Eneukman

Basically, it's better to wait until you get here before changing your money. The best way to get a rate close to the true market rate is to open a flex account with the Nationwide Building Society. They don't charge you for withdrawing funds from ATM's abroad plus they give you an exchange rate not too remote from the true rate. Even with a Nationwide ATM, I would recommend bringing travellers cheques as a back up. Alan

Not a clue, but I suspect the final handkerchief was already in situ before she started. Alan

Thanks cyber - Having part of my balance "locked in" wouldn't be a problem. The renewal dates of my credit and debit cards are out of synch with my debit card expiring 7 months after my credit card. My Thai credit card would really only be used to cover this period or as a back up in the event of an emergency. Alan

One of the disadvantages of living in Paradise is that the UK banks won't send your new credit/debit cards in the post to Thailand. Therefore, a visit home is required unless a friend or family member is coming over. I have a retirement visa (strictly an extension of a non-Immigrant O visa) valid until August 2007. Does anyone know whether I can get a credit card from Bangkok Bank based on this. A limit of 200,000 baht or maybe 250,000 baht would be sufficient. Thanks, Alan

As well as the board slowing down to slower than snail's pace at times, I got this error message earlier today. Other boards were OK at the time - IPB WARNING [2] mysql_connect(): Too many connections (Line: 131 of /ips_kernel/class_db_mysql.php) "There appears to be an error with the database. You can try to refresh the page by clicking here. Error Returned SQL error: Too many connections SQL error code: Date: Sunday 27th of August 2006 08:51:52 AM We apologise for any inconvenience" Refreshing the page didn't work nor did coming out completely and going back in

Ah yes - a reworking of an ancient one from 1991 at the latest. The version I have has the Romans fighting what they thought was a lone Highlander on top of the Cobbler Hill in Scotland. Again here there were actually 2 Highlanders. Alan

Brown1950, may I suggest that you read my post again. I did NOT say that I had it on good authority that the new airport would NOT open on 28th September. Also, note the smiley at the end of my comment to show that I wasn't being serious. Alan

The nwe airport is on the other side of Bangkok from the old one so there should be a saving of about half an hour or so in the time it takes to get to Pattaya. Whether or not there will be a reduction in the taxi fare to reflect this remains to be seen though. Alan

I have it on good authority that if the new airport doesn't open on 28th September, it mostdefinitely will on 23rd October. Hopefully, they'll have sorted out a few of the bugs by the time you arrive. Alan

The Residence Gardens also has wifi in all rooms. I can't remember the cost though. Alan

From what I've read, Don Muang will close as far as passenger flights are concerned. The Royal Thai Air Force will continue to use it though. Alan

The changes to your SIM card should be made automatically BUT I think you will have to change all the tg's phone numbers you have stored manually. Alan

That's what I do - most of the time anyway. I, too, live in View Talay but go into Pattaya if I want to find a girl to keep me warm that night. Traffic into Pattaya can be a bit slow at times but the only days when it becomes a major hassle are Christmas Eve and Hogmanay when you can wait at least 20 minutes for a baht bus into town. Alan

I found this on the net, which may be of interest to some of you. When I started working back in 1972, Boxing Day (26th December) was another working day as was New Year's Day in England. http://www.rampantscotland.com/know/blknow12.htm Alan

I'd forgotten about being able to apply over the internet. The Immigration office isn't far from where I stay so it's no problem for me going back again in the afternoon. Having renewed my visa for a further year on Wednesday, I went back again this morning to obtain my multiple re-entry permit. I was in and out with the permit stamp in my passport in less than 15 minutes. Last year, I had to go back in the afternoon so I guess I just got lucky this year. Alan

I think you just struck it lucky, gonzo. Last year when I applied for my retirement visa, I got it on the spot. Today, I applied to renew it and have to go back later in the afternoon. I'll do that in an hour or so. If you get there early enough, they may well process it on the spot but if you don't go till later in the morning as I had to do today, you may have to go back. Alan

Shipping goods to Thailand is expensive. The cost by sea is dependent on the actual size. I shipped over a load of books, CD's, photographic albums all of which fitted into 4 medium sized cardboard boxes and the cost came to more than £700. If you send the goods over by air the cost is, I believe, based on weight. Whatever option you chose, ensure that you get a door to door service! It saves you the hassle of having to go to Bangkok and uplift your goods. Also, unless you have a Business visa you will HAVE to pay customs duty on what you import into the Kingdom. I got away with 4,000

And I'll be paying a visit to Immigration later this week to renew my visa. Alan

I've had the same problem with AOL as well. Shower of incompetent bastards who don't give a toss about customer service!!!!! Alan

The problem with the FTSE100 (and presumably the Dow Jones index is ) is that if one large company does particulary well (or badly) this causes the FTSE100 to move up or down in a disproportionate manner. A large gain (or fall) could therefore be caused by 2 or 3 large companies only. Alan

Hopefully that was why I couldn't get on 5 minutes ago. Alan

To get a non-Immigrant O Visa, there's a form you need to complete. You should be able to download it from one of Thai Consul's web-sites. You can get either a single entry or a multiple entry, which is valid for up to 1 year from the date of issue. You need to enter Thailand within 90 days of the visa being issued. With a multiple entry visa, if you re-enter Thailand a couple of days before the expiry date, you will be given permission to stay for a further 90 days. The multiple entry visa needs a reason for your visit and the Thai Visa forum - www.thaivisa.com - recommended that I put d

I understand your confusion. Strictly speaking you can only get a retirement visa in your home country. What I and others who have retired here call a retirement visa is really a 1 year extension to a non-Immigrant O visa. The stamp put in my passport by Immigration says "Pattaya Immigration Office Extension of stay is permitted up to 23 Aug 2006 Overstay offenders must be prosecuted" The 1 year extension is based on when you last entered the country. I obtained my extension (otherwise erroneously called a retirement visa just to confuse people like you ) on 26th October 2

I get my generic Cialis there. It also stays open quite late as far as I can recall. Alan

I'm not certain, but I think it's 1 year. When I flew out for good last year, I bought a return ticket as it was cheaper than a one-way ticket. The ticket I had had a £200 fee if I wanted to change the return date but as the date I asked for (early August) this year was more than 1 year ahead of when I bought the ticket (April 2005), they had to give me a ticket with a return date of April 2006. They then attached a note in their records that I could change the return date free of charge. In reality, I simply didn't check in for obvious reasons! Alan