mjnaus

... I sanction the US for excessive human rights violations for the past decade throughout the middle east.

In contrary to what WebBangkok states; the problem could be at the database level. When working with non-latin character sets, there are a few points where you can go wrong and one of them is indeed the database (assuming you're using MySQL, the database can be configured with different character sets), to rule out the database as a problem, I'd advice to have a look at the database using phpMyAdmin (or any other tool will do) and see if your content shows up ok there. If so, the database is not the problem.

It could also be the encoding of your markup. To verify this, you'll need to check what encoding your browser is currently using to view the site, this should be set to something like "Thai". If this is not the case, you could use a <doctype> tag at the beginning of your markup files to enforce the browser to use the proper encoding.

The problem has nothing to do with the Wordpress language files as these are only used to configure the admin interface to use Thai instead of English.

Hope this helps!

Seems like many of you didn't notice that the OP was asking for "NON-TOURISTIC" islands.... Qualifying Lanta, Panghan, Lipe, etc as non-touristic is beyond me. Lanta can be ok, depending on the time of the year and location on the island, but the Panghan and Lipe are completely ruined by mass tourism, they're dirty, overcrowded and generally overrated.

One reply was for Koh Ngai, which is indeed a real gem. There's only a handful of resorts and the island is not very well known with the western package toursits and backpackers. During the the rainy season (which should be about no, but the actual rain is nowhere to find he he...) some of the resorts on the island might close. But the biggest and most luxurious one remains open throughout the year. Go down to Trang city, get down to the pear and find a local to bring you to the island by longtail... in off season times, you might be the only people on the island (as I was several years ago, pretty awesome!).

Lipe itself has already been messed up, but between Tarutao and Lipe there are a few other, lesser known, islands which are still nice and quiet with some pretty sweet beaches.

Or you could do this: grab a map of south Thailand and look for small islands, then grab a copy of Lonely Planet and find some islands that don't appear in the Lonely Planet... go there!

Let it slide man, it's not your kid...

We're living in Hatyai and have some relatives living one of the three provinces (Pattani, not Yala). Ask 10 people wether or not it's safe to live there and you'll have 5 saying it's perfectly safe and the other 5 saying it's dangerous. Therefor I would put too much value in people's opinion and look at the facts and then decide for yourself wether or not you consider it to be safe... Pretty much all the violence over the past years has been documented, so it;s all there for you to look at. It's pretty clear that random targeted violence is still rapidly increasing, targeting seemingly random people (teachers, monks, villagers, workers, etc). Could you live with the idea that this sort of violence is just around the corner? Even if you yourself are not targeted, you're still awfully close to the violence which might take it's toll on the quality of your life. Is this something you want to expose your kids to?

I understand you're in a rather difficult position. Is there any way you and your family could live just outside those three provinces? Songkhla perhaps? Good luck with making this hard decision.

There are some true gems left out there.... I am not going to name them; but I'd suggest you'd look in the following places: Pang Nga (there is a pretty awesome natural park there with beautiful islands, only camping though, no resorts), Trang (some only camping, some with a few resorts on them) and Satun (NOT Lipe! but around the same area). Happy hunting!

The largest apartment building in Hatyai (the big tower on Rayindee Road, next to Rayindee hospital) has a large pool (25m?) and fitness facilities. No idea about rentals and/or prices though...

First 10 minutes are free, after that 20 baht. Parking fees per day are 200 baht

Paypal fees for transferring money from your Paypal account to bank account are 50 baht for amounts below 5.000 baht and NOTHING for amounts over 5.000 baht. That said, as Paypal forces you to change currencies with them instead of with your bank, be prepared to loose some money there (Paypal exchange rates are not great), these exchange rates can be found on their website or when changing one currencies into another.

As to wether or not they are a pain to deal with; it varies... I am dealing both with Paypal in Europe (The Netherlands) and here in Thailand (based in Singapore) and I found Paypal Thailand/Singapore much easier to deal with then the European branch. Others might have different experiences though...

Yes! And Saddam was hiding wapens of mass-destruction ready to blow the US and western world to pieces...

More Cool-Aid anyone?

To all you poor bastards who truly believe the only way to meet a lady here in Thailand is to pick one up from a gogo bar; seriously.... put down that cheap Chang beer, put on a shirt and decent pants and step out into that other world for a change. You know, that world where people have jobs in offices, teaching, running businesses, exercise in gyms, etc. Expand your horizon, hang out with different folk for a change.

If I remember the right amount, it was about 40 Baht at the Amphur.

Edit. If you pay more than this, you are on for a ride.

You sound like a real prize!

We have had the same problem in our previous house; we ran into the small ones at least a few times a week. Fortunately, our cats usually kill them (so taking a cat into your home would be a solution). Anyhow, we were afraid that our cats might get bitten so we consulted with a pest control expert back home. He told us that having lot's of small centipedes around usually indicates that there's a nest somewhere close by and one thing you could do is try to find the nest and destroy it. Obviously, this is rather hard to do... so the pest expert ending up giving us some kind of poison which we placed at certain places is and around the house (not dangerous for pets and children) and this stuff kills all insects crawling over it, this worked pretty well and we haven't much problems after we put the poison out. The name of the stuff is "liquid solfac".

Traffic is enough to turn anyone off HDY. I only go when absolutely necessary. Too many Chinese not enough Thai's

Wether or not these bandits have an outspoken problem with westerners does not matter; there are many different parties involved and they all have their own ideas about how to create as much chaos and fear as possible. It's been clear that many of the recent violence is handed out randomly, and surely there will be wackos out there who wouldn't pass up on killing a westerner if they had the chance...

In fact, the insurgents did target the tourist areas in Hat Yai several years ago and amongst the people killed were some western tourists . They also targeted the airport a few years before that, but as far as I can remember, no tourists got killed in that incident.

Reason why Hat Yai has not been targeted in the recent years may very well be due to the higher security and numerous check points going down from Hat Yai.

Hatyai and pretty much all other places in Songkhla (few exceptions like Sabay Yoy district with occasional violence) are as safe as any other place in Thailand; the last bombings in the city were over four years ago and it has been quiet since.

DO NOT TRAVEL INTO YALA, NARATHIWAT AND/OR PATTAN !!!!

As I tell everybody else who is interested in hearing it: Hat Yai is truly a great place to live. I have been living here for about 7 years and never regret moving here for a second. It has everything you need; good schools, plenty of shopping, loads of bars and great cheap restaurants, international airport with flights to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Singapore and KL, the best beaches in Thailand only a few hours by car, a nice (and fast growing) group of foreigners living here (mostly teaches, some oil people and people from the rubber industry), one hour away from the Malay border and many more.

If there's anything you'd like to know, pls don't hesitate to shoot me a message.

No, it's ABSOLUTELY NOT SAFE at the moment for foreigners in either of the three provinces. Stay away, seriously.

We're in Hat Yai but have some relatives in Pattani and things really seem to get worse and worse...

Absolute cobblers ! Maybe you could point me to a link to the last Farang death or incident involving a Farang in any of the 3 Southern provinces ?

I spent a month riding around the 3 provinces. Never once felt threatened or worried and everybody made me welcome. It is also one of the most beautiful parts of the country with some stunning scenery and beaches.

Iraq / Afghanistan it isn't !

You're logic completely passes me here.... just because there hasn't been any foreigner killed in the three provinces makes it safe? Did it perhaps occur to you that this might be the case because all foreigners have long left these provinces?

Nice to here you have done some nice traveling around Yala, Patani and Narathiwat. If you felt save good for you.... However, after experiencing random bombings here in Hatyai and hearing plenty of stories (in official news channels as well) of COMPLETELY RANDOM shootings, bombings and beheadings, I would advice any foreigner not to travel there.

Your story really sounds like you haven't got a clue of what has been happening down here and how it has been getting much worse recently.... You do realize over 4.400 people have been killed over the past four years? And many of these were randomly choosen, among them elderly, woman and CHILDREN? You'd think these people would pass up a change of adding a foreigner to their list? Still, you'd say it's safe for a foreigner to wonder around these provinces? Unbelievable....

To the OP, please don't take ANY ADVICE here (same applies to mine), just do your own research and, if possible, ask Thais who live down here if they think it's safe for you to travel there

Matt

No, it's ABSOLUTELY NOT SAFE at the moment for foreigners in either of the three provinces. Stay away, seriously.

We're in Hat Yai but have some relatives in Pattani and things really seem to get worse and worse...

Pattaya.

Good one!

Now seriously, I have always very much enjoyed living in Hatyai (Songkhla province). It's the largest city in southern Thailand and it has pretty much everything to make life pleasant:

- low prices / cost of living (since Hatyai is not extremely popular with the western package tourists, prices have remained low over the years)

- small expat community (my guess is several 100's of foreigners are living here, just enough to meet some for a beer if you want to, but not that many that keep running into foreigners everywhere you go)

- plenty of shopping facilities: Carrefour, Big C, Tesco, Robinsons, Central and a few other malls

- lot's of good restaurants and bars (a few are mostly visited by the expats, most are there for the locals and Asian tourists)

- some of the best beaches in Thailand are only a few hours away, this makes for awesome weekend trips or short vacations every now and then

- only one hour from Malaysia, ideal for border runs

- only a few hours away from Penang island in Malaysia, ideal for visa applications (tourist visa's only though)

- a 10 hours bus drive / 1.5 hour flight away from KL, allowing for some very cheap flights to Australia and Europe

- some of best seafood restaurants I have ever visited in Songkhla, for prices you wouldn't believe

- nice and friendly locals, not completely messed up by the hordes of annoying tourists - no real issues with double pricing (although it does happen on occasion, it's nothing compared to other places around Thailand)

I am sure I can come up with more, but it's a start!

I've been to pretty much every other spot worth visiting in Thailand, but wouldn't want to live anywhere else....

Typical political talk. I have just finished driving around most of Hat Yai and there doesn't seem to have been any preparation for this storm. No warnings or if there was nobody heeded them. I was in Phuket on Nov. 1 and headed back to help my inlaws as I suspected flooding. I had just rented a new 2 story house to put them in and we started to move in the rain against their objections. My brother in law said that he didn't believe that any flooding would occur. I went ahead and moved the old people and children in the family from their 1 story home to the new home at 4:00 PM. By 10:00 PM the water was pouring down the main road and within 30 minutes the water was coming down the Soi. I had already instructed everyone to move everything to the second floor and I went and bought 200 liters of water for us to drink. I think I was the only one here that did that. We had plenty to eat and drink so we took in more peoiple who needed help. We had 15 people in two bedrooms. Cramped but liveable. My truck became a submarine but that was the only thing we lost. Most people here have lost everything. The streets are now filled with the damaged furniture and food. The response was good by the military and government but by the time they got boats in the water the water was receding quickly. Most likely due to the new canals they built after the last flood in 2000.

You're talking nonsense. There has been plenty of warning from the local government (on television, radio and internet); further more, people here know that if it rains like this for two or three days, you better prepare for the worst. Which is exactly what most people did; from what we have seen, everybody who had a second/third floor moved their stuff up. Monday morning at 10, Carrefour was filled with people shopping for water, rice and other food in preparation of not being able to leave home for a few days... From what I have seen the past few days, the government has not made mistakes, they did warn residents and relief efforts started only a few hours after the city flooded. Of course people just love to point their finger looking for someone to blame...

Just ran into this: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/204247/songkhla-hit-by-flood

To all TV users living down in Songkhla / Hatyai, how are you doing flooding wise?

I am living in Kanjanawanit Soi 5 (opposite the Hatyai park) and about half of our soi is under water, deepest point being about 50 cm. Since there is no sign of the rain stopping any time soon, we're preparing for worse (Carrefour was loaded with people fighting over the last packs of mama )

I will need to go into town again later, so any updates are very much appreciated!

Matt

Seems this problem is typical all over Asia...especially in China....

Try "all over the world" instead. Ever looked closely at the gap between rich and poor in the US? Prepared to be amazed...

SEO and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) are NOT about adding meta tags to your pages (SEO values of especially the keywords tags has really depreciated over the recent years). You should look at SEO and SEM as a tactic to achieve a certain goal, and this tactic can be made up from a whole range of measures, ranging from basic "best practice" web design (like proper use of title tags, heading tags, bold/strong tags, content and keyword density) to link building, keyword optimization, site clustering, local optimization, search proximity optimization, etc.

Be aware of the fact that many so-called SEO specialists have truly no clue of what they're actually doing and have no problem with charging up to 5 or sometimes 6 figure fees with mediocre results at best.

The best thing for you would be to first determine what it is that you're after before thinking about SEO itself. Do you want to just increase sales with a certain percentage? Or do you want to rank in the top 10 on Google for certain keywords in your industry? Both are possible, but require different SEO tactics. Next, get in touch with some people or companies who claim they can help you achieve this goal, make sure you can plenty of reference of past work to make sure they know what they're doing (if you get into bed with the wrong people, meaning people who use tactics most search engines don't appreciate, this can result in your site being removed from Googles or Yahoos search index).

If you have any specific questions, feel free to send me a PM or post them here, I'll do my best to answer them.