In the jungle

On 9/22/2016 at 10:42 AM, KhunBENQ said:

A classic. Nokia 105, about 650 Baht.

I don't think the Nokia 105 is 3G.

Happy to be proved wrong as I have a new one sitting here in a box.

You can get 100 octane avgas here at 76 Baht/litre:

http://www.thaiflyingclub.com/

In Pathumthanee which is North East of Bangkok the weapon of choice for shifting large volumes of water, such as the 36 cubic metres/hour you mention, is the Kubota single cylinder diesel engine (or clone thereof).  It makes about 12 horsepower and has a massive and scary looking exposed flywheel.  The most common scenario is pumping water from an irrigation canal into paddy fields in combination with what looks to be a crude version of an Archimedes Screw pump which is driven by belt. 

You can see a variety of these engines on Kubota Thailand's website.  From memory at least one version is hand crank start only which wears me out just thinking about it.

You also see Archimedes style pumps driven by old diesel truck engines which I assume come from a scrapyard.

Gas engines are also used but they are in the minority.

Perhaps Thai immigration should embrace the 'logic' at work here and stamp our passports using the Buddhist calendar for years and Thai script for the months.

I'll put it in the suggestions box next time I go through Swampy 

7 hours ago, Gibbs2 said:

If your books are in Thai then look at the compulsory insurance, clearly in numbers on the certificate.

 

No do not have the books available as all sold now and books for new vehicles in the bank.

That will not always work as the tororbor insurance and tax are not necessarily concurrent.

The tax runs from the expiry date of your last tax whereas the insurance runs from whenever you effect/pay for the insurance.

As an example if you renew the tax one month late the new insurance would expire one month after the new tax expires assuming you paid for both on same date.

One time I thought it was time to renew a tax rectangle and my wife was away on business.

So I asked a Thai acquaintance of mine here in hillbilly land what month the tax was due.  He is a university educated guy who speaks excellent English.

He looked at the blue book and at the rectangle and told me the wrong month!

So I renewed the tax four months late.  Lord help us.

If they put the dates on the tax rectangles in numbers it would make things easier.

But they won't because that would be change, improvement and progress.

I too cannot read the dates on the tax rectangles on a whole bunch of vehicles.  I deal with it by putting reminders in MS Outlook.

No idea what the 'porobor' thing is about.  Not related to the vehicles age as I have vehicles close to thirty years old and I have never needed one.

The 'MOT' process for older vehicles is amusing.  The first one I did I was sweating because the horn did not work.  With more experience I now know that you can 'pass' even if the vehicle has doors, one wing and a headlamp missing.  Not my vehicle I hasten to add.

A standard H4 60/55w halogen in cheap as chips.  The last one I bought was Osram.  I do not remember the exact price but 130 or perhaps 150 Baht.

It is the standard headlamp bulb in a Vigo so you can buy it in just about any car parts place.

I can't really see the need or justification for some sort of heavy duty version.

The bulb I replaced was just a standard H4 and that lasted 25 years.

If your bike continues blowing bulbs frequently it could be the problem lies elsewhere with voltage regulation being one possibility. 

Ah yes.  The UN General Assembly.

The one where tin pot dictators who would otherwise be refused admission to the USA get to go to New York.

Erm, such as Mugabe. 

I too have seen this happen at Sadao.

The guy in front of me in the queue, with a Thai minder, produced no documents.  Cash was passed to the immigration officer and he was admitted with no questions asked.

Why complain uptoyoumyfriend asks.

Among other purposes immigration control is there to prevent the entry of criminals and terrorists.  Admitting unknown persons for cash completely undermines that. 

My AIS 2G post paid phone also remains working.

As I did not get much in the way of replies to my last post I decided to simply carry on using it until AIS pull the plug on the service.

I read somewhere, possibly the 'other' paper that there are still some six million 2G customers in Thailand.  Assuming an average bill of 200 Baht per customer each month that is 1.2 Billion a month in revenue.  

I doubt the phone companies want to lose that revenue and it would be unrealistic to assume that pulling the plug would make customers rush to buy new 3G phones as many of the people I see using 2G phones are on low incomes.

My guess is that the intention of the irritating SMS messages I get is to beat down the 2G customer base until the number of users is small enough that they do pull the plug.

In my opinion the Honda HRJ216 is the best self propelled mower you will get in Thailand subject only to these qualifications:

(i)  It's a heavy beast at around 48 kgs perhaps best suited to large reasonably open areas.  If you have a small garden and/or one where you do lots of weaving in and out of trees and plants something smaller and lighter may be better.

(ii)  The blades are high quality but hideously expensive from Thai Honda dealers at around 1900 Baht the pair.  I get my blades from Honda dealers in Australia.  Exactly the same part at 300 Baht the pair.

On the positive side the quality of the HRJ216 is such that it is probably good for 20 years or more and to buy something comparable from Honda in Europe would cost double the price here. 

There is a 91 page long discussion of the problems with the K46 transmission on tractorbynet.

Avoid any ride on mower with a Tuff Torq K46 hydrostatic transmission.

Many of the models sold in Thailand have this transmission.

Google Tuff Torq K46 and you will understand why I am saying this.

That list of dealers is taken from Honda's website.

Honda only sell one lawnmower in Thailand.  The HRJ216.  

Brace yourself for sticker shock when they tell you the price.

Popcorn for the win.

Her idea to electronically tag tourists was pure genius.

I am confused.

I have an old Nokia 100 and I would prefer not to change it.  It is suitable for my working environment in that it has the worlds loudest ring tone, excellent battery life, good reception and is near indestructible.

The network is AIS and I am a post pay customer.  When I do *545# it tells me that I am on AIS 3G serenade.

Can I therefore simply ignore the never ending AIS SMS messages in Thai about migrating to 3G/4G?

I think *700*5*1# only works on AIS prepay as I cannot change AIS' messages to English.

For reasons unknown to me some time ago AIS sent me a free Samsung SM-B109H which is a 3G dumb phone.  My wife may have had something to do with this.  The phone sits unused in the box.  Together with the phone is a new SIM card but I have no idea if it has my number on it which I would prefer to keep as I have used the same number for 15 years.

If I have to I will use the Samsung but the ring tone pales in comparison to the Nokia 100 and the software is not very intuitive.  I don't need the web or GPS or other stuff beyond calls and SMS.

Any ideas appreciated.

Thank you for the video link.  Very informative.

I bank with GSB and live in Chumphon and have been curious as to why their ATMs have been dead for the last couple of weeks.

Of course as a mere customer they made no effort to contact me.

Add brake caliper sliding pins to your list.

Much as I dislike sliding caliper pistons they can work adequately if maintained.

I have just done this job on a Wave 110i so I can tell you the rubber seals are 100 Baht the pair.  I had to replace mine because one was split.

The correct grease for the pins is harder to find.  I am still getting by with the stuff I got with a Toyota brake seal kit years ago.  It's some moly based stuff made by Dow Corning.  Standard LM grease would be a bad idea on brake systems.  

"I've no idea how to get the bike there and bike, or what I'll do for a ~week without a bike."

Swapping the crank is a one day job maximum if the dealer is competent.

If they want the bike for a week I would look elsewhere.

Your actual words about the Diavel were:

"Its very frendly bike fo beginner."

So you already bought a Ducati Diavel which you consider a good beginners bike (your words) but in your OP you want opinions on the Diavel's merits against a Honda Wave?

Those are the preceding posts.

Two days after the crash I have bruising to the forehead just above my right eye, nose and chin but it is pretty minor.

Before using the helmet I did for motorcycling I did look into the different testing standards that apply to motorcycle helmets and race car helmets. From memory the main differences were:

1. Race car helmets have fireproof linings whereas motorcycle helmets do not.

2. Motorcycle helmets have provisions covering protrusions from the helmet such as vents so that they break off within a defined amount of force to minimise the risk of rotation injuries.

3. Motorcycle helmets have regulations that prescribe a wider aperture for better peripheral vision. I don't find this a problem with the Arai GP6.

4. Race car helmets have a higher standard for visor penetration.

Sadly Arai don't pay me to write my posts. I have to pay hard cash for my helmets.

Within this region the best place I know to buy Arai helmets (motorcycle and race car) at very good prices and other quality brands is in Hong Kong. I don't remember the name of the shop but if you Google Arai + Hong Kong you are sure to find it. It's somewhere in the New Territories and walking distance from the MTR.

So I've been to Honda so many times that I'm now dating the girl who works there haha! Even getting a discount. I suspect I'll be paying for it in other ways. ?

Looks like your going to be getting a Honda.