samuislander

TOT, have Paid for 2 gig for over 2 years and maybe have seen this speed a total of 10 hours in that time, up time is 32%, most of the time there is no service.

TT&T OK when it is working, but more reliable than TOT.

CAT CDMA Device,(www.catcdma.com) I have had this device for 2 months and It works very well, I can always connect and DL speed is good to excellent and upload is better than TOT or TT&T. And you don't need a telephone line.

I will stop my TOT Service in Jan, 09 if there is no substantial improvement.

Yes

NO!

Yes

Solid, Committed and Credible businesses will survive.

The old atage "you get what you pay for" is especially true in Asia.

A good contractor has a lot of overheadTAXES , Taxes, Social Insurance, Vehicle Maintenance and fuel, Taxes, VAT, Rent, Electricity, water, Bookkeeping services, employee benefits. The list is infinate and changes every month. Our overhead is almost 35% of our monthly fixed expenses. We carry liability insurance, mecical insurance on all employees pay sicial insurance.

We have an office, a shop, a Company vehicle (fully insured liability insurance) over 2 million baht in tools and specialty testing equipment.

If you are looking for cheap it is avaliable but don't bitch about the quality of the work, or service.

Happy Birthday "Long Live the King"

Not on Samui, or in Surat. Take it to the Manufacturers repair center in Bangkok if you value the camera.

Good luck

Just would like to know how a "group" (10) of Iranians got into Thailand and stayed for over a year and no one noticed?????

I believe the Japaneese have the right idea, finger print every "Foreigner" that enters Thailand. The Japaneese found 5 people on thier "black list" the first day.

The Problem just keeps getting worse. I have to have my truck serviced every 2 month because of dammage caused by the roads here on Samui.

I go to Surat and it is like I am driving a new truck, no water on the roads, no holes.

Agian, no one seems to give a sxxx about us here on Samui. The repairs done on the roads only add to the problems as they are very shody and temporary. Sand is a good base for concreat but the road bed must be properly prepaired. Water gets under the cement and it causes a hole as there is no support for the cement.

I no longer ride a motorcycle on Samui as it has become to dangerious, what with the holes, standing water and other obsticals put in your path.

Until the "powers that be" make a decision to upgrade and repair the infrastructure on Samui and do it properly Samui will remain a second rate tourist destionation.

Just a note, the roads in Natorn are getting very bad, should be intersting when they attempt to repair those roads and still maintaine the traffic.

By the way cement takes 21 days to fully cure!

Have a nice week.

As we all get older we need to keep up on health issues that can effect all of us.

New Sign of a Stroke -- Stick out Your Tongue

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters. S.T.R.

My friend sent this to us at BDO and encouraged us to post it and spread the word. I agree. If everyone can remember something this simplewe could save some folks. Seriously!! Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken upIngrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm Ingrid passed away.)

She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.

Some don't die.

They end up in a helpless and hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognizeddiagnosed and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Read and Learn! Remember the "3" steps S.T.R.

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE.

T * Ask the person to TALK to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE(Coherently) (I.e. It is sunny out today)

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked' if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these contact the Hospital immediately!! And describe the symptoms to the doctor.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

Using 3 phase power especially in a residence, can be dodge unless proper precautions are taken.

We have a problem here on the island not only with brown outs and power loss, but loss of a phase.

Phase loss can burn out motors very fast unless protection devices are installed. The Brown Out (Low Voltage) problem is because there are to many customers connected to one transformer or the wire from your house to the transformer is to small or overloaded, this problem is being addressed slowly by PEA. I will not go in to the details except to say it is a real problem for computers and for your refrigerator. A/C units have anti-recycle timers built into them and are mostly immune from the recycle problems.

The house you described should operate on a 45A single phase meter (yes they have them) you should have a demand load done on your house, but in general, unless everything in the house is running at the same time and starts at one time there should be no problem, the single phase load should be less than 30-40 amps, (average).

A single phase pump is best for a home pool, don't let them tell you 3 phase is cheaper to operate, it is NOT, a watt is a watt and the meter measures watts weather 1 or 3 phase you pay for power used (watts) or as the meter reads Kilo-watts, 1wattX1000=1kw

Don't for get to use energy saving bulbs and the new LED bulbs, Add a Protector to your frig, if you have captive hot water heaters keep the temperature below 40 C.

Keep your A/C filters clean, raise the temperature a degree or two, one degree can save you 8 % on electrical usage.Keep windows and doors closed when the A/C is in use.

Fans can be a real energy saver and can assist the A/C in air distribution.

Most low cost and medium cost places seem to be 80-100% full, The high end seems to be suffering.

Yes, Business in general is down on the island.

Don't know why.

I also noted that there were a lot of flight cancellation by Bangkok Airways on their website this morning????

Have a Great Day

Samuislander

Do you think there have been less tourists coming to Samui over the last 6 months in comparison to previous years?

If this is the case, what reasons would you give?

Costs of flights to USM, Not enough publicity,

Concern about possible threats or terrorism and unrest,

Negative publicity about Samui and Thailand in general.

Checked Bangkok Airways web site this morning.

There are many flight cancellations, anyone know why?

I buy my Staff T-shirts from a shop near Big Joe's (in the same shop row at the other end) The quality is excellent, good selection and the price is reght.

Takes a week or two, but worth the wait

Samuislander

I will fly in from Samui.

Samuiislandre

Samui has a "State of the Art" garbage incinerator built by the Japanese about 10-15 years ago. I visited the facility 5 years ago to assess a smell problem for the T.B. at the plant. it is truly state of the art well trained staff. The biggest problem was and evidently still is "Lack of Garbage" Hopefully this plant is still working and being used. Getting the garbage to the plant is and always was a problem, the type of vehicles and containers to fit the dump doors, along with many other (easly solved) problems.

No one likes garbage, this plane costs $3 million a year to operate, used or not.

If the fees were charged by type of collection point, residence, store, restaurant, resort, hotel, ------and so on the Sanitation people would know what type of garbage truck to use. Residents and hotels ect. need to purchase or lease proper containers (with lids) from the "Sanitation Department" that are compatible with

the type of pick up vehicle.

My observations of the present garbage pick up operation is very bad, the Sanitation Crew pick and sorts through the Garbage on the side of the road as the truck drips foul water behind it. The picking and cleaning is good for the Sanitation workers and good for the incenerator plant. "Green Peace would be proud".

The sorting could be done at or near the plant, as there is plenty of room there.

Years ago complaints came from near by residents that on foggy days a smell came from the plant, this occurred when the dump pit chamber doors were opened, the pressure difference let the smell waft out, the chamber doors are designed to have the truck tilt and seal against the door before it is opened, but I digress.

The point is we have a "State of the Art" non polluting, fantastic resource here on Samui, we need to use it.

We also need to Charge for Garbage Pick-up and enforce it, if they don't pay a fine needs to be assessed against the OCCUPANT of the property.

Littering also needs to be enforced, lets put those Cops who set up road blocks for NO Helmats and put them on the street on their motor bikes and ticket the litter bugs.

LETS Keep SAMUI CLEAN, for all of our sakes, and impress our visitors the right way.

Just look at the roads to and from the Airport, the "First Impression a Visitor gets of Samui" If it weren't for the charm of the airport (minus the touts) we would really leave a worse impression. The New Terminals will really impress the visitors, Ambiance and Charm.

Weather we know it or not Bangkok Airways is the best thing that happened to Samui, with out Bangkok Airways there would be no Samui as we know it.

Just ask a tourist, it is not expensive. If you live here or have a company here and qualify get a "Samui Residents Card" you get 20% discount on flights as well as 100 baht off the airport fee.

I did check a return flight from Surat Thani to Bangkok and the total price was Baht 7,390. An equivalent fare with Bangkok Airways was Baht 8,030 so the additional Baht 640 saves a bus, ferry and bus trip to Surat. The Bangkok Airways promotional fare is only Baht 5,265. A flight from Bangkok to Phuket return was Baht 8,160 and to Krabi was Baht 7,830 so it seems that Bangkok Airways are once again being made the whipping boy for Koh Samui’s problems in not attracting tourists over the recent high season when the bad publicity last year and hotel prices probably had as much to do with that as did the much cheaper general packages to the Andaman Resort areas working hard to regain custom after the tsunami. So once again we are seeing calls for a second airport but there seems to be no evidence that this would produce cheaper fares and unless the hotels are prepared to compete on price with the Andaman

Just some food for thought

Have a great weekend

Condolences to his wife and family.

I have a lot of Warm clothes I would like to donate for those who need them in the North of Thailand.

Anyone know who to contact or who to send them to?

Thanks

SI

I have lived and worked LEGALLY in Thailand for almost 20 years.

I have a company that pays it's taxes.

I pay my taxes, and get a refund every year.

The process is a pain to be sure, but it is a process and the law.

I have now opted for a multiple entry Non "B" visa because of the problem with the work permit expiring with the visa and during the process the 1 year visa can take 4-5 months to be issued which during this time you have to renew the work permit 4-5 times, I would rather go out on a short holiday every 3 months, when I come back get the work permit renewed. Also don't need to report address to Immigration every 3 months.

I have no problem with Non"B" visa's being issued AS LONG AS YOU HAVE A VALID WORK PERMIT

You must bring the work permit when you apply and have a copy of Every page signed and stamped.

Other documents are provided by my bookkeeper as required by the regulations.

Never a problem, never a question, and yes just got a new Non "B" last month.

I believe that the tourist visa rules are designed to prevent people from living and working in Thailand with out paying taxes. Or running a business or working for a business legal or not that does not pay the required Taxes or Social Insurance on it workers.

The moral is know and follow the rules and the process although strange sometimes and changes at times works.

I worked as Q.A. on both Hong ong and K.L. airports.

They both had a lot of problems and still have some.

The oonly way to work out the kinks is to open and use the systems, no test ever works the systems, using them does.

As rule in 6 months they should have 95% of the proplems solved, the last 5% take a long time and a lot of changes and money.

Congrats to Thailand on the Opening of the new airport.

We have been waiting for a long, long time.

Also can anyone tell me where I can gat a copy of the photo of the plane being towed by the Elephant at Don Muang.

A great photo if there ever was one.

Thanks from Samui

Depending on what type of Main Meter the place or housing estate has there are many variables.

3 phase has peak demand charges which depending on usage at certian times of the day cause a considerable increase in the bill.

Than there is the Fuel Adjustment Charge.

Now what happens if your house or the main cable to your house has a problem, everything after the meter is the responsibility of the land owner.

That means all the wiring past the meter, money needs to be collected so if there are problems there are moneys avaliable to make repairs.

The last project we completed pays over 5 baht a Kw in an average month. Each property is metered as is the common areas. Each property pay for what they use plus a small percentage for maintenance if the MDB and the system in general.

Another factor is the size of the transformer, uses a small amount of current even whne no current is being used, the size and length of the wire to each house (line losses).

The owner also had to put up a considerable deposit for the transformer 400 baht per/ KVA, plus installation and miselanous charges from PEA.

I thing that 6 baht a Kw is is very cheap, but it will go up and up.

And just where would you put this new airport?

I have been present for 2 surveys on Samui and the only 2 sites where there is enough room for an airport are both close to mountains where sheer winds are to frequent and the visibility is bad 50% of the time.

The aproach to the runways would also be dodgey at best.

The only place for a new airport would be out into the sea, like the one I worked on in the Seychels. I think the environmental groups would have a ball with that. Yes ICOA will have a say in the location of any new International Airport.

I have been directly involver in the construction and comissioning 3 new airports in the region. Airports are difficult at best, not only to plan and impliment as many rules and regulations MUST be followed.

Normal time on a well planed , non-political, well funded, qualified contractors, good logistics and qualified labor force is 5 years to complete and another year to commission.

What do you think the odds are here!

It would appear that there are problems with the under sea cable from the mail land agian. On the beach near where the cable comes ashore I have seen some type of light oil covering the sand!!!!

The outage was posphoned as not to interfear with the"Full Moon Party"

It will be the same as last September, and will include Koh Phangnan this time.

My friend is looking for someone to take him to Penang and back to Samui, he will get another Non "B" visa.

Anyone make this trip?

Thanks

In Lipa Noi we could not even get to Nathorn this morning due to high water. Looks like a repeat of November 2003, but this time worse.

Take Care and keep dry!

Below is a direct translation of the paper given out at the meeting with PEA yesterday in Natorn.

"Because of tourism growth, Koh Samui has been required a lot of electricity demand. Therefore, the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) has planned to run a new underwater cable (the third one) from Khanom district (Nakhon Sri Thammarat province) which will be finished by the end of next year (2006). The cost of the new cable is 900 million baht. And it is believed to efficiently increase more power in Koh Samui.

Due to this plan period, the PEA has set up the dates of annual maintenance for the underwater cable (115 kilovolt) 1 phase on September 15 – 20, 2005. During this time, the PEA will be able to distribute the power for 1 phase (33 kilovolt), and will use 30 generators to produce the power which will be only 50% of the normal rate.

To have sufficient power for everyone during the maintenance, the PEA would like to ask for your cooperation to reduce the unnecessary power as low as possible (half of the normal usage).

If should you have more information, please contact PEA Koh Samui at 0 – 7742 – 0159, 0 – 7742 – 0995 or 0 – 1978 – 6297 (24 hrs. service)."

No comments or speculation from this EE, just the facts as provided by PEA.