Kenny202

Here you re all office are different. Did you have to go to transport first, to get a letter to give immigration to get the residents letter? Usually 3 trips.....transport office get a letter for immigration requesting residents letter, trip to immigration to get said resident letter and then back to transport again. Both about 15km away from each other in my case so a real pain in the a$$ just so some paper can be pushed around

I did my driving video / test thing online. Do you still have to go to immigration and get a residents certificate and if so do I need to go to transport office first and get a letter to give to immigration or can I go straight to immigration? last time was the greatest time wasting exercise I ever encountered. I got an online test completion QR code and certificate, wife seems to think that will be enough to take to IO. Mine is due 17th this month I assume it can be done sometime after it is due? I thought up to a year? Any help appreciated

I think the glory days of the bars have gone 15 years ago talking to people I know that have had them, and even then it was a tough gig. Maybe 1 out of 10 barely profitable aka break even, and the very few that were moderately profitable. How many bars would there be in Pattaya? And many of the successful ones a lot more knowhow and capital than a bar opened / run by a newb. Would have to be exceptional. I imagine. Most blokes I know opened bars and failed thought it was a business the knew about....aka grog and ho's. Being an alco unfortunately doesnt qualify you to run a business

Sounds normal to me. Most Ive met know little about even Thailand's history apart from what they have seen on their ridiculous drama shows...let alone the rest of the world. They dont even know or seem interested in whats going on now. I have learnt to source most of my information here myself. Useless asking them anything. Got a few more educated Thai mates here and completely different story, very switched on

Thanks but actually after a sandwich press / contact grill...one where you can make about 4 sandwiches at once. Those smaller ones are ok but a biatch to clean Man this site is getting ridiculous. Nearly impossible to reply to a post without pop ups and ads blocking ur view. Cant even see what you are typing

Thanks for your reply, I was looking for a sandwich press prices around $40-50US but looks like the duty and freight will be at least that again. Will keep trying to find one here but thanks for your help ????

Most things I get from Lazada or Ali Express. Interested in something off Amazon (I assume they deliver to Thailand?) but wondering if will get hit with customs or duty when it arrives in Thailand. Never had this buying OS on the other platforms

I saw natural frozen casings at Makro were about 400 baht from memory. You can buy 100 feet of them cleaned and salted at most local wet markets (meat sellers) for under 100 baht. Available everywhere for the people that make Isaan sausages here

Sounds like a keeper...

I would have appreciated your comments if they didn't come with the sarcastic remarks, or actually had the information I was looking for in your "3 minute search" I specifically asked for a supplier of rusk and seasoning. Do you even know what these things are.... and how is my post "obtuse"? I couldn't have been more specific. You have supplied links to machinery and sausage casings. Looks like you are just trying to big note yourself eh? I see you the last few days seem to be trolling and replying with negative / sarcastic comments everywhere you go. If you are going to be a smart a$$ at least know your subject rather than publicly embarrassing yourself

Yeah I would rather avoid the childish water play crep. Just want somewhere nice to go have a drink, relax and look at the scenery without the hassle

Wow, you want to work on your material if you think you are a comedian. You must be so bored to troll posts making inane childish comments like that

Looking to escape Songkrahn for a couple of days. Just wondering what Udon is like during the holidays? Are the bars still open? Few girls still around night and day etc or does everyone bail.

I was referring to my kids

I've lived her ten years and never seen a successful bar girl / farang relationship. When you think about it, really isn't a recipe for a great trustful / mutual respect relationship on either side. One is viewed as a monger and the other a prostitute. Of these relationships I have seen at best the guy is living under sufferance with a hateful dissatisfied partner (trapped in "his" home basically waiting to die) and doesn't have the funds or income to move elsewhere. At worst the guy invests everything he has thinking after the initial investment of Home, cars, gold for the wife etc he can settle down to a more moderate lifestyle...until he finds out his "wife" has other ideas. The goose has stopped laying golden eggs, all the assets are in her name...should be easy enough to find another one. Recently seen a few older guys I know get abandoned or neglected when their health takes a turn for the worse. That's the big assumption (illusion) isn't it....... that they will take care of you when you get old or crook (even though they have never shown any interest in taking care of you when you were healthy and able). Having said all that I don't know that I have seen much better outcomes with "normal" farang / Thai relationships....even of balanced age and status. Most seem to be financial based where the wife is expecting some type of renumeration for downgrading to a foreigner. Some of the worst disasters I have seen have been older guys settling down with older women in villages. Gambling being the biggest downfall. Latest story I heard 15 mill home, couple of luxury cars and motorbikes and not only did she lose that lot but indebted herself for a further 5 mill. All while the husband was offshore working. I am sure there are successful, happy mixed relationships here but in my experience they are not the norm unless the guy has deep pockets and placates most of the spouses whims. I have been through the ringer, not burnt too badly financially but don't have the funds to gamble investing in a women here to any degree. I can provide a nice, caring lifestyle but buying houses / property for people with a 6th grade education / maturity without any security for myself is something I will not do again. Unfortunately this leads to a perpetually unsatisfied partner and a relationship with a use by date. These days I do what I believe is right and proper for everyone...not for one. As one of the members here told me....it's a carrot and stick situation. Once you give them the carrot all is lost. We get sucked in with "it's the culture here" thing. Even Thai men don't wander this country randomly buying very questionable women houses, cars and property

Can botch nearly anything given half a chance ???? yes I imagine borscht would go down well in Pattaya Phuket

They don't do the math or have the capital usually. Invest everything they have and expect to make money from day one. They also don't do the accounting....look in the till at the end of the day and see only spending money, don't deduct what is required to replace stock and pay for overheads. Usually go ok for first month or so and then you can see they start to run out of stuff and usually downhill from there. When I say "they" BTW very familiar story back home too. A small soup vendor or sausage, moo ping, BBQ seller may make money straight off the bat with little investment but a lot of hard work and small return. I think peoples habits have dramatically changed since covid re going out, and delivery drivers are getting paid a lot less than they were. Many of them have probably gone back to steady jobs or off to Bangkok in a factory or something. Reliable steady work. I would estimate on the road now see very small percentage of Grab / Food Panda riders now compared to before they were like swarms of mosquitos. Fewer drivers mean longer delivery times or in a lot of cases delivery not available some areas. Another thing I see very often is people that may have some capital....government workers etc putting money into ridiculous franchises like milk tea and the like where there is already one on every corner. Spend the day at work and sit bored all night in a little hot box getting 2 or 3 customers over 8 hours. They usually last around 3 months. I always felt the best business in Thailand would be a franchise seller or someone owned a row of shops (landlord) in a good area. Lot of people going out of business every day but seem to be an endless queue of people wanting to open businesses. Then again I would hate to be trying to collect the money every month ????

Reminds me of a big grumpy lady in an extremely poor village I lived. Made great fried chicken and som tum. half the time she would tell the customers to get it themselves, she was busy doing other stuff. I caught her one afternoon giving some kids free food, apparently she did it everyday. She would always give em a gobful of lip and scold them first though lol. Underneath it all she was an absolute sweetheart. Put 3 kids through Uni selling chicken. Total respect for her. Became very good friends with her and miss her to this day

Isn't that a sad reflection on the world today and particularly Thailand. One sponsored and one an "influencer", like they are legitimate professions lol. I always wince at that word sponsored. Sponsored to do what? Be an imaginary GF? Like timeshare properties. You never get the chance to use them, you never own them and you are in a queue with 10 others

One thing I have noticed if you want to take the plunge and really invest....the most successful places here seem to be the ones with great selfie opportunities, and totally serious about that. Food, price a distant 2nd, 3rd. Forever getting dragged to very ordinary and expensive restaurants with pretty flashing lights and a few selfie opportunities

Mrs finally pulled up stumps last week and selling her restaurant area. Large city North East. Things successful for 3 years or so before, then took a dive during Covid of course but because of the emergence of the delivery companies things were offset somewhat. Stayed fairly stagnant but consistent for 2 years into Covid but survivable but the last 6 months things have just gone from bad to worse. Even Grab etc deliveries have dried up to next to nothing. She was selling Western food so higher priced stuff than noodle soup. As I said before sold well and consistently and nothing has changed. About 15 other restaurants around her also, all styles of food........ some have been there for years and looks like everyone in the same boat. Even the cheap Thai food restaurants struggling. I usually ponder these things and only thing I can come up with is even better off middle income Thai's, with a decent government job are usually heavily in debt and I imagine limited disposable / living income. With the increase in cost of living across the board.... particularly fuel and electricity they just don't have the same money to spend on extras. I see generally around all areas in our city large busy soi's that used to have many restaurants and shops mostly vacant and seems to be increasing daily. I imagine the tourist areas must be doing better after Covid. Anyone else have a missus with a restaurant or shop? How are things going? I get the feeling things are a lot worse than being reported.

Hey John, finally got around to doing my project. Results pretty good but can't say it was a satisfying task lol. Prepped with deglazer. I read somewhere rubbing alcohol does the job and again a lot cheaper. The first coat all blotchy and uneven. Wasn't the same as the you tube videos where it seemed to just flow on smoothly. The second coat went on a lot better, bit like wood where the first coat seals it up and second coat glides over. it was over full grain nu buck style grainy natural leather so I guess it would apply much better on finished leather. Ended up using the proper Fiebings pro dye but its very expensive and used half a bottle on a very small bag. Will deffo use wood stain next time. A couple of questions if you can remember. Most of the people doing the how to videos use a sponge. Maybe I used the wrong sort of sponge but rubbing it over the leather ate the sponge up pretty quick and just found it impractical sponge sucking the stain up quicker than the leather. Do you remember what you used back in the day to apply the stain? To be honest I reckon a rag might be better. Are you pretty generous with the stain like really wet your rag / sponge? I was trying to be a bit minimal as the dye so expensive and need some for another bag. How should I finish the bag when the dye is dry? Do you reckon neutral shoe polish brushed then buffed up would do the job? Should I soften with mink oil first or after polishing? Appreciate your help old mate

I think thats called bonded leather. Paper thin film of leather over fabric. I bought an expensive sofa same thing happened. And a very expensive office chair exactly as you describe. Still sweeping up flakes of it everywhere even tho I got shod of it 2 months ago. Full grain leather only way to go if you want leather. I got a faux leather captains chair when I got here 10 years ago and like new.

I heard oats were good. Rice is good too apparently early Western sausages was very common to use rice. I used panko breadcrumbs this time (2 cups per kilo). I do have a feeling it was the fat content of the meat though more than the binder

They don't do rusk or sausage seasoning. Already contacted them. They suggested cheese seasoning