pjd

There i- a very good carton factory off -ukhumvit 69, Phra Khanong. If you u-e the -KYTRAIN, go out exit#3,and walk again-t traffic 100m, Turn left at -oi69 (FAMILY MART), 100m pa-t pool hall, turn right. about 70 to 80m on the right -ide. (you may have gue--ed that my letter "-" ain't working)

Just wanted to thank dddave for this suggestion and thought I'd add to the knowledge base for this particuar shop. dddave's directions are great, but I just want to emphasize that it is the FIRST right turn while walking down soi 69. The soi is Pridi Banomyong 3 (connects soi 69 and soi 71) and the name of the box shop is Ngam Maitree Paper Box, Ltd. (The red sign is in English and Thai). The 30-year-old family-run business is owned by a very sweet old couple.

After meeting with representatives of various trade associations and the Chamber of Commerce, Pradit concluded the most common complaint is that companies cannot get the Customs Department to confirm exactly how a particular product will be classified, which leads to vague duties and a waste of time.

A few days ago I spent half a day trying to find out how to avoid a Customs duty on a camera repair. I'm sending the camera to Japan from Thailand and it's coming back to Thailand in 3-4 weeks. After a repetitive circle to three Customs offices I was finally told (by a smarmy, gold-laden Customs official) that there is no way to guarantee that the repaired camera will be exempt from new duties (and the valuation that will consider the camera brand new). Following that I attempted to find out what the camera duty would/could be. No one could give me an answer to that question - not even an estimated percentage of the camera value.

In contrast, when I called Japanese Customs, I was immediately given a detailed description of duty procedures and valuations and how to make sure my camera is not charged when it enters the country for a repair - polite and concise service.

I'd love to see Thai Customs improved, but after 5 years in Thailand, I have little hope of this happening anytime soon.

anyone know what will happen with double entry? this applies to single, but what if want double? pay for one or pay for 2?

same deal...free (plus your visa extension fees if you choose to stay longer than two months on an entry). I went up to Vientiane last month and received a free double entry. At the recommendation of others applying I actually wrote "Double" right on the application form. When I handed it to the Thai consulate staff, they circled my "double" and also wrote double directly on the form. Seems they are happy to give these out in Laos.

But if you're going to the Vientiane consulate, though, get there early. I arrived at 7 am and I was already 34th in line. By 830 when they opened the gate there were over 300 people waiting! I'm not kidding - last ticket number I saw on my way out was 368! As you can imagine the numbering process wasn't exactly smooth. The consulate actually had a staffer standing next to a ticket machine pushing the button for every person in line...slooooooooooooooow.

While you wait for the gate to open, there's a little shack-shop down the street (not the shop directly across from the consulate) and they serve HUGE baguettes and eggs with a mean dark cup of coffee. Nice way to start the consulate wait.

Yeah I was disappointed my last time flying into Suvarnabhumi when I couldn't easily connect to wifi. Flew from Kansai (spoiled with free wifi everywhere) to Hong Kong (spoiled with free wifi and work station desks with free electrical outlets) to "state of the art" Suvarnabhumi with nada. Thanks to everyone for their free Suvarnabhumi connection suggestions - I'll know better next time

Cheers

I have scoured this forum and the web and found plenty of lists of sushi restaurants in Chiang Mai but...none of them seem to be around anymore! Last time in Chiang Mai I had a tuk tuk drive me to two different places that sounded great but both were closed. I ended up at another Japanese restaurant that was good but had no sushi.

So my question: where can I find good sushi currently? My third night I went to Fuji in the shopping center, which was fine but their selection was pretty limited (maybe that's normal up here in land-locked Ch. Mai?). I also wasn't crazy about the atmosphere/decor. Is there any place that is currently open with a more traditional vibe and good sushi?

Thanks,

mp413

For good sushi/sashimi at a great price I recommend Tsunami on Huay Kaew road (north side), a few shops up from the Fuji film shop near the Phucome intersection. The sushi chef is Thai, but has been trained extensively and has been working solid for over a decade. The staff can be a bit flaky and there's usually a waiting line out front, but the food is solid. I'd go for the salmon sashimi and the salmon/ebi tempura maki - the unagi nigiri is good too. As for the vibe it's more like a noodle shop.

For excellent and totally authentic Japanese food, including sushi (I think their menu is about 40 pages), I highly recommend Kitchen Hush on Kaew Nawarat Road, Soi 2. The owners and sushi chef are Japanese and the restaurant is in an old wooden house that has a really pleasant ambience. The prices are higher, but if you like real Japanese home cookin' with quality ingredients, then it's worth it

Oh and one more thing, first week of May is Golden Week for Japanese, so if you plan to be on the sushi hunt during that time, some Japanese restaurants might be closed.

I live in Yensabai Condo in Pattaya, have seen speeds as slow as 2 kbps international...no joke.

I need to make a decision if I should move out and seek a condo with TTandT so that I can get Maxnet.

I've tested it in Pattaya at Arromdee appartment, on Sukumvilt, far from any "hub"...the speed was over 1200 kbps to Seattle USA!

Was I just lucky or is Maxnet 100 times better than TOT?

It seems speeds on Maxnet have taken a horrible dive over the past few weeks as well. It's all a bit of a mystery at this point - one more part of the this greater mystery we all love...called Thailand

I take a very wild guess: Maybe nobody here has his hands on it yet!?!

You celebrate too early though Astral:

http://www.istudio.in.th/

The Wall Street Journal had a rather optimistic first review.

Seems to even be quite bug-free.

May have to pay that istudio a visit.

I'm eagerly waiting to try Leopard out, but I want to make sure it plays friendly with some of my apps (Adobe CS3 primarily)

I'm in Chiang Mai on Maxnet Indy 1024/512. Torrents and ftp are useless as of a week and a 1/2 ago. I contacted TTT and they claim I need to upgrade because my service doesn't have enough bandwidth. I responded by telling them they're completely full if sh*t because when my service was half the current bandwidth I had no problems with ftp and torrents. Gee TTT, thanks for the "free" speed upgrade last month. bogus!

SUUUUUPER annoying that I have to go to internet cafes to do simple updates to my pathetic little website. I refuse to pay more for yet another "upgrade"

Good ol' Thai "customer service".