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17 hours ago, sotonowl said:

fluent in welsh apparently

 

Now that is a language that is getting a bit of resurgence and by the third or fourth millennium it should have over taken English as the second language of the world, but it looks like them damn thais are going to beat us to it, we should have gone public with our world language take over sooner.

Really enjoyable thread and some fantastic photos thank you.

I would love to do something similar but on a slightly bigger bike with gears.

Some councils will fine people for putting the wrong things into the wrong bins, I would keep a record of it and email them with the pictures each time it happens if nothing else it is a good defence in case you are fined.

If your a thai female living alone I wouldn't recommend confronting anyone about it as it could make matters a whole lot worse.

I don't mind Leo and between me and the missus we get through quite a bit always have it with ice as can't stand warm beer. I hadn't noticed the change in taste in the old and new bottles maybe chilli has killed my taste buds.

I have said it before and I will say it again, more guns equal more gun violence.

The theory that arming the population will reduce gun crime is nothing short of preposterous, until the populous can see the light these dreadful events will continue.

I am anti guns and can't see why a civilised human being would want one after all they were designed to kill and civilised people don't kill.

2 hours ago, JB300 said:

Fair play fella, as I said I was well mullered when I made that post & have since apologised for it.

Nothing wrong at all with giving it a go & I'd recommend the same to anybody (I gave middle of Bangkok a go, paid for a condo for 1 month & lasted 10 days... lesson well learnt).

Genuinely hope it all goes well for him but fact is years & years of people abusing Visas has led to a tightening up of all of the rules which makes it harder for everybody so I just urge anybody who's considering making the move to put a Long term visa at the top of their list or look elsewhere (no point in trying it out if you can't continue with it).

No problem, I agree that if he likes it and wants to move here then he will have to look into getting the appropriate visa.

22 years ago I over looked the visa situation and my 3 year stay came to an abrupt end with just over a month in the IDC in soi suan phlu, it wasn't a place I would like to stay again. I learned from my mistake and won't make the same mistake again.

On ‎06‎/‎01‎/‎2017 at 4:57 PM, JB300 said:

Great plan... Move somewhere to "Live" & rely on doing tourist visa runs

Again, it has nothing to do with Money, Elitism whatever! But before moving somewhere, at least have the bottom layer of Maslow's hierarchy of needs boxed off

Edit: Care to share how you get this "2 month Visa" (METV) without 2 x the OP'S friends bank balance & a letter from their employer?

Fella, if you would have read my post you would have understood that I was suggesting give it a go for 6 months to see if A he likes it and B he can afford to do it, a sort of try it before you make a decision.

A 2 month tourist visa is a single entry tourist visa (SETV) and I have never been asked for proof of anything when getting one in my home country which I would hazard a guess that is where the op's friend actually is. An METV is a multiple entry tourist visa and yes for these you need to have all sorts of documentation but that is beside the point as that isn't what I was talking about.

The reason I suggested this is because after 3 months in Thailand he may go to a neighbouring country and maybe prefer it who knows.

The fact that people are bashing someone for wanting to try and live here on a budget is ridiculous there are loads of people here doing it I can't see the problem.

There's some decent people on here but there's also a some self important keyboard warriors who for some reason seem to hate just about everything, they tend to moan about Thais, Thailand, their own countries, quite ironically immigrants in their own countries and not forgetting people who come here without in their view enough money.

Personally it wouldn't be enough for me but it doesn't mean it can't be done as I said before give it a go if you like it then go for it if not you can always go home.

As for visa requirements come on a tourist visa 2 months extend 1 month go to a neighbouring country get another  2 month tourist visa extend another month that is 6 months you should know if it's for you or not by then. Also don't forget that Thailand has neighbouring countries which you may find you like more.

11 hours ago, transam said:

I assume your ride has a turbo, if so open the window, can you hear it "singing"..

Before resetting the ECU I couldn't get enough revs for the turbo to kick in properly now it does and it whistles nicely, however the is a problem with one of the sensors and the ECU needs resetting  to often, we are going to the brother in laws just outside Surat next month and he is a much better mechanic than me I know a lot more about big bikes than cars to be fair and the fact that my tools haven't arrived yet doesn't help.

Even watching that makes me miss my bike, but it was prohibitively expensive to bring it with me.

I will be getting one soon as I really don't like mopeds I find the lack of power and acceleration dangerous, not to mention the tiny tyres and shot head race bearings that seem standard over here.

I personally would want a bit more than that a month, i'm sure if I wanted to I could survive on that but I prefer to live and that is a bit more expensive.

Looking back over the past month I haven't actually spent much more than that and have been out in Bangkok a few times, had 4 day trips out of Bangkok, eat what I want when I want and a box of beer most days have spent 60k and that is me and the missus.

We have saved a bit on accommodation as we own a house and we also have a pick up which is surprisingly cheap to run.

I would say depending on the op's friends age why not try for a short period and see if it is for you or not.

1 hour ago, hobz said:

I drive 80kph if the road is completely empty and good quality.

 

If you drive over 100kph and there is a pothole and at the same time you are taken over recklessly by a minivan,, what do you do? There is no time to think, there is no time to react,,.. Obviously you are here to tell the tale so i genuinly wonder how you survive shit like that? Or are you saying you dont encounter potholes and reckless drivers? I for sure do...

100kph is nothing for a big bike it is around 60mph and my old 900 hornet could get to that speed from 0mph in just under 3 seconds.

There is a big difference between big bikes and mopeds that you ride like a Honda click, the stability and handling are vastly superior.

I have ridden big bikes for over 30 years and agree with what Gweiloman says as he sounds like he has had a good bit of experience himself. In the end of the day the reason we survive is through experience and ability to read the road conditions and driving or riding in Thailand it isn't just what is in front of you but also what is behind or at the sides of you for instance if I see one of the homicidal mini vans catching me up at speed I put myself in the lane that I don't think he will use basically staying out of his way.

So I second what Gweiloman says either keep the hazards far behind you or let the hazards pass.

2 hours ago, Artisi said:

A stupid comment mirroring your comment re if no u turn etc. The u turn was there along with thousands of others in Thailand usually reasonably sign posted - so expect vehicles to be using them. That's not saying I agree with the way u turns are placed or used.

Fella u turns on fast roads is a recipe for disaster coupled with people who drive with no basic rules of the road.

I agree that they are sign posted but u turning into what would normally be a fast lane causes more confusion about what lane to be in when approaching the u turn, i'm not rocket scientist but it could be a reason behind rapid lane changes,

I drive here and when approaching u turns I do so with caution, I not an advocate of more traffic lights but there must be a better more safer way to change direction than u turns which here they are often badly placed and often badly used.

I would still like to see the statistics on accidents near u turns.

9 minutes ago, Artisi said:

And if one of them had stayed at home it wouldn't have happened either.  

Would you care to expand on that comment?

Plain stupid, ok nobody got hurt or killed this time but surely firing a gun out of a window in Bangkok in is beyond idiocy. Also the person who gave the weapon to a probably pissed student to fire out of the window needs to be brought in as well.

Regardless on my own opinions on guns this is extremely dangerous and if someone did get shot then would people still be joking about it.

I think the whole u turn thing on major roads is plain asking for trouble I would like to see the statistics for accidents at u turns. When I approach any sort of u turn I try to be in the furthest lane away but even then you get people u turning into the furthest lane which is a recipe for disaster why not u turn then make your way back to the lane you want to be in.

I ride big bikes myself and have done for decades experience is priceless when riding big bikes over here, you see a u turn coming up and slow down a bit so even if you do hit something your not going to kill yourself. As for minivan drivers the majority of them shouldn't be anywhere near a vehicle let alone driving them, the ones going too fast I get out of there way and let them go the ones going too slow I try and get around them as soon as possible as they are so unpredictable and I have no idea what there going to do next.

This accident in my opinion seems to be the fault of the minivan driver he did a u turn across on coming traffic which again in my opinion happens all the time, however the big bike rider also has some blame as he was going too fast to avoid a fatal collision, but if the dreaded u turn wasn't there then this wouldn't have happened.

Only a numpty would try and take a selfie with a crocodile, sure I would take a picture of it but I wouldn't take my eyes of it and I wouldn't get too close to it.

Do you know much about Toyota tigers we have one but it doesn't seem to rev any more than 2500 which is ok if driving in Bangkok but a pain if you want to go somewhere out of town as top speed is 80 and acceleration is eventually, am trying an ecu reset now as injectors were changed recently if it doesn't work it will have to go in for repair.

I think this is far too dodgy to be ruled as a suicide without further investigation a too many things that need to be answered.

A time of death would be a start and then a look at when the message was sent, an autopsy to discover if he actually died in the sea water or was moved there after having his throat slit, why take and use a box cutter when a divers knife would do a better job.

Have the police gone through the wives mobile phone(s) and social media with a fine tooth comb, just how much money was sent to the wife and did the deceased have an insurance policy.

I could be wrong but this looks far more like a murder than a suicide.

13 minutes ago, oldlakey said:

If you are going to accuse anybody of something like a lack of empathy on such a sad event as this thread is concerned with, you need more than a good idea to support the accusation

That was my only point

The reply I received to my post was a baiting post, nothing else, thus a short exchange ensued

This is of no consequence to myself, its now history

My last post was asking people to stop baiting each other after all 3 people died and none of us know the cause of the accident for certain, so lets all be grown adults and stop this baiting each other rubbish, we are all surely able to do that.

Look this is getting ridiculous why are people turning a tragic event into some sort of slagging each other fest. Bluespunk I agree with your first comments and have read quite a few of your comments on other threads and you seem like a decent human being but I know it is difficult you must try not to respond to baiting posts you probably have a better life than some of the saddo's with no empathy or compassion. OId Lakey I haven't read many of your post but stop baiting each other. 

Sometimes it takes the better person to leave it after all we are all behind the keyboards on here and people can say what they want about me on here but they may think twice about doing it face to face.

So the facts of the matter are 3 people died nobody knows the facts it could have been any number of things so please try and have some respect.

One more thing to add to the grammar police leave it out you understood it and that is the main thing.

5 hours ago, dotpoom said:

I was offered 1MB for a condo I am selling for 1.5....I told him to bugger off (phrased it more nicely than that) I would rather burn it down (or at least wait for the market to pick up again). I myself have a little bit of decency and diginity and will always offer a fair price for a fair property. I have been buying and selling most of my life and have always closed a deal where both the buyer and seller are contented with the result. This principle has always stood me well. Any old fool can try to take advantage of people but honor to me is more importand than money and "sticking" it to a person.

3 hours ago, Henryford said:

 

Agreed. Anything i sell is in good condition and at a fair price. I am insulted by these cheap charlie jokers who waste my time time then offer silly figures.  If they are that hard up they can rent in Nirun.

Unfortunately for you 2 your properties may now be worth less than what you have paid for them, if you have time and want to hold out for your asking price that is fine but if your property is over priced be prepared to wait a long time. If there is now an over supply there will be less demand which will in turn lower the prices its basic economics, just take what happened to the property market in Spain as an example.

You say you have more decency and dignity and will always pay a fair price but you need to understand what a fair price may be now is considerable less than when you yourself bought.

I wouldn't call potential buyers cheap Charlie jokers they probably have a good idea of what the market value is and maybe make a cheeky offer if they sense someone is desperate to sell, i'm afraid it is the way it works.

As for waiting for the market to go up again I think you maybe in for a long wait especially if there are more condo blocks going up the competition will go up and the prices will come down, there are also other factors to be taken into account both politically and economically which could swing the property market one way or the other, like any other investment there are risks involved.

6 hours ago, impulse said:

 

I'd kind of like to know that a guy is tossing ping pong bombs from the roof before I go somewhere.  And I'd also appreciate knowing the status of a loved one who may be working in a building where a guy is tossing ping pong bombs off the roof.  Who knows what else a crazy like that will do next?

 

Seems like an alert was in order, even if it erred on the side of caution. 

Fella as I stated I didn't know what a ping pong firecracker bomb was, I did try to google it but it didn't answer the question of what one is but it did pull up loads of pages about making them I didn't bother clicking on these as i'm anti guns, bombs and WMD's and certainly have no wish to make them. I do know what a firecracker is though a small piece of paper filled with a powder which goes bang when you throw it on the floor, so I kind of surmised that it is probably a bigger version of that and therefore not a big risk and probably not worth reporting an explosion with a map that covers the majority of Bangkok.

As for the guy being a crazy looking into it he is or was a contractor who lost a hell of a lot of his money by being ripped off by probably inscrupilous business men and is trying to get the government to listen to his issue. He has probably been down the normal channels and has received no help and has resorted to this as a way of protest and to be honest I feel a bit sorry for him, no one got hurt but he did get his message across so maybe someone will try and help him or maybe he will punished for this who knows but I don't think he is a crazy.

We will have to agree to disagree as I think the alert wasn't in order if they keep putting out alerts for stuff like this when anything serious happens people won't take the alert seriously thinking it is another small incident, there wording of the alert explosion in Bangkok and then the map showing the majority of Bangkok when someone has thrown a firecracker is ridiculous to say the least.

Thailand is going to be one of the only countries that doesn't get a facebook alert for explosions tomorrow night at midnight when the fireworks are set of. 

2 hours ago, roiethome said:

Why is there so much speculation that the driver was not using her brain and speeding, when the facts of the accident are not known or reported.

There could be several scenarios contributing to the accident other than stupidity:
Heart attack or seizure of the driver.

Oncoming truck which forced her to swerve and the truck didn't stop.

Component failure 

 

The reality is we do not have the facts here, and unfortunately accident investigation in Thailand is in a fairy primitive state, so we probably will never know the real cause of the crash.

R.I.P to the victims.

Completely agree.

Unfortunately there seem to be far too many people on here who pipe up with there theories with no facts, yes the car could have been going to fast with concerned relatives wanting to get the boy to hospital quicker but it could also be any of the things that you have mentioned and other things that haven't been mentioned we simply don't know all the facts.

I wish people would have some empathy and compassion for what is after all a tragic accident.

Rip to the victims.

6 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

"Meanwhile, police are attempting to determine whether the false bomb alert was caused by an innocent error in Facebook’s notification system or an intentional act by an individual"

 

It was caused by someone throwing 5 "ping pong firecracker bombs" (whatever they are) according to the press report. 

I think the guy was a building contractor from Nan province who got ripped of, i'm also not sure what ping pong firecracker bombs are but I don't think they warrant facebook issuing this alert.

My 5 year old nephew was throwing them little paper firecracker things yesterday in the soi in north Bangkok if facebook issue another alert I can confirm i'm safe.