KhunDave

There is a strawberry farm in Mae Rim on the right just before Queen Sirikit Botanicla Gardens. If you go to the hot springs there are 7 private bungalows in the back with a spring fed hot tub in each. About 200 baht and worth it. You should also visit Dok Mai Gardens in Hang Dong.

Sam I wanna know how much for the bungalows/night the room is nice tho? whats the name maybe i can google thanks, how about the weather there on May?

Kit

Be prepared for HOT weather in May. Once the South West monsoon breaks things cool down a bit, but this tends to be towards the end of the month - in 2010 it arrived in Northern Thailand around 24/25th May. The last few weeks before the monsoon arrives tend to be stiflingly hot.

Crystal Thai Airlines - allegedly starting service at the end of January, but the website doesn't function fully at the moment:

CTA

Anyone know whether this is a wind up or not?

The key to this issue is: are your flights on the same booking reference or not? If the former the risk is with the airlines, if the latter the risk is with you.

Not tried it, but I can help you with the location. It's on the new (ish) road that was built to connect Hang Dong road with the Rajapruek festival site. If coming from Hang Dong road it's on the right about 2/3 the way to the Canal Road, set back amongst some trees.

Sure if i would have seen it

We understand when you get old and you start to lose your eye sight, don't worry it happens to all of us.

........and then you move to Chiang Mai.

We have a high pressure coming over us to thank for this. I won't have to water everything outside today. 2.5 mm rain here near the airport (so far?)

Looking for a little meteorological education here.

Back in Europe I always used to associate high pressure with fine, dry and settled weather. Sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy, but predominantly dry. Here in Thailand high pressure seems to bring rain - why the difference?

Good question. Same for me while living in the states with high pressures generally bringing fair weather. I believe in this case a cold front, when the higher atmospheric pressure with it's cooler air from the north meets our lower pressure warmer air. Fronts are the boundaries between areas of high atmospheric pressure and low atmospheric pressure that typically bring unsettled weather. This front from China has cold air behind it that pushes abruptly underneath the warm air it encounters here. As the warm air is forced upward, water vapor condenses into clouds and rain, which can sometimes be heavy along the front. There are other factors involved also such as the jet stream's position with the moisture it's holding. Hope this helps as I can't always convey to text what I really need to say.

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I guess the reason that it's not immediately apparent is that the Thai Met pressure charts don't show fronts as such.

We have a high pressure coming over us to thank for this. I won't have to water everything outside today. 2.5 mm rain here near the airport (so far?)

Looking for a little meteorological education here.

Back in Europe I always used to associate high pressure with fine, dry and settled weather. Sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy, but predominantly dry. Here in Thailand high pressure seems to bring rain - why the difference?

In a nutshell - I'm having the usual issues with 3BB, and I've got the engineer coming round soon. What I would like to do before he arrives is to understand exactly how Thai ISPs "hi-jack" some of the results on Speedtest.net

This has been raised before on this forum: when a speedtest is run to a major foreign city the result somehow comes out as an inside-Thailand value. Try a minor location in the same foreign country and the real result is shown - e.g. if I run a test to San Francisco I get 39ms latency and 8mb down (oddly this is the same result I get if I run a test to Bangkok...), however if I run a test to nearby Palo Alto I get 278ms and 0.45mb. The same pattern can be repeated in tests to many countries around the world.

When I was moaning down the telephone to 3BB I mentioned that I was only getting around 0.5mb to anywhere outside Thailand, and the immediate response was "ok run a test now to London" and of course London is one of the "hi-jacked" locations. Thus it appears that they are well aware of the scam and are quick to use it to try and demonstrate that your connection is good when really it isn't.

I'd really like to confront the engineer with the evidence when he inevitably tries the same tactic. Does anyone know the details of how they do it?

I was up in the hills near Mae Taeng this morning and it absolutely poured down for about half an hour. Very strange, more like August than December.

My vote for best clear Tom Yam is the restaurant (sign in Thai only) directly opposite the international terminal at the airport - accross the car park.

The CNX flight leaves in the early morning as you probably already know. If you need to overnight at the Low Cost Terminal the Tune Hotel is convenient and reasonable value. Tiny rooms, but adequate for one night.

Tune

Air Asia is the only carrier on this route.

We have used Hertz in Malaysia several times. Very friendly and professional service and decent rates.

I'd use them again.

Thanks for that, do they have an office at the Low Cost terminal? I'd rather not make the trek around to the main terminal if it's avoidable.

Bump.

Posted this a few months ago, but no responses. As my trip is coming up shortly now I thought I'd give it another try.

Anyone?

You might find this site useful for identiying things going on in the night sky:

Heavens Above

Singapore and Hat Yai go on sale Wednesday, flights starting 24 January:

CNX Flights

No mention of Buri Ram though.

It will be good if Air Asia can do the Cnx To Singapore.

Because Silk Air is the only flights that do this route.

Someone can correct me if i am wrong.

You are correct - Tiger had a go at CNX/SIN a few years ago but it didn't last sadly. Silk could certainly do with some competition as their fares are very high. Hope AA can make a go of it.

Yes,

Last time I went , a few weeks ago, AON were not charging.

There is one branch at Tesco Lotus Hang Dong and there must be others around.

Used Aeon in Tesco yesterday and no fee. I am told there is another Aeon somewhere in the City but I know not where. Aeon are a Japanese bank and a young lady there told me some months ago that they will not be imposing a charge for withdrawals as it is not head office policy.

There is also an Aeon on the third floor of Central Airport Plaza.

Just returned from Queens Garden, Booked through www.Atsiam.com - the cheapest!!!

Restaurant on site a bit expensive, but walk up the soi where there is a 7/11 and next door is a great place for good cheap Thai food. Closes at 7.30 though. Other places close by.

Good hotel for plane spotting, and surprisingly quiet inside. Huge fish in the klong

Free shuttle to and from airport

Another little gem when staying at QG - on the opposite corner to the 7/11 (on the right as you walk down the soi) is a very good Duck noodle place. Lunch time only though I think.

Another vote for Queen's Garden from me. Good service, very reliable transfers, nice little bar/restaurant out front with draught beer Sing.

You are flying to/from a European Union country so your flights are covered by EU 261 rules, which set out a range of responsibilities for the airline if things go wrong. It's worth familiarising yourself with these - they are strict legally-enforceable rights, but airline staff sometimes don't know/don't want to know what they have to provide:

EU 261

I spent a couple of nights in Sop Ruak last December. The Thai mobile networks have good service there, and my phone was picking up signals from the Lao side also. Didn't get anything from Myanmar. No problem with net access at cafe's and hotels. I used Edge with my phone which also worked well.

I'm with Alan Partridge - "It tastes like fizzy Benylin"

On the other hand if you want to get a decent sleep the Transit Hotel is good value:

Ambassador

3BB in Chiang Mai no problem.