WinnieTheKhwai

It's not worthless at all. He posted some common prices that apply to developments that are likely just a step below the highest priced ones.

(I think it's on the pricey side for the 2 bedroom house for 5,500-6000 by the way. 2 bedroom houses tend to be either townhouses (yuck) or single floor 'bungalows'. I wouldn't pay more than 4,500 or 5000 for those. No wait, I wouldn't want to live in one at all. )

The owner mentioned to me that they are experimenting with ways to increase portions while retaining the excellent quality of the food and without raising the price. They have only been open for a few weeks and are going through some growing pains.

Wrong way around. Start with proper food and proper portions, then when successful see if you can tweak things to sort out the profit margin, and then do it by working the purchasing/inventory side first, not the customer side. Let your bottom line be the guinea pig and the affected party of any growing pains, not your customers. Customers don't want to suffer a business' growing pains.

To state the obvious, you can only make a first impression once, but you have plenty time to tweak costs while customers keep coming in.

And that applies ESPECIALLY when taking over a successful business. You need to be MORE generous at first to keep the customer base, which presumably was a reason to take over an existing business in the first place.

I have lost so much respect lately for the so-called monks here in Chiangmai. So many horrible stories.

Why Chiang Mai specifically? Any reason to believe it's worse than anywhere else? Are you basing this on a single news story about a single monk?

Note that I'm not saying there aren't plenty bad apples, but it seems you're blaming the entire monkhood. That's just silly.

So there's your feedback.

Keep in mind that in the Thai government or postal system, the moo ban doesn't typically feature. It's a lot number, Tambon Name, Amphur Name, Province name.

Funny, our house has both a lot number and a village number, the villages within a tambon often having a postal number, usually sequential following the main road within the tambon. But just as often mail arrives with the village name written on the address as well. A typical postal number might be 12/3 which designates the 12th lot in 3rd village of the sub-district.

Right.. wait. I missed this myself earlier, but there's of course also the Moo number. So you might also get "12/3 Moo 4", followed by the Tambon. That in itself should uniquely identify the address, though of course people may include the village name and perhaps soi name or number.

Thank you Johpa. The word Moobaan has been hijacked by developers and estate developers to sell their gated communities to the hi-so farang who normally will not except the fact that they do no live in a technical Moobaan.

Well, not sure I completely agree. Moo Ban essentially just means 'group of houses' / 'village'. It's not strange to shorten any type of community to that. Real Estate developers tend to use "Moo Ban Jad San" in full, if they use it at all. This then gets abbrevaited to just Moo Ban, with many people not really minding about any distinction between a commercial development and a regular village.

Yeah. I remember my first Songkran when those things were only around strictly home-made, with a wooden rod and tightly packed cloth for the plunger.

Currenlty you do see them, but then with nozzles that are all wrong; just splatter & spray, no reach.

If they're hard to find I'm going back to home-made; they're not exactly rocket science to engineer.

Thanks for the pictures; looks awesome!!

Please post photos!

Get one of these. They come in gray-purple, red-black and red-blue. 500-600 baht, but not at the main supermarkets. Indeed those PVC tube things are also good, but with those you always need to be near a water supply (read: bucket). With a gun you can mingle a bit more.

This was taken today by the way; one of the great things about having a four year old is that you get to start Songkran early.

Some of these have been weeded out and removed by the mods countless times. Please, stick to mature discussion, not this childish BS.

Political organizations worth their salt have organized finances. They feed and transport their campaign workers. I think it's silly to suggest, however, that these protesters are profiting. Sure there's probably an unemployed minority that are happy to camp out in Bangkok for free meals, but most have sacrificed time away from jobs, family, friends and alternative pursuits to travel considerable distances to demonstrate for a cause they believe in. They've made sacrifices

Very well said!

ASK THEM!

Don't whine about it on a Farang Forum.

I looked at an old, unfurnished house. The owner was eager to rent but wanted 3 months deposit.

My guess is she knew the place needed a lot of work and that was her plan to finance it.

That in itself is fair enough. In such a case though you would establish exactly what work gets done, and what it will cost. That makes for a nice negotiation angle because as the person living in the house you benefit from having more things done, and done properly. So you could agree to a higher deposit so more work can get done, and then a lower rent. There's a lot of opportunity for negotiation often, and the house owners usually like it when their tenants take care of the house well. Similarly, tenants like it when house owners go the extra mile to make them comfortable, solve issues when they come up, etc. Everyone benefits from a good, fair, and mutually beneficial relationship, as with all business deals/partnerships really.

They may or may not be cheaper then the Red Trucks (rot saong taew) or tuktuks.

If Red Trucks aren't significantly cheaper than meter taxis then you're doing something wrong. Most rides in town are 15 baht. Different league.

Or THEY (the red truck drivers) are doing something wrong. Unless you are a long term expat, like yourself, the red truck system is pretty difficult to figure out. When I first moved here, the drivers would quote me all kinds of prices for quick trips in town. Oddly enough, my Thai (from Bangkok) girlfriend had an even worst time. Usually the prices they told her were higher than what I was normally quoted!

Fair enough; I meant 'doing something wrong' in the sense that getting clued in will bring benefit. Didn't mean to say that all Red Bus drivers are saints.

Luckily for me, I ran across a timely ThaiVisa thread about the red trucks. I found out that most rides should be 20 baht and that my primary mistake was attempting to ask what the price was beforehand. I learned that I could just tell the driver where I wanted to go and when I got out just hand him a 20 baht bill. Even now I still get some drivers trying to protest and ask for more money. I usually just smile, shake my head a bit and walk away. Seems to do the trick. Additionally, I don't think I have EVER seen somebody only pay 15-baht for a trip.

I do. Last time I took one (admittedly a very short trip), 10 baht was enough. That was basically just from Moon Muang Soi 2 to Soi 7 though. (without the need to enter the soi obviously). I don't think I ever paid 20 other than when I don't have small change and am in a good mood. This applies to regular trips around town. When going out to your area I would indeed expect to be asked for more, depending on where I got on. (Perhaps to the point where it would be more cost effective to cut up the trip, with two short 15 baht trips, possibly also using the different colored out-of-town trucks. I think I could get to your place from downtown for 15 baht Red + 10 baht on the out-of-town truck.)

Also at night time drivers tend to ask for more; I have a feeling that most of your public transport consumption is/was at nighttime.

My experience is that two months security deposit is the standard. Many are asking for three which sets off alarms for me.

LOL. The answer is : IT DEPENDS. If there is a lot of furniture, appliances, airconditioners and so on then the deposit will be higher. For a bare-bones house, I would find even two months to be high.

Yes; just before Songkran I'll post the figures for this year. There were eight bad days this year (all in March, as usual), with PM-10 pollution over the limit.

heard all kinds of stories including from the Bkk Post about the air quality being 5 times the level considered to be dangerous.

That is not correct though. There were 8 days over this level, but the highest occurrence on March 16 was 2.2 times over this limit. Mae Hong Son though the levels were much higher though, 4.3 times over the limit on March 18.

It happens every year due to burning of fields and forests in the greater region, including specifically Burma. Mae Hong Son and the Northern part of Chiang Rai had an absolutely atrocious season this year. Chiang Mai was pretty average, though I really didn't enjoy 16 and 17 March.

Note: if you are relocating to the North. (not just Chiang Mai), then keep in mind that March really is a shitty month. Super dry and super hazy. When retired I would most certainly not spend March in Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is currently suffering a surfeit of paedolphiles and others of a similar disposition, according to the city authorities.

Nice one. Wonder if there is any evidence whatsoever to show that the problem in Chiang Mai is worse than anywhere else in Thailand.

I also wonder what 'others of a similar disposition' even means. Similar to a paedophile, but different? Same same but different? Either somone abused kids and should rot in jail or they don't. I really wonder what this means. I always have a lot of trouble getting through a news article when it starts off with an unintelligible curve-ball. I'm happy I did finish it though in this case; essentially it's good news that people were caught.

Finding underage sex in Thailand is about as difficult as buying imported beer.

It is everywhere.

Police do not care.

You have to be very sheltered or dumb not to come across it.

I didn't. Did you, and if so where? And, did you report it to police/authorities?

EDIT: You did say 'underage'.. That's indeed not unlikely to at some point come across girls in bars or karaokes who are 16 or 17. The topic is about paedophiles though, who by definition are attracted to pre-puberty children.

"The Thai government can help - give them residence & papers (or better, citizenship) and an education"

I couldn't agree more. Mum and dad earn a pittance because they don't really exist in the eyes of the government, dad probably boozes away what little they have and the kids can't get an education. A child without citizenship or an education is easy prey for these abhorrent predators.

What about people with kids who arrived in Thailand last Thursday from Burma or Southern China. What about the ones arriving next Monday. What about the truckload of Khmer beggar & flower selling kids that came in yesterday. Will Thailand give them all citizenship?

Because hilltribe people born in Thailand already qualify for residence status and citizenship.

It does not forbid academic or intelligent discussion.

To me this is the crux of the matter.

That, and that anyone can bring charges against anyone else, with a police investigation (meaning being hauled off to the station and/or servers confiscated for the 'investigation') to follow.

Inevitably on such a highly charged topic, someone, somewhere will ALWAYS find fault even with reasoned academic discussion. This happens even at university sponsored seminars; someone in there wants to find fault with somone they don't like for whatever reaons, and brings on the charges. The result is that people cannot speaki their minds on issues relating to the state because you inevitable tread into murky waters, no matter how well reasoned and well intentioned and respectful you are.

Impossible to say. Thailand has changed a little since I arrived, and I personally have changed A LOT since I arrived. So with both sides ever changing, there isn't really a final conclusion.

I'm liking it so far though, even considering how much I've changed personally.

To *STAY* sorted however it may take some OTC medications such as Melatonin. Perhsaps not for the relatively mild time difference with Europe and the UK, but you definitely don't conquer a jet lag from the USA in a single day.

Then again, Thailand is fun enough at night to make this a good thing.

^ I can only assume you haven't had a chance yet to read what UDD wants. Links are further up in this very topic.

And, keep in mind, I'm sticking to what is documented and officially communicated from UDD. You may want to compare that to what is documented and officially communicated from groups like PAD, and see the difference, and then make up your own mind on what democracy means to both groups.

To be honest it seems 7by7 is a breath of fresh air to this forum. And desperately needed it was too.

(Someone who can actually master the same respect for both sides, and take a neutral and well reasoned stance when either side comes up with mindless sniping or hyperbole. So many join the chorus of Thaksin bashing even when Thaksin is nowhere around in the topic to be bashed.)

One of the democratic freedoms we in the west enjoy is the right to demonstrate, even though others may be inconvenienced by that demonstration. Parts of central London, for example, are often closed to traffic for just such a reason.

Why do you want to deny that right to the Thais?

You may not agree with the demonstrator's cause or methods, but calling them 'morons' says more about you than them!

Hear hear!!

Fortunately the Reds are not claiming to want to lead the country; they just want elections pronto, and democracy in general.

Several of the yellow leaning forum members always go to great effort to point out the difference between PAD and the Democrat party. Guess what, it's similar with the Reds and Phua Thai.

I almost agree, but the only thing that matters really is the registration number. You can give the installation disk just fine, it doesn't matter if they make 100 copies of it. (They won't, because it brings them no benefit). Just don't give them the registration number.

But that said, indeed it's best to do it yourself; Win 7 install is pretty painless. The toughest thing really is to get all the drivers together, not sure if you have those supplied with your computer but if not you need to hunt them down on the Internet.

To be honest the driver situation is much easier with Linux/Ubuntu these days. Then I run Windows in a virtual machine inside it.