biggles

A lot of smaller bars have a "swap" service for books, which I use often. One second hand bookshop that I have used is in Soi VC, right down the end in the lane leading to the Yensabai condos. its a charity shop run by falangs for poor thais. books are 80 baht and they give 40 baht credit on your returns. A good selection of books in there and they would love any donations.

This was a great show !!! I watched it from the PBG and it just seemed to go on forever.

Yeah, look forward to reading your report every month, thanks for the effort.

i am on their mailing list so if i get some notification will post the info

Thanks for the info. I am on their email list so I got onto this pretty quick. Got a RETURN flight from Clarke (Angeles) to cebu in mid september for 1431 pp all inc, thats around 960 baht.

thanks guys, I thought this would be the case. I wont bother renewing it, too much hassle, I can use an International driving permit for upto 90 days and I dont intend to stay more than 30 days in thailand anymore.

My 5 year is also up in october but this time I will be on a 30 day visa free entry. does anyone know if I can renew it ? I presume I have to get a letter from immigration in Jomtien and I do have a permanent address here but will immigration want to see a 60 day tourist visa or a multiple o visa before they give me the letter of residence??

Used to go here a lot but I also got tired of the mysterious items on the bill. the food is great but if they treat me like a fool then they dont get my custom.

Bigdusa I am in AC at the moment and was talking to an aussie guy who is staying at Hotel C, a small hotel/guesthouse close to SM mall in AC. it is in first avenue, about 5 minutes walk from SM and it runs off the main street that goes from Macarthur hwy down to the mall. There are always a lot of trikes outside the street entrance. it is 4000 pesos a week or 10000 pesos a month including electric. they have air con but no cable only local tv. I went to have a look yesterday, rooms small but the place is very clean and well kept. the girl on the desk is called Gliza her cell nr is 09166496202 most small furnished places will cost you around 14,000 pesos a month. you might also check out www.philippinesecrets.com, a lot of Ac locals on that board.

Perhaps my description is not quite correct but I said "not retirement type" so that people would understand why I had to leave thailand every 90 days. If it was extended for retirement then I would only have to report every 90 days, not leave. also because it was "not retirement type" I could not renew it inside thailand.

Maybe some confusion with visa type? I had a multiple O (not retirement type) which meant I had to leave thailand every 90 days and I needed to go back to my own country to renew it after 15 months. mate has had retirement O for six years and never had to return to oz to renew it, just goes to Jomtien to report every 90 days and renews once a year .

Oeshy, I am an email subscriber as well and I got an advance notice.

|If the website says there is entertainment on board you had better explain to me exactly whereabouts on the site it says so as I have made dozens of flights on air asia over the last 4 or 5 years and have yet to even see any screens fitted to the aircraft.| They dont have screens they have portable type dvd players that plug into a usb socket on the back of the seat in front. Also, the seat backs dont recline, the seat base slides forward, this reduces the amount of leg room you have.

I always fly Air asia coolangatta to Kuala lumpur, wait 3 hours for another flight from the same terminal building to Bangkok. Great airline, good service and never a problem in about 3 years. I have paid as little as $99 one way to KL and usually around $120 return KL to BKK. Log onto their web site and register your email address then they will give you advance notice when they have a sale on. They also advertise in the Brisbane courier mail. www.airasia.com You can travel to Robina station on the train and get the 765 bus from the station right to the airport. There is a YHA right outside the entrance if you want to overnight for an early flight. its not as convenient as Thai but you can easily save $500-600 on their regular cost flights, even more on a sale.

check if they have any conditions to the visa issue before you go to the office. last year the brisbane office wanted to see proof of onward travel and would not issue the visa on the spot, they would post passport back to you two days later. I ended up paying the fee.

what a great commercial, white sometimes is right I guess....

Thanks VM for that. wont be there for a month and I hadnt realised it was finishing up.

they are only boys, you need to make allowances for them. there has definately been a change in the make up of pattaya visitors. Just take a walk along the beach road at night. You cant get to talk to the girls for all the regular tourists, couples, strolling along.

I have been using them for abut 2+ years and never had a credit card problem. Cebu Pacific is a different story thought, always had problems early on tho seems sorted now. I still have my fingers crossed when I push the PAY button.

You might be right but I dont pay a commission to buy TC, and the wire transfer fee from aus to los is usually higher than the fee to cash the tc cheques in los, not much but its higher. also I can cash the TC when I want to (exchange rate change) and if I dont need all the money I can keep the cheques for later. the transfer is probably easier in many ways but TC suit me at the moment.

jimmac, Its a matter of cost. If I use an atm with my foreign atm card the thai banks charge me $5, the australian bank charges me $5 plus they charge me 1% of the amount I withdraw and give me a shitty exchange rate. this is on every withdrawl. I only use the travellers cheques to deposit australian money into my thai bank account, one visit only. I then use my thai ATM to withdraw baht with no charge. It makes sense to me but if you have lots of money to spend it might be too much trouble for you. lucky you!!

thanks for the photos, some lovely ladies and a couple of the service girls are really gorgeous. Havnt been in since the change of ownership but might have to give it another go.

lovedog100, its not just that it can be hard to cash them (most hotels and banks will do this) its that they charge a huge commission. 8-10% is common. I remember on fields ave about eight months ago money changers were quoting 31 pesos to the aussie dollar while TC were 26. I didnt cash mine, just hung on to them and used cash.

I was there one week ago and deposited AE cheques into my thai bank account. I do this regularly now for about five years and no problems. I did have some stolen once and the service from AE was very good.