fisherd3

Well I love Samui just been to phuket for 5 day honeymoon, no people and plenty of +10% service +7% VAT flying about plus tour prices in US dollars! You know what I mean? Phuket quite nice though bit of a classy feel, but stay central as songtells are expensive to move about on especially at night when they are known to milk tourists, but my vote is for Samui.

Check relative exchange rates if international transaction, as I believe Paypals rates are even worse then CC company's.

Hi

I live in Chiang Mai and my sister is over to visit for 3 weeks in August. Now instead of staying in CM for the 3 weeks, I thought it would be better spent travelling with her to places I havent been before. Koh Samui and the islands is a excellent choice as she loves to snorkel. Now, whats the best thing to do,

base ourselves on Samui for 10 days and do daytrips to Tao etc or stay 3-5 nights on Samui and then move on to Phangan and Tao

we are both in our 30s and love outdoors,sightseeing, kicking back and the nightlife as well. Shopping is not high on the agenda as she would have been to CM first.

I have read that Chaweng Gardens on Samui is a good place to stay for a good price 1200B/night. Are there others that are recommended for Tao and Phangan for the same sort of price?

Any suggestions on a itenary would be good also, as you guys live there and are probably more honest than the guy in the travelshop on comission

oh, and any must sees and dos in the area or becareful ofs

thanks in advance

I stayed in Chaweng Gardens I liked it because on beach, (go walk on beach early morning and hang out around sunset with a beernice bars though some a bit noisy for beach!) and across main street to Green Mangoe where most entertainment is, I have been in disco business and liked green Mangoe disco pretty world class, plenty of smaller places surounding it though all a bit insane with each pumping out its own sound. Also one disco/bar place on right on walk up to Green Mangoe Disco, and cheap noodle places bearing right after Green Mangoe disco. Could get tanked up on cheap vodka/red bull if so inclined then go in more expensive Green Mangoe.

Chaweng gardens gives a discount (reception by road) if you stay I think 4 nights and when I was there prices were about 800bht for nice 'hut' with air con hot shower and one big and one small bed, about 1000bht if you want cable TV and fridge in concrete block, there are two outfits in what looks like one hotel one reception on beach, one to right of property near main street. Look at rooms on offer.

From airport minibus about 150 bht each will take others, could go to road outside airport and catch Songtell pay 50 bht into Chaweng, goes to right outside airport so cross road to wait.

Chaweng Grdens is to right of Pizza Hut as you face sea, could ask for Pizza Hut as land mark.

Eat breakfast in cafe opposite Chaweng Gardens called 'The deck' has multiple choice farangish breakfast for I think 99bht and good. I did not enjoy cafe in Chaweng gardens expensive, also Thai food by side of Starbucks , turn right out of Chaweng Gdns about 300metres, ( and in Green Mangoe bear right towards back).

If esconced in Chaweng gardens and happy, I would not be tempted to visit Lamai nothing more to offer has big beach but nothing much on it. I also did not think Reggae pub worth the hassle over green mangoe.

Can't help you with diving and other islands I am afraid.

The best sheets deals I have seen are from vendors in Plazas such as Carrefour or Tesco they sell big 100% cotton one piece sheets for around 600 baht.

Many sheets in Tesco, in fact all I have bought, are not one piece but bits sewn together something I have never seen outside Thailand, they split very easily. Avoid!

I agree that it is too early to panic over this change. I read on line that one option might be to give my home to my future Thai wife and put it in her name. As I understand it I would have to relinquish any claim to the asset however I can restore my claim through a well written prenuptual agreement in case something should go wrong.

I would be interested in any opinions anyone may have on this approach.

It is difficult to see how a prenuptial agreement could allow you to retain any potential control over a property bought with money that you will have had to have declared at the land office in writing, was entirely your wifes property that you had/have no claim on. ( her prenuptial agreement courtesey of Thai government).

A 008... call should appear on your ordinary local bill for that month. (TT&T or TOT bill)

The 001.... you get a separate CAT bill

Strange why would CAT be demanding payment for a 008 call as its not normally billed to them in the first place

or do they have some kind of agreement??

Sorry, for being imprecise, but it is not possible to tell what prefix was dialed from documentation received this was just an example as explained to my lady by CAT lady when she went to sort it out. Update: lady at CAT told my lady verbally they were 001 numbers.

Just had a printed lawyers letter from CAT relating to unpaid international phone charges made in November 2005 by a tenant using one of the 'bargain numbers' such as 008, threatening blacklisting and goodness knows what else (in Thai).

These calls totalling 204 bht were made by a tenant and have never appeared on any TT&T bill with whom I have a contract and no bill has ever been received from CAT and I have never made a contract with CAT.

So I am lucky it was only 204 bht but it could have been any amount of money and I and anybody else would have no idea that I was liable for such calls without any notice of them being made until six months later.

You can contract out of allowing these calls, if you are a landlord I suggest you think about looking into it.

Oh yeah, where do taxis leave London for Heathrow from? Same answer

And Paypal make double bubble profit on their awful exchange rates .

My family MAY be going there by late September...is it a good time of year to go there? Anyone have suggestions/comments on ANY beaches/resort on Koh Samet? Thanks in advanced.

My friend just came over from Aus and his missus decided to go to Ko Samet looking for the idyllic beach, they only stayed one night, cos the overriding feeling they got was that they were the big tourist in the idyllic location and they will pay. The quality of the accommodation was stated as 3 star they said it was one star at 5 star price 3200bht , 1000bht more than their river view room in Bangkok Montien the weekend before.

They did manage to not pay the 200bht each national park admission charge (20bht for Thai) required to access their hotel because the lady threw a fit.

I think island status is overated try down the coast around the Samet area Wangkeaw Gardens is like a mini National park, has a great almost private beach with no one on it right in front of apartment you can rent for 1500 bht per night, 1 bed and living two balconies overlooking sea. If you want further info PM me.

Location idyllic downside lovely beach could do with a clean up.

The reason I know about this is because I just bought in there. (I am not promoting my apartment!)

Hey all

I use firefox.

my bookmarks list has 1 column and 2 arrows 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom which if you hover the cursor on it will take you further down the list.

I have seen on firefox before bookmarks listed in 2 columns without these arrows.

Can anyone tell me how to do this I have played with bookmark manager with no joy.

Thanks for your help in advance

Ash

OK to get two boxes (sidebars) one with the main titles in and one below where each title can be expanded to list everything pertaining to that title you have to go to the extensions catalogue in tools and find the extension that provides this 'opera' like facility download it and you are away!! (there are a lot of them).

And it is said that many insurance contracts contain clauses disclaiming responsibility if the claimant does not have a Thai drivers licence.

The only sensible advice is to not drive in Thailand without a Thai driving licence if you can't get one don't drive.

But then who is that sensible? Certainly not persons who cannot research the fact that an international driving licence is required in Thailand before taking to the road.

This information is very freely available it is absolutely not a secret.

Wifey and I are have been offered a private sale of the above car. All seems good with it and in the right price range. Two expat owners, the latest have been an older couple who for the past three years have only been using it to get the supermarket and back.

Does anyone know anything about these cars that might make me not want to buy it? We aren't looking for anything flash, only something relatively sturdy and it looks to be the ticket.

From researching the Thai websites such as talaadtot.com, it seems that the 1995 models carry a premium over the 1996-1998 models. Seems very strange that an older model is more expensive, but I guess the 1995 was the last of the range somehow better than what came after. Anyone know why?

The Suzuki Vitara stemmed from the SJ413 jeep which was and remains a legendary off road vehicle, it is possible that the early Vitara retained some of that ability and basicness , thus adding a unique selling point premium to its selling price where the later models sank into family car obscurity for their blandness. Not something that I would imagine would bother you, if it is the reason!

You might check the availabilty of spares as this seems to have gone downhill in the Pattaya area in recent times, seems to be to do with GM/Suzuki/Daewoo problems.

Ang get your M.P. involved before its too late.

The reason that people require bankers drafts and not cashiers cheques is because unlike in the west cashiers cheques can only be negotiated at the bank it was issued without attracting a handling charge. otherwise it attracts a bank charge.

So its really a question of the outsourcing lot making the applicant pay the cost of the instrument, as usual in visa application applicant pays all.

Possibly the Embassy is a big enough customer to negotiate around this charge or hasn't worked it out.

Hello

I think 30 years lease is the maximum you can get if you purchase a house in your wife's name

Does anybody know the law forbidding 30 + 10 or 30+20 as I heard it is not allowed

Thanks

I don't think you can register a lease at the land office longer than 30 years.

30 + 30 seems to be the product of the surprisingly fertile imagination of the probably Farang Estate Agent fraternity, in order to put Farang customers mind at rest (Oh Yeah!!!!you know what I mean?!), the additional 30 years is not, I believe contractually enforceable.

Just noticed you can now send text messages via VOIPstunt for Eur5cents a piece.

This is the cheapest I have seen that I have been able to access.

Once you download Voipstunt you have to put 10 eur on account which lasts for 120 days you can use this to make phonecalls and send SMS but its pretty hard to spend because many destinations are free!

I came across a nice website http://www.dnp.go.th/index_eng.asp

It also has online reservation facility for their accomodations at select National Parks. Looks quite good... Anyone tried this?

Thanks

In answer to part one of your question, a friend of mine recently stayed in a 'bungalow' at what was said to be a 3 star hotel on Ko Samet in a National Park that cost in excess of 3000bht per night, and he describe it as 1 star hotel , five star price. He stayed at the Montien Bangkok with a great river view for around 2000bht the weekend before. which was a relative (and actual) bargain.

And they still tried to take 200bht from him and his missus to enter the national park, notwithstanding their expensive reservation, however she blew her top and they let them off!!

Does this count?

If it clears out the speculators I am all for it. Anyone who tries to circumvent the law should be punished.

That includes any foreigner who uses the company loophole 'to circumvent' the clearly stated Thai governments position (law) on foreigners owning land, and acquire control of land for their benefit whether defined as a speculator or not.

In fact it is part of the western phsyche to expect an increase in the value of property they purchase and so every one of them is a speculator , if they did not expect an increase in the value of their property it would clearly be an uneconomic proposition to invest in it. (With possible exception of smallholdings in the middle of nowhere).

Check out Stickmans website www.stickmanbangkok.com he has done a piece on it.

I just drove back from Rayong to Pattaya on Highway 36 and there were a number of prefab Thai wooden houses in a field that looked like they were for sale viewable from the highway, on the left hand side going towards Rayong closer to Rayong.

They were in the style of your picture though not as big, perhaps they don't make big ones on spec?

Thanks for the help guys.

I have Ayuttaya thats where the pic came from just looking for other places. You mentioned there are lots. If you know the location phone website I would appreciate it. The wifey can then research it when she goes back to Thailand.

I am sure she would find them but she will only go back for about 3 weeks The one you mentioned fisherd3 is the one i was trying locate remember seeing it in the past. Does it have name just thinking for a google search.

Thanks again

I do not recall even seeing a board up just these rather ornate Thai houses, small size, but they looked impressive from a quality point of view as far as one can tell from the highway.

I just drove back from Rayong to Pattaya on Highway 36 and there were a number of prefab Thai wooden houses in a field that looked like they were for sale viewable from the highway, on the left hand side going towards Rayong closer to Rayong.

They were in the style of your picture though not as big, perhaps they don't make big ones on spec?

I'm living in Thailand but just came back from doing the backpacker-on-an-island thing in some of the areas you mentioned.

Something that hasn't been mentioned....from personal experience: Either cover your skin (T-shirts or shorts notwithstanding) or buy effective sun block (30 to 50 strength). Get a hat while you're here.

The Thai sun can seriously burn tender, North American or U.K. skin (guess right?) in just a couple of hours (slight burn in 30 minutes!). A couple of hours sunning yourself on a boat to an island can totally ruin things for you when you get there.

Thais laugh at westerners who lay like beached whales, sunning themselves on most tourist beaches here in Thailand. It's for good reason! (besides the overweight, whitish, beached whale appearance).

This is absolutely correct, go and frolic on the sea for half an hour on a lilo in the Midday sun and end up in bed for a couple of days.

The actual rule is (learnt from Hawaiin (?) Tropic rep in Barbados) Never go in direct sun in tropics between 11am and 3pm , this applies to anyone if you are of a lighter complexion you should probably never go in the direct sun and wear factor 15 sunscreen minimum.

Apart from the fact that it is instantly unpleasant it also has very bad long term conotations for your skins appearance and cancer risk and watch out for falling asleep in the sun when intoxicated.