fezman

I dont know the answer to this but it might be worth your while checking out.......you cant generally hire a car on the island and take it over to the mainland so therefore can you take a hire car onto the island???????????????

Mind you Budget car hire is I believe the only one that does allow it so you could make sure you ask them.

HL

Hi Larry ,yer your right ,budget is the one ,all ready booked it .they give you the car at the airport and you give it back to them in chaweng or KS airport,and no one way fee if you have the car more than 2 days .

booked through Thai visa hire car ,which I have done a few times now and there always great .

like I say maybe a bit of effort ,but saves heaps of money and dont have to deal with Phuket taxi drivers ,hotels etc.

I found a place near the don sak ferry ,don sak orchid resort .has some cheap rooms and looks ok if you get stuck there.

www.suratorchid.com.

if the planes a bit late I will maybe find some where to eat ,then drive up that road 44,by that time wont be to long before the first ferry goes.what time is the fist one ?some say 5 some say 7am.

Is the first ferry always full?and can we call them and book a ticket before hand?and what about the Raja ferry ? never hear much about it ,only sea trans.

so they must be better ,but how ruff are they?

thanks, fez

Sleep in Phuket and take a flight next day to Samui would be the most convenient option by far.

Driving the car to Don Sak in the night is dangerous. But if you do, you will be in Don Sak in the middle of the night. There are bungalows nearby the Seatrans ferry. Usually ferries are full, but you could park the car there in the night and walk back to the bungalows (take a flashlight along). Or it could be that you have to wait a few hours.

A reservation should be done some days in advance and is only possible if you are a member or if you have a BOA ATM card.

thanks mate ,I have drivin heaps in thai at night so should be fine .

but there is three of us ,and I think ,its heaps cheaper and will be there in less time or bout the same time.

get off the plane ,pay for taxi,hotel,taxi back to airport,pay for plane ,the taxi from ko samui airport to sisters house .

or get off plane ,drive to ferry and drive off straight there and keep the car for a few days.

I will try the bungalows near seatrans ferry ,if not an hour or two nap in the car and ferry will have to do.

thanks again.

Hi we are going to land in Phuket in March and we miss the last flight to Ko Samui that night ,so hired a car and will drive to the ferry .

Have read a post on here that the road is new ,straight and fast ,but will not make the last ferry of the night .

So were is there somewhere not far from the ferry to sleep and get up and catch the first ferry in the morning ,and should I book a ferry ticket before hand ?

and in case some one knows a better way we land in Phuket at 7.30 at night ,if its on time and then we clear customs and get the car we should be ready to hit the road bout 9.30 I think.

thanks heaps ,fez.

Isn't it like this on all the airlines since 2006?

my thai wife and I live in sydney ,We have talked about this a few times ,that Thai air is to expensive and none of the thai people here ever fly with them .

we went to Bkk from Sydney return on emarites last year and each fare was at least $250 cheaper for adults and it was 90 bucks for the baby ,under 2 years old .

this year we are going over on jetstar in march and the kid pays $30 one way. On Thai air the price for kids is very high even without a seat .

Thai air will go broke if they dont change some of there policys .like I said no Thai people,that we know here ever use em.

So yer I would say Thai air dont like kids.and with more players coming into the market ,tiger ,jetstar,virgin,air asia, they better pull there finger out real fast or its Ta Ta Thai air .

Wishful thinking.

Yer I know mate

With 400,000 in a Thai bankaccount for 2 months you can apply for an extension of stay for 1 year, meaning you don't have to leave the country. (Only report your report your address every 90 days). And every year you can apply for a new extension of stay.

Only when you have a multiple entry non-O and didn't apply for an extension of stay must you leave the country every 90 days.

Thanks Mario,

that clears that up for me and makes things more easy, but it would be nice if we could get 2 yr visa like the wifes oz visa and then residency which she will also get no probs.

not that I would rather live there full time but would be nice to come and go with more ease when you have wife and kids with Thai passports and are there at school or looking after family etc.

thanks again

There is not a Thai Consulate - there are many.

1. You are applying for a visa - not for an extension of stay (where the 400k comes into play).

2. Such a visa is issued as single entry (90 day stay and 90 days to use from date of issue) and multi entry (90 day stays and one year to use from date of issue).

All such visas require you to exit every 90 days or less. If you want to stay without exit you need to extend a 90 day entry during the last 30 days for one year by meeting the Immigration requirements of 40k income or 400k in Thai bank account for 2 months (first time) or 3 months each succeeding year. That will require both you and wife meet with Immigration and supply a number of documents.

The house registration is the blue book you wife is listed on (normally parents).

If you are in Oz a single or multi entry can be obtained without any such fanfare at Perth or Brisbane.

first let me say thanks alot for the info ,second I now there are many consulates ,meant the one in Sydney(sorry)

and so your saying that you get 90 day visa ,and before the first month is up open a Thai bank account and bung 400,000k in it ? and then in 60 days get out and come back ,but at least there nice enough to let you come back in the same day,what are these visas run by the airline and travel companys ?Or you can do it without exit if you go to immigration office ?

Far out ,the amount of rooting around to get a visa there is mad really,the wife of an Ozzy can get a visa for 2 years and doesnt have to P#ss off to NZ every 90 days .I just wanted to let the baby spend time with the family and learn Thai lingo and culture.

I now I am being a bitch, not that hard to leave every 90 days .

Thank again really but there just seems they make it hard for hubbys of Thais ,just wish you could make a visa for one year here and show em the cash and off ya go .

Hi this is the visa info on the thai consulate website, it doesnt say anything about the 400,000 bt in the bank and does not say how long the visa is for ,is it one year? and do you have to leave every 90 days ? I am married to a Thai nat and have a baby born in Sydney but has Thai passport ,I am 40 yrs old.O yer ,what about the house regerstration ?does that mean she has to own the house in her name or just the address were she lived or were we will stay??

thanks for the help

Non-immigrant Visa ( code O)

(Spouse Visa)

1.Qualifications for the Applicant

This application is for a person who has a Thai wife/ husband/ child only

2.Documents for the Applications

2.1 Visa application form completely filled out.

2.2 Passport or travel document whith validity not less than 6 months and a photocopy

2.3 Two recent photograph full-faced (passport-sized photograph or 2 1/2 inches)

2.4 A photocopy of your valid spouse Thai I.D card / passport

2.5 A photocopy of your spouse Thai house registration

2.6 A photocopy of a marriage certificate

2.7 A formal letter from your spouse identifying who he or she is? and the relationship to you.

2.8 A photocopy of a birth certificate of your child (if using your children as a sponsor for the visa)

The Dengue Fever is far worse than the Swine Flu and is not yet even reported by the Media. Scaremongering at it's finest.

what's makes you think Dengue is far worse? if you are not bitten by certain mosquito do you have any chance of getting the fever? timely medication will save you from dengue these days.

Oh, what meds would that be???

I had Dengue in March/April and the only meds they recommend are

Paracitemol and Tylenol with codein. And lots of water.

I have had the flu over the last 50 years 5-6 times, including an earlier Swine flu.

I can tell you for sure Dengue is MUCH worse than any flu I ever had.

I just didn't get nasal congestion from it.

I Had a confirmed dose of swine flu here in Sydney ,not a big deal,just the flu . I had dengue years ago in Indonesia ,thought I was gonna die for sure .

So I hear Thai airways is having problems, No wonder when you cant book a ticket on the net unless you are the card holder and traveling,

tryed to book for some friends and pay for there ticket but you cant unless your going .why cant they turn up with ID and get on the plane

this is stupid !! I rang the office and they said we have to come in to pay for them ,45 ks. there and 45 back then the same to take them to the airport tommorow ,no way ,just catch the bus.

Big news here in Sydney this morning and last night is an Aussie mum has been jailed for four days for stealing a bar mat from the aussie bar in Phuket .

The manager,who is an Aussie was on the TV this morning and says she was also abusive to the cops .He says if she had done the same thing in Oz she would have copped the same treatment .

I think he has not been back for a while ,the most that would happen is that she would be charged with stealing here and been sent home and been given a date to apear in court .

He says he has been getting phone calls from Aussies saying they will bouycott the pub and have called him a pole smoker.

they woman says her friends put the bar mat into her bag as a prank while attending her mums 60th birthday at the bar .

this is from the Tele in Sydney this morning.

Mrs Smoel, who was partying with a group of about 10 friends, claimed two of the women stuffed a bar mat in her handbag as a joke. Thai police charged her with theft and she was locked in a cramped jail cell for three nights. Her passport was confiscated until the case comes to court, which could be at least four months away.

Has Annice Smoel been hardly done by? Tell us below

Mrs Smoel, who feels "scared, helpless and alone", believes she would have been freed immediately had there been a male in the group to facilitate a bribe.

"If there had been a man here to do that for us then that would have been the end of it," she said.

"We offered them money right from the start because we knew that's the way the system works over here."

well maybe they didnt offer enough money ,but it is for sure another great bit of publicity for Thai tourism,and will do wonders for the bar .

on ya boys.

long live the digger

Emirates squeeze in another economy seat on their 777-300s. Most airlines go 3-3-3 but EK go 3-4-3. More profit for them means less comfort for you.

just booked with emarites and the wife and I saved 500 bucks ,compared with any other airline from sydney to BKK .for that price I would sit on a box.

anther idea I have had is people should be checked in with there weight plus bags,eg I am 70kgs ,so why should I pay excess baggage for 2 kilos over when some fat bastard is twice my weight and pays the same ticket price .the future should be bags plus weight of passenger .bad luck fattys.

The more I watch the TV with not one picture the more I am convinced.

PM declares state of Emergency then jumps in his car for a drive????

Car of course is attacked again no pictures.

Now they are saying there are spent shell casings all over the ground........Again no pictures.

In this day & age not a single picture.???

Sad to say it is pretty obvious what is happening now.

Care to enlighten us thicko's please?

No problem but IMHO in this day & age of cameras everywhere & total connectivity........

What could be the possible reason for not one picture being shown?

Come on now I know you can do it

My guess is they dont want any one there to see how bad it is ,here in Sydney front page of the herald had photo of red shirts smashing windows and the main head line read , PM SAYS THAI NO GO ZONE.They mean our PM, his plane was a few hours out of BKK and did a U turn,and since then have seen heaps of stuff of the telly ,saw helicopters evacuating people from the cliff top hotel roof .and saw heaps of dudes beating the shit out of PMs black merc,man it looked really wild and not one cop ,if you want to see some footage head to sbs news Oz ,check there web site.

If the Thai tourism is so buggered where are all the cheap hotel deals ? I thought there would be some great specials around ,like the cheap flights .

Any one out there know were any good deals are or any ideas how to find em? There HAS to be some ,theres is heaps here in Oz.

cheers .

try hostelbookers.com or hostelworld.com

Nice one fred ,that hostelbookers is great

If the Thai tourism is so buggered where are all the cheap hotel deals ? I thought there would be some great specials around ,like the cheap flights .

Any one out there know were any good deals are or any ideas how to find em? There HAS to be some ,theres is heaps here in Oz.

cheers .

Note: If you book thru and agent, MAKE SURE they book usinng Amadeus, otherwise choosing you seat and online checkin will be unavailable if you wish to do those things.

All agents book online, you may do it too.

Never bought an airline ticket from an agency on the last 10 years.....

The airline web site is always cheaper, if not the airline is managed by idiots....

just got a ticket from Sydney to BKK on emarites for $750 au the cheapest on Thai was over $1000 on there website,so the wife and I will save 500 bucks min.

onya Thai ,keep up the good work.

Thai Visa can be a bit of a grumble fest and it's well known that expats everywhere let off steam when they get together and complain about the things they find frustrating in their adoptive country.

I often wonder if Thai wives whisked back to the West do the same thing. Do they get together in each others' homes in England for example and moan about us and our horrible culture?

If so, what specifically are the things they find difficult or annoying about England or wherever they are.

Apart from the obvious problems such as exile from Mama and som tam, it must be difficult for them at times and I'd love to know what in particular irritates them most.

Andrew Hicks

My wife lives with me in Sydney and loves it ,been here two years already and has heaps of thai friends and they all get together and make som tum.

some of the other girls complain bout there hubbys but they are lazy piss heads,and are half are Thai ,and gamble there money away.

but as I know if I had to live in the UK i would shot myself in the head.

i live in bali and i can tell you that the terrorism threat is not a major point of discussion with locals. they are quietly happy that the 3 bombers have been executed and do not talk about it a lot.

in fact, i personally think that its a very safe time to visit bali. the number of undercover police on the ground is phenomenal and you will find that many of the security guards are, in fact, police. most hotels have security checking vehicles with mirrors and dogs, and they also search the cars on the way in.

as for the question about bali being a cheaper alternative than thailand, i would say yes. petrol is .50 cents US a litre, food is cheap, and transportation is cheap. given that the current exchange rate is around 11,000Rp/USD) i think its pretty good value for money.

last night 3 of us went out for dinner in a lovely restaurant. we had drinks, and a lovely meal, and the cost was Rp 100,000 each. under USD10 per person.

i say you should come!

Were the 3 bombers local? And why would locals want to continue to talk about it, it's bad for tourism.

Anyways, go if you want to because all the bombs i see going off in Thailand are definately killing two hundred tourists at a time. When was the last time tourist here was killed by a bomb?

Everyone's entitled to their own views, but for me, I have more faith in the Thai authorities over those that let things like Bali happen and that Marriot in Jakarta.

well the 3 bombers WERE indonesian, so i guess that may make them local.

why would locals NOT talk about it?

and, yes, we are all entitled to their views. thats what the forum is all about - sharing views and ideas. im not saying you are wrong and i am right - not at all.

You sir have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, The Balinese are Hindu and the Bombers were Muslims. Believe me the Balinese if they had a choice would not want to be part of Indonesia.

Bali beats or at least equals everything Thailand has to offer, except the beaches. but wins hands down for cost, architecture,style.and culture..I just got back and it was so nice to jump into a taxi..you get to your destination you pay the small amount then leave a generous tip...he smiles and you smile at him....perfect.....heads up Samui and Phuket.............and yes it was rammed full of tourists.....and regarding bombs in tourist spots in thailand....................that could change very quickly, i am just waiting for it to happen.

oh yes and the girls, they are there if you are looking but not in you face like Thailand.

the beaches in Bali are great ,Sanur is fantastic and Padang are just as good as anywhere,not to mention some of the best waves in the world.which thailand has a big fat zero.ask a surfer to show you were the best beaches are.

But i suppose pig might fly !

1. the ''economics'' you're describing from #1 to #5 is called deflation and is a dangerous game...***

2. the die-hard tourists -still- coming to Thailand, whether from Asia (declining dramatically), OZ/NZ, Americas (declining) or Europe (starting to decline) WILL come anyway; most of them pre-book and pre-pay their holidays in their various home countries.

rl]

LaoPo

You are kinda right ,but OZ/NZ tourists are not coming dude. for oz dollar 22 bt and kiwi 17 bt from 28bt a year ago ,they can stick thailand up there crack ,were all goin back to BALI. until they blow it up again!

i love my issan sweetie to bits. but how do i rid ourselves of the freeloaders. its like im a cash machine. any suggestions for businesses they can make lots of money off of.

im thinking maybe i should go hi so girl. poor ones got lots of problems financially.

tell em all to fuc_k off.this is my woman and get off the khao lao bitches.

In which state are most of you?

* denial “No way can this be true. There must be alternative explanations. This simply can’t be; I would have heard about it.”

* anger “Goddammit! Those bastards at the Fed, in the government, in media have been hiding things from me, lying, and serving their own interests at my expense. How dare they!!!

* bargaining “If I simply change a few things in my life, perhaps that will be sufficient and I won’t have to really change. I’ll use efficient light bulbs, buy a Prius, and save more each year.”

* fear “I’m going to die broke. People will come out of the cities and eat all my food and harm my family. The future is going to be unbearably bleak. I might die. I might starve. I’m not built for a world that mirrors the dystopian nightmare of Mad Max.”

* depression “Crap, we’re screwed. What’s the point? I am powerless to do anything about this. There’s nothing that any of us can do, anyway.”

* acceptance “However we got here is unimportant – it is what it is. Let’s figure out how to navigate the future with the tools and advantages we’ve got, not what we wish we had.”

I usually get through all of these on a good night thanks to this forum, rolling 24 hour news and alcohol however my wife remains oblivious (thanks to Thai Soaps) - I sometimes wonder which of us is better off!

Indeed i forgot to make this Thai related. I'll add one. It is the first one.

* Ignorance "All the same. Nothing exists out of the one millimeter of space around me."

yer love that one ,lets buy a new car.o yer and dont forget the gold .

As long as Thailand has great food, cheap hotels, cheap booze, cheap "companions" and huge amounts of sunshine there will be tourists to enjoy them... Its the law of supply and demand.

JUST dont say anything about the king ,or you could have a 3 yr holiday

and if I understand correctly ,a Thai bloke can bring his farang missus in no probs .

you don't.

REALLY! ....fair enough.

Hi all ,just wanted to ask some advice on what to plant on a ten rai block bout 40ks east of KK ,it has euycaliptus trees on it now ,ready to cut down .

when the land is cleared we want to put something new on it but dont know what.would love some ideas from you guys .

I am not worried about making a fast buck,so some good trees for timber maybe , and also what are argawood trees ?.

thanks heaps ,fez

You'll need heavy equipment or enormous amount of labor to get the plot cleaned of the destructive Euc's (they sure look like blum gum everything I see but I'm probably wrong). I removed about a couple of rai worth back in the stone ages the trees averaged about over a meter in diameter so it was extremely labor intensive as it was just a saw and a 3/4 ton pick-up and my buddy and I. Someone else was responsible for the sub-terranean clearing of the plot.

If you get all that garbage roots and all off your land figure it'll take you at least a couple of years of intensive methods of hopefully organic and sustainable and cost effective rehabilitation of your extremely debilitated (Euc's are no good in any mass plantings for the soil beneath them) mother earth to start to think about planting some sort of long term or multi-term forestation project. 10 rai is definitely enough land for you to spend a couple of years researching and rehabilitating your place to make you proud and busy in what you are going to attempt. You've got to figure nearly 25 years for "lumber" production but there obviously are more rapidly productive plantings that could be incorporated to allow you to get some return sooner you'll have to browse thriough this extremely informative section of Thaivisa and see what others have said in regards to many aspects of this particular subject and farming and soils subjects in general. try to keep your parcel organic as it is easily accomplished in what you are trying to do. A good start will be to look at green manuring (an extremely satisfying start into the world of agriculture and the basis of how mother nature has been creating the magic of what we call life in this world).

On the bottom left of this section you'll see a box that you can search for a subject just punch in Agarwood and it will take you to many links. i believe the U of Minnesota in the US developed a strain of the tree that allows it to be harvested extremely young and the wood has the fragrance similar to the older indigenous trees of Thailand that are so prized for this fragrant wood. Good luck and plant a few coconuts near the corners immediately as it will give you great satisfaction in seeing something growing extremely fast on your place, throw a little manure around them when the rainy seasons comes and enjoy and have fun. The earth is your canvas enjoy painting a beautiful picture. Choke Dee

cheers bro and chok dee to you and happy new year