Pikiss

I and husband (both Finnish nationals) fall into the category under 50 years and not working here. We are on a three-year sabbatical leave and are not interested in learning the language at this point. Instead we are now, after a couple of decades of hard working (including studying while working) and neglecting our well-being, putting our efforts in plenty of exercise, healthy eating, loosing weight, making new friends and just enjoying the days go by without any particular schedules.

We chose not to abuse the ED visa system and therefore need to travel every 3 months to obtain visa from outside Thailand. As only 3 consecutive (back-to-back) visas seem to be allowed, we need to stay a few months back at our home country, too. Finland of course to our disadvantage has the strictest policy and gives out only single entry tourist visas regardless of how many flight tickets in and out of Thailand and back to Finland you may have.

I must admit that this traveling and the uncertainty of getting a new tourist visa is getting somewhat tiring, not to mention money consuming. Sometimes we do contemplate in getting the ED visa and putting minimum or no hours at all in actually learning the language. I wish there was a system allowing people in our kind of situation to legally buy a longer term visa (other than the "elite/investment visa"). I think there is already and will be an increasing demand for this as people especially in the West are taking longer breaks from their jobs before the actual retirement years.

OK, thank you guys for your quick help, I will go to immigration shortly. The stamp in the arrival card is very blurry and the date is hardly visible, looks certainly suspicious even to me.. Luckily, I saved the boarding pass.

Just a thought: Can I apply for the extension at the same time, even though its due in 2 months?

The one time I didn’t check it there and then, it had to happen.. The immigration officer in Suvarnabhumi airport forgot to put an arrival stamp on my passport (the one that states arrival date and “admitted until” date). He did put the “used” stamp with date on the visa in passport and also on the white arrival card.

I entered on a single entry tourist visa and want to apply for the 30 day extension in two months. Should I go to my local immigration office right now and explain what happened or can I just wait until it’s time to apply for the extension?

This is a great thread, lots of good tips. I have been juicing every morning for two years except during visits to my home country. Back in Europe I always notice a drop in my energy levels. Also, my mood gets down especially during winter visits when there's only few daylight hours.

There’s yet a recent(ish) study to support what we juicers have always known or suspected: increasing your fruit and vegetable intake to 7-8 servings a day boosts your energy and mood and helps you coping stress better up to 48 hours.

(More info of the study http://www.otago.ac.nz/psychology/otago057493.pdf or http://sg.news.yahoo.com/boost-mood-more-fruits-vegetables-143109604.html )

Last year in September I applied tourist visa in Hong Kong. It would be my third TR in 2012 (two of them being consecutive). They wanted to see an outbound ticket from Thailand, also a lot (not so polite) questions if I were working in Thailand. Luckily I came prepared with copies of return flight ticket to Europe and of money transfers from my home country bank to my Thai bank account. I got one entry visa and it was my understanding that one entries were the only kind issued in HK.

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Oh sorry, maybe I should have mentioned that I am having a sabbatical leave and been living in Pattaya for almost two years now. Before that I’ve had holidays in Thailand twice a year since 2007. I’ve learned to love many things in a Thai diet, rice including. I was diagnosed celiac disease just a couple of months ago and I am still adjusting. Having a slice of bread for breakfast every morning for 40+ years is a habit that just seems to die hard.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply. This is my first trip to Phuket so I thought it would worth asking about the bakeries, since I haven't been able to find one in Pattaya yet. I will certainly look up the restaurant Pagallim mentioned (looks a nice place for dinner, too!). Villa Market in Pattaya also has some ready-made breadfixes so I know my way around those.

You Phuket people sure seem to know how to maximize your sales revenue I consider myself warned and promise not to come back on TV complaining that you need to pay for free stuff

Bread without the above mentioned grains may sound impossible sure did for me when I first got the celiac diagnose! Later on I luckily found out that bread can be made for example of rice, sorghum or quinoa flours, added with seeds such as sunflower, linseed or chia. So if anyone have heard of a bakery with this somewhat rare selection, please share..

I will be vacationing in a rental condo in Phuket shortly. I have celiac disease which means I cannot eat anything containing wheat, barley, rye or oat. Usually I bake my own bread but since this is a holiday I would love to have a break from most cooking chores

Is there by any chance a bakery that makes gluten free bread? We are staying in Kata but have car so getting anywhere in the island will be no problem.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

I’ve seen those tube shaped ones in the big multi-brand sports shop at Pattaya Outlet Mall (crossroads of Thepprasit and Sukhumvit).

Luckily I’ve found an Australian brand here in Foodland with gluten-free flour mixes for bread and also pizza crust, just can’t live without J Maybe later on I will try learn how to make the bread myself, there seems to be good selection of all kinds of flours in the city.

Are you talking about Hahne or another brand like Orgran?

I've seen some gluten-free products around in some specialty shops, and Carrefour used to carry some mixes. Not sure if the new versions of Big C still do?

Orgran has a variety of products, including self-rising, gluten free flour mixes...

I've tried some of their pre-made bread machine mixes in the past, but the taste was pretty bland.

I preferred starting with my own bread machine and brown rice flour purchased from Villa.

I sure wish someone around BKK would sell, or have available for delivery, loaves of brown rice flour bread without any of the gluten ingredients mixed in.

Yes, I am am referring to Orgran brand. Foodland Pattya has quite ok selection of it (baking mixes for cakes, pizza, bread, pancakes and some flours). Foodland is lacking pastas but by googling I found a store in Bangkok (Maison du Vins 1994), they have larger selection of Orgran stuff incl. pasta varieties and they deliver to your home by EMS. Other “sighthings” I have made in Pattaya: Big C Extra only have one gluten-free product, Basco breadmix, Central Festival grocery store has muesli, cereals and porridge from Freedom Foods and Eco-Planet, Villa has a lot of flours.

I agree, the readymade flour-mix breads taste bland but the moment I’m very happy to have found any! Even better were to find a bakery making gluten-free but tasty bread..

BradInAsia,

where can you buy that gluten-free bread? or do you make it yourself.

I live in Chiang Mai. I buy the gluten-free, brown rice bread from Blue Diamond Restaurant

in the old city. If you're not familiar with this place, just go to Moon-Maung Soi 9 and ask for

directions to Blue Diamond. Everyone there will know this place.

Oh, too bad this place wasn’t in Pattaya but thanks for letting me know. I was recently diagnosed celiac disease and can no more eat wheat, rye, barley or oat. I’m just learning my way among different other grains. Luckily I’ve found an Australian brand here in Foodland with gluten-free flour mixes for bread and also pizza crust, just can’t live without J Maybe later on I will try learn how to make the bread myself, there seems to be good selection of all kinds of flours in the city.

BradInAsia,

where can you buy that gluten-free bread? or do you make it yourself.

I have suffered years and years from stomach problems. Last 12 months or so they got worse. The symtoms varied between stomach flu, pain, nausea, diarrhea and bad heartburn. I spend hours looking up in the web and selfdiagnosing, fearing anything from helicobacter to cancer.

Finally I ventured to a doctor and asked straight away for the gastroscopy with biobsies. Surprise surprise, I have celiac disease. I would have never thought of that. It was though a great relief to get an explanation for all these years of discomforts. So as others have suggested, check if even celiac disease was ruled out in the biobsy.

I am also in dire need of some supplements that are not available here. Yesterday I placed an order at Iherb per the useful instructions by the poster Firefan. Easy process, Thailand was accepted as delivery destination, gave my credit card information for payment (package delivery address in Thailand, credit card billing address in Europe). However, today I received an E-mail asking me to verify that I am the proper credit card holder before delivering the package. Two options were given to make this verification:

“Option One: Verification by Small Charge Amount

Upon being sent this email requesting verification, a Small Charge was processed then refunded immediately. We request that you look at your online credit card statement or contact your bank to find out the exact amount of this charge. The exact amount charged serves as your verification.

Note: If your credit card generally deals with foreign currency, you will need the exact U.S. dollar amount, not the amount in your local currency. The bank can verify the U.S. dollar amount for you.”

“Option Two: Verification by Authorization Code

When you placed your order, the transaction was assigned an Authorization Code by your bank. You can obtain this code by contacting your Bank or Credit Card company and requesting the Authorization Code that was provided to iHerb by your financial institution. Please note that the Authorization Code is unique to each transaction on your credit card. Please provide the Authorization Code related to your purchase from iHerb.”

For option no. 1 I checked my credit card account on-line, there was no transaction info from Iherb. For option no. 2 I checked my bank account on-line to see if there is some notification from the bank, but none. Contacting the bank by email or personally to get the verification code feels too much effort so I canceled the order.

I’m all for securing credit card information since I order stuff on-line frequently. However this was my first attempt in on-line ordering to Thailand address and Iherb’s method of verification was new to me. How did you others manage the payment? I’m still willing to give Iherb another go.

A couple of weeks ago there was a shop selling custom made broideries in Big C Extra (formerly Carrefour), 2nd floor near the customer service counter.

I too have long wanted to visit Tokyo and at the same time try to obtain a tourist visa to Thailand. The OP’s report was a great heads-up and now I am changing my plans.

Likewise the poster TheWeekend, next on my wish list is Seoul, South Korea. Thank you Ubonjoe for the link to previous thread in TV. Do any of you TV members have even more recent experience of Seoul?

Any info is greatly appreciated as I am starting to plan the trip. I am a Finnish passport holder and the Seoul visa would be my third consecutive tourist visa this year (two previous tourist visas are from Thai embassy in Finland). I have already a return ticket to Finland before the third visa would expire. After that I am not planning to come back to Thailand until after 6-7 months. I’m under 50 so retirement visa is not an option for me yet.

I second Crisp's suggestion, the restaurant in Silverlake. I had the best seafood risotto ever, also tasted the local wine. Nice setting with the mountain and lake, stylish enough place without too much fuss.

The Philips juicer costs around 8000 bahts. Pricey but well worth it, the best I've ever used.

Philips juicer HR1871 from PowerBuy store near Foodland. The can has volume of 1,5 litres and the machine has extra large tube so you can put whole apples oranges etc in it. Very powerful extracting every drop of the juice, I've been using it for six months every morning.

Thanks to all posters recommending the Rutnin hospital. This was exactly the information I was looking for. I had detached retina a few years ago and been going to yearly check-ups ever since, in my home country. As I'm now staying in Pattaya most of this year it's good know of a professional place, just in case.

On March I applied for a double entry tourist visa in KL but was issued a single entry - didn't make any difference that I had flight ticket out from Thailand to Europe for June.

Here's a (long overdued) report from February for those interested in getting a new tourist visa to Thailand from Kuala Lumpur.

Embassy takes in visa applications from 9.30 to 11.30 in the morning. I went there 8:30, already about 10 persons before me. By the time of opening the gate ca. 40 people. The wait in the crowd in a sidewalk beside a busy street, with not much shade from the sun wasn't much fun. After opening the gate, again a waiting but only a couple of minutes at the office door. No queuing numbers going in.

Had printed out and filled the application beforehand so just to leave it at the counter with one photo and passport. The website stated you need proof of residence/hotel and outbound flight ticket out of thailand. Had copies of both with me but the officer didn't seem at all interested in them. Paid the fee 110 ringgit and got a ticket for collecting the visa next day. Pick-up time is 14.30 to 15 in the afternoon. Got there just after 14, only a few minutes queue since they let people in earlier.

Applied for a multi-entry tourist visa but was granted only a single entry with 60 days.

Christmas came early today, at least for one night. Arrived today from kuala lumpur 10 p.m. Was thru immigration in less than 15 minutes. They had set lines that were easy to follow, no fuss no elbowing. Officers here and there supervising and other personell going midst people checking that they had their arrival cards in order. Not nearly all the counters were manned but no need to since everything was organised and went smoothly although there were quite a lot of passengers.

Arrived Sunday March 11 at 6:30 a.m. to catch a 8:45 Thai Airways flight to Kuala Lumpur. Thai airways check-in area was packed, took 45 mins to get to counter.

After check-in there was a huge queue line to get to the actual departure immigration area which of course was packed. I think it would have taken at least 45 mins to get to immigration area and then some 30-45min more to get thru security and passport check.

Would most likely have missed my flight but luckily had the Fast Track ticket that I had purchased separately before hand.

Observation I made while agonising in Thai Airways check in line: personnel walked around carrying signs to different already boarding flights looking for people who had not checked in. Those were picked from the line, whisked thru check in and propably also thru immigration to catch the flights. So why try to be nice and come 3-4 hours early when u can have your personal Fast Track provided absolutely free by the airline.. Made me very frustrated.

Royal Cliff Hotel has separate fitness facility. At least a couple of years ago you could pay by day week or month and didn't have to be guest in hotel. Small but quite decent gym including use of sauna, pools and a 3 hole golf practice.