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Baan Gerda is an orphanage for HIV infected children that does an excellent job and provides more than the essential life-saving medication. I have visited their small village and was happy to offer my support. www.baangerda.org

I have a meniscal (cartilage) tear that needs surgery. I'm looking for a hospital in central Bangkok that is less than the Bumrungrad price range. Also, any idea on costs and the price of MRI scans?

I'm annoyed that it's pot luck if you get the tickets - they'll be lots of spotty teenagers who will end up with tickets and never even heard any of their music. You have to wait so long for a decent band to visit Thailand, and then you have no way of getting to see them. I guess it will be hard to bribe the security guys if there is a limited number of places on the boat. It sucks!!

Anyone manage to get hold of tickets for the stereophonics on Saturday? I registered a few weeks ago but haven't heard anything back from them. Any suggestions how I might get hold of one?

A friend just told me that the monk has appeared on tv news channels attemting to defend himself against the newspaper article. Would be interested to know what was said. Anybody see it?

I would be interested to know what Thai people think about this. The monk is well known in this country and many people have supported this project. Do they know what is going on and how the money is spent? And do they really care?

The impression that I get is that merit making is selfishly driven i.e. you donate in order to improve your chances of a better life next time around. It seems that genuinly helping the recipients is not the priority. If this is the case then I wouldn't be surprised if Thais are prepared to 'look the other way' and the place will continue as before.

Any thoughts on this?

The Sunday Times featured a lengthy article on the well-known AIDS-hospice temple (Wat Phra Baht Nam Phu) in Lopburi. Excerts are below: The full article is on their website

Is the temple of Buddha's footprints the temple of doom?

Andrew Marshall

It's a Buddhist temple that cares for dying Aids patients. It's also a hugely successful money-making operation, attracting thousands of tourists with its displays of mummified corpses. So where does all that money go?

Thai monks generally prefer audiences to interviews. So, one Sunday morning, I join dozens of tourists at the temple kneeling before Alongkot in a room crowded with Buddha statues. (The ward is a stone's throw away.) Many people clutch photos or amulets of him to sign or bless. His words are sometimes lost in the crash of donation boxes being emptied in the room.

Alongkot says the temple has tried and failed to recruit medical staff. "Thai doctors prefer to work at private hospitals. Even the government ones don't have enough medical staff." It still seems inexplicable that, in a prospering country of 65m, there is not a single Thai doctor for hire.

Yet the temple hardly seems in dire financial straits. Pradit Yingyong, the temple's PR officer, says the abbot plans to build a sports centre (cost: the equivalent of £1.6m) and carve a meditation path through the hill above the temple (£8m).

"There's lots of money coming in," says Bassano. "But how it's distributed, who benefits, who gets what – I have no idea." Why, he asks, build the Aids Human Body Part Museum – a room in which hands, feet, hearts, kidneys and other organs are kept in perspiring jars of formaldehyde – when the temple has no ambulance? "And the neglect of the kids… Not just the kids, but the adult patients as well."

The last doctor to work here was a Belgian volunteer named Paul Yves Wery, who left in 2004. He wrote a parting account of his years at the temple, describing it as unsanitary, ill-equipped and mismanaged. Wery calls the staff "slaves" and the tourists "cannibals"; the abbot is an ambiguous figure who runs "what has become a death factory [like] a small family enterprise". After Wery's book was published, all foreign volunteers except Bassano were asked to leave.

It is hard to ask a celebrated monk about money without seeming to accuse him of dishonesty. But then this is one reason why the finances of Thai temples are traditionally so opaque and donations so easy to misappropriate. ("Half for the temple, half for the temple committee," goes an old Thai song.) It costs 4m to 5m baht (£64,000 to £80,000) a month to run the temple, excluding the second project, says Alongkot, and the temple receives "the same" in donations. The finances are not made public. "It's not our duty to make a public declaration," he insists, "but we have a good [accounting] system." Alongkot suggests I ask at the secretary's office to learn how much is spent on the temple. I am then shuttled between four offices before being given a print-out with a totally different figure from the abbot's. Pradit gives me another figure, a committee member yet another. Nobody can explain how the second project, which includes the orphanage, is funded, never mind the sports centre or meditation path.

When Alongkot took in his first HIV sufferers, it was an act of compassion before its time. Sixteen years later – with hundreds of thousands of Thais visiting, and the temple's coffers spilling over – the patients seem overlooked, even as their very public plight keeps the money rolling in.

Does anyone know the quietest time to visit suan plu immigration office in Bangkok. The last couple of visits have been horrendously busy.

I'm currently here on an Education visa. Is it possible to apply for a work permit or do I have to leave the country and get a different type? Thanks

I currently have an education visa that needs to be extended next month. I have been doing alot of voluntary work for a registered Thai organisation and they are prepared to sponsor me to obtain a voluntary visa. I understand the process and requirements are the same as a normal work permit. Do you know if it's possible to change my current 'ed' visa to a non-imm O visa, or do I have to go to somewhere like Vientiane and obtain it?

Thanks for the reply. Can you just confirm; even though the date I'm meant to report is 23rd March, I could go 2 days later (when my visa actually needs renewing) and I won't be penalised?

When I last renewed my education visa they put a note in my passport saying that I had to report back within 90 days (23rd March). Inconveniently, my visa has to be extended on the 25th March. Is it possible for me to report back earlier than this, say next week?

We just bought a semi-pro camera last week after alot of searching around. Originally, we were going to buy the GL2 but couldn't find it anywhere in Bangkok. After searching for comparable cameras we found that the Panasonic AG-DVX 102BEN had better reviews and recomendations (this is the same camera as the DVX 100B, but solely for the Asian market). We bought it from 'Deung' in Lad Phrao - they only sell semi-pro/pro equipment and were very helpful. PM me if you need some more information!

Not sure if I've got the names correct. The one from Ekkamai uses the big bus while the On Nut service is only minivans and has the European owner

Just thought I'd share my experience with thaivisaservice today. Over the last few years I've mainly used Jacks, but I've found their service steadily getting worse. The buses are unreliable and more importantly, the staff haven't coped with the change in visa laws very well. I've had my questions answered incorrectly a couple of times.

I used thaivisarun from Ekkami the last couple of trips and they were definitely an improvement. Nice bus and the staff seem to know what they are doing. I didn't like arriving back in bkk after 7pm, though.

Neither of the companies have a daily service which is a pain because you can end up 'losing' odd days from your 30-day stamp (which is a problem with the new regulations). Hence the reason I tried thaivisaservice today. I wasn't looking forward to the journey as I knew they were using minivans and my previous experience elsewhere in Thailand had been bad. I was pleasantly surprised as the van was spacious and comfortable. It was also quicker - leaving at 8am and returning by 5pm. Lunch was in the casino.

Perhaps the most significant thing was that the European owner was extremely helpful. Everyone seems to be confused with the visa situation and he was able to provide some useful advice. He also took the time to examine our passports to ensure that there would not be any problems at the border. The small group size ensured a personal service and quicker processing at immigration. He seems to have a good relationship with the Ban Laem officials and ready to sort out any problems.

A good service, especially for those that need reliable advice and options on different visas.

I'm planning on making a trip to KL where I will arrange for a tourist visa. I know that with the 30 day visa on arrival, they are now enforcing the requirement for a valid departure ticket; I was wondering what the situation was for the tourist visa. Am I likely to be asked for an air ticket when I attempt to re-enter? (probably at the Padang Besar border).