stevenl

I just knew that the hate for them, which I believe has grown disproportionately to reality, ....

Totally agree with this.

steven how can you possibly justify that position?

easy, i feel the hatred here on the forum for the tuktuks is way over the top. Sure there are many things to say about them, but that does imo not justify the hatred from tv members.

I just knew that the hate for them, which I believe has grown disproportionately to reality, ....

Totally agree with this.

This gets right to heart of the matter. Why step in to help a 'defenceless girl being beaten by a thug' when you risk 20 thais jumping you in return? It is US against THEM. Like it or not, thais either want our money or our blood.

This is why Joeshead has got this completely wrong. Accepting these types of societal norms harms us all - farang and thai.

if you really feel it is thais against farang, you'd better move, because the farang would not stand a chance.

I've never predicted the death of Phuket - I have, however, stated in previous posts, that I believe they are outpricing themselves from a very big slice of the tourism market, due to rapidly rising prices on the island, for no explainable economic reason.

As far as tuk-tuks, I have sat on Beach Road and had lunch, several times, usually for about an hour a pop. I haven't seen many people engage tuk-tuks for their service, and, considering they span just about the whole length of Beach Road, I am wondering how they now earn a living, without ripping off the odd customer they do get. Seriously, the tuk-tuk at the back of the que, he must get 1 fare a week as it must take a week for him to get to the front of the que.

Joe, you seem to shoot posts down in flames at a rate in which you believe your posts are being shot down, how about you supply the readers of TV with your observations, facts, statistics etc. I don't read anything concrete coming out of your posts except for if a guy who has had a few beers decides to argue why he should pay 10 times more money than he did in Bangkok for a journey 10 times shorter, he deserves to be bashed, robbed and possibly stabbed.

The reason for the higher phuket prices compared to other parts of thailand is easy. It is an island, limited land, therefor increased land pricds, lesding to higher prices for everything.

Yes, same address, but homepro village will work better for taxi than quoting the address you mentioned.

Toys r us are on 2 floors, entrance almost opposite homepro on ground floor.

Why does a fight have to be fair, i thought it was to win?

Toys R Us in Homepro Village, Chalong.

When you say "not possible to check your driving record" what do you mean? You must mean accidents only because traffic citations are part of a criminal record.

Maybe in the USA, but in many countries they are not. They are violations, not criminal acts and NOT part of a criminal record.

Do the cops in Switzerland cite the driver at an accident scene when it is obvious that they broke a traffic law and caused the accident like they do in the states?

Don't know what happens in Switzerland, but in many countries the driver will be fined for tha traffic violation, and if it caused the accident the driver will be responsible for the damages (or the driver's insurance), but only in extreme cases will it mean a criminal case.

And what happens when you need to make a claim in your Buick which is insured in your friends name but owned, and rather obviously driven, by you?

In most countries that I know of: violation of underwriting conditions, so no cover. Quite often the insurance will pay the other party, but go to the driver to collect for that.

Happy to report that the lights at the Sai Yuan junction are working v well - even those turning left from the Sai Yuan road are actually stopping at the lights rather than just turning, and expecting everyone to get out of their way .

From what I have seen, everybody turning left simply continues left, red or green (provided they can because of waiting traffic to turn right).

As previous posters have mentioned, the timing needs to be adjusted, but apart from that a big YES IMO.

Agree with you, although coming from Rawai so far I have not once had a green light.

Good news.

I did not state that it was called "visa on arrival" stevenl i mearly stated that you get 30 days on arrival (i.e when you get there) sorry for confusion.

And I did not state you called it 'visa on arrival'. I just mentioned there is a difference between visa on arrival and visa exempt.

There has been a very (i'm trying not to say piss poor) lackadaisical reaction to the Tsunami warning here in Phuket this morning. Many towers did not sound, people confused, tourists awakened after the wave would have approached, the tourist police hot line unaware there was even a threat.

Phuket at this point, I'm sorry to say, is not prepared for another Tsunami.

I though the towers were automated? When a wave approaches, they automatically go of. Since there was no wave, there was no tower alarm.

For good western food IMO Le Celtique is excellent.

Guests staying at ramada resort Khao Lak were evacuated this morning, returned again to their hotel around 07.15.

I myself was driving on the bike from Rawai to Patong this morning, arrived at Patong at 06.20, did not notice anything. On the way back, arrived at Rawai at 07.00, also did not notice anything.

Guests staying in Kata were about to be removed from their hotel (Kata Country House) around 07.25, I was informed about this by phone at that time. After I told them the alarm had been lifted they checked and were informed evacuation was not necessary.

It doesn't say if this will have any effect on the numerous small beaches which require a payment to the adjacent land owner.

Why should it? There is no connection between illegal land occupation and asking people a fee if they want to cross your land.

Why did the hotel show him the CCTV, implicating themselves? If they were involved, they would have said it was out of order, last night tapes were already destroyed, or something like that.

There are some strange things to this story.

My guess: in a few months it will be ATV tracks, in use by the elephant/ATV companies who are alongside this road on government land already.

I have heard that the woman who runs the clinic in Rawai between Sai Yuan and Chalong circle on the east side is a pediatrician.

I also heard that she has dual pricing so I have never gone to her for that reason.

If it is very serious, then we take our son to the International hospital near Big C.

They have a kids section and seem to be very aware of kids problems.

The problem you have to watch out for there is that they want to admit your child even if it is only a cold.

I had to pull my boy out after 4 days against their recommendation for a cold.

Have not really had to go back since.

I trust their kids dept. Just not their policy to fill as many beds as they can.

Good luck.

I have bad experiences with that clinic. A missed diagnosis, which can happen, but most importantly my kids are not happy there, and start crying as soon as they see her.

So for normal pains etc. I take them to Chusak, I trust him and the kids are happy.

For serious illness I have taken one to Bangkok Phuket. I like the hospital and the service, but also feel I have to watch out for unnecessarily admittance.

Nice which ones can you recommend? Have you been to many in Patong?

During the years I have seem most of them.

I would recommend M&M's as my first choice, Amalfi second. I don't like Da Vinci, and have yet to try Ellis. The others are IMO in between Amalfi and Da Vinci.

That is only talking about the Italian places in Rawai/Nai Harn BTW.

You're wright I haven't been to the ones in Phuket Town but I think you'll find if you're looking for variety and quality food at reasonable prices then Patong has it.

Naw, for Italian food Rawai/Nai Harn has much more to offer.

Looks like the best places are in Patong ....

Where did you get that idea, after reading this thread that would not be my conclusion.

So heavy rain, 17kph winds gusting up to 35kph and high seas forecast for the day of the event isn't the reason they cancelled the event then?

I think they are happy with the excuse.

And I want to bet that all divetrips will go out normally tomorrow, and that there will be no high seas and/or strong winds. Rain is more unpredictable, but if any, it will be late afternoon/evening, not during the day when the event was scheduled to take place.

People came from all over the world for the Koh Tao one so I would imagine they had asked around the area as well ?

So do you mean to say they did ask around on Koh Tao?

Whatever they did there and then, they did not ask around here, or make any effort to contact local diving centers. And those centers could and would have committed.

M&M (Mario e Meghi) in Nai Harn.

La Capannina in Kata.

Yes, I know, all three are not in Phuket town.

Speaking of lights, why is the light in front of Wat Kata not functioning during the afternoon rush hour? Why put a light in if you aren't going to use it?

Those lights are only there because of the school inside Wat Kata. So far during school start and ending hours police officers were sent to make sure the kids could reach the school safely, they now made that automatic. So the lights will only work at those hours on any given day, and with the school holidays at the moment the lights are off the whole day.

TAT license for a DC will be 100,000 Baht deposit, plus a lot of paperwork.

On top of that you will need insurance for your guests, which is a minimum of 50,000 baht per year, no matter how little guests (if more guests it will be more expensive).