geisha

What is bad at the airports, especially Suvarnabhumi, is that there is not  one !!! good restaurant there’ ! 

Jimn.  no, I was told to do it every time I left the country.

Another is Cocodeebo. All based serious Koh Chang operators.

Contact iamkohchang , great website and he has very reliable safe mini vans door to door. No fussing round looking for transport to and from hotels, ferry etc. Online payment.

Elviajero, thanks, obviously they accept a printed out email , my bank is in France ? Will cash do ?

How about Penang? I’ll be going there for a tourist visa. I do not have a Thai bank. 

Hello ladies, I’m looking for a professional stylist who can do a short cut really well. I’m in Pattaya. I ve tried various ones in Central Festival etc in the past and not been very impressed. I do have a good photograph of the cut. Any suggestions please ?

otherwise I’m considering ,as a last resort, a day trip to Bangkok where I ve heard good things about Zenred. Advice and suggestions very welcome. Thank you, and a Happy New Year.

Most of Thailand is getting dirtier every year. They can’t cope, bad management, surely it’s not a lack of funds with all the tourists? The soi s stink to high heaven, garbage everywhere, proms ruined ! Filthy. World Class, definately not. 

Hi , I hope some ladies are reading this as I can’t seem to find a really good hairstylist in Pattaya. In the past have tried those in Central Festival, not a success and no one speaks English. I need a real stylist who can re do my cut, which is 6 weeks old. 

Im desperate , and do not fancy a long trip to bangkok and back . Bangkok seems to have a lot of well known ones, including Zenred , any opinions , and pattaya addresses most welcome. Thank you. 

Excuse, if there  WAS a baht bus route.

DoktorC , if there wasn’t a bahtbbus route I would be very interested as I have had a good offer on a long term rental condo there. Not driving here is awkward, some shopping is heavy to carry walking, and evening s I like te eat out and have some favorite restaurants near Jomtien beach .I do not want to  be restricted to my immediate surroundings. I’m a lady , 64, and not  too keen on motor bike taxis , tho I do use when necessary. I’ll have to find out if there’s a baht bus there that passes regularly. Thank you.

ps, I do drive in Europe ,have a good car, but for a few months a year it wouldn’t be worth me buying one here specially regarding the traffic jams !

That’s what I thought. Thank you all.

Some pain killers like ibuprofen can make your face red , anyhow, see a dermatologist soon.

Hi, need some info. Before I start wasting rental agencies time , I would like to know what it’s like living in/ around Soi 4 Pratumnak ? Also, I see it’s a bit far from the baht bus route , is that right, could I walk it ? I don’t want to be stranded or depend only on taxis for shopping and a night out. Also, there’s a few restaurants in Jomtien ( where I am now )that I like to go to. So is it walkable , or any other advice please ? ( ps I do  not drive here) thanks. 

Yes, Thais open buisnesses here without any thought . Wherever you go, if it’s Hua Hin, Pattaya, Jomtien, you see all the closed up , for rent, shops, here today, gone tomorrow. Sometimes in the most incredible places too, stranded on a quiet road for example. As with condos , buisness is location location location. A restaurant, for example, with a good location and  good chef, will usually succeed. There again, here in Thailand there is too much choice, dozens of massage salons, hairdressers, manicures/ pedicures, food stalls, small ( most not very good) restaurants, how can you make a decent living. Most don’t. Rent on a good location is expensive, finding staff ( that stay) another big problem. 

CG1 Blue , Sweden.

Years back in Phuket, I had an early morning call from a Thai friend who had a drinks and beach  chair buisness on Kata beach. I went to see him and he showed me a wallet that he’d found, stuffed with big dollar bills and credit cards. No address, no hotel cards to say who’s it was. He didn’t want to hand it to a policeman.So I suggested we start asking in the nearby hotels receptions If anyone had lost a wallet. An hour later, luck. We asked to see his passport to check the name with the credit cards. He was practically speechless! He’d come back to his hotel via the beach the night before, sat down to smoke a cigarette, and that’s  when the wallet probably fell out. He didn’t miss it until the morning, when he completely freaked out, having lost all his holiday money ! Had kissed it goodbye! He asked my friend OTT what he would like as a reward, which of course he replied “ nothing”. I then said that Ott loved a good whisky, and the man smiled, and said he’d come back later that day. He did. He brought with him a more than half empty bottle of gin. I cannot tell you how speechless I was, and how embarrassed to witness such a disgusting mean action. I feel bad about it to this day. 

It also depends on if you have a visa or not. I always have a tourist visa for Thailand when leaving France with Emirates. This year, due to the Monaco consul closing down with little notice, i had to leave without a visa and a return ticket dated 3 and a half months later. I was warned I would be refused boarding, so I bought  a one way ticket out of Thailand within the 30days of arrival. This I had to show at check in with Emirates in France. Airlines are getting very strict these days and one is not free to move around as one wishes any more. 

ARE there’ always long arrival queues at Don Muang these days? Haven’t used this airport in a long while, will be travelling middle January to Penang and back . Thanks. 

Must say I had a good laugh coming into Cambodia from south Vietnam, the man in the little hut put a thermometer next to my brow and said I was ok. He laughed with me. I’ll never forget that day, couldn’t get a taxi from where the bus stopped, ( Chao doc?) and ended up crossing the border on an old motorbike taxi me in a dress, suitcase in the middle, , covered in red earth dust as  there were road works. 

I’ve used booking,com a lot for many years. Very easy to use, mostly can pay at hotel, and often cancellation is fine. Most have nearly all the same rates  otherwise. Going straight to the hotel websites is ok, but often very complicated  systems.Agoda is good too.  Flights I book directly online with the company. Never found a flight cheaper elsewhere. Plus, you get miles. Always be careful’with cheap flights, you can end up sitting in an airport for 6 to 15 hours  as friends of mine did lately !! Same flight as I took, I paid 50 euros more. 

Is it cold like this in Bangkok ? Wondering what clothes to take with me for the week.

Is there a Cardiff consulate ?

Is your wife Thai ? I ask this because the gold mounting on rings is Thai gold, and  Europeans and westerners don’t really appreciate the  colour. Most of the jewellery shops in Central , Paragon etc will not be selling fake diamonds. They might not be the best quality and cut though, but much cheaper than Europe. I saw a white gold ring I was fancying in Europe lately with a few small’diamonds, here a similar one is about 40% cheaper. But I couldn’t see of course the quality . Don’t ever buy 23 carat gold, it’s too soft. 

Yes, it’s really disgusting, if nobody is doing anything about it, try getting a petition underway ( don’t laugh ) lots of photos and sending them with a short description to Bangkok authorities and the two main newspapers, Facebook etc. If you are worried about doing it, get someone abroad to do it for you.