Guderian

In the Pattaya area, apart from the occasional mango shower (and there were very few of them last year), usually there's not really any rain in that period, so the threat of less rain than that is hardly worrying.

Two days ago it was more or less the opposite warning. I'm not sure if this is down to volatile weather, as mentioned, or volatile forecasting, lol.

Thaksin to walk free from prison on Sunday He's been in prison??? Most people doubt that he's even been in the hospital! lol

From March through August last year my PEA bill was 6,000-7,500 Baht every single month, and I wasn't doing anything crazy. I'd be happy with a solar system that cut that by a decent amount, even just 2,000 or 3,000 Baht a month. I find a number of things ambiguous, though, when I try to run the economics, like in a 5X5 system with no battery, over a typical year how many kW-hr of power is that likely to deliver? It's probably like asking how long is a piece of string, as I guess there are many factors at play, not least the weather, how your panels are located compared with the sun's trajectory, how clean you keep them, and so on. I've tried making what seem like reasonable assumptions and always seem to find that the investment decision result is far from being a no-brainer.

Good question! The village where I live in Pattaya has been looking at installing LED solar street lights, and asking for input from HOA members. One guy who'd spent time with the USAF in the Middle East said that the solar panels on the base where he was stationed had needed cleaning every day to keep them as free of dust as possible. The Pattaya area, and probably much of the country, suffers from a lot of black dust (diesel particulates, or fine ash from agricultural and/or forest fires maybe?) settling on the ground for much of the year these days, I have to sweep it off my driveway and paths almost every day, along with the dead leaves. How often do the solar panels need to be cleaned of dust here?

What I might be after is the ability on hot days, i.e when the sun is shining and the solar panels should be working fine, to run two air cons from the power produced, one 24 kBTU and the other 12 kBTU. I think that's around 4kW of power consumption, not 1 kW. On cloudy days and at night I'm happy to use the mains electricity. From what I saw from your graph, the peak power output availability is far from steady. Does that mean I'd need to generate far more power than I actually need to guarantee the necessary 4 kW to run the air cons, as they're probably not very happy with a fluctuating and unsteady power input? Or does it simply mean I would have to have a battery? Or can it all be configured so that I would use all the solar power available, and it could be topped up in the day to the required level by the mains if need be?

Young people nowadays have enough money to do as much booze and drugs as they want, there's no time left for having sex and kids.

Thanks. Am I reading this right? You've got a 5kW inverter with somewhat more than 5kW of panels attached, and in the early morning it was producing around 2.5kW, which soon went up to occasional peaks of 4kW, maybe averaging around 3.5kW during that time between 10:30 and 14:00? I'd eyeball the average for the day at around 3kW. Is that fair?

Forget the battery which is half the total cost and, for ~50K Baht + installation you could run a couple of air cons during the day and keep the house nice and cool. The problem I find when I try and do the economics is that the 5kW solar panel only delivers that at the peak, and its average power production during, say, 8 hours of daylight is less than 5kW. But how much less? On a clear and sunny day, does it deliver 4kW, 3kW, 2kW or what on average over the period?

That bend is pretty sharp but, being Thais rather than tourists fresh of the last banana boat, they should have known about it. Nobody forced them to drive dangerously fast along there, and they didn't hurt anyone else, so what will be will be. RIP, anyway, a waste of life, but that seems to be the Thai way when it comes to driving.

It might be that, but if she's like my GF then she has zero idea of Home Economics and how to create a budget plan to live on. I give the GF money and she simply goes out and spends it, whether she needs anything or not. I've been trying for years to get her to save a few thousand Baht every month, especially when she had a decent salaried job and a steady income, but she seems to think this is some form of foreign madness, money is for spending, not saving. A week ago, her iPhone finally gave up the ghost after one of her dogs knocked it onto the cement floor. She was utterly desperate and begged me to lend her 4,000 Baht to get it repaired, which I did. She agreed to pay me back at 2,000 Baht/month from the money I give her, fair enough. Now this morning she's sending me photos of a motorbike sahling that she wants for her business selling stuff, which has mostly been non-existent since her last one went belly up for no good reason other than stupidity on her part. I told her that she's already got a good motorbike, a Ford Fiesta that I gave her as a present, and an old truck she bought herself, she doesn't need a sahmlor, especially when she isn't working on a regular basis. Get a job, earn money and save some to buy the sahling. Now, of course, I'm Khun Keeneow, the mean farang so-and-so who never gives her anything and makes her suffer so badly. The Thai education system's got a lot to answer for.

An odd combination. A relic of Australian colonial days (I mean the office of Governor General, not the guy himself, lol) visits a country so very proud of its history as the only nation in SE Asia never to have been colonised by the evil Europeans. (Well, apart from the Japanese in December 1941, of course, but that's OK as the Thai government "invited" them to stay and have a pleasant visit, so it wasn't an invasion at all. Honest!)

Between 2004 and 2011, I lived in Jomtien Complex Condo (JCC), the twin towers near the beach. When I first moved in, Jomtien Plaza Condo opposite it had been built, as had VT (View Talay) 1 and 2 up on Thappraya, and the smaller Grand and Jomtien Condos by the beach. While I was living there, they built VT 5c and 5d, and then VT 7 right in front of JCC. During much of this period, they were also widening Thappraya Road back to South Pattaya (I hate to think how much Pattaya dust I ate driving along there in those days), and creating the new Jomtien Second Road. I drove the bike along it all the way to Suk long before it opened, and the last stretch was just dirt at the time. Most of it went through farmland, it surprised me to see herds of cattle grazing not very far from Jomtien Beach. Nowadays, just 10 or 15 years later, it's mostly been built up along there, with plans for a new 66-storey condo. I used to shop out at Tesco Lotus on Suk and, to get there, the best route was to go via what's now the Rompho bar beer complex, though back then it was just jungle, and cut through the lake country which was one of the nicest drives on the Bright Side. All gone, now, of course, the lakes have all been filled in and new condos are being built on them. Then there was also one of the best property scams in the history of the city, the 90-storey Ocean 1 Tower I think it was called, to be built next door to Soi 5. You'll remember that one if you were around at the time. On a smaller scale, for many years my favourite bar was KR Bar, between JCC and the beach, spitting distance from the Dongtan Police Station. This was before smart phones robbed the bar beer business of its youngest and prettiest girls, and I had two gorgeous ladies aged 19 and 20 who ministered to me every day in exchange for a few drinks and some other occasional perks back in the condo, lol. Happy days. After KR Bar closed, we started drinking in Fantasy Bar within the commercial area behind JCC (now called Super Town or some such nonsense), owned by a Norwegian guy, which had the best selection of spirits I've seen anywhere. Then Lovejoys opened up on Thappraya selling beer at 30 Baht a bottle, and we were regulars while it lasted. Not long after that went belly-up, the first bars at Rompho opened and we started drinking out that way, and I still drink there quite often even now, though I long ago moved well away from the entertainment zone.

Of course, Yingluck's rice-pledging scam scheme was pure as the driven snow, even if it did come close to bankrupting the country. The fact that so many of the family's members, friends and allies who owned rice mills and storage warehouses were raking it in at the time was probably just down to lucky wins on the lottery. And perish the very thought that her angelic brother, stuck abroad in exile at the time, might have been clandestinely directing the whole rice-pledging circus. Why, that would be as ridiculous as suggesting that a convicted criminal, who is anyway supposed to be locked away securely in a police hospital, is telling people who the next Prime Minister should be! If you missed it, lol...

That's the pot calling the kettle black, lol. I don't know what brought on your little tantrum there, but if you bothered thinking about things a bit then you might have twigged that most foreigners are well-versed in both flying and alcohol, and do not generally suffer panic attacks during a routine take-off. Most foreigners, though, are not so used to the plethora of mind-altering drugs available in Thailand, both legally and illegally.

I have a suspicion that overindulgence in some form of mind-altering substance before the flight might have had something to do with this.

A dry run for the Chinese New Year firecrackers?

It will certainly boost it in nearby countries like the Philippines, as thousands of expats flee this extended water madness in Thailand.

Rather different treatment from just about anybody else suspected of committing lese majeste, they're usually locked away in the nearest prison as soon as the fuzz get their hands on them.

Lol, last night I booked a car with Bolt to get from my house (Thepprasit Soi 8 ) to Marco's on Thepprasit. The first guy accepted the fare, started moving, then sent me a message basically saying, "Fork this for a game of cards, I'd sooner take my girlfriend out for a meal. Please cancel." So I did but the next car got lost in the streets around here, the Bolt map was playing up and showing silly directions. I got the GF to talk to him and try to explain how to get here but he was just moaning and grizzling, so I pressed cancel again. The next driver accepted but, before he even got going, he sent a message saying, "Sod this for a game of cards, the money's not enough, I'm not coming." Heck, I don't set the prices and I always tip generously, like rounding up a 60 Baht fare to 100 Baht. Anyway, my fourth attempt succeeded in getting a local driver who ignored Bolt's dodgy app directions and came straight to the house. Based on this, I'd draw two conclusions: 1. Around half of Bolt drivers evidently don't think the money is worth the effort. 2. Few Thais seem able to read a map well and, combined with the app sometimes going doolally, I think it could be a pretty frustrating job.

Blimey, the Baht must have taken a right old tanking overnight, that's an exchange rate of 35,616 THB/USD! I'm off to Wise to transfer $50 here, that should be enough Baht to buy a new Fortuner! lol

Yes, that's what concerns me, nobody wants to waste half a day on paperwork at the local Land Transport Office if you can possibly avoid it. OTOH, I have photos on the old and new passports on my phone, so in the event of something bad happening I could provide a complete "trail of evidence". Unless it's one of those things that carries an odd Thai penalty, like a fine of 5,000 Baht and/or 6 years in prison. <rolleyes>

That was my initial thought, but with over 5 years left to run on it I'm wondering what the possible downsides or penalties might be if it became an issue.

I got a new passport while in the UK last September. As soon as I arrived back to Pattaya in October I got the visas transferred from the old one and the new passport into the Immigration system. I also got it into the SCB banking system, and thought that was probably it. Now, though, someone has pointed out that both my driving licences have my old passport number on them and I should get it changed and new licences issued. There's still over 5 years validity left on the licences, so a long time to get caught out. What is recommended, to update the licences with the new passport number or ignore it and hope nobody queries it? I must admit, in almost 20 years of driving here I don't recall the cops ever checking my licence with my passport details. Is it something important or is it just a cosmetic matter? If I change it, I assume they'll charge me the usual amount for replacement licences, are there any other costs for the service? Thanks for any insights.

I wonder what the topic of the seminar was, maybe Safety Standards in the Thai Construction Industry? lol