Changian

So what is it? censorship? I find that hard to believe as I am watching youtube now

But, HOW ABOUT THE ZERO TORRENT SPEED TODAY?

Got three movies downloading now at about 100K - not lightning fast, but not zero either. Last night it was going around 180K for torrents on my upcountry TOT connection.

Excellent news for me. Is it signposted in other than thai?

You'll see a large sign in Klong Son village, but basically just take the inland road next to the 7-eleven and drive for about a kilometre. Cant miss it. The sign is in English, and shows a picture of a golfer.

A pro available at request?

Don't get too carried away.

It also doesn't help that many tourists seem to think the ideal place to learn to ride a bike is an island in Thailand.

A new golf driving range is open in Klong Son valley in the northwest of Koh Chang. Very nice little set up. 100 baht gets you three racks of balls - 120 in all plus a set of clubs so you can practice with a variety of golf sticks. It's also floodlit for evening play. Ample parking and small restaurant on site.

The train is being tested on the lines now. Drove into BKK along the motorway & expressway last Wednesday, around 4.30pm, and saw the train, white with a red trim, heading out of BKK towards the airport.

Time to speak to the boss of the land office, cant blame him or argue with him at all, so it's time to offer an apology for all the hassle you've caused and talk about how you can both help each other out of this predicament. Having a large envelope and your ATM card handy will also help.

Sure would like to see the marina when it's completed

Probably a case of 'if' rather than 'when' , unless home buyers return in significant numbers in the coming year.

Make sure you wear clothes with No Pockets , then they cant put anything in them .

As recommended by this group of Bangkok expats, photographed on a night out in their 'police friendly' outfits

Unfortunately no school / language school will take a 17 year old with a TEFL seriously when they apply for a job. So, if you are planning to get work as a teacher then dont bother. Whichever course provider sold you on the idea of a 17 year old taking a TEFL course should be shot for giving crap advice.

Hawaiian - You wouldnt have been to the dam site, as it's nowhere near the sea or Klong Son.

Sounds like you were at the southern end of Klong Son beach at the Siam Royal View housing development. The big hole you saw will eventually be a new marina. The water is sea water - not ideal for drinking. :-)

This is beginning to look like it should be titled "Smuggler Caught at Airport".

But if a mod changed the title, the thread wouldn't get as many page views or clicks on the Google ads

For anyone with an interest in where the new reservoir and dam will be on Koh Chang there are several photos of the plans, perspectives and info about the project in this recent update on my site. Main benefit looks like being mains water to those of us living in Klong Prao :-)

See: http://iamkohchang.com/2009/updates/2009/august-13.html

There's a guy with a couple of new bungalows to rent monthly in the Salakphet area, south-east Koh Chang, you can call him direct.

Photos and info at: http://iamkohchang.com/2009/property/longs...t-for-rent.html

My TOT ADSL connection is working fine, no change - in fact probably faster today downloading torrents than it has been for a few days.

I still have a video of the show that my Dad sent over years ago. Cracking stuff. I met Ronnie in the Londoner a few months later as he was a friend of an old guy I knew. He was there with his cravat and flat cap - and just seemed like a very optimistic but blinkered guy.

Lake Palmers Blog, probably fake, is a thing of beauty:

Woke up, had a fag, slept again for about 30 minutes, then got up and had a fry up.

I sent Pa her money, and Western Union says it has been collected. I haven't heard from her since, I guess she hasn't been able to use the internet, or is taking care of her auntie.

Going to meet Harry at the Labour Club later and practice for our Christmas Eve karaoke show. We'll get free beer for doing the show, one of the perks of a professional singer.

I'm going to suggest that we put my Pa and his Mipoo in contact. They both have aunties with incurable illnesses, maybe they can comfort each other.

Woke up, after having a fag. Greased my hair and checked my mail....nothing from Don Ling, but a feeling of joy as I see I have a reply from Pa Ding.

Dear Lake,

thank your letter. You very kind man, really. I love you lot. You my special honey Lake baby. My auntie very sick, she need quick operation. I very sad, I cry every day. Please send £400 Lake. You love me, I know you pay my honey. Soon we get married . OK? Please send Western Union, I waiting Western Union shop Monday.

Love Pa Baby xx

Poor Pa, her auntie is sick again, the first three operations I paid for weren't successful.

I'll go and cash my giro, and then to Western Union. Soon I will be married, I am happy again.

Maybe some of the wiser TV members can assist the hapless fools who insist on risking their life by entering Central Festival by parading outside with 'The End of Central is Nigh' placards. That would provide a useful public service for all

My ex is from Banpong and her grandfather worked as a driver for the Japanese in WW2. A couple of the main staging post / holding camps for workers on the railway were located around the Banpong area. He was about 14 at the time and used to smuggle food into the camps for some of the soldiers in the field hospital. This was the sort of thing that he'd be shot for if found out.

After the war quite a few, mainly Aussies, came back and tracked him down to thank him for saving their life. I remember seeing all the letters he'd received and had translated by a teacher at the local school. A big old box with faded envelopes going back almost 50 years. Not sure what happened to it now though as he died a few years back.

Sure there are lots more stories like that from the old locals in the area who probably dont get as much credit for their bravery as they should.

I used Frontpage for over a decade, as it is very easy and simple to learn. Switched to Wordpress now and using it as a CMS rather than as a blog. Again, very easy to learn and you can get it to do complicated stuff by downloading plugins to do all that for you. There are thousands of themes you can use with it to give your site a nice look, and then they are easy to customise to suit you. No need to know anything about HTML or FTPing etc etc.

A lot of hosting companies have 'Fantastico' which allows you to install wordpress, amongst other programs, from your control panel in a couple of clicks. See if yours does.

Spend a day messing around and you'll learn how everything works pretty quickly.

Wanda's a Bangkok institution - the IT geek's Bernard Trink.

Probably just an extremely crap TOT connection that's too slow to allow you to do anything. I use TOT and FF3.5 just looked at the Red Ferret site - loads very quickly.

Try dialing up instead of ADSL and see if that works - if so then you know there's something up with your connection for sure.

Thaivisa site always loads fine, some like bahtsold.com always continue loading and I never get a 'Done' message I guess this is something to do with the ads on the site rather than internet connection though.

Yes, the iamkohchang site is mine.

The pool villas are at Siam Beach Resort on Lonely Beach. These are also pretty good but more expensive and smaller than the ones at Siam Bay. But the resorts are owned by the same person.

The beach at Siam Beach Resort is nicer. But bear in mind tnhat at this time of year you wont be doing much swimming in the sea and the beaches are a bit of a mess with all the debris washed up by storms. The sun has been shining for the past 3 days but the sea is still pretty rough.

Floor plans and prices are here Just click on the thumbnails. Seems a fair price if that includes constructing the house and with a 6 year guarantee thrown in - not many builders would do that here.

Yep, you were in the centre of Kai Bae at the spot I thought it was when you tried ploughing through the water.

For anyone who hasnt seen the video the 'Oh f$%k' comes at 18 seconds and the 'Oh sh&t . . . . stalled 'at 24 seconds.

Why not book two brand new 100sqm pool villas on the beach for 2,200 baht/night each - including breakfast?

One for the maid and kids, one for yourself and then you still have over 5,000 baht/day from your 10K budget for beer & seafood.

See: New Siam Bay Pool Villas, Kai Bae Beach

The only stand alone villa to rent is Inspiration on Pearl Beach - you could get that for 10,000 / night at this time of year. On over 1 Rai of land by the sea, huge garden, pool, can sleep up to 8. See: Inspiration Villa Info & Photos

The expected number of tourist arrivals had been reduced from 14.1 million to 11

That is '11' tourists not 11 million, hence the 49 year low. 1950 was a crap year for visitors, well down on the 17 who arrived in the boom year of 1949. Those were the good old days.