back. Apart from the intial transport costs from Oz to Thailand what should I expect from the relevant govt departments when it reaches Thailand ie. import duties, taxes, other relevant or irrelevant costs.

Any advice is appreciated.

Would anybody be able to tell me what the internet connection is like in Si-Saket and Ubon areas ?? Is broadband up here yet ?? Thanks

I use a laptop with a gprs-aircard and AIS or 1-2 call sim, not fast but it works, even when the weather is bad. I know that the school in the village has broadband but don't know if it's a landline or satelite.

Hi can you do yahoo/msn chat with video with gprs speed ?

I have used GPRS with AIS for about 12 months in northern Ubon where I get a full strength phone signal. I have used msn messenger chat (as in talking rather than typing) quite a few times. I found that if I am talking to someone with broadband there is no or little problems occuring but if I talk to someone on dial up the quality is poor and we revert back to typing the messages. I havent used video with the gprs so cant comment there.

You can fly airasia from the new airport, one filght per day at 2 pm to ubon and it's under 2000 baht if you book early

I know of the Air Asia flights as I used them many times over the past 3 years when I was living in Ubon permanently. I am back in Oz for about 18 months so for the domestic flights while on my holiday to see the family Thai offers the best timings for flights close to my arrival time. I arrive at 1630 and dont want to wait until 2pm the next day for a flight when I am here for only a short period of time.

Thanks anyway for the info

I am not old enough for the age pension yet and wont be for quite a few years. But I have been living in Issan for about 3 years now and have a couple of Oz mates in our town who are on the age pension plus small super payments. From what I have heard from them there seems to be no problem. Best maybe to have a yarn with the people at Centrelink if you want to find out officially. Otherwise do a six monthly run back to Oz if you can afford it to keep it look like you are still living in Oz.

I have just booked thru Flight Centre a flight with Thai for late Aug for $960 incl taxes. It will be much nicer flying with thai than putting up with those middle aged, ugly boilers on BA. Flown once with them and never again. You cant beat the asian airlines for service.

Only problem with Thai on the Sydney route is they are still mostly using the old 747's with no individual IFE. I think it's every third flight they put on 777's but they charge extra

Actually I prefer Singapore Airlines myself but couldn't get the price down for them.

My flight from Syd - Bkk is on a 777 but return is on 747 but as its an overnight flight I will try and sleep anyway

Please dont tell me that you can get me a cheap flight

No, not that. I thought if you were leaving from the west coast (Perth), you could have flown Tiger Airways from PER-Singapore-Udon Thani and bypassed Don Muang altogether.

There's quite a variation in fare prices on the Australia-BKK air route. Thai is the only carrier to fly direct (with the exception of Sydney) - when they fly SYD-BNE-BKK. If I want to get a cheap flight BNE-BKK, I have to fly BNE-MEL-BKK. Crazy stuff.

Have a great time in Thailand.

Peter

Its good to see that a few more airlines are giving budget prices into asia from Oz now as well as the domestic market here.. Sure will give Quaintarse a run for its money now.

I have just booked thru Flight Centre a flight with Thai for late Aug for $960 incl taxes. It will be much nicer flying with thai than putting up with those middle aged, ugly boilers on BA. Flown once with them and never again. You cant beat the asian airlines for service.

Just had a couple of thoughts.

1) have you booked and paid for your tickets Oz to Thailand already?

2) Whick airport are you departing Australia from?

Peter

I have already booked and paid for a flight with Thai departing from Sydney

Please dont tell me that you can get me a cheap flight