rideswings

Upgrading the stock tires on my Nouvo SX to Michelin Pilots 10 mm wider along with tank-type YSS struts has made for a smoother ride.

Pilot series performs better on wet pavement for sure.

If you use wider tires the rims may need to be wider also.

rim:tire.png

Mesh type ventilating seat cover @ 250baht is a real value.

Thanks Papa. I looked up the Michelins online and couldnt find one for a Click. Did you go to a tire shop to get them? Did you get front and rears?

How about the YSS strut? Im afraid of getting ripped off by a shop selling me a Chinese knockoff.

Do you have a picture of the seat ventilating cover? I sure could use some relief.

I drive an average of around 200 km a week in Bangkok traffic on my 2013 Honda Click, and I would like to adapt the bike better to my driving conditions. The first improvement I made was to buy a pair of 250 baht Chinese mirrors that are rectangular and lower and much smaller than the "elephant ear" mirrors the Click came with. It allows me to lane split much more easily without the occasional "mirror slap" to passed vehicles. Great investment.

I would love to improve ride comfort, specifically the way the bike handles bumps, sewer grates, and potholes. The bike still has the stock tires, wheels and shocks, and Im wondering if improving any of those would give me a more cushy ride. I saw a taxi driver on a Scoopy the other day, and he replaced the thin stock tires with huge and wide tires that would look normal on a swamp buggy. I would like to do something like that, maybe not so extreme, but something bigger lower pressure than what I have now.

Also, I have seen many bikes with a gold color shock in the back, and Im wondering if that will help ride quality much? I always ride 2 up, me and the gf, and together we are around 300 pounds.

Finally, Im thinking of upgrading the seat to something softer. Theres a place that rebuilds seats near me but I wouldnt want to replace the seat if its not going to offer alot more comfort.

Anybody else do alot of traffic driving? How did you upgrade your ride?

Heres a link to my daily commute. I do it six days a week, 32km a day.

Woke up and looked out the window after last nights torrential downpour. Rarely in my life have I seen a complete rainbow, and this one was spectacular. It disappeared aroun d 10 minutes after I took this panorama.

I know someone plus his helper who could do it for 1000, he has a Dmax. Send me a message if you cant get anyone else.

yes thanks, I think thats what they were trying to tell me. The girl suggested the 399 plan, and then told me come back in 3 months. Im just trying to figure out how to redeeem the credit, or when to pay again.

Looks like this one

Looks like a credit applied, for which you can purchase a package perhaps.

http://truemoveh.truecorp.co.th/product/detail/1595/Shared_WiFi_21_Mbps.#promotion

I just bought a Truemove Aircard, and it is working great! lets me connect up to 10 computers at the same time via wifi, and it's ortable, comes with a rechargeable battery that lasts for up to 4 hours when you are on the move.

My question is this; based on the ad, what did I just buy? I paid 1490 baht, got the aircard and I am able to connect to the internet at good speeds from my devices. But I dont speak or read Thai, and my gf doesnt understand the ad either. From what I could understand, I paid 1490 for the aircard, and I need to go back to True for some reason in 3 months is what the girl at True told me. I dont know what the 990 in red means under the 1490. And I dont know how much my plan will be after 3 months, and I dont know how many gb I will get in the 3 months.

I know I should have understood the whole thing before I bought it, but the girl just said take it, use it and come back in 3 months and noone there spoke any more English than she. This was at the True shop in Siam Paragon.

Can anyone help? Thanks!

Look in Big C On Nut and you will find them there on the 2nd floor. Go past housewares and they are hanging on the end of an aisle there. Best to bring a picture and ask a clerk where they are. They had 2 different types, both Chinese but mine has lasted for 6 months and still going strong. It is rechargeable for around 300 baht and it lasts 10 minutes or more on a charge.

I went out to visit all 4 tracks and I was impressed.

Huge RC has an onroad trrack thats fit for cars as big as 1/8 scale nitros. Its also got a smaller carpet track that would be for 1/10 scale offroad. There are a bunch of hobby shops that carry kits and parts and can do repairs. The facility is one of the nicer ones I have seen, clean and new, great drivers stand, and well maintained track.

New RC had 2 offroad tracks, one is actually a covered carpet track that they use for 1/10 2wd buggy. Its in good shape. The other track across the street is much bigger and used for 1/8 buggy. They have 1 hobby shop with a good selection of kits, radios and parts and most anything for offroad. The owner and his son dont speak English, but I met a Thai fellow named R who spoke perfect English and helped me talk to the owner.

I also went to visit FRC which is a small onroad uncovered track. Its in good shape and the hobby shop has many kits and parts. They charge 100 baht to play at the track.

Thanks for that information. Unfortunately her only day off is Sunday, and she will not take a day off to go the doctor. I have been trying to get her to go for a full checkup, but it seems like every Sunday something else comes up. She doesnt like going to the doctor, but maybe now is the time. And maybe we can go see the neurologist on the same day and possibly a cat scan.

The headaches are not new, she has had them since I have known her, and she tells me they are migraines and that she has had them for a long time. She just takes a Sara pill, but sometimes she still has the headache in the morning. Sometimes she will go to the pharmacy to get a different pill. I give her massages on her head and shoulders, and sometimes that doesnt even help. Sometimes the headaches go on for 2 or 3 days, sometimes they stop for a day or two. I thought it was just because she uses the computer all day, thats what she told me. Then I thought maybe she just needs glasses or something. I never correlated it or attributed it to memory loss, but Im not a doctor. I have been wanting to take her for an eye exam but we never took the time to do it.

Does she complain about headaches a lot? YES, about 3 times a week.

Has she ever been in a car/motorbike accident or had another type traumatic injury to the head or neck? Not as far as she can remember.

Has she been tested for syphilis? Not sure but I will ask.

Does her posture appear curved? No not really. She is has a pretty straight posture.

Does her sclera appear yellow? No but she has had pink eye that keeps coming back every few weeks, and red eyes a couple of times a week. Maybe unrelated.

As long as you apply for the conversion within 15 days you will have no problem.

I can see your overstay stamp where you paid the 1000 baht fine also.

Ubonjoe, do you mean within 15 days of its expiration? That would give me around 2 weeks from now to apply.

My gf and I used to go to the concerts Sunday evenings at Lumpini, but Im wondering if they are still showing due to the occupation of Lumpini by yellow shirts.

You should surely take her to the doctor, but I am thinking may be she is just double checking your story by asking again to make sure if you were in the car with another lady etc. Try to notice when she ask you the same type of questions again.

Yes she is a little jealous and that is possible.

my husband listens and lets it go... its tuning out, not interested in the conversation, and the language barrier all rolled up in one. so for very very improtant things i will ask him to write a note to himself in thai... often though, he will jsut agree, but when the time comes to do or act on the conversation, he doesnt remember. its not improtant to him (usually concerns thigns that need planning, and if the time comes up and he doesnt feel like doing the action, its cause he doesnt feel it ws important in the first place but was just agreeing to have things go smoothly).

ive seen him do it with thais also; they talk alot but not always good listeners, just babble converstaionally regardless with eachother along with movie on, music playing and sms 'ing. they dont see that as a problem really.

we were taught to 'really listen' with our whole body and brain and respond to the person to let them know we are paying attention and givng attention. it just doesnt seem that important to them.

when things are important to a person, attention is paid.

I have this problem too, and I also think its tuning out, not interested in the conversation, and the language barrier all rolled up into one.

Or just bored.

OP in addition to language you may need to consider if you might be going on and on for too long at a stretch, or talking about yourself too much, and/or getting into overly minor details that would not be very interesting to hear. (Frankly I would be bored and tune out a description of a visa run that was more than 2-3 sentences long, particularly if it got it into such detail as where you sat in the van...). Thais are very polite and will try to feign interest whereas a westerner would be more obvious about being bored.

Not saying this is it, obviously I don't know you, just a thought.

Sure she might be bored, but in all my relationships, when we finally get a chance to relax together after work, I have always asked my partner, "How was your day?" and in return I tell her about my day. And when she asked me about my trip, it wasnt like I was droning on for an hour, it was all of one or two minutes.

Thanks again to everyone for all your responses.

Thanks again for all the great responses/ I feel a little better knowing that I am not alone, and to be honest, sometimes I do feel that she is tuning me out, and many times she doesnt answer me about things right away because either she is trying to figure out how to explain her answer, or simply doesnt know the answer or just doesnt want to answer the question, but thats a whole different story. Its my problem for not learning to speak fluent Thai, so I have to learn to accept the consequences. Really, one time I asked her a question and she answered an entire day later without even acknowledging that she even heard my question. It was then that I made an understanding with myself that she has up to 24 hours to answer a question that I asked, however trivial it might be.

The difference to me was that last night when we were talking, she seemed so interested and took an active part of the conversation. Thats why it was so shocking when she asked me the question I had answered 5 minutes earlier.

will reread all of your responses and try to learn from all of them.

P.S. I always try to talk very slow and understandably. And I always try to ask her if she understood everything I said especially when no answer was forthcoming. I gotta learn to speak Thai!

My wife often forgets what I just told her. I remind her, and she says "oh, yeah." She often relates that her family says she has the "brain of a goldfish," which is a Thai saying, as I understand it, that someone's memory is poor.

We just watched a program on TV, though, that related that goldfish actually have memories of up to three months, so now, she trumpets that as a victory of sorts.

Thats pretty funny how some of these old sayings are actually proven wrong with time and science. Do the Thais quote someone having a good memory as having that of an elephant? We use that one in the USA.

A key question is whether she does this with other things or only with things you have said.

Is she having trouble retaining things hern Thai friends say to her? Forgetting what she was doing in the middle of a task?

If not then indeed, she is either not really listening or it is a language problem. If this is new, it may be that there is something on her mind that is preoccuping her.

If on the otjher hand she is unable to retain what anybody says tio her (in which case Thai friends and family will have noticed too), forgetting where she is/what she is doing then indeed a visit to a neurologiost is indicated.

Thanks to everyone for for all the answers.

Well, come to think of it, she does not do it with everything. She does not forget what she was doing in the middle of a task, she can sit for endless hours working and concentrating. And once I teach her to do something, she remembers every single step, that was one of the most amazing things I found about her when we first met and started working together.

If a person is not really listening, could they actually take part in a conversation? Im not being facetious or sarcastic, but how could she share in a conversation and then forget 5 minutes later? Maybe she is just so relaxed after a long Songkran weekend, not sure.

I will give it some more time and see how it is after a week or two. If its the same and she forgets after a few minutes, then maybe I am in the same boat with many posters here that she is pretending to listen just to be polite, but is actually tuning me out.

I have been dating my GF for almost a year, and we get along well. Lately I have begun to notice that sometimes I will share a story with her, or simply tell her something, and minutes later she will ask me the very same thing again as if she forgot what we talked about. For example, last night she asked me how my border run trip went, and i told her I sat where we normally sit in the van, and it was a good driver, easy trip. Not 5 minutes later, she looked at me with a straight face and asked where did i sit in the van. I started to think that maybe she just doesnt pay attention when we talk, but this has happened so many times, its starting to get a bit scary and I am worried about her. She is her early 30's, and what scares me is that my mom who is 89, does the same thing sometimes. For my mom, I think its understandable, but my gf is so young. She also often forgets other things, so Im thinking maybe a trip to the doctor would be in order. Im thinking it might be as simple as a vitamin deficiency, but it still worries me. I really care about her, and this might be small thing, but I want to help her. Thanks!

Thanks again Ubonjoe for all your help!

I was simply trying to give credit to Ubonjoe for something he had already mentioned. No criticism intended, UbonJoe has been very helpful for me here, why would I criticize? Again, another of my posts lacked clarity, sorry about that.

Well i am just back from Cambodia, the van ride and everything was as easy as pie, but I just want to make sure that what I received will be able to be converted to a Non-O. I asked the agent who helped me on the trip, and he said it can be converted if I have at least 21 days left. Heres a picture of what I got and the other page from when I departed.

"Clarity is always helpful !"

Part of the problem ... I think ... in this thread is that the idea of a "border run" and a "visa run" seem to be floating in the same space and getting confused along with the usual confusion between visas and extensions of stay.

If the O/P, or anyone else from a G7 country, does a border run, i.e. crosses a border and comes back, he would get a 30 day visa exempt entry (not a visa on arrival). At Immigrations he could then, if qualified, convert that to a non-imm O entry stamp and after 60 days apply for an extension of stay.

On the other hand, if he is qualified he could leave the country and apply for a non-imm O visa at an embassy in another country (i.e. make a visa run), return to Thailand and after 60 days apply for an extension of stay (not a visa) at immigrations.

Some people seem to dismiss the use of correct terms as a pointless exercise in semantics, but as this thread illustrates, using the correct terms does bring some clarity and more readily understood suggestions. Calling everything in sight a retirement visa, although convenient at first, tends to lead to "talking" at cross purposes.

Thanks for pointing this out. I never thought about the differences. And Im happy to know that i can convert that to a non-o if i qualify, something UbonJoe might have also pointed out.

Oh I forgot to ask... will I get a 30 day stamp from Cambodia? I heard somewhere they changed it to only 15 days?