ashacat

I walked straight into a taxi upon arrival. Meter turned on with no questions...

As Bendix said: Never negotiate the price for a taxi journey in BKK. Meter or nothing.

I hope this is not a sign of things to come

I'm flying with AirAsia from Suvanabumi on Wednesday. Looking forward to checking it out.

A few people have told me that there is going to be a 10pm curfew (early closing basically) imposed on bars tonight around the Sukhumvit area. Sounds like <deleted> to me as people that I know went out on the piss last night until 1am.

Has anyone else heard this? Could there any truth or is it just the usual gossipmongering?

My coup is going pretty well. Day off work yesterday, so went on a mooch around Tong Lor/Ekamai etc to see all the soldiers (about half of whom were asleep) Loved the lack of traffic.

Back at work today

Soldiers have woken up.

Whats it about? I might get a chance to stay in and watch it...

Agreed Leftcross.

If you don't bargin for your membership at CW, you will get stung, you've got to be a bit of a muppet to accept the first price you are quoted.

All in all I'm pretty happy with my cali membership, nice new machines etc

My only complaint is the admin, I joined about 2 and a half months ago, howver I still do not have a membership card 'm still showing the receipt tha I got when I joined

Oh, and they haven't got an rowing machines!!!

My Girlfriend went to see the show in Germany a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it. She was hoping to see it at home in BKK too.

She'll be gutted.

Reminds me of when I bought the weekend pass to the Bangkok Rock Concert a few months ago and a just before the convert I found out that the Stereos had cancelled.

VanZam, that is awful!!

Cheeky b@stards man!

Good luck to you, me and the other victims of the robberies in my condo were gonna go down the legal route, until not too subtley advised otherwise...

Camerata; Since my case, there has also been an increase in security. The back doors (car park entry) security has been beefed up with a keycard system (the front door has had keycards for ages) However as of yet there has been no new CCTV cameras. At present there are a handfull of pretty crappy cameras scattered around the complex, I would feel better if they installed more.

A couple of years ago I and my GF had a problem with a security guard. He had been the night shift guard (we only have one guard on nights and one on days) for about a year and there was no particular problem other than he obviously drank and was stretched out unconcious some nights.

My GF has her own place and used to drive over to see me on weekend nights. One night we had been out together and when we returned the guard told me it was his birthday. He knew I could speak Thai but I pretended not to know he was wanting money. Then he started the same line with my GF, who thought it prudent to give him 20 baht because she didn't want her car scratched or tyres let down.

But then he started hassling her regularly when she arrived, usually saying he was collecting for some temple. I started meeting her at the gate and seeing her off when she left, but then he would sometimes hassle both of us for temple donations. He had initially called my GF "Jay" but pretty quickly he switched to "Nong". Eventually it got to the point where he was telling us other residents gave him 300 baht a month to make sure "nothing happened to their cars."

I waited a couple of months and watched him until I saw him pestering other residents and then I mentioned it to the condo manager. If he was doing this to other people I figured he wouldn't assume it was me who complained and mess my GF's car up. It turned out he had even hit the condo manager up for money before but it seems she felt sorry for him because he was old and such a mess! Anyway, he was fired without incident a week later.

Most of these security guards are of low education and not a few are probably wannabe cops. Give them a uniform and a little power and some are likely to abuse it, especially with the entrenched upcountry attitude towards women. Apart from that one guy, and one other old and rude guard, all the guards at my condo have been youngish and polite. I'm friendly towards them but I never give them food or get too friendly.

As for privacy, it's totally different in Thailand. My condo management don't tell me in advance when workmen have to go in my room to fix things. The guard is supposed to stay with them, but sometimes he can't be there all the time. Since I don't want to padlock my room, I have to make sure there are never any valuables lying around.

I would go crazy if I knew that people were going into my room unnanounced, with security or otherwise. Surely they should get your permission first?? (unless, of course, it's some sort of an emergency like a severe leak or something...)

I also live in a condo with 24 hour security and about 6 months ago I got robbed whilst me and my girlfriend were asleep in the bedroom. The f@ckers got my laptop, phone, camera, Ipod and money. On the same night at least 2 other rooms were robbed as well. There was suspision that the security guards were guilty either directly or otherwise. A week or so later the security company was changed along with the guards.

They were a bunch of smug b@stards as it goes, often giving shifty looks to me and my g-friend...

Come on Pepi! Stand up for yourself!

I can see that your lurking in here.

My Can-Can has nothing to do with this topic. Oh, and I am still looking for Capt Yo-Yo.

Strange pepi... very strange.

Are you bored? Its a lovely day, go outside and play with your yo-yo or something

Whilst we're asking dumb questions...

What does TBWG stand for???

Glad to hear they got what they deserved. Som nam na.

Although "chock dee" and "chon gaew" are the most common IMO

I have also heard "peaua sukapap" - (for you health or to health or something like that) quite often as well.

It was not until I saw the date of Irwins' death on a computer screen that I realized he died on the same date, different year. Sept 4 has, for some 30 years, had a huge emotional effect on me. Clearly, Irwin's death is unsettling for me, but it is interesting Sept 4 has come up again.

Eh?

In tourist areas of Thailand I do not believe you will find walk in or direct internet rates lower than most on line discount providers for 3 star or above accommodations.

There seems to be a new, and major player, in the discount field called direct rooms, which I just used. Had not seen it mentioned before but price was lower than anyone else and it worked for me.

Oops! Sorry Loburi3, I didn't notice that you'd mentioned them already.

I have used AsiaRooms on a couple of occasions with no complaints.

However I usually use DirectRooms.com which is pretty good and are very reasonably priced.

Anyone else used them as well?

Ipods play digital music files of which MP3 is the most common type(and digital video files if you get one of the newer models)

You can either download songs from the internet from various websites such as "file sharing" sites eg. "limewire"

You can also convert your CD's into MP3 format using your PC and the "ITunes" software that you will get free when you buy an Ipod, and then put them on your ipod.

You can connect your ipod to your hifi if you have the correct cable (headphone jack to Phono) and your stereo has a phono input. However this will only playback the songs stored on your ipod and will not enable you to upload songs from your stereo to your ipod.

I think Ipods are excellent, I am now on my third one!!

What an idiot, someone should of poured a cup of coke on her

Maybe because she is f#@%en stupid

too bad she didnt get arrested

Why all the abuse???

Nothing wrong with believing in something and having the <deleted> to get off your arse and try to make a difference.

No news is good news.

Brilliant!! Cheers Crossy.