Valentine

We had a snake in the house a while ago, it was curled around the cables underneath the computer desk. Only realized it was there when the dog started eyeballing it. Light grey colour, supposedly a tree snake & not poisonous but I was not about to put it to the test.

There a quite a lot of snakes where you live even though its in the middle of Chalong

First day we shifted in there we saw a leaf green snake in the tree next door over a metre long

Also had a small grey snake in the yard

Lady further up the street had a cobra in her yard

Partly due to the vacant areas behind both sides of the soi. One time the guy next door had a king cobra in yard up the side of the house. A couple of time cats have brought back baby snakes which I understand can also be poisonous.

If you refer to the Samak and Somchai administration, everybody knows they never had a chance to effectively rule the country. The police and the army refused to obey. They were under contant threat of legal challenge. It was actually the reason given by Newin for changing allegiance, "This government (Somchai) will never be allowed to function, so for the sake of the country, we decide to join force with the democrats".

Even for the last election, it was one of the strong "incentive" to vote for the democrats. The army will never allow a PT government, so vote smart, don't waste your time, vote for the democrats. Fortunately the electors din't accept the blackmail. I also guess a number of influencial people, both in Thailand and abroad, were tired with the incompetence of the democrats and their backers. That's why, despite the dreams of some sore losers, we haven't see a coup so far and the present government will be allowed to run its term.

The police were apathetic during both the PAD & the red shirt demonstrations. The army were only involved in the dispersal of the red shirts due to the inactivity by the police, they were not asked to intervene in the PAD demonstrations.

Why hasn't the government taken an active role in this very important anti-graft move? Most probably because it was busy somewhere else. Maybe the author of this article didn't noticed an important increase in the humidity level in Bangkok, increase that was a major concern for the inhabitants of the capital city for the past few month. Where was this article written ? In Hua Hin or Pattaya ?

Then blaming the government for the increase of the corruption level when it has been in power for less than 4 month after more than 5 years in the opposition ... Am I the only one to feel a little bias here ?

It's common knowledge that in the previous government, the democrats, in exchange for the post of PM, gave the other members of the coalition total freedom to loot the country. The senior bureaucrat who reported losing to a team of robbers much less than the robbers themselves claimed to have taken from his home, for which administration was he working ?

Sometime I feel the selection process to write for the Nation is some sort of Limbo dance, with the bar based on the IQ level.

The current government have only been in opposition for less than 3 years out of the last 5. Corruption is older than democracy & is heartening to see the private sector take up the challenge as all of the past & present government have been involved in policy corruption which started to become more open with the so called "buffet" cabinet under Chatchai in the early 90s. Recent governments are taking policy corruption to ever greater heights & IMO if they could stamp out at least 50% the average person in this country would see their standard of living raised quite considerably. It is so sad that the common people are mere pawns in this game of greed & power & these very same people have very few decent role models to which they can aspire thus many succumb to the same greed, albeit on a smaller scale.

We had a snake in the house a while ago, it was curled around the cables underneath the computer desk. Only realized it was there when the dog started eyeballing it. Light grey colour, supposedly a tree snake & not poisonous but I was not about to put it to the test.

Advice in Phuket Town should have everything you need. Just down from the bus station going towards Honda dealer. Staff are knowledgeable & prices generally cheaper than elsewhere. http://talaadcom.co.th/system_new1/ Website is mainly in Thai with some English. As som said IT City is on the opposite side of the road to Mission but not as far if heading north, next door is the Proton dealer.

Could be wrong, but I don't think any of the exotic sports cars in the high speed crash flipped over.

8 Ferraris, 3 Benz plus a couple of others (2 Toyota, 1 Lamborghini?) & yes in the clip I saw there did not appear to be any that flipped over.

I love dolphins as I grew up by the beach & even had the pleasure of sharing the same wave with them when surfing.

O- RH negative blood

I have O RH negative blood and always donate when the need arises.

But this time I'm in Ubon and departing to Singapore tommorrow.

Although transit at Sawanapumi Airport for 3.5 hours.

As I'v asked before ThaiVisa needs a registry where our information can be kept and do accessed at time of need.

Thanks

I think there is a registry of people in Phuket with RH negative blood but bot sure who is keeping it.

We pay 500 baht for a very good cleaning (high pressure hose job) and 500 baht for a gas top-up. The 500 baht refill is very profitable for the air con guys as a small bottle of gas is only about 1,200 baht and can top-up at least 20 air cons. I know, I bought our own gauges and bottle for less than 2,000 baht and I've topped up at least 20 units now over the last 2 years.

What I meant was that I seriously doubt anyone could get cleaning & gas refill for a total of 500. Not sure how long gas should last but if not long then there could well be a leak in the piping.

I don't know about vegemite in Villa Mart but beware of buying any "fresh" meat just now as they are/were having problems with refrigeration & air conditioning. Years ago I was working on an oil rig, which had just been towed from South Korea, in the Gulf of Thailand. About 60% of the crew both Thai & foreign became violently ill. It turned out the freezers broke down on the journey & after they were repaired the catering manager re froze all the meat. I was lucky & did not suffer.

I remember as a kid the hassles we went through replacing bulbs. Nowadays I just buy the ones with the tiny lights that change colour & pattern. Not expensive & no such thing as bulb changing. Good luck on the spare bulbs but you could try Kee Hin on the bypass as they would be the largest electrical supply shop in Phuket.

what are you guys paying per unit for a cleaning and refill btw? im at 500

Same for cleaning. I haven't needed a refill.

Refill is generally quite expensive & much more than 500. I could not get my usual air con guy last time so called CK Air near the circle. He came promptly, was easy to communicate with & price for what he did was more than fair.

The reason I brought up about the drink driving is because some of the posters that are most adamant about obeying the road rules here are amazingly silent when it comes to the subject of alcohol on the road...of the other few Ive noticed:

One admits to drink driving but only if he/she has had less than 4 or 5 bevies....so in theory they should be waiting at least 2 hours before driving home.

Another admits to drink driving before but not now...the honest thief argument

And another has stated that their reflexes are as good if not better when they have had a few.

What are the opinions of the rest of the Thaivisa gang? No one else on this forumdrinks and drives on the roads in Phuket? Does this contribute to a lot of accidents or is it mainly speeding?

The speed that thrills is the speed that kills although no doubt driving/riding under the influence of alcohol or drugs is also a big contributor but I would not think it is number one.

Here is my list of bad drivers. Mini buses, concrete trucks, Fortuners (you always know when they are on the telephone as they meander about slowly), Honda Jazz, about 5% of motorbike riders. Of course there are dangerous, rude, inconsiderate drivers in other vehicles but my observations show these to be the worst.

Tailgating is an increasing problem in Phuket as can be seen by the increasing number of white painted lines on the roads showing 2 or more vehicles who have collided. There are very few road improvements going on around the island & certainly not enough to cope with the rapid increase in new vehicles coming on to the roads, many of which are first time riders or drivers. More than 235,000 motorcycles and 106,000 cars were registered in Phuket as of March 18 (this makes the official population figures look totally out of whack also considering there are likley an additional 20 to 30,000 vehicles which are registered outside of Phuket).

Joined 36 minutes ago and newbie pops open a massive can of worms !!!

Which was the thread where one poster says he purposely drives super close to motorbike riders to force them father left? Then it was flamefest.

I just basically got sideswiped while I was running around Nai Harn lagoon, so you needn't be on a bike or in a vehicle to get wiped out by a car here, and yes Tanuki, drivers here are pretty close to the worst, Thais and Fortuner Foreigners alike

There are some pretty stroppy Jazz drivers as well.

Works with USB drives as well although of course they cannot store as much. The newer TVs play more formats including mkv which is generally a good quality format i.e 720p

I have 2 Tera Byte USB drives, there are 3 TB available now... So I'm not sure what you're talking about...

You are talking about external HDDs which are extremely expensive now due to the shortage from the floods. I was talking about thumb drives.

I just plug my external hard-drive into the USB port on my TV. As long as the file is avi or divx there is no problem.

Ah, new technology! What TV do you have?

LG and I've had it for at least two years now.

Works with USB drives as well although of course they cannot store as much. The newer TVs play more formats including mkv which is generally a good quality format i.e 720p

Shell & PTT seem to have proper systems in place designed to stop cheating & their gauges are clear to see so park in a position to see through the window.

Huh. That's quite hefty. Have to rethink True. I used to have True some 4 years ago and if I recall correctly there was not too many adds displayed at least on movie channels. The price was half of that. Maybe things have changed.

Anyway I would like to see the boys driving like crazy on a round track.

You should talk with Mel.

KPP Cable, not sure if they are in your area, has Al Jzeera, BBC, Fox News & Australia Network which should satisfy your English news needs. They also have a couple of English sports & entertainment channels. If there are any TV shows you really want to watch I suggest you download them & view at your leisure.

"Phuket Tourist Police Volunteers were informed at 12:20pm that the body of the 63-year-old Swede had been found by staff of a diving company."

What about the "fishing company" he was fishing with? How do they know he was fishing anyway? Was he found with his rod? Or maybe he was wearing a gimbal?

A little (lot) more info would be handy.

See the report in another thread. Apparently he was snorkeling on a fishing tour, and found floating face up by his boat crew.

If this report is correct then the PG version is severely lacking. I understand TV is beholden to PG/Nation as a major sponsor but surely TV should not just accept the stories thrown at them without at least reading them & querying the inaccuracies before publishing on the forum. The way it is now many of the articles posted lead to all the typical conjecture we are seeing on this thread.

entrance to the marina close by.

Do you mean Yacht Haven marina ? Must admit that the news article stated the road from Phuket Airport to Phuket Town. That bend is well past (North) of the airport. Makes for some confusion.

A bit ambiguous to be sure as the reporter must consider the main resort areas to be north of the airport. "The curve, on the main road from Phuket Airport to the main resort areas on the island and Phuket Town" but I am sure it is the marina curve.

Chao Fa West has many impediments & death traps. The fact that some years ago it was hastily converted into a 4 lane road without any median strips, parts of the inner lane were too narrow & again many parts of the inner lane get used for a car park. Promphan, the garden shops, Supercheap near PTT are just some of the potential hazards apart from causing traffic to slow. The new power poles, which seem to be taking a couple of years to complete are mostly right on the side of the road therefore if the road were to be widened to an acceptable width, with shoulders, then all those poles will have to be moved. So much for froward planning.

I would venture to suggest that a good portion of the adjoining land could be disputed & we all know how long those take to resolve, one need only look at the tank debacle on Wichit Rd.

I will say once again there are far too few secondary roads connecting the main arteries which can offer alternatives in case of delays caused by peak hour or accidents. Land issues could easily & likely be more cheaper to resolve by going over them. See how much the land is worth when living under an overpass.

The whole purpose of dams is for flood control.

THe average poster on TV throughout the floods has shown a startling ignorance of the whole situation - here is another example......"The whole purpose of dams is for flood control."

Yes, dams are also used to generate electricity & provide water for the irrigation canals which many farmers use for cultivation.

Do you guys have any info? Would like to know more about this thing!

(from Chiang Mai as well)

In Phuket TOT are now offering Fiber 2U 10Mb down 1Mb up for 1,490 per month. You have to pay for the receiver but the fiber optic line is free up to certain length from the port (forget how far) but longer you have to pay. It does not seem to be affected by rain.