bkkmadness

Agreed, horrible. Can we have the choice back?

Moved into a new condo recently, same size as my old place, use the same amount of appliances but the bill comes in at twice the price. My electricity rate is from the govt and I have check the bill and it says I am using twice as much power.

Now as first I thought that perhaps I have a fast running meter.

But I have also got two fans that were working fine before that are now starting very slowly and showing signs of problems. And this week my television has burned out.

So I am wondering could I be getting too much power coming to my appliances? Electrical surges that are causing the high bills and also damaging my electrical appliances?

Does anyone have any experience of this?

Is it a possible theory?

How can I get this checked?

I will be speaking to the condo management soon and could do with some more information to arm myself with, any help would be very much appreciated.

Rush hour subway here is a breeze, you should try the underground in London's rush hour, horrible.

I can never understand why so many people here seem to have such a hang up about the safety of cycling but seem happy enough to go out on motor-bikes.

Quicker to get out of the way of an oncoming bus on a motorbike.

I was walking down the Sukhumvit road last night, from asoke to Suk 33. Noticed they put in bicycle lanes, but not at the side of the road, that of course would be too sensible. Instead, they chose right in the middle of the pavement! You'd probably need a mountain bike to get down there anyway, it's certainly off roading terrain.

Denmark and Holland are two prime examples of a countries that have brought cycling as a common means of transportation to the city.

It will not happen in Thailand for a long time though, if ever.

this was a rather thin gold chain i had forever. he may get lunch over it. the sad part is the ass couldnt even see it

Maybe he liked your shirt.

I'd be very surprised if he snatched for a chain that he didn't know was there. Even if it was not visible at the exact moment of the snatch, sure he didn't see you walking down the street earlier and marked you as a target?

Not sure how someone wearing a shirt can make a neck chain not visible at all times, unless it was buttoned up the top button at all times. Foolish to think the snatcher didn't know it was there. Another thing is that you wear the chain all the time I guess, or pretty much all the time, you could have been seen at anytime with this chain.

For example, I know my friend is wearing a gold chain right now, we are not in the same room, we are not even in the same part of city but I can guarantee he is wearing that chain right now because I seen it on him many times before.

A girl you shagged might have even told him you wore a gold chain, the possibilities of how he knew you had a chain on that day is pretty endless really.

i didnt have it on display, it was not visable

Must have been a telepathic snatcher then. If it wasn't visible why did he snatch for it?

do you ever come out of your home, it being a dangerous place and you could get run over by just crossing the street so i would advise never doing that. rainy days have lightning, beware....shall i go on?

I look both ways before I cross the road, and I don't walk into fields on empty days wearing a metal hat. Should I go on? It's about precaution against the crime, not thinking about how you are going to deal with the guy when it happens.

i dont live my life in hiding

You don't have to live your life in hiding, but now you are being forced to walk against the traffic at all times aren't you? The crime has installed that fear in you hasn't it.

Look dude, not saying it was your fault, just saying be cautious. You may come from a dangerous town at home, but when was the last time you had your gold snatched off your neck there?

Fact is gold necklace snatching is such a common crime in Pattaya (and seemingly on the increase) it's worth being extra cautious about it. Don't take what I have said the wrong way, but I guess it wasn't nice being robbed so hoping it doesn't happen to you again.

My friend's gf had her bag snatched in Bangkok. Couple of other Thai lads saw it and chased after the guy on their bikes, gave him a slapping and brought the bag back to her.

I saw one coming home myself in a taxi, couple of lads on a bike cruising by this girl late at night, then a quick snatch and they were gone. The taxi I was in gave chase but we soon hit a bit of traffic and they were gone.

The slash and grab sounds very difficult, the snatch and grab is easy. Easy target, easy snatch, nice reward.

Lot more handbag thefts from girls these days too, because the value of what's in the handbag has gone up so much. Not just getting a little money anymore, these days thiefs are getting 10-20k worth of phone, an Ipod even. Gotta be careful what you walk around with.

this was a rather thin gold chain i had forever. he may get lunch over it. the sad part is the ass couldnt even see it so he was just hoping. i originally thought he just hated farangs and wanted to rip my shit since he could. then i saw my chain gone. i have no doubt he will try again someday but this time i will be facing traffic and he will not be a happy camper

a 3 foot length of strong monofilament fishing line attached to a 3 ounce lead fishing sinker can easily fit in one's pocket and swung around can give him a serious headache.

and the term "snatch and grab" seems redundant as snatching and grabbing are the same thing.

prefer grabbing snatch myself.

I wonder if on a motorbike the guy could get out of the three foot home made weaponary range before the OP managed to get it out of his pocket and start swinging.

And if you did get this guy wonder if a headache will stop him from beating/stabbing/shooting you? Either at that time or later when he has a few more friends.

It's a developing country and Pattaya is an area notorious for Thai on farang crime, walking about with an expensive gold chain openly on display is asking for snatch and grabs theft.

i have no doubt he will try again someday but this time i will be facing traffic and he will not be a happy camper

Or you might just lose another gold chain....

I think it might be less to do with the dogs and more the fact that everybody in Pattaya seems to be walking about with chunky gold chains. Might as well have a wad of cash hanging from your neck lads, it'll impress the ladies just as much and you will not lose your 'easy target' status.

Nope, just sling the crickets in. I'm a bit more relaxed around her now, as long as she stays in her burrow I don't mind opening the lid a little to chuck some crickets in. The tank is a reasonable size too and the dirt at the front is quite sloped down so I think it would be awkward for her to get to the open part of the lid when I feed her. Still not taking any chances though!

It'll be getting a mouse next week, but all I can see at the local shops are Russian hamsters and I'm a bit loathe to pay out the extra for a 'pedigree hamster' when it's only going to last 5 mins.

^ I think the crabs in the bucket already established that.

Turning down the full expat deal in Thailand

Could you have done the same?

Look at his poll title, might as well have added 'No you couldn't, but I'm so much smarter.'

Give him a slap on the back and move on.

Chile Rose was my first tarantula too, very docile and great pets.

Trying to handle the tarantula I have now would be a very painful mistake.

Here's a pic of my 'pet hole' Chonabot.

And her burrow.

Done a quick search for you rainman, this name kept popping up. Would try these people first.

'Silpakorn University', apparently 'the leading Thai university in the fine arts and Archaeology' (from wiki)

I'm sure an internet wizard like yourself will be able to get their number.

from the OP's post.......

both have no passports, well, I guess you dont have to worry about pressing charges, looks like there gonna be deported pretty quickly!!

They didn't have passports on them at the time. They do have passports though.

Got a PM from him last night, he'll be in today to update the thread.

Well sunbelt is online now, would have expected him to come back to his thread after starting such a cliffhanger.

IJWT's post made me laugh as well. How this case can be likened to somebody going into a subway and randomly shooting a gun around I don't know.

If I want an apple, I'll go to Carrefours.

Here she is, doing a good job of defending Thai uni girls after some idiot said 50 - 80 percent of them were prostitutes.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?s=...st&p=837821

She does do a good job of defending them, and I understand why. The stereotype pisses of most of the Thai girls I know too, and it's a stereotype reinforced all too often on this forum. Would be interesting to see the trouble caused should a large number of Thai people join this forum to refute some of these opinions.

Always seems to be the case that when a Thai joins this forum posters start calling their nationality into question because they use good english.

That is ringing a bell actually, maybe I have heard of her before, but forgot her since. I get a bit bored reading blogs to be honest. Find the thread though if you can, cheers.

Ok, it's a fair cop, she is of course snobbish, but like you said lots of people born into money, especially in this country are.

I think she does admit to being snobbish and bitchy in the blog doesn't she?

And I guess to have a successful blog it helps to be outspoken and cause a bit of controversy sometimes, look at the publicity she gets from this thread. Never heard of her before myself.

cost u about 21 pounds each time.(approx 14,000 baht)

Someone's getting an odd exchange rate.

For the OP it's about 1,400 Baht. A typo beforehand I think.