joebuzzard

Domenic Optical, 3rd fl, Central Bangna. Older fella runs the place. Is very competent with frame repair, new prescriptions, etc. Been using the shop for years.

The Belgian beer thing has been going on for awhile.

Lots of the hipster pubs on Thonglor have various Belgian beers.

Wine Connection was running a Belgian draft beer promotion recently.

They are too sweet or skunky for my taste.

Give me a Guinness, Londoner bitter, Beerlao dark or just plain Beer Chang.

Sent from my HTC One V using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Sad to see the O'Reilly name go. Some old signage is still up, but yeah the name has changed.

But it's still pretty much the same. Still smells like cat urine. And they still have the Beatles cover band on Fridays.

Sent from my HTC One V using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

The best seats are in the back at Paragon IMAX. The seating area is a very shallow space, and even the back row seems too close to the screen to me. Also, the seating area very steeply pitched in order to cram in seats.

Whenever I go, I invariably get some heavy-backed gentleman in front of me whose chair slams into my knees. And I am not a tall person.

Worth noting though, the IMAX Paragon is the only "real" IMAX in Thailand, with the actual IMAX-size screen and aspect ratio that's more squarish-shaped than typical widescreen theaters.

There are IMAX Digital theaters at Major Ratchayothin and Pinklao. They have nice huge auditoriums and comfortable, roomy seating. But they aren't true IMAX screens, being slightly smaller and shorter than Paragon's.

Enjoy Gravity. IMAX 3D at Paragon is the way to go, despite the crummy seating.

And now today no sites will work with the proxy settings, so proxy option is unclicked. And it's back to normal. I love True Internet.

Oh ok, I just remembered the True proxy options, that proxy.trueinternet.co.th port 8080 bit under Internet options connections LAN settings that I used to have to do years ago to reach some sites. And now, magically, those blogspot sites are working again.

Thanks for everyone's help.

Apologies for starting a new thread on a topic that's possibly already been started, but I did a search and found nothing similar after scrolling through several pages of results.

Anyway, I'm using True Internet, and for the past several days it has refused to give me access to any blogspot.com sites.

I'm using a PC, Windows 7. In Chrome, I get the message "Unable to load the webpage because the server sent no data."

I fired up Windows Explorer for the first time in I don't know when and got similar results. I've tried no other browsers like Firefox, Opera, etc., but I figure the results would be the same.

After hooking up my smartphone and accessing the Web through DTAC, I could get to the blogspot sites. There's also no problem when I try to access from the office, on whatever ISP they have there that I guess isn't True.

It's only on True, and, apparently, only me. And I've only noticed it on blogspot. But maybe there are others.

I was hoping the matter would clear up after a couple days, but it hasn't. I'll call True at a more civilized time and try to get some answers.

In the meantime, I welcome constructive suggestions from TV members.

Just jump in a cab and tell the guy to take you to the nearest karaoke. He'll probably know of a place, and may even join you.

0600 is 6 am not 6 pm

Thanks. My mistake. Been living in Thailand too long and now I can't tell time.

Thanks all, for the answers.

Because of the limited hours, operating only 6pm to midnight, I think it's best if I head down to my local immigration office for this precious stamp. I'm usually flying out early mornings or late night, so the service at Suvarnabhumi is of no use to me.

Thanks again.

Is it still possible to get a re-entry permit at Suvarnahumi?

If so, what are the hours of operation?

What is the required paperwork?

Current, first-hand accounts of experiences in the last month or so would be appreciated. Thanks.

Since you experiencing the problem with only SOME region 1 disks, not ALL,

I am inclined to think the problem is with the disks, not the player.

That thought is further re-inforced by the fact that you can play other region disks.

The DVDs in question worked fine on other players, like the Soken I was using before this. But perhaps some discs have more sensitive regional-encoding defenses than others, which from the studio's viewpoint, means they are working just fine.

Never run into this problem before with Thai DVD players. This DiStar DR-9300, bought from Lotus for around 1800 baht, won't play some Region 1 DVDs. Tried Region 2, 4 and some other Region 1, no problem. It's just some Region 1's.

So, looking for a hack code.

Sheesh, I should have just bought a Soken.

Paradise Mall has a Villa Market, though it's pricier than the one on Sukhumvit 33/1. There's also a Burger King in that swanky new mall.

On the other side of Bangna Trad, there's Scoozi pizza joint by the Big C (former Carrefour).

And further down Sri Nakarin, headed toward Paknam, there's a Foodland, open 24 hours, with a Took Lae Dee coffee shop. Nice place to stock up and grab a bite in the wee hours.

Also more karaoke joints and nightclubs along that stretch of road, but mainly cater to the locals.

Beerlao, including Beerlao Dark, is being sold in Bangkok supermarkets, including Villa and Tops.

65 baht a bottle.

Just don't try to buy it at Tops between 2 and 5pm.

I am wary of this deal.

When immigration stopped doing re-entry stamps at Suvarnabhumi awhile back, it was a pain in the butt, but I adapted and made getting a multiple re-entry stamp at my local office part of my routine.

Besides, the "hours" this "office" is open don't work for me with the early flights I ordinarily have to take.

Thanks but no thanks.

Thailand's anti-alcohol laws are so stupid. They only affect and confuse tourists and expats. Thai locals will always find booze whenever they want.

The problem with the "letter of approval" visa-on-arrival scheme is that it exposes your personal information to strangers.

Each day, the companies like MyVietamVisa send a batch of names to the Immigration Department. The department receives dozens of requests from many companies each day. All the names from each company are handled with one letter.

That one letter of approval is sent back to all the people who applied that day, meaning your full name, birthdate, country, passport number and general travel dates are shared with the half dozen or so other strangers who also asked for the letter that day from that company.

Had I known my sensitive personal information was going to be shared with seven or eight strangers, I would not have opted for the visa-on-arrival method.

I would have taken the time to walk my paperwork through the Vietnamese embassy myself.

Getting the visa yourself is a hassle, takes at least two visits and costs more. But is the convenience of the visa-on-arrival deal worth the risk of identity theft?

So be warned: If you use this visa-on-arrival method, you will be sharing your valuable personal information with strangers.

It's time Vietnam streamlined and modernized its immigration processes with a regard for the secure transmission of private information in the age of the Internet.

You can always donate it to Elfe with her many many rescued dogs. I think she certainly can use it.

That occurred to me just after I posted this. It would make for some very happy and healthy rescue dogs.

I have a large bottle of Glyco-Flex III Stage III for joint and connective tissue support in dogs.

It has 120 tablets. I have used two so far.

Thing is, I got the wrong kind for my critter (he prefers the soft chews), and I can't take it back for an exchange or refund.

Hate to see it go to waste.

I wouldn't mind getting a little money out of the deal, but am happy to see it go to anyone with a dog in need who uses the stuff.

PM me if interested.

It's this "Thai cut" prepared by the director that has been released on DVD (no English subtitles), and I suspect this is the version that is floating around on the torrents with the fansubs.

I'd be interested to know if this is true. The version I saw was fairly graphic sexually.

As a side note to fans of Pen-Ek, if you haven't seen it already, you might be interested in Wisit Sasanatieng's Mah Nakorn (Citizen Dog), which is narrated by Pen-EK. I picked up a copy the other day, but haven't watched it as yet. Will report back when I do...

mk

The Thailand edit of Ploy was still pretty explicit for what is customarily seen in Thai films. From what I understand, the transitions from the bartender and maid having their tryst back to the arguing married couple are less severe in the original "erect nipples" edit.

Mah Nakorn: Dissapointing. Visually quite impressive, but a bit too self-consciously quirky and whimsical for my liking... Wouldn't bother with this...

mk

Some people like quirk and whimsy as a change of pace. To each his or her own. Still, I think the metaphor about the tails could have been handled with less abstraction. Citizen Dog (Mah Nakorn) can be mail-ordered from Hong Kong specialty DVD houses, with English subtitles.

Todd alludes to something that has gone unmentioned this entire thread: The Thai theatrical release was censored! Yes, I know you are all shocked, that Thailand would censor a movie.

So the "erect nipples" scenes were cut out of the film and replaced with other footage. It's this "Thai cut" prepared by the director that has been released on DVD (no English subtitles), and I suspect this is the version that is floating around on the torrents with the fansubs.

The original was shown in Cannes, and at the 2007 Bangkok Int'l Film Fest and other film fests around the world.

But as of October 2008, there's still no word of the original cut of Ploy hitting DVD in a territory that might include English subs.

It'll be one of Thailand's many lost films.

The title is usually stated in English as governor, but some media outlets use the term mayor.

Take the bus.

try these 2 phone numbers,

083 928 9096 or 086 950 3930.

these guys have a stall in hway kwang (near the intersection of rachadapisek and lat praw rd )market and deal in secondhand cds dvds etc.

i think they pay about 50 baht per cd.

i may be interested, send me a pm of the artists.

Thank you. That's helpful.

I'll keep you in mind if I do indeed need to sell.