JensenZ

5 minutes ago, MangoKorat said:

That slightly limits things.  There are plenty of 'naked' bikes that would not be classed as sports bikes + touring bikes. Sports bikes are things such as an R1 or a Fireblade.  Collectively and with an unwritten mininmum capacity of around 650cc - they are broadly known as superbikes.

 

Then there are Harleys - I won't comment on them .

I was just trying to keep it simple. The bikes that go fast without too much fuss and Harleys that make a racket LOL.... but yes, there are many subcategories. My last big bike was a GPZ 1100, back in 1983, so I'm out of practice.

18 minutes ago, MangoKorat said:

Superbike and Harley Davidson do not sit happily in the same sentence.

I would separate big bikes into 2 categories. Sports bikes and Harleys.

I've been riding all types of bikes for 50 years, so I'm somewhat of a bike enthusiast, but there is still one big bike I dislike. It's a Harley, which has more bark than bite, designed to get the attention of anyone within 200m... and not in a good way but by pure ear-numbing noise pollution. Sometimes it's like being attacked when someone suddenly opens its throttle behind you to overtake. In contrast, I enjoy the sound of a superbike accelerating into the distance with the mild and pleasant hum of advanced technology.

They used to have a Harley in the condo next door to my townhouse. As soon as the owner fired it up, our whole building would start to rumble, and that was just when it was at idle.

Of course, other bikes with modified or removed exhaust baffles are not pleasant either.

59 minutes ago, swerve said:

Farang bad driving behaviours piss me off too.

Really? I don't appreciate any bad driving behaviour by any people of any colour. Why do you have a specific dislike of "Farang"?

To the OP: If you want to relieve the congestion of traffic on Pattaya roads, relieving it of a few big bikes you dislike is not going to help - you need to get rid of cars, tour buses, and Baht buses. You might as well stop whinging because congestion is only going to get worse as tourism ramps up to full capacity in the coming years. Currently, it's Road works along 2nd Road causing most of the congestion. The council decided to start the road work AFTER covid when the streets were starting to get busy again.

2 hours ago, NoshowJones said:

What is so bad about sweeteners? But being a non drinker, I have never had a weight problem in my life, but I drink 2 or 3 glasses of juice with sweeteners a day and cannot tell the difference between a drink of juice with or without sweeteners.

I don't have any problem with sweeteners, but I like to add my sweetness to the level I prefer.  

Here's the problem with sweetened (and flavoured) whey protein. They select a standard sweetness (and flavour) for a specific standard serving size to be mixed in a standard volume of liquid. If you want to use more whey or less liquid to mix it with, it will be too sweet (or the flavour too strong), and even the standard level of sweetness (and flavour) for a suggested serving might be too sweet (and/or strong). You might want to add some fruit (blended), which will make it even sweeter.

Another point - at some point, you might get sick of the taste of chocolate or whatever other flavour you've purchased, but you're stuck with it for the whole container.  

With unflavoured, unsweetened whey, you can flavour it and sweeten it any way you wish. It's the only way to go, and cheaper too.

On 12/1/2023 at 6:17 PM, Mike Lister said:

Once again your post doesn't make sense. The price of gold today is USD 2,041 per Troy ounce or THB 71,665 per Troy ounce. Gold in Thailand is sold by the Baht weight which equals 0.47 Troy ounces and today is Baht 34,000 per Baht weight, exactly the same as if the gold were bought anywhere, in any currency and in any amount. You say that reflects that the value of Thai flat money has been discounted by 65% which I say is utter nonsense and totally incorrect. The value of Thai Baht to USD and gold is exactly the same.

Yes, I got quite a laugh reading about how the price of gold is different in Thailand than anywhere else. They certainly don't understand the gold market.

You can buy 99.99% pure gold in Thailand.

Current Gold Price

96.5% (baht measurement) hit 34,000 before closing on Friday. Spot Gold hit a record high of $2075 about 3 hours before close, closing at $2072.

What makes Thailand special for gold trading is you can buy and sell it anonymously, and you pay a low commission. It's just about as easy to buy and sell as getting milk at the local 7-Eleven if you live in places like Pattaya. Most people waste money buying jewelry, but you can get bars at any gold shop, with lower commissions and no manufacturing markup.

5 hours ago, Hawaiian said:

Have to agree with you about occupancy rates.  Last month we stayed at a 20 acre resort in Petchaburi. We were guests of a local resident who insisted on paying for our 2 day stay.  Checking the rates online, they were advertising a 33% discount, including breakfast.

At breakfast in the huge luxurious dining room there were only three tables occupied.  According to our guest, the place was always packed with Thais before Covid.  Now, almost deserted.  The owner is a wealthy ceramic tile and roofing manufacturer.  It remains to be seen how long they will can afford to stay open.

Breakfast

It's not all doom and gloom. I stayed at the 5-star Gems Mining Pool Villa in Pattaya 2 weeks ago, for 2 nights. They were doing very well, even with room rates over 7,000 baht per night for their cheapest rooms. Our room was over 10,000 per night. The breakfast room was quite busy.

On 11/30/2023 at 2:16 PM, 1FinickyOne said:

Is the entire world heading for a financial crisis?

The whole world has to pay the cost of Covid and the massive devaluation of most currencies due to QE. Payback started last year with massive inflation the world over and still has a long way to go. I suggest the real estate market is next to fall. Everyone has to pay back all the free money people were paid not to work.

16 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

I'm sorry you fell.

How anchored in are the beams? Do they go through the floor or only a couple inches into the concrete? If it's only a couple inches in and he bumped into it while drinking he could go off. Is it aluminum or steel?

 

It's not something I would be comfortable leaning against with a beer.

That's a very rough job, running the air conditioning tubing along the base of the balcony rails. It must have been an afterthought to save installation costs. They couldn't find a better place, like on the ceiling?

4 minutes ago, connda said:

Interesting though as in a Western country the owner of the utility would be on the hook via civil court to pay for the hospital.  Here?  "Hope you have insurance."  That's sad.

That's only a forum member's opinion. The problem with a court action is the timing would not allow compensation for tourists as court actions can take many months. A visit to City Hall with a good lawyer would probably get things moving. I would think that someone at City Hall would be sympathetic. In reality, it's more than likely that a 61-year-old Belgian tourist would have travel insurance.

4 hours ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

No of course not, BUT somethings are outside of a persons control.

You can only control the things you have control over?

If you are walking across the road at a crosswalk and the lights are red to traffic, then a car comes speeding around a corner goes thru the red light, hits you, who is at fault? You cannot control crazy people!

Sure, but making sure footpaths are clear of hazards, like spikes, loose paving, holes, etc is not difficult to achieve. All they need to do is a thorough inspection of all "completed" jobs. It's what you'd do if you were paying someone to do some construction work for you, but the council is using taxpayers' money, so they don't seem to be as invested in the quality of work done.

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

What can you do when feckless halfwits like this are on the roads and will pull across without even looking ???... 

 

It really is time the authorities became a lot more serious about the consequences for such reckless endangerment...

... Its difficult to call such carelessness an accident...  

 

 

 

 

*When our resident pedant nit-picks..... no I don't know for certain that the samlor rider didn't look and can't prove that and don't have any links to back up that assertion - its just an assumption based on events unless he did look but pulled out regardless... 

These street vendor motorcycle sidecars full of food are a road hazard even when they don't pull out unexpectedly. Many of them are sporting vats full of boiling water and other loose cooking items and implements that can go flying. They often slow down unexpectedly when items in their carts are shaken loose by the wind and they need to secure them. Fortunately, most Thai people have a lot of patience with them and give them a wide berth.

2 hours ago, bradiston said:

Why do reporters always dress up the action with dramatic descriptions of how police "rushed to", "swiftly", "incredibly quickly", "mind blowingly fast" etc etc. Pattaya cop shop is just along Beach Rd. No need for drama! A mere saunter away.

I agree, and it's also a pet peeve of mine. They use a ridiculous number of adjectives and adverbs. It's not reporting, but storytelling. The reader should decide how fast, well, and good tasks are performed, not the reporter. They wouldn't get a job writing for real newspapers.

7 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Just ask any prisoner who thinks he is at least as sick as Thaksin come forward and look how they are treated.

How many prisoners have a similar VIP treatment? How many had ever such a treatment?

Is Thaksin the sickest prisoner who ever existed in Thailand?

 

You don't see too many billionaires in prison to compare notes with. Even if Thanksin doesn't have a billion $, he has plenty of rich family members to pick up the slack. I'm suggesting that any very rich prisoner would get special treatment.

4 hours ago, Ironmike said:

These people must think we are all. Stupid Taksin is a professional BS artist and we all know he is not sick and should be in prison where he belongs, time to start his time when he is back behind bars,, but then again all the government officials that he is paying some of his billions that he stole from Thailand are on his payroll

Ex-PMs convicted of crimes and jailed (or in exile) - Ex-coup leaders become exalted beings, yet people like you cheer it on. I can imagine how this would go down in your home countries. The only way to become a hero in Thailand is to be a general and responsible for a military takeover of an elected government. In most civilized nations, that would be called treason, but in Thailand, it's a badge of honour.

17 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

 

A journalist and a health and safety professional as well. 

 

Any exposed end of wire rope or cable is a safety concern. 

 

So who is going to take responsibility for this incident? Nobody as usual I suppose. 

The first responsibility is the council which should be overseeing road and footpath safety in their city which attracts millions of tourists (and pedestrians). They need to ensure that contractors always consider safety issues when doing work in public areas. It's not difficult really. You (the contractors) pay the medical expenses or we find a new contractor.

They could appoint safety officers to inspect all work done on roads and footpaths and issue fines for non-compliance.

If it happened to me, I would start with a personal visit to City Hall. Of course, if the tourist has full insurance to cover it, that's the end of it.

13 hours ago, BigStar said:

Tourists are likely unprepared for the challenge of Third World sidewalks. I first encountered it in Mexico.

 

Expats have less excuse. Avoiding falls is in general esp important for seniors. To battle with Pattaya's sidewalks, you need to have good balance, for one thing. That means exercise and keeping your weight down. Obviously, you need to look where you're going. One old Brit didn't recently and stumbled and fell over a road stud. 

 

And you don't go "native," as one poster recently put it, in shower shoes. Go armored. I regard sandals, so beloved, as insufficient. Better: trainers. Me, I wear light trekking shoes. They grip superbly and fend off all the usual sidewalk attacks.    

And despite all precautions taken, accidents happen. It only takes a momentary lapse of concentration. In this case, shoes might not have helped as you can trip in any footwear.

If I'm using my Thai ATM card (debit card), I don't care where I use it as replacements are easy to get. If I'm using an international card, I only use them in shopping malls at a bank. If the machine eats your card, you can get it back at the time they normally open the machine by showing them your passport.

The ATMs on the streets have numbers you can call, and they should return your card.  

Thai banks destroy cards left in machines and issue new ones except at main branches of your bank, where they can return it. The K-Bank charges 300 baht, but they give you 250 refund immediately. I believe that's only once a year you get a refund. 

1 hour ago, bamboozled said:

 

I'm not a conspiracy guy at all but certainly companies make stuff up. The listing says imported from USA and that it has an FDA registration number...but there is no way to check if that number is real, from what I could understand. And, also, having a registration number does not mean it was tested or approved. Only that a registration number was applied for. On the package, it says manufactured and distributed by Maxwell company in Khorat. Which seems to suggest nothing was imported from USA but made in Thailand. I don't know how one could know if a particular whey protein is good or bad for you just from ingesting it. It might look good and taste good but how much protein is really in it? What contaminants might be in it? I'm kind of going down a rabbit hole here and not trying to knock down your recommendation...I bought some, too. Thinking about it just made me realize how much we take for granted, I guess. Where did this info come from that they import 25kg bags and then break it down into smaller batches? Cheers! Bam.

My packet does not say "Maxwell". It is distributed by Food Great Products Ltd, Bangkok. They call it MS. We have a different supplier.

12 hours ago, bamboozled said:

Hi Jensen,

 

I'm about to purchase some unflavored protein powder and I'm assuming it's the same one you purchase based on your above info. Maxwell brand? From translating the Thai in Goog. translate, it doesn't seem clear to me that it is produced by ALS labs but rather they have reviewed the protein content., supposedly. I don't know ALS labs or what they do or if they produce protein powder. Hmm, does ALS labs even exist or is it made up? It also could be a translation issue.

 

The company appears to be a Thai company situated in Khorat.

 

What the translated Thai text about ALS labs says is this: "Has FDA number 30-1-05363-5-0002 Check protein values from ALS LAB"

 

Anyway, not picking a fight or anything. Just thought the info might be useful.

 

Cheers!

You're right, I jumped to the conclusion too fast.

Upon further examination, I see the product was imported from the USA, and it's tested by ALS Labs, probably the bulk product before importing. They don't produce it. 

ALS - Food safety & quality testing

I'm not particularly concerned about the source of whey as the USA is the biggest exporter of whey products and to me, it's all the same. I suppose if you message the Lazada supplier they may give you the name of the producer of the product in the USA.

Here's some info on the US production of whey:

World's Largest Whey Producer

I already used about 100 grams of the pack I received yesterday. The product is as good as any whey I've bought in the past. It has over a 1-year expiry date. WPC has a yellowish tint, whereas WPI is white. WPC gets darker (deeper yellow colour) with age.

I've used a lot of whey in the past. At one point, about 10 years ago I was consuming about 3 kilos a month. Maybe a world record LOL. It might just be coincidental, but I had more energy today than normal, and a very good workout.

Here are some serving suggestions:

1. 300 ml of low-fat milk (2%), 30 grams of WPC, some honey or Equal if you're avoiding sugar, and 2 scoops of instant coffee. That's a total of 33 grams of protein (WPC: 24, milk: 9). It's a good idea to use some milk as you get extra casein protein, which makes the protein even more complete and bioavailable. You could also use lactose-free milk if that's a concern. I make this in a shaker.

2. 300 - 500 ml of low-fat milk (2%), one banana. 30 grams of WPC. Blend together. No sweetener is necessary as the banana provides enough sugar.  

19 minutes ago, Furioso said:

It doesnt' really seem dodgy it just seems like another old Thai building that's been through a lot of changes.

 

For 2 people in a multi room condo your electric bill should be approx 3K-4K a month, which is still very cheap compared to The West. I'd want to see all 3 bills though.

 

In short, I don't think you're getting ripped off. 

It depends on the efficiency of the air con units mainly. I'm in a 4 bedroom 240 m2 condo with 2 refrigerators, and much of the day we run 2 air-con units at the same time, but at high temp settings 26 - 28C. Bills range from 2000 lowest to 3000 highest.

We had 2 air-con units changed last year. to the latest Daikon inverter units and it saves around 1000 baht per month in the heaviest use months.

43 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Mine are too, I even correct my wife sometimes if she comes out with that American slang.

I suspect, due to the much larger population of internet users from America that UK English spelling will slowly be phased out in the following decades. Even now, in many forums, I tend to use the US spelling as the majority of users are American.

What English spelling do they teach in Thailand?

No one has mentioned the exceptional penmanship of Thai people. Most English speakers can barely scribble.

It's ironic that they write in English far better than English speakers even if they cannot speak it very well. It puts my writing to shame.

5 hours ago, IamNoone88 said:

The UK education system has declined to abysmal levels and they all speak English .. throwing the correlation into doubt me thinks.

Probably, for universal understanding, UK English is one of the worst considering all the local accents that are difficult for outsiders to understand.

Cockney, Geordi, Brummie, Scouse, Estuary, Scottish, Welsh... the list goes on. Don't get me wrong... I enjoy hearing the variety, but it's hard work for many foreigners to understand. I even have trouble with some of them.