KED

I live in Thailand but have only met a few Australians - but everytime I visit Bali, Indonesia - Australians are about 80-85% of the foreigners I meet - I am surprised that there aren't more Australian deaths in Indonesia as compared to Thailand (not referring to the Bali Blast either).

I live in Bangkok and spend my time across the river near Krung Thonburi bts and along Silom and Langsuan. I would love to find a local Mom and Pop coffeeshop that doesn't load their coffee with sugar or condensed milk - any suggestions?

Without making a judgement about the value of Starbuck's coffee, I am amazed that every branch seems to be filled and with a majority of Thai customers - considering the average salary of a thai citizen and the cost of a coffee or specialty drink - I would think most would avoid - (and there is no free WIFI) .

Lastly, I must agree that if I stumble into any a/c coffeeshop between 3-7 - it is always packed with student groups studying or a tutor and his students. I definitely think that the government should provide more public areas (libraries, community centers) where these people could meet - but I don't think a commercial establishment should have to provide space for these activities.

Taxis....

It always gives I a chuckle when I see all these "businessmen" English Teachers cramming themselves onto the BTS.....

and I always return your chuckle as the BTS speeds past all the taxis stuck in traffic

not impressed with the prices - especially once the "convenience fee" baggage fee etc etc etc are added on

It has to have a bag tag with the final destination on it. Otherwise, it can't be handled at the baggage recheck area. How would they know where to send it? So, OP has to have his bags checked all the way through and that means they need to be tagged here in BKK. If not, he'll have to get his bags on arrival at LAX and head over to the airlines counter to get them checked back in. Right???

I've had this problem several times when I was flying on 2 separate tickets.

Not quite. One of two things will happen:

1) OP gets his bags tagged in BKK through to destination (MCO). He picks his bags up in LAX (all bags regardless of final destination must be claimed at LAX due to passing through Customs at first port of entry in USA.) After clearing customs, he exits, turns right and enters the bagagge recheck area, where he hands over his bags to be passed on to American Airlines. Doesn't need to stand in line to do this; they just look at the bag tag to confirm it is valid, then accept your bags.

2) OP gets his bags tagged in BKK only to LAX. He picks his bags up in LAX, and after clearing customs, he exits, turns right and enters the bagagge recheck area, where he rechecks his bags. They will pull up his reservation, generate baggage tags for MCO, and pass the bags on to American Airlines. Sometimes the line for baggage recheck can be short, sometimes quite long. So the advantage to getting them checked through to destination (in BKK) is that he avoids possibly standing in a long line at LAX to recheck his baggage. He should never need to take the bags himself over to the American Airlines terminal and recheck them there.

American Airlines does not staff international re=check 24/7. They only staff it during peak times and when their international flights arrive. If TG arrives at a non-peak time when American doesn't staff re-check and TG only tags his bags to LAX, then he will indeed have to go to their terminal and may indeed incur a charge.

I am holding a U.S. passport and have traveled by ground into Laos many times; however, this is my first time flying into Laos. Just wanted to make sure that I can get a visa on arrival or do I need to get a visa from the Laos embassy in advance.

Many thanks.

IKEA, Index, you can sometimes find used stuff on Craigslist

I applaud your attempt to combine long-distance travel with discovering new places, but I also agree that this would be costly - you could fly Bangkok to Sri Lanka on AIr Asia if you can find a good fare - but not sure there is an inexpensive way to do this roundtrip - unless price is not a consideration.

Good Luck.

why not just use SKYPE?

The biggest obstacle can be the horrible traffic on the road to CW - but once there, pretty organized, but I still miss the closer (to me) location of Suan Phu

There are too many guns in the U.S.

While Thailand may be more tolerant of LGBT, I don't think that is enough to decide to move to Thailand. I believe your friend will find more support from her friends (and hopefully) her family than with strangers in Thailand - even though there is a large transgendered population in Thailand. While Thai transgendered people are more visible here - the language barrier will be a huge hurdle to overcome for her to feel a part of the community. I think after surgery, there will be enough changes in her life that being faced with a new country and language would only complicate her adjustment.

Best of luck to her in whatever she decides - we all deserve to be happy and loved.

Besides the Golden Triangle and the hillside tribe, Thapae Gate is a very popular place for restaurants and coffeshops...I know that most people living in Thailand have seen many temples...but Chiang Mai really has some great places -- my top 2 are Doi Suthep and Wat Chedi Luang

are you looking for nature / shopping / nightlife / restaurants / - - what holiday events do you like?

Actually, THB 1,999 ++ isn't that great a rate - and this is their special promo. With an abundance of hotel in Bangkok - there are far better deals to be found. I think I would rather stay in a hotel that has more of a Thai flavor than a Holiday Inn - but always good to have options.

I live at Krung Thon Buri and when I go to Swampy, I always take the airport link when possible. For early flights that leave before 0700 then Don Meaung or Swampy doesn't matter. However, during the day - I would pay up to 500-600 baht to fly from Swampy because I can avoid traffic by taking the airport link.

I travel often between Bangkok and Chiang Mai and mostly fly because the fare is so low - but occasionally, I take the train. I have taken the train over 6 times and not once has the train been less than 2 hours late on arrival. I don't have a tight schedule, so the late arrival doesn't affect me, and now I anticipate the delay. However, why doesn't the SRT add more time to their estimated arrival time? I have also taken the train up to Udon Thani and Nong Khai and have also experience late arrival by around two hours.

It seems more realistic that the arrival time should be more reflective of the actual arrival time.

Amazing Thailand that they can build a bullet-train from Bangkok to Chaing Mai in 6 years but they cannot open the BTS extension beyond Wongwian Yai in 10 years !

Last year, I went on a tour of the Hanoi area and took a tour van from Hanoi to Hao Long Bay. The trip there was early in the day, and I found it a white-knuckle ride as we served in traffic the entire way. However, the outbound ride was nothing compared to the night-time return which was ten-fold more harrowing as the van driver played chicken with on-coming traffic of large trucks and buses. I have been to India, Indonesia and traveled in rural Thailand but nothing has been as frightening as Vietnam.

I am really glad that the U.S. embassy quickly replied with a positive solution. In my dealings with them, I have always been satisfies and even impressed with their efficiency and courtesy. My only complaint (which is not specific to the Thailand Embassy) is the outrageous cost of getting additional pages added to an existing passport. I don't mind a reasonable process fee; however, I feel US 80 is exorbitant - the fee should be more like 40 or 50 at the most.

ok, thanks, rant over and I do feel better.

Okay...Here is the update. She has cancer of the duodenum and will be receiving chemo for 2-3 months before they do surgery for a more successful outcome. There is an affected lymphnode that is up against a major artery and they want to remove it at its smallest form. She hopes to have whipple surgery sometime in Aug

Just a little update. I saw my friend off at the airport this morning. She will reach Minneapolis in 24 hours and in two days she has her first meeting with the Mayo Clinic to review the medical history from the Thailand hospital. I will follow up here to see what Mayo says versus what she was advised by Saint Luis Hospital.

All the best.

We did get the images from the CT scan and ultra sound - but nothing from the endoscopy - we just don't know what information the U.S. doctors will need - but we did also get the doctors card with phone and email.

Sheryl,

Yet again your quick response, and detailed information continue to be beyond expectations.

Her parents live in Minnesota and her husband is in Tennessee -

The doctor is back on duty at 7 PM tonight - I will try to call him and see what images we can get to bring to the U.S.

Sheryl, I sent a private message to you thanking you for all your valued and detailed information.

My friends parents and family felt it was better that she fly back to the U.S. immediately and continue whatever care necessary there - even though there will be financial hurdles they felt that since her family would be able to act as caregivers between hospital visits that was the best option.

St Louis Hospital was marvelous and the personalized care of the hospital nurses was unmatched - they were personal and compassionate. The doctors were very professional and knowledgeable; however, we did notice a hesitancy to share much information to base future decisions on.

The only other issues were when trying to get as many of the CT skan, Ultra sound and endoscopy images for the U.S. hospital, we thought the doctor had agreed to give us copies of all the tests; however, when checking-out of the hospital the nurses said that this was not possible. They called the doctor who was then out of the hospital and through some miscommunication he advised the nurses that he had not agreed to this at all. We were allowed to take photos of the images and will contact the doctor later to see what is possible to bring to the new doctors in the U.S.

Finally, the hospital bill was substantially lower than any similar care in a western country and from our perspective there was nothing lacking in her care; however, while the actual stint placement (due to the blocked liver duct) and endoscopy was only 30,000 baht and the CT scan only 1,500 baht, and her anesthesiologist bill was only 7,000 baht - there were three bills listed as Medical Equipment for 49,000 and 32,000 and 29,000 baht. She was in the hospital for 3 days and had IV but the only actual procedure was the endoscopy/stint - we weren't quite clear on these additional Equipment charges which seemed so much more substantial than any of the other billing items.

We had the Thai Human Resources manager speak directly to the billing department but he wasn't able to get much clarification on these items. Not to complain too much since this was a life or death issue, but anyone have any ideas about these listings / charges?