DavidAttenborough

The steak at Franco Thai is good value for money, though it's more about the sauce and the mashed potato than the meat.

There hardly seems to be any living person in the city. Is something brewing? It's really quite scary.

The Lucky Disco may be one of the most grim and miserable nightspots in Chiang Mai, if not the world, but I've never considered it to be violent. Never felt threatened there by anyone or thing except my own thirst for more alcohol than could be reasonalbly required by anyone. The food on top nearly makes up for the disaster below. But I still try and avoid it unless desperate.

Newly Industrialised Country (NIC)

Anyone know where I can get a replacement charger for my Acer laptop, which is cheaper than the 1690 baht charged by official Acer stores? Seems far too expensive. There must be an alternative.

Maybe you can tell which posts are sincere, but many people cannot, and we are all possible customers.

I have no idea if DavidAttenborough is being honest, or not, as I have never had that happen to me there.

Don't forget that the creeps who are lying about people's businesses - positive or negative - do their best to make other readers believe them.

I'm sorry, but we are talking about people's livelihoods here and painting places in a bad light that don't really deserve it, usually because of jealous competitors, should be avoided as much as it is possible.

I must admit my experience above was a one-off. I've eaten there dozens of times before and never had a problem with the service. I keep and will keep going back because the food hits the right spot, and that's all I want out of a restaurant. I don't care for big smiles and friendliness, I just want a big burger and chips.

Last time I went there I sat down for five minutes, smoked a cigarette, noone came to give me a menu, so I went and got one for myself. Then I waited for another five minutes for someone to come and take my order, noone did, so I went to the bar to place my order. Food came, but no sauces, so I went to the bar to get sauces. After I had finished, noone came to take the plate away and give me my bill, so i went to the bar and asked for the bill myself.

I can't say the service was bad, because it didn't exist. I wondered if I should maybe keep ten baht for myself as a tip. They might as well sack the waitresses, since they do nothing, and pass the savings on to the customers.

Yeah I don't want to take any chances. I had planned to do it today but then I realised I would probably have to be there before a certain time, like 1pm, and it was already 3pm. Does anyone know what the latest time I can arrive is?

It looks like tomorrow will be my last chance as I'm assuming it will be closed on New Years Eve (??) and definitely New Years Day. Then the 2nd is a Saturday, not sure if it will be open, the 3rd a Sunday so closed and it's already too late by then anyway.

The first part of my tourist visa runs out on 2 January.

I'm assuming it will be closed on the 1st so was going to do it today but now it's half past three already and i'm wondering if I have to go in the morning?

Thanks guys I'll go have a look today. It's a very perculiar feeling, not having a phone. I don't think I like it.

I had finished transferring some photographs from my phone to my laptop, correctly ejected the phone and it said it was safe to remove, but apparently it wasn't, as it is now in a coma. When I try to turn it on the background light justs goes on and off. I've tried updating the phone but it doesn't work. The software needs completely reinstalling. I imagine any number of the small mobile phone outlets in shopping centres will be able to do this, am I right?

My plan is to take a day bus down to BKK and hopefully get a sleeper train down to wherever it is that I end up going.

Problems with this:

Do they have sleeper trains heading south?

Will I be able to turn up at the station in BKK at 7pm and get a ticket for the same night?

Potentially I could end up being stuck in Bangkok for a day or two which adds at least another 1000 baht onto the cost.

The next issue is where to go. I want a nice beach in an area that is both quiet and relaxed yet reasonably active at night. Kata in Phuket hit the right spot a couple of years ago. I could go back there, but I'm also interested in trying somewhere new. Further to that I'm slightly interested in a paradise island gig, as a side trip to my side trip. Where is the current 'still unspoiled by tourism' place to go? A couple of years ago it seemed to be the Ko Lipe and Ko Tarutao area. I'm on a budget, so cheap accommodation is a must.

I would be happy to fly if the overall price turned out to be cheaper than overlanding. But from what I've seen you're looking at 7k+ for the whole trip, which is too much.

So any advice on islands and how best to get there would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I live near the place and have fished it in the past. You will have no problems catching fish there.

They have a resturant thats good to go as well as a small mini mart for things and a large tackle shop.

Friendly staff thus far but the cost are a little high, but just to get away and forget about everything but fishing it is nice.

I believe the bungalos rent for 12 hour periods at least last year I rented for 12 hours. Pretty neat as some staff ride around on bicycles so you can order fom them and they deliver to the bungalo.

PM me and give me what you want and I will try and set it up for you. No I am not part of any travel compnay just a retired ol U.S. Marine willing to help out someone.

I dont know if my number will post here but if so:

email (please use the PM or email function. Thanks.)

Cheers

Dan

Thanks for the offer Dan. If I don't get any solid info I'll call on you. Cheers.

I haven't fished anywhere in CM yet - only arrived a few weeks ago. I'm only really looking to catch a giant Siamese carp, hopefully larger than the carp record in the UK which is about 60lbs. If I can do that in CM then I've no need to go to Bungsamran. But from this website:

http: //biggame-fishingthailand.com/Links/borsang_lake.htm

It doesn't look like they have any monster carp, just catfish. And this place, Dream Lake:

http: //www.megafishingthailand.com/content/view/95/54/

Claims to have Giant Siamese Carp, but if the pictures posted there are the best they could find, it's not worth it for the price. I'm finding it amazing how expensive it is to fish these lakes. Maybe someone in CM knows of a place you can go and pull in a few average fish for a reasonable price?

I'm looking to do some fishing at Bungsamran early next year. I'm based in Chiang Mai and ideally what I'd like to do is take a morning flight down to BKK with a few belongings, taxi straight to the lake, get set up in a bungalow and stay for a couple of days, and then go back to the airport and fly to CM, without having to stay in a hotel in Bangkok.

I'm sure one of the tour companies could easily organise this for me, and i'm not totally against the idea, but i'd rather do it myself purely to save on costs, perhaps organising a local guide once there just to make sure I actually catch something.

Has anyone got any experience with this place? Any recommendations? Can you even stay overnight in the bungalows?

I've been looking online and the prices are varying from 2500 (gear hire, guide and bungalow) per day to 7000 baht per day and beyond with some of the tour companies.

Thanks in advance

Much appreciated thank you

Thanks... please see picture

Trying to find Stardome today, on google maps it looks like you have to leave the moat at Suthep Road and then turn left at Sirorot Road and you'll end up right in the middle of the course, but I tried this and ended up at several dead ends with no sign of a golf course anywhere. I also kept my eye out for signs but didn't see any. Can someone tell me how to get there?

Also does anyone know if you can rent clubs there just for use in the driving range? Or failing that where could I buy a cheap (<3000baht) set of clubs?

Thanks in advance