schmutzie

I initially opted to go light for my planned 6 month Thailand stay this year, but if I could find some cheapish

way of having a few boxes shipped over - actually just some much-loved books - I might do that.

Been googling and requested a quote, but if anyone has any recommendations I would love to hear about it.

It would just be a couple of (heavy) boxes from London to Bangkok (or Chiang Mai)

Thanks in advance...But please post here rather than PM me or similar (which inevitably comes across as a bit dodgy).

Just wondering what the various options are and their advantages/disadvantages in terms of cost/time/comfort:

VIP bus from Bangkok- first option that always comes to mind - not sure about travel time or cost? Mo Chit or Ekkamai?

Flights are rumored to be cheap - how cheap and what about adding the cost of taxi's to and from airports at both ends?

Mini Vans - had good experience before going Pattaya -> Bangkok. 2 hours, 300 baht for two people. Very comfy. Anything like this for Chiang Mai?

Trains - never taken a train in thailand, so clueless...Any details welcome

lastminute.com

ebookers.com

expedia.co.uk

cheapflights.com

netflights.com

sta-travel (see below)

dial-a-flight (good for confirming best online deal so you know you got it right, but not sure i'd ever book with them)

cross-check around these and should give you a good idea

you will need to invest 1/2 -> 1 day in checking and then double checking.

also, sometimes tickets a certain flights will become unavailable only to re-appear 30 minutes later,

due to how seats are temporarily held, so be patient. it's quite a dynamic marketplace.

i booked return w/ gulf air via bahrain in july at £389 a couple of weeks ago.

basically pick your deal and then maybe make a few calls to agents and see if they can beat it.

i know some guys in the UK likes certain agents, but i have always found i can do it better and do it faster myself

I am going to Thailand for maybe upto 6 months.

I have an o2 iPhone contract which doesn't expire until next year - didn't realise I would be going to Thailand when I took out the contract.

AFAIK I have two options:

- Drop contract to cheapest monthly rate

- Sell/Give phone and contract to friend

If I had taken out insurance apparently I could've cancelled it after 9 months or something.

Anyway, that's not the point - I like my stupid iPhone and was wondering if there's any clever ways to make use of it in Thailand:

Of course I can unlock it and pay for some True or other Thai contract - but then I'm just leaking money in two places.

What I'm trying to find is some innovative service where I can roam and (even better) use my UK free minutes - but be in Thailand.

I really don't know, but some innovative VOIP service?

If not, then what is a good choice of SIM for iPhone in Thailand? I don't believe that True has achieved WiFi coverage so I'll give that a miss.

Although unfortunately that's what makes the phone interesting.

Actually, maybe I should just get rid of the bloody contract...Sorry bit of a rant.

Asking this in the Chiang Mai subforum you'll get pro-CM responses for the most part. Ask in the Bangkok subforum and you'll probably get the opposite trend in responses.

Good point, thanks...

Thanks for all the encouraging replies. Seems like my girlfriend has the right idea!

My fascination with Bangkok lies exactly in the same points that others, understandably , see as negatives.

I study architecture and the sheer chaos and drive of the place excites me.

At the same time I do find it tiring after a weeks time but I thought that might change if one had a more 'homely' base there.

Also, any friends from back home are likely more interested in seeing BKK - architect friends anyway.

But at the same time, a big ambition is to get my girlfriend set up with a small shop, similar to what she briefly had going in Korat before having to be hospitalised for a month. I really want her to be somewhere she thrives and she's not a big BKK fan.

We're looking into some sort of shop-with-room scenario which seems slightly pricier but manageable. Not sure if I could manage this in BKK.

I have explained to her that I'm happy to go where she wants to go as long as I can have Internet!

Oops..after having posted, have found a lot of new posts addressing this topic and the Thai Consulate in hull website, which seems more straightforward.

Maybe I will go for "Multi Entry Non Imm O Visa" instead...

Planning/hoping to go to Thailand in September and stay with my girlfriend - this time for a good few months rather than the short stays so far.

She wants to go to Chiang Mai because she "loves everything about it" where as I'm probably more inclined to stay in Bangkok because the city fascinates me. Have never been to Chiang Mai.

I was just wondering what people's impressions are of the place - it seems like a cultural center, fairly quiet and sedated...?

I know very little. In theory, I'm not fussed - I just want to bum around a bit until I get bored and then we'll see what happens.

But the plan is to settle somewhere for a bit and I want to cut a good deal on basics like rent, so don't want to go and regret it later.

Anyway, going scouting there in July - just curious in advance and getting my head in "Thai mode"!

I'm 34, Danish but living in UK. I'm planning to go to Thailand in September to spend some time with my Thai girlfriend, as she can not travel easily and I want to see if the relationship can hold.

I have studied some posts and the UK Thai Embassy site, but I'm still a little confused/perplexed:

Primarily, I just want to go there, holiday basically, but may want to take some language classes etc. - but I don't know and don't want to plan to much. I'm assuming 6 months - it might end up being more, it may end up being less, but 6 months is a good start.

Am I correct in assuming that I should apply for one of these (quoting from pinned visa post): 6 month validity, 2 to 4 entry tourist visa

- Presumably I can set the validity date upon application to be from the day I arrive?

- Will then have to apply for an extension after 60 days and then go on a "visa run" after this for another 60 days and then extend that?

And the cost would be the UK visa fee (free at the moment?) plus 2 x extensions ( 2x1900baht=3800baht). That's quite a bit of money to be allowed to stay 6 months! Only ever done one of these long-stays abroad in India, and that was just a few hours at the Indian High Consulate to get that sorted.

BTW, I'm taking a year out from studies and job to go abroad, so cannot provide proof of income etc. when I am there. I will only have whatever savings I have.

So am I right in what I put above or IS THERE A SIMPLER AND WISER OPTION...?

Well done Sheryl, a spot on piece of medical advice.... reading your vital contribution must bring some comfort to the OP...

I am the OP and as I would like to thank Sheryl and others again.

I'm now out of the country again, but my girlfriend has had a CT scan today at her local hospital in Korat. I have asked that she make sure she gets a copy of this and we will now move forward, in terms of evaluating what to do next. I'm preparing her for the fact that she may need surgery (this is a challenge as she doesn't even like needles) but we will see. FYI, the CT scan was 3500 baht, which I believe includes the consultations etc.

Once we have the CT scan and the current specialists evaluation I will try and make the call together with her on whether to have her continue to see one of the specialists in Korat or whether she'd be better of taking this to Bangkok.

If I understood her right, one of the current doctor's concerns was that the fluid might be too deep or something, but I'm not sure what the scenarios are with that. Right now I'm just happy that things are moving in the right direction.

As for the money, I don't have a problem with 'digging deep' but understand please that I'm from a country where good health service is free and whilst I'm happy with the professionalism of the medical services in Thailand I am struggling with going into a hospital and having to worry about what the final bill will be and the motivation by some of the treatments. So far, my girlfriend has been serviced with tablets that only relieve the pain and some pretty useless x-rays (useless because she doesn't have copies nor written statements from any of the doctors/hospitals where she has been given treatment). The main problem is that I guess I'm used to being quite well-informed, but in this case a lot of the vital information has been passed onto family members that have accompanied her to the hospital(s), so I feel quite out of the loop.

But the CT scan was definitely the way to go.

It's a learning process for me. Thank you for your help.

i had the same problem. the replies above cover most of the possible scenarios but i'll throw in my 2 cents:

see a doctor - having him put things down your 'peehole' is a very sensible thing as he's checking for STD's.

if i was in the UK i'd pop round to the GUM clinic and have the full screening. last time i had this problem, they proscribed canesten which helped quickly but if i remember correctly i was also antibiotics so not sure what took care of what.

this time in thailand i went to the pharmacy and opted out on the combo but took the nizoral cream which the chemist said was more powerful than canesten. however, it didn't really get better and with the current humidity in thailand keeping any part of your body dry is a bit of a challenge.

now that i'm back i will see the GUM clinic and hopefully the itch will also improve. i have to say though, that in my case i think i have a permanent problem that's not been taken care of properly yet (also have some problem with my feet)

but:

try the canesten cream and hygiene suggestions above and if no improvement after 3-4 days go see a doc.

Thank you for your very comprehensive reply.

Fortunately she recovered fairly quickly from the last incident and has told me that it was much "lighter" than last time, which would simply indicate a concussion and longterm headaches as you imply.

CT scan I agree is the way to go and your contacts are invaluable. I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to post this and it should, I hope, be helpful to others also.

Hi,

I'm posting on this forum as my Thai girlfriend recently was the victim of a hit and run motorbike incident. She has subsequently been suffering from severe headaches and as far I can understand, doctors in two different hospitals have confirmed that she some sort of serious problem.

Because I was out of the country when the incident happened and because she has not been given a proper diagnosis/treatment plan I'm investigating somewhere in Bangkok that I can take her for a thorough check with me present.

However, I have to be honest that I can not afford a hospital bill that runs in the tens of thousands of baht (as in Bumrungrad) at present, but I would like for her to see a specialist or somewhere with a dedicated clinic for head injuries and at least I can have some idea of what can/cannot be done for her and at what cost.

If anyone has similar experience and subsequent advice I would be grateful to hear about it. I'm quite concerned that if she does not receive some sort of proper treatment that she could potentially die from this injury.