thaiophilus

For an inexpensive day out: from Sathorn pier (BTS Saphan Taksin) take the Chao Phraya Express river bus (the ordinary orange-flag boat, NOT the overpriced blue-flag tourist boat) all the way to the terminus at Nonthaburi. Stroll round a provincial town, have lunch at a riverside restaurant, return. Boat fare: 15B each way. From Nonthaburi you can also take a taxi to Pak Kred and the local ferry across to the island of Ko Kred, but that may require some language and negotiation skills. Another laid-back island in the heart of Bangkok: taxi (from MRT Klong Toey or BTS Bang Na) to Wat Khlong Toey Nok at the port entrance, then take the local ferry across to Bang Krachao. Restaurants: If you like the Mango Tree, other farang-friendly restaurants to consider are Ban Chiang (Thanon Surasak off Silom, BTS Surasak) and Tummy Yummy, soi Tonson (nearest BTS Chitlom or Phloenchit) And if you want to pick and mix rather than dining in a formal restaurant, don't overlook the food courts in department stores like Central Chidlom.

"I wonder what will happen if on a connecting flight in Doha" In most countries outside of the USA there is a concept of "transit": If you have connecting flights and stay airside at the airport you have not technically entered the country. Therefore you don't go through customs at all, though you will probably have to undergo the usual security theatre (X-rays ,metal detectors etc.) before boarding.

myskipper: "he asked for more and claim it was the "service charge"". Just to clarify for anyone who doesn't know the system: there really is a service charge for taxis departing the airport. It's 50B on top of the meter charge. Also, passengers are expected to pay the expressway tolls (various sums 20-50B, shown at the gate). Usually the driver asks for the money as you approach the toll station; if he doesn't, he will expect it at the end of the journey. I can understand the driver appearing nervous about raising the question, if the passenger shows no sign of understanding this and has no common language. On the other hand, anything running to hundreds of baht is a scam. While we're here, here's my honest Bkk taxi story. I was in a taxi from the airport, at night, when the driver received a call. He stopped, turned around and found the bag the previous passenger had left (in the dark) on the floor in the back. We made a slight diversion and he passed the bag over to another taxi, I assume to be reunited with its owner. And for balance, the dishonest one. This was a clocked meter, obviously running at way over the correct rate. Maybe half way between the airport and central Bkk it was indicating 40km, when the entire journey is less than 25. Luckily there were two of us and my companion was fluent in Thai, so that "meter" ride suddenly became a (reasonable) fixed fare.

Adding to what others have said: 5. In most hotels the boy will have to leave his ID at the desk. When he leaves, if you are not with him they will phone your room to check all is OK before giving the ID back.

1. No. For those who don't know, Thai immigration is tedious (if you arrive at a busy time, be prepared to wait in line for an hour or so) but mostly painless. Unlike some countries there are no intrusive questions about your reasons for visiting. In 20+ years I don't think I have ever been asked anything more than "please show boarding card". They are not interested in your motives, only your paperwork, so make sure you have filled in all sections of the arrival card, including the address where you will be staying (if in doubt, pick a random Bkk hotel, nobody will check: TiT.)

Been there, seen that, or else something remarkably similar was on the BBC recently. I guess it's one of those international productions where they show the same video sequences but the narrative is voiced by an actor of the target audience's nationality. But that's not to knock it in any way - as such documentaries go, that is one of the better ones. I too was fascinated by the sheer complexity of what goes on. As a private pilot I get glimpses of that world, but the differences of scale are tremendous. It still amazes me that for a few hundred £ I can get to fly on an A380 costing a third of a billion. The mere sound of the flight numbers EK016 - EK376 gets my mouth watering thinking of my next visit to LOS...

As I know too well. Stones may take a while to grow, without any symptoms until they start to move, so it can be difficult to identify the cause. Regardless, it's definitely wise to avoid dehydration at all times. Also rhubarb For emergency self-medication for the pain you can take the maximum dose of both paracetamol/acetaminophen and ibuprofen simultaneously (so long as you are OK with either of these on its own, of course.) If compounds with added codeine (e.g. co-codamol) are legal where you are, that helps too, but I wouldn't risk carrying anything containing codeine when travelling. A doctor may have more potent options available. I wouldn't be without it when travelling, just in case. But be careful what you drink while taking cipro... unlike some antibiotics, alcohol is no problem, but milky drinks stop it working and it potentiates caffeine to the point where you can feel quite ill after a single cup of tea.

I spoke to one of the masseurs (Gan) today - the previous owner has sold the business to open a beer bar in Jomtien but Narcissus continues under new management (as of 3 days ago) with the same staff and location. The only obvious difference is that massage plus minnimum tip (for 1 hour, 500+1000B) are now payable up front to the manager.

and the "high - mid - low" are mouth positions, not Thai consonant classes which are a separate lesson ;-)

Sorry, ignore the above. Mistyping on a tiny phone keypad and the Thai has come out wrong. It should look like this: Front Centre Back อี อื อู High เอ เอิ โอ Mid แอ อา ออ Low

It helps to know that Thai has 9 vowel sounds (so it's easy: English has between 14 and 21 depending on where you are from!) Think of them on a 3x3 grid according to how high the jaw is and how far back in the mouth the tongue goes: Front Centre Back อี อื อู High เอ เอ้ โอ Mid แอ อา ออ Low or (British) English equivalents (don't pronounce the Rs) something like: ee eu oo eh er oh air ah or The 'eu' sound isn't found in English, it's a bit like the German ü-umlaut or the French u in 'tu' Then each vowel can be short or long, there are diphthongs and a couple of triphthongs, and each syllable can have one of 5 tones: level, low, falling, high or rising. Apart from that it's straightforward ;-)

Hi all, long-term lurker and amateur linguist here but I feel I know some of you already ;-) Currently watching the world pass by at what I still think of as Cocobanana... Regarding tuu yen, just a guess on my part: many so-called "self-cleaning" refrigerators have a drain hole at the back which sometimes needs, ahem, special attention.