chris2004

I have researched the matter, and the evidence is clear,

nothing is more boring than living with a single girl,

i'll take single life a hundred times over.

Not only boring but more expensive.

Depends how you manage it. My live in tgf costs me less than 15,000 a month. If i picked up girls in bars/a go gos i would pay at least 1,500 a night (with b/f etc) so that buys me 10 nights a month. After you have lived here for a few years touring the bars looking for (suitable) girls can get boring as well.

Halifax will transfer to a Thai bank cost £7.50 from their current account, open one.

I think it's 9.50 but still the cheapest. I use Halifax to transfer money to my thai bank. Kasikorn claim that their maximum fee is 500 baht but whenever i try to check the final transfer it seems that someone has taken a greater fee. Either Halifax is not sending the amount i quoted or Kasikorn are charging more than 500. I heard somewhere that banks (maybe both) use head offices as an route for the money and they take a cut as well.

I had a laugh the other day. I was riding my bike in Pattaya and they had closed part of the road to paint a big box junction in yellow paint. This is where you are supposed not to enter until your exit is clear (so as not to block oncoming traffic). My humour was at the thought that any thai would give the slightest thought about the use of a box junction.

I am an experienced bike rider and have riden a bike here for 4 years with no accidents (so far). It can get scary at times though even if you ride defensively. The main problem is that thais (and some farangs) are so unpredictable. They pull out of junctions without looking, run red lights, signal left but turn right etc it's probably only a question of time before i get zapped. It would be hard to manage without a bike though as they as so convenient just to get around town (and so cheap).

I think the thai word for "lend" is the same as for "give".

My Suzuki Hyate 125i is up for sale.

18 months old, 2700 km.

I've just sold my 5 year old Hayate to get the new Click. I loved that bike but times move on and I really like the idea of the idle stop thingy

All bikes have got the idle stop thingy. I turn my engine off at traffic lights then start it up on green.

"For those travelling to Bangkok from Pattaya we will aim to provide a same day service" seeing will be beleiving in this same day service to Pattaya redidants. Cannot see them pulling the stops out for us or anybody else.

So they will "aim" for a one day service. What if they can't that means an overnight stay in Bangkok just to get a income statement. Even if they could turn around in a day i guess you have to hand the document into the Bangkok office before 10.30 am so it means a very early start to get there on time.

I've had a total of one puncture since going mag wheel and tubeless with my Nouvo Elegance and even that was a small nail resulting in a tire that would slowly lose air (It never went flat). I had four or five flat tires when I was running spoked wheels with tubes on the Nouvo MX I had before the Elegance so there is no question in my mind that the mag wheel tubeless tire setup will result in far fewer flat tires.

How much for the tubeless tyres, if you don't mind me asking. Recently put new tyres on, but still have, and have had nothing but regular punctures on a mag wheeled click I bought my missus from new.

I've just bought a set of Michelin tyres for my mag wheeled Nouvo, cost 2,600 baht. Basic tyres are cheaper i think under 2,000 a set.

Thanks for the tip i usually shop at Friendship so i'll try them out.

Agreed i just got a new set of Michelins for my bike here. Good service and price.

I had a bad throat infection a few weeks a go which i put up with for a while then went to the Memorial Hospital in Pattaya. The doctor there put me on an intravenous drip ! plus a handfull of pills. It cost 3,500 baht but cleared the problem up within a couple of days.

The paths up to and around the view-point and Big Buddha at Pratumnak Hill are nice and not too far of a walk from C Pattaya.

You can sometimes walk from the lighthouse to the top of the Hill and hardly see another soul.

There is a big park area just behind where they are building the new Axis condo at the top of Thappraya Road but the only way to get to it seems to be to walk all the way round to Big Buddha and back again. They have built loads of children's play toys but the place is empty (maybe because no one can get to it). I did find walking around there a bit creepy because it is so quiet (and maybe dangerous at night).

For a farang i think the Yamaha Nouvo SX is a better bet (with 2 shocks) and it's only a few k more. The Hondas always seem very flimsy to me.

I agree with the others, once you've had HD on a big (in my case 55in LED) screen you can never go back to SD. As regards the Japanese companies i doubt if it will be long before Panasonic and Sharp stop making tvs and Sony has completely lost the plot.

I feed an optical cable from my HD box to my home cinema system. If you haven't got an optical or HDMI input then you probabaly can't get 5.1.

What i can't understand is why blu-ray and 3d discs are so expensive in Thailand. I mean you can buy a genuine DVD for 2-300 baht but a blu-ray is 1,000 baht and 3d 1,500 baht. I wouldn't pay that much and i'm sure thais couldn't afford it. It's cheaper to buy a multi region abroad and ship it here. Region 2 blu-rays don't work on my player.

I think Steve Jobs was right 7in is too small for a tablet. 7in is not much bigger than most of the phones we have so not worth it.

I'm not against this but I can see some arguements when boarding, wonder who will back down, something will have to give.

Who is going to tell the chinese who seem to bring loads of luggage into the plane. I agree though one small bag should be the rule.

I always rent with Avis and they never actually charge my account. Just hold a signed credit card voucher which they "unblock" after the rental.

Sorry off topic but i've always found it difficult to attach the tax disc to the bike even with a plastic holder. There doesn't seem to be any obvious place (on my Nouvo) to screw it on, so i just keep it under the seat. I guess you are meant to display it but the BiB don't seem to mind when they stop me at check points.

Sorry to disagree here but i think Truevisions is good value (for a farang). You pay @ 30 GBP a month = 1 GBP a day. For that you get 4 movie channels, 9 sports channnels with full english premier league, BBC, National Geographic, History, AXN, music etc. What more do you want. You complain about movie repeats but there just aren't enough good movies to show on 4 channels. 24/7 365 days a year.

I recently bought a 55in LG LED 3D TV, for exactly 50,000 baht. I think it's great and LED is better than plasma. If the have the True Visions HD service the picture is stunning. The 3D and internet is a bit of a gimmick but amusing now and again. Bought from Num Chai.

I brought mine over from the UK but i can see <deleted> all from Pattaya with the cloud and light pollution. Good for looking into other condos though.

The last time i went to Ao Nang i seem to remember an airport bus which seemed to offer a good and very cheap service. I think it left from outside MacDonalds on the main street.

It's sort of funny you say that. I was sat in a bar one evening (Soi 2 Pattaya) and i felt a hard blow to my head. I thought someone had thrown a bottle at me. Anyway the fan near me had broke and one of the blades hit me. Really hurt.