ItDontMeanAThing

Although not comparable to CM air pollution almost the whole of Hua Hin is like a building site and the dust really does get everywhere

Yes.

One big difference is the relative sizes of dust and smoke particles. Smoke is < PM10, the size that causes long term respiratory damage. Dust is PM10 - 100+ which makes it somewhere between an annoyance and a cause of short term health issues.

Another one for you folks who live in the south end of town. Pen Din Tong.

...

It's typical open air construction and located directly on Phetkasem road just north of Soi 106 very close to but just before the flyover so coming from town you need to make the U Turn underneath the flyover and then as you come off the flyover be in the left lane and look for the Thai sign the says "New" in English.

Thanks for the report, it's as good as you said.

Hard sign to see even when creeping along on a motorbike. Restaurant is North of Soy 106, about 100 feet before Soi 104/2.

Mint 9 on my laptop. Haven't upgraded because I can use Gnome 2 without thinking.

PCLinuxOS - KDE on the netbook. Works fine for what little I do on the netbook. Tried Puppy, Easy Peasy and Ubuntu. Rejecte Peasy because it was way too dumbed down. Nixed Puppy for long forgotten reasons. Axed Ubuntu because most of the buttons on their install dialog boxes were off screen.

Both machines are dual boot with Win7. Windoze uses less battery and has better WiFi, essential for when traveling with the netbook. My camera manufacturer's RAW manipulation programs work only on Win but that's pretty much the only time I use Win at home. Except when I need to play solitaire.

I read it as there will be a shopping mall in Hua Hin, not named Emporium along with this the group will be building a 2nd Emporium in Sukhumvit....not sure who has the poorest reading really.

That's my read too. We disagree with 2 others on this thread.

The article does state that it is opposite the current location, so isnt going to be Hua Hin. Interesting to see that Prachuap/Hua Hin had 2 million visitors whereas Phet had double at 4 Million.....of course these would be predominatly Thai visiting Cha am, Samran etc and school/college trips to Kang Krachan.

it is in hua hin mate, according to the article......

"The venture requires an investment of 5 billion baht to develop the retail project, which is located on a 20-rai plot on Phetkasem Road opposite Intercontinental Hua Hin Resort and close to Hua Hin Market Village."

just at the bottom of my street..... happy days..... best hide the credit card from the mrs though.....

One person on another HH forum got it wrong. Came here because, given the reputation of TV posters, I knew more would prove they were poor readers. I'm disappointed only 2 of you concluded an Emporium is coming to HH.

I'm an April Expat policy holder comparing April to other options for next year. I went to the April Mobilite site, which redirected to the April International site ( http://fr.april-international.com/global ). Neither I or Google could find any mention of the Asia Expat policy on the English version. Only times I've seen a company remove a product from their website but continue to sell it through brokers is when they have decided to get out of the market - after first milking the existing customers for all they can. That would explain the recent drop in customer service.

http://totobobo.com/

I bought their mask because I had to travel through an area known for it's horrible air and such air gives me sinus infections way more easily than most people. The mask works as described. It's comfortable. The amount of crap the filters picked up was startling.

If I had to test for some disease at hospital I wouldn't give my real name and wouldn't use an insurance because I don't want anybody knows until I get the right insurance to cover this...

That plan would work if two things are true. First is some policies exclude specific illnesses for the first # months of coverage. Second is once you're covered a doc can't look at your current state and deduce how long you've had the condition. Most people think 'pre-existing' condition is one that's been detected or treated by a doctor. Those who actually read their policy usually see 'pre-existing' includes things you should have sought treatment for.

The 15,000 baht penalty which equates to legal extortion would really but a damper to the beginning of a holiday.

Legal extortion? Another view is it's a hard slap in the face to one who has disrespected the customs people and the Kingdom. I wonder what, if anything, the customs people put in the immigration & customs databases when someone is caught smuggling. And what that means the next time immigration scans their passport.

thank you.

Few places in Japan take foreign ATM cards: 7-11, Post Office, Citibank and airports (which are 7-11 or Citibank).

K-Bank cards use the Visa Plus network. 7-11 in Japan says not all Visa Plus cards will work. Some travelers say that their Visa Plus cards never worked in Japan but worked in other foreign countries. That makes me think it's about the issuing bank, not anything related to the account holder.

Have you tried a K-bank card in Japan? Did it work? When and where (7-11, PO, Citi)?

Thanks.

Maybe my O-M experience will be helpful

>my passeport expires on march 2014

My understanding is that any extension, permission, expiration date, etc. can not be past the expiration date of the current passport.

>Is it easy to have the paper from the bank which says how much money you have ( BTW , how do you call it in english ? )

If there is a short name for the minimum balance letter, I don't know it.

Easy? Depends on the branch, in my experience. One K bank branch knew exactly what I wanted, one didn't and screwed up the first one. Next time I go I'm bringing a request written by my thai landlady just in case. HH immigration wants the bank letter done the same day as requesting the extension.

>I choose the combo solution ( money in bank and pension )

HH imm wants the embassy verified income letter done very close to the extension request. When I asked an immgration person 'how close?', she said I could do it the day before. Don't know if that was necessary, but that's what I did. HH imm requires # months seasoning on bank funds when using the combination bank balance and income letter method. I don't remember what if # is 2 or 3 but it's been discussed on this site.

Remember - all info about how immigration works is history. What they do today may be different.

I was initially denied my retirement extension since the money had not been in my account three months, as Hua Hin Immigrations requires. I was offered an option -- for THB4,000 -- for a 90-day extension to allow my money to season. I graciously declined the offer. (see http://www.thaivisa....-qualification/ for more details).

Similar story from HH immigration (90 day seasoning & 4000 THB tea money) when I asked for a retirement extension in fall of last year. I'd transferred the necessary funds to my Thai bank account to meet the 3 month 'requirement' but applied for the extension before the 3 months was up. I was assured that for 4000 THB I could get the extension right now. I chose to come back later.

Insects that bite love me. Except for mosquitos, I have no idea what is doing the biting. That didn't stop me from writing a classification of the resulting bites: http://fourletternerd.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/bug-bites/

I have a non-imm type O for retirement visa. At end of first year I used income combined with savings to meet the 800k requirement. Second year I had >800k in the bank so didn't bother with income letter. This year I intend to meet the requirement using income combined with savings. Will it set off any alarms at immigration that my income is substantially higher this year?

If it matters, I'm a US citizen who puts true information on the income form at the embassy.

Climate info by the month at http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/thailand/cha-am.php I've checked this site against everyplace I've lived in the last 10 years and it's accurate for those 5 places (2 in USA, 2 in Phils, 1 in Thailand)

More climate info detail then most people can imagine at http://weatherspark.com/averages/33964/10/Hua-Hin-Prachuap-Khiri-Khan-Thailand

I flew EVA from LAX to BKK in '08, my last trip to Thailand. Was in their class between economy and business. Don't remember how much extra it cost but the seats were way better than economy and worth it. I've heard this has changed depending on what aircraft type they use on the route. Check seatguru.com or the like. The stewardess to passenger ratio was much lower than in economy.

Layover in TPE was not bad. I like to walk during layovers, plenty of time for that. The airport has a travelers hotel. At that time one could get access to a shower room, sauna, small lounge with free PCs, tea and a few chairs. All for $10. Never had a shower before during a layover on a long flight. It charged my batteries so well that now I look for layovers with that option.

Do you have a motorbike? When I lived at Condo Chain HH in 2010 I settled on a laundry up Soi 94, turn left after the railroad tracks and it's about 50m ahead on your right. I live on Soi 94 and still use them. A couple laundries have opened on Soi 94 between Petchkasem and the RR track but have never tried them.

All contact had been ignored by them until a reply was received by me with them apologising for their poor service and expressing concern.

Then, several more attempts to make contact have been ignored.

Was any of your communication with April through or with the assistance of the agent who sold you the policy?

I get sinusitis in dirty air. Bought a mask and a set of disposable pollution filters to use when traveling. Imagine all the things you would hate about wearing a mask with filters, then go to the Totobobo website http://totobobo.com/ and see they've eliminated all but one of them. Which one? It's still a mask.

Another source of climate info is weather2travel.com. Here is the Thailand page. Scroll down for links to individual town charts. http://www.weather2travel.com/climate-guides/thailand/

Last week fixed price fare was 315k dong from airport to old quarter. Guy also ran the meter, for some unknown reason and with unknown accuracy. Meter said 290k

At the Market Village mall (the one with Tesco and Home Pro) there are two places with decent burgers:

..

-- don't know the name, but on street level in front of the Mall itself, again on the left (as you face the entrance from the outside). I think it's next to the bookstore, but there may be a shop between them? Anyway, it's an indoor/outdoor restaurant.

It's called Mix and Match

Pretty clean air, as usual. It's also the start of the windiest time of the year.

Just saw sign at El Murphy's which says the place opens at 6am tomorrow. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30am.