HauptmannUK

I used to work in China quite often and ExpressVPN was one of the few that worked (mostly...). Be aware that internet access in China can be fraught with difficulty and frustration and VPNs are banned (theoretically at least).

My wife's younger brother has a Ranger. He drives it like a complete idiot, 120+kph within inches of the vehicle in front. He also drives when he's been drinking. Last week his wife threatened to leave him because he'd driven drunk from NK to Udon with their two kids in the car. Sooner or later he'll kill someone. The styling and marketing of these vehicles promotes and emphasises aggression. Last year my wife's younger sister bought a brand new D-Max. She'd never driven a car before and had no licence. She was driving the truck around 'to practice' and has had two attempts at the driving test but failed both. My wife now thinks she's 'bought' a licence for ฿2000. She's a terrible driver and another 'accident looking for somewhere to happen'.

Where the car is registered is irrelevant. For example a car can be purchased from a dealer in Bangkok and registered in Bangkok but the car might be used up in Isaan. You do not need to re-register if you move province. Annual car tax can be paid at DLT offices, at post offices, at some 7-11 and at vehicle safety inspection stations. There are also some service counters in shopping malls (e.g. some Big C and some Central etc - you will need to make enquiries locally). Some dealerships will also do it for you - e.g. at 12 monthly services. You can pay tax up to 90 days prior to expiry. You need car registration document, proof of insurance and ID. If the car is 7+ years old you also need the inspection certificate. Additionally there is now the facility to renew online. You need to give an address for them to send the receipt to. They claim a 5-day processing time. https://eservice.dlt.go.th/

You might want to look at Safety Wing for insurance whilst you get established here. www.safetywing.com

An important fact is that they had been separated for two years whilst he was in Finland. The relationship probably fell apart and the wife got involved with another man. Buying the house was probably an attempt to re-establish the relationship. For example there was a German guy living with his Thai GF in our condo block. He got stuck in Munich for two years (Covid). GF quickly had a new foreign boyfriend.

Couple of days ago in Tops my wife paid but the girl gave the change to me... And a funny thing happened in 7-11 yesterday.. my wife bought a Thai-style pudding. The girl asked her if she wanted it warming up. My wife didn't catch what she said and just looked confused so the girl then asks ME (in Thai) if my wife wants it warming! Generally though I think Thais often prefer to interact with other Thais purely out of ease of communication. I speak Thai pretty well and once they realise that, I find many are happy to chat.

UK citizens are covered by agreements with most of the EU countries, Norway, Switzerland, Aus and NZ - and one or two others. We have a Global Healthcare Insurance Card (GHIC) but its not very global at the moment. The plan is to roll out to more countries - I doubt Thailand will be included.

My wife has a house in Isaan which we visit a few times a year. For the past 3-4 years there was always a large and rather vicious neighbour's dog hanging around in the street. When we visited in September last year I commented to my wife that the dog was no longer around. "Yes Teerak, my dad beat it to death with a brick". I should add that my father in law was a bit of a local character and once walked into a crowded restaurant and shot a man in the head. Apparently the man had attacked FiL's brother. Sadly FiL had a fatal heart attack in December....

I actually know a British guy, around 70 years old, who has been behaving like this for many years. He tells his wife he's coming to Thailand to play golf. No idea whether she believes him or not but she's still with him. His Thai 'Mia Noi' is no spring chicken herself and definitely not a looker! He funds her to run a small shop, bought her a house, gives money to her adult son etc. Totally baffles me! He's a retired small businessman and I guess has enough money to support the circus.

Firstly, according to the original source, only six instances out of the many thousands involved girls under 18. So I don't think this is some kind of huge child sex ring, more likely some footage of 16 - 17 year old got captured. Secondly the number of photos and videos is enormous, in the 10's of 1000's, so I doubt 1:1 interactions were involved. More likely hacking or illegal grabbing of OF or webcams etc..

Don't believe all the doom and gloom concerning the UK NHS.... If there is a suspicion of cancer then you'll automatically be put on the 'two week pathway' and be seen within two weeks. I don't have a lot of trust in Thai doctors .......here is a example of what happened to my wife last year.... We split our time between UK and Thailand. My wife is Thai but also has a British passport. When we were in Thailand around a year ago she started to have some 'female trouble' (bleeding when she shouldn't). She was pretty worried so I did a bit of research and booked a session with a recommended specialist at a very well known and rather expensive hospital in Bangkok. He recommended blood tests, a scan etc. We went back a few days later and he prescribed some hormone pills and suggested an operation (hysterectomy). All this was looking expensive and my own research (Google) made me doubt his diagnosis. In fact he didn't properly explain his reasoning. We already had a plan to go back to UK for a few months in the summer so I told my wife to hold on a few weeks and seek a second opinion in the UK. Two days after arriving in the UK my wife saw her GP. GP booked an ultrasound scan in clinic. 7 days wait. U/S scan found something, so was booked an internal camera examination and biopsy at hospital. About 14 days wait. Biopsy negative for C but minor thickening of womb wall observed - booked 'Myosure' keyhole procedure to trim wall of the womb. About 14 days wait. So start to finish less than six weeks and no cost of course. Everything went very smoothly and the hospital even provided a Thai lady translator to accompany my wife for the procedure. We showed the consultant the notes from the Thai doctor and he was horrified that a hysterectomy was suggested and said that the hormone medication was not appropriate.

Something not right about those figures. I doubt you will buy a genuine Honda timing belt for any Honda car anywhere for ฿1040 - possibly you could get a Chinese copy at that price but you'd be insane to use anything other than OE.. The belt is #14400-5AY-H01 and about GBP70 in UK. My experience is that genuine Honda parts are similar pre-tax prices in different countries (they would have to be otherwise you'd end up with a huge grey market in parts). The guide pulley and its nut are around GBP150. Plus there are various other parts you need to do the job including gaskets and various fasteners which need to be replaced. Add in a required oil and filter change and you are looking at close to GBP400 in materials - about ฿16000. Its a hell of a job to do. About 8 hours. Stupid design.

I must have flown into Thailand 100+ times over the last 12-13 years. Mostly on Emirates. Sometimes in Business. Sometimes on other airlines from China and other SE Asian countries. Bizarrely the only time I got asked about finances was Fast Track from a Emirates flight (Business Class ticket) in 2019. The male IO started asking how I was going to finance my visit and how much cash I'd got on me. I wasn't exactly sure because I had notes of various currencies. I guess he was looking for ฿20k equivalent. Anyway I showed him a handful of GBP, USD, CNY and THB and he was satisfied. He was polite, but it seemed very odd.

I hadn't thought of that option. Sounds like a great idea.......

The latest City uses the P10-series 3-cylinder engine.

New car depreciation is fairly modest in Thailand so buying new and selling at 3-4 years is a good option. Keep in mind also that dealers will offer 'extras' on a sale. Last year my wife got year's insurance and three years' free servicing on a Toyota... Think about what you will use the car for. If just shopping and taking the kids to school then something like a Yaris or City will suffice. Note that SUVs don't necessarily have much more room than a small saloon - Veloz is built on the Yaris floorpan. CX30 is on Mazda 2 floorpan. The old BRZ seemed a nice size and not badly priced. The new model looks a bit pricey.

This fault is common on Hilux of this vintage in the UK. Normally it is a fault of the instrument cluster. Toyota will try to sell you a new cluster, but a cheaper solution is to resolder the little multilayer ceramic capacitors that sit on the circuit board behiNd the gauge. Here is how to check the fuel gauge. On top of the pump/sender at the tank there is a 5-pin multiplug. Disconnect it and note the tiny numbering 1-5. Turn on the ignition and gauge should read Empty. If not then there is a gauge or wiring fault. Now short together pins 2 and 3. The gauge should read Full. As I said it is normally the gauge rather than the sender.

That would be a 6th generation City with the 1.5 litre L-series engine. They are hugely reliable. The OP is asking about the latest (7th gen?) which is a completely different animal.

Make sure you understand what the percentages mean... In most of the world visible light transmission (VLT) is used. So 70% tint means 70% VLT and 30% of light is blocked. So a Thai '30% tint' is actually 70% VLT...i.e. this being Thailand the figures are often quoted the opposite way around.. Anyway, keep in mind that the glass from the factory often already has some tint.. I'd suggest no less than 70% VLT on the front screen and 50% on side windows. Personally I don't like any tint on the front screen.

Which car is best for you depends on how you drive it and how long you intend to keep it. The first thing to understand about the City is that is uses the Honda P10A engine - a turbo'd three cylinder unit. The interesting thing about this engine is that its not really a Honda engine.... Let me explain.. From the point of view of thermodynamics and emissions a cylinder capacity of around 330cc is optimum. Also a three cylinder engine has 3/4 the weight and size, and fewer parts, than a four cylinder engine. So for a 1.0 litre engine, three cylinders make a lot of sense. There are problems with out of balance vibrations and crankshaft torsional vibration, but these can be moderated with counterweights on the flywheel and a TV damper as part of the front pulley. There are actually lots of really good 3-cyl engines such as Mitsubishi's 3A9, Suzuki K series, Toyota/Daihatsu 1KR series. These are all really good engines, with chain-driven cams, that will cover huge mileages if looked after. Being small and light they are ideal for city cars. Then of course some bright spark realises that by adding a turbo you can get a lot more power out of this design and use them in a heavier vehicle. Typically a naturally-aspirated petrol engine will deliver 70-80bhp per litre of capacity. Bolt on a turbo and that jumps to as much as 140bhp per litre. Of course you don't get something for nothing so in addition to using more fuel the engine is under far more stress. So the engine will generally wear out quicker. Anyway, the car manufacturers liked the idea of 'turbo-triples' - compact and cheap to make, relatively low emissions etc... Lots of these engines came onto the market - Ford Ecoboost, Renault/Nissan, PSA PureTech, GM/MG SGE, BMW B38.. Honda wanted a turbo-triple but they didn't want go to the huge expense of designing a completely new engine. Their solution was to take the block of their old P-series engine (a 658cc engine introduced over 20 years ago for use in Japanese Kei cars) and then hand it over to a German engineering consultancy (FEV) with a brief to develop it into a one litre turbo triple. FEV were able to do this. But, crucially, they made the error of adopting 'Belt in Oil' (BIO) to drive the cam. BIO was a technology touted by drive belt suppliers such as Gates that used a polymer belt running 'inside' the engine - a 'wet belt'. This was claimed to give the advantages of both a belt and a chain - and last the life of the engine. Unfortunately things didn't turn out that way. Belts started shedding fibres, blocking oilways, failing early, causing engine damage. So then manufacturers had to set a service interval on the belts. For Ford it was 8 years or 100k miles. For Honda it is 5 or 6 years (seems to depend on market). The belts were never designed to be serviced, so its a expensive and complex job. In the UK, independent repairers (such as my family's company) will not generally change BIO. We refer customers to the Honda dealer. Honda UK specify a price of about GBP1500 (฿60000) for a belt change. Many Honda 1.0T engines have failed in the UK/EU at relatively low mileages due to belt deterioration. Honda mostly supplied new engines under warranty. Couple of years ago Honda redesigned the belt pulley and guides......the jury is out on that. AFAIK the 1.0T engine has been dropped in UK/EU. BTW the Honda 1.5T engine is completely different to the 1.0T. My advice to any car buyer is to avoid any turbo-triple engine if you intend to keep the car much beyond its warranty period. Also avoid anything with BIO. It was such a shame that Honda didn't carry over the 1.5 L-series (use in e.g. the old Jazz) - that was a great engine and hugely reliable. For someone intending to keep a car for many years then I'd definitely go for the Yaris Ativ - sure it'll be slower, but the engine is tough and well proven and the Toyota/Aisin CVT is about as good and reliable as CVTs get.

Thanks for the replies. Seems very difficult to book these train tickets. It appears the Chinese are running ticketing and only Laos or Chinese payment cards accepted. Contacted a couple of agents who advertise that they can get tickets (for a fee) but no response after several days. Other advice is to go to Vientienne and then get hotel/agent to get tickets for you - but have to do this couple of days before travel - rather inconvenient...

My family's business back in the UK is used car sales, service, etc. Established by my grandfather 102 years ago! We market on the basis of being an MB and BMW specialist - mostly dealing/servicing cars 3 - 12 years old. My take on your situation is that you would be best to fettle up the car, get an MoT on it, a thorough valet and then get it sold. Used car prices in the UK are very high at the moment but there is an expectation in the motor trade that prices will fall back during 2023 as new car supply improves and used car demand slackens off. Now would be a good time to offload it. If you don't want a relative to sell it privately you can get quotes from WBAC/BCA or Motorway.

PingPing on Pattaya Tai soi 13 (soi opposite Dominos pizza. He's been there 20+ years. Got a few guys working for him, never had a bad cut. Charged me ฿120 last time I went, in December.

20% is quite an increase and unlikely to be due to low tyre pressures. Also I've never seen a clogged fuel filter cause an increase in fuel consumption. Firstly, is it an auto transmission? A transmission fault could lead to the transmission hanging on to lower gears - increasing overall consumption. I would also check for binding brakes.... Also check for a leaking injector or a fuel leak. Get the dealer to monitor fuel pressure and check the pressure measurements against Toyota data. This needs proper gauges and recording of pressure over time. Note that a leaky injector may not set a fault code and would not cause black smoke (unless severe). It might be better to go to a Diesel specialist rather than the Toyota dealer. 10 years ago we used to see a lot of leaky injectors on D4D engines at quite low miles in the UK - but to be fair not seen any in recent years other that at 100k+ miles.

This could get expensive.... If the car has been outside for three years the brakes will certainly need stripping and cleaning up. Fuel will have gone off. Tyres may well be in poor shape. The way we deal with cars that have been standing a long time is check all safety related components (tyres, brakes, steering) to ensure the car is not dangerous to drive. Drain and fill with fresh fuel. Then take the car to an MoT testing station and use the failure/advisory list to guide repairs. The current maximum price of an MoT test is £54.85. Most sites discount a little. We charge £50 to retail customers and £45 trade, for example. You are permitted to drive a car without an MoT or road tax to the MoT testing station ONLY. However you must have an appointment (give them reg. no.) and you must have insurance in place. If the car is not roadworthy you could still be prosecuted for driving an unroadworthy vehicle (e.g. if involved in a collision and police attend). Note that if the car breaks down and there is no valid MoT in force then many breakdown companies will not attend (they check the MoT status online). Once the MoT is passed you can tax the car. Tax can be most easily done online using the serial number off the V5c form. I think the two month insurance for your NZ friend could be a problem. I doubt NZ insurance would cover him. Possibly best to approach a specialist UK broker like Adrian Flux or Sterling Insurance. I know that Admiral Insurance will temporarily add a foreign visitor to a UK driver's policy - but maybe not viable with you being in Thailand.