Phuket Stan

Have done this trip many many times...sometimes with company sometimes on my own....just cruise along....dont be in a hurry and the drive is a breeze over two days....great coffee shops at PPT service stations called Amazon...the roads are pretty good...did the complete trip in 8.5 hours last year...started at 6am...it was a breeze

Dont forget that when u go down for drunk driving and pay the fine the Immigration Police are waiting to be paid next or your Visa/Permission to stay is cancelled...happened here in Phuket last Songkran..going rate with Immigration Police was 10k

I am a New Zealander living in Thailand for more than 7 years and have travelled extensively throughout the country....have often looked at agriculture on my trips....am sometimes amazed at the systems etc etc

Massey College is a world renowned place of learning agriculture....dont know much about the Aus one...it would depend a lot on the type of farming you would want to enter when u came back to Thailand but I am sure you would come away with a hel_l of lot more knowledge than you had before studying there and you would learn systems that many Thai farmes lack

Maybe if you wrote to the college I am sure that they could tell you a lot more

New Zealand is an agricultural based economy and I am sure that the college would be really forth coming with information for your studies

Massey is situated near Palmerston North which is quite a large city in the bottom part of the South Island....about 140 kilometres north from Wellington which is the capital

Another agricultural college you could look at is Lincoln College which is in the South Island which is also a place of high repute

Remember New Zealand has cold winters...you can go snow skiing not far from both colleges and the summers are not quite as hot as Thailand

Good Luck and even if you go for just one year I think you would find it very benifical to your future

BTW are you Thai ? if you are you have amazing English writing skills

U could get them online...I dont kow if that service is still available but check out Myanmar Government site

You used to be able to get a re-entry permit at the airport as u were leaving....am not sure if this service is available at the new airport...maybe get some thai person to phone immigration there

The old adage comes to mind "U get what u pay for" Kamala is not a great beach for swimming etc...very shallow dropoff so u have a really long walk out to the sea when the tide is out....furthermore lots more choices of night life (not just naughty bars) in Kata and Karon...have a good holiday

I bought a top end Quiney at Siam Paragon 2 years ago....cost B19000....used it less than 20 times....most Thai streets are not built for strolling and showing ....will sell for B10000

Geez with farangs having an attitude like that with a Thai landlord it is no wonder that we are judged as second class people....get a life and organise to pay your due bills on time....your arrogance with your statement about people being on social welfare sums u up ...a johnny come lately who somehow has fallen into sme funds with absolutely no manners and furthermore no breeding

NZ Goverment Super and Old Age Pension is the same thing....its called Super to be politically correct....cant be calling pensioners old aged .....or else the PC mob would come down on you like a ton of bricks ....now that you have a socialist government in Aus they will change the name to Super or something similar...will cost millions to change the name and branding...but hey you have to keep the PC mob and bludgers putting their snouts in the government trough

Any clues on how and where to claim it......will one have to travel back to New Zealand and claim it....how much a month is it....Cheers

latestay.com is another very good website

I saw a person drown here recently....he would not take any notice of the life guard boys on the beach...."The I know better attitude"...lot of people just dont realise how strong the rip/undertows are....I am quite a strong swimmer but there is no way I would go into the sea when the waves are crashing onto the beach...common sense prevails

I applied for visa at Embassy in Bangkok...paid express fee...about 1100 baht from memory and collected it the next day ...that was in 2008....all very polite and proper....just take your passport....all the info is on their website

How big is condo and how many condos in the block....more details please

I use Ipstar through TOT, and most of my (if not all) my e-mail traffic is between here (Thailand) and the U.S. I am having no problems.

Getting 1700kps here in Phuket from TTT

Well, idiots like that certainly doesn't do our reputation here any favors.

BTW, the bank guy Thurdsak--one of my favorite Thai names!

Mmmm Thurdsak does it have the same ring to it as the name a British couple have just given their newborn son : "Drew Peacock"

And I can't even get my husband to get an ATM card

I know what you mean.I have over 800,000 Baht in the Thai bank

and an retirement income of over 140,000 Baht a month and I can not get one,

but my wife had one before we got married with an income of 4,000 Baht a month

and 2 children to house and feed.That really make sense.

Really easy to get a Thai credit card Get a relationship going with someone in the bank just like a personel banker in Europe etc Put about 200000 baht on term deposit Bank will bend over backwards to give you a credit card providing your visa is correct ie retirement or work visa