stub

What I'm more upset about is all these places that think they can increase my charges 3% just because I use an international credit card. I can't count the amount of times I've completely turned down a $3000 purchase on my business credit cards because they want to add about $100 to the bill. I usually threaten to get their merchant accounts shut down with the credit processor (I have good business relations with Visa, Mastercard and AMEX). Some of them just look at me like... what are you talking about? "It's illegal to do that? But they charge us to process payments this way... It can't be illegal!"

Its not actually illegal. It is in violation of the agreement between the merchant and the credit card company. Some jurisdictions have declared this unenforceable, and merchants are allowed to pass on the cost to the customer while the card companies can't do anything except whine or perhaps offer incentives for hiding the cost. In other jurisdictions, the card company will disconnect the merchant, possibly even keep owed cash and the courts will back them up. Depends on the country. I have no idea what the rules are in Thailand, but I expect they would favor local merchants over the large western financial institutions.

I personally agree with merchants having the power to pass on the cost. For a while back home it was common to see a 1.5% AMEX charge because American Express at that time was charging higher fees and the shops decided to do something about it.

I actually like the places who jam on the 10% service charge, I dont feel in anyway obliged to leave a tip !!

well... that is no way to 'stick it' to the establishment, friend....

the people who waited on you is still without the peculiar gratitudes....

I assume any place withholding the service charge from the staff will also screw them by keeping the tip box contents too. Maybe cash in the hand might work if the boss isn't watching.

Its an annoying concept imported from overseas - a compulsory tip. Just don't tip (you already have!), and don't go back if you hate being lied too. There are enough decent places to eat and stay without supporting this fraud. Some countries listen to their consumers and list prices have to include any service charges and taxes.

Its weird how some owners never realize that importing dubious business practices from their home countries causes resentment in their customers from different cultures. They can't comprehend that their 'normal' business practices and a 'minor' issue like this lose them customers. Thankfully in Bangkok you can vote with your feet and there is always an alternative, often located just a few doors down.

And well done to Bradman's for clearly stating everything clearly and unambiguously at the front of the menu for the international audience. Price charged is price listed, tips go to staff, suggested tipping rates for good service.

(Just my $0.02++)

Why are people panicing? 10,000 baht is nothing. It's approx $300. usd/$320 CAD/$330AUD and 220 Euro. It's hardly a fortune.

If you are not carrying some cash on you when you travel, then you are not being prudent. What happens if there is a power failure and the atms or cc systems go dowm? what happens if you are stranded somewhere and there is a gigantic line at the atm or it runs out of cash? What do you do if the atm eats your card? What happens if you are stranded and the cc doesn't work. I have had all of these scenarios happen to me in the past 5 years of traveling. That's why I carry cash. I have yet to be robbed, scammed or pickpocketed (knock wood.)

Really? I normally travel with little more than taxi fair + visa fees, and maybe 100US if I'm going somewhere third world for the first time. If you are unable to get local cash or a hotel room with passport and credit cards these days you have bigger problems happening, such as being in a war zone. Worst hassle I've had was needing to try 3 ATMs in Kathmandu until I found one connected to a generator since they only have power 11 hours per day and I hadn't bothered to get cash at the airport.

Any hard currency is a laugh. Exchange booths can't even do 'any currency'. How many Tunisian Dinars is it to the Baht, and is this pink 10000 Dinar note legitimate?

Silly and unenforcable rule like needing to see a ticket - irrelevant since etickets came around. All I carry is the booking number since the only ticket that matters is the one inside the computer. Yet still I get asked for one and waved on when I say I have an eticket. Just silly since you can make your own trivially with 50 Baht and a nearby Internet Cafe.

I doubt the airlines would ever let this get enforced - I think they are the ones liable for the return airfare for people refused entry and I don't think they would be particularly happy having to check this on check in along with visa status etc.

Try another chemist. Last time I bought some it was from the small chemist at the front of the Ambassador Arcade, Sukhumvit soi 11. Buy it by the bottle or by the pill. Other chemists in lower Sukhumvit stock it as well.

I believe every airport should have them.If you don't want them used on you,then you don't fly.It's just that simple.

Why?

Every factual article about the technology (as with most recent security measures) I've seen point out they don't work. The only things in favor I've seen is propaganda directly from the manufactures.

The more time spent monitoring gee-wizz technological solutions that don't help, the less time is spent on security measures that do help. The independent security experts agree since 9/11 the only improvements we have seen in air travel security are locked doors to cockpits and the changed attitudes of passengers (who no longer will remain passive in a hijacking), and all the other changes just cost money better spent on real security and cost time better spent on real security - we are now less safe! The only counter arguments come from manufacturers - even the TSA doesn't deny this, instead just spinning the hard questions rather than openly admit they are fully aware of the situation.

For genuine, affordable air travel security go to Israel. Trained people using the best computers on the planet - the human mind. The US has high school dropouts following rigid procedures and waiting for red lights to blink, trivially avoidable with a few minutes research, and are pushing this on the rest of the world to our detriment.

I fully support replacing a slow and useless process with a faster and useless process.

Congratulations to the recipient of the kickbacks. This one should be worth even more than the dedicated shoe scanners.

Sorry to the people who are interested in security. You just get theater and snake oil. Still - the odds are in your favor, and there is a complimentary bag to put over your head in the seat pocket in front of you to further enhance your chances of surviving a terrorist attack.

Tsubaki on Sukhumvit soi 33/1 (down the end opposite Fuji) has an all-you-can-eat for less than 300 Baht, lunch time Saturday & Sunday. Best to get there 12-12:30. It is a sushi train.

That is two remove vulnerabilities in the default install, which is different to the default install in NetBSD or Ubuntu or Suse or Slackware or Fedora or Redhat or Vista or XP... it isn't a particularly meaningful statistic as you are not comparing apples to apples.

Most of the security updates you are downloading are for all the other software you are running (Gnome, KDE, Apache, OpenSSH) and you will get them for any maintained OS that makes use of them.

It's 800 baht, in the US it'd be twice the price. Anyway, don't worry about the DLC. The game is 60-80 hours long and 100% fully complete without it. You don't need any of it and I don't recommend paying extra for anything that doesn't come free with your version. The DLC is like 1 hour long. It's really lame. It's mainly for 360 and PS3 players to get additional equipment, but on the PC there are loads of additional items for free download, and you can make any item for free with the editor.

In the US I wouldn't buy any games until they hit the bargain bin :-) Here the prices seem fair. Thanks for the opinion on the DLC.

I'm still sulking because it is 200 baht more than other new release, top tier titles and already being milked to purchase downloadable content packs at US rates (so over 1k baht for the basic version plus the something-or-other Keep DLC that people seem to think improves things significantly).

I'll probably give in though and buy it... but at the moment sulking and playing other stuff. Ideally I'll have enough to keep me busy for a year until a version with the good addons comes out here. At the moment, they seem to have only released half the game and I'll have more fun if I can wait to play the full game without repetition.

Someone is trying to rip you off I'm afraid. If it is the girl or her family, be thankful you learned before the wedding.

Assuming the family (most likely), remember that you are marrying them as well - this is Thailand. If you feel the girl is right for you and you still want to proceed, your probably going to have to negotiate like you are buying her off them because, well, that is pretty much what is happening. A monthly payment rather than sinsot is probably best, as you will be paying every month anyway and you can stop if things go bad (assuming kids etc. don't complicate the picture). You also will get a better picture of what is happening - if a one off lump sum is required you should be seriously worried about her doing a runner no matter how much you think she loves you.

I pay 2k/month for 2 part time maids - I'm not sure what percentage of that they get to keep. At Christmas, I give them 2k bonus each when (in a decorative envelope which of course won't be opened in front of me). I don't give at Songran - I feel at the farang gift giving time I can be excused for acting farang. These people are in my home, sometimes unsupervised, and I feel obliged to reward their honesty. It is certainly appreciated and certainly not required (they have even pointed this out to me). As a side effect, I've never once had to purchase cleaning equipment which just magically appears as required, and their schedules get coordinated so never more than one at a time back in the village and even then short trips. I've never tipped any other employees in the building nor contributed to the yearly Christmas party, but we seem to be treated as good people I suspect from good words from the maids. Coming from a non-tipping background, it is certainly interesting to actually see it working like it should and promoting good service.

Get to a border with 20,000 Baht and exit the country. You will pay the fine when they check your passport. This is a normal, every day occurrence and no hassles. No hassles reentering either (unless perhaps you are a serial offender).

Do not go to immigration or the police - this just makes you a target for extortion. There is no problem exiting the country when you are on overstay provided you have the cash for the fine. If you get picked up by police before you get to the border though you can end up in jail and/or shaken down.

What border doesn't matter - air or land is the same. There was some hassle in the past with visa run buses being stopped by police and the overstayers shaken down but I haven't heard any reports of that this year, so you might prefer air if you are nervous.

Congratulations to the perfect people on this thread who never make mistakes. It must be wonderful living in your reality. Thankfully in my reality, unfair and extreme punishments are frowned on in most civilized countries and people generally don't get shot for being distracted, forgetful, stupid or unlucky.

There's still an issue of Cambodian settlers on the disputed land, and of Cambodian troops shooting any Thai that steps in there.

If Cambodia recognizes "disputed" status they should move their civilians out of there themselves, without provoking Thai nationalist feelings.

Or Thailand could just grant the residents Thai citizenship. Its not their fault which governments decided to give them id cards - purely chance based on which side of an imaginary line their birth got registered. No wonder the locals want the protesters to go away - when your family is straddling a border you don't want outsiders coming along stirring up trouble and telling you your great aunt should be evicted because the border happened to move a couple of decades ago, somehow transforming her into the enemy.

The holding cell at Ratchathewa police station must be bursting at the seams.

Not necessarily. Does 1000 arrests mean 1000 individuals? Perhaps they have just been arresting the same 30 people every day for the last month - its much easier and more profitable that way :-)

Anyway - at least for the moment it is having an effect. I came through on Monday and the only hassle I got was from the AOT Limo counter who are still hijacking dazed tourists just past customs.

travelling with 2 - 3 people you would be better of with a taxi, if you could find an honest one...

i guess also a nice double pricing for locals and farangs is in place

Since 1982, I've taken taxis from the airports into Bangkok more than 200 times, and have never been ripped off. Just pay the extra 50 baht and use the official service - you'll have no problem.

hear hear - have taken a taxi from SVB at least 20 times, and always pay approx the same to get downtown, about 280B plus the 50, plus the tollway. Never had a problem, never had a rip-off. I read above about some geezer going to the top floor to avoid the 50B. Does Thailand attract only penniless weasles, or do visitors morph into weasles according to the number of visits / time spent here?

Weasle who avoids 50B charge - you seem so proud! well done!

I used to sometimes go via the queue. I gave up - more hassles dealing with drivers in the queue trying to justify the wait, refusing meters and the usual rubbish. I recommend going upstairs and getting in a taxi just dropped someone off or being waved off by the officials - no problems there because they are so happy they have a return fair without dealing with the queues and officials. Paying the premium gives worse service if you have basic Thai language skills.

Not sure about parking, but can recommend Bradman's Suk soi 23, Jools Suk soi 4 and Big Mango Suk soi 4 for coffee and wifi. Tavern soi 4 too, but there you are borrowing wifi from the neighbouring places. The tables upstairs in Jools could be best if you are working and need to spread out.

The 'robbed on the bus' line is a scam. As mentioned earlier, there is an English guy who has been using this line for a while around Suk soi 4. The 'even 40 baht' line is to make it seem more genuine - more often than not people will give 500 or 1000 baht if they believe the situation. Drunk guy who could speak German doesn't sound like anyone I've bumped into - the English guy is sober when I've met and seen him (although with that thick accent, many people might assume he is drunk )

Talk to the owner of the Cactus Bar in Soi Cowboy. He knows his gear and has them custom built locally - solid, designed for cooking great BBQ and without the import price tag.

Anyone ever been to the free BBQ on Friday nights at the Soi 8 Pub? What was offered?

A fairly mediocre selection. If it is the last Friday of the month, a much better 'free' BBQ is at the Pelican Inn on soi 22. 'free' as in you need to buy a beer as usual. Side dishes can dry up early but plenty of ribs.

What about; they will be fired, taken to court, sentenced and the contracted company that hired them will face legal consequences.

Its not a companys fault if an employee choose to steal.

Thailand sure has strange ways of dealing with its problem inhabitants.. Maybe there is no need to go through the legal system as they only stole form farang..

It is now. Now the companies accepting these contracts will need to improve employee screening, supervise and monitor. No more just hiring staff willing to take the risk and kickback to the company, getting the profits and being untouchable because 'we aren't responsible'. It would be wonderful if this sort of thinking spread to other areas where corruption has become endemic so the people paid to turn a blind eye become responsible for their actions and inactions.

Would you continue hiring a catering company whose cooks kept giving your customers food poisoning? Would you take a catering company to court whose business practices made food poisoning more likely to occur?

The Cabinet has approved new regulations that prohibit karaoke parlours from providing drinking or singing partners to customers, with their business licences being revoked if they do.

This will put half the karaoke parlours out of business, its because of the girls many Thai men go to the Karaoke bars, very rare you see a falaang in one outside of the tourist areas.

Nah - it will just change the business model slightly. Instead of charging for one of the staff to sit and drink and sing with you, the customer will tip one of the female customers (freelancer) who is hanging around for doing the same or a kickback given to the girl for drinks consumed. Girls are no longer staff, so might need encouragement to stay at that particular bar so under table payments instead of a base wage. The only real changes the customer will see is the girls no longer wearing uniforms and maybe having to negotiate rates rather than have flat fees for the bar. It seems worse for the girls though.

Why anyone would ever run a cyber XP, thumb drive, virtual anything, is beyond all comprehension.

Now you have a compromised USB drive also. The rounded wheel was done eons ago - get over it

Bubba

just plug it into a PC at an Internet Cafe and start up your portable Ubuntu installation.

It may be beyond your comprehension, but the sheer size of the market shows that some people find it useful. Not everyone is able to choose what OS is installed on the computer they need to use, or is allowed to to boot alternative operating systems. Some people find it really useful for evangelizing linux. Some people find it useful for seeing if linux is suitable for them without installing it and replacing unsupported hardware. Some people have to run Windows because it is the only way they can connect to corporate VPNs. Some people prefer a windows desktop but need to use some linux programs occasionally - it isn't always the other way around. Some people even find it useful enough that they spend their precious time and implement this technology, and give it away for free despite people like you belittling their efforts.