Non Immigrant B Visas - Designed for those who will be working in Thailand.
Apply for outside Thailand, valid for 3 months - then you need a work permit organised by your employer to extend it to one year.
If you leave the country you need a re-entry permit organised beforehand at Immigration Office and also an office at the Airport.
Documents required, not just a letter from an employer in Thailand, many documents about the employer's status are required also and possibly a signed contract of employment. Wise to get up to date info from a Thai Embassy. Re-entry fees have been increased enormously, single is 1000 Baht?, multiple is 3800 Baht, why? Because they can.

Visa Runs:
Crossing to Burma (Myanmar) for the day (US$5) at Ranong, Three Pagodas Pass, Mae Hong Son & Mae Sai is a handy way to renew your visa if its running out,
but the borders may be closed check first.
The train to Kota Bahru (Malaysia) is full of farangs (foreigners), from there you can get a 15 day stamp or a 30/60 day Visa or 3 month non-immigrant B Visa from the consulate, train takes approx 22 hours.
Penang also has a Thai consulate and is a popular choice.

Also cross at Hat Lek - Koh Kong and Aranyaprathet - Poipet (Cambodia).
The train to Nong Khai (overnight sleeper about 600 baht, 12 hours) for a Laos crossing is an OK trip as well.
Poipet is the closest, 4 hours by bus from the Northern Bus Station in Bangkok, allow up to 3-4 hours to get into Cambodia and out again, the queues can be horrendous, 1000 Baht and a photo for Cambodia Visa,
12-14 hours in total from Bankok and back, privateeers run buses for this trip also, see Ads in the Bangkok Post.
Ranong is not a bad option and you can do it in a long day by leaving early from the Southern Bus Station (Pinklao). In Ranong you take a boat trip (30 mins.) across the water to Myanmar and come back.

WARNINGS:
Although generally a safe country, things do happen. Be sensible and cautious without dampening your adventurous spirit.
Be careful in remote places, several tourists were killed in 2000, usually in the course of a robbery.
This has happened near Fang (way north), Krabi (way South) and a disappearance on Koh Pha Ngan.
Reports of mysterious deaths are not uncommon.

Stay away from lonely places if you are a woman alone or if there are just two of you.
Pickpockets and general theft is likely if you present the opportunity.
Stories of drugging people with drinks (in bars, on buses, your hotel room) and then stealing their belongings are common enough to be believed.
Ferries do sink occassionally (all over S.E.Asia, not just Thailand).

Always ignore "Special Promotions" and cheap tours by unknown shops and the tuk-tuk drivers, taxi drivers and tour guides who promote them.
At temples they will even show you false Tour Guide ID. This is a long-standing scam.
Apart from that, Thailand is terribly friendly and enjoyable.

Coming & Going:
AIR:
Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport is a major transport hub.
About 10 million people a year go through. Other International Airports are at Phuket, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Udon Thani and U Tapao near Pattaya.
All major airlines are represented.
The old Don Muang Airport is being used again for some internal flights.
Cheaper flights to close destinations are usually on the smaller airlines (Biman, Air Bangladesh etc) e.g. to Rangoon, Calcutta etc. Look in the Bangkok Post for Travel Agent ads.

A number of new regional airlines are offering cheap flights, eg. Tiger Airways, Air Asia, Jetsar Asia.

Phnom Rung Festival
4-6 April 2003, at Phnom Rung Historical Park, Chalermprakiat District, Burirum Province)
Be dazzled by Phnom Rung Mahathevalai Light & Sound Show. Also enjoy local food, local products shopping, as well as cultural performances and parades.


Chiang Mai Cultural Festival
April 1-9, 2003, Muang District, Chiang Mai.
Event highlights consist of Lanna Heritage Fair, Poi Sang Long Ceremony, art exhibitions, local puppet show, musical performances, and community products fair.

Until now, you had to pay a fixer in MBK about 5000B to 'trick' your phone. These guys can fix a GSM to work under the "Happy" system as well, maybe 300 Baht for the job.
Does not apply to USA. phones (different system).

Most foreign currencies and traveler's cheques are easily changed at banks, hotels or money changers.
All major credit cards are widely accepted throughout the kingdom.
ATM Machines are widely available, even in smaller cities.
Most accept Credit Cards and also Cirrus and Plus links to your home account.

Hua Hin, on the western coast of the gulf, became Thailand's first popular seaside resort in the 1920s when the southern railway line made it easily accessible to Bangkok, King Rama VII built a summer palace there, called Klai Kangwon. "Far From Worries," and other aristocratic families acquired property along the scenic beach. Now the resort can boast a number of modern hotels and has spread to include nearby Cha-am, but it still has a quieter, more restful ambiance than vibrant Pattaya across the gulf.

Modern travellers venture further south, where they have discovered other exciting destinations. The most celebrated is Phuket, A large island in the Andaman Sea, was widely known among ancient traders for such natural wealth as tin ore and edible birds nests harvested from limestone canvas and cliffsides. Phuket today, just an hour's flight from Bangkok, is famous for a string of picture-postcard beaches on its  western coast, each with its own particular charms and wide range of accommodations

This long isolation helps explain many of the characteristics that make the north so appealing to visitors today : a sense of traditions not merely preserved but vitally alive. gentle customs that reveal themselves in countless ways, distinctive differences of scenery, architecture, language, food.

Tourists can explore the charms of Chiang Mai, where life  moves at at a different pace from Bangkok, ornate temples rise on almost every street, and the shops are filled with handicrafts native to the region and still made by traditional methods handed down over generations, There are woodcarvers who create fine lacquer bowls, silverware, homespun cotton and silk, delicate embroidery, and hand-painted umbrellas. All these crafts, along with many others, can be found at the famous Night Bazaar in the center of town.

In the 1960s. near the small village of Ban Chiang in Udon Thani province, one of the most exciting chapters in modern archeology began with the accidental discovery of a prehistoric burial site, Subsequent exploration revealed a culture going back to nearly 4,000 B.C. and numbering among its achievements the use of sophisticated bronze metallurgy as well bas rice cultivation and beautiful painted pottery. Some of the remarkable Ban Chiang finds are displayed in a museum near the site, and one of the excavations has been preserved  to show  its different levels.

In historical times, between the 9th and 14th centuries A.D., the Northeast was part of the great Khmer empire ruled from Angkor, and as a result it contains some of the finest classical Khmer ruins to be seen outside of Cambodia itself. Among the most beautiful are Prasat Hin Phimai, near the provincial capital of Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat),which was once linked by a direct road to Angkor, and Phanom Rung in Buriram province.recently restored by the Fine Arts Department. In all, there are more than 30 Khmer ruins scattered about the region, all of unusual architectural interest.