bobbin

I think this "drug issue" pointedly shows that many TV posters are elderly and suffer from the conditioning they received earlier in their lives.

Society has moved on, and certainly, as far as marijuana is concerned, no longer considers it to be a serious problem.

As noted earlier in the thread, marijuana has been used in this part of the world for centuries. Another poster noted several examples of users who lead productive lives. Common sense tells that, with the millions of pot smokers in the world, if it were a problem, we would be inundated with the proof that it is a dangerous drug. We are not. Empirical evidence. The basis of scientific knowledge.

Many of these posters would be jostling for the front row to watch the Saudis behead their "law-breakers".

This is your brain.

This is your brain corrupted by propaganda.

Any questions?

Lucy was very confrontational.

Did she think she was doing "Hard Talk"?

At the end of the day, Mr T was legally elected and deposed by a military junta. He deserved a more respectful interviewer.

flame away. I don't care.

ok lets warm you up..........

he is a wanted fugitive and he does not deserve respect nor BBC airtime

i thought that Aphisit got a much harder time actually on hard talk and came out with a lot more credibility than he went in with

i cannot say the same for Thaksin especially as he has now been proven to be a liar when he answered NO to Lucy's question 'was he financing the reds protest?''

Wow! 65 posts and you just joined yesterday? Must have had a lot of pent up things to say!!

Convicted fugitive? Non-issue to the political sophisticate. Convicted by a victorious rival faction is not the same as being convicted by a transparent legal system.

He was the first elected PM in Thai history to finish his term. All previous PM's were deposed by unelected military juntas. Almost a definition of Banana Republics. He was massively re-elected to a second term before falling victim to the previous noted "modus operandi" of the Thai military and their backers, both visible and invisible.

Lucy was very confrontational.

Did she think she was doing "Hard Talk"?

At the end of the day, Mr T was legally elected and deposed by a military junta. He deserved a more respectful interviewer.

flame away. I don't care.

Where is Al-Jazeera?

I like that channel!

I should add...

It would have been better for my pillion rider if I had done the seat mods I mentioned earlier in the thread and if I had added a Givi-type box as well. That would have eliminated the backpack for her as well as given something to lean back against.

And let's not forget, he was contemplating using a D-Tracker. With a pillion seat the size of a pill-box!

I also note that he is apparently still working, while I am retired. Bt.48,000 for 2 months rental and the extra fuel costs and we are back to my economic analysis of the deal as noted earlier.

[

the man wants a 600, is contemplating a 250, and you are trying to sell him a cbr 150? why?

Because I'm biased obviously!!

Because I have done what he wants to do. On a Cbr150. I wrote my opinion based on those experiences.

Good on ya Bobbin-

You toured Thailand north to south, two up with luggage on a CBR 150? Tod's talking about a trip that's gonna be at least 5000km or more. Did you do that distance? 2 up? On a CBR 150?!? And the missus / gf is still with you?? She should get a medal (or have her head examined)!

Happy Trails,

Tony

Eastern Seaboard (Pattaya) to Chiang Mai and back. Approx. 2500 km. 10 days. On a Cbr150. A few shorter trips as well.

It's not that great a difference on any smaller non-touring specific motorcycle. Not a lot of luggage as noted earlier. We stayed in hotels. We weren't camping.

Unfortunately, the GF is no longer. But we are still friends.

[

the man wants a 600, is contemplating a 250, and you are trying to sell him a cbr 150? why?

Because I'm biased obviously!!

Because I have done what he wants to do. On a Cbr150. I wrote my opinion based on those experiences.

Tod

In your initial post you inquired about a decent bike for touring Thailand for a couple of months. Hence my thoughts that you can do that on a Cbr150r.

Money no object..get what you want. Do you want or need to do it without spending a lot of money? Get the Honda. Do you want to be in Nakhon Nowhere needing repairs to a Ninja 250 or Kawasaki 650? Forget the price and availability of the parts, what about the mechanics you'll be dealing with?

The Honda gets about 100/mpg. Probably twice as good as the other 2 bikes. Every kilometer you are either saving money or spending up to twice as much.

Cruising at 100kph, you are at approx. 7000rpm in 6th gear. Redline is 11500. Need to get going? Drop it into 4th, Redline. 5th, Redline. Hitting 6th doing 130-140+, you've increased speed by 30-40kph very quickly. If that's not enough you are not choosing your moments correctly.

Luggage? Unless you are riding a big bike with lots of storage built-in, you have got to scale back on the take-alongs. A small tankbag upfront and the pillion rider wears a backpack. You'll be doing laundry.

Two months rental of the bikes mentioned or other older bikes as shown above even with a "rate" will run Bt.40,000-60,000. Never to be seen again. Buy the Honda new for approx. Bt65,000. Sell after 2 months for Bt.45-50,000. Buy gently used for Bt45,000 and you could get almost all of it back.

The Ninja 250 is over-priced at just under Bt.150,000, proven by the small increase to move up to the 650 at Bt.225,000

I sold my Suzuki 750 when I came to Thailand 7 years ago and bought the Cbr150r. You can adjust. I did.

Just have the Ninja's pillion seat (AND rider's seat) recovered.

I did this on my Cbr 150r for the grand total of Bt.300. For both seats. Added foam and used a better covering fabric. That is a less slippery (more textured) cover.

And you could do your touring on a Cbr 150r. All the posts I have read over the last months regarding the Ninja 250 have not convinced me that it is worth paying more (much more) than double the price of the Honda.

2-up at 100kph all day long, with reserve power to pass. 400km to a tank riding solo, a bit less 2-up.

Some of the posters here have a "need for speed" and not just on the track. On one outing they were not welcoming anyone not willing/able to cruise ar 140-160kph. A little over the top for Thai roads. Not to mention illegal.

Enough already with the anti-Thaksin diatribes, Jingthing.

What diatribe? There is no diatribe. I think many people are not even aware of the FACT that Thaksin has made this bold threat, that he intends to overthrow the government before Songkran. I think that is rather outrageous. If that's a diatribe, you haven't seen a real one.

Alright, you've got me there JT. I tried to slip a little hyperbole by you. But I would have thought, as a fan of hyperbole yourself, that you would have cut me a little slack on that.

We now have CNBC as well, though after a few years of Bloomberg, watching CNBC is like watching Fox News for investors. All anti-Obama all the time.

Enough already with the anti-Thaksin diatribes, Jingthing.

You are becoming a dilettante rabble-rouser, rolling out your bias on a regular basis.

Plus....you are politically naive, as a deal will surely be done at some point. It is the way of the world. Especially, it is the way it is done in Thailand.

Just sit back and watch it unfold. No need to get all upset.

I went gliding often many years ago in India. Never vomited once! Well after one forced landing I "almost" vomited.

They used to use a powered winch to get aloft. No tow-planes. It was fantastic to fly with only the noise of the wind. I got the same feeling when I went sailing for the first time here in Thailand a few years ago.

While changing channels last night, I found a new English language series channel on 44.

Universal...as in Pictures

Google is your friend. Easier to check first before questioning me. Do you think I didn't check?

No actually it is easier to question you than spend my precious time googling. But spend my precious time i did and after a few minutes of delving i came up with nothing - hence why i questioned you.

I'm not saying i don't believe you - just that i find it highly unlikely. Sounds to me like one of those intentionally misleading marketing slogans.

To say that TCL is the biggest TV producer in the world just makes no sense at all, if we are talking about TVs badged as TCL. But perhaps that's the trick to the statement - perhaps TCL is a manufactorer that produces TVs which are then badged as something else. Now that i could believe.

Anyway Bobbin, you obviously have all the facts and figures at your fingertips concerning TCL, so stop being a tease and give us what you've got!

They are the largest television manufacturer in China thus the largest in the world.

I didn't really have any problem coming up with the info. Lots of news links, so google TCL under the news category.

Their factory was opened in Thailand somewhere near Samut Prakhan I think. My TV was made in Thailand in June 2008.

The TCL brand is the largest television manufacturer in the world.

I'm stunned - they've only been around 5 minutes. Where do you get your figures?

Google is your friend. Easier to check first before questioning me. Do you think I didn't check?

Still a significantly lower price than the Japanese and Korean competition.

Yes but not for much longer i would guess. Last year they were around 100 % cheaper, and now they are about 50% (depending obviously on the model you are looking at). Unless TCL can find a way to cut production costs even further they might start to struggle because if there's only a few thousand baht in it, i don't think anyone would choose TCL over Sony or Panasonic.

If you want an lcd tv now, not 6-12 months from now, you will!!

That is the latest model. I bought the previous model at Tesco-Lotus about 6 months ago for Bt. 9900.

When I saw this latest model on sale last week. I had a quick look to see what differences there might be. There did not appear to be any major changes other than a re-design.

The main thing I was looking for was to see if there was more than 1 HDMI port, as is the case with mine. There is still only 1 on the new model.

The TCL brand is the largest television manufacturer in the world. These sets are produced in a new factory in Thailand.

I'm happy with the picture from good-quality video but have never hooked up the laptop to watch HDTV. I would have to buy the HDMI cable to do that.

Still a significantly lower price than the Japanese and Korean competition.

1. Grits

2. Redman Chewing tobacco

3. Famous Amos Cookies

Grits and Famous Amos chocolate-chip cookies available in Pattaya at Friendship and/or Foodland supermarkets.

How much dope had you smoked when you came up with this idea, JT?

While many of your posts have been amusing, sometimes you just need to shut-up.

Subjecting long-suffering Pattaya-ites to your "stream of conciousness" posts can get a little old. Not many of us are that interested in what is rolling around in your mind on any given day.

And I am probably as pro-Thaksin as you are anti-Thaksin. But usually I keep my own thoughts to myself. He has a right to his own vision for this country.

The Thais run because it is a successful strategy. In a nutshell.

There is a large percentage of the populations of all countries who would flee to avoid punishment. The control to the behaviour lies in the fact that punishment is more severe for hit-and-run drivers who are apprehended.

Police who do not have as a high priority the solving of these types of crimes are failing to protect the community.

Perhaps a CrimeStoppers programme that offered gold rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of these drivers would be the approach likely to yield the best results. The programme could be funded by the various Wats who do a pretty good job of fundraising in this country. Win-win all round.

That should read:

I care less about the 16, 17, and 18 year old farang's doing their teenage exploring than I do the 13,14, and 15 year olds they sometimes explore.

Fast reply...

Why?

What you are describing is the usual teenage experience around the world.

FOX news is giving out a great big shout out to: "All our viewers in Thailand watching us on TRUE Visions"

How absurd?

Libs as always can kiss my @$.

If you don't march in lockstep with nogood nobama you get called "racist".

Because you are a racist, you <deleted>!

I would not be in a great hurry to get to that store.

I was in there last week and they had practically no stock. It was nothing like it had been a couple of years ago.

They did have Australian ghee in a tin and I might stop by again to buy some as haven't seen it before. Between Friendship and Foodland, you an get a surprising amount of spices and tinned/bottled sauces.

Got to have a real Indian restraunt around though for take-out naan.

Angket?

I read that article with mounting dismay.

After this last year of political unrest, foreign currency falling against the baht, a growing realization that people were right when they told me that most relationships, both short and long term, were only as good as the financing underpinning them...now this.

This is murder. Pure and simple.

Granted that dealing with economic refugees is a difficult issue for all countries, this response by Thailand's armed forces is simply unacceptable.