lifemagic

Also, for an idea of the price, just go to Amazon.co.uk, put the model number and powerjack, they're almost certainly for sale. In Thailand, a genuine part should be about the same and a fake a bit less, though good luck in knowing the difference.

I can give you the following advice after breaking the Asus cord for my eeepc, and now have a working replacement.

One, write down the serial number of the main equipment the cord is for plus the cord itself if it has one, model no etc. Then go to Fortune Tower, the official Asus place is in the basement. Take a number from the counter when you walk in, then wait for ages. The woman speaks English and is OK (not brilliant). She will enter the model number in the computer. It will spit out the exact name of the part you need. If there's a genuine replacement in BK, they can have it sent over and you pick it up later, if not, they will tell you how long it will take from Taiwan. The main thing is, you'll get some idea then of the price of a genuine replacement. This is what I did and the price I was quoted was about the same as it would have cost UK. (about twelve quid).

Next, go up to the third floor and look for a repairing place called PRO CORNER. On the window, it says 'English spoken' or something. The guy looked at my broken cord and quoted 300 if he can fix it. I left it for an hour, when I went back, there was a new cord but he said it was shorted and couldn't get it to work, and so no charge. But it was nice of him as I had no computer to test it and he could have just lied. So, he seems honest enough and worth a go perhaps.

If this doesn't work, then there is a battery and cord replacement specialist. It's right up this isolated alley in fortune (on the opposite side from IT city but I can't remember , can't remember the floor or whatever, but they did have the (uncommon) lead and battery I was looking for. It would basically be a matter of walking round with the cord and asking every place you see selling batteries. It wasn't a little stall, it was a proper shop.

I ended up buying a replacement in Panthip. The guy swears it's genuine but I think it's fake. I paid 500, a couple of quid less than the original would have been and so far I'm OK. I got it from here: www.lp-storeonline.com, he had all sorts of leads and batteries. I think he's a bit dodgy though. Like, on the receipt, he put the wrong model on (noticed afterwards, now couldn't take it back). It was actually the official asus repairer who put me onto him, but she warned it's all fake stuff. I went there twice and the quoted prices were different each time. The price of a battery dropped by about 400, so haggle like hell if you go there. Also, try it out (obviously) first (he's got adapters on the counter), then go to the very top floor and buy a power-breaker thing. I got one for just over two quid but if the power surges, it physically pushes the plug in two pieces to break the connection (happened twice already).

There's another place in Panthip specialising in leads and batteries: http://www.cyberbatt.com/notebook-th/. The woman I spoke to there had good English, the prices were as cheap as they got in Panthip and they're listed on the website, which is nice. It's called cyber batt but they had quite a few leads in the back.

Good luck.

OK, went to big C. They opened one up for me. It's an 800mah. They said they don't sell batteries, but directed me to JMart, who said 299 for a spare. Not too bad really.

Yesterday, I was assuming talk time would consume about the same power as mp3, though not sure if that's actually the case.

Thank you, these are great answers! Of course, check the price of a spare battery where I buy it. Why didn't I even think of that.

But the estimated time on an 800mah, is 1560 or something, if that's minutes, it's 26 hours. Even if that was a generous estimate, it ain't bad. Thanks for the link.

Not sure your definition of a 'snack'. I make up mashed potato with boiling water, you know, the instant stuff. I get it in Big C and put a small tin of sweetcorn in and it's about 250 cals for a small bowl, which is quite a lot of food.

Also, I get the imported crackers with no sugar, and have one packet with a instant soup, like mushroom cheese, and that's about 250 cals.

When I wake up, I have a carrot. Not sure if you can handle something like that, I put a bit of mustard on it and I'm not hungry until mid afternoon.

Watermelon slices precut in the supermarket are quite nice.

Is this the kind of thing you meant by snack? If you meant the kind of thing you could just jump in 7-11 on the fly then I don't really know, though they do have little packets of two boiled eggs that might be 120 cals together as they're quite small.

I've bust my mp3 player now, and thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and get the Nokia 101, just 999 in BigC with MP3 player. I'm not sure what kind of battery it comes with. I heard rumours it's +1000 mah in Europe but the cheap Asian version has an 800 mah. Question is, how much juice does just playing music use, how many hours on one charge do you think?

I was thinking, knowing Thailand, that 'sugar-free' could just mean no cane sugar or something, but there's still glucose or some other form?

Just to say I got it, on the third floor. 500 in the end, and a very convincing fake. I got a power surge thingy in IT city before I used it and so far, it's going OK. I'll post again if anything explodes.

I'm completely nicotine-free for six months and also calorie counting, though for some reason, I never thought to count calories in my sugar-free gum. I buy the white tubs of wrigleys 'Extra, white' and eat about fifteen or so a day (maybe twenty). Apart from that I eat about 1800 calories a day, am male, weigh 83kg approx (depending on where I put my feet on the scale).

The label on this gum, in Thai, has the numerals 2, then 2.8, then 20, with Thai writing inbetween, I'm guessing it's saying 10 calories a piece? I mean, it's supposed to be sugar free, but the one they sell in UK seems to be a different product.

Does anyone know the exact count? Is there a better brand, calorie-wise? I like gum rather than sweets that dissolve, and I don't like spearmint/peppermint/fruits but like the strong mint/ice/white/sharp type things.

Thanks for any input.

OK, I'm off to take my chances tomorrow!

Get a metrobank debit card. I withdraw over the counter/aeon and I pay no charges at all, no 150 and no UK-side charges. I get about 48b to the quid.

I went to fortune yesterday, and asked pro corner to repair my cord. It took an hour and when I went back they'd put a new, unfrayed lead on but said when they tested it it shorted and now it can't be repaired. Get a new one.

There's another battery place in Fortune, 600 for the charger, and 1700 for a 4400mah battery.

That was yesterday. Today I went all over Panthip and found another three or so. There's one on the ground floor called cyberbatt. 1750 for 4400mah or 6600mah for 1950. I just looked at their website and the prices I was quoted over the counter are the same: http://www.cyberbatt.com/notebook-en/product.php?q=701&x=0&y=0. That makes me feel quite confident in a way.

The only thing is, all you fine people are saying copies should cost less, and this price is more than UK.

Yeah, I guess that's logic. It's knowing what is and isn't fake though. I'll try and hugely haggle the battery down, but I need the adapter at least or it won't work.

Anyway, off to fortune later today, I'll see if that's any better.

I've frayed the cord for my much loved eeepc 7014g. I went to the service centre in fortune and she said a new one from Taiwan will be 670 baht and take two weeks.

Today I went to the third floor service centre in Panthip. She said three weeks, but if I don't mind fake parts, then there's a shop over there. I went over. He pulled out an adapter that looks very, very similar to mine, except it has four visible screws not one recessed, and the identical Asus sticker is inverted (to how mine is). This adapter says: input 100-240v 50/60hz 680mah. Output 9.5v === 2.5a medel Ao59930. He wants 700.

He also showed me a battery, it looks like mine but bigger, and says 6600mah 7.4v. Serial 07G016101875p Li-ion battery pack A23-700.

He wants 700 for the adapter, and 1900 for the battery. The business card says 'Laptop parts' Ekkaphol Chanuwanjana. Pantip Plaza (Water GAte) 3rd. room 3110/2 (Cyber.com2). www.lp-storeonline.com.

So, I went to a shop I know in the basement, asked about an adapter. He had a generic one that might fit (didn't have the netbook with me), and it would be 700.

I looked on Amazon and generic adapters start at about ten quid (cheaper) but genuine Asus is about fifteen quid (about the same as Pantip if it's a genuine one (yes, I know that's not likely)). Batteries on Amazon are about thirty quid for 10000 mah, with warranty, so Panthip is quite a bit more expensive.

I'll try and pop over to Fortune tomorrow to see if there's a better deal. The question is, are fake parts meant to be a lot cheaper, or it's the same manufacturer without the mark up? Should I haggle? Is there any point haggling if he's got the only one? *Has* he got the only one?

Thanks for any answer/advice.

Great news. Where did you use? The plug/socket on my 701-4g frayed. I went to the official service centre in Fortune Basement and a new one is 650, which might be about right as they're that much on Amazon. I might ask them about a battery also.

We're just sorting this out now. I've put these options to her, eg. team viewer, and am waiting to see what she feels comformtable with.

Thanks for these replies, though they complicate things. There are a LOT of posts on these forums, that Thai customs target anything couriered. Bog standard might work for me as the disc is of no value.

Brilliant, thank you. I'm five minutes away from Vogue (didn't even know it had a basement). I'll go and ask them.

In my experience, AA are very good about responding to tweets. Is that an option?

A visa is the way to go. I just did that myself, then flew in and asked for a visa waiver, i.e. didn't use the tourist visa, so I got 30 days, then 60.

I can't understand people saying they were the same price as everyone else.

I have commitments in UK so flew twice to stanstead with them and booked about 10 months in advance. I paid 130.00 gbp, plus another 20 for extras and it cost about 30 in fares to get to KL (as I know how to do the trip). So in total it was still half the price of other airlines. The seats etc. were the same, just no tv or progress map. Arriving in Stanstead, I'd sleep in section K for the night, saving 50.00 in hotels, and was laughing.

Now I've got to go back in October, and it will be harder. But isn't there a new airline in Singapore taking the route over, in April, called scoot or something? That's what I heard.

OK, I'm in Krabi Town for a few weeks. I need to receive a software cd for a course I'm doing. My neice will send it from the UK. I've searched the forum here for advice, which seems to be: avoid Bangkok and avoid couriers.

So I'm going to have it sent to post restante here. There are two ways it can be sent.

1 - Royal Mail 'Airsure' service, 'from 5.98'

2 - International signed for service, Airmail postage plus 4.95.

Is one better than the other? Any issues with post restante here? If it's marked as a 'gift', reckon they'll tax it? It's from Open University, so will likely be a proper printed thing.

I'm in Krabi town for a couple of weeks. The cord on my netbook (eeepc 701) is frayed near the plug. I kept self-repairing but it's finally too much. Is there some repairer who can sort it for me? It's a proprietry plug and the fray is near the plug itself, plus another one halfway down the cord, so it's going to have to be opened up.

Thanks for any recommendation.

It's not clear what constitutes a 'resident' either. I had trouble once going back and trying to claim benefit as I hadn't retained any UK links. But now I'm registered with a UK doctor, belong to this spiritual group I joined, have a library card etc. etc. This is where I slipped up last time, I couldn't show any evidence that I intended to return.

I stayed away for years, Llyods closed my accounts and when I tried to open some, it wouldn't work, I couldn't pass electronic checks.

Then I started using my niece's UK address (with her consent). This (going on the electoral register) involved me going to the town hall, filling a form in, and sending it back. Then a form went out for my niece to sign and confirm the names of the people resident there.

TIP: remember the date you went on the register. When you open accounts, it will ask how long you've been there, and if your answer is wildly out, then it raises red flags.

Once you're on, it takes a while to 'get on the the systems', but once I did this, then I opened up a load of accounts. One building society just did the electronic check and didn't even want my physical ID. I think the reasoning with the banks is, if you're on the electoral register, then they're covered.

So, go on that as soon as possible. I've opened I think five accounts now, and no one asked me for a utility bill, just Driving L. plus being one the electoral register was enough. Also, banks don't all use the same criteria, just one refused me, so if one says no, ask others (but I think lots of failed attempts at opening is recorded somewhere... so don't go mad).