Gsxrnz

I saw some amazing scooter ponchos in Hanoi last year and regret not buying a few while I was there. I saw some different variations such as:

One style that fitted two people with one set of arms for the driver and an extra hood for the passenger. Poncho went right around the whole seat area.

One that went right over the front of the bike with clear plastic for the headlight - seemed to be custom made and domed onto the front faring.

One that seemed oversized with a clear panel in the front for a kid to sit totally inside the poncho but with vision.

Several varieties that seemed to be fixed to the bike in some way that made them much more waterproof than the ones we see here.

All of them seemed to be really well made and of much better/heavier quality material than the 7/11 specials.

I have one of the Vietnamese ones- the type that doesn't go over the bike, and it's excellent. It's really quite heavy and doesn't blow about. Even in pouring rain I stay completely dry. Bit of a faff about to get on and off, but worth the hassle. I was trying to get the full bike one with the head light plastic, but left it too late and couldn't find one before flying out.

If anyone is planning a trip to Vietnam I would definitely recommend hunting one down,

I agree, they looked really great and well made. The only thing I noticed in Vietnam was that 99% of bikes don't have mirrors so not sure how they would fit.

I asked the concierge at my Hanoi hotel why most bikes didn't have mirrors - his answer was "in Vietnam, always have something behind you, why you want to look at it?". Good answer I thought. Also, the parking guys on every street corner can ram twice as many scooters into their allotted space without mirrors.

I saw some amazing scooter ponchos in Hanoi last year and regret not buying a few while I was there. I saw some different variations such as:

One style that fitted two people with one set of arms for the driver and an extra hood for the passenger. Poncho went right around the whole seat area.

One that went right over the front of the bike with clear plastic for the headlight - seemed to be custom made and domed onto the front faring.

One that seemed oversized with a clear panel in the front for a kid to sit totally inside the poncho but with vision.

Several varieties that seemed to be fixed to the bike in some way that made them much more waterproof than the ones we see here.

All of them seemed to be really well made and of much better/heavier quality material than the 7/11 specials.

I have seen this, but have no idea what it is about. The OP is not completely mad or drug-addled as some are accusing.

Thank you Slip--at least someone else has witnessed this phenomena and has the balls to say so. I thought I was losing my mind

That's assuming you're both not sharing the same hallucination of course?!

I wonder if it's to slow them down or prevent them from fighting - a bottle around the neck would certainly make either activity a bit more difficult. Was the bottle hanging vertically or was it a la the St. Bernard theory hanging horizontally?

Do you think (scientifically speaking) that the bottle is tied in such a way that it would prevent the dog from licking its balls? Now that would be just cruel and I suggest you call the Thai equivalent of the SPCA.

Were all the dogs male? We need more details as all speculation thus far is purely (and oddly enough), speculative.

There is a certain uniqueness to Thailand (and possibly some other SE Asian countries), that make a subjective or even an objective assessment of "poverty" extremely difficult. Comparing it to a perceived poverty line in the west is not logical in my view.

The Thai culture is somewhat unique in the support of the immediate and extended family. This is something that we in the west have great difficulty in understanding or appreciating. There is a levelling that occurs in the economically poor sector of Thai society that means very few get (or are allowed to get) to the stage where they are truly homeless and/or starving. Wealth is redistributed by the family itself to ensure hardship is minimised to a point that the poverty line is not reached. If a Thai does get to the point where they are literally living under a bridge, are unkempt and begging, then this would often appear to be the result of alcohol/drug abuse or psychological issues that the family can not or will not assist with. I define poverty as the inability to maintain the lower level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Ironically, even the poorest Thai also seems to achieve much of the second, third and fourth level of needs just because they are Thai and the way that Thai society functions. All this despite any real wealth or income, even by Thai standards.

There's a bloke up my Soi that sells bottles of petrol. Lives in a tin shanty that's maybe 3 metres by 2 metres built on public land at the side of the soi. It has a bed platform, and all his meagre possessions are in there. He's always clean and well dressed, always has a smile and is great for a laugh. He has a granddaughter visit occasionally for a few days, has friends up and down the soi that he always visits and half his customers wave to him from 100 metres away and fill up themselves and leave the baht. He has the odd drink,always has food, pops away for a day or two now and then (dunno where too), and often has a mini party with the local taxi drivers. I'm sure we all know or have seen people like this in all parts of Thailand.

By any western standards he is well below any kind of poverty line in the strictest sense. If you applied a Standard of Living measurement, then also well below the west and any of us would baulk at his living conditions. If you apply an arbitrary "Quality of Life" measurement, I would say he'd be well up there in the top percentile.

http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=oyOtiOjIpFhDOM&tbnid=PQ7uncv8K58y8M:&ved=0CAgQjRwwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fweemanbradley.blogspot.com%2F&ei=E8O6UeOWHYywiQfUqoDgBA&psig=AFQjCNH-5qV7_xoRWZHZr-dEYPWo2nwTZw&ust=1371280531518471

Having a poker night at my place tonight.......hope I'm not considered a criminal worthy of the attention of the BIB!

I'm thinking when it rains, I don't need the water, so I would have to put one or two really large tanks under

ground. I'm thinking 5-10K liters (total) ... I have no idea how long that would last. Bus cost wise, it's the

same as pumping the water from the well (ok, almost). So what would be the justification for this ?

5K-10K litres isn't much water if you're going to be using it for irrigation - that would only be about 1 week or so of watering for 1/2 rai of well maintained lawns & gardens.

I'd say not worth it.

This is very interesting!

I have estimated if I harvest all my rainwater runoff about 20K L per year and would invest 10,000 baht for a 10K L tank installation, it would take about thirty (30!) years for the investment to start making profit financially. This is based on potentially reducing my current water bill by using 20K L of rainwater per year for flushing toilets and running a washing machine, as well as assuming that the current water prices will stay the same.

Of course if prices increase or one has already some infrastructure in place, than it would be a different matter.

Doesn't sound like your numbers there have factored in the cost to run, or buy (and replace another 2 times in 30 years) a pump?

I can't see any way such a system could be cost effective - however, if your mains supply isn't reliable that might be a good reason to do something like this

No the idea is definitely not cost effective - so since we're in Thailand it's the perfect thing to do.

Was he packing a sidearm?

Transam. Which Shell garage?

Mine is in Ubon, but any will do, just do as I have advised and see what happens, show you know what goes on, they know what goes on.

And put a distinguishable mark on your filter as well. And check the level on your dipstick before you drive away, especially if you have a vehicle that takes more than 4 litres.

Maybe they were selling sheep.

JT - That was a great post and covers all the points but somehow I think the OP may have trouble interpreting it. I didn't realise until I read your summary how complex the visa jargon etc is here and it's only after you've been part of the process that it becomes understandable.

My two cents worth is that if the OP has the time to organise a retirement application before he leaves home, then that is his best option as he can get 24 months out of it or convert later when he decides what status he ultimately wants. Let's face it, he's not going to achieve his bucket list in the first 60 days anyway.

However if he's short of time, get a 60 day tourist visa and then convert after he's been here for a while as JT suggested and better understands the system.

This is Thailand, who gives a toss what time it is anyway. Time for a beer, time for golf, whatever.

Sorry I'm deaf - what was that you said?

Here's one that always confuses me. Is midnight on a 24 hour clock 24:00 or 00:00? Seen quite a few 00:00's in Thailand but never seen it anywhere else.

It is often shown as 24:00 but to my mind that's not possible because there is no such time as 24:01

I agree. So if 1 minute before midnight is 23:59 and 1 minute past midnight is 00:01 - can midnight be both 24:00 and 00:00?

Here's one that always confuses me. Is midnight on a 24 hour clock 24:00 or 00:00? Seen quite a few 00:00's in Thailand but never seen it anywhere else.

Driving in Thailand or any other country that is not your home country is surely a case of "when in Rome" with a bit of the Darwinian Theory.

Adapt your driving style to the local conditions and survive and enjoy your driving experience, or be a dinosaur and believe that we with our western driving skills are hugely superior and that the other 30 million drivers on the roads should bow to our superior skills and techniques.

For me, I found that as soon as I applied local logic to driving, it all made sense and became no more stressful than driving at home. I see so many westerners here driving in a manner that they believe is safe (and would be in their country), but is totally stupid here. eg. if you think you should stay in your lane and get upset when somebody slides over to your "territory", you're crazy. That's not how it's done here and if you don't adapt to how the locals behave, you won't last long. Darwinian Theory in practice.

You're OK with people pulling straight out without looking onto a "mariner" road...and stopping on roundabouts cos 50% think right if way is from right and 50% from left? Or like two nights ago when someone pulled an SUV onto a highway into an oncoming stream of fast moving traffic causing a controlled squealing skid to stop?.....not just onto his nearest lane but straight onto the middle lane even cutting part of the fast lane with his front end. What goes on in these people's heads when they see traffic approaching (on the occasions they look?).

I personally find it far from relaxing.

Nope, not really OK with any form of driving that risks lives whether here or at home. My point is that if you adapt to local norms then you're more likely to anticipate what is going to happen if you expect the ridiculous to occur. The situations you describe do happen in western countries but you would not normally expect that sort of driving practice, and therefore it would be a rare event. Here, that sort of thing is routine - I'm not advocating that it's a good thing, but if you think like a local then in many cases you can see the sh*t before it hits the fan and take appropriate action, retain your sanity and not get overly stressed.

When I go home it takes me 2 or 3 days to re-adapt to driving. During that time I get more flashing lights, horn honks and raised middle fingers than I've ever had in over 30 years of driving. The reason is that I'm still driving like a Thai - drifting lanes to allow a car to enter the inside lane from a side road, but the territorial git who is in the outside lane and 20 metres behind me firmly believes I've caused him a problem. Different strokes - perfectly normal in Thailand, a middle-finger and a 10 second horn blast event in NZ. Yet in Thailand, no (or very few) abusive horn honks and provided you make an attempt to acknowledge your error to the other party (head bow or similar), everybody is usually happy.

Driving in Thailand or any other country that is not your home country is surely a case of "when in Rome" with a bit of the Darwinian Theory.

Adapt your driving style to the local conditions and survive and enjoy your driving experience, or be a dinosaur and believe that we with our western driving skills are hugely superior and that the other 30 million drivers on the roads should bow to our superior skills and techniques.

For me, I found that as soon as I applied local logic to driving, it all made sense and became no more stressful than driving at home. I see so many westerners here driving in a manner that they believe is safe (and would be in their country), but is totally stupid here. eg. if you think you should stay in your lane and get upset when somebody slides over to your "territory", you're crazy. That's not how it's done here and if you don't adapt to how the locals behave, you won't last long. Darwinian Theory in practice.

I didn't know there were alternatives to alcohol - you learn something every day on TV!