pokerkid

you really think that is a Ducati ?

http://www.manager.co.th/Motoring/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9580000031867

Time to musk up.....

I have a few of these big plastic storage boxes from bigC and i saw some mold appear on objects after being in storage for a couple of months, also books start to smell a bit funky.

Any way how to prevent this happening ?

my non O marriage visa will expire on the 16th of july, When should I apply for the first extention ?

I though it was something like 3 weeks before the visa expires but someone told me to go 1 week before the visa expires

By the way, this will be in Koh Samui.

^

Wow, that lock is impressive. Nice bike, but where are you and "the gear"?

and the topbox

Sadly it's so true you are going to have a big problem if you want to show a Thai that he or she could try it another way. I tried it a couple of times with my Thai wife on the early days of our marriage she went quiet but after a few months she soon showed what she thought of my well meaning criticism helpful or otherwise. I don't do that now I just let her get on with it and keep my head down. Could it be that you got the job because everyone else knew it was a lost cause.

read post # 42

I've seen Thai people give money to beggars, think it's the same as any country. It's a numbers game like anything, a few hundred people walk past, 1 will give money.

If I have anything spare I will give, especially the ladies holding a baby, get's me every-time.

Be careful to give to women holding a baby or small kid , it might not be their own and even if it is you would not want to encourage them to beg with a kid.

The other day i was sitting in a taxi waiting at a very busy intersection and a woman came up to every car holding a small baby asking for money. This sort of behaviour should not be encouraged.

Many beggars use small kids, cute (drugged) animals or whatever to get sympathy from people, don't fall for it.

I am not at all saying you should not give to beggars but over the years i have learned how to distinguish between the "professional beggars" and people in real need.

Find some common ground. Talk about things that you both understand. I noticed some of your topics posted recently you could surely use those to build a rapport with the staff.

Like........

Many Thai drivers/riders become aggressive when you overtake them.

Bumgun Self-Enema everyday. Long term effects.

Are we not valued as people here?

What the crud is this? For months now the female half have been sporting big bushy eyebrows as some sort of fashion trend.

ROSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Nice photo Tonto and I hope you don't mind if I follow your lead. A picture or two often explains things better than words. Here is the view from where I live and a sunset over the pond.

nice view, shame about the ugly boundary wall. maybe time to plant something in front of it ?

Honda. Nuff Said!

Sorry to rain on your parade but according to the article the OP mentioned its Yamaha that makes the most reliable bikes followed by Suzuki and Honda comes in third. It is based on a survey of more then 11.000 people.

The 4 japanese manufacturers are so close that in my opinion they are a class apart. It is just that for some reason Honda owners (especially on this forum) always like to brag about their bikes being the best, most reliable , having the lowest depreciation and whatever else they can come up with .

Though they are the easiest to get serviced, that is for sure.

Reliablity by brand Brand Percent failed by the fourth year of ownership

Yamaha/Star 11%

Suzuki 12

Honda 12

Kawasaki 15

Victory 17

Harley-Davidson 26

Triumph 29

Ducati 33

BMW 40

Can-Am 42

Those in the know , and those in the the industry , have reconised Yamaha has consistently had the best build quality , and has had for 6 or 7 years. Like Hondas from years ago , the older BMW,s are fine bikes , but the newer ones just seem to often lack that quality of old that gained them that enviable reputation . Im reluctant to ask ( been away for a few months ) but what happened to ll2 ?.

He's still alive and well but not posting here any more. Can't say why (DELETED)

the plot thickens

Guys,

A bit of help if possible please.

I have a 2002 400cc Honda Shadow Slasher that I purchased for 130,000 TBH from Big Bikes in Bangkok approx 4 years ago (unregistered).

I have the Tax Invoice and also all the parts lists showing it was imported from Japan in parts and reassembled.

Owner of the bike shop told me it would probably cost me close to the purchase price to register so just ride as is and pay the 200TBH if pulled up.

I did that for 3 years and rode all over Thailand to "Bike Weeks" everywhere and never had a problem.

Now settled permanently in Isaan so would like to ride "legally" as the local cops would see me as an easy way to make money everytime I came to town on my bike (if they didn't decide to confiscate).

Any suggestions or assistance greatly appreciated,

Cheers,

BB

very simple, sell the shadow and buy a fully registered bike,

This will be the only way for you to ever drive 100% legal.

Ok seriously, when are these "import vehicle" questions going to end. It's like every other day some genius thinks he can get his car or bike here regardless of COUNTLESS threads confirming he can't. Enough already.

As long as people are too lazy to use the search button or simply use google these stories will keep coming but its great entertainment.

But some farang think they can out smarten the custom department ,especially the ones who know "big people" in Thailand. What they fail to see is that most of these " big people" got their position and money from lying, stealing and corruption. They just will be another easy mark and fleeced like so many before them have.

IMO CRF is way easier to ride and smoother. It might come down to a matter of taste, really. The CRF is a bit weaker when it comes to off-roading, not as tough as the KLX, but for the price difference you can easily toughen up the CRF. Hard-core off roaders seem to prefer the KLX.

hard core off roaders dont really ride dual purpose bikes, yeah sorry pedantic

but yes you're correct the klx has the edge off road....

i dislike honda marketing using the crf name on 2 bikes that may look a like but are 100% not the same,

kinda lame to me.

umm kawasaki has done exactly the same with the klx marketing

the real klx below.

2010-kawasaki-kx250.jpg

not really, kawasaki calls the real motorcross bikes kx like the one in the picture you added.

watched the video and 20 min later is was blocked

13000 hours spend on learning thai so now you are able to have wonderful long meaningful conversations with the rest of the villagers in Nakhon nowhere. It must also be a wonderful experience to be able to understand the thai soap operas that most of the people in your village watch. boing boing, honk honk etc etc.

I don't even go into the reason why you have not helped your wife to speak at least a bit of english....

This entire thread should be moved to the psychology forum (or mental health forum) because it is a fascinating case study in man's ability to rationalize away their own shortcomings. If a person doesn't want to take the time to learn the language of their adopted country, that's their problem, not mine. But, as is well evidenced on this thread, (and in the above comments) when people attack Thais and anyone who has bothered to learn the language in a futile effort to justify to themselves and others that it wasn't worth the bother (Thais have nothing of interest to say, Thais insult you constantly, it's a minor language, it's too difficult, it's a waste of time, blah, blah, blah) then I say professional counseling needs to be called in.

The fact is that once you reach a reasonable degree of fluency (far less than 13,000 hours) you can begin to initiate topics of discussion if you find what others are talking about is not to your liking. I have discussed numerous TVF topics and other topics with my family and neighbors. For example, I have discussed:

deflation, the global economic crisis, interest rates, monetary stimulus, the Japanese bubble economy, teen pregnancy, drug addiction, alcoholism, farming, gardening, Thai language, impressions of other foreigners, Thai attitudes towards other SE Asian nations, prostitution, the cost of living, average household income, educational quality, teacher accountability, Thai traditional cooking, blood pressure, exercise, dog care, money management, importance of having goals, pre-natal nutrition, autism, pig raising, incarceration for drug offenses, land law, current events, crime, the military coup, the environment, earthquakes, tsunamis, ergonomics, safety, etc.,etc.

To the extent that these topics qualify as interesting, I have intellectually stimulating conversations with my family and my neighbors.

Those who claim that they can't have an intellectually stimulating conversation with Thais are saying far more about their own inability to speak Thai or engage a Thai in an interesting topic of conversation than they are about Thais themselves.

As far as my wife not learning English, there was no need for this as we always planned on living in Thailand, and English is rarely spoken locally. My step-daughter, of course, is studying English in school and is proficient in the language. Not that my family is any of your business, or I'm under any obligation to explain myself to to you, or anything, right?

If you want to keep your family out of the discussion then don't mention them.

I think we all get a pretty good idea what kind of life you lead and why it is essential for you to be able to speak thai well....

Oh no oh wise one I am sure you have lived here 40 years and are fluent in both speaking, reading and writing. You have convinced me, I am going to learn and just cannot wait to talk about som tam, lakorn and the lesbians in the house opposite. Off to watch Downton Abbey on now channel, thank god the Thai language they murder it in can be switched to English.

I am speak, read and write Thai fluently, and have studied Thai for close to 21 years. I have also studied French, Spanish and Japanese.

My very first study of the Thai language was actually in 1986 (28 years ago), prior to my first trip to Thailand. This consisted of 10 two hour lessons with a university student as well as listening to a scratchy Parlaphone Thai language LP borrowed from the local library.

I did not begin my intensive study of Thai until Nov, 1994. Between 1994 and 2003 (when I moved to Thailand), I studied with Thai foreign exchange students, Thai restaurant owners and at a Thai temple. During this period my primary hobby was studying Thai. Aside from weekend study with teachers, I regularly came into the office early or stayed late into the evening studying Thai. My study activity consisted of translating and composing correspondence, reading aloud, translating newspaper articles and light fiction books, watching Thai language movies and TV shows, and vocabulary building work. The pinacle of my achievement during this period was completing a very readable translation of Suwanii Sukanatha's novel "Tonight There Is No Moon. Rarely did I spend less than 20-25 per week studying Thai. I kept detailed logs of my study activity from 1996 to 2003 and would conservatively estimate that I spent at a minimum 13000 hours studying Thai prior to moving to Thailand.

In 1998 I visited Benjawan Poomsan Becker at her home and asked her to evaluate my progress in the Thai language. She told me at that time (17 years ago) that she knew "very few people who had reached my level of competency in Thai." In 2000 I decided that I would move to Thailand in 2004. Knowing that I would be moving to Thailand, I was very motivated to study the language, and from 2000 to July, 2003 (I moved here 6 months earlier than originally planned), if anything, my study of Thai was even more intensive than in prior years.

Since moving to Thailand in 2003, I have lived here full time continuously. I live in a small rural village where very little English is spoken, and my wife does not speak any English at all. My study of the language consists mainly of conversation, watching Thai language TV, but I also regularly translate newspaper articles and practice building and maintaining my vocabulary. Since moving here, I have had a house built, have testified in court, and teach, all of which involved my Thai language skills. I am sure there are many foreigners in Thailand who have a higher degree of proficiency in Thai than I do, but knowing that the investment I have made in learning the language is considerable and not commonplace, I am confident that my language skills are way above average.

I would say that being fluent in Thai has enhanced my life here enormously and anyone who counsels that learning the language isn't worth the time and effort are only trying to rationalize away their failure to make the investment.

Regarding your challenge that I translate, "Exit stage left, big mouth" in order to prove my language skills to you, well here goes.

"Exit stage left" as used here is an idiom for "get off the stage," and would not be translated word for word.

Thai language translation: ลงเวธีเดี๋ยวนี้ดีกว่า ไอ้ปากไม่มีหูรูด

Transliteration: long wethi diaw nii dii gwaa, ai paak mai mii huu ruud

Literal translation: Better come down off the stage, blabbermouth. (literally: person whose mouth doesn't have a sphincter muscle)

13000 hours spend on learning thai so now you are able to have wonderful long meaningful conversations with the rest of the villagers in Nakhon nowhere. It must also be a wonderful experience to be able to understand the thai soap operas that most of the people in your village watch. boing boing, honk honk etc etc.

I don't even go into the reason why you have not helped your wife to speak at least a bit of english....

This looks like one of hundreds of corners of most mountain passes in the north of Thailand. Unless there something about the road surface that makes this extra slippery, I would just put it down to rider error.

If anything, this looks like a safe and easy corner, two lanes for uphill traffic. On the MHS loop, most of them are single lane.

Of course it is anecdotal evidence only , I might have seen the only four accidents on this corner . But it does seem like a fairly big coincidence that I have spent approximately 3 hours here over a period of 6 weeks and have seen this many accidents .

I think the problem is low powered bikes with 2 passengers taking a very sharp and steep corner .

it makes a difference in the kind of bikes that are involved in the accidents. If it is mostly thais 2 up on scooter than the reason why they crash is most likely that they forget to downshift before the corner and come to a virtual stop in the middle of the corner and just tip over.

I have seen so many times that thais don't downshift until its too late, be it overtaking somebody or going up a steep hill.

I said to her from the very beginning that the problems that arise from all this (sleepless nights, anarchy at feeding time etc etc) will be her problem and not mine and indeed I stick by my guns....after 8:30pm (way past bedtime for a toddler anyway) I a retreat to my man cave and the rest is up to her and same for most things...when it starts getting out of control (for reasons that are claerly attributable to the Thai parenting style) i walk away.

you stick to your guns, retreat to your mancave and walk away .

wow, what a way to raise kids, just walk away when things get tough....

Back in the '80s I taught in an experimental Individually Guided Education school in the inner city of Milwaukee.

Instead of busing the "minority" children out of the ghetto, the white kids were bussed in from the east side.

About 50% of the student population was made up of children of university professors, lawyers, and other professionals from the wealthy east side.

The other 50% lived in the ghetto neighborhood.

It was clear to me, as a specialist walking into the classrooms starting in Kindergarten that nothing could be done to lessen the chasm of difference in the lives of these young people.

For example at the age of 5:

Half of the children could read and half did not know the alphabet.

Half of the children could add and subtract and half did not know how to count.

Half of the children were sitting quietly listening to the teacher and half were fighting and urinating and defecating in their pants almost oblivious to the teacher.

You can guess which half was which.

The differences only gained with each progressing year.

The only ones who were affected were the little white kids who didn't try as hard as they learned to mimic the ghetto culture.

What can we do? Am I racist to just observe and report?

Very interesting ,the parents of the east side kids did not mind that their children would be in the same class as the ghetto kids ?