carlosacao

I posted this here because I tought I might get a more usefull reply in this forum.

I have a skin problem on my neck, and every day when I shave it gets worse, it now un-bearable!

So I want to get permanent facial hair removal done, so I never have to shave again.

I heard it is better if you have light skin and the hair to be removed is dark, which is perfect for me being a white farang with dark hair. I just want to know where in BKK I could get this done, how much it would cost and a little about the procedure, like how many times I would need to go and at what intervals?

Each day I shave my neck get cut up badly and I can not use electric shavers anymore, so its either get cut up every day, grow an arab style beard or get the permanent hair removal.

Any help or info?

Thanks in advance.

Bangkok 9 Hospital, (9th floor), Dr. Pimaporn, she is top notch with the laser.

Hi,

I, want to talk about spirituality. As I found that most of the people suffering with loneliness and stress. I would suggest all of them to practice Indian Traditional Yoga. There is lots of information available on internet about it.

CSK

Hi, I have done a lot of traditional yoga in the past, I'd love to talk about Yoga.

Does anybody know if it is o.k. to have the 800K in a foreign currency fixed account such as dollars or euros (in a Thai bank off course)?

Thanks

Carlosa

, but I also thought about Laos since it's very cheap.

Who told you Laos is cheap? Don't fall for that. Lots of friends got burned.

If you want to have an opinion ask foreigners who already HAVE a business in Laos.

Hi sutnyod,

It's good to know, I was just going for what I've heard, but I don't have real experience in Laos, never been there, but I hear many people say that it's very cheap, that's all. Off course, being cheap actually means that the overall conditions are cheap; maybe the labor it's very cheap. but other aspects of doing business there may be much more expensive. That's why I'm gathering input, I'm trying to get a good feel for what's going there before I get into it. I appreciate your opinion very much. Thank you.

Carlos

Thank you for you reply.

- I will buy the raw materials in Laos and put a little added value on it in Laos and export worldwide by seacontainer. Sorry maybe I was not clear enough. But it's 100% Lao content.

Ah ok that makes more sense. There is numerous freight carriers in Laos who ship worldwide, also the DHL here is incredibly reasonably priced in comparison to DHL in other countries.

-I am thinking of paying the labour by piece (so they can end up with +/- 3$ / day).

Sounds ok maybe even generous . . . depends on exactly what they are doing in concerns of labour and skill.

-I fact a warehouse is not really necesary, A quite big house with big garden is also Ok.

Plenty of these for rent! Not problems on that front.

-When I pay by piece the people can work at home, and I alone need some quality control people and people who take care of the stock and load the container at my home.

Again depends on what they are doing but I personally I wouldn't rely too much on home workers - unless they have skills which you need and cannot get to a place of work.

-Are there big houses for rent in Laos. I am also planning to live there for 6 moths a year.

See above . . plenty around - depends on what you want. But don't be expected fully fitted kitchens etc. I am fortunate that I designed and built our house so it's western influenced which is particularly important on the electric front as in general the quality of household electrical work here is terrible - worse than Thailand!

-Are you sure I have to pay import duty in Thailand when I export from Laos directly to Europe... overland by Thailand in a sealed container... That sounds strange to me.

As above as you are shipping/freighting directly out of Laos to Europe no you don't have to pay duty, I was thinking you were shipping materials to Thailand then shipping them then freighting them out from there.

Thanks again for your reply.

I really enjoyed Laos, and when something is not possible I will find a way around it.

Same like in Thailand. But when I cannot own something 100% I will not buy it, only rent.

Also don't be overly concern about people telling you about the big bad communists and all the hassle they'll bring to you. If you are sensible and fit in with the local community you'll get no hassle in general they'll be exceptional helpful.

The one thing here is if you know the right people then things are so much easier! I could help in setting up a company if required - it's something I've been considering starting as a side business kind of a Sunbelt thing in Laos as over time I've amassed a very useful set of contacts ranging from immigration, company set up, police, army, electrical, water and even banks. Basically I know all the potholes along the way that can be avoided!

Anyway good luck with the business.

Hi technocracy,

Very interesting subject, I have a very small factory in China and I was thinking about relocating it to Thailand in the future (Thailand is still more expensive than China for now) in order to have easier logistics and less hassle, but I also thought about Laos since it's very cheap. I'm talking about making polyresin figurines and wall plaques. I wonder if Laos has the basic supplies that I would need such as polyresin and the typical packaging such as customized color boxes, packing cartons, styrofoam cushioning for the items in the boxes, etc. I would also take the containers from Laos to Thailand in their way overseas.

I'd like to have your contact info (both of you) and to keep in touch if possible, don't know anybody in Laos and it's always better if farangs gang together in these type of projects. By the way, your idea about offering these type of services it's very good I think.

Thank you and take care

Carlos

I'm convinced that I have rosacea and have had it for years now. There is nothing that points in any other direction. I've tried every acne remedy, anti-inflammatories, and everything else.

My final solution is intense-light or laser therapy.

Do any of you recommend a clinic that does this procedure?

I have a mild rosacea condition and I just asked a doctor about the laser, he said: it may work or not and if it works it may take many sessions. That's all I know at this point; didn't decide to it yet.

Hi Nikster,

Just a quick question, do you know if a HDTV from USA will work in Thailand? Im not sure about the compatibility of the HDTV systems of the 2 countries. I do know about the difference between PAL and NTSC.

Thanks

Carlosa

tomaz - I think LCD screens are a bit of a moving target, sort of like computer technology. They advance by leaps and bounds and what may be true about a brand at any given time might not be true once the next models come out.

I agree with most of what you said - plasmas are certainly on the way out, and they will be missed for their excellent SD image. They get such a good picture because the low resolution fits SD better, and because plasma pixels have a more analogue feel to them than LCDs.

Minor disagreements:

- Samsung remote is not slow. Maybe they fixed that? I notice no lag. It has a 1-2 second lag turning on, but after that everything works as expected.

- The newest LG 32" LCD has excellent SD (component) reproduction. I remember because LG were the only ones in the mall who had hooked their TVs up to a proper DVD player with component cables and I was just blown away by the picture. I thought it was some sort of HD content, but I checked the cables and DVD player, it was just a standard DVD. Cost 26K

- Didn't notice any amalog/digital conversion artifacts on my Samsung. I see many digital artifacts with the lower grade DVDs I have, but my originals have no artifacts. It looks incredible, I never knew there's so much detail on a plain old DVD.

- (not a correction) The Sonys that have great picture quality cost 50K baht +

Hi Phil,

Just a quick question, do you know if a HDTV from USA will work in Thailand? Im not sure about the compatibility of the HDTV systems of the 2 countries. I do know about the difference between PAL and NTSC.

Thanks

Carlosa

LCD:

Positive: excellent sharpness, very bright, no reflection in screen, doesn't wear out (except the lamps - can be replaced fairly cheap), square pixels, low power consumption, fairly light (apart from LG/Philips, around 20kg for 40"), no burn-in effect problem

Negative: contrast issues; as it blocks light, it has problems producing really deep black; usually lousy speakers, can get dead pixels like LCD screens, pricier than plasma in large sizes, sensitive to touch (can produce dead pixels), lousier view-angle (depends on model, most better models now 178 degree horizontally viewable, but vertically it still leaves a lot to be desired)

Good for: HD TV, SD TV, home theater, computer display, game console display

Plasma:

Positive: better colors, smoother picture, deeper black color (better contrast), cheaper compared to LCD on big sizes, better viewing angle (both horizontal as vertical)

Negative: heavy, plasma panel wears out with use, burn-in effect problem, many (most) 1024x768 resolution on 16:9 panel - stretches computer graphic (which isn't good to use anyway because of burn-in effect issue), unimpressive audio

Good for: SD TV, HD TV, home theater

My take (after a couple of plasmas an finally on 2nd LCD): Plasma is on the way out. It's too heavy, reflection on the screen does become irritating when watching dark scenes of a movie, though colors look richer. As with CRT and CRT back projection, the panel suffers from burn-in effect (high contrast in certain area of the screen will gradually wear out that area, appearing darker). It's useless as a computer or game device's monitor, for the same issue. It does (especially 480p panels) produce better looking image for SD video.

LCD on the other hand has higher resolution and sharper image, no reflection, no burn-in effect, making it perfect for wider area of usage. Some panels have uneven lighting (you may notice slightly lighter patches on the screen) which can be irritating. While real contrast is lower than plasma panels, dynamic contrast (having several steps of lamp brightness, dynamically adjusted according to the brightness of the image on the screen) counters that a bit, but plasma still looks somewhat more pleasant to the eyes... like a crude cheap digital camera snap (LCD) versus a smooth image out of a D-SLR camera.

LCD TVs as well as plasmas are getting cheaper. I believe you should take a 720p panel regardless, if you expect to use it more than a couple of years. The HD camcorders and bluray/HD-DVD player prices are dropping monthly, and you wouldn't want to be stuck with display not supporting their resolution in a couple of years, when they basically cost the same.

Philips and LG use the same panels. Sony and Samsung are also basically the same TVs in different boxes (hence not worth paying for Sony). Panasonic and Toshiba also share manufacturing plant.

My recommendation (after doing significant research and even buying a couple) would be to go for a Samsung LCD TV with a 5000:1 or higher dynamic contrast. There's visible difference between 3000:1 and 5000:1 dynamic contrast ratio models, but none noticeable between 5000 and 6000, and 6000 and 8000, which is what the latest R8 series have.

You should be able to get 26" for below 20k baht, 32" for below 30k and 40" between 40 and 50k. On R7/R8 series you're basically paying extra for the triangular or oval design, but specs are the same as M (flat bottom) series.

Samsung and Sony up-scale the SD video (component input) way better than LG and Philips. Never tested Toshiba and Panasonic, so I can't tell.

I'd avoid nonames in the business (TCL, Aconatic,...) just for the sake of not knowing the quality of product and same cost as recognized brands.

Central Power Buy offers something called 3 Plus - it's an extended warranty to 3 years and includes some insurance against accidentally dropping the thing, damage from fire and electric shocks. It costs 6% of the price and is well worth the investment.

Most LCD TVs come with 1-2 year warranty from manufacturer.

I'm not a big fan of Samsung in general, but need to admit that the picture quality on their panels is vastly superior to other manufacturers (ok, on par with new Sony Bravia models) for the same price as more milky looking competitors, and significantly cheaper than Sony.

On the plasma side, the only plasmas I've ever really enjoyed (but gotten rid off because of the burn-in effect, making me paranoid about pressing pause button or watching image with black bars) was Pioneer. They're truly excellent, but waaaaaay too expensive.

LG's plasmas and LCDs have a "time machine" hard disk recorders built in, which is nice, but not worth the effort, considering how cheap the DVD recorders with hard disk drives have become - and they can burn things to DVDs later. The no "time machine" 42" model of LG LCD costs 49,900. It's great for HD, and RF (antenna) SD TV, but awful in upscaling component video, as well as too contrasty on AV input. While image colors are nowhere near the Samsung's intensity, the picture is decent (if you don't have a cow effect on it like what I had on all they had replaced, and finally refunded). Not very recommended if you want to use it for digital UBC - it'll look blocky, awful, even with MPEG noise reduction set to maximum.

Just one last negative note on Samsung and Sony - remote controls of both of them are not particularly responsive. You need to hold button for a couple of seconds sometimes for anything to happen. LG and Pioneer were much better in that arena.

Make that last 2 things... while LG produces blocky image with lousy MPEG input (like UBC, which isn't good enough for anything bigger than 21" CRT), Sony and Samsung cause a trail of objects, which can be annoying on moving scenes. Seems they take several frames to calculate the shapes of objects or something, sometimes making the picture distorted. Overall it still looks better than LG though.

If you're after LG, you may wish to consider analogue UBC and upscaling DVD player with HDMI output.

Great and informative post, THANK YOU!!