Pdaz

Good rant but, oh! the irony.

Many months ago, you accurately predicted the gridlock on the "relief road" - So why did you choose to use the "relief road" tonight?

There were delays on the Sukhumvit, but nothing approaching what you suffered. I know, I was there.

This is a 2-3 times a year occurance (storm coinciding with rush hour), a bit like the half inch of snow that usually brings traffic to a standstill in the uk.

No reason to dismiss the whole police force who, by the way, are doing a great job of enforcing the helmet laws.

Another apologist kno*end... Sorry buddy but the OP is correct.. anyone with a minute amount of common sense could see the disaster that the new relief road was gonna cause.

Doesn't matter what time of day it's a complete <deleted>*k-up... Nobody has he slightest idea who has right of way ( ROW doesn't exist in Thailand anyhow it seems) There are no traffic lights ( not that Thais pay attentio to them anyhow) and only Police there occaisionally.. Since the relief road has been built Sois Nern, Khao Noi and SCC have become a complete nightmare.. Introducing a fast dual lane highway directly into multiple croos streets is completly stupid and extreamly dangerous.. The useless cu*t's at city hall should all be keelhauled... And the wan*ers who double park their cars/trucks next to the market should all be shot on sight.. Selfish ignorant fuc*s the lot of them... Rant, rant,rant..

Oh and samlors and guys that buy their teerak a car without checking whether she knows how to drive at a reasonable speed should be burnt at the stake too....

Helmet laws ?.... They have helmet laws ?

Pdaz why limit it to 400cc and above. I have a CBR250 (40+hp) and a CBR150 (17+hp)

but still capable of going 30kms through traffic and lights in 18mins and 26mins respectivly.

its how you ride and that you like riding not just what you ride....

I don't have any objections to smaller cc bikes.. I've had couple of great stroker 250's but they are a bit frantic for sustained cruising at 90km/h + speeds.. I have a couple of friends who have toured extensively on a couple of 200cc Honda Faggots Phantoms They were reliable and economical bikes and as my mates aren't big guys guess they were comfortable enough..especially being 'cruiser' style. For me being over 6ft tall I need a bigger framed bike to do distance on. Like another poster mentioned over distance smaller cc bike do have trouble keeping up with large capacity machines. Not cos of their power output but because they wear the rider down as he has to ride the bike harder eventually the rider needs a break from all the stress and concentration and slows his speed down. If you have ever done a fast 6 hr ride on a 250cc single you'll know what I mean.. But for mixed riding over a couple of hours I can't see a problem with bikes of any cc (scooters excluded) riding together..

Yes I found the same.. Here in sunny Pattaya there seem to be dozens of bike clubs exclusively for Harleys and the leather 'chaps and caps' brigade. But nothing (as far as I know) for other types of bikes.. Really just be good to have an informal club that does a ride out say once a week or twice a Month.. Might have to limit it to bikes of 400cc and above but other than that anybody would be welcome.. Again I may be wrong and a club already exhists ? Only wish is was of a higher profile so I could join up..

Poor s*ds.. Haven't got much going for them

Fragile ego, small kn*bs, and now they are loosing their hair...

My guess is he's a deluded agent.. Maybe he should buy himself a bicycle and pedal around the wilds of East Pattaya to see for himself.. There are so many desolate partly completed projects there now it's getting hard to tell which are relics from 97 and which are more recent disasters.. The cheap paint they use discolours and peels within barely a year so it's often imposible to judge the age of a structure... Dunno who is gonna buy all the solitary mansions surrounded by undeveloed/unsold plots ... Usually there is just an elaborate but decaying entrance gate a sleepy Somchai guard ( in the better developements ) and what remains of the sales office..

Guess before it didn't matter as there was a continual stream of love struck gulible farangs .. but they seem to drying up now...

I just applied online for a visa for my Girlfriend.. nothing too dificult.. Just need to go to Bangers on Wednesday to drop off the paperwork and submit her biometric data.. Like you we both have decent jobs and she doesn't require any finacial assistance from me.. Hopefully it is as straightforward as it seems.. Will let you know next week

To paraphrase a movie title...

''All Quiet On The Eastern Front''

Well I personally hope this trend continues.. Hopefully then it will spead to that big useless LCD 'telly' above the entrance to Walking St and to the numerous other screens popping up all over town courtesy of ''Narrowcasting'' ... They won't be happy to the place is a blaze of annoying screen promoting <deleted> that nobody wants.. the people who liked Pattaya as it was...

I certainly disagree with that. The LCD "telly" above the entrance to Walking Street is not useless. It adds a lot to the atmosphere of Walking Street and was a brilliant addition to the streetscape.

The same for some other strategically placed LCD's around 2nd Road and Beach Road. This is a party town and these all add to the flavour of this town. There are plenty of quiet areas for the quiet types, but I wonder why you came to Pattaya in the first place.

Yeah.. guess you are right... Adverts for handphones and other electronics devices on the WS display really add to the 'atmosphere' of Pattaya...

No need to wonder why I came to Pattaya.. It was an ideal base for me to work from.. great nitelife, close to BKK, not overly touristed with families and kids cos of it's reputation, better value and better attitude than BKK and Phuket. Oh and it didn't have any LCD displays. But like everywhere it has changed in 20 years.. Not always for the better... Bring back the simple WS sign... much better IMHO and less likely to break down.. I enjoy the nightlife and atmosphere here but all the desperate gotta start a business, I can make it a better place types should bu**er off as Pattaya does't need 'improving'

True.. Buying new is often cheaper in the long run here. Mostly cos maintenance and serviceing are a totally alien concepts to Thais.. (even rich one who can afford a Merc won't spend cash on a service).. But I'm a mechanical tech and there is very little I can't fix on a bike.. I can certainly do a better job than the average street side Thai shop. Only things I need to sub out ares painting/chroming/polishing or powder coating... The rest is just a case of buying the parts and fitting.. or basic fault finding.

'Buyer beware' is very relevant in LOS

Well I personally hope this trend continues.. Hopefully then it will spead to that big useless LCD 'telly' above the entrance to Walking St and to the numerous other screens popping up all over town courtesy of ''Narrowcasting'' ... They won't be happy to the place is a blaze of annoying screen promoting <deleted> that nobody wants.. usually more pointless businesses that aren't needed run by no-hopers who can't afford to stay here and are attmpting to 'live the dream' until their money runs out.. Of course while they are doing this they are bug*ering the lifestyle of the people who liked Pattaya as it was...

end of rant back to topic... Wouldn't it be better if TOT spent cash on improving their service rather than frivoulous 'telly's'

I am Iron man.....

Has he lost his mind? Can he see...or is he blind?

Can he walk at all? Or if he moves, will he fall?

Is he live or dead? I see thoughts within his head.

We'll just pass him there. Why should we even care.

Heavy boot of lead. Fills his victims full of dread.

Running fast as they can... Iron man lives again...

Da da da-dada da da da da-dadada..............

Iron Man - Black Sabbath... Been learning it on my guitar for a week now.. My GF is sick of it... worse still I keep humming the rhythm without realising it while she's watching the telly...5555

Cheers for your reply.. Like you say I believe she should be able to gain a visa just on her own.. Of course it's hard to know what the Embassy will figure is a reasonable amount of funds for her to have..a couple of hundred thousand baht sounds alot to a Thai but wouldn't last long in the UK if eatngt everyday and having to pay for accomodation. But she is only gonna hang around with her sis and do a bit of shopping/chatting etc. So won't need a fortune.. She'll have a return ticket and plenty of reasons to return to Thailand.. Just thought it would 'muddy' the waters if I was included on the aplication especially as I don't need to support her financially.. But good point that it may look suspicious if I'm not mentioned.. thanks for that. I checked out the visa service website and it seems that you can apply online from Thailand but you can't pay online so still need to print out the forms and take them with all the documentation to BKK..

My Girlfriend ( been together 18 Months ) wants to go to the UK to visit her younger sister.. Her sister is married to a Scottish guy currently enrolled in higher education at a London Uni.. They have only been in the UK for 4 Months as they have only recently moved there from BKK.

Anyhow was wondering about the best way to proceed.. I haven't lived in UK for 20 years and have no assets there.. I do have a well paid expat job here in BKK and have lived in Thailand over 10 years.. I don't think it is necessary for me to involve myself in her visa application as she own's her own house here and has a decent job working for an Australian company..She has been employed there for 6 years and is a degree holder.

Seems to me that if I chime in as her boyfriend/sponsor we will have to provide allsorts of evidence supporting our relationship.. trouble is as it isn't a long distance relationship (she only lives 5 mins from my place) we don't have much in the way of emails/phone calls or photographs despite having been to S'pore and Malaysia together on several occaisions..

So what I'd really like to know is. Is there a good chance of a single educated Thai girl (26yo) being granted a 2 week visitor visa to UK ? She has good reason to return, her boss will write a letter stating her salary and length of service, plus she has the paperwork for her house (she's paying the mortgage) I have never had to support he financially in any way and she is quite capeble of paying for the air ticket herself..

Her sister is only renting a small apartment in London and as I said before her sister's husband is a full time student ( all be it doing a docturate) with no income apart from savings..

Anybody else been in this situation..?

Oh and can she apply online.. then take passport into the office with her supporting docs ?

thanks in advance

Cheers for all the replys.. I've seen a couple of SR's this week in BKK.. Both 9-10 years old but with a plate/book.. Price ? 80K ... Whereas a 2001 in spanking condition just arrived from Japan 40-45K.. Guess if you factor in the time/cost of rego (if posible) say 25-30K (shop here says they can reg 'anything' for 30-40K ) and it all works out about the same..

Well only way I can look at it is an SR with a book is cheaper than a restored Lambretta with a book (100K+) I only have to factor in the time, paint, mod's and accesories.. Guess there really is no such thing as a cheap custom bike (unless you are Thai and don't care about the BiB)

I was hoping to end up with clean framed dirt tracker style bike... (I already have a cafe racer Duc) for around 100-120K guess it is posible if I shop around, do most of the work myself and don't go crazy on import bits from Japan...

Thanks again

Okay so it is just the shooting club with a change of name.. The reason I mentioned clay pidgeon shooting was that the big bilboard outside the entrance shows a guy with a shotgun shooting at a moving target.. So was hoping they offered CP shooting or skeet.. Anyhow waiting for someone who has actually been there and seen what they have on offer..

I've been looking for a Yam SR400/500 on MoCyc.com and in the Thai press.. I can read basic Thai so not much problem just time consuming working out the slang and abbreviations ..

Anyhow.. I'm trying to find a bike with a tabien rot (green book) doesn't have to be in A1 condition as I'm gonna pull it apart anyhow.. But many of the ad's say 'Invoice' either in English or Thai.. I'm guessing that this means that the bike isn't registered or doesn't have a number plate.. Just want to know is it posible to register one of these bikes (the Thais don't seem to bother cos living in the countryside) as I want to ride it out of my province. The SR has I believe been imported and is a model registered with the licensing office so I think it may just be a case of showing the import paper/paying tax and getting a plate ? The bikes with a tabien seem to be twice the price of the 'invoice' ones with age of machine making no difference.. I'm not too worried about the cost just seems pointless buying a new machine with a book at primo cost to then strip it down and mod it..

anybody else had similar plans. or know of a bike shop that can register a bike for a reasonable price in Pattaya/Rayong...

thanks in advance

The irony is, of course, that these prices are pretty similar to London prices of 2.50 to 3 quid a pint.

5555555....... The real irony is that it's cheaper in Pattaya than in my 'local' back in Kent..

and that's after the pound pooped itself against the baht.. and despite the fact that the beer has had to travel all the way to the LOS ............

John Smiths, Kilkenny and Guinness are all well over 3 quid a pint... Dunno what the prices are like up North but 'daan sarff' it's getting pricey

Yep Maggie Mays in Soi Chaiyapoom.. John Smiths, Guiness and a good selection of ciders.. Most around 160 baht a pint... Very good value IMHO ....

Opps... double post.. F*cked up TOT is slow slow to load I clicked twice out of frustration

Well I have the TOT 'Goldcyber business' package around 2500 baht a Month.. While it seems more stable than the 'silvercyber and regular goldcyber' packages the speeds available vary from bareable to sh*te to really really sh*te... The day and the time seems to have a huge effect and the download speed ramps up and down in cycles ... I can be downloading a 110kB then it will visably drop to 2kB

The last three weeks have been noticable worse than usual with pages taking up to a minute to load and sometime just partially loading before freezing. or the ''cannot find server'' message popping up all the time.. Very annoying as I'm supposedly paying for a premium service.. Well I've had enough and have ordered a line with CAT... Gonna ditch TOT once it's installed ( only hope it's better )

Just tested my line with speedtest...to UK and to BKK.... Any opinions on the results ?

Was cycling back from Na Jomptien along the new railway side bypass yesterday... Saw a big sign for ''Pattaya Pirates'' which advertised what looked like skeet/clay pidgeon shooting, archery and a few other outdoor hobbies..

I didn't have time to investigate further. So anyone been an checked it out ? Is it a running business or just another start-up/fail leftover ?

cheers Pd

Give it up guys... If you want a decent curry just go to 'Ahaar' at the top of Soi Post Office.. Or the Madras Durbar just past 'Made in Thailand'' The first is more like an English style ''curry house'' where as the second is more authentically Indian.. Brilliant masala dosai and Southern style curries.. plus great birannis too.. I've tried just about every Indian in town... believe me these are a good as you are gonna get in Thailand.. otherwise it's a trip to Singas, Malaysia or HK.....

Thanks for that PF

I'm gonna keep my existing phone line with TOT just for calls.. If they connected it to your existing line I guess it's just standard 4 core phone wire.. Which is fine I'll just install a short length at my place beofre the arrive.. Cheers again !

Just signed up to try CAT G.SHDSL... They will run a cable directly to my house .. I already have the correct modem but according to the contract they only bring the cable to the exterior of my place.. the internal wiring is upto me.. No probs just want to know what they have on the end of their cable so I can fit a connector box outside ready.. Is it just a pair of wires ? which I can terminate to a tag strip or a connector of some type.. Any info appreciated.. I was planning to run a new cable in thru my wall direct to the router and have a nice tidy waterproof box outside so's I can get a decent connection without some clueless ''Somchai'' wrapping some dodgy twisted together affair in cheap electrical tape.. ( yes I know all the other connections along the line will probably have been done like that )

Anyone else in Nern Plub Waan using CAT ? Any good ? ( anything must be better than TOT )

Sorry to be the voice of doom but..

Unless he has a good technical background, either a recognised trade cert or military training in a related field (fluid power, high voltage or electronics) doing all the courses in the World won't help him get a technical job offshore.. If he does have tech training he's be better off just door knocking in S'pore at the relevant companies.. Showing up waving an ROV training course cert or a HSE dive cert won't be a magical key.. Being keen, bright and in the right place is a mch better stratergy.. Most companies will pay for your offshore survival certs once they deem you are worth the investment.. Usually by giving you a trial period in their workshop.. You could do the survival courses off your own back to show you are serious and if you happen to show up on a day when they need someone.. But generally companies like to check you out first.. Working offshore isn't just about certs it's about fitting in and being a team player.. Biggest problem now in Asia is that many companies are hiring locals as trainees to do jobs that used to be exclusively for expats.. So in reality you usually find an experienced expat running a team made of trainee/experienced locals.. The exception is diving where you don't find too many 'local' guys... Other service companies are hiring more and more locals or 'cheaper' expats from Eastern Europe.. He's probably have more chance of getting hired out of Aberdeen as a trainee and joining one of the majors .. Then when he has some experience he could look for work in Asia.. In reality it doesn't really matter where you work offshore as you can spend your off time anywhere.. I live in Pattaya but this year have worked in the middle east, west africa, europe and the gulf of thailand.. but I have 20 years experience.. It was a lot easier to get a start when I began.. and 21 is still pretty young to get offshore out in Asia..