Where do you check prices against? Websites?

Where do you get health insurance from? Do you get it in Thailand? Or your home country? Who do u deal with?

i think i think ppl should post hashed out questions in ask us about thailand thread

take the green bus to burma khun alec. be sure to buy opium and dvds

wot

i need lion king dvd for shure

I paid $650 for 25kg additional baggage on Thai Airways Business from Sydney to Bangkok FYI which was 2 x 30" Dells. Pack them well or you will busto them. The other thing to consider is that if you get pinged by customs they will rape you for ridiculous customs duty. That is a very real danger, especially since you will be carrying a lot of baggage which makes it more likely the customs pull you aside to scan your bags at the "yes declare / nothing to declare" airport exit.

Best option is to buy the new 3008WFP model through the back-channels of Dell (you cant buy directly since Dell has no retail arm in Thailand), and it will cost about $2k USD, with warranty for 5 years.

I brought 2 x 3007WFPs here one which bustoed and one which I gave to a friend, and have since bought 3 x 3008WFPs for approx $2k USD each brand new w 5 year warranty through my insurance company. Arrived very quickly.

The retail in USA is $1700, and when you consider consumer electronics are usually way more expensive in Thailand because of the 100% import duty and VAT, it becomes a no brainer to just buy it here for the slight premium & then get local warranty, especially if youre in a habit of bustoing things like I am. The 3008WFP is also way sexier than the 3007WFP, and has the Apple Mac displayport plug for 1 plug connectivity, as well as HDMI etc

I think this is bad advice. You havent travelled enough in and out of Thailand if you have never been stopped at customs, or have never seen anyone or know anyone who has got pinged. I'd say your chances of getting stopped are like 25% and the quieter the airport or more luggage you have the more likely you are stopped. When you show a tourist visa and then they find a lot of expensive electronic goods in your bags, then theyre definitely going to take you to value town.

The customs agents do search a lot of people, and whilst I haven't been pinged yet when I have been carrying things in my luggage, I have been stopped before a few times, once even with just 1 small overnight bag on a flight from Hong Kong. I only had declare money and fillout forms so it was painless but wouldve been expensive if I was coming from Australia. Suvarnabhumi (Bangkok Airport) is actually very strict, and as Fletch said, the customs duties are EXTREMELY high.

When it comes to the postal service, its very hit and miss, I have ordered maybe 25 things from Ebay in the past year, and about 20 have got through with no duty, but the 5 I paid customs duty on I paid more than the actual value listed on the items. Eg. I ordered a special backpack for a laptop, and the cost was listed on the paperwork as $25 USD and shipping was $50 USD, and they charged me 2.4k baht (almost $75 USD) in customs duty at the post office. I also had to pay 1.2k baht duty on a box set of DVDs from Australia (go figure). Airport is even worse as you will be put on the spot and usually jacked way harder.

i went through customs in phuket with a back pack and a small suitcase. they put the suitcase through the scanner and let me through with the backpack. my friend was with me with a larger suitcase and a backpack and they didn't check him.

anyone know what the difference between Kata Beach studio and Karen beach studio is? which place would u recommend to stay?

karon is the beach next to kata. dunno karon beach studio, but stayed at kata beach studio for a month and liked it.

what was the rate you were paying for it? is it cheaper if u rent by the month?

Wait are you guys saying I can't even bring my laptop to play poker with? That if customs checks my bag and finds my laptop they will try to charge me?!?

Look at their website.

It is cheaper by the month.

I reccomend staying there at least a cpl of days though to decide if you like it that much.

I don't think personal computer items, cameras, phones etc.. are an issue. I've been in/out a few times in the past 6 months.. was carrying a laptop, 2 cameras, 2 phones..no problems. I have never had issue with customs or security.. flying International to Phuket via Malaysia & Singapore especially.

(but never say never in Thailand)

to anybody recently flying in..have you been asked at airport to varify monies to travel into Thailand?

I had read it was going to be enforced more stringent.. curious if customs is doing more about this..40000 baht or equivalent I think it was.

Where's the sugar? Kap

Thai Tourist/TR Visas will be free again on April 1,2010 until March 2011..usually $30/piece. As a bonus it also comes with $10,000 in Riot insurance!

Lol thats gotta be bs, do you mean the security people are going to check that you have 40k baht on your person? Or your net worth or whatever? Tourists spend lots of money there, why would they need to check.

This sounds like a tactic to makes sure mexican (equivalent) people don't get in cheap to just work and not leave ect..

where to go then? maybe africa? those girls look DTF

You were definitely right Ian, I can't even see Doi Suthep today. wtf, Never seen so much smoke.

hey guys, me and a friend of mine will stay in phuket for a few months. I was not that active here @2+2, but at least I have read the last 50 pages of this thread. =) So I dont have a lot of questions, the most information I already got, nice work here btw.

Are in phuket any possibilities to get a monitor, like some electric shops or something? Further, is there a music shop, where I can get a guitar for example?

What about the internet connection. At phuketindex.com/ I have read about some resorts, where a internet access is already included. What would you say, is this enough for 2 poker player or would you recommend an extra access?

Hmm, thats everything so far, I think more questions will follow.

About the 2 of us: we're both from ps.com/ germany and play FL HU most of the time. I think thats enough for the 1st time, after the story of "KaizenK" (who was robbed by some criminals).
Sorry about my english skills

yeah wtk the smoke is sooooo bad today

2K/night? WAT?

2 weeks ago they were down to 1K/night
Best to go there in person. Unless they just got massively booked up for some odd reason in bake season, they are gonna be a lot closr to 1K/night.

Tks for the weblink though.

EDIT: Ok yeah, that 2K comes from a not recently updated website. They deffo 1K in you walk in. So for anyone coming from afar, make the call and book over phone.

If you are in PHuket just show up in person.

phizza, there are plenty of electronics shops, but if you want monitors bigger than 24" you might be hard pressed. I know of a music shop in phuket town where you can buy a guitar. Wolfram picked one up there, and brings it around on occassion.

there's a decent number of FLHU players of varying limits in town right now. we've got our own street

Soi Kapow Keeee

1. Make sure you know what you are buying in terms of brands and specifics. Then negotiate in Thailand. It will be cheaper.

2. Copy of passport for scooters. But for real motorcycles, you will need to leave your passport with them. I did not pay up front.

3. For goods, just about everything in Thailand is more expensive than the US. At best, it will be similar price. Don't come here expecting to have any fun on shopping excursions.

it's a lot easier to just look and see what you want when you get here. a better question is what will i want/need that i can't get in thailand?

for example: decent condoms/deoderant