joinme2leave

i wouldn't say it's "chilly" in austria right now...

it's f*****ng cooooold!!!!

But snow has got its own kinda Xmas touch too (not so bad at all I can assure u).

Will miss that while stayin here in Los (faaar more close to AustraLIA than Austria)

have a nice holiday break .. and show your doughter as much as possible.

and merry Xmas as well.

well, donna thx for yr input.

as far as i can count: 4-5000 (Baht I assume) means approx Eur 80-100. Is this a SUIT only price or is it suit+pants+shirt...? So far, the US$ 69,00 (suit only) offer still seems to be (my) best one (even though and once again I do not know about the quality)

anybody taking part in this topic having an idea what is the current CHEAPEST thow ok-quality rate for a suit...? (best so far I got offered was US$ 69,00 at Bangkok Tailor House, Somerset Hotel, Suk15)

thx prof.

Songkhla is where i shall reside for some days (wink@lopburi).

prof: could you pls specify "Cathay GH" ? "GH" means what? Where to find? And how long - backpackers or not - frm HY to Surat? Any approx price info as well?

thx for your input so far.

lopburi: i am very well aware of the fact that there is no beach in Hatyai city...but who knows, maybe there will be one by dec 12 .... ? (hihi)

any recommendations welcome.

will be HDY dec 12 (never been there b4) but need to go Surat Thani (Samui) some days after ... pls forward info rgd. bus or train possibilities (including time of travel and price, if possible).

THANX

PS: recommendations rgd. BEACH resorts in HDY (Hatyai) are welcome too

can join u if u wish (hcp 21). played Mueng Ake already but -comparing cost of taxi (Bht 420,00 including express way toll) and greenfee (Bht 300,00 weekdays+200,00 caddy+some caddy tipp) I'd suggest we play Naval or Krungthep Kreetha GC or similar....pm me (anyone pm me) if interested.

strict (100% STRICT) pollution rules.

definitely Le Royal Meridien.

just a bit faaar away frm nightlife.

even though I am not amused with the german...

can I "vote" for the german one from page 1 this topic, pleeeeease...

sure. and do that every day or what? kinda paeng imho.

not really off-topic here. am in bkk and asia for a month now. shall stay and travel until mid next year.

now guess what? forgot my shaver-charging-cable back "home".

never ever used to shave manually but my beard is growing like he11.

tried now for more than 2 weeks to find a shop, dept.store, china-town, whatever the <deleted> to get a new cable.

guess again? NO CHANCE. bkk does not supply with shaving cables for modells older than brand new.

Buying a new shaver (if available) is unbelievable expensive.

Now impatiently waiting for a postal package from farangland to finally have that sh1t cable back again in my hands.

as about thai girls, i've experienced I do much better without my super-fast growing beard...

just my 5 satang about this oooh so funny topic....

seriously thought about giving a (my) daily drinking quote now...but after my xxxxxwhiskey (Jack Daniel's) forgot about what about I should place my comment in here...sooooo sorry.....

came back from JJ (chatuchak) about 1 hour ago. (as i did all past 3 weekends). never ever experienced any a/c restaurant so far. on the other side: i go there for biz reasons and there is no time at all to cool down. imho, JJ did not change - it may even got worse due to more and more asian/hk-tourists coming there and blocking the gangway...

rgd/ajarn: sounds interesting. there IS in fact a comment about that surcharge on my bill. So i maybe give it a try and contact MC. What do you think: should I contact MC austria or MC Thailand? (i guess austria would be the better one as thai MC could state, it is normal to ask for surcharge here...)

rgd/axel: correct about the bonuses u receive when paying with cc. that is the main reason why i initially wanted to pay with Diners (lots of points credited on my StarAlliance account).

pvtdick...forget it. whatever i said. i can surely afford that surcharge. there IS law about that kind of mal-treatment in austria (and germany too) but I KNOW i am in thailand. and i can live with it. this simply was (and is) a question of fairness which one obviously cannot expect everywhere.

well - imho - cc surcharge IS no doubt illegal but I've given explanation in my 2nd post (if it would not have been accidently overwritten by chanchao)....

be nice ... and ppl cheat you twice.

sad to say but true.

enforce provison system and u do better.

the more your staff is capable to sell the more they earn.

simple as it sounds simple it could be (imho)

oooh how lucky u U.K. citizens seem to be: there is other countries in E.U. where debts will be collected even after 30 (thirty) years. At least, thats what they do in austria. Again, how lucky u must be. Do it. Go for it. Damage the system. Everyone else (U.K.) will pay for your decision.

i do not agree with all of khun thaksin polcy BUT - talking about alien majority in owning land and major business - i admit, i agree. same could have happened to my country if there wasn't rules: millions (ok, be realistic: hundreds of thousands) germans would have been able to buy austrian (1st class) property in the late 70's IF there wasn't govt regulations. I can tell you something: nowadays, austrians are happy (da*n happy) that this rule (still) exists as - otherwise - ownership of land would have been in total rich, prosperious "farang"-hand and it would be these ppl in particular ruling the market prices. Same would happen to Thailand if it wasn't somebody like khun Thaksin. Sorry to say that (as I intend(ed) to buy land in Thailand for myself) but it is relatively ok-rule...

as a matter of fact: farangland as u say my dear dj - isn't boring, at least not for me (and many others i guess). i agree, some majority of pattaya, phuket and samui 2-week-once-in-a-lifetime-tourists maybe have their boring life back home (anywhere europe, btw: what makes u think U.K. and europe isn't the same?) but who cares? obviously you do. Yeah, sure it happens to me sometimes being treated as a 2-week-tourist but - as mentioned in previous reply - just give the proper answer, show some basic (minimum!) knowledge of language and behaviour - and there is no problem any longer. I am not giving any tips to taxi drivers. I am sometimes tipping to waitress service. I am not an expat yet. But still enjoy being here as often as possible. And - finally - I am not bored at all about my "farangland" weather or work conditions (ok, I hate the tax system but that's another point)...

Oh squid.. I may have accidentally overwritten this post when trying to reply.

I'm very sorry if this indeed happened, it wasn't intentional and I do apologize. /--Chanchao

well astral,not 100% true. actually, it IS a BIT of thailand-related too as Didi Mateschitz initially made his fortune in thailand some 20 years ago.

nevertheless, most important is that Jaguar will still continue F1 racing thanks to austria (oooh what a patriot I can be sometimes....)

back to LOS for a couple of months.

had to decide rather fast to choose my Bkk (serviced) apt to stay in as there was not enough time for proper "investigation" in advance.

Upon check-in I was (correctly) informed about a 1-month-deposit plus a 1-month-rent in advance.

So far so good.

Told the reception staff about my intention to pay with credit card (both the rent and deposit).

So far so relative.

Even though there was all cc-signs (Amex, Diners, MasterCard and Visa) on main entrance lobby I was denied to pay with Diners.

So far so strange.

I "offered" AmericanExpress. Denied again.

But MasterCard was ok with them.

Well, having been in lack of enough Baht cash (arrived on friday evening DonMuang the same day, ATM account not filled up yet) I agreed to proceed.

So far so cheating:

had to pay an extra surcharge for using my MasterCard.

In total more than Bht 2,200.

Made me angry but what other chance(s) do I have?

Now, you don't need to tell me now I could have been wiser and pay cash or ask reception for later payment (like monday where I could have got the money from my thai bank).

I just wonder .... did similar happen to you too?

And is there any legal ("easy") way to complain?

Does it make sense to report this incidence to DinersClub, Amex and MC Thailand?

Is there a n y chance to receive that (highly suspicious) "service charge for cc-payment" back?

thx a lot .... nevertheless I enjoy my stay (not the work though), the room is great and I am back to Los, faaaaar away from winter temperatures

italy/austrian closing times: no strict rules. and it works. ppl (both tourist and local ppl seem to enjoy to party as long as possible)

noise pollution: agree, could be a problem (and definitely not only by means of loud music).

nevertheless, me, voted for 4 am.

if thai gvt continues with early closing time restrictions even non-sex-tourists will realise (sooner or later) that they are not welcome any more. and their money is not welcome as well. see above for further explanation.

as a tourist, i'd rather prefer traveling to places where i can spend whatever amount i want to whenever i like to.

thailand isn't that place anymore.