Lung Mike

I often travel in Thailand and I always talk to the locals. It is obvious that practically everywhere, in many different kind of businesses, revenues are way down. My business-owner friends complain about the same dire situation in Pattaya, Phuket and Bangkok. Koh Samui, where I live for over 16 years, is definitely quieter than before. The general consensus is at least -30% compared to last year and that was already a slow year because of all the political unrest etc. The current military rule has so far only worsened these problems, which was entirely predictable from analyzing Thai history. It is correct that there will always be some businesses that flourish, no matter what, but in general you have to be blind not to see that Thailand is slowly sliding down a very slippery slope. On top of that people keep opening more and more businesses doing exactly the same as their neighbors, which naturally aggravates the problem.

I my former Thai construction company we needed at least five people to do the same amount of manual labor that one average worker in Europe would have done. Because of this low productivity, combined with low work ethics and a total lack of pride in their work, Thai labor is indeed expensive.

To promote tourism Bangkok Airways should first lower their ridiculous high pricing policy, strongly reduce the ever present delays and teach their stuck-up staff to occasionally climb down from their pedestal. Not to have to wait all dressed up for flights in 32 degree heat would also be nice.

At last! Let's hope that this will be a genuine marina protected by a sea wall and not only another exposed pier with a fancy name.

The absurdity of this statement defies belief. There is not even a slight resemblance to actual freedom of speech in Thailand. I sometimes wonder if what comes out of these official's mouths actually registers in their own brains?

Check the RV and caravan community in Thailand at: http://www.thairv.com .

Ohm Cars in Chaweng has it.

Last week one of these retards of Namuang Waterfall 2 nearly ran me off the Road. He was racing with 4 other cars from the same company up the hill from their business. All trucks were full of tourists. One pickup drove so fast in a turn that his right rear wheel was no longer touching the road.

Several posters have asked about where you would empty the toilet tank. Nobody has mentioned the thousands of buses and coaches in Thailand the majority of which have on board toilets. Where do they empty? Also, although it may come as something of a surprise to those who stay only in big cities, there are quite a lot of remote rural areas in Thailand.

Lets say 10 days away with a hotel at 700 a night = 7,000 bht. That's a lot of diesel at 26bht a litre! (about 2,800 kms worth at a rough reckon) though renting @ 6 - 12k a day would be out of the question.

Lung Mike good luck with your great project. Hope you will come back & put more photos up of the finished item. The demountable idea is a good one. Just be sure there is a way of securing it to the truck other than gravity so that it doesn't part company in the unfortunate event of an overturn.

Thank you for your positive reaction to my camper project.

It is not the primary goal to save money by using a camper, but it is the independence of infrastructure.

Thailand has so many beautiful spots to explore off the beaten track.

This demountable camper has a removable black water tank to collect the sewage, which can be emptied in a convenient location like a toilet at a gas station.

The electric boat-style toilet has a macerator and a water flush, so the waste is liquid.

The tank is big enough for several day's use.

There is also a fresh water tank for the showers, sink and toilet flush.

The demountable camper is secured to the pickup truck with 4 strong stainless clamps.

A reverse camera is installed for parking convenience.

As long as I do not use the air-conditioning, all the power needs can be supplied by the solar power.

On the left side a 2.5x2m retractable awning provides shade.

I shall post some more pictures in a few days.

Check the great Thai website about camping cars: http://www.thairv.com/ .

Great stuff, Mike, both the camper project and the link, and in fact there are those aluminum cargo carrier/Seangteow (spl?) frames there for pick ups, much like the one you're building, all over Thailand and they could easily be converted to do exactly what you're doing with the basic frame already outlined. Love the wood work, are you going to leave a lot of it visible? Based on your link it seems there is an underground group of campers and market for them that is much larger then it appears on the surface.

Camping seems to gain momentum in Thailand and it is quite obvious why.

Although there are many hotels all over the country, I do not like to sleep on a rock hard mattress which seems to be the standard in every Thai hotel outside of the main tourist areas.

Initially I thought about using an aluminum cargo frame but although it is OK for a low budget simple approach, I wanted something technically more sophisticated and better insulated.

I also wanted the unit to be demountable, which is not possible with the bolt-on locally available cargo units.

The idea is to be able to travel anywhere in Thailand, even off-road and have a comfortable place to sleep in, whilst still being able to use the pickup truck for transport.

This unit can also be used on other pickup trucks, as long as the cargo bed is not too short.

When the unit is mounted on the truck, it is possible to still tow a trailer.

This makes it easy to also tow a boat or a few bikes.

I built a light but strong steel frame and filled the gaps with honeycomb and covered everything in a few layers of fiberglass.

The aluminum outside cladding is only to give it a smooth finish and to create a vintage look.

There are 2x120w solar panels on the roof, 300 Amp/h deep cycle batteries in the double floor at the entrance area, a 220v pure sine inverter and a 2.6 KW generator.

The air-conditioning is 12000 BTU.

The finished demountable camper will weigh around 700 kg.

My hobby is building boats, so the use of teak wood stems from that.

All the woodwork is purely for decoration and it will be visible.

The seats and mattresses are memory foam so it should be as comfortable as my bed at home.

The toilet and shower area is big enough for my European frame.

I like technical challenges and I just build whatever I dream up for fun.

In the past I have built many houses, wooden and fiberglass boats, trailers and now this camper.

The total build cost of this demountable camper will be only about 30% of what is commercially available.

Check the great Thai website about camping cars: http://www.thairv.com/ .

I am building a demountable camper on 4 retractable legs, to fit on my 4x4 Mitsubishi Triton Single Cab pickup truck.

The camper has a queen size bed and a single bed, electric toilet, inside -and outside shower, small kitchen, AC, solar power and a back-up generator.

This is a fun project because it allows the pickup truck to be used independently from the camper and I plan to use it for trips all over Thailand.

The demountable camper will be ready in 1 month.

This is nothing more than an official admission that the government has no power over the police.

They cannot even push the lethargic police farce to enforce even the most basic laws (traffic, alcohol etc).

There is no more face left over lo lose, this is truly a failed state.

I have the original TE card since 2006, for which I have paid 1 million Baht.

So far I had two 5-year multi entry visa and one 3-year multi entry visa, issued by immigration in Thailand (2 x airport + 1 x BKK).

Although the previous governments have often talked about stopping the TE-program, so far it still is operational.

The main problem with TE is that most of the revenue from the initial members has been lost due to blatant mismanagement and the usual TIT issues (extremely bad investments etc.).

So far, I have never had any problem with their services.

The peace of mind of having the 5-year visa and the excellent airport service are well worth it for me.

However, I do fully agree that the new much higher prices are too steep to attract new members.

why not simply ban entry and the sale of alcohol in any establishment to younger than 18? The law is already there but is not enforced.

That would need a functioning police force, which is never going to happen in Thailand.

Most policemen that I have talked to over the years, have absolutely no idea about the scope of actual police duties.

Then how comes that I hardly see any tourists on Koh Samui in comparison with ten years ago and more and more businesses are closing down? Sometimes I wonder who still believes these delusional fairy tale statements.

You could move the vehicle on a trailer but the ferries charge quite a lot for trailers because they base their prices on the length. As an alternative you could contact a construction company. Several have trucks with cranes. Can you be more specific about what kind of vehicle that you want to transport (type, size, weight etc.) and how far you have to drive once on the mainland?

The 177 HP 380 NM power plant of the MU-X is more than powerful enough. 90% of the torque comes in at turn-over rpm so acceleration is smooth and driving uphill is a blast. I burn 8.3 l/100km and with my previous Fortuner i used 10.5 l/100km in exactly the same driving conditions. The new Fortuner is comparable in power to the Mu-X. The Mu-X feels more powerful on the road than the old Fortuner. Mitsubishi has no low-end power at all. Under 2000 rpm, nobody is home and then all the torque comes in at once. If you need more power, install a chip tuning. I had my Fortuner tuned to 250 HP and 600 NM. It ran great but became mechanically unreliable. The Toyota garage on Koh Samui ripped me off several times (charged an oil change but left the old oil in the engine and sold me copy injectors when the original ones failed) but the Isuzu garage is great.

I now have an MU-X 4x4 top spec after having driven a Fortuner 4x4 top spec for 8 years. The MU-X is cheaper, drives very comfortable and is great off road. The seating position is perfect for me (180 cm tall). The engine is very smooth with more than enough low-end grunt. It feels more powerful in reality than the HP and torque numbers suggest. The torque curve is almost flat. The new Fortuner is certainly a very good car and technically very similar to the MU-X, albeit more expensive and quite ugly. The extra gear of the new Fortuner is not missed in the MU-X because it has such a broad power band. I have had quite some technical issues with my previous Fortuner but so far my MU-X seems to be more reliable after 20,000 km. The interior finishing of the new Fortuner is nicer than the MU-X but the drive line of the MU-X is more solid.

On Koh Samui things are definitely much worse, especially since the beginning of May.

I have recently witnessed more tea-money and blatant extortion demands by various government employees, for higher amounts than in the past.

Most government agencies have become almost unworkable for foreigners because they block nearly everything as soon as a foreigner is involved, even when everything is perfectly legal.

Most businesses on the island are obviously suffering and many are closing down.

In Chaweng I see mostly Chinese tourists who contribute absolutely nothing to the local economy because everything they do is pre-booked, pre-paid and managed by other Chinese.

The last Bangkok Airways flight that I took was half empty, which is very telling.

I hope that I am wrong but I fear that this is only the beginning of the downwards spiral.

They might have to move most of the Government's staff to "inactive posts" because in my experience most are corrupt.

TIT, what can I say?

Thailand Elite has sent a mail to all the members some years ago which was addressed to all the members and visible to all.

Therefore each long time Thailand Elite member should have the list of all the members up to that moment.

Nothing fishy about this.

All email addresses visible in the To: line ? Bad, bad practice. I would've thought an Elite scheme were very stringent about the privacy of their members.

Thailand Elite has sent a mail to all the members some years ago which was addressed to all the members and visible to all.

Therefore each long time Thailand Elite member should have the list of all the members up to that moment.

Nothing fishy about this.

It was sold to over 2,800 members.

I have the database in my possession.

I hope you have the rights to have that database

I have a Thailand Elite Card and a work permit linked to my Thailand Elite Visa.

This allows me to travel as frequently as I want and to work legally in Thailand.

I'm prepared to be corrected, but I thought that work permits were tied to the employer, who must have a physical presence in Thailand and supply a mountain of paperwork, financial statements, etc. in order to justify your work permit. If correct, then I don't see how anyone could ever get a work permit in Thailand to work for an overseas employer.

You are correct. In my case, I work for a Thai company of which I am MD. Any accountant can set this up.