Meerkat

The vaccination doesn't offer complete protection, and in fact can inadvertantly hide the disease in flocks. At least, they were the reasons cited for the UK not vaccinating birds there earlier on this year.

Having been based in HK during both the original breakout of modern bird-flu in 97/98, and during SARS, I would much rather the government be open to the public about the issue, even if they could be accused of exaggerating the situation. The mismanagement in HK was bad enough; the secrecy surrounding outbreaks in mainland China doubly-so.

Yes, there are risks of a short-term economic downturn for some sectors of the economy, but that pales into insignificance when compared with a full-blown epidemic.

Hi Meerkat,

I'd be happy to join you in a round or even at a driving range for practice. I live in the NE also Ram Intra area when in Thailand I'm available most of the time because I work offshore so I'm on my time off in Bangkok. I must warn you I'm a rubish golfer but I have fun. I'm back in Bangkok at the end of the month.

If any others would like to get together for a round I'm always up for it. I prefer friendly easy going people who like a good laugh.

Oh, friendly and easy-going is a must - I'm not planning on entering any Majors yet!

Will PM you tomorrow...

I did the switch a few months ago; was a doddle.

Agree with the poster about having to learn the new keyboard shortcuts, but that was about it. iMacs have a two-button mouse (well, four-button actually) - you only have the one-button problem with laptops (and of course you can simply plug in a mouse to get round that).

I still use Windows on some of my PCs, and am quite comfortable using both operating systems concurrently.

There are so many courses around BKK, it's difficult to know where to start. Can you give us any clues? Where in BKK will you be staying? What kind of courses does your son enjoy (hilly, flat, water etc)?

Will try to come up with some ideas for you.

We've just this week gone through a similar situation.

My surname and my son's were incorrectly transliterated on his birth certificate when he was born 5 months ago.

The local amphur changed it all in a day - new BC, and both our details changed in my wife's Tabien Baan.

Cost was 20 baht.

If you needed a turbo timer Toyota would have fitted one, I wouldn't mess with the electrics on these cars.

I'd agree with you in principle except the Fortuner manual specifically sates (OK, not specifically - I'm paraphrasing because I'm too lazy to pop down to the car for a look).

The turbo needs cooling after prolonged use.

Stop-start city driving: no need.

Prolonged 80km/h driving: idle the engine for 30 secs before shutting off the ignition.

Prolonged 120 km/h driving: ditto for 60 secs.

I'd never have spotted it if I hadn't got the English manual (the missus knows cars even less than I do - which is saying something...).

That's why I thought it strange that a timer wasn't fitted as standard. I suppose it's a nice hedge for Toyota though; "we told you to cool the turbo down, but you didn't heed the warning and you now need a new one"...ka-ching!!!

Still, all said and done, it's been a cracking motor so far.

Oh, one other thing I'd have liked to have seen fitted...a turbo timer.

Can anyone tell me what this Turbo Timer does? As I have had some bits and pces fitted onto my Fortunner and they put this on to. All I know is that the number on the timer goes up when I am travelling and when I turn the key to off the car is still running until the timer goes to zero. I guess it is to protect the turbo in some way but how?

You got it; the turbo gets extremely hot during use, and is cooled by the car's cooling system. If the engine is off, the turbo can't be cooled properly and damage may occur. The timer simply runs the engine long enough (even after taking the key out) so that the turbo can safely cool down first.

Oh, one other thing I'd have liked to have seen fitted...a turbo timer.

But, of course, in the end, if one STILL persists to defy logic and obtain one, that's their business. I'm just trying to save people from foolishly parting with their money. If they insist, then I won't "disagree" with them and wish them well.

Sigh...John, really I think this is why some on this thread - myself included - feel umbrage at your comments. Just because it doesn't suit you doesn't mean that anybody who buys it is a fool.

To give you my personal perspective: the fee is about a month's salary after tax and before bonus (gotta love that HK tax regime). Well...strictly speaking, it was that - I jacked the job in last week. Hmm...maybe those golf benefits are looking more attractive...

Now for me, the risk/reward ratio makes sense. Not well-off/well connected enough that I could get some of these benefits seperately, but well-off enough that it's worth taking the punt. If I were forced to pay another mio to the local orphanage at the same time (or the price was 2m), I probably wouldn't have gone for it. Ironic really, as the missus and I regularly help out at our local orphanage up the road in Tanyaburi...

Now if it goes belly-up, the blame lies fairly on me and my risk analysis. I won't lose sleep over it though - my (previous) line of work demands that one can take the occasional loss. Does it make me a fool? No, of course not; it simply means I have a higher appetite for risk than some others, including yourself. As far as the actual benefits of the scheme go (ie without the risk it might all end), it's a no-brainer (ugly expression - sorry) for me.

Anyway, I'm happy to take this up (or anything else - no fists allowed) over a beer if you fancy - we're often down in Bang Saen for the seafood.

Nick

Kinda makes one wonder who exactly is in charge and who is providing the reliable information.

Is it the website with:

"Copyright © 2005 Thailand Privileges Card Co., Ltd. All rights reserved"

or is it the website with:

"Copyright © 2004 AKTIV COMPANY LIMITED. All Rights Reserved"

???

Who's running this carnival sideshow known as the Thai Elite Card?

No need to wonder, SRJ, just look at the "About Us" page...the web is a wonderous thing.

In a nutshell, TPC is the company set up by the TAT to run the scheme, and Aktiv is one of the sales companies.

Most scams and boiler-room operations are built on that exact premise. To look or sound better than they really are.

There aren't "several thousand" Elite Card purchasers... only several hundred. Secondly, a change of government would have no qualms whatsoever in changing a previous government's programs. History bears that truth.

Good luck. Feel free to join the if you wish. As previously stated, anyone that is foolhardy enough and has a million to throw away on this program should feel obligated to throw an additional million to the Thai orphanage or senior citizen home of their choice. Obviously, for someone so well off, it's a trivial amount... putting an equal amount of money to a cause that will actually do some good should be obligatory.

The last numbers I heard were around 1600 cards purchased, with another 2-300 given away at the beginning. I can't vouch for the veracity of the numbers...er...but there again, neither can you...

So would I have to pay a 100% "tax" on all of my purchases? 10m after we bought the house? Another couple of million for the cars? 60 baht everytime I buy a beer? After all, we could have bought smaller houses, mopeds instead of cars and drink water instead of beer. Can I deduct the donations I already make as a matter of course each year?

Or should it only be a tax on things that you don't agree with?

Had a look through the site and it looks a better deal than most commentary on TV indicates. Samui Santaburi golf club is on there and that is normally over 4k baht a round! I reckon that if I get a chance to spend more time in LOS I could recoup the cost in less than a year playing golf alone! There is also the two for one Thai airways business class seats and the Thai Airways upgrade (is this one per year?).

I could not see on their site any indication of the golf club limitations. How do you find these out?

As some have stated before, there is always the risk that a new government may withdraw its support for this card. However, bearing in mind the type of people that may sign up to it, I would find it difficult to believe that any new government would want to immediately p**s off several thousand reasonably (or not) wealthy and influential people all at once! Would not do the image of the country much good. But I suppose anything is possible in Thailand, so you have to accept the risk that's there. If it is still going when my plans allow me to spend more time in LOS then I will seriously be looking at this.

I've been told no number-of-rounds limitations on the main card, but if you buy a card for your spouse (100k pa), that second card is only good for 12 rounds ie once a month.

Also remember that all you get are green fees; you still have to pay for caddies/buggies etc.

The Thai Airways part of the deal works thus: you get Gold status in the ROP programme - that gives you your annual upgrade. Being ROP Gold puts you at the head of the queue for op-ups too, so you'll probably get upgraded at check-in once in a while. The two-for-one deal is only for full-fare F or J tickets, so you might be able to get two discount tickets elsewhere for less. When I joined in June, they also had a promotion which gave me the choice of a couple of weekends in hotels in BKK or Hua Hin, one year's membership for your spouse, or a return Biz class ticket on Thai from anywhere in AsiaPac that TG flies to, although I think you have to fly from your "registered" country.

As I've said before, whilst it might be possible to "make" money from the card, I still think it's better to think of it as buying a suite of services (visa, concierge, expedited passage through airports etc) rather than a discount card. I agree with you that whilst there's a risk that the programme could be disbanded, I doubt a government of any political persuasion would cancel the scheme without due recourse to existing members.

I've not heard about the price-hike from 1m to 2m for "residents". The annual 40k has been cancelled though there are other fees now for some add-on services, such as some elective surgeries, boat-mooring, gym membership.

The golf could be a big incentive alone. I read somehwre about them adding courses to the free golf package. Do you know where these are?

I don't know which courses (if any - remember...it could be a promotional fable) are being added. There are about 40 courses signed up so far - all on the website. Bear in mind that some of them have limitations. Navatnee and Alpine cannot be booked at weekends for example (well Alpine can, but you have to play with a full member).

I wrote a long post on this last night, but it didn't go through and I couldn't be bothered to go through the whole rigmarole again...

For those that didn't read the thread mentioned above, I joined TE in June.

As far as the poster asking about how it works re PR, I don't know if it will help or not, but here's the important thing:

You cannot be a member of TE and be a Permanent Resident (and of course by extension a Thai citizen). You'll be required to forfeit the card or sell it on to someone else. If you choose to sell, there is a transfer fee of 10% of the current list price (ie not the price you sell it for). I assume that it's because it'll end up potentially costing TE a fortune in green fees/limos etc, so personally I can't really begrudge them that.

If there are any other questions, I'll do my best to answer them, but spare me the snide comments please; my skin is only so thick

Appreciated re the A/C - I'll give it a check tomorrow.

Agreed re tyre pressures. Mine were only at 40 when it was delivered, but having read advice on here before, they were quickly dropped to 30. I was also given exactly the same story about fuel efficiency from Toyota in Saphan Mai where I bought it.

You can pick them up from any True shop. At least, that's where I got mine.

Meerkat,

I dun mind to join you as I will relocating to work in Bangkok next month. H/C = 23

How much is a round of golf at those BKK courses? How much is the caddy fees?

Green fees can be anything from 900 to 2500 according to when you play (weekday/weekend etc - Krung Kavee rates after midday are lower for instance). Caddy fees around 300.

Under the law, foreigners who want to buy a rai of land must deposit a Bt40-million bond for at least five years. However, she said TPC hoped to get Parliament to rewrite the law and switch the provision of the bond to buying an elite card

Sure thing, ma'am. I'm sure that once the new gov't is elected, changing this pesky law so as to make land ownership by farang easier will be a top priority. Dream on, kidz...

Agreed. I think the land-ownership carrot has always been, and continues to be, a waste of bandwidth on TE's part.

so you got nothing worthwhile other than a few contacts in government which you could have made for free if you mixed in the right circles, which if you are involved in business that needs those contacts you should already have avenues to go down to meet those contacts.

I'm sorry but it's not worth 1m baht to check in quickly, get a bit of transport, play some golf for free and easy concierge.

You've mentioned nothing worthwhile other than the contacts which probobally think your a bit of a joke for being so stupid as to waste your money on this card.

sorry I don't mean to be rude, but I really could not see before your post what use this card was to any paying customer. Now after reading your list of benefits i'm convinced it's a total scam.

If the card was $1000 that would represent good value with the free golf and limo, easy visa stamp etc, but 1m baht no way.

Your last comment is exactly what I was thinking about in my original post when I wrote "If it cost ten-bob to join, I doubt there'd be a snide comment on these forums." Your argument isn't really centred around the programme itself, you just think it's worth $1,000 and I think it's worth $25,000. We obviously value different things differently (and long may that last - it's what makes the world go round).

As far as the government contacts go though (and your insult aside), as I stated, they are "potentially" very useful. Not something I'm counting on, but I spend most of my time in HK (and the bulk of the rest of my time flitting around AsPac) and introductions help enormously; introductions I'd be unlikely to win so effortlessly.

Thanks for the useful report.

Just hit 10,000km at the weekend in our 3.0 oil-burner. Been extremely happy with it - not a glitch so far.

Will get that spare down for a try in the next couple of days - cheers for the advice. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure where the key to the spare is...eek!!!

Where is the outlet for the A/C? It's good to know that it could be the cause of a problem, and I'd like to check it out from time to time. I know as much about cars as I do about solving the middle-east problem...

What I'd like to see:

Cruise would be good.

Better stereo - an AUX input would be good. My ipod goes through one of those cassette adaptors at the moment and the quality isn't great.

Yes, a bit more grunt.

Anyway, thanks again.

OK first things first - I'm not entirely sure about the complete accuracy of the article. The original price was 1m for people living abroad and 2m for people living here, but it was changed a long way back to 1m across the board. Indeed the annual fee that was introduced (last year I think?) has also been cancelled (although there are additional fees now for such extras as boat-mooring). So the part about "more than doubling the cost" doesn't make sense (even if they have reintroduced the 2m for de-facto residents).

Anyway, I joined last month and so far couldn't be happier.

The problem with this board as far as TE is concerned is that everybody grumbles because it doesn't suit them. You only have to look at the response to the stillborn TV Visa card to see that. Everybody wanted "this"discount or "that" discount - ie they wanted something for nothing - to make money on the card. TE simply isn't designed to be that. It's a package of services that you buy; the discounts are by-and-large meaningless to those in a position to buy the card. The benefits only fit a tiny proportion of visitors here, but fit them they do. If it cost ten-bob to join, I doubt there'd be a snide comment on these forums.

What makes it worthwhile for me are:

The visa (less opportunity cost than locking up 3m in the bank here, and when I want to stay in LoS for a longer period, my visa-runs every 90 days will be...er...30km to the nearest immigration office).

The breeze that is now going through formalities at the airport. 30 mins lounge-to-lounge last time - for someone that abhors queueing that's worth a bundle on its own.

Efficient transportation is good but not a deal-clincher. Heck, I suppose I could even justify the cost based solely on limos, especially when Suvarnabhumi opens. If I had been looking for a discount card that is. Which I wasn't.

Contacts within the government. Potentially very useful seeing as I'm thinking of investing a stack of dough out here (no, I'm not a wide-boy property shark...sorry...developer).

Concierges who are not only eager to help, but seem to be in a position to do so too (unlike most of these credit-card type "concierges").

Bonus points for the golf membership, the club in the city and other bits and bobs.

Now I'm not naive enough to think that it might not all come crashing down in the future, although I don't now think (as I did - indeed the reason for not joining earlier) that it will be cancelled by an opposition government if they come into power this year. But it might, and I'm sure there'll be many a poster on TV to revel in the news - I'm sorry if I read it wrong, but as I see it, it'll smack of schadenfreude. Anyway, that 1m baht risk is just another cost to evaluate.

The biggest problem was Taksin's hubris over the whole issue. Yes, the original prediction of a million (or 100k) members does seem to have been daft. I'll tell you what though. If they do limit it to 7,000 members, those of us in now have a potentially scarce resource that could appreciate. Do I reckon it will be limited if they get near that new target? Nah, of course not, it's just another promotional tool!

Slowly, I am beginning to see more clearly in this jungle of dates. Until a moment ago I always thought that 28 Sept. was the date for the test flights; now I see these test flights will take place already next Saturday, but are there really 30 airlines doing domestic flights? A misquote by the Nation, perhaps? The TN article quoted in post #1 speaks of 6 airlines.

---------------

Maestro

I think it was a misprint. As far as I can work out:

1. Test flights for 3 domestic airlines this week.

2. A single international test on September 1st.

3. Full service starts September 28th.

But it's a moving market...

As title.

Anyone fancy a round? I'm based just NE of BKK, so am close to Krung Kavee, Alpine, Lamlukka etc, but happy to venture further afield.

Don't have any regular golfing partners in BKK, so looking to fill the void until the TV Social Golf thing gets up to steam. 20ish h/c, but probably playing off more like 25 at the moment

PM me if interested,

Nick

Silly me ....and I thought the new airport would cater for all projected traffic

AVIATION / SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT

Budget terminal designed

BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA

Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) is quickly gearing up to build a special terminal for budget airlines _ an idea first floated just one month ago _ at Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

However, AoT said there would be no discounts on landing fees for LCCs as it was determined to apply a unified rate structure for all users of Suvarnabhumi.

Not too sure about the wisdom of this, however. Singapore's Budget Terminal hasn't been much of a success IIRC, with Tiger being the only airline using it. Landing fees are the same as in the main terminals, with only a small reduction in passenger service costs.

What incentive would airlines receive for using a terminal with worse infrastructure if the price is the same as in the main one?

Interesting article in Firday's BP (21/7) biz section. Interview with COO of Cathy Pacific. Just a quote: "I'm sure AoT and the Thai government are aware of the importance of the opening going well. It will be extrremely embarrassing and could create a very bad image for the country".

That's actually a tad rich coming specifically from CX, seeing as the opening of Chek Lap Kok in HK in '98 was an unmitigated catastrophe. It took weeks to get all the problems ironed out; I remember news reports of cargo being left to rot because the automated movers weren't working, the plumbing system causing most toilets to be blocked, and no flight information boards as the software crashed. Since then, it just seems to keep on being awarded "Airport of the Year" awards...

Of course they'll be teething issues - I actually think the idea to do the (albeit small) "live" test-run at the end of this month shows a level of common-sense many on these boards would never grace the authorites with having.