hecky

i got my car licence on a double entry tourist visa, maybe the rules have changed since then but the next easiest thing to getting a licence is getting non immigrant o in home country if you intend staying for a while. if not staying a while i would imagine international licence would be ok. but the op said they wanted to purchase insurance for their car which would suggest they are here long term so maybe will have non immigrant visa. i agree it sucks they will rent you a bike but not let you have a licence if you are a tourist. i also purchased a bike on tourist visa so you can buy a vehicle on tourist visa but not get a licence for it. TIT

hopefully this is considered as relevant to the thread but if you do not have Thai driving licence it does not matter what insurance you have as you will be in the mire if you right anything off. if you have then yes you can pay more insurance and get more cover.

My experience is most farangs do not see a licence as relevant. do not know why its a doddle to get one.

>>I am not your mate and I do mind you saying

Tough <deleted>.

>>When in doubt, shut up

Im not in doubt. To doubt would indicate I devoted time and reflection pondering your stupid, single line post.

>>Why do you assume that I want to look for "entertainment". Why is that the automatic assumption?

Gee. Let me guess. You started by saying 'cool!' then declared the idea of a book full of 19 year old Sweedish kids with no brains was "sweet!" .

>>I've seen books before and they are a great way to remind oneself just how fragile the human body is and how easily it can be mutilated. I wear a helmet now here on the island thanks to a book like that I saw a long time ago.

You have seen books before? Congratulations. I have lots of books. I would help you out and lend you a few but I am afraid I lent my copy of 'Mr Tickle Goes To Toy Town" to my 5 year old niece.

***flame removed***

just about to post a similar reply think words sweet and cool about mutilated bodies says it all. he is right about one thing i am not his mate, do not think he needs that helmet nothing to protect i assume!!!!!!!!

Did you ever look at a book with pictures of people who were involved in accidents on the the Samui roads and didn't wear a helmet. Doesn't make for nice reading, but maybe a wake up call.

Cool! They have books with these pictures! Sweet, where can I get one?

just go into any local police station and ask they will gladly show you, in fact some of the stations have the pictures on the wall. even better but your mobile number on your next post then when one of the other forum readers sees the real thing we can call you and tell you where to go and look at the real thing much better than pictures dont you think.

there is nothing cool about it perhaps one day you will have the pleasure of watching a tourist slowly bleed to death with his leg lying a few metres away from him as i did a few years ago. the only cool thing there was his body temperature going down. sorry mate i did not get any pics for you. lost for words with people like you

not going to working but i do want some where a bit more civilised. the stickman link as the previous post says can happen anywhere, girls waving bottles in my experience very rarley use them. never had a problem like that in 8 years here and numerous hols before then. make it clear fron the start stricktly business pay em and get rid. the one thing that really winds me up is the fact that practically all the beach is now built on you can drive mile after mile a few yards from the sea and never see it. access to the beaches is almost impossible unless you cut through a resort. the violence has risen dramatically in the last few years and the police do not bother to turn out to sort out the mayhem at closing time. i guess Samui and Phuket have changed a lot not for the better but i cannot imagine Phuket is as anywhere near as bad as samui now. the island is one big traffic jam.

5 weeks ago there were 5 go go bars now its down to 3, whilst that is not a reason to leave it is an example of how bad the low season is but the place is still building like mad. still bars have a great solution they are all putting up prices to make up for it, like yeah that will work. still beats coming up with using what grey matter they have and work on doing something differnt to get punters in. everybody can see price of beer heini is about 35 baht in supermarkets so how can basic bars justify 100 baht plus. still thats not the reason for the move just the state of the roads, to much constuction,over priced air fares and to much violence and crime.

shame all those islands of coast of Burma not being used, wouldnt it be great if they got a decent goverment and there was a realistic alternative to Thailand.

still as i said before grass is always greener, and one thing is for sure even Samui beats the UK.

nearly made the move a couple of years ago just a few weeks after the tsunami, i had decided before the disaster to move so came for a look anyway. liked it a lot just as i remembered it as a tourist years ago. one thing that really bothered me was the fact that in the 3 days i was there i got stopped 2 times by the police and fined for no licence. i have a licience but never thought to take it. it was only 3 weeks after the tsunami and i thought the police would not be bothering about licences. i had helmet and light on and on Samui you would never get stopped for licence check. probably because i was one of the few tourist there to stop but i thought if this is the hassle you get everyday sod it i am back of to Samui. however business boomed here for the developers since then and things are much much worse. still one good thing slowly but surely these business's are going under Samui is having the worst season i have seen since i have been here. Alas the damage is done i have visited places like Accapulco, montego Bay Kuta in Bali and Waikiki beach Hawaii all remind me of samui now as paradise lost, lesson learnt for other parts in respective countries. Samui will be Thailands example of how they got it badly wrong.

from what i hear phuket is better than ever, i will be over in a few weeks to check it out again and maybe wait to low season so as more choice of house and make the move.

thanks all for your comments

i have lived in Samui for 8 years but i am finally fed up with the place now. it is one big building site you can nearly drive around the whole island on the coast raod and not see the ocean. the roads are awfull and airlink over priced. the place stinks of sewage and is pactically lawless. the traffic here resembles the jams i n the UK very rarly get out of 3rd gear in the car or bike. the island had been destroyed by the developers, i cannot beleive how bad the place is now.

i was thinking of moving to Phuket has anybody else done this recently and do they consider it a good move. i have been to Phuket quite a few times and the place does feel better than here but the grass is always geener. if nothing else cheap flights and not having to wait hours for a ferry appeal. they used to be worth the peanalty but no more this place has gone down hill big style.

any comments appreciated.

best place i have found is near thung krut, come from lamai end into the village go all the way through after about 1 km at x roads turn left then next left old navy place goes about 200 metres into the sea. great spot lots of locals there fishing as well.

i cannot beleive anybody can support the use of these bikes on the roads, they are illegal and thats is, no tax no insurance no licence. i just paid 640k for new pick up what happens if one of them smacks into me. who pays Joe tourist is not going to be happy at a few 100,000 baht fine along with repairs for the quad bile etc. so what next joe tourist from Scunthorpe starts to like young children we just say ok he cannot do it at home and hey what he is having a good time. As for looking idiots, i saw 4 such souls ripping up Chaweng beach last week horns blaring, but they were having a good time so what, well they were until Central Samui Security pointed out the error of there ways and took the bikes off them.

cannot understand why so many expats here do not bother to go and do the driving test, it is dead easy also a great form of ID and most of all it means that insurance you pay for is worth something.

talking to a local cop yesterday about them, the police think they are great because they can stop them anytime they want and take 500 baht off them as they are not registered or taxed.

Hi

I'm in Maenam for 3 months and wireless would be really useful for me. I've spoken with a guy at Ichiwawa and their service currently doesn't run as far down as Maenam, but they are keen to extend it. He said if we could get another three people interested in taking their service for 3 months +, then they would send down an engineer to take a look.

If anyone is interested, please would you PM me with your details and hopefully we can it started!

Many thanks

Kate

i live between Chaweng and Bohput and it does not reach here either, so much hope for you in Maenam, would be great if it gets going but other posts have said it is slow and has problems so i would be wary just yet.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...=94238&st=0 this is the thread on page 3 about i fi hotspots check it out there is a place in Maenam

Hi

I'm in Maenam for 3 months and wireless would be really useful for me. I've spoken with a guy at Ichiwawa and their service currently doesn't run as far down as Maenam, but they are keen to extend it. He said if we could get another three people interested in taking their service for 3 months +, then they would send down an engineer to take a look.

If anyone is interested, please would you PM me with your details and hopefully we can it started!

Many thanks

Kate

i live between Chaweng and Bohput and it does not reach here either, so much hope for you in Maenam, would be great if it gets going but other posts have said it is slow and has problems so i would be wary just yet.

went to the new go go bar last night and it was closed. did not take long. do not know why but i have never seen more than 4 customers in there, shame because its a great looking place

I have some customers going over to Koh Samui from Phuket next week. What is it like getting accommodation at the moment if you just turn up? In Phuket it's pretty tough.

They are a couple in their fifties that are on a bit of a tight budget. If anyone has any recommendations for guesthouses or suitable bungalows please post. And would Lamai be the best option for them?

Thanks

i would not advise them to go to lamai, ot really a place for a couple let alone a couple in 50s. it seems prity quite here at the moment and should be no problem to get rooms. pleanty of gusthouses from 600 baht upwards depends as always on what they want as in on the beach, swimming pool etc. Chaweng might suit them or some where quiter like Bohput or Maenam. give me a few more details of what they want and i will check a few places out for them and get some numbers for them to ring.

I use TOT 1024/512 goldcyber here in Samui and find the speeds generaly pretty good.

There nowhere near perfect but for 1000 baht a month unlimited access I'm quite pleased.

Also it has rarely gone down. Only in heavy rains but that is to be expected.

Go speak to TOT

Everybody on TOT seems happy TT&T are a nightmare i upgraded this month to get a better service i now only share with 10 users instead of the 20 before. i am lucky to get 200/30 download although i pay for 1024/512. the TOT lines here are full at moment but i offered the guy an incentive and he has promised me a line next week. thanks for the confimation that TOT are reasonable. TT&T are the biggest rip off artist i have come across in Thailand and that is saying something.

do you mean on Samui or Phangan specifically?

TOT is not available in all places on Phangan, for example. So, if you are outside their service area you must use TT&T lines. I am assuming if you have a TT&T line, you can't get TOT broadband but might be wrong.

Where did you see the CAT air card information?

in Samui i have TT&T line and internet connection. very slow speeds and no connection alot of the time. i got the CAT information from there office today in Nathon. the guy showed my the card that goes into the PC and connects via sattalite. thye clain 2.4 mbps speed in the brochure but arte blaming the earthquake in taiwan for slower speeds at the moment. i can get TOT line but if it is no better i will not bother and maybe go back to dial up which is what i am having to use now as again no connection to TT&T adsl AGAIN.

thanks for any info you can give

getting very poor connection speeds from TT&T despite upgrading package. CAT are promoting there new air card at 16k baht plus 500 per month. they say they promise speeds of 2mb down load and 1mb upload. i do not beleive it for one minute but would like to know if speeds are good. also generally is there any difference in performance between TT&T and TOT broadband performance.

i have known the victim for a few months nice guy spke to him a few hours before the shooting he was not out of his head on drugs or booze, just his normal self. the reason the news has been so low key is the shooter worked at Central Samui Hotel and being a Thai owned hotel they put pressure on the press to keep the story quite.

it was drug related and the guy who ended up dead was not involved in the dealings.

RIP JT

Gb definatley closed not a refurb Samui can only handle so many go go bars. french guys own new go go bar, by far best built go go on the island but only 7-8 girls.

Gb is owned by same owner as 69 and dream girls, never got the impression it made stacks of money

i would go to Phuket, samui is dirty smelly over priced dump. lived here 5 years had enough going to Phuket to civilisation. if you come to samui Central Samui is as good as it gets.

do yourself a favour go tho Phuket

i pay 3.2 baht plus VAT water is free the bill comes to the house we pay it at any 7/11 store they charge 10 baht i think. would never stay where the landlords adds 50% i have in the past but no more, i will also not pay for water. where i stay now free water, bill from electric company, we pay the cable our selves so no sharing of lines or add ons from landlady.

great family worth their weight in gold

anybody have any ideas or experience of the best way to get a bike delivered down from BKK to samui. it is Honda Steed so quite large. i hvae thought about just going up and putting it on the train and coming back with it. i do not fancy riding all the way back especially as it is the start of the rain season down here. any ideas welcomed

Hi. Last year my Thai wife sent a Honda Wave from Samui to Khon Kaen through the main Post Office.

Just drove it in (car park), handed over the keys , filled a form in. Took about 10 days and cost around 1,000 Baht.

Thanks for that advice i did take my Phantom a few years ago they measured it up and said to big, but will give them another try as this was Samui, he said take it to Surat thani so i did not bother. apparantly they do take smaller bikes as you say.

Thanks anyway

anybody have any ideas or experience of the best way to get a bike delivered down from BKK to samui. it is Honda Steed so quite large. i hvae thought about just going up and putting it on the train and coming back with it. i do not fancy riding all the way back especially as it is the start of the rain season down here. any ideas welcomed

i use the Same dentist Baan Luck Fun next to the old chaweng post office and opposite the new post office. the dentist was great her name is Gung two replacement fillings 1200 baht no pain what so ever. in Uk a month ago had one done the same £180.

dentist telephone and e mail details are 07741422930

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