GarryP

I don't think you have got it wrong Jayboy. It does seem petty and ridiculous that different gov't agencies are not on the same page. You would not be penalized. However, if down the road you decide to apply for citizenship, it does become an issue and you must get the correct nationality listed in the requisite documents, namely, house registration, otherwise your application will not be accepted. So I would say it is best to get things right from the begining just in case.

Apart from applying for citizenship, I don't know whether it is needed for anything else, but why risk it. It could be quite time consuming and expensive getting it corrected.

You will not be able to stay with Angrit in your tabien baan. You will either be British or nothing. In any case, when you obtain certified translations from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the acceptable translation of British is the Thai phonetic equivalent, not "Angrit in Thai". If your translation is submitted using the latter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will return the documents uncertified, pending correction to "British (Thai version)". This is all assuming you will follow Arkady's suggestion of having your parents nationality listed against your name.

I saw my first shaft-drive bicycle in Thailand only a couple of weeks ago. Intriguing. I wonder how they match up to more traditional chain drive bikes. I am wary of the hype provided on websites actually selling the product - tend to be somewhat biased or misleading.

I read the book and haven't smoked for three weeks, barely think about it now, and am delighted to be a non-smoker. I'll never look back.

Congratulations. I am still delighted 18 months on. So much more energy.

But Bike Station is open all day Sunday, unlike a lot of the other bike shops. To me that makes good business sense. If you have to close one day for staff to have a day off, why not close on the day with least business, which for many entertainment related venues is Monday. I personally wish a lot more of these stand alone shops would stay open on Sunday, when I am much more likely to have time to visit.

Anyway, I do hope you get fixed up with a bike that gives you all you are looking for. When the new Giant stock comes in I will pay a visit to their Udomsuk shop, not to see the new stuff, but like you to see how much the prices come down on their 2010/11 models. I am still shopping round for something for the streets of Bangkok to replace the shopper I am using and am edging towards a hybrid, as opposed to an MTB with street tyres as suggested by several posters and one of the Thai staff of Bike Zone.

Over the nearly 30 years I have been here, most friends ended up going back home or became unhinged. Between full time work and family, I haven't had much time for friends anyway. One poster mentioned that if the wife didn't click with a prospoctive friend or friend's wife then it was a no-go situation. However, I have not had this problem, my wife's friends are her friends and the few I have are mine.

It could be lonely when I retire though.

A bungalow on Chawaeng beach 30Baht/night. Single light bulb and the generator turned off at 10pm. No running water in the bungalows. Magic Mushroom Milkshakes to wash down the ganja cookies, both items clearly listed in the menus.

Kao Sarn Road was not the back packing center of Bangkok. Most gravitated towards Soi Si Bampen and Ngam Dupli, The Malaysia Hotel and the Blue Fox.

Bus tickets were 1.5 Baht if I recall correctly.

Nowhere near as convenient as now, but much more interesting or so it seemed. Ah them were the days me lad, 5 Baht a bowl of noodles so big you couldn't eat them all and Amarit beer for next to nothing. A four star hotel was one with a small clear skylight, five stars got you a bigger one.

Have you noted the condition of a lot of those service/frontage roads. With all the articulated traffic the road surfaces are often shot to pieces, with waves in the tarmac, potholes everywhere, surface water, etc. Probably all that is missing is black ice. It would be safer to ride on the highway and pay the odd fine every now and then. Also, with those roads being for HGV traffic, it could not be a more dangerous place for motorcycle traffic, especially with the way trucks are driven here.

^And you can be sure that the first time you do not take your tabien baan with you, they will demand to see it.

She was the only woman rider, except for a few pillion passengers, and probably weighed no more than 50kg fully clothed and soaking wet. There was an odd mix of bikes and quite a few D-Trackers and Versys. The support vehicle had an MPC or MCP sticker which I think refers to the bike club they were with. There was one westerner in the group as well.

When I took the Honda bike test course last year, it was explained that motorcycles must stay in the left lane except for when passing parked/stopped vehicles or other objects blocking such lane, such as buses at bus stops. But once passed one must move back into the left lane.

As to minimum sized motorcycle, as long as the bike is registered it can be a small as they make them. The operative term here being registered. If the Lnad Transport Department will register it, you can ride it.

Last Saturday I was in Saraburi and saw a small woman on a Versys leading a pack of about 30 big bikes. She appeared to be far from incompetent. When leaving from a restaurant, standing at the side of the bike, she had to put down the side stand before mounting the bike she was that small. But once on she appeared no different than any of the guys, handling the bike with the aplomb of someone who has a lot of experience under her belt.

That looks a nice specimen. Your post represents the first third party confirmation of a bait working, which is greatly appreciated.

As it has worked for you, I may give it a try myself. I have used similar baits in the past but not this particular one. Unfortunately, I have not been out with rod and reel very often over the past year or two, so getting rusty.

That's the trouble with termites. You often don't know you have an infestation until severe damage has already been done. One evening I had clouds and clouds of winged termites flying about my living room. They had come out to set up new nests. I did not know I had an infestation. There were no outward signs. However, after this incident I checked every room and there were a number of wooden panels that looked fine from the outside but were really paper thin. Luckily I live in a rental. Lesson learned, my new house will be properly protected.

1600 Quitline. Call this number to get the required information in Thai. They will also send you a quit package and follow up calls by phone, or at least they used to.

Or visit their website at:

http://www.thailandquitline.or.th/

My son claims that it is difficult to get after market shock absorbers for the Hayate as no-one is producing them and the fit is not standard so ones produced for other brands and models can't be used. Is there any truth in this?

Eventually, we will need to replace the stock ones and should go for something more appropriate for our weight, both my son and I weigh in at 80+kgs so with us both up it is carrying more than 160kgs and bottoms out over the less friendly sleeping policemen. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

PS Any word on the English language service manual. You would have thought that it had been made by now with all the Hayate sales in the Philippines.

There are some classsics here. "....and won't go down on him". Dolls don't do that, do they?

You are going to try mounting a bear? Your wife/gf won't be happy about that. I'd leave that to the dog actually.

And now for somthing a little more serious. Get a bolster (the long pillows), and some hard wearing fabric. Rub the fabric on the tush of a bitch in heat - if it will let you. And then cover the bolster with the fabric, tying off both ends. Problem solved. A dog friendly humpillow.

That is interesting, we got a house 2 weeks ago, my g/f has yet to get a thai health card, when she does and I go to get the yellow book, do I /she have to ask for the thai health card or is it just given to me? What access does it give you?

It will give you the benefits of the former 30Baht (now free) health care. Don't expect to much care though.

Misconceptions abound. The care provided with the "health card" is sufficient to treat you for what ails you, with no frills. With private care (paying) the queues are much shorter, the service much friendlier and there is a greater choice as to the actual medicines available, however, the underlying treatment for the most part remains the same.

I do believe, however, that those people who received cards when they received their Yellow House Registration Books (Tor Ror 13) were just lucky and the cards were given out by mistake. Universal Health care is for Thai citizens. Once you get citizenship, Thai ID card and are recorded in a BLUE house registration document, then you would be entitled to a health card.

Saw a fellow in light blue and white open toe brogues the other day, but what really caught my attention was that his trousers seemed to be intentionally half mast - stopping at least 4 to 6 inches above his ankles. Perhaps, he was, perhaps he wasn't!

I am a shoe person, in that I do notice people's shoes. I would say it is a reasonable indicator but by no means infallible. Personally, I think those pointy shoes of court jester proportions ridiculously silly, but we have men on both sides of the divide who wear them at our office. I think in many cases you would need to look for other indicators - not that I know what they are - to be sure one way or another.

My son's bike is a Suzuki (Hayate bing the model). Alloy wheels with inner tubes. Yesterday I spoke to a few office messengers and they all said that the problem was with the tyre, not the inner tube. They said once a tyre starts "biting" the inner tube it will be a never ending story (yang nok kat yang nai - ยางนอกกัดยางใน). They all said I should bite my tongue and replace the hard IRC tyre that came with the bike with a Dunlop or Michelin.

It's only done 8,000 kms and looks ok to me tread wise but I'm willing to put on a new one if it will solve the problem.

Has any member gone away from the factory fitted size and fitted a chunkier style with more weight bearing capacity on their Click?

Forgot

Chunkier - I have not gone up on a Click but I have done it on other bikes and it helps nicely

Tread looks OK - Flat tires started to come more often before tire was worned out tread wise

if it will solve the problem - new wider tire of a non sporty brand and 40+? psi will clear the problem - yes, I believe it will

If you regulary drive around with 150 kilos, then try to get 110 wide or the inch equivalent - cannot divide with 2.52 to get it, you must look at the actual widths and compare.

Dug out this old thread for a reason. My son's Hayate has had four or five flats in the past two months. Prior to that never a problem. The tyres are still in reasonable condition, not having yet done 7,000kms and still plenty of tread. The first flat was caused by a metal shard which was removed and rather than patching a new tube was used. Since that time another three flats, which involved tow more tube replacements and one patching. My son is 80 kgs and maybe once a week I am on the back of the bike so it is carrying 160kgs on those occasions. It has got to the stage that when riding the possibility of a flat is constantly on your mind which is ridiculous.

The Hayate has mag wheels so spokes aren't the issue. One mechanic said the tyre needed replacing but three others said it was still good for several thousand more kms. Apart from changing to tubeless, any suggestions as to what I should look for. My son is assiduous in checking the pressure. Today, he got home from Uni without a problem but after two hours parked outside the house the tyre had gone flat. A real pain in the derriere.

I am one of those who will start using the train at Punnawitthi (spelling?) station instead of Onnut. It should cut down my travel time quite a bit. However, the boys in orange (win motocy) are going to suffer as they will no longer be used as a shuttle service to Onnut. I expect a 20 to 30 percent reduction in their numbers in Soi 101 over three or four months.

People who are not regular bike riders do not know what the correct sized bike is until it either battters their knee caps or bites them in the nuts. However, have any of you ever thought that the average Joe renting a bike does not want the right sized bike, most often opting to rent something smaller, and in fact would refuse to rent the proper sized bike. When I found out for the first time what the correct sized bike was for me (very recently actually and I am nearly half a century old), I couldn't believe it. It looked way too high and intimidating. This was after riding for years on cheap and cheerful push bikes.

As with many leisure activities, we do not read up on them unless we get really serious about them and thus, never learn that we have been doing something the hard or wrong way for years - or even dangerous way. I include myself here. I have only quite recently got into cycling more seriously for exercise and the enjoyment I get out of it, and found out that for the past 40 years or so I have been riding bikes that are supposedly too small for me (luckily no aches or pains for the error and my nuts and knees are fine thank you).

I promise when I upgrade from my shopper, I will buy the correct sized bicycle. I'm looking forward to it actually.

After driving to work from Thonburi to Asoke everyday for 3 years - I told myself I did not deserve the aggravation. Sold the car, bought a bicycle to commute Thonburi to Asoke. Lo and behold, my travel time was cut in half. I felt really good overtaking buses, luxury cars and taxis, although I did have to use a mask to protect myself from the fumes. Did this for the next three years until I had a chance to leave Bangkok forever. Was it dangerous? I would say no more dangerous than driving a car. Was it Liberating? TOTALLY! Would I do it again? Without a doubt!

Although I only ride around the outer Sukhmvit area at weekends, I have never felt in more danger than on the back of a motorycle. It is great fun. I too get a kick from overtaking buses and cars, being first off at the traffic lights. My bike is far from special, just a 6 speed shopper type thing, so I may look an idiot, but when the traffic is not so good I can easily get from Bang Na intersection to Prakanong faster than any four wheeled motor vehicle.

Fingers crossed, so far nothing worse than being cut-off once by a car turning into a filling station. Never any threat from motorcyles either. And this includes riding on Bang Na Trat.

Earllier this week I filed for an extension of stay and was greeted with yet another surprise. I am working in Thailand and have the requisite work permit, however, my extension of stay is based on marriage not work.

Last year, for the first time in 22 years of extensions, I was requested to provide a copy of my house rental agreement. Supposedly, this is because my wife's house registration document is still linked to her hometown but we live in Bangkok. Okay, so I have the document in hand and a copy was again requested. No problems. But this year I was also asked to submit photos of my place of work. This has never been asked for before so I was not prepared. Also my extension is based on my wife not my work. The officer was very nice about it though and mentioned in passing that document requirements seem to change every time a new chief is appointed. It is as if it is at the discretion of the new boss.

Anyway, the missing photos will be submitted in the next day or so.