3STTW

I think that the government's attitude is understandable. Thais have a very different relationship with alcohol compared to westerners and their behavior under the influence can be reckless - and ruinous to their families. I have seen this all too often. Then you have the marauding bunch of farang nutters who seem to think that getting sh!tfaced, behaving like animals and attacking police is an inalienable right. What the government doesn't see are the overwhelming majority who go out for a few beers, maybe a pizza and watch some sport, then get a taxi and go to bed with a smile on their face. As always with government policy, it's so much easier to punish the few at the expense of the many.

They did a lot of work draining swamps and improving sanitation on the island a while ago, since then the mozzies aren't any worse than most other places in TH. I've been going there for years and started touring the island on sickly mopeds, later on they had the quad bikes and they were a scream. Now they have paved roads with those [deleted] awful speed bumps which only seem to be there to stop the baht bus drivers from killing their passengers. Why don't they iron out the speed bumps and fit speed limiters to the taxis? Traveling from the south up to Samet Town in the back of a Hilux is pure misery - a cracked spine and a bruised back-end don't make for a good holiday! I like Samet because it's like a mini-Thailand - all the caricatures squeezed into one little spot, and I find that you don't get pestered as you otherwise might in Pattaya or Phuket, or etc. Thankfully the drunk Russians got replaced by sashaying Chinese ladies posing for their Insta feeds, which is a plus. Latterly, me and the SO have been going to the Paradis resort. Their reception at Ban Phe is less than one hour from home. Once you check in, you get zoomed out to the resort on a speedboat and spend the remaining time being wafted around in the very best of Thai hospitality. People at home ask me where I go on holiday when I already live in Thailand - I tell 'em Samet.

I also watched the Al Jazz report later this evening, looks like it's curtains for Evergrande. I think the CCP will let this happen to curtail the ridiculous property speculation which is fueling the massive wealth disparity in China (you thought US was bad!). Problem is, the CCP now has to deal with the banking debt problem, so let's see how that pans out. A lot of people foresee a huge monetary shock throughout the global financial system - I tend to agree - but this isn't news and the markets seem to have been gearing up for a massive reset. As an investor, I'm getting ready to cash out, if there is going to be a big reset, I want ready money to be back in the market while the fires are still burning. Next week will be interesting.

You could take a look at Trinx, I got a X1 and it's the mutt's nuts. Magnesium alloy frame and Shimano Altus hardware, I paid about THB9k in 2018. http://www.trinx.com/index.php?ac=article&at=read&did=2046 I'm fairly sure they have distributors across TH but I got mine from a shop opposite the Bang Saray turn-off on the Pattaya - Sattahip road.

To OP; thanks for posting this. I too had a really good experience buying a house here. The trick is to find good people who actually know what they're talking about - NOT the bitten bar stooges who've tried to fudge the system and got burnt. My only advice I have for you is learn how to service your pool yourself. Most of these 'maintenance' guys don't have a clue what they're doing and will end up costing you a fortune in broken or badly maintained equipment. I ended up spending about THB100k to renew everything - and I bought a robot. Now I spend about 10 mins a week adjusting the pH, adding salt and back-washing the filter, easy as it can be.

I'm going to come out in favor of DHL, I had one bad experience with them and I took that up with their HQ in Germany - everything got sorted out and the cost of shipping was refunded in full. Since then, I found them prompt, fair and responsive. Yes, they can be a bit expensive but if you want something on a certain deadline, they pull the stops out. I always prepay the tax through their web app and everything is smooth as silk. I'm fairly sure that most of the major couriers in TH are not actual branches of their respective companies; they're agents who are licensed to operate on their behalf. As such, you can expect the same type of shenanigans that get with any other local cowboy. FedEx have been okay-ish, if a little slow and they tend to punt out their deliveries to third-party drivers for the last leg. UPS on the other hand are in a different league, the local defamation laws preclude me from going into details but, if you ever get a call from UPS saying there's a problem with your shipment, tell them to send it back.

That's a load of cr*p! Not a single Ford mentioned - even when the Ranger scores higher than the Hilux. The Perodua Myvi is an <deleted> deathtrap.

I have lived in Singapore and I now live in Thailand. Singapore has its downsides, especially the cost of living, but if I was given the choice between there and Bangkok, Singapore would win on every other count. Bangkok is extremely frustrating, apart from the fact that you feel like you're being poisoned every minute of the day, getting around the city is a complete PITA, it's crowded, dirty and just about unbearable in the hot season. Outside BKK, it's a completely different story and there are a multitude of reasons why so many expats choose Thailand as a destination. It would be my suggestion to get settled in a smaller town or city where property is much more affordable and you can live on next to nothing if you so desire. Other than that, keep as much of your money as you can in Singapore - banking here is like the 1970's and it is far from secure. And also keep in mind that the bureaucracy here is like entering Dante's Vestibule of Futility, the sheer pointlessness of it all beggars belief and it permeates through everything - and hinders anything - you might want to do.

Have you had the engine bay cleaned recently? Buddy of mine has a 1YO Yaris and they went through the main fuse box harness with the pressure washer, same symptoms as yours. Took Toyota 2 weeks to fix it. Same thing happened to another colleague with Ranger but it only affected the lights. Thing looked like a one-armed bandit going down the road.

Yep, I got rejected too. But when I click on the attached link I get the accepted page. <deleted>.

I drove from Rayong to Chaengwattana last week without stopping (okay I have an M-Pass) but, literally, my first stop was a parking spot outside immigration. No road blocks. No checkpoints and the expressways were empty.

Today I learned there are International Standards for using tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons.