Gsxrnz

Got one in 2 weeks. You have to allow for weekends and public (Buddha) holidays, and there's been a few of them this last fortnight I think.

I found the website progress pretty good, and the NZ Embassy is pretty good to deal with. Provided you had the right documentation and don't have a criminal record, you should be sweet.

My god you visa experts do a great job of protecting the backsides of the touristically unwashed. Dunno how you maintain your civility at times

Well said - and on a similar note, I wonder about what level of "knowledge" the OP has about Thailand. He can't figure out basic visa/entry details, has a lawyer apply for a visa on his behalf, and apparently screwed it up. Also has another thread going about applying for a B visa without a work permit, and left it too late to apply for the visa before his flight date.

OP - a bit of friendly advice. If your knowledge about Thailand is as vague as your knowledge of basic visa information......do some research or you'll last about 5 minutes here before we read about you being scammed by somebody.

They don't need a white hat. You'll recognize them because as you walk past them they will say to you either "where you go?", or "I go with you?"

Simple really.

EDIT: The REALLY sharp ones will say "You forget me already?". They're the ones to watch out for.

Put 6 pieces of charcoal on a wire grid and toast them on a gas flame for two minutes.

Before you apply anything to your windows (and I agree rain-X is probably the best), you have to make sure the glass is totally free from contaminants or it won't do the job properly.

You can use methylated spirits or white spirit to thoroughly clean the glass. Alternatively, cut a spud in half and smear this all over the windows and leave overnight, then polish off.

Then apply the rain-X as per instructions.

I'd heard Starbucks logo was being updated anyway?

If we're going to start a pissing contest... my wiener is 18" long.

Tesco or Big C ?

they will fix your flat the same way they always do if not asked for something else, patching an innertube on wave is ok imo i would not do it on a Hayabusa though unless for urgent temp repair. Patching innertubes saves enviroment too if anyone cares.

About your landladys internet that is simply how many women behave towards technical things all over the world. i put things like that in big bag of acceptans inside my head.

Inner tubes on a Hayabusha - crikey!!!!

Yeah - that had me worried too. Even a plugged hole on the tubeless tyre of a performance bike is dangerous if you're pushing the envelope. Sticking a tube inside one would be lethal - do they even make tubes big enough for a 180/190?

OP - why did you push the bike? I just transfer the weight front or rear and ride the sucker. 30 minutes pushing the bike versus wrecking the tyre, and I'd rather wreck the tyre. Mind you, I've ridden a Click and a PCX for up to 4 klms flat and never wrecked a tyre yet.

I'd cross Pattaya 2nd Road blind drunk and naked at 11pm to retrieve a dropped Satang.

The "Darkside" primarily refers to Soi's Khao Talo/Khao Noi/Siam Country Club on the east side of Sukhumvit road which as few as 5 years ago had very little to no street lighting.

These days more and more Soi's either side of those mentioned are also wearing the "Darkside" moniker.

It is shit over here, zombies and all sort of rif raf wandering that either want to feast on new blood or put a bullet in your head, best to avoid.

Trying to keep the two week millionaire riff-raff out are you Spoonman?

Assuming you're not in Thailand - wait till you arrive, get the taxi to drop you anywhere in the Pattaya Tai, Pattaya Klang, Beach road to 3rd Road blocks. Look to your left, look to your right, and if you don't see about 3,000 signs saying "for rent", you're in the wrong country.

Hi everyone,

Might be more of the same... but.

I am renting a 130 sqm in in Asok area, the price is 6 Baht unit (less than double the gov. rate), I work outside all day long and just turn the AC on around 9-10 hours at 23 degrees (The ACs are kind of old),

My concern is that I started paying 2500 the first month which is acceptable for me as this was the cheapest apartment I found in the area... next month I ended up paying 3500, I complained to the manager, still I had to accept it, I check the meter every single day... for the rest of the months I was in an average of 3800 to 4000 baht...

My surprise was one day when I received a bill of 6600 baht, as I check the meters nearly everyday, I used to consume 20 to 25 kWat a day, but in the last months I can see 45 to 55 Kwatt per day... I went to Europe and when I came back for one week of use they charged me 2000 baht... which I made my calculations and now my bill is 8000 baht a month...

I could agree to the fact that the ACs are old, that some days my girlfriend leaves the house later, that some Saturdays we have the AC running all day... but and increase of more than 60%??!!

I am wondering if the landlord has people tricking the meters as I believe some of my neighbors who work at home are paying 15000 and more...

My contract finishes on June, so I can't do much but complaining... so if anybody can give me their opinion?!

I don't know much about the possibility of the manager tricking this meters, but apart from the 6 baht per unit (compare to other condos is not that much...) the owner's making a fortune just on electricity bills...

Switch everything off, unplug everything.. then go look at the meter. If it's turning there is an issue, get the manager to come and look for themselves.

totster

In my last rented house the average bin was usually circa 6,000 B per month. 3 bedrooms, 2 A/c often going 24/7, plus a pool. We had a failure at the street and our meter got zapped and replaced with a new meter. We then got 3 months of bins in the 10,000 B range. Not sure which meter was faulty, maybe both. But that was one of the reasons I decided to move when the lease expired.

In a different house now, same size but no pool. Monthly electricity circa 4,500B per month.

Check your meter as suggested - it has been known for less scrupulous tenants to hack into your lines through the walls as fittings are often back-to-back. My son enjoyed 4 years of free electricity while studying at University as he and his flatmates did this. Not advocating his actions and I only found out years later. But I bet it's a common occurrence in Thailand.

My Yamaha Nouvo gets a little unsteady at that speed.

One wheel on the ground, or two?

The only piece of wisdom I have to offer to this thread is.........keep your powder dry.

If you apply that theory to most things in life, <deleted> doesn't befoul you in quantities that are overly abundant, nor will you get pissed on too frequently from great altitudes.

Alternatively, invite <deleted> frequently into your life (be it via sour attitude or unwise actions), and expect it to arrive in overly abundant quantities such that you should be immensely pleased.

I've found that the majority of older blokes who are pricks were generally pricks when they were younger. When they were young they were called "little prick". As they get older they're called "old pricks".

Being a prick has nothing to do with age, but everything to do with attitude.

I just love it when a little prick and an old prick have an argument - it's impossible for them to have a discussion because of their character traits.

Here's another TV definition of Thai Apologist (recently seen on TV):

Westerner who contends, often vehemently and with name-calling, that the word faring can never be racist.

Anyone ever meet this person, in person?

Yes, the word "Farang" is racist, and biggest problem is, so many of us, happily and naively refer to ourselves as that as well. Many of us love to be the dancing monkey and receive the attention being the "crazy farang". And in the next sentence, somewhat amusing, complaining about us being victims of discrimination.

What Thai words would you prefer to be used by Thais to describe Caucasians when referring to them as a group in the 3rd person?

I fail to see how this sort of thing within a single "race" can be called racist, as all Thais are arguably of the same race (allowing for the Chinese influence and centuries of cross border interaction with the rest of Asia obviously). Is there even such a thing as a pure Thai?

It may be splitting hairs in some TV'ers opinions, but I'd be inclined to describe this whole dark/white thing as ethnic discrimination as opposed to racial discrimination.

Let's see if a lily white Russian student wins the prize, but I'm sure they'll be excluded from entering........now that's racial discrimination.

I think you're confused between the objective biological facts of what is race and RACISM.

Racism exists in all societies and it doesn't require there to be actual race involved at all!

For example, anti-semitism is racism yet Jews are not a race.

In real life, ETHNICITY is seen by most human societies the same as race for social constructs, so visible clues of ethnicity (color of skin, eye shape, etc.) are definitely related to racism.

Racism is a very complex thing of course and has different manifestations in different societies. For a fascinating look at how bizarre the social constructs of race can be, look at the Dominian Republic where most everyone has African blood yet there is severe anti-black racism.

Nope, I'm not confused.

I fail to see how this sort of thing within a single "race" can be called racist, as all Thais are arguably of the same race (allowing for the Chinese influence and centuries of cross border interaction with the rest of Asia obviously). Is there even such a thing as a pure Thai?

It may be splitting hairs in some TV'ers opinions, but I'd be inclined to describe this whole dark/white thing as ethnic discrimination as opposed to racial discrimination.

Let's see if a lily white Russian student wins the prize, but I'm sure they'll be excluded from entering........now that's racial discrimination.

"Live like you'll die tomorrow, plan as though you'll live forever."

"Growing old is compulsory, growing up is entirely optional."

Had these mottos since I was about 30 years old and they still apply today.....53 years and counting.

Here's my poor attempt at defining a basher or an apologist.

If you have negative and positive perspectives and your points of view on most things "Thai" would usually fall somewhere within the central shaded area, but never always in the same quadrant, then you're neither a basher or an apologist.

If your opinion always falls outside the central area, and always falls in the same quadrant, then you're either a basher or an apologist to greater or lesser extents.

Show a mechanic the internals from a modern engine that's done 200,000 klms of fast running, and those from an engine that's done the same of city stop/go driving, and he won't be able to tell the difference.

The biggest issue with stop/go driving (as in BKK) is the engine is not operating at it's most efficient temperature, resulting in increased fuel consumption, increased plug fouling, and (subjectively) reduced useful oil life.

Any difference in wear/tear on the engine compared to fast running is more logically related to the overall tuning, maintenance, and oil quality/suitability. However, the boffins that recommend the service intervals have worked all this out and recommend a suitable time frame for oil changes.

Anybody who thinks they need to take precautions to stop their engine wear being excessive while idling should do 3 things. Use the highest spec oil available for higher temperature running, change the oil at 2/3 the recommended interval, fit an oil cooler. None of these is necessary, bit if it makes you feel better.................

As to fitting an hour meter - can be done in a few minutes. You can even get ones that record idling versus driving hours (based on RPM). But let's say that you drive for a month and record 90 driving hours and 12 idling hours.........or 32 idling hours, what does it tell you other than that you're wasting time sitting in your car? And didn't you already know that?

Condolences to the families of the unfortunate riders. As a fellow motorcycle enthusiast it's sad to see accidents of any sort involving bikes - we are usually the ones that come off the worst.

We don't know the specific details of the incident but it is implied the motorcycle hit the rear of large moving concrete truck travelling in the same direction as the motorcycle, that initiated a turning manoeuvre without indicating.

Rule #1,2, and 3 for all/any motorcyclists in any country - maintain a safe riding distance, always maintain an escape route, drive at speeds that allow the first two rules to be effective.