THAILIBAN

can anyone recommend a reliable and affordable ( reads: no FARANG-RIP-OFF prices) place where can I get my Samsung 7.7 upgraded from 3.2 to the latest version 4.0 ? 4.1 ? 4.2 ? that is available for this device ?

About how much will that cost me ? And can I actually WAIT while the person is running the upgrade ? I don't like to leave it with somebody I don't know, as a lot of private data is stored on it..... thank you

EDIT: I am looking for a place in Bangkok, forgot to mention this

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Dear all,

I hope it's okay to post this here in the THAI language section, even I am asking about CHINESE, but I thought this is the place where I can find the most members interested in LANGUAGES (if the OPs disagree, then pls move my post to somewhere else).

I was wondering if anyone knows of decent but at the same time inexpensive Chinese-classes / -courses in BKK ?

I want/need to learn Chinese, but budget is definitely a major concern, so 1-1 teaching is not what I am after (and I don't like 1-1 anyway, at least not for a "beginner" - level).

Any input / hints / recommendations are very very much appreciated

one reason why there are not so many questions about VISA in the Phils is that - uinlike the Thai, Malaysian or Indonesian authorities - the Filipino government makes it very easy for foreigners to stay a very long time or even live there for good. They have realized that foreigners inject a lot of money into the local economy. so not too many questions have to be asked regarding those topics. but if u have questions, you will be helped in those above-mentioned forums.

Mabuhay

I can report last Friday afternoon incoming was packed out in both arrival halls. The snake line does help as despite the numbers I got through in about 35 minutes. Also helps they now have staff checking people have completed their arrival cards before proceeding to an immigration officer.

I arrived at exactly the same day and time and was shocked to see those hords too..... the last few times in 2012/2013 I usually walked straight to the officer without having to wait a second...... but what I expected to be 2 hrs wait indeed turned out to be just 40 minutes...... it's a good thing they have staff now to check before if the immigration form has been filled out properly, as there are just too many morons who aren't able or willing to do that ( I won't mention the nationality, but usually 90% of them are from "newcomer-nations" to Thailand) and then create a scene when they finally stand in front of the immi officer

I had to take plenty of cheapo-Photos for Visa-applications in the past few years but haven't had the need for a good-quality Job-application-Photo since ages. any recommendation where to get one at a reasonable price ? downtown BKK or Eastern Outskirts prefered. thanks

on the Mezzanine level there are several (that is where all those Restaurants and Coffee Shops are).

As well in the departure hall on the right end (if you stand in front of the terminal-building), there is a SCB branch with ATMs too

I lived in Ram soi 65 gor a few years.

Great place to love if you are young and single with all the uni girls. Most of the Ram uni ones are very friendly, coming from Isarn. The Abac ones are not so.

Great for the Mall Bangkapi. Klong saen saeb is great for getting into pratunam.

Much better than Bang na, and cheaper.

No RAM is NOT better than Bangna, at least not in year 2013 anymore. I lived at Ram near Lamsalee for 6 years, and while I enjoyed to live at the end of a dead-end-road-Soi in a surprisingly quiet environment, I really got p*ssed off with the traffic in the end. Plus the area is prone to flooding, and during rainy season, my Soi was flooded every other day, so no Saloon Car or Taxi could go to / from the building I stayed at. only a 4WD or truck. taking public transport could take hours in the evening to get back home, the entire RAM road is stop-and-go for hours. Even though the non-Farang-surrounding was quite pleasant, I decided to move to Bangna and did not regret. Bangna is developing at a fast pace, with shopping and dining options popping up every month. Even though the distance to downtown - let's say SIAM Square - is not less than from my Soi at RAM, it is much much easier to get there, and, even more important, get back home. The Bus never takes longer than 12-15 minutes to the UDOMSUK BTS STATION, even though I am at KM 7 of Bangna-Trat Road. Plenty of shopping and good Supermarkets around ( 2 x Big C, 1 x Tesco, 2 x TOPS, 1 x Villa), and Mega Bangna in particular is a pleasant low-story-place of a Mall with plenty of nice Resto's and Pubs / Wine-Bars, where you could easily spend a full day - plus it has IKEA if that's your kind of thing (mine it is not). Suvernabhumi is very easy to access, as are High-/Motorways to any given direction. Plenty of new Condos are being built now in this area (Lumpineeville, for example), so this area will even improve further in the future, no doubt about it. And for kids it is certainly much much better as well....Several international schools are in the vicinity (Suk Soi 107, Bangna Trat around KM 3 and at Soi Parkland). I was wondering if I would like it here in Bangna, but I wouldn't wanna go back to cramped and overcrowded Ramkhamhaeng.

Sounds like condo time, but then again you get noisy neighbors or a beer bar next door with music until late

That doesn't necessarily help.rented new place in Condo, was told by land lord that dogs are not allowed and there is a "management which cares" in place, only to find out that I have two tiny but very noisy "rats on leashes" almost next door.And the landlord now saying that he "can not do anything about it".

NOK AIR not doing this anymore at their Airport-Counters ?

All Thai-owned Hotel chains (Centara, Amari, Dusit) do the same - they really only feel happy if they found a way to extract more money from foreign customers....

what about some real 70ies tunes !!!

PUNXXX not dead ;-)

X-Ray-Spex: I am a cliché

Slaughter & the Dogs: where have all the boot boys gone

the Clash: White riot

Majestic Grand near Rueamrudi/Sukhumvit used to have a lunch buffet that was great value at around 350 THB. Not sure if the price is still valid as I haven't been there for a few years.

Those paying 2.700 for a buffet anywhere in Thailand should be ashamed and rather give that money to charity. Just my personal 25 Satang.....

I always wondered how could the route CNX - UBP be profitable, so it is no surprise to me that it has now been cancelled.

Indeed the Chinese routes are those which generate the biggest profit for TAA, as well as the domestic tourist trunk routes BKK-CNX and BKK-HKT, even though in many cases other airlines (Bangkok Air) are cheaper than TAA if you include all the fees that TAA imposes.....

i got stopped at the very same check point on my scooter today (2nd rd / Dolphin island).....

showed my thai driving licence (didn't ask to see the bike's tax disc) and was cheerfully waived on my way.....

if you've got the right documents and you are no breaking the law (ie helmet worn, bike not modified etc), in my experience, you've go no problems..

Getting Thai D/L was a doddle - no test, just showed my UK licence and was in and out (with thai bike and car licences) in under 45 mins.....

no Test ?no documentation other than a local DL from your country ?that is new to me......

isn't it time for some MOD's to delete some off-topic replies and make people concentrate on the actual incident ?

After all, this is embarrassing for BIG C.

I would not hesitate to go straight to the store-managers office and have a serious talk with him.

it seems as if he / she couldn't care less.

If they really wanted to get rid of that, they easily could by employing some undercover-agents who pose as a potential victim by placing bags easily visible in their cart or so, and then watch who's gonna try to snatch it.

But I would not be surprised if the store management is actually somehow involved in those thefts.....

At least at my BIG C at Mega Bangna, I can be sure such thing would be taken VERY seriously and the store-manager, which is a pleasant Thai lady, would investigate until the culprits are caught....

any experience with other providers ?

I used to have wired ADSL with TRUE for 6 years, but at my new place I have not decided yet which system to use.

It seems there is some sort of router (actual a huge huge box) on the groundfloor inside the security guard's room.

But I have no clue how such thing works and particularly how safe it is.

There are flyers abound offering Home-WiFi from different providers at different prices / speeds, BUDDY, TRUE and others.

some even offer some sort of "pre-paid plan", which would actually suit me well, as I am out of the country frequently.

It is just that I am a bit worried regarding the installation. I read some information from TRUE/TOT and I didn't understand a woird of what they were talking about, sounded very very complicated.

In particular I must make sure I can use my notebook (I don't operate a desktop anymore) at any other places in Asia without problem, and switch to other WiFi or wired networks, without the need to change (and subsequently, as I am a Compu-DUMMY, mess-up) my configuration.

any recommendations / advice ?

they finally managed to organize things more properly. even it may loook like a long wait ahead, the queues move quite fast. But of course it all depends what time you arrive. now is still high season (Chinese new year), so if there are 5 A-380 and B-747 spitting out their PAX within ten minutes, it is unavoidable that it will take a while for immigration-staff to clear them all.

My own most recent experience:

Wednesday Jan 30, early afternoon, outbound: less than 10 minutes,

Wednesday Feb 6, late evening, inbound: less than 2 minutes

they definitely employ more staff now

Just don't use those miles for ECONOMY-class redemption tickets, as the fees, taxes and fuel-surcharges will make the "free" ticket more expensive than a regular paid ticket on a budget-carrier or even on a legacy-carrier.

do yourself a favour and burn those miles in Business class and have a good time on board

Hello All,

Bumrungrad-Hospital is periodically publishing a patients-magazine, and in the recent issue it focusses almost entirely on digestive diseases, symptoms, colonoscopy etc....

I grabbed it when I was there to see a Doc for exactly that.

Excellent information, with some of the countries best Doctors giving advice.

I learned a lot and particularly about my own digestive-disease problem I might have.

Everebody who had in the past a history of digestive diseases or a family history thereof may consider to go there and grab such a magazine too. It is available for free everywhere in the waiting rooms and public areas.

I thought I post that here as good English-language health-information is not so easily available in the kingdom, may it help someone......

It's even more sad that until today, nobody stepped in to bring them to the court

If you book very early in advance, you could even try going via KL, as AirAsia (the Malaysian AA) flies CNX - KUL and KUL - KWL.

Could be the cheapest option if booked very early in advance,even though I know there are rarely promotions on the KUL - KWL leg.

the PARKLAND is at Bangna-Trat Soi 37, not exactly a downtown-location or very close to the BTS, but it usually takes just 10-12 minutes to Udomsuk BTS Station by public Bus and a few minutes longer on return if during rush-hour (always some sort of congestion near Central Bangna).

12 buildings, 8 floors each, a town of its own, such to say, a big Pool, which during weekday mornings/early afternoons is deserted, plus a GYM (even though I have no idea if it is good as I am not a GYM-goer).

The lady who runs the post- and stationary-shop there always has a few available units advertised at her blackboard for monthly and even daily rental, and she even knows some more owners who rent out units here.

studio should be much less than what you are willing to spend.

PM me if need more Info. I just moved in here a few weeks ago so I am still not 100% familiar with the place and area myself (as I am out of the country a lot anyway), but so far it's quite okay, with some decent shopping options not too far away (Central Bangna, Mega Bangna, Tesco, 2 x Big C, Tops.....)

As the headline says. Never saw a game of the Thai National Team live in a Stadium before.

This time it seems to be worth going, and the score of the first leg in KL suggests that it most probably will be a "close affair" and attract a bigger crowd than usual at Rajamangala, as Suphachalasai Stadium is so convenient to get to.

Any joiners ? Don't know where to get tickets, but I plan to go to Suphachalasai tomorrow and see if tickets are sold somewhere.

If interested, send me PM with ur contacts or post a reply. All Expat-nationalities will be entertained ;-)

EDIT:

Just checked the Thaiticketmajor website, and tickets are available there now (on Sunday there was still nothing to be found).

Three categories, 200, 300 and 500 THB. The 500 THB-seats are under the roof, while the two others are "open-air" (will the rain-monster make a comeback that night ?)

Kick-off is 7.00 p.m. BTW

In Chiang Mai B2 is buying up older and non profitable hotels, touching them up some and trying their luck

They seem to be clean and decent. and as I have seem priced in the 500 Bt range. But I have seen signs all in Thai that say lower prices

Are there other and lower priced hotels, yes. Some better and some not.

Virtually all B2-Hotels are BRAND NEW constructions, and they are all the same (which makes construction easier and cheaper).

The only one I know which was already an existing hotel before was the Best Western at Canal Road, which is now a "B2-Premier".

But I am quite sure ALL of the actual B2-Budget - Hotels are newly constructed. Same in Bangkok - all brand-new buildings, popping up within just a few weeks.

the 30 KG-luggage-allowance in Y-Class comes handy too at SriLankan

I always try to get a cab on the departure level nowadays.

Too many nasty experiences with those on the arrival level. Too many rigged Meters, too many crooks...... I must have been riding Taxis in BKK more than a Thousand times in my 8 years here, and they only bad experiences I made were ENTIRELY when taking a Cab from the "official" booth at the arrival level...... There must be an organization who offers ALL registered Airport-Cabs to manipulate their Meters. My last bad experience with a ridiculously rigged Merter was just 2 months ago and ended in a VERY unpleasant ride and a not-so-nice argueing and discussing through the entire journey (Luckily my Thai is quite okay so I can give a "CONTRA" and thats what I did, so the driver miraculously managed to "slow down" the meter to regular level again after he found out I won't fall for his scam / pay triple the regular rate