everydaysthesame

Wife just got off the phone with them. they are open today and tomorrow. No appointment currently available except today and tomorrow. New appointments will become available next week but they wont say when or how many and are expecting it to be busy after the protests. guess my wife will take her chances tomorrow.,

Yeah this is a right headache. VFS are useless. The only appointments that were available when my wife booked were 13th and 14th jan/ Now shes stressing that she wont even be able to make it becasue of the protests. The crappy booking calensdar they have shows nothing for the rest of jan and you cant even view the apppointments past Feb.

As for the protests there is no information on VFs website at all regarding this. ALso there is not information to say if any more appointments will be made available and at one time. If you want to try to reschedule an appointment they dont even let you see what is available unless you cancel your previous appointment.

What a shit service.

One says แห้ง 'dry' and one says เปียก 'wet'.

Ive been looking into this myself. Theres a guy in phuket selling aluminum hulled hypalon dinghys for a really good price. Apparently you need hypalon rather than PVC in this weather or it wont last.

http://www.andamanboatsales.com/

P' Jack on the ring road at the junction with the nikki beach turning always has loads of 2nd hand small outboards.

Go look at the Vivipos system distributed by Casio. It is in the Casio display at Makro. It is a western designed standalone restaurant system that allows the use of Thai language as well. If you have some understanding of computers it is relatively easy to set up, Casio set it up for you initially and you can email the Vivipos people in Australia or elsewhere and they are helpful. The cost is about 70,000 for the system including 2 printers (one for kitchen, one for cashier / bar), a cash drawer, touch screen and hard drive and software (cheaper with smaller screen or just using one printer). Being standalone, it means it cant be used for facebook, music systems, googling etc which can cause problems on a PC based system when staff are trying to fill in time... If you PM me, I can tell you where to go and have a look at one in operation.

Sounds good. Does this system allow for the hand held pads that waiters can input orders into?

Can anyone recommend a company to supply and install a POS system for a restaurant?

Preferably a Samui based company but doesn't have to be.

Try Crystal Bay which is a stunning sheltered bay just before Lamai. In Lamai there is loads to do (shopping, markets, restaurants, water park etc) . However the beach at Crystal Bay is much nicer and is ideal for kids as it is shallow and very calm.

Try Anne Sophie she's excellent.

http://www.samuipics.com/

Some good advice there thanks alot.

thanks for replys. he's had all his vaccinations.

I'll try some of the hospitals here to see if they have a child speech expert. Was hoping that there may be an expat child development expert on the island somewhere.

I'd suggest you make your way to a doctor or a paediatrician as soon as you can. The child may have hearing issues or any number of things that are preventing him from learning to speak.

Having said that, I've had 4 kids and they all matured at different ages with speaking. My Thai daughter understood everything said to her in English and Thai but did not vocalise any language until she was about the same age (2 1/2) and that sort of worried me. And then over a 2 week period it was like a tap was turned on and suddenly she's involving us in conversations - more in Thai than English initially.

thanks for reply. any recommended paediatricians on samui?

My boy is almost 2 1/2 and not speaking at all except for babbling.

I would really like for him to see some sort of speech therapist or child development expert. Is there one on Samui who someone can recommend?

I am wary about just going to the local Doctor or clinic after having alot of bad advice in the past.

Really hope someone can help me.

thanks for that I know where you mean I think. thanks.

I've got a small boat that needs some fiberglass work done and some of the paint/gel coat re-doing.

Apart from the obvious (eg take it to one of the boat yards) does anyone know someone who could do this? I'd pay a job rate or day rate. If they could come and do the work at my house in maenam even better.

PM me or reply here.

thanks

I read that if you earn money outside Thailand and then bring it here within a year you are liable for tax (even if you paid already in the country where you earned it).

Has anyone had any experience of this? If someone got paid for some work they did overseas directly into their Thai bank would they really have to pay tax on it?

Obviously I don't want to discuss any illegal tax avoidance schemes. But how likely is it that someone would be asked to pay tax on money going directly into their personal account from abroad?

back on now!

My TOT been down all last night and all today in Maenam.

Any news when this might get sorted?

Just bought a bottle of Bombay too.

Lovely resort run by a Dutch family on what is arguably the best beach on Koh Samui.

http://www.crystalbaykohsamui.com

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293918-d604203-Reviews-Crystal_Bay_Beach_Resort-Koh_Samui_Surat_Thani_Province.html

Maenam Soi One which goes all the way over the hills to Lamai near Buddies ( around 17km). Very steep in places though. Hardly any traffic. Concrete road all the way. Beautiful views. I only do it on a motorbike but often see cyclists on it.

Another vote for Crystal Bay it is lovely. Try http://www.crystalbaykohsamui.com they offer cheaper rates direct than the major booking sites.

A visit to one of the waterfalls is always good. Na mueng 1 if your feeling lazy or na mueng 2 if you want a walk. You can relax, swim and eat som tam there. A great and cheap day out.

So thanks for the input everyone. Glad I asked the question now. I have heard some bad things said about Samui Rescue before but it seems the truth is they do a great job.

Hopefully I will never need it but I'll keep samui rescue's number on my phone. I keep imagining coming across an accident at night and not having a clue who to call and the person dying as a result! Probably not so far fetched given the accident rate on this island.

I feel a bit stupid asking this, since I have lived here for a good few years. But, what number am I supposed to call in a medical emergency?

Should I call the number of my hospital of choice? A general all purpose emergency number (like in the UK)? Or, Samui Rescue? Or what?

I was just thinking that if there was a life or death situation, I wouldn't immediately know what to do, which is a bit worrying.

Thanks for the replys. Yeah it SHOULD be ok. i guess they just reserve the right to check on anyone looking dodgy.

So me and my wife have had a bit of a headache getting the Schengen visa for our trip to italy. We eventually got it 36 days after applying - we had to pick it up ourselves the day before flying to the UK.

Anyway our trip to Italy is planned for Jan 3rd. We are already on holiday in the UK.

We just read a piece of paper that came back with the passport which states: "not withstanding the fact that one has been granted the visa, border authorities are authorised ti request again the proof of the prerequisites for obtaining that visa'

So basically we are supposed to take all the documents we used to apply for the visa with us!

So its a bit late for us to find this out as we are 10,000km from home where the documents are. its our own fault I guess but if the visa had come back on time we might have seen these instructions whilst we were still able to do something about them.

The questions is. Has anyone ever been asked to present these documents again when entering the Schengen area (or more specifically italy)?

Starting to stress out AGAIN!!!