tamesisfwp

If it is not this pre-Buddhist temple complex to fight over the they will find something else to squabble over. The posturing seems to indicate they know they will lose this case and are trying to saver face. The Khmer military has returned and are ready to take over a much large slice of territory round the site. 60 years of cooking the evidence has resulted in both sides being shouted at. I bet the ruling is delayed even further.

Hi JRTMedic

I much appreciate your encouraging words and glad to report that great minds think alike. I have spent a lot of time diarising events and in fact there was so much more that I edited out, giving only the flavour of GM's peril.

Part of my problem has been lack of local language but have just returned from getting it all translated by a University Professor I met. He sat up bolt straight when he saw my account and promised he will distribute it widely around my corner of Isaan. Given my military background he has also spoken to a General of Police he knows (some centralised department dealing with big ticket cases)and I know they have already checked me with the embassy for purposes of issuing me a personal protection weapon. He was particularly interested in the cross thread I had running about dog-knapping and the OCG involvement.

My main protection is to get the two Attorney holders to broadcast around both actual beneficiary and quasi families as to her stated wish. The revocation of the gift will be put in abeyance until GM can make her own decision. If she does not make it then the gift fails and the land will have to be sold to service the distribution around all arms of the blood relatives. She will certainly lose her land, which she has turned into a dumping ground, which is a kind of justice of its own.

Every day we saw some improvement is GM and the last leap is her arm to wake up and as you saw in the pic her left facial muscles, which have already improves since that pic. As her heart survived all this and she is a tough dear lady I have forced her recovery programme. The clan were happy to see her wallow in her own soil.

If I leave her in her familiar surroundings I am certain there is no nurse prepared to reside in what is a termite eaten hole that any health department inspector would condemn. I have half an option to remove her to my in laws' home but am not sure this will achieve the objective either.

Since beginning this the police general has called and advised he will issue me with a fire arms permit and weapon, has put a caution on the land at the Land Office and hourly patrols will now be going through the village - this is a real double edged sword as the knappers will not be happy for this attention. It will be interesting to see if a big cheese carries more weight from this distance than a local colonel on the payroll. Watch this space.

Paramount is GM's progress and on that I will focus. I am on the night bus back to NP and will show a greater presence now. I shall also go to the hospital to talk to some of the nurses about some freelance overtime - I have tonnes of rambutan and Lynchees to pay them with.

All ideas welcome.

Knacker

And then we brought grandmum home.........................

Then, the family got stuck in - all wanting to be seen doing their bit for her when during the 5 weeks in hospital a cursory 10 minutes was all they gave her, but made sure the relatives saw them, actually walking hundreds of metres out of their way to seek out someone in the food hall just to notch their presence.

When trying to get her into a routine and to stimulate her it is right to have lots of visitors. But they all come at once and do their own thing - including dispensing medicine giving rise to 3 doses in a 40 minute period - until I hid the medicine. But the visitors came to please them and again mark they had "done their bit". When GM's nappy needed changing - but of course you know the answer already don't you boys and girls.

Be in no doubt there are many fine people in the village who have come to spend time with her and even to hold sincere prayer sessions over her. But then there are the relatives and quasi - relatives.

Even while nursing her, whether it be feeding her or prepping food, or simply giving her a cool wash, I was having to stop relatives (of both kinds) from purloining her things. Actually openly stealing her everything and not caring to be challenged by me - the word Falang was spat out many a time in just 2 weeks but they went away empty handed. There was even an attempt to open GM's safe by a quasi nephew who said he must take all her possessions into protective custody because there are thieves about. I challenged him by saying "don't you think this is the duty of the two people who hold her Power of Attorney", to which he replied they had gained this power by deception. He hated me even more when I repeated this in front of the two attorney holders, one his own brother.

Let me give you a clue. The word is out that GM has not left a will and everyone is posturing - do they not know inheritance law? - so similar to the UK when intestacy rears its ugly head. There is a will and it is very precise. Subject to prior gifts, one of which is not completed and was due to be revoked by GM because she was tired of the thieving b'ds stealing her crop to sell at market, it all goes in trust for my soon to be adoptive daughter.

I have seen fawning over and I have seen outright cruelty to GM by those "nursing" her. Where I believed they were just ignorant I trained them but quickly realised half want her dead and the other half to wake up to change her will. The statutory heirs are the ones trying to kill her as the absence of a will means it goes to them in some proportion. Those fawning are hoping for some of her land.

To say I am sick of their disgraceful behaviour. It gets worse. I have been openly threatened by the niece who may forfeit her benefice that her husband will arrange something for me. he has done 12 years for killing and in a village where the police never ever visit - see my thread on dog-knapping - so I should take this threat seriously. At the moment I have retreated to BKK for a few days to distance myself from it all and to decide if I really should get involved further.

For those interested GM is feeding well on a wide range of fruit and supplement rich foods. she can drink from a straw and I sat her out in the wheel chair the other day to get her off her sores.

I attach 2 pics - one of her last August and one sitting out the other day - of course I have to go back but must think of how to ensure my own safety - given all the many posts about Thais and their funny little murderous ways.

Watch this space - you may yet see GM wink with the other eye as well.

best wishes all and thanks for listening to my bleeting

Knacker

This just a rehash of a rehash.

I wrote from within Queen Viet Bee's own village on this subject just the other day on the Pets section and perhaps our beloved moderators might see fit to repeat it here as this is clearly a burning topic, no matter what side you stand on this issue.

I wrote it full well knowing that my time in the vilage was over for several reasons - the main one being I could not tolerate how they treated their own invalid elderly - and am now safely esconced in a hotel in BKK.

Dog napping is just another arm of the extensive OCG activity throughout SE Asia and beyond.

ASEAN wil make it easier as the border controls come down and they can drive freely in day time over thier pretty Friendship Bridges. What will the border authorities and Nakhon Phanom police do for its income then?

Just like veal in Europe we need some activists to protest at all the obvious illegal smuggling points such as Bang Phaeng - unlike Europe the smugglers will respond with bullets.

Glad to leave this one behind as I came here for a new life and leave defeated and downcast.

Best wishes all

Stephen Wright

aka tamesisfwp

I live in a village at the back of Nakhon Phanom and the next village over from Ho Chi Minh Village where the shelter is situated. We never have a police presence here and if sought they fail to turn up. Just a few doors away from me is a newly built house with an aerial that GCHQ / NSA would be proud to be the owner of. The broadband reception in the village courtesy of this aerial is AMAZING but especially so for the lady who lives perhaps 150 metres away by crow's flight and 400 metres by road.

On certain nights lads go off in trucks and on motorbikes and usually armed with personal firearms tucked under their jackets. There is a core team of employees and many casuals on the nights of operation - perhaps I am wrong and they coincide with Arsenal playing at home - NOT. It is an open secret of the village and there seems to be a compromise in place that nothing disappears locally.

When large consignments are seized as near to BKK as actually having their postcode for some reason they are shipped to one of three reception centres along the Mekong for treatment and dealing with. I applaud the small groups of volunteers who come to make sure the seized animals are clean and vaccinated. Of course there are many high hundreds of dogs there and one night they are shipped to other centres. The despatching centre has a receipt for the dogs out but there is confusion as to where their actual final destination is. Has a clever fixer actually arranged with the authorities to offer a "safe haven" for these dogs. How convenient that the safe haven is over 500 km closer to their intended destination - is that their actual destination? I suggest the answer is yes. Someone is doing very nicely and has defrayed their costs by having the authorities ship the "rescued" dogs 500 plus km closer to their final destination. The Mighty Mekong is ever so busy by night in both directions and it is the same folk behind the two way trade.

Nice business if you can get it and they certainly have it big time.

Just tonight driving through my village we had three dogs race out and growl at us. Perhaps Mrs BIG might do a favour and do a local just once in a while.

We have devoted pets of our dogs but they are well trained and loving. The semi feral hounds that snap routinely certainly test pour patience.

In summary, we have well organised gangs enjoying official disinterest and indeed contractual relations with the authorities to further their despicable trade.

I too can profess to being deeply impressed by the government hospital, this one in Nakhon Phanom.

Honorary Grandmum fell from a bamboo ladder 5 weeks ago while picking her lunch, falling onto a tree stump and breaking left wrist, springing several ribs, breaking collar and scapula and a non specific bump on the head. She seemed to lay unconscious where she fell for some while before discovery. From the title Grandmum you may gather she is of very advanced years if a 61 yo refers to her in this way.

When we found out we raced to ER and found she had already had X-rays and was next in line for the scan, which took place within the hour and interpreted immediately.

There was very little prospect for her survival but the surgical team refused to give in and worked on her. After some hours she was moved to Women's surgical for observation and positioned by the nurse's station from where she was checked every 15 minutes throughout the night. Next day after further inspection of the X rays and scans she had her wrist plastered and positioned with suitable support on the bed for her to climb back to consciousness.

The nurses were amazing and I could not fault them in all their attentiveness and procedures. The young neurosurgeon monitored her regularly and when intra-cranial pressure built up he proposed Burr holes be drilled to relieve the pressure. This procedure is grim at the best of times and with a government hospital on the far reaches of empire I was very worried. However, the neurosurgeon invited me to scrub in and talk to him during the preparation about my concerns. By this time I had no concerns about him as clearly we had a very professional man working for her. However, the routine is about drilling through the skull bone and the risks are pretty obvious. As suspected he had no laser guided titanium steel gizmos just a very fine handheld drill bit and a steady hand. The operation proved to be an absolute success and she was removed to the ICU ward, where her vigil continued. Over time she showed some response and we did everything we could to stimulate her, nurses joining in some of the Glen Miller routines.

We brought her home today. She is still unconscious but can be fed and watered. All the bones are healed and it is just for her to wake up, which might be today or next week, or next month.

Throughout her stay she was treated like a Princess and nothing was too much bother. The doctors and nurses all worked for her full recovery and there was never any mention of age or debility debarring her from the best treatment.

As we were preparing her for the trip 3 incidents took place.

The neurosurgeon had personally come to help see her off and when he overheard a visitor to another patient tell someone we were (equivalent of) "taking the old biddy home to die" he went ballistic and told them she was very much going home to continue her recovery.

The second was that the ambulance men who came for her were ordered to stand aside and let the nurses transfer her to the gurney. Every nurse and student on duty participated in this action.

The third was particularly pleasing to me because while in ICU I had sung Glen Miller songs to her (she having worked at the denied USAF base at NP during the late 60s and 70s and boogied on a Saturday night at the service men's club). In the opposite bed was an unconscious young lad with the obligatory head injury (yes- fallen off a motorbike while not wearing a crash helmet) and a fretting mother and brother. It would appear the lad had come out of his coma and was found humming "Chattanooga ChooChoo" one morning by the nurse. The sister told me the mother had been looking for me for days to thank me. Strange old World!

We made many friends over the time there among staff and patients and their families. We shared a common trial and supported each other as best we could, each to our own. Language was no barrier, if anything permitting a little license on access and routines. We have a way to go but in a UK NHS hospital she would have been discounted immediately from treatment.

Sorry if some of this sounds schmaltzy.

Cost? = not a baht as I had funded her health insurance for the last 2 years. I would dread to think the real cost.

I subscribe to all of the above and I was 61 yesterday and officially retired at the stroke of midnight.

Here in this other far Eastern Isaan province called Nakhon Phanom all that has been claimed for elsewhere has doubled, if not trebled. It may amuse some to hear of a recent episode - or could just demonstrate all my humour is truly lavatorial.

Tesco Lotus were holding yet another promotion in their doorway with the obligatory 6 pretty little things with massive egos and even bigger microphones but exactly what they were promoting evaded me.

Having just landed and my small battered gut not yet acclimatized I was in mid race for the facility when one of these little darlings popped up in front of me and tried to engage me in conversation about their wonderful product targeted specifically at falang. I tried hard to excuse myself politely but said little darling continued to step back in my way and obstruct aforementioned urgent progress - you know the one with the butt clenching crabbing technique. At full volume the darling asked me in unintelligible English what I would most like in store - as if I had failed to listen to all the clues planted - and I regaled the whole store at 120Db that the toilet was the most desirable at this moment. Determined to get the right reply from me the blocking continued until I lifted him onto a counter and rushed past.

However, the little swine got the last laugh as the only cubicle free was the one directly below the speaker and for the duration of my trumpet involuntary I was regaled with cacophony.

There being a large Vietnamese population here with cafes and restaurants they are much more responsive to a respectful request that the goggle box or piped muzac be turned down / off / over and the elders control the callow yoof who, on entry, reach for the controller.

The Chelsea Riverside with its fabulous terrace overlooking the Mighty Mekong and Lao Mountains is a godsend. Great food and the chance to sup a beer and just be there with friends gabbing away is a rare treat I intend increasing. The occasional tape of 70s pop is most welcome as it is played a real background music. My Thai family and friends all opt for it when I suggest we meet up. Proof of the pudding and all that. But then she did cater for Fulham folk for 14 years and more so was on direct route to Chelsea Football Ground from the tube station.

Best wishes all.

Thanks for the great replies.

By friendly I suppose I mean not being shot at.

The Laos route was to incorporate doing Laos other than Thakhek on a visa run last year over the Friendship Bridge Number 3. I recall while waiting for the return bus in the PM seeing a beaten up old bus staggering into the bus station and droves of weary travellers staggering cross legged to the toilet. I last witnessed the stench from inside the bus in Jugoslavia while chasing war criminals and being returned a truck load of that week's sport. So I was reluctant to contemplate this route.

The routes via Surin and Sisaket seem easipeasy and the e-visa I will get onto now.

Thanks guys

Stephen

I want to get some travelling in before knuckling down.

I am currently based in Nakhon Phanom but want to visit Cambodia and do the sights, especially Siem Riep temples.

The long haul south from NP to Ubon is well catered for by 4/5 buses a day but from there I need real guidance.

Is the border open to a Brit and travelling on a bus? Of course with all the visa services there?

As I am so close to Laos would an alternative be to travel down through Laos (from Thakhek) and cross what I am told is a much friendlier boder into Cambodia?

any guidance much appreciated.

Expect to travel within the week and hope to be away for 3 weeks.

Thanks muchly

Stephen

Hi Oracle,

I appreciate your time to give me chapter and verse on Land Office procedures. It is my business because I proposed the whole hive down to ensure GM's wish was fulfilled. GM had funded 4 aunts and uncles of and 3 siblings of TGF -oops also TGF - through University. My TGF returned from a good engineering consulting job in BKK over two years ago when GM became sick, despite not being aware that her own sense of sickness was cancer. GM's sickness was bowel cancer. I had been chatting with my TGF and her (now 10 yo) daughter for 2 years before all this happened. We first met online on the strangest type of social website (pay close attention here breadbin) being a cancer forum, because I was in intensive care with bowel cancer in Bath and the daughter was worrying what her mother's sickness was. The clever kid was trawling the net searching for clues of sickness her mother was self-denying. I paid for TGF's medical investigations and treatment - more precisely a friend who lives and works in BKK flew to NP and frogmarched her back to BKK for tests and successful treatment - a 1 in 40,000 shot of success on a pre-cancerous tumour behind the knee). May I say whooopeee? I also paid for GM's bowel operation and she is now back in the field strewing fertiliser on fields she had had to neglect. Now she has money to live on and a working small holding, which gives her great pride. If TGF had died the daughter would have been an orphan with 70 yo grandparents who had turned off and were planning to go to temple.

For some reason best known to themselves and they always deny if asked both TGF and GM seem terrified of officialdom. Having been present last August at the LO interview I was impressed by the officer who gently chatted with GM to ascertain her mental competence and freeness of will before approving the transaction. GM was then handed back to a creepy looking officer (40 years experience as an investigator tells me when someone is behaving creepy) who then produced the drawn up new chenote plans for her approval. She signed them and then my TGF was told to go to the cashier window and pay some fees for which she got a receipt. I asked TGF to get information on what other fees are payable and any taxes payable. For some reason the cashier started shouting at my TGF and she returned to me crying. When I asked what the problem was she refused to reply, but later told me she had refused to pay Tea Money on top - a sum equal to the fees just paid - not 5% or 10% but a full 100%.

Between then and now nothing has progressed but GM has received telephone calls from the LO creep. For what possible reason could that be? On the day of my arrival I went with an interpreter from the NP University and asked at the LO for either a copy of the fee table or the government website we could find it. I also asked for a detailed statement of fees paid by GM and TGF and was refused because I was not party to the transaction. I returned later with both GM and TGF (again quaking) and again asked for the fees paid account and an indication of further fees. I was told we would be advised at the appropriate moment. I asked when that would be and he said he would look the file up some time but he was a very busy man.

That is where it stands, except the next day he again telephoned GM and she cried for the rest of the day.

Around this whole saga includes the drawing up of wills by all parties so there is no doubt of anyone intentions on death.

Is it any of my business? I leave the jury to decide. I do know that if TGF had died and GM had died the daughter would have been homeless and without a pot to piss in.

So next time you want to make smart comments Breadbin In suggest you really do hold your foul tongue because there is a world of love and sincerity out here rather than the sewer in your mind.

Best wishes to all fair minded folk out there in Thai Visa land.

Stephen

PS In case any one wants to know I also beat my cancer against the odds and now am creating a life of love for my final years with the lady I have grown to admire and a daughter who is utterly amazing.

Hi guys

thanks for your replies.

Let me be clear - the lady at Hull was very pleasant but was insistent her handbook and procedures did not take into account such e-statements.

The actual document I sent them showed each of my accounts with account number, account name, type of account and balance. The statement itself was dated but did not have anything but the Nationwide logo on it. No address or verification code. This seemed to be her sticking point.

I do not receive paper statements which are issued half yearly and therefore of no use for proof of balance, unless there is coincidence on dates - a one in 6 months chance.

The letter run up for me as a courtesy by the local branch manager was a letterheading with branch address, phone numbers, email address and such. The text was something along the lines of " I hereby certify that the above account holder has a balance of such and such in his account with this Building Society. I further certify that over the last 3 years the account holder has held account balances averaging in excess of x gbp.

The letter was provided as a courtesy by the manager as her branch supports our NP charitable school fundraising efforts by having our collection box on the branch counters.

When I .pdf'd the letter across to the Consulate they replied within the hour confirming issue of the visa and I could then move to buy my flight.

best wishes all.

Stephen ( a new Isaan Expat in the making)

I applied at Hull for the above visa using a screen print of my Nationwide bank account balances as proof of having 20k gbp in liquid funds. Given that I would have had to use my banking security password to gain access to the information I was surprised to be advised that this form of proof is not adequate for their needs.

In this advancing time of e-banking getting paper bank statements to satisfy the Consul's needs was surprisingly difficult and only overcome by the kindness of my local branch manager typing up a certificate of balance and slapping lots of branch stamps over it.

In all it delayed my progress by 3 working days and hours on the telephone.

Just thought you should beware of this new wrinkle in the system.

Best wishes all

Stephen

Thank you Khun Jean for putting Breadbin in the know.

I asked here because, unlike the British Land Registry where everything is listed, I have looked high and low here and on Thai Government websites and have not found the answer.

When do you ever ask Caesar how much of your money he should loot? I think generally the cynicism demonstrated endlessly on here has a real foundation even within my own limited experience.

My TGF and her family are the closest honorary GM got to having a family. As Thai Inheritance law is identical to UK law we conducted a search for distance statutory beneficiaries, without success. The search was certainly enough to satisfy any British Probate Commissioner.

Back to the main thread of my OP thanks Harry for a full but, alas, depressing reply. I at least have a formula for a worst case budget.

When we complete this transaction within the next few weeks I shall give detailed feedback on the damage.

Best wishes all

Stephen

Much appreciated Harrry

as with anything like this you raise yet further questions by your answer.

Is the tax based on land area and use or on a perceived arms length sale value? The land has not been worked for several years and then only on harvesting bushes that produced petty income at market - such as chilli peppers that fetch a good price. In the UK there is plenty of reference material on public record with which to get better than a thumbnail guess - what is available here to resist extortionate overvaluation? Or indeed are we now too late in the cycle to have put the bribe in for a sensible valuation, with obviously more reasonable tax bill to pay. The LO have no basis for knowing Farang money is being used to fund the fees and taxes and does that affect anything?

BTW, there are serious lessons to be learned from this as I discover honorary GM has not made a will and should she die this moment it all goes to the Government. Would that deserve a little or giant eeeeeeeek?

This has required several visits to the farm by Land Office surveyors and so far a
visit to the NP Land Office to be interviewed as to her mental competence and to
confirm the draft plots and deed transfers, all prepared by LO. Fees have been
paid at various stages and receipts obtained from the cashier's window. I was
not present at and honorary GM refuses to tell me if she paid any other cash
sums on visits to the farm.

I have looked high and wide for a schedule of fees for the obviously
different elements of service without success. My TGF just reassures me that all
these things are always expensive and you just have to pay.

Thanks and best wishes

Stephen

Arrived Nakhon Phanom Wednesday by nightbus

I sent birthday presents through Royal Mail Registered with Insurance end of November 2012 and they have never arrived. The tracking showed they were loaded on an aircraft but Royal Mail said all further enquiries should got to Thai Post. I pushed and pushed Royal Mail with whom I had the contract and all they did was send me a cheque for the insured based on an arcane formula bearing no relation to the real value inside, even though declared.

Deeply disappointed family in Thailand.

After a few days' reflection on my flight I felt it necessary to put this to Jet Airways for comment.

I will post their response here if they dare to make one - other than the usual adodyne PR drivel.

Watch this space.

Best wishes all

Stephen

Hi Sporting Dog

I am in NP now. Am I too late to give you feedback as you requested?

Stephen

Airline: Jet Airways

Ticket Price: gbp 602 Return

How Purchased – agent at last minute

Dates: depart Monday 25^th March at 1005, arriving BKK Suvha… 7.40am

Class of Service: economy

Route: London Heathrow – Mumbai - BKK

Aircraft Type: 777-300 and then

737-900

Seat Configuration: 3-4-3 and 3-3

Stopover City: Mumbai

Check-in Location (good or bad?):

Smooth and professional

Airport security at Heathrow:

more form than substance – lots of shouting and handing out clear plastic bags
but I later found 3 items in my bag that should have been declared or binned.

Excess Bag Fees (if any): generous 30kg allowance so not an issue.

Lounges Used: None

Limo Service Provided: None

In-flight Entertainment: The

movie I watched kept cutting out so gave up. The menu showed an extensive
selection.

In-flight Cabin Service (good or bad?): On first leg generally good but they

seemed to think that I could not fit into my seat more of a joke than a
concern. I am bigger built but certainly not fat – bigger and fatter people
sitting within the same section had much bigger seats and fitted ok. This
really pissed me off. The male staff seemed incapable of doing any work and the
girls had to work overly hard to compensate for the lazy arrogant men.


Seat Comfort: first flight dire –

second flight ok but a whole aircraft from a toilet with a very long queue.


Food Quality: not as good as just

October 2012


On Time Performance: left and

arrived on time


Comments:

This airline really failed me

this trip and enough that I should think of abandoning my return flight in
June.

I could not actually sit on the

777-300 seat and had to sit on cushions above the seat. The staff seemed amused
at my discomfort.

Mumbai was the same old security

nightmare and I was booed by hundreds of Germans (hehe) as I was pulled to the
head of the security queue to enable the Mumbai to BKK leg to leave on time. The
security procedures were keystone cops meets hello hello meets Inspector
Clouseau. – ah but the uniforms were impeccable!

The 737-900 is totally

inappropriate for this journey, being configured 16 1^st class and
160+ second. Two toilets at the back served the economy seats and the full
flight of over 3.5 hours caused a queue for the toilets of more than 9 long,
and must have been a real pain for the people sitting at the back. The need to
serve drinks and snacks meant a long expedition to the toilet from where I was
sitting in row 10.

Immigration at BKK: no queue this

time and smiling officer granted my 3 month on my one year semi retired visa to
the day. Was amazed!

Oh BTW

At an altitude of 10feet I did not experience any bends or other pressure on my eyes - just a very sore backside for which I do not thank Jet Airways

I took this service just on Tuesday night and had reporting to you in mind as a side issue.

Both Nokair and AirAsia were fully booked for the next three days so I had no choice. In preparation for my journey from the UK I did look at both airlines as an option and both were much more than the VIP bus ticket - ignoring time saved benefits.

Being stranded in BKK Suvha.... I asked for and got really good advice from the TAT info stand at the departure floor. He knew that tickets for the buses would be fully booked many hours in advance and recommended I went there in person, with the added benefit of a left luggage store for my oversize and overweight suitcase. I took the Makkasan express (cost 90 baht), then a taxi to MoChit (cost 120 baht) where the information desk guided me to windows 17 to 19 for the buses I required. Because of total lack of Thai I was unable to read any other sign that showed me an alternative.

The single ticket for the 7pm bus cost me 873 baht. There was also a 6pm and a 7.30 bus. The 7pm bus arrived in NP at about 7.15 am, having taken a leisurely plod from Sakhon Nakhon, dropping people every 10 km or so.

The bus was clean and well maintained. The seat was fully reclining and comfortable but rows 1 to 5 are best avoided as I really felt I was in the disaster movie in seat 1c.

The blanket provided was in a laundry bag and the meal box contained a cakelet and a slice of fruit bread. The making for coffee or tea in the box did not produce either cups or service at any time.

We stopped somewhere on route at 11pm for a comfort break and a Thai meal of sorts (inclusive on production of a ticket) which I forewent on allergy grounds.

Apart from having been ground down by the Jet Airways flight London - Mumbai - BKK I would have taken the VIP bus in my stride. As it was I survived and am now in the bosom of my family.

Looking at the ticket I cannot find any information for telephone booking.

I hope this helps you.

Best wishes

Stephen Wright

I was living in a village called Bandongchok near Nakhon Phanom while teaching the little darling kids how to say "how now blown cow". Because I insisted on encouraging them with smiles I found I was being referred to as Farangchok.

I was given my nickname in England by a founder member of Private Eye, Noel Picarda-Kemp, who branded me Knacker as I was a young serving SIB officer. I attended a board meeting / piss up above the Coach & Horses in Soho when they were discussing how to attribute information received from police and intelligence sources on current stories running in the Eye. Noel looked at me and burst out with Inspector Knacker. My TGF has received very funny looks when describing herself as Mrs Knacker.

While I was at the farm in Nakhon Phanom last August / September I craved for a pork pie, real cheddar cheese and Branston Pickle for both. On the booze front a pint of London Pride or a glass of Chenin Blanc from Vouvray.

I introduced the TGF and family to pasta in its various dishes and they all loved it - but only after smothering it with Soy Sauce. Now they say I must return quickly as they miss (my) pasta dish. Until I return next week from the UK I crave the baked fish plucked from the local fish farm.

Am salivating

regards all

Stephen (aka Falangchok)

Hi David, thanks for inviting me to this intriguing thread after you saw my lament about Nokair's mothballing the Yak 7 on the BKK to NP route in favour of an unusually large 737-800.

I have been spoilt during my lifetime because I have seen a long lifespan of aircraft in a wide range of circumstances. I grew up in SE London and saw the oldies flying into LHW during the 1960s and 70s. During my service I flew all over the World and called in everywhere there was a British embassy or legation as bagman. I served in HK so enjoyed (change underwear) the Kai Tak and then foolishly lived in a high rise and waved down to the Jumbos as they kicked right round my building. In the early 80's I worked at Brentford directly under the LHW flightline. Finally, before moving to sleepy Frome in Somerset ( no -one told me about the intensive military flying serving troop training on nearby Salisbury Plain I lived on the Perimeter of LHW ATC at Maidenhead and had every one of the World's airlines turn onto approach line over the top of me. Concorde is still the ultimate turn on. Serving in a "funny" outfit Brixmis in East Germany we had the unique pleasure of discovering the Mig 29 that just happened to be skulking inside a hanger without having locked the door - naughty Russians.

It is obvious I have nothing wrong with my distant memory as all the oldies sprung to mind instantly and still thrill at seeing the beautiful VC10. I have to look up all the modern kites as like modern cars they all look alike.

I will be living in Nakhon Phanom so will see little except that from the local airfield and the RTNAS, unless I go over the Friendship Bridge 3 into central Laos and snoop around in the side valleys.

Would you mind if I put up an occasional aircraft for your wizard anoraks?

Best wishes all.

Stephen

I see Nokair are offering only one flight a day BKK to Nakhon Phanom and too early for a same day connection between airports.

Also I see the Yak 7 has been replaced by a 737-800 which is a much bigger beast with triple the seats. I had hoped to treat my god daughter to her first flight for her birthday - and why not by the seat of her pants. I flew the Knock off Handley Page Herald / Fokker Friendship (via the knock off Ilyushin) last August and felt all that was missing was a parachute, having done 57 jumps from the HPH / FF. The 7373-800 has no magic but probably a fair trade off for an air safety record on note.