Asiantravel

as far as I'm concerned Thailand already has a bus company of this standard.

they just don't seem concerned about marketing themselves to foreigners but that doesn't

worry them because if you just turn up and try to book a seat on their first class

journeys you will find they are always full

On most journeys they have two drivers and if you read their website you will see their

drivers are regularly tested in all regards

http://www.nca.co.th/firstclass.php

Great info. I'd be very pleased to find out I was wrong and there is a market here for safer travel companies- even if they do cost more. I'll be looking them up next time I'm headed somewhere on a bus.

And if that's the case, perhaps there's a market for the "Lonely Planet Guide to Safer Travel in the Tropics"? You know, buses with 2 drivers, hotel rooms with smoke detectors, jet ski rentals with no scamming, and... I'd buy the book.

yes but you must bear in mind they don't go everywhere.

if your wife or girlfriend can translate this for you here is a list of where they go

http://www.nca.co.th/runway.php

but I highly recommend them. Their buses have automatic transmission

and you will find the journey comfortable and smooth.

actually just for something to do a few years back I obtained a heavy goods vehicledrivers licence

in Australia ( which includes buses ) although I have never worked as a driver.

So I naturally take an interest in the driver's style,disposition, their driving conditions etc

Regarding NCA drivers I am always struck by their consistency. i.e.They always drive at a consistent

speed and I have never noticed any of them take an unnecessary risks.

In fact I have never heard of NCA bus ever being involved in an accident.

I think the future is in the tank, with not a lot of fixes available, what percentage should I hold ?

that depends on your other sources of income besides those of liquid capital invested. there is no "one size fits all".

Absolutely true. The gold bug message however is 100% buy gold at all prices at all times. A broken record.

and there some others who equally harp on about the prudence of buying equities and real estate even when the trend in both

is decidedly down

Bendix I note your admirable attempt to defend the “ reputation “ of bankers involved in IPOs but

unfortunately for them “a series of accounting failures, fraud and other corporate scandals “

as discussed in this recent New York Times article seems to illustrate quite well the bankers attitude towards ethical behavior

Hong Kong Securities Regulator Seeks Penalties for I.P.O. Fraud

http://query.nytimes...63&ref=hongkong

Again, you simply don't know what you're talking about.

For the record, I know the gentleman in the artcile - the CEO of the HK SFC. In fact, when he was in his previous role before joining SFC he hired me into my current job.

These proposals are nothing to do with fraud on the part of Investment Banks on IPOs. Instead they are an attempt to encourage banks to assume liability for the material that is included in IPO prospectuses, information that is provided to the investment banks by the mainland companies wanting to issue on the HK exchange and which is audited by Chinese offices of global and local accounting firms.

Up to now, the investment banks have acted in good faith that the financial material provided to them by companies and their auditors is accurate; that is what audited accounts are for. That is the role of the auditor.

By putting more liability on the investment banks, Mr Alder and the HK SFC are implicitly criticising the mainland auditors and encouraging the investment banks to do more due diligence themselves. The intention is that the investment banks will use their leverage to increase the quality of financial reporting in mainland companies.

of more relevance to show the real nature of these bankers is they are accused of

concealing "a severe and pronounced reduction" in revenue growth forecasts regarding Facebook.

let us see what transpires in the court cases but as far as I'm concerned they are

no better than used car salesman

Simply not true. These concerns were highlighted in the prospectus and discussed at length in the financial media before the IPO.

It is well-known - and has been for sometime - that one of the biggest challenges facing Facebook has been that it has failed to properly monetise its business model. Market commentators have regularly discussed the fact that while members have grown exponentially, revenue growth has not kept pace.

The banks were cheeky to ask 38 bucks for a share, but at the end of the day they are paid by Facebook. Those shares were fully subscribed at 38 bucks a share and all were sold to investors too caught up in the hype to do proper due diligence or ask themselves why a company with 900 million members couldnt turn that into substantional profits.

Caveat emptor.

" Caveat emptor. " yes indeed - this should should apply to ANYTHING regarding banks

or maybe it should just be beware of banks full stop

did you work on this particular IPO personally? if not you know no more about it than I do -it's a simple as that

and after watching an analysis of this during a discussion on Al Jazeera this morning

I disagree completely with your assessment and I prefer to wait for the outcome of the court cases

and maybe even Congressional hearings

http://www.reuters.c...E8GN7SL20120523

100 baht .....desperate times

Maybe I have lived in a cave all my life but I can honestly say I have never ever seen or heard GaGa perform and think I have only seen her twice on TV, once being last night on the news as she arrived in BKK. Have I missed anything? ...... I don't think so.

GentlemanJim your life will be richer for having missed her

Here's a challenge: Start a bus company in Thailand. Buy properly equipped buses that are up to European safety standards. Staff them with drivers that are vetted, drug and tested trained to European standards and work European mandated hours for transit drivers. Maintain the buses according to European requirements, and pay European rates for liability insurance.

Heck, for good measure, advertise them as the safest buses in Thailand and charge a premium price for a seat on your ultra safe buses.

Then start your stopwatch and see how long you stay in business.

I took a bus from Ekkamai to Pattaya a few weeks back on a Saturday. Chose them because they came recommended by some long stay friends. Paid $4 (124 baht) for the seat. The bus had 42 seats- 32 of them were filled. That's about $125 of revenue. Minus the tolls, minus the fuel, leaves precious little money to buy and amortize the bus, rent the ticket office and bays, pay the driver and ticket ladies and have a little left over for a profit. There were 24 seats filled on my return trip- even grimmer numbers.

Sadly, the very thing(s) that draw tourists to places like Thailand are the things that make those places dangerous. Cheap transport and accomodations, a sense of freedom from the restrictions we all feel "back home", the (normally) low consequences if you do get plastered and act foolish, etc. Right up until the law of averages takes the life away from a tiny but very significant percentage of holiday makers.

My heart goes out to these ladies and I wish them well in their efforts to warn folks about the dangers of leaving the safety of home for exotic locales. In an ideal world, we could look up the statistical danger of every decision we make and action we take- every road we choose. I just don't see it happening, but if they take some comfort in their efforts, Godspeed to them.

as far as I'm concerned Thailand already has a bus company of this standard.

they just don't seem concerned about marketing themselves to foreigners but that doesn't

worry them because if you just turn up and try to book a seat on their first class

journeys you will find they are always full

On most journeys they have two drivers and if you read their website you will see their

drivers are regularly tested in all regards

http://www.nca.co.th/firstclass.php

You simply dont understand the IPO process, Asiatravel

It could be argued they got it very right for their client - in this case Facebook. Facebook sold all those shares for 38 bucks; that is money in their bank account. That the price is now lower doesnt worry them; they raised the cash they wanted.

Had the banks advised to have a lower share issue price, their client would have left hundreds of millions of dollars on the table.

You could argue that banks do their job properly when the post-IPO price falls, and have failed in their job when the share price soars after issue.

Bendix I note your admirable attempt to defend the “ reputation “ of bankers involved in IPOs but

unfortunately for them “a series of accounting failures, fraud and other corporate scandals “

as discussed in this recent New York Times article seems to illustrate quite well the bankers attitude towards ethical behavior

Hong Kong Securities Regulator Seeks Penalties for I.P.O. Fraud

http://query.nytimes...63&ref=hongkong

Again, you simply don't know what you're talking about.

For the record, I know the gentleman in the artcile - the CEO of the HK SFC. In fact, when he was in his previous role before joining SFC he hired me into my current job.

These proposals are nothing to do with fraud on the part of Investment Banks on IPOs. Instead they are an attempt to encourage banks to assume liability for the material that is included in IPO prospectuses, information that is provided to the investment banks by the mainland companies wanting to issue on the HK exchange and which is audited by Chinese offices of global and local accounting firms.

Up to now, the investment banks have acted in good faith that the financial material provided to them by companies and their auditors is accurate; that is what audited accounts are for. That is the role of the auditor.

By putting more liability on the investment banks, Mr Alder and the HK SFC are implicitly criticising the mainland auditors and encouraging the investment banks to do more due diligence themselves. The intention is that the investment banks will use their leverage to increase the quality of financial reporting in mainland companies.

of more relevance to show the real nature of these bankers is they are accused of

concealing "a severe and pronounced reduction" in revenue growth forecasts regarding Facebook.

let us see what transpires in the court cases but as far as I'm concerned they are

no better than used car salesman

i would need to paid a lot of money to go to see this person

Many people who you would think would know better get caught up in financial scams.

and because they now occur much more frequently there is even more reason

to be extra vigilant and double check every proposition

If you fall for this you deserve to lose your money,some people are to dumb for words,how do they manage to master breathing in and out.?

agreed 100%

if you fall for this you probably dont have the aptitude to own a card

I understand that the Russian tour groups get unique permission to fly into Utapao by chartered planes and that may be a saving and a convenience not open to others.

This is probably the real reason. Cheap flights and cheap package stays. And the independent Russian travellers (of which there are also quite a lot) are probably also attracted here by the large numbers of other Russians. So it's a self-propelled phenomenon.

I cant imagine anyone choosing Pattaya/Jomtien solely for its beach as there are much better beaches in other parts of Thailand. And if it's the Pattaya shopping that attracts them then the shops in Russia must really be as bad as they are made out to be in the media.

I often wonder how many other aspects of Thai life the Russians are introduced to?

I mean for example whether they know anything whatsoever about Buddhism by the time they leave

-it would be pretty sad if all the they do is come here so they can shop and go to the beach

maybe take them for a cultural tour of Issan

Surin, Buriram, Chaiyaphum, Phitsanulok, Lampang, Lamphun, Chiangmai. It probably stops at Si Sa Ket, but I'm not sure. the rest I guarantee (after a dozen trips on this route!)

done !

excellent isanbirder and thanks a lot

obviously my question was too much outside the box for the otherwise nice people at NCA

Provided the visa is still valid when you enter the second time, the answer is yes.

Most times a duble entry visa is valid for 6 months, but some consulates only give a validity of 3 months!

i will be going to the consulate in Savannakhet where reports have been favourable about getting

a double entry visa so i assumed it would be a six month validity ?

The sixty day stay starts on arrival but the visa itself will have a use before date of 3 or 6 months from date of issue and all entries must have been made before that date (although you can stay/extend beyond it).

thanks

So if you dont "arrive " at the Thai border until say one month after the date

of issue, you can still get 60+30 +60+30 ?

I feel cheated now when I go to my facebook page....I cannot stand the sight of it

so it is safe to say you are one of those who is very unlikely to agree to pay for content

I know for certain there is a Nakhonchai Air Bus service between Chiang Mai and

Ubon Ratchatani because I have watched them depart while waiting in the bus terminal before.

In June, I may want to join this bus somewhere along the route for the journey back from

Ubon Ratchatani to Chiang Mai and so I rang the call NCA Centre today to ask them what i thought

is a simple question i.e. what is the route this bus takes after it departs Ubon Ratchatani.

But after speaking to maybe five or six operators ( some with quite good English ) they still

couldn't understand my question. I tried to vary the question so many times such as

in which cities does the bus stop on this journey. That didn't work either.

So I was just wondering if there is anyone here that just happens to have travelled this

journey and can remember which way the bus goes?

For example does it travel through SiSaket, Surin and Buriram or does it pass through

Maha Sarakham and Khon Kaen?

Apply at the Thai consulate for a tourist visa valid for two entries into Thailand within six months from the issue date of the visa. On each arrival in Thailand with this visa you will receive permission to stay for 60 days and if desired you can extend this period by 30 days at any immigration office in Thailand.

Maestro after you get a tourist visa from a Consulate, I am assuming the 60 days

does not actually start until you get stamped at the border upon entry into Thailand and it's actually activated?

if I am right about this then thow long do you have to activate it ?

You simply dont understand the IPO process, Asiatravel

It could be argued they got it very right for their client - in this case Facebook. Facebook sold all those shares for 38 bucks; that is money in their bank account. That the price is now lower doesnt worry them; they raised the cash they wanted.

Had the banks advised to have a lower share issue price, their client would have left hundreds of millions of dollars on the table.

You could argue that banks do their job properly when the post-IPO price falls, and have failed in their job when the share price soars after issue.

Bendix I note your admirable attempt to defend the “ reputation “ of bankers involved in IPOs but

unfortunately for them “a series of accounting failures, fraud and other corporate scandals “

as discussed in this recent New York Times article seems to illustrate quite well the bankers attitude towards ethical behavior

Hong Kong Securities Regulator Seeks Penalties for I.P.O. Fraud

http://query.nytimes...63&ref=hongkong

she died from severe trauma to her head which would have hit the tarmac with considerable force.

which a helmet may have helped reduce the effects of?

Enjoy it while it lasts, if you are into the bar scene then no better time to be a "handsome man".

but how do all these motorbike taxi riders ,massage ladies, beach vendors pay the rent

and feed themselves? it seems hit and miss enough and seemingly hard to make money

even during what was the high season.

even just this morning I saw a taxi driver negotiating with a potential passenger

with a suitcase who evidently wouldn't agree to the price and eventually just walked away?

so the taxi driver just keeps standing around. it seems ridiculous to me to turn down

potential work when surely it's better for these people to get something

rather than nothing?

Facebook has always seemed to me to be about a load of idiots talking crap to morons (so rather like most of the rest of the internet in fact).

With this IPO they have just brought wbankers into the equation.

And it looks like even the bankers shot themselves in the foot with this one, which of course they richly deserve.

I would never touch FB even with someone else's bargepole.

I'm not sure how the bankers have shot themselves in the foot . . . the estimated fees for advisers (banks, underwriters, lawyers etc) on an IPO of this size will be a cool $100 million.

but they've damaged their reputation even further if that was at all possible

but then again no one gives a stuff about reputation these days

reputation and $.50 will get you a cup of coffee

You're just making noises, with no substantive argument.

How have they damaged their reputation. They advise FB on a list price. The list price looks on the high side. However, when the market decides that the real price - set by market forces - is lower, they step in to back their judgement by buying at that list price.

THAT IS THE ROLE OF THE UNDERWRITING BANKS!

That you don't understand the basic functions of capital markets is no reason to come up with bland cliches about things you dont have a clue on.

that's what worries me- i.e. they stepped in to back their judgement

you can hardly say they have got a good track record regarding judgement eh what ?

they dont care because they know they can always rely on on another bailout

Praise be low season, finally. It came very late this year, let's hope it lasts longer ..

*************************************************

Correct, the busy season seemed to last through April instead of March. There are less Russians now so that is probably the reason. I don't know why, but there are more Indians this month- holiday there?

yes there are hoardes of them at the top end of beach road near the Holiday Inn and Amari

going out in huge groups on speedboats.I just assumed rather than have an empty

hotel room hotels are offering giveaway rates to Indians?

Welcome to Low Season.

Many places will reduce operations/staff numbers around this time or close completely for a while if they worked through Songkhran.

is that the only reason ?

Unbelievable

I have never seen it so quiet before today

Facebook has always seemed to me to be about a load of idiots talking crap to morons (so rather like most of the rest of the internet in fact).

With this IPO they have just brought wbankers into the equation.

And it looks like even the bankers shot themselves in the foot with this one, which of course they richly deserve.

I would never touch FB even with someone else's bargepole.

I'm not sure how the bankers have shot themselves in the foot . . . the estimated fees for advisers (banks, underwriters, lawyers etc) on an IPO of this size will be a cool $100 million.

but they've damaged their reputation even further if that was at all possible

but then again no one gives a stuff about reputation these days

reputation and $.50 will get you a cup of coffee

today when I said good morning to the receptionist at a dental surgery near where i live

she said they were closing the surgery for three days and the traffic seems

much quieter today ( which is wonderful ) but there doesn't seem to be any mention of a Thai

Public holiday?