awesum4

Please don't stop doing it Jacko. Some of us really appreciate it. The NZ$, which is the only one I'm interested, in seems to have remained steady for the last month thank goodness. Your efforts allow me to feel more confident I can still have a good time without breaking the bank in August

Few or flew? What airline were you on? Emirates version definitely had more room than any 747 I flew on.

There was a long running thread about how Boeing was so much better than Airbus. Maybe you should find it and revive it. Would be interesting to see if the Boeing champions are still so vehement in their cause. Personally I think the A380 is the best long distance plane I have ever flown in. But I can only afford economy so I am biased.

2 crashed with all on board killed. I dont think any of them are actually flying commercially. No date for them to return to service has been announced.

Booking.com allows you to filter according to what type of property you want. I clicked on "holiday homes" and it had over a dozen in pattaya alone. I presume the other sites have the same function.

That gives me great hope for my trip in August. 2 years ago it took over 3 hours to clear immigration. But that was at arriving at midnight just after 3 plane loads of Chinese and they only had about 4 gates working. This trip I land at 4pm so should be lots of staff on.

I always thought squirrels were cute wee creatures. But I thought that about rabbits until I saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail....

Sorry but this isnt working for me.

The instructions say; Administration and dosage; 1 pill before sleep with warm boiled water. If it was lethal to do so they would run out of customers really fast. The cool boiled water is for when things go wrong. All sounds dodgy to me.

When we went to Bali a few years ago I booked a hotel via Booking.com. We had to stay a few extra days because of the volcano erupting. Went to reception they gave me a price but said cheaper online. I went to the internet room. Got same room 10% cheaper. Back to reception to pay for it. I think the same thing happens in Thailand. Varies from hotel to hotel.

The factory I work in is going into producing a product for the Chinese market. Our normal product sells for $20 a kilo. We will get $500 a kilo for the new product. Admittedly we will pay 4 times as much for the raw materials but we will get 25 times as much for the end product.... According to the Chinese its effects are not quite as good as rhino horn or tigers penis, but still very effective. In real life they are all as effective as digesting fingernail clippings. But I am happy to work for a profitable company.

I like smart gate. One of the main advantages is it overcomes language problems. It took ages to get through immigration into Hawaii because a plane load of Chinese tourists landed just before us. They didnt speak English, there was only one Chinese speaking immigration officer. The immigration office doing our line was frustrated and downright rude to them, was even shouting at them which didnt help matters at all. Presumably smartgate can give instructions in any language based on your passport. Show a Chinese passport and it gives instructions in Chinese.

I love the last photo....

I picked up my money from the bank. Got 21 000 for my 1,000. So 60 more than quoted, and 2,100 more than I would from travelex. If I was prepared to carry large amounts of cash or prepared to risk leaving it in the safe or hidden in the room I would get more.

Atlas designed the grille mesh on the new Range Rover Vogue.....he sure is multitalented

What can I say, I have a healthy appetite

I turn off my phone completely on the plane. Read a book. Watch the inflight entertainment. Maybe play a few games on there. Talk to the people next to me if they are friendly. Try to sleep. I dont need wifi on the plane or at the airport.

So TT Exchange allows me to withdraw bhat using my debit cards, not just change cash for bhat? I dont fancy carrying heaps of cash around

Before my last trip I'd been talking to a lady from Bangkok. She was a hairdresser not a bargirl. The first 2 nights she took my wife and I out to restaurants. We were the only farang there, the staff didnt speak English. She had haircuts to do during the day. Then she took us to Ayuttha one day, and Nakhon Nayok the next. Saw sights that definitely werent on the tourist trail. When we came back from Udon Thani she met us at the bus station and took us to Jomtein. I rented her (and her female friend) a room at the same place. She took us to Nong Nooch gardens, Sanctuary of Truth and other places. I gave her 1000 a day plus I paid for everything. Was still cheaper than hiring a car and driver. Plus she was interesting and fun to be with. I like meeting Thais other than bargirls. She took my wife shopping at various markets which let me just go for a walk on my own. She enjoyed an all expenses paid holiday and a bit of cash as well.

I decided to buy some baht yesterday as I like to have enough cash on me for the first few days. I'm planning on 4,000 a day roughly. So I figured $1,000NZ gets me 20,000bt. Looked up the rate for travelex, 19,770. Near enough. Off to the mall. Get there and he tells me....18,890. Forget it. Go home order it online from my bank 2,040. But takes 5 days and may vary slightly. So travelex would cost me a days accommodation every 5 days. Fuck them. Thanks for posting these each week Jacko, it's useful info to have.

Or you could maybe find a woman with her own car. She is less likely to crash if it's not a rental. Her insurance covers it if she does as long as you aren't paying her to drive you around. If afterwards you give her a gift that more than covers her costs and her time everyone should be happy.

The South Island especially has way more extreme rainfall differences than the UK. We have very tall mountain range (the Rockies little brother) running the entire length of the island at 90 degrees to the predominant winds. Those winds cross Australia and get hot and dry, they then cross the Tasman sea and pick up heaps of moisture. When they hit the Alps they try to rise but cant and so dump the moisture. I think northern India and surrounding countries have the same effect with the monsoon winds trying to cross the Himalayas. The only other place I've seen this (but even more markedly) is the Big Island (Hawaii) which is all volcanic lava. One side is really wet and the lava has broken down to produce really fertile soils ( remember the tv news about the lava flows last year pushing through lush countryside). The other side gets no rain the lava takes centuries to break down, it's a black desert.

I've only ever been to Thailand in July or August. That's because by then I've had enough of winter. Here we are in a rain shadow area, it can drizzle for several days in spring and autumn. But we rarely get huge downpours. Some areas on the other side of the mountains get rain 300 days a year, and a total of 3 meters (10 feet) a year. My impression of Thai rain is that it buckets down for an hour or so then stops. It doesnt bother me as I'm on holiday and I just find a bar or restaurant to wait in. But the streets flood easily. I've never had it rain for more than a couple of hours. But maybe I've been lucky.

Brilliant.....made me laugh out loud.....

Why would you want to do that? Go through one airport, have your fingerprints read. Change your fingerprints and then go through another airport...….sorry you are not the same person, cannot come into the country, catch the next plane back to where you came from.