15Peter20

I thought the red shirts were supposed to be violent. Why didn't it kick off?

Any violence yet?

They haven't been issuing them for about a month now.

"Chang Phuek Police Provide Happy Ending To Frustrated Falang" - now there's a parallel universe....

They smoked her 4th joint?

Now I'm no expert, but this looks quite nice: http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to=THB&view=1M

Up to 44.9 from 43.5 on the 21st.

Yea i just clocked onto this today as up to 45.3 now, so i transferred abit more money across to my thai account just in case its a false dawn of a recovery.

But here is hoping that this recovery keeps going and we are sitting a bit more prettier in a months time.

I was down the bank today to transfer more GBP into TBH also. This is probably the last meaningful spike in the rate before the general downward trend continues so I reckon people holding GBP need to get rid of it sooner rather than later.

This spike was because of the UK GDP figure of 0.3% being released yesterday. As far as I can tell though theunderlying reconomic problems are going to take more than a year to get over and during this time the exchange rate isn't going to be going up as far as UK-related factors are concerned.

Maybe it is some fellow training himself to be a dispenser of red shirt justice democracy.

Oh dear....the first to let his obsession with red shirts shine through in an eminently non-political thread. I suggest taking up a sport or hobby. Good for the blood pressure, don't cha know.

Maybe he was just going by past practice of your friends.

..and there's another one...might I suggest the same form of therapy.

And just to put you in no doubt of my position in a format hopefully simple enough for you to understand:

rock-throwing from bridges = bad

Get it? Now go peddle your political hangups on the appropriate threads, there's a good chap.

I believe that people can demonstrate outside any building but if they impede the regular working of state officials that would be naughty and the police should do something.

If there is a law against it would it apply to Thaksin employes?

Yes.

I believe that people can demonstrate outside any building but if they impede the regular working of state officials that would be naughty and the police should do something.

Maybe it is some fellow training himself to be a dispenser of red shirt justice democracy.

Oh dear....the first to let his obsession with red shirts shine through in an eminently non-political thread. I suggest taking up a sport or hobby. Good for the blood pressure, don't cha know.

I'd like to see Thai army generals defending it's purchase now that a UK court has found it to be a total scam. Somehow I don't think any comments will be forthcoming.

I had the weirdest squirts ever, it was like passing pure water in vast quantities, unbelievable. The Doctor was a bit amazed too. Imodium wasn't working at all so it was anti-biotics and electrolyte drinks. Worked perfect.

Same with me. Definitely was squits attributable to the 16 hour Songkran session on the Saturday. Lasted about 3 days. Used that white milky stuff in a bottle to get over it. Doctors give out antibiotics like candy at Christmas. Your body will probably have got over it without them anyway unless you had other underlying problems at the same time.

Not sure if the cause was dodgy water or dodgy beer, for much was consumed from different places.

So now we've got the SET chief executive and the FTI both saying the Baht should be reigned in. How long can the BOT stay out of it and what are the potential risks involved if they continue to do nothing? Cheers.

If the DSI need to make a case they only need to speak to teachers (Thai and Western) especially at Montford College, Chiang Mai (part of the St Gabriel's Foundation). Fees are exorbitant - extras are blatantly expected (50,000 baht to resit an examination) the teacher gets nothing and is told to pass the kid - dozens of fiddles and corruption - ask them about Montford students who did not have the intelligence to pass one single examination and yet were admitted to Chiang Mai University - ask them about the head of a section who, just before a Ministry of Education visit told all students in his section that "if asked a question (by the Ministry of Education) it is sometimes better to lie!"

Agree about Montfort having had a child that went there. The thing is though, it is regarded as one of the best 'Thai' schools in the North of Thailand. In reality it's probably not much better than loads of others, it's just the name one is paying for. In a job market where most applicants for work can easily have scores of 75-85% for most subjects (say 3.0 - 3.2 or more), the next way to separate them is by which school they went to, so that's where the name comes in.

Substance ranks second best to outward form, as with many things in Thailand. We may be saddened, but we shouldn't be surprised.

I heard today that CM Immigration are planning on restarting the residency certificate service in about a month's time depending on staff levels. This info was from a visa agent who had spoken directly with a CM Immigration officer this very morning.

There seem to be a lot of Inspector Clouseaus on Thai Visa.

Inspecteur Clouseau reporting for dutee!

- Inspector.. you solved the case?

I did indeed! All ze clueuesz are right in front of you.

- Clues?

Oui. First, le amount: 5675 Baths. It is no coïncidence that zis is made up from 3 bières x 3 personnes x 75 Baths = 675 Baths, plus an extra sum of 5000 Baths.

- 5000 Baht.. for what?

Les Damaaaizjs Cato, Damaaizjezjes.

- Damages? What Damages?

Zis we do not yet kneuw. But it zeems highly plauseeble zat zree drunk Ozzies cauzed some damaaaizjs for which the bar chargjzed 5000 Baths. Upon seeing the damaaaizj occur, they notified le police, expecting treuble. Zis is why police were alrezy zere when ze Ozzies went to pay ze bill.

-But.. why didn't they just sort things out, and were taken to the police station and not to an ATM?

Skill de Communicaçion, Cato. Or, shall we say, lack zereof. Look at page 1.. Zis is him communicating in his native tonggue, while sober. Imagine that the night befeur, with Siamese bar people and police.. Elémentaire, Cato, élémentaire..

My Spidey senses were tingling that it was something like this.

He seemed to have a grudge for the French Owner for some reason.

When confronted with simple questions, he got quite agitated and aggressive, a sure sign that there is more to the story that he was hiding.

This makes sense with the Police being present and the arbitrary number that the Bar can justifiably pull out of the air and demand payment - 5000 baht.

Whatever they broke, likely did not cost anywhere near 5000 baht, but judging by his attitude, they charged that much because they could. Hence the scam.

His disappearance and failure to explain further speaks volumes that it never happened the way he explained.

Well that's cleared that one up then. File it in the casebook with all the others, my good man.

I will not rest until I know what that bar bill said.

Kitti Electronics

Amorn does occasionally do a reorganization. Believe it was 1 or two years ago a similar thing happened and they finally restocked.

Wow, I'd never have found that place myself. Looking forward to checking it out. Thanks so much.

I agree. Was in a couple of branches recently and the areas where there used to be electronic components like transistors, capacitors etc were bare. Does anyone know where you can get such components nowadays? Need wire also, of the type one can use in a project (bread) board.

Sorry for not frothing yet, but can someone please direct me to the quote from Thaksin which led to the article writer's assertion that he 'threatened to use the people's force'? Seems to me it is missing.

Thanks much.

To answer the original question - yes, it's a complete free-for-all.

It threw me for a loop first time I drove it (and that's apart from having to drive on the wrong side of the road to get to it) but for some reason, it seems to work.

The other one that always gets me is roundabouts. Opinion with Thai drivers seems to be a 50/50 split as to who has right of way at a roundabout...

I haven't come across a roundabout in Thailand yet, except for the Big-C U-Turn, which everyone seems to not really know how to use anyway.

My understanding is that in Thailand those who are on the roundabout must give way to those who are entering it, unlike in the UK where the opposite applies.

This is a great idea. Will hopefully block a lot of the time-wasting smearing going on against both parties and let government and opposition do their jobs more effectively.

Not really the only reason let me know how the car is after you have owned one for 6 months or so. Isuzu seem to do the repairs on them, if I wanted Isuzu to do the repairs I would have bought one of there cars.

If you had any kind of mechanical/electronic problem with the car itself within those 13K Km, then I'd certainly be interested to find out what it was. Cheers.

For the past few weeks I've been shaping up to get a Civic 2.0 EL Navi but now the Focus Titanium plus (sedan) is coming in as a serious contender. Figure I could get one of those Garmin navi things stuck to the dash of the Focus if necessary.

I'm not going to need the car for everyday commutes in town, just occasional long distance drives from Chiang Mai to BKK and light city driving.

May also be looking to sell it in about 5 years or so.

My missus says the big turn-off for the Focus would be the cost of any repairs, so I'm wondering how long the warranty is on parts for the focus and if it can be extended. Also, that the Civic resale price will be better.

So which of those two cars would you guys choose in this situation?

Cheers for any thoughts.

15Peter

No idea of repair costs, but one of my main reasons for buying the Ford was the fact that they have their own body repair & paint shops dotted around the country, a list of which can be found at: http://www.ford.co.th/en/ford-owners/service/paint-and-repair. My theory being that when (not if) a motorcyclist makes contact then the colour in the subsequent panel respray is hopefully more likely to match if done by Ford. My last car's body repairs resulted in marginally (but noticeable) different paint colour. I also chose white as it's non-metallic and again easier to match. Not sure on re-sale value, but probably slightly less than Toyotas and Hondas, although as Fords become more common-spread then that could change.

Update: That link appears broken, so when you click on it, click on "Body Paint and Body Repair" under the "Ownership" column. That should take you there.

There is none in SaKaeo I can confirm that. Ford is a joke if you ask me I wish I never bought the Focus Sport. I took the car to Pattaya for a service (15000) I was booked in for 9am. I asked if it is okay for them to put on the window shields and scuff plates (none LED) they said yes no problem. It was nearly 09:45am and my car was still sat there then I noticed that a car that had just came was straight up the ramp and mechanics were working on it. I went out and asked why no one was looking at my car as it was now 09:50am as per usual here nothing said in English and a smile was all I got, I said if you don't want to work on my car fine I will cancel the service and by the time I went to get the key there was two working on it. The service took approx 30 minutes and the service department still did not even speak to me but told my Mrs that the reason the were not working on my car was because they did not know what to do first the service or put on the 2 extras I nearly pissed myself so I told them to cancel the extras as how hard could it have been to put them on, the window shield and scuff plate. I also have a Toyota and had Mitsubishi previous and they are streets ahead of Ford when it comes to service. Oh and Isuzu seem to do alot of there bodywork repairs.

Ford Focus Sport + 13,000km for sale........anybody interested.

You want to sell your car because the service took an hour longer than you expected? Harsh. If that's the worst I can expect from being a Focus owner, then I'm quite looking forward to owning one.

This is the route many foreigners take when doing visa runs between Chiang Mai and Vientianne in Laos. I've done it more times than I care to remember. There are only two companies working that route - SukSa Tour and Chakrapong Tour. Over the years the quality of their buses has declined - they're using the same ones from at least 7-8 years ago.