HauptmannUK

I can't remember transfer case change intervals off the top of my head. Isuzu will have a service schedule sheet showing recommended change intervals - just refer to that. In the UK it was something like an initial change at 10k miles and thereafter every 40k miles..... but you should have a schedule in the car handbook - if not then ask the dealer or Google. 10kkm is unnecessary for transmission oils.

Stick with 10k services. I've been involved in the motor trade for many years (UK) and was an MoT tester (UK roadworthiness inspection) until 2018. 'Fluids and filters' was always my mantra to customers. Diesels contaminate their engine oil pretty badly and combustion by-products in the oil tends to harden oil seals and gum-up rings, which leads to problems over time. Transmission oils also shear-down over time and their additive packs deteriorate (antifoaming agents, zinc dithiophosphate EP additive etc). Manual transmissions and transferbox/diffs will therefore benefit from fresh oil every 100kkm. Autos more often, especially CVT. Services should also include a check of brake, suspension and steering systems. In the long run scheduled preventative maintenance and checks are cheaper than unscheduled repairs.

Rama II has been under construction for 20+ years - its a lethal road IMHO. Some very dangerous driving on there. Truck and bus 'brake failures' are extremely rare and almost all cases occur when brakes overheat on a long downward incline. Truck and bus air brakes are held off by air pressure. If pressure drops below about 30psi a warning buzzer sounds and the brakes are applied by springs. Its fail safe. I once had some road debris damage a brake line on a truck I was driving, I heard the warning buzzer and had time to move to the left (UK road) before the brakes applied themselves.

Very sad to hear about the demise of another UK expat and fellow motorcycling enthusiast. In the last year two of my British acquaintances have been killed in motorcycling accidents - take care out there...

Since my wife and I have to visit the UK quite frequently I use the one year multi-entry 'visiting Thai family' visa costing about £150 from London embassy with no requirement have money in Thailand. I keep about ฿400k in my Thai bank for emergencies over here (and its probably too much given I have a couple of credit cards with quite high limits). At some point we'll probably stay in Thailand for the whole year and I'll go for the retirement visa. At the moment its easy to get 6% in UK, but irrespective of that there is no way I will 'donate' 800k to the Thai banking system. I will use an agent. If Thai Immi. increase the deposit amount beyond 800k I suspect there will be a massive move to agents. Who in their right mind is going to leave, say, ฿1.5M sitting in a Thai bank with virtually no interest?

10th place in Asia-Pacific doesn't sound like much to boast about....?

My wife loves blue cheese...

Your Toyota dealer will sell you a Toyota-branded front and rear dashcam set (it appears to be a rebranded Chinese Toguard unit). Its a neat setup. On the other hand you could fit a Nextbase - they have various models available inc. with GPS (which records speed and location along with video). In the UK my car dealership is a Nextbase sales/install agent and we have fitted several hundred over the last few years with barely any comebacks.

Are you talking about nam pla ra or nam pla? The latter is very inoffensive and I use it a lot. As a condiment I find the 'Abalone' brand delicious. Nam pla ra, on the other hand, is quite pungent. I have developed a taste for it however and often use it as dressing on som-tam Lao, Korat etc., and on Western-style salads. I'm a big fan of blue cheeses (especially Blue Stilton - a popular British cheese) and I detect some of the same flavours in pla ra. You need to choose brands carefully, some are overly salty. I prefer the long-fermented slightly sweet pla ra.

I imagine Toyota have specc'd siffer springs (leafs on rear - added a leaf too?) and corresponding higher-rate dampers (shock absorbers). Dampers should be matched to the spring rate of the springs so that 'critical damping' is achieved. Not sure how well chosen the aftermarket setups are. IMHO overly firm springs on these pickups are a safety hazard and causes the vehicles to be skittish on bumpy roads. Coupled with bump steer from leaf-sprung rear its not a good recipe...

Its sensible to change gearbox and diff oil every 100k km. Gearbox should be a 75W/85 - 75W/90 GL4. Do not use a GL5. Diff should be 75W/90 GL5. The clutch is hydraulic and cannot be adjusted (there is adjustment on pushrod but its factory set, don't meddle with it). Diagnosing gearbox problems without driving the vehicle is difficult. You might want to attempt the following: 1. Engine off, clutch depressed. Select all gears. Excessive notchiness or stiffness indicates problems/damage with selectors. Looseness/sloppy indicates worn linkage/lever bushes. 2. Start engine. Depress clutch fully. Wait at least 5 seconds. Engage gears in turn but keep clutch depressed. Operation should feel similar to in (1) above. Grinding indicates clutch drag (clutch fault or air in fluid). Baulking also failure to fully release. 3. Drive the car. Baulking indicates worn synchromesh. Normally synchro wear is first evident on 2nd and 3rd. If the synchros are worn you need to rebuild the box and replace hard parts.

I think it gets discussed quite a lot. Plenty of clinics all over the place including that big Pulse Clinic on 2nd road... Up to the individual to take precautions...

Crikey, that was a big leak!

My youngest daughter who a doctor in a UK hospital (she works in Urology) came to visit us in Thailand last year. I was discussing with her that I drink a lot of water. Her advice was that drinking too much water causes body electrolytes to go out of balance - sodium in particular. In extreme cases the brain can swell. She says that in Thailand CLEAR urine would be a sign of drinking too much water and she would expect to see pale yellow to yellow urine......

I spent a lot of time working internationally (inc. lot of time in Thailand) until taking early retirement at age 56 in 2018. My wife of 12 years (Thai) and I split our time between UK and Thailand in three-month blocks. Life is very good in both countries. A 9/9. In the UK I have a house in a pretty rural village. Its very clean, green and the people are very pleasant. Lots of countryside walks. My wife loves it. My adult offspring live not far away, and they really like my wife and always visiting for Thai meals etc. In Thailand my wife has a condo in Pattaya and two houses near Udon. But we also travel a lot in the region, enjoying different foods and relaxing. In the UK I am still 50% owner of our family car dealership (car sales, service, MoT) - so if I get bored I can drive over there and help out on the sales pitch or in the workshop. I also have a small collection of cars in the which I dabble with - a 1974 Ford Consul GT ('The Sweeney') which I'm slowly restoring, a GT86, an old Celica, an Alfa and a 2018 Aston Martin DB11 5.2 V12 which I bought for myself as a retirement present (turned out to be a disappointment, so its going......). My wife is a partner in a hotel and restaurant business in the UK (which is the main reason we still spend 6 months each year there). She is a workaholic when she's there (she was working 90 hour weeks - now cut to 60 hours). I'm hoping she'll bail out of it soon because I'm worried she over works and it also causes tension between us - but it makes good income and she's rather addicted to saving money 'for her old age'. If my wife stops working then it'll be 9 months in SE Asia and 3 months in UK. If it weren't for my wife being Thai and me already speaking the language etc then truthfully I'd probably be retired in Spain. But Thailand still feels pretty good to me overall, the major downside being the driving and concerns about things like emergency services and healthcare. We drive a lot here, and I do find the very poor driving standards to be wearing.

Eastern Home Decor Co. on Sukhumvit opposite Lotus South Pattaya. The owner speaks good English. I know a few people who've used this shop with good results.

Interesting news. I wonder how many Thais actually pay tax on overseas income? I'm sure my wife doesn't... She is partner in a small hotel/restaurant business in the UK. She spends around six months each year in Thailand and six months in UK (dual citizen) usually in three month blocks (alternating with her partner, a HK lady). We always bring her money over as cash, in 20's and 50's. Convert at SuperRich and pay into her various accounts or use to purchase stuff e.g. land. This is around GBP40-50k per annum. To my knowledge she has never paid any kind of tax apart from land transfer tax. She also rents out a couple of condos, but AFAIK its all 'under the radar'. Never heard her even mention any kind of income tax and I've never seen her receive any kind of tax form or tax demand.....

I think the theory is that blue colour indicates clean water. Other colours for drain, sewage etc - but everyone seems to use blue for everything. IIRC it comes in two wall thicknesses. Also there is pipe available with UV protection so that pipes exposed to sun don't degrade.

Jumping onto this topic.....anyone know a pharmacy in Pattaya or Jomtien that stocks Praziquantal? Asked at a few without luck. Surprisingly Fascino don't have it and it doesn't even appear on their computer system. Wife buys bags of bits of rotten and fermented fish and shrimps and boils it up with various other odds and ends added to make a sauce. Its not bad actually, I have acquired a taste for it but I want to take precautions.

Sorry, still means nothing to me. Should I know 'Tash Peterson'?

I have a Firestick '4K with Alexa' which I bought from Amazon UK earlier this year on an offer at £30. I also subscribe to IPTV (Wizz TV) for £75/year. Works fine in UK and Thailand.

I feel very disconnected from the world. First I had no idea who 'Danish Tony' is, and now 'Perth Girl'. I thought I was keeping abreast of world events, but obviously not.

I've always liked Rick, a super nice guy. We attended the same school (Uppingham) although not at the same time (he's 14 years older than me). He's a very generous guy - does a lot for charity (which you don't hear much about, he's very modest and humble) and he's given a lot to his old school. Met him quite a few times at reunions. My friend Richard Tice (currently leader of the Reform UK party) is another Old Uppinghamian. We were in West Deyne House at the same time and have kept in touch since. His nickname was 'Dodgy Dicky' but he's a straight arrow. Stephen Fry was two or three years above - was a very odd boy, he had a 'reputation' and I kept away from him.

My wife owns a few condos in the Pattaya area and occasionally has minor problems like this. One very similar case like yours happened this year.. She was in UK and received an email (with attached video file) saying water was leaking from her condo onto the ceiling of the condo below and dripping into their living room (video to show it). She contacted her tenant and organised for condo maintenance to visit her condo. Turns out that there was a fracture in the base concrete of the balcony (where the balcony rail uprights bolted to the floor). Rainwater was running from her balcony into the ceiling void below. Repairing the balcony was the responsibility of the condo office (no cost to her). Damage to the ceiling of the condo below was the responsibility of the owner of that condo (no cost to my wife). It seems that in Thailand water leaks into a condo are treated as an 'act of God' - unless negligence on the part of another owner can be shown.

My wife owns a couple of condos in Pattaya. She was registered for the old online TM30 system and earlier this week received an email asking her to register on a new tenant reporting system. New URL etc. So I assume this is rolling out nationally.