Gsxrnz

Suk is jammed. Was a mess around Klang yesterday afternoon, and as you head out of town...near Ban Amphur. Completely stopped there. A parking lot.

Took me 15 minutes to get from Tai to Klang, heading north on suk , yesterday around 2pm.

The beach down here in packed with Thai families. Neat to see them out having fun. Great morning as the tide is way out.

I'm staying home today, yesterday driving was a nightmare.

At 3pm it took me 30 minutes to get from the level 4 parking in Central Festival to the ground floor. Another 40 minutes to get from there to Phratamnak via Sai Soong, Klang, and Sai Saam. I'd expect it to be as bad today if not worse than yesterday.

The only possible chance for traffic to flow is if the BIB decide to spend the day gathering cash contributions rather than trying to control the traffic lights. I had lunch one day at the café on the corner of Klang and Sai Saam. Traffic jammed for 45 minutes.

Then the cop at the controller scored 6 Indians with no helmets on 3 bikes. As he stopped them he flicked it to auto and hey presto - in less than 10 minutes the traffic was flowing in all directions. He got his cash contribution from the Indians and returned to the controller - in less than 5 minutes, traffic jammed in every direction. Go figure.

I dont think he is harming anyone and likely really needs the money. This is hardly a scam.

Maybe not a scam, but dollars to donuts he's making serious coinage out of his activities. Unless he's lazy and has no work ethics, and stops when he's got enough for one meal rather than putting in a full days effort.

A job worth doing is worth doing well.

Get real!! if I try a Scouser or Geordie accent nobody will understand me - I'll starve. I'm still confused as to how the Thais can understand Scousers, Geordies, Glaswegians, and the Irish....I have to listen really hard to understand!!

Us Kiwis are the only ones that speak proper English.

You mean Baaahhh.

sheep.jpg

You're confusing Kiwis with Orstraylins. Baaaaahhhh is considered to be foreplay in the western isles.

If he is in fact mentally unfit, he sure ain't stupid.

Probably spends 3 or 4 hours scrounging 100B off a dozen or more Falangs, retires for a leisurely meal and coffee on the beach (he doesn't drink alcohol apparently), select the best looking Coconut Bar girl and wander off to his 500B/day apartment for a short interlude, chase a few balloons for his evening meal, and still has change for breakfast in the morning.

Tough life - I should be so lucky!

You can always do the same

Pattaya has many soi's, hopefully you will not have to have turf war

Many a true thing said in jest. I am definitely considering a career change. I'm just concerned that speaking with a Sith Efrikin accent is part of the job description.

Stick to basics, Scouse or Geordie accents it should do the job

Get real!! if I try a Scouser or Geordie accent nobody will understand me - I'll starve. I'm still confused as to how the Thais can understand Scousers, Geordies, Glaswegians, and the Irish....I have to listen really hard to understand!!

Us Kiwis are the only ones that speak proper English.

A heads up to all fellow Kiwis that there have been some major quakes in the Wellington region. Not devastating but you may want to check out the news and keep tabs on the situation. A few news articles are suggesting the biggie is imminent.

I would have posted a news article but not sure of the rules.

If he is in fact mentally unfit, he sure ain't stupid.

Probably spends 3 or 4 hours scrounging 100B off a dozen or more Falangs, retires for a leisurely meal and coffee on the beach (he doesn't drink alcohol apparently), select the best looking Coconut Bar girl and wander off to his 500B/day apartment for a short interlude, chase a few balloons for his evening meal, and still has change for breakfast in the morning.

Tough life - I should be so lucky!

You can always do the same

Pattaya has many soi's, hopefully you will not have to have turf war

Many a true thing said in jest. I am definitely considering a career change. I'm just concerned that speaking with a Sith Efrikin accent is part of the job description.

Try vinegar or industrial alcohol/thinners etc.

And thanks for a good laugh, made my day.

By the way, the silicone protectant doesn't really work anyway. Used it at home and you just end up with hazy glass. Best way to keep the glass clean is to squeegee it off after every shower.

I'm gutted - had to cancel golf today for fear of a 3 hour traffic jam to get there, only to find that every Thai golfer and his soi dog chose today to clog up the course.

For all you know he could be mentally unfit

He is definitely not mentally unfit. He approaches you very calmly, speaks nicely and has an answer for every question you ask him.

This guy is approximately 60 to 65 Y/O (could be older), During his speech he mentions that he doesn't drink alcohol. You will know who he is when he speaks to you with a clear South African accent.

Call him what you like, but a fellow who repeats the same "waiting for an overseas transfer that won't come through for 5 hours" line day after day week after week sounds like a scammer/beggar to me.

Mental fitness is NOT only ability to speak calmly, there are many different sicknesses out there.

If he is in fact mentally unfit, he sure ain't stupid.

Probably spends 3 or 4 hours scrounging 100B off a dozen or more Falangs, retires for a leisurely meal and coffee on the beach (he doesn't drink alcohol apparently), select the best looking Coconut Bar girl and wander off to his 500B/day apartment for a short interlude, chase a few balloons for his evening meal, and still has change for breakfast in the morning.

Tough life - I should be so lucky!

This man is a South African approximately 6 feet tall or about 185 cm. Mostly on soi Buakhow but I have seen him on soi Chaiyapoon as well. Be warned he is still waiting for that funds transfer 6 weeks later, he is a scammer.

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So if you anyhow is giving a description of this guy, why not describe the most obvious????? Is he black or a white guy

from South-Africa???? is it so unpolite nowadays that you cannot use the colour of your skin to identify a human being, is that wrong???

People are really strange...

Glegolo

The OP clearly states he is a Farang - where's the confusion?

OP - if you think it's definitely the bike as opposed to your physical condition, then try most of the options that have already been posted.

Additionally, you could get hold of some multi adjustable racing clip-ons that can be adjusted in every direction - it could be the up/down angle causing grief, even though you can adjust in/out on the standard ones.

Maybe you need to mount them higher or lower on the forks to change the overall height position. I'm not familiar with the CBR setup, but you can get adapters for most bikes that let you raise or lower them if the triple-tree is in the way, or if putting them under the tree is too low.

I'd also suggest that you play around with the angles of the brake and clutch levers, especially if you alter your clip-on angle. I see many bikes with levers set at all sorts of weird angles that are both unsafe, and must be uncomfortable to use. If you have to raise or lower your fingers to "reach" for them, they're in the wrong position and may cause pain.

Also, try changing the bar-end weights to a heavier or lighter set. I had a GSXR1000K2 that had a vibration resonance (harmonics) in the clip-ons at my regular cruising speed that made both hands and lower forearms go numb from the vibrations. I changed the weights and the resonance went away. It's feasible that you have a resonance but aren't aware of it.

Try getting a shorty clutch lever - this forces two finger usage and they're less onerous on the forearm.

Have you got the rear-sets in the best position for your comfort and riding style? This could be impacting on your seating position and causing shoulder pain.

Try wearing a kidney belt and see if that arrests the pain. Most of us tend to slouch overly much on sportsbikes. A belt will keep your back straighter and take the weight off your shoulders and arms.

When braking or clutching, have as much weight as possible off your arms. Use your knees and lower abdomen. This takes pressure of your shoulders/arms, and will give you improved braking performance by lowering the angle of the weight transfer to the forks.

Sorry for the long post.

The man the OP is talking about.

Is nicknamed Tiger. He has been here nearly 7 years. In the past he taught Thais and westerners golf, and g-d knows what happened after, I assume his Tillak sent him potty.

If he has a skill then he should try and capitalise on it rather than begging/scamming. If he offered me a golf lesson I'd be more than happy to pay him for his time. All he has to do is find one bloke willing to take a lesson - if he's any good he will get referrals. The pro's charge 800-1000 baht per hour at the ranges. He could charge half that and do quite well out of it.

"Its interesting to note that in terms of Thai law, everyone is equal...."

"Seems to me the legal system is heavily weighed to rich people and they are the only people that can win."

OP - Your two comments regarding Thai law and the Thai legal system could appear contradictory. Or are you saying that although under Thai law everybody is technically equal, but the manner in which the law is interpreted and administered by the courts favours the wealthy?

So really, it's the same as most countries in the west.

Again, a bit confusing story, how was the volunteer involved in the shooting? Would be nice to read these stories and understand them.

I'm with you. The Volunteer Cop asks for ID, gets none and leaves.

A few minutes later, 5 or 6 guys from the previous fracas come in and shoot the victim.

1) How is the Volunteer Cop involved in the shooting?

2) Where does it say he was carrying a gun?

Yep, the article is very ambiguous. The only clear involvement that the Volunteer Cop had was that he asked the victim for his ID card.

Why pay Skype anything at all? There is free Wi-Fi available all over Bangkok & Pattaya. I call my son's cell phone in the states often using Skype. Always free.

Really? - Let us know the secret to making a Skype call to an overseas cellphone without paying Skype.

I suspect you are merely skyping him "Skype to Skype", but he has his Skype forwarding to his cellphone. So he is paying Skype for the service. Free for you - not free for him.

Or....he has a Skype app on his smartphone. Free, but that is still Skype to Skype, and not a call to a cellphone as mentioned in the OP.

The ultimate quote about politics and politicians (country and political system irrelevant):

"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber." ~ Plato

The cost of the lease would be about 30% less than buying outright.

I fail to see how you can draw that conclusion given that we have no rental or valuation of the property in question. However, if you've assumed some generic type values I would be interested in your calculation methodology and variables.

Are you factoring in the residual value of the asset (for the notional purchaser comparative)?. The "cost" to the tenant would be the annual rent for 30 years, plus/minus lost investment opportunity on the property, plus/minus alternative investment earnings and values from surplus cash. The "cost" to a notional purchaser would be the purchase price, less the cost of money over the same time frame, plus capital gain/loss, less the notional value of rent, less ownership costs. And even that's a simplified way of calculating it without even considering the time value/cost of money.

To do it properly you'd have to do reasonably complex calculations of NPV and FPV on all the variables to calculate the cashflows over the 30 year period.

Who else was thinking the rest of the title was going to be '.... with Nazi Memorabilia'.

Guilty as charged. That's exactly what I was expecting - pleasantly surprised by the lottery news. I figure it comes to about a million baht.

I'm curious as to what country you come from to be interested in a 50 year lease that can be bequeathed to your son. I'm an advocate of leasing rather than buying, particularly in Thailand. However the logic of a 30/40/50 year lease escapes me.

Any right thinking landlord will ensure that the lease will increase according to a formula, with a ratchet clause prohibiting reductions, and a reset to market every 3 years or so. Therefore I see no real rental advantage for the tenant. The escape clause for the tenant will be horrendous also, probably a 2 or 3 year rent penalty.

Rent/lease by all means, but given the overabundance of condos in most popular tourist spots in Thailand, I see no advantage in a 30 year lease unless it's the MOST desirable condo/location in the Kingdom. And I don't really see the situation changing dramatically in the foreseeable future. There will be an oversupply of condos in these areas for a long, long time to come.

The roads will be a nightmare - many have already made it into a long weekend. I drove Jomtien to Laem Chabang this morning and have only seen the roads busier once, and that was at the last election. Mind you, the Pattaya marathon was also on this morning so that may have affected traffic locally.

Central Plaza was the busiest I have ever seen it yesterday. Looked like many non-local Thais as well as an inordinate number of Russians and Chinese. Had a power outage for 20 minutes and you should have seen the shop assistants and security guards watching there stock like hawks.

The funny thing is that I was waiting for the wife to get out of the toilet and was watching a Thai maintenance chap up a ladder replacing a light bulb in a shop beside the food court. As he twisted a new bulb into the socket, the bulb lit up, and then the power went out. I think he thought he'd caused it, he looked very worried for a few minutes.

This has a TAT feel about it, " American presidents are flocking to Thailand ".

"The hub of American presidential visits".

"I would like to visit your lovely country again", I guess Mr Obama would say the same to be amsassadors of Somalia, Congo and Pakistan. Part of being diplomatically correct! And everyone (?) understand that.

Except the Thais, just another confirmation of their selfinflated opion about themselves! "We are the center of the universe"

Best City in the World?? Give me a break. Who was in the running? Kabul, Mogadishu and Bagdad?

As for solving the trafficjams in Bkk

It's actually run by MasterCard and is based on the number of foreign international overnight visitors. London was pipped at the post by Bangkok. Don't think Kabul will ever be in the running.

Here's a Forbes article about it. http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2013/06/10/the-20-most-popular-cities-in-the-world-to-visit-in-2013/

As for solving the traffic situation in BKK, yeah, good luck with that.

No, haven't got high blood pressure. Been doing some research and it appears that my assumption is mostly wrong. It is possible to get a mosquito drunk from biting you, but you would to have such a high concentration of alcohol in your blood that you'd be dead. Bang goes that theory. Maybe my mozzie was just having a pre-take off rest after gorging on my blood.

I also discovered that only the female mosquito bites - that figures!

And it would take 1.2 million bites drain your body of blood - that's entirely feasible in my back yard at the moment, buggers are everywhere.

I'm sitting on a barstool in my local when one of the girls walks over and picks something up off the floor beside me. She places a tissue on the bar and then places something miniscule on the tissue. It was a mosquito. She says "I see him bit you, then him fall to floor. Him drunk!".

I'd been drinking JD for a few hours and the tank was reasonably full - a walk to the toilet had to be planned in advance.

The Mozzie was lying on its back, legs waving about a bit. I can only assume it ate my blood and was overcome by the alcohol content. I would never have thought it was possible - anybody else had this experience?

. It was about then that I felt the post-bite tingling on my ankle, so I flattened the little bastard with my glass. Big red splotch on the tissue. R.I.P Mozzie.