OldBoot

http://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/travel-update/434042/thai-ups-baggage-allowance-by-10kg

According to this Bangkok Post article the extra 10kg is only temporary until march

What is a middle aged guy doing with a young teenager?

What you Think he is doing with a young teenager !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Home schooling ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdEGin9RHWM

Interesting piece on passports from CNN

Couple of things I wonder about,

Like others have said the lack of any SOS may indicate catastrophic failure.

But at the same time if an explosion it would create so much debris with plane parts,baggage etc

surely something would be seen floating in the area they seem to be focused.

The other thing I wonder is when leaving a country on a foreign passport don't they

always take your picture? Which would mean they also have photos of the two that used the stolen passports.

I can understand though how they may not be willing to release that info yet.

Depends on where you're travelling from. The US has no official passport check when leaving the country nor does Canada. Your passport is only checked by check-in staff and of course the authorities have access to the passenger lists and probably run them through some sort of check. But there is no physical immigration officer checking your documents when leaving.

In Europe its pretty much a joke. Most airlines that fly between 2 Schengen countries perform no document check at all nor is there any immigration check. Open borders agreement <deleted>. So a passenger can do online check-in or kiosk check-in, go through security (no document check here either) and board the aircraft without showing or even holding any documents. Even if you check bags there is often no ID check. Your bag is of course screened. So many european airlines have absolutely no idea who is flying on their aircraft.

Even on routes where you need to go through an immigration check fraud is rampant. Immigration and airline staff do stop lots of fraudsters (imposters and fraudulent documents), but mainy make it through.

"Just heard about this casual ride up to the summit,"

For most of the participants it's an accomplishment just to finish, but for some it's very much a race.

Sarcasm doesn't come through very well on the web. I'm not too confident I'll be able to finish either

I'm sure the hardcore folks just ride to the park from CM, but how do most people from CM get down there with their bikes? Were there a good number of songtaews going back and forth in past years?

I noted the sarcasm but wanted others to know that many of the participants aren't really racing. For the majority of the riders it really is just the accomplishment of finishing.

I only know of one rider who rode down to the race. Everyone else either charters a songthiew or finds friends with a car or truck.

Is it possible to spend the night in Chom Tong or nearby ?

Lumphini does in fact have markers at regular intervals on the asphalt path that goes around the permiter of the park. It's a good place to run but the problem for the type of distances that your talking about is that you're apt to find it monotonous to make so many laps around such a small park. It does have the advantage that you can't get lost though.

One thing that you might want to consider it you're concerned about tracking your distance would be to get on of those Garmin GPS watches. They solve the lack of distance markers problem quite nicely. I find that the distances measured by the Garmin agree quite closely to what I get when I measure courses with the cyclometer on my bicycle.

Thanks for the update on Lumpini! I do have a Garmin, but it's back in the States right now and I won't get it until March, and I've got some long runs I have to do before a race in March. I'll definitely be bringing it back. Not looking forward to doing a bunch of laps around a 3.2K loop!

Check out these guys for routes..

http://www.bangkokmondayhhh.com/

I was there last year - and it was great. It is on 14th of Feb this year and I am planning on going down there from CM.

How do you sign up ? Where exactly is the start ? What time ?

Visiting CM for a few weeks and would love to join in.

Any tips on where I can rent a good high quality Mtb in CM ?

Prefer a western brand, not the chinese stuff

I get coached twice a week fo a couple of hours at the 700 year stadium and pay the guy 120 baht per hour, the court is another 40 baht per hour for members and 60 baht per hour for non members.

Cheers.

Sounds great. How do I get in touch with these guys ? Should I just show up at the courts and hope theirs a hitter/coach hanging out ? Or doe ssomeone have a specific contact ?

The Gymkhana has 2 courts that are busy most evenings, but not busy in the morning. The guy that takes care of the courts (Noy) will knock-up for about 100 baht an hour. The 700yr stadium has many courts and I'm sure someone there would coach or knock-up for a similar fee. I'm not familiar wirth the set-up at other places but threr are 4 courts (I think) at Chiang Mai land. Courts also near the back of Muang Mai market (Nawarat courts). Chiang Mai university has courts open to the general public too.

Thanks for the info. Will check out the Gymkhana and 700 yr stadium.

Found an academy north of CM called Prem. Any idea what that place is like ?

Most people pay for a knocker - about 100 baht an hour.

Do you have any tips on how to go about finding a knocker to hit with ? Where to play ?

Do you know if it's possible to rent equipment at Soi Klang ? Squash racquets ?

I'll be in Bangkok for about 10 days from september 3 and plan on checking out the

Soi Klang club and hope to play some tennis.

Is it possible to find someone to hit some tennis balls with at the club ?

I"m currently working out at Pyramid Tennis Academy ot far fro Pra Kanong BTS. The academy director speaks English and went to school in the U.S. I believe but the coaches don't seem to speak much. But you could call there too just to see 02-391-0563

Any idea what they charge for lessons an adult at Pyramid ? Is it easy to find hitters at the club ? Looks like they have some nice courts and lots of them.

Considering taking some tennis at Bangkok Patana tennis academy.

Just wondering if anyone has any info on this place.

Coaching any good ?

Mostly kids there or are their plenty of adults training/taking lessons ?

Any other places in Bangkok (or Thailand) that offer reasonably priced tennis lessons

that you can recommend ?