soi3eddie

38 minutes ago, katatonic said:

Tyres do age and the performance degrades dramatically. The ride and braking performance as well as cornering grip will reduce by a significant amount after 4-5 years. Regardless of the tread depth, do not use tyres here after they're 5 years old. Change them and the difference is dramatic. My wife's car, when we met - a Honda Jazz, had a really bad ride and terrible grip. Changed to Michelin Pilot Sport 3's and the difference in comfort & grip especially in the wet, was incredible. I have bought several sets since for different cars but always go for Michelin Pilot Sport  - now PS 4. Buy tires from the company that's spending the most on research, which is generally Michelin. Never scrimp on the things that attach you to the road! And this is why Thais drive so slowly in the wet. They know how <deleted> their tyres are..

Agreed on the tyres. At least in LOS they are reasonably priced.

Where have you seen Thais drive slowly in the wet? Only time I see Thais driving slowly are when they are looking for a food stand or restaurant in an unfamiliar neighbourhood. 

12 hours ago, glegolo said:

Alright everybody, I have listening to you all. and took it in, and I will just go up to Khorat monday morning without any preparations, and just follows whatever happens..

 

thank you all for your nice help...

 

glegolo

I was wondering why, if it was planned, the hospital hadn't given you the medication and instructions and you were asking here. Most private hospitals will normally do the procedure within 2-3 days. Book an appointment with the GI consultant and they will explain all to you, issue instructions, prescribe their required medication and book the procedure (this is what happened for me at Bangkok Hospital, BKK). Very professional and courteous and no pain.

1 hour ago, Stocky said:

Ditto.

The hospital gave me the correct laxative with instructions. Both occasions it's been start evening before then again in the morning.

 

The prep they gave me was called Swift and it certainly was. Comes as sachets you mix with a lot of water and glug down, then add more water. Not pleasant but very effective.

 

.

The hospital gave me 2 small bottles of SWIFF and some laxative tablets. Told me not to eat after 3pm day before and to take laxatives/swiff from 6pm. Drink a litre of water then 2nd bottle of SWIFF. OMG! You don't want to be more than 5 seconds from the toilet. Clean as a whistle next morning! SWIFF can be bought over the counter at pharmacies that stock it (I also got some at Rama 4 in BKK).

27 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Got an email from the bankruptcy administrator of THAI yesterday, presumably many others got it too, the email say that they have applied for bankruptcy protection and if i, as a creditor, wish to petitioned the court of bankruptcy and claim to recover monies owed i have 3 weeks to do so, in another words, THAI have no intentions of paying me back a refund they owe me for a canceled flight back in Marc... Way to go THAI cheating your customers... 

I got same email. Didn't THAI re-book you for another date? They have re-booked my flight 4 times already. I don't want a refund just to fly at a future date. If all else fails, your credit card company should refund you as a chargeback for services paid for and not supplied.

20 hours ago, steven100 said:

Do you really think they will be flying Aug 1. 

 

What about income from passenger numbers from Aug 1 , I doubt their planes will be 50% full and are they going to ensure social distancing on seats, if so this will make the numbers even worse,  if so, how much will they be charging for a ticket ? 2x ..4x ... the normal price ?

 

No chance of 1st August due to Thailand entry restrictions - Not enough revenue to cover costs

THAI's planes on certain schedules LHR/BKK/LHR are often only 35% full anyway. 50% would be a dream for them. I have been on the A380 when only 200 passengers on board. Many, many times on TG916 virtually all passengers in economy get 3 seats each - and that was pre-Covid! This is just one reason why I have always (where possible) flown THAI over the last 5 years. They cannot raise ticket prices as they will simply not sell any seats. THAI are usually more expensive than British Airways and EVA on the same route (economy). 

On 6/11/2020 at 10:04 AM, Swimfan said:

Strange. Cant really see them filling flights to or from Brisbane or Auckland any time this year. It would have to be just for repatriation as its unlikely either countries borders will be opening up this year other than between each other.

They won't be operating any reasonable amount of flights until unrestricted entry to Thailand is available. No chance of selling enough seats to generate sufficient revenue as very few people will jump through hoops to get Covid tests and entry certficates from embassies. Impossible to get the $100,000 insurance policy too in most countries. How about 14 days quarantine too? Watch this space; Thai (and most other carriers) will not be flying regular services to LOS until restrictions are eased totally. It won't make economic sense. Does anyone beleive that entry restrictions will be lifted by 1st August? I'm actually re-booked for 1st August to go from BKK to LHR but there's not a chance in hell that they'll run the flight IMO. Oh and if you are thinking of booking then leave it to last minute to buy as they won't be giving refunds if flights are cancelled. I see this as a ruse to get revenue before extending resumption of operations.

2 hours ago, Russel said:

Tell it those who have lost their jobs as hotel staff, restaurants, retailers as well as anyone else related to the tourism and entertainment industry

My girlfriend working in a supermarket, her weekly working hours have been reduced by 50%. Therefore according to his testimony the situation is not good at all

I also know a number of people with zero work and no income. The government doesn't consider them to be important as they have received no help or assistance and the borders are still shut to incoming visitors.

On 6/10/2020 at 11:43 AM, Why Me said:

Thanks for the info. Especially about the discount. But little chance I will get it.

 

I'm already battling the owner to replace the AC in my bedroom with a newer one. That is definitely the power sink. It's an older unit which never brings the temp below 28C all night even though I set it at 24 (a few years ago it would bring it down to 24 in 30mins). Which means it never cuts off plus I have to run a fan otherwise I am not going to be comfortable. All in all a huge power drain.

 

But the man wants me to pay half the price, about 15k, for a new AC. Which I don't think is justified given it'll be his. I offered 5k. Might have to swallow my pride and up that to 10.

I recently replaced two A/C units (9/18k BTU) in my condo with (12/24k BTU) with new inverter units. The efficiency, cooling, noise and power savings are stunning. OK they weren't cheap at 25/38,000 Baht but comfort and costs for the new 10 years are much better. Very happy.   

I'm perplexed with his answer. Maybe he meant he was not from the UK he was English. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland includes; England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (The UK). Now on the other hand if you asked a Scot, also from the UK, where they were from, what answer would they give?

22 minutes ago, moontang said:

She was well aware of the problem with the name mismatch, and overrode that..took about ten minutes.  I had opened it myself with an old yellowbook.  Had done autodebit with PEA, and it was never a problem.  They are the champs at shooting themselves in the feet, and offer continual proof.  

Thanks for the reply. Maybe I'll just go down to the office with my passports, bills and bankbooks (I'll not have the original receipt for the deposit). Worth a try.

27th October 2020

My MEA refund was rejected for name mismatch even though Elctricity account name and Bank name are same (may not be exact same on their system due to me having four names) certainly first and last names match. I intend to get the original paperwork (at my home in London0 from when I opened the MEA account and do to their office with my current and former passports, bank book, Electricty bills etc. It's a hassle for 4,000 Baht but I'll have time to do it next trip here. 

On 6/10/2020 at 11:24 AM, Why Me said:

I've always wondered about the economics of buying a condo here. E.g., I rent my place near Victory Monument, 5 min. from the BTS, 14th fl., 60+ sqm. for 20k/mth.

 

The price in the vicinity to buy is min 150k/sqm. So, I am paying 240k/yr for a property worth at least 9mil. Which is about 2.7% annual. The US stock market returns on the average 7%/yr. inflation adjusted.

 

So unless a condo appreciates spectacularly renting seems to make more sense.

I bought my 2 bed/2 bath/80sqm condo new in Phaholyothin Soi 3 for 6mb 10 years ago. Could probably sell today for similar (and a 25% appreciation based on exchange rate repatriating funds to UK). 

I'm really glad I bought as it's a secure base here now even though I'm only here about 3 months per year. This year will be 9 months due to Covid. In the future I'm hoping for 9 months every year. 

Under the current situation rents and new condo prices have plummeted. I would only buy now at bargain basement price. Noble Homes were recently offering units at massive discounts of up to 50% but they seem to have stopped the adverts as I can't find them now. Question for anyone thinking of buying: How would you feel if you bought at 10 million Baht and next day same unit was on "sale" for 5 million Baht? Same as the Chevrolet car buyers but probably much worse! I'm sure there are deals to be had for cash buyers who haggle hard. Don't expect a return on investment though.  

On 6/11/2020 at 1:25 AM, Dukeleto said:

These restrictions will ease very quickly once the tourism sector realises no tourists are actually arriving. International Air travel isn’t just going to start up with 3 people on board trying to get home to families. 

 

International flights will only resume once airlines can see they get enough customers to make starting back up economically viable...not because some government says we will now start acceptIng visitors based on X, Y or Z.

Exactly. That is why THAI Airways cancelled my BKK-LHR flight 4 times since 4th April - now the earliest published "schedule" is 1st August. The airlines will not start flying again until restrictions are eased so that they can stand a chance of generating enough passengers and revenue to operate. I was told by a THAI airways agent back in April that the 27th October is the target date for resumption of "normal" services. If any airline knows when things will ease it would be THAI.

On 5/20/2020 at 2:09 PM, MangoPineappleBanana said:

What remote CCTV system do you use may I ask? I am getting ready to purchase. Only need 3 or 4 cameras and would prefer to use my own managed server for storage and remote viewing.

 

In the UK I use a Synology NAS which has surveillance station for managing lots of cameras. I used to use that for CCTV and it was highly configurable with alerts, storage, emails etc. Here in Bangkok I just have an internal WiFi CCTV camera in my main living room. It monitors the whole room and entrance way and it takes and emails snapshots should anything move in the frame. It's unlikely ayone would ever break in as doors are secure, on 5th floor, keycard access and we have security 24/7 (if they are not sleeping). Just gives me peace of mind when not there. I can also pan it remotely to see the patio too. The model is Wansview Pro HD PTZ IP Camera NCM625GA

On 5/15/2020 at 3:47 AM, AgMech Cowboy said:

Buy her some stock in Amazon.

If you had done that 3 months ago it would have more than paid for some very nice land with secure title...

9 minutes ago, Heppinger said:

Have Thailand taken on such a debt with China? As I'm aware some countries have and can't repay.  How is the debt a trap? Are conditions not clearly defined within agreements? This term debt trap is a bit silly. Basically Countries ran by parasites are taking on Chinese debt and receiving small fortunes themselves service's of betrayal and treason to their own Countries.  When these countries can't pay that debt China receives Infrastructure and other goodies as payment.  Every ones happy.  This isn't a new concept why are you surprised about this?

Yes this is treason but the Thai people don't see it coming. How will they accept ownership of "state assets" by a foreign entity? For too long the Thai way of looking at debt is if you lend me money and I can't repay then you clearly have too much money and you have the problem. I'm sure that the Chinese will have clever agreements in place to prevent this and assume ownership of the assets. Wouldn't you? Doesn't make it right but shame on the leadership for allowing this to happen (if it does). I would be very cautious entering into any agreement risking sovereignty. As you are probably aware the Thais are very nationalistic.

11 hours ago, BritManToo said:

3 police on top of 1 guy ...... nobody wearing masks.

Tell me again how to do this social distancing?

 

Amazing England where the police 'bully boys' can crush innocent people walking in the park to the ground.

No masks = 3,500 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday.  After 8 weeks in lock-down why so many new cases?

11 minutes ago, Heppinger said:

If that were true then Thailand would have suffered similarly to Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Vietnam

11 minutes ago, Heppinger said:

If that were true then Thailand would have suffered similarly to Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Vietnam

11 minutes ago, Heppinger said:

If that were true then Thailand would have suffered similarly to Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Vietnam

You mis-quoted me I said: Do you really beleive that the current Thai leadership could negotiate their way out of a paper bag?

I'll add: Thailand is somewhat stronger than Laos and Cambodia but if Thailand is not careful there will be problems.