YaiJung

There's a new, nice looking aircon gym on the soi that connects the back exit to Home Pro Village to the road to Kata (exit/entry point near Rung Napa supermarket). It's part of a new bungalow project called Chalong Villa Resort. Can't miss it if you take that road - large windows showing the gym equip inside. Sorry, don't know about rates, etc, but if you use the resort's pool the price is 100 baht drop-in.

That is a really nice looking gym, but unfortunately they don't actually have aircon or even much ventilation(very stuffy in there). I was in there the other day to check it out and was dripping with sweat just from looking around and chatting to the girl who works there. place must be like an oven on hot days.

rates are 150 baht per day or 1500 baht per month.

also of note, they only have a smith-machine, no regular free weight barbell bench press(I found this strange).

Most of the garbage in the ocean and washing up on the beach is from the filthy canals/klongs that are being flushed out to sea every time there is a rainstorm. I wouldn't go swimming in the ocean at Phuket after a storm if I was paid.

General rule of thumb is to wait 72 hrs after a big storm before swimming. On days of heavy rain and brisk onshore wind it's not even a good idea to walk the shoreline. Just think of all the filth being flushed out all the way from Singapore up through Myanmar. Don't think that just because some beaches are less populated that they are any safer...the current quickly carries the mess from the worst places right around the headlands, strewing garbage and filth up/down the coast.

IMHO, dog crap, although unpleasant, is the least of our worries when it comes to the cleanliness of the beaches/ocean.

What a nightmare...don't know what to say other than I can relate to the OP and especially to sarahsbloke. I have found that living in foreign owned and managed apartment complexes to be the only way I can have a somewhat peaceful life in Thailand. It's a shame really, as I'd love to live in a nice little house with a yard etc. Don't think it's gonna happen in Thailand though.

One time I was describing some local neighbor drama to my folks back home and their reaction was, "jeez...sounds like u are living in a ghetto". That was kind of a wake up call to me. It was indeed like living in some ghetto or maybe a trailer park in Appalachia...and I was living in a highish(for thailand) rent townhouse in Phuket.

I cringe when I think about living in some mooban with dozens of petty-minded locals. Face it, if you are a foreigner living with a Thai woman u will become the scapegoat for a certain percentage of the population. It will happen everywhere you go, but they can be just as nasty to one another so don't let it get you down too much. If you must live in Thailand try to minimize your exposure to such BS. Start by moving out of the mooban and stay as far away from these places as possible. Maybe try an upper floor in a condo building that already has lots of foreigners.

Correct!

I personally worked on this project and i can assure you it is world class!

Of course somebody that worked on it would say that.

Whilst it may be a fine airport & better than many of the airports I have used, it should be, its one of the newest & we don't need to debate its flaws, do we?

By the way, were you responsible for the shemozal of a runway.....the one that keeps breaking apart . I wonder how much $$$ was pocketed from this project

I wonder if he had anything to do with the genius idea of making the roof out of glass? This is the tropics for christ's sake...the check-in area can be nauseatingly hot if the sun happens to be out(almost everyday). Place is a freaking greenhouse...last time I was there immigration had umbrellas to protect from the heat

so now you have made life inconvenient for the taxi drivers and you still have nowhere to park. good work

Sounds like you are with the wrong girl(or more realistically, she is with the wrong guy). If you can't lighten up a little your relationship is doomed. Your behavior is ultra-controlling and I suspect your girl already doesn't think too much of you. I have tattoos and if anybody I am with insists I cover them up or constantly rags on me about them, then they can take a flying leap as far as I concerned....life is too short to spend time time with uptight control freaks.

I once witnessed the tuktuk guys select their victim, instigate a fight, then rob the victim while he was being beaten on the ground....all within 20 ft of the police box on the top of soi bangla. I was waiting for some friends who were parking their motorbike down the road(took them about 10-15 min to join me). Of course I sprinted over to alert the cops, who did absolutely nothing.

This was about 3-4 yrs ago....and yes, I am talking about a violent mugging in front of hundreds of people(most of whom didn't really even notice what was happening, as it happened so fast and that corner is very chaotic late at night). These guys obviously had zero fear of the police. Quite frankly I was first appalled, then scared as I realized the perpetrators saw me alert the cops and were giving me evil eye. Didn't go back to the top of bangla for quite some time after that.

The tuk tuk drivers are 99.9% rotten to the core. Stay away from them if you value your personal safety. And please, if your are a female alone, do not under any circumstance take a tuktuk by yourself.

Wonderful news!! Rambutan is my absolute favorite fruit in Thailand! I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for them when out and about...mmmm!

The Thais just don't get it...what a joke! Building a replica....hahaha...this can't be true.

Very sad and frightening to hear about all the people losing their lives on the road lately. The public transport situation in Phuket is truly shameful and goes to show that the local government doesn't give a rat's a$$ about anything other than money. Not only farang, but also Thais die on a daily basis on the island, yet the despicable tuktuk mafia is still allowed to control public transport.

Recently I found myself in a situation where I was without a car for several months and forced to ride a motorbike or walk....no way can I afford to pay several thousand baht per day in tuktuk fares, which is what it would cost me if i used them for transport. Walking is out as well since there are no sidewalks(where there are they are rented out to vendors selling stuff therefor making them unusable) and pedestrians are forced to walk on the side of the road(even more dangerous than riding a motorbike in my opinion). Also no way would I take a motorbike taxi since they are most likely high as kite on meth or drunk as a skunk on booze. So I used a motorbike and had near-death experiences every time I left the house. Honestly it wears on my nerves and makes Phuket a much less desirable place to live, IMHO. I would truly welcome a reasonable public transport and I know just about everyone on the island would as well, especially local Thais, who earn very little and have no hope of owning a car.

Truly pathetic for the "Pearl of the Andaman" to show such a disregard for human life. All it would take is a simple songthaew or baht bus situation like in Pattaya and many lives would be spared. Yeah, maybe the lowlife, useless, 'extra' male members of the family will actually have to work instead of gouging tourists, but such is life. The government officers in charge are complete scumbags who are greedy beyond comprehension.

SHame, Shame, Shame on the phuket police and government for allowing the lowlife tuktuks to have so much power. One day maybe they will grow some balls and put a stop to this insanity. Sadly, I have a feeling hel_l will freeze over first.

PLease don't drink and drive!! If you do, you are just adding to the problem and being just as selfish as the others who make life so dangerous on the island.

Does anyone know if there is a gym in Ao Nang(preferably) or Krabi-town? I'm looking for a place to keep up on my workouts while over here.

Thanks

I am amazed so many people think the OP is a troll. His story sounds completely plausible to me...after living in Thailand for a while I have seen far stranger things than this.

btw, who do the nonbelievers think keep all those katoey bars in business??

As for the OP, if it were me, I would probably stay put if everything else in life is ok and then deny, deny, deny if confronted by the katoeys. Several times I have had people in Thailand mistake me for somebody else...it's not unheard of. Also I have had women claim to have slept with me when they definitely didn't in order to get me and my gf to break up. There is a ton of BS floating around in this place so as long as you act like you have never seen these two losers before you should have no problem.

I don't see what the big deal is and why anybody would actually get out of their car to watch it being filled. Is it so hard to turn your head slightly and look over at the pump??

Never had them try to block my view and anyway kinda hard to stand directly blocking the driver's view while pumping gas. If they did happen to stand so I couldn't see I would just shoo them away, out of my line of sight...no need to get out and stand over them while they pump the gas.

As for Lemon Tree...one look at the place tells me all I need to know. Would never stop there seeing as there are several other gas stations around.

I have the same problem sometimes. Wake up after 5-6 hrs with a racing mind and no hope of falling asleep again. It can be a vicious, exhausting cycle.

If you think you are in bad shape now, wait until you try stopping valium or xanax after a month or two...100X worse for sure.

The lifestyle changes suggested here are all excellent ideas. No caffeine, no booze, no cigs, start exercising if possible, eat less processed foods, these are all things that will do you much more good than an addiction to pills.

I eat at mike's or stevo's or whatever it is called these days and gotta say the burgers aren't too bad and the location is convenient enough. I'm sure it's possible that they screw up orders sometime, but show me one restaurant in phuket that doesn't.

The biggest screw up I have experienced at the place was back Big Mike first opened the place and had a bunch of ex-bargirls working there. They just finished cooking some Plah Chem in the deep fat fryer right before they put my fries in. Tasted horrible to say the least and the entire bag of food got thrown in the trash. Haven't had that problem since the new owner took over and the staff are always extra friendly to me. The kid with the tattoos seems to be getting the hang of it now. Beats the hel_l out of BK and McDonalds if u ask me(both of which are nowhere near chalong).

Haven't tried Charlie's yet since it's kinda out of the way for me. Burgers to me are fast food that I typically won't go out of my way for. The burgers look pretty dam_n good in those pics though. Next time I am down there I will give them a try.

I hope both burger joints survive, the more options the better if u ask me.

I get grumpy when hungry too and I'm glad I wasn't on that trip with the OP. As soon as I get something to eat everything is OK again. Must have been torture for his gf. If I were her I would have been thinking, "gee, what a selfish control freak!".

My ex-gf was always late in getting ready, but my dad taught me a way to deal with that yrs ago...tell them departure time is at least 30-60 min before you really need to be on the road. With a thai girl going on a 6 hr drive, I'd allow at least 8 hrs for that drive. Women are the same everywhere, Thailand or farangland.

Seeing as this is Thailand we are talking about and there are food stalls everywhere along the highway, I'm surprised they didn't just pull over and grab some bbq or something. My ex can usually find something eatable within 15 min max of hunger setting in, even out in the sticks.

Pattaya-Jomtien is dead......has been for a long time. Maybe it is time to take a serious look at what Cambodia has to offer. But, like many others, I find it a bit boring. That can and is changing.

Do you think there will ever be gambling in Thailand, perhaps it's the only way to save Pattaya?

RAZZ

Word on the street is that the casinos have been planned for yrs and the doors will open as soon as a "certain someone" kicks the bucket.

I can't believe anybody actually shakes their hands when they try that crap. Not only is a filthy practice to go around shaking stranger's hands constantly in third world countries(you don't know where that hand has been!), but it's also annoying and serves absolutely no purpose.

Just completely ignore them, like they don't even exist. Why should I waste my time even acknowledging their presence when they only want to scam me or sell me some worthless overpriced junk?

I agree that his behavior is pretty creepy. Not much you can do other than just take your stuff and leave.

Hate to say it, but if he had been Thai, it's quite possible he would have been snooping through your place on a regular basis without you knowing. Several Thai landlords I have rented from have done this to me. They seem to think since they own the place they can feel free to look around whenever they want, usually when I was out. Extremely annoying!

The 500 baht cleaning fee is pretty normal and minimal at that. Once again, if he had been Thai and if you had paid a deposit, you probably wouldn't be getting it back and would be in a much worse situation, trying to chase him all over town for the money, etc. They have a habit of disappearing when it's time to give back the deposit.

If you are really pissed off at this guy, as I believe you rightly are, just take your stuff and split. Not worth getting too upset over, IMO.

The other thing is that you can't do the test on a tourist visa. The test isn't that hard as have sat it twice over the last couple of years, also if you do fail you can just go back and sit again and again until you pass and you only pay the fee once you have passed.

Actually you can take the test on a tourist visa. I just did a few weeks ago in Phuket. It's all pretty easy, but takes the better part of a day.

To the OP:

How does the probation work? Are you allowed to leave Thailand? Do you have to stay in Thailand for the whole yr?

Find a cheap room in a guesthouse before you plop down your 3 months rent to move into an apartment. Being close to work is key. March is the beginning of the low-season and there should be plenty of rentals to choose from. People on here are dead serious when they say you probably won't get your deposit back. Out of 7 landlords that I have rented from, only one gave me my deposit back in a straightforward manner(the only foreigner I have rented from). 2 others gave back small portions after lots and lots of chasing around. 4 flat out refused and got threatening with me when I insisted...several of these I had pegged as decent folks(guess I was wrong). The Thai way is to put off paying the last month's rent and then leave in the middle of the night, ducking out on all the bills and stealing anything that isn't bolted down.

As for the motorbike, you will definitely need one. Phuket's public transportation leaves a lot to be desired and you could easily spend a fortune just trying to get around. There are a couple of bus routes, but they are packed with people and few and far between. I dont believe they run past 6pm, but could be wrong on that. Not to mention getting from beach to beach is impossible without going first back into Phuket Town to change buses(takes hrs and is very hot). The taxi mafia are a real headache to deal with and you don't want to subject yourself to them if you can avoid it.

You can find a motorbike rental for about 2500 baht per month. Used bikes are around and you will probably pay 15,000 baht for an older model. New bikes can be had for 33,000 and up, with most foreigners spending around 45,000 or so for something with a little more power.

Phuket is a wonderful place to live and has and incredible amount of variety compared with other locations in Thailand. It is a large island and takes some time to learn the ropes, but that's all part of the adventure.

Best of luck.

In Pak Panang, just east of Nahkorn Si Thammarat, there are dozens of multi-story(around 4-6 floors) buildings that are used exclusively for producing bird's spit. The buildings look like rather nice apartment buildings with fancy trim and all. Around dusk gazillions of birds can be seen flying in and out of the upper windows(the lower windows are closed up). Quite a sight. Locals told me the owners do very well. Apparently there is something about this location that the birds really like.

Never tried the stuff myself so can't comment on the taste or effects.

I had the same problem as you last yr and upgrading to the premium package solved it. Skype worked just fine with premium. The cheaper package of 2mb is apparently just 2 mb within Thailand and limited at that. I went from 2mb cheapy to 1mb premium and the latter was loads faster.

I think most Thais will understand if you run over a dog instead of crash. When my GF got her motorbike license there was a great deal of discussion on this very topic. Apparently one of the questions addressed this very situation and the correct answer is to run the dog over instead of dumping the bike.

In Cambodia on the road to Sihanoukville from Phnom Penh I had the misfortune to run over a dog at highspeed. It was either that or I would have seriously injured myself or possibly died. Luckily I was on a larger off-road bike and the shocks absorbed the impact pretty well. Something I will never forget and feel horrible about, but it at least I'm still alive and well.