libya 115

Where is the best place to obtain short-trip overseas travel insurance in Pattaya? Does anyone have advice on this. ie. less than 14 days trip (to and from Thailand).

Would the best path to take be visit a travel agent, or direct to an insurance company? Is an ex-pat resident in Thailand able to obtain annual travel insurance?

All advice appreciated.

Surely the best English Breakfast available (for 60 baht) is at the 'Stone Oven' on Beach Road, on the corner of Soi Yodsak!

These awards always puzzle me:

For example is this based on Business class travel or economy class?

British Airways, along with (most) of those in the top ten quoted are excellent within business class.

I cannot fault most business class carriers, except for minor points like seat comfort, champagne vintage, or utility pack etc.

However: in economy class, the situation is much different: Rude/Non-existing flight attendant service is the norm. Cramped seats, broken In-Flight-Entertainment, flooded toilets, babies bleating etc. make most long-haul flights a living hel_l, for anyone over 5' 7" with normal hearing.

Far better to have an 'Economy Class' awards:

My economy class top 5 would be:

1. ANA

2. PAL

3. JAL

4. EMIRATES

5. AIR FRANCE

Given the Security, Consumer Protection, Purchase Insurance, sound legal framework, high credit limts and no membership costs of Western Cridit Cards, I'm at a loss why anyone would go begging to be allowed a Thai credit card, doubly so if they are havng to secure the card with hard cash.

The Thai Credit Card Companies have a lot of catching up to do before they'll get my business.

Exactly! It baffles me why anyone would want a Thai Bank Credit Card. They are just not needed, ever! There will always be an alternative safer, cheaper, more reliable option available.

Cash is KING in the L.O.S. it can work miracles!

Slightly O.T. but is it possible to buy an adapter that changes a big fat BT (UK) plug to the tiny Thailand size plug? Or will I have to get to work with solder and cutting tools?

1. No: it is not worth having a Thai Credit card. You will need to deposit the equivilent in cash in a term-deposit at the Thai bank of the credit card as surety. If you experience loss of card, and/or fraud beit on internet or other means you will be responsible for repayment of money lost in full.

i did actually receive a mastercard gold card with a 200,000 credit limit without work permit and without any kind of deposit. all i did show them about me was my passport, id card and bank statements of the last 6 months showing my offshore income. admitted, that's over 100k thai baht per month so that was probably one of the reasons why i was approved.

as for fraud or anything else, i have access to a 24/7 call center and am entitled to dispute any transactions i didn't make for a period of 60 days, according to my contract with them.

Rainman, I'm sorry for being indiscreet, but where exactly have you managed to do it? Do you have an address of the branch?

QUOTE RAINMAN

Central Card (you know, the Central shopping complexes?). Bangkok Bank wanted security desposits, which they received, then called later and wanted even more, then even wanted the work permit which i had already told them i didn't have and they said was no issue, etc. etc. so i wouldn't recommend for anyone to even try there.

I am still mystified why anyone would want a Thai Bank Credit Card: Especially now e-cards are available at TFB.

Thailand has one of the worst records for 'plastic' fraud, card 'skimming'; and lots of other elaborate scams. So it is no surprise that credit/debit cards are blocked often in Thailand. Mine was blocked a few weeks ago, just because I made 3 consecutive daily 30K Baht withdrawals. A quick phone call sorted it out.

Extra Tips in Thailand.

1. Buy a Shredder, (and use it...see 2.)

2. Dispose of ALL transaction slips carefully.

3. Beware of phone calls from a 'bank'.

3.1 (Do not assume all bank staff are honest).

4. Beware of internet banking in internet cafes.

5. Scan bank passbooks and record seperately all transactions made, timed and dated.

6. When using ATM's in Thailand, beware of rubber-neckers trying to see your PIN, especially if they are farang as well: There was a scam recently involving a loud mouthed farang who burst forward to the ATM just as you are about to enter your PIN saying 'the ATM doesn't work', thus catching you off your guard.

7. Use ATM's in malls rather than at 4.00 am on the streets.

This list is endless.......

1. No: it is not worth having a Thai Credit card. You will need to deposit the equivilent in cash in a term-deposit at the Thai bank of the credit card as surety. If you experience loss of card, and/or fraud beit on internet or other means you will be responsible for repayment of money lost in full.

2. Yes: If you are a non-Thai citizen you will have to deposit funds, which match the credit card limit.

3. No: I have never heard of anyone WITHOUT a work permit and a company/embassy reference getting a Thai Bank credit card.

I recommend you get one from your home country. It is not difficult. Plus in the U.K. and other western countries they now offer pre-paid Mastercards anyway, if you fail to meet the credit-card security checks.

Good luck.

I have not had it done, but I know of friends both here in Thailand and back in the U.K. who have had it done.

I remember one girl in the U.K. who took out a loan (with the dental company 500 quid) and when she showed me the results I was embarrassed. Hardly any change: just a 'bit' whiter.

Over here in Thailand it is a lot cheaper (I heard 12-15 thousand baht): but again I witnessed the results: poor!

I have read the only way to get really white teeth is to pay for them to be veneered. But I don't know any details, but I heard Americans do this for large sums of money.

I brought a good, modern phone from the U.K. and it didn't work. I think the voltages here are different, this is a speaker phone without batteries and I think the voltage drain is too great. Maybe U.K. phones without a speaker might work.

One 2 Call if you top-up regularly can give upto a years validation. Also (in the Pattaya area) AIS (12Call) Internet GPRS has become fast and reliable recently. However only upto 5 hour monthly packages are available now for 53 baht per month, then it's back to 1 baht per minute. But I have no complaints.

I am getting speeds of 87 Kbps when I check with testmy.net

However the connection shows 460.8 Kbps ??

Plus during August AIS 1-2-call are giving 50 baht bonus on top-ups of 300 baht or more.

I think that Christian missionaries active within Thailand are, at best immature witnesses to their beliefs. I concur that they are 'trying to spread the word': Yet they are doing so in a way similar to sandwich board men, who in my teens, near football grounds: were preaching;

'The end is near; repent you evil sinners' etc. etc.

How far better it would be, instead of preaching of the evils of sex and money; they led by example, helping the poor and needy, teaching for free, offering educational help. etc.

It seems to me these people are just 'casting the first stone'.

I counted a total of 16 grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors in the original post...can anyone beat that?

Half way there then!?

Are there any "informed and erudite" citizens of the U.S.A. posting on this forum?

JRingo was a disgrace to his fellow countryfolk, his views were offensive, foolish, befuddled, asinine and obtuse.

Good riddance of this transatlantic vegetable man!

Sex tourism has turned Pattaya into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah.

So you do have a religious, American 'born-again fee-paying evangelist' agenda. I suspected this.

That is Old Testament stuff: JRingo (or should I say JRingpiece) are you on some kind of religious mission?

My main concern about the new aiport is transportation. For the last five years I have had the good fortune of only living about 20 minutes from Don Muang, and being able to get there for 15 baht. As such I was able to do the three monthly visa runs, by plane. Now that will most definetely be a thing of the past, with a couple hours travelling time each way, plus the cost of a taxi, I would be much better off with the bus to Cambodia. I wonder how long it will be before there is any decent public transport to the new airport? Years I suspect!

I suggest that you use astral projection.

This is a minor problem 'Marquess'; do you value money so highly? 15 baht might now become 300 baht. It will not kill you, it will not harm you! It would do you no harm to visit Cambodia and contribute a few baht into the hands of the poor.

Do what thou wilt.

I think the O.P. is being rather harsh. The English language Thai' newspapers do an excellent job.

Daily English newspapers make mistakes.

I make mistakes.

When it comes to spelling, punctuation and grammar, most of us will make mistakes.

The O.P.'s post was littered with mistakes. A Chang beer to someone who can list all 32 errors!

Hi folks,

Just wanted to ask if anyone knew where I could take our Sony Playstation 2 to get repaired in Pattaya? Are theye any shops in Pattaya that specialise in Playstations?

Any help would be appreciated.

Darkhorse

Go to Pattaya Home Video on Pattaya Second Road. It is located 100 metres from the main junction of Pattaya Second Road and Pattaya Tai on the side opposite of Royal Garden Mall.

Put your name on the Playstation case, with paper and sellotape, you can also ask them to 'Chip it' here as well. Cost will be around 2000 baht, depending on nature of repair.

Also give them your contact telephone number so they can call you when it's ready for collection.

I had good service here.

7-11 sell Hatari PhoneNet cards.

They are a cheap way to call overseas from either a landline or mobile telephone.

They also have a user-friendly, informative website:

www.hatari.net

with all the latest country rates and FAQ section. Good quality fibre-optic lines for excellent quality calls or fax.

CHF is inflation proof: rather like Gold. Every wise person's portfolio should include CHF. upto 20% IMO.

Could you kindly explain how that works?

Thanks in advance.

Do you doubt the power of the CHF? Try this;

http://ees.net.nz/trading/swissfranc.htm

Read about the history and strength of the CHF.

Doubt the power of the CHF? No not at all. Just wondered how the CHF could be inflation proof in practical terms since every country has a different rate of inflation and a different currency?

By inflation proof I mean roughly this:

Gold (and since 1937 CHF) have been inflation-proof 'safe havens':

For example: 1 ounze of gold in 1940 would buy 'X' amount of beer.

The same way: 10 CHF in 1940 would by 'X' amount of beer.

Roughly the same as, as 1 ounze Au and 10 CHF today.

Now: That would not work with any other paper currency 1940-present day.

Inflation proof is understood, that is not the question, how this status is maintained, that is the question?

I am not an economist, I am an organic chemist.

However this status is maintained by three factors:

1} No devaluation of the CHF since the 1930's

2} The CHF continues over the decades to increase in value against every other currency, see graph in above link offered; in previous post.

3} Switzerland is a unique country, it has the 'trust' of the world, massive gold deposits and incredible unpublished wealth.

4} Swizerland is the only country to actually manage and control with massive accuracy (just like their watches) actually how much money they print. (The U.S. printers of dollar bills work 24 hours), printing money they cannot back since Nixon scrapped the Gold-Standard.

Actually, the question you should be asking is "Why does every other country of the world devalue and plunder the true value of (their) paper money". That is the scandal!

Paper money is supposed to be 'trustworthy' sadly it is not: thus the present interest in gold. and indeed all metals (nickel hit a high recently); However another scandal is the fact that gold and oil is quoted in $U.S. but that is another story.

As an after-thought: I would rather hold sugar than $U.S. with regard 'true value'.

CHF is inflation proof: rather like Gold. Every wise person's portfolio should include CHF. upto 20% IMO.

Could you kindly explain how that works?

Thanks in advance.

Do you doubt the power of the CHF? Try this;

http://ees.net.nz/trading/swissfranc.htm

Read about the history and strength of the CHF.

Doubt the power of the CHF? No not at all. Just wondered how the CHF could be inflation proof in practical terms since every country has a different rate of inflation and a different currency?

By inflation proof I mean roughly this:

Gold (and since 1937 CHF) have been inflation-proof 'safe havens':

For example: 1 ounze of gold in 1940 would buy 'X' amount of beer.

The same way: 10 CHF in 1940 would by 'X' amount of beer.

Roughly the same as, as 1 ounze Au and 10 CHF today.

Now: That would not work with any other paper currency 1940-present day.

SPOT-ON!!

Quote: Pattaya Fox

"I have seen these passenger baht busses creep around parked cars as the main traffic rushes towards them... and even having to stop as their lane is taken up by fast moving approaching vehicles.

Sadly a disaster waiting to happen!"

I had almost forgotten: the way they overtake, parked cars, vehicles, it is really awful to see, and the way they keep beeping the horn to warn traffic/pedestrians that they are approaching the 'wrong way'. Terrible.

I must write a letter about this to Pattaya Mail.

Just imagine a speeding tour bus, the driver temporarily daydreaming in that marked outside lane unaware of any such approaching 'baht bus'!

It is a 'Frida Kahlo type' accident waiting to happen.

Pattaya 2nd Road is one way, more or less. And I am sure everyone knows how heavy the traffic is and all about the speeding crazy traffic, baht bus, private cars and motorcycles etc.

But, I was observing just the other day two potentially fatal accidents, both totally different within the space of thirty seconds.

1} Some innocent Chinese/Korean tourists approached the second road out of soi 5. At the end of this soi is a 'zebra crossing' and they proceeded in a carefree manner to walk across the zebra crossing, not even looking out for traffic.

I nearly had a M.I. just looking on. They escaped with their lives by a few mm.

I say paint over all 'zebra crossings' NOW!

2} There is a baht bus (songthaew) that leaves the Big C shopping centre packed with passengers every 20 minutes or so. It proceeds the 'wrong way' down the second road, usually slowly and with headlights on. However some 'carefree' baht bus drivers have a death-wish and drive fast.

I observed a near-miss of terrifying proportions when a JCB speeding, just missed a 'head-on' with that said baht bus. I am sure in an argument a JCB would win a baht bus 'fight'.

So, my advice would be: don't travel on a passenger baht bus the 'wrong way' down the second road.

However, sadly, statistically; I feel that there is an accident waiting to happen during both the above situations.

CHF is inflation proof: rather like Gold. Every wise person's portfolio should include CHF. upto 20% IMO.

Could you kindly explain how that works?

Thanks in advance.

Do you doubt the power of the CHF? Try this;

http://ees.net.nz/trading/swissfranc.htm

Read about the history and strength of the CHF.

There are plenty of reasons to condemn (jr) the tourist sex industry in Thailand. But it was the local sex industry, not the Farang sex industry, that was a far more closely linked vector to the AIDS epidemic that scoured the north during the 1990s and continues to be part of northern rural Thai reality. But I can certainly relate to JR's pain and anguish in a way that you neo-sahib posters, with your heads always buried in the sands, are not yet capable of doing.

Yes, absolutely.

I have a very strong opinion of the "local sex industry", but I will keep it to myself as I am not Thai.

I am a falang and have a right to point my finger if I want to at other falangs.

In my opinion the "local" and the "falang" sex industires are not totally unrelated.

I believe when bargirls working for falangs get sick they go back to their villages and have sex there with unsuspecting locals.

You should keep in mind how horny and lonely the local men are, as a good percentage of the pretty female population has been taken away from them and employed in the sex trade.

When a pretty one comes back and becomes available again, it's party time.

Until they die of course.

JR

PS...Most of the people I have known who have died of AIDS in the north were not drug users.

It was simply unprotected sex with bargirls or spouses who had been with bargirls.

There are many ways to contract AIDS, some of them easier than others but there is no doubt that heterosexual sex with infected bargirls can cause AIDS.

JRINGO

I have been reading your vitriolic rants for days now. Of course they are within the rights and freedom of the forum and often prevoke a hefty response.

Bargirls, pimps, prostitution, AIDS: it is all there: you consider yourself the one and only knowledge on all matters. Good. Take an interest. However you are overbearingly egotistical in your glib comments. Patience is wearing thin. AIDS is a serious subject.

You claim in your previous post to have had 'four Thai wives. (3 ex-bargirls). You claim to be on good terms with your first ex-wife for 25 years although the marriage lasted only 5 years. Then you also claim that you 'have not touched a bargirl for 15 years'.

You claim to be American (U.S.A.?).

Where has this sudden flood of moral indignation come from? Are you 'born again'? Are you a 'Mormon'?

What is your continued interest in Thailand? From recent post you appear to have an extended interest in ladymen. Good for you! are you are repressed homosexual with a hang-up on attractive bar-girls? Let us hear the full truth!

You are a mystery to me. However be honest in your future posts, that is all I, and probably other T.V. members request.

I bear no malice.