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I would doubt very much, if any airline would fly a dog as accompanied baggage.

The CAA would refer, and I would guess, stump up or leave behind.

Actually many or perhaps most do accept pets as accompanied baggage but under certain conditions. The pet must be in an approved crate and be kept in the hold.

So if you're organising the trip from Vientiane to Bangkok yourself and Qatar isn't aware of that, then you don't to need to worry about their rule of not accepting your dog from another carrier. For all they know, you could have been in Bangkok the whole time.

It's a similar story with Emirates. Provided you don't mention that you've just flown in from Vientiane, they'll just assume you're a Bangkok resident, or someone on vacation there.

To check in at Emirates or Qatar Airways in Bangkok, you have to import your pet into Thailand, then go through the export process. That requires quite a lot of time (a few weeks at least) and expense for Thai vaccinations and paperwork.

If you don't check in at Emirates or Qatar, you have clearly brought the pet as accompanied baggage via another airline.

I want to bring my dog from Vientiane to Entebbe as accompanied baggage. Although I have organised the paperwork, vaccinations and other items, I am still having problems with airlines. Most airlines will carry a pet but most have restrictions or some very silly quibbles and I have not desire to get stuck with my dog in some place like Dubai with no way of completing my journey.

On the Vientiane to Bangkok leg:

Thai won't currently carry pets from Vientiane to Bangkok because the aircraft is incompatible.

Lao Airways insist on sedating a pet before flying (although there may be a way around that). Some airlines will refuse to take a dog that is sedated and vets are completely against sedation for health reasons.

On the Bangkok to Entebbe route:

Emirates - on their website they say they will not carry a pet longer than 17 hours FOR THE ENTIRE JOURNEY, which presumably includes the Vientiane-Bangkok leg. This makes the journey impossible.

Qatar Airways say on their website that they will not accept a pet in transit from another airline - which I take it to mean that they will not accept my dog from Lao Airways in Bangkok. This is a pity as the journey will be the shortest if I fly Qatar.

Turkish Airways have some issue with the size of crates - this is despite the fact that the size of crates are mandated by international regulations and therefore even a medium-size dog will involve a crate larger than their limit. Besides, to fly with Turkish airlines, the journey will be lengthy.

I have looked at various other options. South Africa Airlines is really expensive and a very long journey with some additional issues that I was not able to clarify. Flying to Vietnam involves even longer journeys and anyway runs into the same kind of nonsense with restrictions of particular airlines.

I am reluctant to fly via an EU airport because of a) being involved in crazy EU bureaucracy and enormous expense and c) very long journey.

If anyone knows of a quick way for me to bring my dog into and out of Thailand so that I can get around the restrictions by checking into Qatar in Bangkok, please let me know.

If anyone knows of some sort of pet hotel system in Dubai or Bangkok to get around the Emirates or Qatar restrictions, please let me know.

I have looked into bringing my dog as cargo. The expense is very enormous (I have received quotations as high as US$7,000!), the bureaucracy in Entebbe is high and expensive - much easier and cheaper to bring my dog into Entebbe as accompanied baggage.

Most young dogs/puppies need attention and this breed needs bones, preferably beef bones. They are chewing for a reason.

Suggestions regarding spraying with chilli water is sensible - if they go after your shoes, some cayenne pepper is even better.

If you don't have time to train them, bring them to a professional dog trainer. They will need to be trained on a lead and learn basic commands. Stick to one language so they don't get confused.

Sometimes the most rewarding dog is the one that has energy and wants to be doing things. Tire them out - bring them for a cycle or a long walk and if you don't have the time to do so, get someone to do it for you.

Always, always feed them last - that makes you and your partner the boss. Otherwise, you are lost. They will be the boss and will own you.

Punishment is easy for this kind of dog - without hitting, just put the misbehaving one into a shed or a room alone (with nothing to chew) for up to 5 minutes. that will work wonders.

Your choice of bike was the right type but the wrong vintage.

For a few years, Honda Futures were manufactured in Japan while Honda was waiting for the factory to be built in Vietnam. Those bikes were fantastic - I was even offered $1,000 by Vietnamese guys for a 5 year old Honda Future back in 2011. Futures that were built in Vietnam did not have the build-quality of the Japanese.

You can put a windscreen on them - while fuel consumption goes up. the rain stays off, as does the dirt and water from the roads.

It was always difficult to ensure that quality parts were being put on the bike - we used to buy the parts new from Honda in Hanoi and then stand over the mechanic while he put them on.

Alternatively, if you want to spend a bit more, a Honda off-road single pot 250cc is a great bike - there are various versions and they used to be hard to find in Vietnam. I had an imported Honda 230cc single pot which was a beaut and ran really well for years. however, it was always hard to get parts, especially brake pads. With the Future, parts were never a problem.

Let me get this straight - you are a foreigner and you take a taxi to the airport knowing that it is going to cost US$13 but you then try it on with the taxi driver by giving him $1.30???? I am surprised that this customer did not get a hiding. I wonder how much "fine" he had to pay to the police?

And he had, if all the details are to be believed, found a taxi driver who was prepared to go by meter in Bangkok?

Being someone from the Indian sub-continent, he would not be aware of the by now mandatory response for anyone who is not white and clean-cut and speaking good English with good communication skills when stopped while walking on a public street by police in the USA: drop to the ground with your hands in the air and shout as loud and you can: "My hands are up - please don't shoot! I am surrendering."

The only surprise about this story is that the cop was fired. Cops have not been arrested or fired even though they have shot and killed unarmed individuals who, for various reasons were not able to respond appropriately (due to mental illness, being high, not understanding what the cops are saying). And if you fit the profile (plenty of other people have documented racial profiling as well as other issues - for instance, looking different, calmly walking around a neighbourhood (as opposed to jogging or driving like a "normal" person) etc.

Will they include other teachers, such as visiting university professors, corporate trainers and technical trainers within companies? Just wondering whether they have thought this one through . . . .

This is not a clever approach by Mr Prayut. The former PM can simply flood his office with tons of written requests for all sorts of trivial things, from "May I call the maid" to "May I go to temple." She could generate a 1,000 a day and the ones that are refused or not replied to can be put on the internet by her supporters. Then if they ban her from putting her requests and the replies on the Internet, the regime will look bad in the eyes of everyone else. All of this would play into the view of Yinluck and her brother as persecuted victims.

Instead of taking on a macho control-freakery approach to someone who is already beaten, he should be magnanimous in his "victory" and simply let her fade from view.

Maybe the police misheard when the guy admitted that he had "hookah for sale."

Only since Snowden do we realise the level of snooping that the USA agencies are engaged in throughout the world.

Leaving aside the civil liberties issues for the moment, has anyone taken on board the fact that the vastness of the data collected is going to prevent any real use as a source of intelligence. Intelligence is found in a number of ways, through following leads, gathering evidence, focusing resources on likely sources of information, keeping data is well-designed databases which are not jambes full of irrelevant data and serendipity, among others.

I think that the jihadists and their supporters are delighted with this broad brush approach as they can hide in plain sight alongside all the other innocent people whose private lives are snooped on. They should stop wasting their time on snooping on everyone and focus on at least the potential bad guys!

If convicted, he won't last long in a Philippine prison once the other prisoners find out what he's in for, and the guards will make sure they do.

Actually I don't know how you base your opinion. Having lived in the country, I would say that the macho culture and politics of the prison would accept that a woman who bit a man on his privates richly deserved her fate. From that point of view, he would probably be fine - there are plenty of girlfriend and wife-killers in prison in Phil.

His longevity in prison will depend on how he plays the politics in the prison, which group he turns out for, how he fits in, whether he obeys the code and a number of other things.

Why is this supposed to be new?

I flew in 2006 from Singapore to Newark in a premium economy seat with the same calf supporters, extra legroom and wider seat. Is it because they are only now deciding to make it available to Aussies?

Sorry to hear that two foreigners were burgled but under what standard could this be considered news?

When there was a rash of burglaries, including my house, it never received any coverage. Why this one? Just curious.

Looks like voters in greece have been duped, The debt will always be there no matter what your lying politicians tell you ,Greece needs to tighten their belts or go bankrupt.

I doubt that very much.

It is the EU and this bailout money that has got Greece into this mess in the first place. As a condition of the bailouts the Troica (EU/IMF/ECB) fly into Athens every month and tell Greece what it has to do..... Effectively, the EU has been running that country since the bailouts. It has dictated every economic policy for the past few years and sucked away Greece's national sovereignty and it has failed miserably.

Since these interferences, the economy have crashed by 25% and youth unemployment has increased to a consistent 50% +.

The Greeks have not been duped Tsipras is not a man to back down... I can assure you of that.

He is taking their country back and he will NOT be taking orders from the troica any more..... They have put Greece in this mess.

When you find yourself out on a limb that you're sawing off yourself it has to be someone else's fault, right?

The EU was doomed from the start. Roughly speaking, the farther North you go the harder working and more responsible people are. It's more than one different culture all trying to agree what cultural norms should be.

The only way that Tsipras can play tough is with his mouth. His pockets are turned inside out and Germany and others have had it with the culture.

The voters were in fact duped. Greece can't keep spending more than it takes in and It looks like it's reached the end of its rope.

PS The smartest thing the UK ever did was to keep the Pound.

In every country, you will hear arguments about the people of the North/South/East/West are harder working than those in the West/East/South/North. And there will be huge regional differences in wealth - SE England in the UK is far wealthier than any city in the north of Engliand. Milan and Southern Italy. Munich versus Ost Friesen. Need I go on. Does this mean that we should split up these countries too?

This is the same thing that happens to expats who live off a single currency. When that currency weakens against the currency of the country where they are resident, their pension/investment return is worth less. Happened to a number of British expats in Spain before the crisis when Sterling depreciated against the Euro.

In your particular case, you say that you and your wife, who has a good job in Thailand, can live on what you have despite the exchange rate turning against you. Assuming that you and your wife are happy together and you can get by, what are you complaining about. Wait for better exchange rates.

Think about the alternative for a moment - you move back to whichever city you came from in Canada where your wife knows nobody, where they are unlikely to recognise her qualifications or skills and will just see her as another immigrant who does not speak English perfectly. Now she does not have a job that fulfils her and is at home all day. She is also without her support network, namely her family and best friends. Throw in 6 months or more per year of dark freezing weather and you can watch your wife get more and more unhappy and that will affect your relationship.

Really, if it isn't broke, don't try to fix it!

No one is telling the forum starter how he can rid his property of snakes.

I am no special expert but I know that a mongoose will ensure that no snakes will stay in your yard. And they are indigenous to Thailand.

But keeping a mongoose as a pet is not so simple - you need not to have cats or other pets and you have to raise it from a young pup.

There is plenty of info on mongoose as pet on Thai Visa, esp on the following sub-forum:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/118075-mongoose-as-a-pet/

If you don't want to go through this process or at least want something for right now, I suggest you talk to the locals about snake abatement. Someone somewhere will have a way of keeping them at bay. They may know how to trap snakes or have something that snakes hate. Or they may be able to rent you a mongoose. You may also want to try to make your property snake-proof through proper fencing.

In some parts of Thailand, snake is a delicacy - you may get someone who sells snakes to snake restaurants who might be willing to trap them for you.

Good luck!

Most of the beggars are in the clutches of mafia gangs who drop them off and pick them up each day skimming their earnings

And no prizes for guessing who the mafia gangs pay off, which is why the system has been running so long. It will indeed be interesting to see whether those street beggars begin to filter back once the army takes it foot off the pedal and focusses on something else.

QUOTE>Do you realize by using the term Zionist, you have shown you are just as much if not more of a bigot? Don't bother to reply, I will just be ignoring your ignorance anyway. QUOTE>

I fail to understand why the use of the term, Zionist (or its derivatives, Zionism etc) could be considered to be bigoted or even pejorative or ignorant. Zionists (see explanation for who they are in the Wikipedia definition, part of which is reproduced below) are proud to describe themselves as such. And even those who are not Jewish by religion or ethnicity can be considered to be Zionist (see reference below to Christian Zionism).

Please educate yourself before accusing persons of being bigots.

Zionism (Hebrew: צִיּוֹנוּת, translit. Tziyonut) is a nationalist and political movement of Jews and Jewish culture that supports the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel (also referred to as Palestine, Canaan or theHoly Land).^[1][2][3][4] Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in central and eastern Europe as a national revival movement, and soon after this most leaders of the movement associated the main goal with creating the desired state in Palestine, then an area controlled by the Ottoman Empire.^[5][6][7] A religious variety of Zionism supports Jews upholding their Jewish identity, opposes the assimilation of Jews into other societies and has advocated the 'return' of Jews to Israel as a means for Jews to be a majority in their own nation, and to be liberated from antisemitic discrimination, exclusion, and persecution that had historically occurred in the diaspora.^[1] Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of Israel and address threats to its continued existence and security. In a less common usage, the term may also refer to non-political, cultural Zionism, founded and represented most prominently by Ahad Ha'am; and political support for the State of Israel by non-Jews, as in Christian Zionism.

.

Do you realize by using the term Zionist, you have shown you are just as much if not more of a bigot? Don't bother to reply, I will just be ignoring your ignorance anyway.

Didn't PM Prayuth yesterday assured everybody who can't escape listening that he doesn't care and that the relationship between the Junta and the US Government is good? Little White lies or fragile ego?

Relationship between Thailand and the USA is and always will be good.

But this man had no right to interfere into Thailand's politics.

Thailand does not interfere with the USA.

To take advantage of Thai hospitality and tolerance was a bad move on behalf of a representative of the USA.

I hope the PM will take notice and avoid any future, dubious visits from any country that pretends they care about democracy but in fact they only show their ignorance on Thailand's political situation.

While I think that it is perfectly fine for a country to comment on anti-democratic policies of other countries, I think that this only holds water if it is done in an even-handed way - so, not one policy for the hereditary dictatorship in Saudi Arabia that is the main source of revenue for terrorism abroad and a different policy for Thailand, a country that appears to have temporarily deviated from at least an attempt at democracy albeit a venial one.

If you want to be certain, just book the cheapest flight on the web from any airport carrying international flights in Thailand to any country nearby - e.g. Air Asia or any low cost airline - you can have a ticket from Udon if they fly to Phnom Penh. Or a ticket to Myanmar.

Even when I was resident in Manila with proof of residency, the airlines would not accept it and I had to buy a cheap ticket from some unknown city in South Philippines to some other never-heard-of place in Indonesia so as to get on the plane. Some tickets you can get credit or refund but most do not - therefore go for the cheapest and eat the cost.

I do wonder whether the writer intended the double-entendre - they are going to give Prince Philip a Knighthood "for his long history of service down under!"

But seriously folks, can we list the services rendered to Australia by the prince? Oh, sorry, that was the second joke! How stupid of me!