TheScribe

Some imported booze gets a blue customs sticker, some gets a red/orange sticker. Anyone know why this is and what it means?

My Macbook Pro developed a faulty trackpad - I bought it from MacZone in Airport Plaza in April 2011. They directed me to MacCare in Kad Suan Kaew. They did a quick test and then said they would take it in for a few days for diagnostics and call me if new parts were needed. I signed a work order that was also a disclaimer for any data loss, breach etc. hey also want my password, and like a complete fugging numbskull I gave it to them.

After getting home I changed all my mail passwords etc. from the desktop machine. There's no internet banking passwords on the laptop, (nor any porn) but there is a great deal of personal info - plenty to mount an identity theft if they wanted to.

I'm now really very concerned because really they can do all they need to do with a network or CD boot and don't need my stuff at all.

What should I do now?

Bombs in the South, choking air pollution in the North, dysfunctional hub airport. Oh, and Chiang Mai has announced an alcohol ban for Songkran. My oh my, TAT has got a LOT of work to do.

The table row showing air pollution at Chiang Mai City Hall has been removed from the aqmthai.com website. I can only conclude that the local problem has been solved in the time-honoured Thai fashion. I.e. the existence of the problem has been denied and thus the problem does not and has never existed. All evidence has gone up in smoke and EVERYTHING IS JUST ROSY! SO KEEP SMILING!! AND DON'T COUGH!!!!!!

What with the free parking, free aircon & comfy sofas, free drinking water etc, the main public area at RAM is already a hangout for itinerant nearly-skint falangs with too much time on their hands. Free WiFi would only add to the problem.

The Aussies can get their man even after three years:-

http://www.guardian....arting-bushfire

Pity the Thais can't get any of theirs even red-handed. Laziness? Incompetence? Tradition of conflict-avoidance? All of these?

... snip ... my suggestion for a four-part solution:-

1) Forcibly emptying the hill-tribe villages and re-settling the inhabitants to places where they can't do all this damage to Thailand's shared natural resources.

Khun Scribe, I think you can make suggestion #1 a bit more powerful by simply using one word: "genocide."

Any chance of the Pollution CONTROL Department progressing these solution? Really? You mean, like, umm, in this lifetime? Really?

Here: may I suggest a slight change: from "progressing" to "finessing:" used in its sense of meaning "slyly attempt to avoid blame or censure when dealing with (a situation or action)." That leaves the way open for a possible "yes." And, what do you think about using "in these lifetimes," since, in an ever-recycling-ever-was, all possibilities are repeated endlessly ?

~o:37;

No I am not suggesting genocide.

Over the last couple of days it seems that some people have gone into the hills of Doi Sutep/Pui at night and set fire to the now tinder-box dry forests. This is almost certainly the work of the hill-tribe or itinerant people living there. We know why they do this, and we know that it's a crime, and we know that it causes many thousands of people discomfort, sickness and premature death. So its not a small thing.

Preventing all that is what the PCD is supposed to be doing. Just telling the hill folks to not burn does absolutely nothing. Meantime, babies and old folks down in the valleys are still sickening and dying. The hill folks are not going to change their ways until they have to. Getting them to change their ways will need a lot of carrot and stick, but currently I don't see anything being done by the PCD or any other govt. dept. either. But I could be wrong about that.

The govt. dept. is called "Pollution Control Department" and while they may be doing OK on monitoring, they seem to be doing absolutely nothing to justify having the word "Control" in their title.

We know what would solve the problem. Here is my suggestion for a four-part solution:-

1) Forcibly emptying many of the hill-tribe villages and re-settling the inhabitants to places where they can't do all this damage to Thailand's shared natural resources. (Contentious and difficult, I know.)

2) Establishing free domestic rubbish collection for ALL inhabitants of Thailand and burning it in new incinerators built around the country.

3) Effective policing of the rice growers and other lowland farmers.

4) Effective policing of traffic and prosecution of pollution offenders.

Any chance of the Pollution CONTROL Department progressing these solution? Really? You mean, like, umm, in this lifetime? Really?

Well today its filthy in CM. AQMTHAI town hall reading is red, and I'm suffering. This time its surely caused locally, as Lamphun and Chiang Rai etc. are pretty clean. Makes me want to go up the mountain and shoot all those foggers dead. Better not though, hah.

OECD - Urban air pollution is set to become the top environmental cause of mortality worldwide by 2050, ahead of dirty water and lack of sanitation. The number of premature deaths from exposure to particulate air pollutants leading to respiratory failure could double from current levels to 3.6 million every year globally.

See http://www.oecd.org/...1_1_1_1,00.html

I drive across Narwat bridge every day and always glance at the real time pollution numbers on the screen opposite the Governors mansion, have to say that visibility conditions generally do not match what I see on the screen and presume the screen is there merely to reassure tourists.

I don't know if the published numbers are true or not, but certainly out here in Doi Saket the air is cleaner than its been for weeks. Haven't had any rain yet, hoping we get some.

Is the AQMTHAI.com website down? I haven't been able to access it at all today.

My partner wants me to buy a bike for her teenage son. I'm not keen on that for a number of reasons, one of them being the legality of his riding at a young age. How old do you have to be to ride a motorcycle in Thailand? (And, unfortunately I also have to ask, is the law enforced to any serious degree?)

Umm. From Wikipedia "Wind direction":

Wind direction is reported by the direction from which it originates. For example, a northerly wind blows from the north to the south.^[1] Wind direction is usually reported in cardinal directions or in azimuth degrees. So, for example, a wind coming from the south is given as 180 degrees; one from the east is 90 degrees.

So I think I'm correct. The prevailing wind is from the south.

I did make a mistake on the wind speed though. The wind speed in meters/sec is c and variability is k (I think). So 40km per day should be about 90km. Unfortunately they massaged the data for their own purposes. Is there a better data set out there?

The link should be http://www.scienceasia.org/1981.07.n4/v07_154_169.pdf

I want to try to put a bit of proper science and reasoning into these discussions about the sources of the atmospheric pollution currently affecting Northern Thailand. I searched the Web for information about the local prevailing winds and the best document I found is "Surface Wind Distributions in Thailand" available here: http://www.scienceas...07_154_169.pdf. Its 30 years old and written with a view to assessing the feasability of wind power in Thailand, but climate data will not have changed significantly.

Now some of the maths is a bit hard, but if we look at Table 1 and the data for Chiang Mai, the average wind conditions for February to April are as follows:

Periods of calm (s): 60% (Wind over 1 meter per second for 40% of the time)

Average wind speed (k) : 1.2 meters per second

Wind variability (c): 2.0 (indicates light and variable winds)

Wind direction (theta): 180 (due south)

Constancy of direction (r) 0.4 (medium variability)

So we have more calm than wind, and the light winds we do have mostly blow from the south. Now 1.2 meters per second is about 4.3 kilometres per hour. If the wind blows for 40% of the day, that is (4.3 X 24 X 40%) or about 40 kilometres per day.

What we have in Chiang Mai ON AVERAGE for this time of year is air moving from the south at a rate of 40km per day. So if air pollution in CM city is coming from anywhere, its certainly not Burma, Laos or China. Most towns in the North have pretty similar data (except Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son where the prevailing wind is from the east). So if the pollution is coming from anywhere outside CM province, its coming up from Lampoon (about 1 day's wind blow away) or Tak and Sukhothai (about 6 days away) or the rest of the Central Plains (up to about 2 weeks away).

I have no data on how long it takes for smoke to settle or disperse, but the inescapable conclusion is that almost all the pollution we are experiencing is local or coming from points south (with the possible exception of Chiang Rai). The problem is within Thailand's borders, blaming neighbours to the West, North or East is missing the facts.

If you want to dispute this conclusion, go ahead, but please try to get better data or better maths before you start. Thank you.

/Quote "Why should we bow to their authority" /Unquote

Because, my learned friend, it is their country. That's why they are entitled to make the rules. This is recognised by international law. And you better watch your lip.

While we are on the triviality (or not) of the whole bloody rigmarole, I always find myself wondering just how (and why) our esteemed Immigration officers store all those copies - 4 or 5 pages every 3 months, many more at 12 months. After yer Falangi has been here a few years, this mounts up to a fine wodge, maybe 5 inches thick and weighing in at a kilo or three. And so many copies of the same pages out the same passport! And what for? And where do they keep all that? And why??

Oh well, ours is not to reason why, ours is but to photocopy, and sigh....

Well, to each their own, but making an online appointment and just going out there seems a lot easier

Except that is not the purpose of the online appointment system. It is for extensions as shown on the online queue form. Using it for 90 day reporting prevents someone who needs the appointment, for the time consuming extensions, from getting a slot.

It is for anything you need to do at immigration. That is what they told me.

Quote from the on-line queue form: "Reason for extension visa". You should NOT use it for quick and trivial things like a 90-day report.

/ Priceless

Well, to each their own, but making an online appointment and just going out there seems a lot easier

Except that is not the purpose of the online appointment system. It is for extensions as shown on the online queue form. Using it for 90 day reporting prevents someone who needs the appointment, for the time consuming extensions, from getting a slot.

It is for anything you need to do at immigration. That is what they told me.

Quote from the on-line queue form: "Reason for extension visa". You should NOT use it for quick and trivial things like a 90-day report.

/ Priceless

Well, we supplicants may consider the 90 day report trivial, but Thai Immigration doesn't, otherwise they wouldn't require it.

And, no, its not always quick, that was the whole point of the OP. I too have had to wait nearly 3 hours to get it done.

I've got a bit fed up doing the 90 day thingy. Of late, I prefer to do a 2-3 day trip out of Thailand, and that resets the 90 day requirement clock. Direct (non-stop) international flights out of Chiang Mai are currently Kunming (China Eastern), Singapore and K.L. (Air Asia), Luang Prabang with Lao Air and Yangon with a Burmese airline. Can also drive to Mai Sai and cross the border for a few hours. More interesting than sitting for an unknown length of time at CM immigration.

Thanks for all the replies, guys. I'll try to get one fitted to my Mazda 3 at the dealership this week, but I don't hold much hope of success.

Back in the UK decades ago I had a Saab 900, no air cooler but the cabin air filter was accessible under the bonnet/hood and changeable in 30 secs flat.

More than ever, the 21st century seems to be about the abuse of technology - build it cheap, don't let the user have control, use the tech to screw the customer. The megacorp doesn't give a dam_n, usability and maintainability is for wimps, public health (as in air quality inside or outside your car) is of no importance to anyone. Up here in CM the street enforcer BIBs seem to collect their Buddhist social work offerings without ever making a serious crackdown on all the clapped-out trucks, pickups and 2-stroke bikes that belch out tons (literally) of toxic and carcinogenic internal-combustion-engine-fart, leading to some of the highest levels of lung and cardiac diseases for any city in the world.

Oh well, such is life (and death) in the LOS.

Anyone know which cars sold in Thailand have cabin air filters? As far as I know, my 2009 Mazda 3 does not, but recent Toyota Vios models do.

I'm asking this because a day's driving in Chiang Mai city gives me a cough, and I would like to change to something with better cabin air quality.

Ok somebody enlighten me, does the OP mean linen trousers!

Now I understand.

They look good on a woman with a good arse and legs.

Most things look good on a woman with a good arse and legs.

Just treated myself to a litre bottle of Ballantine's Finest - a modest but drinkable Scotch.

As usual, the Thai Govt. managed to spoil the fun - tried to get the screw top off but there's a horrible mass of sticky gluey sh*te holding down the stupid tax sticker. After a fight, I got the sticker off but the glue gets on my fingers every time I go for a refill. Its OK that I pay the tax, but why the sticky yucky fingers all evening?

Also, the bottle's got one of those <deleted> mega-stupid restrictors - as if I'm only a baby and can't judge how much I'm pouring into a glass! Tip the bottle over your glass and get two drops; shake the bottle vigorously for a proper drink and get a double-double-and-a-shot.

Are most Thais stupid as children because they EXPECT their Govt. to treat them as children??

Solutions? Anyone tried steaming or dissolving off the glue sh*te? Can you pull the restrictor out with hefty pliers?

Knowledgeable advice much appreciated. Thanks.