craigt3365

My friends live there and they've been having bad problems for over a year now. Techs have been out numerous times.

Ours are 7 colors also, kinda just rotate through them automatically. You might be getting the ones with a remote control?? They are a lot more expensive.

Interesting article:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Underwater-Pool-Lights-Buying-Guide-/10000000177632829/g.html

You might also want to consider this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/36W-12leds-IP68-LED-Swimming-Pool-Light-Wall-mounted-Underwater-Light-AC-12V-/221705144622?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339ea8092e

I've ordering stuff off ebay recently with good success from Hong Kong. All of my things have been small, but even if you have to pay customs, sounds like a lot cheaper than the price you are being quoted. They are really easy to install also....I'm guessing your pool guy would do it for 1-2k Baht???

I think it would be great. It's a long drive to Hua Hin from here, with lots of traffic. If it was priced right, it would be fantastic and take a lot of bus traffic off the roads.

The last one was a commercial firm that couldn't make it work. Maybe, with financial backing from the government, it could be viable????

An off topic post has been removed from view. Please stick to the topic.

How about the scooter shops that do their repairs right on the sidewalk. What a mess...

Idle threats by BIB.

It's not the BIB mandating this...it's the military...who'll be keeping an eye on the BIB. I'll be there Sunday. And will report back what I saw...

How about just publish the list and save all the clicks to outside sites

We have restrictions on how we republish content from other media sites. It's called Fair Use. We have to be careful. But, here's the graphic that they used in the study. I'm guessing a different approach was used by the other one listed below??

Sorry for the size, I'm just doing a URL link to the graphic on this website: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-countries-with-the-most-powerful-passports-2014-6

We have often been told that an Irish passport is one of the top 4 most powerful and desired passports in the world and so it should be. It has been something we here at Irish Around Oz have regularly questioned.

We have often said just what are the best passports to have? We did a bit of research and compiled this list of the top 10 most powerful passports in the world.

You might also be curious about the top 10 most least powerful passports in the world 2015

They are ranked based on the travel freedom that each passport holder enjoys. Also if you are sending money internationally we recommend reading our money transfer guide.

Continued:

http://irisharoundoz.com/blog/2014/11/11/top-10-powerful-passports-world-2014/

P.S. So you don't have to look too hard at the small graphic, Thailand has 68 countries where they can travel without a visa.

I've been there before, that area, and it's packed with tourists walking up and down Beach Road splashing others. So I can see this happening. They just bring them a few meters into the parking lot and do the exchange, I guess???

On the 19th, there will probably be a cop there in the middle of the road letting everybody squirt him and put powder on. We all did it last year, very politely. And he smiled back.

Pretty much every website I use gives the ability to change it to a variety of currencies. Just tried Kayak and it has that option....

Which half?

The half owned by one family or the others?

Don't worry, the time has come for all of them to pay what is due for a long time.

Give some credit to this government for their efforts to clear this country from these vermin

Costas, could you give us an example in which the government has succeeded so far.

Not trying to be controversial, but I'm soooooo happy with the sidewalks in Bangkok now. Lower Suk, during the day, has 1% of the vendors it did a year ago. Absolutely fantastic.

Maybe let's try this over in the Chiang Mai forum. OK?

Topic Moved.

I'd check with the major rental agencies. Hertz, Avis, etc. If anybody could do this, they would. It won't be cheap, but I'm sure it's possible.

Try a search engine like this. Just an example:

http://www.thaivisa.com/rent-a-car/

Thanks for the warning, I will stay away from Jomtien beach until Sunday .

My friends live in VT 2. They haven't been able to leave their condo for days without getting wet.

Gets old rather quick when you're just trying to buy some groceries.

I took a lot of other photos yesterday - 97 in all - but it soon becomes clear that it's just more of the same and many indicated they had no interest in seeing more shirtless Farang attacking people with blue PVC pipes so here we are. I was considering a walk around into Soi 8 with my associate, but she was like an 8-year old kid with a pail and some icewater. Someone accused me in another thread of being a miserable old git, and that's pretty much how I felt after 5 or so hours of this repetitive madness. As JLCrab points out in his FAQ, we either embrace it or avoid it, and today I've opted for the latter - on a blazing hot day, minus the icewater and the cannons, I think this could definitely be a blast : sadly, the appeal had worn very thin by nightfall.

Very good reports! I've avoided Songkran for many years, but 2 years ago decided to embrace it. Well...for only 1 day and even then, for just a short time in the early afternoon. But it is fun. Definitely couldn't do it every day! LOL

Since when has Thailand ever accepted advice from people who don't understand their Thainess? I can recall many times offers were given for advice and then blatantly refused by the Thai gov. This report reeks of propaganda intended to show the world that Thailand is really doing something and that they really care about this problem yet, I have not read about any ring leaders or business owners who have been caught with young Laos women being convicted and imprisoned. Maybe it has happened that I did not read about but I doubt anyone important has been crucified the way they should be.

A good example here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/507667-flood-hit-thailand-declines-offer-of-help-us-navy/

Flood-hit Thailand declines offer of help: US Navy

WASHINGTON, October 25, 2011 (AFP) - The US Navy has withdrawn several ships sent to help with relief efforts in flood-hit Thailand after receiving "mixed" messages from the Bangkok government, a defense official said Monday.

The USS George Washington aircraft carrier and other ships were deployed to the area on October 16 for potential disaster relief work as Thailand faced massive flooding from monsoon rains, said Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander John Perkins.

But the US military never received a formal request from the Thai government and the three-ship aircraft carrier group along with a fourth ship, the USS Kidd, were released and left the area on Friday, said Perkins, spokesman for the US Pacific Fleet based in Hawaii.

I think this is best over in the insurance forum. There are many companies that can provide travel insurance. AA Brokers has offices here and represents several different companies.

You can also try World Nomads. Best of luck!!

Topic Moved.

I thought those PVC guns were suppose to be illegal! 55555

I remember when there were lots of these plots and a falangs could buy them ,oh if only we knew them what we know now

It's amusing when the market for property or real estate or whatever is down or over-suppled, all the resident farang econ experts say that sellers should rush to drop their prices. There seems to be a belief that the correct financial move is to panic and sell things at fire sale prices.

In many cases the criticism is of the Thai or Asian attitude to sit on what you own until the market is ready to pay you what you want. According to some of the Thai Visa Econ 1010 specialists, it's far better to drop asking prices and sell at a loss and then ... what?

TukCom sat empty for a number of years and shops along Pattaya Tai had little business. There were no apparent foreclosures or 50% off signs hung about. Now TukCom is booming and properties on Pattaya Tai are undoubtedly higher priced and generating higher rents. Probably a smart move for owners to wait rather than rush to sell at a loss.

In the case of the vacant land on Beach Rd., one rumor I heard was that a royal personage owns it. Have no idea if that's true, but whoever owns it has done well not to rush to make a quick profit or to panic and dispose of it when prices were lower.

Asians seem to have a different perspective on real estate than westerner's do. They'll hold onto it until they get the price they want. Which could be 10-15 years. And here, there are very low property taxes. So it's easy to do this. Back in the US, with taxes running 1-2% and higher/year. For a high end property, that adds up if you are trying to unload it. So...drop the price.

Plus, at least in the US, many have loans on the properties. Here, they are mostly held free and clear. I was in Argentina during the financial collapse. Met a doctor who said he was amazed at the foreclosures in the US. Didn't happen there as most properties had no loans against them.

Interesting the differences....

Yes, all very confusing. But on my application form, for the international account, it's got a check box if I want a checking account and one or two debit cards. I confirmed with my rep that the checks are "in the mail". 555555

As for US based stocks and funds, I can still use their retail platform for ETFs and individual stock purchases, but NOT for mutual funds. This was not clearly laid out for me during out initial discussions.

He did say with a US based account, my transactions will get flagged if originating overseas...guess they track the IP address somehow? Using a VPN would get around this, but I've got no physical US address, only a PO box, which they don't like and doesn't match my driver's license as it's got my old physical address on it from several years ago. Ugh...

He said with an international account, I can purchase stocks/bonds/etc that are overseas based. I guess that's tough to do with a US based account???

The biggest restriction/difference I see so far is the inability to purchase US based mutual funds and the ability to tap into Schwab's internal adviser network. They can only work with US based accounts. Thus, my referral to an adviser in the international network. Which actually, might turn out quite well. Still evaluating that....what a mess....

That's a huge difference in price. $772 vs. $1,365 is almost $600. If that ferry takes, say, 2 extra hours...and the stopover is, say, 4 hours more than KA. Then you're looking at 6 hours and paying yourself $100/hour to take the cheaper flight.

Korean Air is a nice airline. Air China is OK also.

Last year, I'm pretty sure I had a guy do a quick search on me for a wallet. It was really crowded and I felt a hand in my back pocket. Luckily, I only had a few small bills and they were in an inside pocket.

Beach road during Songkran is a pickpocket's heaven.

Yes, Home and Pool are very good...though on the expensive side. This place is up by where you use to get the freeway (36) to Bangkok, before the shortcut. It's on the inland side just before highway 36. You have to do the u-turn circuit to get to it.

Best price I found in Pattaya, and I checked around a bunch. You do know about that place on Thepprasit on the left about 200M before Thappraya?