Shipwreck

The only models available in Thailand by traditional means are the APV, Carry, Swift, SX4 and Grand Vitara.

I have been seeing a bunch of APVs and Swifts around town in the last year, so they must be buying them somewhere...

This is the kind of excellent info that makes the Moto Forum great.

Now that we know you can get your 5 year license before your 1 year expires, does that mean that you have new unforeseen problems if you let your 1 year expire first? ( Just wondering if this change in service flows both ways )

Anyone have recent experience with this?

Interesting post!

I would probably give my left arm to be earning 60k here right now and I have been here teaching non stop for 10 years but only have a BA in Business Admin.

Moving to Bangkok will help you out. I've been teaching with a BA in Media Arts for 6 years now and started out making a little over 60k at an international program.

I also know a few non-degreed teachers making 60+ doing extra work after their base pay of 40...

Isn't it a tad expensive? 900k or so?

An Altis with a good package at 800k will be more reliable, get you better service and better resale value in the long run.

However, if you are happy with your Chev and plan on driving the Cruze until it won't drive any longer (10+ years) I say go for it.

I want to see one on the road.

Asked the same question about a month ago and got some good responses:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/409222-nissan-march-reviews/

no the long 80's style chevrolet. i have seen 3 people driving them.. Estevan

Do you mean the Optra Estate?

Thank you for this. My wife is from Phayao and my family is coming to visit us for the first time at Christmas. These videos will give them a good basic insight as to what to expect.

Thank you so much mixedbreed for that very detailed and thoughtful response! There certainly is a lot to think about here and you've given me a great start as I head off to do a little research. I might have to pick your brain a little more if this dream comes closer to reality.

Hope your harvesting season continues to be profitable.

Before you want to put down your money, you might want to ask if anybody who has owned a Kubota DC 60 for at least 3 seasons would be willing to have you for a visit. There is a lot to discuss, the operating costs of these machines rise considerably each season. Not really a problem, as long as you realize it is coming and have prepared for it in your finances.

Hi mixedbreed,

Thank you for your very informative post. I have a few follow up questions if you don't mind.

What is the name and approximate cost of the Thai made machine? (I think the DC-60 is 1.4 mil)

What would you estimate the running costs of a DC-60 are per year? (In my case, we would have two harvests a year - I'm hoping harvesting about 1000 rai a year total. My wife's extended family has 300 rai alone so I would expect word of mouth should at least double that.)

What are the drawbacks of owning a machine like this?

I mentioned the idea to my father in law and he thought it was fantastic. The machine the farmers use in their area comes from two provinces away and there is a waiting list to use it. Queue jumping is also causing fights amongst neighbors.

Thanks for your help!

He was an almost daily contributor to the motor forum for a few years, and I noticed I haven't seen him around.Just checked his profile and he hasn't signed into TV since August.Anybody know what is up?I miss his competent commentary and love of V8 American muscle cars.

If it is near your house and you have a good water supply to get through the dry season, and if you are willing to take this 'gamble'... Try agar-wood, thai call this Kritsana.

The trees can be bought real cheap when they are small. You will have to replace about 20% of them after the first year (even if you take real good care) but after the second year they become much less demanding. We have put 300 trees per rai and about 250 still live (after almost 2 years).

These trees can produce a very profitable resin, but they do not always do so. After they are about 3 years old you can stimulate them to produce this resin by giving them injections with iron, yeast and sodium bisulfite (not sure if I got that last name right, but it is NaHSO3, a commonly used perservative).

This resin does over 40,000 euro/Kg (that is more expensive than gold). If you are not interested in setting up a factory to extract this resin, you can sell the trees for about 100,000 THB per tree if they contain the resin, or they will pay 1,000,000 Baht per rai for the trees (untested).

If the trees grow well, they may be ready to sell after 6 year, but I think 10 years would be more realistic.

So, invest about 25,000 THB in trees, water and work and after 10 years this will give you 1,000,000 THB (per rai).

These profit margins can't be true...can they?

Anybody know the tree/resin this poster is talking about?

Hmmm...I had never previously thought about owning a harvester instead of buying land.

My in laws have 12 rai of land in Phayao which gets 2 harvests a year. It isn't their income, more like an inherited hobby. I have been debating buying a few sets of 10 rais (for about 1M each) but if pnustedt's figures are correct (78,000B a day during harvest season) - owning a harvester seems like a much better way to spend the cash.

Is this really the case?

I'll have to second the University of London recommendation.

I have a friend without a degree who is doing his B.A. from them via a correspondence course. I'm not really sure why he isn't doing it online (perhaps cheaper?) - anyways, he's getting it done and his family and his future will be better off for it.

We have a large number of teachers who are on their 2nd waiver and are firmly headed toward a third.

This isn't too surprising. The 'rules' change so frequently around here one can never really tell if jumping through the hoops will actually pay off. I know a few non-degreed teachers who are quite happy working under the radar for agencies and being exempt from all the red tape.

I am on a waiver myself, as I am in the middle of completing my M.Ed online - due to finish a little more than a year from now. Hopefully that makes me qualified in the eyes of the MOE.

The Zafira ticks all the boxes. Too bad it's discontinued.

As posted under 'new cars 2011'

Here's a very early look at the 2012 Vauxhall Zafira where we can already see, Built in GM Plant in Thailand, rebadged European Opel/Vauxhall Zafira

Understand you will be able to buy here in 2011

Not too bad looking. Any guess on a price?

sorry lads I am a newbie ,,,,,,,I am driving into the diving ,sorry bout that ,,,,,,,,, I thought for some reason in the far east they drove on the right anyway ,thanks a lot cheers Billy ( silly billy )

Depends on the country. Correct me if I'm wrong gentlemen.

China - right

Hong Kong - Left

Japan - Left

Philippines - Right

Laos - right

Cambodia - right

Vietnam - right

Malaysia - Left

Indo - left

Anyways, follow the link the other guy posted, it gives a pretty good map of what is going on.

Yes, saw an almost new Toyota Camry yesterday, matt black, bloody awful,..

I can beat that. Saw a matt black Nissan Teana the other day.

Acura NSX. nice ride.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HOhVFDCfD-8

Thanks IndoThai and JimShortz. Good to hear some opinions from people who like their March.

I don't mind driving a manual transmission, I am however, a bit worried about the wife learning how to drive one.

425K is a pretty decent price. I don't really NEED a car, so the March is attractive to me. Living in the city it gets bonus points for parkability.

I won't be buying until mid-late next year, but I'm considering anything less than 750K.

Looks like the next step would to be to actually go and test drive one.

I was about to buy one but after my friend bought his he didn't recommend it to me.

Thank you so much for that Bagatelle. You've completely changed the way I view the car.

So basically. Unless you want a MT and no options, you might as well go for one of the regular compacts?

Anybody else have an opinion on the March?

Although it is a major change and frankly I liked the old one better, at least it is better than the peacock version of 1943-45.

Also, is Myanmar now like Ghana's redheaded stepchild?

(Current flag of Ghana since 1966)

Wait a minute, does this actually sound like justice is being served?

27 Units! Dang, thats at least a 60 Mil baht investment.

Not bad for a 36 year old.

Looks like they changed it a bit from the original 2006 design?

Good luck explaining to the officer that he isn't competent enough to hold your license!