Fireman Sam

Daughters first day at Bangkok University today, she has started her law course, on the phone already asking more money for books, lol. In good old student tradition her first lesson of the day wasn't until 14.00hrs, even she managed (just) to get up for that start time lol. Hope she enjoys herself but also sticks in and does well over the next four years. Regards

Loads of hotels around the Lat Krabang area close to the airport, at well less than half the cost of the Novatel,they all run shuttle buses to the airport, average journey time 5-10 minutes tops. Regards

The taxi queue at DM has been a nightmare for a while now. I always revert back to the old system of grabbing a taxi that has just dropped off passengers at departures. No turnstile gates at DM to stop you, never had a problem. Regards

A few days ago I submitted my letter to the personnel department informing them of my wish to retire on my normal retirement date which is 2nd August this year. Life changing year ahead for myself. Regards

Spot on jacko, it was the data check number that I was after on AIS. Regards

Does anybody know how you check your remaining allowance status in the above plans ?

Spending a fortune just now getting my daughter ready to attend Bangkok University,she starts Summer School there on 1st June for two months then full time from August. She is studying Thai Law. Regards

I paid £476.00 for Aberdeen - Bangkok return with Qatar, out 28th May back 23rd June, it was a few months ago that I booked. Cheapest I have ever paid from Aberdeen. Looking at a one way ticket for end of July, Qatar are quoting £815.00 ? Even other airlines are all around the £600 + mark. Regards

Great photos of real Thailand. I just cancelled a cycling trip in the same area because of the burning in the region, will go later on in the year sometime. Loads of companies doing cycling tours if that is your thing, they take care of everything off the bike you just need to do the cycling. Thanks again. Regards

Depends on the fault whether it's worth fixing or not. We had a problem with the sound on our 32" Samsung flat screen it would only play at full volume, whilst that was fine to fit in with the neighbours, it got a tad wearisome after a while. Got it fixed for 400 baht, granted this is in Nakhon Phanom. I realise my location doesn't help the OP. Regards

I liked the iris reconigition system they had for a few years at most of the major airports in the UK, there was never a queue for the machines and was effortless. No human interaction required with border control staff at all, has to be a plus. This government scrapped it, I think for lack of take up and penny pinching as usual. If it had been bettered advertised and managed then could have been a great success IMHO. Regards

I flew on Qatar's A380 last week in economy on the upper deck DOH-BKK. Really good layout and plenty of leg room, if you somehow manage to pre-book your seat up there go for a window seat, you get a storage box due to the curvature of the plane, there are no entertainment boxes in the footwells also. I think Qatar reserve this area for their frequent flyers. I am a gold card holder with them so had no problem selecting seating in this area online. I would go as far as to say one of, if not the best economy class seats I have ever flown on. Good quick meal and drink service as well as there are a limited number of passengers up there. Only downside I could see is when you're getting off the plane in BKK, think we were last off, again no problem for myself as I get a premium lane immigration card also. Regards

marleyboy wrote, " As an aside. Thai now use Terminal 2 (was 3) in Heathrow............I found it much worse than terminal 3! " Jesus H, Terminal 2 must be bad !!!! Regards

Just a quick update, I purchased the Nuvi 2567LM for 7490 THB last week from Maurycy at http://www.eaglegps.co.th/index.php/en/. he is located in Chiang Mai. Really really good service and very helpful guy to deal with. I carried out the purchase via email and sent the cash to him via bank transfer. My Garmin arrived two days later at my house in Nakhon Phanom via Thailand's EMS Postal Service. Used the unit yesterday for a trip from Nakhon Phanom to Udon Thani, although I knew the route to our destination in Udon I thought it would be a good try out. I was very impressed, as I deviated from the suggested route by using some small sois that I knew as shortcuts, the unit quickly re-calibrated itself then worked out a new route to our destination, most impressed. We were supposed to be doing a road trip to Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai next week which is what I bought the unit for, but it looks like that trip might be on hold due to a house move within Nakhon Phanom. Although I still need to get into the guts of the unit to learn all the various functions that it can carryout. Have to learn how to get the GPS coordinates from Google Earth into the unit via my phone. I can highly recommend dealing with Maurycy at eagle GPS, great service. Regards

Hi Peter H69, As I wrote in my first reply, there are many car hire companies available in Udon, none that I'm aware of in Nakhon Phanom, although I may be wrong in that respect, I don't have a need to rent a vehicle so it's not something I look for. If you check out UdonMap.com I'm pretty sure there will be car rental companies advertising on there. Certainly no problem with a Falang renting a car, might have to leave a copy of your passport and a deposit though. Gas stations everywhere in the North East, not a problem. Regards

Probably 50/50 which way is quicker, choice below. Fly to Udon Thani, then get the bus to Nong Khai, then change buses there for one departing to Nakhon Phanom. Not too sure how often they run nowadays. Remember the bus to NKP will stop everywhere and anywhere probably taking around one to one and a half hours upwards from Nong Khai to Bung Kan I would think. Your other option is fly to Nakhon Phanom, either Air Asia or Nok Air fly there daily see their websites, then take the mini van into the town's bus station (approximately 15 KM from airport) then jump on the bus heading to Nong Khai, this bus journey will be slightly longer time wise. Really depends on your schedule and what fits better with yourself. I haven't used the buses for the last 7-8 years as I have my own transport. Plenty of car rental companies available in Udon and at the airport, the roads are pretty good overall, depends how far off the beaten track you go really. Regards

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/transasia-atr-flight-data-suggests-wrong-engine-shut-408774/ RIP to all the victims ! Regards

I'm also in the market for a Garmin Sat Nav in the next 3-4 weeks. Think I will go for the Nuvi 2567LM, seems to do everything I need and mid priced at 7490 THB on http://www.eaglegps.co.th/index.php/en/products/automotive-main-menu1/product/73-nuevi-2567lm has anybody used this company for an online purchase before, and if so were they reliable. Do all the Garmins now purchased in Thailand come with the ESRI map already installed, or do you have to specify this map when ordering ? You all seem to take the units back to where you purchased for an update to the map, has anybody updated their map online via the Garmin website ? http://www.garmin.co.th/mapupdate/ I am located in Nakhon Phanom so taking it into a retailer will not be an option, I think. Thanks for any help, I'm new to this Sat Nav business. Regards

Basically you have until the 31st of July this year to make sure that your pre-paid mobile sim card is registered with your personal information, what personal information actually entails I'm not a hundred per cent sure, but would think name and address at the very least. Link below http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/telecom/458992/nbtc-issues-registration-alert I know that Gabor has a thread running in the expat section about AIS or DTAC and which is the best carrier to use, I didn't want to hijack his thread. I also didn't want to put this in the expat section as it will effect many visitors and tourists to Thailand who visit only once or twice a year also. Mods please move if topic is in the wrong section. Regards

Watched it also last night. There really should be some sort of common sense test before they hand out passports, lol, dire at best. Regards

Just a few photos of a recent stay in Chiang Khan. Chiang Khan is a small rustic Thai tourist town in Loei province, approximately 40 odd km North of Loei City, we only stayed for two nights, just about the right length of time. Nearly all the town is constructed of old wooden style buildings. We were there just to chill out and do nothing in particular. It felt more like a Thai destination with very few falangs present. I thought for a tourist town it was very reasonably priced for food, drink etc etc. Apologies in advance about the photos as I'm shit at taking them. We stayed in the Ruen Rak Rimkhong Hotel normal cost is between 1200-1500 a night, we got it for 1100 as the small cafe next door that you normally get your breakfast from was closed. We never booked just turned up and asked, but it was a Monday night, might be more difficult in the weekends. Hotel sign. Front of our hotel on first floor. Rear of hotel overlooking the Mekong. Our room. Toilet. Balcony. Free bicycles to use from our hotel, it's very flat in town so helpful for getting up and down the street. General street view sorry a bit blurred. Street view. Street View. Another hotel in town. Metal bicycle statue, seems to be a big connection with the bicycle in the town, all the touristy t-shirts have a photo of a bicycle on them. Street view. View to the right from our balcony. View to the left from our balcony. River front. Some river craft. More river craft. Funny shaped rock formation ? Went up to Phu Tok view point which is close by, you can only drive so far as the road is closed then you have to take the provided baht buses which cost 25 baht per person return. Mountain view, certainly was cooler up there. Another view. We had a quick drive down to Khang Khood Khoo area which had a few restaurants and shops. We had something to eat in the Chiang Khan Hill Top Resort, nice views from the restaurant. Another view from the restaurant. I had the chicken curry. Wife had the fried veggies, have to be quicker to get full plate photo. Breakfast on both days, Kay Kra Ta which I do like when on holiday. We both had the same plus two hot coffees for 100 baht. The morning we checked out, a bit of mist from the river. Another misty photo. Definitely a relaxing place to stop for a day or two, but you would need to bring your own female company, I never seen any bars around the place and the town was very quiet after 8-9 o'clock at night. Regards

Nice pics, can I enquire what DSLR you treated yourself to ? Regards

Hi jacko, I just did a business class leg LHR to DOH with Qatar on their new A380. I remember you saying you nearly always go business class so a quick round up from myself. I flew in from Aberdeen so the lack of limo had no effect for myself. The lounge at Heathrow is very good with really helpfull staff, went out of their way to solve my small problem, nice guys. The food on offer in the a la carte menu looked pretty good with plenty of choice. I just had Tomato and Basil soup followed by a Chicken Club sandwich as I wasn't really that hungry. Plenty of Champagne on offer and a pretty comprehensive wine list also. Toilets and showering facilities are also nice and kept really clean. Reasonably fast wi-fi, also a small business centre if you need to print out documents. The chairs in the lounge beside the windows are really comfortable and I could have easily nodded off in them. On the A380 itself, apparently the seats are the same as the ones on the 787. To be honest, I didn't rate them that highly, the space for your feet is restricted as the sides narrow from the seat in front of you. Whilst they are fully lie flat, I didn't find getting forty winks that easy, IMHO their business class seats on their 777 are better. The IFE system is a new touch screen remote system, although plenty to watch I think Emirates still lead the field in this area. I also find Emirates A380 business seats to be better IMHO, more comfortable, especially with the mattress toppers that they hand out on night flights. The service could have been better to be honest, my drink order took ages to come after take off and was still wrong. I'm not a high demand customer (well I think I'm not) I never press the call button and regularly fly in excess of 100,000 miles per annum. Not sure if it's the sheer number of business seats to staff ratio on the A380, but again the service I have received on their 777 has been excellent normally. There is a bar area upstairs much the same as Emirates, but I gave it a miss as I normally do. I did take take one or two photos, but my daughter has the camera with her just now down in Bangkok. Overall IMHO Emirates slightly shade the business class experience. If going with Qatar I would try and get on their 777, a better all round experience when flying Qatar. Regards