ScienceGuy

There is some website which shows the wind forecast very accurately for Thailand. Based on that and some historical trade wind data, you would want either Hua Hin or Pattaya(or near there). There's a local place in Hua Hin near the KSA guys where I took lessons(I forgot the name). I don't recommend KSA as they do group lessons and pay their instructors poorly. Might be best to just go to the beach and ask around for a good instructor. Slower winds are good for learning because it's easier to control the kite and there are fewer people around. Maybe 6-12 knots with a 14m kite. Timing is everything.

windfinder

Can anyone who has ever done this please answer me a few question's.;

1- Am I too old to do this? ( I am 52 and considered fit by my doctor )

2- Is it true that this sport can be bad for some joint's?

Any other advice on this- it look's such fun.

Kite-surfing is an extreme sport. You need a very strong abdomen, legs, and arms. That said, I've seen people 50+ doing it but they're in great shape.

Isn't Holland below sea level? Is there geological evidence to support his earth-quake claims? Isn't Bangkok the #2 most polluted city city in the world and already considered uninhabitable?

I just drove through Map Ta Phut(again) and there was some strange chemical odor similar to some pesticides and weed killers. It was so strong it was like holding a bottle of weed killer right up to your nose.

I drove through Map Tha Phut and Rayong on Sunday. Smells like Benzene and pig manure. My friends in Ban Phe said the beaches are so polluted from Rayong that they can't go into the water now.

Thread shutdown in 3,2,1...

dont worry about it, some is interesting reading others is just political bullshit

Confirmed. wikileaks.org is blocked by ICT. But not http://mirror.wikileaks.info/ wikileaxs

For all you "pay your fair share people" there is a very simple way for TOT to prioritize VOIP and HTTP traffic over P2P so that everything works as expected. I know my connection speed is limited and restrict my bandwidth accordingly so VOIP works and P2P gets the most when other traffic isn't using it. Perhaps y'all are just using windoze and that's why your connections suck?

Why??? Why not just supply the customer with what you advertised and charge for? Everyone gets what they paid for, no prioritizing this or that, just GIVE PEOPLE WHAT THEY HAVE PAID FOR, if you can't do it, don't sell it, it really is quite simple.

Does anyone know what you exactly need to switch to TRUE ot ATT or any other provider? I am in the boonies and only seem to have TOT cable, do 3BB or True rent TOT cable etc.? Thanks.

I'm just saying that after you bypass the blockade, you are back to square one. Your computer is hogging the bandwidth because windoze does not respect traffic prioritization. On linux it works fine and VOIP calls go out in the clear, even while peaking the available bandwidth.

For all you "pay your fair share people" there is a very simple way for TOT to prioritize VOIP and HTTP traffic over P2P so that everything works as expected. I know my connection speed is limited and restrict my bandwidth accordingly so VOIP works and P2P gets the most when other traffic isn't using it. Perhaps y'all are just using windoze and that's why your connections suck?

Tor is not meant for Torrents....While it will work the speed will never be that good. I would suggest Rapidshare type services or Usenet via Giganews...You will be required to pay subscriptions per month depending on usage but the speed and reliability are great. The top level Giganews package even comes with a VPN service that is extremly fast, can route all your net connections through it and nothing is blocked by the ISP, Torrents, web sites etc

You use tor to talk to the trackers, and then the trackers tell you who to connect to. Then you connect over the regular internet to the people who have the file you want, without tor. Since TOT is blocking the trackers, but not the P2P, this works and is just as fast as anything before, except maybe the initial connection.

Maybe yous guys are using different trackers. The ones blocked are: tracker.thepiratebay.org, tracker.publicbt.com, and possibly tracker.openbittorrent.com

Basically, you get a tracker timeout error if they are blocked.

Confirmed. ToT is blocking trackers in bittorrent. You can get around it by installing tor and directing your bittorrent client to use a proxy localhost:9050.

Woohoo! Azureus back up and running 134kBps, yay! Before was only 52k with encryption turned off and 0 with encryption turned on...

Well according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Thailand is a signatory:

Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 9 No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 15

• Everyone has the right to a nationality.
• No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

Article 17

• Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
• No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

So to answer your question, the next time you are arbitrarily detained, treated with indignity, and deprived of your property(money) you should show the cop the thai translation of the above: Thai version of UNDHR

As to being a guest, you will stop being a guest when you apply for an immigrant visa or change of status to permanent resident. Despite the extortionary rules and fees for residency, you are are considered a lawful permanent resident(LPR) as soon as you have an immigrant visa and enter the country or change status. I don't think Thailand offers immigrant visas...You are also considered a naturalized citizen after 5 years of LPR and can apply for citizenship. Once you're a citizen you are "Thai+another country" like Thai-American. If you renounce your prior citizenship you will be Thai. Then they can't deport you, haha, but you may have to do military service or other obligations.

Thai ownership restrictions are in a lot of cases, a fallacy. If you want to own things here you can - you just need to talk with, engage the right people and get it right. I have land - yes the type with clods of dirt, businesses, buildings here and all totally legal. I pay taxes and I employ Thai's by the hundreds. SME's are well under the radar if you look closely and larger businesses DO become targets of acquisition, but make sure you have the back up of the right visa, the work permit and the proof of monthly taxes and annual audit and certificates to show when they come around - and they certainly do. There are zonings as well here such as purple and BOI that allows ownership. Most of the 'bleatings' here are from people who are not business owners in Thailand. Thailand offers some great options over the over-governed and over-taxed Western societies alternatives. I gave up my country at 34% company tax and 60% personal. It was not rocket science!

Hmmm, let's see: the right visa=150,000THB/year, work permit=5000THB/year, office=120,000THB/year

So to open shop legally in Thailand you need a minimum of 275,000THB($8500). Of course, your business will be half-owned by total strangers and they'll expect a cut for having their name on the business. If you get land you won't own it and if you try to sell it you have to go find the person whose name is on it to get them to sign. I'm sure he/she'll want a cut. You won't be allowed to compete with the Thais in certain sectors like: selling food on the street, tourism, banking, communications, etc.

After you spend all this money and put property in other people's names, you have to live here for 3 years before you can get residency and that'll cost you another 100,000THB. You can probably never get citizenship. Anything you try to import will be held at customs until you pay the extortionary taxes.

Not exactly entrepreneur-friendly if you ask me.

Why would anyone want to start a business or invest in a corrupt country where they have no rights and are despised? The only businesses that come to mind are ones that want cheap labour without all the hassle of human rights and loose environmental laws. That's the real reason Thailand hasn't made much progress in 30 years. If they allowed entrepreneurs to come and establish themselves they'd have much more FDI. Instead they have homogeneous sectors with no choices for consumers. You can buy either Leo beer or Chang beer. Same crap, different label. No German beers, good luck finding affordable wine, etc.

So they're going to produce movies and video games?

I can't wait to play "Afatahr" based on the movie Avatar. "All ur bases are belongs to us"

I can't wait to see movies with people speaking English that isn't understandable

I can't wait to hear their rendition of children's songs like "Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wondering what are you"

This is Bait-and-Switch by Air-Asia. I've used my K-Bank card for dozens of online transactions with companies from all over the world. Air-Asia is the only one it doesn't work with. Even if you call airasia they tell you try again in an hour and it will work. I finally ended up going to the local office and paying cash for about 20% more than the online price.

Bait and Switch, sad but true.

I think you should tell your government to go to hel_l. Seriously. Vote with your feet and leave those crusty Brits on their rainy, cold, isolated island with their "perfect" laws that never cause people to suffer or separate families.

USA is exactly the same. None of my friends and family understand why I will never go back to the US but the truth is because it would cause me to be separated from my one true love and have to live as a wage-slave for eternity under an oppressive legal system of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.

Anyway, see you at the beach...

Just saw these on alibaba for $300(9900 Baht). Minimum purchase quantity=1. All of them are based in Mainland China. Has anyone checked Chinatown for these? I bet they have them for 12k.

Just saw one for 24,000 at MBK today(Siam Phone). I offered 21,000 but no-go so I guess I'll have to wait. HTC said they are "coming soon".

Nokia said 3 more months. So... end of May 2010

Anyone know if there is an import tariff on mobile phones? I'm trying to get a phone(Google Nexus One) off ebay and I am not sure if I will get hit with excessive tariffs or not.

Over the past 90 days, immigration.go.th appeared to function as an intermediary for the infection of 3 site(s) including samui-immigration.com/, tkc.go.th/, police.go.th/.

<sarcasm>Hey great! I'm so glad Thailand is becoming more like the country I escaped from. At my weight, I'd be classified as a drunken murderer after 2 drinks(BAC=0.05%), be fined, and go to jail. Hey why not make it 0.01% and catch anybody who has any alcohol in their system whatsoever?

Ever since I came to Thailand I've noticed an increasingly imposing legal system. No beer sales at certain times... Fines for smoking in places, bars closing early, helmet laws, etc.

It seems like all the people who ruined the US with their laws have come to Thailand to do the same. They enjoyed the freedom to drive drunk, stay out all night, etc. and now they are making it a crime.

I guess it won't be long before everything is illegal, there's a cop on every corner, and cameras in every soi. Way to go Abhisit et al! Thanks for bringing the NWO to Thailand.

</sarcasm>

Sounds like you'd be better off just getting a 50 Baht business license for her and setting up a small shop(20k).

I think the poll should be reworded to "Will you down-grade to windows 7?". Considering you'll have to upgrade to higher end computers, receive the same performance as XP on older hardware, and be prevented from using pirated software/music by the OS, I'd say it's a down-grade...

Another made-in-India flop