cheshiremusicman

Try Hua-Hin, or better still just further south (10kms) Kao Tao or Koa Takiab which has much better beach than HH. Absolutely NO signs of any problems here. Lots of good restaurants of all kinds and plenty of places to stay from basic to very upmarket, depends what you want to spend!

Take a taxi directly from the airport which should cost you about 2,300B.

If you need one organised to meet you, just PM me with the details of your flight and I can arrange for the driver that we use to pick you up at the airport. A good safe driver, not one of the maniacs that frighten the life out of you. The trip takes about 2.5 hours max.

DTSV have started today, on screen TV adverts saying the C Band service will cease on 31st MAY 2010.

So anybody got any ideas as to what we could possibly 'retune' our systems/dishes to when we get cut off. Can't stand the thought of having to watch that UBC crap again. Would really like to get the BBC channels if at all possible.

Whatever they tell you I wouldn't rely on it. They are notorious for changing the 'RULES' whenever they feel like it. It seems to depend on which way the wind is blowing on the day you ask the question.

I've just been having a look at the info on the ThaiVisa site ( bottom of intro page) and there is info there that gives you details of where you can send 90 day reg via registered post. Things change so often as you know so best contact them and see if it still applies.

Whatever they tell you I wouldn't rely on it. They are notorious for changing the 'RULES' whenever they feel like it. It seems to depend on which way the wind is blowing on the day you ask the question.

Don't blame the Thai people.

Blane the western culture for putting plastic bags into the mainstream here.

PC nonsense. Every country changes and it is the Thai's responsibility to keep their own country clean.

Totally agree. It would only take an edict from His Majesty that was shown/posted in all the schools to get the children educated into NOT dropping and also collecting litter. Teach the children and let them teach the adults! NOT rocket science.

Organise awards for the best village/town in various parts of the country and make the public aware of the importance of a clean Thailand.

There are more car washes in Hua Hin than there are optical places or tailors. Just to point out a few, starting from the north end of town there is a very good one behind the new restaurants across Petchkasem road from Golden Place. Look for the sign and the double (divided) driveway. You can get your car washed, usually in an hour and a half while you sit in the restaurants in front sipping on a few Thai beers. Further south there is one near the Shell station, then there are two on Soi 80 where there are many watering holes in which to wait while your car is being cleaned. The one mentioned at the grand (on the soi between San Paulo hospital and the grand market) is a very good one and then over the flyover going south towards Pranburi there are two on the left (east side) between the flyover and Soi 116. There are many, many, more and they are all pretty reasonable (most wash and vacuum my SUV for under 200 baht).

I used the car wash not far from the 'Land Office' , but on the other side of the Phetkasem road yesterday for the first time and have got to say that they did a very thorough job, both inside and out for 200B. This included a very, very good under car pressure wash -the vehicle being caked in mud underneath when I drove it in. The plastic under-guards looked like new when they had finished with them.

I will definitely use them again. I used to use the one by the side of the St Paolo hospital, but this new one is much more convenient for me and the same price.

Hua Hin will never become a "farang infested shithole" so long as the King resides there. Soi Bintabat hardly compares to Walking Street.

If you don't want to be around a lot of foreigners then Cha Am or Pran Buri are options; but the trade off is even worse amenities than Hua Hin, unless you don't mind driving to Hua Hin once a week.

May I suggest that you look at the Koa Toa, Koa Takiab areas just south of HH. Lovely, long uncrowded beach and some good properties to be had. This area is only 10 mins max from the centre of HH and Pranburi, with its own Tesco Lotus store and complex + makro + indoor market again only 10 mins the other way. I don't know if you are interested in golf as a pastime, but a brand new course that will be open in July is being completed at 'Pine Beach' this being some 8 mins south of HH. This is being constructed by the Army and thus will be a public course ( don't know if membership will be made available at this time) and from what I have seen of it up to now is going to be a very attractive one with some holes running right along the seashore. Local facilities are very good as far as restaurants etc and the 'new' private hospital that is under construction in HH will be only 10 mins away, on the 'right side ' of HH so that you avoid the centre which is always full of slow moving traffic. I live on an estate of some 40 villas in the area described which is very quiet and rural some half a kilometre from the main HH/ Pranburi road, so if any member of your family does not drive they can catch the local bus's with ease . If you wish to know more about the area etc just PM me.

I know i've been supporting the reds a lot, because not all reds are violent, but if the non violents allow this to happen and still support it then they are no longer Non violent. I will no longer defend the people who allow this to happen.

Well said.

I make that comment apolitically because any reasonable person - red, or otherwise - will see how dispicable this action was.

Absolutely correct. what kind of apologists are the heads of the police departments? They should be dismissed immediately for dereliction of duty and NOT shunted off to some 'inactive post' as is the norm for these blxxding idiots. But of course that would take balls that none of the government ministers seem to have; just trying to placate all sides --- never , never , works. Get TOUGH on the thugs and if you have to break some skulls then dxmn well get on with it. At least the law abiding Thais will thank

them for this. Seems most of the Thai police(force) would make very suitable candidates for the U.N police force - another pile of toothless tigers, all mouth (medals from gxd nows where) and no trousers.

"The Tourism and Sports Ministry is seeking Bt1.6 billion to stimulate tourism in both domestic and international markets, with plans for joint promotional packages in cooperation with foreign airlines and travel agencies."

Bullet proof vests for all tourists visiting Bangkok

That sounds like a good new 'business venture' to set up. Better be quick though, I can't see 20,000 a day lasting much longer. I reckon that you'll be lucky to see 2,000 'holiday makers' per day in a month or so. Poor old Thailand ! When will this government ever learn to take the bull by the horns and deal with problems, instead of acting like the proverbial ostrich?

Life is what you make it. There are things that drive me crazy about Thailand but nowhere is perfect so you have to make a judgement based on the pro's and cons.

I came here married and now I am single. I set up a business and, through working extremely hard, have seen it grow and become the most successful of it's kind in Asia. Even though I started it at the beginning of the worst recession in living memory and with all the current political turbulence it is still going strong.

I am investing millions back into the economy which everyone tells me is madness. Just like everyone back in the Uk told me it was madness to start a business in Thailand.

In two years I have created a life and lifestyle which would be the envy of many (except the working hours!!).

ANyone moving to any country and expecting to live like a tourist is going to be disappointed. A holiday is just that; a break from reality. It is never the same when you live full time somewhere.

For all its faults Thailand can be a great place to live. As long as you accept that there will be things you don't like.

Advice to others: Learn Thai, roll with it, get a job or interest, have fun. Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.

It sounds to me as though you have really got your head screwed on, unlike some of the posters!

I wish the original poster all the very best - no matter where he returns to.

For me, I have been here a little over three years with my

English wife and I love it here! Yes, it has its problems, but where in the world doesn't?

I for one don't wish to return to the UK with all of its PC shxt and be told by some Musxxn fanatic how I should conduct my life in my own birthplace. Too late now to change anything back in the UK, or other places in Europe - all going down hill fast.

Love the sun, love my house, love my lifestyle,love the food, love the people, love Thailand; albeit we could do without the unending stern faced bureacracy.

Man, now it's getting real tense!

The government is issuing warnings.

The UN is offering advice. If the UN gets involved, they are going to observe (that's about as tough as they get). Real scary!

More attacks and killings will result in more observing and warnings. Even more scary!

To paraphrase the John Cleese character in "Holy Grail":

Now go away or I shall warn (or observe) you a second time!

I agree with you, that is about as good as it gets with 'The United Nations'. I don't think that they have ever actually DONE anything that has been recognisable as usefull, other than filling 5 star hotels and travelling first class with all their minions and wasting zillions of dollars. They even have to make sure that the 'rota' for who gets elected to the head of the 'canteen' at the headquarters is in line with policy. Doesn't seem to matter if the person elected to whatever post is a moron - it's their countries 'TURN'. TALK, TALK,TALK. About as useful as a chocolate teapot the lot of them.

Allow me to get something off my chest:

I have long been muttering to myself to get a lump sum transferred to my Kasikorn account.

Having watched the GBP get decimated recently I noticed a small rise last week and decided

to finally call (since my Natwest Online Banking account does not allow me to do international

transfers) the customer service line.

They informed me that they are not authorised to do SWIFT transfers, but that I would have to

physically go and visit a Natwest branch OR send my local branch a signed letter.

Asking them if they had a fax I could send this to, they answered "unfortunately, we do not have

this facility".

So next day I was off to DHL and paid 1122 THB to send an express letter to my Natwest branch

asking them to please perform a service for which they charge 10 GBP. I'm gobsmacked.

And I have little confidence they won't cock it up along the way - I can imagine the frowning going

on in the back office as they receive this strange "scam letter" from Thailand.

Apparently had I been a Private Banking customer they could have transferred me in a few seconds.

To be a Private Banking customer requires 75000GBP income or 100000GBP liquid assets.

Combine this with a long string of mistakes, cock-ups and being lied to by managers (6 years ago

the manager of my local branch guaranteed me that ALL banks in the UK had a turnaround time of

3 weeks for a new credit card. I went up the road to HSBC who gave me a new account, a credit card

and debit card incl., in about 5 working days).

On a trip to Brazil I spent 25GBP on calls to have them unblock my debit card because the security pre-checks

on their customer service line took 5 minutes to get through.

Natwest is probably the biggest joke in banking I have come across. Their staff at branch level are well-meaning

and on occasion even intelligent. However, they seem to have no power and are left with a back office and IT system that is inept

and run by someone who does not understand how to service people.

You may ask, why don't I just change bank? they gave a generous overdraft a while back and I'm counting on that

when things go tits up. I think I'll want to switch to HSBC soon though.

Sorry, lots of misplaced, pent up rage. But what a joke...

I do have to agree with you. My wife and I are in the process of sending off a stinking email to our 'Personal Private manager'

at NatWest who recently cocked up big time.

With regards to 'money transfers to Thailand', even as a 'Privileged customer' whatever that means, we have to give them a 'Foreign Transfer Retained Transaction code' and go through the hoops to get them to transfer monies over and then pay the 'normal' charges for 3/4 day transfer or pay extra for a 2 day transfer. As far as we are concerned their is no 'Internet transfer system available' and we have to phone the 'International Banking Transfer Division.' It's a joke as you say!

We have had enough of their cr4p and intend to move elswhere. Incidentally, it still costs us some £250 per year to have our 'Private Banking manager' so I think that it is time to tell HIM & them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

All advice taken on board as to who to move to please?

This absolutely makes total sense. However this is Thailand so it may be some kind of late April Fool's Joke or some low level employee was thinking way out of the box and has yet to tell his boss.

I didn't see any of this 'compassion' shown when I was at the Hua-Hin immigration offices some months ago when a very smartly dressed and polite young man was refused an extension of stay as he could not get a flight home to Chile because of the disaster in his home country caused by the devastating earthquake. The hard faced cxws gave not an inch and they didn't even tell him that he would have to pay 500B per day for the 'luxury of his overstay extension' - I did that, which seemed to pixx them off big time! Mindless blxxdy morons, even refused him the right to speak to the head of department. I just wish that some of them were stranded in europe at the moment and found out what it is like.

I don't know if you have seen the next item below yours, interesting comments re 'ETHIAD' , IT MIGHT help your cause, good luck.

I also like 'Ethiad', but having read what I have, it will definitely make me think twice before booking again with them.

May I suggest that you inform them that a general discussion is now taking place on many 'forums' regarding their statement to you of 'deliberate overbooking'. Blxxdy scandalous in my opinion and should be outlawed, or severely censured by VERY hefty fines.

and meanwhile, the Baht is dropping like a stone and the tourists are looking somewhere else for their holidays, the ones that come will be charged more to compensate..............! but in time they will stop coming as there are cheaper safer options, sad as the poor will be most affected...

I don't see any evidence of the above statement.

12/4/2010 = $=32.21B £=49.6737B

1/4/2010 = $=32.33B £=48.972B

24/3/2010 = $=32.25B £=48.19B

If that is 'dropping like a stone' then I'm darned if I can see it!!!!

I suggest that you contact 'Central Alarms', they are situated near GDL pool shop on the Phetkasem road over the flyover travelling south out of HH. We have used them for a couple of systems, including ' garden beam systems' and have found them to be very competent and sensibly priced. They can be contacted on 083687147.

One of my favourite restaurants in Hua Hin is Natta's on soi 88. They serve excellent steaks at supricingly reasonably prices and have also delicious Thai food.

Another favourite is the Vietnamese restaurant Madame Nu located on Petchakem Road between soi 88/1 and Market Village.

I second both of those suggestions stgrhe... especially Natta's! I tried it last month (twice) and had the delicious (295 baht!) fillet mignon steak both times (once with pepper sauce and once with Bearnaise sauce. They were both excellent and the best price in town in my humble opinion for a steak of that quality. My wife had the same steak with a mushroom sauce and it was also good (it's listed on a different page of the menu for some reason). I was intrigued by the size of the menu for a small place like that and there are many interesting items on there I want to try if I can ever go there without getting that great steak.

For those who live in the south end of town looking for something inexpensive and good, there is a new very small restaurant (remodeled recently, new owner) on Soi 116 that is worth a try. The're open for three meals a day (close early though, I think around 8 p.m.) and have full western breakfasts for 95 baht and lots of foreign and Thai dishes at very reasonable prices. It's called Sabai and is on the right side about three hundred meters up Soi 116 (south of town a kilometer or so past the flyover). I've tried the fish and chips and the weinerschnitzel and they were good. The fish and chips is not the usual English style beer batter but the batter used (same on the weinerschnitzel) is good and not dripping with oil like some places. The chips are also not the English style but are the crisp thin French fry style better known in America.

There is also a new bar called the Garden (had their opening night last week) opened on the same Soi (116) across from Sabai and up about 50 meters. It is a nicely laid out place with a new pool table and a good selection of beer, wine, and spirits. I've been there twice, once for their opening night celebration (last week with a free buffet) and another evening for a couple of beers and on that occasion they provided free snacks (chips or crisps in the "Queen's English" and nuts) along with our beers.

Both places are owned by foreigners (or their Thai wives/girlfriends); both Scotsmen I believe.

You whetted my appetite for steak when you mentioned bearnaise sause being available at Natta's, so I think I'll drive down from Cha-am and check out Hua Hin as well, probably staying a night in each city and do a dinner at Natta's also. Do you have a recommendation for full English breakfast in Hua Hin also?

I know this is a very late reply, but I cannot see any recommendation on this as yet. May I suggest 'The Victoria', absolutely excellent Full English breakfast, with really good pots of tea. The place is run by a nice chap called Barry. It is situated on the right hand side of Phetkasem road some 300 yards from the traffic lights, on the same side as Municipality building as you travel south from HH.

They also do very good liver and onion.

This is 'APRIL FOOLS DAY' isn't it?

Am I mistaken or is it 'APRIL FOOLS DAY'

Just popping out to stock up on CHANG,LEO,SINGHA etc, just in case!

after a couple of scorching hot days, rain arrived in Samui too!

Had some heavy downpours here today in Kao-Tao just south of Hua-Hin.

I don't know of any camp sites in the Cha-Am or Hua-Hin area, but maybe you could camp on the beach at Cha-Am.

There is a cheap local bus service between Cha-Am and Hua-Hin which takes you right to the bus terminus for the Bangkok bus or mini bus which goes to Victoria monument and costs about 200Baht each way. I think that the mini-bus leaves about every 45 mins and is much better than the large bus. There are plenty of very good cheap restaurants in both locations so food should not be a problem. Cha-Am is the cheapest option for somewhere to stay and as it is now low season I feel sure that you could cut a deal anywhere you fancy. have a good trip and enjoy the music.

Your friend might try 'Rajana Garden House'. This is located very close to the bus terminal in the centre of Hua-Hin.

It looks like a hotel from the outside, all glass and stainless steel. My wife and I stayed there a few years ago and found it to be very clean and comfortable. The top floor rooms at the back are probably the best with some nice views over to the mountains.

Breakfast is simple but adequate and served in the small gardens at the back. They also have a decent car park at the side of the hotel.. The rooms have small balconies and you get very little traffic noise.

You might like to have a look at the 'Anantasila Hotel' at Khao Takiab. This is about 6kms south of Hua-Hin , located directly on a lovely beach, with a huge swimming pool and good food. My wife and I live not far from the hotel/beach and often go there for meals. The hotel food is good , but there are lots of beach restaurants immediately on the beach that do excellent food.

The Khao Takiab beach is far nicer than the Hua-Hin one and you can get a local Tut-tut into town if that is what you want.

I think that you will be able to negotiate a decent rate with them particularly as this is now into low season.

I have no connection with the hotel, this is just a personal recommendation. I hope that you will have a great holiday.

If you play golf and want a round or just want some more information then just PM me.

Well this topic certainly has inspired some really intelligent posts, hasn't it?

I really could not agree with your more! It would seem, that some of our low IQ members have nothing more to do, than send the most idiotic, inane, stupid, remarks about a very serious and volatile situation. For all of us, who love living in Thailand, let us hope that sanity takes control and we can continue living in this lovely country in harmony with the Thai people.

With all its problems - real, or perceived, I personally do not want to leave. It is a beautiful country filled with lovely people.

I wish the people of Thailand guidance from the person that they revere, may HE live long and guide his people to a better and more stable future for all our sakes.

Used a company on the Phetkasem road, not far from Hua-Hin Glass , but on the other side of the road.

I have their card, but it is all in Thai, so can only give you there phone number which is 032 520 686 or 081 942 4056

We had them fit bronze coloured fly screens and sliding door screens for us. They did an excellent job at a very fair price. The doors ( unlike the wooden one's that a lot of our friends have) slide effortlessly - even after three years of constant use.

If you read Thai, I could scan the card and send it to you. If you want to see there work then just PM me and pop round to have a look if you wish. I have no connection with the business.