silverhawk_usa

On the 3rd floor (computer/phone floor) at the very rear of the area that has the numerous phone counters is the official Sony Ericsson Service Centre. They reinstalled software on my phone with no problem and no charge as it was still in warranty.

First they told me to leave the phone a couple days. I said I couldn't do that, and they then said "come back in two hours". Done.

Done.. Nice one..

We received the PayPal donation. It is greatly appreciated.

Really admirable event.. Wish I was up there to make a donation..

Well done to all.

Thanks for the nice comment. One does not need to be here if they wish to make a donation. See our website for bank transfer or PayPal information.

Just a quick "bump" to remind you of this event. We are leaving from the Chiang Mai X-Centre at 10:00AM for the 100km ride to a Kachin Village near Arrunothai. The Chiang Mai ToyRide is contributing chairs, desks, educational materials, back packs, and of course toys, for a start up of a new nursery school.

Please join us for the ride. You do not need bring anything. There is no fee, although we always accept donations.

Please PM or email me if you are going to participate so we can give the village an idea of numbers. They wish to provide a small lunch for the attendees. It should be a nice event. Please join us.

This is from an email I received (with links and phone numbers deleted);

Chiang Mai Bike Week 2009 (CMBW 2009).

NORTH COMETS MC Club of Chiang Mai. Open invitation to all friends and Motorcycle clubs. Chiang Mai Bike Week 2009 will be held on 5 and on 6 December 2009. * No registration fee *Chiang Mai Bike Week has become the largest Motorcycle Event in Northern Thailand for the past 9 years. WELCOME HOME to all who have come to this Event in the past.

On December 5, 2009 will start 09.00 am, Open registration for attendance. Exhibitor such as the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Tourist Police, Highway Police, etc. Sponsoring Local Motorcycle Clubs. Sales of Parts & Accessories, Souvenirs, You can even Place your Order for a New Motorcycle of your dreams.

19.00 Time will be Candle Light Celebration of His Majesty Birthday and Wishes for a long and Prosperous Life . Then the Party and Social Events Begin.

On December 6, 2009 Charity Ride to school children on Doi Pha Nok Kok procession began at 10:00 am to 11:00 am, for denotation of much need items 12.00 and lunch together with the children and villagers 14.00 Back to the hotel. Leisure afternoon Time AT the Pool. Or join in the activities at the Exhibition.

19.00 Party Time Again. Music on Stage and Competition CUSTOM BIKE professional and amateurs (those who wish to express their desire to compete).

On December 7, 2009 All Displays, Dancing Girls, Exhibits from Big Bike Venders and Souvenirs Shops and hard to find parts will be open at 10 AM till 10 PM.

This year our club has Reserved rooms from 2 Hotels, Sirinart Garden Hotel - Party Location, 100 Rooms at 900 B per room / night including breakfast and Chateau Chiang Mai Hotel Next door 100 meters, Reserved 60 Rooms at a price of 700 B per room / night including breakfast

Go to their website for more info; Chiang Mai Bike Week

AIS 1-2 Call E Service

I had to search around the AIS site to find this. This gives you a way to block known numbers. It won't help with the spam however. There is also a 30bt/mth charge. Could be worth it in some cases. Enter your phone number and they send you an SMS with a temporary password. It also has options for checking/changing your service plan.

have a look at one of the orphanages with hilltribe kids, Wat Don Chan

puts everything into perspective in about 2 minutes

Can you give a little more specific info on Wat Don Chan? A search of my GPS map shows about 6 Wat Don Chan and Wat Don Chan schools at a number of different locations.

Hope its as good as last years was

bazmlf-

Just so there is no confusion; this is one of our "project" events where we visit and make contributions with proceeds from last years Chiang Mai ToyRide. The full toy ride party and event for 2010 will be on February 21, 2010.

Thanks for the comment.

THE BANMAI VILLAGE PRE -SCHOOL PROJECT

On December 12, 2009 we will ride to Banmai Village near Chiang Dao. This is a Kachin/Akha school which is attempting to establish a pre-school. CMTR is trying to help.

We are donating tables, chairs, and storage shelves for the classroom. We are funding the refurbishment of existing playground equipment at the school. We will also donate educational materials.

Of course, a Chiang Mai ToyRide event is never complete without a party and toys for the children. We will meet at the Chiang Mai X-Centre on the morning of Saturday, Dec 12, and ride from there (time is yet to be determined, check back here).

From the Banmai Village website;

We all know that little children have an insatiable curiosity and a natural desire to learn more about the world around them!

But not every parent is in a position to provide the stimulus and encouragement that a child needs, especially when they have been displaced from another country, and they are struggling to earn a living.

This pre-school will introduce the children for the very first time to the excitement of learning from colourful books, and educational toys & games.

Our aim is to help establish a pre school in Banmai and to support the pre-school during its first year or so of operation, until it is fully independent and financially sustainable.

So, I think you can clearly see this is a worthy cause. Come along, enjoy the ride, have fun, and Help Us Help the Children!

For more information visit the Chiang Mai ToyRide Events page.

I have been lurking on this post with interest and I owe you guys a thanks. I have been listening to my pump cycle on and off for the past year. The service guy claimed it was because of the hot water tank that is installed. It has increased recently to where it is particularly annoying.

Reading all of the above I became motivated. I went under the house and found four shutoff valves and started turning them off, one by one, until the pump quit cycling. I then went and saw where I did not have water, which turned out to be the second floor. We don't use the water up there that often, so by turning it off it the immediate problem has been solved. One of the faucets seems to have just a very slight leak. I will get that replaced and hopefully the problem will be solved long term. I hope the OP resolves his problem as easily. Thanks for the help.

"Imagery Date: May 23, 2003". If you pass your mouse over the images it will usually show the date in the bottom left corner of window (depending on zoom level).

Not wanting to cast stones at a good cause charity (I am being polite) but TAT involvement may raise some real questions on monies/accounting etc.

The TAT is not involved in anyway apart from giving the prize to the winners who have are the organisers of the Chiang mai toy ride, their past history and effects with this charity show good faith as to where the funds will end up.

Scott is an active board member of the Chiang Mai ToyRide. If he should win, he has pledged the prize money to the Chiang Mai ToyRide. It's that simple. No T.A.T. or other outside involvement. Thanks Scott and Richard, and thank you "Bazmlb" for the post.

Any questions about the Chiang Mai ToyRide should be able to be answered by viewing Chiang Mai Toyride (particularly the Past Events page), or feel free to send me a PM.

Please help support a worthy cause.

Dave E

Co-Chairman CMTR

edit:typo correction

They both failed to open for me, BUT if you go to this website;

http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com

It says the first site is up, but the second site is down for everyone. Good Luck.

Silverhawk, thanks for posting the info about that... We don't hear too much here about U.S. check depositing in Thailand, probably because of the typical length of time it takes the Thai banks to clear those funds. But if someone can plan ahead and do large amounts, I guess it's OK.

I do think, though, that Thai banks fees for this may vary from bank to bank. I only inquired about doing this once at Siam Commercial Bank with a bunch of small U.S. checks I had received. A year or so ago, they had a minimum face amount of $50 per check and a fee of 203 baht per check. And I believe they told me it would take a month or more to receive the funds.

Out of curiosity, can you pull up and post what exchange rate you received on one of those recent U.S. check deposits (excluding the fee amounts)? It would be interesting to see how the check deposit rate for funds compares with the no-fee ATM rate for the same date/s.

I write a personal check to myself drawn on my U.S. bank. Usually $8,000 at intervals of whatever is needed for my living expenses. I deposit it in my Bangkok Bank account. I am charged a $10 fee, paid in baht at the time of the deposit. 21-30 days later the money is in my account, at the current exchange rate. No other fees involved. I just plan ahead to cover expenses yet keep the account below the U.S. reporting requirements.

I show a deposit to my account on 9-Sept-09 of 270,693.54 baht. That was for a $8,000 USD check deposit (excluding fee paid in cash). So = 33.84 if my math is correct. I don't know what the listed exchange rate was for that day.

McG... respectfully... you're already failing Thailand banking 101, and you're not even a lap around the track yet.

AEON, no question, is the best deal going in Thailand for ATMs right now, because they are fee-free... But that's on the Thailand end of things.

On the U.S. end of things, Bank of America has got to be one of the WORST U.S. banks that anyone can try to use in Thailand. And I say that as a 20+ year customer of theirs... until I came to Thailand. You're going to be fee-free on the Thailand end, but you're going to get reamed on the U.S. end. So I don't want you to think I was recommending THAT kind of approach.

Last time I checked, BofA charges a 3% foreign currency fee on all international ATM withdrawals and a flat charge of something like $5 per ATM transaction. HSBC-U.S. isn't quite that bad, but they're close... I'm also a customer of theirs, again, back when I was in the U.S., but not after moving here. They may also have gone to the 3% international surcharge...but I haven't used them for the longest time...

If you live here in Thailand or spend a lot of time here, I'd seriously consider getting some better banking relationships on the U.S. end, if you can. Capital One, by comparison, is much better both for ATM and credit card use. Schwab Bank is great for their savings and checking accounts. And even E*Trade is very good, if you have a large enough combined balance to avoid their monthly account fee. For all of those, I mean they are good because they have little or no extra fees for international ATM use.

If you can't switch away from BofA for some reason, rather than relying on ATM use, for which BofA will kill you internationally, you might be better off using their relatively new capacity to do international wire transfers directly from their BofA online banking module. The fee to send money in U.S. $ to Thailand, if I recall correctly, is a flat $35. It's $25 if you have them do the exchange and send in Thai baht, which you don't want to do because BofA likewise will give you a lousy exchange rate. But if you had the capability to send large amounts not so often, doing that or doing a domestic ACH from BofA or HSBC to Bangkok Bank's New York Branch (if you have a BKK Bank account in Thailand) might be better alternatives.

Fair enough.

I'll try an AEON ATM with both a BofA and HSBC ATM card, and see what I get.

Naw, jf, I was just trying to placate you ATM dudes.

I have been doing EFT's from US banks to BBL New York for several years now.

Hits my acct here in CM within 24 hrs.

I do a minimum of $5000 a time.

Costs: $10 in New Yawk (for $5000; tiered pricing).

And up to a max of 500 THB here when the money hits BBL in Bangkok.

Every time I do these transactions, I get a 1 page sheet from my local branch titled: "Record Inquiry".

It details the entire money trail, and shows the coding for all the transfers, and the exact exchange rate.

I also signed up for the instant SMS service BBL offers, detailing much of the same info.

My total cost is approx. .005; 1/2 of 1 percent. But I admit that I just get the hourly telex rate, which is why I will still investigate further.

A total cost of $25 USD to transfer $5000 USD is piddling, IMO.

But if you can show me a way to shave that down even further (short of traveling back to the US and joining the First Podunk Bank of Boise Idaho)- all power to ya!

I write a personal check to myself drawn on my U.S. bank. Usually $8,000 at intervals of whatever is needed for my living expenses. I deposit it in my Bangkok Bank account. I am charged a $10 fee, paid in baht at the time of the deposit. 21-30 days later the money is in my account, at the current exchange rate. No other fees involved. I just plan ahead to cover expenses yet keep the account below the U.S. reporting requirements.

I also wondered how they compiled statistics on a test such as this. As part of the testing process they provided Hiv education to the recipients. In other words, how NOT to come in contact with the disease. So, if they are not coming into contact how do you know the vaccine is working? How do you have any idea what percentage of those taking the vaccine actually were exposed to the virus vs. those not taking the vaccine?

Hi

I have a project that needs me to label cd's.

Ideally I would directly print onto them on the label side.

What printer (s) do folk have experience of using for this purpose in LOS?

thansks

I have a Canon ip 4500, which I bought in Chiang Mai last year for 3,900 baht. It does a good job of printing directly onto CD's (compatible CD's). The only drawback is that it must be done one at a time. Software is included.

The printer also has a selectable paper tray feed, or a single sheet feed. A nice printer in my opinion.

Well there were several reports over the week that they are short of candidates. This is the easy solution and saves Obama some face after he lost the olympics.

"The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize though it was not immediately apparent who nominated Obama." AP.

Ais 3G has been down for a while this morning. Anyone know why? Their help line was busy.

They just came back on. I do keep my TOT/TTT as a back up.

Actually I am doing the same, but in the reverse order. I like to keep my connection active full time for email so I have TOT (only thing available where I live, between CM and Mae Rim) as my main(?) service .

I just purchased the AIS 3G last week and I am using that when the TOT acts up and I need to do something serious on the internet. I am also waiting to see how much band width I really use on the 3G as I have no idea.

So far, so good.

Maybe before eveyone starts buying these things, you should wait for a few other people to say that they have had the same experience as I have. Maybe my experience and speeds are a fluke or something. Anyway I don't want to be responsible for people buying these the USB stick and then finding out they arn't getting the same speeds as me or something. Or maybe if everyone buys one the service will slow down to normal thai speeds? If that is the case then please stay and suffer with your current provider while we enjoy normal speeds

I think we all know from the myriad of posts on TV regarding internet experiences that nothing is assured for anyone. My TOT can be fantastic for 1 or 2 days then almost useless for a week or more. Your experience just shows that it MAY be an improvement and I am going to give it a try. It is not a big loss if it is no better. In fact I plan on keeping my TOT so that I can stay connected full time, and possibly only use the 3G when I am doing something serious. I will see how it goes. I won't know unless I try. Either way, I appreciate all the information that has been posted.

It is surely possible that we/they could over subscribe this also.

I went to the AIS office, Chiang Mai, today. The 3G AirCard is currently out of stock. The very friendly, English speaking young lady said they should have some tomorrow (Saturday) or on Monday. She took my number and said she would phone me as soon as they are available.

Hoping very much that this years Toy Ride was a success!

Would very much like to attend but very difficult with the event being mid-week.

Any chance of making it a weekend event next year? I think you'd attract a lot more bikers from other parts of the country if it was on a weekend.

Happy Trails!

Tony

Thanks for the interest Tony and we would love to have you along. As David stated, the main Chiang Mai ToyRide is scheduled for a weekend. This is when we do draw bikes from all over and hope for large turnouts.

The school events are much smaller and, in most cases, need to be held when the kids and the teachers are in school.

Any others yould like tested? While running through these I did hit a bit of a network slowdown and orginally got .5mbs for Florida, but ran it again 2 mins later and got higher.

In terms of reliability, I can only say that I have had no downtime that I have noticed in about 3-4 weeks of use, I use alot of internet so I usually notice downtimes.

Those speeds are a little more encouraging. I guess I will make a trip to AIS. Thanks for all the tests, I appreciate you taking the time.

I have friends that have TOT/TTT and are happy with it. I have friends that loath TOT/TTT. If your happy with them no problem if not there are other options. Nothing in life is free.

I agree with your statement, but although I am unhappy with TOT there is no reason to change unless there is some substantial gain to be had. I am purely interested in an International speed increase, and of course the reliability factor also.

Could someone else using AIS post their actual International speeds so that we could get an average of what to really expect?

The deference is the amount of download I started with max and may adjust. At the moment

DLS 2014kbps,ULS 221kbps to Bangkok, USA DLS 504kbps ULS 81kbps. As I said stuff TOT/TTT.

We in Chiang mai due have a choice AIS,CAT,TRUE.......

I can't say that I find those USA speeds too impressive. On good days I top that with my TOT. When you said "The speed is a solid 3.6mbps" I expected better actual speeds. Not sure if that is worth the change.