Awk

Was on the bus to BKK a few years back, sat at the front, driver kept falling asleep. As we approached Pinklao he drifted off and so did the bus. Sat in a stationary bus on main highway till conductress woke him up.

Very rarely use the bus myself, but heard people swear by NCA, Nakornchai Air. Supposedly they always (on the longer routes, at least?) have two drivers on each bus, changing drivers halfway, as well as some regulations regarding sleep time. All hearsay to me, but heard it enough times, both by Thai people and here on tv, to recommend them if available for the route.

Why is there an hourly rate if a relatively large tip is expected? I also don't want to go to places where I will be called names after I leave if my tip doesn't meet expectations.

Fair enough question, but I guess that's just how things have ended up here in Thailand regarding massage. There are other countries also where the jobs, for whatever reason, to a smaller or larger extent depend on tips. E.g. waiters, perhaps particularly in the US. So into the salary/commission an expected tip is calculated by the boss, which lets him offer a lower salary for the job than would otherwise be required to attract staff.

In Thailand, massage is one of those jobs, and so it is prudent for people to be aware of that, rather than post nonsense about leaving 30B tips.

This suits me fine, as on the few occasions where I do get a complete dud, some girl with neither clue nor interest in doing an even half-hearted job, I at least avoid the extra 100B which, was it not for the expectation that most people will leave a reasonable tip, would have been added to the base cost of the massage. In cases like this, I simply don't leave a tip, and try to remember the girl so as to avoid her the next time.

Message member 'Eyecatcher' on here, he knows a thing or two about a good massage.

Are there some amusing stories in that regard that he wants to share with the rest of us?

I've just written a post about the best massages in Chiang Mai in my opinion, with a breakdown on cost, treatments, directions etc. Hopefully it's helpful: http://www.justinewharton.com/2015/03/30/best-massage-chiang-mai/

"30thb (or 10%) is considered a reasonable tip."

Is that completely out of whack, or am I being the one-week idiot millionaire by never tipping less than 100B for an averagely decent Thai massage?

Having in the past also had one or two friends who worked at the lower end massage shops, I never heard any of them express anything but disdain for the 20-40B tippers. And that was 10 years ago. At low-end places. Not the spa-like places the above blog posting refers to.

Rant? I don't think so, I'm calmer than mud.

And don't put words in my mouth; I don't think a park official should have been "holding his hand," Mr. Melodramatic.

What I do think is since there have been "several" accidents at this particular spot perhaps roping it off or a guard rail, might have been in order.

It appears that you aren't familiar with the situation at all.

At the top there is indeed a platform with a strong wooden guard rail. No one viewing the waterfall from above can go down without climbing over the guard rail and being quite aware that they were doing something wrong.

To the left of the platform the area is roped off and there is a sign that says "Danger, please stay off".

To the right of the platform it is also roped off, and there is a sign that says "Danger No Entry".

I didn't see the man fall. But from where he ended up, I don't think he could have fallen from that top area. I think he must have climbed down to the top of the next tier, and that drop is the one he fell from. That tier is impossible to reach from the trail - you have to go through the forest to get to it. Even so, you can see from a distance that the top of that tier is roped off and a sign saying "No Entry" is hanging from it.

From a public safety standpoint, I believe the park has done all the preventative work they can do. The only additional measure I can imagine is a sign just straight up saying, "This many people have died here. Don't do it."

.

Oh, I am all too familiar with "the situation," even without having been there. I have attended a number of accident scenes in Thailand, and the rescue efforts are typically poorly executed. On one occasion, the "rescuers" killed the victim by improperly lifting him.

I've also been to many national parks and a number of waterfalls in Thailand, and I have never seen any serious means of protecting visitors from dangers.

As for my unfamiliarity with this specific situation, why would I be familiar? The report is vague, and even your own earlier post, based on your first-hand observations, failed to mention anything about barriers and signs, and focused solely on the poor attitude and general incompetence of the "rescuers."

So, thank you for your update. Now I am familiar with the situation.

Right. You say "nothing has been done to prevent future ones" and you think that "roping it off or a guard rail, might have been in order". And you are ``all too familiar with "the situation"''.

Then somebody, in a rather intelligent and polite way, corrects you on both accounts by informing you, who is already `all too familiar with "the situation"'', that measures have been taken to prevent it from happening; they have both roped the area off, and installed a strong wooden guard rail, as well as put up signs.

Instead of eating humble pie, you reply to the information and corrections in a condescending manner. Would your parents be proud? Would anyone?

Thai builders can hardly build a roof that doesn't leak when it rains. I can't fathom the laughs when they were instructed to build a nuclear fallout shelter.

Ahh, but our builders have German nationals involved in the entire process and they maintain a very high standard on everything. They have past projects which would truly WOW you.

My parents purchased a German Mercedes Benz 15 years ago, and it came with a 30 year rust warranty. Yet when the front axle broke due to being corroded throughout by rust, Mercedes Benz just shrugged. After this, I no longer trust Germans, and would not be interested in any Germans being involved in making my roof.

Burn the fields progresively, This will just make he problem last longer. Simple answer change practices and stop burning or stop growing corn.

Quit with the intelligent answers already.

Will it? Are the health consequences of, say, March having an extremely high level of pollution, the same as Januar-April having a more moderate level of pollution?

I guess you may consider it a rhetorical question, as far as you yourself is concerned, but perhaps somebody else knows? Vivid?

Corn farm fires causing North smog

Ayuthai Nonnitirat

The Sunday

Chiang Mai chamber reveals 5 million rai being burnt to clear fields, asks businesses to take responsibility

The Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce has revealed that the burning of corn plantations to clear the fields, covering 5 million rai in the North, is the main cause of the severe haze problem facing the region every year.

Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce deputy chairman Wittaya Krongsap, a member of the Chiang Mai-based private sector committee tackling haze, said the annual problem did not mainly stem from outdoor burning in communities or cross-border wildfire smoke.

Wittaya said an academic team in Chiang Rai found that the main culprit responsible for 70 per cent of the problem was the fires at corn plantations to clear the fields.

I thought that was quite interesting.

I'm sure I may have missed it, and unless it was quoted on thaivisa, I'm sure I missed it, but I have not seen any paper previously estimating how much of the pollution is local, and how much is blown in from other places. Considering how politically incorrect it may be to say that most of the problem is local, kudos to whatever "academic team" are saying it. Hopefully the research behind it is solid too.

Interesting. Thank you for all the replies everyone =)

So i spoke to a thai girl who frequents the gyms here and she told me hillside doesn't have the equipment for a bodybuilder compared to Go GYM (off super highway) BUT Go Gym has no air conditioning. Don't want to have a heat stroke

So will check out Harris tomorrow then if thats no good Fitness Thailand / City gym

Anymore recommendations are welcome!

First time I was here I trained at the gym at the old 700 centre here in town, where the 400m running track is. Talk about old gym ... No aircon there either, but in truth, one does get used to it.

Walking around the Maya gym once at night while waiting for the cinema to start, it's easy to see why that gym would suck. Even the upper-class babes I guess train there is not enough of a positive to compensate for the lack of a squat rack. But then, is anything?

I have not been to GO gym, but of the others you mentioned, I'd choose FT. Probably it is also the cheapest. Old equipment that is neither of all that good quality, nor all that fast on getting repaired when it breakes, but it is big and has a decent range of stuff. Difficult to forgive that whatever dofus purchased the barbells, purchased some low quality 15kg junk, but still, ok, kind of. Perhaps the fact that a gym with low quality 15kg barbells is considered "ok", and even is the preferred gym by some, is quite telling of the situation here.

City gym is the best gym I've seen here, but small, out in nowhere land, and I got tired of being surrounded by 99.999% dudes, half of them training in their boxers only.

Perhaps you'd fit right in, with your shirt off? People were friendly though, the gym was unusually well maintained and clean I thought on virtually every visit, and the price good. For half-serious bodybuilders, I'd guess it might be one of the best here, though 4-5 years since I was there last. Was a nice place to train at I thought.

Another gym that opened a year or two ago, but which I have not seen mentioned much here, is "extreme fitness", or something like that. I think I may remember the name wrong, since I cannot google it, but location is approximately this:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/%E0%B8%96%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%99+%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C+Tambon+Chang+Moi,+Amphoe+Mueang+Chiang+Mai,+Chang+Wat+Chiang+Mai+50300,+Thailand/@18.8003763,98.996954,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x30da3ab93187e503:0x56499bc17ba4e2c3

Not sure why that link comes out a little wrong. It's about 300m west of what the link shows.

Looks like some sort of gay massage with all the posters on the outside I thought, but who knows.

Hi, does anyone have any recommendations for a short-term, 1-2 bedroom apartment to rent, from the end of next week and for three subsequent weeks?

We've been renting at Mykonos, opposite of Market Village in HH, for the past three-four April months (escaping the seasonal smog in Chiang Mai), and would prefer something similar.

I.e., something with an ok standard, a decent swimmingpool, and ideally with easy access to the beach also. The price at Mykonos has been increasing for us, and last year we paid 10,000B per week there (or 9,000B if on a higher floor), and so I've been growing less happy with the value for money there.

Can anyone recommend something somewhat similar, but less expensive? Sport Villa is nice enough, but they usually only have studio rooms available, as the "town houses" seem to be mostly rented out long term.

Never stayed in Cha-Am, but recommendations there are also welcome.

We'll be driving down from Chiang Mai, so will have our own transportation, though it was very nice to be able to walk to Market Village from Mykonos.

Thanks.

Amusing. The op explicitly says he's not interested in comments from bar-stool lawyers, and the only public replies he gets are from bar-stool lawyers.

Welcome to Thaivisa, Bassman.

Has this happened in previous years?

Due to fly back to dmk on Wednesday morning. If I miss that flight it's going to <deleted> me over as I'll miss my international flight.

Wondering if I should take a night bus instead...?

as you stay in CM, means you like that place, !!

You should stay there and enjoy with the people !! 5555

This poster reminds me of the conversations I had with the most stupid bargirls I met on my first days in Thailand.

Thanks for bringing back some funny memories, mango66.

Bought a memory card at Big Camera after they said it was correct one. It wasn't, went back for a refund. The staff were adamant that I'd see pigs fly before I'd ever see a refund from Big Camera. They were right.

Another one to cross off the list then.

Similar mistake at Home Pro for that thing in the toilet that is supposed to stop more water flowing in once the tank is full enough. Mrs. Awk brought with her the old one to show staff and get the correct replacement. The one they gave her did not fit however, as the diameter of the pipe they gave her was to small. Only noticed this when installing it unfortunately, at which point the package was obviously unpacked and even dirtied slightly. I was not sure what was going to happen, but replacement, this time correct, was no problem at Home Pro.

The chart is interesting, and I can certainly understand how a good air filter will help clear up a lot of the problems indoors. But I don't understand how there can be a 50% drop indoors without one. Air still enters the house (thank God...) And the particulate matter is measured in microns, not inches or centimeters (than God...) "Micron" is a pretty small measurement. The adult human hair 'averages' about 40 microns thick. So we're talking about particulate matter far smaller than a human hair. What is it about going indoors that would drop the percentage 50%? Air is still entering. It's still circulating. I can see a small drop as the particulates cling to surfaces, perhaps a 5%-8% drop. But no where near 50%.

Afaik, there is no significant drop in indoors as far as pm2.5 is concerned. I measured this myself last year, and I also recently read some research papers confirming the same. Possibly there is some error in the measurement procedure for the plot, as I do not understand the results either. E.g., perhaps the living room is close to the bedroom, and after a while, cleaner bedroom air seeps out into the livingroom. I know that outside my closed bedroom, where I run the air purifier at max currently, the air will be somewhat better than in the rest of the house, presumably due to the same reason.

For the larger pm10 particles, I measured a notable drop by going inside however (around 30% reduction was what I measured last year).

However, the simple fact of turning on the AC, even without any extra filters, significantly reduces the pm2.5 count by up to 50%. 3M improves the reduction, but in my measurements, by a somewhat surprisingly small margin.

The main thing to do now is to switch on the AC if you have one in my opinion.

Why does just a regular old AC help? I am not sure, but I guess any filter will catch a fair amount of the pm2.5 particles also, e.g. ref. the counts posted by vivid for the surgical mask that is not intended to catch pm2.5, but which still reduces the particle count by half (or more if I remember correctly). If so, circulating the air again and again even through a regular AC filter should remove some particles each time air passes through. As long as the even slightly cleaner air coming out of the AC flows out a rate considerably larger than the more dirty air from outside flows in at, it makes sense that air inside will be at least slightly better. I was much surprised by how much better it was however.

More recently I also measured inside our newish car, which has much better isolation (I suspect) than the house we live in. With the AC off, there was no significant difference in the pm2.5 count versus outside, while pm10 was considerably lower. After running the AC at the regular speed (lowest or second to lowest, don't remember) for 15 minutes, while driving even, pm2.5 count inside was about 1/3 of the pm2.5 count outside, so as suspected considerably better than in our leaky house. Should obviously be repeated a handful of times to be sure, but I only did this particular measurement one.

Note that most car AC's have a setting for whether to just circulate the air already inside the car, or whether to let in air from outside and cool/filter that. Obviously, the former is what one wants at this time.

Cisco Linksys is the worst modem I've owned. Broke twice. Fortunately, both times still under warranty, and Goodspeed replaced it, although the second time I had to wait several months. Convinced them to let me borrow some other modem while waiting after it started to take a while. Then the Linksys broke again. I was fooled by the Cisco name, but this product has nothing to do with Cisco's pro network gear is my suspicion.

Also lacked some rather basic features that I have never seen missing on other home modems. Staying far away from Linksys now.

When I had my house done a few years back I just bought the upvc ones from Global House, they were double glazed and Chinese.

You just had to check them as some were a bit dodgy, the good ones were fine and cut done noise significantly.

Same here. But I don't think they have them anymore. I really like them. Cut the noise and heat. The problem with the Thai-made ones is that for my house, the Chinese windows cost around 100,000 baht. The same windows made here, and I checked with all the companies I could find (including Windsor), cost 500-600,000 baht! Are they better quality? I don't know, but I simply couldn't afford to throw down an extra half million.

If I had it to do again, I order them directly from China. No way would I pay for the Thai version.

I put in four sectional garage doors all with remote openers. The price for this in Thailand? 500,000 baht. I was shocked at this outrage so started investigating China (the Thai doors are imported from China, too). I got a high quality set of doors with remote openers from China for 50,000 baht and am completely satisfied! I also bought galvanized and powder coated welded wire fencing from China for half what I would have paid here. Again, high quality and totally satisfied!

I don't know what it is with certain Thai vendors of the higher end products. it seems they think they need to have 200-300% profit. Not from me. There are always other ways, if you are not too risk averse.

How do you go about ordering large things like this from outside Thailand? Perhaps you could post the urls of some shops in China you were happy with also?

This whole burning and pollution thing is not just a one off,its been going on

for years AND still this Government,and past Governments,do nothing serious

about it,except threaten crackdowns (never happen),stupid ideas like spraying water,

huge fans to blow it all away, instead of been proactive,like making it a criminal offence,

with serious penalties,not a slap on the wrist, but jail time and large fine,if mushroom

pickers can get 30 years, what the penalty for polluting all of the North,making people

suffer.

regards worgeordie

I think that is putting things a little to simple. This is not the enforcement of helmet-laws, but the livelihood of farm people, as well as, perhaps, an not insignificant part of the contribution to the domestic food supply, and Thailand's GDP. If the people burning the fields and forests do that because it is necessary in order for them to get a decent harvest, putting them in jail for "doing their job" is not necessarily a good thing to do.

Other countries have obviously solved the problem somehow, and just as obvious I think, the government must first provide the farmers (and mushrooms growers? Or can they simply be put in jail? Who cares about mushrooms anyway) with a satisfactory alternative. Be it education on a different, more environmentally friendly to the rest of us, way of ensuring a good harvest, economic support for additional farm machines needed, or whatever it is. Perhaps the reason why there are no harsh penalties or jail term is also related to this lack of alternative.

Anyway, I do not think it is our place as short or long term guests to make demands of the local people to change their ways. I know I'd find it pretty annoying if a bunch of foreigners in my own home country started doing that.

I had a long telephone conversation this morning with a Thai friend who lives in Chiang Mai.

She is absolutely convinced that the smoke and haze comes from Burma. I tried to tell her that Thais were burning the fields too. No way whould she accept this.

Where do these people get their ideas from?

No idea. None of the Thai people I know think anything that stupid. There's been a fair amount of posters here on thaivisa stating similar things however. Perhaps Thais in disguise?

need to have 3m P95 masks specifically for pollution

I got a 3m P95 by accident instead of a N95. Is this mask good for air pollution as well? It seems like looking online it works for oil based particles such as paint, but wondering if that would detract from the filtering the smoke.

Thanks

As I understand it, they are the same except that the P95 standard requires, in addition to all that the N95 standard requires, that the mask shall be "strongly resistant to oil".

See here http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part/

So there should be no problem using the P95 mask when that is what you have already, but perhaps they cost a little more than the N95 mask, and there is no reason to pay extra for it as it has no usable benefits, unless you work on an oil rig.

I have never done biking for exercise, but HeyNow's suggestion sounds great. The N95 should do fine. See e.g. here: http://www.myhealthbeijing.com/prevention/how-good-are-masks-for-pollution/

Unfortunately, I am more used to running, so it's indoor treadmill and rowing machine for me from now on. Good luck the gym got a concept2 rower last year.

Bump: Just wanting some recommendations from people who have bought condos using a lawyer, should be a very easy transaction, seller is a foreigner so its in the foreign quota, basically just needing them to do title deed search to ensure nothing owing on the property, go over the contract, etc.

Have you tried Sumalee Jennapa at 29tanin.com? Based on previous recommendations here, that was going to be my first stop for similar business. In my case, that particular deal fell through before I got to the point of contacting the Ms. however.

1. The time to talk is not in the days & weeks before the burning season. It should have been after the last burning season, giving all year to come up with a plan.

2. Is "haze" the current euphemism for that lung-clogging smoke they get each year? Haze is certainly a kinder, gently term for their horrific pollution.

YES! SMOG is quite the wrong term for those who use it. Smog is natural fog, mixed with smoke.

Here, it's pure smoke, mixed with the spewing diesel smoke of buses and song teaws.

http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/air/aq4kids/smog.asp

The term smog was first coined during the 1950s when it was used to describe a mixture of smoke and fog experienced in London. Major cities along the west coast of America were also experiencing a different type of air pollution.

Smog occurs when emissions from industry, motor vehicles, incinerators, open burning and other sources accumulate under certain climatic conditions. There are two types of smog: summer (the type of smog first experienced in America) and winter (the one first noticed in London).

I think smog is a fitting term.

Hmm, I hope this does not mean petrol 95 is now completely unavailable here? 4-5 months ago it was available at some gas stations, including the PTT-station near the American consulate. If is is no longer available in CM I will have trouble with my bike. :-(

I train with Team Leo.

I Built a free weight gym. Added a smith press and a sled....find I can keep my size and strength with very few exercises. ....pull ups are my forte.....lots of negatives.....diet as well. .....plus the Leo girls; not a joke....

Where do I sign up?

The other day, I had just finished a heavy 8 workout when a 160lb pencil neck emerged from the woodwork. He says, your grunting noises sound like those of a dying man!" I replied "You just had to come over here and make that stupid statement - now get lost!" He looked like Bambi caught in the headlights. Speechless, he made his exit.

Reminds me of the other day at the gym here. Some foreigner was deadlifting what could barely have been a 100kg, and not weighing much less himself. Pulling it up, and then dropping it from the full thigh height with a bang you could hear on the other side of the gym. He did that for all his 8 or so reps. Then the same on the next set.

Dunno what he was thinking he was doing. A competition-weight snatch? A clean & jerk?

Idiot was grunting loudly on every rep too. For a moment I thought somebody had forgot to mute the discovery channel on the tv.

At least the rude pencil neck had the courage to say it to my face.

Our old gym was cool until the great leotard invasion 0f 2002. Big signs went up stating "Grunting offends our members - please train quietly". Predictable, but very odd because the place was now permeated by aerobics music? The explanation was that the new posing mama's boy staff were catering to their girl friend's demands.

So tell me, what did the idiot say when you spoke your mind?

When I spoke my mind? It's not my gym so it's not up to me set the rules. If somebody's going to stand and grunt like a pig, or pick his nose for literally more than a minute in front of me, or keep dropping weights from height for no reason at all, I'll think what I think, but it's not my house. Were it my gym, I'd tell the numbfuck once, and the second time I'd terminate his membership and kick him out. But I imagine he'd tell me something like "get lost!", and I'd probably make my exit too. What else can one do? Not my gym so can hardly start arguing.

I've also trained at some cool gyms, though none as cool as yours, I'm sure. Those gyms even had some people competing at the national power lifting level. Had some people competing at the national Olympic weightlifting level also, both masters and young guys.

Didn't hear much grunting to tell you the truth, except for those 1RM attempts. Grunting so much on an 8-rep set that somebody has to come over and tell you to shut up? You'd be laughed out of the gym. Did have one of those guys at one of the gyms also, mind you. Even now I can still remember him. Many of us started smirking when he started on his sets. Didn't matter much what the exercise of the day was; a loud grunt per rep were sure to follow. An ex-boxer supposedly. Decent enough fellow, but when talking with him you got the impression that perhaps the boxing didn't go all that well and maybe he should have quit boxing a bit earlier than he did.