cbuddha

I'm a little tired of the taunting about the low-end. Surely it isn't news to anyone that we teachers must live on a low budget.

Haters gonna hate... They're just jealous they can't be in the Crappy 2T Club. I ride my 3,000 baht Tena with pride, and leave them all behind in a cloud of thick, white freedom.

LOL.

Seriously, though, you don't have to make excuses for having old/cheap/crappy bikes. Especially since you've bought about ten of them for less than the price of a new Fino.

Don't forget rule #1 for visiting the Department of Land Transportation in Maha Sarakham: Don't p*ss off the dragon lady working at counter #2!

Telltale signs that you have p*ssed off the dragon lady include her:

• Hissing, spitting, and assorted threatening mannerisms

• Demanding you to sign the copies you have handed over in some specific way, even if they are already signed

• Unintelligible muttering in a scary show of bureaucratic insanity

• Demanding copies of something you forgot to make copies of

• Five-minute somtam break in the middle of processing your papers

• Perusing the latest skin whitening cream's Facebook fan page on her work terminal

• Demanding copies of something you forgot at home

• Silently challenging you to protest her talking on the phone while scribbling on your papers

• Quick session of Bejeweled on her hi-so iPad as she "waits for a printout"

• Demanding copies of something that you have never heard of, and/or cannot possibly exist

Come to think of it, I think I've encountered the dragon lady at other government offices as well...

I remembered seeing the split screen on the Teana in a review last year: Honda Accord vs Nissan Teana vs Toyota Camry

So, your screen is normal. Also, the garbage characters are unfortunate but also normal since Thai isn't a supported language on most onboard computers. This goes for file names as well as metadata like ID3 tags.

One more habit that i have seen, but this one i have no clue about the reasoning for, is when parking the car on a slope in the person's drive, rather than the usual practice of using the handbrake, using a bag of sand behind the rear wheels. The car i notice in my neighbourhood with which this is done is a brand new Vios, so i can't imagine the owner thinks the handbrake cable is going to snap. It's only a slight incline anyway. Anyone else seen this before?

Maybe he likes drifting and is afraid the parking brake will imprint on the red-hot disks. I personally use a concrete block instead of a sandbag, but that's because there's no room to fit a parking brake after jamming an RB-20 in my old crown.

EDIT: And of course, he must be a master drifter to be getting sideways in his FF Vios.

Sorry to hijack your post, I am currently looking for something like yours... A Toyota Corolla KE70. Anything consider.....preferably not a rust bucket. Anyone know of any around for sale?

Got a friend selling a red KE-30 in fair condition in Sarakham (I'm friends with ClareQuilty, which I must admit is a rather strange/effeminate user name). Actually, there's a bunch of old cars for sale along the roads here recently (Mazda 323s, Mitsu Champs, Corollas, Sunnies). Where are you located?

You will be put on a team when you join a server no matter what (a game consists of 2 or more teams fighting for objectives), and also automatically put on a squad (a group of up to 4 players), but you can choose to leave the squad and not join another, and many people do their own thing independently anyway (in fact, it's one of the main criticisms from hardcore players - the gameplay doesn't award team play enough). You cannot not be on a team, but you can choose to do your own thing, really. This is what a lot of people do as lone wolf snipers, especially.

Is it fun? Yeah, a lot of people like doing things like playing with c4 as support (machine gunner) class, playing with EOD bot/mines/repair torch as engineer class, and with MAV (aerial drone) as recon class. Also, it's fun to run over enemies in the wide variety of vehicles available in Battlefield.

Also, there's a game mode called Gun Runner on a few servers that is geared toward individual combat skills even though it's also played on 2 teams.

Installed it last night and played some of the single player campaign/zombie mode to get a feel for it... At this point, I just don't think it will stack up to BF3.

One main military reason why is that the US never sell there top notch latest development stuff anyway, so an F-16 for example, sold to anyone else, including the Israeli's, is nowhere near as capable as an F-16 belonging to the US military. they look the same on the outside, but they are nothing like in terms of fitted equipment.

I agree with some of the things you say, but this might not be the best example. The most advanced F-16s in the world, the Desert Falcons, belong to the UAE: http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-uaes-f-16-block-60-desert-falcon-fleet-04538/

Where was the ****** Marine Guard?

Apparently there wasn't one because the consulate attacked was an interim facility... One might speculate that's the very reason it was attacked.

http://www.politico....0912/81134.html

Hey Putu, long time no see. This steakhouse you mention, is it on the main road? Because very close to there, down one of the side streets close to the Toyota dealer, is another good steakhouse, Sri Muang.

I have heard of car windows being smashed and things being stolen from cars parked at the airport parking lot - but it is free. Not sure how long you can leave a car there officially, but I've done it for a couple days before. When I want to leave a car longer, I use a place about one minute's drive away from the airport where they store your car inside a shuttered garage for about 100 baht/day (prices seem to vary, especially for farang, but they are willing to deal). When you are driving to the airport, it will be on your left, a bit before the roundabout (with the dinosaurs) that leads up the long slope. Sorry, I never got the name of the place. If you look into the property, there's a row of garages on the left and a house on the right, if I remember correctly.

If you leave your car there, they will drop you off and pick you up at the airport.

Last May, I flew from BKK to LAX (via Narita) on Thai Air and bought one extra seat for my not-quite 2 year old son. My wife held my 6 month old daughter. We were not required to have a CARES seat, or a child seat of any kind (and in fact, none of the staff on the phone or at the counter knew that a child seat made especially for airplanes even existed). They provided a wall-mounted bassinet for our baby for both legs of the flight, and were very accommodating about seating, food, free toys, hot water for formula, etc.

You are right not to believe what a travel agent says about in-flight regulations... Many of them have never even been on an airplane and are more than willing to pass on problems stemming from misinformation. My advice is to contact TG directly, and also to show up early for check-in so they can help you with good seating.

BTW, your child may be too big to use it, but the bassinet is a great thing to have because you can put all the kid's stuff in it for easy access (it's mounted on the wall in front of you at approximately chest level when seated)

Aside from padding the floor, you could also try one of those soft padded helmets they sell for toddlers. I've seen them for sale at Central and the Mall in Bangkok and elsewhere. My 9 month old hates wearing hats, or I'd have one on her until her balance gets better - it's only a month or so until the falls get much less frequent.

I just used this service two weeks ago and can confirm that they charge 100 Baht/24 hours storage and (we were told) a 50 Baht late fee up to a couple hours of late pickup.

I've noticed it's more of a problem with mirror tints than dark tints and it also affects GPS signals. Apparently, some older film is especially interruptive, and when I had the windshield of my old car redone (very very light tint both before and after) it made a noticeable difference.

From what you describe, you do not need a wireless router (although you could use one for this purpose), you only need a wireless access point. This is a small device that plugs into the wall and has a single port for the lan cable coming out of your wall. You may need to use this port to connect directly to your PC (or through a hub) to configure the device (setting the fixed IP you mentioned, setting security configuration, etc.) before use. There are many brands available for home use that run from 1,500 - 2,500 baht at any decently stocked PC store. If you take your fixed IP and other relevant information, many stores will be happy to set it up for you so you can just take it home and plug it in.

Watch this space for the flood of anti-pharmaceutical ranting and claims of "It's all hype;" swine flu is not dangerous etc. etc.

All strains of influenza are potentially dangerous. Swine flu just happens to be the one the big pharma companies are cashing in on at the moment. If you believe a multinational conglomerate of corporations puts your well being over profit, you're deluding yourself.

(infographic explained here)

I know a member of this forum who had this happen to him up here in Issan. I believed him when I heard it; there's no reason to lie about something like this. If anything, it might be kind of embarrassing to admit that you got robbed and could do nothing about it. I'll point him to this thread and maybe he'll tell you all what happened.

IT WAS A SUCCESS!!

I don't remember how many came, but there were many. I don't remember all of your names, but that's the way it was supposed to be.

Cheers!

- cbuddha

In addition to Kiwi I often see Rhino, Zebra, and Seagull brand knives of approximately the same quality. Perhaps your knives, being made some time ago, are of better quality, but the Thai stuff I've seen for the domestic market is all low quality. The steel used is extremely cheap, OK for cutting fruits but not much else. If you go to any of the higher-end stores in Bangkok, they do not sell Thai cutlery; it's all German or (rarely) Japanese.

On the other hand, I heard there are some factories here making mostly pocket knives for export to the USA. The upper end stuff even employs blades from Seki, Japan, and assembles the knives here. These sell under brand names like CRKT, Remington, and others in the US. I've found some very nice CRKT pocket folders up in Issan selling for 200-300 baht each.

I meant Suan Warun. At a push this might apply to Vasu but not bus station/Taksila. It seemed to me though that anybody arriving in Sarakham would need to arrange somewhere to stay before going on a drinking session.

I think the Suan Warun is still closed for renovations. I drove by today but forgot to look.

Pretty well infested over here in Sarakham as well, even though we're living in a new house. Wondering if they come up from the drain pipes or something. Luckily, not all of them bite or we'd be sucked dry.

Just to let everyone know, a get together has been scheduled. Details in this thread: Mahasarakham Falang Meet-up, The long awaited party

Important news (if you fancy a decent curry): Yesterday, my wife and I stumbled upon a new Muslim food restaurant that opened very recently in Mahasarakham. I tried a Masala curry and a Keema (watch how you pronounce this in Thai as if you get it wrong it means "dog crap!"); the former wasn't very good but the latter was. Also, one of the staff explained they would be changing to traditional style rotis next week. The ones they are serving now taste like they are made from instant pancake batter. The atmosphere is very nice with tables inside and outside on the grass. They also have a coffee bar inside with free wifi. The coffee was better than average and my wife had something I'd never seen before, avocado juice. This place is definitely worth a visit if you're into any combination of good coffee, curry, and free wifi.

No big deal, but I should note that there are signs prohibiting alcohol and pork on the premises.

The name of the restaurant is something like Kin Tawan (kin = branch; tawan = moon ??). There is no sign in English though. It is located on the opposite side of the street of the 7-11 closest to downtown on Srisawat road, next to the yellow and green "PuPa" VCD shop sign. From the front of the property you should be able to see a bunch of pavilions as well as tables and chairs set up on a lawn behind an orange-roofed gate.

/////////////

With this discovery, I now believe that Mahasarakham kicks even more ass!

Just a quick note: It turns out that some of us posting on this thread might know/know about each other already from work, mutual friends, etc. Although I had no intention of going out this weekend (since my baby boy is recovering from roseola), I did end up having a few beers and a nice meal at a friend's place. I was lucky enough to meet a couple of the posters in this thread, IssanDM and Putu94. We all agreed that it would be fun to get together with a bigger group organized on this board; I guess all that's really needed is for a few people to agree on a place and time. I'm not in a position to suggest this right now as I cannot really commit to doing anything until my boy recovers fully, but I'll try and make it to anything set up by someone else and will of course help spread the word...

You know, with my hands full of work and just being happy with my family here, I didn't think that I missed speaking to other foreigners that much, but it sure was nice to get together like that.