fiddlehead

Funny, reading the posts, Jimi, told my wife to turn it on, just like LIK.
Then, before she could, I read his.
Then yours again and told her never mind.
But, too late she already did.
And we have it here in Rawai.

Thanks guys.

These outages have their advantages.
Most of my neighborhood was outside, talking, laughing, comparing flashlights, playing video games together, etc.

Trying to drink the beer while it was still cold!

Some of them I haven't talked to in months and everyone seemed happy.

I heard my wife discussing farangs and when questioned, she said they were discussing whose fault this outage was.
I said Why farangs?
She said, they leave the air con on when they're not home, as well as lights, have huge houses with more bedrooms than people, big cars, etc.
I didn't argue, except to say that rich Thai people do all these things too.

Put it on baht sold (bahtsold.com) and you'll get some action.
I bought a microwave that way from a guy who had to leave.
I went back 2 weeks later and he had sold most everything.

Out of all the countries I've been to, I have to say France, Switzerland and Austria had the most quality.
Food, architecture, wine, scenery.

America has gotten too fat and it turns me off.

People make $100 an hour and complain about the price of gas (at $3.50)

And healthcare costs are ridiculous.

Thailand is a good alternative and has the weather, food (healthy), girls (skinny), and is still quite cheap comparatively.

Australia was nice but the girls all looked like farm hands.

I've heard New Zealand is great but it rains a lot.

The people I've met from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are very nice and seem to have money, but, they say the winters are terrible.

It's all good. Just different.

I don't see what's wrong with putting like-minded businesses in the same area.
You see it all over Thailand and I guess I thought it was strange at one time, but now am used to it and actually prefer it.

Need an ATM? If the 2 at your bank have long lines, go to the next bank's.
Need fruit? The new market on Vichit road will have most all varieties covered.

Need bansai? There's a small town in Issan that has every other business selling it.

How about chicken baked in a ceramic pot? Small town on the way to Krabi has them.
Massage?

Bars?

Don't always think their way is wrong.
It's just different.

Ahh, the Chinese punch back.

Hopefully he especially offered the reward to the local police to make them lift their butts and start searching, can't be too difficult to find the stuff.

I agree and that's the route I would take.

To those claiming he should have had a safe deposit box in a bank: Have you ever tried to get one? I tried at 4 or 5 different banks and was told at each one: No have. Full.

His pictures do indeed look great.

I am going to back some of mine up now and maybe sort the best ones into the cloud.

I hope he finds that external hard drive.

His work looks fabulous and extensive.

I would think the police would be the best option here. Offer them a great reward and they'll most likely find the stuff (unless it's already in Myanmar)

Presumably you can buy that the loong skinny piece somewhere (like ebay) ?

Now why didn't I think of that?
Thanks, bought one last night ($4.95 with free shipping) on ebay.

Nothing gets rid of all the problems, but bleach gets rid of a lot (and it's cheap)

Study up on it and use the right dose.

If you cannot get it fixed, don't throw it out just yet.
I have one that has problems and my son is always asking me to fix it.
I believe (but not sure) that the problem with ours is the long skinny black piece that goes above or below the TV screen that reads the signal from the handheld device.
So, if you get a new one, I would buy that piece from you.

PM me if interested.

There is a shop in Phuket town that specializes in lights and light bulbs.
It is on Bangkok road near the Phuket Garden hotel.

I had an old bulb I needed replaced and they found some boxes of similar bulbs in the back that they had to blow the dust off, but we found my bulb there.
Sorry I don't know the name of the shop.

Good luck.

If you really get stuck, you could buy it on Amazon and I could get my sister to ship it here but she would want some money for doing this I imagine.

One thing that would be great to be seen done is to put some rubbish bins out for the public at these markets.
Did you ever go to the market, buy a banana shake or something and drink it while walking around?
What do you do with the empty when you are finished?
Well, most Thai people throw it on the ground.
I always take it home with me and dispose of it in my own trash.
But much of the waste could be gathered in these cans by the people who are throwing them on the ground.
It just takes some getting used to, but there are no options like this.

They finally have some around Nai Harn lake now but it took years of suggestions.

Wait for the PIGS to sell their gold first

Selling? Who's selling?

The shop (normally bursting with gold jewelry was about 20% full as they had sold most everything they had the last 2 days.

My wife told me there was a line to get in last night.

They weren't selling.

Went to a gold shop today to find out the price as I'm thinking of buying some gold jewelry for investment and it will please the wife. (Thai style investing, aye?)

So, they quoted me 20,000 baht per baht.
I asked what yesterday's price was and they said 20,400 (I knew it had dropped further from the big drop 2 days ago)
I asked what it was 2 days ago and they said 22,150.
So, I see it is in line with the drop of 10-12% worldwide.

Then I look in a Bangkok website and they say: The buying prices yesterday closed at 18,571.00 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments and 18,850 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.

The selling prices closed at 19,350 baht per baht-weight for gold ornaments, and 18,950 baht per baht-weight for gold bar.

So, my question is: Is the gold shop ripping me off if the selling price is 19,350?
Or is this their common (normal) markup?

I'm not a pro by any means and just trying to find a good shop.
I only went to one.
This was in Phuket (I know, highest prices in Thailand)

So, can someone tell me what the prices in the gold shops are for buying by us?
Thanks in advance.

I take mine to a guy in Kata just down the street from the Apina hotel.
He resoled a pair for me a few months ago. 500 baht I think it was.

Mine came back on today after about 24 hours down.
I tried calling them about 4 times. It just rang and rang.
I figured it was a widespread problem when they didn't answer the phone.
Strange enough, my neighbor says he still had it.

I'd like to see a schedule for this mobile clinic for sterilization.
I have a friend who's dogs and cats are often breeding against her wishes.

I doubt she'd go to Thalang but, if they come here, to Rawai, possibly...................

"Best" and "most economical" might very well be 2 different places of course.
I would check the Kodak shop across from the police station on Choafa East road and up away from the circle about 50 meters. (next to a small 7/11)

The do excellent quality work at (I think) reasonable prices.
But, there may be cheaper places around.

I saw the fire last night and from the way it was burning (in a line from top of the hill to almost the bottom), I would say it was a prescribed burn.

They do that every year or so in that area.
I remember about 10 years ago when I was staying at a bungalow at Ao Sane and we heard these loud cracking noises, the wind had picked up and it was threatening to burn everything.
All the guests gathered at the beach (jungle) and watched it. About 50 meters before it hit the first bungalo (mine), the rains came and dumped on it to put it out.
Lucky.

Last night there was basically no wind and it looked to be burning like it had been set all along the line.

I didn't think it threatened the bungalows or resort rooms at all.

Is it a market in Suan Luang Park (King Rama IX)

It is in Phuket, on the left on the way to Phuket town from Chalong on the Choafa east road about a km after the Dowroong school.

This is a Phuket forum

Aussie dollar still looking good , has only dropped 2 baht. from 32 to 30. six years ago it was only 25 baht .

That's what I was thinking when I was reading the article.

Obviously the author is upset because his country's currency has dropped.

Not all currencies are dropping vs the baht.

But yes, things are more expensive than they used to be. (it's called inflation)

Another good place to try is towards Rawai and about 100 meters after the red light at Sai Yuan on your right hand side (heading towards Rawai Beach)

(right across from the entrance to Friendship Beach)

There is a market there on Tuesdays and Fridays and a fairly huge shop on the southern side of this market (open every day) that has a few different ones as well as will sell you a bag of charcoal (cheap)

Lots of cheap stuff in there.

Phang nga is good. At least a half day (if they are trying to see as much as they can in a short time)

It is quite spectacular but not really Phuket I guess.

For Phuket itself, depends on their age, gender, what they like to do.
I'd recommend a tour of the island which should include at least half of the west coast, windmill hill and Laem Prom Thep.

I don't recommend Big Buddha anymore.
Last time I was up there, there must have been at least 25 places where they were trying to get folks to donate money. Different boxes and bins, and the old write your name on a (smaller and smaller) piece of marble that may oneday be part of the .........................Anyway..........turned me totally off to the place

Bangla road is probably a must see for young males (maybe old ones too LOL)

A good seafood restaurant (preferably Thai) like Laem Him is something that wouldn't be forgotten (especially the ones where you take the longtail out to the floating restaurants)

Or a dinner on the beach (if in Kamala or Nai Yang or somewhere with a good one)

If they have the time and are into architecture, how about Phuket town walk around (not for me but Old town is interesting when I have to be there)

Since they've buried many telephone and electric lines, there are some very picturesque streets with cool small bars (Soi Romanee for one)

If they like crowds, try a real Thai festival like the one 3 weeks ago at Wat Chalong.

Nature lovers should certainly try some diving or at least snorkeling (beats the heat too)

And how many kite surfing schools do we have in Rawai now?

I really haven't been to either Splash Jungle or Fantasea sorry to say. (been here a long time too)
I want to get to both and they sound like the kind of things tourists do.

I just was never really into touristy things too much.

But yeah, girl watching at the beach is probably what many of us do for a good RELAX!

All this talk is about Russian tourists.
Excuse me if I'm guilty of thread-drift here but there are more and more Russians moving to Phuket.
My wife works for a family of them and so does 3 of her friends. (Same family)
So, there's one family supporting 4 Thai people right there.

She tells me they shop at Central, Villa Market, and sometimes Tesco.
I know these are mostly foreign owned places, but, aren't we all a little guilty of shopping there?

Leave them alone folks.
They were brought up different than you or I.
Ok, they don't smile a lot, and are a bit rude. But hopefully they are learning about respecting other cultures.
Something many of us could do more of also.

And, their women look pretty good in a bathing suit. (been to the beach lately?)

I was in a nice restaurant/bar on the pier road the other afternoon.
Pier 42 or 41 I think it was called.
A bit more classy than the girlie bars and a nice atmosphere.