henrik2000

Hello, i ponder bringing a small foldable bicycle on THAI Airways from Europe to Thailand. (I rode bicycles in TH many times, so far locally rented wrecks or bought in TH. I transported bicycles on other flights before. THAI has the by far most convenient connection for me and well-priced too. I might consider another airline only if the total price or the handling is much better. My questions: Supposed I managed to stay within 30 kgs, would I be allowed to bring TWO pieces of checked luggage (reg. travel bag + bicycle carton)? Do I register my "Special Unit" (bicycle carton) when booking online? I don't see it on the Thai Airways site. Or will it only be added AFTER completing the normal booking (like special meals + seat reservation are added afterwards)? What are your real-life experiences with transporting a bicycle on THAI? (Handling, brokenness.) Did you note that they closely watch the scale and won't grace you a few kgs of extra weight un-charged? (Of course nothing to rely on.) Would you rather recommend another airline price-wise or handling-wise? In theory, I could fly Turkish, Emirates, many others from Europe to Bkk. But any other airline would be longer, more inconvenient and not much cheaper for the regular flight (but maybe for the bicycle allowance). General luggage allowance on Thai Flexi (only tariff option for me): 30 kg I would have: regular travel bag about 20 kg bicycle in carton about 16-20 kg regular cabin luggage 7 kg So, my checked luggage would be around 36-40 kgs total incl. bicycle. I cannot bring that down to 30 kgs (I know me, it's too hard for me, and I need my books, jeans, thermos and bicycle parts). That means, I would pay regular ticket price plus 150 USD Special Unit Price Flat Rate for bicycles (because I'm over 30 kgs total). For bicycles, THAI say online: total luggage allowance in Flexi tariff for me 30 kg yes, 1 bike per pax included in allowance (obviously within the regular 30 kg, but as a 2nd checked luggage?) if total luggage weight exceeds the allowance apply Special Unit price (Flat Rates) Special Unit price (Flat Rates). Charge : USD 150/Unit (A bicycle may be included as part of your free baggage allowance. For a bicycle above your free baggage allowance: If it exceeds the allowance apply. Special Unit price (Flat Rates). Thanks for your experiences! Small Print: Link to Thai "Special Baggage Rules" (not "Excess Baggage"): https://www.thaiairways.com/en_TH/travel_information/baggage.page Link to Thai Special Baggage Pricing per Unit: https://www.thaiairways.com/en/travel_information/Excess_Charges_Special_Baggage.page? In THAI parlance, I understand my trip will be between TC2 (Europe, Africa, Middle East) and TC3 (Asia, Australia, New Zealand). There is no Premium Economy Class offered on my flight. I believe I am not a ROP Silver Member. I write here "THAI" in all-caps to distinguish it from Thai people, Thai language etc. For now I would only buy a 1-way-flight into Thailand (prices below). I did that many times. Looking at THAI's website, a flight both ways would be about double priced, so there is no incentive to buy a return ticket right now. I might buy another cheap outbound flight like Bkk-Cambodia on Air Asia only to show to immigration + consular visa officers. If later the price for the return trip rises, I'll survive and stilly enjoy my flexibility to fly out when where from where to I need a foldable MTB with 26", 27.5" or 29" (larger is better). I transport it around in a rental car for 2 months (economy size). I've had non-foldable MTBs that only just fit into the car with the front wheel removed (and only because it was a station wagon (Yaris, see pic), and you don't know which car you'll get from the rental company) and there was always the risk of damaging/dirtying the inside of the car and its driver. As far as I know, there are no foldable MTBs from 26 inches up to 300 USD in TH. (There are decent non-foldable ones below 300 USD, but as I said, they are a bit too big, or I must rent a bigger car, which I don't like at all).

Jack and Caldera, thanks for advice!

London and Red Phoenix, thanks for more input!

Tim and Jack, thanks for clarifying TM30! If you say screenshot - sounds like i could show it to Immigration from my phone? Even photograph it off their screens?

Tim, thanks.

Red Phoenix and Dr Jack, thanks for good details! What's that, a proof i'm registered with a hotel?

Hello, starting around November 2023 I would like to stay in Thailand as a tourist 3 months in a go. I'm EU-citizen, above 50, healthy, health-insured internationally. I don't like visa runs. 1) Plan 1: 2 Months + 1 Month So my Plan 1 is: before traveling, apply online für a TR visa for 2 months (already done 1 time before) in country, get extension for another month from Thai Immigration office upcountry for 1900 THB (already done several times) Is that a good/the best solution? I need it completely stressfree and legal. 2) Plan 2: Get 3 Months in 1 Stretch? Or could i get 3 months in 1 stretch without the necessity to extend in-country? I am confused here. What about Non-Immigrant Visa O-A "for applicants aged 50 and over who wish to stay in Thailand for an extended period without the intention of working". Do I need a health certificate from GP? (I'm healthy, but the GP makes me sick.) Do i need a paper from my health insurance? Source: https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/84508-non-immigrant-visas Is a solution for 3 months in 1 stretch more costly than 2 months + 1 month extension? I might choose the 3 months in 1 stretch anyway to spare me the hassle of visiting an immigration office in TH. 3) Working in TH for EU customers: In TH, i'd do a bit of computer work for EU customers (as done before, as digital nomads do). Is that officially ok? I don't work for Thai customers, for Thai money, I don't do any journalism, blogging, vlogging, commercial photography, influencing (Thai-related or not) etc. 4) Departure Ticket: Personally i only need a one-way ticket into Thailand. My real return ticket I would buy 2 days before flying out. But to apply online for a TR visa, i think i need to upload a departure ticket? For that, I would buy a cheap ticket like BKK-Cambodia with Air Asia, just for presentation purposes. Should this flight be timed for 58 days after entering Thailand? (1) I would not fly on this cheap no-show-ticket, because i want to stay longer in Thailand. But then after say 58 days I don't fly out, but I visit Thai Immigration (somewhere upcountry, not Pattaya, Phuket, Bkk, Samui, Chiang Mai; I speak some Thai). I wouldn't have a departure ticket valid say 88 days after entering Thailand. Is that a problem? If I extend the visa for one month for 1900 THB, do I need to show a valid departure ticket? I did this extension for 1900 THB several times before, but don't remember the question for a departure ticket. But one time they asked for my next hotel bookings and admonished me not to work in TH. Your take? Thanks! (1) Sometimes online services for "renting", "sharing" or "generating" onward tickets are suggested. I won't use them.

Thanks, Charlie. Yes actually it would be nice to have the post in the cycling forum, also because in the linked blog post I have some questions to more experienced Thailand bicyclists. So if that is doable, you could delete my second last post, where I give a wrong link by accident but can't delete it, and move my last post to the cycling forum. Or I could post another new short hint there and leave the original post here. I had to do a post in this thread here because I had been asked here for a report, but it has been seen now. Thanks!

Sorry, embarrassingly in my post above it is the wrong link, even if it seems correct initially. It seems I can't change or delete it anymore now. The link that I wanted 2 to give here about my bicycling experience in provincial Northern Thailand is this: https://hansblog.de/bicycle-day-touring-in-provincial-northern-thailand-w-20-pics-report-in-english/

Thanks, interesting.

Ok, thanks, so "eyoung" isn't a regular Thai or Isaan word - except for that bird.

Hi all, thanks for good advise and for good stories! The "whistling bird" is indeed that Asian Koel and not the bird photographed. Interestingly, in the video from South India it seems to talk in another local dialect, while across Thailand it always seemed to have the same vernacular. Ok, "nok" is bird, but could you translate "eyoung"? And would that be Bangkok Thai or Isaan/Lao or both?

Can't you not pro forma book another room maybe even in another hotel for her? Then see on the ground what's possible.

Hello, bigger parts of Thailand have that "whistling bird". The whistle sounds rather man-made, not unpleasant, not singing, but not croaking either. The "whistling bird" sits usually unvisibly high up in the tree and lets off a whistle regularly, maybe over hours. It is a signature sound of upcountry Thailand, but can be heard in urban centers too. At least 2 or 3 luukthung-morlam songs feature that whistling, among them this song (Youtube) at 0:10 and at 0:17 (maybe imitated in studio, but not wholly unrealistic). Who knows that kind of bird? Actually I belive it is the bird from the photo below, but am not sure. That bird from the photo below roams the ground floor with macho swagger in small gangs and doesn't whistle at all. When whistling, it seems to perch solitarily in the canopy, perhaps calling out for a lovely feathered maiden. Who can identify - the "whistling bird" - the pictured bird whether they are one of a kind or not? Thanks!

That sounds nice at first, but I'd also feel shy, getting preferential treatment ahead of all the Thais. What might they think about this foreigner and this policeman?

That would be totally impractical for me. Besides, the money in your pocket could also get caught in the rain, a danger that you see with wallets. But on my next tourist trip, I definitely must learn to pay "by scan", as they do a lot upcountry, if not in Bangkok or Pattaya. I keep my wallet well tucked away and compared to about any other country, I found Thailand exceptionally safe. All the time people bring me cameras and actually wallets that I forgot somewhere, including on Sukhumvit road, Bangkok. I checked there four times in about 4 days. The last time I was in the police box I was totally alone. No policeman, no visitor except myself. The found wallets were sitting in their tiny box just behind the counter's glass. Mine was still not there. I could have taken all of the other, swell wallets away, or maybe not. Are you suggesting a friendly smile and nice words in Thai? Or are you suggesting money, whisky or something? While I did pay policemen in Cambodia and Gambia, with good effect for me, I'd never dare to even hint at payments in Thailand or Vietnam. Don't know about Philippines, police were so polite and accommodating there that I never felt I need to get out of a tricky situation.

No, I wouldn't, even if it was delicious Indian food or any other good smell. I hadn't thought about the smell problem when I asked the question.

Interesting comment.

Great story. But if I saw wallet at that price and that location, I'd never dare to buy, except you are there to confirm the quality. But I never believe a vendor's tales.

Thanks for the info. I wonder what the owners wish.

In ViewTalay 7, anybody can use the lifts without a key card or any other measure. So any beach bum easily reaches the 20th floor and your outer doorstep. Is that the case in other Jomtien buildings as well? I only know one other condo building in Bangkok, which is generally posher, where you need a magnetic card to use a lift.

Hi all, thanks for recommending Jacob. Now I went to Central department store, 3rd floor, and browsed Jacob first and when I wasn't totally happy with the selection, I checked any other brand for wallets and still ended up with a relatively cheap Jacob. It suits my preferences most. Stupidly I forgot to bring Euro bills for a test fitting, as they are especially large, not in denomination, but in millimeters. The regular priced Jacob wallets have a discount of 30% on them, while the one that I bought had a discounted price on it already. Central also has heavily discounted brand wallets online, but the information counter in the mall told me that that was online only. Staff was super friendly and very helpful in finding a wallet exactly to my requirements. They spoke useful English, but seemed to love my Thai exercises. Even though I browsed all the brands, the final selection was between two different Jacob wallets. For once it's a NICE souvenir from Thailand, and not wooden elephant junk or day-glow paintings of nudes on the beach. And when I later see the brand name, I will remember to pronounce it like the sweet shop clerks: "Djaah gkob" (djaah frog?).

For the record, for the lost key card the hotel charged me 300 Baht. I got a new key card immediately, but only this time I also had to pay a key deposit of 300 Baht, that had not been necessary before. They treated the loss like some personal, awkward failure, like, I don't know, wetting myself in the lobby or something. Though I am sure that other tourists had even bigger problems and caused more difficult circumstances. Now somebody may have found my wallet including that key card and has a key to the back garden door, but this doesn't seem to worry the hotel. I am sure the hotel also worried that now I am without money and would embarrass them all with tearful pleas for help, even though I assured them all the time that I was still cashed enough without a problem and that also no important original documents or credit cards were lost. Anyway there was no compassion, only fear. -- I visited the police box a third time to ask for my lost wallet yet again, and this time they put the found wallets into my hand. Swollen as they were, they weren't mine, unfortunately.

Hi, for the record, Jacobs told me 2 retailers in Pattaya (I had explicitly asked for men's wallets near Jomtien). I partly reprint this here without permission, but hope they don't mind. I also hope it is in accord with the forum rules. We are selling in two locations near Jomtien Beach. The closest location to Jomtien is Outlet Mall Pattaya (https://goo.gl/maps/fdrzb1XzYpkTJjVy5) which features both men and women products. We are located on the Ground Floor. The second location is in Central Pattaya ((as recommended in post above)) on the 3rd floor Men's fashion section will feature only men's products. (https://goo.gl/maps/q5wXzoSgJMA9Jj5m7) For some reason to mind come 2 telephone hotline calls that I recently had; both were very helpful, to the point, in clear English, and without smoldering in the queue, with Hops Brewhouse and with AIS.

By the way, i just stopped by a Findig, the ubiquituous shoes and leather goods retailer also in my Jomtien area. They do have several wallets, the by far nicest one with smooth leather and quite roomy was 1290, the next down was 790 and considerably less appealing. I didn't buy yes and will still see if i can get my hands + eyes on a Jacobs. Yes, i am not far from Pattaya, but have a certain aversion.