bkkbarnstormer

Quick update...for the benefit of those who viewed this post. I went ahead with this. Please PM me if you want more info

Appreciate any input based on your experiences relating to the following situation

After issue of a ticket for a recent traffic fine, the policeman offered to return my driving license at the scene and make payment on my behalf at the police station

My concern was that given the ticket has already been written, what happens if the policeman fails to make the payment on my behalf after I have given him the money?

Would the ticket still be processed by the police station and then when I apply to renew the tax for my vehicle or renew my driving license, I find that I need to pay the "unpaid" fine a second time?!

Do others have any similar experience they can provide?

Supatra River house

www.supatrariverhouse.net ....

...is one of my favourites for Thai food. It is on the far side of the river and claims to be the only riverfront restaurant from where you can see both the Golden Palace and Wat Arun.

They will pick you up on their boat from Sapahan Taksin BTS. This used to be a complimentary service but I think they may try to charge 200-300THB per person now.

there is a new development on Koh Chang which was being constructed last year and may now be complete. You have to go to Long beach, go past New Treehouse beach huts, and then drive a further 10mins and take a left turn onto new tarmac for the last 1km. The road to Long Beach is very poor and you really need a 4x4 but I have done it with great care in a saloon. The benefit is it is a very secluded part of the island

Sorry, I don't know the hotel's name (not very helpful I know -it wasn't open back then) but thought others may have seen it. It was built but not open when I was there end August last year. Basically, there was a walkway which linked individual high quality bungalows and there were colourful fish swimming below.

It is a very very peaceful and remote area of the island with one or two local places and great views. you can take a small boat to local beaches and other small hotels in that part of the island.

there is a new development on Koh Chang which was being constructed last year and may now be complete. You have to go to Long beach, go past New Treehouse beach huts, and then drive a further 10mins and take a left turn onto new tarmac for the last 1km. The road to Long Beach is very poor and you really need a 4x4 but I have done it with great care in a saloon. The benefit is it is a very secluded part of the island

Sorry, I don't know the hotel's name (not very helpful I know -it wasn't open back then) but thought others may have seen it. It was built but not open when I was there end August last year. Basically, there was a walkway which linked individual high quality bungalows and there were colourful fish swimming below.

It is a very very peaceful and remote area of the island with one or two local places and great views. you can take a small boat to local beaches and other small hotels in that part of the island.

I would assume Exchange rate effects have a significant impact.

Flights from Thailand are not priced in GBP but in local currency. Hence, you are seeing a price which is being converted at the prevailing exchange rate.....50THB:GBP compared to 70 a couple of years ago.

Flights from the UK are all quoted in GBP based on the local market

I have travelled this route on a regular basis recently. Why are you not considering Thai?

They offer a direct business class option, fly twice daily most days and their business class is generally good, even on the older planes in their fleet.

For short haul travel, I would say that the hassle factor of stopovers doesn't justify any difference you might get in quality of service between Thai and Singapore Airlines

I have a Star Alliance gold card with Thai and find that frequent flyer miles are generally poor value for short haul flights. When I travel long haul, I usually buy an economy ticket and then upgrade myself using miles to business. This seems to be the best value for money from my perspective and I can usually book at short notice (a few days).

I have a lot of BA miles from prior travel based in the UK and these really are worthless from Bangkok since the BKK-London BA award tickets seem to be boked at least 6 months in advance

worth checking www.opodo.co.uk as I have found this better than lastminute.com but generally because I fly direct, I normally use the airline wensites directly which I find are usually as competitive as discount websites for direct flights.

One of the challenges at present is the poor exchange rate which means that a 900GBP fare is only 45kTHB for airlines quoting fares locally in Thailand. That looks reasonably competitive to me for Christmas time.

I will let others aswer whether fares will fluctuate up or down through the year for those dates but I would think you still have a few months before you need to make a decision if you have some date flexibility to get the best deal

First Direct in the UK will take instructions over the phone to transfer money from your UK account into a Thai account.

It typically takes around 2-5 business days and cost is £25

In contrast, Nat West will only take written instructions.

Here is a link of aeon locations, for those of you , like me, who are not familiar with aeon

http://www.aeon.co.th/lang/en/menu/Service...h#branchATMForm

Best and most reliable rental hire companies in my experience would be Thairentacar or the usual major internationals such as Hertz and Avis. Rental rates are available on their respective websites.

Expect to pay around 1500THB for a small 4 door car, up to 2500THB for a SUV or large 4 door saloon such as Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. You can get some special deals in quiet season. Hertz has recently been offering SUV/Camry/Accord at 1600THB/day so it depends upon when you visit.

They typically require passport and credit card, the same as anywhere else in the world. As usual with car rental companies, you need to be particularly careful with collision damage waiver. The above companies are generally OK but I have seen other companies in Thailand using contracts with unlimited liability for the renter in the event of damage.

HOWEVER, I would be cautious about recommending them to take the car rental option unless they are already familiar with driving in Thailand. It is very different to driving in US/Europe etc and has some key challenges - motorbikes, buses, lorries all doing unpredictable things as well as the more aggressive driving style of Thai drivers. In the unfortunate event of an accident, you will likely be presumed guilty as a foreigner and many of the major multinational companies still refuse to let their foriegn employees drivetheir own cars.

Having said, that most other foreigners who live here, do drive themselves.

If they are only considering day trips (or even 1 night stays) outside Bangkok, it is probably worthwhile hiring a driver and a van, which if you use eg.Thairentacar would be similar in cost to a large family saloon and far more relaxing, particularly if they are also trying to manage a toddler during the journey!

Does anybody have any recent first hand experience of undergoing hair transplant surgery in Bangkok, particularly Bumrungrad?

If so I would appreciate if you could share your positive and negative experiences, either by posting or PM.

Some areas I would be interested in:

- how much pain and for how long after surgery? What is recovery time to get "back to normal"?

- how quickly were you back at work?

- how quickly did all scarring disappear?

- how long until you saw the full benefits of the surgery?

- would you recommend it?

- how much did it cost and when did you have the surgery?

- any negatives or bad experiences?

Suggest you purchase and read one of the many guide books on Thailand such as LP or RG as this will give you a lot of information.

If you go to the big tourist islands such as Koh Samui and Phuket (mainly in Patong), you will find lots of bars and nightlife including discos. Other islands tend to be much quieter but you will find a few bars to spend the evenings. Bangkok has a huge amount of nightlife for every possible taste. Pattaya is a crazy place which you will either love or hate depending upon your taste.

For hotels, definitely worth checking the discount websites such as agoda and latestays to get an idea of costs and the quality of hotels available. Much better value for money than Europe or US. Really cheap bungalows are generally available at most locations but these are generally better booked when you get there, particularly as you are travelling in the off season, since it is better to view before you stay, to make sure quality/cleanliness is everything it is claimed to be!

WRT budget, it is almost possible to enjoy yourself on any budget on Thailand - depends on what lifestyle you are used to or what experiences you want in Thailand (tours/trips, beach, type of transport, quality of hotels, type of food, bars/clubs, ladies etc etc). Drinks will be 60-200THB. You can eat a good meal for as little as 100THB (or less!) if you like Thai food and are OK with the many basic but good, small, local restaurants/cafes

I would probably book 2-3 nights in BKK before you arrive and plan possible places you want to visit, but then finalise your travel arrangements when you are here as it will give you much more flexibility to move on when you wish, and will not be more expensive than booking beforehand.

You do need to be careful about scams etc. but it is perfectly possible to do it by using some good judgement and practical common sense.

Generally, if not travelling by air, people travel by bus rather than train, as the train network is limited and slow. However, some of the train journies can be great fun (eg. BKK-Kanchanaburi (Bridge on River Kwai), BKK- Chiang Mai with the last stretch to Chiang Mai in daylight. You can view train timetables etc if you google Thailand railway or something similar

I and others I know have always used Asian Tigers for delivery of overseas shipments and never had any difficulties with "losses". In fact, the only difficulties I have had and have been breakages by the unpacking team in Thailand rather than the shipment itself. I would always insure any shipments of valuable or personal items anyway.

I typically fly that route twice per year using Thai Airways. In my experience, they always use fairly old 747s which do not have individual screens nor do they have premium economy. The seats are also old and uncomfortable for long haul flights. Usually I use my frequent flyer miles to upgrade to business class.

Several people have recommended Eva Air to me. New planes, comfortable seating with good service. Otherwise, if cost is your main priority, you could look at some of the Mid East airlines like Emirates, Etihad or Qatar Air, which can have some cheap deals on reasonable aircraft but require you to change planes on route.

Seems that the Sportivo was a limited edition production run during 2009. Now no longer available at Toyota dealers and still too new to pick up a used model. Anybody aware of any new/used dealers which have one for sale?