austen

Yoooooohoooooooo we have some news!!

The old location is now empty. Signs at the door say to contact:

Balance Fitness Center, CMIC Tower A (Asoke), Tel. (02) 664-1591 & 664-4251-4

Just a small update--was just contacted by Balance Fitness today which is currently up and running at the location above (contact # above is correct also). They'll be more than happy to give you the remaining months left in your City Fitness membership--provided that you buy a one year membership with them first! Doesn't matter as I've already bought into a new membership elsewhere (as I'm sure most old CF members have as well), but I'd say this was QUITE poorly managed. Just politely told the staff member who contacted me yeah yeah I'll check it out sometime (not her fault, after all), but I'd seriously stay away from this place and its horrendously poor management--or at the very least, don't buy a long-term membership as I doubt they'll be around.

Good luck!

Just a thought, but did you ever give accupuncture a try? Back home in the US, I used to see a chiro about my sciatica but after moving to CM, I started accupuncture at a local hospital--a month of twice weekly treatment and it really did make the most difference out of any treatment I've ever had. Haven't taken it up again since moving down to BKK, but I know it's widely available. Anyway, just an idea...

And while we're on the subject...

I also make it a point to avoid the prepared foods on sale by the meat section at Tops...they're cooking that fish and chicken, etc because it's about to go past its expiration date and it's a last chance at selling it. Not blaming them at all--this is normal practice at Western supermarkets as well and is perfectly legal and probably won't hurt you. But it always makes me think twice about that good looking roast chicken..

Though not the same as deliberately misleading the public...Villas always did seem like the dirtiest and most unkempt of area supermarkets, which I always found odd since they're the one chain that caters most to Western customers...

Not sure about tourist visas, but I've actually been sent away for coming to renew my non-immigrant B too early (2 weeks). In my case, I just knew I had a few trips coming up in the last month before my visa expired and just figured I'd go ahead and get it done so I wouldn't have to worry about it expiring while I would be away. But evidently, they've got so much paperwork to deal with that they'd just rather work with what's most urgent...coming early is sort of like cutting in line I guess. So in this case, procrastination is actually the thing to do. (I was told at that time to come no sooner than the last week of the visa's validity.)

Well, no matter what, reentries expire with your visa whether you use them or not. so I just figure hey, why not two? Anyway, I finally just went to immigration today to get one and asked...they had to think about it, but they said "no"...Which is what I assumed would be the case, but just wondered what if...

And yes, you're absolutely right--it's not too much of a problem at all at the airport (or at Immigration for that matter)...Immigration seems to be getting better and better...managed to get in and out on my lunch break in less than 30 minutes..didn't realize that they've stopped closing for lunch, so now they're open 9-4:30 all day, which works great for the working crowd.

Cheers!

I know, I know...sounds strange, but...

My non-B expires at the end of this month (to then be extended for another year) but before then, I have to make two trips out of the country. Because it's only two trips before my visa expires, a multiple reentry wouldn't be worth the money, so I'll need two single reentries. What I was wondering was, is it possible to get them both together? The trips are literally within days of each other, so it would just be nice to minimize the inconvenience of having to stand in line and do it all over again a few days later. Somehow I'm sure this is not possible as I'm betting there's a rule that says you can't have more than one valid reentry in your passport at a time, but thought I'd ask anyway. Doesn't seem THAT far-fetched, but I also know that it's not the job of Immigration to make my life "more convenient" (nor should it be). Any thoughts?

Thanks!