Valentine

A tad off topic but it has to be said:

I've tried the pizzas at Nikita's, M&M's, Amalfi, Ellis (now closed) and without a doubt, the best pizzas in Rawai are from Modena on Sai Yuan Rd. Check it out.

Everytime I have driven past Modena in the evening it is empty. There seems to be one poster who always recommends Modena, is that you?

Fro my tastes it is the best on the east side of Phuket bnut tghe woman is dreadful. After a few less than pleasant moments in her domain I have stopped going there.

Nikats pixxa is ok for me

I knew this was going to come up in this thread, and frankly I wonder how many of the people who criticize Maggie are just crappy customers............

Probably her way of clearing out the riff-raff.

Been going there for years, enjoy the food and enjoy Maggies personality.

+1

Never had a problem with her

Me too as she has always been friendly & polite to me. If I am craving for a good pizza that is where I go.

Where i come from all work is carried out by trades people with apprentices or labourers to assist them

each specialists in there own field

If you are not happy with the work you go to the local government and they send out a qualified builder to

inspect the job and make sure its up to government building standards.

Here the same underpaid workers do everything except the electrical work at the site i have been watching

The work is sub standard and i can see big problems with the houses in the future

Are they the homes on the corner next to you as for a long time progress seemed really slow. Maybe run out of money or not paying workers which is very common. I am currently waiting for some workers to join our crew but they wont budge until they get their promised overdue payment from current employer.

Coming from Rawai to Nai Harn turn left at the 1st Y junction & you will see it immediately on the right side.

Recently I was coming from Rawai & just near the top of the hill & the bend I was overtaken by a pickup like I was standing still but actually doing about 75kph so the pick up must have been doing at least 120 passing on the outside of the dividing line forcing a car coming the other way to take quick evasive action. As he disappeared in the distance I could see him swerving inside & outside while he continued to overtake all & sundry. A median strip would have at least prevented some of this madness.

Last night I bought a TV at Home Pro with the particular model on a special discount, for 2 days only, below the normal discounted promotion price plus a further 10% reduction for using credit card & without me asking the AV manager produced a voucher reducing the price a further Baht 500. The total ended up being 1,700 lower than the best price at Powerbuy. At Home pro I have never had any problems with their service or warranty issues, of which there have only been a couple & I buy quite a lot from there mainly for business use.

Oh boy! This will really reduce the traffic flow as the right lane where the five breaks in the medium are will be all backed up with people trying to make a U turn!

Being part of such a grand project they might actually have 3 lanes where the U turns are. A big problem I see with some of the 4 lane roads is that in many places people park on the inside lane as there is no shoulder. This is particularly evident outside Supercheap mini mart on Chao Fa West (which should also have a median strip) where sometimes you have to snake your way past especially when vehicles are waiting to turn right into PTT. BTW more traffic lights are being installed on the Chao Fa roads.

As the videotaped beatings at the local temple school this past week confirms.

Beatings? That's quite an exaggeration. They were slaps.

Really, Karen? Towards the end, one slap sends the kid to the floor. That was not a slap, but a thrash. I am not going to get into it with you by splitting hairs.

Slap, thrash, all the same in my book. Where I teach, I hear it in stereo from these idiots. Classroom to my left and classroom to my right. It does not make it right.

IMO a hard slap on the side of the head has the potential to cause damage either to the ear drum or the brain itself especially if done on repeated occasions. For chrissakes the video shows this punishment being handed out to little kids supposedly for not doing their schoolwork properly. When I was at school the fear of being strapped on the hand or caned on the backside never entered my head when I played up & CP certainly did not help improve my academic potential but teachers who provided praise & positive encouragement certainly gave me the incentive to try harder.

Just where do you get decent fish n chips these days? I have heard some say Nikita's is good & others say it is not. I have yet to find any that match the ones from the couple on the way to Chalong Pier.

Which couple and what restaurant

We checked out the Chalong beer garden which is just a bar and went to the tamarind restaurant instead

Still looking for good fish and chips

I'm guessing the valentine is talking about the couple that used to have the little eatery just before Happy Days, long gone now as the couple both deceased.

Just yesterday I tried the Fish & Chips at Happy Days, not so bad, cost 180 baht.

We went there one evening to try the fish and chips, the shop was closed and as we were walking away

the owner came out and said he was closed because his wife was sick, may they rest in peace

Very tragic indeed. She died from a stroke & not long after the funeral he put a gun to his head.

Back to the fish n chips. The other day I had some at Sizzler which I always liked but they were not up to the usual standard.

In case any of you have not noticed but the topography of Phuket has suffered many changes over the years. Examples can be found all over the island where hills have been degraded or disappeared altogether. The most famous one in my mind is where the pistol range now sits, the one on the Kathu side of the hill from Patong. There was a huge amount of land removed from there all the way to the corner & beyond. I remember a time in Patong when there seemed to be a continuous convoy of dirt trucks coming in.

Just where do you get decent fish n chips these days? I have heard some say Nikita's is good & others say it is not. I have yet to find any that match the ones from the couple on the way to Chalong Pier.

There is a GNC stall in Tesco Lotus, they used to sell Niacin.

I have seen winter clothes in Central before. Sounds like you will need some thermal underwear as well.

One thing about Westerners is that we are a funny bunch. We like to think a few steps ahead. We like to plan. We like to see problems before they arise.

That's why the US of A and Europe and UK are in such good financial and economic health at the moment.

They are in financial strife because of easy money (remember Thailand prior to 1997?) & generous social packages. The bills have to be paid eventually & Thailand will face another financial meltdown unless they keep a tight fiscal policy.

Back to the subject. Hopefully the courts will be fair & impartial to all sides including the 2 mentioned in the subject of this thread. However the law does not seem to apply equally to all.

I think it's time we recognised how good Mr T was for business in Thailand and how he tried to open up the country to foreign investment and make it easier for foreigners to buy a piece of Thailand.

He understands the country needs the investment to grow and how it has to adopt a more outward view of the world.

Happy birthday MrT!

Such as wanting to sell off agricultural land to Saudi businessmen. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought today was the 3rd August not 1st April. Mr T was very good for business especially his own & those close to him but did it really raise the standard of living for the majority? I agree that adopting a more outward view of the world can be beneficial as long as they do not lose sight of their roots & culture. After all the unique place that is Thailand is what has drawn many of us here.

"Spare the rod and spoil the child".

It is all about how you discipline a child. Hard slaps on the side of the head could lead to brain damage. Good to see the follow up story as usually there never is.

Yeah, HD, who is Mel? I''d like to add astro to my set up.

Mel is a guy who can ably assist in setting up a satellite system as he has the knowledge & backup through a Thai company & the price he gives you is direct from the Thai guy who he highly recommends as providing good service & backup (Mel does not take any commission, a labour of love really). He normally reads these posts & may send you an SMS. If not PM me & I will send you his number.

All the HTC phones I looked at recently do not support video calling which to me is one of the attractions of signing up for 3G.

Seriously? Video call was one of the 3G killer applications when it was coming to the other parts of the world. But since those marketing talks, I have never seen anyone to really use it.

There was also some SIP/RTP based video/audio sharing applications.. but those were not successful either.

I was just saying the HTC phones do not support video calling. If you want video calling make sure your phone supports it & if using the service from AIS the phone must support 900MHz, DTAC uses 850. The 3G service from AIS does have video calling but costs an additional Baht 1.5 per minute. The packages price only includes internet access & some have unlimited WiFi access. For me video calling is not a big deal & accessing the internet through the small screen on my cheap smartphone is not much fun. I am guessing it can be connected to my PC & used as a back up modem in case the other one goes down but not sure about this.

Physical abuse such as this makes me feel sick & disgusted. Not only is it against the law but it could lead to serious long term damage to the child. The parents should have every right to lay charges with the police. Cases of errant teachers physically abusing students seem to gain headlines for a couple of days but then there never seems to be any follow up usually because the school authorities protect the teacher. Like corruption nothing will improve until the culprits face real & harsh justice. IMO doing schoolwork improperly is more a reflection of the teachers inability.

There seem to be a lot of drivers who have a problem with depth perception. Witness how wide they swing out to pass another vehicle or refuse to go through a gap that is obviously wide enough.

Don't understand the technical jargon above. All I know is that I am currently in the UK and get unlimited 3G, texts and 250 minutes talktime to any UK network for £10 per month (500 baht), prepaid. Doesn't sound as though anything like this will be on offer in Thailand for some time.

Also if True don't change from the current system of a separate signup for 3G on contract only that doesn't even work on my HTC phone then I'll have to consider going through the hassle of changing networks.

All the HTC phones I looked at recently do not support video calling which to me is one of the attractions of signing up for 3G.

I love the I Pad policy! When do we see the influx of used ipads that have been taken away and sold by the parents? Cheap prices on the horizon! Please wait till the 3 model is introduced. Thanks Yingluck!

At Baht 5,000 they will be some cheap Chinese tablet & if 5,000 is the limit how much of that will be paid on commissions? I seriously doubt there will be many buying used Chinese tablets. I personally feel that if they are determined to go ahead with this policy netbooks would be much better value for the kids.

The one in Patong was gone long ago. I tried it once, did not have the feelings xen described, but did come out feeling very relaxed & refreshed.

Just did a check on cholorine and it is still high after the 3rd day since dosing.......but I still have a bit of a green tint to the water and maybe a little green algae on the sides.

Naam......would your copper sulfate attack this kind of algae??

Copper sulfate should knock it on the head but it may be dead already so try brushing & vacuuming. BTW chlorine works more efficiently when the pH is lower so do not worry if your pH is around 7. Keeping your total alkalinity in line is important as this will help keep the pH stable & thus more efficient use of the chlorine. Do make sure the total volume of the pool passes through the filter 1 to 2 times per day (I prefer 2) & I have always used sand filters but nowadays I use glass filter media (has a much finer cut, less backwashing) rather than the usual sand.

Ah! You see Monsanto on that list?

While Thailand is not the largest producer of rice in the world I do believe it still remains the largest exporter of rice. Thais consume only about 1/3 of the rice they produce. what would getting into Thailand be worth to Monsanto? Billions.

Surely Monsanto is in here big time already & I am guessing there is huge corruption & profits being made on fertilizer. I wonder how many people are dying from applying fertilizer without using PPE (personal protective equipment).