syd barrett

It’s a part of Thai logic.

- Sales go down: increase the price...

- Customers down: decrease the check outs and it looks busy again...

- 20 THB for ½ liter and 50 THB for 1 liter: Most cannot figure the calculation and buys 1 liter assuming that it’s cheaper.

Doesn’t matter overstaffing the place at the electric appliance section nor will they get any message from the abandon trolleys. Nothing wrong with the management OK, that’s final.

Maybe high employee turnover makes it difficult to get decent staff to handle the money...

Don’t try to suggest a solution, it is a part of Patters.

Yes, In Friendship 400 ml of Head & Shoulders shampoo is 158 Baht. A larger 1200 ml bottle costs 495 Baht. So buying in bulk costs 21 baht more. But sometimes it works the other way. I once got cans of cider (export) for 30 baht per tin instead of much more. It just depends on who is pricing the stuff up. Beware of rotten beef at Friendship by the way.

I agree with the hygiene worries of Jing-Ting

However like the vast majority of ex-pats in Thailand my girlfriend does my toe and finger nails. I would say confidently that the vast majority of Thai women and even Thai ladymen, are skilled at toe and finger nail duties.

If your partner is a bloke, I'm not so sure, unless he is the 'lady-like one'.

Anyway, I suggest a decent place; like that Japanese named place; in Royal Garden Mall one floor up, on the same side as Bookazine, where they have close circuit TV cameras, showing passer-bys whats going on. Everything is available there at a price, facials included and sterilized gear to boot.

"wifebeater"...fully brewed so all the sugar turns to violence....just what the tattoed slapheads have been craving.

Funny you should mention that, because the only person I saw buying four bottles was a completely bald man, heavily tattoed on his arms, legs and neck with a girlfriend with him who was bandaged and weeping quietly.

I spotted today in Friendship supermarket 330ml bottles of Stella artois beer priced at 95 baht. Certainly expensive, does anyone know where Stella artois can be bought cheaper>?

San Mig light,not only a decent beer and 5% but low calorie so you can kid yourself your on a diet.

Hangovers, there a fact of life alcoholic anonimous the only cure.

Drink with moderation and be happy not drunk.

I read on these boards that Singha light is normal Singha + water, so a bit of a con. But surely formaldehyde is a poison so would not be added to beers!?

At the stroke of midnight immigration gets very busy changing the dates on all their stamps.Arrived many times just after midnight or shortly before and got stamped in for the next day.

Thanks for the feedback. I was a bit surprised at that!

If I arrive at BKK airport at 0030 and approach immigration soon after, will they count day 1 as that day or the day before? Has anyone had experience of this?

Furthermore, we wish to emphasize that in future in all cities, markets and in the country, the only ingredients used for the brewing of beer must be Barley, Hops and Water.

Reinheitsgebot

Signed: Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria on April 23, 1516 in Ingolstadt.

But no sugar or yeast.......................how does that work then ?

I think that it is understood that the sugar, ie. sucrose is a pure hydrocarbon and the yeast is a living organism (enzyme/catalyst).

I recommend the 250ml tins of Guiness export priced at 90 baht they are not cheap but at 9% strength offer good value for money.

the sportsman soi 13 had excellent wi fi internet but you may need to buy a coffee

I was there a few days ago and in order to use the Wi-Fi you have to buy a scratch card from behind the bar, which, when you work out the rate, you won't want to bother...!

I got stuck as well. Had to get out of the baht bus and wade up to my knees.

I am trying to look at this currency crisis in a different way:

My accepted exchange rate has been 65=1 GBP if it went up to 70 I felt better, if it reduced to 60 I felt a bit more anxious.

Now we are seeing the THB reduce to 53= 1 GBP and probably sub 50= 1 GBP is coming.

I assess the situation as this. My monthly allowance is 50,000 THB at 65= 1 GBP this equals 770 GBP per month

For every baht the exchange rate falls beneath 65 then my monthly loss = 12.70 GBP

So at 50 THB= 1 GBP I am 190 GBP worse off per month = about 2,300 GBP per year.

However with careful savings, and a reduction of non essential luxuries I can reduce my spending by 90 GBP per month so that in real terms my yearly loss is just 1,200 GBP per year.

So not the end of the world?

Perhaps the time has come for me to convert 50% of my GBP savings into Japanese Yen and Swiss Francs. This morning's financial papers suggest 1.50 by year end to the dollar, followed by a steady decrease in 2009 then parity some time in 2010. I am beginning to panic now, because a THB= less than 40 would be more than I could cope with. I would have to leave Thailand.

I have never known Pattaya so quiet. I think a lot of this has to do with the publicized unrest in Bangkok. I am sure though that there will be a short lived high season from December 1st-End of January. A lot of what has dropped off is the Pattaya long stay crowd who have moved elsewhere. I don't know where but the long-termers are just turning their backs on Central Pattaya.

The Royal Garden Plaza Shopping Mall on Pattaya second road has over the last few weeks been erecting a large steel structure to the entrance and exit on the second road side. I expect that this is some sort of security measure. Does anybody know more. I tried to ask a security guard, but he could not speak English and ran away all embarrassed.

The motorbikes are the problem, swerving all over the place, most baht bus do actually slow down a fraction when you are crossing. But I sincerely believe that Italy is worse. My experiences crossing the roads there were hellish.

In Heathrow terminal 5, when you arrive, go up to the upper level and there is a Vodaphone shop there. A Vodaphone SIM costs 5 English pounds and the staff will activate it for you and you can buy a top up while you are at it. I was in and out of the shop, with a functioning mobile phone in just 10 minutes.

Yes we should all carry a knife just in case we need to self defend.

I agree 'zorro1' , I feel a lot safer carrying a blade, I fear fellow farang more than the Thai's, there are some really crazy criminal types around recently. I had a near miss on a baht bus recently when three very large muscular Russian/Ukraine types became very nasty, for no other reason except that they guessed I was NOT a Russian/Ukraine type. Luckily I got off before I had to do something drastic.

I have met Jake Anthony a few times, he always came across as arrogant, self opinionated and self assured, but I would guess that many actors are like that. He starred in 'Blackbeard' the movie a few years ago and was on the staff of Pattaya Mail if I remember correctly. I don't know any facts of the stabbing, but I would imagine it might be self-defence.

Checked out the rates this evening and we are down to around 57Bt !

I was only joking a while back about down to the old 45 Bt. Seems to be a case of me and my big mouth again!

By year end, I expect a green Thai 20 Baht note to be worth one English pound sterling.

What would happen if I connected two of my PC's together with a network lead even if one is Vista and one is XP. Does anything happen and are there any advantages. I don't have any software just a five metre lead and wondered what would happen if I did it. Thank you for any advice.

Amongst the usual cat calling on other threads someone makes an accurate observation namely that in the last say three months the number of Ladyboys in Pattaya seems to have increased exponentially.

Does anyone have any rationale explanation for this?

I agree Tarqin, during a recent visit to Walking Street I was mobbed by Ladyboys offering their services. However I doubt that their presence has risen exponentially, maybe by 50% at most. For this 'rise', I have no exponation.

Where would be the best place to buy a cheap BB gun in Pattaya? I know that they are available on the beach front but I suspect the prices will be high there. I only need a simple one as it is only to be used to shoot the pigeons are my house. I don't want to kill the pigeons just frighten them away. How much should I be playing for one and are the ones on beach road any good?

Thanks.

I constructed three scarecrows from bamboo poles and used old rags for stuffing their bodies. I finished them off with a Saddam rubber mask I bought on Beach Road. These scarecrows really scare away birds.

Also I sometimes use a 'pea shooter' constructed from an old Bic Biro. Simply remove the ink tube and plastic stopper and use pellets of soggy toilet paper rolled and moulded into torpedo shapes. Blow hard at your target and the pellet will hit your target. Practice makes perfect.

Another idea is the fog-horn method, where a small wireless loudspeaker can be mounted on a hardboard plinth and loud noise recording can be blasted at 45 second intervals. I find that 'canned applause' works best from 1970's television sitcoms.

I hope this helps.

There is a certain irony here in the LOS regarding the cost of a bottle of wine. Indeed the Thai government do add a luxury tax to the cost, but this is only noticed when trying to buy a bottle of 'cheap' wine.

If you purchase a 'good' bottle of wine from the supermarket (by that I mean a bottle costing around 2,000 Thai baht) then the price is very reasonable when compared to the retail price in Australia, USA or the United Kingdom.

Oishi; thanks for the help so far; Here is my progress;

I have just English and Thai in the second box, have highlighted English and it now has the Microsoft symbol next to it, however all the programs are still Thai language.

When I click on this language setting area, nothing changes; are there alternative routes to change all my Microsoft programs; Word/Outlook/Excel/ Powerpoint etc.....

Restarts to computer and this area 'Microsoft Office Tools' cannot seem to help; thanks; I am really getting sad about this; Have I got Thai only software installed? What is the worst case scenerio..........?

S.B.

Thanks for the help so far Oishi; I have found the language selection process; however it is all in thai language; I highlight the 13th down and it (I think) jumped across to the right box, then I clicked OK and nothing happened at all. There seems to be many in the right box.

This is really difficult;