RoninTech

15 hours ago, Bruno123 said:

 

You can apply the codes shown yourself, within seven days of buy ing a registering a new SIM. Same deal for all of the networks.

Cheers Bruno.  I'll flash the above image in an AIS store and see where it gets me.  I found it on a Lazada page as I couldn't find any info on it via the AIS website.

Is something like this still available from an AIS store or would I need to get it from Lazada?

What do young women find attractive about Thailand, its either stinking hot or teeming down rain.

Young & older men the attractions are obvious.

Still a terrible tragedy, their families must be devastated.

RIP.

Seriously?! Get out to some of the islands which still have areas that feel like paradise on Earth.

My condolences to the family and friends.

Their rapid deaths and symptoms seem to fit Dengue Hemorraghic Fever.

And so we have another armchair amateur pathologist.

Please Google in Dengue fever and see the details about this virus for yourself, as I can’t be bothered to explain.

I’ve had Dengue fever, twice, and can assure you it was not Dengue fever in the tragic case of these two sisters.

What is the point of making speculations? We have probably not been given the clear facts by the media and will have to wait for if and when more information comes to light.

I think more thought and respect should be given towards the family of these girls and a simple RIP and messages of condolences is more befitting during this time.

I have had Dengue Fever as well.

I said "Dengue Hemorraghic Fever" (which is different) and qualified it with "it seemed to fit" which is a speculation.

You however;

"can assure you it was not Dengue fever"

Are you a pathologist or tropical disease specialist with ESP?

From our actual experience with DHF, I'll agree and say that's not what these girls.

My wife just had Dengue HF she caught on Koh Lipe this March. It's not a rapid onset thing like what these girls experienced. She slowly got worse from Dengue fever (puking/diarrhea/stomach pain/intense headaches/body aches etc.) until we got her to the mainland and she was diagnosed with DHF with a 5 minute blood test at a clinic. What I thought was a shaving rash on her legs was actually tiny droplets of blood coming through her skin and her bloodshot eyes looked like she'd been on a 6 month bender. We immediately rushed her to Hat Yai hospital were they monitored her platelets for 2 days to make sure she didn't go to the next potentially fatal stage, Dengue Shock Syndrome. Her platelet levels started to recover after 2 days and she was released the day we were leaving for Canada. We believe she's had Dengue fever at least once before. There are 4 varieties and you can't get the same one twice but getting one of the others will be worse the next time. Months later and she's still losing hair and skin on her hands and feet. It can take months to fully recover.

Dengue is getting worse in many areas of the world, and everyone should be aware so you don't fob it off as something else, but IMO this case isn't it.

My condolences to the family. Do they know where in Canada they came from? I've heard nothing on the Canadian news here.

EDIT: Nevermind, got to the end of the thread and saw the CBC article.

I remember some Canadian varieties as particularly fierce. Although most people can easily outrun them, if you look back over your shoulder you'll see hundreds trying to gain on you. They've been known to take-down Caribou in the Tundra.

The good thing about Northern Albertan mozzies is they are the size of small sparrows so you can easily see them. The horse flies are so big they can carry off small children.

Getting back to the OT, Dengue is also on Koh Lipe where we vacation every year. Mrs RoninTech ended up with the hemorrhagic variety and spent some time in the hospital in Hat Yai in February. Nurse and Dr on the island mis-diagnosed it (stomach bug!!) so she went through hell until we realized it was something really serious and scarpered to the mainland. 15 minutes in a walk in clinic in Satun and one simple blood test later and we knew what it was. They told us to get to hospital ASAP based on her platelet levels. It would have really sucked without our Thai friends there to help us. Unfortunately someone may die on Lipe after being told it's something that isn't potentially life threatening and while waiting for the antibiotics to work, which they never will, it could progress to DSS and being so far from a hospital you'd be SOL.

There's no vaccine and you can't stop it once you get it, just ride it out and deal with the symptoms. Getting an IV in you is key when you are puking/shitting/bleeding everything out. If your platelets drop low enough you progress to Dengue shock syndrome and need a blood/platelet transfusion or it's game over. You could actually see little pin pricks of blood on her skin that I originally though was from shaving her legs when we first noticed it until the Dr in the hospital filled us in. She still has bad days months later and has to go see a liver specialist here in Canada as they think there her blood still isn't "right" and there may be some long term damage (that might be from the big Changs though ).

I'm pretty sure this was the second time she's caught it as she got sick last time too, but nowhere like this. There's 4 known varieties and once you get one you can't get that one again HOWEVER if you get one of the other one's it'll be worse. There's lots of ponds, puddles, fountains and other standing fresh water all over Lipe so I wouldn't be surprised if the number of incidents keeps increasing now that it has a foothold.

It was a big wake-up call for us and we'll be much more careful next year and part of me wonders if I should even take that chance...

I think that Dengue is carried by different mosquitoes the Aedes, and mainly strike during the day.

Yep, they are most active at sunrise and sunset (including after it's just gone dark). My wife just went through Dengue (progressed to hemorrhagic) fever she caught on Koh Lipe this year. 2 misdiagnosis on the island (nurse - Chikungunya

and then a visiting Dr - stomach bug) meant she went through a rough ride until a simple blood test at a clinic on the mainland in Satun told the true story. Pretty spooky when the Dr said get to the hospital in Hat Yai ASAP! Also scary is if you get it again, it'll be worse. "If" we go back we'll be using the 95% DEET spray they sell at Swampy. I'm not sure I want to see her go through anything like that again though...

Dengue is definitely in the Southern islands. My wife contracted it on Koh Lipe in February this year (2012). Ended up spending some time in the Hat Yai Bangkok hospital. Wasn't until we got to the mainland clinic in Satun where they did a blood test that we found she had the hemorrhagic variety and they said get to hospital ASAP! Island nurse said Chickungya (sp?), then a couple of days later with her still getting worse a visiting Dr said stomach bug and gave antibiotics! Finally a couple more days later we got the heck out of dodge to the mainland where the clinic in Satun actually did a blood test. Freaky! Her skin looked like it had been pricked all over with a needle. Other fun symptoms were puking, diarrhea, red eyes (from the hemorrhaging), fever, chills, aches, joint pain... She was actually quite sick last year on Lipe as well for a few days so I think this might have been her second Dengue bout and why it progressed to DHF. The more times you get it the worse it will be. There are simple blood test kits that detect it and since you can end up with Dengue Shock Syndrome from your blood platelets dropping too low it can kill you if not treated so don't mess about!!

"If" we go again, we'll be using the 95% DEET stuff. We want to go back (been going every year since '05) but it's spooky thinking what if she gets it again....

Saw this on another forum:

Flew TG 933 CDG-BKK in F ,wisked by golf cart to domestic complaining all the way told immigration no longer allow use of F lounge. To await our HKT flt

Previously when flying on to Hat Yai in Thai business class after we'd arrived on Thai F we were taken to the Royal Orchid F lounge and got the massage. Is this no longer the case?? Majorly sucks if that is so!! We are arriving on the Thai flight from Frankfurt and have to wait 6 hours for domestic flight to Hat Yai.

Anyone do something like this recently?

Thanks

Before I book, I'd like to hear if anyone has any experiences (good or bad) they can relate with this company? Just looking to go BKK-downtown hotel and back. Looking to spoil the wife this trip and not go with a taxi.

Thanks!

Who in their right mind would come now?

I'd have no problem flying to KL, then Langkawi and on to paradise...

Thanks fellas, that's great news! Can't wait. This will be the first time for us experiencing the wonders of first class. Its gonna be quite the transition as we go from that to staying in our usual thatched hut on a beach.

How much time do you figure we should allow to get over to the domestic gate? We have 7 hours to kill.

Cheers,

RoninTech

RoninTech

I am intersted to know why you picked hat yai for a vacation spot?

Its the closest airport to access the quieter Andaman Thai islands that we enjoy. From there we head to the coast and then take a boat to one of the islands. Lanta, Ao Nang, Phi Phi, Phuket etc. have gone to sh*t in our minds.

Cheers,

RoninTech

Thanks for the input guys. Khundave, Payboy, have you done what you described at Swampy? I'd feel a whole lot better if I knew people had experienced waiting in the First Class Lounge before heading for a domestic flight. If there's no confirmed instances of anyone doing this I'd tend to go with flightcrew1's evaluation. I also came across this link at Thai Airway's site that says you need a departing first class ticket to use the F class lounge:

Lounge Access :

• Royal First Class passengers departing same day on TG flight
  • One guest allowed
    

  [*] First Class passengers departing same day on any Star Alliance operating flight

  • One guest allowed
    

Again though actual confirmed experiences trump blurbs on websites.

Cheers,

RoninTech

Thats what I would aim to do. Maybe someone to escort you onto your plane later would not be unreasonable too.

Only problem I see with this is whether they have customs at Hat Yai.

There's definitely customs in HDY. It's an international airport (although dinky). We went through them there a few years ago via Don Muang. That time we had to sit in the DMG domestic departure gate for 5 hours waiting to leave after being bused to the domestic terminal from the international one.

Cheers,

RoininTech

Unfortunately the flight to Had Yai leaves from the domestic terminal where Thai has only a business lounge I believe.

Doh! Maybe we could hang in the first class international lounge for 4-5 hours or so and then head over to the departure gate in the domestic terminal. Is it far from one to the other? Since our luggage will probably be checked all the way to Hat Yai, I imagine we wouldn't have to go through customs and check-in at BKK.

Cheers,

RoninTech

Hi All,

As a present for me and the missus' 10 year wedding anniversary, we accumulated enough airmiles to get us 2 free first class tickets to Thailand and back. We honeymooned there in January Y2K and have been back a couple of times via economy flights. We will be flying into BKK on Thai Airways first class from Frankfurt this January. We get in at 6:20am and then have to wait 7 hours for our departing Thai airways flight to Hat Yai (business class as there is no first on this leg). My question is do you get any special treatment when arriving on TG international first and what lounge(s) would we have access to to while away the hours? Fingers crossed that we could get into the first class lounge but I'm not sure if having an arrival FC boarding pass stub would qualify us for that?

Cheers,

RoninTech

I don't mind the concept of 2 airports. Both of Bangkok's have been good to us in the past. We've had to connect stuff like this before and in all other cases I can remember it was obvious and if you asked how you got a nice easy response. We'll be landing in swampy this February late at night and for the first time will have to transfer to DM to make our connector to Hat Yai early the next morning (all Thai Airways). Just to be prepared I did the usual google search on how to transfer from Suvarnabhumi to to Don Muang. It sure makes for some interesting reading! Whispered rumours of a TG shuttle, pages and pages of how to make sure you don't get ripped off by the taxis, fake buses that will dump you off the beated track etc. Its not the end of the world and we'll just make it into an adventure. However it'd be much nicer if there was a no-brainer connection between the 2. I imagine the taxi thing is no big deal but based on the number of negative posts there's got to be something there as you just don't see the same volume of negativity when searching on different connection transfers.

I sure got excited when I saw the announcement of all flights going back to Swampy as it would completely eliminate this added complexity to our trip. Unfortunately we just miss the window. Next time we'll be happy to not have to deal with the transfer.

Cheers,

Paul

P.S.

Gizza job - I can do that - gizza job

Your hired yozzer!

Thanks machlad. Airport Suites (old Comfort Inn) is our old standby from pre-Suvarnabhumi trips . We've already booked ourselves in there. We'll post back next year on the results of our hunt for the elusive Thai Airways transfer shuttle.

Ahh, the legend of the Thai Airways shuttle grows some more..... . Brownie points to the first person with a report of an in the wild sighting. A picture gets you big karma!

Cheers,

Paul

Can anyone expand on what Thai Air does to get you from one airport to the other? We'd be getting into BKK late at night and needing to fly out to Hat Yai first thing in the morning. Is the old Comfort inn/Best Western still open at Don Muang?

Cheers,

Paul

Thanks all!

We will arrive on a Thai flight from either Beijing, Hong Kong or Narita but I don't see any reference to Thai providing a bus or something to get to the other airport. Well since we haven't booked the flight yet we'll look into using another airline for the BKK-HDY and back hops. I wonder if lots of other travelers that would normally prefer to stay with Thai are going to other carriers because of this? I wish Thai would pick one airport or the other rather than using both. Seems odd for such a popular international tourist destination and the country's flagship carrier.

Still if that's the biggest issue, its all good!

Cheers,

Paul

We are getting ready to book another trip to Thailand (Satun province, Turatao area) from Canada this winter. Is it true that Thai no longer flies to Hat Yai from BKK and that you have to transfer to Don Muang for a Hat Yai flight? Our international flight from Canada gets in late and we need to get to Hat Yai early the next morning in order to make a ferry connection to the islands. We usually crash for a few hours at the airport hotel. If we need to transfer we'd barely have enough time to catch any z's. On previous trips the flight to Hat Yai left from the same airport as the one we arrived at, either Don Muang or Swampy.

If Thai has changed this, do they take care of shuttling passengers to connecting flights at the different airport or are you on your own.

Cheers,

Paul

I want to go to Koh Lipe. Nok Air has a flight to Trang leaving at 9am, and then there is a TigerLine Travel boat leaving Trang Port (Hat Yao) at 12:30pm arriving Koh Lipe at 3:00pm. Tigerline Travel said they will pick you up at Trang Airport for an extra 100 baht per person, and you will make the ferry no problem.

However, I am hesitant to spend 2.5 hours on a ferry - long journey.

Instead, I could fly to Hat Yai. It looks like the ferry ride from Pakbara is much shorter - 1.5 hours. But the woman from Tigerline said getting from Hat Yai airport to Pakbara Pier is time-consuming, difficult and expensive.

Anyone have any suggestions on the easiest way to get from Bangkok to Koh Lipe in a single day.

Link: http://www.tigerlinetravel.com/index.php?cat=lineboat

I always went to Koh Lipe using the Hat Yai way but it can be boring to spend a night in Hat Yai, so I will try the trang way next time.

Hat Yai to Pak Bara takes 2 hours at least (but it's cheap), then 1.5 hours to Koh Lipe by speed boat and 4 hours with slow boat, so it seems better to go from Trang.

Please tell us after you try it.

We usually take the first flight from BKK to Hat Yai in the morning. Minivan to Pak Bara and Ferry to Lipe and we are usually in a bungalow by 4pm.

Cheers,

Paul

We now also think to come on the 2nd in the morning from BKK.

If we by luck sit in the same airplaine we could share a taxi to save money.

Sounds good h90. If we can all fit in one cab with our bags, that would sure save some cash.

Fantastic! Thanks for the great information Krub!