BernieOnTour

Be aware that most countries do not allow the use of an IDP, when driving in your home country...

... IMHO that's all pure activism.

All the big thugs are afraid, the army might move in and start a clean up similar to Phuket. Therefore they are trying to demonstrate, they are already working on the pain points and of cause: press and TV to document that.

Easiest way to do that? - Target a small group with no commercial impact for the Khon Yai. Let the realm problems persist.

Surprised that they do not provide 365 days retirement visa in the UK ...

At least the Thai Embassy in Berlin and the General Consulate in Frankfurt issue Non-Immigrant-O-A visa.

You have either to show them a pension statement > 1.500 monthly or prove with 3 bank statements that you have funds of > 20.000 .

(For O-S or O-M it is only > 1.200 p.m.)

Source: http://www.thaiembassy.de/de/visa (just translate it with Google translator)

Of course, as mentioned before, it is provided in the UK.

http://thaiembassyuk.org.uk/?q=node/51

Thanks for the verification!

Surprised that they do not provide 365 days retirement visa in the UK ...

At least the Thai Embassy in Berlin and the General Consulate in Frankfurt issue Non-Immigrant-O-A visa.

You have either to show them a pension statement > 1.500 EUR monthly or prove with 3 bank statements that you have funds of > 20.000 EUR.

(For O-S or O-M it is only > 1.200 EUR p.m. Or 4.000 funds)

They are stating: "for pensioners only", however, if you are eg. a former business owner without pension, fulfilling the funds clause should close the deal...

Source: http://www.thaiembassy.de/de/visa (just translate it with Google translator)

Did they take them to "commission" shops?

No - it's similar to the Korean tours in Siemens Reap - they charge them directly and pay off their local "subcontractors", the money ends up in the pocket of the foreign tour guides.

Additionally, Chinese tour guides for PRC tour groups are well known for giving a very biased view of the visited country, rather nationalistic and with unfair comparisons to their great nation, culture and great government., combined with lack of knowledge about the visited tourist spots. (It's the same with PRC tour groups in Europe).

Coming back to the original topic...

IMHO it's not a question of Baht to Pound, but of Pound to US$.

If you download the historical exchange rates Baht vs. Pound and $ vs, Pound - Oanda offers this feature - and draw a line graph, you will most likely agree, that the Baht will move in general like the $ rate. At least this is the case with a Euro comparison.

(Btw. the Phillipine Peso is similar)

IMHO the oneway standby option is the most expensive one. You will be better off with using an online comparison tool like Skyscanner and take a cheap return flight, eg. these Chinese airlines are quite cheap. Is there any chance you give him a lift to the airport ? - Going with him to the check-in counter and presenting your CC is the easiest way...

IMHO if you survived Indian tap water, you will easily deal with Thai tap water. .. From 10 business travelers to India, at least 5 got Montezuma's revenge.

I live only a block or so in a residence from one of the areas mentioned in the article where I often catch a taxi.

I've had the problem of taxi drivers refusing me often on long trips in Bangkok.

I'm just passing on this info for Farangs who have been refused service.

Sometimes they may be refusing you, but often you are there at the wrong time.

Many taxi drivers do not own the taxi they drive, they RENT the taxi from the owner or owner's company. An 8 hour shift is often how they rent it. Quite often that 8 hour shift they have the taxi for is from 6 a.m. to 2.p.m. .... the peak time for people going to work.

Someone else has the shift after their shift finishes.

Often the OWNERS will fine the divers if they do not return the taxi on time when their shift ends because the next shift driver is waiting for the taxi to be returned for him to start his shift.

That is why between 1 p.m. and 3 p,m. is the WORST time to try to catch a taxi at those choke points the article mentions.

The 50 or 100 Baht fine the owner charges the driver for not returning the taxi on time may be a small matter to you, but to the driver it means a big cut in what he makes in his 8 or 12 hour shift.

Sukhumvit road and the traffic there is one of the places the drivers hate to go ESPECIALLY lower Sukhmvit (the " Farang Ghetto" area).

That is often what you as a "Stupid Farang" just don't understand, and you are the one who often the one who causes the problems.

Instead of waiting at a taxi queue, and getting rejected, walk down the street a block or so and try to flag down a taxi there.

You might be surprised how much easier it goes to do that.

Btw

That's similar in other SE Asian countries also, eg. in heavily regulated Singapore

And what about the 50-100 baht stamp out tax? Maybe you got the vip service at this moring.

We didn't get hit up for the 50-100 baht "tax". Immigration was busy, but it only took us about 15 min to get through to the counter. We did see staff directing families with children to the express lane. Don't know if they paid extra or not. It seemed like the staff were just being helpful to them, but who knows with the news of late.

(Experience from 2011-2012)

Being once late at the airport, I asked to use the VIP lane and was prepared to pay for it (as for BFS at Suvarnabhumi) - solly Sir, only for Thai Airways and business class...

During high season, with long queues, I always choose the left queue, because there they often directed you to the VIP lane, if their counter was free.

Never paid anything...

What really cracks me up is the use of the turn signal to indicate a lane change. That is a good one.

In civilised countries that's what you learn to do. Maybe you missed that.Or do you prefer them to just swerve out into your path as one guy did to me today?

It's 'manoeuvre, mirror, signal' here.

Flashing headlights means 'get out of my way or we both die, dog'.

I specifically meant when they are passing you. I find this odd.

Same as in continental Europe:

Wake up, you old geezer driving like a snail - I am overtaking, do not even think about changing the lane!

Btw: typical gobblin behavior,

if your are alone, they are free to "target" you.

If you are in a group of 3 or more, the right of way is going over to the group: stopping,taking photos, walking slower than my grandgrandma ...

On bicycles, on motor bikes or walking, they are a menace. They make Thais seem like impeccable drivers. I have nothing against them, other than that.

Lets add their obsession with taking photographs while stopping in the middle of the road. Maybe its normal behaviour in China

Well, let's say it like that:

10 years ago, you would not have survived more than 1 hours with a behavior like that in Shanghai. The only city, I ever experienced, where taxi drivers hit on the accelerator instead of the brake, when you crossed the street.

Changed at least a little bit, when in view of the many letal accidents they introduced a law that drivers causing a letal accident have to pay a certain allowance to the family of the victim.

Harddisk erasure leaves a clean disk, requiring the new owner to reinstall OSX, but the only way to ensure, nobody gets hold or your data.

The fastest routing for Asia-Latin America would be via Frankfurt, most expats on home leave choosing this option.
Different to US and it's TSA, no hassle in Frankfurt, as you are anyway staying in the international area, also not with the checked luggage, as prime airlines are checking it through.

"there were communication difficulties
 
With who?
 
"Then, the passenger made up stories like that that officials were demanding money.
 
Are we to believe a tourist decided to make this up for no reason upon leaving?
 
 ...the current Phuket Airport Immigration Superintendent, Pol Col Prapansak Prasansuk,...said:
I moved here five or six months ago and I learned about officers taking money, which had been happening for a long time." 
 

When I came to work in Phuket I was strict with my officials and I am sure that this behaviour has decreased since July."
Decreased?

It is impossible that this happened because I have CCTV cameras and policemen with soldiers watching at Immigration. 
 
You can't make this gibberish up...
Reform?
  
 

P.S.
" Hundreds of people leaving Thailand, who had already converted their Thai money into other currencies, were caught out by the imposition of the toll."
  

I assume, most of us also do not speak Mandarin!
This is about Chinese tourists. IMHO they themselves started the problem, they have something like a "bribery culture", seen it in several places around SE Asia that they put some Yuan in their passport before handing it over.

Have been in and out of Phuket many weekends, was something like our home beach ;-) Long queues in high season: yes - but never felt obliged to "prepay" or even been asked for a service fee at immigration.

I only check in my Rimowa luggage. No zippers!ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1407414165.095795.jpg

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Yeah - but unfortunately only the aluminium type. The light plastic types have zippers.

But anyway: had some problems to open my TSR lock, stopped by at gas station, borrowed some pliers: 15 seconds and I had cracked it ...

Most nations commemorate the ending of wars.
 
Europe commemorates the beginning of them.
 
Strange.

Ending a war as victor far away from your mainlands is one thing...

Here, at least for France and Germany, it is more seen as: That was the starting point of all evil - never start something like that again!

Britain and France should not have entered WW1 because matters were created by a 18 years old fellow from Bosnia named Gavrilo Princip he killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo with a pistol, as a result Austria indented to act militarily with Bosnia.
 
Bosnia was not able to defend itself against Austria, therefore they asked Russia to help them Russia agreed to do it, Austria was not able to deal militarily against Russia, as a result they asked Germany to help them, Germany agreed to do it  
 
But at this stage Germany did not want taking part in this war and they asked Russia several times to stop getting involved in it unfortunately Russia did not agree.  
 
In 1878 the entire German states united into a total new forceful Germany, France who had been the European power for a very long time were not happy about that and they got into war with Germany 1880/81 and for the first time lost it against a powerful Germany. 
 
At the same time England did not want a powerful Germany either, and when Russia was ready to enter the war Germany had to enter the war also in order to help Austria. 
 
In this case France and England declared war on Germany in order to destroy the new German power.
 
Germany did win  the Russian war in a short time and Russia did surrender, then the war in the West carried on for 4.5 years with all the entire human disasters. 
 
Had France and England not declared war on Germany in 1914 then it would not have become this terrible WW1 which caused the dead of 19 million troops, and terrible events in Flanders Belgium, it is history now. 

The statement that the major European powers (France, Russia, England) were not really amused to see another player entering the game, Germany, strengthening after hundreds of years of weakening Kleinstaaterei, is for sure an important point.

However, the chronology was as follows:
Actually Austria-Hungaria declared war to Serbia and not Bosnia on July 28, when Serbia declined an investigation.
Due to Russia's unconditional commitment to Serbia to ally with Serbia in case of a conflict, Germany had given before a similar commitment to Austria-Hungaria. Therefore, Germany declared war to Russia on August 1.
During the state visit July 21-23, France had reaffirmed the French-Russian Alliance in case of a war with Germany - as a result, Germany declared war to France on August 3.
Germany bypassing the French fortresses and breaching the neutrality of Belgium and Luxemburg led to the war declaration of their guarantor power, Great Britain and it's dominions, on August 4.
During the war it became obvious that the war would have been lost without cutting off the transatlantic supplies to the British isles, leading to the "unlimited submarine war", which had the consequence of USA going to war in 1917 (and not the sinking of Lusitania in 1915).


IMHO the experience of the consequences of unconditional obedience of treaties against any kind of logic in WWI and WWII is still driving the politics from France and Germany. Something, which is perhaps not obvious to a power, which won the two WWs and never fought an external war in its mainlands - the recent Iraq wars and the resulting French/German reaction are a good example for that.
It is also one of the reasons, why a lot of people in Europe fear the worst with the recent increasing propaganda against Putin with regard to the Ukrainian civil war.

... I enjoy both home and away games for the difference in the experience but of course, this season too many away games are too far for a one night stop-over if you're driving there.

On the other hand, games like 11/10 Krabi could be combined with 1-2 nice days at the beach... ;-)

...

I don't see it gets any simpler than that, and as the person ultimately in charge of it all, she should be held accountable, both legally AND financially. If she knew about it, she lied. If she didn't know, she's an idiot and still responsible.

Well, if we would apply that:

- all senior management of Central/ Federal Reserve banks after the big bank crash

- all Financial Secretaries and Prime Ministers including the EC Commission after the Greek Euro disaster

would have ended up in court

Just my 2 pence...

It seems it is the same story as in 2012, when also 4002 thai children were mentioned, so Sanofi might have just reached another phase in getting FDA approval, maybe CTD 3 or 4.

Interesting read in one Googled article: the backbone of the live vaccine is a Yellowfever virus.
So I was not totally wrong, when getting a Yellowfever vaccination despite not traveling to Latin America since years - because there were unconfirmed studies that a Yellowfever vaccination is reducing the risk to get effected by Dengue and if, is also reducing the effects.

Thanks for the advice - both, Galarethong and Smith Residence, looking good!

Do you also have any recommendations and price indications for condos, perhaps houses, for rent in the Nimmanhaemin area ?