golfer1111

I've been using them for several years now, business class only, and they are ok - planes are getting dated, lounges are much more crowded, food has improved, drink options aren't special

I'm considering switching to EVA

Last I knew they were closed Wednesday and had limited (free?) menu Tuesday, that was as of a couple months ago, am out of town now

For you coffee lovers, give Oldies Coffee Roastery a try. They roast a few times a week, sell whole beans or ground, and make super good drinks. It's the best coffee I've found here after years of looking.

They are located on Soi Arunatai not far from Big C Extra on pattaya klang. GPS 12.932243, 100.894182

Best Peking duck in town?

Thanks for the response. I think the ticket agents have been shut down by a new requirement that a person can only buy so many tickets (2?) in one day.

You need to present your photo ID (passport for most of us) at the ticket counter - the ticket you get will have your name, photo id (passport) number and train car/seat number on it. I think you are correct about the ticket offices in town only taking OnePay. I have heard the ticket office at the main stations do take cash, tickets available up to 3 days in advance.

Check with your hotel to see if they can help.

I'm planning to take the high speed train from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in December.

Does anyone have recent experiences on the train? Any suggestions about how to get tickets? Any do's and don'ts?

How strict is the baggage screening? I'm mainly worried about medicines like Aldactone, Caraten, and Losartan, etc.

curing salt is still available as of today at Royal Exchange in Pattaya on Soi khao noi, right across the soi from Murphy's, gps 12.918925, 100.914382

anybody know someone who can overhaul these?

There's a good deal between BKK and the west coast in the fall if you're willing to take a side trip to Chendu

BKK-CTU business goes for under $400 USD, this can be on China Southern or Sichuan

CTU-SFO business goes for $1728 - China Southern

CTU-LAX business goes for $1802 - China Southern

There is a great fare from BKK - Lisbon on a mix of airlines, 41000 Bt business. It books through Alitalia which is going through bankruptcy so be aware of that. Very limited availability.

https://www.google.com/flights/?f=0#search;f=BKK,DMK;t=LIS;d=2017-07-18;r=2017-08-08;sel=BKKAUH0EY407-AUHFCO0EY83-FCOLIS0TP833,LISMXP0TP804-MXPAUH0AZ856-AUHBKK1EY408;sc=b

Qatar has some pretty good deals on business class - travel must be completed by 6/20 for full discount, return flights after 6/20 look to be normal fares

sample fare of 66000 RT BKK - BCN or BKK - TXL, many more available

book by 5/22

The China Air deal is also good to SFO starting in Sept & they have the new A350's.

For some reason, it's hard to book on the China Airlines website, use Google Flights to find the fare & then purchase on China Air website

https://www.google.com/flights/?f=0#search;f=BKK,DMK;t=SFO;d=2017-09-20;r=2017-10-11;sel=BKKTPE0CI834-TPESFO0CI16,SFOTPE0CI15-TPEBKK1CI837;sc=p

Pretty good deal on BKK - LAX, China Airlines premium economy, RT just under 40000 baht

The BKK-TPE-BKK sections are in business, the TPE-LAX sections are on the 777's which are quite nice & the layovers are short. 

Looks available from now until 11/30 except July & August

Seychelles anyone?

Sri Lanken has BKK - SEZ RT for $881 usd business class

Sun, Tues, Fri departures only, looks wide open through february

Airline: China Airlines

Route: SFO - BKK

Flight: 003/833

Aircraft: 777 on SFO - TPE sector. 777 on TPE - BKK (Note that the 777 from TPE - BKK is unusual, normally 747 or A330)

Price: 35000 RT - SFO-TPE (PE) TPE-BKK (Business)
Purchase Channel: China Airlines website

Dates: Feb 2017
Class: Premium Economy / Business
Seat Configuration: 777 was 2-4-2 (PE), 777 was 1-2-1 (Business) 
Check-In and Immigration: Separate premium check-in line, 1 minute wait. Premium immigration line pass for BKK provided...no line at premium immigration passport check.
Baggage Fees: 28k 2 bag limit, no fee
Lounges: SFO & Taipei

Lounge Quality: SFO - ok, Taipei ok (had to use terminal 2 lounge, terminal 1 is really nice)
Limousine Service: none
In-flight Entertainment: 777 was new, large screens, noise cancelling headphones, very nice in business, good in PE

In-flight Internet: yes
In-flight Service: Very good on all flights

Seat Comfort: PE on SFO-TPE is decent, Business on 777 TPE-BKK was great - I'm not small & have 2 more PE trips booked.
Food Quality: Very good

China Airlines has a good PE product on it's 777's & A350's & the bump to business class on the TPE-BKK leg is nice. If you have to make 2 trips to the west coast, consider PE starting from SFO on China Air for your middle 2 legs, I have found fares around 35000 a couple of times.

Airline: China Airlines

Route: BKK - SFO

Flight: 838/004 

Aircraft: 747 on BKK -TPE sector. 777 on TPE-SFO

Price: 68000 RT
Purchase Channel: China Airlines website

Dates: Feb 2017
Class: Premium Economy /  Business (upgraded to Business with coupon for TPE-SFO)
Seat Configuration: 747 was 1-2-1 in 1st, 2-3-2 in Business, 777 was 1-2-1 in Business
Check-In and Immigration: Separate premium check-in line, 1 minute wait. Premium immigration line pass (both ways) provided...no line at premium immigration passport check.
Baggage Fees: 32k 2 bag limit, no fee
Lounges: BKK, SFO & Taipei

Lounge Quality: BKK - ok, Taipei - really nice
Limousine Service: none
In-flight Entertainment: 747 - good, 777 was new, large screens, noise cancelling headphones

In-flight Internet: 747 - no, 777 - yes
In-flight Service: Very good on all flights

Seat Comfort:  great in 1st class on BKK-TPE, great on the 777 
Food Quality: Very good

Notes: PE tickets purchased on China Airlines website flying BKK-SFO book into D class( Business) on the BKK-TPE route. Sometimes they fly 747's that have a 1st class section. these seats are available with business class tickets

for SFO or LAX, China Eastern has $1594 one way

I think you would find that the Butterballs available last year had dates that were pre import ban (hiding in a freezer here). I haven't seen any Butterballs since so I think the ban is still on, but I don't know it for a fact.

On 8/31/2016 at 8:34 PM, SoiBiker said:

I'd have stopped trying to boot it as soon as I realised the drive was dying. Boot up from a Linux live CD and use ddrescue to clone the drive. It'll work round the errors the first pass, then retry them as many times as you like, chipping away at the dodgy areas from both sides to retrieve the maximum data. I've used it to recover a properly messed up drive and saved a couple TB of data whilst only losing a few files, and the filesystem mounted cleanly.

Try SoiBiker's suggestion. I'm not a linux guy but this isn't that hard.

It's easy to make a linux boot disk & ddrescue has pretty clear instructions. I used it to clone a Tivo drive that was failing, it worked well.

Get an international drivers permit from AAA. Google it. It would have turned 8 days of hell at the Thai DMV into 30 minutes of stress free business. It's the best $15 I could have ever spent. Most furnished apartments will remove what you don't want that being said I would not ship furniture. Landlord provided beds suck here but you can buy a better one despite what people say. Instead of your company shipping your stuff just ask for some relocation pay. Travel light. Don't let your possessions posses you. Sell on eBay, donate on Freecycle. I did and whittled my US possessions down to 8 Rubbermaid containers and my Harley. Most liberating feeling there is. Remember what I said about Triple A TRUST ME.

This is the best advice so far. You will want to get a driver's license even if you don't plan to drive. It's very useful for ID. The IDL will allow you to get a thai DL by passing a vision test & a reaction test, very easy to do. Without the IDL, you will need to pass a written test as well as a driving test.

Whenever I go back, I bring vitamins, generic medicines, supplements, cotton clothes & underwear, cotton sheets, high quality kitchen items (if you like to cook). You can get the sheets & kitchen stuff here with a very high markup.

When I 1st came over, I stripped my desktop computer down to motherboard, ram & hard drive - got a new case, power supply & monitor here.

If you are of larger size, bring shoes, belts, & all clothes you can.

Another choice is Rock Kitchen on Soi Khopai.

I wouldn't call them American because I don't think they are smoked. But they hit all the high points otherwise, marinated, tender, not fall apart, good sauce - 250 b. Flavor is very good even without the smoke.

It's right by the stoplight on 3rd road between Nua & Klang

Chipolte peppers in adobo, spices hard to get here like annatto, sous vide quality plastic zip bags, Germain Robin brandy, cheese, Pappy's seasoning, Prague pink powder #1, corn tortillas, vitamins, aspirin, ibuprofen, allergy medicine, pool test kit, glasses, books, xxxl clothes, good quality bedding, high quality sausage & bacon, dried chiles from new mexico, kitchen utensils like can openers & corkscrews (much better made), good knives

Also, whatever turns up at Costco. As for a bag, a large ice chest.

While Makro on Suk has a sign up mentioning shortage of turkeys, just past the sign on the left hand side last night they had 6 or 7 Norbest (300) & about 10 Butterball (350) along with some turkey breast roasts (450).

Not at all sure what those numbers you are quoting are but they sure aint the prices. The Makro turkeys were upward of 6000 baht a go with some of the larger ones tagged at over 8000 baht.

I can only imagine they will keep adding 500 baht to the half a dozen they restock the freezer with each day until people stop buying them.