.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
mattias33
-
Posts
1,021 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Downloads
Posts posted by mattias33
-
-
What is nice in Lamai? The one way road system. The rest is crap.
Claude, you are from Nathon, you are not aloud to call anything on this island crap. Talk about one way system!!!! Badest planned town in the whole world: Nathon!!! One way road with houses along both sides. Some of the sideroads i cant even come into with my car. Tesco-lotus the only parkinglot in central town with a capasaty of 25? cars. One car going out and another going into the parkinglot is not possible at the same time. Drive through town and soebody want to stop and buy a t-shirt and 55 cars have to be on hold behind him.
Im not a big fan of lamai but a guy from Nathon can not call Lamai crap. Sorry Claude. Thats the case.
-
We just applied for a wp for a new employee in my wifes company and according to the atthorneys in Bophut they have to get it from surat-thani. Been going on for 6 weeks now and still no wp arrived....
. As usuall exctra costs and delays. Buisness in Thailand, have to love it.
-
Someone on here pointed me in the direction on Laem Din Hotel in Chaweng (Google 'Don Leam Din Samui') its 1400 a night high season, 1000 low season. By far the best hotel i have stayed in ever, for this price range. Free wireless, brand new rooms with fairly trendy furniture, modern, nice bathroom with all the trimmings, air con, cable, fridge, big balcony. Free gym, room service, cafe, restaurant, good staff. 5 minute walk to Chaweng beach, 1 minute walk to the bars of soi regea. Real great value.
If wirless is not important, the Samui Mermaid (Ban Rak, near Big Budah) is also great value. Stay away from the premier, deluxe rooms and just get a good old fashioned bungalow in the gardens opposite the main hotel. They are only 600B night high season and whilst they are fairly basic, they are comfortable, clean, secure, quiet and set in nice gardens, plus there is a pool. This place is 30 seconds walk from the sand and Ban Rak is by far the better area to stay than Chaweng (IMHO) Free airport transfers also.... though its only about half a click from the airport.
The Laem Din Hotel is by far more modern, but the Mermaid is definatley more 'chilled' and more than half the price. You feel like a tourist once again when you stay there.
There are others of course. These are just the two that i realy like.
Total agreement to that post. Just make sure to have a booking before heading there since we are in the highseason now.
On Chaweng beach there is always good old Op bungalow on the beach, i do remember them as priceworthy on lowseason but they tend to raise heavily in the highseason. Think they still might be in your range 1000-1500 though..., also great place and great beach, but no pool and far walk to the good Thai-meals. Mostly western food in that area, expensive western food.
Go Ban raking!
-
Now i founded out that the real laws for tabacco import is 200 grams. If you dont have a import-licence witch i suppose is expensive. In my lates shipping of "snus", that still is in the custums in Bangkok, i have 4.3 kg. However i came in contact with a real "handyman" in Bangkok and i got a "under the table"-offer! If i took it or not and what the offer was i am not going to describe here since it is illegal. But just to update my earlier post: it is possible to import in different ways, but the laws of Thailand is 200 gr tobacco. In what timeperiod it did not say, but no shipping can include more than 200 grams. But having a tobacco-shop you will have to put a import-licence in your budget. And you have to apply for it. Knowing the usual way around here probably money talks also in this matter and probably everybody that pays get approved.
-
Your truth sort of blows my mind. Tourists have a lot to choose from but Samui is bustling? There are bargains around because everything is filled up? Resorts upped their prices because they are fully booked but they "realised there is competetion around and set the pricing thereafter"?
Hi, kindergardenteacher mattias online.
Resorts upper their prices because they are fully booked on the price they had. The once that where not fully booked but overpriced lowered their prices and are also booked up. Even the once that are completely overpriced are now filling up. Or at least halfway because we are running out of rooms. At least north part of the island. And yes, tourists do have alot to choose from, especially the once who are a little bit ahead in planning their vacation. Alot of people booked by me already in september by deposit and at that time the whole island where empty and i culd find a bargain in whatever area/style the customers wanted. Am i still blowing your mind Mark? Do you want private kindergarden lessons??
As far as lamai i have to take the posters word for it, im not a regular visitor that far out. But yesterday the beach was filled. Resorts i dont know about, i dont work in that area, but i imagine it would be a bit more quite than chaweng/choeng mon/ban rak/bophut.
The northcoast / northeast coast of the island is obviously the one that fill up first.
Op topic is a guy from phuket calling samui a ghost-town because its very,very quite and no people around. Kind of a joke to me when everybody around me is talking about how busy it is nowadays. Well, well, i leave you guys to it.......
-
Confirmed now Santa at the Coco Blues 2.30.Christmas day
Free gift for the children if pre booked
Wow!! Sounds like a real bargain.
And from what i´ve heard coco ALWAYS keep their word. Prepaying to these guys is highly reccomended!!!!
-
He wants to stay at the amari again, but was shocked to see the rom rates have gone up by nearly 50% from a year ago, and what with the return flight
from BKK x2 persons.
Yeah. Thats a true sign of hotels in a place with no people, "ghost-towns". All the hotels double their prices because they dont have any bookings, and a normal behavior when you are empty is to double your price, that is the page 1a in the book of buisness, it will fill you up in a minuite.
You guys are not serious are you?
An Matt, were is your bar so i can avoid it and recommend people to not go there.I dont have a bar, just spend my time as a consumer. But if i had one i would point it out and make sure you avoid it....
!Soi reaggae is a bit empty, i give it that, maybe its more famylies touristing i dont know. Chaweng noi is a bit empty aswell. Ban rak village had a "highseason" for a month already and now it is really filling up. So, im villing to take some people up on their word, because i am turning down bookings for resorts every day, and vehicle-rentals aswell, anybody got something worhty for rent?? Pm me then...
Another point of notice: I got some dutch friends waiting around in Bangkok already for five hours for a flight to samui. Its booked out. If they are lucky they get a stand-by flight but the promise they got from Bangkok airways is third flight tomorrow. Also another typical sign of a ghost-town is it?
Get real guys. There is a lot of tourists in town. We just need to open our eys and see them. Fact being im happy for the tourists because they have alot to choose from now. They will not take a crap-deal on anything, rooms, bikes, taxis, if they are awake there is bargains around and they can have a cheap, good holiday around here now. The full seated restauants and bars are the ones that realised there is competetion around and set the pricing thereafter. Same with resorts, hotels, bikerenters. Yes, the dreamers might be halfbooked but please dont call Samui a ghost-town. Thats far from the truth. At least my truth.
-
Just been over again for a week from Phuket,
Man Samui is like a ghost town,
Never seen the place so empty, how the bars / shops turn a profit is beyond me.
Cant bloody move in Phuket for tourists , like bloody ants !
??????????????
<deleted> are you talking about???
My only answer to that statement would be that you probably where walking around either in the mountains in Thong krut area, or you where walking around 5:30 in the morning??? Right???
it's raining again....not one sunny day in a week.
I'm sure Lamai beach is full of turists....
The hour it rained we all went under roof on Lamai beach today. Since i (very rare) was spending most of my day there. Yes it was full and after the short rain we all went back out in the lovely sunshine. Now its raining again and im home........jesus crist what a ghost-town.....................And btw "not a sunny day in a week"????????????????????????????????????????????? Where? In your toilett?? Its been a week of sunshine. What are you talking about???
<edit>
Samui is not a ghost town and at the moment EVERYBODY in tourist-buisness on this island is happy. Highseason is here bigtime and i dont speek to anybody that are not fully booked, no matter what they do: resorts, vehicle-rentals. Restaurant/barowners are also fully seated every night and make a load of money right now. Shure theres always the overpriced highbeleivers but at this point even some of them have some bookings around here. Being empty and not seing much tourists at this point is a receipt that ones own buisness-idea and pricing/advertising is out in the blue. Samui is full at this point and me and my friends are making money and turning down requests......
Ghosttown my ass.....
-
Just been over again for a week from Phuket,
Man Samui is like a ghost town,
Never seen the place so empty, how the bars / shops turn a profit is beyond me.
Cant bloody move in Phuket for tourists , like bloody ants !
??????????????
<deleted> are you talking about???
My only answer to that statement would be that you probably where walking around either in the mountains in Thong krut area, or you where walking around 5:30 in the morning??? Right???
-
I import Swedich "snus" to Thailand. This product is legal around here.. But my latest shipping is now in Bangkok customs and friday i got a call from Ups asking for description of the product. I started of with tobaco but they then said that importing tobacco to Thailand is illegal!! I now sent a passport-copy and a paper where i make sure it is for privat use only.
Came to think about this thread with a Op that want to open a tobacco-shop. According to Ups importing tobacco is illegal but you can possible get away with it if it is for privat use and something that is not sold in Thailand already. I dont know if its right or not, but Ups should know what they talk about.....
-
Thanks for the replies. 8 times 6 is to small for me and also i need some special flags as for why i need someone who make them on my instruction. I will check out the guy on the ringroad, sounds like what im looking for.
Thanks very much!
-
After new year was hoping it would be before xmas.
Any where on Phangan rent proper pick up trucks, not Suzuki jeeps ?
The guy to the right (comming of the boat) at the thong sala pier have a pickup for rent (at least some months ago). Dont remember the brand but it looked descent, think it was a d-max but im not sure. Only a 2-door though so if you are more than 2 persons it might not be comfortable. He wanted 1000 baht/day but where a good guy to negotiate with and im sure he give you a good weekly/monthly price.
Allthough some of the roads you might be better off with the jeep than a pickup but you new that already!
-
My advice is to keep your money in a bank back home earning interest and come to Samui and rent, relax and have fun
Now thats a good advise to give to an American!! "Keep your money in a bank in the Us".
Alot off slagging in this thread, but i realy dont think Op wanted the oppinion if his ideas are good or not. He just wanted to ask some fair questions and off course that is getting more and more impossible in this forum by the day.
To Op:
A friend of mine that runs a restaurant in Lamai has a little "mailbox" in his restaurant. He pay the police something like 1000-1500 baht/month and they come by everyday on random times to check on his place. Apparenly Thais have alot of respect for this box and rarely do anything to companies that have it. At least thats what he tells me.
Maybe some of the restaurant/shop-owners heard more about this one and can say more exact details?
-
I just heard from a lady who have flags from many different nations outside her buisness that they can be bought in Chaweng (even though she did not buy them there so she could not say where). We need some different flags and i would like to know where this shop is located. Apparently a Thaiguy who makes flags from whatever country you want.
Anybody know?
-
If you got a phoneline it is a quick thing. Just call Tot and they get you up and running in an hour (once they get there that is!) can be a few days after you call them.
TT&T probably have similar service.
The hassle is the phoneline but since you have that already its a quick and easy thing to get you online.
-
FYI I use my knowledge for energy savings for my career...............I install energy efficient equipment in factories; brings down the current, improves the PF (at the load) and reduces losses in the line and transformers.
You install energy efficient equipment in factories for a living and spend part of your freetime making fun of a thread encuraging the use of energy efficient light-bulbs?
Lets hope you dont wake up one day and forget if you are "on duty" or "off duty" since those two sides of you have so different beleivings. You might tell your partner or a close friend that when they see you installing flourescent lightbulbs in your house, hit you hard in the head before you got to work and make a factory-cheif very angry!
Saving 80 % of the electricbill that i see now op is asking NOT stating, would be possible if you do your cooking with gas and use electric only for lights. In my house i dont use much aircon and we watch tv now and then but the change off lightbulbs has cut down my bill from 1300 to 700 / month. Not alot but they also last longer and some of them are a hassle to change due to where they are placed. I have a small household. And still my savings are in the 5000 baht/year area, (depending on how long they would last, im still on my first year with them), when i lived in Sweden they normaly lasted for about 2 years, lets see what the "Thai-quality" is but so far i´ve had them almost 5 months. For a big household or a resort the saving can be alot of money. And the life-lenght of the bulb is also due to how many on/off you do. You have approx. 800 startups on these lamps, and a big resort or sporthall et. could save alot off money by changing to these flourescent bulbs and also not switch them on/off all the time though start-up is a big electric consumer.
I´ve also seen the argument around the thread that some people dont like the light from these bulbs. When they first came to the market i was the same, i thought it gace a way to "white" light. Nowadays they are in all different colours and you can get the similar light you use on regular bulbs in flourescent if you take the time to compare. I buy my bulbs in big places like homepro where they have all different models and a place to try them out and see what light they give.
Possitive or negative is up to everyone. I just cant see myself buying regular bulbs ever again. They need to be replced more often and they cost more on my bill, why would i?
-
Okay people; lets do some math.
Reviewed my electric bill today and electric consumption is 2.742 Bt/KWH (kilowatt hour)
assume in one month a single light is on for 6 hrs/day and 30 days per month (yes some have 31 days and one has 28 days except every 4 years when it is 29 days but lets TRY and generalize for you puritans)
So; 6 hrs/day for 30 days/month = 180 hrs/month.
Assume you use 80 watt light bulbs so you will have 80 watts * 180 hours/month = 14,400 watt-hrs/month = 14.4 KWH/month @ 2.742 Bt/KWH=39.4848 Bt/month
Replace it with a 14 watt light bulb and the same math will apply: 14 watts * 180 hours/month = 2,520 watt-hrs/month =
2.52 KWH/month @ 2.742 Bt/KWH = 6.9098 Bt/month which equates to a savings of (39.4848-6.9098) 32.575 Bt per month.
Obviously the savings will be less if you use 60 Watt light bulbs (only 22.7038 Bt/month savings) and will also be less if you leave the lights on for less than 6 hours/day.
Compared to air conditioning you will save more by turning up the thermostat one or two degrees.
I don't actually like the temperature of the light from those spiral fluorescent bulbs (yes light color is measured by temperature so don't start on me about that.................).
And no I didn't take into account the Ft. Charge (around 0.8 Bt/KWH) because that can change (by senate approval) every 3 or 4 months (I believe it is 3 months but I may be corrected) but what that means is the savings will be a little bit higher.
Absolutely correct. If you have only one lamp in your entire household, and you use it only six hours/day, moneysavings in your case is not worth mentioning. However, some of us have a little more than one lamp, and use them a little bit more than you do, so lets not make a joke of the whole thread.
We might also ad to the discussion that if a indian living in a tent with no lights except fire, install electric and buy flourescent lights, he infact increased his costs for the light.
Since you already are good with maths, why dont you use your knowledge in something more important than bullshit over an important global issue!
-
The main downside to CF lights is an environmental/health one. The bulbs contain very small amounts of mercury (which incandescent lights do not). The problem comes when they are thrown away. If they are not disposed of properly (and in LOS and many other countries) they will cause mercury contamination of the landfills, dumps, and probably leach into the water tables too. Nothing in life is free as they say...great energy and cost savings but problems on the environmental back-end
Problem not so bad now but when millions of bulbs are replaced and begin to burn-out and end up in dumps there may be problems.
Beleive me, when there are millions of these bulbs used in Thailand, the enviromental/health gained so much already on the less usage of electric that the mercury from the burned out bulbs still makes it a winner.
I seen the powerplant in Krabi (during a repair a few years ago) and i been to powerplants all over the world but never ever have i seen so dirty air coming out of a powerplant. There is a scale that we used in powerplants that messure the amount of "dirt-particles" in the outgoing air from the powerplant (straight out in Nature). The limit for the hitachi fanblades were 15 of these particles/ certain area (dont remember if it was cm or whatever). The normal value in europe on this scale was around 10. In Krabi they messured it to 80!!
For us normal not engineering/constructing powerplants or other hightech things:
Saving eletric, cutting down personal use=Saving environment. And health. And last but not least it equals saving money!!
Do It!
-
I am very happy and content living is Thailand. any one else?
Started this thread as a respone to the "natering Nabobs of negativism". Spirew Agnew quote.
Been is LOS since late 2001, settled in CM, which I think is heaven on earth.
Have a comfortable residence, with most of the usual farang amenities, yup even indoor plumbing. Am fortunate enough to have an adaquate monthly retirement income, so money is usually not a problem, no visa problems. My life style here far exceeds what it would be in my native country (America). And have very good friends and neighbors.
If I travel abroad, or return to the States for a visit, when I return am always so happy to be HOME again.
A while ago started a thread about all the cynical angry TV members, was closed 'cause it turned into a slagging match.
Yeah, maybe some will accuse me of seeing life through rose colored glasses or through the bottom of a beer glass.
So ladies and gentlemen(which WE ALL ARE), let's behave ourselfs, think twice about slagging, it's ok to disagree with someone, do it politely!
Be thankful for what you have
said my piece, have at it!
I just lived here permanently for 2 years allthough i been coming off and on for the last five, ceveral months per year. I love just about everything in my life over here. Sure, there are some small issues now and then when i will loose my temper and tell my wife how stupid these people are compared to people in my country, hahaha. Its always blowing over pretty quick and i go back to the rose colored glasses mode!
I love it here, but i realised that i am going back to my homecountry every second year (next summer) to get some other views and perspective and appreciate my life in Thailand even more when i come back!!
Nice thread btw, getting tired of all the winding around the forum. Lets not forget that people that live abroad choosed where they want to live. People living in their homecountry never choosed. They just settled in the place they where brought to!
-
Tesco has obviously done a deal with Phillips and they are now selling Compact Fluorescent Spirals also known as light bulbs in Tesco box. Bought my first ones today and although price was fairly creasy 119b for 14 watt spiral, it is suppose to last 8000 hours which is 8 times longer than regular one and most likely 200 times the time that I've usually got out of regular one around Thailand. They also give the same light out as 75 W bulb although it says 14W in a box.
Has anyone done testing on electricity bill before - after? I know these fluorescent spirals don't work with dimmers but is there any other down sides?
Could you knock down your electricity bill by investing a little by chancing all the bulbs in the house?
- I love darkness - when I have light a light source-
Yes.
If you change all your 75 w lightbulbs to 14 w flourescent (same light) you will see a change on your bill. How big change is offcourse depending on how many lamps you have.
Like you said they dont work with dimmer but apart from that i cant beleive why anybody by regular bulbs anymore. I went the same day i moved in this house and bought flourescent lights. Changed all my 100 watt bulbs to 18 watt flourescent. Better light, longer lifetime, and cheaper electric bill.
Cant think of a downside. Its just a great invention!!! Use it!
-
This is a link to their "Letters to the editor" page. First story there sums up fairly well thoughts here:
I'm glad you posted that link to this letter because it does sum up nicely what I was writing about above. Here it is, you have someone who starts out his letter, "AS a long-time resident on Samui, I am fed up to the back teeth with the heavy emphasis in Samui Express (which I get from time to time to look for improvements), with things American."
Then he proceeds to to give us a 30+ line poem WHICH HE WROTE HIMSELF about AMERICA. I'm sure the irony of his letter is completely lost on him.
I agree on this fact and had the same thoughts myself. Maybe this op have 2 states. The solber one where he thinks and reads through links that he posts, and the other one ???
Another thing that hit me when i read his link is that Samui-express done alot of stories i got reminded of. For instans the one with taximeters on Samui. Whatever happened to that one?? Anybody EVER seen a metered taxi on Samui?? EVER?? Please let us know.
And the story they did that Taxis now carry a pricelist on the back of the front seat for passengers to see? I meet alot of tourists through my job and i keep asking them if they seen it, since samui-ex. stated its now "law". So far nobody of my "clients" seen it.
For me the samui-express keep being the "bull-express". Im sorry. There is no other way for me to see it.
And yes, Samuibonds links just prove the op facts one more time, stay the heck out of Us politics, the ones that are interessted in this already read it somewhere else when your magazine comes out!! Cant imagine how a freelance person that is not even a real journalist thinks when he/she writes for a island "newspaper" and think they have to tell us about "news" that we seen a week ago?? Its patetic!!
-
Many of our Chiang Mai hotels have roofs covered with solar water-heating panels, all cheap & nasty, but therefore with a quicker payback.
Rather than importing fancy foreign-made ones, Thais should make a Thai-quality low-cost one, and export millions to the world, anybody fancy a start-up business ?
Exactly!!! And i am sure they will. Many Thais are smart and creative when they get their eys opened for a buisness-idea. We just have to accept the fact that Thailand in general is a bit after Europe in this kind of thinking. It will come here aswell. Just give it time!
The idea of trying to bring foriegn-made equipment here and try to make it a winner is not possible. The suncell panels we have in Europe today make profit due to very high electric-costs and sponsorships from governments etc. Plus the fact that (at least northern Europe) consume alot of hot water, an area where sunpower is very profitable.
Op statement to make "any villa self-sufficient in 3-4 years"???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Sorry dude. That sounds very good and beleive me, if it was true sunpower would be such a megahit around the world that we could close down all powerplants already tomorrow. Dreamsenario witch unfortunately have no base in reality what so ever.
-
Just to have my ten cents worth I think there is a lot of machismo involved especially with Thais.
You only have to check out the tinted windows, the big bull bars, and the shade wearing drivers at night to confirm this!!
Have you seen my truck
I have mirrored glass, which is good when you road rage as much as I do. The Thais dont know who is inside... I have a bull bar on the front and back (solid steel), it makes me feel safe and also the idiots on the road do not tend to play chicken as much. Sitting very high on the road is also very safe as I can see over the top of most cars and can read the traffic a lot better. Anyway thats my excuse and Im sticking to it.
What brand is it Tornado ?
Mitsubishi Strada, 2.8 diesel. I actually bought it with all the extras on it, which included massive wheels/ high driving. It is definately an all terrain vehicle and being in the land business it is a crucial tool for my business. When I go looking for land, I find things the "mini mees" cannot, due to being able to get there in the first place.
So who is going to buy this land from you then? Dont tell me you are one of the guys that started to sell land on the moon a few years ago on internet?
I have a strada 2.8 myself, but the 2 wd low version. Sure there are times in the rain season i can not acces all the roads on Samui, but realy, who cares? It runs on low fuel on the mainland on my trips, and i live where i realy dont need 4 wd to acces my house. (Btw, i grew up countryside in Sweden and anybody bringing out the 4 wd with less than a meter snow on the road, was recommended to make a penisextension.)
I can understand if you live on a place were it is realy needed with 4wd and high vehicles to acces your home. But i also meet alot of "4w drivers" who will never stop bragging about the great performance of the truck. You jump in and say: "so,4wd, you ever use it?" you get the answer "you kidding? almost everyday!" you ask "where?" "ohhh, i go offroad and i go in the mountains and etc." and then you pass the question "so, this little extra shiftstick, how does it work, can you show me?" "errrmm, i think here is backweel, or wait, front weel, or....something like this and its all 4!"
Yeah, right. Good luck with your high fuelconsumption on the highway on the mainland.
Then offcourse there are the real drivers, who know by heart how to use this "extra little shiftstick", and who realy needs it and can use it. I think that was who these cars were made for in the first place but i dont know? Just find it rare to meet these guys around here in Samui. Farangs or Thais. Most of them seem to purchase a 4wd to have a winner in cardiscussions more than on the roads. But then again, thats my view.
-
You guess it right if you guess to the nearest 1000 7-11s.
I remember when I used to think Thai's must call 7-11's Jet, Sipets ...
I know the answer, so not voting.
What could me more Thai than 7-11's?
What a strange poll. Didn't you see this thread? http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...t&p=1687877
He couldn´t. This thread was started 19 minuites before! But all the answers are in that one. So all of us that read it cant vote here. Quite amazing figure though, but since there are 55 only in Samui island i would have guessed high. I actually saw a seven eleven being closed down (first i ever seen) last time i was in Bangkok, on Petschaburi road. Theres still 2 within 100 meters though!
A good 7/11 story from Samui island is the latest they build. They realy had a prime location for this one. Was going to make a fortune. Right next to the airport. Only little mistace in buisness-plan was that the airport terminal moved 4 weeks after 7/11 opened and thats the seven you want to go to if you are in a hurry. Its quite empty.
!
Hand To Mouth : Dispatches From Thailand
in Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao
Posted
Well, agree on most of your post except i still find it a bit hard to say Lamai looks crap and Nathon dont, but i guess its a matter of taste. If everybody had my taste i guess Ban rak would now be the toilett chaweng is, overcrowded and overpriced. Sure i understand that the Nathon expats like something else than the rest of us and probably think the things i hate about the place are a part of the charm. Just had to comment on the "lamai=crap" thing. No hard feelings i hope.
To get back to op i have to say i always thought football hooligans where people that traveled around with their favorite team and watch their games and then made a mess off the town. Englich football teams have not been playing in samui so for me it makes zero sence that samui should be filled with "Englich football-hooligans". To me that sounds like a patetic generalisation of Englich tourists.
But then again Englich is not my first language....