VTR1000

Yes it is safe, stayed in Hadyai for a couple of nights in March at the Sakura Hotel in downtown.

Down stairs was a karaoke bar with mostly Chinese customers therefore mostly Chinese songs were played, some of the girls working there were Chinese. Didn't cost much to drink there.

Many nice places to eat (sea food&Chinese), prices very reasonable to cheap and delicious food.

Nice weather and no air pollution, wish I had more time to spend there

Last time I was in there a gunfight broke out in the coffee shop!

B-Quick Michelin tyres, 4,300.

Hi Bro,

Where could I get them in Southern Thailand? Near Hatyai area??

Btw, anyone knows of TOYOTA service centre in HATYAI area?

Cheers

Don't take this the wrong way but have you ever thought about driving around Hatyai (it's not that big) and looking for a Toyota dealer yourself? You never know you might even see a tyre dealer on your travels.

Ps: Try these:

1487 Pechkasem Road Hat Yai

Songkhla, Thailand 90110

Tel/Hp : 6674-422040-7

Fax : 6674-239073

71 Radyindee Road

Songkhla, Thailand 90110

Tel/Hp : 6674-343234 6674-342245 6674-238870

Fax : 6674-239073

Cheers

My garden is full of snakes, apart from one grass snake all the rest have been cobras. Wifey doesn't want them killed so I just leave them alone and they me. I keep lgihts on at night and sprinkle 'Luk Men' around the perimeter of the house, not the garden. See them fairly often but they are never aggressive and if anything are very timid.

I'm with Dustoff on this one.

For the past 3/4 years myself my now wife and my kids have visited Langkawi at least once a year.I find it really peacful and sometimes it is nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of mainstream Thailand.Tha beaches are plentiful,quiet and neverending.monkeys roam the streets like stray dogs and the people are (dare i say it) more friendly than your average Thai.It is also very cheap for hotel,alcohol,cigarettes.I can go out of a night with about the equivelant of 700 baht,buy food for me and my wife,go to the pub later buy rounds of drink till im pissed and still wake up with money in my pocket the next day.Its a tax free island and there is plenty to see and do.For anyone wanting to take there other half to Malaysia for a nice wee quiet break it is the perfect island break.Anyone wanting any info on how to do it on the cheap without comprimise drop me a msg and i will let you know where to stay,where to drink etc.We will be there xmas/new year AGAIN.

Haven't been there for around 10 years or so. It was then really quiet and peaceful and relaxing. Since then though, people are giving positive write-ups about the place on public forums on the internet and the quietness and peacefulness of the place is all but disappearing for good.

I wonder who the first to complain will be?

Hi Everyone

This my first time posting, We are coming back for Christmas first time for nearly three years, there seems to have been an explosion in the number of farangs since our last visit from reading through some of the threads, so look forward to meeting some few new people.

we live (part time)(very part time) just outside town on the siam nakhon thani housing complex.

My real reason for writing here is to ask, where all you local farangs like to chill-out as I very rarely see any about, especially at night while out with the family.

NakhonDave

Plenty of new faces here and getting ever younger too ... too many maybe but that's another story. Anyway Friday nights and Rock99 gets fairly busy, quiet the rest of the week. A few other new little bars have opened recently and are starting to attract people.

Me, I prefer the Green Light coz I don't have to drive.

Hi Vtr1000

Thanks for the reply where is the green light Fat bastard told me to contact you about your place on the Nakhon forum. which I will do as well I have a place about 2-3 K's north of Ocean if it is with in drinking distance I will come and have a beer. By drinking distance I mean any where!!!

I'm 4km east of Ocean!

Hi Everyone

This my first time posting, We are coming back for Christmas first time for nearly three years, there seems to have been an explosion in the number of farangs since our last visit from reading through some of the threads, so look forward to meeting some few new people.

we live (part time)(very part time) just outside town on the siam nakhon thani housing complex.

My real reason for writing here is to ask, where all you local farangs like to chill-out as I very rarely see any about, especially at night while out with the family.

NakhonDave

Plenty of new faces here and getting ever younger too ... too many maybe but that's another story. Anyway Friday nights and Rock99 gets fairly busy, quiet the rest of the week. A few other new little bars have opened recently and are starting to attract people.

Me, I prefer the Green Light coz I don't have to drive.

Thank you for your replies and 'lomotopo' for the links too. I think I'll try BritMaverick's suggestion first and see what happens.

I have a question and I hope that someone out there will be able to answer it for me. The question is this:

My father has 179,000 airmiles that expire in March next year and he wants to give them to me. These airmiles were gained through the 'Voyager' program of South African Airlines or whatever they're called now. On their website it states that these airmiles can be reeemed for flights on any of the airlines within Star Alliance and apparently they can also be 'given' to other family members, ie: me.

Does anybody have experience on this matter?

Bring Mugabe in to sort things out.

A village or a brothel?

No argument, village everytime.

Had a long long wait at LHR a few years ago. Anyway decided to have a 'couple'. Next thing woke up in a deserted terminal, Hardly a soul in sight and no more flights that day. Had to check into The Excelsior for the night and caught the following evening's flight.

Also missed a SAA flight to Jo'burg from BKK. Flew up to BKK with the Mrs to catch a flight to Jo'burg. Checking in at DonMuang it was found that the wife's passport had expired so had to wait 2 days for the next flight.

Also missed a ship in Singapore in the 80's. Was sampling the local(s) and got ... well ... way laid. Flew to HongKong a couple of days later to rejoin it.

The title sums it up really.

Depends on which route you are taking!! It should be between 4 - 5 hours at a comfortable pace.

Uh? Are you walking?

Maximum 4 hours at a comfortable(slow) pace.

I appreciata your comments, since I have not bought the tickets. Yes, I am going to start first at bangkok then to ranong or as it seems now hatyai then to nakorn si.

However, are you able to provide me the reasons for choosing Hat Yai instead? To me there are two reasons to choose Ranong

iT may be safer than Hat yai, since the south rebels have not quieten down.

No problems. I'm in Hadyai fairly regularly.

From the map, it seems ranong is closer to nakorn si tammarat than hatyai's border with malaysia is.

Hadyai and NST are connected by fast 4 lane roads (Asia Highway) and the journey is just over a couple of hours. Ranong to NST is a long winding partly 2 lane journey on bendy dangerous roads and you're looking at 3/4+ hours.

I want the reasons.

Basically, at the end of the year, I am planning to fly to ranong, get my visa run, then go to Nakorn si Tammarat to settle somethings.

The question in my mind now is whether ranong is a good choice. I chose it because it seems on the way since it is,contextually, not far from Nakorn and I can have my visa run done.

I have never been to Ranong and do not have a detailed map of ranong. I am thinking after going to ranong whether I will be able to go to a station somewhere(?) and get a bus which takes me to Nakorn Si tammarat.

You guys have a better option

If it's only a border run you need, I think you'd be better off flying to Hatyai and doing the border run to Dan Nok (Sadoa) and then getting the bus/train back to Nakhon.

JMHO

Welcome to ThaiVisa, the hub of keyboard judges. So what was the outcome? You said you stayed on for another 8 months. Where are you now, Sweden?

Hi all,

I'm going to thailand for a holiday (9 days) ill be arriving there on the 15th july. can someone give me a summary regarding the weather and swimming conditions; i know they are different on either side of the peninsula, but i heard phuket can get a mini high season during july?(or is this tourism information rubbish) i want to swim and have heard there may be problems with that mid july in phuket.

cheers

East side is your safest bet at that time.

The P&O that you remember no longer exists. The only ships they run nowadays are ferries. All the others are gone. They started to go downhill shortly after I started working for them in 1980

I was with P&O on the Bay Boats in the 80s and early 90s. Mainly on the UK - Far East with maybe a trip a year down to Oz and NZ.

Am I the only one?

Every time I stay in hospital they supply me with pajamas with a circular cord i.e. there are no ends to tie a knot – just one long cord.

I have never succeeded in making a tight knot in a cord with no ends, however hard I try. Within second’s it loosens up, and every time I get up I have to hold the pajamas to stop them from dangling around my ankles.

Is there a special way to achieve a tight, permanent knot?

Serious responses only please.

And while I’m on the subject of hospital garments, have you even been given one of those gowns to put on for surgery? All the ties are at the back. How the freaking heck are you supposed to tie knots behind you? Thais may be contortionists, but this ageing, creaking farang is certainly not. And then they tell you to remove your underwear, so you make a total botch up with the ties, end up parading your back side to one and all, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.

Is it just me?

Ha ha, I know what you're talking about. A few years ago I ended up in ICU in a hospital on Koh Samui following a bike smash. Stayed in that hospital for a while and then got transferred to hospital on the mainland near where I live. In the middle of the carpark at Seatran's Donsak terminal I had to get transferred from one ambulance to another. Of course, being 2 different hospitals they had 2 different types of pajamas and there in all my glory the nurses changed me, there, in the middle of the car park. Luckily I was semi-out of it on morphine at the time so couldn't complain.

If a British man dies, can or how does his legal wife claim a part of his pension? Unfortunately, last week a 69 yr old friend of mine unexpectedly passed away leaving behind a wife and three young children. Does anyone know if there are any avenues his wife should follow?

Thanks in advance

Alcohol, if abused can also be a major cause (from experience). As others have said, keep hydrated and make sure you keep up your salt intake.

I have no idea how Thailand is being destroyed? I think its getting better, the place has moved forward alot in the last 20 years

Moved forward, maybe ... but better?

Sure, the infrastructure in the capital is way better now with expressways, skytrains and subways etc. Businesses and shopping malls in every direction - all good for the consumer etc can all be counted as moving forward (in a way). Out of the capital though, in the tourist areas especially, the areas where the foreigners are most likely to go, where once countryside and/or deserted beaches/islands surrounded by white sand lay, are now huge multi-storey hotels and condos, malls, construction sites, shops selling pretty much everything, sleazy bars and all the people who maybe associated.

Maybe it's only me - but to me that is certainly not better.

Would they be there if Mr Foreigner hadn't taken such a shine to Thailand? That is my question.

Accusing foreigners of destroying Thailand is streatching it a bit, the evidence on the ground is that the Thais are doing a pretty good job by themselves.

Not an accusation guesthouse, more of an open observation and question.

However, I think a case can be made that Thailand destroys more than a few foreigners.

Hmmm, yes ... as we see nearly everyday.

Question: Would Thailand be the same today if it hadn't had the influx of foreign capital?

Answer: Of course it wouldn't but how would it be? That is what I wonder.

I've been here in Thailand for coming up to two decades and in that time I've seen major changes within the country. Let me add that I live in a provincial Thai town, way off the worn down tourist trail. When I first arrived here, it was pretty much me, me alone, the only westerner there. Now, there are well over 100 westerners in this town, most of whom are teachers ....

In the tourist areas it is far worse. Phuket I remember as once being so beautiful with quiet beaches and friendlier people, Khoa Lak was pretty much deserted, Khokroi an empty beach, Aunang quiet and peaceful. I'm not even going to mention Koh Samui/Chang etc (haven't been up north for a while but I imagine it is the same in popular places). All have gone downhill in my opinon, the beauty has been lost, forever maybe and replaced with overpriced condos, unplanned or ill-thought building projects, gawdy bars, greedy locals, greedy western business owners etc etc fed by forever busier roads and an ever growing population.

My question is; Are we, the foreign residents/visitors here (unwittingly maybe?) helping to destroy what we came here for? I believe it is because of our presence, that we are. If there have been this many changes in the time I've been here, what changes in the coming decades.

Any comments?

Anybody knows if there is a bus from Don Sak pier to Nakhon? If not, must we go to Surat Thani to take the bus ? And how much it cost?

Thank you in advance for your answers

Minibus. Ask when you get there and B120 or something like that. Wot you coming to Nakhon for?

Whatever happened to Siam Superbike? Anyone know?