typ123

Hello,

Would someone please tell me if it’s possible to get a van or bus to Pattaya departing from Don Meung or somewhere else in Bangkok after 11:00 PM? My flight arrives at 11:00 PM at Don Meung and I need to be back in Pattaya that same night. I’m trying to avoid private taxis because I can’t afford it. As far as I can tell the last bus from Ekkamai leaves at 11:20 PM...

Thanks for reading. Hope you can help me. I’d really appreciate it. : )

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I’ve returned from Kuala Lumpur with a new tourist visa.  They DID require the proof accommodation and an exiting flight.  My 15-day hostel reservation and a flight to Ho Chi Min city were sufficient.  They did NOT require the bank statement.

To drop off your visa the embassy is only open from 9:30 - 11:30 and there were quite a bit of people waiting in line.  Many were turned away once they reached the max amount of people they would serve for the day.  I suggest going early to make sure you get in.  I was the second to last person and I arrived at 10:30 I went too late.  

First you wait outside in line, then as you enter through the gateway there is a kiosk where someone will check your documents and give you a number.  Then you wait inside the complex until they call your number.  For the tourist visa I dropped it off the first day around 11:30 and picked it up the following day at 2:30 (pick up is late afternoon) The embassy has signs requesting that you wear polite clothing so keep that in mind.

Avoid the taxis in KL!  Get the Grab app on your phone.  I paid 8 ringit to get to the embassy from where I was staying, but the same ride in a taxi cost me 31 Ringit!  You’ll need a Malaysian SIM card and you can get that at 7/11.  They will need your passport to activate your SIM card so make sure you do this before you drop off your passport at the embassy and that you have a pin to pop open your SIM card drive.  I paid 15 ringit for a package including the SIM which was plenty for a few days in KL.

For lunch there is a lovely Chinese temple walking distance from the embassy called  Dharma Realm Guan Yin Sagely Monastery (about a 10-15 walk but worth it. But you can easily take a cheap bus for one ringit if you don’t want to walk) serving healthy food in a large canteen in the back of the temple grounds.  Buffet closes at 2 pm for a chanting ceremony.  Petronas Towers are also very close to the embassy so you can check that out.  It’s 1 ringit by public bus (they pass by frequently on the road the embassy is on.  Just wait at one of the stops and pay when you get on) one way to the towers from the embassy.  Nice way to kill time after drop off and before pick up. 

I stayed at my friend’s condo near India Town (really cool place!  Especially if you like Indian food) in Bangsar which was kind of far but I liked staying in that area.  You may want to find a place closer to the embassy.

Good luck!

8 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Yes 

The one's I can recall doing it are Penang and Phenom Penh. Penang has done a stamp saying no more there after issuing a visa.

Oh I see. Hmm.  So just to clarify, you mean that in Penang for example, they stamped AFTER issuing a tourist visa to state that one cannot return to the same consulate/embassy for another tourist visa.  Correct?  So it seems that the issue is returning to the same consulate/embassy, perhaps back to back, unless I'm mistaken.

So I then wonder, if everything follows so far, that if one goes to a different consulate/embassy to get another visa, and THEN returns to that same consulate/embassy in Penang, will they be denied based on the previous "no more" stamp on the already used tourist visa?

Hope this isn't too convoluted and easy to understand. 

10 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It depends upon the embassy or consulate you apply at. Some look at all of them.

So what you're saying is that some embassies or consulates will look at back to back tourist visas and decide to deny entry for that reason alone.  Reason being there are an undetermined amount of consecutive visas.

3 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

1. You could have your friend and his wife right a short letter stating you are staying with them. Have them attach a signed copy of her ID card and his passport to it.

From their checklist under #6.

2. Yes they do want that. You could buy a low cost one way ticket to anywhere from any airport here to meet the requirement.

 

Be sure you attach a copy of their checklist to your application. http://www.thaiembassy.org/kualalumpur/contents/files/services-20170329-105808-985625.pdf

 

3

Thanks for the info!  This checklist is really handy.  I've already paid for a 15 day stay at a very cheap hostel.  I will probably use it half of the time I am here anyway cause the house is pretty noisy.

I've also booked a flight to Ho Chi Min City for 1,100 baht to exit Thailand.  I will use this for a third tourist visa if I don't have an ED visa by then.  Should be okay to do multiple in a row as long as I go to different countries and present all documents each time right?

2 hours ago, geisha said:

typ123, Hi, just to add, I saw on TV by Jack Thompson this last week , that in Penang they are also asking for proof of funds bank statement for a tourist visa. 

I do not know if this is true and if it also applies to KL. 

Okay I will print out my bank statement as well.  Thank you!

2 hours ago, keeniau96 said:

Could just do a visa-exempt (30 days) then an extension of that for another 30.

Yeah I know.  This is basically my fall back plan if for some reason I can't get the visa.  I'll just get a new 1 month stamp at the airport.  I think I should be fine though.

1 hour ago, Essecola said:

If you were going to one of the friendlier embassys to fetch a visa, some of these problems would not arise. But maybe you have some reason for getting it in KL. :)

1

True.  Reason for choosing KL is because I have a friend that's letting me use his place there, and I got a good deal on flights. 

Dear all,

I am American and want to get another 2-month tourist visa (this will be my second in my passport).  I am flying to KL from Chonburi on January 17th (Wednesday) and flying back to Chonburi on the 21st (Sunday).  As far as I am aware, I will need the following documents:

-Visa Application

-Passport

-One signed copy of passport photo page

-Two passport-sized photos taken within the last six months

-Printed, confirmed flight into Thailand

-Printed confirmation of accommodation in Thailand for entire stay (1)

-Printed, confirmed flight out of Thailand (2)

-150 MYR exactly (NO dollars/NO baht/NO refunds)

My questions are:

1) What do I need to provide as "confirmation of accommodation" if I am staying at my friend's house?  He is married to a Thai and has a marriage visa and lives here.  I'm just on extended holiday. 

2) Do I really need a "confirmed flight out of Thailand"?  I will have to leave anyway, but I plan on getting an ED visa because I'd like to study Thai language for a year, so I may not need an exit flight.

Please help me with these two questions if you can, and any other tips for this particular visa run would be very much appreciated!  

Great thanks!  I'll check it out.  

Dear Pattaya Locals,

Do you guys know of a Muay Thai gym or trainer that I can train at/with after 10:30 PM?  I don't finish working until then and I want to train for an hour or 1.5 hour preferably with a private trainer.  I have already searched on Google and looked at the gyms and I only found a couple that stay open until 11:00 PM. If you have any information please let me know I would really appreciate it!

4 hours ago, idman said:

There is such a gym in Maya Shopping Mall on the 5th. floor. I believe it opens at 11:00 a.m. and closes at 22:00. Very near the full service gym and the Camp Coffee Shop. This particular gym is strickly for Muay Thai and should fit your needs to a t.

Sent from my SM-T805 using Thaivisa Connect mobile app
 

Sounds excellent!  Thanks a lot buddy!

UPDATE:  I called R Boxing in Maya.  It's 650 per hour for group classes (they said it's usually 9 people) and 1200 baht for solo lessons.  I also called Maxx Fitness at Maya, and it's 428 baht for a single workout.  

Dear CM locals,

Does anyone know if there is an indoor Muay Thai gym in Chiang Mai?  I know there used to be a fully indoor air-conditioned one at Mae Hia market but it has since closed down.  I found another one called Chiang Mai Muay Thai gym, but it is only 2/3 indoor it seems because in a picture one side was open to outside air but covered with a screen or something.  

I want to train but I am a former asthmatic and am highly sensitive to the air pollution at the moment.  I know I can leave Chiang Mai, but I live and work here for now.  If anyone knows of an indoor Muay Thai gym or a standard indoor gym that has the option to train Muay Thai, please let us know.  

Thanks for reading.

6 hours ago, chiang mai said:

If the air pressure INSIDE the room/house is higher than the outside, no dirty air will get into the house and the air will remain clean. To do that you need to set up something like a vacuum cleaner motor inside the house with an air intake pipe that goes outside and is heavily filtered ( a box with loads of cotton wool etc in it will do). Run the vacuum motor on a very low setting, you could even get sexy and add a power control which limits its speed. That way there will always be new clean air coming into the house but never any dirty air.

Okay that makes sense.  Sounds like a lot of work but I would do it if I had a larger living space and my own house.  Cant go cutting holes in my apartment landlord might not appreciate that.  Seems like that would be an even better option than an air purifier.  It is still purifying the air but with an air purifier alone there is so much influx of air from outside that it can be somewhat hopeless if you have a big house.  

Does anyone know if there is a reduction in air pollution at higher elevations?  For example, if I was to go to Doi Inthanon (highest elevation in Thailand) at the weekend to escape a particularly dense smoke period, would there be significantly less PM in the air?  I imagine that the particles can only float so high, but I am not too sure.  

6 hours ago, chiang mai said:

The answer to your question is Yes, place the filtrette on the air intake side.

 

And if you want to go one step further: create positive air pressure inside your room/house which means no new dirty air will be drawn in from the outside.

Thanks for being so helpful in the comments.  If I create positive air pressure, doesn't that mean letting in air from outside?  How else can I create positive air pressure?  Im not sure what you mean exactly but sounds intriguing...

2 hours ago, jerojero said:

Try Google. Wonderful friend to us ignorant people.

Of course.  This is a unique topic though.  Im talking about Thai brands of wall units that are sold in CM and what their functions are.  Also many people living here are well aware of the smoke crisis and precautions that should be taken, or they have already gained more knowledge about this than I have myself and wouldnt mind sharing.  It's a very reasonable topic to discuss.  When you say "go search google" you are basically saying "i dont know anything so why are you posting".  

1 hour ago, cyberfarang said:

What do you intend to do? Stay in a locked sealed room and have your air con unit running flat out for 24 hours a day? Otherwise there are no ways to escape breathing in all the toxic fumes. As one poster said; only sure way to get away from the pollution is to leave Chiang Mai and then there are no guarantees that wherever you go will be any better. 

 

 

I know this may seem extreme to some people but I just want my apartment to be a safe haven from the smoke and I want to sleep knowing that Im not inhaling rubbish all night.  Ill wear a proper mask when outside as well so for the most part I will be drastically reducing the amount of PM I inhale.  Ive got several 3M P3 (better than N95) masks.  Model # 9332.

40 minutes ago, eyecatcher said:

 

 

For anyone wanting to understand the basics of how an air conditioner works, I hope the following explains.

You can see that air does not come in from the outside; therefore applying filters on them is a fruitless task.

 

1. Warm air from the room is sucked in through a grille at the base of the machine
2. The air flows over some chiller pipes through which a coolant fluid is circulating. This part of the machine works just like the chiller cabinet in a refrigerator. It cools down the incoming air and a dehumidifier removes any excess moisture.
3. The air then flows over a heating element (similar to the one in a fan heater). On a cold day, this part of the unit may be turned right up so the HVAC works as a heater.
4. A fan at the top blasts the air back through another grille into the room. If the heating element is turned down, the air re-entering the room is much cooler, so the room gradually cools down.
5. Meanwhile, coolant (a volatile liquid that evaporates easily) flows through the chiller pipes. As it does so, it picks up heat from the air blowing past the pipes and evaporates, turning from a cool liquid into a hotter gas. It carries this heat from inside the room to the outside of the building, where it gives up its heat to the outside air. How? Just like in a refrigerator, the coolant flows through a compressor unit and some condensing pipes, which turn it back into a cool liquid ready to cycle round the loop again.
6. What happens to the heat? In the unit outside the building, there are lots of metal plates that dissipate the heat to the atmosphere. An electric fan blows air past them to accelerate the process.
7. Over time, the heat inside the building gradually pumps away into the outside air.

 

Thanks for the detailed explanation on how they work.  I have a question about #1.  From what I understand the wall units like the one I have in my apartment suck air into the grille at the top of the unit, then it comes out the bottom as colder air after going through the other steps you mentioned.  Is that correct?  If so, the 3M Filtrete filters are to be placed inside the grille so the air drawn from the room has to pass through these filters.  

The only reason I am using it is because air from outside still gets in my apartment.  There are tiny gaps in windows and doors (even with a draft stopper I have at the base of my door) and in the bathroom there is a vent where outside air can get in.  The PM is so tiny that is can easily get in through these gaps and build up throughout the day and also when the doors are opened.  

6 minutes ago, sfokevin said:

^^^ It would be easy to determine if your wall AC is capable of drawing air from the outside by going outside and seeing if a intake vent exists... (it doesn't)... 

 

 

Seems logical enough.  There doesn't seem to be anything.  Just the radiator blowing out the warmer air from inside.  I don't know enough about these machines to say whether or not there is any other way it can draw air from outside.  I guess the radiator (outside unit) doesn't have the ability to do that but just want to be sure.

2 minutes ago, johng said:

Tell us the make and model of your aircon for a 100% answer im sure some expert will know. but for 99.9 % Thai aircons dont
bring in outside air they recycle the air inside the room.

Good idea.  I have a Saijo Denki Turbo A.P.S. R410A (Model: SJ-W12B-A-ETGP1).  It's about 8 months old so like new.  

5 hours ago, johng said:

normally aircon does not take air from outside it just circulates the air inside the room (unless you leave door and windows open) so just set it to fan mode.

Square fans can be found at the builders merchants,ThaiWhattsadu,Homepro,Homemart etc

 

 

 

I have read mixed information about this.  Some people say that some ACs draw air from the outside when set to fan mode.  Do you or does anyone else know if these modern Thai wall units draw air from outside at all?  I want to set to fan mode and leave it running but not if it's just pumping smoke inside my apartment, and if I set to cooling mode it's gonna lead to a higher utility bill and overly dry air 24/7.

Thanks for the tip on where to get the square fan.

50 minutes ago, Thailand said:

This year no problem, the PTB issued a MOI that there will be no burning for 60 days.

I have also heard mixed reports about this.  I've heard this isn't the first time this ban was issued and that nothing will actually change.  As we can see now the burning is getting worse.  You can see the visibility levels becoming more unclear at the skyline and you can check the AQI daily to see how it has been increasing.  It's already at unhealthy levels.  

Do you have more details on this 2 month ban?  For instance, when does it begin?  Will it actually make a difference or is it just a way to divert the public eye and keep locals and incoming tourists misinformed?  What happens after the 2 month ban? 

Dear CM locals,

There are three things you can find at Tesco on Hang Dong road (the one nearest to the airport) that will help alleviate the smoke during burning season:

1) Filtrete filter pads for 180 baht in the hardware section.  They are in a red package with gold lettering.  You can to fit them inside your wall unit AC in your apartment or condo.  

2) N95 (pack of 2) and R95 (one only) air respirators.  R means it is somewhat resistant to oil.  

3) Draught excluders starting at 100 baht. Three different styles and come in wood, gray and black.  

Now my questions for you all are:

A) Should I run the fan or cooling function on my AC to keep air filtering in the room?  Which setting would be best for filtering the air and NOT taking air in from outside (not sure if these units even do that)?

A2) Does anyone know where to find a square shaped fan?  I want to use it to attach a HEPA filter to the back.  I have seen people doing this as a makeshift air purifier and proving that it works.  Some cool videos on Youtube about it.

Be well and stay healthy.  

After I put 3M filters in my AC unit in my condo, should I run it on fan or cooling mode?  I dont want to draw air from outside and I thought fan draws air from outside and cooling recirculates the air inside.  Does anyone understand this?

How can the AQI reports from the government show 79 when I cannot even see the sun outside? Am I missing something? 79 for today seems very low. I know someone who works at a school in Samoeng and said the school tests the AQI there. They reported it to be at 813 PM10 last week. However, there is some intense burning happening in the Samoeng area. It just has me wondering though. How are these results reported and how accurate are they? 79 AQI seems like it would be quite normal.

http://aqicn.org/city/chiang-mai/

So nearly 400 people have read this form and NO ONE knows any information about a legitimate herpes blood test in Thailand? The IgG antibody test with specificity is pretty standard in most countries. I don't understand why this is such a problem. I guess I'm going to have to order a test from overseas.

I did a swab test on a blister that had already crusted over, it wasnt an open sore. The test game back negative for herpes. I also had 2 doctors look at it and say it wasnt herpes, and 2 others said it was herpes. I guess the best thing to do would be to get a tissue sample taken if I have another outbreak, then get that tested in the lab.