GarryP

19 minutes ago, transam said:

Are you the exception, can a rearview mirror stop you being rear ended by ANY passing car, I think not, unless you also have another set of eyes in the back of your head..........🤭

If I see a car driving behind erratically or very close to the verge, I pull over and get out of the way. BTW, a rear view mirror replaces the need for me to have eyes transplanted in the back of my head. 

FWIW, I am mostly cycling on country B roads, and red earth roads, where the amount of traffic is quite low. 

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

That depends where you are I think.... 

 

I recall riding from central Bangkok to Wat Khlong Toey Nok Pier and taking a small boat across to Bang Kachao.... 

 

The ride was perilous...  It was the motorcyclists which were the worst... A moto-taxi actually overtook me, then slammed on the brakes in front of me to drop of their passenger, I slammed on the anchors and the bike slipped away from under me...  remaining on my feet luckily..  The moto-taxi's were extremely helpful and the guy apologetic - they don't ride deliberately badly, its just the way they ride, without consideration or care for anyone else. 

 

It was when I was riding along one of the roads towards the port I realised how perilous my situation was... Huge lorries passing me and they are not passing with a decent gap, they were 1-2 feet away....  one wobble, one bit of bad road, on snag of the front wheel on grading and I'm on the ground....   head perilously close to 10's of tonnes of crushing weight on a wheel - squashed head... 

 

Nope...  no thanks... Next time I went across to Bang Krachao it was with the family - we drove to the ferry... took the bikes across on a mini-adventure, but even then, on the quiet roads over there some of the vehicles (mainly delivery box pickups), pass at speeds I consider too fast for the road, at distances too close when the guy give far wider space....

 

IMO - Thailands roads users, certainly in the busier metropolitcan areas are just not mature enough to allow for safe riding.

 

I think I if were 'up country' somewhere a lot quieter, it might be an extremely pleasant way to get around on a daily ride, stop off at a few mom & pop cafe's on the way, have a bite for breakfast etc... make friends...   Could be lovely....  until the d-head in the Box Pickup loaded up on Kratom screams into while reading his phone.... 

 

 

 

 

 

The ice delivery pickup trucks, followed by the parcel delivery service providers such as Flash, Kerry, etc. are the worst in my neck of the woods in Issan. Drive at crazy speeds and overtake as close as they can to the slower vehicle. I just swear like eff at them. It's all I can do.  

2 hours ago, transam said:

Dangerous drivers 'behind' you are rarely spotted, especially on a bicycle......😋

Wrong. I have a rear view mirror on my bike and check it constantly. Whether car, motorcycle or bicycle, I always drive or ride defensively, i.e. checking the actions of other road users, and anticipating the possible idiotic actions of other road users such as pulling out of side roads without checking whether there is oncoming traffic (which seems to be a speciality here), etc.  

14 minutes ago, theshu25 said:

She also won 2 weeks ago in Saudi Arabia so as usual the reporting here is pathetic.

Are these articles all AI created now?

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

it wouldn't matter how bright the rear lights were ..... I'd never ride a bike here, and at night '  ....  10 x worse ..

it's just to dangerous ....   and in the rain '     crickey   !

I try to avoid riding at night. When I go out on my long rides, I always try to get home by 6 p.m. at the latest.  

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

riding a black pushbike at night in rainy conditions on a main rd in Pattaya ..... 

 

what could possibly go wrong     !   ....   

 

 

 

Surely, if someone is driving up from the rear, as appears to be the case here, the color of the bike wouldn't play much of a role (you'd only see the rear wheel, seat stay and seat post). What would normally help would be having rear lights, although it did not appear to help in this case, if the latest image is the actual bike.

14 minutes ago, youreavinalaff said:

I find it surprising and really quite sad that parents of mixed race kids allow one of the parental languages to be lacking.

 

Our daughter grew up quadlingual. 

 

I spoke to her only in English, my wife spoke only Thai. Grandparents spoke in Khmer and many friends of hers spoke Isaan Laos.

 

She attended Tha government school, non EP.

 

She is now working in a very good job in UK and studying further education. 

 

She is fluent in all 4 languages she was brought up with.

 

 

What language did you speak to your wife in? My wife only spoke Thai so I spoke to her in Thai. As a result, we only spoke Thai in the home. A screw up on my part but I didn't want to have to translate everything I said to my son for my wife to understand. Kicking myself now but what's done is done. 

4 hours ago, Muhendis said:

The police don't see it as their job.

Until someone tells them to get out there and start arresting landowners whose land is on fire, nothing will happen.

In national parks the parks department, or whatever it is called, should be made to take responsibility.

The police could actually make post burning arrests too. Just drive around the countryside and wherever they see evidence of burning, it is not hard to see, inquire as to the land ownership and issue a warrant against the owner. Do that for a couple of years and they'll soon stop burning. Also, close down, or at least heavily fine, all sugar mills that accept burnt cane. If they stop accepting burnt cane, the farmers will stop burning. However, local authorities need to help out with supplying cane harvesters, as locals can't afford such machinery. 

3 hours ago, Gottfrid said:

Not necessary at all. Same as it was not necessary for you to get hung on it and post a reply. It´s probably just that some of us knows what knee jerk reactions are made in different situations here. The guy definitely did a good thing. Not many person would dare to jump into that river with all the hidden streams that can take you down. 

Regarding if I am bored or a grumpy grandpa. At the age of 53 (soon 54) years of age, I have yet not got to the stage of grandpa. With that taken out of the equation, we will only have the bored factor left. I will ask you like this. If your life was full of all the points shown below, would you be bored?

• A perfect loving wife, that actually understands real life and can engage in an interesting and fruitful discussion as well as solve problems on her own.
• 2 daughters that do their best to excel in school as well as in real life.
• A house in the country side, with modern furniture and a pool.
• 1 condo in Bangkok and 1 in Pattaya.
• A monthly salary between 280k - 480k baht.
• Free working hours as long as I meet the goals always working from home. (I always meet the goals )
• I lot of free time and always the possibility for a holiday, with only a laptop with me.

As you surely understand know, Pesche, neither am I. 

Wrong! Please look above for the insight. 

You hiring???

46 minutes ago, jippytum said:

Do Thai customers have to sign the same declaration for transfers above 50k.... No... They do not

Yes, I had to with UOB. Drove nearly two hours to their nearest branch to do this.  

25 minutes ago, DrJoy said:

Many functions are not available for foreigners-

 

1. Opening a new savings/current/FCD account - not available

 

2. Not allowed to open Fixed Deposits via the app

 

3. Mutual Fund / Share trading account - not possible via the app

 

4. Cannot request for a Balance confirmation certificate 

 

5. Cannot request/apply for a credit card 

Okay, I wasn't aware of that. Probably because those restrictions do not apply to me. 

30 minutes ago, Thailand J said:

US tech sector is the mother lode. Make sure you have some exposure in  your portfolio. Probably I have overloaded but the risk is rewarded.

I cant resist NVIDIA, bought 440 sh at $598/sh 3 weeks ago, it's up 20% closed at $720.

 

 

Wish I had that amount of money to invest. I'll just ride the tech wave with my Innotech mutual fund. Up 112.89%, but that is over about 7 years.  Also up 15% on India over 4 months. But don't ask me about China, I'm down 51%.  

28 minutes ago, DrJoy said:

I was informed by my contact in MOI that the current government is not interested in processing citizenship applications.

 

He has no idea when the next MOI interview will be conducted

If true, that totally sucks. But I seem to recall that it was terrible during the last Pheu Thai govts as was the PR scheme. Crazy that things improved under a coup government, only to revert to the old norm. 

5 minutes ago, billd766 said:

The problem that I have is that I am not certain about the accuracy of my BP tester.

 

However I am the only one that uses it. They have many BP testers of different types at the hospital that are used by so many people every day.

 

I tend not to believe their readings over mine though.

 

One reading at the hospital last week gave me a reading of 99/48/71. The next reading, straight after was 131/63/73.

I have a relatively new Omron HEM-7156-A which has supposedly been clinically tested. I trust its accuracy now but who knows in a couple of years down the road. 

The differences in your reading from hospital are way too different. I would be questioning that too. 

39 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

In case anyone is concerned, that technique can't lower your blood pressure to cover up an underlying problem such as a major arterial blockage, all it does is to reduce the abnormalities caused by sub conscious stress.

Yeah, even when I'm about to take a reading at home, I usually worry a bit that the result may be high. As a result, it may cause a rise in pressure. Hence the need for a calming technique. Thanks. 

1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:

If you're white coat phobic like I am, and a majority of people seem to be, your blood pressure increases when you visit the hospital or doctors office. That used to result in me having pointless discussions about blood pressure medications and lifestyle, after a while it became boring so I began to refuse the tests. Later, I read an article about how to control your BP in a medical setting so I gave it a try and it does work. Now, I spend 5 minutes before the test, going through "the process" and afterwards my BP test result is nearly always excellent.

 

Tell the nurse you want 5 minutes to relax, she will understand and is used to this. Sit with back straight, knees together and hands in lap. Loosen belt and tie and close eyes. Inhale deeply, hold breath for five seconds then exhale via the mouth ONLY, very very slowly. Repeat 5 times. Job done.

 

The exhalation process described above, stimulates the vagus nerve which controls blood pressure. Try it. Historically, I typically would see a reading of 160+, The last time I had the test two weeks ago, I was 113.

 

I just tried that at home and I could not believe my readings. I need to try that next time I have my health check up.  

25 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

144/86 Now, sitting on my PC, no nurse in the room, on the screen, or in my mind. 

132/77 now, sitting in front of my PC, just played sudoku.

The only people to suffer from this are the owners of mom and pop shops that are located near 7/11s. Their sales of alcohol will go down as they were making most of their sales to people buying during the off/ban hours. Those customers will mostly start relying on 7/11.      

2 hours ago, sinthavee said:

Your Tax ID will remain there same as before(My Tax ID dogs not change even after I updated my status change).

My tax ID changed to my Thai ID when I informed the tax office of the change in my status.

5 hours ago, Zyxel said:

I bet Steve did a runner.