London Lowf

Xylophone - staying in Patong long-term is very stressful and I believe that you stay in one of the worse-effected areas for this kind of anti social behaviour. I can only leave the relative calm of Kamala for an evening at a time, or an occassional overnight at most.

Maybe they can now afford to fix the seats, seatbelts, screens, give the cabin crew a raise so that they can manage a trademark smile and give the planes a respray - taxiing around Swampy in the daytime and looking at the fleet, they are all different shades of purple depending on how long they've been exposed to UV light. For eight years I've been "faithful" to Thai but next trip I'm trying Emirates.

Like I said, tough crowd on here. You acknoowledge that it was an "emergency landing" and yet, the fact that there were no injuries whatsoever and minimal further damage to the aircaraft meas nothing to you? When I first started flying it was quite usual for the cabin to give a round of applause on landing, even if it was perfectly routine. Mind you. in those days it felt like a privelege to fly rather than something to be endured.

The reference has gone over your head, but will have drawn a smile from Brit baby-boomers on here. The score system to which Tropicalevo refers only goes up to 5, so a 100% score. I agree with him, the plane suffered a serious technical failure and the crew landed it safely with minimal damage and no injuries. Tough crowd on here!

Amen!

Sounds to me like you are cutting off your nose to spite your face. If you dislike Russians so much then can't you just ignore them or move to another area? I've been here almost continually since October and I have never had an issue with them. Maybe that's because I'm based in Kamala, but I do get around the island quite a bit.

Never mind before plastc, Thailand before silicone must have looked very different - much easier to tell the girls from the boys.

Back to school for you!

In addition to the Russian influx we're all playing catch-up after eighteen months of Covid - many people saved a lot of money as there were limited ways to squander disposable income and, in the UK, many small businesses actually made a killing thanks to the generosity of our government and tax-payers. A holiday in Thailand in the Northern European winter is very tempting. My apartment contract expires next December and I'm hoping that things settle down before then otherwise I fear that my landlady will require a signiificant increase in rent.

Why would they? They never have in the past. This situation must be a golden goose for any dodgy schools, agents and immigration officers that are profiting.

This was inevitable and I'm surprised that it's not a common occurence on the narrow streets of Patong. It's great that the authorites have tracked the guy down and let's hope that the punishment fits the crime to act as a deterrent to others.

It would have been quicker and simpler to Google "Ta-To" than to have typed your question. (They are an online distributor)

On Dell's UK site the M15 R7 (they have no R6's listed) is +/- B56,000 with a 12th gen Intel and 512 SSD or B64,000 with 1TB. Just sayin....

Maybe time for a new thread? I know many of the old-timers and long-termers will hark back to the good old days of the last century but, as Xylophone noted above, Patong is busier now than it has been for several years. I've been coming for eight years and can't remember it ever being this busy - riding around my local area there is not one single "For Sale" or "For Rent" sign and I'm already worried that my landlord will "inflate" my rent next year - if i was in her shoes I would! And now I can sympathise with those that found Covid a bit of a double-edged sword as it made Phuket a far more pleasant place to stay in many ways - I certainly look back to my Sandboxing days of October 2021 with some nostalgia.

As my father, who will soon be 94 keeps reminding me, we're all getting old! But just another note on the traffic - there's another thread about the numerous "arrests" outside Patong police station last week and I was sat on a red for 14 minutes* watching the whole thing at exactly 7:00pm, not 7:30 as stated in the article. The cops were operating the lights manually and were so engroseed in pulling over and herding the unfortunate victims that it slipped their minds to switch to the next phase - it was quit comical watching one cop suddenly realising that they weren't on auto and he literally sprinted to the control box. * I was due somewhere at 7:00pm just along the road and just caught the red and checked the time in frustration.

From a recommendation on here in October 2021 I bought them directly from TA-TO - two boxes of dailies (a month supply) for B1,840.00.

I treated myself to a pair of Sony WF-1000XM4 for Xmas as my full-size Sennheisers are too big to carry back and forth to Thailand. Thet were not cheap and are one of the worst purchases of my life - they're huge and weigh a ton and so very difficult to get a secure fit with any of the three sets of supplied tips. But the biggest failing - they are FAR TOO QUIET!!!

Okay, I'll be the first to ask - can't you buy them here? I did.

One thing that has really struck me lately is the number of red-plate vehicles around - surely an indicator of a recovering economy? Parking on beach road it looks like every other scooter is brand new - I exaggerate, but it is a large proportion that I've never noticed before. Scooter rentals really is a huge and profitable business - my accomodation agent says that he now makes more profit from his fleet of scooters than he does from his family's modern medium-sized hotel. He showed me the rental app on his phone and the old Nmax that I rent cost him B84,000 a few years ago and has so far generated B340,000 in income - impressive figures. He usually rents to punters in the neighbouring 4/5-star hotels and his short-term rates are eye-watering and yet he has no shortage of customers.

I believe that you have skin in the game and so have your finger on the pulse more than me but, if that's the case, why do hotel tariffs have "seasons" at all?

What do you think they got? A thousand or two in fines and allowed to carry on with their days. Many of these guys are on Xmaxs and Tmaxs - not cheap to rent. A fine is no deterrent whatsoever, or else everyone would be riding around with licences and helmets. The police need to clamp down on everyone and then sharp objects like these will learn to respect the law - earlier this evening the police were controlling the lights outside the police station (I was sat on a red for 14 minutes!) and pulling over dozens of bikes - but we all know that they are peeing into the wind as this enforcement is not maintained and the fines are little more than a minor inconvenience to most tourists and something to brag about on SM or when they get home - all part of the Thai experience.

Exactly - happens every year!

My ticket home to the UK with Thai Airways (code share with Thai Smile from HKT to BKK) next month also states terminal D and I know from my last trip (December last year) that I will have to check in at the International. At the end of the day it's no big deal - the terminals are very close together.

There is already enough information on the quote to ascertain exactly the work that is proposed - essentially, a complete steering system rebuild with replacement of all parts that are subject to wear and tear.

Some extremely irresponsible advice on here - the fact that the OP's steering system is clearly worn and leaking is hardly a catalyst for stupid jokes about "pump some grease in clean the boot then a nice thick smear of rubber silicone." Ha ha, is that how you repair your bikes? The fact that the garage has not only given a full analysis of the costs but also provided photos that clearly show completely perished rubber parts - water/grit will have got into vital bearing surfaces of the steering system - would mean that I tend to trust the garage. However, I agree that a little more investigation may be wise - I would get under the car to check the joints for free play (easy if you know what to look for) or else get a reputable second opinion.