nikster

Hi!

This is an agreement that Australia has with many countries - the only difference is that they usually don't require college degrees from these young travelers.

It's really great because it allows young people to travel Australia for a year and up their finances by taking on jobs every now and then. I met lots of english and scandinavians taking advantage of this when I was there.

That Thailand grants Australians the same is a requirement but I don't see how it would make much sense. If you are young and want to travel Thailand for a year it's always better financially to go back home and work there for a while, then come back. But hey - I imagine some might want to work here just for the experience.

This is not a visa intended for people who want to move to Australia / Thailand seriously and take up a job there, and the regulations make it so that it will not provide any benefit for that purpose.

It's nice. But not the thing to do if you wanted to work in Australia or Thailand

Nik

Full moon party ban opposed

... The full moon party doesn't just benefit certain people; it brings revenue to the province and the whole country,'' ...

--Bangkok Post 2005-08-24

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Don't know about the whole country, mainly brings money into the portal Samui, and IMHO probably is the singular appreciable revenue stream for Phangan,

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The question is not "why should we NOT ban it?". The question is: Why should it be banned?

Does it harm anyone? A real debate about this would simply be about environment (from what I have seen the cleanup squad is extremely effective) and the people who live there. Since the party has been going on for 20 years it's hard to imagine anyone living there could be opposed - they would have long moved out...

I think this is just some bullshit about young people having too much fun, and the ones who don't want to participate wanting to spoil it.

Personally, I have only been once and could not care less - I don't particularly enjoy hordes upon hordes of wasted english teenagers. There are better places to pick up girls, too. But why forbid it? Let them have fun, jesus!

Live and let live.

BTW yeah, illegal drugs are still illegal and all the usual laws apply even duing the full moon party. No reason to ban the party.

The Fortuner isn't exactly a converted pickup.

Pickup!

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Well sure, but then, almost all larger SUVs are based on a Pickup platform. Nothing wrong with that

I have two questions for the proud owners: What mileage does the Diesel get? What's the difference in performance? Both Diesel and gasoline have pretty much the same HP which usually means the Diesel will have better torque and feel stronger.

I am going to do lots of mountain driving so I want to know which one will be better.

Also, how does the automatic cope with mountainous terrain? I have not driven any automatic that would feel "right" on a mountain, but then, I have not tested any newer automatics. The auto I have tends to be in the wrong gear and the only option you have is the kick-down - which is also wrong. Somebody also said manual is preferable when offroading: Why?

This is the reason I am thinking of getting the manual. I want to have leather too though and was told that's only on autos. I want to buy this next year - does that mean I have to queue up right now? I am in the north, in Chiang Mai...

Any advice would be highly appreciated!