keestha

Don't think this rule will be so rigidly enforced, they won't seach everybody going into a park for alcohol. But it might help to keep like loud student partying in check - it gives the park rangers something to threaten with, if at all they are willing to challenge persons they will view as having a higher status then themselves.

How many expats are living in Thailand?

The closest realistic answer you would get by asking all the embassies, they try to keep track of their citizens residing here.

Obviously they would only know about people who registered at their embassy, plus those who did not, but who are known to the embassy because they came for a new passport or other consular services at least once.

But...is the Mae Sai/Tachilek border crossing open now?

Subamitra Hotel, easy walking distance from the nightlife area, 032-511208. Fan rooms with hot water and TV 535 Baht, aircon rooms also available. They have a swimming pool, a restaurant which is good for breakfast, and a large parking lot for your chopper.

The smoking vz non smoking debate:

Designing public spaces, it is counterproductive to ignore the fact that part of the world population smokes.

In places like airports, gasstations and department stores there should be a well signposted outdoor smoking area, far enough away from everything not to bother non smokers. Would be better for both smokers and non smokers.

Oh and non smoker, have a bit of compassion for the smoker who gets around on a bicycle, whilst you are often driving a car or a motorcycle when not strictly necessary, thereby polluting the atmosphere.

I am pretty sure that if you ask any Thai person to help you look for a maid, you'll be swamped with candidates soon enough. No need to go to an agency and pay their commission.

My understanding is that smoking is allowed in outdoor restaurants, but they are supposed to have a non smoking area. It would be nice if somebody could put a link to a government website with the law.

It is even difficult to find an English-Burmese or Thai-Burmese dictionary - last time I looked in Bangkok, lots of English-Italian dics, but only a small tourist dictionary for Burmese. Why don't you consult an NGO that assists Burmese migrant labourers?

hostelworld.com, not only for backpackers,you prepay 10% by credit card and you get a confirmed booking instantly.

Figures quoted above for salaries are quite nice, 8k or even more, including housing and food. Wondering about these girls' working hours, are they supposed to be at least stand by the whole day, 7 days a week?

Have a look at Khao Lak, one hour taxi ride from Phuket Airport. No shortage of 5 star hotels, and also plenty of restaurants. Beautiful forest covered hilly inland area with lots of waterfalls, and lots of beaches, and easy to arrange snorkeling/diving tours to the nearby Similan and Surin islands.

The gasstation just north of the big roundabout south of Thalang seems to be a place that attracts homeless people. Several times people who were laying or idling around on the benches under the gazebo (sala)asked me for money, cigarettes and so on.

On the big market that is there three times a week in Khao Lak there are also people begging, locals told me they are people from somewhere else.

Why don't you ask the OrBorTor if they can recommand somebody? Then you are sure the building plan will be approved.

Every time there is a "tsunami rumour" thread, I hope that people will quickly start new threads, or revive old ones, so that the tsunami rumour goes to page 2. Any publicity (or even just talking about it) makes the damaging rumour stronger

So you favour the Ostrich approach? People don't drown everyday either but we prefer lifeguards to be there just in case. Would keeping an eye open on certain days be so hard. Would making a mental note of escape routes etc be considered so superstitious and doomsaying? Earthquakes only come along once in a blue moon also but we still build with them in mind. Why do people think a tsunami rumour is such a bad thing. It just might make those bloody Russians move their loungers back from the waters edge a bit.

Logbags,

I am a tsunami victim. My resort in Khao Lak was razed to the ground, five of my guests and two of my staff died, and myself I barely escaped running.

Every time there is an Indian Ocean earthquake, I am notified by text message, and I run to the computer to look at the PTWC (Pacific Tsunami Warning Center) website, also if it happens at 3 AM.

Im am doing OK now, I rebuilt my resort and never felt traumatized. But those spreading unfounded rumours do a lot of damage to people who lived through this and whose nerves are still a little bit on edge.

Every time there is a "tsunami rumour" thread, I hope that people will quickly start new threads, or revive old ones, so that the tsunami rumour goes to page 2. Any publicity (or even just talking about it) makes the damaging rumour stronger.

Not so unusual to see unkempt, dirty looking and obviously mentally ill people roaming the streets in Thailand. In my area, there used to be one walking along the highway close to Phangnga, and another one walking along the highway in Phuket.

A Thai once told me that as long as these people are alive, nobody wants to have anything to do with them, but if one of them is hit by a car and dies, then he suddenly has a lot of relatives who loved him very much and want to see compensation.

Prasuri Guesthouse at Thanon Dinsor just off victory monument.

A small basic bungalow with bathroom should be about 100k Baht. Wood is more expensive and more difficult to maintain, use C-pack (the concrete blocks) or bricks. Bricks as a material are cheaper, but labour costs are higher, it works out about the same. If the guy supervising the construction purchases the materials, a percentage will be added, that he pockets. Don't pay the construction crew per day, but agree on a price for the total job. If you pay them in installments payable once a certain stage has been reached, they might keep asking for advance payments, till a lot of work but little money is left, and then stop showing up. Good luck.

Once I bought linen quite cheaply in Victoria Point, in Burma opposite Ranong.

Take Tripadvisor with a grain of salt. I am a resort owner, and lately I got an e-mail from somebody claiming to be an ex Tripadvisor employee, offering to write 4 positive reviews per month about my resort, at a charge of US$60 per month.

In Khao Lak it is definitely slow for the time of the year. Could have something to do with the exchange rate for the Euro, or with the extensive foreign news coverage of floodings in Thailand, or possibly still with political unrest earlier in the year. Oh well, there is always something.

You could also go there from Phuket, the ferry leaves from the pier at Ao Po in northern Phuket.

Check out Koh Phayam or Koh Chang just off Ranong city. Also Laem Son national park close to Kaper south of Ranong. The Surin islands can be visited from Kuraburi or Khao Lak, and from Khao Lak you can also go to the Similan islands.You could also check out Sri Phangnga national park in between Kuraburi and Takua Pa - no accomodation possibilities apart from a campsite, bur great hiking trails.

Never stay at anywhere called a resort.

The name is an excuse to overcharge.

Not true. I've stayed at many and they have been fantastic. From cheap to expensive. Some good, some bad. But no different than places called "hotel".

Agreed. It doesn't mean anything if a place calls itself resort, hotel or guesthouse. A "guesthouse" place can be more expensive than a "resort" place. Confusing sure, there are expensive upmarket "guesthouses" with a swimming pool, dirt cheap "resorts" that consist of straw and bamboo huts, and 300 Baht city "hotels" with rooms boasting a cold shower and an asian toilet.

I am still gratefull I had the chance to visit the temple back in 1999. The view from the temple looking down from a hundreds of meters high almost vertical cliff, is one of the most stunning things I have ever seen.