MissChris

I use QBE for my cars and even the NCB follows the car QBE gave me a discount when i bought my new car.

The cancelled the old insurance and created the new insurance for my new car with an discount which was the same as the previous NCB.

Is the insurance policy you are talking about a Thai one

Yes, I was wondering that too. It would be brilliant to be able to do it. Not necessarily because Thai insurance companies are any different, it's just the language & the subtleties of the contract.

I said "OWNING" a Vios, I should have said Yaris to not trigger you.

Most Th car owners do not drive themselves, theyr husbands or someone else drive

as it makes sence for 100 Th Insurance companies and 64 million people, why dont we just accept and adapt.

besides Insurance is cheap here, and I find it more important to focus on finding an Insurance actually able and willing to pay out if having accident, than to argue over their discountsystem

Life in Paradise

What's that about Yaris? Mine in Oz cost $A780 this year with maximum no claim, multi-insurance discount...maximum no-claim discount because I still drive it with all the teenagers' dings. That's a very luxurious policy, though, providing a hire car while car is fixed. Can't be bothered mucking about. Haven't had a claim for decades (not the driver thenanyway).

I think the Thai system is very sensible, actually. It's a bit like the compulsory third party insurance going with the car. Great if your under 30 driver buys during the year. First year very cheap. There's also the first $A600 for old bats like me and $A2k for the teenager creating the dings.

For all of you that can't divide & mulitply by 30 odd, like me, $A = $US. Sort of. Gets a bit exciting at times.

Faces usually heal very well with little scarring. My advice is to leave it alone while the stitches are in and see how it looks after they come out. Get help if it changes and gets red, sore, weepy, etc. If you have keloid scarring - that's very lumpy scars - it needs specialist intervention while the healing is occurring to keep it smooth.

What happened? Dirty wound from face planting or clean cut? That can make a difference to healing too.

a colon cleansing kit ... and it worked just like in the photos...

Ummm the photos sound fascinating. Tell us more

>>rot kabong

Excuse my lack of knowledge,but what's a kabong? It's not an illegal 3 wheeled vehicle is it?

No, son calls his 1977 silver Ford Escort (with burbling exhaust) a 'rot kabong' which he claims is Thai for 'can car'. His fiancee tries to call it the 'classic car'. I won't comment here. Too rude. Just that I love my little red Yaris & wish I had it here. Power steering, seat belts all around, power brakes, good all around vision, dings on every surface except bonnet & roof (teenage drivers & me sometimes), stereo, air con, 7 places to put your water bottle.

Lots of body parts made of plastic now and you do not have to be in a accident to need to replace them

wildtrack has lots of body parts in plastic, BT50 has one only, front bumper, and if it needs replacing it sure is an insurance case, why else would it be damaged?

Teenage L platers showing you how they reverse better than you do & hitting something. Most impressed with my Yaris plastic part - 30cm dent popped itself out after the humiliation was complete.

yeah, they are great, medium size dogs at speed, parking errors, wait 20 minutes and its back in shape again

Last time I damaged one was in 1996 in my brand new Chrysler Grand Voyager. Reversed into a light pole, went out to find a huge bump in bumper. Went home, looked again and it was all gone

Despite so, it was my last car without reverse sensors

I got rid of the teenager. Now all scrapes are mine. Might add, it was a major effort to get him onto P plates. Eight attempts from memory @ 1300THB a go. He got his forklift licence before his Ps. Aaaah the delights of being a child-free zone after 35 years.

Am I allowed to ask here where to find a cheese grater & a stick blender? Tried HomePro & (gasp!) Villa Market. Villa's grater was too small for my needs. Still trying for an approximation of Burcher muesli...

Lots of body parts made of plastic now and you do not have to be in a accident to need to replace them

wildtrack has lots of body parts in plastic, BT50 has one only, front bumper, and if it needs replacing it sure is an insurance case, why else would it be damaged?

Teenage L platers showing you how they reverse better than you do & hitting something. Most impressed with my Yaris plastic part - 30cm dent popped itself out after the humiliation was complete.

Anyone going to tell us what service they offer apart from NOT rehabilitating gibbons? That's for those of us too lazy to google

Depends on the size of the overhead lockers. I was told recently that a person's wheelie bag would fit one company's but not another. Didn't take notice at the time, but think AirAsia have fairly small space.

Singapore Airlines have been brilliant, allowing me my voluminous handbag (often wonder what's at the bottom or in the side pockets) plus a pretty big wheelie thingo as well. My handbag contained my notebook with case.

I'm dressing up again when I fly with them - got upgraded to Business Class on Silk Air.

I find all this baggage weight a bit ridiculous when some passengers weigh 50kg & some are approaching 150kg.

Hope you're not the driver petercallen when you say you can't see out the darkened windows...

Discovered that Sunday morning early is a good time to drive son's rot kabong to the petrol station. Hardly anyone about. Someone DID pass me on the wrong side down Chao Fa Rd East because I was percolating along a bit slowly...only to stop 100m up the road for the traffic light. I drive MUCH more carefully here, partly due to feeling stark, staring naked without a seatbelt, but also because of the invaluable advice I have had both here and from aforementioned offspring. He won't allow me to ride a motorbike anymore (had my R licence since 1969) so I'm going to start lobbying for a '3 wheeled mayhem maker'. He hates them

I was wondering why they were saying Monday 7th February...

I was also wondering what Superbowl is

Anyone know where I can buy natural yogurt ,as thats the only thing I ever buy there anymore.

Rumour has it that 7Eleven stock it for 20baht for a small tub. Yet to check it out. Would rather it without sugar

Maybe the large cruise ships are staying far out to sea and transporting the passengers into Phuket by submarine. This way, they can sneak up to the pier without the tuk tuk drivers seeing a ship and blockading them.

I agree with getting dressed up. Especially since I was upgraded from the cheapest ticket to Business Class. I'm definitely going to get dressed up in my best outfit whenever I fly in future. (Even on my broomstick.)

We are, after all, trying to get service. I always try to be polite, even if it's an irritatingly accented person at an overseas call centre. I just say 'Could you please repeat that last sentence?' and if they ask me if there's anything else they can do for me I say 'Have a lovely day'. Poor things. I'd hate to work in a call centre or a Visa office in Phuket, for that matter.

I went into there yesterday. Noticed that their aisle signs are incorrect and no prices on a lot of things. I think they bet on desperation of expats and visitors like me. Bought what I wanted anyway. Son's fiancee was scandalised. But then she often is...

Utensils with milk must be rinsed in cold water. Otherwise the protein sticks. Then wash with hot soapy water. I think that once the protein has stuck it's very hard to remove, especially from glass. But I don't drink beer out of a glass, so can't help with that bit.

Do pit vipers climb? Unless there's a way up via staggered bricks for example, only a tree snake should be able to reach your roof.

One thing to consider is that once you relocate the snake, another one is waiting to take its place. Usually snakes are pretty savvy about when you are around and get out of the way. Also, they only 'tax' the occasional bat or frog. Different to the average moggy. Snakes often come to our notice because they don't carry calendars, hence when I'm on our wildlife group hotline on the weekend, snake calls are the norm.

Any member of the publc silly enough to ring when I'm on the hotline gets quite an earbashing, starting with asking them to take a photo and letting them know that the people who usually get bitten by snakes (and remember in Australia we have some serious ones) are young blokes with weapons in their hands trying to kill the snake...

I am a bat carer and rescuer in Australia. If you don't want bats in your roof with the guano, why not make them a little bat roost and hang it outside? There are instructions on how to build them. The snakes won't be able to reach them and the bats eat absolutely enormous amounts of insects. I'd be encouraging them.

Get a post box in Rawai would probably solve your problems by the look of it.

Old Croc

Don't know about Thai snakes, but here in Oz the message is loud and clear...remembering that we have some of the most toxic snakes in the world...

People who get bitten by snakes are usually blokes with hoes in their hands trying to kill the snake. Overwhelming numbers of bites are not envenomated - the snake is telling you to bugger off. Children are rarely bitten. Probably because they are noisy when approaching the snake hangout.

If you have an adult snake near your house, chances are that it has been there for years. Snakes are territorial, having very little brain. It has probably gotten out of your way, although, without a calendar, they CAN make mistakes on weekends when people are home from work, change in routine, etc. If you kill the one there, you run the risk of a new, nervous, agitated replacement moving in which needs to learn to keep out of your way and you are likely to blunder into each other.

Keep elasticized bandages on hand to firmly wrap the bitten limb from fingers or toes up past the bite if the worst happens. Don't wash it first. Go to hospital.

Apparently Sri Lanka has a very high level of deaths due to cobras (according to Steve Irwin) because in the tea plantations the workers are barefoot, due to the bare slippery ground and they don't see the snakes under the bushes which are densely planted.

An earlier forum talked about people who come and take snakes away. Probably for lunch. But be warned about newcomers. My silly neighbour killed 23 brown snakes one summer. The most stupid move he made was killing the first one. In 17 years, I have seen only a few on our property which has abundant habitat for all sorts of snakes. The funniest was a little tree snake being chased by the cat. The geese were busy doing runway practice and one stepped on the poor thing without noticing! The cat got a good boot up the bum for his trouble.

Can't say why the cobra would have a 'moment' when he had to gaze through your window...moment of madness...female nearby...hole full of water...

I noticed in Villa a 5 litre container of snake repellent. Laughed at the time. It contains clove oil and other high aromatics. Apparently it works really well. Evidence based. Can't give you a citation. Sorry.

MissChris

A while ago I was asking about the postal service, having sent some koalas to my son's gf. Ended up that the postal officer had tried three times to deliver the parcel when noone was home. They gave up and kept the parcel in Rawai. The address was in Chalong, but post office boundaries don't necessarily follow logic or other boundaries.

Cost him 7baht. Lousy boy didn't even tip!!!! Many months after the original parcel was dispatched, the lovely gf ended up with 30 koalas, all of which she was going to put in her car, I might add. She's already a breathtaking driver...

and just for the sake of clarity...when are you going to start thinking about lessons by the month?

Students buy a certain number of lessons, minimum of 60 but you will get a better deal if you buy more. If the market tells me that what I do is wrong and does not work then I will consider other options, at the moment it works very well so if this is not broken I do not see the need to fix it.

Paying per course is standard in Thailand. I do not know any reputable school that has pay by month system, but again I don't know everything about every language school in Thailand. Do you know any? Please name them. I will be happy to look at their system.

Hope it helps.

MacWalen

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I wouldn't mind going to Thai classes whenever I visit Phuket. However, having a job in another country, I can only go when I have leave.

Sixty lessons in a month or so would probably wear my brain out

and just for the sake of clarity...when are you going to start thinking about lessons by the month?

Attitude also, for instance, I can make conversation with a Thai lady even if she is not interested, last weekend, I asked a western lady as she was leaving the beach, "hi, where you headed?", she gave me a smart-ass look held up her hand with a ring on her finger "home to my husband!". Not so friendly.............

We're not all like that gom. I'm a friendly person.

In fact, my older son used to flatly refuse to come supermarket shopping with me unless I agreed not to talk to anyone. Particularly little old ladies wanting something from high shelves. He's improved lately...

I love how people actually smile at you in Phuket.