ClareQuilty

Yeah I know where to buy Converse guys - any shopping mall. The issue is they no longer make my size, so they're of no use to me. I'm looking for a similar sneaker here in Thailand. 

I see a lot of knockoffs of chucks here in Thailand, but most are poor quality or too small. Recently Converse stopped making half sizes (I'm 10.5), so I'm curious where to find any reasonably good knockoffs in this type of size. Anyone bought this kind of thing recently? 

grollies no thanks I like something cold in the morning. Not a huge fan of tea at any time of day.

Has anyone seen Kickapoo Joy-juice anywhere? Or does anyone know of any specialty import-shops which carry Mountain Dew in Pattaya or Bangkok?

So sad, Mountain Dew cannot be found anywhere in Thailand now. :'(

A few months ago I got a new passport. Just last week extended my annual Thai visa, & they transferred it to the new passport, no extra fee, no problem.

Now I need to do the same transfer with the ten-year China visa I got last year. Just wondering if anyone here has done this. When I got the visa the consulate was a madhouse and I paid enormous "fees" through an intermediary they had there to have my case expedited immediately. I wonder if this is de rigueur for transfer of visa as well.

I don't like fast food. Alas now I've officially run out! can't find anywhere.. So sad - had to drink a Coke for breakfast this morning. :'(

BTW I never drink the stuff during the day, only for breakfast. It's the perfect breakfast: lots of sugar & caffeine, plus cool & thirst quenching.

Just found some at Family Mart ( why is it only sold in these enormous bottles?):

3 hours ago, tazly said:

could almost hear duelling banjos playing while I read the OP post

Haha, I'll readily admit my (mostly hidden) roots lie deep in Trumpland, but I'm an escapee, not a fan. Mountain Dew however wakes you up - better than anything else out there.

As for any health disadvantages I'm not one to worry about those. Health is entirely a matter of luck, not anything one can control.

Thanks for the feedback everyone and especially thesetat2013, I'll keep looking. Oh and thanks to DSPJC, reminded me of Kickapoo joy juice - not as good as Mountain Dew but a reasonable substitute.

I'm a huge fan of Mountain Dew, the caffeinated American soft drink, so I was very happy when it returned to Thailand a few years ago. For a while it was available everywhere, but recently it has been becoming very hard to find in 7-11 or any of the other convenience stores.

I get the feeling this product (like most products I prefer) is unpopular & may be disappearing. Does anyone else enjoy Mountain Dew &/or perhaps have some advice where it can still be found?

My guess would be that these particular consular services are only offered near the crack of dawn; perhaps staff have other duties in the afternoon. A 7:30 AM appointment is really not so bad for a night owl, really easier to stay up till early morning than wake up late morning or noon.

Regarding the "adversarial" comment above: good point. However the insurance company simply waits for "proof" it's me before paying out, true, its unpleasant, and true, they get a few hundred more dollars in interest by delaying, but it would be a stretch to call it adversarial at this time.

Good god, I made the appointment via mobile phone and thus could not print out the resulting document as required. Now moved to a computer and it can't open the appointment window. Who knows - digital technology never works. I managed to print out a photo of the screen of my appointment from another phone... hopefully that'll be acceptable.

Sorry I got my weeks mixed up. I was looking at the first week of January.

Yeah, I'm booked for that week now, 7:30 AM. These early hours astound a night owl like me - no problem, I'll stay up all night.

Normally you can get an appointment within a few days of checking for one the website. Info here http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/acsappointment.html

Just checked and there are several available for next week by checking here: http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/acsappointment.html

Thanks so much, just opened that link but Alas it is fully booked through all of next week, as expected,

I have an insurance document from USA which I need to have notarized ASAP. I've been told the only place to do this us the us embassy and that the embassy requires an appointment for this service. How long does it take to get an appointment typically? I rarely go to Bangkok, but will be there all next week - alas I assume it takes weeks to get appointment with embassy?

I've never been in any car that wasn't effected by turning on the air. It always sucks power. True it wasn't a big deal back in the States driving big V-8s, but on these tiny motors sold in Thailand, of course its going to markedly reduce engine power, even in a new car. I usually turn off the air by pushing the 'compressor button' or turning the cool dial to zero if I have to do some momentary accelerating.

Well my goodness, I will definitely have to put it off if it is that expensive. I could have gotten a whole new engine for the KE70 for 10,000!

The car just cost 50,000, I guess I could just drive it and see what happens. Hope to get a few years out of it of course, and it drives so nice. I have to say in my humble opinion this 'interference' engine design seems a frightful mistake on Honda's part.

Well, I had the car in at Honda today, asked them to check the timing belt.. they removed the valve cover and part of the timing belt cover, and we took a look at it. About 3-4 of them took a gander, and all agreed the belt was fine for now, they stated it seemed fairly new.

They also checked the oil, the air filter, and the radiator fluid, adding only to the latter, and not suggesting replacing or changing anything. I was surprised. The whole visit was free.

I suppose I should trust their judgement, but I think I may go back and change it in just a few months, after the budget busting time of income-tax and visa-renewal...

It is a '93 Civic, guys, as it says in the topic title. Thanks for your advice, I think since it is such an important and yet not-very-expensive repair I might go to the dealer for this one. I'm kind of blown away by how nicely the car drives, so I think it would be worth a dealer visit for this.

Just picked up a very good running and driving old Civic very cheap, but I've no way of knowing if the timing belt has ever been replaced. Though I generally doubt odometers in Thailand, this is a two owner car with 154,000 km, so it might be accurate. If so just overdue for its timing belt. As I've read these Honda motors are 'interference' engines, and so updating the timing belt before it breaks is vital.

Does anyone know if this is something that's easily checked, or will they need to take the engine apart to do it (in which case I might as well have them change it regardless), and also does anyone know how much this typically costs?

Got the car back today, drives super (as one would hope and expect). Particularly out on the open highway.

You spent up to 10,000 PA on the KE70 wow.

I'd say on average I spent less than 5,000 per year in repairs on that reliable old car, including oil changes (every six months). I stated that I consider a reasonable budget for car ownership in general, aside from fuel and insurance, to be 5-10k. I was just really lucky with the KE70.

Anyway update about the Soluna - I went ahead and bit the bullet. While I had the car in for new brakes the mechanic discovered the brake shoes and some bearings were bad, so I guess the car was a bit neglected. He offered front struts for 2,500 each and back shocks for 1,500 each, which was about as cheap as any quote I'd had so far, so since he had everything off and apart I decided to go ahead.

He just called at closing time to say the car was ready, so I'll be picking it up tomorrow and let you all know how it turned out. The total bill with the four shocks, an engine oil, oil filter, and gearbox oil change, all new brake pads and back shoes, and new rear 'bearings' totalled about 11,500 baht. Quite an investment, hope its good for a long while. Should be the only remaining thing to replace for a good long while might be the tires.

How much are the pads ? how much is your budget for running a car?

B-Quick quoted 1,250 baht per side for new brake pads! I thought it would be like 300-500 baht. Anyway I took it in to my local mechanic guy, told him to put all new brakes and do an oil change/filter/lube. We'll see.

Normally I spend maybe 5,000 to 10,000 per year on a car, aside from the fuel.

Yes, had the tire rotation and balancing done, car drives fine. Just a slight hop at high speeds due to bad shocks. Will replace when I can afford it - struts or shocks, whatever they are, they're pricier than I expected.

The brakes are down to 1/4 of whatever they're supposed to be, according to the mechanic. Not gone, but in need of imminent replacement. Perhaps this week or next. Seems brake pads are pretty expensive as well.

I went on an hour's journey today, and the car drove pretty well at 80-90 kph on the way. I tried to show the bounce to the fellow in the passenger seat by going 100 kph at times, but to be honest it wasn't very noticable or consistent. After the journey, I took it to B-Quick, where I had them remove the tires in order to rotate and spin balance them (a 300 baht operation). I'd already had another shop look at the shocks, so I knew the diagnosis was they were all bad, but B-Quick also comfirmed this. They also showed me that the front brake pads, while not yet gone, were very low. While the tires were off I had a look at those, and in my opinion, while they showed no signs of unusual wear patterns, they didn't look like they had a tremendous amount of tread left either.

The other shop had quoted 8,600 for a full set of 4 new shocks (or struts as they're called), while B-Quick quoted about 6,000. The first shop uses Kyocera or whatever, so presumably a better brand than what B-Quick was offering. In any case, this was much higher than I'd been hoping for/lead to believe, and I hadn't the money to spend so will delay the shocks till after income-tax time, but will probably have the brakes done soon (was a bit shocked to find those were to be 1,250 baht per each!)

After the spin balancing and rotation I must say the car drove very well on the way home, just as it had before but perhaps slightly better, straight, true, no vibrations, and at least with my fat friend in the passenger seat helping to weigh us down, not much repetition of the 'freeway-hop' at 90-100.

Just bounced it a bit today. It seemed to me the back ones were OK, but the front ones not good. I'll take it in tomorrow and encourage the idea of just doing the front ones, and rotating and balancing/aligning the tires.