dave111223

down the side of your sock is fine....

it is not under foot....if you put it the bottom of the sock then put your sock on....that would be offensive.

So it is only the soles of people's feet which are offensive then? I see...

Strange... I've stuck money in my sock before (for safe keeping when carrying a lot of money in a dodgy area). And no one (Thai or Foreign) thought it unusually or offensive...

What a great freaking story, really made me freak out!

The is a big track on Pahonyothin (between Central and Major) there is a big castle in front of it (used to be the old Dreamworld i've heard).

I went in there to inquire when it first opened, but it is membership based and fees are pretty steep (something like 30,000 per year just for "membership") that does not include kart or even track time (got to own your own kart).

So you have to be pretty serious to go there, i'm sure they have some kind of professional scene there.

They aren't actually in my house (condo), but hang around on the balcony. And every once in a while a cheeky one will decide to come inside (at which point we have to chase him around with the vacuum) But i figure if i could just eliminate them from the balcony it would stop the possibility of them coming inside.

Chingchok survive on little insects. Keep your house clean and airy to keep number of insects low, thus reduce the chance of Chingchok coming to your house.

Chingchok trap: Leave a long glass container with some sweet condensed milk in it overnight. You will find Chingchok trapped by the sticky condensed milk in it.

Chingchok deterrent:

Clean your house with 1:20 bleaching agent (1) mixed with water (20). Do it once a week to keep the effect.

Spray insecticide on all doors and windows frame once a week to keep the Chingchok from entering your premise.

Keep shell from hard-boiled eggs in a containe

r. Place the container with egg shell at the location where Chingchok normally appears. The scent could keep them away. Moth balls have similar effect to keep Chingchok away but hard boiled egg shell is a better choice. Change egg shell when effect wears off.

Hope the info is useful

Very useful! I think it will try the long glass with condensed milk (sounds like the kind of method i'm looking for)

For reducing inserts maybe i will buy one of those plug in zappers to kill all the bugs (thus hopefully reducing the geckos)

Moth balls and eggs might make it nasty for the geckos, but will make it nasty for me too!

If one does come in and you want to catch him, try "Look" kitchen spray. If he runs up the wall or across the ceiling, the spray will make him fall off. When he hits the floor, spray him again and his little legs will be going 15 to the dozen, but he won't be going anywhere - too slippery! smile.gif Then you can pick him up - with soft kitchen paper - and throw him outside.

You spray cooking oil on your walls.....?

EDIT: Sorry realizing now that you are probably talking about some kind to kitchen cleaner, not oil (I thought were talking about spraying the house down with "Pam")

turn on all the gas outlets in the house, close all the windows and sit down on the sofa and read a good book until the geckos are all dead.

D@mn! I knew i shouldn't have bought an electric cooker!

Most homes don't have a gecko (tookey), and if they do they feel very lucky. They are the large lizards that are known to use bad language when they speak (at least it sounds that way to many English speakers).

The little chingchok are great ant and insect eaters but if you really don't like them it is not that hard to catch and release outside.

If you are really in a killing mood a good termite spray of your home will probably do them in.

Sorry for the misunderstanding but i am referring to Chingchoks (not tookeys). I dont have any of the big (loud) ones around only the little ones.

As for the sprays that people have mentioned i've tried this too, but it wears off so quickly. If you point the can at one chingchok for a minute it does kill him, but it doesn't solve the overall problem. They just keep coming back.

I'm looking for some kind of tray of poisonous gecko food that i could leave around and then just forget about it (you know what i mean?) I don't want to be chasing them around with a spray can all day.

P.S. My current method is the vacuum cleaner, but as with the spray can this is not a good method seeing as you have to get each one individually.

There are quite a few expat retirees on this forum

I think you answered your question about how they occupy their time with your first statement

What in hel_l do you want to kill gecko's for ?

they shit a lot in the home but I kind of love them . really I do , it is a part of being in asia .

The only way to get rid of them is probably making a trap to catch them .: header:

I guess you could ask the same question "What in hel_l do you want to kill cockroaches for ?" or "What in hel_l do you want to kill ants for ?". Simple: i just don't like them in my home

P.S. for the trap idea i kind of tried this with sticky paper but it just didn't really work because you can't cover your whole wall in sticky paper, unless anyone knows some kind of food that geckos like which would bring them over to the sticky paper?

Anyone know if such a thing as gecko poison exists and if so where it can be purchased?

I went to Tesco the other day and was looking around; i found ant poison, cockroach poison and rat poison but couldn't find any kind of gecko poison anywhere?

Or if anyone has any home brewed solutions please share.

I think i have a Phobia of thunder/lightning being on the 2nd from top floor of the condo building doesn't help either.

In my brain i know it is absolutely foolish and it is totally impossible for me to be harmed while inside the building. But yet my body is telling me something else, i get very tense and jumpy; quite strange really.

The g/f sister is terrified of thunder and it seems ironic in a country such as Thailand to have such a fear. I do sympathise with her as she heads for shelter - usually our house - with her arms covering her head and ears. She is usually shaking like a frightened child.

Outwardly during a severe thunder storm i can appear quite normal but inside i do wish i could do as your g/fs sister does and hide in the corner with my hands over my ears

P.S. When the lightning actually hits the building (which it does from time to time) then i do get pretty freaked out

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They do give you a horrible exchange rate when withdrawing money from a Thai paypal account to Thai bank.

Better (if you are from the US) to sign up for a US account then get the debit card, this will allow you to get the money out of the ATM (using the onshore rate)

As for fraud:

Yes there are tons of con artists out there. I sell electronic (downloadable) products and this is an especially fond target for these people.

The key is make sure customer's have a confirmed address (this means the shipping address they enter matching the billing address for the credit card) - Paypal will tell you if the customer has a confirmed address.

If the address is confirm then you can shipping anything to them (even an empty envelope) and get an online tracking #. Should the transaction be fraudulent just send Paypal the tracking # and you will still get to keep the money under the sellers protection policy.

If the address is unconfirmed and you have ANY doubts about the legitimacy of an order just refund and cancel it.

As for those suggesting to just pull the money out of the account, this is a very poor solution. You will end up with a negative balance, which they will most likely pass on to a collection agency.

(I have had blockbuster send a collection agencies after me for $7 in late fees! so i am pretty sure Paypal will do the same thing, especially if the balance is in the 100s)

What happens when you put in the tracking number here?

http://track.thailandpost.co.th/trackinter...lt.aspx?lang=en

I've drank the tap water a few times, and didn't get sick. It just tastes bad (like drinking swimming pool water).

Hi dave111223

I've had a look at some, did you go the auction route or buy property already in the banks name?

Property was already in the banks name. You can get a pretty good deal, seeing as it costs the banks money to hold on to the condo (monthly service charges), so they want to unload them.

Another thing i notice is that Thais seem very reluctant to do any refurbishing. My wife's family all thought i was crazy buying this condo, as it had been on the market 3 years, and was in really bad condition.

So if you find a place which needs quite a bit of work, chances are there will be no other Thai buyers interested.

Just go to the various bank websites and a lot of them have a property section listing all their properties.

For example:

http://property.scb.co.th/

http://www.krungsriproperty.com/

I bought my condo from a bank. Be warned though, most repossessed properties are repoed for a reason (ie previous owner had no money/was a bum etc..) So this means most of the bank properties are not in the best condition.

It took me couple of months of work to overhaul this place, but was worth it in the end.

If you're looking for a nice new spiffy unit to move right into, buying a repoed property may not be the best way to go.

But if you don't mind doing a bit of fixing up then there are definitely deals to be had.

amazing idea for a start up.

a retirment home for againg farrangs. with medical facilities.

can have a small girlie bar in the lobby and high speed internet cafe so they can keep bashing on thai Visa

The idea of a retirment home for ageing farrangs really is not that bad of a idea.

When you can hire a live-in maid to take care of you for like 10,000 THB a retirement home sounds less appealing.

Plus it is inevitable that any retirement home in Thailand for farang would be grossly overpriced and by the time you died you'd be penniless (cheating rich old senile farang would be like stealing candy from a baby)

Interest rates here suck. I get 5% just in my Paypal account.

I went to the bank the other day to ask about 1 year fix deposits and the rate was like 3.5% (1.5% below my checking account! <deleted>!)

I did see something interesting the other day at TMB though. They had this sign up about buying bonds in a new Major (cineplex) project, and 8% interest. I was really interested until they told me the deal had expired the day before :'(

But if you keep your eye open for stuff like that you could get a nice return.

I got the 3 red lights on mine (about 2 weeks ago). I freaked out for awhile, but then went to the MS site, and it said "Unplug all the cables and plug them in again". I did this and it started right back up... haven't had any trouble since.

I've also heard a lot of stories about people being banned from Xbox live, but i've been playing on it (pretty much an addict) and have not been kicked.

However i am still on the free trial, and i wouldn't put it past MS to wait until i shell out some $$ for a subscription and then ban be right away.

Just seems to be a list of excuses and reasons why everyone here is out of line?

Or do we call this an apology these days?

So why is it so hard to find any competition ? With so many disatisfied customers it seems that anyone setting up a half decent service in competition would do very well .

It would cost a huge initial outlay for a new company to compete with UBC, besides a great deal of negotiation with the Thai government. This is why the main competition comes from internet personal TV's and satellite TV dishes.

I find the satellite dishes difficult to understand and also I have never seen a comparison of what the monthly costs are for viewing like programs on a satellite dish vs. UBC. While the programs are normally available from satellites, the signal is often scrambled unless a monthly fee is paid.

I don't understand "Satellite dish vs. UBC"? I thought UBC uses a satellite dish?

Also UBC will be shut off if you fail to pay the monthly bill....

Or am i missing something here?

My wife's best friend's father owns sand quarries in Hua Hin and Pechbury.

Where are the looking to have the sand transported to? I don't know is it is "River Sand" they sell (all i know is it is used for concrete construction).

I don't really know anything about sand... but can find out more information if you give me the exact details of what you need.

haven't you noticed that the economy started to slide since thaksin's second term? it will continue to do so and people will always blame the current government whether it's a junta or not...

mmm, i thought everybody knew that thaksin already spent all the money when he was a pm ie. giving away 1 million baht or more to every local amphoe and spending it in expensive projects like suwanaphoom airport, lending it burma, etc... i can go on and on. well, having said that, all the bonds are already been spent and surely the next government do not have money to repay them. i smell ecomic crisis soon (or already?)... but then again, thaksin is already gone and so who is to blame? the next in one the chair...

Large public projects such as the new airport should stimulate the economy. Putting more money in people's pockets, which will generate higher spending, which leads to growth. It is a typical way to boost an economy not some new crazy idea thought up by Thaksin.

Obviously if you have an economic plan to boost the economy by high government spending, and then you abruptly stop right in the middle, then it leads to problems.

If you watch it, keep some tissues handy. For your eyes that is.

Sorry i couldn't resist.