vera5212

If you are happy with running a small Thai restaurant from a townhouse and making a modest salary 20k-30k a month after outgoings, try Cha am. Busy each weekend with Thais and holidays is packed, good Beach and great market to get your produce from. Small Expat community But only 15 minutes from Hua Hin, Tesco etc. A few places for rent 7k - 10k a month with 3 year contract. No key money.

The beaches around Ban Phe are identical to Cha Am

No compensation in case of force majeur, which is the case now.

Am in Brussels now and airport is closed. It will remain closed to at least 18:00 hrs tomorrow.

Propose your GF contacts Etihad daily to check status

I always fly Etihad as they allow 30kg loading which is 10kg more than most airlines, plus 7kg hand luggage.

Or you fly business or you are a silver card member. Etihad is 20 kg for normal economy class

No matter who is paying, if I asked for a medium well done meat, I would certainly ask the waiter to have the correct their mistake. You do not need to complaint, you gently ask for it.

Your German dish is another story - I would ask my friend to taste and if he had the same bad taste, I would also talk to the waiter/owner.

In both cases anyway, I would not start complaining but rather explain the problem and ask/give them the time to solve it, and as said before no matter who is paying or the place/price involved.

By the way - I'm from Belgium

Have a look at sawadee.com and go to hotel transfers. They also could give you a quote for your trip from Bkk to Hua Hin

Have no problem with Skype to any European country, my webcam even works properly.

Try the Thai style Bags or the Wooden/Paper Umbrella's (the actual name for them slips my mind right now) - something with an Oriental feel to it and the kind of thing i imagine little girls would like (pwetty things!)

Plus there are always those Thai style silk dresses.

For a more fun gift (aka Toys) i'm not really sure, the only time i go toy shopping is for myself

Always interesting to check the price for a return ticket (cheapest type = not changeable) and not use the return part. You might get a cheaper rate than a oneway ticket.

Why don't you try to find something in the area of Ban Phe. Is approx 20 km from Rayong - but in the opposite direction of the industrial area (which is the area of Mapthaput). It is still a quiet area and house/condo prices still acceptable.

Interested in the replies to this one as I need a new eye test and varifocals. Last time I bought my specs here (in Thailand) and on a subsequent visit to an opticians in UK was told they were 'top of the range' I paid about 1/2 what I'd have paid in UK.

BTW I thought the eye tests here were pretty good quality. not that I'm an expert!

And same applies for all the Belgian folks. Top of the range glasses at more than half the price than in Belgium. Eye tests done in Thailand and 2 weeks later in Belguim - completely same results

Love it

And I use very regularly sawadee.com - excellent service - never had a problem with any of the bookings

you should change outbound before departure date - you failed to do so before sunday and an airline has the right even to cancel your inbound ticket. Only at their discretion is a refund, which their offered to you and you should accept it than.

Agree with the comment of LondonThai

Welcome Golden Man

Can anybody give me some feedback on the Navalai River Resort in Bkk ?

I go with the idea of Bangkok Bank. Here the link with all the info needed on foreign currency accounts.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok%20Bank/...20Accounts.aspx

In case the link does not work - go to www.bangkokbank.com - personal banking - foreign customers - Bangkok Bank accounts

Whenever you are in Bkk try Lucky Siam Gems, he is on the 3rd floor at the MBK center, opposit the exit of the Tokyo Dept Store. We had already several repairs done by him - all excellent service at a very acceptable price. The store nr is 3A 27.

Other members gave ideas on Koh Samet and Mae Phim, both close to Rayong. You can also go to Mae Ramphung - also close to Rayong and close to the boat transfer to Koh Samet.

Rayong is easy to go to from Bangkok. Bus is leaving on regular hours from Bkk Ekamai station. The bus trip will take you about 3 hrs and the price of the ticket in the range of 200 Baht/person. From the busstation in Rayong you can take small taxi-bus to all the neighbouring beaches.

Mae Ramphung is very Thai, nice small restaurants, nice beach and bungalows in all different price ranges.

As it is close to Koh Samet you can easily stay at Mae Ramphung and take the family out for one day to Koh Samet. Your children will certainly love the boat trip as well.

Boats for Koh Samet depart from Ban Phe (also reachable by direct bus from Ekamai) and if you are in Ban Phe, don't forget to go and visit the aquarium

which is 'not that big' but certainly worth a visit.

Have been browsing their website yesterday and today, but did not encounter any problem

Apart from setting up a business and buying thru that channel, a foreigner cannot own land in Thailand

Flown out last December and June from Suvarnabhumi. No departure fee to pay, it was included in the ticket price

Excellent

And don't forget that the money you use to buy the condo with needs to come from outside Thailand, thru a Thai bank account.

Agree with Catman, but do also check sawadee.com. Their prices beat regularly the other sites mentioned, and are giving an excellent service

Flying from Europe to Asia (and other parts of the world), you should try to avoid July and August (schoolholidays) as well as from approx 15 Dec till 05 Jan (flying out) (xmas - newyear period)

Cheapest flights we found sofar were in the month on May-June and Oct-Nov.

Always interested to check some sites giving special promotions - beginning of Jan and around mid August. If you want I can send you some European vacation/flight sites. Just send me a small e-mail