HauptmannUK

"There are concerns that these new regulations could prompt Chinese travelers to opt for other destinations" There is a God!

Not just UK, but they seem to be the nationality with the connections that get them into the media for fundraising. My German friend had a very nasty accident on his 'big bike' and spent several months in hospital accumulating a huge bill. Didn't get reported in the media. Had to make a major call on family back in Germany. Sadly ended up with a severe and permanent disability and returned back to Munich. Another expat mate of mine was killed in Saraburi in October last year. Out on his bike on a Saturday morning and an SUV just drove clean over him. Its all too common. Almost exactly the same kind of 'accident' that killed my wife's uncle in Udon. I'm a lifelong biker and ran DSA Direct Access riding courses for a time back in the UK also was IAM Car and Bike Observer and Examiner but I stay off two wheels in Thailand - getting on a bike here is attempted suicide...

Basically some kind of bill/official document with your UK address on it. I used my driving licence.

I feel pretty safe in our condo in Pattaya. Wife has land and property in Udon Thani province and we do a visit up there from time to time. Don't feel so safe there and neither does the wife. Its a big family with some kind of local 'mafia' connections. Her father's brother was shot dead a few years ago. Father found out who the shooter was, followed him to a roadside eatery and blew the guy's brains out. Police took no action. Father sadly passed away at the end of last year (natural causes). One of wife's friends was involved in a love triangle. The jilted husband killed his wife and her lover. My wife was one of the first on the scene - pretty messy apparently and my wife was quite traumatised. Another incident was a young local girl found raped and beaten to death at the side of a main road. No proper police investigation apparently. Few years ago we were driving on the Udon to Kut Chap road and a youth on the back of a motorbike fired a gun at our car. I think it was just a bit of showing off though. Overall I feel most at risk from the traffic here in Thailand rather than from random violence. We do keep a couple of guns in the house up in Udon though. If the wife hears a noise at night she grabs a gun..

I would put a 90deg horizontal elbow on that waste outlet and cut the sink cabinet to run the waste under the sink. Then make up a P-trap under the sink itself, connected to the waste. Run D/W flexible waste pipe through a hole cut high up in the side of the cabinet and connect it to the sink waste prior to P-trap.

Colon cancer according to his other posts...

In 2018 I helped a Pattaya expat return to UK for treatment. Stomach cancer. Long story, but he was the brother of my eldest daughter's boss at the time. Only about 58. He had treatment for over a year in Thailand at great cost - over 6M THB IIRC. It was just a money grab. We got him back to UK. NHS were very good - into hospital the day after he arrived back. Sadly he'd left it too late and died within a month. My advice - get back to your Western country ASAP.

Yes. What do you want to know?

Personally I enjoy the warm weather. We've not long come back from Udon. Our house there has no A/C just a fan. Built from Q-Con block with good roof overhangs and trees around. During the day I sit outside under a gazebo, or we're off out to a coffee shop or restaurant. Right now I'm at the condo near Pattaya (Pratamnak). Its on highish ground so there is usually some breeze. We have two small balconies and if I leave the doors open there is a pleasant breeze through the condo. Its very comfortable. We also have ceiling mounted Daikin A/Cs. No idea of BTU but them seem very powerful. Will drop the room temp to 27deg within a few minutes. Just use them at night to cool the place a little before bed and then switch to the ceiling fan. We walk outside morning and evening. This weather is why I came to Thailand. Spent Christmas and New Year in the UK and the cold weather was torture!

I haven't been out yet but my wife says there will be no water throwing today. She's actually right about most things, so I'll be going out later with no fear of getting wet.

The American 'Christian Right' are behind this 'human trafficking' BS. Christian Conservative NGOs got access to US federal funding in 2001 (thanks to Bush) and went on a global mission to impose their veiwpoint and very broad definition of 'trafficking' on countries such as Thailand.

I just renewed and was charged about US$88 for 2 years + 3 'free' months.....

Last year my wife's sister up in Udon bought herself a brand new D-Max pickup. She had no driving licence and had never driven any kind of car/truck before. I gather a friend gave her some basic instruction in driVing it - 'to get her started'. She has subsequently failed the driving test twice - despite driving daily, and covering several thousand kilometres. Latest news is that she has now 'bought' a DL for ฿2000. We were in Udon last month and she was complaining how poor the headlights were. She often drives at night and said she could only see a few metres in front of the car. I was surprised and offered to check out the lights that evening. She duly turned up in the truck and I jumped in. The problem then became obvious. She thought the DRLs (daytime running lights) were the headlights! I reached across and switched on the actual never-before-used headlights and she was amazed at the amount of light in front of the car!

My wife has both Thai and British passports. We travel frequently between UK and Thailand - spend overall about half the year in each country. My wife does a bit of work as a real estate agent in Thailand and is partner in a small hotel in UK. I am basically retired but partner with my sister in a motor trade dealership in UK. We therefore will have to shuttle back and forth for the foreseeable future. Our GP is aware of our arrangements and says its no problem. For example, she is happy to forward-prescribe any meds for when we are in Thailand (e.g. my statins).

I don't know much about the workings of the SNP and I'd never heard of this chap before, however I do feel the police intervention was a bit excessive - especially the 'forensics tent'... Reading the FT it seems that some donations given 2017-19 were earmarked for independence referendum campaigning but instead were spent on other SNP activities. Hardly the crime of the century...

The seems good coverage at 66 Y.O. for AUS$6k a year. What company/policy is it?

My actual experience from the case I mentioned in 2018 is that if you are seriously ill then NHS treatment is quick and free - no questions asked. After a couple of weeks two ladies from the 'overseas patients team' turned up at his bedside. Once they knew the guy was renting a bedsit then no more questions....

I've been involved in helping three UK citizens who fell ill. In 2018 I helped a guy who developed a kind of stomach cancer in his late 50's. I vaguely knew his sister in the UK and she got in touch with me to help. He'd lived in north Pattaya 12 years with his (male) Thai partner. No insurance and a well-known private Thai hospital had charged him millions of baht over about a year for treatments that didn't seem to work. He'd basically run out of money. Condo up for sale. I helped get him on a plane and flew back with him. He was weak but perfectly mobile. Sister had organised a (rather grim) studio flat for him in UK. Day after arrival we went to local hospital A&E with his medical notes. They were exemplary and he was straight into a cancer ward and some heavy duty treatment. Sadly too late - he passed away within a month. Another British guy I knew in Bangkok had a heart attack and then some major heart surgery at a big private hospital. He made it, but took most of his money (about 5 mil I think!). It affected him psychologically and he kind of 'lost it' mentally. I used to see him wandering around aimlessly looking dirty and scruffy. I subsequently lost touch with him. Finally, I knew an old guy who had a stroke. He had some sort of insurance but it seemingly only covered some basic meds. Not 'care' as such. He couldn't walk properly, uncoordinated, slurred speech and was more or less confined to his condo. Horrible to witness. He was desperate to go back to the UK but it was clearly out of the question. He subsequently got some kind of lung infection and quickly passed away. My own experience with Thai healthcare (actually via my wife) has not been good. I've previously written how last year she had a gyno problem. We spent ฿50k+ on tests and consultation with supposedly a 'top' doctor at a 'top' hospital. I was suspicious of his diagnosis and also the medication didn't seem appropriate (Dr Google). Symptoms no better. We were heading back to UK so saw our GP there... Long story, short... within six weeks she'd had a couple of scans and a minor op. All sorted on the NHS. They even provided a Thai lady interpreter to stay with her during the op! Thai private hospitals love to do tests and hand out stupid amounts of meds, which they charge dearly for. Also scans etc seem to be no cheaper in Thai private hospitals than in UK private hospitals.

Given they haven't been tried or found guilty of anything it seems harsh to publish their names in this way. It would be interesting to know what evidence there is and whether these guys were specifically looking for underage or took underage whilst under the impression the girl was older. Its a trivial matter to fake DoB on ID. Some years ago a friend of mine became involved with a waitress who told him she was 19. It wasn't until many months later he found out she was actually 15!

The court order refers to the Skyactiv D 1.5, not the 2.2 that you've linked to. They are related engines but the 1.5 has some different technologies on it. In Europe the 2.2 has proven a very troublesome engine - oil dilution is the major problem. Certainly cars just out of warranty have been scrapped due to engine failure and Mazda don't want to know. The 1.5 is a somewhat more exotic beast than the 2.2.... Mazda have very much gone off on a technological tangent in recent years. I really don't understand why they persist with i-ELOOP - a lot of expensive extra components for a seemingly minute gain in fuel economy.

Suzuki K-series is a great little engine and the naturally-aspirated versions go on forever if looked after. The K10C ('BoosterJet') is the turbo'd 1.0 version and does seem to be pretty good, although its been discontinued in most Western markets. I think they were struggling to meet emissions regs with it. Its still a relatively recent engine though so we don't have much experience of durability yet. The simple fact is that as you try to squeeze more power out of an engine the components are subject to greater loads and tend not to last as long. Another factor is the much higher level of torsional vibration in a three cylinder engine.

In the UK motor trade we call this the 'EcoBust' engine... Very much unloved and a liability if its got more than 60k miles on it. We did try to repair some in the early days - but a nightmare - and you need a torque multiplier on the crank pulley nut - crazy torque on that. Ford now don't even recommend changing the cambelt - they replace the entire engine. Turbos have their place, especially on Diesel engines. The 1.0 turbo-triple engines that were introduced by a range of manufacturers have ALL proven to have poor durability.

I've quite a bit of experience in the motor industry through our long-established car sales and service business in the UK. The Suzuki K-series engines are about as bullet-proof as it gets. Provided oil changes are not neglected the timing chain should last the life of the engine - 200k km or more. The important thing on your car is to look after the Jatco CVT7 transmission. Change fluid every 30k km and be sure to use the latest spec CVT fluid - DO NOT use 'universal' CVT fluids. Also change the pick up screen AND the paper filter element (which often gets overlooked).

I have a family member who has worked in the London office of one of the Middle Eastern carriers for about the last 20 years. His take is that prices will only be going up. Airlines are not going for passenger numbers, they are going for margin per passenger. Maybe fewer flights, but full flights with higher ticket prices. Moreover 'green' taxes on flights are predicted to rise sharply in many countries. There are still enough people prepared to pay up though. There is also a growing pilot shortage - apparently 50,000 short in a few years. His view is that the era of 'cheap' long haul is gone forever.

I don't know where on earth you were in Pattaya but there are huge numbers of Thais not wearing masks. We've just come back from lunch and neither the restaurant staff nor most of the customers were wearing masks. We stopped off at Queen of Ice Cream in Jomtien on the way home and I think there was just one server wearing a mask. Up country not many masks being worn apart from in offices, banks etc.