Eneukman

I've just looked at a recent bill and am paying 4.02 baht per unit. I have 2 units and rarely use my aircon. I have 2 rooms and my bill is usually just under 1,000 baht and a bit over 1,000 baht in the hot season when I do use the aircon a bit more. Alan

This may be totally wrong, but I was told that Niels Colov's father-in-law has a great deal of influence in the right places. Alan

This must be an American thing as when I flew to Macau in the middle of last month I just had the standard security check immediately after Immigration. Alan

I thought they were drag queens! Alan

vingt trois

Some houses across from where I live have small solar panels. but they seem to be rather small to me to provide sufficient electricity, but I could be wrong. I did wonder briefly about the feasibility about installing solar panels on the roof of the condo where I live but after some ultra basic computations I quickly came to the view that the amount of electricity they would produce would be minimal compared to our needs - and that was without considering the cost of installing and maintaining them. Alan

And an alien abducted me last night and gave me the power to shag non stop for 10 hours at a time. Alan

I hear Zimbabwe is the next safe haven for your money. Nowhere is immune from the current recession. Alan

For your first application, the funds must have been in the account for a minimum period of 60 days and 90 days for subsequent renewals. I remit funds once or twice a year and use the funds to live on. I believe that it's very difficult for a foreigner to open a current account so you have no option but to open a savings account. Some people have been able to extend their visa by having the funds in a longer term savings account but there's no guarantee that Immigration will accept this for you. Once you have your visa, you could put the funds into a longer term savings account. Al

The answer's simple. If yuo want to stay for more than 30 days, GET A FUCKING VISA before arriving. I think the Thai government are trying to piss off those cunts who abuse the system and work here without the appropriate visa and work permit. I would have no hesitation in deporting them and banning them from ever returning. Alan

Absolutely correct. And it's not that difficult to have your papers in order. The 90 day reporting only takes a few minutes and as someone else suggested, can be done by someone else on your behalf if you're ill or in hospital. Incidentally, when you do your 90 day reporting Immigration in Pattaya want to see some evidence of your address. A telephone bill etc is sufficient. I took a copy as well as the original - they kept the copy. Alan

When I lived in Edinburgh, I had cable TV and a telephone line from Telewest. One day, I was having problems with the phone line - hence problems with the internet. The stupid bitch at the Telewest call cantre maintained that if I could use the phone, there was nothing wrong with the line. However, an engineer came out and guess what? He found water in one of their underground fixtures and that was causing the problems with my phone line. Alan

I switched to TT&T a few months ago and so far it has been much more reliable than TOT. It was slow earlier tonight though I'm not sure whether that was TT&T's fault or the general internet out of Thailand. Alan

Linda's restaurant on Thappraya Road (just past the entrance to View Talay 2) serves a very nice pepper steak - though it's not cheap. A bit over 400 baht for the steak, baked potato and salad. Alan

I stayed at Flamingos back in February. The hotel was fine despite the fact that I managed to cock up my dates. (my fault, which necessitated a change of room after 2 nights). They will pick you up from the airport. Fortunately, someone else on my flight was staying there so despite the cock up with the dates I got to the hotel without any problems. I got a Vietnamese freelancer from the Walkabout Bar - turn left when you exit the hotel and turn left again on to Street 51. Alan

It's many years (30) since I worked in branch banking but the procedure then was something along the lines of - 1. Present the cheque to your bank in this country and sign your name on the reverse in exactly the same way as it is written on the front, spelling errors and all. 2. Your bank in town sends the cheque to their International Division. 3. Your bank's International Division here checks to see whether they have any agreement with your bank in your home country. 4. If it does, it sends it direct to their International Division. 5. If not, it will send it to a bank in

I think you could be pushing it. All you need is a slight delay on your first flight and you could miss your connection. You might be lucky and get on a later flight but there is a risk that they could be full. Alan

It really depends on how long you plan on staying each visit. As for turning off the water, there is a tap outside my condo that can be turned off or on at will. There should be a master electricity switch in the condo somewhere, which you can turn off when you leave. If you are not going to be around, you really need to ensure that your maintenance fee is paid on time along with utility bills. Some condos are now tackling head on those owners who are late or who can't be bothered paying their annual fees. The law allows condos to disconnect the utilities after a certain period of

I took tg to Ubon Ratchathani in June with Air Asia. The price I paid was a bit higher at £90 (paid by credit card). As far as I can recall, there were quite a few empty seats on the plane. Alan

Just a pity that Air Asia don't fly to Siem Reap as I would like to visit Angkor Wat maybe in Febraury next year. Bangkok Air's prices are somewhat on the high side. Anyone know any cheaper flights from Bangkok to Siem Reap? Alan

I always like to be at the airport in time for the check-in desks opening, especially on long haul flights as that gives me more time in the airline lounge to sample their free champagne or whatever. Also, if I have a connecting flight, I never ever cut the connection time to less than 2 hours. Too much can go wrong. Your connecting flight can be an hour (or more) late - this has happened to me. The plane may park at the farthest point from the terminal building and it can take up to half an hour to reach the building plus when you arrive at the terminal the queues for security are almo

I now always ask a girl I'm thinking about barfining (in Thai)- "How long have you worked here?" If she replies 3 days or thereby, I tend to be on my guard. I will then ask, again in Thai, "What did you do before working here?" Some alleged "farm fresh" girls have been much better than their more experienced colleagues. Alan

I would say that that's just plain common sense, especially if you have a connecting flight as I always did when I lived in Scotland. I've had a one hour delay on my flight from Edinburgh - there was a fire alarm going off in the international departures area of Terminal 1 at Heathrow once, which caused a delay in getting to the bus for Terminal 4! Fog at Heathrow has resulted in the plane circling for about an hour and then being forced to abort the landing because visibility was too low for safe use of the automated landing system! Short transit times are also not a good idea. On my way

They are indeed. Alan

In Amsterdam a number of years ago, women were coming in and using the cubicles in the gents' toilets because the queues in their own were so long!. Alan