johnong

I would second Apple Macbook. Good support and the dealers in BKK (Especially Thonglor) are always helpful post sales.

I would agree with this! last year the apple re-seller in pantip was selling ibooks very cheaply (might have run out now). The new macbooks are likely to be more than you want to pay, but are very easy to use and perfectly suited for what you want.

I would say though that if you are going to be surfing for a lot of Thai language websites then a windows notebook would be better as a lot of Thai websites seem to be (badly) written exclusively for microsoft explorer

Hi,

Thanks, I thought that they might be region coded. hmmm I think I might wait and get a european one. One less thing to carry back... Now lets hope my wifes visa application goes trough quickly, or I will be shopping

does anyone know of any region zoning etc on nintendo wiis? I am thinking of getting one, but am going back to the UK in a couple of months and don't know whether to wait and just buy one there. But now the rains are here it would get a fair amount of use here.

Any reasons why not to buy one in Thai?

Cheers

I own the place, but the selling information is still correct.

Lol I did wonder

There is a pretty good second hand bookshop in Ban Phae (can't remember the name). They used to give you (very little) money or exchange based on the quality of the book... normally exchange 2 for 1 but only in the class of book that you take in. It seemed to work well.

We spend roughly 70,000 baht a month living here... (me, my wife and 8 month old son) in a rented 2 bed house (aircon etc). We don't drink out that much, but eat a lot and have quite a few deliveries. All in its pretty cheap. Esp as I could double or triple that if I bought some new kitesurfing equipment or a nice new macbook

From my experience, most bookshops in Pattaya and Bangkok pay very little or only want to give credit for buying books. Gecko Books pays in cash and VERY well for newer, popular fiction or good non-fiction, however, Chiang Mai might be too far to travel to sell your books!

Thanks,

Its a bit of a trek, but good to know as we might go up there again before leaving.

Whats the best place to sell books to? I have a load of pretty decent books that I am looking to sell. I am not really interested in credit as I am trying to reduce my possessions (and increase my cash)

Most of them were bought at bookazine and read once...

cheers,

I was just reading the guardian website (UK). On the football section it has a weekly Youtube round up of classic football clips. I can't watch them - just innocent football clips!

My non Thailand living friends are amazed at this.

I can see dead bodies and bikini clad models all over the front pages of the Thai daily papers, but I'm not allowed to watch Barnes, Rush and Dalglish kick a ball around...

I get this problem with kitesurfing sites all the time now. people link the youtube file into their site instead of hosting it themselves, means I can't watch. It has been months now, I would have thought that they would have come to some sort of arrangement other than a permanent block.

In April i stayed in a hotel on the Thai Military camp and it was fantastic , i cant remember the name of the hotel but someone else from Hua Hin will know it . On the base there were Thai style houses and the Hotel we stayed at the Hotel .I have stayed at many hotels in Hua Hin and if i was to go back tomorrow i would book into the Military camp hotel and its a fraction of the price of other Hua Hin Hotels .

Big Rooms , Very Clean , Great food , and right in the beach .

JB

That sounds ideal, thanks.

Does anyone have any contact information for there?

Cheers,

John.

Big camera in festival center will look at it (basically just that!) and send it off if for repair it was bought in Thai. But I am guessing it would take a while to get fixed and don't know how much it would cost.

I have an old camera that needs fixing, but it works out cheaper to buy a new one...

But if it is only 6 months old then is it not covered by kodak? They might have a returns depot somewhere...

We had this in Jomtien a month or so ago... I didn't have my camera as was kitesurfing at the time. But it looked really impressive! like the last photo, between the sun and the rainbow was a dark grey and outside was light blue. As it faded the middle lightened and the rainbow disappeared. I would have loved to get a photo, but I think I would have needed some sort of central spot nd filter though.

Hi,

Does anyone have any contact info for these hotels? or any other recommendations for a clean friendly well priced hotel that can cater for a triple and double room? We are thinking of coming to Hua hin for the holiday at the end of the month. Any info on places to stay would be very appreciated.

Thanks,

John.

Ah thank you for the reply.

Finding work in the UK should not be too much of a problem.I have a lot of previous experience with large companies etc, most of the work coming up is on an asap basis so living here doesn't help. This also means that I cannot take too much time off after getting work to then sort out the visa stuff here. I was going to add my CV to the application. My wife also has a business degree and has just completed some cooking qualifications. She has been offered some work in Coventry, but thats where I have left and to be honest I don't want to have a family or raise my son there.

I thought of getting a survey on my mums house to show that 3 people and a child could live there too. I hope this would cover everything. the price per application / appeal time means that you want to make sure its right first time!

cheers,

I have been traveling back and forth to Thai for the last 2 1/2 years and have been here for nearly the last 2 years.

We have a 8 month old son, who we have applied for a UK passport for (he already has a Thai one) and we are looking to live in the UK for a couple of years.

One problem is that I don't have a job or house in the UK at the moment. I am a software developer and am looking to live in the south west. I previously sold my house in the midlands and want to move closer to my family, but want to check out a few areas before buying something. My Mother wants us to live in her house (3 bed bungalow) as she is only there at weekends and the house is empty for the rest of the time.

I have enough money in the bank to easily cover us for 2 years / make a decent deposit on a new house and my mother is willing to sponsor my wife if needs be. She owns her house outright.

Would this be an issue? I have read cases on here that seem that it wold be.

At the moment I am wondering about flying back to the UK and trying to sort out some work, but I don't want to have to rent a place just to cover a visa requirement when I would be looking at buying somewhere after we got back and had a chance to look. Its just a waste of money. Also with the speed that these things happen in the UK I don't want to be apart from my wife and son for an extended period. Has anyone had any success with applying and trying to go back as a family and then apply for work?

any info much appreciated.

Why do you want to change from Canon to Nikon?

The 400D with those lenses should be ideal.

Slightly off topic but, Its not really a brand thing... I really like the 400D - its nice and fast to use and I find it well laid out, its also nice and compact. I just like the idea of a 18-200 VR zoom for travel shots...

Also the 75-300 is not ideal for taking watersports pics as the front element rotates to focus so fiddly with a polarising filter and on canon it would mean getting something like a 70-200 IS 4L and Possibly a teleconverter which starts to get expensive. Really its just me thinking that maybe the grass is greener on the other side

Ah this is the camera and lens setup that I would like...

I would be interested if anyone bought my canon 400D with 17-85 IS and 75-300

How much would you be looking for?

hi,

I'll have a think and let you know...

nice thread

here are a couple of snaps taken from the car window...

Boat during the floods last year...

and a topless tuk tuk during songkran in Chaing Mai...

Ah this is the camera and lens setup that I would like...

I would be interested if anyone bought my canon 400D with 17-85 IS and 75-300

Marmite is available at the supermarket on the corner of Theppraya and Thepprasit road (foodmart!? something like that), bought some about two days ago, they also sell walkers crisps including the marmite flavoured ones.

got a 500g jar of marmite bought out to me in Jan that I am working my way through, good to know I can get some more when it runs out... Its great for keeping the mossies away But I am gonna have to check out the marmite crisps! ok so they taste the same as the beef ones, but they are still good

No rain and the wind was back, so 3 1/2 hours kitesurfing today very happy and very tired! you could see the joy on everyones faces as they got on the water for the first time in 10 days...

Some panasonic lumix cameras have a 28mm wide end. It might be in 16:9 format though, not sure. Should be able to get one cheaper than the Ricoh...

The Pattaya business adverts are bad, but not that much more than many local area ones. The worst has to be for the eco hot water heating thing where all the colours are shot and the womans face is blue!

That is just the total lazyness. Don't even source an advert in the correct tv format, just play one you have ripped off american tv.

he he yeah a bit of competition in the Pattaya voiceover market wouldn't go a miss either ;-)

Here are a couple from earlier this year,

Ban saeng - nice sunset, but dirty beach.

Krabbi before going to a friends wedding.

A decent camera shop rather than a chain of shops selling limited stock and printing services...

A cheese shop would be very nice too!

and Foltofile sell Benro:

http://www.fotofile.net/product_cate.php?qid=16

I bought a velbon sherpa tripod with a benro ball and socket head from there. It holds about 2.5 kilos so would be fine for your set up and it is also a lot smaller and lighter than most, so I actually take it wth me and use it