brummiebob

Should have done it properly and let her spent the night in the cells and bail her out the morning after, cost about the same

Actually around office area like Silom or Asok, the vendors seem to organize themselves into small foodcourts with electricity for fridges and running water, but obviously they'll need to pay rent on such place.

If the things are freshly cooked it's probably fine. It's the 'Khao Gaeng' dishes that is served with rice that seems to be cooked since 4AM and has been sitting there all morning that I can't get my head around, how could you eat something like that?

As for issue with the oils, sometime the health department does spot checks on frying oil.

I had police try to stop me in similar fashion when I'm on my bikes, granted I was taking an underpass that was clearly illegal for motorcycles to enter (Ratchada). They were kicking the traffic cones at my bike and hurled themselves in front of me.

An application of throttle and a wheelie made them think twice and I quickly made a u-turn and sped of into narrow sois to avoid them.

I was clearly in the wrong then and I really should have just stop and paid up, but I wasn't thinking clearly then.

To the police's eye, if they had asked the bike to stop yet the bike continued on, obviously there might be something suspicious, from drugs, no licence or stolen bike, it would have mean more money for the Police definitely.

I think the problem with Supermarkets brand is that they are not made in China but Thailand!

I'm sure hotels like the Hilton would have voucher for their restaurants

Yep, either the baht bus driver or your local motorbike taxi driver will arrange it for you and find a body to help you move. These guys are the "go to" blokes for anything like this. They're basically the local version of the Yellow Pages. Just make sure you pay a fair price.

Would they help you move bodies though? wonder what's the going rates are?

I've seen thai-bottled 4711 cologne around in Supermarkets, Try Friendship or Foodland, they are quite traditional enough that they might stock them still.

Ask the local motorcycle taxi, they're sure to have some mates that have pickups

How is it 'stealth' tax?

If you can get the spare parts from ebay, the shops can probably open up your machine and do it for you. As for having them order the necessary parts, it's probably impossible

Try calling amazon, they are quite accommodating even though your device might be out of warranty or broken due to misuse, I sat on my Kindle once and I explained it to them and they sent a new one to me right away.

Only thing is that you must call their service line, they won't answer emails.

At proper bike shop around town, there seem to be a brand called 'Coyote' with prices around 4000 baht that makes bike a bit better than the ones sold in Tescos or Big C, the difference being Aluminium frame and semi-decent components instead of High-Tensile Steel that' used in the Supermarket Brands like 'LA'

It used to be that cheap starter bikes are made with Chro-Moly steel and the expensive ones are Aluminium, but in Thailand due to import tax or something, most local bikes are made with high-tensile steel which is very heavy and not very comfortable to ride, and Chro-Moly steel, due to it being quite soft, has become a 'niche' product and is only available from expensive brands now. So the only decent thing that's cheap are Aluminium frames of dubious quality like the 'Coyote' brand

Other options is ex-Japanese second hand bikes, they come in by the container loads and are classified as scrap metals in order to avoid the tax, and refurbish them and sell.

Bringing your own bike at the airport is possible, but expect a shouting match with the customs official on what constitutes 'used personal effect' or expects a hefty tax

shops that sells these bike would have loads of them park in front of their yard, there are a few in Rayong, but you have to sift to a lot of shopping/commuter bikes to find a mountain bike.

I recommend a shop on Sukhumvit on the southbound side called Numchai it's just before Chaipornwithi (Croc Farm/Waterworks/Ice Factory road), just after the Naklua function if you're coming from the North,

In Thepprasit there's also a showroom for LA brand that's the manufacturer of the bikes in Tescos and such, still mostly steel bikes like the ones in Tescos but there are some decent aluminium models, albeit a bit heavy, but for fitness it'll be fine. and since they are Thai company, price is quite cheap.

Also on Thepprasit opposite the LA shop is a Trek dealer, but I don't think there' anything low-end in that shop unless it's a second hand, but he does stock large size bikes for us Farang though.

Dummy employee on the reciepts is sure way better than having Dummy customer on it

There used to be two of them. I've seen two of them of the same colour! but not recently, only the one with the collar now

Villa seems to be the only place in town that has Bagels, as far as I know.

Clorox seems to be out of stock in most places I looked.

Whatever you do, don't mix bleach with windows cleaner, that makes ammonium chloride gas which is nasty!

I remember cleaning a pub toilet once in my youth, the concentration of pish in the communal urinal must have make the ammonia very strong cause once I poured bleach down it started fuming!

Sorry, to clarify, the three Homepros that I mentioned in the area are not in Central's mall but is in the area where there used to be a Homework at Central Bangna. I enjoyed preferred Homework to Homepro actually. I just saw the state of Homeworks compared to Homepros and wondered if Central is refocussing their effort elsewhere.

Maybe once the area becomes quite 'developed' with houses in estate (Moo Ban) being after certain age the level of DIY drops off and Central just moves the stores to where the battlefront is, but still doesn't explain how they let Homepros take away Bangkok.

I don't know what percentage of shoppers in a DIY store is between homeowners and contractors, but Homeworks and Homepros seems geared towards the homeowners, with healthy mix between materials, furniture and appliances. Maybe the locations of certain stores when it was attached to Mall or hypermarkets is not convenient for contractors?

I see most of the work done in my affluent estate in Bangkok (Bang Na) is tearing down the old 10-20 house and starting with new builds, so mostly the shopping for materials will be by contractors. Whereas at my in-laws house in another, more middle class suburb that was affected by the flood a couple of years back (Rangsit to the North) sees the educated homeowner shop at 'professional' or Thai-styled diy stores more than Homework or Homepros now, with stores like "DoHome" or Homemart doing quite brisk business. So maybe professional oriented stores is where the market is

The Homepro store I used to shop in Bangkok that was closed down is at Central Bangna,(There are Homepros at Mega Bangna, Tesco in Bangna and Paradise Park that's in the same area) and the run-down one is Future Park Rangsit.

I work retail myself and I understand the importance of service. Often there are practically free staff(PCs or Product Consultant) given by the suppliers to look after their products, and it's probably not wise to turn down such offers.

I don't mind having people around, if they are knowledgeable and is genuinely helpful, but most time at DIY stores, often I would have already more product knowledge or can learn more about the products by reading label.

Worse than unhelpful staff is that in certain stores, over-eager staff actually spoil the mood for me where I just want to browse at my leisure, often I would buy things I didn't need just by walking around the store. I actually enjoy the South Homework stores around 8-9PM as most staff are just milling around getting ready to clock off, and most of the electronics has been switched off, making things a bit more pleasant due to lack of booming stereos and TVs.

Contrast this with Homepro store in BigC Central road, the staff, although the staff are helpful and manage to get things I need quickly, If a staff is involved, they'd never managed to gruen-transfer me, often getting things I need and put it in a trolley and escort me to the Cashiers.

Certain stores can make having no staff work and I appreciates that they are passing on saving to customers, but that requires understanding customers, as the moment you start doing things differently you'll get compared to the ones with service immediately, and having staff around is a visible thing. (Looking at how fast food stores from McDonald's to KFCs adapt to have 'service' is quite telling)

At Ikea or Makro, there's usually no staff around unless they're working on their own things, but If you need something you can usually fetch one and they'll be useful.

I know I am a minority, but since there's already consumer-oriented store (Homeworks) in Central's Portfolio where an amount of hand-holding is expected to a store catering to professionals where more specialist help might be needed, but can be provided with less staff but with more in-depth knowledge.

Again, I appreciates you taking your time to discuss things with us, I look forward to visiting the new format stores once it open.

Ok, I've never set foot in 'Professonal' Stores like Thai Wassadu but I always enjoy going to Homeworks and Homepro. I don't mind about service, I'd rather you save the cost on service staff and pass that on to customers like Ikea, rather than having them milling around doing nothing.

If you can differentiate between TWD and Homeworks by the level of service offered, those of us that enjoys doing things ourselves might gravitates toward TWD more.

By the way, What's happening to Homeworks? the ones attached to Central Malls in Bangkok's mostly closed or quite run-down. In Bangna where I have a house there's none whereas there's countless Homepros around. The Homework store in South Pattaya is the only one I go to at the moment.

There are powder deodorant for foot that you can put in socks, I saw some 'Boots' brand at Boots the chemist, not sure what they are made of though.

There is a Thai brand called 'Parachute Brand' that is essentially antiseptic powder that's normally put on cuts or abscess, they come in small sachet, ask for 'Pong Phi Set' at the pharmacy, (looks at the picture in the link). I don't know what it is made of exactly but it seems to contain sulfa antibacterial.

Fortunetellers

Technically not it Bangkok,

http://www.crankylittlemonster.com/blog/blog123_bang_krachao.html

People complaints that Bangkok doesn't have enough green space of parks, here's a little area that's undeveloped, unspoiled and has great views of the city

Bang Krachao on the other side of the river opposite the Port, there's a ferry that takes you there from a temple, or you can drive up from Samut Prakarn Side

Walk in and act normally, no Thai staff will try to stop you, unless you do this week after week

It's disorienting for regulars now. I guess we'll cope.

For the both of you, I'm sure.

There's another company in Bangna-Trad highway Bangkok

http://www.upbeat.co.th/

no-rentals though

It depends on the items really, most stuff in Supermarkets can be returned to the supplier in case of damage or spoilage ie, being expired. The suppliers(factory) just writes it off as expenses.

The displays of china wares at Central Department stores seems to be stacked quite precariously as if to catch the unsuspecting shoppers, I always feels nervous walking around there

But certain thins like glassware or crockeries, do expect to be asked to pay for it though,But if you make a big fuss out of it, keep your voice up, they usually let the Farang go.