My visits to the kingdom of Thailand

Some new pictures from Uthai Thani

2010-03-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

Posted a few new pictures from Uthai Thani in Thailand. More to come soon..

http://www.visit-thailand.tk/provinces/uthai-thani/pictures.html

Searching for tickets to Thailand ?

2008-06-01T00:16:00.000-07:00

Take a look at my new page for finding cheap airline tickets.

http://www.visit-thailand.tk/index.php?pageid=search_airline_tickets

Finding cheap flights to Thailand.

Just a few tips:
-Be flexible on travel dates.
-Plan ahead and book tickets a a long time in advance
or take a chance on lastminute offers.
-Some airlines offer cheap standby tickets.
-Prices change all the time so search every day and book when you find a price you like.

A travel guide to thailand

2007-05-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

Just a few word about a new simple travel guide to thailand.
Go to http://www.visit-thailand.tk/ and check it out.

I

Top 4 reasons I like thailand.

2007-02-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

1. Climate
What can I say ? Always warm and sometimes a litle bit hot, but with air conditioning on its no proble. And when it rains it rains, but finishes quickly.

2. People
The thai people are always very nice. Always helpful and interested in foreigners.

3. Food
Thai food is many things. Sometimes like the weather, very hot. The thai kitchen is very broad and they use all that the country can provide in their cooking.

4. Nature
Thailand has great nature; long beaches with clear blue water, picturesque plains where the rice is grown with beatiful hills sorounding it. And of course deep jungle and unique UNESCO protected rain forrests.

Back from Thailand:

2007-02-20T10:28:00.000-08:00

Came back a few weeks ago from Thailand.
Still like the country, but dislike the coup more.
I cannot understand why the thai people think it is ok for generals to seize power in that way.
Corrupt leader or not, the people should choose their leader.

Sometimes its hard to understand the people over there.

So not much , if anything, have changed after last years coup.
Still a lot of yellow "we love the king" shirts to be seen, maybe even more yellow shirts.

But I had a great time with friends and family. As I always have.

Coup in Thailand

2006-12-06T23:42:00.000-08:00

A military coup in thailand this fall, and the world does not seem to mind it that much.
European Union officals boycots Thailand, they are noe allowed to visit the country.
(Even in their holidays as it would be seen as supporting the coup.)

When reading bangkok post to day I see that the army is getting a 33.8% budget increase big suprise (not).
And Sopon Onkgara in a column in The Nation (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/12/06/opinion/opinion_30020847.php) calls for the government to quell anti coup activists.
Very democratic indeed. Silence those who not agree with you.

Is thailand becomming a new Burma ?

Thais need to take charge of their own country and stop relaying on "strong" men, and start building a real democraty for the people.

Phone cards: Save money or talk more ?

2006-10-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Or do both. Whenever I call to thailand I buy phone cards from this site: http://internationcalls.pushline.com/.

Rates are low and I can control how much I spend.

I know IP-phones (or pc to pc) would be allmost free, but the people I'm calling do not have access to internet, at least not broadband.
And beeing able to call from anywhere to anywhere is importent for me. Because of the time difference to Thailand I sometimes need to make a call while at work. Using phone cards and calling toll free numbers this i possible without my boss knowing about it. :-)

Links to media in thailand.

2006-09-24T06:56:00.000-07:00

Just a litle post to summarize links to thai media (tv, newspaper, magazines).

Thai language:

http://www.thairath.co.th/
http://www.dailynews.co.th/
http://www.khaosod.co.th/
http://www.komchadluek.net/
http://www.thannews.th.com/
http://www.bangkokbiznews.com/
http://www.manager.co.th/
http://www.matichon.co.th/
http://www.tna.mcot.or.th/
http://www.thaisnews.com/

English language
http://www.bangkokpost.net
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
http://www.chiangmainews.com/
http://www.phuketgazette.net/

Cheap airline ticket to thailand

2006-08-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

The last years the airline tickets for travelling to thailand have become a litle bit more expensive, but shopping around and not beeing committed to onlye one airline is a good start.

For me living in scandinavia I like using Finnair because it is cheap and the flight time is the shortest.

Where do you buy your airline tickets ? Please add a comment and tell me and the rest of the readers.

Learning to speak thai

2006-07-30T04:47:00.000-07:00

Just came a cross a good website that has free lessons for learning thai.

Take a look at: http://www.learningthai.com

Back from Thailand

2006-07-23T11:50:00.000-07:00

Just came home from Thailand yesterday, and as allways it was a great time.

It seems to me that as I learn a litle more thai it gets easier to get in touch with people.
(Not really suprising. I think everybody likes that visitors to teir country at least tries to learn how to speak hello, thank you, or some other short frases.... Just that people try is positive.)

But while in Thailand I saw one thing that scares me litle bit, and that is the celebration of the kings 60th year as regent of Thailand.
Everywhere there was the royal flag besides the national flag, many people wore yellow t-shirts (color of the king), the tv showed every day report about all the good things the king has done in the past. It is no doubt that the king has done many good things for Thailand, but what scares me is the lack of people thinking for them self. And when tv and media poors out one sided stories it feels more like a totallitarien state then democracy.
Maybe it is just because of the uncertain political situation that the country is in that makes people gather around the king.

tip: buying english books in thailand

2006-07-02T00:49:00.000-07:00

If you are outside the main tourist areas or Bangkok it is hard to find english books in Thailand.
Thats why I desided to order a book online and get it delivered to where I'm staying.

First , and at the only, online bookstore I tried to order from was DCO thailand. I paid with credit card online and the book got delivered 2 days later (cheapest delivery alternative).
So all in all I can recomend this store.
website: http://www.dco.co.th/index.php

New SIM-card from AIS 1-2-call

2006-06-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

Just bought a new sim card, 1-2-call, and are using it to connect to the internet here in Uthai Thani.
The connection I get is 115 kbps, but it seems to be slower. Maybe because I surf mostly sites from Norway and the international connection might not be very good...
Anyhow, it's a lot cheaper than using my Norwegian sim (Telenor), so I would recommend buying a thai sim card for anybody who wants to use GPRS in Thailand.

I'm not sure anybody can buy a sim card, I think that you have to live here. (Because of terrorist threats they have to register your name). But getting a thai friend, wife or who ever to buy it should not be a big problem.

Nokia 6111

2006-06-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

Just bougth a Nokia 6111 here in Thailand. A nice phone in many ways. It has a good mega pixel camera, built in mp3-player, radio, and more.So all in all a nice looking and not to big phone.The price was not to bad either, just under 10000 baht.My only disapointment was that when the phone is closed the antenna does not work as well as it does when the phone is opened.(Might have to do with the fact that the antenna is at at bottom of the phone and covered whene phone is slid closed.

waiting for my flight to bangkok

2006-06-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

arghhh, flight to bangkok delayed 3 hours. Now sitting at the airport in Helsinki. First delay 2 hour, now one more hour.
Not much to do here, maybe I shoul reconsier using finnair ? Helsinki airport is not very exiting i the midle of the night. Not much do do.
Anyhow I'm at least on my way to thailand again for a month long holiday in Uthai Thani.
Maybe I will post some more if I get an internet connection up and running there.

Edit 24. june.
My internet connection is up, as you might have guessed.
The flight was eventually 5 hours delayed due to "technical problems".

Travelltips special for Thailand.

2006-05-17T05:01:00.000-07:00

Maybe some useful tips for travellers going to Thailand.

Getting to Thailand can be expensive if you live in Norway as I do, so it is a good idea to plan the trip in advance and be flexible with the the dates you travell on. There is no direct flight to Thailand from Norway so I have to change flight at least one time, I usualy book flights with finnair because this is the quickest root from Oslo (Norway). Finnair also has good leg room even for the cheapest tickets.

Using mobile (cell) phones in Thailand is normally no problem if you have a mobile subscription and do not use prepaid /cash sim card, but it is expensive to use. For longer stays I would recommend buying a sim card in Thailand if you need to make local calls, and using prepaid phone cards when you need to call abroad. I have used prepaid phone cards a lot, also when I stay in Norway and need to phone to Thailand, for example buy phone cards from this site.

Books / magazines / newspapers in english are hard to come bye if you stay outside the main tourist areas or cities, so it's allways a good idea to take books with you if you like to read.

Money is easily accessed from ATM's most places with you VISA or Mastercard. Be aware that there is a limit to how much cash you can take from one card for a period of seven days, I belive this limit is about 50 000 baht (about 1500 USD).

Accomodation is usually easy to find, only the most popular tourist destinations get full. Use a guide book to find a hotel that suits you. When paying in advance allways get an reciept for what you paid.

Enough for now, more to come....

Whats it is all about

2006-05-15T23:18:00.000-07:00

this web-log i mean. It is about my experiences travelling to, from and in Thailand. And is started mainly because I want to share this with somebody. I hope it will be a least a litle bit interesting for others to read....