jamesbrock

Thanks for all your comments guys. And, Nancy, thanks for your warning - it is intended to only be a short stay, how short though, depends entirely on how long it takes us to find something more permanent.

I went to bed at 20:00 last night because I felt miserable, with the Personal Hotspot up and running and I just woke up now at 01:32, had a short look at my computer and the personal hotspot was gone again. It's really annoying! It was easy to put it back on, though.

Talking about restarting the phone: I have to do this often, almost every day, because suddenly the 3G sign disappears. I realize that when suddenl;y my Internet goes back to a crawl. When I do a restart, it is back. Strange! Is it because I live in the outbacks? Probably Wednesday or Thursday we're moving for a week to our home in Pattaya and I'll see how things are there. I might report back here.

I have fears that TRUE-H is planning to charge us for PH as they do in other countries. When the TRUE-H call center staff now tells us we don't have to pay doesn't mean anything. They just haven't been informed yet.

OK, so now you seem to be talking about a different thing altogether. Initially, you said your Personal Hotspot feature was missing altogether; we still never got to the bottom of this, unless last monday, when you first noticed it missing, you had just upgraded to iOS 5.1; or perhaps True released some new carrier settings without the feature, and then quickly released version 12.0 and put them back (because, as we know, the existence of features such as the Personal Hotspot are dictated by the carrier settings file). Unfortunately, it's all but impossible to find the release dates of individual carriers' carrier settings. For the settings to disappear in the OS, and then reappear without a carrier settings change, would mean it would be a software error, as opposed to a hardware fault, and considering that I'm using the exact same software combination, and I have not encountered the error while using the feature almost daily would lead one to preclude this possibility.

But this morning's issue, where you checked you computer and the hotspot was gone, appears to be a totally different kettle of fish. I can't recall the exact timing, but the hotspot feature will disconnect after a period of inactivity - you said that it was easy to put back on though, because, and I'm only assuming, this is what happened last night.

And as fore the 3G sign disappearing, I would say that this is simply because, as you say, you live in the outbacks. I would hazard a guess that, even if you didn't go through the rigmarole of restarting your phone, the signal would drop back in of its own accord.

What speeds are you getting on the iPhone and true ?

BK

I'm in Samui, and I'm getting high-fives to low-sixes, with upload speeds of low-twos.

Have a look at Veerachai Court. My gf & I are planning to move up there shortly, and we've decided on that after reading some reviews here on TV; at least till we get the lay of the land a bit better.

We have been quoted:

Fan room = 4,000 Baht / month

Air con room start from 5,000 - 7,500 Baht / month

1 month deposit is required and returned when you checking out .

Extra charge : water 15 Baht / unit

: electric 7 Baht / unit

: cleaning charge when you checking out = 300 Baht

My boy stayed there the last time he was here and got the one with a aircon for 5,000 baht a month he says he had to fiddle with it and the hot water heater a little to get them to work but no big deal.

Not sure what they would have done if he had gone to the manager.

Personally I think for the price it is in a great location. Walking distance to the old city to the night Bazaar and Wharort market. And right next door to a great little western restaurant Suni's

Sorry about the misspelling on the market name and the restaurant name. Stupid spell checker connected to a bad speller.

Yeah, the location's pretty good, and the price is good too - so long as the aircon works, and it's QUIET!

I'd probably sell the bike as is to a shop for parts and buy a new one. 30K seems dear to me, I mean the engine and clutch and transmission and brakes are fine, by the photos. But is it really worth putting money into?

That I don't know. We have had a trusted friend, who knows more than I do about this subject, accompany my gf to all the dealings with the shop; I trust her judgement. And 30K for a one year old Hayate doesn't sound too bad to me (provided the repairs are up to standard), although I could sell it and put the proceeds towards a new Elegance...

By the way, the first photo does have the 2555 tax sticker on it, and you can't get that without also getting the mandatory insurance. So that's worth looking into. I just renewed the tags on my two bikes and that's why I know it's mandatory. Sounds like the rental shop is not being totally transparent with you.

Would not surprise me at all. Thanks, we'll look into it.

Ok, so it turns out I am a dolt, and I just wasn't looking in the right place!

So here they are:

The motorbike in happier times:

After being pulled out from under the pick-up:

The scene. The bike is sitting in almost the exact place we set off from; the souvenir shop, in front of which we landed, is top left of the image.

Have a look at Veerachai Court. My gf & I are planning to move up there shortly, and we've decided on that after reading some reviews here on TV; at least till we get the lay of the land a bit better.

We have been quoted:

Fan room = 4,000 Baht / month

Air con room start from 5,000 - 7,500 Baht / month

1 month deposit is required and returned when you checking out .

Extra charge : water 15 Baht / unit

: electric 7 Baht / unit

: cleaning charge when you checking out = 300 Baht

AH.. yes they were fined.. actually i was surprised too. They really did not try to shift all the blame to me and compensation never surfaced. The guy who hit me with his truck even helped me transport my broken (big bike) back to a place where it could be repaired.

They were real concerned about me as i was in shock, only later did i start to think clear again. I refused to go to a hospital before everything was settled. I had a gash above my eye. Anyway i was lucky that that was the only damage i suffered myself.. I mean a truck hit me quite hard.The bike cost 20k to repair.

Yep, a real difference in the type of people you get up there, and we get in the tourist areas...

Can you post the photos you do have?

Sorry, it appears I can not yet load pictures. (Or I'm too dumb to work out how to!)

Can't add photos...

I really don't care if you believe me or not. This is the way it happened. Mind you this was not in tourist central but in Nothaburi. I only had to pay for the truck that hit me (and that was right because i was at fault). The other 3 cars that hit the truck got fined (except for the off duty cop) So 2 fines were given for tailgating.

Apologies for my non-use of smileys, but I was being facetious. I meant I don't believe people actually got fined!

A couple of things. First, did you not have the registration on the bike (and insurance) up to date? I thought this was why one kept the tags up to date, for the insurance. If there was real damage to the truck, would not the insurance have covered that?

It was a rented motorbike. It had stickers on it, but I never checked whether they were valid or not. The owner never once mentioned any insurance.

She wanted 56,000 baht for it (it was a one year old Suzuki Hayate), but my gf got her down to 42,000, and we get ownership of the damaged one. The shop it is in (I don't know which) says it will cost 30,000 to fix. Thing is, I was renting it as I was tossing up between it and a Yamaha Nouvo Elegance - I guess my decision is made. I really do like the bike.

This whole compensation thing stinks. I know you disagree, but I am pretty hard-headed when it comes to this stuff and would have just said no. Nothing gets done until I get proper medical treatment and then we will begin the process of assessing fault. Everyone who thinks they are involved has an address and phone number. Time will only make things clearer, as opposed to heat of the moment assessments.

It's a common Asian tactic: put immediate pressure on the confused foreigner before he has a chance to clear his head and follow proper procedure. Threaten him so he pays without stopping to think things though. Time is the extortionists' enemy.

I am sure you did what you felt was appropriate at the time, but these shake-downs really piss me off. My sympathies to you. You seem to be taking all this BS in good stride.

It stinks to high heaven; but I choose to live here, so I have to take the good with the bad.

Can you post the photos you do have?

Gimme a minute.

I have a Yamaha 125GT, it is vibrating from the front wheel, one bike shop said i needed a new tyre, so i took to Yamaha dealer as i was going to change the oil and so i changed the tyre, but the vibration is still there, i bought the bike recently 2nd hand wonder if there has been a prior accident and maybe bent wheel rim, or maybe shocks, anyone any idea what the cause of the problem may be.

Sorry adding on this thread just not want to start a newone, thanks in advance,nev.

to be honest, just copy and paste this into your own thread, you'll get alot more replies. I have a few ideas what could be causing the problem but i'll answer you in your own thread

Yeah, a question about vibration on a Yamaha 125GT in a thread titled Yamaha Nouvo Modifications isn't going to get too many answers!

and then after you've had enough, you have to hope some other sucker, er, investor, comes along (at high season) to start the cycle all over again.

At high season?? Aren't you meant to sell at the beginning of low season, so you have all of high season's takings on the books?

Dario - what version of the carrier settings does your phone have?

All I can find is Settings >> General >> Carrier >> TRUE-H 12.0 .BTW, IOS is version 5.1 (9B179). Modem Firmware 2.0.10. Does that tell you something?

The Personal Hotspot feature is carrier dependant, and it is the carrier settings which tells your phone to display the option or not (including other options, such as being allowed to edit your APN, etc). The fact that this issue only surfaced for you five days ago, and has so far been restricted to TrueMove H users, would lead me to believe that it is not iOS 5 Personal Hotspot feature that is buggy, but rather the recently released TrueMove H carrier settings.

The reason I asked, is because my personal hotspot has not missed a beat (especially yesterday when out power was out most of the day), and our Wi-Fi here is so flaky that I end up using it almost every day. So I thought it may be something to do with a new carrier settings, and I know for a fact that I had version 11.1 on 24 March, when I was helping a mate in Oz troubleshoot a problem he was having - now I have the exact same setup as you - Carrier Settings: TRUE-H 12.0; iOS 5.1 (9B179): Modem Firmware 2.0.10. I don't know when TRUE-H 12.0 was released, nor do I know when my phone was updated, but I don't seem to be experiencing the issues you are - yet. Perhaps if I restarted my phone, True's new settings might kick in, but I ain't going to risk it!

The nearly-six-month-old article linked to has nothing to do with your issue; it was written three iOS versions ago, and multiple TrueMove H carrier settings ago (I've been using TrueMove H since 17 January, and have gone through at least four carrier settings versions so far!). Your issue is definitely not an issue with the iPhone itself, or users from all carriers would be losing their Personal Hotspots (not to be confused with the 'fix' you linked to, which was specifically aimed at those who had just upgraded to iOS 5; however, the solution worked because it is, or should be, one of the first fallbacks for all network related issues); nor you would not have received a True-specific dialogue message.

The case of the True-specific dialogue is very interesting though, and as Nickster suggested, True might be running network changes on the fly; but this would not explain why you were asked to contact True. The whole thing is disconcerting. If they do start charging extra for tethering, I will definitely be talking with my wallet!

Dario - what version of the carrier settings does your phone have?

Probably this one.

http://classifieds.t...ome-160062.html

Wow, did they choose the colours by pulling cards from a hat?!? Obviously, that's the work it needs!

I'm surprised at how many people took this post seriously!

Strange story, i was rear ended on my bike and it was my mistake. I only had to pay for the first car (truck) all the other cars that hit that truck were fined for being to close behind the truck. Normally no compensation if you rear gate someone.

Now i got decent insurance on my bike and car so i wont have to worry about that again.

I don't believe you for a second!

You're saying some drivers were fined for following too closely?? I thought that was in the road rules here!

This is sort of what I was driving at (no pun intended...).

The police cannot force you to do anything and by the sound of it, your foot/leg was clearly in need of attention. I have never been in an accident like that (touch wood) but in similar situations where I was being intimidated by authorities, I always take a mental step back and make it clear to whomever that what will transpire will do so at the pace I determine. I am not trying to be flippant but just say, "No," and do what you need to do. Have someone escort you if they think you are trying to pull a runner (or limper).

I guess they can't, but the alternative was an escorted trip to the main station in Chaweng, where higher ranking officers would have wanted their cut, and then a trip to court, where more people would have wanted a cut. Don't mistake my veridicality for bitterness; I choose to live in this Kingdom, so I accept that this behaviour prevails.

Oh, and I was being carried at that stage...

So who wanted money for what reasons?

Well, as far as I know, I paid the driver for the damage to his pick-up, his boss for loss of earnings while the pick-up was in being repaired, and the owner of the second motorbike for damage. The driver told a mutual friend that his cut was 7000 baht. I assume the police received a cut, and - don the tinfoil hats - I reckon the Nathon hospital (or at least the treating doctor) received something for getting me out in under an hour (couldn't have them all waiting at the police station all afternoon now, could we?).

jamesbrock .... I'm glad that you are alive and well and able to share a joke.

Thanks. I am too!

All very good advice, but when the vultures are waiting at the police station for you to be hurried out of one hospital, and the police demand you come straight to said police station before seeking competent medical attention at another hospital, you don't really have much choice.

Of course you have a choice. A polite request to the police officer to hang on a couple of days untill the swelling goes down will I am sure do the trick. And you can perhaps suggest that whilst he is waiting, he can get ready the copies of the license, insurance certificate and residents address of the guy you ran into, and also 3 written quotations from reputable car repair garages for the damage you inflicted for your immediate consideration. Oh, and maybe as you seem to not have a 100% recollection of how you managed to end up in a wheelchair, perhaps the officer would be so kind as to check the CCTV footage from the local shops to find out who this mysterious extra biker might be.

I am sure that will work.

You're right! In my discomfort I didn't think to do that!

I guess now I should write a formal letter of complaint to the appropriate authority to convey my disappointment at my maltreatment by the Nathon Hospital, namely: ignoring my pleas that my leg and toe were broken, insisting that it was "just grazing" (even though the toe had already been dressed); reluctantly X-raying me after insisting that I had multiple broken bones, except they X-rayed my knees despite only one of them being slightly grazed, and me not mentioning any soreness in them at all; assuring me that nothing was broken, and I was ok to go; then discharging me whilst still unable to stand with nary a paracetamol, leaving my injured girlfriend to commandeer a wheelchair so I could move from the gurney.

I'm sure said appropriate authority will launch a full investigation, and I trust I will be compensated for pain and suffering, and for the treatment costs I incurred at Bangkok International Hospital.

If I read this right, someone (the truck driver) demanded compensation on the spot (or pretty much) and perhaps the mysterious "second bike" person as well.

I know it's all water under the bridge, but perhaps as a future note, I'd always advise letting the dust settle before even thinking of compensation (for or against you). As you can see, some/most/all Thais here see an accident even incidentally involving a foreigner as a brief chance to own the goose that lays the golden eggs.

I think one needs get as many particulars as possible before thinking of who "owes" who what.

As Matt pointed out, the truck driver might not even have a licence, the mystery bike person would have to be investigated, and a traffic report filed.

I don't know who demanded what in this case, but the "damage" to the truck should have been assessed by two (or three) garages before any offers were made.

Speaking of the police report, there must be something there that would indicate the series of events and the mystery bike's appearance. Perhaps one of the private ambulances came to take care of you? They might shed more light on the situation as well.

Basically, unless you are a tourist and on a tight schedule, I always advise taking your time when complicated situations arise here. Resist the urge to "wash your hands" of people on your back about compensation. Water wears down stone and waiting it out will not result in a more negative outcome, I believe.

All very good advice, but when the vultures are waiting at the police station for you to be hurried out of one hospital, and the police demand you come straight to said police station before seeking competent medical attention at another hospital, you don't really have much choice.

I just love these post's. I worried about my GF. If you were so worried you should have made sure she was wearing a helmet before going anywhere.

So I assume, John, that you've never ever allowed a girlfriend to ride anywhere with you without wearing a helmet? Or, if I assume wrong, and that's not what you're saying, you wouldn't think to save your girlfriend in the event of an accident?

As for speeding pickup that hit you bike if he was speeding he did well to stop in 20 meters.

He bragged that he was speeding to a mutual friend, and if you read my post more thoroughly, you'd see that I don't believe the speed he claimed. Nevertheless, even at 60 km/h, it only take 20 meters to stop - and that's not taking into account any speed loss due to collision forces, nor the friction caused by the motorbike jammed underneath it. And anyone would know that 60 is too fast for that part of the road.

Only lesson is learn and accept you made a big mistake.

Well, duh!

All up, you've made zero contribution to this thread, so why don't you go and troll somewhere else.

I wonder how many posters on here have added to it through bribing police with cash in order to not be given a driving tickets....

Be honest please.

What is worse? Taking a bribe or attempting to bribe?

The thing is, that, more often than not, it's the police suggesting the bribe, not them reluctantly accepting the offer of one.

I was down at the French Bakery this morning, no luck with pictures I'm afraid James.

I also asked at the fruitshop and the souvineer shop across the road,(where you were being cared for?) again, no luck, although I can't believe not one of these people took pictures as almost everyone has a phone with a camera.

Sorry I could not be more helpful, I should have whipped out my phone and taken a couple of pics myself, but that's not really my thing.

Thanks mate. Your effort is much appreciated.

Yeah, the folks in the souvenir shop were fantastic; I intend to go and thank them once I'm up and about. I ended up directly outside there, so you can see I didn't travel too far!

Where are the pictures, and how much did you end up paying?

I only got two from a friend, which were taken after the bike was pulled out from under the truck. Just a written off bike; nothing to see there.

I do sympathise with you. I hate dealing with these people in this sort of situation. I've been there myself a few times. It sucks. Big time. They just see an opportunity to get cash.

One time my ex-girlfriend had an accident and I went to the police station to give her support. A horrible experience. She went in the to the back of someone's car. The owner of the car was a decent guy, he was fine about it, he said his insurance would deal with it, no problem.

5 minutes later his fat wanna-be-gangster brother turned up with his gold chains thinking he was some hard-ass dude from one of those rap videos. "Your girlfriend you pay" he said to me. I told him where he could go. He kept going on at me so I stood up and got right in his face. I would have clocked him one and choked him out. Idiot. One of the policemen intervened (I think they were tired of this guy now) and told me to leave and that I could come back later to get my girlfriend.

In the end the police sorted it out between my girlfriend and car owner, she didn't pay anything as he was happy the insurance would cover it. Decent guy.

Thanks. It just sucks how every man and their dog turns up to try to get something on these occasions. Good to hear the police weren't on his side that time!

So you hit a patch of water, slid and came off the bike and a truck then hit the bike on the ground? Then apparently another bike hit the truck?

I must have this wrong since I don't see how anyone would be paying except maybe the truck driver for compounding the damage to your bike. Where am I getting this mixed up?

I had come around the corner and crossed the road to stop in front of the fruit shop; the owner had just finished spraying the road as there was water all over it. They didn't have what we wanted so I took off, crossing the road again and heading away from the corner. The road was clear in both directions so my acceleration was normal (i.e. sedate). As I straightened up, my rear wheel lost traction. I tried to correct it, but as mentioned earlier, I obviously lack the required skills.

Three or four fishtails later, after not even travelling 20 meters, and still travelling quite slowly, we hit the road and slid across the yellow line into the path of a - by the driver's own admission - speeding pick-up. Which side we were sliding on is what I'm not sure of. I recall seeing the pick up bearing down on us while we were on our side, and thinking '<expletive deleted>'. At that stage I knew I was going to die. My only thought was to try to save my girlfriend - if I could move her backwards the pick-up might not get her too badly. So I gave one almighty push with both legs, to try to get her off the back of the seat, just as the pick-up hit the motorbike and destroyed it. From me seeing the pick-up to it hitting the bike was less than two seconds; as I wrote above, my left foot was still under the bike when he hit it, or above it, as it was hit too... It's pretty messy.

When I realised that I'd somehow made it, I yelled out for my girlfriend. She didn't answer. I looked around towards the pick up, which was stopped at the exact spot we took off form a few seconds earlier, and, thankfully, could not see her in amongst the carnage; it was then I realised that she was clung to my back like a baby koala. We sat up, and tried to get off the road, but I couldn't use my arms or legs, so I just sat there helpless for ten seconds or so surveying the scene and thanking my lucky stars. I did not see a second motorbike.

The cynical amongst us would say that you're forgetting to see, is I'm a farang... And while that may be the reason I had to pay, I take full responsibility for coming off the bike, and, in doing so, causing damage to a vehicle coming the opposite direction.