AndyCherry

I spoke to a friend who lives in a condo not far from the fire. He watched it all and reported that the reason the fire department didn't tackle it faster was that Asoke was blocked by traffic watching the fire and wouldn't get out of the way for the fire engines. Took them 30 mins to get to the building. I have seen drivers doing 60 KPH with an ambulance behind them with sirens,headlamps and horn giving all they have and they do not realise that a siren means "get out the way - i'm trying to get somewhere fast'.

It seems most people responding here are the dissatified members of TV. I have been visiting Madagascar for 3 years on a mining project. To correct some of the other responses - Air Madagascar is not the best of Airlines BUT they are Boeings. Very old 767 from Bangkok with a refuelling stop in Reunion. Flight time around 10 hours. As they only have 2 767's they frequently have breakdowns - usually in Paris. I have had a number of 12 + hour delays but they put you up in the Four Wings hotel not far from Swampy for the night. You can get a free visa on arrival (US & EU passports) but you need to show your return ticket and the visa is valid to that date. Alterrnatively you can buy a visa at the Airport 60 Days $60, 90 Days $85. Local currency - AriAry- spend all before your return. Useless outside of Madagascar and even airside at the airport. Restaurants - many good French style restaurants all over the place. I do not reccomend you eat in Malagasy restaurants unless you have a good supply of Imodium to hand. Malagasy food availiable in most French Style restaurants. NO Western fast food outlets (McD - KFC etc.)

Roads small and in poor condition. I travel RN1 almost every day and my advice is to sleep. Most vechiles coming in opposite direction cut the many, many bends in the road.

Eastern side manly tropical rainforest where they haven't chopped it down to make charcoal. Westers side semi arid desert. Wildlife, though not abundent (they eat most of it) is unique. Lemurs around the camp where I live. Snakes but NO poisonous ones.

Mostly French spoken but many understand English in the towns and tourist areas. Perhaps more so than Thailand.

Hope this clears up some of the negative responses.

FYI. I live near Srinikirind Dam in Kanchanaburi Province. It is a Rock Dam NOT Concrete. Thus if an earthquake should strike, providing it is not massive, the rocks will just move around a bit. The chances of the dam actually failing are minute although some damage may be caused to the Hydro Electric generation plant - fractured pipes etc. It is apparent that a fault line was taken into account with the design and construction. Therefore a panic that the Dam will burst is completely unfounded.

I live 20 Km from Si Sawat and never felt a thing. Only rumbling was my tummy.

I've defeated the Cheap Charlies at True. Turn off sound on TV. On internet listen to BBC 5 live. It is not quite synchronised. In fact the radio is about 1 second ahead of cheap charlie True.

Never seen a dust filter for a PC here. However a simple solution. Buy a pair of ladies tights (pantyhose if you are American). Cut out a square slightly larger than the fan intake on the back of the PC. Attach with Duc tape. Every couple of months remove and dispose and replace with new square. Cheap and cheerful solution but works. I suggest you get a pair of fine mesh. I also live beside a dusty road.

All sites are working for me. TOT Broadband.

I know that there have been re-occurring problems with cables near Japan and in the China seas, which has an effect on access to site from certain geographical areas. For example, Wikipedia has been flakey for me this week, many times I cannot connect to it at all.

I checked to make sure that it wasn't just a rootkit on my computer, but maybe True is having problems? Does anyone know?

It seems more recent than the typhoon problem a month ago, and True has supposedly re-routed, so I'm not sure if this is something new?

****Edit****

Sorry, I just realized that this isn't the forum this post should be in.

I am having same problems with TOT. I have run speed test to USA, UK and Singapore. All of them real slow. Looks like there is some kind of problem in Bangkok. I can ping and speed test Bangkok at 1.7 Mb/s which is not bad for a 2 Mb/s connection. It all goes slow when connecting outside of Thailand

I'm trying to find the rates for calling international with one2call, from Thailand to the Netherlands. The rate information on the one2call website is only mentioned in Thai.

What's the rates for 001, 005, 007, 008 and 009? Does it differ in quality?

Call 1175 select 2 then 1 for English. They should be able to tell you.

Hi I have just moved to Kanchaniburi and discovered that telephone answering machines do not seem to exist in Thailand!!! Does anyone know where I can buy one?

Also I need wireless internet connection on my site which is 14 rai as well as access to English Language TV including Premier League. Where who what why etc

Thanks

Hi There. Andy here. I live the other side of Erawan Falls but Kanchanaburi is my local shopping town. You can get an Anserphone in Tesco a,d Kanuk Kan (spelling) the big Department store - 3rd floor. There is also a couple of good electrical / electronic stores in the Soi that runs down the side of Kasikorn Bank near the bus station.

As mentioned in another posting True Visions is your best bet for TV. The dealer is up the road a bit from The River Kwai Hotel and on the opposite side. You can see it as there is a small carpark in front and the shops are set well back (but visable) from the road. It is also a mobile phone shop next door. Take a Thai speaker / translator with you as the Girls behind the sesk don't speak English. This dealer is also the local installer for True.

Re wifi - I just got a phone line in my (remote) house after 10 years. This because it is a small village. So don't worry too much. TOT are doing a promotion at the moment. I got 2M link (tested at 1.5M) for 1K per month. Their office is just up from the traffic lights in the centre of town on The Supanburi road (about 1/2 way between the traffic lights and the railway crossing). Again take a Thai speaker with you.

I am in Baku and georgia for the next month but ask anything via this site.

Andy

An eagle eye on motorists

BANGKOK: -- Those who witness motorists using mobile phones while driving can now submit pictures as evidence at the Traffic Police Division's website, www.trafficpolice.go.th, a senior traffic police officer said Tuesday.

However, Police Lt Col Phanu Kerdlarpphol did not say if these good Samaritans would be rewarded for participating in this "Golden Eye Traffic Policemen" project.

Violators will be given these photos along with their traffic tickets and will be required to pay the fine when they renew their annual vehicle registration papers.

-- The Nation 2008-03-11

Oh I forgot.

It will only apply to a few well educated Farangs.

Why - The Traffic Police Web site is only in Thai (no English option) and most of the links (I blind clicked) don't have anything in the drop boxes.

An eagle eye on motorists

BANGKOK: -- Those who witness motorists using mobile phones while driving can now submit pictures as evidence at the Traffic Police Division's website, www.trafficpolice.go.th, a senior traffic police officer said Tuesday.

However, Police Lt Col Phanu Kerdlarpphol did not say if these good Samaritans would be rewarded for participating in this "Golden Eye Traffic Policemen" project.

Violators will be given these photos along with their traffic tickets and will be required to pay the fine when they renew their annual vehicle registration papers.

-- The Nation 2008-03-11

Does this include motorcyclists?

Especially the ones with no helmet, 3 on the back, plastic bags on the handle bars and talking on a mobile phone.

Forget UPS, DHL and FedEx. They only deliver to offices in Bangkok. Every other address goes in the post, EMS if you are lucky. I have used all over the past 10 years and have found out that the only company that delivers Nationally is TNT. I have even had UPS packages delivered by TNT. I live outside of Kanchanaburi. About 3 hours drive from Bangkok.

A few years ago DHL delivered my 2nd passport, with onward visa for Libya, 12 hours after my flight departed.