South

I know there are loads of ferries to Langkawi both from Satun on the Thai side, and several locations on the Malaysian side, but can you take a vehicle on any of them? Finding differing info on the internet unfortunately.

It has been a few years but there was a vehicle ferry that ran every few days or so, and f I remember correctly you had to leave your vehicle until the next sailing while you took the passenger ferry. It ran from Kuala Polis on the Malaysian side.

You're better off leaving your car on the mainland and renting on the island IMHO.

I have my Non O stamp in one expired passport. Since then I have filled another and am now on a third since getting that Non O. What I have done is just stapled the three passports together and hand all three in when going through any immigration point. All other countries are only interested in the up to date passport whereas Thailand does like to see the extensions and sometimes the Non O stamp. I suppose technically you could get away with your second passport as long as it has the extension/s stamped in it but it's easy enough just to staple the passports together. Nobody has ever said a word and the only downside is that sometimes it takes time when they are looking for a specific stamp.

I have to go to Hong Kong in a couple of months and I have had the thought that I might attempt to drive from my home in Thailand. Has anyone attempted this, any advice or information would be appreciated.

If you're feeling energetic, I had a Dutch friend who cycled from Singapore to Hong Kong .... nuts he was but he made the trip ok.

He made a blog of his trip Here

You might find some useful information ... or maybe not.

Does anybody remember around 10yrs ago a British registered truck that brought people overland from Europe to this neck of the woods. Don't know what happened but it was parked outside the Crown Hotel on Suk Soi 6 for a few weeks. This truck had been converted with seats and other stuff needed for an overland journey.

I'd like to spend a couple of nights in Sichon sometime in early July and I'd like to know what is the best beach resort in Sichon. I would prefer not to spend any more than about $100/night though. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't go in sea there though, unless you like swimming in sewage ..... terrible it is.

"wouldn't go in the sea there"....???? Well...I live in Sichon, and I swim here almost every day....."sewage"....NO WAY! My 2 year old son and his friends also swim here regularly together with both Thai and farang tourists..... this is a nice place indeed! But yes, we have some prawn and fish farms in the area, but I find the beaches and the water very nice! Actually the beaches are rated better than the ones in both Koh Samui and Phuket! Sichon beaches are rated 4.5 Stars compared to only 4 Stars in Phuket and Koh Samui!!!

Well, what is the name of those 'brown fish' floating by the, Platurd? You can even see the Platurd discolouring the water from the air. Terrible, smelly and wholly unhygenic. I'm talking Hat Piti here and this was last weekend. Sure, Khanom, Khoa Plai Dam and others are maybe cleaner but Hat Piti is disgusting with all the effluent from Sichon floating past. Give me the beaches on the west coast or the islands anyday.

(couldn't find the 'vomit' smiley)

I'd like to spend a couple of nights in Sichon sometime in early July and I'd like to know what is the best beach resort in Sichon. I would prefer not to spend any more than about $100/night though. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't go in sea there though, unless you like swimming in sewage ..... terrible it is.

I heard from a friend yesterday that a big shot business man was executed while driving in Nakhon Sri Thammarat on Wednesday!! Reports say he stopped at traffic lights and was then shot... any news reports on this??

He was fined B400 for not going on the green!

Easy ....

Up through Chonburi to the Bangna/Bang Pa-in intersection. Take a left towards Bangna across the new the Rama 2 bridge and it brings you out in the south side of the city missing out Dao Khanong etc.

From there continue on all the way down going through either Surat, Chaweng or ThungSong into Nakhon. I did it last week and was surprised at the time saved.

the Asia-Pacific beach volleyball tour that begins on April 4-6 in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand......

Thailand will also host the second and third series — April 9-11 in Pattalung and April 14-16 in Songkhla — while Bangka Belitung in Indonesia will host the fourth series April 19-21.

by Ami Afriatni

Jakarta Globe

Khanom Beach, not Nakhonsithammarat City.

Pray that neither of them keep ducks...

Hi there, just some advice required please!

Thai wife currently on 2 yr settlement visa runs out May 2010. We have just realised her Thai passport runs out March 2010. How does she renew it? Can it be done from the UK? We had already planned to return to TL in Nov this year to visit her family, but can she still do this with her current passport running out in Mar2010? What about the settlement visa in her current passport? Will this automatically be put in the new passport?

Nothings ever easy it? lol

Thanks in advance for your time...

Regards

Newstart

You can get her a new Thai passport when youcome over in November. Itonly takes a few days. The settlment visa will not be put into her new passport so if traveling she will have to carry both the old and the new passport, especially if traveling to the UK. My Mrs has three passports, two of which have expired but if traveling to the UK she has to carry all three. The UK immigration/consulate/embassy might be able to re-stamp your wife's new passport but that I am not sure of as I have never done that.

I's the same for me ... I have to carry three UKpassports because the others were filled up/expired yet my original visa is in

the first one and all subsequent extensions have been addd tothe others.

The last Dane in NST upset a load of high profile businesses and has since left ...

sounds interesing indeed, he he. Is it a joke or do you have more info about this?

No joking from me. He was actually a friend of mine but he simply vanished ......

I know this question has been asked in the past but I am after some more recent experiences.

Does anyone know of a good Dentist in or around Surat Thani ( not Samui ) or preferably Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Thanks

In NST - Standing outside KFC in Robinson's, there is a dentist on the right. The woman there speaks English and was pretty good. Funnyopening times though so check first and even better make an appointment ifyou can. Watch what she charges though.

Also, Soi Nakhon I think it is called (the one with Ligor Hotel's main entrance), near the bottom end (Kuakwang) there is one who is meant to be pretty good. Unfortunately I have no experience of him and am just going by hearsay.

Hope that helps.

Oh Dear, yet another happy marriage!!

Oh Dear, yet another pathetic quote.

.... or do you know something that we don't then?

This rumour has been doing the rounds for years. I'll believe it when I see it.

Totally agree VTR

The last Dane in NST upset a load of high profile businesses and has since left ...

hey guys,

need some advise

since we only have 4 days in Krabi, kinda rush actually. so we wondering, would it be better to stay in Phi phi Long beach for 4 days or in Railey beach.

what we like to do is, go to Maya bay, sun & beach, and thai foods

what would you do or suggest ?

many thanks !!

Personally, I'd give PhiPhi including Maya Bay as wide a berth as I could. Tacky tourist trap islands with hoardes of unknowing tourists. Better off staying in Krabi for sure.

As Peter Phillips stated, there seems to be a total lack of container fastenings to the deck and no intermodal lockings, such as twistlocks, locking bars and bottle screws. There are however other reasons as to why a stack/s of containers has fallen over/collapsed. Were the vessels ballasted correctly, were the boxes loaded correctly (weight?), we can see that they weren't secured correctly or is it just down to sheer negligence on the side of the carrier (inexperienced personel or unseaworthy vessels)?

Having said that, I myself have been on modern up to date ocean going vessels, with professional crews and equipment that have lost boxes, but on those occasions it was because of very severe weather, not the calm seas of the Trang coast.

can anyone who has done this / knows how to do this help please? i'd like to travel from BKK to langkawi in malaysia, is it feasible to take a train from bangkok to hat yai or even over the border to alor setar and then travel on to the island from there? thanks.

Easy. Drive/fly/train to Hayai and then either across to Satun for the ferry or cross the border and to Kuala Polis for the ferry.

Had a Bangkok licence and moved to Phangnga. When the BKK licence expired took nearly a month for all the paperwork to be transferred and a new licence issued. When I had to renew it in Phangnga quick and easy. Having said that this was about 7 or 8 years ago so things might have changed.

They might give you a licence on the strength of your expired IDP but the chances are that you will have to do the tests. There is a handful of farangs using the Amhur Muang office so although not as busy as Phuket, they will know what to do.

If you have Malaysian insurance and a carnet, you can drive in and out as you like as long as both have not expired. I last had 3 months Malaysian insurance ... worked out at around B1,600 only.

Not in Trang but Namtok Krung Ching in NST is worth a visit. It is the one that was pictured on the old B1,000 notes. Bit of a hike to get there but once there, certainly worth it and the chances are you'll be the only person there.

Tescos should be open. Thats about as exciting as it gets

Got to agree ... give the place a wide berth.

It is a dump. Full stop!

Check out Ajarn.com and epsouth.info which has some tel numbers.