Plastic Brontosaurus

Wounder if they will be released here with the same safety requirements, features as those sold in OZ.

There was a stink about Great Wall and Chery having asbestos in their vehicles which needed to be removed. Here's one of several articles about this:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-14/asbestos-forces-china-car-recall-blow-to-chery-great-wall

One more: came across this old article some time ago whilst looking for energy alternatives on a large scale; might be useful for a Thai industry to manufacture floats like this, and then park them by the thousands in the Gulf of Thailand out of sight from land:

http://itimes3.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/wst-wind-solar-tide-energy-generating-floats/

Problem with nuclear is the waste problem. Look at the waste issues worldwide (and halflife of waste often being in the 10s of thousands of years), they're scary but conveniently ignored by the nuke lobby.

Solar and wind are more expensive but in the end will need to be considered as there's no other alternative long-term. With all the solar manufacturers going bust (which may well be too to overreach), there's an industry opportunity for Thailand, at least to supply the local market with solar and wind equipment.

Once the solar and wind generators are up, when there's low usage of the power the excess could be used to generate hydrogen (from any water source including seawater) and used in fuel cells either locally or transported and used in fuel cells elsewhere to generate power at any time of the day or night.

Costs a bit extra but near zero environmental impact. Wind farms could be planted offshore in the Gulf of Thailand...

Perhaps it's time someone in the Thai government started to lean on Myanmar in a sufficiently heavy manner - this dumping of people over the border is getting ridiculous

My opinion is that, most laws that spend this much of the tax payers money should be voted on by the tax payers, not some elected a_hole.

I'm still waiting for a government anywhere in the world who would do just that: any decision that affects more than x people or costs more than y money to be presented to the public to vote on (will have to use an online system people can access from home, using an online identity). I guess it will be a long wait... (trend appears to be for governments to become more aggressive and authoritarian, ignoring public interest on an ever larger scale - not talking about LOS per se, also in the West).

Maybe its just me but in recent years it appears there's a very big increase in people taking on debt. This car scheme is another one of those things that enable people to get into debt and they seem to do so happily. Credit card use is also much bigger now than a few years ago, both among my friends here, as well as when looking at how people pay at the supermarket, Robinson/Central, etc.

In the past five years or so, in much of the western world people are trying to limit debt and get rid of excessive credit card limits (I reduced mine down to $500, even though I kept getting letters from the bank offering to increase the limit to $10,000 at the stroke of a signature). It looks to me like the moneymen have set their eyes on new markets now to increase debt levels and rake in the cash...

Btw, it's actually called the Be1st SMART card.

As opposed to the regular Be1st card.

Yes, the Be1st SMART debit card is the one with the embedded micro-chip.

BKK Bank's older, regular, non-chip debit card is just called the Be1st card (without the SMART).

Oops - my bad!! I was sure the card had a chip but did not have it in my wallet. Went to the suitcase and got it out. It does not! Sorry. Got confused with the silver bird-hologram that somehow stuck in my mind as a chip.... Apologies!!

So it looks like the chip cards are somehow limited. This will enable the bank to control the usage more tightly of course, particularly once they outfit all their ATMs with chip-readers. At that point the magnetic strip (if it has one?) will no longer be required.

Double-checked the other cards too, and all have chips, and can be used in any ATM. However the chip is typically used during eftpos-transactions in my experience, In Asutralia, only HSBC ATMs have chip readers far as I know.

My Bangkok Bank card has a chip. As do all my other cards (Australian, NZ, European). However these cards still have magnetic strips as "backup" and many ATMs read the magnetic strip not the chip.

Apparently the main reason is that the US is behind the game and has magnetic cards in general use and hardly any chip cards which means ATMs worldwide must still accept magnetic strips (although in Europe they are being phased out now I believe).

So regardless whether it has a chip, the magnetic strip can still be skimmed.

I don't know the physical/technical attributes of the chipped Be1st cards the bank is using.

But from my past conversations with BKK Bank, they've indicated their chipped ATM cards WILL NOT work at ATMs in the U.S. or with other Thai bank ATMs.

So that's making me think they went with a method that doesn't contain an operating magnetic strip approach???

Sorry that's not correct, at least in part. Not sure about using the Be1st cards in the US (or anywhere outside of Thailand for that matter - they don't have embossed numbers so presumably are "limited"), however they *do* work in other bank's ATMs (at least in two I used in Chiangmai recently; can't remember the bank brands).

Maybe there's some confusion about what kind of card is involved here... BKK Bank offers two different kinds of Be1st debit cards.

One is the SMART Be1st Debit card, which is the variety with the embedded smart chip. In talking with the bank's customer service this afternoon, the staff member confirmed that their Smart card, the one with the embedded microchip, cannot be used to withdraw cash from any other Thai bank's ATMs.... it only should work with BKK Bank ATMs.

The regular BKK Bank Be1st debit card, the one without the embedded chip, should work in all ATMs, inside and outside Thailand.

That is the advice the bank gave me a year or two ago when they first began offering the Smart card. That's the same advice they repeated today.

Meanwhile, while I was at it, I also called and checked with Siam Commercial's customer service.

The CSR I spoke with said SCB's credit card are all available now in the chipped form. But the CSR said none of SCB's debit cards at present are available with chips...only the traditional magnetic strips. No word from them on whether SCB plans to offer chipped debit cards in the future.

Well maybe there's two kinds of Be1st Cards with chips on them - mine has a visible chip on it - and it works in other bank's ATMs. I've only had it for a few months BTW>

You have your info from the bank - but did you actually stick that card into an ATM? Not sure how long you've been in LOS, but in my experience, any helpful information provided by anyone should be taken with a grain of salt. Because if you ask, and they don't know, they will give the safe answer. So nobody loses face...

Does the card have a magnetic strip? If not, it must be a newer model. If yes, my guess is it will work in other bank's ATMs.

My Bangkok Bank card has a chip. As do all my other cards (Australian, NZ, European). However these cards still have magnetic strips as "backup" and many ATMs read the magnetic strip not the chip.

Apparently the main reason is that the US is behind the game and has magnetic cards in general use and hardly any chip cards which means ATMs worldwide must still accept magnetic strips (although in Europe they are being phased out now I believe).

So regardless whether it has a chip, the magnetic strip can still be skimmed.

I don't know the physical/technical attributes of the chipped Be1st cards the bank is using.

But from my past conversations with BKK Bank, they've indicated their chipped ATM cards WILL NOT work at ATMs in the U.S. or with other Thai bank ATMs.

So that's making me think they went with a method that doesn't contain an operating magnetic strip approach???

Sorry that's not correct, at least in part. Not sure about using the Be1st cards in the US (or anywhere outside of Thailand for that matter - they don't have embossed numbers so presumably are "limited"), however they *do* work in other bank's ATMs (at least in two I used in Chiangmai recently; can't remember the bank brands).

Not sure what is happening but yesterday an A330 had a tyre issue, and today it's a 777 - this summary from the NZ Herald website:

"Emergency services rushed to the runway at Auckland International
Airport today when a Thai Airways flight carrying 286 people blew a
tyre.

The 777 aircraft reported a problem about 11.20am but was able to land
safely by 11.40am, Northern Fire shift manager Jaron Phillips said.

Eight fire engines attended the scene, along with police and St John Ambulance."

Full article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10871778

Edit: sorry for typo in header, can't seem to correct the header after posting?

I have seen adverts of Thai banks' new cards, and all of them seem to have chips on them. When will they start rolling out chip ATM's? Chips are a nightmare for skimmers, since the chip can not be copied, and the card does not go far enough inside the ATM for the magstripe to be copied either. Quite secure for the cardholder, imho.

The only way to "skim" a chip card is to somehow obtain the PIN and then steal the original card...

My Bangkok Bank card has a chip. As do all my other cards (Australian, NZ, European). However these cards still have magnetic strips as "backup" and many ATMs read the magnetic strip not the chip.

Apparently the main reason is that the US is behind the game and has magnetic cards in general use and hardly any chip cards which means ATMs worldwide must still accept magnetic strips (although in Europe they are being phased out now I believe).

So regardless whether it has a chip, the magnetic strip can still be skimmed.

Just my 2 cents...

Sorry did not read all entries so perhaps some duplicate input:

ATMs in other countries are compromised from the inside: maintenance staff install a scanner and related kit *inside* the ATM and skim off the card strip and the PIN. This happened to friends of mine in Brazil who only used their (overseas) card in one ATM and had their entire holiday budget removed. It was later confirmed the ATM was rigged and many people had been duped. I haven't heard about this one in Thailand but it is only a matter of time, of course.

In Europe, for years it has been popular to "skim" cards. You are at a restaurant or a petrol station and want to pay your bill. The cashier takes your card and it disappears behind the desk - you cannot see it. Meanwhile the cashier swipes it through a small scanning device that copies the magnetic strip. Next the card is swiped in the legitimate payment device. Then he/she either visually records and memorises your PIN, or a small camera is rigged up somewhere and records it. You leave, and within the next hour the details are transmitted to another location (often simply sold) and your account plundered using an ATM, often in a different country. Because it is in another city or country with no link to the original skimming location, you don't know where you were skimmed.

I have been the victim of a "dumb scam" in Phuket - there's a red bank's kiosk outside Jungceylon where they change forex and there's an ATM there. Stuck an overseas card in and went for the max (25K baht) withdrawal as I would get hit with the forex charge from my overseas bank so always go for the max. ATM appeared to go thru its paces and I heard the money being counted/prepared inside the machine. Then a click and a beep. Something along the lines of that the transaction could not be completed appeared on the screen. Card was spat out. No money. No printout. However the girl that sat at the forex window at that kiosk went behind the ATM and did something, then went back to her chair. I inquired but got nowhere, she pretended not to understand (of course). Went to a nearby Bangkok Bank ATM and sure enough the money had been debited. My take was that the ATM was rigged and it stopped after counting the money, which could then be conveniently removed from the back of the ATM before spitting it out. Went to the police and did a report, and eventually got the money back from my Australian bank, which was good luck. But it was clearly a scam, probably a very profitable one given the many falangs in the area (mostly tourists so most would go for the max withdrawal).

In New Zealand there was a scam a while back whereby the culprits fitted a kind of sleeve over the ATM card intake. This then copied the card on its way into the ATM. They also fitted a small transmitting camera in the top of the ATM over the keyboard. This recorded the PIN of the users. Surprisingly, many people did not notice the "sleeve" and simply went about their money withdrawal as per usual. Next their accounts were skimmed. This typically done by Eastern Europeans (Romanians, Bulgarians and sometimes Russians) who fly around the world to do this everywhere they can.

Someone said that cards can be scanned whilst still in your wallet. This is only the case with the latest types such as Visa PayWave that are issued in Australia and parts of Asia far as I know - they are effectively proximity cards that can apparently be read with a remote long-distance "gun" to some extent (much like the Bluetooth guns that can access phones that have their Bluetooth switched on from a few hundred meters away). Not sure however to what degree the cards can actually be copied this way.

The problem with using foreign cards is that they are hard to replace if they get scammed or stolen or lost. So best to use a Thai card. But with a low balance.

Moral of the story: keep two Thai bank accounts with different banks. One is used to store money, the other for ATM and payment purposes. You transfer from the one to the other as required. Never keep more than say 10K baht in the ATM account... (unless you can afford to lose it).

Hmm so they built a power station, and then they laid a cable from the mainland to supply the power station with power. Logical, no? Just like you build a train station - you build it, then lay down the railroad tracks to the train station, so it can be supplied with trains from another train station?

By the way, there are currently much more Pepsi products available in the shops than there are Coke products.So who think is down at the moment.

Looks like the situation differs in different parts of the country. Here in CM they now usually only have the big bottles of Pepsi, nothing small, no Pepsi Max... And tons of Coke products, plus some shelf space for the new colored EST drinks (red and green).

Pepsi is truly out. Less and less of their product available now. I don't understand why they are letting their brand collapse, giving up all the shelf space to Coke (and a little bit to EST). Not having a bottling plant is no excuse - they could have imported product from neighboring countries. Yet they simply let their market share erode. Very strange.

Hope they've ironed out the issues of the S3. Had one but sold it as the buttons protrude too much, so it was always on in my pocket. Now have HTC which does not have that problem but the S3's camera and ease of use was amazing.

Harddisk Sentinel reports my WD 2Tb disks as having 4 disks inside and the 1.5 Tb as having 3 disks inside.

On 2.5" disks the current mainstream density is 500 gigs per platter which explains the above. If they stuffed 6 platters into the case they could make a 3TB disk (in the 1980's and probably before some disks had 8 or 10 platters in them, they were seriously chunky and stored whopping amounts of data like 20 megs and similar). There are some higher-density platters out there now I believe, they probably can make a 1.5TB 2.5 disk with 2 platters now (perhaps Seagate, not sure).

If you want to move away from spinning disks there's the SSD's and there's even a 2TB one now for the laptop (or will be soon), Foremay proudly announced this. It will probably cost the same as a small car...

http://www.foremay.net/

However SSDs are not immune from failure, they can brick themselves for no apparent reason as happened to two SSDs of a mate of mine.

WD announced yesterday that they had found a way to double spinning disks capacity using nanotech... So even though the SSDs are on the rise, spindles will probably be with us for some time to come

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9237258/Western_Digital_claims_HDD_capacity_doubled_with_nanotech_breakthrough

Final review - cheeses by type...

Having had a bit more time to explore and compare, here's my final list of what cheese to get where and why - as of March 2013. This is a personal opinion of course and what is available where for how much will change over time, but perhaps it may be useful. These are the cheeses I tend to buy - I don't know enough about other cheeses to make useful comments about them.

French Brie-style cheese:
Makro. Makro sells these as cuts from a large wheel (or you can buy the whole wheel). Excellent quality, and not too bad price-wise at under 200 baht for a piece of around 250 grams.

Dutch Gouda and Edam cheese:
Makro. They usually have pre-cut chunks of around 1kg of young Gouda ready wrapped and priced at under 600 baht. Price-wise it costs less than half of what buying a small chunk at a supermarket costs (example 250 gram Edam at Big C costs a whopping 300 baht).

Feta (cows milk):
Rimping, Tops and others. There's not much choice in feta that I have been able to find (4 kinds only). There's the Danish-imported Apetina brand which comes in cubes, either plain (in a small blue bucket) or marinated with spices (two kinds). Apetina is OK but fairly expensive (200 baht for the plain version and usually around 170 for the - smaller - marinated one). Then there's the Caroline brand which is made here in LOS. This is a plain feta which is sold in a 200 grams square flat container. It is fairly salty but otherwise pretty good as far as fetas go in my opinion. It's supplied floating in brine, and the dry rather than the creamy style feta. Costs around 150-180 baht depending supermarket. Then there's Lemnos from Australia, in several varieties (at Tops and perhaps others). This is a very plain feta which does not have much taste in my opinion, I wish they'd import some smaller brands from either AU or NZ which tend to taste a lot better. And lastly there's Dacheeso's feta which can be bought from Dacheeso direct or at Rimping. Personally I don't like the taste but others probably do as they stock it, so people must be buying it.

Rondelé/Boursin:
Big C. They have the French range of President cheeses, which, being an industrial brand, excels in processed cheeses (I don't like their non-processed cheeses too much, at least not the ones you get here). Rondelé is a soft cheese spread with herbs and garlic in the style of the probably better known Boursin, which I have not found here yet. It's great on fresh baguette-style bread or even a white hotdog roll. Sticker shock however at 350 baht for a 125 grams container.

Cheddar:
Anywhere. This is one of the cheese types that one can find everywhere, and I'm not sufficiently fussy to make much of a difference. My preference is for the Mainland brand which is imported from NZ. It is available at most supermarkets, and particularly the Mainland Vintage I find quite palatable.

That's it. Perhaps others can shed some light on other cheese types, or disagree with the above...

Once again thanks for all your contributions to this thread

Just my two cents on this: I tend to have a large number of external drives (>10 at any one time) for various backup etc. purposes.

Back in the early 2000's I always had Seagate as they were very reliable then. However about five years ago I lost three Seagates (of three different models) within a month. Those were recent buys. That put me off Seagate.

Hitachi is IBM, they always used to have the glass platters, not sure if this is still the case. In the 2000-2005 timeframe I operated a data centre and we lost 20% of the new IBM drives in a year so stopped using them. However the technology may have changed since then, not sure.

Right now I have around 10 of the 2TB 2.5" Western Digital external USB 3.0-powered drives (not available in Thailand or at least never seen them in Chiang Mai; got these online and in Australia). Had these for just under a year and they are performing well - not lost any of them. Before that I had around 20 of the 1TB WD 2.5" external drives and lost one in the space of two years.

Conclusion: for me personally at least, WD is quite reliable. I would not risk Seagate. And Hitachi/IBM well as long as WD performs for me, will not go back there either.

By the way there's not many manufacturers left these days; many of the different brands of external drives actually hide either a Hitachi, Seagate or WD drive inside the differently branded case.

Good luck in the quest for the most reliable drive :-D

This is a seriously old picture - MD11 HS-TMD was sold to UPS in 2006 and converted to a freighter... In the 1970's they also had a DC10 with the same registration but that was sold to SAS in 1987 and ended its days with Northwest and was broken up in 2006. The example in the photo is still flying. However Thai does not fly any MD11's any more these days (and neither DC10's - but then DC10's are quite rare in this day and age anyway).

http://www.airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-md11-48416.htm

Sounds like a good solution. So far went to Vientiane, but waiting in the queue at the Embassy twice for a few hours in the heat is not exactly fun. Much better having a massage and a few beers whilst it all gets sorted out for you, no queuing, no stress. Thanks for sharing, I know where I shall go next time now :-)

ED Visa - I've got mine. The first time you have to leave the country and get the visa at a Thai embassy elsewhere. If you apply before you arrive here you could get the paperwork done in your home country which would avoid this extra trip. If you do it from here, you can go to Vientiane or Yangon or similar. I always go to Vientiane because I like the city and love the French restaurants, but other than that not much difference where you go. There's plenty of threads on here about the application process. I fly to Udon, take the van at the airport to the border (200 baht if I recall correctly), get my Lao voa at the border for USD 30 (price depends country), then taxi into Vientiane for another 300 baht. Apply visa, one night hotel, get visa next afternoon. You need to get papers from your school before you go as you need them for the application process.

Once you've got your first ED Visa its valid for 3 months. After 3 months, the school will prepare papers for the next 3 months. You can get that one locally (I'm in CNX, but assume same story elsewhere), so no need to travel. After the second three months, the next one will be six months, also locally. Then, the next one will be for one year apparently (not sure if you'd have to leave country for that one again).

Cost for the ED Visa is between 20K - 30K baht depending on school (give or take a few thou). I paid 23K at Pro Language which is middle of the road price-wise. That's for the one year. You then pay 2,000 for the visa at application and again 2000 for each renewal. That's about it in a nutshell, but many threads on this forum both on the ED Visa as well as the schools so have a browse if interested going this way.