MisterBean

Travel is central to the lives of people who live in or vacation in Thailand, so it's only natural that there be a broad discussion about travel in general here. If it were complaints about the bus service in Chicago it would be one thing, but international flying is definitely on topic and a valuable discussion to the community here.

Try not clicking on topics you don't think fit. It works like a charm.

Air travel is very important to me while in Thailand so I welcome any discussion about it, even with some whining. I could do with less whining about what should and should not be posted, but that's just my opinion. My experience with Emirates flying to THAILAND was poor and they never responded to any emails from me. I have never flown with them since.

pull the HDD from the lappy and stick it an external caddy.

I had a similar problem with my laptop and this is what worked for me. I didn't lose a thing.

Some years back when I was in visa run mode I remember an airline check in clerk gave me a hassle about airline tickets out of Thailand when I was flying from BKK to KL (I had a RT ticket). She was demanding proof that I had an air ticket out of Thailand after I got back to Thailand. Does that kind of BS still happen at BKK?

In any case, no problem from Thai immigration point of view with the unlimited 30 day air entries ...

They seem to be hit or miss on that. I have never been asked for proof of departure by immigration, but as you say the airline check in clerks can be sticky about that sometimes. Checking in earlier this year at the Cebu counter they refused the guy in front of me because he only had a one way ticket, I suppose he could have bought another ticket but he decided to walk away. I always carry the itineraries for all my booked travel, so if they want they can sort through the pile, I always have a flight booked somewhere. With all the deals out there right now it's really hard not to travel around Asia as much as I can while I am here.

Thanks for the info, and thanks for the quick reply.

I read a few pages of posts here, very informative. I don't really see anything that relates to my situation. I got a free double entry 60 day tourist visa in Canada before I left. I used the first when I arrived and I have a trip booked for about a week before it expires. I have another trip booked for about 50 days after the second expires. After that I have three trips booked (flights) about every 30 days until February when I was thinking I would go back to Canada.

Will I be able to get a 30 day Visa on Arrival 3 times in a row after my tourist visa is used up. My trips are to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Cambodia. They are 5-10 day vacations, not in and out same or next day.

I know they used to have the 90/180 day rule but I understand that is gone now, but I would like to know if I will run into any problems trying to do this.

As others have said if you have a bank account you can do it direct from there with no extra fees. I was able to top up my phone in Canada from my SCB account. Then I figured out that Dtac balances are good for one year even if you only add 50baht. I know it's a hassle to change numbers but I had to change my number twice with AIS when the sim expired, once before I got a bank account and once when I forgot to top it up. I have less than 100baht on my phone now and it doesn't expire until next January.

The US is not the only country to check computer contents. Australia caught an airline pilot with porn on his laptop. I read a story about someone having their laptop checked after arriving in Rome from Bangkok. Canada also has the right to examine the contents of your computer.

They can check my laptop if they want, I have several thousand vacation photos and thousands of MP3's, made from the cd's that I own. The only thing I object to is them reading my mail, and looking at my personal financial information, not that there is anything exciting there I just think it's none of their business. I use a U3 sandisk usb key and use gmail with firefox and email my bookmarks and scrapbook pages to myself and then format the U3 drive and overwrite it with music or photos. My laptop has no history of ever signing into any email system, and not much in the way of internet history as I seldom use the browser installed on the laptop. They could probably find a hotel or airline reservation printout with my email address on it, I wonder if they could force me to log into my email for them to examine it?

Looks like Riverside bar has it as well. I say looks since by the time I saw the sign on the wall I was a little drunk, well maybe a big drunk either way, I never asked about it. From the looks of it the OP has found a huge supply as they have not been back since.

I have stayed at the Silver Gold Garden Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel Bangkok a couple of times and find it ok for the money. They will pick you up and drop you off at the airport for free. It is a new hotel and very near to the airport but otherwise in the middle of nowhere. If you do a search for the hotel name you will get a bunch of booking agencies but you will also see they have their own website so you can book right with them for 900 baht a night. I don't know about any promotional pricing, there are cheaper places to stay but the free airport trips make it worth it for me.

I'm flying out on Saturday the 28th, ANA to NRT then Air Canada to YVR then YYZ. I have a free pass that is good for any Maple Leaf lounge in Canada but it expires on the 28th so only good for someone leaving Saturday. You have to be flying Air canada and it has to be a Maple Leaf lounge.

I know a place that sells both light (40-45baht) and dark (60baht) but I'm not telling you. I'll give you a clue though. It's in the city centre.

Good prices at this mystery place, the Drunken Flower was 60 for light and 75 for dark

So I went into my local 7-11 and I said dude where is the beer Lao and he said dude we don't have beer Lao and I said like dude I was told you had beer Lao and he said like dude we don't have beer Lao. So can you dudes tell me which 7-11 have beer Lao cause the dude at my 7-11 says they don't have beer Lao.

I have never seen it at Number 1 bar but they do have it at the Drunken Flower for 60baht a bottle.

I have never noticed "export" shops but will keep an eye out.

I was in Bangkok and happened to see two of these stores at the Ladprao Big C. One was called Export Shop and had the same store design as two of the stores in the malls in Chiang Mai. They did have underwear and some nice shirts but other than that there was nothing that great. I saw some shorts and the price did seem a little steep compared to the stores in CM, I didn't look that close though as I was in a hurry and didn't spend much time in there. The other one was women's clothes and had a different name without export in it.

I only use Firefox and have had no problems reaching any sites

This one is similar to the Roku soundbridge although I am not sure where you get one or the voltage but they get great reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Beach-AudioTr..._pr_product_top

Your post reminded me of this unit and I wanted to try one out, I remembered someone near my home in Cananda selling one for $35. I sent them an email to see if they still have it and I will pick it up if it is still available and let you know how it works.

The rule on visa exempt entries is 15 days by land and 30 days by air. (They probably gave you a wrong stamp, as Loatians always get 30 days).

My mistake, I made the crossing before the new rules came into effect.

Cambodia is easy. Bring a passport size photo (they aren't picky) and US currency. $20 to get the visa $25 to leave at the airport if you fly. If you don't have US they give horrible exchange rates. Laos must dislike Canadians for some reason as they charge the highest visa fee for Canadians. I think I paid $41 which included an extra $1 for arriving in the evening. Again, bring US currency. If you cross overland from Myanmar they will only give 15 days but when I crossed overland from Laos I was given the usual 30 days.

As others have said they do not need to do anything for Thailand for that length of stay, they will be given another 30 days everytime they return.

I have been using a U3 enabled Sandisk thumb drive for a couple of years now, it is capable of running software directly from the thumb drive without installing anything on your pc. I run Firefox, Skype and Open Office directly from it. It doesn't matter which computer I plug it in to whether it be my laptop, home pc, or a public pc, my bookmarks, history and scrapbook (I love this firefox add on) and Skype history go with the drive. I also like the fact that if someone steals, or I lose my laptop there is no personal info on it. Everthing is on the U3 drive and it is password protected. They claim if you forget the password there is no way to recover anything, I am not sure if this is true but it does make me worry a little less if I were to lose it.

which was formerly tied to Rogers Canada.

6) there is NO SUCH THING as an generic unlock code for MOST phones, Unlock codes depend on IMEI (something like the phone serial number and must be calculated, e.g. you would need the proper software for that. Beware of websites advertising "free unlocking tools", most are virus-infested and won't work.

My Nokia was also locked to Rogers. It is about 5 years old and was just sitting in a drawer because I switched to another company in Canada and that phone wasn't compatible, so I decided to bring it here and use it. I hate to see something that still works go to waste. I guess everything now is quad band but this one being "ancient" is only a tri-band phone. I like to have a phone with me even though I don't use it much, I don't carry a watch so I use the phone for that, and I would never dream of using it in a Pub as I would not want to disturb anyone.

I am sure the newer phones are much more complicated and require special software etc, but if you have an older Nokia and google "nokiafree" you can select your model, provider and enter your IMEI (to get this just enter *#06# on the keypad) and it will give you a series of codes to try. The first one on the list unlocked my phone. Granted paying 100 to 500 baht is no big deal, in my case it would have taken me longer to go to a cell phone shop to have it done than it actually took to do it. I should point out that I am no expert when it comes to cell phones and if I had accidently "fried" my phone I would have chalked it up to a learing experience, and I would not have even attempted it if I thought I was in over my head but the whole process did seem rather simple, I only mention this as I would not want someone to blame me if they ruined their phone because the process did work for them as easy as it did for me.

Since I don't use it very much I found that my 1 2 call balance was always expiring long before I could use it up. I woud keep adding 50baht to extend it. I even added to it from Canada through my bank here but forgot one time and when I arrived back here it was expired and I had to buy a new sim and start the process all over again. I mentioned this to a couple of my friends here and they laughed saying that there balance never expires and they constantly have to top up their phones but they do seem to be on their phones quite a bit so I guess everyone's situation is different. The reason I mention all of this is that when I had to buy a Dtac sim for my Canadian phone I found out that with their "happy" plan the balance does not expire for 1 year when you top it up which is much more practical for me. I don't know if all Dtac plans have this feature, but the "happy" plan has made me happy.

Nothing to worry about... new generation sims will work in most phones that are GSM based or Quad band. Most important thing is if your Phone in tied to your provider from the country you are coming from... or it is UNLOCKED... and will accept any sim card.

If your phone is locked... your screwed :-) at least the start.. in most cases you can find a shop to unlock it... except if it is Blackberry... then forget it :-P

I found the unlocking part quite easy. I have a Nokia phone that was locked to a Canadian company. A google search gave me the code and the instructions to unlock the phone. I was very surprised at how easy it was, it only took a few minutes. Like I said though I didn't realize 1 2 call used a different system but the Dtac sim card works like a charm.

The SIM card will work in CNX but make sure the one you buy will work in your phone. You are probably more tech savvy than I am, I was not aware of the frequency differences etc. I brought a phone from home only to find out that it would only work on the Dtac network and I already had a 1 2 call sim card.

I have never found good biscuits and gravy (they use the drippings and bits from frying the sausage to make the gravy), nor have I found grits. I do like like home fries too, as in potatoes fried up with onions and some paprika, but not the deep fried "french fry" kind of home fries. Hash browns are ok too, but not the McDs kind. One place that does have good home fries is the German restaurant in the Grand President on soi 11. The main building has a restaurant with a buffet type breakfast but they also have the building across the soi and the german restaurant is in there. The last time I was there was September I think and it was still 99baht for coffee, oj, toast, eggs, home fries and I think some bacon and a small bowl of corn flakes. For me it was worth it to go just for the home fries.

Just after Huai Kaeo Rd turns into Manee Nopparat Rd (or whichever variation of spelling you like) there are three computer plazas. The third one has a store called GHS, but the "G" is backwards. There is also a sign in the same plaza that says Icon Square and a store in the same place called Hardware House International.

This GHS store has RCA terminal blocks, a 2 pack each with dual L, R and video for 20baht. They also sell switch plate covers (power point covers) and I saw one that would fit. It would require some custom work and maybe more than you want to do but you could go there show them the pieces and ask if they have, or could order anything better. If nothing else you could spend less than 100baht to see if you could make it work.

I use AirAsia quite a bit, never had any problems and never recieved a text from them. I logged into my account and the only thing I can find is something about subscribing to "red alerts" but it looks like they come via email, I actually get those. Maybe if they don't have an email they send them via text.

They have a feedback form http://www.airasia.com/site/my/en/faqDetailsForm.jsp You could try sending several requests to stop sending texts everytime they send one. Type it once, save it then cut and paste it and send them the same message over and over and over again till they get the message.

You can retrieve the password but you have to know the sign in name you used, but I guess if you could remember that then you would have done that already.

If you can find a store with the name "export" in it in Bangkok then check them out. They have several in Chiang Mai, with names like 71 Export and Der Export. Gap, Old Navy, Columbia, Champion, Pierre Cardin. Levis. Ralph Lauren, Wrangler, Cabelas, L L Bean are just some of the names I see. There are lots of what could be designer jeans but I am not that fashionable so I stick with Levis. Shirts from 79baht to 280 baht, I have seen jeans around 380baht and columbia jackets for 1400baht. The problem is that all stores don't have the same inventory and stores in more touristy locations charge double or more for the same items as at other stores. You also have to examine each piece closely, some have obvious defects but there is a lot of stuff that is perfect. I saw a ton of Eddie Bauer stuff at one of the local stores here, many sizes. Some have the tags cut, some don't. Almost all of it is made in Thailand and Cambodia.

I don't know of any in BKK, maybe someone else does. I don't know if you could do it all in one day, as it is always hit or miss when I go to one. I think it would be worth it though if you happened to see one of these stores to go in and have a look.