Eff1n2ret

Went there to pick up some arriving passengers this morning. As there was a tail-back into the first entrance to the car-park I went into the second entrance. There is now a large area on level 5 close to the bridge into the terminal which is coned off, with loads of attendants there - if you want to park in that area, you pay an extra 50 baht for a max 2-hour stay.

So we then walk over the bridge through door 8 into the terminal on level 3, where all the food-outlets are. Can you get down to Arrivals on level 2? - no way! At all the down walkways and stairways there are barriers, attendants, and signs saying "Airport Staff only". Get in the lift, and it doesn't stop at the second floor, you go all the way down to level 1, where the 'up' walkway is also barred to anyone except airport staff.

I sometimes have bad dreams a bit like that.

What they seem to expect you to do is to trek all the way to door 3, where the designated Meeting Point for Arrivals is on Level 2. You can get up to Level 3 from Level 2, just not vice versa. To save myself a walk in the future I will only be using the first car-park.

On a completely different subject, the Thai lady who was arriving from UK said she heard at the Immigration desk that from a month or so's time, Thai passports will no longer be endorsed on arrival in or departure from Thailand. (Actually she said the info came from the lady who went through in front of her, so it's not from the horse's mouth). It makes sense, but remains to be seen whether it actually happens or not.

I'm looking mainly for thin sheets for model boat-building.

A Google search threw up a company at Minburi called Minicrafthobby.com but their email and phone connections don't work and I was informed when I stopped by their location today that they packed up in the floods.

If anyone knows another source I'd be grateful.

I don't see this catching on any time soon, do you?

http://www.telegraph...o-his-iPad.html

Just thinking ahead a little. I am currently on a Work Permit extension which expires at the end of February. I do not wish to work beyond that,  and I fulfil the necessary criteria for a Retirement Visa/extension.

Am I correct in assuming that I can not transfer in-country direct from my current conditions to a Retirement extension? or if I can are there any snags I should be aware of? Local office is Maptaphut.

If I want a 1-year Non-O Retirement Visa do I have to go all the way back to UK to apply for it?

Is there a regional embassy (Malaysia, S'pore, H-k, Laos) where I can go to get a 90-day Non-O to convert to a 1-year extension, or if not a Non-O, can I get a 60-day visit visa from them and convert that in-country?

- or just take a return flight to get a 30-day visit stamp, no visa?

I am not a great fan of the yellow fizz that passes for beer in this part of the world (German and Belgian lagers are something else entirely), but I can just about get along with the stuff in bottles or on draught.

However, I have developed a positive dislike of tinned beer, which has an acrid bite to my palate, and I have convinced myself that there is some additive in the tinned stuff which is not present elsewhere. Some of my friends agree that bottled or draught tastes better, but maybe they are just humouring me.

I am quite willing to accept this may be an irrational prejudice on my part, but I wondered whether there is someone with actual knowledge of the commercial brewing industry who could throw light on this. Do they put some extra chemical into cans, or is it gassed up differently, or what?