reallyok

I don't like throwing litter on the street but finding a trashcan is "litterally" impossible. You can walk for miles without finding one. Same thing goes for pedestrian crossing.

so true, This is the reason I have stopped buying coconuts. Walking a kilometer with a coconut shell in your hand feels weird and seems to attract even more Indian tailors

Whats the difference if you use a "crossing" or not? doesn't make any difference to the drivers, even crossing at the lights is dodgy they still flying at you 5 secs after they supposed to give way. Crossing at soi 4 and SUK is a good example. Bridges are safe as the motorbikes haven't figured how to ride up the stairs yet

Yep ! but some of those stairs are "monsters". They should have oxygen bottles at the top or better still ELEVATORS. It gets rather hard when you get to 60.

Sorry can't help having a little chuckle, you get fined for walking on the road but it's still ok to drive your motorcyle on the pavement.

lololololol...thats just about the best reply i have seen............Brilliant !

I've actually never heard that this is much of a problem. I'd much rather have them get rid of the touts in the lobby.

Are you happy for the stealing from luggage to proceed ? as long as they get rid of touts.

Don't worry ! all thievers from baggage have been warned that they will be under extra surviellance, however they have not yet been given the "cut off date" of this surviellance. I expect that the new patrol officers will be clearly identified by a bright lime green uniform or something similiar.......lololol

Tiz only fair that they be informed seeing as how the illegal taxi operators were.

Will Thailand Telecom companies buy any bandwidth? Somehow I doubt this and we will have to struggle on with what we already have.

I will be coming back to Thailand on a 12 mth ret visa at the end of the year and will have my ASUS laptop.

Reading the postings has got me quite concerned . Who/What should i sign up with, bearing in mind that i will be based in the Surat Thani area but will travel all over Thailand. Can anybody give me some advice please. Previously i have always used internet cafes without any problems.

Dave.

Hmmm... Let's see... Elected government removed by the military, Yellow Shirt airport closures, Red Shirt riots, SCAMs including false imprisonment & blackmail by an airport shop in collusion with the Tourist Police, anti-foreigner rhetoric by senior immigration officials, visa regulation making it more difficult to come and/or live in Thailand... Duh...

Seeing as I'm an X radio operator including Morse Cod maybe you will "get" this acronym...

<deleted> K

elaborate please

(for those who are trying to solve your acronym)

I too am an ex radio operator with morse code ( 26 wpm) but still don't understand your acronym ?????

Please explain !

I would for a couple of years and then spend a year in Thailand doing nothing....

Just beacase i'm not a American with 2 weeks holiday a year don't mean i'm not on a holiday.

I like riding my bicycle and sitting on the beach, living cheap and enjoying the best food in the world.

I am the same cycling,long term tourist,unemployed,eating fresh fruit,staying at guesthouses for a weekly cost of +THB700/US$35,no sex-tourism,sober and in warm healthy sunny weather.

Total annual expenses of THB130,000,including an annual airline 2 way/return ticket to farang land.

Cycling is a very fast,safe and convenient way to move around/sightsee all thai cities and towns,that is, with a reassuring rear mirror .

I like to go to a farang country,pick up a free,discarded bicycle from a pile of rubbish,pump up the tyres with air, and then take it to thailand/asia and cycle around on the bike.I put a back carrier on the back of the bike,to carry bags of fruit,and the occasional passenger.

Fa-ráng ják-grá-yaan!

Then just before I return to farang land,I donate the bicycle to a now happy and smiling thai/asian.

FRIENDLINESS:Dictionary pocketbook called 'Thai-English-Thai' by Benjawan Poomsan Becker/Paiboon Publishers,is the way to learn to speak thai and so to impress the thais at the market/talaat etc.

It is the best and only pocketbook dictionary, that gives english speakers,and thais, the sounds of the translated words,etc.

Thailand has the same amount of daily hostility and police corruption etc as farang-land.

But with added friendly,smiling thais...and daily overcharging and/or scams.

And some thais are extremely helpful and friendly.

It is too much to handle too,the daily hostility.

Can you recommend a safer friendlier asian country?I've had enough.

Try Vancouver Canada its mostly Asian..lol ....now has alias Vankong

Heyyyy!! try Auckland NZ. especially if you speak Chinese or Indian !

Don't know where home is,

but Brisbane is easy as pie last I used it.

20 minutes flat, no issues.

Dead right there mate ! I have been to the Brisbane Thai Consul at Woolloongabba twice and the first time they were almost twisting my arm up my back trying to make me see sense and take a 12 month visa when i happened to mention that i was intending to do a basic Thai language course. I am told that the consul is an Aussie guy married to a Thai and very sympathic.

Good news for the Thai language ED visa schools.

ud think there would be a school in every province. 1 days a week for 12 months, learn the language and get 2 stay. i've been thinking about it as my plan when i return.

the problem is they're just in bkk, pattaya, chang mai? not of the places I want to live. how about i nice beach town (no pattaya is not nice).

Then try "Mind your language" school on Samui ................PERFIK !

Phuket has everything much more than Samui, except that island feeling, which you still can get at some places on Samui and Samui is not that hectic and not that commercialized.

BTW that topic would better fit in the General Forum than here.

Phuket anytime, it has the lot, ok it's the most expensive place to live in Thailand but for good reason and still miles cheaper than anywhere in the west.

Sorry to tell but Samui is more expensive then Phuket, you can ask any Thai person, they will confirm this. Go to any market and compare, check the oil prices, they are 2-3 baht higher then Phuket, etc...

I lived on Samui for 1 year and 1 year in Phuket and soon will go back to Samui, if you don't mind the small size of the island and if you don't mind buying your own car or motobike it still is paradise over here, the true island feeling with all the western standards available.

Greets

I have friends in Kanchanaburi , Isaan and Puket but still prefer Samui which i visit every year.

There are rumours of an immigration office being opend in either Pitsanulok, Petchaboon or Nakohon Sawan. As said, this are only rumours, but check when you are up for your extension next year. As for now, you can only do it in Nan.

Phitsanulok would be the logical place, that's if logic ever came into the equation -- Phitsanulok airport is destined to be an international airport - already constructed and sitting there waiting for the big day while in the meantime it is deteriorating which is not unexpected owing to the usual lousy workmanship that went into it's construction. So lets not hold our breath.

I intend coming to Thailand at the end of the year on a retirement visa. But based on Samui, i want to spend about 3 months driving to the north then Issan before returning to Samui.

Will there be a problem with this.

885 users reading this thread!

We all like a bargain quicksilva. But it seems that some are using the regular search procedure. I found fares by clicking on the special fares logo and got this page

http://www.thaiair.com/promotion-areaTH/Pr...d/index_en.html

Yes , buts thats Domestic only. They need to go International to make a real difference.

Well Webber 'winged' it, a great result considering the drive through!

Yep congrats to Webber - a well deserved victory! Amazing to have such an advantage that he could afford a drive through and still have a handsome lead! Not sure what happened to Vettel - was it simply traffic or was he off the pace i wonder?

Rubens had a hissy fit and accuses the team of trying to lose the drivers & constructors championships, as if!

Yep, no matter what he does, he just can't seem to finish ahead of Button!

PS: Just feel sorry for Sutil, Kimi has it in for him!

Wondering what happened about the stewards inquiry that they said would be coming after the race concerning that incident.

Yep a deserved win, WEBBER is a real mans driver. As for the stewards, they should be put in the seat of a front row car just to experiance how easy it really is to see all the cars racing for the first bend around you. WEBBER aint no gung ho idiot so why would he intentionally slam into another car and stuff up his chance of a win. So it was just a racing incident.

Whoever they were, those stewards are the idiots.

And congratulations to WEBBER, dispite them, he did what he is good at..........race driving with dogged determiation

and nerveless skill.

Speaking of the stewards, i thought that Webber's punishment was unneccesary but i guess consistent with how they marshal the sport these days.

........................

Just on the TV .... for the massive sales of the newest Govt's bonds that flying off like mad. ... Surprisingly, around Burirum which was visited by Aphisit, none of the banks were able to sale a single Govt's bond!

BTW, my felling is that the sentiment for the huge portion of Thai people now goes (underground), farangs' fundamental on thai politics can't be cured. So, me and whole lots of Thai DO NOT APPRECIATED YOUR PRESENSE HERE.

So how do you feel about your ENGLISH born / ENGLISH educated Thai pretender PM ? or are you having a "Bob each way" as they say in England ?

3 kg of Heroin, not cheap - Wonder where and from who he bought that little packet from in Thailand. I'm sure he's singing like a bird in prison. Do you think the BiB will be acting on any information?? He obviously isn't a one man cartel, you don't go from 'store man to international trafficker with 12 million baht of heroin unless someone is pay rolling you

Be nice to see this drugs ring smashed with the aussie buyer and probable Thai supplier caught, which would have more effect in the overall supply of drugs than catching the courier.

Awwww! C'mon JON, the man was just a mule ...........wake up !

Back here in the US the swine flu is all but forgotten. Nobody running around wearing masks. And we border Mexico where is started.

Cases in border states:

Texas - 900 cases, 3 deaths

California - 553 cases

Arizona - 520 cases, 2 deaths

New Mexico - 97 cases

United States total - 6,552 cases, 9 deaths

Hysteria in the only pandemic going on here. The 1976 Swine Flu vaccine killed 25 US whereas the Swine Flu only claimed 1 life.

I agree, there is too much hysteria. However, your reported figures are shocking! What is your source?

Whilst here in OZ ( population 22 million) we have approx 95000 reported cases and approx 20 deaths. Not a lot compared with other types of flue !

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_07_06/en/index.html

As of 6 July the United States of America had reported 33,902 cases of Swine flu and 170 had died. Still not that serious, but somewhat more than the 9 deaths you reported.

Hi.

Stupid question. But what's all this "washing hands" do to a virus that is spread exclusively through the air, i.e. via coughing and sneezing..?? And i highly doubt that those silly masks have any effect on this virus. They can't even hold Diesel soot out, i've tried it.

Best regards.....

Thanh

It is a well proven fact that washing hands particularly after have visited the dunny is a must especially for people handling/preparing food.

BUT Thai's are very poorly disciplined when it comes to washing hands either after using the bathroom or prior to cooking food.

AND when it comes to the hand sterilising gels that are available in most other countries on the planet just try buying some in the realm. Pharmacists don't even know what you are talking about.

Thailand remains a 4th world country and will remain so for the appreciable future.

To be perfectly honest, i don't really recall seeing anybody, anywhere washing their hands in Thailand. Especially around foodstalls and restauraunts

What did the bible say "forgive them for they know not what they do"

This website says she'll be good for a month with no visa...you will be good for 3 months.

But...this website says..."British overseas citizens will require a visa"........

I'm sorry to confuse you...I'm confused.

Citizens of the British Commonwealth except for about 5 nations, get 90 days visa free on arrival.

Thai's get about 30 days provided they have a current passport.

Sorry 90 Days.

http://www.malaysia.sawadee.com/visa.htm

http://projectvisa.com/countryinfo.asp?countrycode=my

http://www.imi.gov.my/eng/perkhidmatan/im_HapusVisa.asp

http://www.fnetravel.com/travel-tools/mala...rmation-en.html

How about Thai nationals ...........any problems there ?

Lack of education - produces people who live mostly subsistence (hand to mouth), which means that they spend most of their time and energy devoted to earning enough money to live. Only after the general standard of living for the majority of Thais improve, will you see (serious) attention paid to issues like this.

Government stability will help as well. Thankfully, we have a politically savvy PM and ruling party, and they should be around enough to provide stability, while the world economy rights itself.

There is no doubt about it. Without a strong leader, Thailand and its cities will always be grotty and dirty !

Back in the late 50's i was a young teenager serving in the British armed forces in Singapore (and Malaysia)

Back in those days Singapore was also grotty and dirty something like Bangkok. And then along came Lee Kwan Yew.

When i went back in the 80's it was a completely different city, and is now the beautiful clean and vibrant city we see today.

I am sure this is because of Lee Kwan Yew...........well done and congratulations to him, but where will such a man as him come from in Thailand, especially with this stupid face saving attitude that controls the population.

They need to initiate a keep Thailand clean campaign. As well as a clean up Thailand campaign.

The trash does not magically appear in public some one deposits it their.

In my opinion (maybe mine only) Thais are generally very prone to dumping rubbish anywhere it suits them, and other Thais appear not to see it.

I am not really sure wether they are ignorant with respect to rubbish and the enviroment or wether its all about 'saving face' and we all know to what lengths they will go to deny ! and blame others.

I recently read about a high government official on Phuket who was lecturing the fact that fish and other marine life were practably non-existant, blaming it on pollution etc., he was carrying out a...... Quote "age old" practice of putting natural fertilizer balls into the foreshore mud. This presumably will increase the growth and creation of more marine animals !

Nothing was mention or even given a thought to the fact that the locals scour the foreshore collecting crabs and other marine life about the size of a peanut by the bucket full................Bloody hel_l, of course there are no large marine life left !

He said that besides placing the fertilizer balls, they had to get the tourists ( probably meaning farang ) to stop dumping thrash.

A typical face saving exercise if ever i heard of one.

On Samui they have an annual beach clean up. and guess who does the beach front cleaning.................You got it !

Local farang business persons and their friends, certainly not locals.

All other exiled leaders died abroad...

he's not exiled, just a typical criminal that doesn't feel like serving time or standing in court to face the other charges.

So not quite on the exiled hero type level...more along the lines of the guys who go hide in Spain or Brazil.

And!!! excepting for the fact that Khun Thaksin has been voted as the preferred PM by a majority of Thais in the last 3 elections, and that he was deposed by an illegal military coup.

Here we go again, restoring confidence into the tourism sector. Maybe they could be bothered to clean the trains while they all sit there going nowhere. Truthfully I'm surprised the train and its tracks are still functional as I have not seen one single improvement done to the railway system since I rode the the train the first time years ago, seems it gets dirtier every year.

Having just ventured off into Malaysia this year they have one of the most beautiful central railway stations in the world and are soon to open high speed rail all the way from Singapore to the border at Hat Yai in Thailand.

Can I asked where you got the information about Malaysia's high speed link. I did an internet search and the only recent reference I could find was this

"There is a bullet train project at 300 km/h (186 mph) proposed to link Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, proposed by current Malaysian operator KLIA Express YTL Corporation, which links Kuala Lumpur with the KLIA. It would be the first transborder high speed line outside of Europe if built. Travel time would be 90 minutes, compared with 4 hours of highway drive, 7 hours currently by standard rail, 2 hours of flight including commuting to and from airport, check in and boarding. Talks of a Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore line spanning the 3 nations have been suggested previously, though no action has been taken.

Malaysian Trains ! Bullets !.............the last time i rode a train there was in the 50's. I was a teenage soldier heading for the jungles of Perak and the CT's were trying to scare us.

Hoping to do the journey again this year, no bullets this time thank goodness.

Plans for project were shelved due to high cost that the government would have to bear. The project also faces opposition from rail operator rivals such as Keretapi Tanah Melayu."

Yes, Project existed during Badawi's time. Project was 'hijacked' by Khairy J. ( ex PM's nephew) and passed on to YTL. But the key opposition was not KTM but MAS and KLIA. The national airline and the international airport , and therefore the tourism sector , would be the greatest losers. Why ? At 90 mins to Spore, you can access Changi - the real gateway to the world ! It takes me 45mins to get to KLIA from KL ; why not another 45 mins to Changi !

As a business traveller, I love this project and I hope it gets online soon !

Been searching the web for hours,but Kia's main website,comes to a standstill when THAILAND IS INSERTED.

Seen the vehicles in Bangkok,no apparant website.Possibly linked with Hyundai, but that brings no result either.

HEEEEEEELP please

Yep! i have the same problem just keep getting a brick wall. Hope someone can help. I am thinking of buying a Sportage anything from 2006 on will do.

Going back to oz soon, and the fares on the privately built rail sections to both Brisbane and Sydney airports will cost me about the same as a fan-class sleeper from Surat to Bangkok.

Efficient management doesn't have to be private, and the goal of private management changes from best service to highest profit, even if that means sticking it to the customers and the workers.

If you don't like the train, you can fly at 10 times the price, or take a bus and end up a road toll statistic.

Yes mate ! but if you crash in the airplane, you can be sure that the driver won't run away. So you might find out what went wrong ! we all know about bus drivers..............is it the training or orders from their boss?

As to the privately owned train service from Brisbane Central to the international airport a journey of approx 15 mins will cost you $A10 plus !

My fare on the state owned railway from Brisbane Central, approx 1 hr costs me $A4.50 return and the trains are clean and air conditioned.

Thank goodness we have not gone down the same track as British Rail !

Next month I will be 60 years old. We plan to retire to Thailand in mid 2010. I have got health insurance quotes from ThaiVisa. My question is whether it is worthwhile for me to buy the insurance now, before I hit 60 even though I will not use it for the coming year. It sounds like I can still get insurance after age 60, depending on a physical exam which I would expect to pass because I in very good health. I would probably take a policy with a large deductible since I can self-insure.

If I were to take a policy after 60 and then have a major illness, would the insurer just refuse to renew me?

Are there any expat retirees out there facing these questions? Most of the discussion seems to be among younger guys.

Health insurance companies charge ridiculous amounts for insuring retirees and if you are over 70 refuse to insure you. At 65 they want about BT150k-200k depending on your health.

I go to excellent government hospitals where I could never spend as much as insurance costs however ill I was.

Hi there,

I am a fit 73 yrs old with no known medical conditions. I will be returning to Thailand at the end of this year.

Having decided to take hospital insurance cover, but reading your post i am wondering if it is worthwhile taking this insurance after all.

At the moment i have not got any quotes, but reading other posts in this forum about the cost, i am beginning to wonder! I also intend to get insurance on a vehicle valued around Bht500.000. Will my age also be a big factor.

Hoping someone can give me sound advice on these two matters.

Thank you.

Thai Visa Insurance can offer you a choice of plans depending on the level of benefit you require - very simple and straight forward. However please note you will need a medical.

Thai Visa can also offer you vehicle insurance both as a 'named driver' and as 'any driver'

Please contact Thai Visa Insurance ; http://insurance.thaivisa.com/quote-form

Thanks for the info., i will contact you nearer to the time. However can i have the medical here in OZ or do i have to have it in thailand. Also, i am not familiar with the "named driver" clause. Are there any benifits with this, and is it a brit 'thing'.