Jump to content

Phil Conners

Advanced Member
  • Posts

    9,248
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Phil Conners

  1. Well, one option is flying out for ten days.....if you hate it that much!

    I really am thinking....Songkran is just not going to adjust itself to you.

    Not everybody can afford to "fly out for ten days" perhaps with a family, hotel stay etc. And why should the victim assume the cost of this?

    Don't be so sure, Thailand and Pattaya have changed dramatically over the past decade, and it hasn't stopped yet. I would not be surprised to see a "premature songkran crackdown" within the next couple of years.


  2. Be nice if Phil Conners will put up a helpful Google Map again this year of the hotspots.

    Certainly - here you go: http://goo.gl/uWR7jz

    However, as I also mentioned last year, this is just an empty map, without your input it is not going to be very useful. I will try to update it as I can, but as I am very busy with private projects at this time it would be a great help if anyone wants to volunteer as collaborators. Feel free to send me a PM.

    • Like 1
  3. I think the cost of the staff for the extra check probably exceed any savings. Sometimes they make funny rules here and once a rule is made, it's like set in concrete and never changed. Probably all part of the face thing. TIT.

  4. It's a UBIQUITI UniFi access point. You can buy them on Ebay for around 2,000 baht + shipping. I don't have experience with them myself but they seem to get good reviews on the Internet, and they look darn cool too! Tempted to buy one actually.

  5. Well, the IQ1 has been on a shelf for some months after my wife got a Note 2 instead, but now I dropped and cracked my Nexus 5, and while I wait for a new screen to arrive from China (4,000 baht vs. 8,000 baht repaired by LG Thailand) I thought I'd use the IQ1. I don't know what happened to it while it was on the shelf but it is slooooow now. A cold boot takes a full minute, from clicking the Facebook icon until it's ready 30 full seconds. Maybe software got bigger and more complicated since we used this phone before or something is broke in it.

    Anyway I see there is now a V20 firmware available for it (http://droidfriend.com/forums/index.php/topic,1051.0.html) but the website is Thai-only and Google Translate actually make it even less comprehensible, if that is even possible.

    So, does anyone have the low down on upgrading an IQ1? I already have ADB on my Linux box, and it sees the phone. I can fastboot into recovery so I guess I just need to upload the V20 to the phone and then pick it from the recovery mode right?

    The V20 zip file has a boot.img of 6.3M - seems a tad small for an Android image - the rest is like a filesystem, that I don't think can be loaded through recovery.

    The droidfriend forum seems to suggest installing some SP flash tool, is that really necessary? I'd hate having to install a windows pc just to be able to flash a phone, normally adb should be able to do anything any flash tool can do?

  6. Actually I believe a pad krapow in Carrefour Extra's food court is about 35-45 baht. That includes both rice and air-con and regardless of what it's made of. Egg on top is another 5 baht or so. It is a known fact and understandable that Farang food in Thailand is generally more expensive than Thai food.

    Now can we get back to discussing restaurants in Nongprue?

  7. Well that's basically what this post was about, to find out if a PJ would be a viable option. :)

    I have a wall about 3.5 mtr wide that would be cool to use as home theater. It seems screens are routinely about 120" - I presume like with traditional TV screens that's diagonal, so I guess that'd be around 2.5 mtr wide right? Sounds like a good size.

    Average seating distance would be about 3 mtr.

    Distance between PC and screen would preferably be around 4 mtr, but could be up to 8 mtr if necessary. I think there would be considerably light-loss at that distance though - I recall from my photography days that light reduce with the square of the distance, right?

    I can't completely block out all ambient light, but it's not too bad, and besides, we don't generally watch much TV during daytime anyway.

  8. Well yes but this check would be against organized theft, it's not just shoplifting. And other shops manage to deal with it without inconveniencing their honest customers. Good for you if you're retired and have plenty of time, many of us have a busy life an want to be in and out and don't enjoy being in a queue behind 3-4 top loaded shopping trollies that need to be checked, after just having spent time in another queue up to the checkout.

  9. I'm considering getting a projector instead of upgrading our ageing LCD TV, would that be available somewhere in Pattaya or would we have to go to Bangkok for that?

    Anyone know what's available and what's the best deal? Obviously I had a look online, but most websites discuss what's available in US/EU. As we know that's rarely what's available here.

    I'd also be interested in any first-hand experiences with projector TV, pro/cons. I understand the viewing area should be relatively dark for a good result, I assume that's still the case? Is it enough to draw the curtains, assuming there's no direct sunlight, or does it really need to be pitch black for it to be watchable? I'm no concerned about sound, I already have a decent sound system and would anyway not considering listening to TV speakers.

  10. Yes, this is why it is done - but by doing the check they are implicitly saying they expect their customers to be thieves. They may have a theft problem, but they should not inconvenience their customers with it. Besides, there are no way they can really check each item by the cursory glance the trolley get before they stamp the bill.

    • Like 2
  11. To get an idea of what this is I found this youtube video...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNeOIGRQ98A#t=0

    I'm not sure why the OP ask for players in Pattaya only. The network in Thailand is actually very good, you'd normally not get much worse than 60 ms pings anywhere within Thailand, so I'll move this topic to our computer games forum.

    As for what people spend their time doing, live and let live. If you think spending some of your time playing computer games is silly, just hit the "next" button, no need for negative comments.

    • Like 1
  12. Very unlikely to be a new Bangkok Pattaya hospital as they still haven't used a fraction of the property they have now. As Sheryl already pointed out, if at all possible you are better off going to Bangkok, but for an emergency you usually don't have that option so it can only be a good thing to get another hospital alternative here in Pattaya.

  13. We've been paying water and electricity by DD for quite some time, but I seem to recall when we switched they told us to keep paying as long as it was possible, i.e. the bill had a barcode. Once the barcode is gone it means the DD is active, and without the barcode you can't pay it in 7/11.

    We've had the electricity meter removed once because we forgot to maintain enough funds in the bank account. Of course it was our own fault but still amazing they wouldn't just knock on the door and get the money instead of sneaking up to remove the meter. Other than that we haven't had any problems with the DD payments, just have to keep in mind the delay between the bill and the charge, in our case usually around 2 weeks.

  14. I don't care if Makro has more bureaucracy, I pay cash, don't need tax invoices and if they waste my time with their trolley checks I just walk off without it, they always come running after me and can't wait to put a stamp on the bill. I've already told the manager what I think about their stamping of the bill and he seemed genuinely surprised that it was even an issue. He said it was company policy and he would take it up with his boss, but I don't hold my breath for any change.

    If we just need a couple of things we normally just stop in at Foodland, but to get everything on the weekly shopping list we generally have to visit 4 supermarkets to find what we want. Makro for kraftkorn bread, fruit, canned, bottled and frozen food, meat, cleaning products. Extra for french cheeses, toiletries, black sesame bread, baguette, frozen food. Foodland for vegetables and hard cheeses, meat. Best for wine and spirits. Lotus doesn't seem to offer anything we can't get somewhere else so at least we don't need to stop in there.

    • Like 1
  15. Is there any such thing as veterinary pharmacies in Thailand, specifically in the Pattaya area?

    Until now I have always bought the medication we need from veterinaries, but sometime they seem to add a little too much profit to their sales price. For example I needed some anti earmite drops for my cats. First they try to sell me an imported brand for 300 baht, eventually got a local brand, a tiny 5 ml bottle, 140 baht. This was a simple OTC sale, no consultation or anything. I mean, I think you'd pay about half of that for any ear/eye drops for humans, known brand from a good pharmacy.

    I do realize vets are unreasonably inexpensive in Thailand, perhaps they're just trying to earn on the drugs what they lose in the consultation. Just curious - are there more reasonably priced pharmacies or vets who sell OTC vet drugs, in the Pattaya area?

×
×
  • Create New...