4MyEgo

Happened to me moons ago on my 1100 with the wife two up., All of a sudden out of nowhere on a bend on the New England Highway, two doubles heading our way, almost on top of us, one on the right side, other overtaking on the left, our side. I had no where to go at about 120 clicks and I could feel my wife squeeze the living life out of me while at the say time could hear her screams under her full face before they both rolled by doing at least 80 to 100 clicks, my leathers on my left leg slightly brushing up against the guard rail, thought that was it, we were dead, hung on for precious life and opened up the throttle. The vibration on the front of the bike was incredible, yet the rest of the bike was all go, I thought I would get sucked under if we didn't get squashed along the guard rail, but when we got through, I backed off on the throttle and saw we were at 180 clicks as we were pulled back into the centre of the road when the trucks passed us, that guy was lucky to have had an out on the left. Totally forgot about my 6 mates behind us, until they all came behind me when we pulled over, you could hear them screaming and yelling and shacking, one of them throwing his helmet on the ground valiantly cursing the truck driver, that was what I call a close shave, I asked my mates what went through their minds when they saw the trucks and me in front, they all said to themselves, follow the lead, don't panic, tuck in and keep going. Could have been very different if we all weren't experienced riders, That said and I believe the drivers both being experienced and the one on my right probably moving over slightly for the one on the left, knowing it could be all over for all of the riders if he didn't give him some inches to move over. That is an experience better than any roller coaster ride as short lives as it was in my life time, I can still hear the double boggy as it went by, ah the good old days, can't believe we are still here, that said, wouldn't want to repeat that experience for quid's.

Have seen them all. That said, doesn't matter what you consume, unless it's home grown, expect anything. The less we eat, the better we are actually, as the old saying goes, you are what you eat. Good diet, exercise and hopefully good health and a long life.

I would expect the numbers to go even further down now that the borders are open for all to come.

Hi Just a couple of quick questions for those in the know. I have a Ford Ranger and have always had a mechanic do the oil and filter changes every 15,000 km's, that said, he is now toast. So what I would like to know is what oils you use, I use Shell Helix 5W 30, but not sure how much to put in. I saw that the old mechanic only put in a 4 little and a 1 litre container each time, that said, I have found an alternate mechanic who said he doesn't stock it, but if I buy the oil, he will do the oil change for 200 baht, he has the oil filter in stock for 250 baht. I would think if I purchased 2 x 4 litre containers and whatever he doesn't use, I would use it next time to top it up with another 4 litre container. Would do it myself but have a back problem, besides the labour is cheap enough. Also cost over the counter if anyone knows. As always thanks in advance.

Un fkn believable....these clowns are are the scum of the lowest of the lowest of low life's. I could see one of their own Thai's drowning, and they would probably stare on saying, we need to get a letter confirming that we are recognised as your official representative to help you. But without that letter....

I invested 2 million on building a 6 bedroom 3 bathroom house on my wife's 1,000 squre metre block of land 6 years ago. I was married with her for 10 years before deciding to retire and build, so my 10% loss is her gain, it's worth it for me in the long run, I just live in it and enjoy it for as long as she allows me too, can't win them all ????

Sydney, Australia is the pretty much the same, massive gains at the moment, booming property prices with the low interest rates on offer, only problem of late is if you hung onto your property while living overseas as an expat, your capital gains tax bill would have risen to 42% after the 1st of July 2019, i.e. if you sell it. But wait for it, it gets better, it used to be capital gains tax as at the date you left the country, not when you purchased the property, come 1 July 2019, your capital gains tax bill of 42% goes all the way back to when you purchased it. It will be interesting to see if other countries go down this path as I am sure it will be a great revenue earner for them.

I agree with all of your comments on your posts, but 5 star, sorry, far from it, having stayed at 5 star hotels, there is a huge difference. That said, not here to boast or shame anyone, but Trip advisor has it down as a 4 star rating which was done by Giata, and if you don't know much about them, suggest you Google them. It looks like a nice place, but unless you have stayed at a 5 star, you wouldn't know the difference. Nothing to complain about here, always keen to keep an eye out for 5 star hotel bargains here in Thailand, especially as the wife is Thai and we can take advantage of the governments 40% discount, i.e. when the hotels don't raise their prices up as much just as the 40% discount is kicking in. Do you plan on coming back, I am from Oz and return every year or two at the most too dip my toes into the waters, only to get them burnt real quick, certainly is an expensive place to live, mate of mine is paying $650 per week or 16,250 baht for a 2 bedroom modern apartment about 4 kilometres out of Sydney in Zetland (Leggo land) full of apartment buildings, I suppose you could rent the same place for half that in Hua Hin for example with some water views ? What he pays in rent, costs me to live here with my family of 6 in our paid off place, so I know what your talking about, last time I was in Sydney 2 years ago last month, I met up with a mate of mine with the Mrs at a waterhole that I used to frequent, 2 basic steaks, 2 beers and two glasses of house red, came to 1,920 baht or $80 AUD. Won't even look at real estate because one would need 1.5 mil for a 2 bedroom free standing knock down in an average suburb 18 kilometres south of the CBD (Kogarah) on a 500 square metre block in between two low rise unit buildings, fark that !

The posts are not misleading in my opinion, they are a reflection of what it costs me to live in Thailand per day, which is 10.86 baht after an income 2,060 baht per day goes towards the 2,070 baht expenses per day. You can work that out monthly if you like, I just find it better for flipping the 10 baht coin. You can look at it any which way you want, but at the end of the day, it is costing me 10.86 baht per day to live here once I offset the gains (money in) from investments, against the losses (living expenses), again, that's 10.86 baht out of my own pocket per day, that said, there has been no capital gains above my living costs which have been met every year for the past 6 years, in other words, it's been a break even event every year, furthermore with no capital gains in the past 6 years on my investments, I suppose you could say that I have been idol, but it has been costing me basically nothing to live here for those 6 years. No different to someone who receives a monthly pension, money in, money out, and as I don't have a pension, it works for me as opposed to me dipping into my savings or selling some of my investments. Investments go up and down depending on how you play the market, e.g. how deep you want go in, and how long you want to stay in, in other words if you are a long term investor or a short term investor. If you buy and sell, and are comfortable with small gains each time while also receiving your investment outlay back, your a safe investor, if you like to receive dividends things can work out good or bad for you depending on which way your investment goes, up or down. Personally, I like to buy and sell the same day if it works out that way, or the following day, generally speaking there are no losses for those stocks that fall unless you panic and sell, however I choose a number of stocks and watch them, time my purchase and then exit when they reach a certain level, it works for me as I use those gains to survive here as mentioned and it works for me. Not a rocket scientist, but I have a plan that works for me, no doubt if I could create larger gains I would, but with larger gains, larger risks come with it, suffice to say Bitcoin is not for me.

I wonder with all the time the place has had being a ghost town, if they have widened the footpaths, put in wheelchair & pram access ramps and redirect the sewage pipes to get rid of the smell which filters through those grates on Bangla road that were covered with those hessian bags ? Going to be a lot of empty bars I figure for this year, and possibly till mid-late 2022.

Sure they are, next week it will 90% and 100% the following week.

Lol, is Bitcoin in the line up ?

Ok, ok, you win........jeeesus

We have 7 A/C's in the house, one has passed away and we don't use that area so won't replace it. A while ago, before the A/C's we purchased one of those portables, they seemed cold enough at the store, well that is because the store is air conditioned is it. They are useless and noisy, although the sister-in-law jumped on the opportunity to buy at half price a year later. You mentioned the technicians have been around and they say it's fine, my daughter has an old A/C and sometimes just blows air and is not cold, that said, I lift the cover and there is a white switch, I press it and wait till it beeps a couple of times and then I hear the motor kick in, so try that, if that fails drop the temperature to 18 and see what happens, if it doesn't go cool, flip the lid and press the white button and hold till it beeps twice and see what happens, otherwise if it's old and hasn't had a service/clean, try that, or buy another.

Ok, whatever makes you feel better. I will just keep saying that she will give it ALL to her only daughter.

I'm sure it has, but given she is her only daughter and lives with her, trust me when I say, it's going to her, like I said, no bubble bursting here. Too bad I won't be alive long enough to ask her for a loan in the future ????

I will assume you picked up on my later replies to others ?

Totally agree, two kids got their jabs today, mum isn't vaccinated yet as she is waiting on Moderna this month, that said, she isn't in the high risk category and I am vaccinated, that said, mum has said kids aren't going back for 14 days from their vaccinations and of course I am not going to put up a fight as it takes 14 days for the antibodies to start working and it will provide her more time to get her Moderna vaccination. Government has got it clearly wrong in my and her opinion, they could have given her a Pfizer, but rubbed salt into her wounds as she wasn't getting Sinovac followed by AZ.

You are a stickler, read my original post, the very 1st sentence should make you realise that I was talking globally, if you do actually read it and can't work it out, just move along.

I think you right as I just had a look at Vodaphone. It looks to me like it is now for existing users, so if you weren't on it before, you will now have to pay the $5 per day roaming charges, ouch.

Returns from investment vs money spent for the last 365 days, or 2,070 baht out per day, less 2,060 baht in per day = 10.86 baht per day to be exact. Not on a pension, having to use own savings to invest to obtain a return that will allow me to survive here as opposed to watching my savings go south, and that was never the plan as out is out, we also need in to counter the out.

Globally speaking, as was my post. Google electricity rises and you will see what I am talking about, also Thailand will feel the pinch soon.

The 10.86 baht to be exact multiplied by 365 days = 3,964 baht to be exact for the year. Yes it includes everything, private health, car, house insurance, food, domestic holidays, school fees, car registration, maintenance, anything and everything you can write down on your daily spent list. I am not on a pension as I am not old enough, so I have to invest my own savings to make money so as to survive here. It's basically a 50/50 split in shares and banks, the banks aren't paying any interest, but that money is there in case the markets collapse and is plan B, the back up plan, albeit it I also use some of it when markets are way down to pick up some cream on the way up. So far it has worked to a T, albeit my savings aren't really growing, but they aren't going down either, so it works for me and hopefully one will be able to realise capital gains when markets settle post pandemic.

Vaccinating the kids before the adults is just so upside down in my opinion as they are the ones who are less at risk, but then again I forgot where I was for a minute, my bad.

Ah yes, the pandemic has awoken people all around the world with most of them now realising that during the lockdowns, that they can actually survive on the basics and not needing to do 8-12 hour shifts per day, 5/7th, sometimes 6/7th of their weekly lives. The shortages will of course push costs up on basically everything, fuel prices already rising, electricity prices already rising, imports already rising, interest rates will be next as inflation starts to show it also rising, wages having remained low for so long, now also starting to rise. Sure are going to be interesting times ahead for some, I just hope for me that I can repeat my last years (Nov20-Oct 21) total living costs to be no more than 10 baht per day, that is the worst it's been for me in the last 6 years when I woke up and said, working is no longer for me, sold up and relocated here, happy days ever since.