Ping

A pity to note that this thread has managed to find itself drop from page one. I also note that MRO has not been active in TV for quite some time. A shame, because I always looked formard to his regular updates on the Thai new car market.

Is there someone else out there who has his excellent knowledge of the local car industry and could perhaps take on the role of providing updates to his list? There would be many greatful readers...

Yers, noticed it too. Bad luck if you want to take him up on his offer of a demo - Le Montage Restaurant does not seem to exist. I suspect that one of the reporters at the paper may have a bit too much time up his/her sleeves. March on April 1st...

A lot of French (in particular) frequent the area as described and back to near 50 Pee - some are short-term renting a house near me (soi off Nanai), and boy do they like to make noise... Won't miss them...

New Macro - the old Mae Ubon Market site in Nanai (behind Don's Barbecue). Not open yet, but due very soon.

In my home country I respect the authorities, but I'm no fan of the BiB here (I particularly despise their corrupt monthly collections from shops/bars, etc), but I would think that if any of them systematically set-up farangs for the purpose of extortion, it would soon become very well known. Afer all, if in a short period, one officer has three or four complaints against him for a particular unlawful practice, it would soon become very widely known. I don't believe it is helpful to anyone to start baseless rumour-mongering. What would be helpful is for people to provide facts about these types of matters in which people have had personal experience.

Inside hall = Thai Limousine. Outside (legit) touts another story. Metered taxi (rank at side) probably still the best option.

One of the problems is that you often don't know what a thread is about until you open it. Bald headings like 'Where to buy question', 'Advice requested' and so on are darned annoying. Be specific, make the heading 'Where to buy widgets in Kamala question', 'Advice requested on the mating habits of tukays', etc. As to the OP's suggestion of pinning the recurring thread themes, it would probably be too unwieldy. The point is that if the thread is properly headed, you will be in a better position to decide whether you wish to open it.

I see that you can buy good (Mitsubishi) water pumps at Big C for(IIRC) between B4 and B5 k, depending on the model - a fraction of the price they charge in some of the plumbing shops. At a plumbing shop in T Prabaramee, I recently paid more than B9000 for a no-name jobby (with Mitsus starting at around 12.5k). Clearly, they saw the farang coming and started rubbing their hands with glee...

Clicking on personal messenger brings up an error page on IE and a not available page on Chrome. Had the problem for quite a while now - any ideas?

My 3BB connection rubbish again today - any improvement with your connections LiK?

Perhaps coincidence, but my 3BB connection was also running extremely slowly (around dial-up speed) yesterday (4th) all day and late into the evening. It slolwy started to return to normal speeds around 10 pm last night. No idea why, but have noted that there are regular periods that 3BB seems to suffer the effects of too many users for its current infrastructure - though usually not to the extent of yeterday's performance.

Went to my local watering hole as per usual - nowhere near the beach and not a word of Russian to be heard... (Pity about the blackout, though - third one in 24 hours.)

With a very limited budget like that, I suggest that your accom planning be centred around being close to places you are likely to spend most of your time - transportation around here is relatively expensive. If you plan on hiring a m/cycle, make sure you have a m/cycle licence in your home country and get an International Driver's Permit at your local auto club. You also mention only coming here for a 'couple of months' - hardly the same as moving here, and you will be wanting 'short term' accom, not long term. Long term involves leasing for at least 6 months (with many places requiring 12 months up). You may find it more comfortable if you could find another couple of thousand dollars, since your rental options for short term are limited and will be at high season prices. Good luck.

The new shopping complex next door to the banana club on beach road Patong is getting one as well.

Confirmed today.

Can anyone confirm that there will be a basement car park (as per Jung Ceylon)? I assume there would have to be - otherwise the project would be pointless.

Had to laugh - I see that of the four Google ads atop this page, one is for cesspit emptying and one is for septic tank systems. dam_n clever, those googly folk...

And good on you patongphil - there are few other places than this 'cesspit' that my wife and I would be as happy to reside...

IDP's aren't required in Thailand anyway, as evidenced by the fact that you did not get a ticket for not having one.

That is partially true depending on the 1949 UN convention signatories and specific countries.

Completely true for these countries, all contracting states:

Albania

1 Oct 1969 a

Algeria

16 May 1963 a

Argentina

25 Nov 1960 a

Australia

7 Dec 1954 a

Austria

19 Sep 1949

[2 Nov 1955]

Bangladesh

6 Dec 1978 a

Barbados

5 Mar 1971 d

Belgium

19 Sep 1949

23 Apr 1954

Benin

5 Dec 1961 d

Botswana

3 Jan 1967 a

Bulgaria

13 Feb 1963 a

Burkina Faso

31Aug 2009 a

Cambodia

14 Mar 1956 a

Canada

23 Dec 1965 a

Central African Republic

4 Sep 1962 d

Chile

10 Aug 1960 a

Congo

15 May 1962 a

Côte d'Ivoire

8 Dec 1961 d

Cuba

1 Oct 1952 a

Cyprus

6 Jul 1962 d

Czech Republic

2 Jun 1993 d

Democratic Republic of the Congo

6 Mar 1961 d

Denmark

19 Sep 1949

3 Feb 1956

Dominican Republic

19 Sep 1949

15 Aug 1957

Ecuador

26 Sep 1962 a

Egypt

19 Sep 1949

28 May 1957

Fiji

31 Oct 1972 d

Finland

24 Sep 1958 a

France

19 Sep 1949

15 Sep 1950

Georgia

23 Jul 1993 a

Ghana

6 Jan 1959 a

Greece

1 Jul 1952 a

Guatemala

10 Jan 1962 a

Haiti

12 Feb 1958 a

Holy See

5 Oct 1953 a

Hungary

30 Jul 1962 a

Iceland

22 Jul 1983 a

India

19 Sep 1949

9 Mar 1962

Ireland

31 May 1962 a

Israel

19 Sep 1949

6 Jan 1955

Italy

19 Sep 1949

15 Dec 1952

Jamaica

9 Aug 1963 d

Japan

7 Aug 1964 a

Jordan

14 Jan 1960 a

Kyrgyzstan

22 Mar 1994 a

Lao People's Democratic Republic

6 Mar 1959 a

Lebanon

19 Sep 1949

2 Aug 1963

Lesotho

27 Sep 1973 a

Luxembourg

19 Sep 1949

17 Oct 1952

Madagascar

27 Jun 1962 d

Malawi

17 Feb 1965 d

Malaysia

10 Sep 1958 a

Mali

19 Nov 1962 d

Malta

3 Jan 1966 d

Monaco

3 Aug 1951 a

Montenegro

23 Oct 2006 d

Morocco

7 Nov 1956 d

Namibia

13 Oct 1993 d

Netherlands

19 Sep 1949

19 Sep 1952

New Zealand

12 Feb 1958 a

Niger

25 Aug 1961 d

Nigeria

3 February 2011 a

Norway

19 Sep 1949

11 Apr 1957

Papua New Guinea

12 Feb 1981 a

Paraguay

18 Oct 1965 a

Peru

9 Jul 1957 a

Philippines

19 Sep 1949

15 Sep 1952

Poland

29 Oct 1958 a

Portugal

28 Dec 1955 a

Republic of Korea

14 Jun 1971 d

Romania

26 Jan 1961 a

Russian Federation

17 Aug 1959 a

Rwanda

5 Aug 1964 d

San Marino

19 Mar 1962 a

Senegal

13 Jul 1962 d

Serbia

12 Mar 2001 d

Sierra Leone

13 Mar 1962 d

Singapore

29 Nov 1972 d

Slovakia

1 Feb 1993 d

South Africa

19 Sep 1949

9 Jul 1952 a

Spain

13 Feb 1958 a

Sri Lanka

26 Jul 1957 a

Sweden

19 Sep 1949

25 Feb 1952

Switzerland

19 Sep 1949

Syrian Arab Republic

11 Dec 1953 a

Thailand

15 Aug 1962 a

Togo

27 Feb 1962 d

Trinidad and Tobago

8 Jul 1964 a

Tunisia

8 Nov 1957 a

Turkey

17 Jan 1956 a

Uganda

15 Apr 1965 a

United Arab Emirates

10 Jan 2007 a

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

19 Sep 1949

8 Jul 1957

United States of America

19 Sep 1949

30 Aug 1950

Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

11 May 1962 a

Zimbabwe

1 Dec 1998 d

http://www.unece.org...RSS_RT1949.html

I tried to find what this document is actually in reference to - without luck. I'm surprised by all these comments about no IDP being required, since I've always been told one is required (and used to get them myself, prior to getting Thai licences). And if you look on the (Australian) IDP itself, it lists countries for which it is valid - including Thailand.

These

I think the name of the advertiser says it all....sounds like.....

I did notice the surname and thought there was some joke in there somewhere, however, this surname does exist in Germany (googled it as well) so, I'm still none the wiser. Also, considering you have to pay to run the advertisement, I doubt it's some sort of joke.

They're not free ads? Definitely someone with too much time on his/her hands... (And besides that, it's missing its glinkle.)

Plenty of bars engaged in pool comps - find somewhere handy for you, walk in a bar and ask. If they are not involved in the local comp, they'll probably be able to point you in the right direction.

Re PowerBuy, anything in the online catalogue can be ordered at any of their stores in Th. If you get a lazy salesman who says, 'No hab' (which happened to me once), ask to speak with the manager.

You do require an IDP.

It is not drunk driving legislation, it is a law that proscribes anyone - passengers included - drinking alcohol in any type of road vehicle. About as nanny as you can get...

It rained Monday around 1 pm for all of five minutes, as I was driving over Patong hill. Just enough to make the road treachorously slippery and the car dirty again (after I had just finished washing it).

Re the changing of alcohol laws, there was a raft of changes proposed, but not all adopted. Another one was the ban on selling alcohol at wats. In the original proposal, apparently, they also intended to lift the age for purchase of alcohol from 18 to 25. (Great for tourism!) An article about it here: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/10/19/headlines/headlines_30016583.php

I suppose the point is that if you are an expat and would like to have a drink on one of these ban days (and haven't stocked up or made other plans), you'll have no trouble finding it without too much inconvenience. But a tourist fresh off Jetstar or any other airline will generally have no idea. He (or she) will, after asking around, find somewhere but it will usually not be his vision of the entertainment he had spent weeks looking forward to.

The point has already been made that Thais who want a drink are not much affected. It stands to reason, then, that those most likely to be the affected to any significant degree are tourists. So why should elections impact upon these people? Some of these same people will be annoyed to the point that they will be going to Bali or other destinations for future holidays, so local business owners miss out as well.

I can understand the arguments to the contrary, but the reality is that the current situation seems to be achieve very little other than providing another source of revenue for the BiB to exploit in zealous enforcement.

That's a great YouTube vid, but you have to wonder how many people they interviewed before they edited the final product down to the dills.

I thought the traffic light was only for renewals (not for the 1 year)?