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2 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

maybe the same reason all the market ladies and shop sellers speak to my thai gf in local hainan dialect.  confuses the heck out of 'em when i have to translate for her.

 

hainan and thai folk look similar, and it soothes the nerves of the locals to speak local dialect, seeing as how intimidated they are by my awesome hansumness.

You’re Laowai or Chinese?

17 minutes ago, Pravda said:

Such a cutting edge thought provoking topic. 

 

BTW, my wife is Chinese and she speaks Thai. 

 

 

Well, I guess your wife is Thai-Chinese. 
 

But in our case, we came from China last year. 

12 minutes ago, wprime said:

Same reason why Chinese people talk in Chinese to any Asian. It's a reasonable assumption.

Sure, I mean like I said by the look it would be almost impossible for them to tell apart Chinese and Thai. 
 

But what surprises me, and always make me laugh is that Thais prefer to believe that we are cheating them and that she is actually a Thai who doesn’t feel like speaking Thai, rather than believing she simply is not Thai. Amuses me ????

1 hour ago, rioD said:

A vaccination is NOT a cure or implied immunity from COVID.  It's simply alleged to reduce the risk of getting it and or limit the severity in those who do get it. Therefore your comment is way off target.

I'm not so silly to think a vaccine cures anything. That's not what they were invented for. Also in medicine nothing is 100% guaranteed. But vaccines cause immunity at a higher or a lower level. If a country has inoculated 70% of its population within this year (like many countries claim), what is the need for a quarantine on vaccinated tourists? 

Even if such a tourists manages to bring COVID into that country, it won't be able to spread that easily as 70% of the people have immunity..

1 hour ago, Banana7 said:

Do you know what the other characters in the VIN mean?

 

I see many....

Never mind, just realized you don't want in the islands...

1 hour ago, Yellowtail said:

For the sake of the nation (and the world for that matter) those of you driving electric vehicles please charge your vehicles using ONLY clean, renewable energy sources, as virtually all the municipal electricity in Thailand is generated using third-world oil & coal fired generators. 

 

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem, and the lungs you save, may be your own."

Electric cars are the future. But at this point in time (2021) they are just a joke. 

11 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

For the sake of the nation, those of you who are driving diesel vehicles, please change the oil, fuel filters and air filters frequently. As we know, there are alot of diesel cars and trucks on the road here which are great contributors of the air quality issues, and maintaining a diesel engine is a key to preventing the noxious air they contribute to, when not taken care of. 

 

As some of us know, while diesel fuel generally produces more energy or miles per gallon than gasoline, it also has a much higher carbon content. In fact, diesel fuel produces approximately 13 percent more CO2 gas, per gallon of fuel burned, compared to gas engines.

While they certainly pollute more. Diesel engines have a significantly higher compression ratio to that of petrol engines, which results in the engine having stronger internals to withstand that extra pressure, which ultimately results in Diesel engines lasting longer than petrol engines. (And this alone is enough reason to buy Diesel, I’ve seen Mercedes petrol engines knocking and burning oil at only 200,000km, and I’ve also seen Mercedes Diesel engines like the OM646 or OM648 running like new after a taxi driver has done over 640k kilometers with it, and minimal maintenance to it, regular oil changes and filters)
 

Also a Diesel engine produces a significantly higher output torque than petrol engines. 
 

Even nowadays I still would take any diesel over a petrol without hesitation. Been driving Diesels all my life. Too bad that Mercedes (and similar companies) have started already to not use Diesel engines in new cars. ????

3 hours ago, topt said:

What exactly is this and how do you get it - since I try to use Bangchak where I can?

Sort of a member card. You can get it for free at any Bangchak station. Then every time you refuel your car ask the staff to swipe that member card into their machine. It will give you points, which then you can exchange for stuff in their app. 
 

If I’m not wrong refueling around 800 THB results in 50 something free THB recharge for DTAC. Refueling close to 6000 THB worth of diesel every month, I pretty much get free mobile phone 

S B7 Premium from Bangchak. Have tried Premium B7 from Bangchak, PTT and Shell. Bangchak and Shell get a similar mileage slightly higher than PTT. But, for some reason I think acceleration is better with Bangchak's (no science behind it, tho). Plus Bangchak is closer to home. Engine: Mercedes-Benz E-Class CDI Engine. 

Plus, topping up the phone pretty much for free every month with the Bangchak Green Miles Card

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes ????

Mainly due to health concerns related to COVID19, I decided to acquire an EasyPass ETC Device. I know that it works very well in Bangkok. However I remember very clearly that when you are reaching Pattaya if you are driving on the Bangkok - Chonburi expressway that exit toll only has signs which read "M-PASS". This combined with the fact that EasyPass belongs to BEM( BANGKOK Expressway Metro Company).... Makes me wonder whether I will be able to use the EasyPass on Pattaya and even other cities around the country. 

From forum searches it's pretty clear that M-Pass works in Bangkok. But I am not sure if the opposite case is true.

Thank you,

On 12/20/2020 at 11:03 AM, pattayapip said:

I Bought a Physical XS Dual Sim iPhone from HongKong a while ago
Wanting now to upgrade to the 12 Pro and hoping to buy here in Thailand and change my Sim to an eSim therefore leaving physical sim tray for my extra Sim Cards i use when travelling ?
eSim i think is available yes ? Can you get 5g eSim Plan with unlimted data or at least 50GB perMonth ? Or at Least 4g Unlimited ? AIS Preferably

 

By the way, I often have problems with Data when Both Sims Enabled ????

Yes you can get Unlimited 5G Data on AIS. And not expensive if we compare it to 5G prices in Europe.... A little over 1000 THB will get you unlimited 5G on AIS. 

Of course this is POSTPAID, meaning you will need a valid work-permit. 

If you are prepaid, you can not use 5G in Thailand. You can only use the 5G Network with a 4G package which limits your speed at around 300MB/S

Find a Thai business partner.

5 hours ago, canthai55 said:

Our local garage is great. He has 2 lifts. Always busy, songthaews, gravel trucks, cars, pickups, tractors, WHY

Wife had a problem with car when I was away - he came to our house, fixed it, left.

Bill - what bill ! Pays to shop local.

You are saying that your local mechanic came to fix your car while you were away and your wife was alone at home, and he didn't charge anything because you "shop local"? ????

Hmmmmm........

On 12/20/2020 at 10:07 PM, JAS21 said:

Thomson Garage in Bang Na.. they have an ex Mercedes guy there... they use genuine merc parts and yes cheaper than a merc dealer.

 

They also have very expensive wheel alignment gear ... Hofmann

 

I can personally recommend that place.

 

They also do bmw, Audi etc

 

Their english is ok.   I’ll PM you tomorrow....

As suggested, last Thursday I took the car to Thomson Garage in Bang Na. 

* Reasonable price (way cheaper than Merc dealer).

* They start working right away on the car and won't stop til they finish.

* Appropriate and right replacement parts. 

* Ex-Mercedes dealer mechanic working there. 

* The garage is filled with Mercedes and similar cars which are there for repairing / maintenance.  

English speaking. 

Overall, couldn't be happier. Took the car this weekend on a trip to Pattaya, to try it ????.... All working ok. After they cleaned the injection system and added some additive to the fuel for cleaning the engine, fuel consumption improved slightly. 

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Do you want to get the maintenance done correctly? Do you want that they use good oil, the right amount of oil, etc.?

And do you want a stamp in your service-book?

Then better go to Mercedes.

 

Unfortunately too many Thai people don't know or understand the concept of detailed and accurate maintenance work - or any maintenance work at all.

It is funny, because back in my home country,... it was a small city and we all pretty much knew each other well. Trust me, literally the dumbest, laziest, and most scumbags of the mechanics courses that they taught in my city ended up working at the local Mercedes, BMW, Audi dealers... And I know for a fact that the local BMW dealer there used to take cars which they couldn't fix themselves to a so called "BMW specialist" 100km away. 

Changing the engine oil, oil filter, and air filter is not rocked science... If only I had access to a car lift or a big space in which I could peacefully work underneath the car, damn sure I'd do it myself... 

Anyway, I still hope to find one such "Mercedes Specialists", main problem being I am not proficient in Thai.

My Mercedes will very soon be due for what Mercedes calls "A Maintenance". So far I've always taken it to the Mercedes dealer for maintenances, but as usual bills are huge....

Does anybody know an English speaking garage in Bangkok, which preferably has some experience with Mercedes cars to take it for the maintenance. "A Maintenance" is pretty much about changing engine oil, filters and not much more... 

Thanks for help!

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

The more I think about it, the more angry I get. The Thai army is getting hundreds of billions of baht a year from the people. The very least the people can expect in return, is protection of some sort. With hundreds of thousands of soldiers, what on earth are these guys doing with their time, if not patrolling the borders, the rivers, and the seas, during a pandemic the neighbors are dealing with? Fishing boats should be randomly stopped, and checked. Borders should be locked down. Something seems very fishy here.

 

Are we looking at gross incompetence? Are we looking at total indifference? Corruption? Laziness? Total derelicton of duty, on the part of Prayuth, Anutin, and the entire leadership?

 

If so, Prayuth needs to resign immediately, and the people, and especially the youth, should demand that. 

Not even the US being the richest country in the world, with the latest and best equipment on earth can keep illegals from crossing the border with Mexico... 

How you think the Thai Army is gonna capture every single one who tries to illegally cross their thousands of kms of border? They may increase surveilance, even capture most people but not all of them!

Guys.... COVID is here in Bangkok. A 78 year old lady tested positive in Bangkok... She had been shopping at Samut Prakhan. 

Wear masks, wash hands often!

7 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Why has Anutin not been fired yet? He is so incompetent, has no experience in the field of health and just cannot help but put his foot in his mouth, nearly every time he opens it. He is the polar opposite of diplomatic. Not to mention being a racist. 

You are confusing being "diplomatic" with "being politically correct", and even being "racist". There are certain things that such a high official shouldn't say, and that includes those Tweets which you're referring to. 

But nevertheless, they were a truth as a temple! If you don't believe me go yourself to Central Plaza in Rama 9. Count how many Asians with their mask on the chin vs how many Westerners. 

Furthermore a Minister of Health doesn't necessarily need to have any experience in medicine, after all his work as a minister is to coordinate and make a huge team of experts from different backgrounds work together as efficient as possible all across the country. The Minister of Health of a country is not any sort of "Dr.House" who can cure any disease with some "magical thinking".

PS: This coming from a westerner, so I can't be labeled as racist

58 minutes ago, simonphuket said:

I manage a hotel here and we just had a conference with over 120 participants from all over Thailand, though mainly BKK area, with a big party, top-singers, and nobody was wearing a mask! Most of the hotel guests refuse to wear a mask here. I was in a club in town recently, it was packed with people, shoulder to shoulder and not a mask in sight. 

At the local market nearby, none of the locals wear masks nor gloves, not even in April with the lockdown we had. If lucky the mask is under the chin.

 

The colleague of my brother in law in Had Yai has been diagnosed with Covid 2 days ago. Waiting for it to appear in the news now. (Mods feel free to cut this if you wish, i cannot provide a link but have first-hand information)

Either you live in a Thailand from a different world,... or you are just straight-out trolling by posting things which not even you believe!