stub

Hello,

I will be moving to Thailand soon and am going to buy a laptop before I come (it will be cheaper for me here).

I was looking at the Dell Latitude E6400, which comes with a 3 year Next Business Day Onsite Service Warranty and I will also buy Complete Cover. Will the warranty still be onsite in Thailand? And will the Complete Cover be valid there?

Thankyou

Michael

Check the wording of the warranty and cover you are buying. Dell sell a variety of options, some of which will cover you in Thailand and some won't. I've have no problem getting Dell support on a failed laptop here that was purchased overseas with the correct Internationally valid cover.

If you've hit Soi 22 already, it's only a couple minutes to 33/1.

Never tried Tan Tan Men, might do that one day, but I never see people in it, which to me is a key indicator. Ramentei is always nearly full.

Really? I've had trouble getting a seat there sometimes. Gets a good lunch crowd, but I guess the style of food doesn't make for long drawn out meals so it gets empty outside of the key hours? Mixed Japanese, Thai and Farang business.

I've never made it into Ramentei. They never have menu out and dark glass so I always end up entering somewhere I know I'll enjoy.

I forgot to mention Imoya before, second or third floor of a building in Suk 24 near the corner (between Sukhumvit Rd and the Emporium soi 24 entrance - look for the red and black smiling potato sign). Not open for lunch, but great decor and ambiance all done up like an outdoor restaurant from 40 years ago.

Thanks very much for the suggestion... AyG.... Likewise to you Sub...

What kind of menu offerings do they have there at Tokuji???

I've only been there for lunch. You get a good sized tempura bento, a ginger pork bento, several others. I haven't ordered off their menu - apart from the lunch specials you start getting standard Sukhumvit prices which is a bit much to pay this far from Sukhumvit and you are better off heading to 33/1. Seemed to be a fairly standard menu - pork cutlet on rice, chicken & egg on rice, curry rice, yakisoba - but it has been a while and maybe they had some unusual or signature dishes on there. Free tea of course, and miso soup and a fruit plate with the bentos.

Thanks for the replies people.

I get the impression it is fine if you are patient and prepared to explain that you are entitled to 90 days and wait to get it confirmed by seniors (so certainly do it yourself rather than be part of some bulk processed bus load).

I've remembered: it's called Tokujo, and it's on the corner of Sukhumwit 22 and Soi 1. The apartment block it's in is Admiral Suites.

Tokujo has good lunch boxes, but if you are getting that far away I think you are better heading to soi 33/1 (I think it is closer in fact - Tokuji is a long way down soi 22). I consider that lower Sukhumvit myself and walk there, or it is a direct taxi or skytrain ride if you are feeling lazy.

The first shop on the right has the best ramen at the right price (named Tan Ten Men or similar). The one to the right of the Bull's Head has good lunch deals if you want a bento or the daily special. Tsubakiya down the end opposite Fuji has a fantastic sushi train deal for weekend lunch (All you can eat 280 Baht, with the manager looking on ensuring the dishes are decent quality and variety. You pay less than that if you only eat a couple of dishes too - I think it is 8 plates before the cost is capped at 280 Baht?).

Walking distance of Nana or Asok your out of luck. There are a few places attached to hotels, but they are disappointing. There is a katsu restaurant hidden in soi 11, off a carpark I think opposite Bed, but you need to be able to read the Japanese for katsu to find it. I've never been in though as the walk to 33/1 is much more my style.

I've always maintained an Oishi or Fuji would do fantastic business in lower sukhumvit on the north side. Beer bars with no customers and tailors shops with their doors shut at 7 haven't realized this it seems. We did just get a Himali Cha-Cha branch though - just what this area needs, yet another Indian restaurant at the same price point as all the others.

Hi.

Has anyone here successfully used their APEC business travellers card to get a 90 day entry stamp at a land border crossing? I've only used it at airports in the diplomatic lanes before and really don't want to get stuck with a two week tourist stamp because the rules are different or the border guard has no idea what the card is.

The blimp is back. Currently crossing Sukhumvit around Siam somewhere. Further west than last time I saw it.

Photo is crap due to the haze, but it is still clearly blimp shaped and it certainly moved like a blimp.

The blimp is back. Currently crossing Sukhumvit around Siam somewhere. Further west than last time I saw it.

Again I ask you, please provide a picture.

No time machine sorry. Just me and my wifes eyeballs this time.

I saw the right side clearly. White body with red English writing. My wife thinks there was blue in the writing too. Unfortunately the writing was banal and I think mentioned a company name I've never heard of so neither of us remember what it was. This would indicate survey or photography use rather than advertising or tourism. I could id it from a photo with enough detail.

It looked very similar to http://www.airshipasia.com/ - this seems to be a Thai company so you might want to talk to them.

I recognise the location of that snap, Alex. Where the object is hovering, there's a pizza shop below it.

You should work at the intelligence agency..............

I hoovered for a while and then moved from East to North, again I say most likely a blimp looking at the pic but I have not found any news report that some advertisement company is soon starting "Blimping? above BKK.

Why would this be news? Blimps haven't been news worthy for over 50 years.

It certainly is a blimp. I saw it just a few hundred meters away from my condo window in lower suk around the same time.

I like "Joke Club" at Sukhumvit soi 11.

Joke Club is gone now. Reasonably priced Chinese doesn't seem to exist around lower Sukhumvit, except maybe for the Chinese restaurant in the Ambassador if you go for the dim-sum lunch.

Try wandering into a populated restaurant in Chinatown.

do u like left 4 dead stub? i havent touched fallout yet to be honest. addicted to l4d

Haven't played it - FPS games usually bore me now, so I don't bother unless the demo really grabs me. And there is no L4D demo.

They are really quite simple to get working... never had a game not work, if it didnt I would bring it back.

It may be simple, but some of us value our spare time more than the amount you save and would rather be playing the game or enjoying life rather than sitting in a taxi going back to pantip or trawling the maze of dodgy serial number and crack sites. Its just too much hassle, especially with a game like Fallout 3 or Oblivion where you probably want to install mods, and playing games is supposed to be fun.

I recommend not getting the Steam version btw. for anyone thinking of it. There is no local Steam content mirror, so you end up sucking it down from a single server in Malaysia, Singapore or US server at 30-60k which will take well over 24 hours (compared to the sustained 80k rate I get with Bittorrent). It is on special for a few days though at $US35 (1200 Baht?).

Someone who writes Thai might be able to get an answer on the forums at zest.co.th - the box is on the shelves in Singapore so they might have a date from the distributer now.

http://www.photocomasia.com/aerial.htm

Has anybody else seen this, this morning?

There is a new blimp in town - went past my condo window a few days ago, maybe 300 meters away. Its a small one, so looks set for advertising or possibly a tourist thing rather than anything serious.

Hmm... Thailand might be an excellent place for Blimp transport. So much rural population traveling around by long bus rides but spread out too much to make airports viable. Stick a few masts in Sisaket, Buriram, Nong Khai etc. and you might have a viable service if you could keep the price down to 500 Baht to Sisaket for example.

It is called mucoloid plaque! And one of the reasons your body can not absorb important nutrients and stores more fat as a results.

Its called mucoid plaque. Its a dubious and fringe concept - so fringe the person who invented the term is the main supplier of cleansers, but only a handful of sources bothered to debunk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucoid_plaque

http://quackfiles.blogspot.com/2004/12/muc...bious-idea.html

Google will show up more articles, mainly against.

I personally lean on the side of quack idea, as nobody seems to support the idea who isn't selling the cleansers. I'm no expert though and have never tried it.

If a country makes it THAT difficult for you to NOT break the law then why bother? Jeeze the lengths some people will go to just to satisfy some sense of propriety? If Thailand doesn't sell legal games you are looking for but has the copied version at every stall in the mall why are fighting it?! Love fallout series btw, and fallout 3 rocks.

Because with the copied version you need to budget for the inevitable upgrade and patch problem, way more than the 2-400 Baht you save if you value your time even a little. For new titles, buying copies here just isn't cost effective any more for anyone who can afford a 200 Baht lunch. You could even make a profit if you could be bothered reselling to someone overseas (not illegal despite what the publisher wants you to believe, although I'm sure it is a voliation of E-Bay's terms of service so you would need to use different sales channels).

And you don't have to worry about your ThaiVisa forum threads getting closed or your account getting banned for promoting piracy.

I have not seen it in the shop in Thailand yet, maybe it has not been released here, or maybe they are converting all the speech to Thai.

If it does arrive, prepare to lose your life for a while. I have already "invested" more than 50 hours in the Xbox version, great game!

If you don't mind the download, you can get a legitimate version using Steam (www.steampowered.com). Its about 1500 Baht though, whereas if a local distributer puts it on the shelf it will probably be the standard 600 Baht new release price.

There are enough posts on here on what do do.

What you *do not* want to do is leave it in your passport for the border agent to find next time. This is how you can get grief. If things go wrong, it is possible to get refused entry and disqualified from Visa on Arrival in the future.

Take a look back on tv at the aspects of appointment and accountability of the courts. Same for the electoral commission.

Point out where the impartiality of the courts has been demonstarated since the fair and square democratic election of the government.

The impartiality of the courts is demonstrated via all of their decisions so far. Point out where this is not the case? Point out where an unfair judgement has been made?

as you say nothing but anti government judgements and red cards, see the pattern?.

Yes, there certainly is a pattern. The corruption is rampant and the courts are having a hard time keeping up with all the wrong doing.

show us the facts put to the judges, and who put them there, where did the evidence come from,who validated it.

Show us anybody arguing that evidence was denied, or facts misconstrued by the judges, or witnesses bought or intimidated. The only examples I can see where in some of the failed attempts to get Taksin to trial where there were claims made that people where unprepared to testify due to the consequences.

Nobody is arguing this. Apart from the Samak trial, where the judges pointed fingers at Samak's transparent attempt to hide the evidence, the facts have all been clear cut and law obviously broken leaving the judges little option except to give a guilty verdict and with mandatory sentences they seem to have little control at all.

Judicial process needs to demonstrably fair and impartial, the courts are corrupt and answer to their paymasters.

Where do you go to dispute the facts and the judgements of the court?

Higher court or the media. We are not seeing either. And all sides in this argument control media outlets - its not as if they are being censored.

One mans electoral fraud is another mans re-distribution of wealth....but the PAD dont want that do they.

The PPP were correct then, it was business as usual.

The stranded tourists , because of the illegal airport hijacking , are already arriving back at the homes and relating their ordeals to the community and press.

nothing positive for the PAD.

Electoral fraud by any other name still stinks. The PAD don't have a friend in the courts either - the courts have issued arrest warrents already. If you have any problem, it is with the Police for either not performing investigations to ensure only certain cases reach the courts or for not enforcing the courts rulings - they seem responsible for the latter for sure.

Everybody knows that the thai courts have been bought off and are totaly corrupt, who does the EC report to?

Please quote your sources!

As of today, the courts have ruled against the ruling party and that means that the international community mentions this on its frontpages.

Thanks to PAD that is!

The "corrupt "courts have again continued to rule against the democraticaly elected government,this time 9-0.

Tell me when the courts didnt rule against the democratically elected government.

The PAD is already mentioned on BBC news as armed para-militaries, holding an international airport to ransom,.

The democratically elected government goes on.

Did the previous corrupt court rulings get front page...no.....

What will get front pages is the homecoming citizens accounts of their ordeal in thailand because the PAD hijacked the airport!!

Whats wrong with a 9-0 ruling? The court considers the facts presented and makes judgment. A 9-0 ruling means there was no doubt - the law was broken. Do you honestly think they should give the democratically elected government a break because they have been busted too many times already? "Yeah... looking at this evidence you obviously broke the law but we are going to let it slide this time because you have all those red cards already". I don't see anyone disputing the facts presented to the court. I don't see anyone except the guilty disputing the judgment of these facts. I see plenty of people claiming the court is biased because the decision didn't go the way they wanted it to. I see plenty of people claiming the law shouldn't be the way it is.

The 8-1 decision against one of the other parties is more interesting - one of the judges did not think the law was broken in this case. Still a clear majority of the considered opinions of the judges, but a crack of doubt.

When did the courts rule *for* the current government? IIRC most of the charges against Taksin didn't stick - for a while there people where wondering if he would be cleared of all charges. Also, most of the fraud charges made from the last election did not end up as red cards. And I believe there are still arrest warrents for the PAD leaders (so if you are going to blame anyone, blame the police - the courts are doing their job it seems).

If there was any unfairness, it seems that the Democrats where aware that the rules would be enforced but the PPP assumed it would be business as usual.

Big surprise, the P.A.D. won't be leaving!

Ever wondered why most civilized countries don't negotiate with terrorists?

Now you get your answer.

PAD are not terrorists. Save that word for real terrorists such as in Mumbai.

Redshirts murdering people with bombs, what would you call them?

There was no negotiation with the courts. The courts ruled how they were going to rule. What was negotiated exactly?

The PAD have not achieved what they want. The Thaksin forces are just going to rebrand and install another Thaksin puppet/relative.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorist

they fit the definition

Who has been terrorized? Sitting in an airport and manning blockades isn't terrorizing or frightening anyone. Thankfully nobody is resorting to terrorist tactics such as lobbing bombs into crowds of civilians or beheading teachers. This is just protest thank god. Stop cheapening the word - we might need it still.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Mrs. Balbir's in soi 11/1. Used to be the most commonly recommended, and like almost all of the Indian in lower Suk, good. 'Hot Curry' was probably the worst, but cheapest too and still decent.

Akbar's on soi 3

Bukharas on Suk near cnr. soi 7

Namsukar in alley off soi 8

Buwachi on soi 11

Mrs. Balbirs on soi 11/1

Dosa King (veg) on soi 11/1

Great Punjab on soi 13 past Ambassador (pricy, and sure to close due to no customers. But good decor).

Himali Cha-Cha on soi 31

For ones I've never been too:

Rembrant Hotel (consistently voted best and most expensive).

There are also a pair lurking on soi 11 near cheap charlies (Mohgul?)

Another on Suk between soi 21 and 23 next to Pedro's

One cnr. soi 8

One cnr soi 12.

A 'low end' looking vegetarian one in the ally between soi 20 and soi 22 (L shaped leading to soi 22).

Thai food is the luxury in this area. I sometimes think it should be awarded the title of Little India due to the concentration of Indian restaurants and tailors. There is even a Malaysian Dhosa chain outlet whose name I forget in soi 20 IIRC (packed with Indians - cheap and decent Dhosa. Served on banana leaf).

How can this still be???

Yes, I would support a coup [ 352 ] [50.43%]

No, I would not support a coup [ 346 ] [49.57%]

No more voters, it is as divided as Thailand.

Is this Thaksin's legacy in the fahrang world.

I think supporting the coup is the 'none of the above' vote. I don't think it is divided at all - it shows the PAD supporters, the PPP supporters and (some of) the undecided when combined still don't outnumber the people who want anything else even at a cost. People are utterly sick of the choice between two evils and the coup seems the only way of getting a third alternative - it might fail again, but at least it is rolling the dice rather than known suckage.

Please tell me what village or first hand experience of these "buses" you have not just quoting others, where I am they go to the local school or temple or amphur to vote, they don't need to be bused anywhere as in most rural areas in Thailand everything is nearly walking distance and by the way these different parties come door to door campaigning and handing out their vote for me money, in the 5 years I've been here I've seen more different elections than I can remember,seems to be one nearly every month. I'm not defending the PPP , I am in fact very anti Thaksin but to take a simplistic attitude that it is ony one side that is corrupt beggars belief, we are in Thailand there are no laws.

I don't have first hand experience of vote buying in Thailand, and have to rely on second hand accounts of it such as your own.

Vote buying is a form of electoral fraud and quite different to pork barreling, although a lot of people don't see the difference on this forum - above table spending of public money, including most 'populist policies' are pork barreling. Under table cash handouts from private coffers is fraud. Vote buying and other forms of electoral fraud are illegal in every legitimate democracy. Here it seems to be the norm.

That all sides participate is irrelevant - only one side at a time can be guilty of being in power due to vote buying. You might be able to rationalize or justify it by finger pointing and saying 'he did it too', but you are still guilty and unlikely to try changing the system that put you in power, so the cycle continues and the democracy remains an oligarchy.

Ok I do live in Issan in a village, it is true that so called vote buying takes place but I can assure you that it is by ALL Parties not just the Trt - PPP, The villagers attitude is take the money from everone and then vote for their preferred choice, I've tried arguing this but they say EVERY politician only turns up once every few years whens theres an election, promises the world then disappears till next time, sounds very much like candidates back in my home country only there they call it Pork Barrelling.

You live in a village, which is not representative of all villages. Political parties pick their battles, or perhaps the local leaders where strong enough to resist bribes or cunning enough to ensure equal bribes. If you lived somewhere that ended up being paid equally by both sides leaving people to choose freely, great! The experience in your village does not mean at other places there was only one bus or people filling in election forms on behalf of voters or bribes or threats of violence.