klfopera

If your in the USA try any of the Honorary Consulates like Boston , MA. I got one from there 2 years ago (triple entry) $120

Yes! You can get triple entry at Boston for sure. Remember that the last entry must be no later than 6 months from the date you get the visa s get it close to the date you plan to go.

I replaced all in our house after breaking with American Standard, brushed stainless steel with steel valve lever. I guess they will last long. It's a bit modern design, works perfect and no comments from the boss too.

BumGun.jpg

We have had several of these for many years. They work perfectly and are durable.

By the way, Thai people call this device "doctor" not "bum gun".

Patong Beach a year ago.

What? Is this supposed to horrify us? From time to time-especially during super moons-the high tides are very high. So what? There were a lot of people on the beach. This was because they liked it. What is wrong with that?

Can anyone tell me what is the status of Laem Sing Beach? Are there any restaurants there now? Any services at all? Any chairs or mats or umbrellas? Are the stairs going down maintained and safe?

Looks better than before and if it ever gets properly cleaned up it will be stunning.

And who exactly is going to clean it up? Not once, but daily in a sustainable way? Its the beach chair vendors who kept the beaches clean and orderly.

I have found just simply ignoring them works a treat

No stress, just walk in, get what I need and go pay for it.

I always do that but sometimes they follow you around so i then tell them to go away. I was once followed in a well known shoe shop by an assistant holding a shoe and pointing at it saying 'shoe' When you DO actually want some help there is strangely nobody about or they do not have the answer.

Jackuy54 gets it exactly right. Situations like this are when I get what I call my "Thai moments." I lose my cool and start screaming: I KNOW ITS A SHOE. Why do you think I don't know its a shoe? So I lose face and feel like crap.

I also saw it in 1999. Totally wonderful. But only if you can go through the temple to the end. I don't think it is worth going there if you can't do that. I think only Vat Phou in Laos is as interesting.

1. We do not know where this is.

2. We do not know when this happened.

3. i have been going to Patong Beach for 17 years, spending about 180 days on the beach. i never was treated like this. Nor at Kata, Laem Sing, or Surin beaches. I never saw anyone else treated like this.

4. I have always found the beach chair vendors courteous and helpful.

Say goodbye to your sun chair, umbrella and cold drink because there is new sheriff in town.

Whenever I hear this kind of complaining, I chock it up to pure selfishness. I want what I want. I don't care about the ecological impact of what I do.

They're insane for taking away my sun chair!!! What about the tourists? The horror!

The people renting you a chair were operating a business illegally on public land. They were paying the people whose job it was to protect the land (who were turning around and selling it).

I have no empathy for them or you. This is the best thing that ever happened to Thailand. They should be taking out all those structures that have illegally encroached the beaches all along the coast. There are plenty of them in Hua Hin that should and will be coming down. Good riddance. Finally, someone put a stop to the encroachment, the illegal businesses and the corruption.

Sorry buddy. The only thing on the King's beach... sand. Insane, right?

Leaving aside the utter nastiness of these remarks, i would only point out that the "ecological impact" of beach chairs and umbrellas is exactly zero.

The habit of criminalizing politics in Thailand is one of its least attractive characteristics. Yingluck might have been negligent of incompetent in her oversight of the rice scheme but I am very doubtful that she engaged in criminal activity.

I wouldn't worry about whether she has financial resources outside the country. I would e stunned if that hadn't been provided for long ago even before she was made PM.

I think the NCPO would really refer her to be outside the country. When the last junta ket Taksin go to the Beijing Olympics, do you think they expected him to return?

I do the same (3 entry visa which I get in Boston USA). Stay about 4.5 months. Only 2 are needed but I get an extra one just in case I need to go out of country unexpectedly. Usually I go by air and return in a few days (Singapore, Laos). Once I did a round trip in one day to KL. Only once did I go out/in by land. That was to Ranong. I did that because I have a very close friend in Ranong who has a plantation there so it was convenient way to take care of the second entry and visit him. I was hoping to do this every year. I sure hope the optimists here are correct.

If someone can explain to me how to attach an mp4 i can show you a video of a ceremony at my friends home in Ranong.

There is a practice here where Thai people get-together and have 24 hour celebrations where Gods (mostly Hindu but also Chinese) are invoked and various adepts are inhabited by the Gods. They engage in dances, have conversations with believers, etc. It is a remarkable religious practice. There are lots of videos on you tube about this. It is a widespread practice, not a scam. One of my closest Thai friends is deeply involved in this practice. I have never seen any discussion of this in tour books.

I am not at all a believer. But these people are not faking.

So whats going to happen when I arrive down to the beach with 5 sun lounges & 3 umbrellas to use for my 2 5yr old daughters, my wife my 93yr old mother & myself?

We like to spend all day on the beach but we like to lay out of the sand under an umbrella will we be deprived of this?

The beach chair/umbrella hire service had been a "unique" part of Phuket Beach life and getting drinks and fresh fruit brought to you was a treat it was also nice to get a massage on the odd occasion thats one of the many reasons we come to a place like this because it's different.

I understand some vendors took advantage of the situation and certainly something had to be done about it no argument about that but I do think the lounges/umbrellas need to be replaced in the high season in a more controlled way. The tourist obviously liked them judging by the scant availability of unoccupied sets during the high season .. we certainly did.

A lot of people here are also blaming the vendors being greedy etc but if you were given the opportunity to set up a business on the beach by the authorities would you not take up this opportunity? I bet some of you would.

No the people to blame for this is the greedy authorities who allowed it to happen in the first place not the locals they were just supplying a much wanted service under the guise of being permitted to do so.

This is absolutely correct. All you people who complain about the "greedy" "lawless" locals who work on the beach: Do you actually go to the beach? Do you know these people? I am on the beach 150 days or more a year. I am honored to know these these folks who treat me well.

Dude your a freak. They are scammers from issan and can be very nasty.

This is a perfect example of the quality of discussion on this forum.

I suppose 15 years of going to the beach doesn't count for anything? I suppose knowing their families means nothing?

I am talking about the beach chair vendors. I am not talking about the jet ski people.

So whats going to happen when I arrive down to the beach with 5 sun lounges & 3 umbrellas to use for my 2 5yr old daughters, my wife my 93yr old mother & myself?

We like to spend all day on the beach but we like to lay out of the sand under an umbrella will we be deprived of this?

The beach chair/umbrella hire service had been a "unique" part of Phuket Beach life and getting drinks and fresh fruit brought to you was a treat it was also nice to get a massage on the odd occasion thats one of the many reasons we come to a place like this because it's different.

I understand some vendors took advantage of the situation and certainly something had to be done about it no argument about that but I do think the lounges/umbrellas need to be replaced in the high season in a more controlled way. The tourist obviously liked them judging by the scant availability of unoccupied sets during the high season .. we certainly did.

A lot of people here are also blaming the vendors being greedy etc but if you were given the opportunity to set up a business on the beach by the authorities would you not take up this opportunity? I bet some of you would.

No the people to blame for this is the greedy authorities who allowed it to happen in the first place not the locals they were just supplying a much wanted service under the guise of being permitted to do so.

This is absolutely correct. All you people who complain about the "greedy" "lawless" locals who work on the beach: Do you actually go to the beach? Do you know these people? I am on the beach 150 days or more a year. I am honored to know these these folks who treat me well.

Mr Sayan {Kathu District Chief} explained they were merely following orders.

"We are here for beach management, as we were ordered by the National Council for Peace and Order [NCPO] to re-establish order on the beaches," Mr Sayan said.

"We are not stopping you from earning a living. After this, Patong Municipality will be able to implement new plans for how the beach will be managed and how you can earn a living."

This is a huge mistake. I know 100s of people who come to Patong every year for 3 weeks to 3 months (or more). Maybe they can live without the chairs (although I doubt it) but they absolutely need umbrellas.

The lounge and umbrella vendors clean the beach (yes they do). Who will do that now?

Where I have been sitting for more than 15 years (in front of the tourist police office and immigration office) the operators certainly are not "mafia'; they don't interfere with people who want to sit on their towels. They are perfectly nice people.

The idea that the existence of lounge chairs and umbrellas prevents the public from seeing the beach is ludicrous.

It is certainly necessary for people to be able to have beach umbrellas as Thailand is a tropical country and there is a need for sun protection. There is no evidence that the existence of lounge chairs and umbrellas harms the ecology of the beach.

The due date issue" is about when you must come in on your second entry. It has nothing to do with the 30 day extension.

Thanks for the info. I thought he was the most insightful columnist (writing in English). It was always the first thing I looked for on Sunday mornings wherever I was.

Definitely will miss him. Bu wish him the best. Perhaps it is a good time to sit out political controversy and try something else.

Well before the coup he wrote a very bold piece that discussed things that cannot be discussed in a thinly veiled manner. I was pleased, astonished, and feared for him.

But what his fans want to know is where has he gone? If anyone knows, that would be useful information. We don't need cheap cynicism and paranoia.

The Bangkok Post said yesterday that he had left to edit a magazine. Nothing about TV.

I think the view that he was thrown out because his opinions don't agree with the Post's is ridiculous.

Nor do I think his views are especially leftist.