Mark123456

What's the point of this post? You just wanted to tell everybody that you like hanging around with prostitutes and backpackers?

What I got out of it is that he treated the bar girl as a person and not stereotyping her as the mob did.

All I got out of the post is he isn't very choosy when it comes to who he drinks with and he occasionally gets so drunk that he knocks over girls - real class act.

What's the point of this post? You just wanted to tell everybody that you like hanging around with prostitutes and backpackers?

I live about a 5 minute walk from Meechook Plaza and the traffic really isn't that bad. It has got a little worse since they started work on the underpass by Thepanya Hospital but once that's finished I guess it should improve. The Monday/Tuesday market is a pain in the backside because it means it is difficult to find a parking place in the plaza on those days. In our moo baan you would have no idea you were close to ruamchook junction, it's also very quiet.

I really do not understand why anyone uses a foreign card for supermarket payment here (and foreign fee/exchange rate issues). I find it a good source of small bills for taxi and such. Cash is accepted everywhere - if you must use plastic some local cards offer SMS alerts when used which would immediately alert you of any fraud and do not involve exchange/foreign usage loss.

If I withdraw cash from my UK bank account I have to pay 2% foreign exchange commission + a £1 fee from my bank + a 200 baht fee from the local bank. If I buy something in a shop with the same card, I pay the 2% foreign exchange commission but not the £1 or 200 baht bank charges. I use my card for supermarket payment here because it's cheaper. (I do pay a foreign exchange fee but I've never had any foreign exchange 'issues').

Well, I hold a Permanent Resident Certificate (initially blue, now white booklet) and admission stamps remain empty, i.e. without expiry.

Above included that I had to be entered onto the blue house registration within 14 days of having been granted the PR status; I do not know what the yellow house registration book is all about.

My ID number starts with "8" but I kept (purposely) my born nationality, i.e. I am not a Thai citizen and I shall not become a Thai citizen. That means that a PR holder's ID number seems to start with "8" - as shown on driving licenses.

Irrespective of all, an "alien" living here has - in most cases - a driver's license which is more than enough to identify yourself with the authorities, banks and officials.

I have used my Thai driving licence for every purpose possible here for the last 35 years and can t think why people go to all the trouble to get other documents.

Because

1. You can't buy a car in your own name with just a DL.

2. Still pay more at some tourist places even with a DL

Can't buy a car in your own name without permanent residency? I think you mean you can't buy a car on credit not that you can't buy a car in your own name without residency?

The mains water supply where I live (near ruamchook) is quite soft. Only 4 degrees GH and KH - pH of 8 though, so I'm guessing they add sodium hydroxide or similar to the supply.

Nice.. anyway they didn't have much choice to remain competitive in front of MacOS / Linux,

so now "Microsoft Loves LINUX" !

They have around a 90% share of the desktop market, not sure why you think they "didn't have much choice to remain competitive"?

This tools is not intended to be used by lambda users but by developpers, computers workers, who in majority prefers to use linux everyday for they work, but also have to use windows sometimes, so this action is to recover some users that went far away from microsoft or are going to do it soon, not the usual computer end user.

OK, I must be missing something then. When I developed applications for Windows platforms, I naturally did it in a Windows environment. I guess it's good for cross-platform app developers or those targeting Linux though. Or maybe development environments/tools have changed considerably since I was involved in IT. It's been a while, I must admit.

@Mark123456

You are lucky, I left some (brand name) training shoes out near the garage (I forgot about them) and after 3-4 months I had to throw them away because the soles had the completely degraded.

Also in a 100 meter run on the ground, what do you think critters will do with the cable ? Leave it alone ? Sincerely doubt it. Conduit or shielded outdoor cable IMO, but of course it's up 2 the OP.

I didn't expect it to last this long either - I was planning to replace it with a higher quality cable designed for outdoor use and fix it to the exterior walls rather than just throw it over the roof but as it's still working I haven't got round to doing so yet. Actually, I thought outdoor cable would be more expensive than it is. I've seen 60m of outdoor Cat 5e cable on amazon for the equivalent of around 2,000 baht.

dula pricing is CLEAR RACISM! thailand is not poor country . just they dont give poor people money or care. and overpopulated land also not help to kvality of life.. but its problem whole asia.

nobody like this in TH years . and they want increase ??

How is Thailand overpopulated? Similar population to the United Kingdom, which is half the size of Thailand and not generally considered to be overpopulated as far as I'm aware?

I was disgusted when I found out KFC have dual pricing for Thai/Falang on thier home delivery service here.

I have not and shall not ever eat there again.

All the wonderful food here and you eat KFC? I met a pommie bloke once in a restaurant here that ordered egg and chips - said it tasted just like home. Strange fruit indeed.

Are you suggesting that just because we live in Thailand we have to eat Thai food every day? Rather strange if you are.

What ever you do, don't do this

we can hang on elec poles to keep it neat.

I found Cat 5E Outdoor Cable for you, but it's a 305 Meter Box:

http://i.nvade.it/1G8

Ps: I don't think cheap Lan cable will last 2 years here in the outdoors with full sun exposure.

I've got cheap indoor cat 5E cable coming out of a hole in upstairs bedroom wall, slung over the roof and entering office downstairs through another hole in the wall. It's been there for nearly 2 years with no problems so far. Must be in full sun nearly all day.

LK was dull as ditch water when I moved here from Bangkok around 6 years ago and it hasn't changed since.

And if you don't want to chance having to hang around for 2-3 hours, you can use the agent a couple of doors down - 500 baht fee.

Hello Mark

We have a different take on certain words and when and in what context they should be used

That being the case I hope I can say no damage done

Retarded was probably not such a great choice of word but I was thinking about that poor little girl, reading the comments about people not wanting to see pictures, others trying to turn it into a debate about how bad Thai people are at driving, taking responsibility etcetera, and the whole thing just made me feel sick.

Hello Mark123456

As regards your post 88

I dont agree with it in any shape or form

I do respect the fact that it is your considered opinion and your right to express it to all and sundry

What I cant countenance Mark is the last six words which make up the last line

You have deliberately left a gap as I have with the express purpose of making the line stand out

Mark if you ever feel the need to reply to any of my future posts please leave the bigoted religious clap trap out of it

I say future posts as it is patently too late for this thread

Thankyou

OLDLAKEY

I wasn't replying to your post, I was replying to Wilsonandson (that's why I quoted his post) as he seemed to feel that he had overstepped the mark and I don't think he did. My post had nothing to do with religion either, I was intimating that those with no human spirit, i.e. thoughts, emotions and feelings that are above the more mundane aspects of life, may struggle to deal with tragedies such as this one and prefer them to be hidden from view. I perhaps would have agreed with this point of view in the past but I think that to complain about a picture of a grieving mother and her dead child shows a weakness in one's own psyche, a spiritual immaturity if you will. That comment wasn't directed specifically at you, it applies equally to myself as I found the story very hard to deal with, and am still thinking about it now. I just feel that I ought to be able to come to terms with it and deal with it rather than wish I had never seen those pictures. You obviously feel differently, which is your right.

Sounds like good advice but I'd be a little wary of using copper piping in an aquarium application.

I would never trust a Thai to drive my children ,selfish stupid people ,I see van drivers taking kids to school in morning and their driving scares me ,driving fast wrong side of the road to get in front of 1 car

If it was my child that man would learn to count to 13 ,each time I broke a born he would have to count

You really broke your own born with your pose. Please don't forget that some of us are married here and do not have your view of Thais in general.

Also women drive vans.

Are you saying that in general thais drive vehicles well?

A 3-year-old girl has died, probably scared, lonely, confused and in pain, and you want to start an argument about the driving abilities of Thai people? It makes me genuinely sad, the type of people I have to share this world with.

Dont upset him, i recon from his rantings, he could be dangerous.

Couple of trolls basically. Probably typing with one hand. I think most of us have got better things to do than to enter into a discussion with the mentally challenged.

I only joined this forum recently but if this is an example of "advanced" members, I don't think I'll be a regular visitor.

Nice.. anyway they didn't have much choice to remain competitive in front of MacOS / Linux,

so now "Microsoft Loves LINUX" !

They have around a 90% share of the desktop market, not sure why you think they "didn't have much choice to remain competitive"?

I've just remembered: I did see a DIY chiller project, on YouTube a while ago I think. What the guy had done was to run a large amount of hosing through an ordinary domestic fridge. Apart from making a couple of holes in the fridge, it looked like a very easy project although I guess you would have to experiment with the flow rate and length of hosing to get the desired chill effect. I do remember that the hosing was coiled inside the fridge, to ensure the water spent enough time inside it to drop in temperature.

I'm not a very practical person so I'm not sure how you could control the temperature automatically with such a setup but given the price of fridges compared to aquarium chillers it's tempting to try this project. I guess you could have some kind of y-junction in the hosing with a solenoid that opened or closed one of two pipes, linked to a thermometer in the tank. What I mean is, if the temperature drops to 25.8, the water could be routed to a length of hose outside the fridge and if it went over 26.2, the water could be directed to the hose that was inside the fridge.

Not sure how practical all that is but thought I'd mention it as i just remembered it. Actually, rather than the two hose solution, I guess the fridge could just be plugged into a thermostat that turned it on and off according to the water temperature.

Where have you looked for chillers? I know that Seasun Aquarium in Bangkok charge well over the odds as do some other shops so you might find a better price if you keep looking. What size tank do you have and what output are you looking for chiller-wise?

I use large fans on my freshwater tanks but evaporation is of course an issue when doing that (and 28 is a more optimistic target than 26 for me). Only way to avoid the water becoming harder and harder over time is either to do lots of large water changes or top up with water from an RO unit (I'm sure you know all that already).

Yes i've bought from them previously - Skimmer Never worked :/ few other issues...

Yes, loose roughly 1L a day.... I am a reefer though... freshwater apart from the koi sala really is not my thing..., the wife does a 5L water change daily as we have the sea basically on the BG.

I've seen these fans on Lazada (looked yesterday) apparantly they can reduce the temp by 2-4 c each, is that working out the same for you, as its currently now hitting 28 over night, and 32 with the lights on (will likely increase when i add an additional 74 watts to the tank over the next month...

I'm using small desk fans that are sat on the sill I have at the back of two of my tanks, I think they're a fair bit more powerful than the computer fan style ones that clip onto the side. I can keep the tanks around 26.6 degrees if people stop opening the door to let the non-existent breeze into the house. On days when that happens it gets up to 27.7 (sorry for the odd figures, I work in Fahrenheit so I'm converting as i go along). The mistake I used to make was turning them off at night. If I leave them on all night, the tanks start the day at just over 26 and then they rarely exceed 27. I have heaters in them so I imagine its a battle between the fan and the heaters some nights but at least i know it's not going to get too cold (I haven't gotten around to buying a thermostat to plug the fans into yet).

Off topic, but lucky you! I have an aquarium heater for Discus fish set at 30.1C - it hasn't been activated for a couple of months?

Fortunately the Discus seem quite happy, even though the water temp must be a lot higher than 31C.

But I have had to throw ice cubes in the outdoor aquarium as it gets some sun during the day and I've had a death in both the outdoor aquarium and pond (that doesn't get any sun).

I have a tank with rams and cardinals in and the heater is set to keep the temperature at 29 degrees. It never goes above that when the fan is on. I think that bigger fans are the answer really, although my long-term plan is to put glass walls up and just use air con to keep the 'fish room' temp at about 28. I didn't really understand the OP's salinity issues. If you top up with fresh water, to counteract the evaporation, salinity shouldn't be a problem? Still, it's been years since I had a reef tank and that was back in England where this was only a problem for about 2 weeks out of 5 years.

31 degrees Celsius is nearly 88 Fahrenheit....my tanks never get anywhere near that with the fans on. I should point out that I live in Chiang Mai and not Bangkok but even when the outside temperature was over 40 Celsius recently, I had no problems. My house isn't particularly well-designed to cope with the heat and I don't use air-con to excess so I can only assume it's down to the fact I use larger fans that I don't have any problems.

do a little more than they are currently. Their advice to tourists coming here is pretty basic.

They provide consular assistance to British nationals in emergencies, they're not here to act as our parents. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London is responsible for issuing foreign travel advice to British nationals, not the British Embassy in Thailand.

And that would be fine if they actually did help Brits needing assistance.

But they only provide the minimum help necessary as far as I can make out. Their remit is to promote Brit business/govt interests and they couldn't give a toss about Brit tourists/residents here.

When you say 'as far as I can make out', what are you basing your opinion on? I've heard a lot of negative opinions about the British Embassy but no solid facts. Also, I haven't noticed the American, Australian, Canadian or other Western embassies being any more vocal or supportive when their nationals are in trouble. I'd be happy to be proved wrong but it seems to me that the British Embassy is unfairly targeted, for one reason or another.

Its worthy to note that the collateral damage is always the British.

Yes, the Germans, Scandinavians and other nationalities seem to specialise in diving off Pattaya balconies.

do a little more than they are currently. Their advice to tourists coming here is pretty basic.

They provide consular assistance to British nationals in emergencies, they're not here to act as our parents. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London is responsible for issuing foreign travel advice to British nationals, not the British Embassy in Thailand.

Interesting that the the British consulate / embassy has been so quiet.

Not really just the norm from them...

The British embassies the world over are famous for "working behind the scenes" as they often optimistically put it.

Not that it gets them anywhere though.

Our embassies fail where others succeed.

As you know so much about the BKK Embassy operations, as an example, can you advise the outcomes for the 23 sexual assault victims embassy staff assisted in the 2012 / 2013 reporting year or indeed in any period for UK nationals physical / sexual assault victims in Thailand?

I'm not sure what people are expecting the British Embassy to do - should they be making a declaration of war on Thailand? Apart from offering consular assistance to the family, what can they do?