keestha

I saw many times that somewhere at the outskirts of town, close to wooded hills, monkeys can become a big nuisance, stealing food and begging sometimes aggressively. There are many of these monkeys in the forests, and some groups (?families) can become too used to being close to humans. Examples of this are Khao Takiab in Hua Hin, Khao Krajok in Prachuabkhirikhan, and various places in or at the outskirts of Phangnga Town.

Fun to watch them, but it is not unusual for tourists to get bitten by them.

"Another day, another Dollar"... this morning in the mail box:

Subject: BOOKINGS..

From: [email protected]

Date: Fri, November 19, 2010 5:21 am

To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Priority: Normal

Options:

hello

My Name is Arlin Schneider,i will like to travel to your country with my family for

the new year trips and tours, we will be staying for a 5 days holidays therefore I

will like to know whether you can provide them with any of your tour program.I

want you to get back to me with the price rate and all payment will be done in

advance also let me know the type of credit card you accept as your mode of

payment.

The guest check in date as follows:

Arrival Date: 05of DCE.2010

Departure Date: 10 of DCE.2010

Names of Guest.

Master Peter Wayne....Age : 35 years

Miss Laura Wayne....Age : 30 years

Mr Arlin & Mrs Mary Wayne

Hope to hear from you soonest.

Best Regards,

Arlin Schneider.

In these mails it is always this same line: ....all payment will be done in advance also let me know the type of credit card you accept as your mode of payment.

Account Fraud attempt....

Suppose good money is still to be made with fake hotel bookings, on an average I find 2 per day in my inbox. Usually they are easy to recognize as such because of telltale signs: English full of mistakes though the sender claims to be called Michael Smith, bookings for a 10 night stay, bookings written in a very formal way which is unusual for bookings for my low budget place, and sure, the statement that the full bill will be settled in advance by credit card.

Believe the scam works like this: the money lands in your account indeed, but then they cancel and request a refund to be send through Western Union. Only later the bank will call you telling they paid you fraudulently using somebody's credit card details, and the money will be deducted from your account.

Now these guys are also learning of course, and sometimes I get a booking which I suspect is fake, but I am not really sure. I always mail back then stating I only accept cash and no credit cards.

I am sorry for Thai hotel owners who are more likely than I am to become a victim of this scam.

Quoting the OP:

"When people post a simple question asking advice and wanting a simple answer, then why cant the thread be just that"

Agree to that part. I don't like posting in threads that drifted off topic, readers should know what it is about after reading the title of the thread.

Also I don't like it when people come with off topic advice after a question has been asked: " may I ask how long you have known this Thai girlfriend you want to start a restaurant with? Take this piece of advice from an old Thailand hand my friend bla bla".

It's so easy to feel superior towards people who are down and out.

Often a combination of factors leads to homelessness: The guy's wife walks out on him, and then he loses his job, and a conflict with his neighbours develops, which becomes so nasty that he leaves his house, and ends up living on the street.

Could happen to anybody.

As far as homeless farangs in Thailand is concerned, bizarrely enough their chances of being offered help by strangers spontaneously would be better here than in their country of origin. As another poster stated, it happens that Nana Plaza girls "adopt" such a person. A few years ago I talked to a not homeless but surely pennyless European guy staying in Bangkok at the time. He told me it was still better than being flat broke in his home country, because.....there are women who have pity on you.

Oh well. I certainly don't advocate that down and out westerners just stay here, living off Thai people's generousity. Thai resources should be used for Thai people, maybe also for people from poor neighbouring countries who are in a desperate situation, and certainly not for westerners.

The guy this thread is about, should get his act together, or go "home" and find his way into the help system that will be in place there.

Apart from Khmer architecture at Phanom Rung what other attractions are there in Buri Ram? Why should AA consider flying out there?

Not everybody flying has tourism purposes in mind! But Buriram is maybe too small of a town to make it a profitable destination for an airline. The airport in Buriram is located in Sateuk, roughly 30 KM from Buriram town. Passed by there many times, but I don't think I ever saw a car take the turnoff for the airport.

Take a look at the website hostelworld.com, through them you can book hotels/guesthouses online, pay 10% by credit card and you get your confirmed booking instantly. Guess I don't have to tell you that nowadays even in villages there is always at least one internet shop, which will also have printing facilities.

trains only from hat yai. You can take a mini van to hat yai and from here train (I would think they are going slow) or bus for some 600baht. Tourist buses might be cheaper, but stopping/bus changing

Normally there is a train from Butterworth all the way to Bangkok, just once a day. Do you mean to say this service is interrupted now because of flooding on the B'worth - Hadyai leg?

To my experience, visiting Thai government offices wearing polo, jeans and sandals is perfectly all right. Often civil servants you are dealing with, are equally informally dressed. Only dressing up I do before going on government office business, is changing from a T shirt to a polo. It is probably more important to be patient and talk politely.

the best way will be they will fine him and deport him back to his own country who is reponsible for him.

But deportation service is not free. First somebody would have to buy a ticket for him, directly back to his own country

It would be a major hassle to go from Surat Thani railway station by bus to Phuket (240 KM, to Phuket town). Bussing from Bangkok to Phuket would be a 14 hours sit, and the scenery on the way is only moderately interesting. Take a cheap flight.

People claiming to be police or military asking donations for a worthy cause frequently walk into my resort here in Khao Lak, though now I think of it, they only come during the high season. I never give them anything.

Last time they came, when seeing me, they started the conversation by saying "we are army police", whereupon, though tempted to reply " yes and I am the president of North Korea", I told them in my politest Thai that I was sorry not to be able to give them anything, and that I wouldn't want to waste their time any further. Upon leaving, one of them made a vaguely threatening remark to one of the waitresses who chanced to be nearby.

Exactly. When you book with them, you will get to Koh Kradan all right, but they will arrange transport by van to Had Yao in Trang, where you will be put on a boat to Koh Kradan.

Alternatively, you might book a van (or just take the public bus) from Phuket to Trang, and arrange transport to Koh Kradan the same day at one of the many travel agencies there.

LOL...reminds me of when I tried to apply for a visa for Iran a number of years ago.

Very nice thread.

No matter how well you learn Thai, as a non Asian foreigner you will always be at a disadvantage because people who don't know you, will always assume that you don't speak Thai and that you will be speaking English to them. Going to shops, banks, government offices and so on, I learned first to say "sawasdee kap" and then saying something simple in Thai very slowly like "could I ask you for information" - and then usually the switch will click, they will understand that I do speak Thai. So unlike when I am using English, German or French which are all foreign languages to me, using one of these languages I will start blasting away full speed right away.

But also, no matter how well you learn to speak Thai, some persons will understand you far less well then others, and this can be fairly extreme. About 5949 times I stopped at a gasstation saying in Thai "1000 Baht worth of gas and a VAT receipt please", but not long ago the attendant working at a gasstation in Phuket looked at me like I was speaking John the Baptist's motherlanguage when I was delivering my familiar line.

Most usable are still: in English: Lonely planet, and the Rough guide. In German: Stefan Loose. French speakers should take something else along than only Le guide du routard.

When booking whilst in Thailand, the system gets confused when you fill in a telephone number outside Thailand. Fill in any Thai number.

Public bus is the cheapest option up to Takuapa (as someone else said), 20 minute wait and then on to Surat Thani.

There are also busses that go directly from Khao Lak to Surat, by no means always necessary to change busses in Takua Pa.

I am not really sure if Tigerline indeed, as they claim, operate a ferry all the way from Phuket to Lankawi. I called them on 31/10 because a customer had expressed interest to book a passage with them from Khao Lak to Koh Kradan.

What they do, is book the customer on a minivan run by another company from Khao Lak to Had Yao in Trang, where the customer then boards a boat to Koh Kradan. Oh well, this might work out cheaper for them then bringing the customer to a pier in Phuket, because there is no minivan service between Khao Lak and Phuket.

Would love to hear from somebody who has experience with Tigerline.

There is no direct minibus connection between Khao Lak and Surat. Travel agencies will be happy to sell you a minibus ticket to Surat, but you will be put on a minibus to Krabi, where you have to board another minibus to Surat. A big detour. Much quicker just to hop on the public bus, which leaves from Khao Lak in between 9.45 and 10.15 AM, depending on traffic circumstances in Phuket, where the bus starts its journey.

A taxi will set you back at least roughly 2000 Baht.

Doing it yourself would mean: take a Phangnga bound bus from Phuket, and get off at the turnoff for Phangnga Bay. From the turnoff take a songthaew (shared taxi) to the pier. At the pier you will be approached by men offering the tour by longtailboat through the bay. With a bit of haggling you should be able to charter the boat for 1200 Baht (3-4 hour tour), no matter how many people are going.

OP,

The government institution to go to, to talk about this type of problem, is the local OrBorTor (Tambon administration).

And worse; there are lavatories in Jung Ceylon, nice clean floors and good tiles; so in you go to do what you came for and then.....wow....no paper,

so you have to struggle into the basin area where there is a roll and take enough and hope no-one comes in when your trousers are down`

My problem is the opposite. From childhood on, I have been using water instead of toilet paper. So it pisses me off, when there is only paper in the toilet, like for instance at Tesco-Lotus. They are trying to be modern having just paper and no water, as is customary in the west, but 97% of the customers are Thais and other Asians who would prefer to use water.

It is even worse when in a no water toilet staff forgets to replace used up rolls of toilet paper, because they use water themselves. This leads to a no water/no paper situation, so that you have to resort to ripping pages out of your notebook or your passport.

The calculator thing - it is only a matter of quality of the education system. Abstract thinking - a thing like calculating 190 minus 70 out of your head - is something you have to learn. Thai people I am working with are often amazed I do a lot adding, multiplying and so on without a calculator - but it is just that I was trained to do this at primary school, they were not so lucky.

What bothers me more personally, is that most Thai people have never learned to read a map - and if you cannot read a map, street names do not make much sense. Easy to explain which street you are talking about if this street has a clear landmark ( a big hotel for instance), but if anything sticking out is lacking, it can be difficult.

Anyone know the reason why they suddenly left Thailand all those years ago?

I could be wrong, but back then I assumed they were just pushed out of the market by Heineken. Heineken was advertising very heavily in those days, I remember trying to watch a soccer game on television during that period, but most of the time I was watching Heineken commercials.

Carlsberg coming back is very good news. I like Chang, but it has a bit too much alcohol, and Singha gives me a nasty hangover, same applies for Tiger. So often going to the bars I end up drinking Heineken, which I hate although I am Dutch. For us Dutch it is bizarre that often in other countries Heineken seems to be regarded as kind of a premium beer, whilst in Holland it is viewed as chemically mass produced stuff.

Passing by there frequently, just once I saw a lot of cars parked, and then I thought this might be a meeting dedicated to discussing how to blow some new life into this project which obviously never got off the ground.