HauptmannUK

The 1000km is a non-mandatory courtesy check. Takes about 15 mins to do a visual check plus a free wash if you want one. Oil/filter are not changed. It is not required for warranty.

Crikey! Some forum members certainly lead exciting lives.

Some strong advice. Don't do it. Thai cities are not the place for ab initio motorcyclists. I first rode a mc when I was about 10 years old, over 50 years ago. Rode every kind of bike and raced a few in my 20's. Had a few broken bones but been lucky. Was a UK DSA Direct Access scheme instructor for a time. I don't ride in Thailand, the road environment is too dangerous. Too many drunk, drugged, too many untrained/unlicenced drivers. If you want to travel by mc then pay a mc taxi. They have infinitely more experience than you do and will be safer. If, against advice, you choose to get a bike then get good insurance and remember that insurance is not valid without a licence.

I don't fear death but I'd like to put it off for as long as possible. I've had a great life so far and it continues to be very enjoyable. In the words of Freddie Mercury, "Don't stop me now. 'Cause I'm having a good time'..

She's 'financially sorted' because she gets financial assistance from the UK government. This same help is available to ALL legal residents of retirement age. A British pensioner living in Thailand who only has a frozen UK state pension to live on will find life increasingly difficult as the years pass, and serious health problems (which come to most of us sooner or later) will likely be financially devastating and mean no more visa extension. Life on the breadline is no fun anywhere in the world.

I'm in the UK right now and have recently been helping a 66 year old Thai lady whose husband died a couple of years ago and left her with almost nothing. Despite living in the UK for 18 years her English is very poor and since I speak Thai I've helped her claim Pension Credit and Housing Benefit. She now gets Pension Credit of about £200/week and enough housing benefit to rent a room - which is clean and modern. Of course she also gets free medical, dental etc. Despite the fact that she could easily return to family in Thailand she wants to stay in the UK. She has some Thai friends and seem to like her life in the UK.

50 minutes in Pattaya (Pratamnak) - driver said they got delayed by heavy traffic. Rural Udon was much quicker, about 15 minutes..

Yes. 191 works. I was given incorrect medication by a local doctor. Should have be given anti-inflammatories for an injured shoulder but was given a bag of tablets that were apparently some kind of powerful muscle relaxant. Suffered acute dizziness, couldn't see straight, couldn't stand up and was vomiting. Wife was out. Managed to dial 191 and asked for an ambulance (speaking Thai). One arrived about 50 minutes later by which time I was starting to feel a bit better. When were up in rural Udon earlier this year my wife ate some wild yam that hadn't been properly detoxified. She got cyanide poisoning (violent headache, collapsed and vomiting). Called 191 and ambulance came out from the local hospital. Slight delay because he initially went to the wrong address - but eventually got her to hospital and she recovered.

The parking arrangements have changed a bit. Parking right at the market itself is now pretty much impossible. There is now a brand new car park very close to the market just before the Amphur house (on the left as you approach the market from Pattaya). There is also a small car park a few minutes walk from the market, on Soi 4 next to the fried banana dessert shop.

Is there really a ME non-O one year retirement visa available from London? On the eVisa site I see a SE 90-day, but not a ME one year.. I use a ME one-year based on Thai spouse but need to exit every 90 days....

Unsurprisingly the article is poorly written. 1000mg sodium = about 2500mg salt (obviously varies somewhat depending on the composition of the salt - other minerals, impurities etc.). Hence 5g/day of salt = about 2000mg/day sodium.

Speaking as someone who's had many cylinder heads skimmed over the years (probably into the 100's) here's my take on it... 1. Get the head chemically cleaned and pressure tested prior to skimming. No point in skimming a defective head. 2. Petrol cylheads can usually be skimmed with valves in-situ. On most Diesels the head is flat and valves project beyond the head surface so the head will need to be stripped. 3. Since most Diesel heads are flat skimming does not increase compression ratio. 4. Some aluminium Diesel heads have hardened steel inserts in the head casting. These heads cannot be skimmed. 5. Blocks can be skimmed, and the machine shop I use in the UK can accommodate large V-blocks, but its relatively rare and may not be possible with linered or 'insert' engines. 6. Takes under an hour on the miller to measure and skim a head. Cleaning and pressure testing also well under an hour (assuming the head has been stripped). I would think in Thailand a couple thousand Baht would be more than enough.

My wife is still waiting for a letter I sent to her from the UK by airmail in 2012....

I was asked for my passport one evening last year in Jomtien, close to the police station at the beach. Copper was looking at a young Russian's passport and then turned on his heels as I walked past and asked me for mine. I showed him a scan on my phone. He then asked me where I was staying. Then waved me on. Youngish copper who was polite and spoke pretty good English. No suggestion of a 'tip'.

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Little 'heads up' on something that may affect some UK mobile phone users living outside the UK. Recently been in touch with a friend of mine who is married to an Indonesian lady. The go to Indonesia couple of times a year for three months at a time. He has a UK SIM on the 'Smarty' network. He's had this SIM for several years and receives SMS messages in Indonesia. He recently wanted to do a bank transfer which required a code by SMS from his UK bank. He didn't receive the SMS because Smarty suspended his service. They now suspend service if they detect a SIM outside the UK for more than 60 days in 12 months (see below 8.1 j ). He has contacted Three network and they say they now have a similar clause.

Ok. Slightly involved answer. ENGINE oils become contaminated with combustion products. Most contamination takes place immediately after starting and during the warm up phase. This means that a vehicle may cover a low mileage but have heavily contaminated oil (e.g. the old lady who drives one mile to the shop, one mile to her friend, one mile to see the vicar etc etc). The contaminants include acidic combustion products which cause engine oil seals to harden and crack, and soot and ashes that gum up rings. The advice for ENGINE oils is therefore to change according to manufacturers time and distance recommendation - whichever comes first. Obviously use your common sense though - for example I have a small collection of cars back in the UK. Some of them only get used a few times a year - I use my judgement. TRANSMISSION oils are a different matter because they do not suffer contamination by combustion products. They shear down with use. So in general its more appropriate to focus on mileage interval. ATF's are a bit different again. Heat is the enemy of ATF's (oxidation and breakdown of friction-modifier additives) so you need to be conservative in the case of an auto used in hilly country or for towing, and maybe change at 2x the manufacturer's interval. CVT's are particularly sensitive to oil breakdown because the engine torque is transferred from the input shaft to the output shaft via the microscopically thin oil films between the belt and variator pulleys. I am not a fan of 'lifetime fill' - I would change any 'lifetime fill' oil at 100k km...

You don't mention the vehicle manufacturer. You really need the handbook to confirm. The most common requirement is NOT to screw the dipstick back in, but its not universally the case. E.g. Briggs & Stratton advise the dipsticks should be screwed in to take the oil level on their engines.

As someone who has been in the business of selling secondhand vehicles (in UK) the built in naVigation systems cause us huge issues. Customer buying 3+ year old vehicles invariably want the maps updating. It can be hugely expensive and often 'dealer only' - some German brands also require OS updates and you can be looking at GBP1000 for the software/maps and several hours of labour at main dealer rates! Anyway, for the OP - Toyota have used various units including Clarion, Pioneer, Denso - depending on model and year. I suspect you may have a Toyota Navigator branded Clarion unit using Garmin maps. You *might* be able to get a free update by foLowing the instructions on this Garmin OEM supplier link using Garmin Express on your PC. Its a fairly involved process and I've no idea how recent their latest maps would be: https://aoem.garmin.com/toyota

My grandfather and father were UK motor trade (haulage business, car sales and service, motorcycle sales and service). Both were avid motorcyclists so I kind of have it in the blood. I first got on a MC at something like 10 years old. Ridden just about every kind of MC in the 50+ years since. Rode competitively back in my 20's (got expensive and broke a couple of bones so packed it in). For a whil I imported bikes (grey market) as a little sideline business in the late 90's and early 2000's. Was a UK DSA Direct Access MC trainer for a while. In Thailand I never travel on two wheels. Life is cheap here and motor/cyclists are way down the hierarchy. Its a hostile and unsafe environment with way too much bad stuff going on that is outside of your control. Without thinking too hard I can recall a half dozen MC fatalities known to me in the last few years. Last October a friend of mine over in Saraburi was killed. He was hugely experienced and riding a route he took every day. An SUV came barreling out of a small side soi without looking and just went clean over the bike. I doubt my friend even saw the vehicle that killed him. Just a few weeks ago a French acquaintance was killed. I've also come to realise that many of these fatalities are not reported in the news. I was at the scene of a collision in Jomtien where a young Russian lad was killed. Never saw a word about it in the news.

Ah! The 'Do Gooders'.... They are overridden quickly enough when it suits - protesters trying to block the road during the Coronation were removed and arrested within minutes. When they hold up commuters nothing can be done. The UK does not have to follow the rulings of the ECHR - and in the past has ignored rulings (e.g. votes for prisoners) but slavishly follows their rulings on immigration...

This is all about jockeying for position in the Conservative Party. Braverman is the latest in a long line of blowhards who talk tough but fail to act. The UK might like to start cracking down on illegals by introducing a biometric ID card for all legal residents.

This is all about jockeying for position in the Conservative Party. Braverman is the latest in a long line of blowhards who talk tough but fail to act. The UK might like to start cracking down on illegals by introducing a biometric ID card for all legal residents.

If you drive around rural Thailand and you can read Thai you'll observe that almost every other telephone pole or power pole has some kind of advert on it for money lending. It seems to be mostly unregulated and out of control...