Rogie

3 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

the 'mai pang' motorbikes on the north end of jomtien beach gets anyone renting a bike to ride to the end of the dead end street and back. it is enough for the lady owner to see if the rider is ok to rent. 

When I used to visit Pattaya I always rented from Mai Pang. Always a pleasure to do business with her and her family. A friend had an accident on his bike (he was carrying a pillion passenger who sustained a nasty leg injury needing hospital treatment) and she sorted it all out. 

Looking back and reading threads such as this one I have to ask myself why I ever rented a motorbike. Reason is probably a common one, I never thought it would happen to me. Yes, I was reasonably experienced as a motorcyclist holding a UK licence, but that doesn't really prepare you for riding in Thailand! I gave up riding a motorbike in the UK many years ago and am very rusty, so if on my next visit to Thailand would I hire one again? (the 100 or 125 cc variety): yes I probably would! Crazy really... but it's such a lovely feeling riding one dressed only in sandals and shorts (plus a 'hired' helmet) with the sun and warm wind in your face. Temptation overrides caution and common sense very often. It's not just riding a small motorbike either, think of all the other things tourists do that they don't do back home... most seemingly perfectly safe, but there are often hazards lurking beneath the surface.

If a store where in the past the dark beer has disappointed also sells regular beer Lao (the usual lager-coloured one) you could do a comparison. As no one has commented to say the regular beer Lao is sometimes undrinkable perhaps it is a production-related issue with the dark variety. As I am based in the UK apart from occasional visits to the Kingdom and don't recollect seeing either kind of beer Lao in a 7-11 I gather from what the OP says it's fairly recently its become available. When I am visiting I always check out the beer selection in 7-11's and Family Marts etc and can't recall having ever having had a duff beer, having drunk Singha, Chang, Leo etc plus all the German-style lagers, so provided they can maintain decent QC either kind of beer Lao is something I would definitely buy.

1 hour ago, SheungWan said:

Still not as good as the Troggs.

Who is to say?... if we could go back in time and have the Stones and the Troggs on the same bill that the Troggs wouldn't come out on top? But as a previous poster has said, the Stones may be regarded as the world's greatest rock 'n roll business, and unfortunately Reg Presley lead singer in the Troggs died in 2013, whereas Keith Richard (almost the same vintage, born a couple of years after Presley) is still going (somehow!) despite many a mishap - I mean, you don't get this kind of thing said about you for nothing...

Quote

Music journalist Nick Kent attached to Richards Lord Byron's epithet of "mad, bad, and dangerous to know". Jagger thought that Richards' image had "contributed to him becoming a junkie". In 1994 Richards said his image was "like a long shadow ... even though that was nearly twenty years ago, you cannot convince some people that I'm not a mad drug addict." In 2010, journalist Peter Hitchens wrote of Richards that he is "a capering streak of living gristle who ought to be exhibited as a warning to the young of what drugs can do to you even if you're lucky enough not to choke on your own vomit."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Richards

I'm only a visitor to Thailand so from the perspective of British beer I'm drowning in choice!

Of the beers listed in the OP, my favourite is Titanic Iceberg. I see Oakham listed as one the OP would like to see available in Thailand. Their Citra and Scarlet McCaw are hoppy beers similar to the Iceberg.

Sometimes you see a beer sold in a clear glass bottle. I wonder why that is? Just to be different so it stands out from the competition? I also wonder about its keeping qualities in a country like Thailand. I cannot imagine its shelf life will be unaffected if left in a bright sunny place for too long.

Good to see Meantime beers available here (I'm a Southeast Londoner so happy to see a local brew doing so well) but they are a bit pricey. I wonder how much extra the flashy bottle costs?

The most fantastic Meantime beers available, the IPA and the London Porter, come in 640ml bottles with a champagne cork, and when opened, it sounds and feels like you are opening a bubbly one.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/15/sab-miller-buys-meantime-to-enter-uk-craft-beer-market

As this is the South-east Asia forum, as KL gets a mention, it only seems fair to also give Vigan a whirl.

I hadn't heard of Vigan so looked it up. . .

The city of Vigan (Ilokano: Ciudad ti Bigan; Tagalog: Lungsod ng Vīgân) is a fourth class city in the province of Ilocos Sur,Philippines. It is the capital of the Province of Ilocos Sur. The city is located on the western coast of the large island of Luzon, facing the South China Sea. According to the 2010 Philippines census, it has a population of 49,747 people.

It is a World Heritage Site in that it is one of the few Hispanic towns left in the Philippines where its structures remained intact, and is well known for its cobblestone streets, and a unique architecture that fuses Philippine and Oriental building designs and construction, with colonial European architecture. Because of this, Vigan City was officially recognized as one of the NEW7Wonders Cities together with Beirut, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and La Paz.

But also:

An average of 7-10 typhoons visit Vigan annually

.

This doesn't sound too good but maybe this is par for the course in the Philippines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigan

Many TV members seem to have visited KL, me included, but has anyone been to Vigan? If so, did it live up to its World Heritage Site listing?

I haven't followed this case very closely, but if somebody had asked my opinion I'd've said he was probably guilty.

The previous poster mentions Dewani laughing on his phone, well that doesn't sound the sort of thing a widower would do, but who am I to judge, some people are pretty weird, aren't they?

This article linked below sets out to answer all the obvious questions.

Having read it, I am prepared to believe it was a set up. At the end of the day the real loser is South Africa. The spotlight on this unfortunate country once again, highlighting the parlous state of law enforcement.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/Dewani-trial-what%20really-happened/ar-BBguyMJ

I don't think people in England realise how far Labour's vote is imploding in Scotland. Expect the SNP to have far more MPs than fringe parties like UKIP.

I agree that is quite possible, maybe likely.

It is looking unlikely the Conservatives will take enough seats to form a majority in 2015. The most likely outcome, under normal circumstances, i.e. those prevailing up to and including the last election in 2010, would be a Labour win.

Opinion polls have the Lib Dems doing extremely badly. Some of their votes seem to have gone to the Green Party, others votes to God-knows-where. UKIP are attracting votes from disillusioned former Tory and Labour supporters. The SNP has its tail up under its new woman leader. If the SNP take enough seats in Scotland, mostly at Labour's expense, and UKIP take more votes from former Conservatives than Labour, they may be in a position to hold the balance of power should Labour fall short of a majority.

As an Englishman, I was pleased the Scots voted to remain as a part of the UK, but now I'm concerned too much power is being conceded to Scotland at the expense of England and Wales.

I really wouldn't want a Labour:SNP Coalition.

I also don't think they realise just how good a politician Salmond is.

I really don't know enough about Salmond's past political performance, prior to the independence referendum. Despite serving 23 years (from 1987 - 2010) as a Westminster MP he never registered on my radar, so as far as I know he didn't do much (although to be fair there probably isn't much your average MP from a minority party can do).

I'm not sure how you would define a 'good' politician. Probably any politician who keeps his nose clean could be considered good. Nick Winterton was a great constituency MP for Macclesfield, but because he put his constituents first he never received any ministerial office. His successor has been a PPS (Parliamentary Private Secretary) most of the time since his election in 2010. He is a 'good' man, as men go, but will posterity decree he turned out to have been as 'good' an MP as his predecessor ?

Speaking as a Brit, Blair only managed to fool me once; I fell for the WMD (weapons of mass

destruction) scare. I really believed Saddam had a secret stash, hence supported getting rid of

him.


However, unlike many of his admirers, who felt cheated by subsequent events, I didn't feel any

particular animosity towards Blair then, and still don't. I never liked him, and certainly never

voted for him or his Party, so the feelings I've always had that he's a fraud remain unchanged.


Having seen Tony and Cherie's Christmas card yes, it's dreadful, but so what? What is it that

makes folks rush to clamber aboard these kinds of peurile attacks? I include in that 'The Age' article referred to in the link.

Here's a far better article: it mentions the social media feeding frenzy but doesn't take the tweeters at all seriously.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30289820

Prof Stephen Hawking, one of Britain's pre-eminent scientists, has said that efforts to create thinking machines pose a threat to our very existence.

He told the BBC:"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."

His warning came in response to a question about a revamp of the technology he uses to communicate, which involves a basic form of AI.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30290540

I think he may have a point. What do TV members think?

I'm not an American, and their laws and the way the various Amendments are interpreted and used confuses me (another example: the way gun laws are framed) so I won't comment on their right to enact capital punishment or the ways prisoners on death row are treated by the authorities and by lawyers.

But, seeing as they do, it seems to me crazy that the states which operate capital punishment can't organise what should be the simplest thing, putting the convicted man to death. If you are going to kill a person make it quick and efficient. The muddle they got into in Oklahoma back in April when a guy took too long to die caused an uproar. Apparently in this case three different drugs were used, and because of problems with the supply of the usual drug, in effect this guy was a guinea pig. Some states use only one drug, but the source of supply for all the drugs seems to be in a state if flux.

Until they sort this unfortunate state of affairs out, switching to a different execution method makes a lot of sense. However the alternatives are even less acceptable to public opinion. These people don't like to think convicted men are executed by firing squad, hanging or the electric chair, so I suppose that's why the lethal injection method was devised.

If the authorities can sort out this mess quickly then the status quo can probably be restored, but, with the rest of the world watching, otherwise they are in danger of becoming a laughing stock. That's no way to run a country. The federal government must be squirming.

This is the third release in the latest Series, # 16:

http://www.bot.or.th/English/Banknotes/HistoryANdSeriesOfBanknotes/Pages/Banknote_Series16.aspx

This thread concerns the 500 baht note, but reading through the Bank of Thailand series of notes I am struck by the history of the 1000 baht note. This denomination featured in series 1 (1902) series 2 (1925) and series 4 (1938). Following WW2 series 9 (1948) did not have a 1000 baht note. It was not re-introduced until series 14 when it appeared in 1992.

It would be interesting to know what the 1902 series 1000 baht note would be equivalent to nowadays, taking into account inflation. I cannot imagine it ever saw the light of day in its time. See for example the history of large denominations in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency

Changing the colour of banknotes - for example changing the 1000 baht note from grey to yellow, would seem most unlikely as once a particular colour is associated with a denomination it's seemingly fixed for evermore. For example the 100 baht has been red since series 9 (1948). Taken from the Bank of Thailand page referred to above:

As the 9th series had been circulated for over 20 years, people were quite familiar with the colors of each type and denomination, making them difficult to change. Therefore it can be assumed that the colors of the 9th Series are the standard for current Thai banknotes.

The ones that confuse me the most are the 100 and 500. Similar colours in poor lighting such as in the back of taxis at night or a dimly lit bar. As has often been mentioned as a useful tactic, keeping the different banknotes separate in a wallet helps to avoid confusion. I keep 500 and 1000 bills apart from the rest.

I wonder why the plastic 50 baht note was phased out. I don't recall it lasting very long. The UK has announced it is to go down the plastic route some time in the next few years.

Thanks for posting those photos brfsa2.

The chedi shown in the Nation photo looks very gray and tired . . . ? old photo. It looks great in the photos in brfsa2's pics.

Never having visited this temple I looked it up in my guide book. . . the spire on top of the chedi is solid gold and weighs several hundred kgs.