THAILIBAN

that's a good deal indeed, too bad the travel-period ends end of August already. a little too early for me.

cheaper even than the infamous EGYPT AIR to FRA which can sell as low as 25.500 THB (and comes with Star-Alliance-Miles awarded).

just be forwarned that ETIHAD recently re-fitted their B777 and now they have 10 seats per row - this aircraft is actually designed for 9-seats per row.

I had the "pleasure" to fly on similar re-fitted B777 aircraft in the past 24 months, operated by EMIRATES and AUSTRIAN, and it was HORRIBLE.

a real budget-Airline-Sardine-Can experience.

I am since then trying to avoid longhaul-flights on B777 alltogether, or choose airlines where I can be sure (so far, at least) they only have 9 seats on their B777 Y-class (such as Malaysian or QATAR, both highly recommended).

have a pleasant flight

Personally ,i didnt rate Carrfour and rate Big C even less ,Tesco are the best of a bad bunch as far as the big boys go ,Friendship ect are much better.

you must be kidding.

TESCO is the most pathetic of all. shops disorganized, dirty, clueless indifferent staff (ok, at BIG C that's not much different. Good luck getting a shopping-cart at the Tesco near my home (Tesco Bangkapi). in 4 out of 5 cases there are no carts available, and it takes ages for the staff to collect the carts from anywhere in the building of the mall. to get a shopping-cart on sunday afternoon is virtually impossible.

the food products (fruit ! Meat ! bread !), both variety and quality, are much inferior than at any Carrefour. The bakery at TESCO is pathetic to almost non-existent, except for some chewing-gum like bread.

the only section were Tesco was always ahead of Carrefour was the non-food-section, particularly Textile goods.

I don't think that any non-British-Expat would rate TESCO higher than Carrefour. I assume the British folks liked it more because they are used to it, it's their home-grown chain after all.

Sad to see Carrefour go indeed, it was a gift from heaven here in Thailand. Thanks god Big C has improved a lot during the past 3-4 years, hope they continue that way. AMEN

haven't bought any major electronic item in Asia in the past five years. prices are much cheaper in my (usually very expensive) home country.

now as the Baht is very strong, most items are AT LEAST 20% more expensive than in my home country were I can find plenty of giant retail-mega-marts selling at rock-bottom prices (PLUS the warranty on the products in fact IS a genuine warranty)

If you want to know old ugly hosties (and with attitude) try flying Qantas or BA. Thai is an absolute dream compared to those two.

in the EU, this would turn out VERY costly for them - AT LEAST 600 € for every passenger plus accom and food.

but as I had to painfully find out myself on a trip to OZ 2 years ago (on a home-grown OZ-carrier), the airlines of OZ are the worst I have experienced anywhere in approx. 40 countries.

It's their old flight from Qatar to KUL, which is now extended to Phuket, hopefully in preparation for an eventual Qatar-Phuket direct-flight ? Should be good for tourists, from all-over the M.East/Europe/Africa, who wish to avoid the time/expense of travelling via Swampy.

Roll-on Chiang Mai's turn, we all hope, up here !

Whichever Gulf-based airline is first to open these secondary-routes into HKT & CNX, should win a lot of loyal local-farang customers, who would be tied-into the entrepreneurial-airline longer-term by their frequent-flyer programmes ! But they need to consider frequency/aircraft-size carefully, to ensure that the early-operations remain profitably-busy, an ER-version of an A320/321 or B737 might be the answer ?

their fares are VERY competitive, around 4.300 Baht RETURN, Inclusive all Taxes (and no rubbish such as "convenience fees", "luggage-fees" and the likes).

forget those ridiculously expensive "BUDGET"-Airlines such as AirAsia, JetstarAsia or, even worse, Firefly.

same as on domestic flights within Thailand on BANGKOK AIR (Chiang Mai, Phuket), you can as well have international FULL-SERVICE-PREMIUM-FLIGHTS with 5-star-carriers for MUCH LESS than those "Budget Airlines"

oh, I want to add another one:

for BKK - KUL, there is another great option too, even with a Star-Alliance member.

Lufthansa flies 4 times per week, and the fare INCLUDING EVERYTHING is just 4.300 Baht, as long as you don't stay longer than 7 days. that can be cheaper than a ONE WAY FLIGHT on Air Asia, if you consider all the fees and charges. check the Lufthansa Thailand website for that.

PLUS you can earn Miles on any Star-Alliance FF-program (incl. THAI), yeah, unlike SIA or THAI, Lufthansa gives you some Miles even for the cheapest classes ^^

the border of Aran/Poipet does seem to entirely exist for the purpose of scamming foreigners.

it is by far the worst place in Asia and all travel-messageboards are full of stories of annoyed/frustrated/angry scammed foreigners.

nowadays, the scam does not end in Poipet, it continues when you arrive in Siem Reap. not only in Poipet, as well in Siem reap a new "private international tourist Bus station" has been built by that very influential private company (korean) who has the monopoly to perform those transport rip-offs.

arrivals will always be timed as late as possible in the evening, and then the Bus goes to said Bus-Station out of town in the middle of nowhere.

this is a gated compound, as safe as Fort Knox. when the Bus enters that compound (jail?), the entrance-doors will be locked immediately and the Passengers forced to use the already waiting TUK TUK - crowd, part of the transport-mafia. outrageous fares will be demanded (5 times the regular going rate), and if u don't agree, it is difficult to get out of that "jail". this situation has obviously worsened in the past few weeks/months. If your guesthouse/Hotel is smart, they should be able to send a independent Tuktuk of their choice to rescue you. this would have to wait outside and then those Gangsters will probably open the door and let you out.

The Poipet Transport-Scam is hard to endure for even the most seasoned travelers.

remember: omce crossing the border they will force in that "free tourist shuttle", and from that moment on, you are their "prisoner" - there is no way to escape.

so the only chance is to NOT enter that Bus, but that will start a series of harrasments and verbal or even physical attacks by the "enforcers" of the Taxi Mafia. they will follow you wherever you go in town and threaten every private Taxi driver who dares to accept you as a passenger.

do yourself a favour: FLY into Phnom Penh, spent a few days there, then take a hassle-free and inexpensive BUS-ride with SORYA TRANSPORT ( www.ppsoryatransport.com , but NO, they can not take u from POIPET to Siem Reap) from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, spend even more days there, and then from there it is indeed a breeze to organize a private Taxi (around 30 Dollars, there are several guesthouses and travel agents who have shared Taxis running every day - in the other direction the fixed rate is 48 !) to take you to POIPET, then cross the border hassle-free back into Thailand and you can with amusement watch the annoyed traveler-crowd being harassed by the Mafia in the other direction.

if you think my narrations are too exaggerated, then please check all those plentiful travel-forums to find out yourself ;-)

I have a similar experience booking my flight to Europe for XMas.

the thing is: During such a period, most people do not want to take the risk to wait and book early.

For June, no need to book early, there will be plenty of promotions for that low-season-period, you can easily find a competitive fare 2-3 weeks in advance.

depends on how flexible you are with your traveling dates and the airline

,the girls uglier hence a positive saving there.

That's an absurd statement. The only difference is that the beauty in Malaysia is not in your face and plastered with makeup.

Ye, but its a heck of a job trying to look under the bhurka

that shows that you know absolutely ZERO about Malaysia. virtually NO Malaysian woman wears a "BHURKA". If you see such rare thing, it will in 99,5% of the cases

be a tourist from the Middle East / Arabia

PLEASE do NOT stay there !

otherwise I will not be able to get a room there for another six weeks in early January, as I found it to be the best value-for-small-money apartment anywhere in CNX (and I have checked around 15 places or so).

Friendly people (not much English spoken, though), spotless rooms, relatively quiet by Thai standards, and walking distance to KAD SUAN KAEW MALL (if you don't mind playing "frogger" a little when trying to cross busy ARAK ROAD at the Moat).

Again: Do NOT stay there, the room must be MINE !

shouldn't that read 'more traffic chaos after heavy rain forecast in Bangkok' ?

No. There was traffic chaos because of the heavy rain, and there is more heavy rain forecast.

But anyway, given the amount of rain in Bangkok all the time, you would think that people would know how to drive in it and how to deal with it? It seems that even a small amount of rain causes traffic problems.

More heavy rain and traffic chaos forecast in Bangkok

as this was the only severe downpour in the past six week, nothing much to worry about it.

I really LOVE the weather in BKK

when will any of you nerds, ermmm, I mean, NICE GUYS, start offering LINUX group-tuition to Compu-Morons ?

I don't wanna scare you all, but there is not the smallest doubt that Indonesia is the biggest breeding-ground for terrorists worldwide nowadays.

with religious schools not supervised by any state agency, there is nothing that can stop the hate-preachers from spreading there perverted ideology

A foreigner gets caught with a small amount of an illegal substance and is then punished for it according to the law. How is this "breaking news"?!

because you have to understand Thaivisa is a commercial operation, first of all.

and the more CLICKS, the higher the revenue from advertisers.

so they have to "create" some kind of "breaking news" frequently, even it is just of the "What a tragedy ! Khun Somchais pet-poodle suffering from Diarrhea" - kind

why don't u stay in Cambo for 2-3 days instead paying for an expensive 1.900 Baht extension ?

you could go to the TRAT border by Bus and Minivan and then continue to Snookyville and relax there for 2-3 days.

that way, a much poorer country (Cambo) would get some of your EURO too.

is that not an option for you ?

Clearly we are talking about a different Bangkok than the obvious one...?

Otherwise this just makes no sense.

really ? why ? how long have you been a resident of BKK to come to that conclusion ?

Khonkaen Orchid may be near to the new (and impressive) Central Mall, bur far from downtown, definitely not walking distance.

check pimangarden.com

this is a nice place, quiet, because set back a little from the main road, and still walking distance to the downtown area, where the action (drinking, eating, sanook) is.

under 1.000 Baht as well, but you should go for the more expensive rooms, as these have big Kingsize-Beds and are generally much nicer

Original thinking & SE Asia do not go hand in hand..

Isn't Thailand virtually known ( amongst other things ) as the Land of Copies anyway ??

Here was me thinking it was actually the hub of copies.

I am sure both of you have not been to China yet

actually, there are no more decent "physical" CD-stores in Thailand.

CD WAREHOUSE in Emporium was the "last of the Mohicans" until it closed 2 years ago or so.

same happened to the big TOWER Records stores that I knew in KL at KLCC and at Midvalley.

the last remaining option nowadays is HMV in Singapore, and they have actually opened a new store at Orchard just last year or so (closing down the other one which was a giant 2-storey-operation).

everytime I am at SG, I am having a look there and usually spend 200 S$, though their staff is completely ignorant and clueless.

they do have a decent Jazz and Classical-Section, even that's actually not my cup of tea (I go for the NOISE instead ^^ )

If the problem is inside your company, I would suggest that the management practices are at fault.

I disagree. In my opinion it's a culture/tradition within a business role.

Good sales people don't have to resort to lying (assuming they leave a company with a crappy product).

I agree, yet in every business area I've worked in they've done it over and over and over again. Backhanders, kickbacks, lies, and deals with competitors - I've seen it all. Since moving to Asia I'm seeing this at a level I previously thought didn't exist.

just out of interest, would you mind to tell us in which field you are working and if those salespeople are locals or Western foreigners ?

faulty posting, sorry. see below for my actual post

Haha !

Yeah that's a good one.

probably we all have asked ourselves this question more than once already.

But then, it tasted nicely, so we did not continue to inquire (adopting the THAI culture of, "don't ask don't tell")

and most probably, it was the right decision not to inquire further ;-)

I was in Viet Nam when they implemented their mandatory helmet law.

People either wore a helmet, or the police fined them and confiscated their motorbikes on the spot.

Some things communist countries just do better.

I wanted to write exactly that but obviously you got up earlier than myself this morning {~_~}

when i was in Vietnam in 2006, virtually NOBODY in Hanoi or HCMC wore a helmet. 3 years later, EVERYONE did.

so you CAN educate your people - and if it's only by confiscating their motorbikes (that's a VERY good idea indeed! - it would work wonder !).

in the end, what counts is: they now DO wear a helmet, and this fact saves thousands of lives each year.

on the other hand, I don't think it has much to do with Vietnam being a communist country - let's rather say, it is a very capitalistic one-party-country.

the corruption in Vietnam is still much much worse than in Thailand.

.

Air Asia is the only carrier on this route.

Thanks Dave

I had a feeling this was the case but just wanted it verified. The connecting flight times from KL aren't convenient for me but I will just have to make do.

Yes Mahseer, the seat setup is similar to Tiger Air and probably most budget carriers. I always opt for row 13 because of this reason.

row 13 does not exist at AirAsia, so you sit on the floor ? or inside the overhead bin ?

http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm#On board

should give you an idea of what to expect. Take a good book, an ipad and you should be fine.

harry, thanks, I know seat61 since ages, and have seen many pictures of Thai railway carriages, but that still does not exactly answer my questions.

pictures are one thing (though helpful), but to learn from personal experience of others is something else