koratsteve

Hi, you reckon this is cheap compared to Bkk? Try looking around first..............I picked up an immaculate 2002 998(same engine as 999 but not the "s" spec) for under 700,000 Baht. Same shop had the 998S for sale at a much more reasonable price than the "official" dealer

I think that there will be few Ducati’s ect going cheap soon when people realise that Thailand does not sell any fuel that they will run on.

If someone takes the time to speak Lao with me by calling me Bak sida I repay the complement by calling them Bak Lao.

I found this little guy by my mailbox. Does anyone know what kind of snake this is?

Richard,

I’m fairly certain that it is a Golden tree Snake which is non venomous, I have had some of these little fellows living in my roof for over a year now and we all get along fine.

Check out this web page that I found to confirm the likeness. http://wildthailandphotos.com/golden.tree.snake.htm

Ok, I had my Mrs Phone the Immigration office in Korat and asked her to glean all the info from them. She confirms that Immigration MUST be informed of a farangs arrival within a 24hour period of arrival.

Her email to me here, “them say I have to tell them every time when you come in 24 hour the law is if I not tell them I have to pay 800 baht and I have to go tell them not fax or email. Them say they cheking how many farang stay in Korat because no one do yet” excuse her grammar.

Strange they said “checking how many farang are staying in Korat” any one any ideas about this one?

CF

I do not think that the Korat immigration are out looking for people to fine, They gave my wife the option of walking away and notifying them the next time I arrived but as I needed the letter for my driving license application I thought it would be cheaper to pay the fine to get the letter.

The immigration officer did show me a pile of papers with pictures of Farang on which he said that they had fined after they had come to the immigration office.

I asked him if I had a friend come and stay for a few days would my wife have to report him, his answer was yes.

In my opinion the only way you get caught out was if you went to the office or had a run in with the local police for some reason ( note that the fine is 1600 baht if you do not turn yourself in).

In the future my wife will be notifying them of my arrival as a matter of course but if anyone is worried about being caught out I think the chances are very slim but I would recommend that the next time you do a visa run etc it would be worth paying them a visit within 24 hours of you’re arrival in Korat

Ken,

The way the immigration officer explained things to me was that irrelevant of what visa a Farang is on if he stays in a private house it is the responsibility of the registered owner of that property to inform the immigration or local police that they have a foreigner staying there, this must be done within 24 hours of arrival, if you fail to do this and present you’re self to the immigration police after 24 hours the fine is 800 baht, or if you fail to contact them and they catch you the fine is 1600 baht.

So every time you have a buddy staying at you’re house you are breaking the law.

I as you know have lived in Thailand on and off for the last 14 years or so and have made many visa extensions etc without ever having this brought to my attention before.

My wife seems to think that it was just a charge for the free letter, but there was a lot of paper work and receipts involved so I’m not so sure.

In the end paying 800 baht to get the letter for my driving license application was still a lot cheaper that having to go to the British embassy in BKK.

On another note I remember reading that the girl in the Jo Ho licensing office was very cute and very helpful, I can confirm that I found this to be correct on both counts and when my license expires in 12 months I will be leaving the wife at home when I go to renew it.

I remember seeing and enjoying a film about a group of Welsh Guys going over to the Philippines to meet mail order brides, I think it stared Bill Maynard, I think lesdunbar was correct it was called PHILIPINA DREAM GIRLS.

Unfortunately the pictures are about 2 years old

However its a very usefull resource

Today I saw that google earth now uses photo's in some parts in lower isaan.

for e.g. the Airport in Satuk Buriram and area.

cheers, Topatia

I agree with croftrobin the view of my house near the centre of Korat is about 2 years old, they have built many new houses in my village but on Goggle earth it shows only waste land.

Hey, thanks for the tip. I will avoid the shop and it's an easy one to remember, "Say Cheese".

I just had a friend who was treated badly at a Honda shop in Korat and took his business elsewhere. I won't be doing business with that shop anymore either.

Ken,

As you know I had a bad experience with the service department of that Honda shop and I will not be using them again, sadly the owner of that shop also owns about 90% of all the other Honda shops in Korat, Better off trying one of the smaller shops that stock all the brands, as they get their stocks from a different source they are not held to the Honda fixed price system that the other shops seem to use.

There are a couple of those shops just around the corner from UBC and one is owned by the family of one of my wife’s friends so if you’re buddy has not brought his bike yet she might be able to get him a good price.

Sunny10

The obvious thing to do is to stop in Chaiyaphum overnight. There are some nice hotels and a Tesco.

The hilly terrain is a pleasant change from the flat Issan lands and well worth a visit. There are waterfalls, some free to view and hilltop views worth a walk for.

I think the place has alot going for it.

Having a Tesco would be a good reason not to visit a place in my book.

That said I have been to the National park that is about 15 km north of the city, I think it is called Taton or something like that, It is very nice and quite, there is a very nice waterfall which has food stalls near buy which will rent you a large mats and ice buckets etc so you can hike to the waterfall and have a picnic, there are also some bungalows inside the park by the river that you can rent, well worth a look.

I had my son delivered at ram 1 and was quite pleased with the care, service and accomodation, and as of now am thinking of returning for the birth of my daughter next month. I was just hoping to get accounts of TV member's experiences at other hospitals within the city before booking with Ram again.

Thanks

John

Hi,

My Daughter was born at the mother and baby hospital, I found them to be very professional and very friendly, They have very nice private rooms and in my opinion some of the best trained doctors, I have found the private hospitals to be very money orientated and unable to cope with anything but normal births, The first sign of any complications and the baby will be transferred to the government hospital anyway, I learned this when my son was born with a severe lung infection.

Yes , it's outside town center .

Also yes if your a single man looking for some company and a not relaxing drink .

I think you will find drinking on the top floor very relaxing indeed, defiantly not the place to bring the wife.

Hi guys, this is a genuine & emotional plea, but i can't give details publicly.

I have her name and i.d card address, but this may be an old address.

this was in a.chumpuang

but she mentioned where the house is now is in 2 villages together which she did not know how to spell in English, but one of them sounds like NAKAR. approximately an hours drive from

Nakon Ratchasima & between 30 & 50 kilometres from a famous waterfall.

Hi I would really like to help you and I do have a very good knowledge

of Korat and the surrounding area but I need you to give some more information for me to be able to help you.

Do you have any idea in which direction you travelled, There are not many water falls within an hour from Korat so I think you must have either headed south on highway 304 past the air force base and the turning for the zoo, or taken the main road to Sarabuiri, Bangkok which would have taken you past a big lake, (over an hours drive)

Ampher Chum Phung is very close to Phimai which is has an ancient Khmer temple about an hours drive from Korat to the East, it to my knowakage does not have a water fall but it does have a river and large lake

Do you remember which direction to headed for?

The biggest problem with the trains (apart from how infrequent and how painfully slow they are) is that you need to book the second class seats in advance to guarantee a seat, if you do not you will have to fight for a third class berth which will be already full, on top of this you will have to try and find room for you’re suitcase in the already overflowing limited luggage spaces, the last time I tried to get from the airport to Korat by train I had to stand the whole way.

Take the bus or get a Taxi, and if you do get a Taxi for 2000 to 2500 baht be prepared for the ride of a life time because those boys do not hang about.

I am looking for a Kawasaki KLR 650 or 250

any suggestions?

Second choice is the Honda super four. Any opinions, and why are they so darn popular?

I see from the local bike mags that Kawasaki advertise a 300cc 4stroke trail bike as an official Thai model I cant remember the exact model off hand and it was priced at over 200,00 baht.

I have just moved out to the new house on the farm and as there is no phone line there or virtually no chance of getting a phone line in the near future I want to explore the chance of using GPRS at the farm for internet connection.

Firstly I have excellant mobile phone reception to the nearest repeater, being Khemarat, and I have a Nokia 7250 mobile phone which according to the owners manual is GPRS compatible.

My question is what do I need to do to gain the internet access and what costs are involved. I have searched the relevant forums for information and while there is a lot there I could not get the specific information that I require. I did in fact go to a mobile phone shop in Ubon city itself that is owned and run by a farang and asked him to explain what I need. He took my particulars and promised to call back in 2 hours but 3 days later no call received.

Is there anybody out there who can answer my query is simple straightforward language.

Thanks in advance

I use GPRS to connect to the internet, All you need is a cable to connect the phone to the internet (I don’t think you’re phone has Bluetooth) and a package from you’re phone company, I use AIS and pay 100 baht for 25 hours a month.

As you’re phone is a Nokia you might also have to use Nokia pc suite.

An other option is to buy a GPRS modem which you put the sim card into and plug into a USB on you’re computer they cost about 6000 baht.

Ive been told by a few friend who travel to Issan to try the Pegasus Hotel & Bar ?

I have not been to Korat since 1992 where is this place & can anybody give me as many details as possible please

To get to the Pegasus you pass Makro heading towards Joho and then right at the next major junction with traffic lights (make sure you stay on the main highway not the frontage road or you will be unable to turn right) I have not been to the bar but did end up on the top floor on one drunken night which I found very pleasant.

I voted for a trip to Surin.................................................don't know why though.

I vote to meet in Osaka, it has a secure area for ken to park his bike and one of the girls could look after his helmet.

Osaka sounds good to me. Considering it is almost across the street from Pasinee, I think I'll just leave the motorcycle and helmet at the Pasinee and walk on over. See you there?????

Ken if you do meet at the Osaka and wifey sees you’re bike in the car park I think it will be the village ducks that get to look after you’re helmet.

Can anyone tell me where "Jo Ho" is, just off Highway 2 in Korat??

is it near the Mall or further West that that??

Cheers,

Loz

Hi Loz,

Jo Ho is the area North East of Korat, it is where highway 205 crosses highway 2, If you stood with you’re back to the new bus station and turned left it is about 4km up the road, so about 6km from the Mall.

I will have to disagree with Ken’s distances I would say that from the train station to the Mall is roughly 1 km and would take about 15 minutes to walk, the Korat Hotel is about 2 km from the station and should take no longer that 25 min the shell gas station is only a 5 minute walk from the station, but could take you considerably longer if you bumped into Ken as you walked past the Pasinie.

Korat has a very good public transport system with aircon buses and song thaws which follow all the main routes and Tuk Tuks and salmlors also prowl the streets looking for prey.

I overstayed by one day last year, I did not get a fine or a stamp but they did write something in pen in Thai on my passport, No idea what it says.

I have had similar problems in the past; it is made worse by some detergents or even worse if you add bleach.

The only way to get rid of it is to buy one of those big 3 cylinder water filters that cost around about 10,000bt.

The problem only seems to happen in the dry season when the water stocks are running low.

Sorry I got a bit muddled up with the octane numbers, What I meant was 91 and regular 95, The gasohol is rated at 95 octane.

Viper,

I have only seen three different fuels available in the local forecourts 95, super which I understand to be 97 octane and gasohol 97 which is a mixture of 10% alcohol and petrol, most local cars and motor bikes are designed to run on 95, high performance cars bikes and older cars run on super as for the gasohol I never use it but a friend of mine put it in his Yamaha R1 by mistake and it basically ground to a halt and would not start until we drained the tank and refilled it with regular 97 and I keep reading that the super will be fazed out and replaced by the gasohol which means that if you have a performance vehicle you will have to use 95 plus an expensive octane booster.

Will the new honda civic come with the quick shift box "same as the wave" what is the top end deal, any r-type equivalent?

Hey Kev. I’m interested in the quick shift box for my Wave; all I got at the moment is a 4 speed clutch less foot change.

Maybe I fit that to my Civic then I could change up manually?

I recently brought my self a second hand NSR150SP and its great fun, for about 30,000bt you can hit 180kph plus.

They are very reliable and very cheap to maintain, I used to own a TZM 150 before and that did over 50,000km on the same piston and was still running well when it got stolen by my ex-wife.

Parts are cheap and easily available (660 baht for a new back tire etc)

They do use a fair bit of fuel, I get about 115 km for 220 bahts worth of gas and about a litre of 2T every 500km

I have done 2500km since I brought it all trouble free, I would buy one soon as the good ones out there wont last forever.

P.S Does anybody know where I can get a race pipe for mine?

I take back what I said about them being reliable my 23,000 km bike just suffered a piston failure for no reason whatsoever. The 2t was nearly full and I always stayed below the red line (only just below).

To make things worse the cylinder barrel has some sort of ceramic coating meaning that it can not be rebored so I’m looking at a 10,000 baht bill.