easy_jim

You don't think so? It will actually be 7AM so just 7 hours overstay. But I still thought they would likely pull me up on it.

You will get an overstay stamp, but fine is waived first day if you fly out from Bangkok.

I'm not too worried about an overstay stamp. I'm getting a new passport while I am away anyway. So I could go for the 60-day extension but maybe I'll just wing it. Thanks for the advice folks.

• If you exit at the airport with a 1 day overstay you shouldn't be fined.

You don't think so? It will actually be 7AM so just 7 hours overstay. But I still thought they would likely pull me up on it.

This may be a silly question. I am currently in Thailand on a non-immigrant single entry visa (based on marriage). I have a flight out this month but it is 1 day after my admitted until date (bad counting on my part).

So my question is can I get a 7-day or 30-day extension to my non-immigrant visa? I know I can get a 1-year extension but of course I don't want to go thru all that rigmarole just for the sake of 1 day. I think the 30-day extensions are probably only for tourist visas but I just want to confirm it.

If not, I guess it will not be a big deal to pay the overstay when I exit but I just prefer to keep myself legit if possible.

Hi Dan, What age group are your kids books suitable for? It is always a challenge keeping the kids supplied with books but my two are 6 and 8 so the books won't be much use for them if they are aimed at toddlers.

Surat by far. To go there there are 2 options: the old road, which is 2/3 4 lane already, rest is being upgraded at the moment, and the new Krabi-Surat Road, all 4 lane, with normally not a soul in sight.

I prefer the old one, shorter and therefor the quicker road I think.

For the old road: take the road left where Surat is indicated, for the new road: continue at the Surat sign for about 25 km and follow signs for Surat there.

Steve are you talking about route 44, the unfinished "landbridge"? Kind of interesting history behind it. It even has it's own wiki page. That space in the center was supposed to be for train tracks and pipelines. There is not a single intersection in 190km. It's probably the only road in Thailand where you can pin the throttle for an entire tank of gas. I have always assumed it was a casualty of the '97 crash.

http://en.wikipedia....ailand_Route_44

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Yes, that's the one. Nice road, problem is it is a detour of all in all about 40 km's over a less than 200 km's road distance. Since I drive about 120 km/h simply not worth it for me, since on the other road I can also drive at almost the same speed. To lazy for the calculation right now, but I guess you'd have to go about 180 km/h on that road, especially since the first 25 k detour are really slow on a 2 lane road.

Route 44 always gets a mention when this question is asked, so sad person that I am, the last time I did this trip I timed myself on both routes. I also drive about 120kmh. The cross country route (routes 415 & 401) took me about 1 hour 10 mins. To get from and to the same points by using route 44 took me an hour and a half.

I guess 20 mins is not a big difference and if you want an easy drive then route 44 is the way to go. Personally I think the cross country route is a more enjoyable drive.

Thanks mate.

Seems like there's a lot of football going on but not no real organised kids league where the kids play for a team or school and train together regularly and play different teams week in week out as they would in Europe then?

Like you say there are plenty of fantastic pitches these days, it would be nice if there was a proper association with different leagues for different age groups etc etc.

Thanks again.

I agree, as far as I know there is no school league or kids league structure in Phuket. Brazilian Soccer Schools do a pretty good job of organising their league but of course they are doing it for profit so it is a little expensive which means it is mostly the international school kids who join.

There is meant to be some kind of kids football football training on Saturday mornings at Land & House. There are also plans to start a kids football school at Headstart but that has yet to materialise.

I guess now there are more playing facilities in place we will eventually see a few kids leagues forming.

There are plenty of organised tournaments and leagues around Phuket, especially now there are so many artificial grass pitches around the island.

The local Thai football scene is mostly tournaments. There are always tournaments taking place somewhere on the island. There is also an over 40s league at the new artifical grass pitch next to Dowroong School.

Brazilian Soccer Schools do kids training sessions all around the island. They also run the Phuket Fair Play League where they try to group the kids into evenly matched teams. The games are mostly played at the various international school facilities but they are open to all.

The Phuket Super Sixes League is played at Headstart School. It is a league of mostly expat teams with a few Thai teams.

Thanyapura host the Adult Futsal League which is mostly Thai teams but there are a few expat players.

I used to import orange flavored fish oil but since switched to caps,

If your looking for liquid then http://www.healthdes...il-cherry-12-oz is a good deal and is flavored to help with the fishy taste. $13.41 shipped

If your looking for soft gels then http://www.healthdes...il-250-softgels so no taste at all but alot of kids dont like swallowing pills. $12.10 shipped

They ship using standard international mail and will ship with this method up to 4lbs so you could order multiples of ether of these no problem. DHL or Fedex in my experience has a much much higher chance of hitting customs. So id recommend the regular shipping, takes 14 days normally when I order to my door and ive never had it hit customers/be taxed.

Coupon 6305684 will save you 5$ on your first order which would basically be a few $ off and free shipping .

Good luck

Edit: just for reference I used to order http://www.healthdes...ange-16-8-fl-oz and would order once a month. This was enough for me to take x2 servings and one for my girlfriend. Had a very pleasant orange flavor.

Thanks for that, I'll give them a go.

Yes, the problem I specifically had with my last package was that it was 6 bottles and the FDA said that is too much. They were very specific that you cannot order more than 1 person can consume in 1 month using the dosage recommendations for the product. So one solution would be to just order 1 botttle at a time.

I have just been asking a company called 'Vitamins in Thailand' about this. As far as they know, nobody in Thaiiland has FDA approval to import fish oil in liquid form (non capsule). They said they are currently in the process of applying for FDA approval for a bottled concentrated fish oil product from the US but they reckon it could take up to a year to complete the process.

So at the moment it looks like the only way to get liquid fish oil is to order 1 or 2 bottles at a time from abroad.

Or you could just buy the capsules in Thailand and break them open and put them in a bottle ?.....or is this too simple ?

Yep, that is what I am now reduced to but taking it by capsule is actually a very inefficient way to get the required dose. You need about 4 capsules to get 1 teaspoon. A container of capsules costs about twice as much as a bottle of liquid and contains approx 1/10th the volume. The capsules only exist for people who can't stand the taste but really it is just not a sensible way to buy the stuff.

Does anyone know where you can order cod liver oil by the bottle in Thailand?

I'm a great believer in the benefits of cod lover oil, both for myself and my kids. The trouble is the only way the kids will take it is is by adding a dash of it to a shot of fruit juice. So I want to buy cod liver oil by the bottle, not capsules. It is easy to find the capsules in Thailand but I can't find it in bottles anywhere, not in the shops or on any Thai online sites.

I did buy some online from the UK. The first time I ordered a couple of bottles and it arrived with no duty. The second time I ordered a couple of bottles and it arrived but I had to pay 500-baht duty. The last time I decided to order six bottles and customs turned it back - they said you can only import enough for one person to use within one month.

So constantly ordering it from abroad is going to get tedious and expensive and hence my question - surely there must be somewhere in Thailand that sells cod liver oil by the bottle?

Sounds like we have a bit of confusion here. SCB is Siam Commercial Bank.

The op is asking for Siam City Bank which is not the same. They do have a branch on Montree Road in Phuket Town.

There is a new artificial grass pitch around the back of Makro and another in Phuket Town not far from Robinsons. They are both split into sections suitable for 7-a-side games but I guess you could hire the entire space for 11-a-side.

You could also try the Fifa pitch in Cape Panwa, next to Borae School.

Obviously you will have to pay for any of these pitches.

The banks don't like changing THB into foreign currencies because Thailand has regulations about what circumstances they are allowed to do it. I can't remember the exact rules but I think you are meant to show you are leaving the country and you are not taking out more than you brought in. The regulations were meant to protect the value of the baht but they must be a bit redundant now the baht is soaring.

Anyway, you can change at the airport. The rates are not that bad.

Is it all sound that has stopped or just audacity?

If it is all sound then check your volume settings and make sure the mute box has not been checked.

The list of curries looks good but what about some naan bread to go with them?

You mean Smart Gym in Phuket Town opposite Expo? It is quite a nice Gym with good quality equipment. It is not very big but they squeeze in plenty of equipment. It is quiet during the day but gets busy in the evenings. It costs 180 baht a session or you can get memberships.

They are nothing to do with the Easy Fitness place that was near Central and closed when the owner did a runner.

The other very good Gym in Phuket Town is in the Royal Phuket City Hotel. I think it's called Asia Fitness or soemthing like that. You need to become a member there but it is nice and there is a good pool.

I also saw an ad in the gazette and an article about a school in Kathu that just finished all of their building and were open. Prices ranged in between the top schools and Kajonkiet.  Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the school  .

It is Headstart, opposite Makro. I don't think they are open yet. They still have a bit of building to do but looks like they are getting close.

There is a strong rumour going round that one of the students at Prince of Songkhla has died of swine flu. All the locals around the campus believe it is true. I have yet to see any confirmed news story of this so for the moment it is just a rumour.

If there are also rumours that some one has died at Kajonkiet Then perhaps it starts to look more like chinese whispers than a real story.

In Kathu, they have courts at Prince of Songkhla University. They are not in the best of condition but playable. Just go on them and someone will come round and collect the money - not expensive, about 40-baht I think.

Club Asia Fitness is in Royal Phuket City Hotel in Phuket Town (Phang Nga Road). It is a very nice gym but the drive is a bit too far to be handy for me.

Looks like I got lucky. I was going to re-join last week but delayed it because I had a cold.

It was a French guy who owned the place. He also has some kind of real estate business. The gym was quiet but I thought they were beginning to do okay. It was starting to get busy in the evenings and there were always plenty of people at the classes.

And a number of posters have said the opposite. From the posts it does seem that Rural Thais are likely to touch and fuss over stranger's children whereas City Thais don't. So maybe it is a class thing.

Maybe, maybe not, but other posters have confirmed what I have said.... Qualtrough has his answer, perhaps not the answer he wanted but an answer all the same.

Well I'm going to add myself to the list of posters who have seen Thais touch and fuss over other Thais children. It is common among rural Thais, they have this strange tendancy to be friendly.

You are trying to argue that just because you have never seen it, it does not happen. Many other posters have stated they have seen it happen but you choose to ignore those posters but to acknowledge the posters that agree with you. The problem is you are trying to justify a negative, i.e. I haven't seen it and some other people haven't seen it so it must never happen. The thing is all the people who are saying they positively have seen it disprove your theroy, while all the people who say they haven't seen it don't actually prove anything.

Hi,

I am going to apply for my first 1-year extension of stay and I wanted to check which documents I need translated into Thai.

I have a Non-Imm-O based on marriage and will be applying for the extension based on having an income of more than 40,000-baht a month. My income comes from renting out my property in England – I’m assuming this qualifies.

I have the letter from the British Embassy confirming the income – do I need to get it translated to Thai?

I also have the rental receipts – again, do I need them and do I need to get them translated?

Any advice much appreciated,

Jim.