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I quite like Singapore but they do have some strange processes at Changi. I fly often from BKK to SIN and on numerous occasions all the passengers are required to go through an airport security check in the normal departure lounge as soon as leaving the aircraft. I don't know what this proves - I always politely ask the head security guy why they are doing this. "Oh its for your safety sir " to which I point to the aircraft parked peacefully at the gate "but we have already landed safely" I say knowing full well I am wasting my time. If Singapore airlines or security have suspicions about passengers why do they let the aircraft depart BKK?

Just another unusual thing about the island State. So the behaviour of their IOs, perhaps strange too, has to be expected. But I agree that the most disturbing aspect of this occurrence is the acceptance by Thais that "its because we are from Thailand". I always let my Thai GF go first at immigration anywhere - if there is a problem for her then I will be there to support and politely not put up with any nonsense without a good explanation.

There is a solution for every problem. Look at yours objectively, and if there are things you cant change, then move on to what you can change. If you can break down your problems into smaller items - you will have much more chance of solutions if you solve them one by one. When you do solve a small problem it gives you heart and you then go on to the next one and so on.

I agree write things down and rule through them when you have a resolution - looking at a page of resolved items is great for your morale. Finally you are never never alone. Many who have responded to you have been through bad times too and know what you are feeling and are ready to help. Stay with it and lets know how you are getting on - we are all compassionate and interested in you progress.

Better to take out bit by bit or in jewelry. Any cash in big amounts are usually disallowed and I know for sure even the Indonesian girls bring back jewelry by wearing it on their bodies and having it in the cake too on board. Some years ago, Mohd Taib of Malaysia, then the Menteri Besar of Selangor was stopped by checkpoint for carrying a few million dollars back to Malaysia from and to Australia. We thought he was acting silly doing this despite the diiplomatic channel.

I remember that incident well. The undeclared limit in Australia is $A10,000 in or out - you can have much more but must declare it. He actually had much more but got away with it because he claimed he could not understand English! I was living in Malaysia at the time and had a hard time convincing my Malaysian friends that the Australian courts were not corrupt. His nick name in Malaysia was Mr 10%. Enough said.

Great photos and thanks to all who contributed. I am viewing in Australia and now homesick for Thailand especially up country. Not much to look forward to here very boring driving along side shiny almost new trucks and pick ups (utes here) most obeying the rules. Cant wait to get back next week!

First, they should widen the existing runways, so planes stop "slipping" off them.

The existing runways are 60 m wide, which is the ICAO requirement for Code F aircraft with wing spans of 65 to 80 m(A380 etc). The airport meets all of the International standards for the surface layout, same as Changi, KL, Hong Kong, Incheon etc.

And you should widen your sense of humor, as well.

Well to be fair, the slippery when wet signs hadn't been activated at Trang and Udon Thani... Also, as this is, Swampy related there hasn't been a slip up for a while

Wow! "Slippery when wet signs". More absolutely fantastic humour! You guys are a laugh a minute. The Udon Thani Taxiway was not wet, but never mind why spoil a great joke. Now if you want to experience real aviation humour try this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_hzrB_FI4‎

First, they should widen the existing runways, so planes stop "slipping" off them.

The existing runways are 60 m wide, which is the ICAO requirement for Code F aircraft with wing spans of 65 to 80 m(A380 etc). The airport meets all of the International standards for the surface layout, same as Changi, KL, Hong Kong, Incheon etc.

When I first started taking my GF to eat out she nearly always ordered too much, then half way through the meal it was "you will have to help me with this". Well I did of course, until I realised she was still keeping her superb 42 kg body as mine kept getting bigger and more out of shape. Now I just order less for me - and still help her. Mind you she still wanted to get more from the street stalls on the way home "in case I get hungry". Similar to nearly all the comments here.

I am not sure that this is more an Asian thing. I remember not so long ago in Singapore that patrons (nearly all Singaporean Chinese) were charged extra at buffets if they did not finish all on their plate. The habit was to rush to the buffet, get the biggest empty plate they could find and heap it impossibly high - then only eat half. Smaller plates were available but no. The motive was to have lower prices because half the food was not wasted. I always waited until the buffet was refreshed after the initial rush then select at leisure - small plate too.

Maybe it comes from a long time ago when you grabbed any food that you could because there was no certainty where the next meal was coming from - unfortunately this is still the case in many parts of the world.

Lets get the facts first this time before jumping to any conclusions. And you WONT get the facts or reasons for this incident from any media or passenger comments. The official incident report will be the only document which will contain fact.

The official report is the only document which can be guaranteed to contain no fact whatsoever! The Thai DCA has no culture of safety, no knowledge of safety matters, and is concerned only with paper pushing and lip service to ICAO standards. Their primary concern in any incident is to assign blame ( preferably to a foreigner - any foreigner )and prosecute to the limit of the law, to cover up any shortcomings in their own systems, and to generate as much revenue - of which they get 30% - by way of fines as they can. Their investigators know nothing about aviation and would never call on outside experienced help - face must not be lost!

And your comments are based on what facts ? many years of working in the Thai commerical aviation industry or your just pulling these "facts" out your arse ?...seeing as your have factually stated Thai investigators have no knowlege of aviation, please give your professional experience in the Thai aviation industry to support this "fact" and no cheating please by looking sh*t up on Wiki

In conclusion the offical report may not contain any facts, but neither do your posts it seems

I agree with the last comment. I suggest that those who may be interested in facts rather than trot out all the old jokes about painting out the logo and similar remarks read the Thai Aircraft Accident Investigation Report on the 1 2 Go accident at Phuket a couple of years ago. The report is professional and outside expertise was called in (the US ATSB, Boeing etc).

Runway excursions are not uncommon and occur in almost every country in the world - with established well known airlines to start ups. However the authorities at Udon Thani (long runway incidentally - takes wide body aircraft) appear to state that the aircraft exited the taxiway (not the runway) due to a mechanical fault.

However lets get the FACTs first before any more Nok Air, pilot, airport, and general Thai bashing. One of the respondents referred to the 3 stooges - a better reference would be Groucho Marx "Don't confuse me with facts - my mind is made up"

Lets get the facts first this time before jumping to any conclusions. And you WONT get the facts or reasons for this incident from any media or passenger comments. The official incident report will be the only document which will contain fact.

No 1 bar for me is the Beer Garden in Soi 5 or 7 cant remember which. Big bar,full of falangs, pleanty of conversation and excellent food.Many freelance bar girls that speak english and seem to be happy just talking to you.

Its the German Beer Garden in Soi 7 - walk down from the Nana BTS. Good food - if you have the pork knuckle you wont have to eat for a week. If you get bored there you can take a short cut through the Park Hotel car park to Soi 11 - more pubs and restaurants including another German bar/restaurant - no girls but good German and Thai food too. Convivial small bar.

Agree about the Black Swan and Checkinn 99. The Australia Pub in Soi 11 not too bad (but don't drink their red wine). 2 Irish pubs in the Silom area near Sala Daeng BTS, O'Reillys in Silom itself and Molly Malones in Soi Convent are OK. Good luck!

Thanks for replies. Yeah, it's probably not worth the worry of missing the flight by a few mins, either due to late arrival or those long queues that seem to be the norm in immigration of late. Will stay in BKK and get early flight next day, either from DM or Swampy.

When you are flying to the east as you will be from LHR you will normally have a tail wind (especially in the winter time as the westerly jet stream winds are faster then). The airlines allow for this in their schedules, but sometimes the tail winds are stronger and you will arrive early. But no guarantee of course, and if your parking bay is occupied by a flight about to depart you may have to wait on the ground until your bay is free anyway.

You could always book the domestic flight for the next day, but if the gods are smiling on you and you arrive early, get through immigration in a hurry, get your bag fast then go to the airline check in for the 4 pm flight and see if you can get on. This often works with main stream airlines and I have often done this - but not I admit at BKK. Not sure it will work with a LCC.

Most airlines provide fast track passes (the airlines pay extra handling charges for this) for first and business class passengers - I guess that you are travelling in economy - but its worth asking one of the senior EVA flight attendants in private for a fast track pass. Explain your situation and you never know your luck, especially if you have an EVA frequent flyer card.

Otherwise one night in Bangkok!

Full marks for wearing his seat belt - saved serious injury or possibly his life. No marks for driving too fast for the road conditions - sharp curve, wet road. He did say “I was not driving particularly fast but I did lose control of the vehicle" - yes not particularly fast but still too fast. At the proper speed for the conditions you wont leave the road. I agree that once it starts happening all you can do is try to steer out of it and use the brakes very sparingly.

I am confused between deposable and disposable ?

The two words do not mean the same - and "disposable" should have been used instead of "deposable" in the first comment. Disposable means something like a paper cup to be used only once then disposed of (put in the trash etc) . I The same could apply to a man I guess in the context of this thread.

To depose means to remove from power - usually of a ruler by the people or the armed forces, e.g. Taksin was deposed. When used as a noun it can also be used in a legal sense - e.g. "deposition"

Deposable is an adjective but very seldom used - I cant find an example.

I know we are not to comment on English usage, but when its confusing such as in this thread I think that a comment is acceptable.

Why go to Hanoi at all? It is one of the most unappealing cities one could ever wish to set foot or bum in. Very aggressive sales people on streets, pollution everywhere, traffic makes Bkk look like a nice little village. It would be interesting to find statistics on how many people fail to cross the street in Hanoi.

I always liked going to Hanoi and found the place interesting with cheap excellent Vietnamese food (go with a local), French bread and pleasant cafes round the lake. To get across the road just look straight ahead and walk steadily, and 500 or so motorbikes will miss you. But don't try to avoid them or chaos and injury will result.

Although the price quoted was FROM, so what are the variables?

Indeed. This is probably if you book months in advance.

I'd like to know what the "walk up" price is for this flight.

I just checked their web site, and they quote 1070 each way on Thursdays and 1347 on Friday and Sunday for travel in late November early December. There is a higher price of 1600+ which may offer more flexibility. The prices will vary of course depending on demand. The aircraft is a SAAB 340 (turboprop) which is one of the few types likely to make money on the short haul.

They might fly to CNX (or elsewhere) later but only if there is enough demand to make some money.

If i cut off YOUR balls, would YOU be less aggressive??

Probably - but it would also stop me wandering looking for females at all hours of the day and night - just like it does for dogs.

Ministry of Interior regulation dated March 23 1999

The procedure for the acquisition of land by Thais having spouses being aliens, either by lawful marriage or unlawful marriage (without proper registration like a common-law marriage) and children of foreigners have been changed to be as follows:

Any Thai having a foreign spouse may purchase or accept land as a gift with no consideration and register the ownership of such land during marriage under the condition that the spouse must jointly provide a written legal confirmation stating that the entire source of funds for such purchase or gift is solely from the Personal Property (such as defined by Thai laws) of such Thai.

Without written confirmation from a foreign spouse, the request for such registration must be referred to the Land Department in order to obtain an approval from the Minister.

So if I give her the money it then becomes her "Personal Property" and then meets the requirement "entire source of funds for such purchase or gift is solely from the Personal Property (such as defined by Thai laws) of such Thai."? Or am I understanding this incorrectly?

I think that the elephants have been cleared from Bangkok streets at last so maybe (and its a big maybe!) the authorities can do the same with these poor endangered animals like the loris and lizards etc in the rest of Thailand. The first time I went to Bangla I saw these animals on the street and was so revolted I left and will never go back. In discussions with some tourists they have the same reaction and will not go back to Phuket or elsewhere in Thailand again. But this is only a small number of tourists - it would need big numbers to have an impact on the Thai economy. However that eventually is the answer. Make the financial penalty (or the threat of it) so severe that the small money that changes hands to pay off the authorities will mean nothing. No tourists - no money for anyone.

Congratulations and I hope you and your wife have a good future. My 30 years of living and working in Asia have shown me that any attempt at humour by a foreigner has fallen completely flat - a better outcome than being unintentionally insulting which has occurred often. But give it a go if you are brave enough and learn some Isaan words not Thai and keep smiling. Wait until they have all had enough to drink - works the same for weddings back at a western culture home.

This is my favourite Stupa/Temple in Bangkok - best viewed from the river. Superb style. So I am happy that they are undertaking the restoration and I hope it all goes well.

Another poor victim of Thailand.

Another poor victim of low swimming experience or lack of knowledge for safe beach swimming or cramp or overconfidence or perhaps some or all of these. Happens in Australia almost every day too.