lazeeboy

Thanks for making my day

Great reading!

makes a change from all the doom and gloom i keep reading nice story

Saw the mayor of Chiang Rai at the unfinished clock tower. They had this fire truck equipped with an extendable cage to hold firemen. They were hosing down the clocktower of Atchan Chalermchai. At times, I thought they were going to break up the Thai gothic decorations that adorn the new clock tower. Atchan Chalermchai would probably go balistic had he seen them do it.

Anyway, that was supposed to be part of the city government's effort to reduce air pollution in the city and to increase relative humidity. I't sounds technically feasible but if they (city government folks) want to have rain clouds develop from a few firetruck-loads of water, they must be dreaming.

So you and I are being invited to waste a few more cubic meters of water to increase the relative humidity in Chiang Rai.

I recommend that we start celebrating Songkran early this year-and allow casual clothes or even shortpants to work. Spaghetti strap for young girls must be decreed.

spagetti straps im getting the raincoat out of moth balls then

Yes

btw, Pai = Chiang Mai forum

So....

Because of the smoke

Chiang Mai is out

Chiang Rai is out

Is Chang Saen also out?

Pai is out

Mae Sai is out.

Bangkok is out because it's, well, Bangkok.

the south is out because of the insurgency

Looks like Thailand is on hold till the rainy season.

That should come about April.

sarpesius

Here in Chiang Rai it is still smoky but has cleared a bit in the last two days. I don't imagine it sticking all the way till the rainy season. I can't say for sure but from the density of smoke in Chiang Rai city, the direction of wind and such I would imagine that Chiang Saen is equally smoky.

If someone is looking for great spots though, there is much to see in the Essan. It's a great region of the country. The insurgency, if it deserves affecting one's travel plans at all, only really concerns the four southernmost provinces, the rest are still great spots to visit. I'd personally say Thailand still has much to offer currently. In fact, though not enjoying the smoke, Chiang Rai is still pleasant. I had a great motorbike trip up into the hills to visit some friends at a hill tribe village yesterday. The scenery is still beautiful.

i was up there till tuesday and it wasnt that bad in the city i think the tv finds the worst place and says its like it all over thailand really is painting a picture of doom and gloom when its not that bad any where thailands what you make it and i like it just fine

Do you think you might be expecting Western Standards of Service from a Developing Country? Since this is your first time on Koh Samui, you should be aware that the countryside of Thailand is much less developed and coming to Koh Samui or other resort areas of Thailand gives a misconception of the general standard of the country compared with the West; especially when we're presented with 5 Star Hotels accomadation here - which we expect to have the same standards of home but 50% of the price. I wonder how much it would cost you to rent a moterbike in your home country for the day. Obviously in your home country you would be covered for things such as tyre puncture as they've been renting bikes and cars a few more hundred years than the 10-20 years on Koh Samui. If you can imagine, 5-10 years ago, it was out of kindness that Thai's assisted Farang tourists here, and only recently has the green-eyed monster seen all the money that can be made - but where in that time were they supposed to learn about Western Business Standards? I fully appreciate the frustration - I've lived on the island nearly 3 years now - and find I have to contantly remind myself of the above fact to calm my aggrevation down. Its frustrating but you must keep in in perspective and not expect a service standard which is un-reachable. It is something Koh Samui will have to address in the future however if she'd like to continue increasing her prices, advertising "Luxurious" holiday etc the service will have to support it otherwise you won't get any return customers!

Pardon me I hope you understand my point

I was at Chaweng to rent a motorbike for sightseeing. However, the tyre punchart n I immediately called back the rental person in-charge. I asked whether the claim can be made after I repaired it at the workshop n the person in-charge said the claim can be made. It costed me 1000 Baht. After the repair, I went back the rental counter to claim back the payment but it didnt happen. The person in-charge (called Oak) said it's impossible to claim the payment as it's not their responsibility. I was disappontied about the statement as i was told earlier that the claim can be made. This is the 1st time i went to KohSamui n i had this bad experience. It shouldn't be happening. I was upset about the irresponsible person in-charge who didn't care their customers' satisfaction n concern.

not all motorbike rentals are the same look at the shop and the bikes before you rent older looking bikes (check milage) will give you more problems than new ones check out your hotel or bungalow resort they all rent bikes or advise you where to go you may pay 50 b more but in the long run its better

i work on the internet (too much) and i am having problems with my vision lately... i would like to see a good eye doctor (ie. an opthamologist). anyone able to recommend a good one on samui or phangan?

theres opthamogist in nathon samui on the sea road have your back to the see the ferrys on your left the surgery is to your right about 100 metres hours 9-12am 3-7pm the name escapes me sorry but maybe this will jog some ones memory

Steep slope no problem provided that the drilling rig can gain access – they will keep going down until you get a good supply.

Thanks 31. How does the water table run on a slope? Parallel with the slope or horizontal? I know that sounds kind of stupid, but are you saying that if I am 50 meters up a hill the well will have to be 50 meters (and then some) deep before water is reached?

If I can also respond to guesthouse in this post - there are no neighbours so it is virgin territory.

I certainly don't understand it and wouldn't pretend to, but where I live the wells in the mountainous areas here are more shallow than on the flat ground. In fact the natural springs in the mountains create waterfalls that run 24/7 year round.

As mentioned by Chownah it all depends on the local geology – our well is only 4 meters deep, has plenty of water all year and is on the highest point of our gently sloping land. The bottom end of the land is 150 meters away and lower than the bottom of the well but dry as a bone.

water is in pockets not like an under ground river make sure when they hit water they continue to drill deeper as in the dry season the water table drops and you could end up dry half the year and getting them back will cost you again take my word for it

Lampard staying focused

Frank Lampard insists he and John Terry will not get distracted by talk about their contracts.

The Chelsea duo have not yet agreed new deals with the club and speculation is continuing to mount that they could quit Stamford Bridge.

Lampard does not want the loyalty he and Terry have shown to Chelsea to be taken for granted, but has promised he will not become sidetracked at this stage of the season.

He said: "If there are any two players who have got the best interests of this club in their hearts it is me and John. The club know that.

"The contract situation is not a distraction and it is important it doesn't get talked about too much.

"Me and John don't like to see it and the fans don't like to see it."

Michael Essien put pen-to-paper on a lucrative new five-year deal on Monday and chief executive Peter Kenyon is confident more new contracts will be signed soon.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have been dealt a fresh injury blow with Andrei Shevchenko limping out of training on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian appeared to hurt his left ankle as a result of a tackle and immediately left the session for treatment.

Chelsea are assessing the injury but Shevchenko is now a major doubt for the Premiership clash with Manchester City on Wednesday.

hopefully shevchenko wont be back for the rest of the season hes gone and over the hill

Lampard staying focused

Frank Lampard insists he and John Terry will not get distracted by talk about their contracts.

The Chelsea duo have not yet agreed new deals with the club and speculation is continuing to mount that they could quit Stamford Bridge.

Lampard does not want the loyalty he and Terry have shown to Chelsea to be taken for granted, but has promised he will not become sidetracked at this stage of the season.

He said: "If there are any two players who have got the best interests of this club in their hearts it is me and John. The club know that.

"The contract situation is not a distraction and it is important it doesn't get talked about too much.

"Me and John don't like to see it and the fans don't like to see it."

Michael Essien put pen-to-paper on a lucrative new five-year deal on Monday and chief executive Peter Kenyon is confident more new contracts will be signed soon.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have been dealt a fresh injury blow with Andrei Shevchenko limping out of training on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian appeared to hurt his left ankle as a result of a tackle and immediately left the session for treatment.

Chelsea are assessing the injury but Shevchenko is now a major doubt for the Premiership clash with Manchester City on Wednesday.

hopefully shevchenko wont be back for the rest of the season hes gone and over the hill

Come on you fellow Blues Brothers. Here are the remaining League games and I have put my results in brackets. We must beat Man Utd at home and get something at the Arsenal. We cannot afford to lose any of the remaining games if we are to win the league for a third consecutive season. Lets hope Man Utd slip up......Redrus this is more exiting than last season mate.......... May the best man win so to speak.

CFC Remaining Fixtures:

Saturday, 17 March 2007

Barclays Premiership

Chelsea v Sheff Utd, 15:00

(W)

Saturday, 31 March 2007

Barclays Premiership

Watford v Chelsea, 17:15

(W)

Saturday, 07 April 2007

Barclays Premiership

Chelsea v Tottenham, 12:45

(W)

Sunday, 15 April 2007

Barclays Premiership

Chelsea v Man Utd, 13:30

(W)

Wednesday, 18 April 2007

Barclays Premiership

West Ham v Chelsea, 19:45

(W)

Saturday, 21 April 2007

Barclays Premiership

Newcastle v Chelsea, 15:00

(W)

Saturday, 28 April 2007

Barclays Premiership

Chelsea v Bolton, 15:00

(W)

Saturday, 05 May 2007

Barclays Premiership

Arsenal v Chelsea, 15:00

(D)

Sunday, 13 May 2007

Barclays Premiership

Chelsea v Everton, 15:00

(W)

''Carefree''

shedend agree with your predictions but i dont think man u will slip up the only chance is the manchester derby but lookjng at chelsea man c not a chance manc 3 goals in 2007 and i am a chelsea fan for 40 years

it's good to talk!

any hotel restaurant pizza macdonalds starbucks cinemas shopping malls any where theres aircon

Correct, take a chill pill everyone. A lot of thai people smoke but the no smoking rule is very clearly marked in the places the ban is in effect.

People still smoke in bars & on the street but beware that the police do stop you for putting your cigarette out & leave it on the street, so carry a small plastic bag & when you stub out, take the butt with you & get rid of it in the bin rather than litter on the street.

you can smoke any where you like as long as its not airconditioned you can even smoke in the airport they have smoking rooms every where and yes i am a smoker

Never invest your money in Real estae in Thailand beacuse you have no rights and the Govt can change the rules at any time or should I say the Military.

cheers Tony

Tony, it might read better saying: ''only invest money in Real Estate in Thailand that you can afford to lose/write off.''

Just to preempt the question; I am not an Real Estate Agent nor am I a fake one!

i agree with you i think some of the advice on these forums are very miss leading ive live in thailand samui pushing 13 years i have a buisness own property some in company some not i have had a few problems over the years nothing major i love this country and only have good words to say about it if iwas as negged out as some members i would just leave . if i would not have been to thailand before and read some of the replys to genuine questions i wouldnt come so lighten up a little guys

Apparently, the father is not Australian but Austrian.

News.com.au:

AUSTRALIAN officials say a young boy brutally murdered in Thailand was Thai-Austrian, not Thai-Australian as media reports said.

Australian diplomatic officials alerted to the case said their investigations had shown the boy was not a dual Thai-Australian citizen.

The boy was murdered, and his mother severely injured in an attack on the Thai holiday island of Koh Samui.

Police said the boy and his Thai mother were sitting at the rear of a house when they were attacked on Tuesday.

The boy's throat was slashed during the attack, and he was also stabbed several times. The woman also suffered wounds to her throat.

The mother is recovering in a Koh Samui hospital and has been able to give a description of her son's killer

.

doesnt matter where the fathers from his grief must be is unbearable everyone should look in on there sons or daughters give them a big kiss and a cuddle and thank god budda whatever its not you take moment out of your day to brighten there day this sickens me to the core and i think all people around the world this is unforgiveable and the thai police should pull out all the stops and catch this animal at all stops and if i hear hes been unfairly treated in custody i will feel slightly better .. to the father my thoughts are with you ........

Yeah I found that dog already, my girlfriend made a pretty decent Tom Yum out of him.

you ve never had a dog have you !

Maybe if they actually enforce this law forbidding sale to minors, they could be rid of the ridiculous law of not being able to sell alcohol between 2 and 5pm. The law was originally put in place to combat underage drinking but if there is enforcement of a law that actually directly combats underage drinking, then there is no need for the 2-5 law that affects all drinkers. To let people know, I'm not a sour drunk. I don't drink, I just can't stand people taking away my right to drink if I would want to.

jbsears i totally agree with you 100% and im also not a drinker .......

Sorry ... Didn't notice you wanted delivery in UK ... I'm off, except if prepaid charge and delivery...

if he wants them that bad he will pay the postage etc

I'd definitely be in big trouble

i know it goes against the grain but a smile and polite thai isbetter than prophanaties (not right spelling) as this does not get you any where it really pi__es them off if you dont rise to thier stupidity either way you dont get any where but you feel better after wards

Higher prices are a small price to pay to keep down the hippy population. No offense to any of you hippies out there.

So you are happy being ripped off. No offense.

Depends. Just how much have the prices increased? 10%? 25%? 50%? 100%? Are the higher prices across the entire island? Or do you just need to know where to look (for example, away from tourist heavy areas)? I live in Estonia which was a great little secret 10 years ago but now is losing its charm due to over develpoment, skyrocketing real estate prices and floods of (mostly British) tourists causing prices to go up. Why, they even have to close the beach at least once a summer because the water gets so dirty. Hmmm, that all sounds familiar.

Back to the "getting ripped off". I do a lot of shopping on the Internet because I refuse to "get ripped off" at the stores here. Some popular-with-tourists places here have doubled the price of a beer the last 5 years while other places popular with the locals prices have barely changed. What's it like on Samui?

One's point of reference is also very important when discussing prices. It doesn't feel like you're getting ripped off if prices are still lower than you are used to paying. Which is probably how most tourists to Samui feel while the residents have experienced the price increases personally so they are more aware of it.

back in 1995 pro rata the prices were more exspensive than they are now cheap not backpacker bungalows were around 600 baht 37b to the pound in those days now 1000-1200b 68b to the pound the increase may seem a lot when people talk about the old days of 20b food delivery costs due mainly to petrol prices having quadrupled over the last decade have a lot to do with the increases motorbikes 10 years ago were 150b now still 150b remember 37b to the pound.

as inflation goes samui isnt so much more than phuket chaing mai bkk etc it may be a little more to live here than a few years ago but isnt that the case any where else in the world?

Nobody can say it's over priced without seeing the land and knowing the location and facilities that may be near . It may be fairly priced but does sound high - so check out many of the on line agents in Samui and compare prices for similar land in the same location remembering that prices that are advertised are never normally acheived so knock off say 20% from list price .

location location location 8 million in chaweng ok 8 million in ban saket no as said before check out the estate agents here and get a better idea see the land surrounding area ie next field pig farm or mansion power and water access land title etc

Hire a driver. It's their job (and problem if you see it that way).

thats a very thai way of dealing with annoyances here , just get someone else to deal with it.

just remove it from my sight , so it doesnt exist.

judge for yourselves which way is more beneficial to the population at large.

It doesn't exist to me, you're right about that.

Your generalization is a typical 'foreign expat on a foreign web forum' way of taking a single action and applying it to a general population. The solution at hand is no different than taking care of any specific problem. Say...clogged septic tank or sewar line... you'd certainly delegate that kind of problem to someone else, yes? Or would not diving in with scuba gear and scrub brush be a very Thai way of dealing with an annoyance?

As to 'beneficial to the population' since when was life a team sport anyway? I'm all for altruistic behaviour as long as the boundaries are limited (for myself, to one's own family).

PUT BULL BARS ON THE FRONT OF YOUR FORTUNER AND HAVE SOME FUN

This guy knows he's in jail for life. If I am him, I would confess to everything short of the JFK assasination in order to possibly take attention away from those on the outside.

Do I think AQ would love to bomb a farang entertainment venue in Thailand? Absolutely. I think he presented an AQ wish list and Im sure there are many more items on it that he is unaware of. None of those items is surprising.

Some people watch TV too mutt.

scare mungering is all this is bomb a club in thailand stop people going out enjoying them selves weather they bomb or not they are winning you cant stop these people dont give them air time or newspaper press and they cant scare people and it really wont be so bad if we dont know everything that is going on the price of a pint agallon of gas the price of eggs now thats worth worrying about

The best age to retire...about 18, if possible. Anytime later is just hard work.

ive been retired for 7 years not done a stroke im now 47 and have never been bored or inactive have time for all my hobbies seen all the new movies and really enjoy life before this i work like a donkey was always ill or stressed out if you can afford it do it as soon as you can lifes short ask my father .. oh you can died at 55 worked so hard for his old age but never had one where as im having mine now just in case..

The Irish know a good thing when they see it! Also, I believe that they are generally viewed more favourably by Immigration Authorities when it comes to Visa renewals and the reciprocal arrangements that exist between the two countries.

maybe the irish could tell a few brits to start coming back. havent you noticed the lack of tatoos lately in your local?

At last Thailand can call itself the HUB of Corruption Applause!

The arch nemesis Singapore slides in again as the least corrupt despite many board members here know the opposite to be true!!!

Honestly, it is a sad sight for Thailand to sink to such depths. we see it all around us, we see it everyday. It is not even hidden, it is in plain sight and so obvious as to have reached the level of being normal.

Police stop you for no reason other than to get some tea money.

every time im in bkk i use a lot of taxis (the ones who will put the meter on ) are always complaining about the police wanting there 100-200b maybe its the police bosses wanting from them i think everyones at it all over thailand and the world somthing we have to live with and hope it doesnt cost us to much money it seems no one knows whats going on in high places only joe public........

Public servants will do their job if you give them some baksheesh.

etc . . . .

It is sad and pathetic and the ones at the bottom of the ladder suffer the most . . . as usual, the poor.

people hv to help themselves is ur basic premise. i suggest u give money one to the many organisations and institutions in this country that can enable people to do so.

thats the biggest favour u can do.

im not interested in the they're poor coz they deserve it twaddle. and it is just that.

these are people the same as us, good point bad points, no better no worse. without our opportunities most of us would be in the same straits they are in.

Pfft.....

Please don't patronize me, thanks. I pay enough tax and alms here as it is.

if u know all this already why do u talk such crap?

i think that only 1% of thais really genuinely smile the others only smile if they are taking your money or drunk it makes no difference if they are rich or poor they only smile when it suits them