poohy

Surely it always depends on when you arrive as a frequent flyer ariving on Friday evening from Saigon, the taxi ride at 7.00pm can be longer than the flight

Last week Airport to Banglumphu I paid 350THB all in ( taxi from arrivals no meter ) he paid the road tolls the journey took 80minutes in slow moving traffic.

Air Asia is a point to point carrier so you have to collect bags at Bangkok and re check in again and go through immigration there.

That might cause the consulate to question why not another non immigrant O visa rather than a 2 entry tourist visa if he has valid reasons for non immigrant entry.

Sorry i am a little confused and obvoiusly not up to your speed on Thai visa s , if i was just finishing a hotel management posting in Laos and was going to thailand awaiting a positon but had no definite start date, how could i apply for an "o" visa as soon as i started work i had to go and collect the work permit i applied for relevant non B. i am now fully legal with non b and wp

You did not have any other entry stamps for Thailand in your passport or just not tourist visas?

It is likely they will not issue another tourist visa if they have put such a stamp in your passport but other Consulates probably will as it is normally only for the Consulate making the stamp reference. Especially if no other entries.

The consulate in Vientiane is a little bit zealous! earlier this year i was working in LuangPhrabang and had all the relevant legal Lao paperwork to prove it, i was coming back to thailand for a visit and applied for a double entry visa ( i had another contract in Thailand looming so i just needed some time betweeen jobs so it seemed the easist thing to do ) however as i had applied for one other torist visa 8 months earlier they deemed this as excessive and also stamped me with the red stamp There were 3 other non b visas realating to work permits in the current passport and i have never had a tourist visa in 11 years of working here but it certainly made no difference

Yes, in the region you will only be issued a sinle non-B, untill you have the actual WP and a minimum validity left see this table: http://www.thaivisa....ring-countries/

Yes that is my reading Mario. Was my reading of the form also correct as in what to put as the wording is ambiguous to say the least.

Having just returned from Penang applying for a new work permit i can confirm as the consulate says a WP3 form saying your WP is awaiting collection is not the" blue book "come back with the blue book you can get multiple non buntil then only 3 month single entry

Nice way of making money it seems as you effectively pay twice!

Not Just Bangkok ! here in Khao sok Surat Takua pa all no singha beer ............wonderful if you are running a hotel!!

Try the bars next to the Lao lao beer garden or Hive bar in Phousi road thats your best bet in that area, theres also few friendly ladyboys kicking around that will also show their tackle if required!

<br />A profanity laced post which was derogatory in nature of Thais which derailed into a rant on moderation has been removed.<br />

Sounds like an interesting post !!!

Can we keep on topic.

Does LOS have anything to compete with Luang Prabang as a tourist destination?

Personally I think Pai is a poor contender and my hunch is that Thailand has nothing to compare. Wooden houses have been swept away by "progress".

Are Ayutthaya or Sukothai anywhere close? Haven't been to either for 25 odd years & I fear they have changed since.

Is LOS now reliant on 2nd division tourist attractions and the sex industry as it's key selling points to mass tourism?

Is there a small town in Thailand that can compete with LP for location, attraction and services? I want to be wrong re my concerns about LOS.

Like i said for 2 or 3 days its a very beautiful relaxed stay the tourists love it for sure but (99% only stay for around 2/3 days then move on, after that boredom sets in,as there is very little entertainment of any kind adult or otherwise,officilaly there is still a midnight curfew not hard to comply with as most places close by 10.30

Its small town Laos a great place to visit, can Thailand compare arcitecturally and culturally maybe not with LPQ but i am sure there are many small laid back towns all over Thailand where you can be in bed by 10.30 and up at 6.00

are there Girls available?

if not, it would be a lonely Place :-)

No there are not take it from me! their idea of short time is two day trip to Thailand where dastardly deeds have to be done away from laos society

like i said you bring in your own supplies from outside,I have a colleague working for another company their rules state immediate dismissal if caught with Laos girl Thai girls can visit on site no problem

The OP hadn't mentioned being well lathered, the post would have held a higher level of credibility.

Beer Lao is good piss tho'

Yes its a beautiful place but if you are working here its like being on the rigs after a month or so you need R&R in Bangkok, unless Thai visitors can be brought in of course1

Being curious I just called the hotel directly. Many rates available and promotions as well. Being British does not give you a higher rate, same as American, Irish or French (I asked). Being Thai or a resident expat here does give you a better rate though.

Flightcrew Very interesting and thanks !

I have passed this snippet onto my Thai partner agent who will no doubt be in touch with the bulk hotel booking agent (we do not deal with hotel direct unless we have large allotments of rooms) to find out why we we quoted a differing rate yesterday.

lets see what they say now

cheers

last word on the matter, as I doubt we will ever get to the bottom of this

I have just spoken to my Thai travel agent partner whom I assumed was using a bulk hotel booking service as this hotel is not one we book or use regularly,I will not give my agencies name suffice to say it been running in Bangkok and throughout Thailand since the early seventies and I have had close relationship with for 9 years, when we have carried around 3000 to 4000 inbound pax per year so when i make business they too make money

Anyway the bottom line is they called the hotel directly , and this is where the information came from

all very strange and time for a beer and time to go out a break and break few things !!

Being curious I just called the hotel directly. Many rates available and promotions as well. Being British does not give you a higher rate, same as American, Irish or French (I asked). Being Thai or a resident expat here does give you a better rate though.

Flightcrew Very interesting and thanks !

I have passed this snippet onto my Thai partner agent who will no doubt be in touch with the bulk hotel booking agent (we do not deal with hotel direct unless we have large allotments of rooms) to find out why we we quoted a differing rate yesterday.

lets see what they say now

cheers

Sounds like a crock to me posted by someone with a greivance on this hotel, normally companies are getting the bill anyway, and i doubt 90 per cent of guests even ask the price,,as for drunken brit types, dont they head straight for pattaya,? i would,

I have no greivance with the hotel because as you are correctly state I was getting the bill not the client, but consequently I have to know how much I am getting charged before I charge my clients can you imagine what would happen to my profits if i was suddenly handed a bill for an extra 2k per room per night because the booking was the wrong nationality and incurred a surchage.

so tell us what agent is saying this via skype.

Difficult Question is it?

Not really, most other people seemed to understand without the aid of drawings

Anyway to summarise... the agent said its going to cost me 2K more room per night to put Brit pax into this hotel as oppposed to other nationalities

obvously this could have affected MY profit margins hence my concern!

Now I know the excess on Brits here if i get anymore requests I can just factor this cost in and take their cash, or steer the clients to a more Brit friendly hotel

Sounds like a crock to me posted by someone with a greivance on this hotel, normally companies are getting the bill anyway, and i doubt 90 per cent of guests even ask the price,,as for drunken brit types, dont they head straight for pattaya,? i would,

I have no greivance with the hotel because as you are correctly state I was getting the bill not the client, but consequently I have to know how much I am getting charged before I charge my clients can you imagine what would happen to my profits if i was suddenly handed a bill for an extra 2k per room per night because the booking was the wrong nationality and incurred a surchage.

I call troll.

Not a flying chance in world that Shang would discriminate against brits or anyone else. Perhaps the OP can tell us who the agent who said this was.

Anything in terms of proof in writing?

[12:57:37 PM] did you get a price for the shan gorilla? mr ****

[1:35:10 PM] What Nationality are they?

[1:36:56 PM] not thai does that help

[1:37:20 PM] No, but if they're British they pay a lot more...

[1:37:32 PM] really why

[1:38:00 PM] They tear the place down and are always drunk

[1:38:10 PM] or so they seem to think

[1:38:19 PM] let me check

[1:40:29 PM] : Anyway their best price to us today is **** Baht/room/night for British citizens

[1:40:38 PM] and **** Baht for most others

both include breakfast

[1:41:23 PM] cheers i think they will probably be told to stuff it

[1:41:40 PM] ok

And the skype ? obvously names,etc have to be deleted for privacy)

I am certainly not a troll, although I am fat and cuddly. I rarely deal with this hotel and have never stayed there so I have no real bone to pick. It just seemed strange on the day i instructed my booking agent to book a room I was questioned re my clients nationality" before a rate could be given, and then "we Britsh" have to pay 2k more than all and sundry because of the hotels perception. My main concern was in a time when all hotels are having very low occupancy such policies exist, dont they want business?

Lastly The clients are staying in another 5 star hotel elsewhere in Bangkok, I do hope they do not smash anything up

Are we talking Shangri-La Bangkok, that one on the Chao Praya. I used to run Asia-Pac conferences there. Surely it's a businessman's hotel and way too expensive for pillocks.

Or is there some Shangri-la on a soi off walking street?

No its Definitley Shangrila Bangkok on the Chao phraya, at their rates I too am suprised drunken "yobs" of any nationality can afford or more to the point would want to stay there, as its not overly close to any of the the entertainment areas

Although a daily reader I have never posted, however today i feel compelled to do so

I have lived here for 9 years and work in the inbound tourist industry, with full work permit etc

Today a contact wished to book the aforsaid hotel so i contacted my booking agent, the first question I was asked was the nationality (attached is skype conversation)

What Nationality are they?

Not Thai does that help?

No, but if they're British they pay a lot more...

really why?

They tear the place down and are always drunk

or so they seem to think

Anyway their best price to us today is ***** Baht/room/night for British citizens

and **** Baht for most others

both include breakfast

cheers i think they will probably be told to stuff it

Needless to say the British price was 2000 baht more then other nationalities

Why do Thais especially in the touist sector insist on shooting themseves in the feet?

Wouldn't have anything to do with the un-reliability of their normal postal service now, would it?

Normal service down - EMS guaranteed service up?????

I have been a supporter of well improved postal services over the last couple of years, well, I finally caught the little buggers yesterday. A parcel for me and my kids arrived EMS from Australia, Christmas presents a little late from my sister. The sticky flap had been reglued, detectable with close scrutiny. My daughters presents were small and untouched, mine, a book had the wrapping torn along the face of the book. A postal worker has opened the parcel, has left the smaller gifts feeling that they would be cheap kids presents, but he has gone straight to the book........... where he knows......... lots of Thais send money to each other at New Years in the form of cash. He has rifled through the books pages, found nothing, placed the book back in the parcel with torn wrapping, and resealed the parcel. Nothing lost, I for one would have loved to have seen a paint bomb in the book to mark the sly mongrel.

On the other hand, he might have just taken the book "Australian Army Forces SAS" home for reading up on how to be a Navy Seal!!!