Bsd

On 11/17/2018 at 8:55 AM, ParadiseLost said:

About the same amount of smoke these disgusting rustbuckets spew out every day!

 

When you catch one, check out the Chinese or Korean writing and signs that have been painted over. These 'boats' look like they have already been retired in these countries...

One of the Raja boats still has the timetable from when it worked from Kobe pasted on the wall.

6 hours ago, Get Real said:

What happens to the people renting rooms at theese places. Do they shut´em down and throw them out too?

Yes, when my wife was working in a resort on another island early one morning they got a rush of phone calls from people looking for rooms because the place they were staying at was closed for land encroachment. 

If you are all traveling together what Mattd says should be fine. 

If if there is a time when only one of you is traveling with the child then you may need a letter from your amphur saying that the other parent knows and allows that travel. 

2 hours ago, Gillyflower said:

A very interesting OP, not that I have any dogs.  But just out of interest, I have always understood that the UK has very strict rules for the entry of animals, and that they all have to go into quarantine.  Unless I haven't read properly, it is not mentioned.

If you follow the rules in the image posted above they don’t have to go into  quarantine. I relocated three dogs to the I’m last year that way and everything worked fine. I used a agent to handle all the paperwork, flight bookings and taking the dogs to the airport etc. 

As others have mentioned dogs must fly as cargo to the uk and they have to fly on approved Airlines and routes (check the uk border website for the list). They must also go through customs at both ends during working hours so you will also need to check flight times. We flew ours on the overnight Thai flight to get everything lining up. 

I know from applying through a couple of different embassies that they have a list of approved insurance companies. All of those are supposed to give a refund if the visa is declined. If your visa is declined and the company doesn’t refund you the embassy asks that you report it to them to follow up. 

The road to Thong Nai Pan is concrete, from where you turn off to bottle beach is still dirt, not recommended on bikes or cars with low clearance (4WD suggested).

The road to Bottle beach branches off at the top of the hill down into Thong Nai Pan.  There is a walking track from Chaloklum that they tried to widen a couple of years ago but that is dirt and in really bad shape.

On 3/22/2017 at 2:41 PM, PoorSucker said:

One question, does Samui immigration accept fixed deposit accounts for monetary requirement?

Unless the new IO has a different policy to Nok.  No they don't, they want a current account and have asked people to go to the bank and deposit 100 baht to show that the money is still there on that day.

4 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

ah yes and lest i forget : the quota system practiced in thailand regarding acquired citizenship; as i understand it , there is an annual quota by country;
each country is given a pro-rata share ; example if there are 1680 openings and 168 countries , then each get a share of 10;
that puts india, china, usa on the exact same footing as Grenada and The Maldives; that makes sense ? i understand it is administrative 
convenience but it lacks thought

My understanding is that there is a limit of 20/50 ,something like that, on each country for citizenship in a year but not a total quota.

In saying that they normally grant less that 100 applications each year.

17 hours ago, Crossy said:

That's the way to do it.

 

Rule one of multiple nationality is never, ever, ever show more than one passport to an official, it causes their brains to go into meltdown.

 

Check-in may ask how she's in the country (no stamps in the second passport) so you could then show them the Thai passport, but that's the only time both should be exposed to the air together.

 

I have never had an airline ask my wife how she is in the country when showing her second passport. 

Show own the airline the passport you need for the destination (so on the flight back show her Thai passport).  Only show the immigration officer the passport needed for that country (Thai for Thailand entering and exiting, the other passport for the rest).

it is the airline that checks if you are going to be allowed into a country at check in. The IOs only care that the name on the boarding pass matches. 

51 minutes ago, robertthebruce said:

 

As for the UK ,not clever enough , it should be, if caught driving  on your Mobile, you should loose your Licence....., countless deaths because of Selfish People driving while on the mobile....

The UK is moving (has moved to?) 6 points for using a phone while driving.  So in your first 2 years it is instant loss of licence, for everyone else you have to do it twice.

3 hours ago, Sydebolle said:

I travelled quite a few times on Raja ferries in 1999/2000 and they used third hand vessels with Chinese characters (second hand) and (East-) German instructions from a VEB-shipyard in Rostock. VEB was a terminology used by the German Democratic Republic only so you can imagine that the vessel did not really undergo an improvement by the Chinese after buying said ferry from Honecker-land.

I am pretty sure they never replaced these old ferries hence if it was that ferry then the boat is 30+ years old at least; more likely though pushing 50. Given the great attention to maintenance by both the Chinese and the Thais it is - seriously - only a matter of time 

One of their boats still has the timetable for when it worked around Kobe stuck on a wall near one of the walkways. 

R10 their "brand new" boat (how they described it) has Chinese/Kanji characters written on the bow and visible in the video they made about it being new. 

8 hours ago, ParadiseLost said:

Seatran ferries look much better and in my opinion belch out far less black smoke.

 

The problem with most of these companies is lack of re-investment;

 

Songsern is another fine example, their piers in Samui/KP are a joke!

 

From what I have seen of the Seatran ferries while waiting in Nathon they do appear to be much better, unfortunately seatran only send their passenger ferries to KP.

Songserm, the blue boats are so slow and noisy; the old white boats, well I would rather swim.

For all of them basic maintenance seems to be a unknown term, how many ferries have broken seats , leaking roofs/windows, etc.

2 hours ago, robertson468 said:

Several months ago I met my Wife who was due to disembark from the the Raj Ferry.  I was horrified to see that it was listing a good 15 degrees, which could be clearly seen by looking at the comparison of the horizontal gantry on the dock to the Bridge on the Ferry.  As others have said, an accident waiting to happen and I have said that neither she, or I will ever travel that route.  Rather than complaining to the authorities, I would suggest that people stop traveling on it and once they start loosing money (the few important factors to Thai Owners) they will do something about it.

I would love to but for those of us on Koh Phangan, Raja is the only choice we have to get vehicles on and off the island.  If anyone one has a couple of 100 million baht to spare on buying some decent boats I know an island full of people who would be lining up to be your customers.

And been under construction in Saphan Mai for at least a year

I had my extension of stay transferred to a new passport in Samui a couple a years ago.  So this is from my experience.

1.  There is no fee (not even on Samui)

2.  I did not have to provide photocopies of any pages of my passports, they may have taken some themselves but I was not charged if they did.

3.  I did provide a letter from my embassy confirming that I had changed passports and the details of the old and new passports (plus a copy of the letter), this is listed in the regulations.

4.  I did it at the same time as my 90 day report, no need to rush in once you get the new passport.

For the letter I just called my embassy to ask about it and sent them an e-mail with photos of the ID pages from both passports, they sent back a pdf of the letter the same day and the physical letter a couple of days later by post.  There was no charge for the letter but that depends on the embassy (I was using NZ).

All up it took about 30 minutes including the 90 day report, which was fast for the old Samui office.

On 1/26/2017 at 3:13 PM, Mr0Yallow said:

OK are you pointing the finger at Bangkok Airways or Thai Airways?

Yes.  Slightly less jokey answer.   If the airlines comment about the baggage handlers being a private company is true then it is Thai, if the airline is twisting the truth then it is BA.  Bangkok Airways Ground Services (BAGS) may be a separate company to Bangkok Airways but it is a stretch to say that it is a private company they have nothing to do with.

In saying all that, I know which airline it is.  The only question I am going to leave you with is how did the baggage handler know which bag to open?  Because they don't have time to check every bag manually.  I understand that the Thai language news has more details.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The airline - that was not named - would not take responsibility but in a latest development police on Samui said they had arrested the baggage handler who opened the bag and stole the jewelry.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

He is Samui native Ibrahim Ha, 34, who worked for a private company that organized baggage handing for the airline at Samui Airport.

There are only 2 airlines that fly USM -> BKK, one of which owns the airport and the baggage handling company...

Just saying.

But I thought the met office said...

Oh never mind, where did I leave those waders.

From the met offices own website (Samui)

15/01/2017 - 23.7mm

16/07/2017 - 60.8mm, over half of which fell in the 3 hours to 7am today.

I haven't been down but during both floodings the Thong Nai Pan road got hammered; landslides, large numbers of poles washed away/buried.  Both times fixed as fast as they could clear the road.  Access over the mountains seems to have been the only thing keeping the power off.

Compared to say 5 years ago when the local PEA manager had to lock himself in his office because he told the locals no one cared if they had power or not and the locals offered him an immediate trip to the pier (it was midnight).

2 minutes ago, khunPer said:

The so-called, to me always kind, "Birdman" did it 30-days early for me; but yes, Samui Immigration normally don't accept more than a week before.

And by the way, Samui Immigration officers are kind and organized, if you are well prepared – dress nice, be polite and smile; and they will do it for 1,900 baht within "normal" processing time – I've never been "overcharged" more than 100-baht, handing two 1000-baht notes and no change returned; and I don't ask for it either, and don't care about a receipt, as long as I get my extension to stay in the Kingdom for another year...

By the way, if you also apply for a multiple re-entry permission, you will pay in the area of 5,000 baht...

I have never had a problem with the ladies behind the front desk at Samui Immigration, "Birdman" never tried to over charge me and the longest it took for me to get an extension from was 4 hours because he wanted a new Kor Ror 22 and the amphur had a long queue.

His replacement, well after making me wait from 9am until 4pm to be seen, while she only met with 2 other people (one of whom arrived 5 hours after me), then asked how much I had paid "Birdman" for my extensions before agreeing to accept my 1,900 baht.  Being on a marriage extension, which takes 30 days to process, I never pay for the re-entry permit at the same time.

I always dress smartly, and other than asking every hour or so how much longer will it be when I can see the IO is doing nothing I am polite.  my 100 baht change has always been returned, sometimes with a receipt.

7 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

"apparently no refund or any help to get a hotel room"

 

Apparently these special snowflakes come from countries where there's never weather-related cancellations or delays at airports?

 

And in what country do they pay for your hotel in the event of a weather-delay?  You sleep on the floor of the airport with your cute little neck pillow, if you can't afford a taxi and a fan room.

 

If you can't afford a Koh Samui hotel, whatcha doing in Koh Samui, Willis? ?

Not weather related, but I know someone who had a stay at the Marina Bay Sands paid for by Singapore Air due to their flight being delayed by a volcano. 

11 hours ago, oldsailor35 said:

Then why can one buy a beer on Naton-Donsak Seatrans ferries.

Maybe Seatran are ignoring the rules, possibly they are the reason why the marine department inspected all the Samui ferries early last year.

Lomprayah and Raja don't sell beer on board and Raja doesn't sell beer at their restaurants in Lipa Noi and Donsak because they are on the same property as the pier.  Unless I missed it Lomprayah don't sell beer at Maenam.  In Thongsala and Nathan you can get a beer from 7eleven because they are across the road from the pier.

31 minutes ago, rhythmworx said:

Does it have a bar onboard?

 

If not I would rather drive

The sale of alcohol is banned on all ferries and piers in Thailand.  Advertising alcohol isn't which is why Raja have a giant floating Singha billboard for a boat.

You will have to buy your beer from the 7eleven across the road before you board.

This article isn't the clearest, it leaves me with more questions than answers.

Was this group snorkeling off a beach (reference to the red flags).  Or were they actually out diving (with all the equipment that entails) and again off the beach or from a boat.  If they were diving where did they get the equipment from, since at the very least they would have had to had the tanks charged locally.

If it was snorkeling off the beach by themselves then, well they aren't the first people to end up in this situation.  If they were diving either they were experienced and had no concern for their own safety, something which doesn't sound very Japanese where beaches are deserted if there is no lifeguard on duty no matter the conditions.  Or they were learners and had trusted some instructors that it was safe to go out with them.

Koh Phangan has this all the time.  The only line into the island keeps over heating so they shut off power for 8 hours during the day to let it cool down.  Must happen about 5 times a year.  Plus you know the usual daily outages of 5 minutes to 2 hours