Jayman

My 1 year extension based on marriage was approved on march 18. I brought in an affidavit letter from the us Embassy that states I make more than 40k thb per month with my application. I have done this for 3 years now at the jomtien immigration office and it's always been accepted. They send the application to Bangkok for final approval which as stated I received March 18. If the rules have indeed changed then I was not affected by it nor notified that next year would have different requirements.

Just my experience. ... yours could indeed be different.

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That same proof of residence form is 200thb in the jomtien immigration. No matter what they charge, make sure they give you an official receipt that way you know if the money is just going in their pockets.

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Indeed it wasn't. In and out in an hour today. Very good service.

Did you make an appointment? How does one go about that?

Looks like the island is actually in Laos.

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I am told it's definitely Thailand as Laos starts on the other side of the Mekhong. The power lines brought out there also came from the Thai side. I'm told that they like to have full moon parties out there which I suspect is mainly attended by younger Thais. Most of the people we saw out there yesterday were young Thais sitting around drinking. To be fair, they were mostly women. Of course there was also couples and families. The one standard comment from all the Thais in my party was that it was very dirty. All the water is rather stagnant and quite filthy. You go out there and sit in bamboo huts in the water. That means you must walk through dirty water to get to them. There are some on dry land as well but most of the party crowd was in the water based ones. Again, don't think we paid anything to get out there. The food out there wasn't cheap but you could easily bring your own.

I think I was there today. Small island in the Mekong between Thailand and Laos near That Phanom. There was a bamboo bridge walkway that was still being built that I walked on to the island but they also offered free boats that most of the family took. Likewise I walked back across the bridge and they took the boat. Both times I made it to the other side faster. Not sure if this island even had a name but I could post a Google map of the location if needed.

Edit...I'm being told that island we went today is called Hat Hai.

http://goo.gl/maps/6GGRZ

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Where is the local farang hangout in sakon?

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Apples restaurant and bakery.

2 km south of big c. Also the pit stop which is close by.

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Cool. I know where apples is at. No idea about the pit stop. I'll try and stop into apples when I get a chance. What are the hours?

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Me thinks it's 09:00-21:00.

Take them times with a pinch of salt though mate. Friday nights tend to go on after 21:00 due to the lads bringing their partners out.

Are you local mate?

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I've recently relocated on a more permanent basis to sakon. Still have a house in pattaya but we don't stay down there anymore.

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Where is the local farang hangout in sakon?

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Apples restaurant and bakery.

2 km south of big c. Also the pit stop which is close by.

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Cool. I know where apples is at. No idea about the pit stop. I'll try and stop into apples when I get a chance. What are the hours?

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Where is the local farang hangout in sakon?

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Use Hola as a vpn. It is free and works perfectly. I have a feeling the companies

that are charging for a vpn service are losing some sleep now....   :-)

 

 

Hola is not a VPN service.  It is good for getting past the geo filters for "some"sites but it hardly serves all the purpose that a commercial VPN service provider does.

 

 

Granted. But if you only want to watch Hulu from America, surf a bit of porn,

or perhaps look at web sites the government does not want you to, it works fine.

 

Again, it's not a VPN.  I agree you can watch hulu with it as that is what it's original purpose was but not sure about  looking at porn or any old website the government might be blocking.  Unless they have added services that I am unaware of.

edit: just checked and the premium(vpn) features of hola are $5 a month

Use Hola as a vpn. It is free and works perfectly. I have a feeling the companies

that are charging for a vpn service are losing some sleep now....   :-)

 

Hola is not a VPN service.  It is good for getting past the geo filters for "some"sites but it hardly serves all the purpose that a commercial VPN service provider does.

Here is my latest speed test on ais 2100 using my galaxy s2

That's to the Bangkok server.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/748420306

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Just wanted to comment on this thread.

I have a newer 2100 AIS sim and recently drove from Pattaya to Sakon Nakhon. The entire trip I had my phone streaming music from Pandora. Now I can't stream unless I'm on 3G. I was quite surprised to find that I had music nearly the entire trip. The only time I lost my feed was when I was up in the Phu Phan mountains and that was not even for very long.

I also took advantage of the deal 7/11 is running. They are selling True-H sims for 1 thb. Figure I'd buy a few for the tablet and air card just in case they get better coverage here. Since I carry my phone around with me I'm much more in tune with my 3G+ coverage and it seems to be pretty stable. I don't bother doing regular speed tests cause that just uses up my data package. I do find that whenever I am downloading apps and such the throughput is as fast as my DSL back in patters. I really have no complaints.

I have stuck the true-h sim in my phone a few times to test if I have 3G and I find my galaxy s2 (i9100T) tends to default to the 2G network and I have to manually choose the True-H/CAT network to get the 3G signal. I have confirmed that this is coming in on 850Mhz.

Now the odd thing has to do with my aircard. It uses 850, 1900, 2100 for 3G and 850, 900, 1800, 1900 for edge/gsm. I've had this card for years. In the past I was only able to get edge/gsm using my AIS sim since they use the 900Mhz band. Once I upgraded my sim to the 2100Mhz service I am now getting 3G on my aircard with my AIS sim. So I figured that since my aircard supports 3G on 850Mhz that I should have no problem getting TRUE-H/CAT 3G on it with my new TRUE-H sim. Not the case. When I seach the networks I can't even see the CAT/True-H 3G network. Only the True 2G network. I can see 52003 (AIS 2100 3G) and 52005 (DTAC 850Mhz(?) 3G) but of course I can't connect to them using a True-H sim. I might have to buy me a DTAC sim since it seems my aircard can lock the DTAC 3G signal. I really have no idea why my aircard can't see the CAT/True-H 3G (850Mhz) network. My phone can and I have 100% confirmed that it's accessing it on the 850Mhz band. Just for reference, my aircard is a AT&T Option GE0302 HSPA EXPRESS modem. It has both a flip up antenna as well as a connector for an external antenna.

Does anyone know if there are any courts about to play badminton in Sakon Nakon? Would be great to find some courts and even better to find a group that gets together regularly to play.

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I've passed by the corner a couple of times around 8-9 pm recently and noticed the absence of the truck.

so did I. They lost twice business from me in the past three weeks...

Me too. Twice I went out of my way to get food there recently and both times it wasn't there, which was disappointing. I shan't be going looking for it again - if I'm passing and it's there and I'm hungry, great, if not.... Too unreliable.

My thoughts exactly.

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I must be looking for the stall in the wrong place as I have yet to see it when looking. I've been going to the 4 way intersection with the red light(that works) on SSCC. There is lotus on one corner. Am I at the wrong place?

Maybe I need to read through the thread again more carefully.

I have never heard of an "ear candle" but would like to know what it is? I get my ear wax sucked out on Pattaya Klang for 400 baht though.

By a doctor? Which clinic using a machine? That's cheap for that.

Ear candling is not considered a good idea by actual doctors.

Yes by a doctor and yes with a machine and it is the one people are trying to explain on Pattaya Klang (I think maybe soi 10 but not sure) but coming from Sukhumvit it would be on your right hand side. There is a Family Mart on the corner (of soi) then the BEST Noodle (and mostly all food) I have ever had here and right beside that is the ENT.

pROBLEM IS THAT HE IS NEVER THERE. i MEAN YEAH FROM 6:00 TO 8:00 AS SAID BUT NORMALLY "WALK INS" HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL 7:00.

oops for the caps. For that reason I went to another clinis with doctor & machine on the East side of Sukhumvit between SSCC and Nernplabwan BUT he charged me 1000 baht and only did one ear (My vertigo ear) and that was it. Quite rude and I would NOT reccommend him.

if walkins are waiting till 7pm.. do they take appointments? Happen to have their number?

Thanks

You can buy ear candles cheap in farmacy do it by your self when you really need not nesarsary go to a doctor!

they don't work and the chances or hurting yourself or burning your house down trying to use an ear candle alone are much higher than going to get your ears cleaned properly by an ENT.

Thank you for the tip Jayman.

By the way do you know if there is different quality or kind of kefir, or is there only one kefir that has the same value?

From what I understand there are 2 types of kefir grains. Milk grains that eat lactose and sugary kefir-grains [sKG] that eat sugar.

A very, very informative site on all things kefir can be found here

Hi, Patsfangr,

I am not responding with regard to prices, etc but WTFAYTA.

I can assume that your nick-name is an abbreviation of Pattaya farang. I came up with a few others too but I think the editor may well jump in and cut me down so will leave those out of this.

As your are a Super Member I do humble suggest to you from the lower orders that you state to which part of Thailand your recommendations apply.

Presume you are in (Hell) Pattaya and not God's Own Country... Chiang Mai?

Since it's posted in the Pattaya sub-forum I think there's a pretty good chance he's talking about pattaya. And the Darkside is a well known area for those that live in Pattaya (east of suk).

Wow...a whole B140; I'm surprised you ever pay more than B35 for a dish!

35-45thb is what kaprow goes for. If you are paying much more than that be my guest.

Cordon blue is a totally different thing altogether. Not sure what you point is trying to compare them. Or are you trying to say since I feel cheated paying 3x the price for a plate of the same food I can get next door that means I won't spend money on food?

It's just that you were so put-off by the price of that "expensive" kaprow that I thought that B35 was some kind of limit for you or something..

Tell me, is your 35 baht krapow place air-conditioned? Is that price just for stir fried krapow or do you get rice with it? Is it krapow gai, moo, nua, kung? Does it include an egg in top? These are all factors when considering the price of krapow to me...probably why one place was more expensive than the other.

Stir fried chicken kaprow over rice... the fried egg is 5thb extra. The place is not A/C but neither was Cheers when I went there.

And it was certainly a restaurant that is in a tripple size shophouse on the same road, has tables/chairs and keeps regular hours.

I should also add that I get fine service from the places I frequent and that is from 100% thai owned and operated joints. Maybe that's cause I speak Thai to them. I don't need a farang or his wife running a restaurant to make me feel welcome.

Different strokes for different folks.

To get back on topic... there is a great Thai restaurant that is open from like 5pm-2am on the East side of the Vientenne resturant on Soi Nern Plub Wan. I eat there quite often and never have complaints. Mind you, it's not a western menu so I do go there looking for burgers and other non thai dishes.

I have never heard of an "ear candle" but would like to know what it is? I get my ear wax sucked out on Pattaya Klang for 400 baht though.

By a doctor? Which clinic using a machine? That's cheap for that.

Ear candling is not considered a good idea by actual doctors.

I used to get my ear wax sucked out with a machine by the ENT at Memorial hospital. I can't remember the price but it wasn't all hat much. 400thb is certainly a fair price for this if it's being done by a doctor. I don't think I'd want someone other than a doctor doing this to me since they stick a vacuum into your ear and pretty much suck the wax off your eardrum. Would be very easy to cause serious damage if not done right.

As for ear candling.... I was treated to this back in the US by a friend who had the candles. Afterwards I felt no difference and the whole thing seemed fishy so I googled it and found lots of information that it does absolutely nothing positive and could have negative effects (like hot wax landing in there or on your face). About the only positive information you'll find out there is by those selling the candles or the service.

Lets just think about this for a moment... how would a wax candle suck the wax out of your ear?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_candling

edit: forgot to add.. I too would like the info for the doctor and clinic doing this for only 400thb. Thanks.

I got my kefir grains from a member here and if I have to leave the country for more than a month I take them with me. It's really not such a big deal to put some grains in a small plastic water bottle and add milk and then throw it into you checked bags. Of course you need to be aware that kefir puts off gas as it eats the lactose so squeeze air out of the bottle before sealing it.

There is another long running thread about kefir found here

Wow...a whole B140; I'm surprised you ever pay more than B35 for a dish!

35-45thb is what kaprow goes for. If you are paying much more than that be my guest.

Cordon blue is a totally different thing altogether. Not sure what you point is trying to compare them. Or are you trying to say since I feel cheated paying 3x the price for a plate of the same food I can get next door that means I won't spend money on food?

What can I say? Prices are consistent with any decent Farang restaurant around here for the western food in a nice facility. The Thai food is just a tiny bit above what you'd pay at a Thai mom and pop shack.

The key for me is that, IMO, the quality and quantity of the food served makes it a definite value. The beer is also pretty standard for this area. I believe it was 60 baht for a Tiger.

Try 3x the price... not even close to tiny bit imho.

If you want good farang food for a very fair price try the Noisy Cow on Soi Khow Noi. They have quite an extensive menu to please most.

Where is the Noisy Cow on soi Khao Noi? I can't find any info on that restaurant.

Never mind, found it. Had a pork burger and chips for 140 baht, can't say I was impressed.

Personally I really like their chicken cordon blue. It's like 140thb or so and is quite a large portion. I have not tried all the menu so can't comment on everything but I've been pleased with what I have tried as well as the friends I brought there have been happy. Of course, different tastes for different folks.

I will say they are usually pretty busy with foreigners if you can take that as any sort of a sign.

bit of a queue, went past at about 2:30am and there's about 30 people already waiting for it to open at 8:30am. seems a few Thais are desperate to leave, corruption isnt too popular they tell me

wow.. are you serious? there was a queue at 230am for the passport office?