wilson steer

I have a new NOKIA 6670, which I believe is capable of GPRS and EDGE. Presently I have a pay as you go One to call SIM which does not appear to be able to configure to GPRS.

Do I have to buy a different SIM?

Can I still have a 'pay as you go' SIM ?

I have the leads which go into my USB and have installed the software that can use the NOKIA as a modem.

Any advice or pushes in the right direction appreciated.

Wilson Steer

Interesting post:

A hangover is just alcohol withdrawal. If you are a heavy drinker, 'hangovers' are rare. In an occassional drinker they are truly awful.

My best advice is this:

1. Never drink on an empty stomach

2. Always be hydrated before a 'session', ie drink lots of water beforehand.

3. Drink much water upon wakening.

4. Use vodka and fruit juice for hangover cure.

The hangover will be worse if you mix drinks. I find beer and wine do not mix, yet beer and whiskey do mix.

The medical cure for methanol poisoning is in fact more ethanol. So vodka is an excellent way to flush the 'poisons' of Thai beer and spirits out of the system.

Thai beer and spirits contain massive amounts of congeners and preservatives which can cause unpleasant effects. Again I suggest a good pure (non-copy) vodka with fruit juice.

I won't mention the name but it's name suggests it is from a Scandanavian country.

Happy Hangovers...

Wilson Steer.

Which thai farmers bank has a supply of YEN? My branch is Pattaya Tai, there is one on Pattaya Klang etc. I think only some have currency.

How about the Krung Thai Bank kiosk on Pattaya klang in front of the bank? Do they deal in currency (to buy)?

Wilson Steer

Actually I tought a TROLL was an older homosexual man who preyed upon young men for bedroom activity.

These phoney questions from 'Newbies' are in my eyes just timewasters but sometimes the thread can develop and some good comes out of it.

I very much doubt that 'Dazzler' has a Thai girlfriend on 100K, that is about £1300 quid a month. Private doctors in Thailand don't earn that....and Thai women on good salaries marry Thai men on good salaries as a rule.

Wilson Steer (Happy with an ex-bargirl)

I want to change some Thai baht for Japanese Yen in Pattaya.

Does anyone know the best place? I once changed Thai baht for US dollars on a soi off Walking Street and received a fake $100 in my bundle.

Any personal experience/knowledge feedback appreciated.

Wilson Steer.

My bank wrote to me and said they wouldn't send my ATM card to Thailand, and that I could either collect it in U.K. (£500) round trip or send it by DHL (£30). I opted for DHL and waited.....

Now I got lucky here, never so lucky in my life.....my girlfriend was walking back to my apartments and saw, face down in a puddle a yellow cardboard package, she picked it up, recognised my name and brought it to me.

I made enquiries. The packet had been signed by a girl in the internet shop next to my tiny red postbox and then balanced on top. I pressume the wind blew it into the puddle.

I called DHL and asked what sort of an operation they were running, basically no joy, so I read the small print on the Thai DHL website. They are within their rights.

The packet can be signed by anyone at the address, not necessarily the intended person. So DHL is as bad as regular mail.

I wrote to the bank and they didn't want to know, on the telephone I spoke to an operator (in India) who just said 'well you got it didn't you'.

FEDEX are better. Every year my airline card comes by courier and he calls my mobile and meet him face to face.

Wilson Steer.

I am on XP and have 256, would an upgrade to 512 be noticable for internet use?

How much should I expect to pay in Pattaya, and could I trust the guys in the shop with all my personal info on my computer, financial etc. ?

Just a thought. Or should I back up on CD and delete bank stuff etc.

Sorry; neglected the thread and question; My experience is to speed up slow internet is to open several windows at once and make a brew while waiting.

Wilson Steer.

Is there any system in Thailand for getting someone sectioned if they are a danger to other people due to their mental health?

My girfriend's brother is I suspect suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, sleeps with a hatchet (the long ones they cut sugar cane with) and has threatened to kill family and friends.

He has a long history of mental illness and has been hospitalised twice and drugged and treated etc.

Just recently, it seems he has deteriorated, and now the 'family' is seriously considering paying 800 baht a day for his 'treatment'. Of course my girlfriend will end up paying all the hospital fees out of her savings/and/or allowance.

O.K. that is her business, but is there any alternative? Surely there must be an option for the less well off 'up north'.

In my opinion and probably most medical doctors, he is an extremely dangerous man left loose in society.

Any feedback welcomed.

Wilson Steer.

I saw this story on cable TV this morning and it showed the dead girl on the bed. It seems odd that she would kill herself after an arguement at a bar. It showed the noose and the 'curtain rail' I expect since she was small build it might have taken her weight.

The farang 'Dave' seemed upset, but I have seen tears before from cold blooded murderers.

The jury is out on this one. I say 50/50 my suspicions are real.

Wilson Steer.

I was hoping someone might have some experience of the consulate in Osaka or else the Embassy in Manila. What about South Korea for tourist visas?

Shanghi, Hong Kong? Are they all multiple tourist visa unfriendly?

Looks like Penang if they are...

Wilson Steer.

Although I spend a lot of time in the LOS I have always been on a tourist visa or a 30 day visa. I work overseas about 5 months a year so tourist visas (pre arranged) multiple are good enough for me.

Hull in the U.K. is a good place, issuing me a quadruple tourist, most recently Muscat Oman was good to issue me a double.

What are the 'multiple' friendly embassies nearer to home?

Can anyone suggest a country in SE asia or N.Asia that is tourist-visa friendly?

Thanks in advance.

Wilson Steer.

It is time for me to buy a printer, once and for all. I want a good quality B&W printer, laser quality almost certainly. I will have to buy it here in Pattaya.

I was looking at a (good?) one in Carrefour at 6500 baht, laser. What are the pitfalls? I am a novice really with printers. I had a Lexmark in the U.K. the size of a double decker bus, but the cartridges (ink) were 35 quid, so I stuck it in the loft.

What is the score regarding ink with laser printers?

Any advice, gratefully received...

Wilson Steer.

I connect to the internet by using scratchcards, Loxinfo mostly. I have the Chon Buri number on my computer 038 for example.

However, because I have my own line with TT & T can I connect with another number and be charged for internet access on my telephone bill?

Is this cheaper or better connection etc. I am on dial up until next month when I a due (hopefully) to get ADSL for 1600 per month.

Wilson Steer.

cdnvic and Slimdog thanks for those great two links!

I am listening right now!

Wilson Steer

I want to listen to the Cheltenham Festival horse racing commentary March 15/16/17/18 online. Normally I use William Hill radio, but this is blocked by Thai Police.

Does any one have any suggestions on how I can listen to horse race commentary from the U.K. online?

Thanks . Wilson Steer.

Nobody mentioned 'Cheap Charlies' soi Yodsak/Beach Road. English breakfast 60 baht. Nominate fried eggs and bacon. Buy two, put them together and with the coffee and juice, it will set you up for a serious day on the sauce.

Don't be vague, try Haig!

Wilson Steer.

It is amazing really, all the excavations etc. along the Beach Road walk-way. I just thought things were finished, when they dug up again.

I witnessed a lottery ticket vendor who fell into a hole, she was not badly injured, and lucky since she missed the re-bar, but she made a killing in the bar.....

She wept for 90 minutes and received more tips and ticket sales than 'Soft Mick' and she had gratis meals and drinks, etc.

Beware of holes. (Except pink ones).

Wilson Steer.

It is possible the Japanese man met a girl and had lots of money and she told her boyfriend (who was Thai, and a drinker, gambler and druggie) and he threw him over the balcony after robbing him blind and getting his PIN numbers.

This 'fall to death' happens every week, it is obvious it is murder. I was at Sirikit, Sattahip hospital a few days ago, there was a dull thud, a Thai woman jumped?from the fourth floor....DEBT..DEAD

Take care, count your blessings, one by one, prepare for the unexpected...

Wilson Steer.

I read in todays Pattaya Mail a British subject had his throat cut, on the way to the airport, by a taxi driver. The taxi driver had 'gambling debts of 90,000 baht'. It seems a bit much really to die for this amount.

Does anyone have any alternative safe suggestions on how to get to the airport from Pattaya?

I had a bad experience once with a taxi driver in Manila, by sheer good luck a policeman was nearby and stopped the experience. It turned out the Manila taxi driver was armed with a revolver.

Take care all.

Wilson Steer.

The water went off here Pattaya 3rd Road for a couple of days in Jan 2005 then the water went really brown, then it came back. But now the pressure is really low, when I use the ablution hose, it no longer rips out by lower intestines.

If there was some way of saving all the water, like in the shower or the sinks, this could be recycled to use as flushing water. It is a very wasteful system.

Wilson Steer

Dear friends,

Thanks for the feedback, I can brew my own booze too, actually I was a Saudi expert in ('Saddique). Irrelevent.

What are the laws here in Pattaya, 2-5 no booze in restaurants and supermarkets, it does not seem bars, because I have been on the sauce all day and no problem at Cheap Charlies.

Any feedback gratefully accepted.

Wilson Steer.

Been in the LOS for one week after a three month work stint away. Yesterday I was in a Pattaya restaurant. They refused to sell me an alcoholic beverage between 2 and 5 pm. What's going on? Have I missed something here?

Any info, kindly accepted.....

Wilson Steer.

Pattaya.

I have almost given up using baht buses and walk instead. If I do get one to Big C or Naklua I always give 20, particularly after dark.

I have a few bad experiences with crazy baht bus drivers;

Driving off with my hand trapped

Not stopping when I ring the bell

Driving off without giving change

Reversing back into me

Money thrown back

Wilson Steer

Anyone seen the farang transvestite, swiss I think tall and thin, walks with a stick and wears leather shorts. What hair he has is dyed colourfully. Actually I am not sure if he really is a T/V maybe something else.

There is a hideous man with a large belly who used to sit/lie outside of Kasikorn Bank on Pattaya Tai, but he disappeared; there is always an Australian drop out hovering at the KTB ATM on Pattaya Klang. He is always tapping ATM users for a 'loan' of 100 baht.

There are so many 'dodgy' charachters in Pattaya, but that is part of the 'Pattaya Experience', it is precisely what I love about the place. I love the absolute seediness of society which mingles along side the pretentious, the nouveau riche, the sick and dying (of substance abuse), the diseased, the criminal, the reformed criminal and the downright dangerous.

Come to Pattaya and drop-out and/or die.

Wilson Steer

Is there absolutely no way that someone under 50 years of age can get a retirement visa?

If you can prove funds etc. and report yearly to immigration, and prove you are not working etc.

Wilson Steer.