Dipterocarp

Thai Airways nearly always has gates, Bangkok Airways frequently unloads on the runway and buses passengers to a gate.

I have one better than no chocolate sauce. There is a chain of fast food restaurants in the midwest USA, called Steak N Shake. They are famous for their "steakburgers". You order your burger and they grill it and add the condiments you want.  I went to Steak n Shake one time and ordered a double burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and ketchup. The waiter said "sorry we are out of onions".  I asked, " how can a burger place be out of onions?   The manager heard me and  said that the delivery truck did not come last night.  I pointed across the street to a Schnunck's grocery store, told him they have onions and for $3 you would not have to tell customers you are out of onions.  He replied that they have to get all their supplies from the company delivery truck.  I said, "you mean the truck that did not show up last night".  

On 9/23/2016 at 10:32 PM, biplanebluey said:

Sorry matey but youre wrong,an "overshoot" is as it sounds,is a plane going off the END of the runway.This one was battling a cross wind and was blown off the SIDE.Modern aircraft like this one are big and heavy,but they also have large wings,which mean larger wing areas and so more area for the wind to put pressure on.If the wind was very strong and blowing from90* either left or right it may have been virtually impossible holding it on course.It will be interesting if we get a follow up with more facts.

You are actually partially wrong also "overshoot" is British English for going around/rejected landing. Old days they had "Airscrews" for propellers and "alighting gear" for landing gear also .（I have been looking this stuff up　recently because I had no idea what a Kitchen "Hob" was. Most people on this site use British English as a matter of course). I have been flying around all my life and I have only been on one flight that did a "go around" going into Houston, TX. It was daytime and I don't remember it was particularly bumpy. A terrifying experience where just before landing the plane suddenly shot up at extreme angle then flew around for a while with absolutely no info from the crew. Eventually  the pilot announced  there had been another plane on the runway.  I told this to my ex who used to be check in girl and flight attendant for Delta. She said this was BS, it is just an excuse to make passengers feel at ease. Good news is the airlines in the US encourage pilots to do go arounds if anything doesn't look right as there have been many accidents due to continuing a bad approach (too high fast or whatever). The pilots are protected by union contracts for decisions made in the interest of safety as well. Nobody wants delays or missed connections but  it is the cost of doing business properly and putting safety first is the right thing to do (and cost effective in long run). Totally opposite from the Thai attitude where jobs/promotions are handed out based connections and fancy names and the safety culture consists entirely of "Mai Pen Rai". Surely this happens in the aviation sector as well? The 12Go accident happened because they tried to land in a thunderstorm when they could have diverted to Surratthani and waited it out. Management or headquarters pushing pilots to get in on time perhaps?

Just about every Thai policy enacted the past few years has targeted the high-spending tourist with laser precision, and DRIVEN them AWAY. You know the leisure class sometimes like to have a glass of wine with lunch,  sit on a sunbed for a few weeks escape a dreary Euro winter, or maybe a nice beach dinner on the sand. But things need to be managed a little better so guess what let's tear it all down instead. In Chiang Mai we'll always have the backpackers, who are spending less on booze as they need to be heading home by Midnight. Chinese seem to be more year round, but last high season wasn't much of anything and if it wasn't for them, hardly be any tourists at all most of time. What little they spend goes to 7/11 and the Drug Store chains.

On August 5, 2015 at 7:54 PM, charliebadenhop said:

Apples and Oranges... but-

In Los Angeles, taking an Uber to the airport costs 35-50% cheaper than a taxi, depending on time of day.

So a big savings.

UBER is great but they can't pick up at LAX and the shuttle drivers to hotels are now NO UBER! You can how ever walk to the Century BLVD for pickup.

Is there a dedicated UBER pickup zone at Swampy? I just did a trip to the US on personal business. Las Vegas (Down with Taxi Mafia!) and Reno have dedicated UBER pickup areas now.

18 hours ago, namatjira said:

Just another low flying scab

Not bad enough for that, a scab is a strikebreaker, a replacement worker who crosses a picket line to steal another mans job. Lowest of the low.

He's just another hipster douche with a blog and a beard.

Saw a gaggle of Thai women in a Nevada Casino recently, stuffing money into slot machines. Must be paradise for them!

Want a warm welcome in Chiang Mai these days? Grow a fumanchu moustache, pull your T-shirt up to you armpits and walk down the middle of busy streets with tourist map looking for Mango Tango!

godspeed

10 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

So your plan to reduce noise, congestion and danger in Bangkok is to make people first fly to the North of the country, get off their plane, get on a new plane and continue their journey to Bangkok.

 

Exactly how is your idea going to significantly reduce the amount of planes arriving and departing Suvarnabhumi?

 

 

Talking about the noise in Chiang Mai, where the arrivals used to stop about 11PM. Now thanks to the China tourism boom we have huge expansion of flights with many planes coming in all

night long in an area encircled by residential development and a mountain on one side (Doi Suthep). A new international airport has already been suggested for San Khampaeng district.

Chiang Mai After Hours Party Club scene? The ones I know are shut ins that don't admit tourists and your chance of meeting anybody under thirty (let alone a girl) ZERO!

On September 19, 2016 at 0:46 PM, hugh2121 said:

I have transited through many airports around the world. The only place I have found this impossible was LA, 10 years ago. I'll never go there again. First, I had to queue for ages at immigration as if USA was my destination. Then I had to collect my checked in bag from the baggage hall. Then I had to join another queue at Customs, again as if USA was my destination. I had to open all my bags and the customs officer made a big fuss about an unopened bag of nuts and raisins which had been all the way around the world the world with me. This caused another half hour delay while they went off to check if they were ok. They were. I then had to walk a very long distance with all my luggage to Transit, which turned out to be the ordinary check in hall. At that point I could have walked out of the airport, into a taxi and been in USA without a visa, nobody to stop me. Never again, I had been on a round the world trip and was simply trying to catch my flight for the final leg. Has America never heard of transit "lounges" and transit desks?

I have also transited through BKK on my way to Bali, no need to go through immigration or customs. Bags checked in already to final destination. Boarding card for flight from BKK to DPS was issued at check in at LHR.

My friends transited BKK without going through IMM on their way to Vietnam even though they were on separate airlines by asking the transfer desk. I don't know if they had checked baggage.

Based on nationality a visa is required before travel even to transit a US airport, so no issue about you walking away as you must be from one of the Visa waiver countries.

I don't know if this is unique to the US but everybody has to go through this. Transiting everybody has to go through all customs and immigrations formalities at the first US port of entry. Even Foreign Air crews who are not staying in the US. For example if a Mexicana crew is flying to LA from Mexico City then flying back to MEX on the same day without layover, all the crew and all their bags must get off do the same cluster hump you did and be screened. After the 9/11 terror attacks TVOV (transit without visa) is not allowed. Before that if transiting without a required VISA such passengers would be escorted by airline/security staff until boarding next flight. This is a liability for the US airline industry as some passengers may now choose a non-us airline even if US airline is cheaper or more convenient  to avoid the hassle and expense of securing US visas. Something about being the policeman of the world I guess. Huge inconvenience and I don't know of other countries that require this. There was a case where an Iranian family with a Canadian son even ended up in US detention when their Canada bound flight diverted to Puerto Rico due to a medical emergency. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-boy-iranian-parents-held-in-us-jail/article17991694/

If he says he's Christian he's a Christian. Other than the very unusually large number in America of Evangelicals and Mormons, etc. most rational and successful people in the do not believe in supernaturalism. Trump surely doesn't. They participate/profess religion for social reasons. Part of playing the game. Certainly not gonna get elected to major office professing atheism. Obama attended Jeremiah Wrights church because it fit in with the blame whitey/ America crowd he served until the anti-americanism became to harsh. Obama set his sights higher than street organizing at that time so he quit. All entirely self- serving in the end.

I'd rather diversify internatioanal arrivals and have them build the much needed new airport outside Chiang Mai.

Reduce the noise, congestion and danger of having planes operating 24/7  in and out of area encircled by development.

No reason people can't fly into Chiang Mai then take a connecting flight. Perhaps it would attract new airlines with lower fares if

they could reduce operating costs versus already overcrowded Suvarnabhumi

On September 17, 2016 at 7:35 PM, Monomial said:

 

This is actually NOT true, and is the very crux of the whole birther argument. At the time of Obama's birth, US law required that a US citizen had lived in the United States for a minimum of 5 years after their 18th birthday in order to convey citizenship. The law has since been changed so that 5 years are required, but only 2 of which must be after the age of 18. (I researched all of this when my children were born.)

 

When Obama was born, the US was still under the old rules, and his mother did not have 5 years of residency in the US after the age of 18. This meant that he would not have been an American citizen, and thus the speculation that the family conspired to falsify birth records so he could have an American passport.

 

Completely different from Mitt Romney, whose parents were qualified to transmit citizenship.

 

This is way off. Research US Nationality act of 1952. According to statute at the time, EVEN IF Obama had been born in Kenya (he wasn't) he would have acquired US citizenship through his mother at the moment of birth, a natural born citizen. Another reason this entire issue has been a complete pile of conspiratorial racist garbage from beginning. Obamas problem is not Constitutional qualification or foreign conspiracy, going to the point of some Manchurian Candidate manipulation placing false announcement of birth in Honolulu newspapers. The problem is him being raised and influenced in a way his entire life that makes him generally hostile to the US, unfairly critical of it's history. He has worked his whole career to fundamentally change the country to something it is not and this is clearly evident in his writings, speeches  and actions ever since he took public office.

Sounds like a wonderful celebration. If he missed his Bris I'd probably skip that one, if I were him.


 

2 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

 

Did he ever believe it in the first place? Most of those people just use it to put Obama down.

I am a staunch conservative. There are many legitimate reasons to criticize Obama. Birtherism and cryptomuslim sympathy not among them, never should have made it past the pages of internet clickbait pages. Who has been pushing this crap for years? Trump, the final result of Republican politics highjacked by religious fanatics, idiocy, and conspiracy theorists. My California absentee ballot never means anything anyway for President but won't bother this year. Partially agree with George Will on this one. Not leaving the party but better to suck it up and accept 4 years of Clinton and regroup.

What information has come out to cause Trump to change his opinion and thus let down his minions of supporters, who still cling to the conspiracy (none). It is part of election campaign politics, nothing more. If Trump loses he will flip-flop again.


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Is the previous management (Game) involved in this venture?

After being seated  if not offered a menu or service within 15 minutes I leave. 'Nuff said.

Flew to Chiang Mai on them from overseas via Shanghai and Guangzhou. The Shanghai to Guangzhou segment is a "domestic" flight and and although transiting  involved waiting at immigration and customs line , surly officers, and  passport stamp. Luggage was promised to be checked to Chiang Mai but  I knew I was having some communication problems with the staff who mouth English sentences with clearly no comprehension. If I had not gone to collect the luggage myself at the turntable in Guangzhou it would have NOT made it out of Guangzhou. This is on business class. The Guangzhou airport is huge with new looking terminals but like everything else in China,  much left  to be desired. The decor in their lounge there looked like something out of the 1950's Soviet Union with some self-serve noodles and soup and a few cans of soft drinks/beer in a refrigerator.Food on board /service good. The flight attendants were very nice tall/skinny model types and they  wanted to chat with me and answer customer service questionnaires. High standard of English. In Guangzhou when we had apron parking a special vehicle was sent out to pick up the business class passengers. (TEN MINUTES after everyone else was sent by bus but the way , so what's the point?)  The other thing I noticed is on EVERY flight there is an obvious strong smell of cigarettes coming out of the cockpit.  Airlines don't permit pilots to smoke onboard anymore so I hope they  pay more attention to the more important safety regulations while they are enjoying their cigarettes, probably kicked back with feet up reading the Beijing Daily News! Probably won't choose to fly with them again but it was nice to avoid Suwarnaphumi for a change.

4 hours ago, uptheos said:

 

" I learned a long time ago better not to initiate. "

 

Doesn't that apply both ways, maybe you and yours look unapproachable?

We had an old Japanese guy in our building. For couple years saw him coming and going or drinking in front of mini-mart. Always alone. With a permanent scowl on face.

I took a chance to talk to him when we ended up sitting next to each other at a restaurant. Turns out he is a very nice guy, enjoyed talking to him. He did not really speak English but I got the gist of it.

No family ( or no contact) small pension, prices keep going up. Only pleasure in life tobacco and alcohol. He has since moved on to a cheaper place. Where I come from it is polite to make small talk with neighbors and exchange simple greetings. Most foreigners are just fine, but even Chiang Mai attracts crazies and jerks who are more than happy to unload their venom on people for no good reason.

17 hours ago, chiang mai said:

 

And that's the other thing, Americans don't do satire and I could never understand that, they think that everything is serious unless it's qualified as a joke either before or afterwards.

Don't even know where to start with this one, how about South Park? As the Brits like to say "rubbish" or "utter tosh". My condo is mostly Thai with some Foreign but everybody is quite pleasant.

As for random "Farangs" outside I'm more than happy to chat if they approach but I learned a long time ago better not to initiate. Guess who the worst are as for suddenly being hostile, as response 

to a friendly greeting? 

A hob is the cooker top, or the surface that has gas rings for cooking on

What's a hob?

I got dragged to the HRC in Bangkok by a foreign colleague who "can't eat Thai food" though it's first time to visit Thailand. Turns out he wanted to pick up a prostitute, as that location is supposedly known for that. Uncomfortable for me as I know his wife socially. Anyway I decided to indulge in my rare burger, thinking must be so good expensive burger at an American chain. It was the worst and most expensive hamburger I have been served in any country. I hardly touched it and guess what, the waitress asked me if there was a problem with my burger and I told her oh no just not hungry. (Fortunately the guy did not see anything he liked there and we were to move on). Guess what, the charge for my burger was removed without asking! Imagine that happening in other establishments that follow sugarcane in the elephant mouth business philosophy? So it's a professionally managed foreign chain. The Red Lion will still be in business. There are plenty of authentic local food options. If one does not care for the Hard Rock Cafe atmosphere, food or prices they can go elsewhere right? I will steer clear but good luck to them. I think one of the marketing trends HRC's management  may be looking at is  China tourism, while on vacation might enjoy a little taste of USA hype without the travel expense expense and hassle of getting a US tourist visa.