simey

You are not the first or last, but any major city in the world has the same problems. I lived in Amsterdam for a while, and watched guys with their hands in tourists pockets on the tram knowing that very little would happen to them even if they got caught.

Something I did there and do here when I'm out, mentioned before, is to restrict the amount of money on you, leave your wallet behind, and spread the cash over a couple pockets. It's easier to walk out of the bar having lost the 1000 baht in your front pocket than be carried out 10k down and bruised. You think the principle is important, your safety should be number one priority, everything else is lower.

Hi,

Due to a miscalculation, I will have to overstay for 1 day next month before taking my flight out to NZ. I spend a lot of time here, although I'm not retired or old enough, and have never overstayed before. So assuming I turn up to the airport (at Samui), apologise and pay my fine, will this affect any future touist visa/entry permits I might have?

I've got a MUTT - commonly referred to as a baby hummer, the jeep that was used in Vietnam. Still with original engine, gearbox, M151A1 body and A2 windshield. All this cost me 350k and I had to go over to Phuket to get it, but it's a fun drive even though the steering wheel is on the left. There is a willys high-hood jeep at the auto shop between Maenam and Bhoput parked in the driveway, not sure of the price. There is also another as you go down the big hill towards Nathon on the left, again no price indicated.

Most have the engines replaced and the steering gear moced over, I wanted something more original. As regards servicing, it's very cheap as the things are made to be serviced in the field and are very tough. However they need regular (every month) checkups - so far mine has had to have the clutch adjusted, oil replaced, now a short circuit has killed one of the batteries, but thats part of the fun.

PM me if you want to know more about it or the others I looked at before I bought this one.

Every year it rains a lot at this time, every year we (residents) look surprised at the amount of water and watch the roads crumble. Then the rain stops, they fix the roads, and everything is normal again until next year. Remeber that a flooded road in Chaweng does not have the same huge impact it has in the UK, for example, where the following insurance claims have an effect for years. People on Samui are more resilient, there is a road opposite the traffic lights in Bhoput that must have 1.5 metres of water and some resourceful Thais with canoes parked at one end offering their services as taxis to the other end!

I've lived here for 5 years now, this year is a lot of water but it is expected to ease off over the next couple days, today it's merely light rain. Buy some cheap shorts and sandals from Tesco or Big C, and experience walking in a foot of water when it you don't have to worry about wet jeans and shoes.

Windows associates file extensions with programs, so .xls is connected to xcel, .doc is connected to word. You can see from your screen grab that windows is associating .doc files (should be word) with notepad, and it cannot associate .xls with anything (and so shows them as xls type files).

You need to open control panel and select the Folder Options menu, then the File Types tab. This is where you assign the relationship between file extensions and programs. You will need to add a new assign for extension type .xls and assign that to excel. For types .doc there should already be an entry in this list that assigns it to notepad, you need to edit this relationship and change it to word. Then you should be good.

If you can start word/xcel then it seems there is no problem with the installation, but with the assocications. You need to make sure that .xls files are associated with xcel, for example. I'm sure that an option in control panel allows you to set this, but you can also doubleclick to open the .xls file and then when windows asks you which program to use select xcel. Tick the box that says to use this program every time for this type of file and it should be ok.

Took my passport in to Jim last night - you are right, the consulate is not open on Saturday. He assures me that he can get my tourist visa in one day, will be ready by 4 pm today, just cost more of course (around 2000 baht).

Should be ok, it's only a tourist visa and if I drop the stuff off tomorrow morning I'm sure they should be able to get it back by the next day. If not - it's a longer stay in Penang I guess.

Firefly have chanegd their flight times to allow for this - they depart 4 pm from Penang to Samui to allow you time to get your visa. So I should be able to hand in my passport tomorrow morning and get it back on Saturday just before heading to the airport - assuming the embassy is open on Saturday.

Thanks for the offer John, might just give you a bell and see if you fancy a beer.

I'm flying to Penang tonight (Firefly from Samui) to get a tourist visa tomorrow and back on Saturday. Anyone know a good agent that will fetch my passport and pictures from the Traders hotel and handle the visa application for me? Not worried about the cost so much as the trustworthyness.

Well, having solved the booking problem I turned up at the airport in Penang yesterday at 9:30 am, nobody at the desk. I loitered until someone came along and sat behidn the desk, he checked my confirmed and paid ticket, spoke to someone on the phone, then told me the flight was not going today and directed me to the ticketing counter. Went there, the guy told me no flight today, no flight tomorrow, maybe on Thursday and I should come back then. MAYBE! I'm not sitting in Penang waiting to see if firefly decide to go or not. So I asked for a refund (takes up to 3 months, apparently) and had to fly to bkk with airasia then back to Samui.

If you are lucky enough to get there on a day that they fly I'm sure it's an easy solution, but if you are on a fixed timescale (e.g. you need to leave Samui that day for visa reasons) then getting to the airport and being told to come back a few days later might be an issue.

Just booked a one way penang to samui for 22nd may online. I had the same problems reported here using Firefox browser, but it worked first time using IE so maybe there is an issue with the browser compatability - if you have problems try using IE.

I'm using IPstar in Samui, and since yesterday there have been a lot of problems. I'm told the internet shops in Nathon were unable to check flights, my access is a lot slower than usual and sites suc

h as Finnair (www.finnair.com) are blocked. No idea why.

I've had ipstar since June, it was a bit flakey to start with but now seems very reliable (maybe the new satellite helped) and quite often keeps contact when my UBC (tv stations) get lost. Not cheap, but I use it to get access to my production machines in Finland via VPN and have no problems there. skype works but has a delay similar to the old days and landlines. I also have tried FTP and no problems there either, sometimes providers block certain ports or access and that could be a problem.

This happened to me this time last year. I had just arrived to live in LOS.

My bank gave me back all the money within 2 weeks. THank God.

Same thing happened to my dad in January this year. He's not sure where it got skimmed but was used in Malaysia. He too got his money back.

Yeah, it does happen a lot. The interesting thing is Visa don't really seem to be doing much abt it. Not that hard to set up a few dud accounts and try back tracking on statements with people who have done this.

Carl

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Visa and Mastercard (plus defunct Eurocard) have mandated the use of the EMV chips for a while now, but takeup has been slow. Once the ATMs read the chip on the card (and will not be allowed to fall back to the mag stripe) then skimming will be a thing of the past. Shame the banks are so slow with the ATM software to implement.

I have used IPstar for the last month, and use VPN to connect to my mainframe. Other tahn having to kill Zonelabs while negotiating security properties there is no problem at all. I also use Skype (pc to pc) with a small lag but nothing that is worrying.

You can get an extended warranty with the Dell, next business day onsite support. Then call them and let them deal with it.

I've got two Dells, an Inspiron 8600 and an XPS GEN 2. The XPS runs so quickly it's hard to get into the bios settings when it starts up, and is very well made with a sturdy chassis and good sound. Expensive, but a lot of fun and very eye catching with all the LEDs on.

Big Buddha is muc better than the butterfly garden, you got lucky there!

Slightly off subject, but Oz is not as easy as you might think if you are a foreigner. For example, you get a 3 month visa but you have to buy that and will have to do a visa 'run' every 3 months. Work permits are hard to get unless you have a spouse/sponsor. And you cannot buy second-hand properties there as a non resident, you can only buy brand new apartments or houses. Renting is very expensive unless you sign a 6 month lease. Unless the are froma country with a reciprocal medical agreement you will not be covered by medicare.

This is a 'window' that lots of ATMs have, but happens a lot with small dial-up ATMs. The machine asks for authorisation from your bank, which is given. Unfortunately the ATM loses the communication with it's host when the reply is sent back to it, and the authorisation reply gets lost. So the host thinks the money was paid, the ATM gave up and dropped it. It happens all over, I had it happen to me in the south of England. Luckily it's eas to investigate, the branch will check the journal roll at the back of the ATM which shows the transaction as incomplete. In my case my bank (First Direct) reversed the transaction as soon as I called them wit no questions asked.

But with only 2.5 mill in their pocket, they won't get a lot. that much doesn't even buy a good piece of land these days. best to try some websites first, get a feel for the prices and then look shocked.

It's total, not per bag. Would not be a lot of point having a weight restriction per bag! When she checks in they may give her a freebie of a couple kilos, but that kind of excess will cost a lot of money. Might be cheaper to dump it, cargo it, or upgrade her to business class and get the higher limit.

In thailand almost anything is possible, and the chance that the guy you rent the jeep from would know the difference between a driving licence and a diving licence (before you scorn I used that trick to get a mobile phone in Bahrain) is low. The problem comes if you have an accident, but then it will be your fault anyway.

And tripper, do me a favour. If you want to quote one of my favourite authors, please spell his name correctly!

Well, it seems I can either take the advice of my US educated Thai lawyer, or that of a two year old web site with no official backing that does not know how big a rai of land is. I think I'll stick to my lawyer, thanks.

The important extract of all these posts - keep your head down. Same goes for working in any country, in any area. And think about it, if you live in thailand bringing money in and spending it every month there will not be much of an impetus to make you leave, basically you are a long term tourist and that is money in the bank for thais. As far as they are concerned you won the lottery/got an inheritence/whatever, and just let them beleive that.

But make sure you are careful who you tell, bragging down the bar about how much your dollars are worth might get somebody upset and you need to keep a low profile.