Valentine

It is disgraceful this is allowed to happen as it will also destroy coral reefs. Trawling does not discriminate.

I suggest the mods move this to the Phuket Forum where it will reach a wider audience as this a serious issue that affects locals & tourists alike. Another story of the robber barons enriching themselves at the expense of all & sundry.

Whatever the reasons for the delay it just shows the authorities are not really interested in genuinely helping the public. I guess we can now expect to see hordes of buses having to do U turns on a busy main road disrupting already heavy traffic consideirng most of the buses in & out of Phuket are during peak traffic times.

Waiting on permission to build a flyover!! Lack of foresight & coordination between various departments is so widespread it must be normal to those involved but surely they must have thought about the traffic implications before they even started building the new terminal. Using some back street sois looks like a band aid measure & will certainly encounter many land issue problems which generally take years to resolve. Some examples which seemed to take forever are the acquiring of the small block of land for the start of the road which runs from nearby Promphan on Chao Fa West, road widening through Thalang, the road which runs up from Poonpol Plaza, Chao Fa West itself where the 4 lane road gets squeezed in many places & generally does not have a proper shoulder, & the classic tank farm debacle on Wichit Rd running to Rawai.

Phuket needs a lot more widening & building of secondary roads, urgently, if we are to prevent total gridlock from happening on a regular basis which does happen on occasion if there is an accident.

I will definitely go & see Avatar if they show it in 3D. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is coming which could also be good in 3D.

RAM prices don't seem to vary too much whether it is at Banana, Big C, IT City or Supercheap so just grab it where it is most convenient for you.

I agree, just buy it wherever you can, insuring you get the right type.

Personally once I had the 4GB of RAM installed I would then install 64 Bit windows if it isnt already....

Yes, good idea, as getting anything more than 4GB RAM is wasted unless you switch to 64bit.

Foreign motorcycle riders can already ride legally in Thailand on foreign MC drivers lisence, so I find this article odd.

It helps driving on the left side of the road as most people in Thaialnd do, and remain sober to stay alive. Helmets can prevent head injuries.

I live in Kata, and see these suicide guys every day. The lack of MC drivers lisence is not a major problem, lack of common sense is.

I guess its called holdiday moode. Just like jumping out from a tower with an elastic around your foot.

ok, steem blown off

To the proportion of people who get killed on motorbikes to the proportion that die while bungy jumping, I would venture to suggest bungy jumping is a far safer alternative.

I definitely agree that common sense is seriously lacking from many motorbike riders but so it is to those in 4 wheel vehicles who constantly speed & drive dangerously but never seem to be booked for it. I was once pulled over on the bypass road by the highway police for being over the double yellow line when overtaking. I was in the wrong but can say the outside of the car was just slightly over the line. They let me off with a warning. I have only been booked for speeding once which was on the highway past Sara Buri on the way to Korat & paid an "on the spot fine".

In recent times I constantly urge myself to drive slower & even more so after black Monday. The guy who was involved in the accident on Chao Fa West last week, in which a young male died, even if not his fault will have to live with that for the rest of his life plus the ongoing financial & legal hurdles.

what about the brakes? they don't teach about them at the local driving schools for heavy vehicles or what?

Or using the correct gear to control the speed by use of accelerator, called engine braking. If the truck is loaded within the spec it is possible to control the truck with the throttle. Oh I forgot that would not include overloaded vehicle.

Not sure how the use of the correct gear will work when rolling backwards. It seems the truck driver took the best available option.

RAM prices don't seem to vary too much whether it is at Banana, Big C, IT City or Supercheap so just grab it where it is most convenient for you.

Its between the country club and the caltex / go cart road.. One road north from the Bang Wad dam access road..

There was a lot of building activity over Nov / Dec.. Looked to move swiftly.. Large buildings going up etc, but either the work is more behind the scenes or its slowed down a lot in Feb. As a casual observer little has happened in recent weeks from my vantage point.

The money flow from overseas has stopped, hence the lack of any continuing work.

If you go up the main access road to Bang Wad dam, not the one through the golf course, turn right at the concrete plant, the project is several hundred metres along the narrow pot holed soi.

I just ran a speedtest to SF & my download times is 1.59Mbs compared to normally 2Mbs. I am on TOT Platimum Cyber (3Mbs service).

I seriously doubt the one in Kathu will open in April.

The thread is about scams in Phuket & nowhere did the website mention Thailand in relation to the hospital scam. Iceman appears to be talking about something which may or may not happen here.

In the sad & not so minor accident in which two young men were killed when they collided on Chao Fa East yesterday, I wonder how it will be handled in terms of compensation if the families wish to pursue it.

Very sad to see the comtinuing tragedies on our roads. It was carnage yesterday in Phuket. Besides the Brit & the Thai there were others yesterday. Just before 8am on Chao Fa West, nearby TOT, a young Thai man was killed & female passenger seriously injured when they collided with a vehicle as they turned on to the main road. There was almost certainly another death around 11am outside Tesco Lotus on the bypass as I saw rescue workers with a couple of sheets & starting to wrap up a body.

I have had accidents with motorbikes over the years in 3 different cars. In the first my car was barely a few days old when a Canadian smashed along the side. He apologised profusely saying he wast hinking about his next drink at the bar, offered to pay & I took him to Patong hosptal as his arm was slashed open. A couple of days later him & I went to the panelbeaters & he gave me the money based on the quote so no police or insurance involved.

2nd one was in Phuket Town where a sidecart swerved across the road & smashed the side of my car. Thai guy apologised & offered me the use of his old family car while mine was being repaired but said he had no money to pay for damages. Police & insurance turned up with policeman asking if it was OK to let my insurance cover the cost of damage to my car which the insurance guy already agreeed to. I said yes & the policeman left.

3rd one was in Kathu, I indicated to turn right & as I was making the turn a motorbike crashed into the right side as he was overtaking from behind. Police & insurance turned up & I left shortly thereafter to let them sort it out.

Gf just arrived home after seeing the result of a horrible accident near TOT on Chao Fa West. One dead motorcyclist with passenger not looking so good. She did not see if any other vehicle was involved but must have been as motorbike was smashed up badly. Maybe it was a hit and run.

I wonder if the water authorities reduce their volume calculations due to silt settling in the dam from run offs during rains. It must syrely build up over the years.

The headline alone is enough to stir up trouble.

I asked the same question to one of the mods but now see this works.

On occasion when friends visit Phuket they love it but then again I try to point them in the right direction & take them to places where I know they will have an enjoyable experience. I also warn them of potential scams. Most tourists probably have a great time but as it is the world over bad news is what grabs the spotlight which is usually just a tiny fraction of all the good news stories out there.

Pretty in pink. As long as it can help serve the needs of Phuket's rapidly growing population at affordable rates it will be a good addition. All kinds of infrastructure improvements seem to lag far behind the reality.

To everyone talking about parents watching their children...you do realize what country we are talking about here right? I'm sure they are about to tackle that issue right after they get everyone to stop serial littering and driving insanely. To a predeterminist culture such as this one, these tragedies are unavoidable. Our fate has already been determined. That's why their are not lifeguards, and when there are, they aren't trained. You drown, it's just "bad luck." Personal responsibility? Forget it.

It seems you are being quite cynical even though what you say is often the reality. However, I do not believe parents, given the choice & awareness, would allow fate to run its course if they know they can lessen the odds.

I posted this elsewhere 14 December: hope it helps

Part 1:

Thai passport

Today went into Phuket Town, Phuket Provincial Hall, with gf to apply for her passport - here's how it went

12.22pm: in the door, greeted at reception counter, handed over her ID card, got height measured, then straight to a booth with a staff member and a single form which the staff member completed after asking relevant questions

12.32pm: thumbprint scanned and photo taken

a few minutes wait, then handed form to take to counter, paid 1035 baht fee

12.41pm walked out the door.

19 minutes!

The passport will, they said, be delivered within seven days.

Part 2:

and just a final note on the Thai passport - Friday 18th 2.30pm and the courier bike turns up with passport - that's 4 days and 2 hours since she applied (actually sounds better at "under 100 hours") - and it had come from Bkk.

Not bad at all.

That was exactly how it went several years ago when my two daughters applied for passports at the mobile passport office in Central. It has certainly improved over the years & having a permanent office in Phuket is another step in the right direction & it shows that government departments can work efficiently if they are willing to upgrade & change their processes.

As much as this is a tragic event & would be for any family I tend to agree that parents need to be more aware of what their children are up to. Just two days ago I picked up my daughters & a couple of their friends from school & they were climbing into the back of the pick up but I started moving without thinking. Luckily they were all in except one who was partially on but able to get on OK. I felt so bad & could have slapped myself all the way home.

I also agree the authorities could do more at little expense such as the multi lingual signs suggested above plus an awareness campaign throughthe hotels & resorts. Beach lifeguards are a serious issue & need to be addressed in a professional manner. An extension of the volunteer tourist police to volunteer lifeguards would be step in the right direction & all help should be given to the fledgling Phuket Surf Lifesaving group so they could at least provide some volunteer services such as exist in Australial & New Zealand.

Banana IT at Home Pro in Chalong or Earth Cyber at Big C. Make sure you get the Home Premium version.

You can also make pizza dough in a bread maker.

My friends who first recommended Ellis consistently visit everytime they are in from Hong Kong. The only thing I don't like about the location is having to reverse my pickup out of the narrow soi. Italian music in the restaurant was pretty cool & the food is great.

I have had two dentists quote me about Baht 3,000 for a large filling on my bottom back tooth. This seems quite high consideirng I saw a sign which stated 1 surface 800, 2 surface 1,000, 3 surface 1,200. She tried to tell me mine was 4 surface & would be 3,200 but would discount to 2,800. Based on the above progression I would have thought 1,400. When I pointed out the pricing on the sign she said it was wrong. When I went back a few days later to see if there was truly a mistake the sign had been changed showing fillings from 1,200 to 3,200.

Low inflation, recession, but prices continue to rise. Just look at the huge increase in rice prices over the last couple of years.