Tammi

Actiondell4, do you think that it really helped? I've seen so many articles about this; some swear by it, others swear at it! Most of the medical establishment view it as a bit suspect and say that the benefit, if any, is largely psychological. I don't think I've ever spoken with someone who has actually had it done so would be interested to hear your views.

What's your opinion?

As I said before - read WEHO. Informative and entertaining.

I have been informed that the Governor of Chonburi has received a letter to inform them that Anti Corruption Department in Bangkok has started an investigation of Pattaya City Hall and the VT7 building permit. This doesn't look good for the intern court decision. Rayon court has not given a final decision so the injunction could be restated.

Some more of the collected dreams (fantasies ?) of Lookat.

Yes, I heard today a complaint was file at the Supreme Admin Court in Bangkok. It about vt7 construction is now in violation of their court order.

Now we wait and see what happens next. Is this going to be a three story condo?

I read a letter from and signed by Director of Department of Civil Engineering and City Plane in Bangkok to a admin court judge.

I asked my Thai friend who followed the court filings and believe in the Kings good action in setting up a fare court call Administrative Court system about the ruling.

Who said in anger the expert witness was wrong!

Is stopvt7 gloating because he thinks they are going to win? Is he gloating because he keeps saying “Thailand is a country of laws?” I don’t think so.

Matter of fact I also agree that Thailand has laws.

BANKRUPT VT7!

If (when) the law suit is filed against vt to tear down vt5 and vt3. I been told the Administrative Court will follow the law and tear down these buildings. This act will bankrupt vt.

Then realtor would be brought into the case to fund the liability. Claiming you didn’t know the law is not a defense against liability.

If you purchase for investment a vt condo and sold it then its tore down you are also liable.

LOOKAT. Give it a rest. Do yourself a favour and go and buy something in VT7. Think of those great sea views and the sound of the waves. Then rent out your old place. There will always be a market for older style, cheap accomodation with good views of the new developments like Ocean 1.

You truly are a neophyte around here if you think you will hear the sound of the waves. What you will hear is traffic, jet skis, blaring radios, music from bars, night parties on the beach and in the beach car parks. And of course, the everlasting sounds of hammering, sawing, drilling, tile cutting, stapling, for years and years until all the shells are finished and then when completed units are sold and new people move in and renovate it will all start again. Is VT company renowned for its insulation? Not to mention the dust and running out of water and the management.

Anyone know where I can find map of area between Jomtien and Sattahip? My understanding its called Na Jomtien. Thanks.

Try 'Google Maps'

In my experience the Thai Embassy Staff DO NOT like issuing any kind if Visa's to farangs. I applied for a 3 month non imm B there (with associated paperwork) and the Boss blew his top, 'Why you come pnomh Penh for visa, we very busy with Cambodian people.'

I just think the staff there are overloaded with applications from Cambodian people and are actually very busy. I did get the Visa but the boss told me, 'One time only, you tell your friends not come pnomh penh'

My visa was stamped, 'permitted to apply for Visa in PP one time only'

Definately avoid it if possible

Me too.

I am bringing over this year's living expenses all in a lump, rather than quarterly. That's because I am of the opinion that the baht will rise further against the dollar through the first half of 2008. I may or may not save up to a thousand dollars in exchange losses (minus some taxable interest I could have earned in the U.S.). Who can say? It's a small but worthwhile gamble.

So, I considered putting some of that into a fixed account for 6 months. But, the math isn't very compelling.

Savings accounts pay 0.75%. Six months fixed pays 2%. As an example, for 400,000 baht for 6 months the difference in interest earned is only 2,500 baht. Given the effort and possible difficulties, it doesn't seem worth it to me.

I think at this point in time that focusing on possible exchange rate changes is the right strategy, rather than worrying about relatively minor amounts of interest differential.

I transferred £10,000 into Thailand in early December to cover most of my 2008 living expenses. This was the day before the Bank of England cut interest rates. Everyone knew that would happen, and unluckily for me the £ had already started dropping on the day I did the transfer, so I got 67.8 Baht to the £. That was maybe a Baht less than I would have got a few days earlier, and I was kicking myself; by prevaricating I had lost maybe 10,000 Baht.

I look at the exchange rate now, however, and on the street in Pattaya it is around 63 Baht/£, so I am back to patting myself of the back and telling myself 'well done'. Making the early currency transfer when I did effectively saved me about 50,000 Baht compared with transferring the money today. And for the rest of the year - who knows? Looking at the clowns running the UK now, I don't hold out much hope for the £ in the short term.

There was also a very scary story in the Bangkok Post last week, based on information from a Bangkok Bank currency trader. The journalist writing this story explained that E and SE Asian exchange rates are simply digging themselves out of the 'hole' created by the 1997 financial crisis (I don't necessarily agree with this thesis). If he is right, then maybe this year, maybe next year, but sooner or later we will see the June 1997 exchange rates again, i.e. just before the 'Asian crisis' – and just to remind people of the possible downside facing us, here they are:

£1 = 40 Baht

US$1 = 26 Baht

AU$1 = 18 Baht

Have a nice day!

Thank you for reminding us about the exchange rates quoted above. Scary! Every month I do a calculation into Thai Baht and the difference between mid January and mid February has made me tighten my belt.

One has to think about exchange rates and inflation.

Well years ago,about 6 years ago actually,i had a lot of stomach cramps and the doctor suggested i go see a colonic irrigation clinic.

Well i had never heard of it but ended up going to one in Sydney in Australia.

It is like a natural health clinic and i laid what seemed like a bed with a bowl in the middle and you put your bottom over this and they insert a tube into you and turn on a tap and you can feel your bowels fill up with warm water.

i started to get cramps thru this and the nurse massaged my stomach and then the colon started to clean.

After this about 1 hour i felt very light.

i want to get this done in Thailand,preferably Pattaya if anyone knows,however i am also worried about the cleanilness standards,has anyone noticed a colonic irrigation clinic in Thailand?

This is very hard to do yourself as you need to get right into the colon.so its not like a enema.

I suggest you look up posts by a person who calls himself "Weho" on the Pattaya forum. He was very much into self administered colonics.

BTW, I passed out after an enema administered in hospital - one needs to be careful.

Anybody new pics of the progress??

Maybe Mike can post some nice pic of the current view.

I wont be there untill next month, so I'm quite curious.

Thanks!

To the infinite sadness of all, I think that Mike's membership was correctly revoked by the administrator. I expect tht it was himwho posted the slanderous and crimnally libelous accusations (yet again).

As to photos, I am not sure if it is recent enough, but on www.viewtalaycondo.com they have added the Jan 2008 picture. I think that some progress has occurred, but then I am not as local as many there. Would be great if JaiDee could get some photos posted here. Let's hope that this is all over shortly, and they can get on with the bulding.

Regards

Justin

And, of course, you notice the pretty 'sales' photo in which both Grand Condotel and View Talay 5 have been taken out of the picture. And we all expect that View Talay 5 buildings A & B will go up on the vacant lot right beside View Talay 7.

I am not in Pattaya, but if you know there is nothing wrong with two of the most important organs in your body, you may only need the equivalent to an optician, to test your eyes. But if a real MD/physician has not looked inside your eyeballs and tested accurately for medical problems such as glaucoma in the last five years, I'd go to a good ophthalmologist MD specialist.

But beware! I went to an ophthalmologist MD specialist in Pattaya who told me that retinas were in imminent danger of tearing and have fixed right now. I declined and took a second opinion who said nothing wrong with retinas. But who was right? Maybe I should have taken another opinion! This all must be about 3 years ago and so far retinas have not torn tho sight has deteriorated but I suppose that's just old age!

<snip>

The robbery of the blue songtaews finally made me get a car, and I'm happy with that choice.

I really dislike the idea of having a car in Pattaya and dislike even more the idea of driving. But I'm trying to work out whether I can hire a driver for half a day per week to do big shoppings, anyone have experience with this?

I know several people who hire the same driver every week to do the big shopping. I think they are charged 200 baht per hour - maybe more now, my driver has just upped his fares because of price of gas.

BTW, in all my years here, have always got on well with the songtaew drivers.

you will always get on with any thai when you pay them 200baht for a 40baht trip if you used a bangkok taxi same distance.

We were talking about hiring a car with driver by the hour to do a weekly shop. Pick up at home, go to Foodland, go to Villa, go to Carrefour, go to Mikes, go to the bank, go to Friendship, go home. Nice A/C car, nice helpful driver. Relax for the rest of the week.

I use DHL for important documents. It costs but its worth it. I tried EMS once - the package, to a well known address in the UK, was eventually returned to me after a great deal of hassle with the note that it could not be delivered as no such address. I don't believe the package ever left Thailand.

If you use DHL phone the Bangkok number and a guy will come to your house to pick it up.

I am close to retiring age, and highly respected in my field of journalism where I am arguably one of the top 10 specialists in the world.

There appears to be a worrying problem with Dave’s bars, and I don’t care how active he is on the forums. Last year I wrote on a forum about bad customer service and management at another of his bars, Club 69 on Soi 15, and he wrote an abusive and dismissive response. Only later did he actually bother to go there and investigate and fired the manager and sent me an apology. It might make a difference, of course, if he actually spent time at the places he is involved with and saw what goes on.

Dean told me he would report to the missing Dave and ask him to call me.

The appeal of the nightlife in Thailand, while sordid in other countries, has long been regarded as a fun thing here. But that has always been skin-deep and like so many things in the Land Of False Smiles an illusion, and increasing the squalid underbelly is being exposed.

You'll be able to use your journalistic specialty to write about Pattaya as you see it - keep you going nicely in your old age retirement.

I've never come across a false smile in all my years here but then I don't frequent bars and go-go dancers during their working hours.

There was a recent topic on sleep clinics - you should search for it and read. I have been in the sleep clinic at Bumrungrad (which is on the 9th floor unless they have moved it) and was not impressed. I suffered from sleep apnea and snoring and sleep paralysis.

I don't think I could have tolerated CPAP.

Then I heard about the Pillar procedure and had it done at Bumrungrad by (sorry, can't give you his name at the moment because that part of B'grad site not working but he is a prof) and have had no problems since. You should read about it on the internet and decide if it is for you. Only problem I had was a dreadful throat infection after it that the prof doctor refused to treat! I got antibiotics from another doctor and it cleared within a few days.

Cost was 44,000 baht.

Was his name Dr Chairat Neruntarat?

Yes, that's him. You can also have Pillar done at Bangkok General for same price. But read up about it on the internet and make sure doctor knows what he is doing. I read about a guy who had it done in Singapore and the strips that are inserted were spaced wrongly.

Of course the Prof probably didn't like me telling him what to do but what the hel_l - it was my mouth and my money.

There was an article in the Business section of Bangkok Post about Manarom Hospital which has a Sleep Lab and charges 9,000 baht. Manarom Hospital is Thailand's first private mental health facility and was founded in late 2006 by a group of local psychiatric professionals. It has 59 beds and is on Sukhumvit Soi 70/3. It provides a full range of mental health services for inpatients and outpatients.

My electricity bill comes from the Electricity Authority and is paid by direct debit from my bank. The last year shows bills paid by the bank on 8 Jan. 07, 26 Jan, 9 Mar, 10 Apr, 8 May, 7 Jun, 11 Jul, 25 Jul, 6 Sept, 8 Oct, 29 Oct, 12 Dec, 9 Jan and 30 Jan. 08 Seems I pay 3.45 baht per unit, or 3,57 or 3.67 or 3.77 or 3.80 - the cheapest being the latest bill for 9 Jan 2008 and the most expensive being the 8 Jan 2007! Looking further I see that I paid 3.96 per unit in August 2005! Seems my electricity is getting cheaper.

And why I sometimes get 2 bills in 1 month God alone knows - so far.

I am not in VT.

You can never have had a day's illness in your life and then suddenly find you have a cancer that can set you back 12 million plus baht in 3 - 4 years.

<snip>

The robbery of the blue songtaews finally made me get a car, and I'm happy with that choice.

I really dislike the idea of having a car in Pattaya and dislike even more the idea of driving. But I'm trying to work out whether I can hire a driver for half a day per week to do big shoppings, anyone have experience with this?

I know several people who hire the same driver every week to do the big shopping. I think they are charged 200 baht per hour - maybe more now, my driver has just upped his fares because of price of gas.

BTW, in all my years here, have always got on well with the songtaew drivers.

Thai friends who have businesses say that plenty of tourists but they are not spending

White Knight on Soi VC

Sea Falcon on Dongtan Beach

Mags on Thepparasit

I was in the pharmacy today when i noticed there was a carton of pills to get rid of parasite,it was a 7 day detox cleaner pills to get rid of paraites in your colon.

on reading the side of the box,it says you will notice things and different colors when you clean out your bowels by taking these tablets because these are the parasites being cleaned out.

Really are their dangerous parasites in my body? Will these parasite cleanser pills work?

As far as I know common worms are not dangerous unless there is massive infestation and, anyhow, you will probably then be feeling unwell and will go to your doctor who will give you proper treatment. Ghardia and amebiasis are more serious and you should read up about on the internet and should be treated by your doctor.

I haven't had ghardia or amebiasis for years because I am now more careful where and what I eat, and always wash my hands - or use an alcohol cleanser - before eating. Touch wood!

To clear my body and the rest of the family and the maid of any common worms we take Zental every 4 - 6 months. The dogs are treated for worms, and all the other stuff they need, by the vet

be careful self medicating... i took tinizadole in argentina as after travelling in south america i was pretty sure i had picked up giardia... i had a full blown panic attack that really lasted a couple of days. read later that this drug messes with the lithium levels in your brain- i can't remember ever feeling so crazy. also you are not supposed to drink alcohol within 3 days of taking it as it had bad side effects.

My husband's heart went haywire once when he took alcohol when on Flagyl (metronidazole) - I had the panic attack!

Interestingly, we never had any problem taking Indian made Flagyl and alcohol.

Nomad

She just woke up and seems a bit better this morning, we will give her a little while before deciding on going to the Dr. that hydrochloric acid is nasty stuff. Thanks for your concern.

I was a swimming pool contractor in the past. We used the stuff for scrubbing pools and etching concrete for painting them. I ran into clouds of it on several occaisions through the years. I never went to the doctor about it, but that is not the recommend procedure.

I have, on several occasions, got mad as hel_l with condo management when I have found drums of hydrochloric acid not under lock and key. There have been cases of vandalism at the condo and a good way to cause more trouble to the property, vandals, and innocent children would be to open and do whatever with hydrochloric acid.

The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) can be found on the internet.

I have it from 2 very good sources that the legal wrangling isn't over yet.

I am totally appalled at the name calling by posters above.

I know many very nice folks who live east of Suhhumvit.

Regarding dumping of trash: I agree that it is disgusting but probably all we farangs can do is to complain on forums such as this and write letters to the local and national newspapers. And there is always the hope that the new mayor might do something about it. Did I read somewhere that one of the candidates would clean up the beaches and make more parks?

There was a recent topic on sleep clinics - you should search for it and read. I have been in the sleep clinic at Bumrungrad (which is on the 9th floor unless they have moved it) and was not impressed. I suffered from sleep apnea and snoring and sleep paralysis.

I don't think I could have tolerated CPAP.

Then I heard about the Pillar procedure and had it done at Bumrungrad by (sorry, can't give you his name at the moment because that part of B'grad site not working but he is a prof) and have had no problems since. You should read about it on the internet and decide if it is for you. Only problem I had was a dreadful throat infection after it that the prof doctor refused to treat! I got antibiotics from another doctor and it cleared within a few days.

Cost was 44,000 baht.

I heard that Hua Hin stopped all building over 14 metres within 200 metres of the seashore. What is situation now? Has buildings over 14 metres in height recommenced in Hua Hin area?