keestha

Go to the bus station in Phuket Town. There are busses leaving in the morning, arriving in HH late in the evening. Most busses though leave in the evening, and get to HH around 3 AM. If you take a night bus, whilst boarding make clear you go to HH, otherwise they will use a road which completely bypasses HH.

Extreme weather this year. June/July, practically never saw the sun here in Khao Lak, and rain positively every day. Tourists coming out of the hotels when the rain stops or becomes less for a bit, the colors of the hotel umbrellas tell me where they are staying. Sometimes passing them by, I feel like rolling down the car window, and shouting at them: "And, do you enjoy your cheap package tour?".

the remote was not for the particular brand, but universal for all.

Works well if you can't find the brand you want.

Believe the universal ones are cheaper as well.

Quoting the OP: "“Of the 82 businesses, 64 of them are using the office of their accountant or lawyer as their business address. The others could not be contacted.” This means at least for now, they are only targeting extreme cases, so not for instance a company registered restaurant where the cook might be listed as a shareholder.

Notice I need quite a few new remote controls for TV's and aircons, different makes. Anybody knows about a shop which is well assorted where I could maybe buy everything in one go?

"(im not on a big budget, but dont want to "slum" it" - then you can't afford to travel in Phuket - taxis/tuk-tuks, all designed to fleece tourists and ensure they never go back.

My tip - go to Samui.

The lady is an expat living in Chiang Mai, and she will certainly be able to holiday in Phuket on a modest budget. All over the world, it is poorly informed tourists who stand a chance to be fleeced, certainly not locals and expats.

Lots of helpful people offering advice, but the OP's post count still stands at 1. Have some doubts here. The OP states: "Needing life & travel advice, as i am still very naive ". This is what you call in Latin a "contradictio in terminis" (self contradicting statement) - by definition somebody who is truly naive, is not aware of this herself.

The thread could be useful for young and inexperienced travelers though, and should continue by all means.

OP, in case my doubts are not justified, please accept my apologies, and be so kind to say "Thank you" to all these people who are trying to help you.

Tiger kittens sitting on tourists laps and being bottle fed, a sure way to create a mentally traumatized tiger. Saw this at Phuket Fantasea back in 2000, not sure if they are still doing it.

At first it surprised me that obviously most of the train passengers were foreign tourists, though it is low season. But trains being slow and invariably coping with delays, Thai people who cannot afford to drive/fly will tend to take the bus.

June 26 I arrived at Suv around 10 PM, and I noticed the re-entry desk was closed.

With a sign saying closed or just nobody there?

just nobody there, door closed.

You can book a national park bungalow at the island max 60 days in advance through http://www.dnp.go.th/parkreserve/reservation.asp?lg=2. Normally for weekdays they'll give a 30% discount.

June 26 I arrived at Suv around 10 PM, and I noticed the re-entry desk was closed.

It must depend on what time of day you try to park then because I have had problems finding a space a many occasions.

Sometime driving round in circles for about 20 mins then giving up and double parking and now that the cargo car park is closed it's even worse.

Yes, I cant remember the last time I actually found a spot. I just put the car in nuetral and double park it. I reckon the mayor of Phuket would struggle to find a spot there. Its the same in Patong, Kata, Karon. Really its just one big taxi rank

Exactly. The best that has been in there for me for a long time is double parking at the far end next to the public road, taking care not to forget not to apply the hand brake.

At least see to it you go with the company you actually booked with. A customer I booked the trip for waited at the parking lot in downtown Khao Lak where minivans/buses always stop. A van labelled visa something stopped a bit before the appointed time, my customer stepped forward, and the driver asking: "you go visa run? Yes? then you give me 1400 Baht" Customer: " But they said it was 1300 Baht". Driver" Eh....OK, you give me 1300 Baht". Ten minutes later I got a distressed phone call from a lady working for the company I had booked him with. One of the other companies had stolen a customer of theirs, and it wasn't the first time it had happened.

A lot of competition, and I have the impression there are players coming into the market and getting out of it continuously.

As far as driving style is concerned, anywhere on the Phuket - Ranong road I automatically slow down when I see a visa run approaching, allowing them to overtake me as quickly as possible. Their clients are in a hurry, having important business to attend to!

Sad as it is it doesn't shock me so much. The child/woman boundary is not so clearly defined here, at least not among lowly educated people. For a short while a 15 year old girl was working in my hotel as a housekeeper, before moving on to a karaoke, still living with her parents who were of course fully aware of it. I saw her back once more, and though she still looked the same I noticed a subtle change. Though she was definitely not flirting with me I sensed she had learned to play the man game. Not a child anymore, sad, the transformation should have taken place whilst interacting for fun with guys at the most a few years older than her.

On another occasion a female bar owner proudly showed me a picture of her 15 year old daughter, saying she was working in a karaoke.

Unfortunately this type of thing is still fairly widely accepted.

Though I have done a lot of car mileage in Phuket, I was never stopped there. But lots of times on the highway going to Central Thailand and on to the Isaan. They will say that you were speeding though you were not, or they will say that you have to keep left, but you were overtaking. Guess I could try to play the smart guy and start arguing with them, but I just prefer to give them 100 Baht. Easy does it.To my experience, this is also what Thai people invariably do.

At least this thread made me decide always to keep a copy of my passport and visa in the car.

Oh well, I guess this thread is about to approach its natural end.

Craigt, when have you been to Hua Hin for the last time? There is plenty of nightlife, at least 5 beer bar filled sois, and on my last visit (june 27) action was also going on till late. Should be enough to keep the OP busy for a night or 2!

Cats are very useful animals! Once I heard a bit of mouse like noise in a corner of my open air restaurant, looked but saw nothing. The cat I had at the time though, kept staring at that corner, its gaze fixed slightly upwards. I followed its gaze, and it was a snake all right. The cat wont hunt the snake down, but at least it will alert you.

Around the third week of November the rain tends to get less at the Andaman coast. It remains hit and miss though, hope you have good luck.

Since June 29 I drove into Phuket twice, and I noticed police at the checkpoint after the bridge have become slightly more active, not stopping cars but looking who is inside them. Oh well, it could also be for other reasons than looking for this guy.

If there is one thing I hate, it is whitening cream. It makes the woman's skin lighter indeed, but it is an unhealthy looking grayish type of white.

Taxi going back empty adds to the price! For instance, in Khao Lak there are several groups of taxi drivers, who have hotels and diving schools as clients. Going to PIA is relatively cheap, because one hotel needs passengers to be brought to the airport, and another hotel needs passengers to be picked up there. So the driver waits around a bit at PIA, and does not have to go back empty. Going to Khao Sok which is about equidistant from Khao Lak costs more, because the driver will get only the one way fare. It is reasonable I would think, these guys have to make both ends meet.

OP, did your sister in law end up being allowed on the flight? I have never heard of this requirement being asked for from Thais flying on THAI Airways to Europe, including Switzerland which is the only destination in Europe I have flown into. However, as has been mentioned there does seem to be such a requirement so it would be prudent to have 400+ Euros or Swiss Francs available in cash and perhaps debit/credit cards too even if someone else is footing the bill. Somehow you need to be able to support yourself if you are going to another country, in case something happens where your sponsor doesn't arrive at the airport or something you need to find a way of getting by at least for a few days.

I bought 400 Euros at the airport and gave it to her, and then she was allowed on the flight. A lot of fuss about nothing, once in Switzerland she gave the money to the person who had invited her, who subsequently wired it back to me.

It makes very much sense to promote Phuket as a Muslim holiday destination, because of the large Muslim minority group on the island, and because of the many tourist facilities already being in place. Just like tourists from Western countries,Russia, China, India and you name it, the vast majority of the potential Muslim visitors would be decent people who don't create any problems and altogether spend a lot of money.

I am sorry but I think you are totally dillusional and fail to grasp the perception of how Islam conducts itself on a global basis. Phuket has prostituted itself into the condition that it is today in the persuit of the tourist Dollar or Dihram which has done little or nothing to engender the basic concepts of an acceptable Halal environment.

Furthermore the majority of the muslim population hail from other southern provences and you would need to be deaf dumb and blind not to see what is going on in Yala, Narritiwat and Pattani, fueld by these decent people who don't create problems.

Also the majority of foreign Muslims coming to Phuket as tourists do not behave in any manner in compliance with their religious beliefs.

Phuket has always had a Muslim minority group, they are natives.

Troubles in the deep South provinces are only in the east coast provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala, and to a lesser extend Songhkla. Once ever, the people there had their own state, the Sultanate of Pattani. For quite a few of them their native language is not Thai, but Malayu, which is closely related to Bahasa Malaysia.

In the predominantly Muslim deep South west coast provinces of Krabi and Satun, there never have been any troubles at all.

1993, open air beer bar right at the beach in Patong, at the top of a small bar lined alley. I had not finished my Fanta yet and wanted to walk off briefly to buy something to eat, and had a hard time convincing them I would really be back to finish my drink and pay for it. Sigh.....their daughters might be serving me drinks now.