phuketrex

...and even more direct flights coming...and going

Thai AirAsia intends to open more routes connecting Phuket directly with other Asian cities as it moves aggressively to develop its second hub on the southern resort island.

The no-frills carrier wants to link Phuket with Bali, Surabaya, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Manila through non-stop services as new city-pairs after the first links due to open in mid-November.

Chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld said the airline was upbeat about the growth opportunities Phuket could provide in addition to its main hub at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Thai AirAsia is preparing to begin daily services on the Phuket-Hong Kong and Phuket-Jakarta routes on Nov 15, followed by flights from Phuket to Chiang Mai, Medan in Indonesia and Ho Chi Minh City in December.

Pending positive results, Mr Tassapon said the second set of direct air links with Asian cities could open in 18 months

"We need three or four months to prove that our decision to make Phuket our second hub is right commercially before we make further stride," he said.

"We could easily fly in 2,000 tourists a day from those foreign cities to Phuket, ramping up from 600 people a day initially we expect from the first batch of cities."

That means Thai AirAsia would need to base four A320 jetliners at Phuket to accommodate the direct connections, up from the two that it will station there in the next one or two months.

The sister carrier of Malaysia-based AirAsia, Asia's largest budget carrier, is also looking at other airports in Thailand including Chiang Mai, Udon Thani and U-tapao as potential hubs for new flight markets.

Chiang Mai is the most likely candidate for a third hub but Mr Tassapon stressed that the bulk of Thai AirAsia's services would continue through Suvarnabhumi.

"The problem is that we cannot open as many new routes through Suvarnabhumi as we wanted to as the network through Bangkok has thickened already," he explained, adding that the airline's fleet had also been growing and needed new routes to match it.

The airline now operates a fleet of ten Airbus A320s and six Boeing B737- 300s. Over the next two months it will take delivery of two new A320s. Next year it will receive eight more A320s and retire its six B737-300s, giving it a fleet of 20 aircraft, all A320s.

Episode 6>>>

The unedited clips have been floating around the net since before episode 2 was released. JFYI

Not the one with JJ talking to all the Marines then bringing the gun out. That was first posted up only 3 days ago. Point being he did not threaten them with the gun. He brought it out to show them while they were waiting for the Marines "boss" to get there. Sure they got scammed and paid far more than they should have done but they weren't threatened at any time with a gun as the aired version of him holding it implied using dialogue from later footage when he was verbally threatening them.

More unedited footage posted 3 days ago>>>

The unedited footage just released should keep JJ out of jail as you can see it is obvious he just brought out the gun as a joke and wasn't threatening in anyway with it. Just some editing by Vera Productions made it appear so.

The unedited footage of JJ and the gun scene has just been posted on Youtube>>>

You can see all the other Marines that were in the yard in this.

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FUND RAISING TO EXPAND OUR CHILDREN'S PROGRAMMES & DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN - CURRENTLY THERE ARE OVER 250 CHILDREN IN THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME (MOST ARE TSUNAMI AFFECTED CHILDREN)

WHERE : at TWIN PALMS CATCH BEACH CLUB - SURIN

WHEN : 17th October - SUNSET TIL LATE

DRESS CODE ; COLORFUL

TICKETS : Baht 1,000

- INCLUDES FABULOUS SEAFOOD BBQ - PRIZES -

DANCE - FROLICKING ON THE BEACH

Tickets can be purchased from Woody's Sandwich Shop in Laguna, Patong and Chalong; from Friendship Beach Resort in Rawai; or from members of the Rotary Club of Patong Beach.

LOOKING FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND YOU WILL HAVE A FUN NIGHT

Wasnt the farang SWAT guy Sifu McInnes, boss of McInnes Corportation the company that bought the yellow Hummer and nice bike they use? And probably chipped in for the Oakley shades too - essential whilst on night patrol.

Looks like the same bloke...pic here>>>

http://www.fighttimes.com/magazine/magazine.asp?article=694

Military Connection

In the early 90s Sifu began teaching hand to hand combat at the Thai Military Police Academy which is the central academy where all of Thailand’s governmental bodyguards, Military Police and diplomatic protection officers train. His system of teaching and adapting Martial arts to real life situations has worked well and is popular with the soldiers. Sifu has remained an instructor there until today where he teaches the instructors of the Academy.

Hope they show more of the team in action in the final episodes. Far more interesting than the endless stream of idiots getting wasted and robbed at the Full Moon parties or the interviews with guys banged up for drug dealing all saying "don't break the law in Thailand".

AirAsia will introduce daily flights from Phuket to Jakarta and to Hong Kong from about mid-November. Daily services to Ho Chi Minh City and Medan will start a month later, said chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld.

The airline will station two A320 jetliners, each capable of carrying 180 passengers, at Phuket International Airport and will set up a crew centre and an aircraft maintenance support base there.

Lots of reports here of the Absolute highpressure Timeshare selling and people trying to get their money back>>>

http://www.bangkokscams.com/scams-in-thail...#jc_allComments

Next time it's raining might go along to one of the presentations just for the entertainment and then walk out at the end ;-)

The Abbotts' birthday was on September 17th. Walter Breuning was on the 21st. So the Abbott is 4 days older according to his documentation but it hasn't been verified yet.

Time for one of these I think!

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The thread title is Visiting The Oldest Man In The World

Correction...he's 113 years and 15 days old and you are WRONG. Try reading what was posted. "The Oldest Man in the World" = the Oldest man living TODAY. Your Japanese man died over 20 years ago!

Let him get over all the media attention from his birthday and finally made it to his Wat today to see him and do a bit of meritmaking.

Morning is not the time to go as that is when they eat and do a lot of chanting. We got there just before 130pm and chanting was still taking place. The abbot was stationed in his personal building and the door was opened at 130pm for us to go inside to a waiting room where there's a prayer mat; money tree; donation boxes and some buddha statues...and parked behind a huge gong the abbots' state of the art electric wheelchair.

So we sat in the room with the great man sitting crosslegged just a few yards away on a raised platform but behind some glass doors. Chanting was still going on and he was listening to it on some speakers alongside him. There were about a dozen people waiting to make merit with him and after about 20 minutes the chanting was over and a monk who was in the room with us went inside to talk to the abbot pulling curtains behind him so we couldn't see them. A few minutes later he pulled back the curtains and came out closing the glass doors behind him to tell us that unfortunately the abbot was having difficulty breathing and wasn't up to meeting with people today :-( Also the abbot had pulled something over his head which looked a bit like a balaclava and we were told we couldn't take any photos as he was not suitably dressed.

So we made some donations and left him. I think if I was 114 years and 15 days old I'd have some breathing problems too! Might try another visit in a few days time.

In a building next to him there is a museum of his life. Looks to have had quite an eventful life and I was surprised to see a tattoo on his arm! From it a recent pic of him>>>

If you want to visit him then you need to go after 130pm. The Luang Pu Supha temple is on the right of the main highway southbound from Central Festival next to the Phunaka golfcourse about 1km before Wat Chalong. The road up to the temple has recently been resurfaced.

The last time we had breakfast there Danny wasn't there but we did tell the girl Sunee? why we wouldn't be back. Can't fault the food at Montes and I've switched my home coffee drinking to the one they use there...Senseo.

Has the rest of the series been pulled? New episodes have been showing on Monday nights but next monday no Episode 5 in the Bravo TV listings.

If you mean heart attack on a plate 'full english' then the best I know of, by a wide wide margin, is the offshore bar.. Black puddings the works.. Proper coronary material.

Not really sure for a continental style.. Used to drop into fiddys for poached eggs on toast for a lighter one.

Offshore breakfast gone downhill big time. Used to go 2 or 3 times a week but not any more. They changed the sausage a few weeks ago and it's vile. Bread is tasteless and coffee although you get unlimited refills is not a good one.

Full English breakfast at Montes Restaurant and Bar for 170baht wins hands down for me now. Bottom of hill HaSip Pee Road / Pisitkoranee Road junction.

Is Episode 4 on You Tube as of yet..I searched for it yesterday and only saw up to Ep.3 ??

On Page 43.

It would be great to see a little more of the TPV Rob Brown in Chiang Mai. The guy seems to speak a lot of sense.

As for the drunken couple who had the motorcycle accident, imagine doing that in the west. He'd be done for drink driving and she would be done for drunk and abusive behavior. The Thai police officer showed a huge (too much) amount of patience with this pair of idiots.

The outcome may have been different if the cameras hadn't been on the Thai policeman. Unbelievable he let them get away with drunk driving.

Episode 4>>>

Every weekend there are Pattana Travel coaches leaving from behind Jungceylon going to Udon Thani taking the bar girls back to their farms. There's a truck that accompanies them carrying motorbikes and other bulky stuff. Maybe try that?

Episode 3>>>

The cameraman/producer Gavin Hill has now "fled" Thailand>>>

Camera director of ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ makes ‘tactical withdrawal’

That's some mighty big guns supporting the Thai/foreign production crew...bigger than JJ's!

There's a JJ in Koh Samui too!...from the Drummond site>>>

<h3 class="entry-title">Swiss couple flee jet ski operator in terror - Chaweng</h3> Published by Andrew Drummond on September 15, 2009 A Swiss couple were reported to have fled Koh Samui yesterday after telling local Embassy officials that they that the couple had been threatened with a beating and rape if they failed to pay 65,000 baht (2000 Swiss francs).

A source close to the Swiss Embassy said the couple were escorted to the airport by a consular representative and safely boarded a 3pm flight from Koh Samui to Bangkok after the threats by an operator on Chaweng Beach. “The woman was visibly shaking in the departure area.”

Officially the Swiss Embassy Consular department said they could not comment on individal cases and would neither confirm or deny the report. The couple could not be contacted to verify the report.

According to one Consular source, from data gathered together by foreign consular representatives between December and April this year there were in the region of 150 cases of tourists having to pay for damaged jet skis on Koh Samui, approximately one a day.

The controversial documentary series ’Big Trouble in Thailand’ is expected to highlight a jet ski problem in Chaweng in a later programme in the series.

There's a JJ in Koh Samui too...from the Drummond site>>>

Swiss couple flee jet ski operator in terror - Chaweng

A Swiss couple were reported to have fled Koh Samui yesterday after telling local Embassy officials that they that the couple had been threatened with a beating and rape if they failed to pay 65,000 baht (2000 Swiss francs).

A source close to the Swiss Embassy said the couple were escorted to the airport by a consular representative and safely boarded a 3pm flight from Koh Samui to Bangkok after the threats by an operator on Chaweng Beach. “The woman was visibly shaking in the departure area.”

Officially the Swiss Embassy Consular department said they could not comment on individal cases and would neither confirm or deny the report. The couple could not be contacted to verify the report.

According to one Consular source, from data gathered together by foreign consular representatives between December and April this year there were in the region of 150 cases of tourists having to pay for damaged jet skis on Koh Samui, approximately one a day.

The controversial documentary series ’Big Trouble in Thailand’ is expected to highlight a jet ski problem in Chaweng in a later programme in the series.

****************

Assuming it airs!...Episode 3 on monday night>>>

Tourist police join in the rescue when a plane crashes in Koh Samui. Drug smuggler Marcus Hilton, awaiting sentencing in Pattaya Prison, faces the death penalty or life imprisonment.

But the Andrew Drummond site says Episode 3 is being re-edited to include the arrest at Bangkok airport last tuesday of the Australian conman Lance Shaw!

As it is supposedly a British TV production showing Brits abroad getting into trouble do you think this re-edit is to make the Thai police look good??!! With all that's going on maybe the production company feel they need to do a bit of asre licking and show the police in a good light so they can run a full 8 episodes.