ctrunfree

We spend just under a month in Thailand each year, as well as one night stopovers to and from Europe from Australia two or three times a year (ie up to 8 arrivals per year).  Having been doing this for years, and never a problem.  Always Visa exempt, and Australian passports.  We are upright looking citizens in our 60s though!

Thanks for you views everyone - very helpful!

We haven't been back to Thailand for a few months and one of us usually has bright multi-coloured hair (blue, green etc).  Due to the current period of mourning for the King would be more respectful to get rid of the colours for our upcoming trip to Thailand?

We've eaten there twice, once in 2011 and once last month. It was even better the second time. A worthy recipient of the award. Just don't go looking for your bog standard, post 15 pint, chicken tikka masala.

A very bad day for THAI. Four more injured passengers at Hong Kong onboard an arriving Phuket-Hong Kong flight. Somehow neither the parking brake was set nor were the wheel chocks in place, resulting in the aircraft rolling unattended about 30 meters backward from the gate. It's not really difficult to get it right if procedures are followed.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1724590/passengers-hurt-parked-thai-airways-plane-goes-unexpected-ride-hong?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=outbrain&utm_campaign=OutbrainCampaign-Generic-Desktop

It looks like these were people who insisted in jumping up out of their seats and trying to push to the front before the captain turned off the seatbelt sign. Chinese, maybe?

You could always call Saul..

I'm just drawing people's attention to a post that appeared recently on the Bangkok Tripadvisor forum. The post in the link contains personal info that I presume I shouldn't put up here.

Hopefully she is found soon.

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowTopic-g293916-i3687-k8126582-o10-MISSING_in_Bangkok_young_british_woman_please_help-Bangkok.html

Stayed there last year. The experience will depend upon whether you are facing the river or the front road. If facing the river, (as we were) place was fine, although not as nice as it looked online. If facing the music bars on the main road, apparently its hell-hence the significant price differential.

If you want to experience some different Thailand we suggest Chiang Mai - we have stayed there for months at a time, it's very easy to get around and lots to see, do and eat! You can get a day or night train or fly - there are usually very cheap flights, and you can fly on from CM to many other places in Asia.

You will find great Thai food all over Bangkok - for the more international mix being near areas such as Sathorn or Siam would be good. Suggest you look for your choice of accom, make a short list then search for accessible eating options. We are spending a month in Bangkok mainly for the eating experiences and are currently staying in a very reasonably priced apartment in Ari (not yet a popular tourist destionation) but has excellent accessible eating options.

We spent 10 nights in the Sathorn area close to Convent Road and that would meet your needs as well … and next week we are relocating to Ratchadamri which is also very accessible to the big shopping malls (so international food in cool comfort). if you go for the Banglamphu area you will get lots of variety - the area arttracts backpackers so there are hundreds of eating and drinking options and it's on the river so very accessible by ferry.

Other possibility is somewhere on Sukumvit close to a BTS station … depending on where you choose to stay you will be very well located and easily able to travel on the BTS to other parts of Bangkok.

We took the AOT limo service last night. The SUV was 1050 baht to Sathorn area. Should be plenty of room in the boot for the wheel chair.

I'm wondering if the new system encourages taxis with "broken" meters. How many people would just accept it rather than go back inside to queue up again for another number (with potentially the same result).

People keep saying that it takes longer but I must be lucky as every time I go to the official taxi line I'm in a taxi with-in a few minutes, whatever time I arrive, morning, noon or night. I've even posted photos here before to show how short the queue has been for me, for the posters who keep insisting there is always a long wait for a taxi as it is simply not true, hasn't been for several years. I'm sure at times there must be long lines but even last week when both arrival halls were full, I still only waited a few minutes.The point of paying the 50 baht is at least there is some record kept of your taxi. As for selecting the taxi you want, does this mean you interview all the drivers to find one to your liking? The taxis at departures have to be authorized to queue there so at least there is some form of vetting. Yes, I know you still get some dodgy drivers but at least there is a record kept if things really do go wrong. From arrivals you are on your own.

I suppose I was just assuming that Level 4 was quicker, since there is zero queue there, with zero minutes wait. Also, some people have commented in this thread about queues, such as with 20 people in it. At Level 4, there is no queue whatsoever.

I select a taxi that looks to be in good shape, clean, has seat belts, etc. and size up the driver as well. No, I do not conduct an interview, but looks can tell a lot. At least I can accept or refuse a beat up old taxi or a driver that looks like he has been on an all-nighter with ya bah. I am not bothered with a 50 baht surcharge, but I am happy to give a 50 baht tip directly to the driver if he is professional and helpful. I like that better than giving it to AOT.

The taxis at departures are not allowed to queue there, nor do they do through some sort of authorisation. They are only allowed in if they have a passenger, and are only allowed to wait briefly for a fare. If they do not get a fare, I have seen the guards waive them off.

Taking a taxi from departures is the same as taking a taxi anywhere in BKK. Yes, you are on your own. Generally, I have found the taxis at departures to be quite pleasant and happy to have a fare back in to the city and never had a problem, with this going back many years.

In the end, I am happy now that the government has officially authorised taxis collecting passengers at Level 4, and we all have a choice between that or going to the taxi queue downstairs.

Can someone direct me to the link where the Govt approved the use of passenger collection at level 4? I haven't caught up on this.

My partner and I were thinking of bringing a 2 litre wine cask in one of our suitcases. If we get xrayed how liklely is it there will be a problem explaining that the 2 litres is our 1 litre allowance each?

So a meth-ed up cab driver in a cab with a picture that looks nothing like him careering through the streets of the city in a barely working old Toyota is ok, but Uber isn't? There's a chasm between these regulators and basic common sense,

It's Uber that that broke the camel's back....OK to be on meth and be using a different picture, but throw in use of Uber also well that's just over the top...downright dangerous. Glad the govt is looking out for its citizens....or is it "watching their citizens" now days.

In India, Uber driver raped woman.

Several licensed taxi drivers (usually from the Indian sub continent) have also been arrested for raping passengers in Australia. Whatever the issues are with Uber, passenger safety isn't one of the biggies.

Some friends of mine who live in Germany are planning their first trip to Thailand. They plan to just book a flight into Bangkok and a flight home from Bangkok six weeks later, and to travel to other Asian countries outside Thailand for some of that six week period. They weren't planning to get a tourist visa, as they wouldn't be staying for a period more than 30 days in Thailand. I think they plan to make the arrangements for their other travel once they get to Thailand.

I told them I thought they might have a problem with Immigration just arriving in Bangkok with only evidence of bookings for the flights to and from Bangkok. Is this likely to be the case?

Thanks Paz. I think given the current crackdown I'll be heading out within the specified 30 days.

Hi guys

The Thai Consulate website isn't much help on this, so can someone advise if the 30 day tourist visa on arrival gives you in effect 31 days- (ie you have to leave after your 30th night, on day 31) or do you need to leave on the 30th day, giving you 29 nights.

For street food, this blog is excellent...

http://bangkokglutton.com

Has my daily life been affected by the military coup? Only slightly as local and cable TV has been taken over by the military so all programming has been cancel. I have a satellite dish so I get TV from Viet Nam and Laos with all the western programs. Also there is a curfew from 10PM to 5AM which doesn’t affect me as I do not go to bars or pubs. In Chiang Mai where I live there are no military troops posted anywhere that I have seen and everything is normal and peaceful.

Tourists here are taking it all in stride doing their day time activities of visiting temples and markets, trekking and hiking and enjoy adventures. They go out in the evenings to have dinner then return to their guest house or hotel by 10PM with beer or wine purchased at the local stores. They are listening to music or watching movies provided by the establishment where they are staying.

I am not going to get into politics here as there are many others blogging about this and I don’t truly care. As mentioned I have been here and seen this several times and never once seen any tourist or visitor harmed. My advice is to just come and enjoy the warm and friendly people, great food and natural beauty of Chiang Mai.

As long as my travel insurance company won't issue a policy for Thailand, I won't be coming back..

Sounds like you need a new travel insurer.Its absolute nonsense that any tourist or Thai citizen faces any danger going about their normal lives...total over reaction.

You don't understand- if your policy is void, you won't be covered for ANY mishap, coup related or not, which might befall you on holiday. Having spent one night in ICU in Bangkok a few years ago, I was glad I wasn't paying the $2,000+ bill myself..

Has my daily life been affected by the military coup? Only slightly as local and cable TV has been taken over by the military so all programming has been cancel. I have a satellite dish so I get TV from Viet Nam and Laos with all the western programs. Also there is a curfew from 10PM to 5AM which doesn’t affect me as I do not go to bars or pubs. In Chiang Mai where I live there are no military troops posted anywhere that I have seen and everything is normal and peaceful.

Tourists here are taking it all in stride doing their day time activities of visiting temples and markets, trekking and hiking and enjoy adventures. They go out in the evenings to have dinner then return to their guest house or hotel by 10PM with beer or wine purchased at the local stores. They are listening to music or watching movies provided by the establishment where they are staying.

I am not going to get into politics here as there are many others blogging about this and I don’t truly care. As mentioned I have been here and seen this several times and never once seen any tourist or visitor harmed. My advice is to just come and enjoy the warm and friendly people, great food and natural beauty of Chiang Mai.

As long as my travel insurance company won't issue a policy for Thailand, I won't be coming back..

Thanks for the directions, chaps. Got myself some new reading and had a good chin-wag with Peter, surrounded by his cats...

Just by way of an update, stuck my head in this evening as I saw the gate open. Apparently its still open, as it hasn't been able to be sold. The lady in charge said they are going to keep it going for a couple of years. She said things had been very quiet (maybe because everyone thinks its closed). Didn't eat there myself, but looks like they could use some customers..

Never mind the check in, what about the bottlenecks at Immigration. Even with about nine long rows of aisles taped off in front of the Immigration counter the queue was still stretching well back into the arrival hall when I came in from Laos last week. Took well over an hour to clear, by which time our bags from that flight had been dumped off the carousel

Go down the small Soi that runs along the northern wall of Wat Jed Yod.

At the end turn right.

Orns is in the small block of houses and flats to the left before the end.

When you say, "go down" do you mean go west or east?

Presumably it makes a difference to which is right and left?