Mail takes around a week to get from Bangkok to Europe or North America, longer from more isolated areas. Almost all main post offices across the country operate a poste restante service (generally Mon-Fri 8am-4pm, Sat 8am-noon) and will hold letters for two to three months . American Express in Bangkok and Phuket also offers a poste restante facility to holders of Amex credit cards or travellers' cheques. All parcels must be officially boxed and sealed at special counters within main post offices - you can't just turn up with a package and buy stamps for it. Surface packages take three months, air-mail parcels take about a week.

 

Payphones are straightforward enough and generally come in three colours. Red phones are for local calls and take the medium-sized one-baht coins. Blue-and-stainless steel ones are for long-distance calls within Thailand, but they gobble up B5 coins and are generally unreliable, so you're better off buying a phonecard (B25 to B240 available from hotels, post offices and some shops) and using a green cardphone.

The least costly way of making an international call is to use a government telephone centre - there's usually one located within or adjacent to the town's main post office, open daily from about 7am to 10pm (24hr in Bangkok and Chiang Mai). If you call between 9pm and 5am you get up to 33 percent off standard rates . Collect or reverse charge calls and home direct calls can be made free of charge at government phone centres.

It's also possible to call internationally at government rates on the green public cardphones, but only with cards of B500 and above. (You can use any public phone, including the blue ones, to call Laos and Malaysia, with cards of less than B500.) In tourist areas public yellow cardphones can be used for international calls only (cards start from B300). Private international call offices are more expensive, and you have to pay a user's fee for collect calls. For international directory enquiries call 100. For directory assistance in English dial 13 (inside Bangkok) or 183 (elsewhere).

Most major post offices offer a domestic and international fax service . Private phone centres will also send faxes, but charge up to fifty percent more. Many also offer "fax restante".

Internet access is available almost everywhere in Thailand, and at the time of writing there were tourist-friendly cybercafés in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nong Khai, Pattaya, Phuket, Ko Tao, Ko Pha Ngan, Ko Samui and Krabi; most charge between B1 and B5 per minute online and will receive emails at the cybercafé's email address.