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I will most likely be taking Air Asia (for the first time), flying out of Macau and into BKK in December. Has anyone flown with them?
My concern is not so much the flight itself or the service. I can endure a 2. 5 hr flight, regardless how cramped the seats are. My question is. How is Air Asia online ticketing service/procedure? Has anyone ever experienced any snags, problems or unexpected surcharges?
Thanks.
Tonedog
[QUOTE=Retired Army]You used to be able to do this at Don Muang, but I don't think they will let taxis pick up departing passengers on the arrival level at the new airport. At least they weren't the last time I was there.[/QUOTE]
I do it all the time. My GF flies home a lot and when I'm heading back to town, I simply go up to departures and catch a cab dropping someone off. There are always loads, some even parked and waiting. The security cops don't seem to rush them out of there all that quickly. So, it's quite easy to do.
[QUOTE=Old Thai Hand]I do it all the time. My GF flies home a lot and when I'm heading back to town, I simply go up to departures and catch a cab dropping someone off. There are always loads, some even parked and waiting. The security cops don't seem to rush them out of there all that quickly. So, it's quite easy to do.[/QUOTE]
Just to be absolutely clear, are you refering to Suwanaphuum or Don Meuang?
[QUOTE=Mick Licker]Just to be absolutely clear, are you refering to Suwanaphuum or Don Meuang? [/QUOTE]I am referring to the new airport. It works just like it did at the new airport. Sometimes the police are active trying to move the cabs out, so you have to be quick. One time, the police gave my driver a hard time, after I got in, but the driver just slipped the policeman a few baht, and exchanged words and he let him go.
[QUOTE=Mark17]I am referring to the new airport. It works just like it did at the new airport. Sometimes the police are active trying to move the cabs out, so you have to be quick. One time, the police gave my driver a hard time, after I got in, but the driver just slipped the policeman a few baht, and exchanged words and he let him go.[/QUOTE]
Why go to this much trouble to save 50 Baht and a few minutes in the taxi que? I've never waited more than five minutes for a taxi. All the tourists and those who don't know any better are siphoned off by the limo touts in the arrival hall.
[QUOTE=Mick Licker]Just to be absolutely clear, are you refering to Suwanaphuum or Don Meuang?[/QUOTE]
Suwanaphuum.
RA
I've seen quite long queues at the taxi stand. Running upstairs to departures, I'm out of there in a couple fo minutes.
[QUOTE=Tonedog]I will most likely be taking Air Asia (for the first time), flying out of Macau and into BKK in December. Has anyone flown with them?
My concern is not so much the flight itself or the service. I can endure a 2. 5 hr flight, regardless how cramped the seats are. My question is. How is Air Asia online ticketing service/procedure? Has anyone ever experienced any snags, problems or unexpected surcharges?
Thanks.
Tonedog[/QUOTE]I used Air Asia for a VISA run to Penom Penh recently. Since the online booking price {about 1600 Baht} initially quoted an amount much lower than that {3300 Baht} after I had gone through several steps to reserve a flight, I opted to use a travel agent instead for about the same price. Bangkok Airlines online, BTW, charged me less than half of what the agent would have, and was much easier to use, besides not changing the price midstream.
I took Bangkok air for the return flight in order to return the same day, since otherwise I would have had to stay in Cambodia overnight. To my surprise the 45 minute flight offered a full meal. Air Asia did not.
I am wondering if now is a good time to buy some, or maybe a lot, of Thai Baht, in particular with the Canadian dollar. Today you could get roughly 36 Baht for one loonie, or 36, 000 for $1000 CDN.compared to earlier this year when one would recieve only about 28, 000 Baht for the same, that is 8000 Baht more. Or eight more short time sessions in BKK for 1000 Baht each.
Do you expect Canadian dough will get more valuable soon, or drop in value vs the Baht? I am guessing it will drop, and the USD will also continue to slide.
According to Yahoo currency info in the last 5 years the USD has been at a high of 44 Baht and a low of 30 Baht to the dollar. And has, more or less, steadily continued to decline.
The CDN buck over the same period has ranged from about 28 to 36 Baht. And is presently in a general upswing.
[url]http: //finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?amt=1&from=CAD&to=THB&submit=Convert[/url]
As one who is planning to spend a lot of time in Thailand in the near future, I'd suggest an investment in Thai Baht now via the loonie.
Not feeling comfortable about keeping this large of an amount of cash in my hotel room or security box, I guess the only alternate is to open one or more bank accounts in Thailand.
From there I suppose it could be put in a savings account, GICs, or stocks, etc, as one prefers.
One bank I inquired at said a letter from my embassy in LOS would be required to open an account. Is this standard procedure for Farang?
Alternately, I don't know if my homeland bank allows accounts in Baht, or if I will be able to obtain as good an exchange rate in Canada as here.
i've never been to thailand myself, but this article that i just stumbled across could serve as a word of warning to any us resident on isg regardless of his travel destination. what i don't get is how they could determine that the photos were of "**** and teenage girls in bangkok". anyway, photos may be fun -- but they can also be dangerous.
yankee
[b]constable faces new child porn charges[/b]
by hilary russ
staff writer
october 24, 2007
nantucket — a former volunteer high school sailing instructor charged in barnstable with possessing sexually explicit videos of himself with adolescent girls was arraigned on similar charges on the island yesterday.
william h. "howe" constable, 53, pleaded not guilty to five counts of possession of child pornography in nantucket district court yesterday, according to court clerk roxana viera.
the new charges were filed after a search of constable's madaket cottage, where police seized nearly 67 dvd-r discs, 71 mini video cassettes, two computer memory sticks, paperwork, two video cameras, a folder of photographs, and two apple computers in his bedroom, the nantucket inquirer and mirror newspaper reported.
about 30 grams of marijuana were also allegedly seized from the home, the inquirer reported. constable pleaded not guilty to possession of marijuana yesterday, viera said.
constable was arrested friday in hyannis after leaving behind a digital camera at a hotel. the camera was reportedly laden with sexually explicit pictures and videos of constable engaged in sex acts with **** and teenage girls in bangkok, thailand. he has no prior criminal record, according to the inquirer.
constable was released after posting $25,000 cash bail monday in barnstable district court. yesterday, he was put on an electronic monitoring bracelet and released on his own recognizance. he'll be fitted with a global positioning system that can monitor his movements once it becomes available, viera said.
constable will have to check in with a probation officer twice a day, will be allowed to work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., may not leave the state, and may not go near schools or come into contact with minors. his passport has already been surrendered to the barnstable police.
he is scheduled to appear again in nantucket district court on oct. 29 for a pre-trial hearing and appearance of counsel.
=========================
okay. i found this additional article and i guess its pretty easy to identify someone as young as 8 as being ****. now what surprises me is the implication that the us has a law against sex tourism. am i being naive? does this law only apply to sex with **** girls (which i never engage in) or does this apply to any commercial sex arrangement (as the article seems to imply)?
yankee
[b]fbi nabs island child porn suspect[/b]
by hilary russ
staff writer
october 26, 2007
nantucket — the local man already arraigned in barnstable and nantucket on child pornography charges was arrested by federal agents yesterday and taken to boston.
federal bureau of investigation agents arrested william h. "howe" constable, 53, at 7:30 a.m. without incident at his c street home in madaket, according to an fbi spokeswoman.
the former volunteer high school sailing coach was then taken to boston, where he made an initial appearance before a federal judge in u.s. district court. he likely will be held in federal custody until a nov. 1 detention hearing on a charge of producing child pornography outside the united states.
barnstable police arrested constable oct. 19 after he returned to a hyannis hotel to retrieve a digital camera he left behind. it contained graphic photos and video of him and other men engaged in sex acts with dozens of adolescent girls in bangkok, thailand, and possibly other asian countries, police said.
police also seized computers, more than 100 computer discs and mini video cassettes, photographs, hand-held video recorders, travel documents and other items from constable's nantucket home after he allegedly told police he had more graphic images stored on computers there.
in an affidavit for a search warrant of constable's computers and discs, fbi special agent sarah de lair described in detail one of an estimated 40 videos on the sony camera found in the hyannis hotel. in one clip, a naked girl no older than 8 is raped by a man on a bed as she cries and screams. the man in the video is constable, according to de lair's affidavit.
also on the camera were 10 other videos "which clearly depict constable having sexual intercourse with children under the age of 18" and "numerous" still images of constable performing sex acts with children, de lair wrote.
constable allegedly told police he made many of the recordings on trips to bangkok, and de lair's affidavit also mentioned travel to hong kong. bangkok is widely considered a center for so-called "sex tourism."
sex tourism involves travel from a person's own country to a foreign land for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts, according to a u.s. department of state web site.
prison sentences for sex tourism and producing child pornography oversees for import to the united states were increased with the passage of federal legislation in 2003. such crimes now carry a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and up to a $250,000 fine. since the new law passed, prosecutors have secured more than 20 indictments and more than a dozen convictions of child sex tourists, according to the state department web site.
since oct. 19, the investigation into constable's alleged "sex tourism" and child pornography production and possession has expanded to include more than a half dozen agencies: barnstable and nantucket police departments, state police detectives assigned to the cape and islands district attorney's office, the fbi, the attorney general's office, the u.s. attorney's office, and immigration and customs enforcement.
============================
okay. still further investigation seems to indicate that the law only applies to sex with anyone under 18 years old. specifically, this link
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sex_tourism[/url]
says
[i]legal issues in the united states
federal law (see protect act of 2003) prohibits united states citizens or permanent residents to engage in international travel with the purpose or effect of having commercial sex with a person under the age of 18, or any sex with a person under the age of 16; facilitating such travel is also illegal. arrests by immigration and customs enforcement are becoming common, however prosecutions under this law are still very rare.[/i]
see also
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/protect_act_of_2003[/url]
Hi everyone,
I'm planning on travelling to Bangkok, Thailand early next year and I have a bit of an odd question.
I'm quite young, 19, and was wondering how I would be treated at all the bars. Just to clarify what I mean, it's my understanding that most of the girls target mature men as perhaps they would be more wealthy.
I don't mean any disrespect by this question, just something I hoped somebody could shed some light on. Thanks guys.
Thanks for your feedback regarding Air Asia.
I do find the online prices on Air Asia flights tend to be very reasonable. My only concern is that I have seldom used online booking for flights. So I'm being a little more careful.
Certainly, if I could find a ticket from an agent at a similar price, I will opt for that. It just feels much more secure when you have a tix in your hand with a confirmation
[quote=yankee 617]i've never been to thailand myself, but this article that i just stumbled across could serve as a word of warning to any us resident on isg regardless of his travel destination. what i don't get is how they could determine that the photos were of "**** and teenage girls in bangkok". anyway, photos may be fun -- but they can also be dangerous.[/quote]what's your point yankee?
if you're a kid fucker, be more careful where you leave your video camera? or just fuck them but don't take pix?
sex with children is just not acceptable. not. ever.
[QUOTE=Mmggg]Hi everyone,
I'm planning on travelling to Bangkok, Thailand early next year and I have a bit of an odd question.
I'm quite young, 19, and was wondering how I would be treated at all the bars. Just to clarify what I mean, it's my understanding that most of the girls target mature men as perhaps they would be more wealthy.
I don't mean any disrespect by this question, just something I hoped somebody could shed some light on. Thanks guys.[/QUOTE]
Make the rounds and spend a bit of cash and you'll probably be mobbed by the girls, if for no other reason than your youth (they are young women afterall) because I'm sure they'd like a change of pace from all the old farts they have to shag.
on the other hand, Old Thai Hand, (hehehe), I have heard the girls prefer the old farts. They go to bed early, don't boom2 all night, (except for me, of course), and the girls don't have to work so hard.
A young stud might drag the girl out drinking all night, then take her back to his cave and "slam" her for hours, when all she wants to do is sleep.
[QUOTE=Tonedog]Thanks for your feedback regarding Air Asia.
I do find the online prices on Air Asia flights tend to be very reasonable. My only concern is that I have seldom used online booking for flights. So I'm being a little more careful.
Certainly, if I could find a ticket from an agent at a similar price, I will opt for that. It just feels much more secure when you have a tix in your hand with a confirmation[/QUOTE]
Speaking from someone who has booked online numerous times with Air Asia (and other carriers), I'd dare say its mostly psychological. By the way, you do get a confirmation number when you book online with them.