scorecard

Does waterproof mean: - Water cannot soak down into the laminate from above and canot soak up into the laminate (if somehow there's moisture/water under the boards? Or....

You sure about that? Example: Bangkok Hospital Super Highway Chiang Mai, are you saying all of their customers are farang?

Well yes and no. There's thusands of old/elderly farang in LOS with no private health insurance (incl., me) and they cannot pay afford the private premiums. Please don't instantly respond with negative comments 'can't afford to live here then go home', it's not that simple. I suspect many of these farang would be interested in a gov't scheme which gives them some health cover (depending on the fees/premiums etc).

But where is the specific report confirming that the 300Baht will all go into a fund to clear unpaid medical bills of tourists?

So, perhaps TAT will explain the 'benefits' in specific terms? Nah, forget that suggestion, TIT.

Someone will find a way to interpret the law so that he finishes 8 years currently, so that he doesn't lose face.

What foreigners should realize is that this is Thailand,. Shirtless or with shirt is nothing to do with attitudes in other countries. Bottom line ; Except for at the beach and at a swimming pool (in LOS) it's OK* but in other locations men/youths without a shirt is seen as low class behavior. nothing to do with anything else. (* Even at the beach/at a swimming pool many Thai men would wear a T shirt, rather then be fully topless.) How often do you see men/young men on a building site shirtless? Close to never, because they know it's not appropriate and they know that they will be seen as low class and they don't want that. I'm aware of an incident where a young Thai man was working as a waiter in a hotel in Pattaya for several years, and had developed a friendship with several regular guests. The young man was going to get married in his hoe village 40Km from Roi Et city. He invited one farang families who were on their annual holiday to his wedding and found a 3 star hotel for them about 10 Km from his village. Day before the wedding the farang family (father, mother, 2 adult sons and their farang wives, 1 adult daughter and her farang husband) turned up at the waiter's village. All the farang men were topless, 1 wife just a bikini top with shorts. Others with full shirts. Young waiter quickly asked all of them to put on full shirts. Farang all said 'what for, it's hot'. Young waiter tried to explain that in Thai villages this is seen as low class activity and he was concerned their shirtless action would reflect on the class level of his family and on his bride to be. Farang group declined to put on shirts saying 'but it's OK in Australia and every country'.

But how is the Singapore charge actually labelled: - 'Singapore Airport usage charge (tax)' - 'Singapore fund to cover unpaid medical bills of tourists' - 'Singapore tourism tax to help build infrastructure to enhance tourists experience'. Or???

Never fear that item will be mentioned after the event along with a silly excuses 'we forget to add that one to the list of not allowed but never mind because people will know it's not Ok from previous elections'. Sad.

Yep, as before, and as before the rules will all be ignored and we'll see giant Chinese style banquets happening and then a comment 'but I didn't know this was not allowed'. And same with vote buying, it still happens and in many/most districts/provinces it's all ignored and the usual excuses made.

There was a report a few months back saying the purpose of the 300Baht fee was to develop tourism.

My Thai son is very interested in solar power and is doing a lot of reading. Just one of his worries is a 'process' to install the panels* on his black concrete tiled roof (probably over most of the roof) without causing a lot of leaks in the roof when it rains. (*realising that this probably means installing a framework then the panels onto the framework). He's also trying to find information about temperature reduction in the ceiling cavity when most of the roof is covered in panels.

Family too.

Here's a thought; perhaps there should be more discussion about highly subsidized education at all levels to help increase the countries capabilities, and along with highly subsidized a scale of charges; 'At end of academic year students with 4 A grades get 100% reduction on a notional study fee and etc., But what would also be needed is a method of scoring students who work very hard / study seriously but because of their natural abilities don't get many As.

In regard to the paperwork. The auto shop told my son they had imported/installed new engines before, they were well aware of the need for the blue book to be updated and what specific docs. would be needed. Auto shop insisted that the japanese supplier include some specific documents and when the engine and docs. arrived the auto shop owner quickly told my son the new engine came well packed, appeared to be fully complete and the documents were in order. On day of completion of installation and son satisfied with the new engine/installation/testing etc., the auto shop gave my son an envelope with several documents saying 'take this envelope with the blue book to the LT office'. Son did that promptly, all in order, new engine number double checked, no questions asked, son walked out of the LT office with blue book updated within a few minutes. Cost of blue book update I don't know. No hint for tea money and non offered.

Authotities, banks etc., in all countries know that passports expire and for many things it's just a simple action to update the pasport numbers with no hassles. Not long back K Bank (at the branch) mentioned that my passport had expires. The officer asked me if I had the new p'port number and also sked if I had a pink card. I showed her my pink card and she used that for the update. She mentioned that the bank prefers to us the Thai pink card ID number, the number never needs updating. Thai ID cards (Thai citizens) do have an expiry date and should be renewed promptly however the ID number never changes.

I can't give you a complete answer. This is what I know: - It was a new fully imported engine (who manufactured the engine in Japan I don't know) - It's a fuel injection engine rather than the carb. technology in the original engine. - From what I understand the engine came fully built up, plus a number of other 'fittings', but I don't know the full details. - Cost of engine, fittings, all transport import# costs from Japan, fitted, some further small fittings, tested etc, the all up cost was 55,000Baht. It runs well, not noisy, and the gasoline usage much better than the 'past use by' original engine. I don't know if that's a good price or what other options / comparisons exist, all my son's decision which he didn't take in 5 minutes, and I respect his decision. I bought the car new a long time ago in Bkk, years later I gave it to my son which he was very happy about, now he wants to slowly / completely 'rebuild' the car as his gift to his daughter for her 18th birthday and she is more than happy with this idea. I won't be engaging in any further open debate from members*. Case closed. * This comment not directed at member Orinoco. # I don't know the details.

Just wondering how well that works, especially for discounted/promotion items. Another 'brand name' got into hot water with this some years back. Member card cost 500Baht but on many occasions when members tried to use the card they were denied. 'cannot use member card for xx, zz, gg, rr, yy, hh, vv, metc. I recall one member wanted to buy a specific paint, it was suddenly on promotion. He tried to use member card but denied. So 'OK, give me the non-promotion/full price and I'll claim my member discount on the full price'. Manager came and accused the member of trying to play tricky games. Member gave the card to the manager and said 'I don't want your card, many other shops where I can buy what I want'.

Regular doses of VB is the answer.

Seems to me knowledge about tyres is not that strong (Thai and farang). A couple of years back my Thai son (knows nothing about cars) was convinced by a mechanic (who no doubt realised son was quite naive re cars/tyres) that all car tyres must be changed at 12 months regardless of usage. Took a while and several visits to different tyre shops to get son convinced the idea above was not correct.

Perhaps the bank teller (many banks) believes that the customer must take an appraoch of always making the tellers' job easy. Step 1: could be (from customer) "I apologize for coming into the bank today and making you do some work, would you please forgive me?" (As the customer wais and bowes continuously.) Seen this attitude from bank tellers at Thai banks several times.

Until 8 months ago I was living in a War Vets village just Nth. of Sydney. About 80%* of the vets very old and some village units occupied by very old war widows. Telephone scams rampant, the village Admin. folks spending hours every day talking to the residents warning them about scams / following up with banks trying to get scammed funds returned etc. Many residents came to the village family restaurant for lunch. Every day admin. folks sitting for 10 minutes at all the tables quietly / carefully repeating the warnings / how to spot scams etc. Quite a big problem. *The other 20+% are quite young war vets from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Many of the vets in both of these groups with severe PTSD issues and needing a lot of careful couselling using a variety of counselling / help approaches and methods. Drugs avoided. Several trained/experienced counsellors on village staff. Many vets with young families. Many of the old vets: (a few remaining WW II, Korea, Vn (me), Timor Leste) very keen to join discussion groups / social activities / meals with the young vets. On site a very well organized and equipped pre-school / kindergarten with very well trained teachers. All vets (old and young) encouraged to come in for perhaps 20 or 30 minutes each day and read to the kids from selected kids books (with zero pictures / words about violence and no pictures of weapons).

Six months ago my Thai son replaced the engine in his Honda Civic. He was aware that he would need to update the engine no. details in the blue book. Mechanic shop (Pro-Auto Chiang Mai) ordered the new engine from Japan and requested certain paperwork. On completeion Pro-Auto gave my son an envelope of documents and reminded him to promptly go to the LTO and get the blue book updated. He did that the next day. All needed docs were in the envelope, all done in 10 minutes. Cost for blue book update I don't know.

"... they have no idea of our status though, connections etc... when acting confidently, politely and firmly their attitude often quickly changes." I got stopped by a cop halfway throught the lights at the entrance to the tollway to Chonburi. Cop claimed I had gone through a red light which I hadn't. Cop asked for my passport, my Thai son gave him my PR book. He didn't know what it was. A second cop looked and said 'maybe from an embassy'. Both saluted and waved me on.

Good idea, in reality we did all leave within 10 minutes. There was a few minutes of whispered converstaion 'should we offer to help clean up' which got an immediate negative response. A week later the birthday boy mentioned that: - 2 more people arrived and left quickly. - The S&P food, extra plates, cutlery etc., and a maid cost him around 2,000Baht and he also mentioned 'I told the maid 'don't clean anything, it's not needed'. - A further item re the mess; we all noticed many dirty plastic bags pushed under the chairs and sofas, bags used to bring precooked meals home from street vendors. - Later discussion brought the realisation that luckily none of the guests had seen inside the fridge.