MikeOxtinks

Here is a good example - Any Brits out there - go on, do an honest test of this rubbish

http://www.hiren.inf...n-the-uk-test/1

I'd love to see some genuine scores without looking anything up on the internet by British citizens!!!! What a complete pile of claptrap!

You really have to laugh at the idiots that came up with some of these questions ! Page 2 Question 7 - "Where Does Santa claus Come From????????"

Answers -

South Pole

North Pole

Iceland

Poland!

I thought he wasn't real?????

How many Brits got this one?

How many members does The National Assembly for Wales have?

Or This...

It is common for people to call AGCEs as ______

A level

Tertiary level

S rank

University level

Why did Protestant Huguenots come to Britain in the 16th and 18th centuries?

The most common place to see children work is at ______

Community centres

Post offices

Schools

Supermarkets

I had a similar problem with my wife a few years back - the China Visa she had was in her married name and her Thai passport was in her maiden name - I would if I was you, simply use which ever passport that the ticket name is in to get your wifes boarding pass from the check in, then hand over the Thai passport at immigration - I now do a similar thing for my son who checks in at the airline desk with his UK passport - no entry exit stamps for Thailand - the airline staff don't care!

Then when you get to immigration use the Thai passport - again at this point the immigration staff don't care about entry visas to the onward destination - they assume that as long as tghe airline has cleared them for travel, that is the end of story.

Good luck

Anyone who is applying for ILR needs to demonstrate their knowledge of life and language in the UK (KOL) unless they fall under one of the exceptions. See Knowledge of language and life in the UK.

The LitUK test is actually very easy, if one's English is good enough to understand the study materials and the test itself.

Learning all possible questions and their answers by rote is not the way to do it; would you do the same for a GCSE or other exam?

If one's English is not good enough to understand the study materials and the test then there is an alternative; an ESOL with citizenship course.

For more details, see Demonstrating your knowledge of language and life in the UK.

Instead of applying for ILR, one could apply for Further Leave to Remain every two years, at a current cost of £561 by post or £867 in person, always going up each year by more than inflation. Furthermore, this and the last government have both talked about limiting the number of times someone can apply for FLR in order to stop people avoiding KOL by doing this.

Even if, like yourself, someone does not intend to remain in the UK indefinitely, remember that to apply for British citizenship and thus be able to travel to and from the UK at will one needs to have ILR and have satisfied KOL.

You need to take a look at the CH4 Documentary - "Make Bradford British" - link here [media=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL_v_lga-rM[/media]

The documentary takes random samples of British People and tries to understand how they integrate with each other in the city of Bradford - Almost 90% of everyone taking the ILR, which included JP's and various people from all sorts of walks of life FAILED the test!

It is broken down on Youtube into various different section - but well worth a watch!

If they are going to impose this on foreign wives of British Citizens, isn't it about time they started imposing it on of the Eastern europeans entering Britain for an "Everything Is Free Life" too?

Sorry, I think it absolutely stinks.

I have a toyota tiger, 4wd, pick up, everytime you put your foot on the throttle at about 1" of depression, it makes this horrible "Chuff" noise - toyota want nothing to do with it, but it sounds like the engine has a manifold leak.

I have checked the intake side and nothing seems amiss.

The only thing I can think of is that it might be down to some problem with either the master cylinder on the braking side when it tries to create a vacuum, as you accelerate, or it maybe due to some sort of breather valve between the crankcase.

It only happens at a particular point in the throttles travel, it cannot be replicated whilst standing still, and it only makes this dam_n sound in 3rd/4th /5th gear - it sounds like something is trying to open a valve somewhere but is just sucking air!

Any ideas?

I am almost beaten, and Toyota don't want to know.

There are about 500 clowns available for various fees - you need to contact the Thai Parliament - you will probably get a discount if you say you loved Thaksin!

They don't wear the red noses and silly make up, but they are even more stupid than any of your regular clowns - the kids will love it!

At the end of the day it is personal prefference, no beer is right or wrong, everyone likes what they like, so lets not bring the wine snob shit into a simple glass of beer!

One mans piss is another mans Archa!

I don't know about E mails - but I haven't had a telephone bill from TOT in 4 months! I have to trail to their offices - 30KM round trip - instead of paying at my local 7/11 - I think Postman Pat Thanawat simply throws them in the bin!

A real pain in the arse! If you are a day late they start phoning you with some automated voice message reminding you you haven't paid. I wish I could set up a similar response that reminds them to send the bloody bill!

If you have the cash, go for something like ASUS, and go for Core i5, there are some bargains around - I would personally stick with Intel chips over AMD - just a personal preference, as they tend to use Nvidia graphics which seem better than AMD.

Again, as an earlier poster stated, it really depends what you want it to do - half of these new phones do more than the computer I owned 5 years ago!

Archa beer is disgusting, it tastes a little like strawberries, Chang is way way better, as is Singha

Rankings would be -

1: Chang

2: Chang Export

3: Chang Draft

4: Singha

5: Heineken.

6: Tiger

7: Tap Water

8: River Water

9: Raw Sewage

10:Beer Leo

11:Archa

Hope this is the right place to post this, if not please mods, move it where it needs to go.

Sadly it looks like I need 4 new tyres for my pick up - I bought a set a few years back that were badly set up - poorly balanced and not properly tracked - BF Goodrich (in fact they were even the wrong size! They should have been 10.5 inch rather than 8.5 inch)

Anyway they have worn really badly and need replacing before my MOT. T.O.R.

The BF Goodrichs cost 4.5K baht a few years back and when I went to price tyres today at Bquick and a couple of other places they are asking anything between 6K and 8K per Tyre!!!!

Any suggestions as to which ones are the best value for money? I am looking at (The cheapest - Yokohama - around 6K) BF Goodrich, Toyo, Hangkook - which tyres do you think offer the best value for money - 15" x 255 x 70.

I was a bit shocked as I expected to pick up the cheapo sets for about 3K a pop!

Well, is there a big wound on the driver's head? If he struck a tree hard enough to be knocked out, there should at least be a formidable bump.

And no need to ask if anybody was wearing a life jacket?

How exactly does a life jacket safe you from drowning when you are unconscious?

No where in the article does it mention that anyone was unconcious at the time of the accident. They don't even know how it happened. It is perfectly feasible that the guy was unconcious after being in the water.

A life jacket versus no life jacket is really a stupid question, and a simpleton would understand that one!

Take a read of this article from the BBC!

"The defence attache at the British Embassy in Cairo, Paul Collins, says he is hoping to travel to the area in the near future, but is waiting for permission from the Egyptian army.

He told the BBC: "I have to go down there. This is a serviceman who was killed, albeit 70 years ago. We have a responsibility to go and find out whether it's his plane, though not necessarily to work out what happened."

The British Embassy deem it fit and proper to trek hundreds of miles into the desert to look at an old plane that crashed 70 years ago, but provide virtually no support for the Brits here in Thailand! They certainly have their priorities in order!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18038650

They cannot even issue a passport here these days, it has to go to Hong Kong.

But by God a jolly out into the desert - wouldn't miss it for the world by jove!

You also have to laugh at the comment by David Keen - a keen avianionist - where he states that the poor pilot broke a cardinal rule by walking off and not staying with his plane - Stay with it for what? He would be 95 now if he had sat there and waited! It has taken them 70 years to find it!

It is frustrating endlessly waiting to get connected to an agent. I made the same comments to one such agent recently and they said that once you get onto the press button merry-go-round, simply say "Agent" and it will bring you directly to the next available agent. Try it, it does work!

You want to try to connect to the HSBC!

It is like dealing with the fuc_king Punjab!

Regarding batteries, my first lasted about 3 years, the second is on it's 4th year. Even though some is billed as maintenance-free, it does help to add water from time to time.

I do wonder about used car prices as they do seem high. Solution is to buy new.

How do you add water to a maintenance free battery - I presumed they were sealed with none of those little caps on the top?????

Still I have no exact idea why 2nd hand cars are that expensive.

The arguments above are not convincing (not only import cars have a low impairment).

One explanation I heard:

1) Only very few buyers are able to pay cash

2) Of the majority, many buyers are not able to get a bank loan for a new (or used) car (bank loans not available to peasants, small businesses etc., available to government officials and white-collar employees)

3) 2nd hand dealers offer loans to those buyers and abuse their financing power for ridiculous prices and terms of loan.

OK , many answers allready but i sum it up for you and maybe give another reason .

1 closed market . No 2nd hand vehicles come inside the market from outside , so everything is Thai based , with it's own economy .

2 cheap service and repair . So even an old vehicle with work on it is still worth it .

3 tropical climate , so no salt which rusts away anything and also the engines nearly never start cold cold . They last very long ( i've seen a immense amount of cars with more then just a few 100k on the clock still driving ) .It is bad for the battery but good for the engine .

4 growing economy . Maybe this is a new one for you . Thailand used to be a 3th world country not very long ago . More and more people can start thinking about having a car rather then not even looking at it . This means demand for cars is high and many change hand 3/4/5 times b4 it is completely wasted . So supply and demand ...

5 see also nr 4 . 2nd hand is a real market in Thailand . Everything on the market is bought and sold many times . Cars are just 1 part of it .

Now stop moaning about the price of a car or anything else in Thailand because this is the way it is . Or you learn to live with it or you go live somewhere else where the price of a car is allready dropped the second you look at it . This is Thailand and cars here are this amount .Maybe you change the game by buying a new car and drop it on the market 1 year later at half of what you paid

I'll go with you on No.2! Cheap service! This is the biggest limiting factor for me when owning a car in the UK.

You can buy a car there for 200 GBP, but if you take it in for a service, they will charge you more than you paid for the car!

I ran a company car for 5 years, everything was paid for, new tyres, services oil change, repairs blah blah blah, and for the UK garages to open your bonnet and just take a look at the car you ended up with a bill for over 100GBP!

Here, I get oil changes free when I buy the oil, and if you get a little bit more work done (like the gaiters) they generally clean the car too for free.

I wasn't having a go at Thais and the Thai services, I was was just amazed at the difference between the second hand resale value. The Thai prices for labour actually defeat any reason to do your own repairs, unless you want it done properly.

Regarding batteries, my first lasted about 3 years, the second is on it's 4th year. Even though some is billed as maintenance-free, it does help to add water from time to time.

To add to that, I purchased my current pickup secondhand 3 years ago, it still has the same battery it came with, granted I have now added a second battery to help with the electrical load I have but the original is still in working condition.

Do you set the second battery up with some sort of diode filter, that allows it to get charged by the alternator but doesn't supply the normal car electrics? (like a deep cycle battery) - for running things like fridges and the like or is it just hooked up in tandem?

Well, I agree with a lot of the posters here that you are better off pickling yourself rather than wasting a fortune on imported rubbish.

500ml white vinegar - no need for pretentious crap - this stuff costs about 5 baht a litre.

1/2 dozen dried red chillies

6 cloves

3 cloves Garlic

A pinch of salt

A pinch of black peppercorns (maybe 10)

A few spoons of sugar - just keep adding teaspoon by teaspoon unitl you get the right balance between sweet and sour.)

Put on a gas mask and boil this lot in a pan for about 15 minutes.

You do not want to breathe the fumes!

Stick a few jars with those rubber seals on the lids (after thoroughly cleaning with soap and water) into a medium oven - *(you can boil the lids in the vinegar it is simpler) to sterilize the jars, let them get hot.

About 10-15 minutes.

Depending what you are pickling, either boil/cook it first, as you would with beetroot, or just chop it as you would with cucumbers.

Remove the hot jars from the oven, pack them with your pickle, pour in enough of the still hot - but not boiling, vinegar mixture (Through a seive to catch the lumps)

Quickly screw on the caps, cool in cold water, refrigerate and wait at least 7 days and you will have perfect pickles.

If you like other spices like a bit of Paprika or maybe Bay leaf etc. chuck it into the boiling vinegar.

The main thing is to keep tasting the vinegar mix to make sure you have enough sugar.

All this rubbish about soaking overnight in salt etc. is a waste of time and likely to make the finished product way too salty (unless you are pickling something like cabbage)

Give it a go!

You can buy 250 G packs of Organic Beetroot from the Mae Fah Luang project in some Rimping supermarkets for about 12 baht a pack! (3 decent beetroots)

Hi Stephen

welcome to Thailand, post a few comments here about what you think of the place after a week, two weeks, three weeks. There is some excellent info if you look on the area specific forums, they tend to be a bit more friendly too.

Hope you enjoy your time here - I used to, for a while anyway.

I'd like to ask those BASTARDS a simple question too - what did you do to my shares you evil pieces of sh_t! - 5.69 GBP - turned into shit!

If anyone has the e mail address for Northern Rock, I have a similar question for them too!

I still find the prices for regular canned baked beans (Heinz) amazing as well.

You think Beans are bad - check out the price of SPAM! - basically dog food for humans and over 200 Baht a tin and even more if you want the kind that has been left out in a cigarette environment.

How about a little introduction? It might help people figure out how to push your buttons.

Don't do it! Don't respond. The minute you post an opinion you will be shot to pieces by the old farts here with their anal flak guns! (nah - there are some OK people here - but a lot of old farts who won't like a fresh opinion, so tread carefully!)

"A survey by the Kwan Chumchon Foundation showed 59.3 percent of 400 female respondents from 25 to 60 years of age in five provinces in the Northeast drink alcohol, 14.6 percent have already quitted and 26.1 percent have never touched alcohol."

59.3% of 400 is 237.2 How can 237.2 women drink alcohol? Who makes these ridiculous figures up?

Maybe one of them was 20% sure of becoming a man, or maybe 80% of one of them was thinking of becoming a ladyboy?

This is an odd story. As other posters wryly note, to the best of my knowledge all the taxi groups are either run by or extorted by the police on a regular basis. For them to complain to the police would be perhaps be some form of Thai irony ???

I think they are simply carrying out standard working procedures as required in any modern business.

They are simply reporting their grievances to their boss!

The hot humid weather in Thailand destroys batteries, hot battery = dead battery fairly quickly. So only reliable for 2 years.

Why are second hand cars expensive.

Thailand doesn't put salt on the roads in winter, so the cars don't go rusty, so they hold their value.

Labour costs in Thailand are 50bht an hour compared to 50UKP an hour in the UK.

Large import duties on cars make it worthwhile keeping them running for a longer time.

I've found running an old car in Thailand to be extremely cheap, parts and labour cheap. Insurance and MOT testing cheap.

All in all, far better value for money than the UK.

I guess that the MOT here makes things a bit easier - "Has it got four wheels - does it look like a car, does at least one light work...ah what the hell..pass it!"

I took mine in for a test 2 years ago, it consisted of a microphone and an exhaust sampler a few revs of the engine (if it smoked they revved it again until it was clear and re sampled) then the underside inspection consisted of whacking you prop shaft spiders with a rubber mallet, andf it seems as long as you pay the tax and insurance to them......guess what it passes - I had three bald tyres, no kidding, they were like racing slicks and they never batted an eyelid! Two of the front four sidelights didn't work and one brake light was off - the rear reflectors were broken to shreds where my wifes brother backed into a wall,

The windscreen has a two foot crack on the passenger side, seems not to be an issue- it seems only about paying your cash, two free towels and two free glasses, but what the hell - who could ask for more!

I did take a peek at the inspection report, and despite my motor putting out a bit of black fumes when fully revved, it came in at about 10% of the legal maximum - So I guess you could still pass the test if your car ran on wood fuel , coal, or wood gas...saying that a lot of the pick ups in Chiang Mai that appear to be carrying loads of timber, are probably burning it in a wood stove under the bonnet...you know the ones, the Mazda Familias carrying 3 tons of wood!

No they are not selling it, they are running the car on it!

I noticed the guys at Toyota covered my car with cloths before they started work on it, they cover the seats, and every area they work on the bodywork - I guess they wanted to keep their overalls clean!!!

I'll try to give a decent answer to the OP. Firstly the batteries;

The hot humid weather in Thailand destroys batteries, hot battery = dead battery fairly quickly. So only reliable for 2 years.

Why are second hand cars expensive.

Thailand doesn't put salt on the roads in winter, so the cars don't go rusty, so they hold their value.

Labour costs in Thailand are 50bht an hour compared to 50UKP an hour in the UK.

Large import duties on cars make it worthwhile keeping them running for a longer time.

I've found running an old car in Thailand to be extremely cheap, parts and labour cheap. Insurance and MOT testing cheap.

All in all, far better value for money than the UK.

I agree with your points but although the OP's batteries lasted 2 years, maybe this is specific to truck batteries. I had a Toyota Soluna battery last 5 years and the one is my present Honda City is going into it's 4th.

At Honda in Bangkok I pay labor charges of 300/hour and google threw up an 'Warranty Direct' survey that UK mechanics cost an average of 80 pounds per hour with some London garages charging 200. I think this answers the OP's question; A 14 year old Civic is worth so little because it will cost so much to repair.

A bit off topic, but another mistake foreigners make is failing to compare like for like. Even base model cars in Thailand have AC, metallic paint and electric windows whereas base-model cars in the UK are often sold without so seem cheaper.

At Toyota in San Patong I paid nothing for labour - they gave me 358 Baht back for giving them the old battery!