petedk

Looking increasingly likely that tempers are becoming more frayed and the sticks and empty water bottles might be replaced with heavier weapons soon.

Someone mentioned that 4 people had lost legs ... I am not an expert in the use of tear gas to disperse crowds, but I have not heard of people losing legs before.

I don't think even neutral Thais who couldn't care less, can have much confidence in Wongsawat at the current time when the police are using random tactics and he is largely hiding in the background. Who would want to be in his shoes, if it were not for the baht and status afforded when in a position of corrupt political power. Puppet ... muppet.

Probably because those overturned police vans and coach are going to get torched.

Taken from The Nation:

Two protesters lose their leg in latest clash with police

Two anti-government protesters lost their leg during a fresh clash with police in front of Metropolitan Police Bureau on Tuesday evening.

The loss of the legs came as police threw home-made explosives onto the protesters.

Too late. You have to get the VAT refund form from the shop where you purchased the items, on the day of purchase.

Loxinfo has been very slow the last couple of days.

Strangely enough if I use their speed test I get a reading of 1811.1536 kbps but using Speedtest.net I get absolutely nothing (not even a ping) when I try to connect to Bangkok and only 549 kbps when connecting to USA servers.

There are many websites I haven't been able to open today.

I've noticed people munching through grapes almost by the bunch in Tesco, "trying the produce".

None of the staff seem to bat an eyelid.

Yes, this often amazes me in supermarkets in general. I saw some guy just keep eating and eating mangoes. He must have eaten more than a whole one.

I wonder what would happen if I decided to open a can of beer and try that?

you have to install the nokia PC suite. then call your phone service provider and have them send the GPRS settings to your phone. plug in your phone to the computer & use PC suite to connect to the internet- for AIS the access number to dial is *99***1#, and the username and pass are blank.

i also have an E51 by the way and i love it too... although it scratches pretty easily. i would like to download two applications for it if anyone knows where i might find something like this: i want a world clock (that tells time in multiple time zones) and i want a thai translation tool (type in an english word and it tells you the word in thai, but not written in thai as i haven't learned that yet!) ...if anyone knows of tools like that in existence please let me know!

You can have several different times set under the clock function. So far I have 2 European times (London and Copenhagen).

As for the translation tool.... yes I'd love something like that but I don't think it exists.

yes, thanks.

Sorry I didn't see the other thread until now.

Anyone help?

According to the Bangkok Post the Charity Cup is being shown from True Sport 1 but so far nothing.

Anyone know if it's going to be shown or not?

Why would anyone hand over their passports to a bank or any other business for that matter? Surely a photocopy is enough.

Good news for Pattaya!

Are you saying that Phuket bound tourists will find Pattaya a suitable alternative?

'Darling, our romantic holiday to Kata Noi beach has been postponed due to lack of flights but Pattaya is just as good.'

Pure class

Maybe not but there is a letter in Postbag (Bangkok Post) from a tourist who claimed he was on a trip around Asia and had booked a hotel in Phuket but on arriving in Bangkok couldn't get a flight to Phuket. Instead he went to Penang.

This is just one case that gets mentioned. How many others are there that don't get mentioned?

I see playing cards for sale everywhere. Just walk from Morchit Bts to Jatuchak and you'll see 3 or 4 people selling cards. (I think 40 baht a pack)

Many shops (Mom and Pop stores) have them

Just an Irish guy this evening near Sukhumvit 31 claiming his bags, passport, credit cards or whatever had been stolen and he needed money to get back to Ireland. Strangely enough he seemed to have a couple of young Thai girls with him.

My girlfriend couldn't understand that I wouldn't help a fellowman in trouble.

I pass by Las Vegas Luxery Hotel on Sukhumvit 71 between Phetburi Rd and Rama 9 nearly everyday. It looks nice enough and the staff I see when I pass by seem to be in pretty sharp uniforms, the price is 490/night.

Pretty sharp uniforms eh? Wow it must be great!

Never been inside, but looks good from the outside. As far as the uniforms go, who really knows but if they care about the appearance of their staffs uniforms it may mean they care about the rest.

If you want to know for sure, you will have to go and check it out yourself.

Never been inside, but looks good from the outside. As far as the uniforms go, who really knows but if they care about the appearance of their staffs uniforms it may mean they care about the rest.

If you want to know for sure, you will have to go and check it out yourself.

My friend often stays there when in Bangkok. It's Ok. The room is quite small but clean. The only problem is the location. A little far from Skytrain and Sukhumvit Road and the traffic around Ramkhamhaeng Road can be quite heavy to say the least.

He wouldnt pay extra fuel charges, once tickets are booked and paid for, its a done deal.

He should get credit back from TG for diff in miles since he was placed in Economy instead of First. Funny thing is LAX to BKK hasnt been canceled.

Yes, you are right. LAX - BKK hasn't been canceled but they have cut back on flights. Sorry, my mistake.

But they still had to change to EVA and fly back one day later than planned and arrive in Bkk today.

As for fuel surcharge I will have to ask him again but that's what he told me.

No, he couldn't get any compensation for diff. in miles. As mentioned THAI would only pay for a hotel of their choice in LA.

I had an interesting experience this week with EVA Air relating to the higher fuel prices....

I had finished my business on my trip back to the USA, and was considering changing my return flight back to BKK to an earlier date. Normally, the EVA rebooking charge would cost $100, but I would have saved more than that thru savings by avoiding hotel nights here...

However, when I called EVA and found they had an earlier return seat available, they insisted the price for making the change would be $175 -- the normal $100 rebooking charge for an economy ticket, PLUS about $75 more that they argued was the increase in the fuel surcharge since the time of my original ticket purchase some months ago.

I argued with the rep about that, and asked her to check with her supervisor. But the answer came back that to change the date of my return flight, which I had already purchased, they would have to re-issue my ticket...which all along was an E-mail ticket anyway... And in reissuing the ticket, they insisted I'd become responsible for the current higher fuel surcharge....

The $175 added price would have ended up eating away most of my potential hotel savings. So in the end, I decided to just keep my original return flight, and spend a few more days relaxing in L.A. and visiting with friends here.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience lately with trying to change the date of an already purchased ticket/reservation. EVA's interpretation of that came as quite a surprise... and I wasn't going to give them an extra $175....on top of the already expensive RT ticket price...

And,with the way ticket prices are soaring, I may not be making trips back to the USA quite so often as has been my practice the past couple years...

I was going to post this as a separate thread a few days ago but decided against it but now I'll write about it here.

My Thai friend has been a loyal Thai Airways customer for over 20 years and is also a Royal Orchid Gold member. Recently he (and 3 family members) had to travel to LA and were going to fly EVA but decided to use the saved miles from Thai Airways and travel first class non stop Bkk-LA and return LA-BKK. He booked the tickets some time ago.

Last week, just a few days before the flight, Thai Airways contacted him and said that the direct flight from LA to Bkk had been cancelled and they would put him on another airline. They chose EVA and an economy seat AND one day later with no compensation whatsoever. This meant an extra night in USA for 4 people which he would have to pay for and the fact that he'd wasted his miles in upgrading.

Anyway to cut a long story short, after a written complaint and numerous phone calls he was told that Thai would pay for a hotel of their choice in LA (he wanted to spend the extra day somewhere else... sorry I forget where) and that if he wanted more he basically "could sue them". Of course being Thai he just said "mai pen rai" and that was it.

Oh, to keep this on topic... he is still in LA and I am interested to hear whether he had to pay any extra fuel surcharges or not.

Actually I have several other bad experiences with Thai Airways recently but I'm afraid I'll be off topic.

We have had problems with the TOT lines on Thong Lor so tomorrow (Sunday) True are installing a new line for us. Our ISP is Loxinfo who say that we can use either TOT or True lines.

That's expensive.

1500 Baht connection fee and 2400 Baht for the box.

Yes, it's illegal and UBC fine 100.000 Baht if they find out. The choice is yours.

I have another posting under "An Internet Price War" and it seems there are many other threads based along the idea of best ISP, or fastest connection and so on.

I have just been contacted by the technician (mentioned in my other post) about the TOT line we have. It is not good enough for any speed over 1 MB. I contacted TOT about getting a new line put in andthe technician there was very helpful indeed. He knows exactly where I live and he lives quite close to me. He sighed and said something in the line of "Forget about getting any faster speed with TOT lines than the 1 MB". He himself has the same problems.

Ok I contacted TRUE and asked about putting a new line in. Basically they said "Forget it.. we are not interested in putting another line in that area".

So yes everything depends on where you live.

Personally I am fully satisfied with Loxinfo and the connection is pretty stable. I was just hoping to upgrade to 2MB.

How about CSLoxinfo, any changes?

I contacted CSLoxinfo 2 days ago and they do have a promotion at the moment but they are a little "secretive" about it. It was announced at Commart and to some existing subscribers.

I have contacted one of the technicians about this and the reason they are "secretive" is the fact that not all telephone lines are suitable. Apparently one of the worst areas is Sukhumvit from the Chaiyapreuk central on Sukhumvit Soi 65. CSLoxinfo claim that the old TOT lines from this central make upgrading difficult. They also said that 2MB would be unrealistic from this central.

The technician is in daily contact with me at the moment to check the quality of the TOT line. He mentioned that if the TOT line wasn't good enough I could ask TRUE to put in a new line and I could still use CSLoxinfo on the TRUE line.

I have always liked the service from CSLoxinfo and am willing to pay a little more for this service. At the moment I am using 512Kb.

The promotion is:

1MB 599 Baht/month

2Mb 890 Baht/month

I've never seen a UFO here but with all the "aliens" here there must have been some.

One of the problems here is that many people refuse to move inside the carriage. Most people tend to stand near the doors blocking the entrances. I have often seen people wait for the next train when there has been plenty of room inside the carriage. (This also goes for buses and boats)

I mention that it is ONE of the problems. Yes, sometimes the train is absolutely packed and I agree BTS needs to add more carriages in the rush hour.

I've been in some shops where there are 2 or 3 people serving and maybe one of them will walk away but I think that's because they are afraid to speak English. When they hear I can speak Thai they often come back and maybe make a small remark that the farang can speak Thai. I've never experienced anyone refusing to serve me though.

One area I have serious problems though is on certain sois with the motorbike taxis. Some of them absolutely refuse to take me. Others that do take me sometimes get lots of jeering and other remarks from the others. Often something like "Farang! Add 10 baht to the fare". They also get furious when I don't give a "big tip". I really believe that is pure racism but these people are not really worth bothering about. Sometimes I get worked up by it and sometimes I just walk away.

2Mbs + free wifi at hotspots for 899 Baht per month.

I have seen the following offer advertised in the newspaper and am tempted to try it.

At the moment I have Loxinfo 512 Kb for 599 per month. I am really pleased with Loxinfo and their service but they don't seem to be planning any similar offers. I like the idea of 2 Mbs but............ How reliable is True? Am I likely to get good download speeds? Is the connection consistent? If there is one thing I hate it's broken connections or downtimes.

Has anyone tried this yet?

Oh, I live in Bangkok. Sukhumvit area.

Yes, it's happened to me a couple of times on different computers. I never click the save password option.

I've also been to Internet cafes where MSN is open and someone has logged on and just left it open. I always check that MSN is closed before I leave the computer.

The police can't afford stopping people in the middle of the morning traffic, in fact they would do anything not to interrupt traffic flow. Sometimes there's only one policeman at the intersection. If he leaves his post to arrest people with mobile phones, no one will be there to change the lights.

The whole process needs to be automated first. Offending cars shouldn't be stopped, traffic tickets should be send by mail instead.

On the plus side, the buzz about this new law makes people more conscious about using their phones. The goal is to make everyone use hands free, fining people is only one of the methods towards it, maybe not even the most effective.

Wrong. All the lights are automated. The cops just turn off the automation and play "traffic king".

I have 2 of these 'stun guns' bought in Thailand.

One is pretty useless, they both have torches build in, I accidently zapped myself whilst using the torch. It felt the same as household electric shock, not pleasent, but not crippling.

The larger one is capable of knocking out a Tokay lizard for about 10 seconds.

When I used to travel to the US a lot, I saw many 'stun guns' with the prongs much wider apart than the ones here in LOS, and therefore will be much more shocking. They are also far more expensive.

The noise of the sparking puts most stray dogs off of approaching too close, that's probably the only use for them.

Saiyan, where did you get yours from?

Water blaster filled with ammonia .. aim at the eyes .. works great on dogs, not sure about burglars.

Where does one buy ammonia from in Thailand. I've looked for some earlier but couldn't find any.