markiv

I take it there are no agencies in Pattaya that can get a passport on your behalf?

You have to remember Thailand has hardly any wind, unlike places like the UK, hence the dust settles.

Hi, my girlfriend needs a Thai passport, can she get this in or near Pattaya or does she need togo to Bangkok?

Many thanks, Mark.

I take it your renewing your Visa and not just getting your passport stamped. If it's the latter I'd recommend going to Mae Sai ( Myanmar ) from Chaing Mai as it's cheaper at the border itself and much easier to get to.

Are you having problems pleasing your onshore clients ( UK / USA / AUS )?

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Please PM me your interest.

Yes I think only an hour drive to Pattaya from Bangkok airport?

How much should toll roads charge be and taxi?

1400 BAHT

It's almost 2 hours from BKK ( Suvarnabhumi ) to Pattaya . The taxi fair is 1400 including tolls on the way out and 800 baht plus tolls on the way back to BKK. Or to put it another 2200 round trip.

I am travelling to KL next week with Air Asia and was wondering if anybody can tell me the best way to get downtown from the LCC Terminal. Is it best to take a taxi to the main international airport then get an express train downtown or just take a taxi from LCC to downtown? I am more worried about my transit time for the journey back to CM as the flight time from LCCT is 08:50.

TIA.

Thaihog,

There are basically two ways of getting to downtown KL, more specifically KL Central (the transportation hub). One is the LCCT bus and the other is by taxi. Two major companies operate the buses which are Aerobus and Skybus(something like that operated by AirAsia). Costs are about RM9, or RM10 a way. Journey time is approx 1 hour 15 minutes. You reach KL Central and there are different Light Rail Transits to take you around the city. Or again a taxi could be your way around KL.

On the way back, make sure you reach KL Central before 6am. THere are 2 or 3 buses that leave around that time and would take you to LCCT way before you minimum boarding time. You would reach about 7.00am or 7.15 max. I have done this many times and no problems whatsoever.

For everyone else, particularly Wizzard of Oz, there is no such thing as the LCCT express train (it would be appropriate for you not to make suggestions that are false as it would indeed cause the OP to lose his flight). The KLIA express train is a service that connects KL Central to KLIA and not the LCCT terminal. One would need to take a shuttle bus to and from KLIA and LCCT. That would be unnecessary waste of time.

Hope you have a good time in KL.

TB..

We did the bus from LCCT ( air con on the bus barely worked ) to the KLIA express at the main airport terminal. Bus ride was about 20 mins. Then the KLIA to Sentral, then the underground/metro/mrt or whatever you call it to our hotel.

I don't recommend this however, the KILA train was nice, but overall the whole journey was more hassle than it was worth. I'd either get the AirAsia bus to Sentral, then get a Taxi, or if you like the underground.

On the way back, get a taxi, there's not much traffic, we left our hotel at 6:00am and got to the LCCT just before 7:00pm. 80RM.

I live in Ban Wang Tan near the Hang Dong Road and I use Maxnet. Very, very slow. Download speed about 10 kb/s. I'm not kidding.

I had True Cable Internet, 1024/512, 890 baht per month. It was OK was for alot of stuff, but you rarely would get the full download bandwidth when accessing sites from outside Thailand. However I believe this was a problem with the infrastructure between Thailand / SE asia and the rest of the world. There are plans to address this, but we're not likely to see any improvements for a few years.

I will be there next weekend and check it out by my self.

Gerd

I was there a couple of weeks ago and didn't notice anything like that, well during the day. What time of day are you talking about?

I am also thinking whether to bring my tv, cd player - even vcr player. All are old and obviously so. Does their being old mean that they won't be hit by customs?

(I know that I could buy the stuff there but since I'm getting a container for my stuff - with lots of room spare in it - the incremental cost won't be much.)

As long as it's not really expensive stuff, I'd take it all. You can always say you don't want some of it, if they hit you for high custom charges.

Out of interest, how much does it cost to ship a container from the UK to Thailand? 20ft I take it, or you gone for a 40 foot?

I have never done that route , but if you are Premier it should be free.

If not I think transfer to another HSBC bank are 10-15 pounds (not totally sure on that, it says below 15).

Best to check with the Thai HSBC branch, but I have never had any problems with transferring within HSBC.

Do HSBC have any other branches except the Bangkok one, I'm mainly after one in Chiang Mai, cannot find anything though on the HSBC.co.th site.

Anyone got any recommendations, looking to stay 1 month or longer..

Thanks in advance.

For the cheapest it has to be Kuaiti airlines. I've seen singles as low as 11,000 baht to LHR.

Also checkout OasisHongKong.

I've had this myself, usually most common in the morning after a night on the fags and booze. If that's not your cause, I'd check yourself out at a doctor's.

12 Call have various packages, I was like you and had to top up every month, but I barely used my phone. So I phoned the operator 1175 and went for the Un Un package, the calls are slightly more expensive than the regular package, but your sim expiry is always good for 1 year, no matter how you much you put on it, 100 baht etc. I hardly top it up at all now.

If your going abroad also make sure you've got international roaming turned on. Phone the operator 1175 they'll tell you everything.

Me and my gf rode to Mai Sai on a Yamaha Mio a few months back, took between 5 & 6 hours each way with stops and not going too fast. Stayed overnight in Mai Sai and came back the following day. The 118 road was very quiet and number 1 highway was reasonable. Cost about 400 Baht in fuel for the whole trip.

Well it took 15 hours on my 1024k True internet connection but it got there in the end. Has anyone else downloaded it and did you get it any quicker?

If you want to see a night safari then I think it's worth doing, the only other one I know of and have been to was in Singapore and they are quite similar, although the Singapore one just had abit more going on in terms of entertainment around the food area and also had alot more people.

They have 3 Thai and English tours aswell as quite a nice walkaround section around a big lake.

We got our tickets from an official stand in the night bazaar which included return transport, although that was last year.

Here's the site for it, it's right near the Royal Flora Expo, so easy to get to by scooter, car or taxi.

http://www.chiangmainightsafari.com/en.htm

You say you intend to pay for everything but intend to live in a squalor and poverty. All I can say is be prepared for a big bust up when your ATM card runs out!!! Good luck!!

The best seafood restaurant in Chiang Mai I reckon is the one in Anusarn market with the big pool of fresh shrimp shipped up almost weekly in the back of a pickup from Bangkok, there not that cheap, but BBQ'd along with a Tab Tim sweet and sour style ( Pla Sam Rod ) and a few other side orders, you can't go far wrong. I find alot of restaurants in BK and Pattaya for example even more expensive than Chiang Mai!

This recent BBC article made me laugh..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6583067.stm

I love Thailand for it's toilet sprayers or whatever you call them, but today I got caught short and had to use the loo in Central ( Kad Suan Kaow ), great clean toilets but alas no toilet sprayer, I can tell you I used well more than 1 sheet of loo paper..!

So my answer to Sheryl Crow is, forget the toilet paper, toilet sprayers everywhere!

It's open from 8am to 12pm and 4:30pm to 8pm if I remember correctly. But it's so busy most of the time I'm not surprised you can't get to speak anyone on the phone.

As far as I know they don't take appointments, you just turn up, speak to someone at the desk and wait your turn.

Please note: immigration are not handing out residence certs unless you have a one year visa, and that does not mean non imm O-A-B types. Go to your nearest embassy or consulate if that be you..

Re your quote above, not even for 1 year non imm O visa's?

Could someone also tell me exactly where on the hang dong road the office exactly is and what's the name of it, or is it in Thai only?

Lastly when at the DMV office, will a 6 months tourist visa do?

Thanks in advance..

May we live in interesting times .

Were the robbers male or female ?

Male. According to the news on Channel 3, the old lady shop owner was also killed and by her own gun.