Eneukman

Until I moved out to live here, I used my cash card the majority of the time with travellers cheques as a back up. If you have a Nationwide Building Society flex account their debit card will give you a very good rate of exchange and no commission. I wouldn't recommend using your credit card for drawing cash other than in an emergency as there is generally a charge for drawing cash, plus many companies charge you interest from the day you draw the cash to the date you repay the sum due, regardless of the fact that you might, as I do, clear the sum outstanding every month. Jack, Tha

My money's on the airport being finished first - this time next year at best. Alan

I would - if it wasn't for the fact that I'd likely be outnumberd by something like 50 - 1 Alan

I'm another who'll avoid a bar that's showing football, especially if England are playing. Alan

I've just moved here to live and enjoying every minute of it so far though I have to remember that I'm now an ex-pat and can't go on the prowl every night. My rent is 20,000 baht per month for a one bedroom condo in View Talay and I reckon that my average monthly expenditure will be around 80,000 baht or so per month. However, I'll have a better idea of this by the end of September. You can get a studio apartment for a lot less than 20,000 per month, but I like a certain amount of comfort and am happy to pay for this. Alan

The advice I've been given in the past is that anti-malaria drugs are not required for Pattaya - though if you're thinking of going into the highlands areas, then I would imagine that they would be needed. As for diarhea, I have only had a problem once in about 22 weeks in Thailand and that was down to some under cooked chicken a restaurant served me. I spent 2 days in hospital as a result! Whatever you do, don't drink the tap water and take it easy on the spicy food and you should be fine. However, it won't do any harm to bring some immodium with you. Also ensure that you have good

In restaurants, I tend to leave a 20 baht tip, mainly because I am desperate to hoarde as many coins as possible for use on the baht buses. Having said that, the driver of bus 121 deserves mention as he gave me 10 baht change the other day from a 20 baht note for a journey from View Talay 2 to Central Road. Alan

There have been a few thunderstorms in the Pattaya area recently, but not much rain as far as I can tell. The last two nights on my way back to my condo after dinner I could see lightning all over the place. There was a little rain last night, but nowhere near enough to ease the water shortage. The cafe at View Talay 2A was being cleaned this afternoon and you would not believe there was a water shortage the amount of water that was being used. But maybe the Thai papers follow the Thaksin line - i.e. there is no water shortage. Alan

Emil, Agree with you but unfortunately, I was there on my own. The girl did call a friend over but she didn't speal much English either. I actually bought my top-up cards from a stall on Pratamnak Road. Now just need to go to Telewiz in Carrefour to register it. Not a problem today as the Pattaya School of Languages where I am trying to learn to speak the language is only 50 or so yards away. Alan

RaiderFan, If you're planning on staying for more than 30 days, it will be easier if you apply for either a tourist visa, valid for 60 days, or a single entry non-Immigrant "O" type visa., valid for 90 days. They can be obtained from on the Thai Consuls in the US. Some Consuls are easier to deal with than others but I'm sure that some of your fellow countrymen will be able to advise you on this. More information on visas can be obtained here - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/ Alan

I noticed on the news a short time ago that the cost of a barrel of oil (in the US)had gone over the $70 mark for the first time. I was also watching a programme last night when it was claimed the problem is not so much in the amount of oil being pumped from the ground but rather when it comes to the refining process. Alan

My problem re activating the phone solved. Now I just have to register it into my name. I'll be in Carrafour tomorrow so I'll pop into Telewiz and see if they can still do it. I'm certain that if I had asked the girl who sold me the phone about registering the sim card that she wouldn't even be aware of the need for this to be done! Alan

I've just bought a replacement mobile phone from one of the places in Tuk Com, but when I got back to my condo and tried to add more credit (bought elsewhere as the girl who sold me the phone did not understand what I was wanting ), I get a message saying that the phone has not been activated. Any suggestions as to where to go to get this done? It's a Motorola with a 1-2-Call sim card. Alan

I got an Internatonal Drivers Licence from the RAC earlier this year. It cost a mere £5.50. As said above, the form can be obtained from their web-site. I posted the request for the licence on a Monday morning and received it on the Wednesday morning. Now, that's what I call service. Alan

Thanks Lemons, The place you're talking about is called TukCom, which is where I'll be heading tomorrow to buy a new phone having lost mine yesterday - probably fell out of my pocket on a baht bus! Alan

Hmm - I assume that you need your product no from the installation CD? I'm using a lap topp just now and didn't get a Windows XP CD so I just hope that the product no I can access is the full number. Wombat, I would imagine that Bill Gates and his employees will have thought of that. How do you think he became so wealthy? Alan

I walked through Customs yesterday with my laptop, one film SLR camera and 35-70mm zoom lens and my digital SLR (a Nikon D70) and associated 18-70mm lens. No problems at all though I didn't stop around long enough to ask When I came out in June, I had more photographic equipment as well as my laptop. Now just got to wait 2 months or so for aa load of books, CD's and photo albums to arrive from the UK. Not sure where they're going to go when they get here though. Alan

You can still get badly sunburnt under a cloudy sky. I got a superb tan walking in Scotland a few years ago. 2 days were hot and sunny and the third was one of those really muggy, cloudy days that had you totally dehydrated after half an hour's walkin. Including a couple of essential refreshment stops (at the only 2 bars on my route) it took me about 8 or 9 hours to walk a distance of 21 or 22 miles. I then sank a pint of lager, a pint of orange squash and lemonade and probably the best part of a pint of water within 20 minutes or so. Alan

I was told by the sister of a BA engineer that QANTAS stood for Queers And Nancies Training As Stewards. It's a few years since I last flew with them and despite the fact that I managed to get an upgrade to Business from Cattle Class I wasn't exactly impressed with them. In these days, they didn't have the seat back TV's, though BA had already installed them. My flight to Bangkok was the one and only time that a plane I've been on had to return to the gate immediately after being pushed back from it - and not due to any mechanical problems! . Ended up arriving in Bangkok 2 hours

Just my own thoughts here. If you are planning on teaching Thais to speak English, shouldn't you be abe to speak Thai fluently first? After all, if your students don't understand what you're saying shouldn't you be able to explain it to them in their native language? Think of it the other way round. you are learning to speak Thai and imagine your reaction of your teacher couldn't explain something to you in your own language. Alan

On previous trips I used to start with factor 15 going down to factor 12 and maybe 8. I would spend a good part of the day soaking up the sun but would reapply the suncream frequently and always after swimming. My last trip was to find somewhere to stay so I kept my sunbathing to the mornings - a maximum of 2 1/2 to 3 hours per day and certainly after 7 weeks or so I felt I could have been browner, but the weather wasn't exactly brilliant towards the end of the 7 weeks. I would say that staying out in the sun for longer and reapplying the suncream on a regular basis will help get you a

Normal rate at the RG is 1,350 baht per month. In June, I stayed there for 4 weeks but was given the monthly rate, which cost me around £430 (around 32,000 baht) Alan

wifi internet is available in the Residence Gardens Hotel (see the banners on this board for booking details). The cost is 150 baht per day, 600 baht per week or 1,500 baht per month. When I was there at the end of June, beginning of July, I had to sit on my balcony to get it to work (no problem doing that ) as I was on one of the higher floors but by the end of my stay, I was able to get on line in my room. Alan

I think that a punishment of something like 1,000 lines to be handwritten with a quill pen is called for - "Football is played with a round ball" Alan

You can now access the internet by wi-fi from the Residence Gardens Hotel. The cost was 1,500 baht for 1 month. Also, if you stay at the RG for a month, you should get a reduced rate from that shown here - just over 1,000 baht per night. Alan