NiwPix

I read the first 4 pages and the last page...and have a few comments of course

1. Why do some people argue if the OP had 8k meal or not? Why is he considered crazy. He had a good evening out with friends...good for him. No need to comment on his expenses.

2. I noticed some saying "I never tip, especially if there is a service charge". If its included you will "happily" tip and if its not included you don't tip? Thats basically promoting restaurants to add a service charge. Seems you would be happy to be "forced" to pay 10%, rather than tipping on service received.

3. Then the ones that say "find a better job if minimum wage is not enough". If everybody thinks like that, you wouldn't have anymore restaurants, grocery clerks, trash collectors etc. Wait, let me rephrase that...you would have them, but the price for your food / beverage etc would go up in order to pay above minimum in order for the staff serving you.

4. The restauranteur should pay higher salary, so you don't have to tip? Fine, lets raise the menu prices 10% and use that money to pay the staff a bit more than minimum wage. However, that won't motivate them to give good service.

5. In the US, the server do get a minimum wage it IS law. Each state has a different minimum wage set. California ( when I left there was $8.50 ). Here is what many do not know. The servers are taxed on there sales ----> tips. Lets say a server sold $10,000 in 2 weeks ( payroll in the US is bi-weekly ), it is assumed they received 15% tip ( $1,500 ). From those $1,500 they have to pay taxes and tip out the bartender, Busboy, Hostess and in some instances the kitchen staff and/or event coordinator. The taxes get automatically deducted from their paycheck, which in many cases leaves a server that worked 60-80 hours in those two weeks with a minimal paycheck ( depending how much they sold those 2 weeks ). Is a server doesn't sell anything in those two weeks, they will get their hours worked x $8.50 with no extra deductions besides the usual social security, witholding tax etc

On topic:

it is an interesting question the OP brought up....especially since their are obviously so many different opinions. I think he did good by leaving some extra...and since he is 20+ years friends with the host, I don't think there are bad feelings...more likely just something to converse about next time around.

If service was good like op mentioned, I think 300 is a reasonable tip to leave ( usually staff split the tips at the end of the night between everyone...even the ones working behind the scenes i.e. dishwashers ).

I am a restaurant owner and "struggle" with the tipping here. My waitstaff are stoked if they receive a tip anywhere between 40 and 100 baht and kind of shrug it off if they don't receive a tip or only very little. My struggle is explaining to them what good service consists of. But I have noticed they try really hard. When they do get that "big tip" for the service, they get excited. It really does motivate them to do even better. It is very important for them to know they got tipped for good service and not just because it is custom. I hate it when crappy service is given and a tip expected....and my staff know that.

By the way, it is not easy to find wait staff here, as it seems to be a looked down upon profession in Thailand. And from what I have seen in Thailand, they are treated like "slaves", unfortunately. Many people sadly don't see that customer service can be challenging and unrewarding, especially if not trained for it.

I wish I could help. I am happy to see / hear that there are parents out there that rather stay home because they know their kid is not up to dining out quite yet.

I am sorry I can't help out. Hopefully you will find a good christmas dinner delivered.

The Dentist ( Female ) across Robinson on Chayangkuhl Road is still around and still does a great job and still speaks english

Just a few days ago I saw the Boneless Butterball Turkey breast at Tops in Ubon. I don't remember the size or the kilo price. However they looked like about 2 kilo packages.

Good info here. Thanks all.

I have a question regard the Health Card / Medical Card they issued to foreigners last year. My dad got the card for the first time last year in Surin. He did the initial check up, paid 2,000 Baht and got the card. This year he wanted to renew it ( in Surin ) and they said it was discontinued...which is fine. I have heard reports that in Ubon some weren't able to renew that card either. However, someone was able to renew his card in Kantharalaka few days ago.

Does anybody have current information or confirmed renewals / cancellations of the Health Card in Isaan?

Both versions ( flying over kings head and distraction ) are very....hmmm, can't think of a politically correct word for this right now

The wall throws off a lot of glare now. I spoke with the main guy in charge yesterday and he said that it will stay white....no more paintings etc. Lets see what happens and how long it stays white.

No major news / development but a nice update...

3 hours ago a group of about 50 soldiers painted the wall on the airport road ( Uppalisan road ) completely white. They are giving it final touches as I am typing this.

They even painted the part of the wall white that had paintings of the King on it.

The wall looks very clean now...obviously. The road as become very bright with quite some glare to get used too

If anyone is going to Bangkok than this is the place to go. They all speak English and do adjustments like a chiropractor.

http://osteopathcentre.com/

Thanks for that info. IF I am ever in bad back pain and don't know of a good local Chiropractor, I will keep them in mind.

Wish I could help here with information, since I sometimes have back problems and used to visit a Chiropractor back home every once in a while. I wouldn't know what to do here. So if anybody knows of someone, please do share

Edit:

Boogie, your picture gave me a smile

And I am happily married to a Thai.

Yes, right beyond the attempt of a roundabout...on the left hand side

They have been open for about a month now, so I don't think too many of the locals know about it yet. If you go to google maps and enter the coordinates it will show you the location.

I found a shop which offers a huge variety of Belgium beers and to my surprise even matching glassware for the specific beers. Besides the approximately 30 different kinds of Belgium Beers, I saw a German Beer and Laos Lager / Dark.

I had a little chat with the owner ( he speaks some English ). You can sit there and enjoy a cold beer or two ( which I did ) and/or you can just buy some bottles or even cases to take home. They also have some food and snacks...very limited selection...however, the burger was delicious. Their shop set up is very basic...but I didn't care much since I was there to taste some of the beers

It's located near Thung Si Muang Park. Here are the GPS cordinates 15.233908, 104.853316

The name of the place is: The Bottle Shop

From recent reports ( including myself ), Phibun has been difficult to deal with the past few months. I think it had to do with the staff rotation and we just got a "difficult batch" .

I had to go to Savannakhet myself because of the hassles in Phibun.

I am not sure about changing your Visa from Tourist to Non B. Maybe somebody else would know.

However, Ubon does not have an Immigration office. For Ubon Ratchathani residents the nearest immigration office is in Phibun ( near the Chon Mek / Laos border )

I was at the airport yesterday. They are doing quite a bit of work already. There is a wall that devides the airport. It is on the Westside of the airport where the stairs up begin. That wall seems to be there to stay and not just to block off the main area.

Also, I didn't see the Kanairlines stand. I saw AirAsia, Nok Air and Thai smile. I went on Kanairlines website and selected a couple of random Friday / Sunday dates to ChiangMai and they said "Sold Out". I wonder if they are really sold out or they just suspended the flights for now due to the fire.

There is a very helpful Thread about obtaining a multiple non-o: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/697299-worry-free-non-o-visa-savannakhet/

You should be able to find all the information you need there. The first post actually covers everything.

Just one thing to mention and maybe somebody else can chime in with definite answer. When I was there ( July 2014 ) they were building / completed an new Thai Consulate and I think I read that they are open now. So on most threads you will find the old location of the Thai Consulate, not the new one

Interesting point of view. However, I don't agree. You say "Excuse me chaps, your horses seem to be winning rather a lot of big races. Could you please cut back on investing in the sport".

I don't think investing can be called throwing huge sums of money at players and buying young talent from "poor" teams, only to let them sit on the bench...just so the "poor" team has it even more difficult to compete. I think this is counter productive. I am all for FFP, however I would change a few things. Somebody who wants to own a football team and throw his money in to it, should be only allowed to do this in form of stadium / infrastructure update and things like that....NOT for Transfers and salaries.

I just heard the press conference of Borussia Dortmund with the coach Juergen Klopp that made me think.

Dortmund tied 2:2 against Stuttgart and he was overall very happy with the performance ( considering the many injuries ). He mentioned how the players are pushed to their limits and at times even past their limits and causes a lot of "wear and tear" on them. Having a game every 3-4 days is just too much on this kind of level. Then he said to look over at England. They have the League and several cups to play in throughout the season in addition to the champions league and Uefa Cup. When was the last time the English Squad won something?

So, that made me think back...England hasn't won anything in a while, but are almost always rated as favorites to win a title and they usually pass the group stage and in the knockout stage is when it gets to the luck of the draw.

Are the English players maybe just too exhausted to perform after their long season? Would reducing the amount of games improve the quality of the game?

From memory:

Spain: League ( 20 teams ), copa del rey, CL/UC....just the past years successful and currently in a "recession"

Italy: League ( 20 teams ), coppa italia, CL/UC....Usually make it far in tournaments and respectable opponent

Germany: League ( 18 teams ), German cup. CL/UC...most tournaments at least to the semi finals and always a favorite to win a title

England: League ( 20 teams ), FA Cup, CL/UC + League Cup + ( did I miss another cup? )....considered favorites in tournaments but never really deliver.

Thoughts?

Wow. Was surprised how "easy" it seemed. Something was terribly wrong with your passing game. It seemed as most of the Arsenal Team played together for the first time. But it's just the beginning of the season. Lets see how it goes when we're London in late November.

How come Podolski is always on the Bench????? Is he not performing well? I always valued him as a better player than Ozil.

The other Group Match ended in a 1:1 Draw....good

Ok, just had my Iced Latte...I should be good to go the next ~5 hours. I hope I will be able to find a good live stream, and most importantly that my Internet Connection improves!!!!! Since this morning it's been very choppy.

By the way, I am thinking of 2:1...but since I hate 2:1 predictions, I will go with a 3:2

I am pretty certain Dortmund is a non smoking stadium. Not sure where the poor chap will get his puff from tonight.

image.jpg

I'm sure Dortmund will make an exception and allow him to have a smoke before the match

By the way, latest report I heard was that Kagawa starting was also questionable. He had some muscle problems up until yesterday. They were going to decide in the morning, after the final training ( European time ) if he can play. From the sounds of it, it wasnt too serious and just adding a bit of fire for the rumor mill....I'm sure he'll be in the starting line up.