pampal

I agree with you about the noise pollution. But it's not limited to the christmass season. It prevalent in almost all the shopping areas, and it's not just the stores and shops, everything from the visually challenged (PC for blind) blaring music to the traffic noise etc....

It's a welcome respite to be able to walk around anywhere without being blasted by insanely loud muzak. I can't call it music because it doesn't sound like music, more like a cacophony of misery. I have invested in a good mp3 player and use that to drown out the ambient noise around me.

I also like the eye candy. Heineken for 60 baht. Everyone is up for a conversation and a good time.

No disrespect, but the lack of sexpats is a welcome change.

Be wary of phoney customs people asking outside the terminal how much currency you have brought into Thailand. Always go inside the terminal to discuss any issues

as there are many cameras and police about. If you get ripped off, you may have some recourse.

I ride my bicycle everywhere in Thailand and the Thai are about the most courteous drivers I have encountered. Mind you I am talking from a bicyclist point of view and not a car driver's viewpoint. In the last month I have ridden over 1300 kms in Bangkok traffic in the last month and I have yet to see a driver force me off the road or in anyway endanger me or my bicycle. They seem to give way to bicycles, as strange as that may seem. Also when driving a car, I make it a point to be more aggressive than they are and they have given way everytime. I am not defending their driving habits or driving skill. I am merely saying that toward a bicycle, they are careful and very accomodating on the road. This probably doesn't translate to their attitudes towards other cars, but hey I drive alot less than I ride my bike. My route takes me from chinatown to Sanam Luang and then to samsen road going all the way to nonthaburi and back at least 4 times a week. Never had any problems with cars, tuk tuks, taxis or buses. Your mileage may vary.

There are 3 or 4 areas in the LOS that are host to large numbers of farang. The Khao San area is one of them. I used to prefer the Sathorn and Sukhumvit areas but now find myself increasingly going to the Khao San road area. Food, clothing,used books, and most everything is cheaper in the area and there are large numbers of younger farang women travelling alone, ripe for the picking. Good after a fight with the local talent. The atmosphere is also more vibrant and there are less touts in the area. The transient 

nature of the area means the people in the area change very fast. Good if you like changing girlfriends often, and you can't beat 

the influx rate of new talent.

So Khao San Road, Good or Bad?

The duty amount is not exorbitant and you should pay it. It would cost you more to appeal and the time wasted is not to your advantage. In the future, the smaller amounts of printed material you send should not be assesed for duty payment.

try installing acdsee, might help if software related

Install symantec corporate anti virus and you will have free updates forever. Make sure to do the client install and not the server install, unless you are running it on a server.

Did you look at the differences between Windows XP home and Windows XP Pro, most people will find that hey will be happy with buying Windows XP Home.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/how.../choosing2.mspx

Windows XP Home just cost around 3500 Baht

The only real difference is the ability to join a domain

You can write it in microsoft word or excel and use a third party converter like word to pdf   or excel to pdf. all are available at a pittance at pantip

Although it's possible to have notebooks acting as servers, this is not the best option. If you must load server software, try windows 2000 advanced server. I have installed this on many a laptop without problems. The only problem is that microsoft only supports their software for 5-7 years from date of introduction. So drivers and upgrades are scarce to non existent as this software is no longer supported. Linux is a better way to go my friend. All the free support you want at a very low price.

International drivers licenses are valid if you are here as a tourist for a total of 6 months. If you visa status is other than tourist, then you need a thai drivers license.

For thailand, the tires that are showing their steel belts are like new. Take a look at some of the tires on the trucks passing you and you will see what I mean.

or better yet, take a look at the bus tires, your tires are new compared to these beauties.

Riding a motorcycle in BKK is very dangerous. I was eating at a seafood place on Rama III a couple of months ago when I heard a tremendous crashing sound. As I ran towards the sound I saw a cycle ride who had been hit by a car as the motorcycle was executing a u-turn. The guys left leg was torn off at the knee among myriad other injuries and he was squirming on the ground about to pass out which he did eventually. I was maybe 50 meters away at the time moving towards him, but I was on the sidewalk. Within seconds, two more cars plowed into the stopped car involved in the first accident. So now there was one motorcycle and 3 cars involoved instead of the original car and motorcycle. The ambulance arrived 25 minutes after the accident even though at least 5 people called the police and ambulance services. I don't need to tell you I lost my appetite 

after this scene. I am not trying to discourage you from riding your bike around, but it really is dangerous. exercise extreme caution

My vote goes to

1. axel

2. donz

3. maestro

in alphabetical order

As customs is cracking down on duty free goods bought into the country, I would like some clarification on one point.

I understand that 1 Litre of alcahol can be bought in duty free. Now in the past my wife and I bring in a 1.25 litre bottle of spirits between us.

Under the current customs clampdown, do they consider this to be 1.25 litres to one passenger, or do the split it over both, as in other countries. I dont't want to offend anybody, I just want a calm peaceful time in BKK.

Good Question. There are many grey areas in customs laws. Mostly discretionary, depending on the customs officer. Why not bring in 1 liter each? Just to be sure, but if you must bring in 1.25 liter bottle, declare it in the red line and 99% you will be waived through.

My gf pays for everything and she is happy to do so.

she has a very good business so there is no financial strain. I don't pay for anything including house,utilities,pocket money,leisure or anything else.

Most guys in Thailand foot the bill for their women, but I have everything paid for me.The only way to go.

He should be sent to Guantanamo for extended debriefing.

And then put on trial in Vietnam. As an American citizen he no longer enjoys any civil or human rights after the Patriot Act. The extradition is totally legit, this guy is a terrorist, there is no war anymore between the US and Vietnam so he was actually perpetrating a deed which if successful would have hurt US-Vietnam relations.

I met my gf through friends. She has her own business importing and selling  fashion products from china. She has her own wholesale shop in chinatown and a factory in Guangzhou that manufactures fashion items. I currently freeload at her house and she pays for everything including my visa runs to KL or China. 

There are many good ladies out there, you just have to look in the right place

The only place I have found satangs to be useful is in the buses. Specially the smaller green buses or mini buses that ply the Charoen Krung and Chinatown areas.

The fare for those buses is 6.50 Baht so the satang could be used there. Other than that I don't where they can be used.

The games you saw last night are the ASIAN games and not the ASEAN games. There are teams from Iran, Iraq,Arab countries like Saudi Arabia,Qatar,Kuwait,UAE among other arab states. There are teams from China who by the way is leading in the medals count, India and every other Asian country including Japan and Korea. I am not sure if the CIS countries (Russia) is represented because they seem to refer to themselves as European rather than Asian.

I would be interested to know where to find this law and based on which customs tariff to calculate duty.

axel,

the laws your are searching for and not finding in this case relate to commercial quantities imported for resale,

and as the thai tobacco monopoly owns this game, there will be no laws to find. at an tourist airport customs, usually the amounts are too small to be called commercial, hence there are no laws pertaining to said imports. Maybe completely at the discretion of the customs officer. So please let me know if you find something related.

Axel,you may be loud and obnoxious, but I am not.

Good for you pampal, good for you. I do like people who treat the customs officers with courtesy and respect and don't think I said anything else, so what brings you to your assumption?

BTW, I am holding all necessary documentation, Owner and Manager Card etc. to do any customs procedures in Thailand in my own name or o/b of actual importers as a broker.

Now, you say:

Because the laws allow you to bring in more than the allowance as long as the duty is paid...

I would be interested to know where to find this law and based on which customs tariff to calculate duty.

The only stipulation I do know, Thai customs allows a duty free personal exemption for 200 cigarettes or 250 grams of cigars or smoking tobacco but seem not to mention anywhere that you are allowed to bring in more against payment.

Otherwise, yes you did the right thing, declaring in the red channel and the decision of the customs officer was clear, go ahead. Usually, they don't want to be bothered for small quantities, unless somebody does not show the necessary respect.

Axel,

It seems I misread your post on this thread. I thought you were saying I was rude to the customs officer. My mistake. But the truth is that duty free means just that. Anything more than the said duty free amount is subject to duty, hence not duty free. There are no laws prohibiting the import of more than

the duty free allowance, only limits to the duty free status of the aforementioned. If you know of any, please let me know.It would be next to impossible to fund my vacation in thailand through the importation of one carton of cigs. so there is no commercial value in the importation. customs has in the past attached (retail price) to cigs imports which are over the duty free amount, in order to assess duty. That's how they dealt with it in the past, although they used the retail value of the country imported from and not thai retail value. That's how they have done it historically here.

and please everyone be courteous to the customs as I was and they will overlook small amounts as axel has stated.

Thanks for everyone's input.

Duty Free allowances exist so that you know how much you may import duty free. There is no limitation on passengers importation of tobacco/alcohol. There are only duty free limits. Anything more than the limit is subject to duty(Baht),hence not duty free. Some people on this thread insist on making their own laws through somekind of flawed logic. The monopoly on tobacco exists for commercial enterprises who wish to import commercial amounts of tobacco. So please don't invent your own laws/limits as to what is allowed and what is not because you are distorting the truth. If the amounts in my possesion were illegal, why were they not confiscated and I fined?  Because the laws allow you to bring in more than the allowance as long as the duty is paid and customs had every opportunity, at least 3 times, to collect duty or confiscate. So why didn't they do so? Because they felt that the amounts in my possesion were

 reasonable for a short stay.

Outside the terminal,at no point was Identifaction offered and when I inquired, they became very shy. So that led me to believe they were disgenuine. Also, who said I went into the red line and loudly declared my cigs. I went into the red line and very courteously declared my cigs. As the customs officers working the red line saw I only had a small amount over the limit, they told me to go into the green line, so please don't add adjectives of your own making into my predicament. Axel,you may be loud and obnoxious, but I am not. And to thaigoon, dont' hate-appreciate.

BTW, when are you gonna start your thread on toilet size at Suvarnabhumi. After all, that's what one's experience at an airport is limited to.

I guess I didn't make myself clear enough to a "genius" like you. My point was that it's not fair to complain that the whole new airport sucks just because you ran into some incompetent custom officers. When I went to school and had a bad teacher or had a runin with an incompetent janitor, I was sensible enough to not conclude that the entire school sucked.

thaigoon,

Let me make it crystal clear for you, any place that you visit (church,school,airport) is only as good as the people operating it. You might arrive at an architecturally perfect airport manned by complete idiots who are ignorant of their own laws. Your experience of that airport will not be limited to how many toilets there  are

in the terminal, it will also involve the human factor.

How you were treated by (airline personnel, airport workers, immigration officers, customs, touts in arrival, taxis,) will make up the majority of your interaction at your chosen venue. Although the artwork in the terminal or the position of the toilets  have some effect on your experience at Suvarnabhumi, the human element will have the most impact. I hope I have made things more clear for you.

And no this doesn't involve the physical structure of the airport.