keestha

Though being a tourism entrepreneur, I have never heard about this tax, can anybody enlighten me?

Who lives by the sword, will die by the sword. Till now I managed to get myself out of any nasty situation by just talking, no matter how intoxicated the "adversary" was, prefer to keep on doing it this way.

As far as going to Ranong is concerned, those worried about safety might as well just take the public bus, easily doable in 1 day, will take a bit more time than going on an organized visa run, but works out cheaper. Going to Penang, one could take the public bus to Hadyai, and from there, oh well, take a minivan.

Anyway getting off track in that laneway there is a very popular mom and pop shop that serves beer. I see several farang there every day. They look old and British. I

Yeah sure. Any place where there are lots of expats around + retired westerners spending the winter, there are some of them who tend to congregate at M&P stores with benches outside where they sit and drink beer, suppose they can also use a toilet.

I hope Halpin will write a book about it eventually. His story is a very unique one, even for a long term Thailand expat, it could be bestseller and movie rights material. I have been in Thailand for 21 years and could tell a few little stories, but compared to this guy I am about as interesting as the average package tourist.

Old Thai people will be able to tell you there are transparant/milky crystal like stones which make brown water clear when you put them into it for some time. I managed to buy them once in Hua Hin in the nineties, when the tap water had gone brown.

The yellow ones are quite cheap but more suitable for removing tattoos.

Also getting the feeling it's a bit quiet for the time of the year now. Bars/restaurants in Khao Lak having few customers, not only due to the fact the number of places keeps increasing rapidly. Ads you get to see on the internet are based on surfing behavior, I get flooded with Agoda ads offering Khao Lak hotels quite cheaply, sad for the owners especially if you know that Agoda takes at least an at least 17% commission.

Tourists which are there hold on tightly to their money, like people going through great lengths trying to haggle down the price of a room which costs 500 or 600 Baht.

A friend of mine will be moving from Germany to Thailand, and wants to take her cat with her. Does anybody know what the practicalities are, and what about Thai quarantine laws?

Don't think there will be many people interested in playing hi-so on a discount. As Hans Gruber states, 10% service charge will be added, don't forget 7% VAT, so you end up paying about 3% less then the inflated price on the menu card.

I keep getting discount coupons through the snail mail, from the bank and so, never used them, wouldn't be any different if I would live in Bangkok or Phuket instead of in Khao Lak, where chain stores till now have a very limited presence.

Only discount I enjoy is paying 10 Baht less for a beer in some of the local bars, because they know I live here.

January 1 has always been my favorite day, when the whole thing is over. But to everybody his own, enjoy it if it is your type of thing.

Hamburgers served in stand alone places vary from horrible to excellent. Best fast food chain as far as I am concerned is Subway.

the cheeseburger I ordered left me sitting on the toilet for the rest of the evening. Won't go back there again, but to each his own.

Please think twice before throwing around accusations like that. You problem might have been caused by something you ate somewhere else earlier in the day.

The symptoms of food poisoning can start kicking in after a good number of hours. All too often it happens like a couple eating in a restaurant, getting the runs and then blaming the restaurant, whilst the real cause was something they took out of the fridge at home at lunch time.

Don't understand why everybody seems to be so convinced Boy took advantage of the child.

Children that age can be verbally very well developed, and tend to overestimate what they are capable of. My line of thinking is that she pleaded very convincingly with Boy to let her go by herself, and Boy, being not experienced with young children and lacking responsibility in general, just let her have her way.

Anyway it is all speculation. Pray she will be all right.

The Christmas gap, an effect which is clearly noticeable every year, the last 2 weeks before roughly December 20. Tourists who want to celebrate Xmas/New Year at home have left already, and those who want to celebrate it here have not arrived yet. You might notice another small gap around January 21, when tourists who were here for the festive season are going home massively.

I seem to recall with previous events such as this that the guilty party was often called Boy. It seems that we only have Boy's word that he dropped her off.

I hope there is good news and she is found unharmed

Simon

No reason to assume Boy is the culprit (Simon, I know you don't). But I am a parent, and no way if I would be entrusted with the task of bringing a 6 year old child home, I would release her from my care before she really is home.

Hope she'll be found alive and well.

Perfect location - stop moaning!

Simon => living in north Phuket

Yes excellent location, even better would have been the building where now still Phuket Gateway is, just across the bridge. Please don't forget Phuket is not like St. Helena an island all alone in the middle of the ocean, part of the stuff bought in that store. will surely find its way to Khao Lak and maybe even Krabi.

Have been wondering about bio-degradable plastic bags for a very long time. 20+ years ago, when I still had a restaurant in Amsterdam/Netherlands, I decided to run a little experiment, and I pinned a bio-degradable bag to the wall in the storage room. A few years down the road it was still there, and looking perfect. But outdoors it might be different, and likely technique has improved. Might repeat the experiment and pin a bio-degradable bag to a tree in the garden, hope the cat leaves it alone, and see how fast it disappears.

I really support this initiative. I never take a plastic bag from 7-11s or Family Marts. Makro offer no bags, I take my own.

Very good initiative. A few months ago I went into Makro/Krabi, was a bit at a loss but still happily surprised when they didn't put my stuff into bags, they made me purchase a durable plastic bag which I am still using.

Go to Surat Thani, and get on the bus to Ta Khun, which is on the way to Takua Pa. From there, take a taxi (approx. 12 km) to the pier at the Rajaprabha dam. At the lake, there are many floating resorts where you can stay, prices will include meals.

Interesting. How is their price level?

Lots of stars on a bargain, stay at the Club Andaman at a small island just inside Myanmar opposite Ranong. Room rates are low because the bulk of the profit comes from the casino.

I use 008 To call australia with AIS cost about 7 baht a minute from memory

Same here, can use 008 using AIS with a non smart phone, Germany 7 Baht, USA 5 Baht. Rates vary a lot per country though, for instance Austria costs a lot more than Germany, maybe because the call has to go uphill first.

For some time now this google ad has been all over TV. Clicking on the link next to it results in a page not found message on the Australian immigration website.

what cheap Charlie gets 100baht notes out of an atm!? ok we will add a bit of leeway, he was italian.

lol... i do it all the time. Instead of taking out 1,000 i do 900. Good luck trying to give that 1000 note to local food vendors

People need small nominations. TMB ATM's give a 1900 Baht fast cash option, makes sense. I frequently withdraw 900 Baht because my shop is low on change.