Valentine

Ah, okay. The usual guy knows me so I guess he never asks me for anything.

Yes, but if the 90 form, which they staple in your passport, does not have room for anymore stamps then a new form has to be filled out. Whether or not they ask you for photocopies of passport, with visa & arrival form, is another matter but on Friday they did require it. In fact the previous time I was there the officer said I would need photocopies next time, I just happened to forget. In all the times I have been doing the 90 day reporting they have stamped the existing form in my passport until it was full.

I was there on Friday for my 90 day reporting. The form in the passport did not have room for anymore stamps so I was politely asked by the Thai immigration officer to get a couple of photocopies, which you can now do directly underneath instead of out the back. When I returned the officer filled out the new form, stamped & stapled the other piece in my passport. I thanked him & left, all done in about 5 minutes including getting the photocopies.

He has a wedding coming up, remember. And just how genuine a figure is the three million signatures?

3.6 million signatures of which 2 million have been verified, the rest contained irregularities.

Banana IT in Hua Hin, fill out the spam collecting warranty card, but don't expect any customer service if something goes wrong, they will tell you to deal with the manufacturer,

Hard to find anyone who speaks English at Banana IT in Big C or at Jib for that matter although I have found they do try. Good English speaking staff at Future & most helpful. X-Net is still good as is Advice (limited English) just round the corner from the Shell station next to Honda dealer in Phuket Town. If buying a brand name computer buy one which has a local service agent & you can go directly to them instead of getting frustrated with the original seller.

On a slightly different note but still pertinant.

Where I take the car to be cleaned the price has just jumped from 250B to 800B.

Inflation or another rip off?

Phuket is beginning to tire me

Chao Fa West right side coming from the circle & just before the bend that leads to the traffic lights. There are used cars for sale next to it.

Your joking..you try and book a flight and pay for it with your credit card in any Travel agency ,you will be charged anything from extra 3%,,and many other high priced goods,,Thailand charges are a lot more than the ......U K..

There are many places (usually smaller businesses) that still tack on 3% when using MC or Visa card & 5% for American Express even though the credit card companies say they are not supposed to do it & you should report any retailer who does add the extra. However stating that will get you nowhere.

Shouldn't this discussion be about the lawlessness surrounding the tuk tuks & not the price of eggs in China. They regularly flout the law, resort to mob rule, on occasion become vicious cowards, provide an inferior service for a vastly inflated sum (which they probably have to do as there are far too many tuk tuks than actually required so fewer opportunities for fares). How long before someone is killed & I wonder if the local population have similar problems but are not reported.

Looking at the photo the concrete does not appear to be very thick nor can I see any rebar.

Lets expand it to Thailand and the 8 million thb they want to spend on the new "Miracle Thailand" campaign.

The original article quoted 8 billion. Remember they need plenty to spread around plus 1st class junket trips for roadshows.

Its at the tesco booth. Called Wifi

Thx

will try them today, you never know

TOT might be calling WiNet & it is definitely running in Kathu around Loch Palm. You definitely need line of sight from your home to the tower for it to work.

The "shortcut" that runs behind Homeworks for which a lot of time & money was wasted to remove a squatter who years ago originally agreed to move when the land was needed. Another new "shortcut" which runs from the back of PSU through to Wichitsongkram Rd. This made the news a while ago when well into the construction they stated it was not feasible due to it being too steep. It now appears to be almost complete.

A few years back my company used to pay for me to fly business class to Doha which I found to be exceptional.

Maybe they have gone downhill since Peter, the English chef, left & joined Watermark.

Has anyone checked if the fuel tariff surcharge has been increased?

It seems some people cannot seperate the coup which was political from his criminal conviction for abuse of power. One political the other criminal.

The coup resulted in a constitution which actually had a section written into it absolving those responsible of the crime of illegal overthrow of a democracy and ripping up a constitution of any criminal responsibility. From that stems every claim of double standards. Sure convict Thaksin but what reason is there to not try those responsible for overthrowing democracy too. Also try explaining that to ordinary people especially when it concerns the one member of the wealthy political elite who they chose and who they see as the only who helped them.

Which coup are you talking about that stems every claim of double standards as the coup makers have absolved themselves of responsibility in every other coup as well.

17 provinces are always used when this type of big scale survey is done. I wonder which 17 provinces did they choose from. We all know Thailand is "divided" as proved in the last election. The provinces chosen for this survey will change the result dramatically

Regardless, they have already failed on so many levels regarding their ability to formulate and execute the policies promised.. Thaksin is the catalyst for chaos.

Prior to the election the same survey company showed that Pheu Thai would win so it seems the surveys are being undertaken by a fair cross section of soicety.

I had the screen changed on my Samsung telephone for 700 Baht in Big C.

Arent we a pedantic one ?.....tablet computer/ I-pad same same but different...it dont matter anyway because they are going to get them anyway....

I would say there is a vast difference between an iPad & a cheap Chinese tablet which is what the kids will get.

Perhaps if OTOP were to recruit some coyote dancers to peddle their wares they might attract some tourists & locals alike. There must be some good OTOP products which need to be identified & then a professional marketing promotion put in place with a view to export. Overseas & domestic tourists are not going to travel around Thailand because of OTOP. Getting rid of scams, making it safer, keeping a clean environment will help attract more tourists.

what about AIS 3G? has anyone tried torrents on that?

I think AIS charges by the minute or by the GB. Not too good be be trying to download big files with...

I have AIS 3G unlimited so no problems with download limits.

I use this as a backup in case my 3BB doesn’t work.

AIS 3G unlimited gets deliberately slower once you reach a certain threshold.

The above photo shows the land is being used for farming. However, the "farmer" does seem to have a fairly large home with plenty of bungalows for farm workers.

Yes, but there will be a lot of shiny new trucks driven by various contractors and some nice new cars for those that appointed said jobs to said contractors. Gotta keep new vehicle sales up!

Even allowing for "agent commissions" in the form of cars or whatever there should still be about 50 to 100 million in funds leftover & this kind of thing is going on to a lesser or greater extent in just about every government funded project throughout the country. It would not be so bad if the workmanship was par excellence but it seems they deliberately set the bar low in order that the whole process can be repeated much more quickly. I remember a long time ago in Patong when every year right at the start of the high season all the paving stones on the footpaths had to be taken up & relaid.

It baffles me in a society where making merit is considered a fairly high priority yet cutting down on these overblown budgets would free much more money to help the needy & raise not only their standard of living but also their self esteem. Surely this would be considered good merit making.

I suppose another point is that they ask for money than what they really need knowing the budget will be trimmed by the central authorities.

A rough estimate for concrete only came to around 27 million. If you factor in other things like rebar, machines to sculpt the road, coarse sand, median strip, labour it surely cannot be much more than 100 million. Even adding a hefty profit, the budgeted figure still seems rather high considering that local companies should be the recipients of the work & subsequent profits.

Could this be the standard xenophobic response to deflect the heat away from influential Thai nationals? I am not disputing that there is foreign involvement but they can only do it with local assistance in which case foreigners & Thais alike should be taken to court.

If you are considering changing the sand in your filter go for glass filter media. It is more expensive than sand but much better. Check it out with Google. I recently had a similar problem with a customer's pool & in the end we added flocculant which cleared up the problem.

For my early years living in Patong I always had a rented Honda Dream for the times I was in town (I was working offshore month on month off). In those days there were hardly any vehicles on the road compared to now. I currently drive a Mistubishi Triton Plus 4 door pick up which is great when you have passengers plus I can carry a load of salt or various construction materials on the back. These days I would only consider riding a motorbike if it was an emergency & I had no other means of transport.