morpheusatloppers

My wife is 60, and i am 40 but she is very rich and only has 4 kids

No you're not! You're the same age as me - 63!

Most ten year old cars in UK/Europe are almost worthless due to annual compliance/safety & emmisions Tests... and with high labour rates, the cost of keeping an old car on the road becomed prohibitive. As a result depreciation of around 15-20% per year is commonplace (even more in the early years).

In T/L, the annual safety "check" is often limited to comparing the VIN plate to the blue book. Any repair/maintenance is usually very cheap, so even the very oldest cars don't get retired or scrapped - just passed further up country & off the tarmac'd highways. Depreciation is often less than 5-10% per year, and older cars hardly at all (limited to just the cost of keeping them on the road - with little regard for nice-to-have's like lights, windows, bodywork, etc...)

I have noticed that the secondhand market is starting to struggle in very recent years, with prices for actual sales being significantly less than are initially being asked. Dealers/Tents can aim to make as much as 30-40% mark-up, with little stock being shifted.

Definitely best to buy or sell direct if you know what you're doing, and are prepared to waste plenty of time with "tyre-kickers".

At LAST - just before the end of this thread - someone comes up with the ANSWER to the question posed. Of COURSE it's that annual compliance/safety/emmissions test. In Britain, it's called the MOT (Ministry Of Transport) test.

Initially a VOLUNTARY scheme brought in around the early Sixties, to answer the problem of pre-war bangers (clunkers) it progressed (as these things inevitably do) to becoming not only becoming mandatory - but growing from brakes and steering to EVERYTHING - including stuff that had NO relation to safety.

In tests, NEW cars just off the assembly line have been failed by MOT stations!

Thus today, getting your car through the MOT in Britain is likely to cost MORE than the value of the car - in a mere ten years. Thus the wasteful West JUNKS 'em. So much for ecology.

Whereas here, the test is far closer to reasonable practicality - and labour costs are low - thus second-hand prices remain reasonable also. It's not that prices are too high here - rather that they are ridiculously LOW back in Europe.

My 20-year-old classic Mitzu Gallant Ultima (every ten years, cars go from round to square, then back - but only ROUND ones become desirable) cost four grand sterling when she was 8 - and is still worth about three grand NOW.

In Britain, I'd have trouble GIVING it away...

29,000 baht a month for a condo? Hmm. For the last 12 years, I have rented a HOUSE. It's a large, high-ceilinged, split-level (detached) bungalow. Large L-shaped living room. Three bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a kitchen. Patio with sauna, carport with roof, verandah with balustrade. Reasonably large garden with several trees and other large plants and bushes. Built in 1994, solid as a rock. I nailed all the ants in the first year.

The whole is in a gated, middle-class village and costs me 48,000 baht - A YEAR!!!

This is THAILAND, not Britain. Some people have more money than sense...

It happens. At a supermarket (that has branches in the UK - no names, no pack-drill) I noticed an item on my receipt that cost 1,500-odd baht. Not recalling buying any food item that cost THAT much, I asked my (Thai) wife what it was (it was in Thai).

She said it was mince.

I got my money back without fuss, but it occurred after - how did THAT happen? I mean, fifteen hundred baht's worth of mince would be a SUITCASE full - WAY more than would be sold at a supermarket.

Now I ALWAYS check my receipts...

Okay - here it is: Use revolution to get rid of SOME nasties - but despite what the instructions say, FORGET about it getting rid of ticks. Also, once every TWO months is adequate. (Tip: if you have more than one dog, get the BIGGEST size possible and use a syringe - WITHOUT a needle, obviously - to apportion the doses. They are available for few baht from Boots or similar and will save you a FORTUNE. Revolution is made by Pfizer, so it's the same deal as with Viagra - DIVIDE AND CONQUER!)

For TICKS, I swear by "BEARING Formula 3 Tick & Flea Dog Shampoo" (get the BIG size to save money - variations for "long hair" etc. are available). But you have to use it at least once a WEEK. The effect is cumulative - it won't eliminate the ticks overnight.

Initially, use it every other day - then you can revert to weekly. But KEEP IT UP - or they will return. You should be able to get the shampoo from any Tesco or Macro (don't forget to water it down 50%, as instructed).

My two dogs are kept in our (large) garden, so they don't come into contact with the soi dogs - but if yours roam free, you may need to use the shampoo more often. Massage it WELL into the fur.

Keep checking for ticks. If you find any, put them into a screw-top bottle filled with solvent (petrol will do) - then they'll die HAPPY! Favourite hiding places for the little buggers are around the mouth, in the ears and between the toes. Good luck!

I agree, that Shampoo is great, BUT it is not healthy for dogs skin to wash them daily , so its not really a win win solution:(

I DID say "initially...every other day - then revert to weekly" - meaning maybe three times, on alternate days, in the first week - then just once a week. The level of cypermethrin in the shampoo is low - thus, provided you RINSE your pooch thoroughly, it won't hurt him/her. But as stated, that low level doesn't hurt the TICKS so much either - which is why you need to keep the WEEKLY shampoos UP. But persevere and the CUMULATIVE effect WILL rid your guys of these pests.

Anecdotally, Jasper was a soi dog who got beaten up by a NASTY soi dog. I took pity on him - and even though we had a cat (ANOTHER stray) we took him on. Then the people opposite began caring (after a fashion) for a cute little female dog (different breed) and Jasper and her fell in doggy love.

So I offered to BUY her. I got her for 500B - had her "fixed" immediately - and now Jasper and Dang (her original name - we didn't want to confuse her by changing it) romp around our garden as happy as... two happy dogs. Until I became their carer, I didn't even LIKE dogs - but we've all bonded nicely (although we have to make sure Sophie, the cat, doesn't encounter them) - Dang licks my bald head.

Self-aware, intelligent dogs and cats are treated ATROCIOUSLY in this part of the World. One would like to do more - but it's true what they say: you can't change the World - but you can change one (or two) dogs' (or a cat's) World...

Even weekly is not healthy for their skin, it washes away natural oils

I can only speak from personal experience, over a five year period. Once a week keeps the ticks away. Reduce the frequency to once every TWO weeks and they come BACK. Thus, done weekly (and rinsed THOROUGHLY) my experience is they are not troubled by the ticks - and their skin is fine.

Jasper's skin was ALIVE when we first acquired him. And while Dang had obviously been cared for better - her skin was still a zoo. But now, they are both A1.

I recently visited a shop whose owner had two BEAUTIFUL dogs. But a closer examination showed me they too were heavily infested. This problem appears to be endemic - yet the solution is EASY...

Okay - here it is: Use revolution to get rid of SOME nasties - but despite what the instructions say, FORGET about it getting rid of ticks. Also, once every TWO months is adequate. (Tip: if you have more than one dog, get the BIGGEST size possible and use a syringe - WITHOUT a needle, obviously - to apportion the doses. They are available for few baht from Boots or similar and will save you a FORTUNE. Revolution is made by Pfizer, so it's the same deal as with Viagra - DIVIDE AND CONQUER!)

For TICKS, I swear by "BEARING Formula 3 Tick & Flea Dog Shampoo" (get the BIG size to save money - variations for "long hair" etc. are available). But you have to use it at least once a WEEK. The effect is cumulative - it won't eliminate the ticks overnight.

Initially, use it every other day - then you can revert to weekly. But KEEP IT UP - or they will return. You should be able to get the shampoo from any Tesco or Macro (don't forget to water it down 50%, as instructed).

My two dogs are kept in our (large) garden, so they don't come into contact with the soi dogs - but if yours roam free, you may need to use the shampoo more often. Massage it WELL into the fur.

Keep checking for ticks. If you find any, put them into a screw-top bottle filled with solvent (petrol will do) - then they'll die HAPPY! Favourite hiding places for the little buggers are around the mouth, in the ears and between the toes. Good luck!

I agree, that Shampoo is great, BUT it is not healthy for dogs skin to wash them daily , so its not really a win win solution

I DID say "initially...every other day - then revert to weekly" - meaning maybe three times, on alternate days, in the first week - then just once a week. The level of cypermethrin in the shampoo is low - thus, provided you RINSE your pooch thoroughly, it won't hurt him/her. But as stated, that low level doesn't hurt the TICKS so much either - which is why you need to keep the WEEKLY shampoos UP. But persevere and the CUMULATIVE effect WILL rid your guys of these pests.

Anecdotally, Jasper was a soi dog who got beaten up by a NASTY soi dog. I took pity on him - and even though we had a cat (ANOTHER stray) we took him on. Then the people opposite began caring (after a fashion) for a cute little female dog (different breed) and Jasper and her fell in doggy love.

So I offered to BUY her. I got her for 500B - had her "fixed" immediately - and now Jasper and Dang (her original name - we didn't want to confuse her by changing it) romp around our garden as happy as... two happy dogs. Until I became their carer, I didn't even LIKE dogs - but we've all bonded nicely (although we have to make sure Sophie, the cat, doesn't encounter them).

Dang licks my bald head - and joins Jasper to BARK at the soi dog that beat him up, every time it passes - which lead to both him and her being cared for by me. Sorta the doggie equivalent of "neer-ner-ni-nerr-nerrr!"

Self-aware, intelligent dogs and cats are treated ATROCIOUSLY in this part of the World. One would like to do more - but it's true what they say: while you can't change the World - you CAN change it for one (or two) dogs - and/or a cat...

Okay - here it is: Use revolution to get rid of SOME nasties - but despite what the instructions say, FORGET about it getting rid of ticks. Also, once every TWO months is adequate. (Tip: if you have more than one dog, get the BIGGEST size possible and use a syringe - WITHOUT a needle, obviously - to apportion the doses. They are available for few baht from Boots or similar and will save you a FORTUNE. Revolution is made by Pfizer, so it's the same deal as with Viagra - DIVIDE AND CONQUER!)

For TICKS, I swear by "BEARING Formula 3 Tick & Flea Dog Shampoo" (get the BIG size to save money - variations for "long hair" etc. are available). But you have to use it at least once a WEEK. The effect is cumulative - it won't eliminate the ticks overnight.

Initially, use it every other day - then you can revert to weekly. But KEEP IT UP - or they will return. You should be able to get the shampoo from any Tesco or Macro (don't forget to water it down 50%, as instructed).

My two dogs are kept in our (large) garden, so they don't come into contact with the soi dogs - but if yours roam free, you may need to use the shampoo more often. Massage it WELL into the fur.

Keep checking for ticks. If you find any, put them into a screw-top bottle filled with solvent (petrol will do) - then they'll die HAPPY! Favourite hiding places for the little buggers are around the mouth, in the ears and between the toes. Good luck!

I had to read this story a second time to make sure I had understood it correctly the first time.

The couple who had won nearly a million quid - LAST YEAR - were driving the motorbike. And an 18 year old kid was driving the Porsche.

Had it been any couple with BRAINS, surely they would never have risked their lives on one of those comedy motorbikes AGAIN.

I would have been sitting over FOUR wheels the next day.

Perhaps not a Porsche - but if they had been in even a second-hand pickup, they would be alive today.

Madness.

Prostitution IS illegal in Thailand. And actual prostitution is less common than in most other countries.

All countries have a sex industry - and how they deal with them generally tells you a lot about those countries. Ranging from "organised" brothels, to ignoring the issue, to sweeping it under the carpet, to draconian bans.

But in Thailand, they have it right. "Good-time girls" are plentiful, but here is the difference between the Land Of Smiles and everywhere else: here, you pay for a girl's TIME - not her body.

Okay, it may be a fine distinction (sex will usually take place) but the difference in PRINCIPLE is EVERYTHING.

It is the "businessmen" behind the clubs and bars who are to blame for Thailand's reputation - for "sexing up" their premises. Thai bar-girls are modest and are as embarrassed as the complainers at the reputation this gives them.

If the women had been crooks, they'd have run off - with the money, if they could have reached it. Obviously, the last person to work on the machine failed to lock it - a simple bonk on the front would NEVER open it. The bank are just trying to save face by shifting blame from their incompetent staff to the two women. They should SUE Bangkok Bank for defamation.

From what one gathers, the man was an ASBO - on parole for other offences - thus the sentence was probably reasonable. But as for freedom of speech, that is a separate issue. The thing is; with freedom comes RESPONSIBILITY. And given what the man did, he showed NONE. Therefore fair cop, I say.

P.S. And with 9/10ths of his money still in his possession, my guess is that his wife would NOT have run off, leaving him with the baby...

The numbers don't add up here.

I moved from Britain to Thailand ten years ago. At that time I was worth six-and-a-half million baht - which at today's lousy exchange rate would be worth around four-and-a-half million baht.

And a decade later - thanks to a competent IFA - despite a 1/3rd drop in the value of the pound against the baht and another 1/3rd drop in the value of my nest-egg (thanks to the robber barons of Wall Street) I am STILL worth nearly three-and-a-half million.

Of course, I have RENTED my house (forget OWNING one here). My guess is that to have blown more than twice what I started with in just TWO years, he must've paid through the nose for either a HUGE house - or one in a "fashionable" area - in which case, he's a FOOL.

With ten million baht in his possession, he could've bought a decent house for just ONE million baht - then, given the low cost of living he praises here, lived like a KING on the interest from the remainder. I thought Germans were supposed to be well-ORGANISED?

p.s. Oops! Make that "her" and "she"!

So let me see if I've got this straight. A store owner worries about losing stock, as it will cost him money. So he spends money installing a CCTV system - which sets fire to the store, costing him another half a million baht.

There's a sitcom here.

Thai bus companies cannot even agree on the "anglicisation" of Thai words - I have seen buses with different spellings of place names (Phi-Phi, Pee-Pee, Pipi, etc.) on the SAME VEHICLE. And the placing of an "h" after consonents to add emphasis causes no end of confusion. In the West, "ph" is pronounced as in phone. Thus Phuket is often HILARIOUSLY mispronounced. Maybe they could address THAT first (although I doubt they will).

Let me swing in here - the figures on the new cigarette tax make no sense to me.

In my experience, there are a number of brands available in Thailand - but they are all made locally, under the auspices of the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, right?

Thus "name brands" like Marlboro and L&M are simply for those who don't mind paying 80 baht a pack for a "name" - while non-name brands like "SMS" (unsmokable) "Shoot" (perfectly fine: but for some reason, no longer available) and "Wonder" (my poison, following the discontinuation of Shoot) cost around 30-40 baht.

So if the old tax rate (shown at the top of this piece) has risen from 85% to 87% "by value" - how does that translate to 6-8 baht per pack? (Never mind the 30 baht plus, charged by rip-off artists in Phuket).

I only passed "O" level maths, but a two percent rise on 40 baht is 80 satang (less than ONE baht). And that is the price of the whole pack. If the tax RATE is 85 or 87%, then surely the rise would be less than half THAT?

Oh, and this is a straightforward QUESTION. I am an unapologetic smoker who grew up when everyone from the Beatles to James Bond smoked, and allowed myself to become addicted to nicotine. My smoke harms no-one (the dangers of second-hand smoke are a MYTH) while the piss-heads who complain about it kill COUNTLESS people thanks to drunken rampages and driving.

So I repeat: how does a rise of two percent on an 85% tax on something that retails at 40 baht - translate to an overall rise of 6-8 baht? Anyone??

How is ONE meteor about every MINUTE - a SHOWER?? That's a DRIP!

In my day, people just used to leave brollies on buses...

Interesting RTA death figures. Approximately the SAME as Britain (which has about the same population). Except for the additional THREE TIMES IT, for those idiots on motorbikes...

I thought my line "Thai women make farang women look like men" would get a reaction!

These days, if you highlight a genetic quality in a race you immediately get branded a Nazi and a racist. But the simple fact is that different races DO possess different qualities. Of course, everybody is an individual - and no-one is "better" than any other, based on race or anything else.

It is simply a fact that ON AVERAGE, Korean kids outperform their American counterparts, West Africans can run the pants off European Men - and Thai women are more beautiful than Western women.

I am reminded of the story of how in Heaven, the French are the chefs, the Italians are the lovers, the British are the police, the Germans are the mechanics and the Swiss make sure everything runs on time - whereas in Hell, The British are the chefs, the Swiss are the lovers, the Germans are the police, the French are the mechanics and the Italians try to make everything run on time.

Oh, and for the benefit of one respondant to my piece - in the UK, my last girlfriend was 19 and by British standards, GORGEOUS!

Having skimmed through all the comments on this thread - both reasoned and profane - it seems to me that the fundamental point is MISSING.

Sure - I eat meat. And until science manages to come up with "cloned" meat, I will reluctantly continue to do so. It is NATURAL. In any case, even if every person on the planet went Vegan (live long and prosper) we cannot stop billions of ANIMALS from eating each other.

And we keep fish and reptiles as "pets" for their aesthetic beauty.

But the point about cats and dogs is that they are a SPECIAL CASE.

Mankind has always bred cows, sheep and their like for FOOD. They are (hopefully) carefully raised and humanely killed, for the purpose. Furthermore, even if you call your cow Daisy, it will never BOND with you.

However, we have ALWAYS bred dogs and cats as our COMPANIONS. They are sentient, intelligent and loyal. They have personalities and are totally dependent on us for their care - and therefore bond with us and TRUST us.

Thus, when we abuse and EAT them, we BETRAY that trust.

Oh - you might want to check out the "eggsplanation" - THAT one's on - http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5491177/the_eggsplanation/

I find DOUBLE-YOLK eggs taste best! And they're COMMON over here. Check out this piece I did a while back... http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5491056/man_cracks_two_double_yolk_eggs_in_succession/