JimsKnight

Drink water. It's cheaper and better for you.

Or drink rum, much more natural. Made from sugar cane and sweet as a nut

Cheaper too!

Chang is the poison of beers. Left the stuff alone as it gives me a 'changover'

Which rum do you drink? The local Thai rums are well known for their deadly long-term effects......

Alcohol in general is known for it's deadly long-term affects.

The local chang is famous for brimming with embalming fluid but hey

I'll take rum over embalming fluid thanks

This the reason a fair few of us don't bother with up-country villages, you are the oddity, the strange foreigner and nothing will change that.

I stayed for two weeks in a thai village on the isaan border.

They were some of the most greediest and ignorant folk I've ever come across.

By greedy, they would expect you to pay for anything and everything if you were in their company.

By ignorant they would ignore you even if you spoke decent thai.

They were doing exactly what the OP was saying. When it came to Loh Kratong the day after we got hit with a bill for all the drink that the villagers had guzzled.

I couldn't wait to get out of the place after that (I bought a bike to get myself clear!)

People might slag off towns and cities but at least they usually have a more open mind...

Before anybody speaks about this, they need to understand that I have been working in politics when the Thai prime minister was still a child.

Sort of thing that Samak liked to say.

Anyway, we all know what Hun Sen was up to when Abhisit was a child and it's hardly something to be proud of.

Yeah, Hun Sen was a Khmer rouge killer and fled when he had a barney with some local leaders.

He fools no-one, he's a bigger dictator than any in the Thai government.

This is why he loves the red-shirts so much. Spread subversion and dissent from within. That's Hun Sens game.

AFAIK it's around or about the 280 days of a calander year for tax-exile.

Don't quote me on that cause I'm just going off old info from a year or so ago.

I agree with you! I remember being in Pattaya in 1987 and sitting on a "song taew" watching the driver over-charge every Falang that got on the bus. Finally I couldn't take it any more and said "why are you cheating all these foreigners?" The bus driver lost face and challenged me to fight (along with his friend).

Thailand is like a country with an over-abundance of immature con men that you constantly have to "keep in check". It's as if there are no morals or ethics here, it's just "get what you can get away with".

I disagree. You cannot blame the con men and it's not up to you (and impossible) to keep them in check. It's the government which is immature. It doesn't matter where you live, without proper regulation public transport becomes a free for all where anything goes. People do not naturally self regulate as they are inherently greedy (and evil). They need enforceable laws to keep them in check.

No they don't, only dictators and tyrants use that excuse to force regulation and 'rules' on the working man.

Don't let the bad ones tar the good ones with the same brush!

Drink water. It's cheaper and better for you.

Or drink rum, much more natural. Made from sugar cane and sweet as a nut

Cheaper too!

Chang is the poison of beers. Left the stuff alone as it gives me a 'changover'

'I would not know as I am saving myself for marriage.'

That bit made me chuckle

A very snazzy and trendy dresser.

Now he has to get used to the Gaol clothes...

Try this one for size:

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

Plenty of bike for big guys on that machine...

People usually see Thailand as a very cheap place, but actually it isnt.

Examples

Trollyey full of shopping (farang food)- Tesco Thailand 4,000 Baht. Coles Australia 4,000

Kilo Good (reasonable) Steak - 1000 Baht Thailand - $20 Australia 600 baht

Kilo Cheese Thailand - 700 Baht - Australia 800 Baht

Decent bread - Thailand 60 baht. Australia 80 baht

Beer in a foreign food type restaurant - 120 baht. Beer in a pub Australia 180 baht

Night is a cheap hotel in Bangkok - 1000 baht. Night in a cheap motel Sydney 1600 Baht

Female Entertainment Thailand for 2 hours 1000-2000 baht. Asiam Female entertainment for half an hour 3000 baht Australia

Rent condo in bangkok suburb 8000 baht a month. Rent condo in cheap sydney suburb 25,000 month (bit of a diffference here I admitn)

Car ownership in Australia - Much cheaper

Having a girlfriend in Australia - much cheaper (get a prenup!)

Cable TV - australia, cheaper than Thailand

Electricity cheaper in Australia

Fuel Cheaper in Australia

The only thing much cheaper in Thailand is if you live in the villiage, drink beer at the local Karaeoke, eat at Thai places or cook local (market) food at home. But then you run the risk of supporting a Thai family and have problems with all the people wanting to borrow money from you!

In Australia you can even find cheap places to stay near beautiful beaches (caravan parks, motels etc).

So why don't you go back to Australia?

Personally i don't know Australia but i know Europe and USA and there is NO WAY for a 70 year old man to have a 20 year young Girlfriend. BTW, what is a Prenup?

Cars in Europe are cheaper you are right, but the insurance and tax and maintnance (labour and parts) on a car will bankrupt you. Food? In USA cheaper, but most of European Countries much more expensive.

Fuel in Europa at least twice the price as in LOS

Electricity at least twice the price as in LOS.

Where in Europe or US can you rent a condo for 5'000 Baht?

I rent here a nice single house (not a dam muban house) for only 10'000 Baht per month. In Hawaii i payd for a similar House 1'900 USD per month

So i recomment you travel around a little bit, go to Switzerland, South France, Hawaii, US, espsially NY and LA.

I hear that. I'm getting hammered on two cars for £650!

I'd pay a fraction of that in Thailand.

On my big bike I'm paying £10 in road tax in LOS.

I'm staying in a apartment villa for 12,000 a month.

It simply is far cheaper to live in LOS than back home.

Bar steward.

Jeeze mario, You must have meant it, you said it twice

ps: please dont give me anymore stars, somebody will only steal them again

i might call my doctor, perhaps he'll upgrade my meds

Stars going down are typically when someone hasn't got the gumption to argue something out and just nickles you down on the stars.

I think mine dove into 1 starsville from the airport siege onwards when I voiced support for the PAD folks

Don't concern yourself with such worry's just try and steer clear of any fighting and wait out the bitter end...

The temperance movement still bubble away occasionally in their musings methinks...

Mosthly they stealing only this typical Thai "Ladybikes", like Mio, Nuovo, Fino, Pinto, or whatever. Buy a "real" Bike and no Local wil steal it.

Yes and no.

Up in Chiang Mai big bikes were occasionally targetted BUT typical thai lads are not that handy at big 200 kilo bikes, they tend to avoid them.

That's coming from a thai bike mechanic...

The disc locks are nice but if they really want a light dooky little bike then they'll just hoy it onto the back of a pickup and away they go!

Cheers

Hey lads.

Just wondering where the best place in Pattaya / Jomtien is for PC hardware, games and that sort of thing.

I know Pantip plaza is the place of places but don't fancy a trek to bangers just yet

Cheers.

Bomber, I've sent you a pm

Lol, Time for a Drink me thinks......

*Pours a cool glass of thai rum and mixer*

Cheers

Guys.. I am not looking for a webdesigner.. I am looking for a company that also has webdesigners, a 1 stop service. A company that can do it all.

They should have a good reference list of clients, able to show that sites they make come high in listings.. etc etc. A company with opening hours and not an office location down in Nana Plaza a couple of days a week.

Regarding this issue and internet, this is one of the biggest mistakes about websites and you see a lot of them in Thailand. You have a web designer make a site for you and the client is happy.. “ yeah of course we`re online, we got a nice website!”

This is then exactly what you ve got and nothing more. People can only see this website if you send them a mail or hand out your business card. Pretty useless from a point of global business view

The truth is that to make a good working website from start to finish involves a lot of other things. It might also never be finished.

Even though my best friend for 20 years and who is an extremly skilled Art Director and could do the design for free, I want a 1 stop service involving one company.

There must be more people out there that has made good working websites in Thailand?

Try www.digitalmetrix.net

Good rates and good results.

Just so you know, Poland has "PL" on their licence plates....

Regards, LN

Ahh right ok, so I wonder what the 'P' stands for then? It's got the Euro star type flag on it...

Cheers Jim, keep 'em coming. BTW Rolypie, didn't actually notice Jim going any faster than other traffic in the area, in fact, he was riding safely by keeping pace with the flow of traffic. CBR400 Jim?

Hey Jude, yeah I think it was to do with parked cars and maybe I got a bit close to them. Storm in a teacup bs anyway, onward and upward

Yeah it's a 400. Soon to have a bigger bike all being well

For one of those engines you're looking at mega-bucks as you'd be best off importing one in from Japan via BKK.

Are you putting it in an existing skyline or something else?

If I rode about on the fearful assumption that every door could spring open I wouldn't even get on a bike at all.

Weren’t you ever taught about the ‘door zone’?

If I choose to make what you consider is a risky move then so be it. Try to remember what country you are in and how things work out here.

I don't pretend to be cool rider but nor do I pretend to be a biker who stays behind cars all the time. Some bikers are wired for cold logic and some of us are driven by the vibe and thrill of biking. If that vibe and thrill takes me around cars on the inside then so be it, I welcome that groove.

You can make a risky move if you so wish - just do not involve anyone else!

I think we all know which country we are in and most of us adapt our driving/riding/cycling to suit local conditions but we still retain our core standards.

To paraphrase an old RAF saying – “There are bold motorcyclists, there are old motorcyclists but there are no old, bold motorcyclists!”

Well said, but for me the 'door zone' is for parked traffic, not traffic jams or slow moving traffic.

Core standards are a nice thing but after biking in thailand for nearly ten years I tend to believe that European biking in Thailand isn't always compatible.

But I digress. Here's something to put all what we've spoken of in perspective

This is crazy stuff!