jay33

Is the President Inn the one on the right hand side of soi 11/1, as you enter from Sukhumwit Road Bangkok Inn, further down the soi than both the Bangkok Inn and Business Inn?

If so then the first and last time I stayed there, admittedly back in 2000 because the other hotels in the soi were fully booked, it was the worst budget hotel I have ever stayed in during my trips to/through Bangkok and I have stayed in a mixed bag of places over the years. Maybe it was just one of their "not so good rooms" and would like to hear what the OP thought of the place, if it is the hotel I am thinking of!??

Would also be interesting to hear if any of the hotels in that soi have been renovated in the last eight or ten years or have they continued to deteriate as the prices have steadily risen throughout Sukhumwit?

I remember the only reason for staying at the Business Inn was that it was 500 baht per night (without a window) and the you could check in at 5AM so you could stay for 32 hours for that price when checking out at 1PM the next day, which was certainly convenient if arriving early after an overnight journey.

Also the dodgy room/toilet smell and general dinginess of the place didn't seem to matter as much after a full night out when Bangkok was still a 24/7 city and not having a window was probably a bonus! Mind you it could be deemed false economy as half the time I checked in at 5AM I didn't even manage to stay for the full night, so how anyone managed to stay there for weeks or even months on end beats me!?

Years ago the Bangkok Inn was a decent budget hotel in the Sukhumwit area and I stayed there a week once but unless the rooms have been renovated, then these days there are better value options especially if you pick the right Thai travel agent, and speak politely in Thai, as then you can get some special deals at a random selection of budget hotels in and around Bangkok, including Sukhumwit.

President Inn seemed ideally positioned to pick up customers from the Bangkok Inn when it was fully booked and catches people like me who presumed it would just be the same standard as the Bangkok Inn and therefore didn't bother to check the room first and quickly regretted their decision. Ironically the best budget hotel in the Asoke area IMO was only open for not much more than a year before it shut down, despite everything being of similar or better standard and everything being brand spanking new, as it was located about 400 meters along Asoke Road which I guess must have too far away to maintain occupancy.

Mind you the worst room I DIDN'T stay in was at the Malaysia Hotel, and despite it being popular some 10 years ago, I distinctly remember when I went to view the last room available and god knows what had happened in that room as a quick wipe down or the walls and furniture and change of sheets couldn't hide the fact that either a non-flushing toilet had recently exploded in the room, or some other activity which is best not contemplated for too long...so out of pure curiosity, does anyone know if there rooms there have been renovated in the last decade!??

Hi

I have flown this route many times i used to go via maccaw to Bkk but now fly direct Hkk to Bkk

my last trip left LHR on 9 June 2007 747/400 BA to HKK 2hr layover then Cathy Pasific 767 To Bkk

Return 6 March 2008 Cathy Bkk To HKK 3 hrs layover then BA to Lhr arrived 5am

Cost inc taxes etc £429

i know the price of jet fuel has risen so it will be more expence now but many airlines fly in to Hkk and good deals can be found on them eg vfly to Hkk and book at the airport on a standby to BKK cathy do this not sure about other carriers most flights to Bkk from Hkk are at 70-80% capacaty so should be able to find a standby

hope this helps

Thanks for the feedback and as a frequent flyer the ever increasing cost of fuel is the worrying part

Any chance you could let us know the costs of the two separate flights and whether they were returns?

As for the Macau route, I received an email back today from the Turbo Jet people saying that the cost of the bus to/from the ferry terminal is not included with the ferry price, so does anyone know how much the bus to the ferry terminals costs and how long you should plan for the bus journey each way?

Probably going to add the second one here, but which came first ฝรั่งเศส or ฝรั่ง – the French or the Guava?

Well, the guava would have come to Thailand from the Americas via the Portuguese or Spanish, who both have had contact with Thailand longer than the French (see here and here). I've read that the guava likely spread across Southeast Asia after being introduced into the Philippines, though.

Interesting article on Wikipedia, which suggests 2 different possible origins: -

1) in the Ayutthaya period, land was given to the Portuguese merchants to conduct their business at "Baan Farang" (Guava Village).

2) from either the word "frank" via the Arabic word "firinjia" or from the Arabic word "afrandj".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farang

I would presume that หมากสีดา meant 'guava' first, and was later expanded to refer to 'foreigner' as a humorous reference to the Thai homonyms, and stuck.

I've only knowingly been called บักสี่ตา (Issan Lao dialect) before but again wonder which one orginated first?

ขี้เหนียว 80 times (=71%)

Whilst especially in the past, I may have been called ขี้เหนียว more than งก or ขี้งก, from my experience Thai friends tend to use งก with each other more as a recent trend but that may well just be the ones I know.

Your stats do leave me feeling highly inadequate; either I must get out far more, greatly develop my memory skills and/or act more stingy...or most likely all three.

Hong Kong to Macau, Sea-to-air transfer:

Economy Class:

HK$180 Adult

HK$135 Child (2 to below 12 yrs old)

HK$90 Child ( below 2 yrs old)

Todays Visa exchange rates, without card fees: -

1 GBP = 15.68 HKD / 100 HKD = 6.38 GBP

10 THB = 2.48 HKD / 1 HKD = 4.05 THB

Therefore an adult would be approx GBP 11.50 or 730 baht plus any card fees.

Doesn't say if there is any extra charges for the bus from the ferry terminal to Macau airport.

Minimum Connection Time:

Passengers should arrive Macau International Airport Check-in Counters at Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal, Shop G02, not less than 2 hours and 45 minutes before flight departure for check-in procedures. Connecting departure flight should not be less than 45 minutes of the schedule bus time.

Last Air Asia flight from Macau departs at 2135, so need to check-in 20:50 at the very latest and suggests arriving at the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal (Shop G02) 2hr 45mins in advance, so would mean taking the the 17:30 (or 18:00*) sea-to-air transfer.

Scheduled arrival time from London Gatwick is 15:30 and throughout Feb, Oasis Hong Kong was 99% on time for the LGW - HKG route, so I guess you have between 2 and 2 and half hours minus any flight delays to get from the plane to the terminal, collect your bags and get to the ferry terminal.

Participating airline (for onwards flight):

Air Asia, Air Macau, Eva Air, TransAsia Airways, Xiamen Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, VIVA Macau

Free Check-in Baggage Allowance

Economy Class: Not exceeding 20 Kg

Super Class: Not exceeding 30 Kg

I think the times for the LON to BKK journey seems to be the easiset direction as you arrive in Hong Kong during the afternoon (15:30) and they have a very good record of arriving on time and then staying in a hotel in Hong Kong/Macau would give more options, otherwise if travelling on to BKK via Macau the same day then you would have to get the last daily Air Asia flight to BKK.

1100 (MFM) - 1250 (BKK)

1420 (MFM) - 1615 (BKK)

1630 (MFM) - 1820 (BKK)

2135 (MFM) - 2315 (BKK)

If you are going direct from Hong Kong airport you can use the Macau Express Link Service as it inclues Air Asia, so you and more importantly your bags can be transferred directly to Macau airport and you only have to go through immigration once = sounds good.

http://www.turbojetseaexpress.com.hk/eng/u...m/hongkong.html

Kong Kong airport to Macau airport

Transit Bus Schedule*

Air to Sea

12:00

13:00

15:00

17:30

18:00

20:00

So you be looking at the 17:30 which it says takes 55 mins for the "Turbo Jet Sea Express" = ferry but no idea how long the bus and the boarding would take??? But certainly seems doable.

Again would love to hear some feedback from one of the many people who have recommended this route.

The promotions are only for 1 month returns, non-refundable and the return date cannot be changed after departure. BKK-LON-BKK was quoted as 27,XXX baht inclusive of all taxes and they fly to both Gatwick and Heathrow and the transit times were between 2 and 4 hours depending on flight.

They were open to 10PM on Saturday which I guess is when Central World Plaza closes.

They can't issue you the ticket there and then, but they reserve the flight with a 5,000 baht deposit and then have until 31^st March to complete payment and can either go to their office on a weekday or pay with a card over the telephone or with a thai bank transfer and they issue you with an e-ticket.

I have read a few TV threads about a one way flight from Bangkok to London via Hong Kong, but I was wondering if anyone who had done the journey could share their experience as to how much money they saved, what times did they travel and how much time did they spend in transit?

I had a look on the net for promotions from HKG to LON and found that Oasis Hong Kong flew to LGW for HKD 2451 which I think worked out at 160 odd pounds, which even with the connecting flight and maybe ferry was still at least a hundred pounds cheaper than other carriers.

www.oasishongkong.com

Website says that their HKG-LGW flights were 100% on time in February and they are the World's leading New Airline 2007 and the Asia's New Airline of the Year 2007.

I also thought it was a positive thing that the flight left at 00:50 and arrived at 06:40 so it would be a night journey and I could probably sleep most of it and London Gatwick is the most convenient for me.

I saw an advert for Orient Thai to fly direct from BKK to HKG for 999 baht plus taxes which worked out at 2,649 baht in total which seemed really cheap until I realised that they only fly once per day at 18:15 and upon contacting Oasis Hong Kong they told me that if I missed the connecting flight for any reason including delays from BKK then it would count as a "no-show" and you would forfeit the HKG - LGW seat, when every other carrier I have flown on would just put you on the available flight, so sounds harsh!

www.orient-thai.com

BKK Orient Thai

18:15d

21:44a

HKG (Oasis Hong Kong)

00:50d

06:40a

LGW

So I was wondering if anyone had tried the above connection times and did anyone ever have their flight cancelled/delayed and/or had any close calls or missed a connection in HKG and if so what happened?

Also couldn't find any mention of what the baggage weight restrictions for the above arlines. Any ideas?

But then discovered that it was the international carrier of the 12Go that crashed in Phuket last year, which was strange as their website advertised awards for Thailand's Consumer Choice and Asia's Best Budget Airline in 2007! Was it voted for before the crash...!??

Then I looked at other budget carriers to HKG but the only other one seemed to be to fly to Macau with Air Asia and then it seemed to be easiest to get the Turbo Jet Sea Express from Macau airport to HGK airport as you only go through customs once and they take your luggage for you but wondered how long the whole journey took including the bus and the usual waiting time before departure.

I read that the excess baggage charging structure above the standard international 15kg for AirAisia was 165 baht per kg and they had a compensation of 922 baht per kg so you wouldn't check in any valuables, but wondered if anyone had actually been charged for small excess baggage weight and if anyone had had their hand luggage weighed on route to Macau?

Then looking at the times it was it was not obvious, to me anyway, what Air Asia flight to get to give someone enough time to catch the Turbo Jet Sea Express and not risk missing the connecting flight leaving after midnight and if you had quite a few hours to kill apart from geting into a good book or listening to a iPod what were the options available?

Plus, if you had to wished to stay overnight on a budget, what was convenient for either airport and where would you recommend staying? And also wondered what the aircraft were like on these routes?

Would appreciate it if anyone would share their travel experiences as it certainly seems a more adventurous route then any I have ever taken from BKK to LON and would like to try it out one time especially as it seems that I can get a 1 year return in the UK cheaper than a 3-month (or less) return bought in Thailand.

I just spoke to a Thai friend and took the opportunity to ask them about the issues discussed in this thread, after they had asked me about some English words, which I hope meant they put more effort into talking about a subject that I wouldn’t normally feel comfortable bringing up in polite conversation.

They responded with the following: -

งก (ngok), ขี้งก (khii ngok) and ขี้เหนียว (khii niaow) all mean "stingy" and neither phrase was particularly polite and therefore ฝรั่งขี้งก (khii nok) means "stingy farang".

ฝรั่งขี้นก (farang khii nok) meant in their words "a farang with little or no money/assets living from paycheck to paycheck". .

When asked about the “Thai behaving like a westerner” meaning, they didn’t respond, which could mean they were unaware of the original meaning or it was a slightly sensitive and/or inappropriate question.

They had not heard the phrase of ขี้นก (khii nok) used without the proceeding ฝรั่ง (farang).

Their (mis)perception was that the ฝรั่ง (Caucasian) was named after the ฝรั่ง (guava) because when they were growing up the fruit was always present and any experience of a Caucasian came later in life.

To be honest these were pretty much the answers I was expecting, but I would be far from surprised if someone could find a possibly more educated Thai to come up with a different or more comprehensive set of answers but may struggle to get them to discuss the topic in a completely open manner.

One last thing: this has also been covered elsewhere, but the guava gets its name from the foreigners who brought it to Thailand, not the other way around. Variations on the word "farang" are found all over the world, and the term is most reliably hypothesized to originate from the Arabic word for "Frank" (as in Charlemagne's empire), and then spread across Europe and Asia by Persian traders.

Thanks for pointing that out (again) Rikker and should be put in a thread of common misconceptions.

Probably going to add the second one here, but which came first ฝรั่งเศส or ฝรั่ง – the French or the Guava?

I think in each of these examples the origins of the words and the current usage and common understanding of the words by the Thai population are different and therefore it becomes more difficult to pinpoint an exact meaning/usage and is the reason why it is open to debate and this thread exists. But I guess this is hardly surprising as I do not know the Latin/Greek origin of words in the English language.

From my personal experience the most common form of the phrase "stingy", used amongst Thais, is now งก (which is of course is never นก) which according to the dictionary means "covet, crave, desire, wish for" but to me the context always made it sound like a milder (rather than the dictionary definition of ขี้ used to proceed a habitual negative trait) version of ขี้งก, which I think everyone does agree is slang for "stingy".

ขี้งก (khii ngok) is an impolite, and therefore unlikely to be found in a dictionary, version of ขี้เหนียว (khii niaow) which means "stingy" and therefore ฝรั่งขี้งก (khii nok) means "stingy farang" and can be heard quite reguarly in any of the tourist zones when a farang refuses to pay over the odds for something or part with their money.

I think ขี้งก (khii ngok) is often confused for ขี้นก (khii nok) which literally means bird excerement, but also means fake, low-class or worthless. I was unaware that ขี้นก (khii nok) was also used to mean "stingy".

ฝรั่งขี้นก (farang khii nok) originally was used as an insult to describe "a thai that acted like a farang", e.g. they had bad manners etc, and comes from ต้นฝรั่งขี้นก (dton farang khii nok) a species of guava (farang) with red flesh inside, instead of the usual white flesh from which the popular name for Caucasians originates.

ฝรั่งขี้นก (farang khii nok) in recent times is now commonly used to refer to low-class or worthless farang.

OP - try rolling your tongue into a U shape, with your tongue touching the back of your lower front teeth and this will force the Ngoo Nguu to come from the back of your throat.

Ok it only really works for the phrase Ngoo Nguu but once you can make the correct sound you can repeat it without rolling your tongue.

Interesting - any chance you could post or PM me the name/details of the hotel with ADSL in Pattaya?

Thanks.

based on a recommendation from an "insider" i changed from Premier to 'el cheapo' Indy and have a better service. better is of course relative. the service is still shite²

I can't find the emoticon for a grown man being reduced to tears...as I was thinking O'Premier just had to better than El cheapo!

What I find strange is that now even after midnight it doesn't seem to get much better, as a https page is loading its stop-start-stop-start and it takes the best part of a minute to load a large page and I am not talking about images either - just text!

After about a dozen phonecalls and me telling them they could save some time and replay all the old recorded ones, I got excited when I saw my IP address change outside the usual range of 222.123.X.X to 117.X.X.X for the first time today but still waiting for the miracle to happen...

I know I shouldn't complain too much as I remember the "pre-ADSL" days when if you were outside BKK sending an email was traumatic!

I'm thinking of moving next year and I'd love to know what areas of Bangkok, Pattaya and anywhere else that might have the electronic 'holy grail' of a cost-effective and reliable internet service. They must exist but how do you find them - thats the $64K question?

Does anyone know why secure connections (https) have become so slow/unreliable with MaxNet over the last 6 months?

Even on good days when http pages are loading fine as soon as I switch to https only 1 in about 5 or more pages loads straight away and for the rest I sit waiting maybe 10+ seconds for a https page to load or the page load times out. I appreciate that https takes more server resources but I have never noticed such a huge difference between http and https page load times before the last few months with MaxNet.

When I travel around TL and I use hotel/internet cafes I have never experinced this https lag (-even in Savanaket!) so wonder why the fastest basic 1024/512 MaxNet package is so cr@p over https?

Unfortunately where I am living, MaxNet is as good as it gets, so I can only hope that changing to MaxNet Premier, 256/128 or 512/128 as I don't get anywhere near the physical maximum, will reduce this problem and wondered if anyone else had experienced anything similar?

From August 1st one of my studios in View Talay 1B will be available.

For more details and photos go to: Studioapartments in Pattaya/Jomtien

Special price for low season 10.000,- THB! (ADSL included). Electric/Water extra.

Regards

Michael (089 400 6503)

Hi, I'm looking for a place to stay in Pattaya and Michael's special offer for 10,000 baht would be just what I am after except none of his rooms are available for more than 2-3 weeks during the tiem I would like to stay and at the weekly rate that would cost nearly as much.

Anway, just to elaborate this is what I am after: -

1) Preferably no more than 10,000 baht for 1 month and deposit less than 10,000 baht

2) Central-ish so I can use the baht bus, but not as far out as Jomtien, and not next to a construction site or disco etc. Sea/nice view would be a bonus.

3) The tricky part is, which is why I could really do with your assistance is I really need ADSL already installed and ready to go when I arrive with my desktop (-wireless not required). Doesn't have to be particularly fast, just anything quicker than dialup and generally reliable. Don't mind waiting a few seconds for a page to load, but hate sitting there wondering if the page is ever going to load...

4) Looking to move in on the 23rd August, but could be a week sooner so not sure how far in advance I will be able to book.

Nearly 2 years ago, I lived in Pattaya for 6 months and if like last time, all the good still easily outweighs "the bad" then I will be looking to move to Pattaya for much longer in early 2008.

Your suggestions would be much appreciated...cheers, Jay

Hi Y'All, thought I'd finally become a non-lurker...

I was wondering if anyone knew all the Thai Army ranks and could check this list for me and help fill in some of the abbreviations as I was simply guessing for half of them.

Field Marshal จอมพล

General นายพล พลเอก (Gen. พล.อ.)

Lieutenant General พลโท (Lt.Gen. พล.ท.)

Major General พลตรี (Maj.Gen. พล.ต.)

Colonel ผู้พัน พันเอก นายพัน (Col. พ.อ.)

Lieutenant Colonel พันโท (Lt.Col. พ.ท.)

Major พันตรี (Maj. พ.ต.)

Captain ร้อยเอก (Capt. ร.อ.)

Lieutenant ร้อยโท (Lt. ร.ท.)

Sub Lieutenant ร้อยตรี (SubLt. ร.ต.)

Sergeant Major 1st Class จ่านายสิบเอก (SM 1 ?)

Sergeant Major 2nd Class จ่านายสิบโท (SM 2 ?)

Sergeant Major 3rd Class จ่านายสิบตรี (SM 3 ?)

Sergeant สิบเอก (Sgt. ส.อ.)

Corporal สิบโท (Cpl. ส.ท.)

Private 1st Class สิบตรี (Pfc. ส.ต.)

Private พลทหาร (Pvt. ?)

If anyone knows how to distinguish the Thai army ranks from the uniforms I would be interested to know and also if there is any correlation to the number of pips and stripes and sub-ranks เอก, โท and ตรี?

Plus, I would be grateful if someone could share with us all the Police ranks and also thr different levels of office in the Thai political (national and provincial) government system?