THAILIBAN

in Pantip, Fortune, and almost EVERY bigger regular shopping-mall in every bigger town u will find a branch of the reputable HARDWAREHOUSE. they have almost 100 shops throughout the Kingdom....

they publish a huge 8-12 pages booklet every 3-4 weeks, which gives u a great overview of whats on offer and at which prices. even its mostly in Thai its still VERY useful.

another member of TV guided me to that company about 2 years ago, and since then, I am a loyal customer of hardwarehouse...... hassle-free and rip-off-free

www.hwhinter.com is their website

is the regular (shorter) version with english subtitles not being shown anywhere in BKK anymore ?

oh and Thanh-BKK, do you know more about that HOUSE RCA cinema ?

when I lived in Europe, I was a huge fan of independent movies, but for directors such as ANGELOPOULOS, WENDERS, EGOJAN, KAURISMÄKKI the term "unseen in Thailand" applies.....

do you know if they usually show their independent movies with english subtitles (or, even rather likely, the english version with THAI subtitles ?). or is that all only THAI-Indie-Movies ?

I saw this one coming a long way off... and it's only a matter of time before all Thai consulates and embassies have similar rules.

I'll be waiting for the rest of you to show up.

not ALL Consulates will be like that.... those honorary consulats in my home country will always be the same. they are run by NON-Thai nationals, and therefore, they have no interest to harass and humiliate foreigners, unlike that new monkey in Penang....

I guess most of you here in Thailand did not notice that, as its mostly a promotion for MALAYSIA.

at the moment, AirAsia is giving away 300.000 free tickets for flights departing or arriving at Kuala Lumpur.

therefore, as well for the flights to and from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket.

so for those who need to do a visa-run in the near future, or just wanna spend a shopping-weekend at KL, it's the chance to get that for very cheap now.

to get access to that promotion, u need to check the MALAYSIAN Air-Asia-website.

if the website tells you "choose country and language" u have to choose MALAYSIA.

or go directly to the link below (hope its okay to post that here). there u will even get an overview in which month and to which destinations the tickets are still available.

for Bangkok and Phuket, in the moment I am writing this, there are still thousands of tickets available for all months from end of February to May, Chiang Mai only April and May left. but check urself.

the tax, fees and fuel surcharges from Bangkok, for example, will be 1.535 Baht, so thats really a bargain.....

here is the direct link, hope its okay with the MODs to post it:

http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/page.jsp?reference=300kfs

Hope this can help a few TV-members to save some money

I booked 2 tickets for 0 Baht last night already without experiencing any problem.....

just saw that they promote it on the THAI website too now ~_~

Just checked,

Google john shield and then choose his personal site.

It is all around 2002 so a bit out of date but still interesting and some good pics.

Also searched the forum with Mahasarakham and came up with a lot.

Probably because of me most of them ( I wanted as much info as I could get before I went UP there ).

Hotel Taksila is another one.

thanks a lot, yeah, I did the forum-search now too and indeed a lot came out, feel stupid now .

most is from the topic that u started before u moved there. that Thaksila hotel seems to be really nice, and at Promo rates of 770-880 Baht, who would complain...... too bad their english version of the website isnt actually working....

that student-hotel inside the campus seems another good option too..... and is for a good purpose....

and as there is even a Tesco and Pizza-Hut, guess I wont be lost in Sarakham

thanks again and if I manage to travel there, will post some recent updates......

in most of the cases, this board is indeed more useful than anything printed available.....

I should have known before.....

Hi there,

try typing Mahasarakham into the the white search box at the top of the page because there have been a few people ask this question, including me.

The wife says that she checked out the Wasu Hotel and it looked good but had no email 3 years ago.

Maybe different now.

There is another website by a bloke that lived and worked at the university there.

I will try to find it and post it here.

P.S. My wifes village is not far from this place.

All the best.

oh thanks for that...... I must admit, in that case I did not use the SEARCH function, as I didnt expect that a similar topic to such a unknown place did already exist.....

if you have a chance to find out about that website from that guy from the university, that would be a great help too....

I guess most of you here in Thailand did not notice that, as its mostly a promotion for MALAYSIA.

at the moment, AirAsia is giving away 300.000 free tickets for flights departing or arriving at Kuala Lumpur.

therefore, as well for the flights to and from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket.

so for those who need to do a visa-run in the near future, or just wanna spend a shopping-weekend at KL, it's the chance to get that for very cheap now.

to get access to that promotion, u need to check the MALAYSIAN Air-Asia-website.

if the website tells you "choose country and language" u have to choose MALAYSIA.

or go directly to the link below (hope its okay to post that here). there u will even get an overview in which month and to which destinations the tickets are still available.

for Bangkok and Phuket, in the moment I am writing this, there are still thousands of tickets available for all months from end of February to May, Chiang Mai only April and May left. but check urself.

the tax, fees and fuel surcharges from Bangkok, for example, will be 1.535 Baht, so thats really a bargain.....

here is the direct link, hope its okay with the MODs to post it:

http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/page.jsp?reference=300kfs

Hope this can help a few TV-members to save some money

I booked 2 tickets for 0 Baht last night already without experiencing any problem.....

MahaSarakham is not listed in any of those superficial guide books, and not even in that excellent comprehensive guidebook in my mother-tongue, though it is a major student town in Thailand.

In the local accomodation-guidebooks and -listings of Thailand that I own, there are some hotels listed but I have no idea on what to expect. anybody stayed there before and can comment or give a recommendation?

the following hotels seem to have a acceptable standard :

New Phattana with 94 rooms

Phattana with 81 rooms (probably the older of two sister-hotels, same road address)

and there is a hotel inside Rajabhat Uni, called Suan Warun....

Nitsarawan Resort seems to be of a good standard too, but probably out of town....

thanks for any hints....

Have anyone tried Kinokuniya?

I LOVE Kinokuniya in Bangkok.

I actually prefer it to the bigger chains like Barnes & Nobles in Singapore and elsewhere. Kinokuniya do a great job of picking the best books, rather than just loading the shelves with anything to take up space like the larger ones do. You don't have to sift through a load of boring crap to find the better titles, because that is all they carry. Don't get me wrong, Kinokuniya stores are huge, but manageable. The big chain stores are gigantic, but loaded with junk books to take up space.

We are very lucky to have Kinokuniya in Thailand!

if Kinokunya is still not big enough for some, they may try BORDERS at Kuala Lumpur's "Times Square" Monster-Shopping Mall. its the biggest BORDERS store in the world....

when I moved in to my new place (a busy suburb of Bangkok) , my landlord applied for the TRUE INTERNET for me in her name. I decided to go for the rather expensive 1230 Baht-Package.

unfortunately, the speed is a joke, at any time of the day..... and its getting worse month by month.

therefore, I want to downgrade to the 595 Baht-package that I had at my old place. no big difference between very slow and extremely slow speed, and I am not a big downloader anyway. and why pay for something that you dont actually get....

so does anybody know how far in advance u have to cancel a contract ? the first year of the contract is almost finished now (by early March).

sure I could call TRUE themselves or go to a service center, but I'd rather get some facts from members first.

thanks

Kinokunya stocks are much larger variety of books, and u can search for the respective title on the Thai-branch-website. if the book is in stock, it will even be shown in WHICH of the three Branches in BKK it is available.

http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/indexohb.cgi?AREA=07

hope its okay to post that here, otherwise the OP may google for "Kinokunya" + "Bangkok"

out of curiosity , do you have a lot of friends ??

will we have 50.000 travel-blogs here now ? because the forum is still no busy enough ?

seems many PATTAYA-people have too much time really

the idea of starting to learn and READ Thai at the same time, and not using any nonsense-transliteration is actually good.

too bad that no other decent language school than this one seems to do it the same way....

and I dont need a 1-year-ED-Visa (at least not before March 2009) as I do have a new one..... so my main issue is REALLY learning Thai.....

Hi guys!

Is there someone who knows if there's a place that we can print pics from Digital Cameras(memory Card) ourself?

Or we have to let the memory card to a shop?

In Canada and maybee many countries now have the kind of machine that we can use ourself to develop our pics.

Is there some in Bkk?

Thanks!

where exactly are you located ? I might be able to give u a hint.....

basement floor in Central Lat Phrao (easy access to MRT, Phahonyothin station) does have such a photoshop too (next to the foodcourt) and they did have somebody who spoke some basic english.... the prints are not a cheapo, though....

Makro newsletter today -

Fuji Finepix900 - 9 mega pixel 2.5" screen 4 x optical 1gb Kingston - 4990B.

Tesco Lotus have similar deals.

Don't buy an overpriced second hand camera with no memory from crap convertors.

Soundman.

u get that newsletter via email in English ? dont see any such option on their homepage.... or u have to register as a member first ?

did anybody ever try to get back the already paid "international airport Tax" on an unused AirAsia flight ? They do have such a refund system in Malaysia (Probably cause the government there forced them to return that money to the customers as the airline didnt have to pay to the airport as well if a passenger didnt show up for his flight or failed to check-in on time), though I dont know of any person having successfully called that customer-service-hotline after 3 hours in the waiting line.

Does anybody know if such thing (in theory!) exists in Thailand too ? Now after the airport Tax is included in the ticket price and increased to 700 baht, that would be interesting to know.....

contrary to all those funny and scary reports from consulates run by THAI people such as Penang, where they love to humiliate foreigners, it is still easy to get a multiple-non-Immi-B from the consulates outside Asia.

just contact any of those well-known "consultants", they will - for a fee - prepare all the paperwork u need, and then it should be easy to obtain a new multiple-non-immi-B.

I am the best example for that, as I got my new one within the usual 3 minutes a few days ago.... though, that was Europe, not Australia.....

In what way did Mr. Taksin make money for the country?

Pls dont misunderstand me, I am not trying to be ironic or silly here.

I would really like to know that.

if you don't want to be silly, don't ask stupid questions !

Hmm, seems like my stupid question got some interesting replies.

For the future, if I feel one of my questions might be stupid, I will make sure I run them by you first, so you can endorse them.

That is, if you are not too busy in your "think tank" then.

Feels quite liberating having someone like you around to help us less intelligent ones.

well, from his profile we can learn he is from "Khaosan-Road", so r u really sure u he will be able to help us, the "less-intelligent-ones" ???

Exit poll results show PPP wins

Suan Dusit Rajabhat University Exit Poll, As of 3 pm, 23 December 2007

How many constituency-based MPs and party-list MPs each party get

1. People Power Party, 221 + 35 = 256

2. Democrat Party, 127 + 35 = 162

3. Chart Thai Party, 24 + 5 = 29

4. Ruamjai Thai Chart Pattana, 14 + 1 = 15

5. Peua Paendin, 8 + 2 = 10

6. Pracharaj Party, 3 + 1 = 4

7. Matchima Thipataya Party, 3 + 1 = 4

--The Nation 2007-12-23

APOCALYPSE NOW....... but we have should known it before..... how sick is this country and its people..... ??? they didnt learn from US

in a few words: from the moment I set feet on Asian surface for the first time (which was not Thailand at that time, even I ended up here for some rather practical reasons ), NOTHING in my life was same as before. I can say, my life has changed 100% from that moment.

nowadays, when I go back to my home country 1 or 2 times a year to see my old folks, it almost amuses me to see under what conditions gay men my age live there. and I feel pity for those gay people my age (not a teen, but not a retiree as well). Because they dont know (or refuse to believe) that Asia is a different world with different values.

still today, some friends from my home country don't believe the stories I tell them about living here. they still insist to say "what u tell us, can not exist". but I know its real, thanks god...

I have a certain "value" over here (and I am not talking about matarialistic things "rich farang" and such).

My self-esteem nowadays is much much higher, and the thought of being forced to go back and live in my native country until my dying days, makes me goosebumps....

decent public transport is indeed needed, me thinks. though, no secondary city in South-East-Asia actually has that. if, then only the capitals have a good or acceptable public-transport system (Manila, KL.....)

safety at night for sure needs a HUGE improvement too. I would rather walk the streets of Bangkok at night than at CM these days....

and didnt u miss one thing in your comprehensive listing ? "Improve the drainage and flood-prevention-system"

thats probably the most important infrastructure task for CM....

wow, spending more on a sunday-brunch than some Thais earn in a week....... how DEKADENT u are .

the TRUE shops, which can be found in almost every shopping mall, have usually a very good and speedy connection (much better than what they offer to their private customers). expensive though, they charge 50 Baht an hour nowadays....

My partner used to play in an amateur team back home and is missing his weekend games. Are there are pub leagues etc that he could join at the weekend for a kickabout?

Cheers

it would be helpful to tell people if u live in Chiang Mai, Phuket or Khonkaen.....

but this link might be useful anyway:

www.somtam.com

A short report for those interested in that destination:

was on the maiden flight BKK-CGK on 1st of Nov., only about 50 PAX, probably due to the fact that not much promotion had been done in Thailand until that date.

arriving in JKT at midnight is not that convenient and means:

- no money-changers open

- no more public transport to downtown, so u depend on the sometimes doubtful TAKSI-gang

- ATM machines of course available in the arrival-hall, so u can withdraw cash while waiting for ur luggage

my return flight to BKK a few days ago - to my surprise - was 90% full, a few Farang but mostly Indonesian travellers on a leisure trip (kinda party-atmosphere on board).

the usual excellent AirAsia-safety-attitude applied for the Indonesian crew as well, both flights on time (return flight even 10 minutes ahead of schedule). The emergency-instructions for passengers sitting in the emergency-exit-row performed by the pretty Indo-Stewardess was probably the best and most comprehensive I ever experienced in my life

I read in the Indo daily papers that the bookings for December to February 2008 are already above any expectation, so it is most likely that this route will exist for a long time....

hopefully, a connection between two of Asia's most exciting destinations, Bangkok-Bali will be added sooner or later....