Sanpatong

LOL, and the junta apologists keep blaming Thaksin..

Unbelievable.

And you not find it strange that nothing appears in Thai press.. Or TV.. Freedom? Sorry, that was last year.

Maybe when the blood runs down the street you will believe.

Sleep tight.

Indeed. So especially if you already have a multi re-entry permit then you have the option of taking a weekend holiday somewhere. Won't be cheaper than paying the 2000 baht though, but sometimes taking a trip is nice.

Yeah, about 4 hours.

You have a choice when you get to Lampang, either continue straight on Highway 11 towards (almost) Den Chai, then a right turn on to highwat #101 to Sukhothai, OR take a right turn in Lampang on to Highway #1 towards Tak, then left turn on to highway 12. The latter is perhaps a bit longer in kms, but it's a better/wider road. Highway #11 -> #101 is more scenic though, goes through mountains.

Also: Why Red. Red is the color that suffers the most from the sun in this country. Did you ever wonder why there are so many silver & bronze metallic Vioses about?

We are trying to avoid useing the insurance company as we have used them twice since the car was bought already.

Don't think like that for Thailand. You got insurance exactly for this reason. Use it. Worst case is next year you don't get a discount on the insurance premium, however they will still want your business!! And if not, it's not like there's a shortage of insurance companies.

Anyway, 70K is ridiculous, 30K more in the ballpark.

Also, what many people don't do but what IS a smart move is to update the color on the registration booklet. This requires showing a bill for the paint job on which VAT was paid. So that will up the cost with 7%, however selling the car later then becomes a lot easier.

This is getting tedious isn't it, but, again: Liking Ikea or not is NOT the point. The point is that the current feudal government, as well the shaky coalition governments supervised by it in the future, couldn't get solid international business even if it ripped off their diapers and crawled up their bottoms.

BOI for Ikea ?

No way.

Ikea is a very simple business : distribution.

BOI is mainly for exports.

Rubbish.

http://www.boi.go.th/english/

You makes a business plan that covers educating and employing a Thai workforce, manufacture or source a few token bamboo lamp posts for export and there you go.

Then again, that was under Thaksin, who understands a thing or two about business and raising money. In those times he (the PM) would have already MET with Ikea and MADE IT HAPPEN.

What comes now will be what the next Fool du Jour in government is tolerated to be allowed to do, based on nothing but a guessy interpretation of Sufficiency Economy.

Rien ne va plus, guys.

I don't want to ruin the thread by going off topic, but !00% of thai chicks that go there are dodgy and trying to find a rich phalang. The whole underlying atmosphere due to that is pretty whack.

So... if you're that rich phalang then it's kind of alright then I guess?

Kinky..

It might be okay for driving on sand though. In that area you typically don't get the red clay mud but loose sand when you take it to the beach and so on. A large wide tyre with not too aggressive threading might work reasonably well on sand.

What about converting to NGV? What sort of cost, what sort of mileage would you get, and is NGV the same price as LPG? I don't see a whole lot of NGV around?

> This colorado ...

Hey, it's Ali G!

> ... was modified to go from jomtien to pattaya!

...but not into Mike's Car Park because the tyres hit the wheel cases when doing any kind of corner on any kind of incline, right?

LOL.. Anyway, Torrenova, I posted on the exact same thing, also posted the same picture a while back.

Did you actually see/download that Top Gear special on the trip to the North Pole. It's great. Like most of their episodes.

I'm 37. Just.

Finally my truck is out of her teenage years and officially into adulthood!!!

I cracked the 100,000 kms this weekend.

The event took place near Khuang Singh / Wat Jed Yod in Chiang Mai.

It's almost 7 years old now, though that's a lot less in Isuzu-years. It still looks, feels and drives like the day we took it out of the showroom. Never needed any work done on it other than the basic consumables like tyres, battery, shocks, plus what's prescribed by Dr. Isuzu; things like ball bearings.

I will be near impossible to sell this truck because WE know how well we took care of it and honestly to us we get the same value out of the beast today as we did on the day we drove it out of the showroom. Why would we even sell it for under 400K baht now..

This is why second hand vehicles in Thailand are expensive, they really do represent a high VALUE! So what if in another 100K kms we have to change the clutch.. that would be be a 10-15K baht Isuzu service center bill, it's peanuts!

Even in Bangkok, I doubt if it would be cheaper than anywhere else in the world.

> Unfortunately, most of these safety features (for small cars) are optional extras or simply not available here.

I was recently in the USA where I drove a Honda Fit, which is the US name for what is the Jazz here in Thailand.

Not only did it have dual airbags in front, it ALSO had side impact 'curtain' airbags!! (And cruise control. )

I don't think any mass market brand is making cars for the Thai market as safe as they could (and do, in those parts of the world where a life is worth something.)

Actually it's none of anyone's business why I came here.

So there!

Our UBC remote finally went permanently TU after the 100th drop but whoever was at the center near Siam TV said they don't do hardware, only subscriptions.

Really? I brought a defective unit and they just replaced it. (twice Be insistent.

Call k. Air at K.A. Design. Thai language preferred. 0840409200

They do exactly what you want: Built-in furtniture and any kind of interior stuff really including breaking and building walls, rock masonry, etc. They did my bathroom (lots of granite) as well as some furniture, a sliding partition-door in the same style as existing built-in furniture, etc.

They're also good in that they clean up properly, not just after the job but every day.

The downside is they're not the fastest people in the world. Prices are good, though, always VERY reasonable. We used to discuss the quotations a lot and always there was a good reason for a particular choice. And it's a one-stop shop as they'll arrange stuff they don't do themselves, like electrical stuff. Did a splendid job with some point lighting, dimming switches, etc.

I arrived in a full 747 around midnight last week. No gates!!! Everyone into buses.

Still, I think the military is behind it who want their cash-cow Don Muang back.

Anyone with half a brain and an ounce of vision would go the extra mile and do Suvarnabhumi PROPERLY. Honestly, they're 90% there. Add some gates and they're done.

EDIT: Also 'Non connecting internatioinal flights'... Please. That's utter claptrap, how would anyone know that passengers on ANY flight are only going to Bangkok and not connecting to, say, Samui.

I think you can forget about the truly exotic (for Thailand) suggestions like the Audi or BMW station wagon; there's simply not enough of them around to have a shot at finding a good one for a good price. Then there's maintenance costs which will be sky high.

Of all the suggestions so far I liked the Zafira suggestion: There's enough of them around, and they're the right age to be available for reasonable money.

Other suggestions: Older Camry or Nissan Cefiro; big and reliable.

Or get a pick-up based station wagon, like that Thairung job.. Noisy beasts though.

Well then they should close it down shouldn't they! Bulldoze Pattaya, Nana, Patpong and all the rest.

What makes you think this isn't already happening? It takes time of course, but quite a lot is being bulldozed to make way for 5 star hotels and shopping plazas. Think the Sukhumvit Soi 10 bars in Bangkok (bulldozed overnight), Asoke intersection (for good reason, obviously, not disputing that), the Soi 9 area between Patters Beach road and second road... It IS happening, one area at the time.

Not saying this is bad. Or good.

It's not a tremendously well-written piece by Kitty, but it does have its moments. I think we all have to agree with the toilet analogy!

I don't. I think people deserve respect, also when they're prostitutes. And like others have mentioned, a lot MORE respect in fact than her dad!

Maybe my experience is different as a woman; but as in the west, here I have found the people on the higher levels that come from very good families to be extremely polite and not looking down on others. There are those somewhere in the middle that can be pretty condescending but often they are not as high up as you think.

I completely agree. When you're truly high up you don't feel the need to continuously put down others or separate yourself from them.