JensenZ

In Australia, you give way to all vehicles approaching from the right.

It's an uncontrolled intersection, so the rule here is to proceed slowly and keep your eyes open for oncoming vehicles. It's a courtesy system which the foreigner does not understand. It's also good to proceed more carefully if you're on a bike and heed to bigger vehicles. I would say the foreigner thought that he had absolute right of way. Also, offering "sorry" to the damaged party is the wrong thing to do. Insurance policies normally stipulate in the fine print never to admit liability in any accident. If they find out you did, they can refuse your claim. It was right for the car driver to leave it up to the insurance company to sort it out.

In Pattaya last night, the lowest the temperature got, by about 5:00 was 29C. It was 30C most of the night. I walk late at night when the temperatures are at their lowest, but my clothes are drenched walking in that heat at about 6 km/h. Fortunately, I have a home gym where I can train in comfort.

Sure, if you have some spare cash to pay for 6 years of electricity upfront, it might make sense if you don't think you'll be moving anywhere in 6 years, like returning to your home country. A lot can happen in 6 years and most figures I've seen talk about 8 years or more to recoup the costs. I would not care for an investment that took over 6 years to see a return.

My March and April bills were nearly identical. It's the air conditioners working harder that ramps up bills. My hours of usage haven't changed. Setting them 1 or 2C higher when it's hotter outside is not a bad idea. It's comfortable enough and cuts back on power usage. For Pattaya residents - the sun is directly overhead today (April 24) at 12:21, so it's theoretically the hottest day of the year. For Bangkok, it's on April 26. It happens again on August 19 in Pattaya and August 16 in Bangkok.

I never thought that. The cost of setting up solar panels is too high. It's like paying 10 years of electricity in advance and then replacing them in the future for another upfront cost.

I don't understand your question. Did something I wrote lead you to conclude I am an idiot? After nearly 20 years here, I can tell you exactly what I do at Songkran. I stay out of it. I didn't receive a single drop of water this year. I can tell you what I did when I returned from shopping at Foodland one night after 22:00 on a side street, trying to avoid water. That was probably about 10 years ago. A Thai person dumped a bucket of ice water on me after I asked him not to. I got off my motorcycle - grabbed the offending Thai person by the head and dunked him in his tank of ice water. He didn't enjoy the experience and wanted to fight. He was about half my size, so I returned to my bike and took off. He expected me to enjoy a bucket of ice water, but he couldn't see the joy of being dunked in his own water. Another time I was standing in traffic and a Thai menace pumped me directly in the face with a high-pressure gun. I grabbed his gun and took off with it. Do you get the point now? I stay at home to avoid getting into fights with idiots. The water is only one of the problems during Songkran.

Yes, of course. I realized my error after I'd posted when it was too late to edit. I was waiting for someone to correct me. Thanks for the revised figures.

You need to add some context. The member punched someone for throwing water at him when he asked him not to. I don't know about you, but if I'm "playing Songkran" as I have in the past, and someone asks me not to throw water, I don't. On the main Songkran day of course anyone who wants to stay dry should not be out, but there are many days leading up to the main day when people would prefer to stay dry as they might want to go shopping at a mall or eat at a restaurant.

As much as I dislike Songkran, leaving the country to avoid it is a bit extreme. I just stay at home as I do most of the year. I only need to go shopping, and during the event, late at night, plenty of shops are open for my basic grocery needs. I didn't see a single water gun or bucket of water this year. The only change in my routine this year was not shopping at Big C Extra.

This is nonsense. Although I don't go near the high-density beer bars areas during Songkran, it's Thai people that have caused me the most grief over the years. It's an excuse for Thai people with a chip on their shoulders to have a go at foreigners. Here are 3 examples that are probably quite familiar: 1. High-pressure water guns aimed directly at my face and/or ears when sitting on my bike waiting for the lights to change. 2. Huge buckets of ice water after 10 pm on side streets when trying to avoid water and carrying shopping. 3. Asking politely not to be splashed and getting drenched. They only really have fun when they find dry people who don't want to be wet, and in particular, foreigners. There's no fun wetting people who are already wet and out to play.

Assuming the cost is 600k with installation, that's equivalent to 20 years' PEA charges at my current usage, not considering rising electricity prices in the next 20 years. I'd be curious about how long these panels and batteries will last, and the ongoing maintenance costs of such a system.

More than working... Bangkok with a metro population of over 11 million, 13 road fatalities in 5 days. That's minuscule.

Nonsense! It depends on what pathogens are in the water. Plenty exist that could put even heroes like you on their backs. Maybe one day you'll get a brain-eating amoeba up your nose. In your case, there might not be much to eat.

Many years ago in my early days in Thailand, I used the middle finger (in Pattaya) to show my feelings about being deliberately cut off. The offending Thai drove on the wrong side of the road for nearly a kilometer to catch up with me. The risk he took to himself and other road users to catch up with me on my motorcycle was incredibly shocking. He caught up and stopped his car in the middle of an intersection. I was lucky enough to slip by him and disappear. I've never used it again, in nearly 20 years here. That was the first and last time. I think the foreigner was lucky to meet a rather mild-mannered lady in this incident. It might have ended up badly for him had he met an aggressive Thai woman in Pattaya. I've seen the venom of some of them... and in most cases, there would have been some Thai guys (motorcycle taxi drivers, for example) coming to help. He deserved a thorough flogging.