SAGuy

The Dawin verandah must have the best free LB show in BKK, especially if Dew and Suzie are working! Quite a few mongers just order in, as I have seen many girls take the walk across the street after receiving a text message. It adds a new spin to Uber Eats and Deliveroo! SAG

If you walk into the Trendy Building on Sukhumvit Soi 13, there is probably the greatest concentration of visa agents under one roof in the whole of BKK. I have used the agent in the shop on the right hand side as you walk in through the main door. It is about 3 shops in and is manned by 2 Thai ladies. They do all kinds of admin services (all visa types, drivers licenses, bank accounts, photocopying, scans, attestations etc.) and have always been highly efficient. Costs wise they appear to be charging the standard rates for the various services, so I would recommend starting with them. The older lady has very good English and knows all of the ins and outs. SAG

@ThaiHard had some problems with his posts not counting up, but that has all been fixed now by @ausmagoo and so all of the rest of the forum should now be accessible. As @ryeantpsychoaquarius the Trip Reports (TRs) are always a great section to read, along with the newbie section and the bar threads. A few hours invested reading these will really help you with your upcoming trip. Cheers SAG

Thanks for writing this report @Denbosch1971 this sort of info is invaluable for the other BMs. No hotel in the known universe starts cleaning at rooms at 4 p.m. as it means guests couldn't check in at 2 p.m. What a daft answer! After living in DXB for a long time, you get to understand why most customer service and hospitality jobs are performed by Filippinas and never Indians! The saving grace is that the room looks big and pretty nice, so not a total disaster. SAG

Welcome on board. This site is a gold mine of information and if you invest some time in checking the threads and doing a bit of research, it will reward you in spades and help you enjoy your trip even more. BKK is a great city and has a very different vibe to Patts. Enjoy your visit and let us all know how it goes. If you have any specific questions, just ask. The BMs are friendly and helpful and I would suggest starting off your reading with the newbie thread, which has loads of relevant information. SAG

I wonder when it will be made available worldwide? Even with an efficacy rate of only 30-40% it has to be better than nothing! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cded26z16leo World-first gonorrhoea vaccine launched by NHS England as infections soar Image caption, Campaigner Max says he will definitely be getting the new vaccine Andrew Rogers & James Gallagher BBC News Published 8 hours ago England will be the first country in the world to start vaccinating people against the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea. It will not be available for everyone. The focus will mainly be on gay and bisexual men with a history of multiple sexual partners or an STI. The vaccine is 30-40% effective, but NHS England hopes it will reverse soaring numbers of infections. There were more than 85,000 cases in 2023 – the highest since records began in 1918. Gonorrhoea does not always have symptoms, but they can include pain, unusual discharge, inflammation of the genitals and infertility. How many people will choose to be immunised is uncertain. But projections by Imperial College London show that if the jab proves popular then it could prevent 100,000 cases and save the NHS nearly £8m over the next decade, external. Max, a sexual health campaigner, told BBC Newsbeat he would "100%" take the vaccine after being diagnosed with gonorrhoea twice within a year. "I think this is great that it's been announced", he says, adding: "It's going to take the pressure off the clinics, it's just a big win all round." Vaccination will start in August and will be offered through sexual health services. Public Health Scotland said it was also working on plans to launch its own programme for high-risk individuals. BBC Newsbeat has asked health bodies in Wales and Northern Ireland whether they intend to do the same. Is it effective enough? This vaccine wasn't designed for gonorrhoea. It's the meningitis B vaccine currently given to babies. But the bacteria that cause the two diseases are so closely related that the MenB jab appears to cut gonorrhoea cases by around a third. That will require a delicate conversation in sexual health clinics as the vaccine will not eliminate the risk of catching gonorrhoea. It is normally caught while having sex without a condom. But Prof Andrew Pollard, the chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which recommended the vaccine, said despite it only being 30% effective, it was "worth having" and could have "a huge impact" overall. The decision is not just about the record numbers of cases. Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly difficult to treat. Most cases are treated with a single dose of antibiotics, but there is an 80-year history of the bacterium which causes gonorrhoea repeatedly evolving resistance to our antibiotics. It's happening to the current treatments too and is why some doctors are concerned gonorrhoea could one-day become untreatable, external. The best way to deal with a drug-resistant infection is to never catch it in the first place. Dr Amanda Doyle, from NHS England, said: "The launch of a world-first routine vaccination for gonorrhoea is a huge step forward for sexual health and will be crucial in protecting individuals, helping to prevent the spread of infection and reduce the rising rates of antibiotic resistant strains of the bacteria." The people most affected by gonorrhoea in the UK are those aged 16-to-25, gay and bisexual men, and those of black and Caribbean ancestry. The vaccine – which costs around £8 per dose – is value for money when primarily offered to gay and bisexual men, rather than all teenagers. However, clinicians do have the freedom to use their own judgement and offer the vaccine to people using sexual health services they think are of equally high risk. People will be offered mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), HPV and hepatitis vaccines at the same time. Potential new antibiotic for treating gonorrhoea Don't ditch condoms, sexual health experts say Prof Matt Phillips, president of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, said: "This is excellent news and a landmark moment for sexual health in England. "Gonorrhoea diagnoses are at their highest since records began and this has the potential to help us to turn that around." It is not known how long the protection provided by the vaccine will last or how often booster jabs might be required. The decision comes almost a year and a half after a vaccination programme was recommended by the UK's JCVI. Sexual health campaigners had criticised that long wait, but have welcomed this decision. Katie Clark, head of policy and advocacy at the Terrance Higgins Trust, called it a "huge win".

Thanks Jimmy, I'll try that also. SAG

Very strange, as I do get messages every day, so was unaware of any problem until recently. Anyway, it has now been cleared out so hopefully all sorted. Perhaps the warning needs to be displayed more prominently? S

Thanks a lot Nick. I cleared out the inbox and it appears there are no longer any problems. What is curious though is that messages could still be received from existing PM contacts, but not from new PM contacts. This means that a user is not aware of a problem unless a new contact complains to them. Anyway, problem solved and thanks for the solution. SAG

Please add this defect to the software backlog In the past week I have had feedback from both @Safariman and @Pablo6789 that they couldn't send PMs to me, which was strange as I receive PMs every day from existing contacts. I tried to send a PM to @Pablo6789 and received an error message similar to the one below: I then tried clearing out the address in the To box and typing it again, which did work. I believe that this is a software defect, as it should work the first time, without having to repeat the step, and this will clearly confuse BMs. Can you please investigate this when you have the chance? Regards SAG

I get a different display to that. Hopefully they will renew the security certificate pronto. It was working fine earlier this morning, as I made posts. SAG

Yes I also got this. It appears that somebody forgot to renew the security certificate and as it is a new month, it has now expired in some regions. If you click on show details and then go to site it will take you there, but obviously at your own risk. This doesn't appear to be a phishing scam, but rather somebody forgetting an update. SAG

This may be of interest to the Brits. Just in time for the busy high season! https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2025/02/24/norse-atlantic-to-enter-london-bangkok-market/ Norse Atlantic will launch flights between London Gatwick and Bangkok effective 26 October. It’s been a long time coming for a route which has been seriously short of nonstop competition even with British Airways flight from Gatwick. “We’re excited to launch direct flights between London Gatwick and Bangkok, a top choice among our travellers, “ said CEO Bjorn Tore Larsen. Initially there will be a twice-weekly service, rising to four flights per week from the end of November. Schedules are as follows: ZO791 departs Gatwick at 1600, arriving into Bangkok at 1025 the following day ZO792 departs Bangkok at 1230, arriving into Gatwick at 1830 Norse will be deploying one of its Boeing 787s for the flights, with the service taking 11 hours 25 minutes on the outbound leg and 13 hours for the return journey. The airline says it also wants to tap transfer traffic – in other words those wishing to fly to or from Bangkok and the US or South Africa via Gatwick. However the schedules may not be convenient depending on chosen city pairs. Besides the competition to BA at Gatwick, Thai Airways and EVA Air also fly nonstop from Heathrow to Bangkok. Norse will operate the flights in a two-class configuration. Its premium economy could prove an attractive proposition for cost-conscious business travellers and upmarket leisure customers. As previously reported the carrier is also set to launch flights to Bangkok from Scandinavia this winter (a routing which was previously operated by Norwegian long-haul) and hopefully Gatwick-Bangkok will succeed. I say that because there is pent-up demand for London-Bangkok nonstop, with many leisure travellers currently unwilling to pay higher prices. Therefore many seek out low-cost alternatives with indirect operators like the Gulf carriers or Turkish Airlines or mainland Chinese operators. The former roster A380s from their Gulf hubs to Bangkok. Load factors are high as most of their passengers are connecting from Europe. Currently Emirates has up to five daily flights between Dubai and Bangkok, with four of these operated by A380s and one by the carrier’s 777-300ER. Mainland Chinese carriers cater to the budget market. So you take China Southern via Guangzhou or Air China via Beijing. In common with other airline Norse practises dynamic prices. So book early for the best prices should you want to visit Thailand in its peak season this winter. flynorse.com

As much as I enjoyed the pizza at Vesuvio, I could never say I would choose it over a LB! SAG

Great photos there @sydney69er I agree, Ottos in the second alley on the right off Soi 8 comes in second after Vesuvio IMHO. However, on evenings where Vesuvio is full, it is a very credible Plan B back-up. Ottos does have one advantage over Vesuvio though. The second alley where it is located is also where the infamous Lolitas BJ shop is to be found. Isn't BKK great? You can get a BBBJ and a decent pizza afterwards, all within 150 metres of each other). SAG