thaiIand

great thanks.

are the waves usualy similar at karon and surin? Right now on the surin webcam i think i see large waves but its so far away it could be anything while at karon there is absolutely no waves

thanks for the info, i will go with the clay bar + chemical clean. Im kind of clueless about what you mean from chemical clean though..

Claybar i also need some detailer spray? this is what it says on youtube. They should have all of this at tesco? I really don't want to spend a fortune on this car, i just want it to keep at the bare minimum ok as i doubt thais will ever look deeper

How can you find out from home if they are waves around kamala/surin/bang tao/nai yang beach?(simmilar to those we had last week). Would be a lot more fun than driving 20mins(and 40mins to come back in traffic) and spending 300baht in gas just to find out the beach is boring that day and only staying 30mins

hopefully Jeremy Renner talks to the gossip venues and destroy a few % of phuket's tourism.

build something small with lots of land for weekend/holidays/end of world scenarios/years while your child is still too young for school. Start yourself with some projects for you and the family.. building a huge pond or lake yourself.. hunting area or anything else you're into.. maybe even an ATV trail.

and get something in bangkok/suburb.. get a ford ranger for the travelling(cheap and safe) and enjoy your semi retirement.

My car is 7months old now and for the past few weeks the white seems a little less white and the texture is now very grainy/salty. I wash it every 2weeks myself.

Does that mean the wax is off? i never had to worry about this back home with all the automatic car wash with wax.

if so, a 200baht wax bottle at tesco is fine? i dont have an imported 10million baht car so i dont need the best. Or should i go to a detailer and get it waxed(how much?)

I was sitting on Kata Beach yesterday with a friend of mine who has been coming to Kata since 1990. We started talking with a Swedish guy who had been coming there since the 90's too. We all concluded there aren't as many German and Swedish and other Europeans, but there is a hugh influx of Russians this year. I don't think tourist numbers are down, but the demographics have changed. I also seem to see more motorbikes this year than ever at the beaches, so I'm not sure if people are using tuk tuks less, but they are renting motorbikes more.

Completely agree. Changing demographics and more tourists hiring a bike or a car.

have you seen how manay REPORTED russians have died or been serverly injured recently on the road? think of all the unreported accidents. Less hassle with tuktuk(but yet more public assaults) and more road deaths. The tuktuk drivers are in part responsible for all of those deaths since most of them would of used a tuktuk if they were safe and affordable like in the north.

wrong, the average tourist comes back every year. returning customers in hotels/guesthouses, restaurants, massages, beach chairs, simple stats

How absurd. You see those tourists. You DON'T see the ones who don't return who would have returned except for the great unpleasantness. I guess you are saying there are enough return tourists and vital new naive meat to keep everyone happy, including the mafia.

absurd indeed. you are somewhere stating "the average tourist isnt coming back". I am here, and they do come back. Every year.

The typical blend in the businesses I follow closely, is 60-70% returning customers

Perhaps you think they should not. Possibly do they see Phuket with other eyes than you after spending some time here, so they still do come back

dive and sex? as i said divers do comeback because they dont spend most of their days on the island itself. They dont really count.. and sex tourist would come back even if you slashed a toe at each visit.

I was sitting on Kata Beach yesterday with a friend of mine who has been coming to Kata since 1990. We started talking with a Swedish guy who had been coming there since the 90's too. We all concluded there aren't as many German and Swedish and other Europeans, but there is a hugh influx of Russians this year. I don't think tourist numbers are down, but the demographics have changed. I also seem to see more motorbikes this year than ever at the beaches, so I'm not sure if people are using tuk tuks less, but they are renting motorbikes more.

exactly

Thais are emptied the fins and swedes and in a few years the russian will stop coming here. One day every nationality will be fed up and will go to a country that is actually still cheap and not full of violence. Its coming to a point where its cheaper for most nationalities to just fly to cuba and get a full week at 4 star hotels all included for 250$ What do you get for 250$ here? 1 night at a similar hotel and 1 400m ride of a tuktuk? Also fun to visit a country where most people serving you are more educated than you and can converse outside of the usual 'lady boomboom' and 'where u go where u from' dialect that the tourism workers have

wow the op copy pasted word for word a topic from last year and the first answer is quite similar also.

well some people clearly don't know much about any other area than their own and think because they see a lot of people, things are going great.

Someone in my extended family ran one of the huge firms. Last few years he made over a million us$ in profit in his pocket/each year.

this year he sold his boats, his cars and has to drive farangs to do visa run himself in his little civic when this isnt something he offers with his company. He's making less than 30k baht a month

thanks sheep. i thought it was more complicated, will just buy the seeds and toast them and crush them myself. We already do this for satay sauces with peanuts

You cant compare sextourists and divers(who just leave on dive trip almost everyday) with the average chineese/japanese/malaysian/australian tourist.

Most of these will never come back and once the money from those people dry up, phuket will hurt really bad. The only reason this place isnt completely dead is because itsi a drop off point for phiphi/sex/krabi

have you tried bread at Wine Connections?

35bath for a loaf(15baht after 7pm) they taste the same as back home and they are the only bread i buy in thailand

found the chickpeas at supercheap for 63baht a can(same one pictured above from villa)

Now for the sesame seeds crushed(ill guess this is paste?)

is there a thai name? we couldnt find those at super cheap.

an honest person is hardworking, lack of hardwork is dishonest.

there is no view outside that tuktuk and taxi drivers are bad here and are levels ahead with the scamming and violence compared to their brothers in non-sociapathic countries, stating the oposite of this just means you're being an *sswi** and have no respect for all the pain and suffering that thousands of people are going through every year in vacation because all you care about is that 30 000baht check at the end of the month

stevenl showing his usual symptoms of the 'i close my eyes and block me hears and scream nanananana as hard as i can' He's doing it to convince himself, just ignore his comments. There's always a few poor farangs in the tourism industry trying to defend thais because its that or mcdonalds nightshift manager back home.

Even if tourist are doing asses out of themselves they dont deserve what they get it. In an other country where people are civilized they would get a small beating at worst. Usualy the would just be sent to jail for a night.

A little OT, but has anyone tried the Texas BBQ shop past and opposite Vachira Hospital heading toward Tesco?

its a basic thai steak restaurant that is a lot less good than other basic thai restaurants. Chachacha close to this is pretty decent though. spanish food

Went to Gitano in Bang Tao last night. had one appetizer and two cousins,sprite, and a terrible strawberry shake! 550tbh

food was not great but the decorations looked good inside the restaurang

well known fact that they arent a gourmet restaurant.. its mostly for the ambiance, kid friendliness, good music, good service, eatable mexican and decent thai food(great curry) without having to deal with flies/bargirls noise

how do you get killed crossing a 1 way street (airport road?) you only have 1 side to look for. Even if the idiot car had his lights turned off you can still run the meter it takes on the road in less than a second?

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/9-chevrolet-cruze-general-discussion-forum/3643-my-wife-ruined-my-seat.html#post46830 his wife's a bad girl

lots of post where he trashes reviews too

Cant overlook the Cruze, by far the Worst..for value in its sector. A Blinger.

if you plan on keeping it for 5-10years it's better value than the civic/altis as there is already a lot of engine tuning available for cheap + better back support for long drives + style + all those keyless/auto rain sensor/light sensor things that make your life better

But then again anyone buying those mid size sedans are dumb(me included) Should just buy top model 4 doors pickups and mazda2 type small cars..

personally wish i had bought a pickup.. cheaper, as safe and more convenient and cheaper on gas

send it in boxes... piece by piece

burmese labor to rebuild it