Baloo22

I have taken one on one lessons at EasiLearn on Soi Buakow. They do the one-on-one lessons there. They are not one of those "ed visa" type schools. The lesson style and teacher have both been suitable for me. You purchase a number of hours of one on one instruction and schedule the hours between you and your teacher.

EasiLearn is on Soi Buakao, just a little way from the Pattaya Tai end. See Photoguide Map to Easilearn Her telephone number is 0861419906 and email is [email protected]

I suggest the C&N hotel in Patong. Cheap, central and decent.

If you are going to Patong, Phuket for the party life, then I'll second smokie36's recommendation on C & N Hotel in Patong. Stayed in their VIP room for three nights this past July. If you book with them for at least three nights, they will pick you up at Phuket Airport also. They have some discounts running now that say "(Valid from now until 31st Oct 12)" but you might send them an email with your dates in Patong and see what they can do for you!

You can also do the trip from Bangkok to Vientiane by train. An alternative for those that may not want to go via bus. Basically an overnight sleeper train to Nong Khai and then a connector train into Laos. Here is a good site for info on it.

I have not taken this trip myself. but I did do the overnight sleeper from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Personally, I like the ability to get up out of the seat and wander down to the restaurant car, have a beer or some food. Or just the chance to get out of the seat and walk around.

Let's trot out the adjectives, shall we. Those of us following the awful news from Syria, could have used that word 'catastrophic' months ago. When it goes beyond 'catastrophic' what words shall we use? 'earth-shattering'? 'mind-boggling'? 'totally immense' ?

I think it's time we put the words aside and get a coalition of western countries (Asians and Middle Easterners are too meek to act), - and just roll on in to Damascus and either kill, arrest, or run the butt plugs out of power.

Why! Why! Why! For gods sake should we intervene in this stupidity, thats just what the US wants to happen. Leave them to bring about change for themselves. Only intervene if it spills over into another country proper, until then stay out and hope for the best for the people. The west has stuck there noses into to many countries stupid problems and we in the west end up paying for it in blood.

I see you are from the US. So much for your chosen name:Maidu, peaceful people?

Where are you getting this delusional rant that it's the US that wants military intervention? It's the Europeans squawking the loudest about "intervention". Look back at Libya. The main push for intervention came from Europe. Same now. Time for you to exercise a reality check!

When I lived in Jomtien, I purchased skinless chicken breast from the Jomtien Foodmart all the time. Never had any of it bad. Not once. I know a number of people on this board don't like Jomtien Foodmart but I have never had any spoiled/rotten food from there. Meat, dairy products or anything else. Always been treated well there by their staff also.

I second eek's comment and suggestions. I live just off of Huay Kaew Road, about 500m NW of the Old City moat. It's a nice area. It's a bit quieter and, IMO, nicer than the big touristy/backpacker area in the east/southeast part of the city. A number of decent restaurants along Huay Kaew and also in Kad Suan Kaew shopping center. All within walking distance. There's also a Top Foods Supermarket in Kad Suan Kaew for stuff you might want for your fridge. When you want to travel over to the the touristy area, it's easy to catch a song-theow (baht-bus). Just wave one down and say "pratoo tha-pae" (Tha Phae Gate). 20 baht per person.

Further NW along Huay Kaew and you turn left onto Nimmanhaemin Road. Lots of restaurants, coffee shops, bakery shops, etc there. I go to a gym in a soi off of Nimmanhaemin and walk there and back pretty much every day. No problems at all. The whole area is pretty much the opposite scene from Pattaya/Phuket! There are a number of decent hotels along Huay Kaew and Nimanhaemin also. Agoda can show you a number of them in differing price ranges.

I was able to pay 1200 from the east coast.but booked 6 months early.korean air

Did you book that directly from KAL or through a third party like Kayak or Vayama?

It would be interesting for the news media to track down the fire/safety inspections of this club. If such things actually exist in Phuket or Thailand. Who was the inspector that signed off on the fire/safety inspections?

Here is a good lesson for anyone thinking that we can go in to Syria and change anything about how the people there will act. I was doing a web search and ran into the Wikipedia page for the Hama massacre that occurred in February 1982. At the top of the page it had the following note:

Not to be confused with 2012 Hama massacre or 1981 Hama massacre.

I’m fairly confident that in 2015 we will see something like “or the 2014 Hama massacre” added to the end of that note. And later added "or the 2019 Hama massacre". You get the picture.

I'm thinking that the City Line is being used by a lot of locals as another "BTS" line, rather than transport to the airport.

Correct re City Line - exactly what it is used for....

Exactly! The City Line is designed as a normal suburban line for people who live along the eastern corridor. It is not meant to be a BTS metro style line, it doesn't have the frequency of a metro, and won't for a decade, and the stations are too few & too far apart to be compared with a metro.

What it has done is bring the SRT into the late 20th century by having a quality suburban service with a regular frequency. As much as the two suburban red lines will do once they commence operations. (leaving aside the issue that they are narrow gauge and diesel in the case of the Taling Chan red line).

It seems to me that there are two different functions being performed by the ARL, for better or for worse.

Function 1 is rapid/mass transport from Suvarnabhumi Airport to downtown Bangkok and reverse. The Express lines to Phaya Thai and Makkasan seem to do that. Perhaps not perfectly, but it worked great for my trip! I paid 150baht round trip and it was pretty much hassle free.

Function 2 is a local mass transit line like one of the "BTS" lines. I have not travelled on the City Line. How does it differ from one of the BTS lines?

They are trying to perform both functions with the same system/materials/equipment. There are bound to be problems but isn't it a step in the right direction?

Took a one week trip to Bangkok earlier this month and used the Express to Phaya Thai. They had a special round-trip ticket good for two weeks for 150baht. Worked great for me! I don't know how long this has been in effect nor how long it will remain. IMO, if you want to connect to the BTS, or even just get closer to downtown, this is a great way to go. I'm thinking that the City Line is being used by a lot of locals as another "BTS" line, rather than transport to the airport.

"Policing" of any "style" involves enforcing laws. This is a foreign concept here.

Short, concise, and right on point! Thailand is a country with 10,000 laws, very few are ever enforced. Why should drivers actually stop for red lights at pedestrian crossings? Stop burning trash and everything else they want to when people are breathing smoke in Chiang Rai? Police never enforce even the most simple and basic laws. That is unless some rich pu-yai pays them to do it against their business competition or political enemy. Or the police themselves are shareholders in a business enterprise themselves and need to squelch the competition.

Probably you have figured out by now about Bell Travel - http://www.belltravelservice.com/

200 baht, they pick you up almost anywhere in Pattaya (except Jomtien probably but I'm not sure) in a mini-van to the North Pattaya bus station, then a decent bus to the airport. They know where every place is in Patts, very convenient.

Yes, they do cover many locations in Jomtien also. You can use them for the Pattaya/Jomtien <---> Suvarnabhumi travel and also for Pattaya/Jomtien <---> Bangkok travel. Hotel door to hotel door service. I used them this spring to travel from Jomtien to Bangkok. The only negative at the Bangkok end is if you arrive during the "rush hours", the Bell minivan trip can crawl in the horrible Bangkok traffic. But it is still a decent option, especially if you have some heavy luggage that you don't want to haul around BTS stations and such.

On 1 October 2012, they are also starting service Pattaya/Jomtien <---> Don Muang Airport. Three trips a day according to their website.

Best ways to get people to use public transport is to do as the UK does. Make car parking fees very expensive in town/city centres.

Oh sorry I forgot, can do the following:

Park on corners of road, on double yellow lines, designated no parking areas, on the wrong side of the road, on pedestrian crossings, double park, in front of someones house so that they cannot use their car, etc etc without the police bothering you. So no problem will take car, not use car park!

You hit the nail right on the head. It will not mattter what laws they pass concerning parking or driving as long as they have a police force that does not have the slightest interest in enforcing laws.

You have to have photo ID to cash a check, rent a room, fly, vote in a Union election and to get into the Democratic Convention in USA. The Supreme Court has ruled that it is not an undue hardship. If someone is too lazy to get such a necessary document, that is their fault.

I'm willing to bet you wouldn't take the same line if it was 10,000,000 Republican votes at stake though.

That 10,000,000 is more like the Obama/ACORN/Democrat goal of dead voters, illegal alien voters, and ACORN fictional/non-existent person voters. It's all OK as long as they vote for Obama! Here is just one example of the tip of the iceberg. Google "ACORN" and "voter fraud" and you will get to see much more.

Wow! I think I need an attorney!

I went to immigration last week, with all of the paper work and got the extension until June 2013- Then I upgraded work permit to coincide (paper work intact). So as I understand it I can stay and work until next June, with only the mandatory 90 day reporting to immigration. All done and dusted (I think)

I will fly out for 1 week only. The stamp in my passport from Immigration office provides a warning "Notice: to keep your stay permit re-entry permit must be made before leaving Thailand" But I have a multiple re-entry visa (the 3,800 Baht one). So should I apply for re-entry visa-yes or no or maybe?

Previously you said that you had a visa a "My visa has an "M" and enter before June 2013" (It should have an actual date, not just month and year). Now you are saying that you have an "extension until June 2013". That's different.

Also, since Immigration has stamped your passport telling you to get a re-entry permit, I would suggest you do so before you leave on your one week trip.

So its 2 for me and therefore need to apply for re-entry on your reckoning-can you please advise how this is done?

You apply for a re-entry permit at your immigration office. You fill in a form and give a passport photo and pay the fee. The fee is 1,000 baht for a single and 3,800 baht for a multiple.

The multiple can be used unlimited times, but only for as long as your current permission to stay is valid. A new permission to stay means you ened a new re-entry permit if leaving.

You must always re-enter before the permission to stay ends, as that is also when the re-entry permit ends. If you arrive back later, you need a new visa.

If he has a multiple entry visa and he exits Thailand BEFORE his "permission to stay" stamp expires, and then re-enters Thailand BEFORE his "Enter Before" date; Why would he need any re-entry permit.?

Is there an entry on your visa "No. of Entry" and does it have an M ?

Also, does your visa have an "Enter Before" date and what is that date ?

I have an Non-Immigrant O-A visa with M for multiple entry and as long as I was entering the Kingdom before the "Enter Before" date, I could leave and return without a re-entry permit. If I leave and then attempt to return after the "Enter Before" date, I will need a re-entry permit.

To be honest, I have never realized the extent of it until this election. Either things have changed for the worse or awareness really does come with age.

It's been going on for quite a while. Back in the 1990s, CNN became known as the "Clinton News Network". They would only report news negative to Clinton after all the other news media had done so and they basically had no choice anymore.

Every once and a while they really end up screwing themselves because of their bias. The classic example was "Rathergate" in 2004, where a political operative gave CBS documents, supposedly written in 1972-73, critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard. Normally, reputable news organization would have vetted such documents before using them. But it was election season and they thought that they could torpedo Bush's re-election. So due diligence and evidence contrary to the documents veracity went out the window! The documents were shown to be fake and a number of CBS execs and staff spent the next few months wiping egg off their faces.

It's much too early for the annual HATE SONGRAN thread. Let's restrain ourselves for now, please. The time will come, never fear, when we do it all again. I'll update the Songkran FAQ.

I'm not trying to start a hate anything thread. I've been told that the dates of the celebration are different for Pattaya than in Bangkok. I want to confirm that and know the dates for the celebration in each city, Pattaya and Bangkok. That's it.

Joe Weisenthal's opinion on Romney's plan. Who is he? As usual, just another partisan hit piece. The Wall Street Journal describes the plan without offering any spin. http://online.wsj.co...0044504690.html

And on the other side we have Obama who, during the last three and a half years, has proven that he is not capable of doing the job. Here is a good illustration of why.

I've read that the "standard" dates for the 2013 Sonkran celebrations are 13 through 15 April. But, I understand that Pattaya has different dates for it. What are the dates for Pattaya's 2013 Songkran? I'm talking about the bucket of water in the face events.

Thanks in advance!