tom yum goong

boric acid chalk did the trick in my house.

you might have to put it on the walls as well as the floors so the ants can't go around it.

I had a JRD Typhoon for about 5 months and sold it on at the first opportunity. Felt a bit guilty doing so as well.

The battery kept going flat. Sometimes the engine would cut out as i was driving along. Very underpowered and got through more petrol than a car.

Stick to the Japanese makes and you can't go wrong.

More tom yum goong all round then

I think its more of a sweet thing to do rather than something erotic.

At least I hope its not erotic as my aunt does it to me all the time.

There's a car around with an Isuzu badge, yet it's a Honda Civic. I've seen a few, what's the deal with that?

I believe they were built under license from Honda. Not very popular though...

Can anyone confirm that?

Yeah, the Isuzu Vortex is basically a Honda Civic. I think the exterior is ever so slightly different but underneath its exactly the same.

Not sure why they would do this though. Certainly Honda and Isuzu are not related corporately.

the two main companies that you can apply to for hire purchase loans in Thailand are Aeon and First Choice. Shops that accept them will have signs and stickers in front of the shop. Most large stores in Panthip and many smaller ones will accept and least one and often both.

However, I'm not sure as a foreigner that you could get accepted by them easily. Similar to applying for a Thai credit card really. You will need a work permit, employment visa and proof that you are earning above a certain threshold.

Interest is actually pretty low and there are some deals to be found like 0% interest if its only for 6 months. Normal interest for Aeon is 0.8% per month, First Choice is 1.3% per month.

In addition to smelly feet, apparently mosquitoes are attracted to Limburger cheese.

So stick a block of stinky cheese in the corner of your room and the mozzies will be all over that instead of biting you.

Might stink up your room a bit though.

not so much on the beach road itself in Karon. As you said most of the shops and restaurants are either around Karon circle or at the southern end as you cross over into Kata.

However, there are 2 small roads that lead off from the beach road which have some bars and restaurants. One is Luang Pho Chuang road, can't remember the name of the other. Both are within walking distance of Crowne Plaza.

If you don't have a suitable residence, don't own a dog.

Well said.

Couldnt agree more. I love dogs, have always had dogs at home when i was growing up and my dog (golden retriever) currently lives with my parents in BKK. I miss her a lot and would love to have her here with me in Phuket.

However, I cant because i live in a townhouse and it wouldn't be fair on her. I also wouldn't dream of allowing my dog to roam around in the street.

Sierra - i assume your dog does its business in your house or at least cleans up after itself. I'm sick of treading in the dog doo that my neighbours dogs spread around the place.

Personally, i wouldn't mind one bit if there were some dog killings near me. Sorry to say that, but people who own dogs need to be more responsible and considerate to their neighbours.

this private beach nonsense really gets on my tits.

All beaches in Thailand are supposed to be public property and i'm sick of these luxury hotels and developments who buy all the beachfront land close off public access.

Can we get a protest going?

But IMO part of Thailand is first world and some third!

Which part of Thailand would u say is first world?

IMHO I dont think you can define parts of a country in this way. The country must be viewed as a whole: economic output, GDP per capita, income gap, literacy, life expectancy and other health indicators, along with what other indicators you can use to measure development.

Thailand is in no way comparable even to a second world country but if u spend your entire time in lower Sukhumvit and other more affluent parts of Bangkok i guess you could get that impression.

I also agree that if you want to put countries into categories there should be a "fourth world" category.

definitely bamboo grubs.

eat them with beer and after a while its just like eating french fries. they don't taste of much either, so very easy to stomach.

if i'm not mistaken, the Vios was originally developed for the Chinese market and is based on the Yaris platform.

I think there has always been a belief that hatchbacks would not sell well in Thailand. However, the Jazz has broken the mould and i think Toyota are bringing out the Yaris to challenge the Jazz, which currently doesn't have a direct competitor.

i doubt the Yaris will be 400k.

A Toyota sales told me it will be around 500k for entry level, same as Vios

i'm not sure about credit cards but remember reading for a Central Department store card, as a foreigner you had to have a monthly income of more than 50,000 Baht after tax (as well as work permit and visa).

I imagine credit cards wouldn't be too different.

You might want to look into Aeon and First Choice too, they allow you to buy in installments. As income requirements for these are lower for Thai nationals than credit cards, i'm guessing they might be lower for foreigners as well.

jai yen is a pretense, Thais are no more jai yen than anyone else in this world. I think the concept of jai yen, although a part of buddhist philosophy, is deeply connected with face. Losing your cool is seen as losing "face".

However, in the anonymity of traffic, it is true human nature that becomes apparent. Each to their own and the devil take the hindmost.

I'd also like to add, that a farang friend of mine only talks to his kids in English, and the mother speaks to them in Thai.  This way, they learn early on how to speak each language with a native tongue.

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This is also how i was brought up.

Growing up in a bilingual home can be quite challenging for young kids. My parents tell me my older sister, when she first started to speak, used to refer to things by their English as well as their Thai name, together.

For example she would say "water, nam".

So my parents decided to change tact to make it easier for me. My dad would only speak to me in English and my mum only in Thai.

As i have mentioned in another thread, at home we often mix Thai and English in the same sentence. I find this allows us to convey what we mean even more succintly. (This is not to be confused with "Thinglish", which is usually due to not being fluent in one of the languages).

That seems about right.

I haven't seen Ford hutchback in the papers, I don't remember seeing one, even and Motorshow. What I remember is that Ford Ghia 1.8l is their top model offered in Thailand.

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They only just released the 5 door model so thats maybe why you didn't see it at the motorshow, although that does sound a little strange not to promote your top of the range model at the motorshow. TIT i guess.

Found this on the Ford Thailand website.

http://www.ford.co.th/new/focus/images/size01_en.gif

2 litre 5 door Sport is on the far right of the pic.

A friend bought a second hand Nokia 6610 at MBK and its still going strong 1 year later.

Personally i wouldn't do it myself as i don't want the hassle and worry if something did go wrong, but many people do buy so it can't be that bad.

But, on one mil you can't buy even new 2l Civic, unfortunately, not even 2l Mazda. And Ford doesn't offer 2l engine last time I heard.

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2.0 litre Civic E - 1,020,000 - splitting hairs aren't we?

Ford Focus is available as 5 door 2 litre Sport

Can't be bothered to look up the price of the 2 litre Mazda but its there abouts.

i'll second the K750i. I've ben using mine for about 3 months now and absolutely love it.

Great camera and flash, lots of features and plenty of games. Speakers are also really good so it works like a small mp3 stereo player.

I bought mine for under 15k at Imobile so i think those prices in Jaymart are a little on the high side.

1 million baht for a new car doesn't actually buy you an awful lot.

New, i would go for the 2 litre Ford Focus hatchback, closely followed by 2 litre Mazda 3. Third choice would be the 2 litre new Honda Civic.

2nd hand is much more interesting.

But with 1 million i still would only look at Japs.

How about a Honda Integra? 1996 model going for about 800,000. Plenty of change left over too.

Mitsubish Evo VI, seem to be going for less than 1 mil.

Shame prices for an old Mazda RX7 or Toyota Supra seem to be at least 1.5 million.

your avatar's pretty sexy too Markuk.

i can confirm that you need to pay for a Cambodian visa even if you are a Thai national. However, you might be able to get a simple border pass if crossing by land. i think this is only valid for a couple of days and you can't travel around the country.

Laos is the same. I went to Vientienne last year and made the mistake of paying for a visa. I think it was 40 USD! If i had just used my ID card i could have gotten a 3-day pass for nothing.