Gary A

My farang friends got their yellow books from a much larger amphur than I live in. Immigration wanted me to get a yellow book. I took my wife and we went to the amphur. Since the boss lady didn't want to admit that she didn't know how to do it, she started telling me all the requirements I needed to get one. That included a visit to Bangkok to two different places. I made the mistake of telling her that my friends were in and out of their amphur office and had their books the same day. Obviously that made her angry so we left. During my next trip to immigration, I explained the problem and they told me that I really didn't need one. The issue came up again when I renewed my driver's license. I had to go to immigration and get a certificate of residence. That was a hassle and I still don't have a yellow book.

26 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Elizabeth Warren

That nearly made me vomit on my keyboard. You MUST be joking.

Where do you find an elected politician who looks out for the little guy? They talk a good story, actually lie and promote populist policies that are expensive and most will never become law. They look after themselves and no one else. The object is to get reelected and to keep their cushy lucrative jobs. 

Sometime back I had the opportunity to go out overnight on a typical Thai fishing boat. I don't know exactly how much net they put out but it was at least a kilometer of gill net. The net was fastened to large outriggers. When they winched the net back in, there were only a handful of fish in it. It was certainly not worth the fuel and effort. That is what I base my opinion on that the Gulf of Thailand is fished out. We did catch quite a few squid that were attracted by the flood lights.

I think most of the CD's are knock offs so they will likely be around for many more years.

13 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

LOL... like my mother-in-law. Can't throw anything away and her idea of a clean up is picking around the precariously balanced piles of previous cast-offs and throwaways... and adding to them! Does anyone else have an Isaan 'sh!t tree'? It's a low-branching tree on the property where useless stuff gets jammed in the forks of branches or hung from stubs of old branches? After it rains, it looks like something left behind after a bloody tsunami.

 

I have found that practicing "smash and burn" cleaning tends to scupper these inveterate bower birds.

I paid a stupid price for the iPod and no way am I going to smash it. It is doomed to stay in a drawer until I am dead and gone.

4 hours ago, MINIMIGLIA said:

I will never buy anything without a CD player, I have hundreds of CD's

It's not difficult to copy music to a memory stick. It's very easy to plug the memory stick into the entertainment centers in newer vehicles. You will have to face the fact that CD's and even DVD's have outlived their usefulness. As for myself, I'm not a big music fan but my wife is. She uses a small cheap MP3 player and she has hundreds of songs on it. I put audiobooks on a memory stick for when I am on trips. I do have an iPod but everything is so proprietary that it is no longer used. Apple iTunes stinks. There is a small computer shop that loads Thai music on most devices. I gave her the iPod and the shop could not do anything with it.

If Trump has accomplished nothing else, he has proven that the swamp cannot be drained. He is surrounded by swamp creatures and he is vastly outnumbered. The only way the government can recover is by imposing term limits. This will NEVER happen because the elected politicians will never vote themselves out of their lucrative jobs. The establishment simply cannot be changed. Until the country goes totally bust, it will be business as usual. The question now is whether the frustration will force Trump to quit or whether he will continue to fight and get crazier than he already is. 

Is it any different than Pattaya Bay? Not many fish there either. Even the squid are overfished.

I have a very high end camera called Road Eyes. Crazy expensive but I only paid 3,500 baht for it. I bought it from a guy who bought two of them and only used one. It actually stinks, nothing special about it and the fancy software doesn't work with Windows 10.

The one in the car came from AliExpress. It cost $25 and it is better than the expensive unit, very sharp video.

Black TOGUARD 2.46" Full HD 1080P Mini Car DVR Dash Cam

I hate shopping and frequently stop to look at things I may be interested in. As long as we are both carrying our phones, my wife happily goes her own way. Eventually I call her and tell her I am going to the car. She has to look at everything in the store.

Once in awhile, she forgets her phone and latches onto my hand so I don't get lost. It doesn't bother me and I don't care nor does she what other people think. Some people need to mind their own business.

My pickup was purchased new in Pattaya. I moved to Loei province and after ten years the registration was never questioned. I renewed the registration and insurance every year and never had a problem. I went through many checkpoints and had many trips back and forth to Jomtien. It was never questioned. Based on my experience, I wouldn't bother or worry about it.

ADDED - As for travelling south, I had a good friend in Krabi and made that trip a number of times. I didn't notice any more checks than other vehicles.

They both will make a ton of money and some say it will only be a scripted show. I doubt that because they both have huge egos and both will be trying to win. I predict an interesting contest. Hopefully it won't go the distance.

A Phu Kradung warning. It is a beautiful place but it is about a nine kilometer walk to the mountain top. I have never been to the top. The government has been wanting to put in a chair lift but the locals just won't have it. I think a chair lift would be a great idea and would substantially increase the popularity. Maybe that's the reason the locals oppose it. Maybe that and the porters who carry people up would lose their jobs. They charge by the kilo to carry you and your camping supplies to the top. I have no idea of the cost and have never asked.

I remember when Ricky Hatton was the great white hope. He ended up getting knocked out by two better boxers and that ended his career. I don't like to watch Mayweather fight because he is purely defensive and his dancing around the ring is not very exciting. At 40 years old, he may have lost some of his speed but I wouldn't bet on it. I'd really like to see McGregor catch him with a good punch but it's not likely. McGregor has the power but he has to catch Mayweather for it to be of any use.

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

How could a missile burn up the earth's atmosphere. There were giant abovebround nuclear tests in the 50's and 60's. The atmosphere isn't currently flammable. It would take a lot more methane to make it so.

The friction from the air causes a tremendous amount of heat. A few years ago we nearly lost a shuttle because some of the heat shield tiles came off. A missile has no thick heat resistant tiles. The air resistance is what cause meteors to burn up before they hit the earth.

31 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

What about EMP? Still, I guess EMP beats NH.

The EMP may be a good reason to use a small nuke. Hopefully it could destroy the missile's guidance systems if not the missile itself. If not properly guided, the missile could very well burn up in the earth's atmosphere.

As I understand it, the best time to take out a ballistic missile is when it makes its turn to reenter the earth's atmosphere. So far only conventional explosives have been used. Is there any doubt that a tactical nuke can be used if the the incoming missile poses a serious threat? That makes it much easier than trying to hit a bullet with another bullet. A nuclear detonation outside of the earth's atmosphere is likely fairly safe.

If you get off the beaten path a little, you could visit Kunming of Thailand. It has unusual beautiful rock formations and a small waterfall. I took a friend of mine who lives in Korat to see it and I had a difficult time getting him to leave. He was absolutely fascinated.

You go south out of Muang Loei until you come to Nong Hin, (about 50 kilometers on highway 201) turn right at the first larger road past the bank and drive about 15 kilometers. You will come to a huge strange looking rock on the right side and you will turn right just past it. The village is just down the hill from the turn. The waterfall is a little further and the road ends at the waterfall.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g2237442-d9796890-r339810106-Suan_Hin_Pha_Ngam-Nong_Hin_Loei_Province.html

I have never had a Dewalt power tool but I have several Makita power tools. I have no experience with service because I have had no problems with any of them. I also have a couple Bosch tools. Both the Bosch tools, a hammer drill and an angle grinder have had hard lives. Both are still fine with no problems. I have a Maktec circular saw that is five years old or more. It really hasn't had a hard life but it too has never had a problem.

I moved back to the USA when the Thai economy crashed. I had a company build a one cubic meter crate and fitted into it everything that would fit. It made it to the US without any damage. When I unpacked the crate, it finally occurred to me that the contents were worth no where near the thousand dollars total that the shipping had finally cost me. The most expensive items were my complete dive gear kit. I never used the dive gear again and ended up giving it to my son.

42 minutes ago, Rotweiler said:

The Fortuner is equipped with a unit made by Garmin, as are most - but not all - GPS units in vehicles.

 

All Garmin units can be updated as described above.  This is not a matter of dealer choice, but sim[ple the way Garmin builds their software.   

 

If you have an in-dash GPS, try it.

 

 

 

Apparently my Isuzu indash GPS is made by Clarion. It uses a map called iGo which leaves a lot to be desired. I did receive a mapupdate and it is better but not as good as my cheap on dash Garmin. Before the update I contacted both iGo and Clarion. Both had the same story. I have to work with Isuzu because the map and unit are proprietary. I offered to pay iGo for the latest update and was told that is impossible because Isuzu has the codes. 

Everything is worth seeing even if all you get out of it is being able to say, "Yep, I've been there". Nothing is really the same. There are beautiful mountain views . waterfalls, rock formations, rivers, forests, flat rice paddies for as far as you can see and seemingly endless fields of sugarcane. I live in Loei province out in the boonies but still have a condo in Jomtien. With the help of my GPS, I am able to choose at least a partially different route every trip down and back.

9 hours ago, cheeryble said:

I told the missus about this thread.

She said she has a cleaner because she is allergic to dust......which is true.

She's always right, you see.

 Nothing different there. Women are like that. My wife Knows EVERYTHING.  That's not all bad, I blame her for driving me to drink. I have gotten used to her helping me when I am doing repair jobs around the house. When she supervises, I throw down my tools, tell her to do it herself and go to town to have a beer.