Eneukman

Thanks for the update, Stoace. I'm go to Catz from time to time so will stop off at your friend's bar some time soon. Alan

Hijacking this thread slightly, but does anyone know where Yu is these days? Alan

I've noticed that the board has been fairly slow for several days now. I'm accessing it from Thailand via Opera. Other sites have been OK. Alan

I have an alleged 512/256 from TOT Speedtest came out with - 327/202. Not very good in my book! I think a lot also depends on where in Pattaya you stay. Alan

But did they say october 2007? Alan

I've stayed at the Residence Garden in the past. it's a good hotel, guest friendly and not too far from Walking Street. Alan

If you want to be really close to Walking Street, there's Secrets Hotel and Bar on Soi 14. A little further afield is the Residence Garden, which you can book via this board. It's only a few minutes away by baht bus. Alan

The need for a medical certificate was done away with some months ago. I needed a certificate when I renewed my visa last year. At the clinic i went to, the doctor did at least listen to my chest and charged me all of 80 baht for the priviledge. As I have high blood pressure, I bought a wrist monitor from Boots in the UK before I moved over here. It's pretty accurate though I try to get it checked by the Pattaya International Hospital every 2 weeks or so at the Pattaya Ex-Pats Club on a Sunday morning. Last time it was something like 115/73 with a pulse rate of 40. My doctor back in Scotland would be delighted with that as it was 200/150 when I was first diagnosed. Alan

I think the only way to get a refund is to take a Thai national to their offices and let her scream and yell at them. Unless you are fluent in Thai, farangs have very little chance in getting any satisfaction from these incompetent wankers! Alan

You also need a photocopy of the face page of your passport for your multple re-entry permit. As for the 90 day reporting, bear in mind that renewing your visa does NOT count for this. I renewed my visa last week, but still had to report my address. I wasn't required to do so until 25th August, but it's always best to do so a few days early just in case you forget! Alan

Also bear in mind that the insurance cover you get from the cheaper firms may not be worth the paper it's written on!. Alan

I hereby nominate Roland for the cheap charlie award of the 3rd Millenium. Even Gabor hasn't a look in. Alan

I found this site on the internet whilst hunting for details of KLM's lounge at Schiphol. Hmm - after reading the comments, I wish I hadn't bothered now! http://www.airlinequality.com/Product/Lounges.htm Alan

My experience with TOT is the exact opposite. You would think that there would be no difference between buildings A & B. I have had to telephone TOT a number of times over the last few months and the service has been down for several hours on a number of times. I tend not to leave my modem switched on but even in the short time it has been on today, just over 3 hours, I have had to reboot it once already. TOT sent engineers to try and find out why I was having problems and the useless tossers blamed my fire wall. 2 minutes after they left, the service failed again and it took an hour before I could get through. The engineers came back just before 5.00 pm and then decided that there was a problem in Bangkok! The whole of 2A had no telephone service from TOT for 21 hours earlier this month, and then when it did come back on, it failed again after a mere 3 hours! Some time ago, I was getting close to the advertised speeds though when the service was intalled I was doing well to get half that. I am paying for a 512/256 connection but just now I am getting 344/191. Not brilliant! Alan

I'm using it just now in View Talay 2A. I would go for TT&T if you can. They seem to be much more reliable than TOT. Alan

I'll try to look in at some point during the evening. Alan

I gave up on this after twice not getting a reply. When you think of the fairly small number of people who post on a regular basis, it's not that easy to find someone arriving even close to the same time as you. I did once have one guy who was staying at the same hotel travelling on the same flight. Only problem was, he was travelling a day earlier than I was! Alan

Why is that almost everybody says that? If the line wasn't in my landlord's name, I'd tell TOT to stick their service where the Sun don't shine! Alan

I did my 90 day reporting with no problems. My next due date is 11th November, though I am thinking of taking a side trip to Cambodia around that time. Alan

I don't think I'll be rushing to sign up until they got all the gremlins sorted. Give them a few years and they might get it right eventually. As for ADSL, TOT is crap. TT&T are supposed to be more reliable. Alan

Infrastructure in Thailand? I never knew that such a thing existed. They have been widening the road (Route 7) between Bangkok and Pattaya for ages and the last time I travelled to the new airport, the work doesn't seem to be any nearer competion. Electricity - I saw something major blow on power lines on Theprassit Road some time ago, followed almost immediately afterwards by the power going off for some hours. I was on the internet not so long ago and heard a loud bang. On investigating, I could see a bright arc of light, which arose I believe from the transformer that serves View Talay 5C blowing up - and not for the first time! To be fair, the number of 12 hour plus power cuts seems to be on the decline, but whenever there is a thunderstorm, the lights flicker like mad. Telephone/internet - My telephone line was down for 21 hours a week or so ago. It then came back on for three or four hours before failing again for a number of hours. TOT's internet service is a load of shit and totally unreliable Sophon Cable - fails regularly for a few minutes on a regular basis. At times, it can be down for several hours. Water - I think View Talay has their own supply ( ) so problems there apart from it being discoloured a couple of times. Road repairs - After the work on Pratamnak Road just past the junction with South Pattaya Road, the road was supposed to have been tarmaced over by the end of June. It still hasn't been done resulting in your insides being jolted all over the place. The new airport - lack of toilets, runways and taxiways needing repaired. Despite all the above, I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Alan

The more memory the better. What size are you going to be taking the photos at? I assume you will be shooting high resolution photos hence the need for a lot of memory. Alan

The maximum now in any one transaction seems to be 25,000 baht, subkect to your own bank's limits. However, if the machine has run out of 1,000 baht noted, it will only allow you to withdraw a maximum 10,000 baht. I needed money to pay my rent a couple of weeks ago and had to draw to lots of 10,000 baht to cover it. Fortunately, it was my own bank's ATM so no charges, but my landlord wasn't exactly impressed by getting 20,000 baht in 500 baht notes. Alan

If you're going to be driving in Bangkok or Pattaya a lot of the time, I'd go along with the above. However, away from there, the traffic is fairly light. I would be inclined to use one of the international firms, such as Avis etc. Remember that, you should have an International Drivers Licence from your own country to avoid potential problems when you are stopped by the Police. Alan

Great time weather wise, but too many bloody foreigners about at that time of year for my liking. I really do like the low season, despite the heat and humidity. Alan