schnazzy

I went to an ATM one night took out 2000 baht, woke up the next morning and my bank account was cleaned out. The ATM had a scanner on it that steals your numbers, turns out there was dozens of victims. Normally my bank refunds the money within 2 weeks but since it was overseas and the transaction looked like it happened at the same time as I went to the ATM it took a lot longer with the bank saying I took it out myself. Believe it or not filing a police report was huge for me. My Visa was about a week from expiring and I was planning to go to extend it 30 days within the days following this. Two problems arose from this, one my bank froze both of my accounts, my checking which I use for travel money and my savings where my paychecks go every 2 weeks. It would have taken a month for my job to change the direct deposit and I had no other bank account to use. As I tried to gather money just to survive on the overstay fees kept adding up. I was staying with my GF and her family who don't have much money to begin with so it kind of just spiraled out of control from there. Eventually the investigation finished and they refunded all my money at which point I bought a plane ticket, paid fine and left the country.

It's definitely not a situation I would ever want to repeat as I got to Thailand a few times a year but I accept responsibility for breaking the Thai law and gladly paid my fine.

Let me start by saying, stuff happens, I get it. The assumption is that you have a US bank account. Skimmers are seemingly rampant in Thailand's tourist area. Be thankful it wasn't a thai bank account or you may not have gotten any money back. How your bank treats you is based on a few factors including the size of the bank and also how good are you as a customer. I am not a rich person but I once wrote a check for $7k on the wrong account. They cleared the check, called me, moved the money, and even removed the fees. Granted, I had that money in a different account. What am I getting at? There are many consumer protection rules with US banks including when they can fund your account. I believe the rule is they have 120 days. This could have changed.

Since I will probably use a skimmed ATM some day even though I am diligent at reviewing new (to me) ATMs and fully cover my hand with the pin (doing it blindly and moving fingers to simulate more than 4 characters. At some point a majority of the skimmers are not going to use cameras to record the pins but do the pin pad replacement you see happening in the US.

Because of that, here are my general rules for banking/atm/etc.

• Fully cover your hand, put in your pin blindly and pretend to put in more numbers in front, in between and at the end.
• For online purchases only use a credit card. Also it is better for you to use CC for buying plane tickets. Don't use a credit card at malls/merchants in Thailand. (sort of off topic)
• Never use an ATM card in Thailand that is your tied to your "Keep" account (old castle reference of where you keep all of the good stuff). Your direct deposits, auto bill payments etc. Should come out of "account number 1". Most banks, having multiple accounts is free and easy.
• Take money out of ATMs using a logo-less ATM card attached ONLY to another account (account number 2). Logo-less means it doesn't have a Visa or mastercard logo. it is a pure atm card.
• For account 2, never have any money in it. I would just use my phone or laptop to do a transfer whenever I needed it. This account does not have any overdraft protection. If the money isn't there, you can't get any out and it won't pull from Account number 1 (you have to explicitly ask for this).
• Why not buy a roundtrip ticket? Depending on how and who you fly with, you may not have change fees. Even if you did, this is usually cheaper than buying 2x 1 way tickets.

So in my situation, the max someone could get from me via a skim operation is 15k baht. They would have to have my ATM card skimmed, the pin and they'd have to attempt it between the ad-hoc time I decide to put money in that account and me walking over to the ATM. This is usually less than an hour or 2.

Overstay - did you ask if they blacklisted you? At Swampy where you pay the fine, you can just ask that question. Assuming you just were led to the picnic tables, you should be fine but if you were detained downstairs you might get hassled. I'd get a visa in advance but not that has no guarantee and really the only way to know is to see if you get rejected at the airport.

I use the chairs and like the overpriced food and drink. not really overpriced but more than at the store. I always have good service and honestly they seem to work harder than most (moving the umbrellas, etc.).

I also think there shouldn't be wall to wall umbrellas. There should be open space between the vendors that is the same size as vendors.

You want more tourists? why not squash the jetski issue, or cleanup the stuff floating in the water (have deckchair operators be required to have a trash can and a water skimmer), or the boat safety (drive too fast, run over swimmers), or the mini-bus driver issues (aggressive, speeding, etc), or the big bus on the highways driving recklessly close to other vehicles. etc.

So I am assuming he was legally allowed to go 120 and he was going 140. Maybe I read something wrong but if that is the case, a fine, and 7 day suspension seems harsh by western standards but being in those vans, I say, this is great! It's not just the speed but many vans have no seatbelts. Those vans are not built like other passenger vehicles with better crumple zones and many airbags. There is also the driving wherever they want (lane straddling) and some strong need to continue to pass people within feet (at speed).

What I'd like to see is govt. officials help with the buses from the airport to chonburi (vip). 10-30 minutes of loud commercials for real-estate are horrible. the video quality sucks it is too long and too loud. I should be paid to be required to watch it I have also been on the bus when the driver or the sidekick has told people to shut up and stop talking. It seems they can be polite in Thai but not English. I guess we have to pay, listen to loud adverts for some company and then cannot talk for 2 hours on the bus. so aggravating I started sharing taxi's for 4x the cost.

I have rarely met a taxi driver that owned his own car. About 20% of those I asked would be at the top end. It makes no difference if they raise the meter rate or not. If they do, then those that really own and then rent them out to the drivers (the ones doing the work all day), will just raise the rent. It's the same as why tipping (at restaurant's etc.) never benefits the majority of staff, but it lines the pockets of the restaurant owners. I digress.

The idle time should probably be increased. Uber, sure, competition should right-size the industry and look what it has done to the medallion prices in America. WOW.

Most of the drivers (vast majority) are really nice. Some have said no to driving me all the way across town at the end of their shift when they have really no way to get another fare and it is the opposite way they are going.

I don't like it but I feel for the guys. I guess in the end, if the rates do go up moderately and they enforce the taxi rules (like you gotta take the fare), it might move some people out of the industry and make it a bit more equitable for the guys at the bottom. maybe...

how did we get on Mac vs PC. Leave the Mac guys alone! (and vice versa). Are comparable parts/performance cheaper with a dell/hp/Lenovo than a Mac? Yes. Does Apple sometimes use better materials for their cases? YES! Does Apple have probably the best design team in end user computing? YES (and for quite a while). Do they have an excellent following dreamed up by Guy and Steve? YES!!

Is a Mac better than a PC or vice versa? that depends. Just on a consumer (not enterprise level) the Macs sure are pretty and perform well too. People like them, they got used to them, the underlying kernel is of quality.

Is a Mac more secure? Theoretically no way to know. The OS for Windows and Mac (today) are quite good. The applications (adobe, IE, Firefox, SSH, etc. are not completely vetted). My old 486dx running dos 6.2 is way less likely to get hacked than a Mac (or Windows). An altair would be even less sol. There is something to be said about marketplace and energy focused on the dominant products.

The reality is that there are 10's of millions of lines of code in an OS and they are developed by some great and not so great (read cheap overworked labor). Add all the new and cool features to market. There will be security holes.

Personally my computer is a calculator to me. I use it to work. Sometimes play (like posting this). It isn't my identity. I could give a isht less if (for PC) it were an HP/Dell/Lenovo. As for Apple, it is a very good thing that they own the hardware too for compatibility reasons but with the HW monopoly, they take a bit more profit which means.... it costs more for similar specs. Apple doesn't make processors or RAM etc. and neither do the PC makers. It's all just a grouping of parts. Some companies use crappy parts and some use better. Apple uses better. Dell/HP in their business line and precision (dell) line do similarly to Apple.

This is an endless topic and zealots from either camp can nit pick this isht to death.

you don't need a random cryptographically secure password.

Don't get me wrong, if that's what you do then great and using keepass or whatever system to store those passwords so you can actually use them, good too. above 12 characters with extended character set is good enough today. I just use made up phrases, with extended character and 14+. Honestly if you need more than this, you need 2-factor. Most break-ins don't happen due to brute forcing the password. It is because one of the following:

exploit in code of the server

finding an unencrypted pw file

spear phishing - add exploit

yes if you use a crappy 5 character password for every site, when one gets hacked ( and you don't know immediately ), then everything you have is exploitable.

different password for each site/system!

change the passwords on a cadence

There is not enough info in the OP post (this could be spoofed emails*) however, here is a list of things that have already been said or are add-ons:

1. get a trusted computer (re-install on yours with good up to date Antivirus/anti-malware software on it BEFORE using any old files)
2. reset or buy a new phone if you get/check email on it.
3. stop using other computers that are untrusted, even a friend's computer.
4. reset all of your passwords, even the ones you just reset. Try to use 1 password for one site/account. If you can't at least use 1 different per email and bank account. (passwords must be 10+ characters and significantly different than each other). in general "c#$@F43w243rtr54" is very impossible to crack brute-force by an average person even with significant compute however it is not nearly as strong as "I love me s0me BBQ" and much harder to remember. (hint it is both the length and the character set). But getting two-factor is even better.
5. know that in a directed attack (which this is), a Mac or PC makes no discernible difference. While the vectors are different, the payload types are the same. (i.e. there are key logging software for both.). Although the actor may not know how to use a Mac effectively, so that might be a plus.

Specific to email:

• Check to your email account settings (yeah usually that GEAR icon). Look for email being forwarded by default or by rule. Check to see how you validate yourself on a password reset (email's another account, secret questions, etc.)
• Stop opening up links and attachments from those that you don't know or from people you know but were not expecting the email with some "funny" attachment that you "must open now.".
• Change all your passwords on a cadence of 90-180 days unless you get notice that you or the web site was hacked, then do it when safe to do so.

Computer:

• Only use Windows 7 or newer for a PC. (Mac 10.8 or better) (why=supported for security updates by MS. XP is not)
• Set your computer to automatically update on Patch Tuesday (for Windows). (why=so you have the latest and greatest but your computer will reboot when sleeping so make sure to save your stuff)
• Make sure you have 1 good quality AV (Microsoft Security Essentials, McAfee, Sophos, etc. it's up to you) but more importantly make sure it is updating daily.
• Make sure you have a firewall software on your computer (Mac) or turn on/leave on Windows Firewall)
• Don't run your computer as Administrator (run under a different account and type in the credentials for the administrator when needed. like when installing software) or at the very least turn on/leave on UAC. (PC)
• Enable screen lock via the screen saver for 15-30 minutes
• Make sure you have to put in credentials to unlock/logon to your computer
• limit your wifi usage, especially that which is not at your home (like starbucks)
• Change your computer admin and normal user accounts every 90-180 days. The password should be long and use multiple types of characters.

I doubt you will do all of this, and therefore I believe this will continue to happen.

BTW the most likely way you are being targeted if "they" do not have physical access to your phone or laptop is by a phishing scam where you get a link in email and you actually click on it. This is the easiest way to get the payload on your computer without physically having access.

*Spoofed emails... You know that I can send you an email from Bill Gates' account right? I can send it from your account or whomever. Most modern day email systems (gmail, Hotmail, yahoo, etc.) will flag the account and put it in the Junk mail of the recipient but there are methods to make it look more legit especially with a spear attack (just 1 or 2 emails to you and not 10,000 to random people). Of all the likely situations since this is the easiest and generally not criminally illegal, this is the way most "my email was hacked" happens but I wanted you to read all the other safeguards first.

I think a lot of people are going to beat up on the OP as 2m baht is not a lot.

Your day-to-day expenses can be cheap, it's the INVENTORY and YEARLY expenses that creep up on you.

People forget these things in their calculations:

refresh of inventory (need a new cell phone every 3 years?, clothes, computer, tv, new-to-you scooter every 5 years, etc)

visa costs... Someone under 50, should figure 45k baht a year for all visa costs (pictures, renewals, border runs, new visas, edu visa, etc)

health insurance cost... you won't buy it and then you break something or are in the hospital for 2 weeks and bam, there goes 50k baht (200k if in a good hospital) this is 10-15k a year at the cheap end for catastrophic.

costs go up! if you are not calculating 3% costs per year. you need to factor that.

if you had 12m in an annuity in the west, you could live off the payments. Something like 45k hath to 60k baht a month. Haven't looked in a while.

but note, this doesn't include inflation. so, in 20 years, the money will feel-like 25k baht

you may also find that if you go to Thailand for any length of time 3+ years, trying to go back into the job market back home might be tough. things change and people rather hire those that are working for someone else and not "laid out on a beach for 3 years. (jealousy or just thinking you are lazy). Also as you age, it is just harder to get a job that pays much more than the minimum. people will hire 24 year olds more than 44 year olds for a variety of reasons (even if it is illegal to discriminate).

Another option if you think, you will "figure something out" and essentially gamble your life savings and your ability to live well in more advanced years, is just "invest" that money in the lotto. Might be a better option kidding aside, save more money, be realistic in your calculations, go on vacation for 3+ months and calculate every baht you spent and be honest. That is your day-to-day expense. Then add up all the THINGS you have and figure out their "lifetime" and their replacement cost.

Nice, so the 6 hours it takes to get both the car and bike license in ChonBuri will what, now take 2 days?

"The Department of Land Transport believes that the new test will bring driving in Thailand to that of international driving standards"

The logic is astounding. Maybe there are other things that might make it better, like the fuzz actually enforcing the laws a bit more evenly, stop or significantly reduce the tea money, have graduated licenses, training in the school systems, harsher penalties for unlicensed, etc.

The cat is out of the bag now, stuffing it back in, would take a certain amount of time and will power.... and both are much more than anyone would admit to. It will take at least a generation.

One of the primary issues is the use of scooters as it seems, certain crowds (mostly male, mostly young), tend to do as they please. LOS isn't really setup for cars so, this will always be an issue.

BTW, I have taken both the motorcycle and car licenses. The host an online "Practice" test which is verbatim to the real test in the drivers license office. The number of questions in the "pool" seems really really low. There was only one different question between the bike and car tests. This was a super simple test with 10 minutes of road sign study. The test is poorly written and at least one question (in English) is wrong. I missed 1 on the first test but I knew I had to take the test again for the car license so I looked at the end of the test for the correct answer... traded my test card for a new one (for the car test) and got 100%.

I saw foreigners not passing. And the officials let them take it a 2nd time. Some didn't pass the 2nd time. I just don't get it. The answers where at the end of the test if you got some wrong.

The 1 hour (current) training for foreigners is a joke. When the officials stop running the system in a way that is setup to check boxes like, "having all the correct paperwork", sooo much paperwork. But when it comes down to the test, it's a joke. Why not spend more time trying to train people and make the tests more thorough with more questions in the pool. This new system will just be more of the same. I know you cant change the culture of acceptance (care more about if you have all the excessive paperwork than if you can at drive safely) in LOS so that is why I don't see much happening.

I have recently used my USA bank (real) visa card at a retailer and a cash advance in a Bangkok Bank branch. No issues. Also, just took a trip and paid for the tickets with thai airline.

In regard to "new regulations"... there have been a series of regs that the US is pushing on foreign banks and leveraging international monetary sanctions that the US can use. This has to do with US citizens and FOREIGN accounts. Meaning, if you have an account with a foreign bank. Not if you go traveling with your USA visa.

it went up a couple months ago, to 180 baht for any foreign ATM card (debit card). AEON may be 150, I haven't checked.

I go online and transfer money from a locked down account to my account I use for International withdrawls. I have a VISA logo'd ATM card for this account.

I go to Bangkok bank with my passport and your VISA logo'd ATM card and get a "cash advance" for about what I need for 3-4 weeks.

Since this is my money, not a real visa card, there is no charge from my bank. Bangkok bank can't charge for VISA cash advances. My foreign bank account does not charge an international transaction fee.

Note, I never leave money in the account that I have an ATM card for. If it is ever stolen, the thieves will be bummed they can't steal more than about 100 baht.

The fee's are only going to go higher. Those that are ok with paying it, perpetuate the problem.

Also, as others have suggested, you can have an investment account etc, and many of those will refund fee's every month.

So I have had it now for about a year and 3 months (give or take). Works like a champ. Starts everytime. Good gas mileage. I now have a wopping 3,800km on it (yeah only 3,800). I have had to put air in the tires 3 times. About once every 4 months. They aren't flat or anything, just a little squishy. I usually only ride by myself but that is more than enough weight on this bike.

Anyway, great bike, good storage, handles well.

1. US Citizen currently working in the US for a US company

2. I may be assigned to my companies Thai office for 1-5 years

3. My pay will be in US dollars deposited into my US bank account.

4. I will be keeping my house in the US

5. I will be in Thailand long enough each year to be considered a Thai resident (more than 180 days)

6. I will only bring into Thailand enough money to live on (rent, food ...)

Some notes, some things repeat what others said. Note I am not a CPA or attorney in any country. This is not tax advice or legal advice just someone on the internet saying something. Having said that, I have personally consulted a Thai tax accountant and Thai lawyer (and paid).

1) as a US citizen you pay tax no matter where you live or where you work. Even while working on the moon. Sucks, I know.

2) you may be eligible for the (publication 54) Earned income Exclusion (of up-to 94k+ per year. Even if you own 1 or more homes (abode) in the US. See a CPA that understands this rule/deduction.

3) if you are assigned to work, or otherwise work for a thai company in Thailand, you need a work permit (and there are regulations on the minimum amount of pay, max foreign employees, and type of work). You will pay taxes in Thailand and in the US for this pay. Note that you should be able to write off the Thai tax you paid, on the IRS forms.

4) you should try to stay outside of the US (including flight days, and us territories) for more than 330 days in a 365 day window so that you MIGHT be able to take advantage of pub 54.

It is my understanding that if you work for a US company (cannot be a thai branch of a US company) and are paid in the US (us bank account in us dollars) AND the work you do is in the US (liberal interpretation is emails, conference calls etc, computer work even done remotely)... and most importantly... you don't bring any of that income into Thailand... you MAY not be required to pay any taxes (although you may have to file a tax form).

It gets pretty sticky based on what you do but I'd get real legal advice and at least try for the Earned Income Exclusion (pub 54).

With the technology available today, they can't put some technology in ATM's to stop this? How is it possible?

With the technology available today, they can't put some technology in ATM's to stop this? How is it possible?

What do you expect from a device/system that was invented in the 60's it has not changed "radically" since then, it has been upgraded within the design confines but so has the Microsoft OS and look at that behemoth heap of shit for an example of electronic evolution gone wrong.!!!

Most of the skimming happens to be from people from the eastern block, Lithuania, Ukraine, etc. The technology is simple. How would you change the technology to fix someone using a video camera to capture your pin and a simple read attached to the outside of the ATM to look OEM?

Most people who use western ATM cards (foreign), can be reimbursed for fraudulent activities like this if reported reasonably soon. There are ways around being a victim like covering your hand when putting in the pin and using a card that you transfer money into shortly before taking it out. Many people do this.

What goes on in Pattaya so far is very very crude. And 5m baht, peanuts. When they can coordinate 700m baht in 14 hours, then ok. (happened 1.5 years ago and similarly a few years before that).

One fix would be to use a smart card (with chip) and encrypt the chip (not normally done). The chip is required to use in an ATM and unique so therefore, very difficult to skim or copy. However, a plastic card with a logo costs a few cents and a smart card is a couple dollars. Couple that with the ATM readers would all have to be swapped out thru the 100's of millions of ATMs around the world.... Probably a cost of $200-500 per ATM. It's cheaper for the western banks to just take the loss. And in Thailand, you usually won't get reimbursed so, no loss at all.

So it is funny to me that a "server" outage caused this issue. A router supervisor module or even a port card etc, but that is a networking device not a SERVER. Could be a "filtering" server that is inline failed I guess. Otherwise most "servers" for a network are not critical to keep things running (having more users authenticate etc could be an issue but not existing connections).

Based on the widespread outage, it must be a major junction point where the issue happened. I am assuming that the network is somewhat normal and using industry standard equipment but who knows. I'd say the issue was more likely a network issue and they didn't have redundant connections. lolz.

But who cares, these are just consumers and TiT. comical.

btw I use 3bb and it has been good for thailand standards (a few outages with a total time of maybe 20 hours over 2 years in 3 major outages and a few 2-20 minute outages) one of the major ones was due to a failed cable connection that went to our building (above ground and on the building property).

BESIDES NEWS STEAKS AND GRILL.

I hear Manhattans is upscale. I'd like midlevel but good steaks. I went to News Steaks and Grill but I walked out (see below if you care). Anyway, just looking for a place with good steaks (I assume imported will be needed). I am used to japanese steakhouses and American (texas) steakhouses and just trying to get the best I can here without paying 1000b for the steak.

*so I went to News Steaks and Grill as it was advertised on tv alot. I walked in and I wanted to either sit by the wall in back (4top) or by the window (4top) and not at either of the 2 (2top) tables (one right by the door and the other by the kitchen) There were maybe 4 or 5 tables with people and this seemed to be about a 20% occupancy. It was 9pm on a Sunday (so I figured, this should not be an issue since they weren't that busy, and it was getting later in the dinner rush). I pointed to the table and the girl asked a thai guy (in thai, "single, can?"), he spoke to me in english and said "cannot, have reservation". So thanked them in thai and I walked out. The steaks looked tastey but alas I went somewhere else. Look, if this was a thai place fine, but these are western prices and western food. In a western place, they would have sat me at a slightly better table than the seemingly add-on tables in the poor locations. Look if I am going to spend over 1000b for a meal for myself, (steak, wine, desert, tip) I hope to be treated a bit better than native place. Can't please everyone, I guess. So, I don't really need to go back there and am looking for some other place.

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I'd suggest checking with Sophon Broadband. Myself and many others I know in Jomtien have it. It's Cable, not ADSL. They provide Fiber-Optic direct from the Internet Gateway in Bangkok.

4 Mb is 690/month if you pay a one-year contract up-front. They have higher speeds if you need it. They frequently have specials with free installation and modem. Additionally, an Ethernet Router is highly advisable. Available from Sophon or TukCom for as little as 1100 Baht.

Their phone is: 038-423-000 -- Their office is on Pattaya Tai.

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"They provide Fiber-Optic direct from the Internet Gateway in Bangkok." ... I am sure that is not exactly what you meant. Or what was implied is not what was meant. There is zero chance this is true logistically. I could bore with the details but I wont except to say, the connection probably goes something like this....

your room (condo) then to the demarc in the building (or if you have a house, then just from your house)

to the POP that is local to your city, or potentially more than one (you get aggregated here into switch and then to a router with everyone else and then that is forwarded)

then to bkk to another POP (point of presence) (potentially a POP or two between depending on the wavelenght and repeaters needed)

then potentially thru many interconnects (just patch junctions no repeaters)

then to the the main data center for your ISP and thru some routers for sure and into some sort of switch to aggregate the nodes up to an outbound router.

then to the govt owned routers/filters

then to "the internet gateway" (there are more than one for thailand).

I'd say a trace route would show at least 5 or 6 hops inside thailand (hops are route points and you'll have multiple layer 2 connections that don't show up).

I think the point you are making is that they claim you will get your bandwidth all the way out of thailand and really, nobody can promise that.

I have 3bb 12mb (had 16mb for a year). I am very happy with it as compared to what I can get for similar prices. I wish the upload was 4mb+ but that might take a while. I get generally teh advertised speed to Los Angeles (speedtest dot net)

Anyone with info on shops in pattaya? Mostly interested in cars (gas/elec) 1/10 or 1/8. etc but open to anything.

(synopsis.... it get wayyy better at sams)

I hope people realise that my review was exact and not missing anything. I could have glossed over funny thai issues that everyone has but I did not. The Taco/Burrito was pretty good so of course, I went the next day. This time I tried the Taco Salad (chicken). It was bigger than I had anticipated as I have seem pictures of taco salads at other mexican places in pattaya and I wasnt impressed enough to order. So I order the taco salad and it was great. crust/shell bowl was imho perfect. I prefer shredded lettuce and this came with salad cut type lettuce which is always how I have had this type of salad before. So, I was pretty hungry so I decided well lets try a beef crunchy taco. It came out fairly quickly and HOLY CRAP!

This was a most excellent beef crisp taco. It had more meat than I would excpect, shredded lettuce, tastey cheese (more later), and the pico tomato salsa-ish stuff. I couldn't believe you could get beef that tasted like this in pattaya. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard but many places struggle. The beef was hot/warm, juicy and had just the right amount of mexian spices.

So then I went back the next day. I had 2 beef/crisp and 1 soft/chicken. The soft taco flour shell was exactly how it should be, soft, warm, slightly maliable. There was a lot more chicken than I would have expected for a 60b item. I devoured the meal with some Tapia (spelling might be wrong) hot sauce.

So then I went back the next day. I had the same thing, the same tastes and the same quality. I asked the waiter to change it so it went beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato and to put 5 splashes of hot sauce on the meat before the cheese. WOW, ok this is just perfect for me and how I normally have tacos. It keeps the beef warm, the cheese gets soft and the lettuce stays cold. At this point I'd say this is close to a Taco Bell Supreme (without sourcream) as it is bigger than a standard taco. Except, (and I like taco bell but like other places better), that Sam's has much tastier meat and the cheese might actually be better as well.

There is something with the cheese. other places struggle with this. I saw in the back that there were huge blocks of what looked like imported cheese. Can't be cheap.

I didn't go today because they are closed on Sunday.

Final notes, no other Thai help issues to be seen and they were easily able to modify my request. As before the staff were friendly and they seemed to be at full staff now. I just don't see beating the taste of some of these items. I am going to try the chips and salsa next.

When I refer to things I am used to with mexican food, I am speaking of fast food mex-american like from little burrito shops in San Diego etc. Not authentic old style, non-tourist restaurants, in inland mexico.

I am hooked.

So I have now eaten at the big 3. Just ate at Sam's. Let me start by saying, I will be going back again.

It actually took me 3 times to find it. They moved a while back and pretty much every place online has the old location accross from the other taco place by the arch. I looked at Sam's website and it has been updated and it was easy to find in jomtien complex right off of Thapraya (it didn't move very far). samsmexican dot com.

Having said that, here was my first experience....

So I sit down and after a minute they guy comes with a menu and waits, as is normal in Thailand. I ask him about the Carne Asada (steak) burrito. Does it have rice? He says no. Does it have beens? He says no. What does it have? He says beef, tomtato and lettuce. Ok, I order that and have them add cheese inside. First, IMHO that is a taco, not a burrito. Taco's can have a soft shell and either be the small tortilias or a larger tortillia to wrap the taco. Taco's have meat, lettuce and tomato and usually cheese. Burritos have meat, rice, beans and no tomatos. Or at least in general. So this was a taco to me and it is exactly what I wanted. The burrito came out by itself with no sides and with the salsa it it the spot.

The table to my left was an old guy that loved his food but then the bill came and he was confused. He then went up and looked at the poster and tried to explain to the waiter that is what he ordered but obviously the bill was different. I don't think it got resolved and they guy paid and left.

The other table had two northern eurpean guys and their thai girlfriends (the girls looked like normal classy girls and not ones for hire). They had ordered the appetizer sampler. One man was upset because he had this before and one of the items or the salsa that comes with it wasn't good before. He stated he had asked the waiter if it came with the unwanted items and the waiter said no that it had been changed. Well, it hadn't. The waiter wipped up some salsa and that seemed to be the issue. So then the dishes came out one at a time. The problem was that two people ordered different enchaladas but the waiter gave didn't remember who got what and then didn't know which was the cheese enchalada and what was not. It was taking so long to explain that not al enchaladas were the same and him going back and forth from the kitchen, that they just started eating whatever. As a final insult, one of the girls had orded I think a soft taco and after just about everyone had finished their food (including me and I ordered way after them), one man asked where his girls' food was. Seems the kitchen forgot to make it.

so I finish my tastey burrito-taco and look at the waiter sitting down doing something. From the amount of concentration on what was in front of him I think he was doing the 4th quarter taxes for a major international company. After about 6 minutes he goes to the bathroom, by this time I stopped waiting for him to look up and see if any customers wanted anything and put a 1000 baht note in my hand somewhat in the air. A couple minutes after getting back from the bathroom, he looked over, I singnaled check-bin and he came over with the bill promptly.

Again, I will definately be going back because the food was tastey, the prices ok, and the proportions were in-line or better than some others. It is also close to where I live.

The service was about what I expect here in Thailand and I think he was just having an off day with farang (demanding) customers. I am pretty easy going finally after years of practice. The location is great for me. The atmosphere as compared to Mikes... well, I like Mikes and their margarittas and take my friends there and they are always amazed that mexican food exists here. I tell them this is the Mexico of Asia, and they laugh. I am going to try the tacos next time at Sam's. It is easy to get to by baht bus or whatever transport, and seems to be a nice clean restaurant.

I think we all know you can't go wrong at Mikes (service, food, drinks) but Sam's is definately for me as well.

as long as some unscrupulous retailers charge 2-4 percent for using a card..even a debit card.. this is the way of the future. surely its not down to consumer education but retailer training

unscrupulous? the credit card companies charge 1-4% in charges for a card run under the logo and about 20-100b for a DEBIT transaction (with pin). while it is against both Visa and MC policies to surcharge credit cards, you can offer a cash discount. so why should I have to take a 2% hit just cause you want to used the visa logo on your debit card (if I am a retailer), drag your lazy arse to the ATM and get me cash! Also, cash is better in that, with a card (even some debit cards), the consumer has extra protection and sometimes including being able to return merchandise. Cash is based on posted policies in the store. 1 of 10 places I go take a card. Soon, it will probably be 1/5 but most girls I know don't even have a logo'd atm card. (aka debit card)

I agree, way overpriced! But, it is the "invisible hand of the marketplace" that determines the price. I was disappointed with the prices and food at CB. I hope the owners change their modus operendi soon. I really want to be able to walk into a place like CB and order Chinese food like I can get at most cities in the USA--not the fancy stuff. I am talking about the "normal" Chinese food that many of us love. Unfortunately, many Chinese dishes require skill to cook them properly. Maybe that requires the hiring of an actual Chinese chef. Allowing a Thai chef to modify Chinese food is a mistake, if that mistake is taking place. Even I can make pork/chicken w/ black bean sauce, but without the authentic ingredients/spices (e.g., fresh ginger, top quality Chinese Sherry and vinegar, to name a few), I can't do it. Here is a string of hints that might lead to success: use authentic ingredients; fresh vegetables (sliced and prepared properly); fresh meats (sliced and prepared properly); stick with Western-Chinese style recipes and never try to change them to fit what Thais think is proper Chinese food; all you can eat lunch buffet (this will bring in a lot of customers who will, later, try the dinner menu); decent prices (nothing more than 150 baht per dish); follow a model, and that model is all over the place in the USA.

your ideas seem sound. but this isn't the west. people here know more than anyone else so they f' with the dishes. fresh food is expensive food and fresh that is of high quality, well forget about it. In large quantites you can get the price down but otherwise... (I mean beef, and certain veggies that aren't grown here.

If this was like the USA, we wouldn't come. The reason the TG exist as they do here and are the way they are (accomodating), is in the same mix as the reason if a place looks like it is doing well, a local will just copy it and put it next door. cause if one place makes 500k baht a month but looks like it is making 1m baht a month, If I build the same thing next door, there will be even more customers of course so I'll make 2m baht.... but for some reason I only make 250k, hmmmm, I don't know why. weird. ;)

having said that, it seems teh owners are from the uk or ireland so you'd think they'd know this stuff. but I have also met tons of people who never owned a successful business back home and they come here and think they can do better than everyone else. but the cards are stacked up more against you here than back home in most cases.

I would certainly like to know where in The UK you would see a Chinese lunch menu for four pounds! With or without soda!

I would certainly like to know where in the USA you can pay for Chinese food with British pounds.

I would have thought the fact I quoted in US dollars would have somehow given the clue I wasnt' talking about the UK. I mean, I used the dollar sign ($), the letters "us" after the number and the word "dollar" . "$10us dollars (300b) is expensive. In the west, a chinese lunch menu is usually about 200b and probably with soda for that price (plus tip)". just teasing you a bit.

USA lunch price for sweet and sour chicken is about $6 and a coke is $1 (this is for a medium to small city that you probably haven't heard of. In LA, SF, NY, it would be more spendy). This would be at a basic/standard chinese restaurant. Not a fancy table cloth place but just a basic place. Dinner price which usually includes a bigger portion and maybe chow mien instead of rice is a couple dollars more. They have Panda Express as well which is like the McDonalds of chinese food although it it is actually pretty good for western style chinese food.

Another example is that in a similar "thai" restaurant (again not the fancy places), you pay about $7 for chicken fried rice and a coke again is about $1. Where here, you can get chicken fried rice for more like $2 and a coke is $1.50. I know where you can get it cheaper and I know where you can get it more expense but these are just examples.

given there isn't much else in the way of chinese food, I'll be going back for the basics (sweet and sour etc.). It would be nice if the breading was crispy and the prices were a bit less and I could pick the side instead of just white rice. beggars, chosers, and whatnot.

for dinner, the price was ok for me but I agree.... $10us dollars (300b) is expensive. In the west, a chinese lunch menu is usually about 200b and probably with soda for that price (plus tip). It seems to owned or managed by some young/middle aged guy(s) that are british or irish. I'd say as a business owner, I'd like to hear what people have to say and I will take it or leave it myself. better to hear stupid ideas and good ideas than none at all.

Again, nice place, I will go back for another dinner sometime. More of a set menu option would be nice. I think if they figured something out with set's or pricing or whatever and added some neon to the outside, they'd definately get even more customers. I doubt they are hurting based on what I saw.