cheshiremusicman

At Sairee Beach, in the (ought to be) tropical paradise island of Koh Tao there's a raw sewage stream bisecting the beach. If nothing gets done about such an obvious issue I don't expect nebulous notions about silt to get any priority.

Put a video on Youtube. It seems to be the most effective method of getting the Thais attention.

They would only watch this if it was full of 'stupid childlike sounds' and 'people dressed like clowns' in 'over bright colours'-- Yes, Thai 'soap' at its best.

Off topic a bit but there was an amusing story about the employees at Disney Corp HQ in their internal emails referring to their place of work as 'Mousewitz'. When Disney's management found out they issued a warning that anyone using the term in future would be fired instantly. Sortly afterwards emails started replacing it with 'Duckau'.

Hilarious!

I am amazed, that most of the people working their had a blxxdy clue as to what it was referring to.

Whatever happened to the 'Architects' guide dog, is it still around?

It looked like an unfinished building site when it first opened - and still does!

Combine this, with some of the most unhelpful, surly, 'Immigration Officers' that you could wish to meet and the whole place is a blxxdy disgrace. Until the High ups stop telling themselves and the world, what a wonderful job they have done and are still doing and take their collective heads out of the quick sands, nothing but nothing will change. WE KNOW EVERYTHING AND DON'T NEED ANY HELP FROM OUTSIDE 'EXPERTS' IS THE MANTRA AND SEEMS AS THOUGH IT ALWAYS WILL BE HERE IN THAILAND. I wonder what these people actually think when they travel to other international airports like say Hongkong ? Does it every strike them that there is a chasm between their own so called 'International' airport and others around the world - probably not. Great idea to reopen the old airport and dictate who has to fly there - any idea how you will get between the two - NO haven't thought about that one have they, and why should they, because they don't care and never will.

CLS-Class Coupé (Merc)

CLS 350 BlueEFFICIENCY

Manufacturer's List Price

including GST $139,855.00

Recommended maximum dealer delivery¹

including GST $2,692.31

Luxury Car Tax (LCT) $25,524.39

VIC Total Registration² $713.20

VIC Registration $263.30

VIC CTP² $0.00

VIC Stamp Duty $8,410.00

Drive Away Price

Base model featured only. $177,194.90 (5,670,236 Bht)

(Based on Victoria, Australia prices which vary from state to state depending on local gov stamp duty taxes)

A nieghbour of ours has one of these that his daughter used when studying in Melbourne Australia he then imported the vehicle.

So assuming that he paid the tax at say the 328% (example only) the vehicle in the end would have cost him $581,282 (AUD) or 18,598,282 Baht.

I see a lot of luxury imported vehicles driving around Chiangmai and the carpark at our son's school is a motoring buffs Disneyland. How on earth can Thai's (A "3rd World" country) afford such luxury items.

We hear stories of corporations like Toyota and the like considering relocating to nieghbouring countries due to the increase in the minimum wage and the floods and if they do then the pickups that the average rice farmer relies on will have to be imported and as such be subjected to the import taxes. I guess Thailand will revert to the bullock and cart and bicycle.

And save thousands of lives and public costs every year!

Well said 'Tanaka'. Can't wait to take my new 'Driving test' on the 'bullock and cart' - already have a degree in cycling proficiency, think it runs out in 2050 and is 'World Wide & Wise'.

"State is upset it cannot steal more from people using outrages tax-rates or that some are trying to avoid having someone steal from them."

That sums it up quite nicely! The car-import tax is way too high. It's just stealing from the people indeed.

I drove a MX5 in my home-country:

Price of a new MX5 in the USA: about 800-900 kbaht.

Price of a new MX5 in Holland: about 1.3 Mbaht (in Holland cars are considered quite expensive already)

Price of a new MX5 in Thailand: about 2.6 Mbaht (about double the Holland price and triple the USA price)

They do this for what? Protect people from not buying a local made car?

If they just lowered these taxes to half of they are now, much much more people will buy imported.

I think the government will even collect more revenue if they did this, since much more people will buy the car of their dreams.

A couple years ago I went to the BMW international website and searched what a new BMW 7 series with V8 costs in different countries and converted them all into US dollar. Here are the results:

USA - $86,000

Germany/Italy - $136,000

Holland - $170,000

Thailand - $425,000 !!

I did this when the exchange rate was 35 Baht to a US dollar and it is 30 now so now the 7 series would be about $484,000 USD

I also looked at the Thailand BMW site and found the 6 cyl. 7 series was 8.5 million Baht, V8 - 14.5 million and V12 - 18.5 million. So you pay and extra 6 million Baht to get the V8 instead of the 6 cyl. That's because of the horsepower tax Thailand has in addition to import tax.

I would to have a mini S but it's 3 times the USA cost so I had to settle for a Thai made Ford Fiesta S...handles real nice for a low prices car.

Some five and half years ago, when I was in the process of moving to Thailand from the UK, I tried to made enquires about importing a BMW 540i that I owned at the time. The car a V8 4.5 litre was 6 years old and had cost me some £17,000 when I had bought it secondhand. I eventually managed to work out a quote (nobody ever replied to my questions) for the 'import duty' of some £22,000 and this even though the car was 6 years old and thus was given some 60% dispensation for tax purposes. Needless to say I didn't import it. I have now been driving a Toyota Foretuner for some 5 years - different animal, but far more suited to Thai roads than my beloved BMW. Maybe, just maybe,as a previous poster has said the Thai authorities will learn and change the ridiculous import duties, but I doubt this very much. I wonder what the reaction would be if other countries placed a 250% import duty on Thai rice and other goods manufactured in this country - all hell would break loose.

If they could mann all the counters, I`m sure it would help.

I cannot understand how in the lords name they could close down two of the gates for renovation works at the same time. It has to be a drunk mans decision.

Totally agree. I have NEVER seen all the immigration desks in operation at the same time, never mind having the option of which set of immigration gates you can use. I know that in the main, this is related to where your baggage is expected to arrive; but I don't mind walking to the correct carousel if that makes things quicker. I always get the impression that the 'Immigration Officers' work ( if that is the correct terminology for what they do) at a snails pace just to be bloody awkward. In other words - we will make you wait, like it or not! Thai arrogance at its best.

Problem is, that we have no alternative if we wish to use this airport for our travels and please, please don't come back and tell me to move to another country. I like living in Thailand and have no wish to move elsewhere, but it this doesn't preclude me from seeing things as they are and commenting on them.

Says they found packages in houses, unless the people possessing the packs told the cops, how do they know they came from certain hospitals?

Well I'd guess that each package is coded and documented as being delivered to a certain hospital upon distribution.

Well so much for all the mountains of paperwork/rubber stamping/copying that the Thai's love so much. I'll bet that they haven't got a clue where all this 'junk paperwork' is now residing, but at least it keeps some moron with a 'University degree' in work.

Is a 'roller' really essential and if so why?

That is not the Orient Express train but the normal Thai Bangkok to Penang that poster is talking about for 1,xxx baht. The Orient Express will be considerably more.

Prices

2012

Pullman Superior/Single US$2,440

State Cabin US$3,560

Presidential Suite US$5,150

HI Lopburi3,

Thanks for the pricing of the Asian Orient Express. If you read my question, you will see that I was obviously refering to the daily train and not the 'posh' one. Don't think I will be taking the 'posh' one at those prices.

Hua Hin-Butterworth...departs 7.30pm everyday arrives next day 1pm...cost 1,180 Baht, ask for bottom bunk..great journey

Do you have to make a forward booking for this, or can you just arrive on spec at HH station?

I presume that if you want a special place, like a bottom bunk then it will have to be pre booked. Is the station the only place to book these trips? What kind of services do they provide on this overnight trip, as I am thinking of travelling down myself and was considering driving down - yes I know its a long way; but at least I would have my own vehicle when I arrive and probably going for 4/5 weeks to have a look around so having my own transport whilst I'm there seems to make sense.

Anybody done this and got any advice?

When you say ' Locally' are you saying within the HH area or within Thailand ?

When I moved over from the UK some 5 years ago, the people who did the Thailand side of the move were a company called 'Asian Tigers' based in Bangkok and they were excellent, maybe they can help.

I remember reading somewhere ( but can't recall where) that Hua-Hin reputedly has some of the best air quality in Thailand. The worst air quality that we get here, is when the winds are from the NNE and this seems to bring what I would describe as a very hazy atmosphere. Just glad that I didn't settle in Chang Mai.

If you look on the Thai Met office site you will find that they give a daily report on the 'visible distance' that you can see each day along with the other stats for nearly all the different places in Thailand.

I am almost sure that 'PEN & PAPER' have what you are looking for.

Iphone 4S costs from 20,900 to 28,900

Ipad 2 costs from 15,900 to 25, 900

using the top prices by 700 still gives under 40 million, so where is the other 10 million going?

Well obviously, on weekend junkets away (Paris or Rome or Rio) for IT training on how to use them - conducted by a Thai of course, because a Farang wouldn't have a clue . We can't have the poor souls running around not using up millions of hours of unproductive work without knowing how to do it effectively can we? I'll bet most of them are given to the kids of the S & G's etc and they then carry Chinese copies for the 'face'.

Blxxdy unbelievable, but TIT, you've just got to love them for their brass neck haven't you, Sod the poor sod that got wiped out with the floods, let's spend the money on something completely inane.

All I can say is 'God bless the Seamen and Women'. I had friends that were on the 'Murmansk and Atlantic Convoys' in the Second World War ; I still think of them regularly and thank my luck stars that there were such brave people around to carry out such dangerous missions to protect our freedom.

Hi Rick,

As 'katabeachbum' said, the 'LED' lights use very very little in the way of power. It would seem a bit strange to go from 3 hours to 10 hours, as I would imagine that it doesn't get dark enough until 1900 to see the pool lights anyway; so the 3 hours will take you to say 2200; but maybe you are into midnight bathing - good lad !!!

The main cost of your electricity, will be your pool circulation pump, which, depending on the size of your pool, can be anything from 1,500watts to 3,000 watts per hour; this makes your lights seem paltry in comparison, as watts x hours x Baht cost per Kw = Total cost per system. I think that the average cost per Kw hour is now about 3 Baht, so it is fairly easy to work out what anything cost to run in your household.

LED lighting is definitely the way to go for all of us - garden lights and house lighting, but you must be aware that they also have some problems (at the moment) with surges in the mains voltages that can 'blow' them. The technology of these LED'S is increasing day by day and I am sure that we will all be using them for most of our lighting purposes in the near future, as the costs of these appliances go down compared to the 'mini folded flourescent tubes/bulbs' which most of us use in our homes today. The Automotive industry has taken them to their heart, as I am sure that you will have noticed by the rear LED light clusters that abound nowadays, they are 'virtually' indestructable under the correct conditions and if operated at their optimum levels can work for some 20,000hours+. Hope that this is of some help.

I'm amazed anyone would fly Thai economy with no seat back TV twice. I've only flown with them once in business and the food was awful.

Seems to me that Thai have completely lost the plot with some very old aircraft flying the routes and sky high prices; have they ever heard of 'competition'? The best flying experience for me has been the A380, both in economy and business classes on Emirates. Also like Emirates weight policies and free golf clubs carriage - amazing what you can stuff into a golf bag carrier when you try and they don't weigh it. I didn't like the 777 ER at all, even in business class; horrible seating arrangement goodness who designed it but there guide dog wants shooting and even though you boarded first you then had all the economy passengers traipsing past you to get on, which I thought was ridiculous.Only problem for me is the stop over with Emirates and the very very crowded and noisy lounges especially the business class lounge - announcements ever 15 seconds drive me mad, but hopefully as previous op has said they are in the process of building a new terminal for the 380's. Just hope that they turn the bloody speakers down. Qatar also good in my opinion, but haven't flown with them for about 3 years.

How can i get to this promos?

Here is their website I have seen the place

Note that TV, AC, WiFi and TOWELS are an Add on to the normal room rate

Yes, that was precisely what I thought until I actually tried to make a booking; as I was going over to Pattaya anyway within the promo time frame and thought that I would give it a try - could always go somewhere else if it was no good at that price.

The 'EXTRA CHARGES' are a one off and are the same if you stay for one night or more !

I booked for 10 nights and including the 12hr AC + 24 hr TV +24 hr WiFi + Towel & toiletries, the whole charge came to 2,832.2 Baht, so just about 283 Baht per night, promo basic advertised at 199 Baht + Taxes etc. I'm sure the rooms are small, but I only need somewhere to sleep not have a dance and I don't need all the other crap 'facilities' that you normally pay for and don't use.

It'll be interesting to see what the hotel turns out to be like - let's hope it doesn't have 'teething problems'.

I would check what you actually get with that cozy package you booked - I am guessing you only get 12hr AC/24hr TV total for your 10 day stay as there is a drop down selection of how many packages you want so you have to select 10 packages for the full stay.

You may well be correct about this; but I don't normally use the AC for more than about 15mins before sleeping and the TV is again something that I only watch for a short while - news etc, so all in all it should be enough, but thanks for your observation/comment .

How can i get to this promos?

Here is their website I have seen the place

Note that TV, AC, WiFi and TOWELS are an Add on to the normal room rate

Yes, that was precisely what I thought until I actually tried to make a booking; as I was going over to Pattaya anyway within the promo time frame and thought that I would give it a try - could always go somewhere else if it was no good at that price.

The 'EXTRA CHARGES' are a one off and are the same if you stay for one night or more !

I booked for 10 nights and including the 12hr AC + 24 hr TV +24 hr WiFi + Towel & toiletries, the whole charge came to 2,832.2 Baht, so just about 283 Baht per night, promo basic advertised at 199 Baht + Taxes etc. I'm sure the rooms are small, but I only need somewhere to sleep not have a dance and I don't need all the other crap 'facilities' that you normally pay for and don't use.

It'll be interesting to see what the hotel turns out to be like - let's hope it doesn't have 'teething problems'.

"Glad to be of help. I will be asking the same question re golf in Pattaya shortly, as I have not stayed there and wish to go over on a golfing trip for about 10 days, so any info re where to stay and what you consider to be the best courses to play would be most appreciated."

Will you have your own transport?

Do you like to be in the thick of things or prefer quiet location?

Would you prefer to play with a group or you will have your own group?

Look at the Pattaya Sports Club site (www.pattayasports.org) as joining this club (Baht 400 for 1 year, I think) gives you reduced rates at most of the surrounding courses and pays for itself within 2-3 games.

I intend to go over to Pattaya on my own and will have my own transport for about 10 days towards the end of Feb or early March. I have a friend who lives in Pattaya and hope to have a few games with him whilst I am there. I don't really mind where I stay ( not looking for 4/5 star hotel facilities) as long as it is clean and comfortable, but I would prefer somewhere that is reasonably quiet so that I can get some sleep when I want it. I do NOT know Pattaya, so would you advise staying outside of the centre , which I believe is Soi's 1 to 6 area. I will be parking my car up at night and using local transport tuk-tuk etc. I'm into all kinds of food of various nationalities and am told that Pattaya has plenty of very good places to eat.

I'm a rough 12 handicapper aged 68, but still very fit and as I have said previously I do NOT like using buggies, but I see that on lots of the courses they are mandatory - so I will have no choice but to use them.

I live over in the Hua-Hin area and if anybody is coming over, I would be happy to arrange a game with them as I am a member of two of the clubs Springfield and Lake-view. If anybody over in the Pattaya area needs an extra body to make up a game I would be very happy to meet up with you. If you PM me I can give you some firm dates in a day or so.

Happy golfing to all my golfing friends out there.

Many Thanks Cheshiremusicman for your reply.

Terrific info and lots of detail.

Thanks again.

Glad to be of help. I will be asking the same question re golf in Pattaya shortly, as I have not stayed there and wish to go over on a golfing trip for about 10 days, so any info re where to stay and what you consider to be the best courses to play would be most appreciated.

What kind of Buddhist promotes the torture of animals? Sick.

Couldn't agree more with you - seems hypocritical to me! Just hope that i don't face the same dilemma with my old cat.

I couldn't stand to see him suffer.

I hope that you have found an answer and that the dog is now at peace. Good luck and please keep us posted, as I am sure that there are many people out there who will face the same problem in years to come.

Sorry, just re read your original question. NO, you do not have to move your accommodation to play any of these courses; which obviously is far better. The Dam course is probably the furthest away from Kanchanaburi.

In response to your question, a group of us go up to Kanchanaburi about 4 times a year , staying 3 nights at the 'Ploy Guest house' which is located on the riverside. Nice and clean and cost about 900 Baht per night for a double room with en-suite. The rooms are basic but adequate and close to local restaurants/bars etc - 'The Green Fog' is one we would recommend, some 4 minutes walk from the Ploy - how they sell the food; which is very good, for the prices that they charge I don't know ! A great English breakfast can be had at Rob's place some 70 yards (from the Ploy) away on the opposite side of the road going towards the Green Frog. Forgotten the name of this place, but if you want more info just PM me and I can give you telephone number. Rob is very helpful and will give you advice re what the conditions of the local courses are like etc and has even organised games for us - nice guy always willing to help.

Courses to play:-

Evergreen Hills golf club www.evergrenhillsgolfcourse.com,

Nichigo Resort and country club 3 x 9 holes www.nichigoresortcc.com

Uniland Golf and country club. Military club with very good facilities.

Blue Sapphire 4 x 9 holes and more to come. This in my opinion is one of the toughest courses in the area and we have only played the so called 'easiest 18' as yet, the A+B. Great variations in shape of holes and you really have to play with great accuracy to score well here. Again very hilly, with some very long walks between the tees, so most people take a buggy, but I enjoy the walk. This course, as the name implies, is built around the 'Sapphire mining' excavations in the area and is actually owned by the Mining company.

Mida golf Club www.midagolfclubkanchanabuiri.com. This is (I believe) Korean owned and they have, and are still spending an awful lot of money on the course/facilities. This is the only golf course where I have come across lockers that are operated by a 'swipe card' - how posh can you get? Like Evergreen always in great condition when we have played.

Srinagarind Dam golf & Resort

There are many more courses around the area but we haven't played them yet.

The Srinagarind Dam course is about one hours drive north from Kanchanaburi on the main highway with some fabulous views of the mountains and the dam. A great course to take on -very, very mountainous with some par 3's where you have NO OPT OUT, hit the green or say BYE BYE GOLF BALL- buggy advised if not essential ( I don't use buggies unless I have to, but here YES). If I remember correctly the green fee here was less than 600 Baht including caddy fee. The actual condition of the fairways and greens are not that great, but what a hell of a course - EVERYONE who played it agreed that we would definitely go back again on the next trip, we enjoyed the challenge so much!

All of the above courses will give you a great day out.

I don't know where you are located, so it is impossible to advise which course(s) to play on the way up or down to Kanchanaburi, but obviously you can sort this out yourselves.

If you have to play only 3 courses then I would suggest - Evergreen, Blue Sapphire, and Mida. If you want something completely different then do play Srinagarind (This one just for the hell of it). Nichigo is reputedly listed as one of the 'top 5 courses in Asia' and is a great venue, but we have found the course conditions to have deteriorated; but maybe they have again improved - ask Rob for his opinion on this.

Have a great trip and give my regards to Rob when you have the 'Full English'; this will set you up for the days golf.

The 'gated community' or moo ban where I live is in the process of transferring ownership from the developers to what the OP describes as a 'juristic body' of residents, and I asked the OP's very question at a meeting some months ago. The point is that an obligation to pay a management fee was included in the contract with the developers for the original purchase of the property, but I wanted to know how that obligation could be transferred to a third party, and judging by the vague answer I got, unless you actually sign something agreeing to pay the new body they can't do much to enforce it. They said that you were liable not to get your rubbish collected and security might not open the gate for you, and a claim might be registered with the Amphur against the property which could cause problems if you wanted to sell it, but that's about it.

From my experience over the years with amateur committees, I would expect the whole thing to go to ratshit within about 18 months.

Well, for your information things are running well after 5 years, with residents paying their fees twice yearly. The roads, communal area and verges are kept clean and tidy and rubbish is collected 3 times a week by the local authoritities. We have not had any break-ins for over 3 years and the last one was a minor theft. We are a collection of some 41 villas with no plots left unfinished and fortunately for us, the builder built everything that he said that he would, with as good a standard as one could expect to receive here in Thailand IMHO. Our local maintenance is performed by 'Room by Room', who I have found to be very co-operative to our needs, they also maintain about 80% of all the villa gardens and pools. We do request that visitors leave I.D. at our security gate but this is always a problem implementing, with guards changing regularly and trying to train them in procedure is difficult, but we are now changing the way that the gate is operated by residents. We introduced a guard monitoring system some 2 years ago that ensures that we can check that the guards are doing their regular patrols at night and this gives us some 14 check points within the residential area that we can monitor. Patrols are run from 1700 in the evening until 0600 and I download this information once a month to run a check.

So all in all you CAN get things running smoothly if you try it would seem. Things can always be improved if people want to see that happen. I wish you luck with your development.

If anybody needs any information regarding any of the above please feel free to contact me.