Ned

Speaking to a guy yesterday who was involved with LNB production in China and he reckons it wouldn't be worth your while to either upgrade the LNB or get a bigger dish. The problem he reckons is the lack of power of the transmission and any improvements would only be slight and not worth the expense.

The old satellite Thaicom 3 I understand has been replaced by Thaicom 5. I know it's been launched already but is it in operation yet? Maybe the signal from it might be stronger?

It's an old topic I know but maybe in the meantime someone has come up with a way to overcome the UBC wet season blues. I rent the equipment but I'd be prepared to buy a bigger dish if this would stop the signal from disappearing during heavy rain. I've been told that a bigger dish wouldn't do any good as it would be incompatible with the other UBC equipment. Is this right?

Any ideas?

Most unlikely that one would ever use it here in Thailand (too confrontational I'd expect) but I'd be interested to know how to say something like,"Please don't patronise me". Nothing in my dictionaries comes even close.

Cheers

Whatever you decide to do regarding visas etc do not put your money in your wife's name. Repeat....DO NOT!

I agree with someone who wrote earlier. No relos staying, let alone living with me and the wife here in Chiang Mai.

Don't want to renew UBC next month and have heard that agila KU might be the answer. I watch the sports channels on UBC as well as BBC, CNBC, movies not often. I've been watching in a bar Super Sports from South Africa for the football and apparently they have a lot of rugby and cricket. Might be the way to go. Anyone out there with Agila KU?

Don't risk anything with these people that you can't afford to lose. By that I mean that in the event that you get ripped off totally, you'll still have enough to get on with your life in a comfortable fashion. After only one year together with someone I wouldn't dream of going into business with them especially if large amounts of money are involved. I've been living very happily with a woman now for five years ...got on really well from the start but I still didn't even buy her a scrap of gold for more than a year and she didn't give me the boot. She passed the test so I bought her a bit more a couple of years after that. I hold the purse strings and any money that she spends she gets from me......and she knows I know where my money is. So many farang around here have been given the flick after setting up their women with a house or business. Makes me sound like a total tyrant I know but we live nicely indeed and we both appreciate the relationship.

And to rub sand in,it looks like the first half hour of every 8pm game will not be shown till at least the end of this coming week. WHere in Chiang Mai can I watch Aus v Japan tomorrow? ...the full 90 minutes that is. Please, somebody help!

Britmaveric....you say "we started out pretty good". Do you mean you actually were able to see the first 30 minutes? Where were you?.......Not watching ITV obviously.

I was looking forward to the Australia v Japan game tomorrow....the 90 minute game that is. But it seems the first half and hour will not be available for all games this week. Surely the Japanese fans will find a way around this impasse.....or not.

Gumball, I don't know if an economically destroyed Thailand of the future would be such a safe place to live for us cashed up farang. We might see crimes like kidnappings and carjackings become everyday occurrences with the cops and security forces living off the spoils. We might have to move into compounds like the wealthy of Brazil for example, for whom a latenight breakdown on the highway can easily mean death at the hands of marauding predators. What do you think about that eh?

Would n't mind 80 baht to the dollar though.

I agree with Samran on this one. That is if you haven't got it in you to tell her yourself not to visit so much and for so long ,have the wife warn the Latch that the farang husband is unpredictable and like most farang prone to fits of anger and violence. You don't have to get involved at all. You've got no face to lose......you never had much in the first place being a farang and if you lose face in their eyes then you've got a personality problem anyhow. That's what I reckon.

I agree, Lampard 10. I'm still reckon UBC will make us an offer in the next week....."We've done a deal with Chang to let us broadcast in two languages ,so now farang, give us 1,000 baht and you'll get your English commentary. "

I'm still hoping that sometime this or next week UBC will cut a deal with the Dhomapaak (is that the name of the bastards?....the Beer Chang mob) whereby UBC subscribers will be able to get English commentary for an additional charge. Sounds like good business to me. I watched the cricket last year for 300 baht a game and was able to pay almost right up to the start of the game. In other words it's not too late for UBC to announce the extra payment plan. I'm sure they'd make a killing with the tens of thousands of expats who want to watch the games at home. Don't you agree.

Is it true that this Dhospaak has decided, at least at this stage to not include English commentary for the world cup coverage. Last time UBC subscribers watching the games on Thai free to air via satellite had a choice of Thai or English. Not this time it seems.

That means that UBC will be moved to the new satellite, doesn't it? I wonder if that will solve the problem of loss of reception which occurs almost every time there's a decent rainstorm. I hope so.

Someone mentioned that the World Cup will be available live online. Does anyone out there know if this is true? If it is , what site would I have to go to? Last World Cup on Thai tv was good with uninterrupted coverage......perhaps too good to be repeated. It'd be good to know there was an alternative.

Cheers

Does Thailand actually need a govt ?

Is anyone out there familiar with a bushy plant known here in the north as khai mangkorn (as in dragon......but not to be confused with dragonfruit.)

The mother in law of a farang here had been eating a lot of it for high blood pressure but ate too much and ended up at the clinic with bp of less than 100 and dizzy spells.

It's a small bush and the leaves can be eaten like salad leaves. I think I'm going to have to take a sample of the plant to a botanist and get its latin name.

Am I imagining it or is there less traffic nowadays?

From oil to sugar.....One 250ml carton of green tea with milk contained 26 teaspoons of sugar. Stuff like oyster sauce and that chili sauce for omelettes contain about 12% sugar. Thais consume 20 teaspoons a day up from about 7 spoons ten years ago. What a diet eh when combined with recycled palm oil, ie processed food factory waste.

I was in Patong , Phuket when the brutal coup took place in October 76. Business as usual down there. No difference at all. Went up to Bangkok a couple of weeks later and the only big difference there was the 10pm to 6am (maybe 5am?) curfew. I was staying down at the normally noisy and cheap Hualampong Hotel opposite the station and the area outside was blissfully quiet by 10. What a beauty. I was staying with a woman there and the restaurant downstairs stayed open late for cold beers (remember Amarit?) and food. Loved it. The main post office on Chareonkrung Rd was surrounded by bunkers and armed troops as well as the odd tank or troop carrier. People caught out on the street just before ten were taken to the nearest police station where they were fined (not much as I recall) and kept until morning. At least down at Wireless Rd station and lock- up there were food sellers on hand with plates of phat thai or kuaytiaw. Can't remember if you could get a cold beer there. Might have been only soft drink sold in those days at 1.50 baht a bottle. A lot of people were slaughtered that day, Oct 6 1976. I can remember that photo in Time magazine of a so called left wing student hanging by his neck from a tree at Thammasat Uni campus surrounded by a group of opposing students laughing their heads off. One of the group was pulverising the hanging body with a metal chair. The image has stayed with me all these years.

ABC have started encrypting rugby broadcasts since Feb 17. They've sent me a smart card but unfortunately my decoder doesn't have a slot. Went back to where I bought the setup (PSI Chaing Mai) but they don't have a decoder with a slot. ABC suggested I get an 'expansion slot' or a new decoder. Is there anyone out there who has done this successfully. So far in CM I haven't had any luck.

Cheers

dustoff

No it's not your modem. No ADSL out this way and I use the regular TOT fixed line. The service has definitely slowed down over the last two weeks. All the farang around here have been saying the same thing.

Sounds interesting. Where can I find this 'Secret Garden'? How far down the Ban Thawai road is it or is it actually in the middle of Ban Thawai?

Cheers