Valentine

The physical & inner strength of the father & the bond with his son is truly amazing. Yes it is a tear jerker.

Years ago SS had loads of rugby but nowadays they do not seem to show any. I subscribe to cable (350/month) which caters for all my rugby needs.

I feel there are different degrees of honking the horn. To me a long hard push on the horn shows a degree of anger or a desperate warning that an accident is imminent. A quick short honk can be one of gratitude or letting a motorist know they are about to make a maneuvere which could lead to an accident. The horn should really be used for what it is intended, a safety device.

Thais could be particularly prone to road rage because of their pent up emotions. I experienced it with my first car about 12 years ago. Starting up the mountain from Kathu to Patong, the road would have been single lane, a private limo driver was going slow & not moving over so as I passed him I gave a short honk. Before I knew it he was going flat out, overtook me, stopped at the crest of the mountain & jumped out of his car shaking his fists at me. I just smiled & continued on.

I am surprised there is not more road rage when I see the way some people drive but on the other hand there many more considerate drivers than rude, arrogant, dangerous ones.

Off topic, but why would you use a Bangkok based broker, except to get the lowest rate? They won't be able to provide any local service.

Sorry, don't know this Assets Insurance.

It does not matter where the broker resides as I have used local brokers before & in my earlier days here the Thai guy would come himself in the event of accident. In more recent years a couple of different brokers showed a basic lack of interest in that they would provide you with the 24 hour hotline number from the insurance company &/or the number of the local agent. Having said that the people that work for the insurance companies have been quick to respond & I have no complaints about their service.

BTW we have used this broker from Bangkok for several years now & they always provide the best rates & favourable payment terms i.e. you can pay over several months.

Don't know them, but would guess they are the broker.

For service the broker is important, but the insurer will decide where you can take your car for repair.

The broker is ASN based in Bangkok & I have used them before but in the past they quoted from Siam Commercial or Bangkok Insurance.

I have a quotation from a company called Assets Insurance for 1st class insurance on my pickup. The price is quite reasonable & the terms & conditions look pretty similar to what I have had in the past. However, I have never heard of this company (they do list an address on Chalermprakiat Rd) & want to know if they are reliable in terms of service & acceptable at the car repair shops, in Phuket, as many do not like to take jobs if you have insurance from particular companies.

Reading the report it seems like a case of road rage gone horribly wrong if the police theory is correct. They often man the circle at that time of night which means it is possible the initial incident was seen. I hope the suspects are caught asap.

You can jog for free at the pleasant Sanam Luang park where they also have free equipment to use although not sure if it would be safe after dark.

You should be more specific with your question as to which shop you are considering.. There are many Apple dealers in Phuket at Central, Big C, Jungceylon.

Usually when I buy new cell phone I check the battery to see if it is a genuine one from the manufacturer but in reality I have no clue if it is genuine or not. I know Nokia have the hologram on their ones. I worry about unscrupulous vendors replacing good genuine batteries, which they can sell, with fake ones. The serious side of this is that fake ones can blow up as I saw on a documentary the other day. One Chinese manufacturer of fake batteries openly admitted deliberatley not adding a component to the battery to save money & stated they can swell if overcharged. An independent test showed this swelling before the battery exploded.

On the same show some fake Peugeot brake parts were taken to the producer of the genuine ones & they could not tell the difference other than to say the fake ones make more noise which highlights that fake products will continue to get harder to spot.

Yes thats correct but we dont no the OP's experience and education.

For as your job, i know myself that the last 2 year in your proffestion (BJ and Scomi) only using local people, if i was you try to contact them for jobs in Brasil and i heard that Iran is going to contract a lot off riggs the first quarter off 2010.

Will open my ears if i hear something will let you know.

Thanks. I do have a contact at MI who covers Iran & last year he said there could be work coming up.

Several years ago I was driving along Chao Fa East towards Phuket Town during a storm when 3 or 4 explosions accompanied by bright blue flashes occured on the power lines. Quite a few years back a girl was electrocuted when she leaned out of her balcony & touched some cables. Years ago in my apartment block in Patong a child was killed when he was able to climb on to a transformer which was on the ground & fenced off but unlocked. In Phuket Town, Thalang or Phang Nga Rd, the cables have supposedly all been put underground & certainly makes it look much nicer until one looks at the row of ugly cables stretching the length of the block hanging off the side of the buildings.

Electrical safety standards in this country have a long way to go. I would like to know if there are laws for setting of overhead cables because if they are set according to the current law then it is a disgrace when one can see the state of them throughout the likes of Phuket Town & Patong.

SB may have been talking about the price quoted for a crown at 24,000 as it seems excessively high to me.

If you have experience tooling parts for deep water rigs then you should focus on the companies which service the rigs for that equipment. I seriously doubt you will get a job through an agency.

I have 20 years experience as a drilling fluids (mud) engineer, mostly offshore rigs, but have been out of it for a few years as I wanted to have more time at home & work on the family business. Recently I have been trying to get work but without success although 2 or 3 years ago during the boom times it would have been easy to get a job. Of the 20 years 15 were as a consultant & never any trouble getting work as the companies were always looking for experienced hands.

Too many consultants were slashed during the recession & are currently looking for work. That & the fact I have been out of it for a few years makes it all the harder for me personally to get a job but the same will be true for all disciplines.

BTW. If anyone has any contacts or know of any jobs related to mud engineering a post or direct PM to me will be much appreciated.

It was just nonsense, "says Karina.

I think that says it all regarding the whitewash investigation by the local authorities.

And how many people die in the meantime, an absolute joke and truly embarrassing.

During the high season it is pretty hard to drown as the waters are calm, no rips, no big waves. Any drowning at this time would likely be a side effect of a seizure, heart attack, whacked by a jet ski.

If some guy went for a midnight swim & then got gang raped by a bunch of homosexual drunkards I seriously doubt anyone on this forum would intimate he was asking for it or it was his fault.

I finally went to Ellis the other night & ordered the "Chief's" pizza. A single, free, piece of very good tasting bruschetta was given while waiting. When the pizza arrived I thought this cannot be right as there did not appear to be enough on it. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the taste & would rate it as one of the better pizzas I have eaten. I wonder where the pizza club would place this on their scale?

Background Italian music was OK, seats not comfortable but then again I don't find the seats at M & Ms very comfortable either, & having to reverse my pickup out of the narrow dead end soi is also another small gripe.

Rob, do you think it was gas? if so I cannot see how it can come from running water as in the first pic of the canal. H2S can form from decomposing matter but it is heavier than air & has a rotten egg smell in low doses but as the content increases you cannot smell it which is when it is most deadly.

I'm at a loss, like all of you, as to what may have caused this. I was surprised the first time is saw how dirty it was behind Laleena. Who knows what has been dumped down that creek.

My personal opinion was some sort of insecticide. That would attribute to the low acetylcholinesterase found in Jill. And seeing that dirty, nasty canal behind Laleena you can be sure they had some insect problems. Also the half life for insecticides in the body degrade rather fast (depending on the chemical used). Maybe that's why nothing was able to be found. But that's just a possible hypothesis... one of many out there I suppose.

Anyone have any idea what type of insecticides are used on Phi Phi (or made available from Thailand)?

Rob

From another news source we get this story just published about the mystery woman in Phi Phi's Laleena Guesthouse double-death riddle who spoke publicly for the first time saying that the killer was gas. According to the article this has always been the view of Ryan Kells. The travelling companion of the Norwegian woman killed, Karina Refseth, also fell sick from the same cause, as did Ryan. Refseth narrowly survived after emergency care.

Rob, do you think it was gas? if so I cannot see how it can come from running water as in the first pic of the canal. H2S can form from decomposing matter but it is heavier than air & has a rotten egg smell in low doses but as the content increases you cannot smell it which is when it is most deadly.

These tragic deaths have not been forgotten as can be seen on a Phuket news website which cannot be named but has an interview with survivors There is also mention of concrete works going on in the canal behind the Laleena guesthouse on another forum.

The shoe is now on the other foot. Mr Thaksin's supporters conveniently forget the dodgy decision in his assets concealment case.

There is an expensive 5 star restaurant on the road to Kathu waterfall. I have not been there, only heard about it so cannot comment on standard.

This has always been the best solution for the rentals & tuk tuks as there is absolutely no need for them all to be parked on the beach road or any other road. They can operate in similar fashion to airports all over the world where you go to the counter look at a book of available rentals, choose one & the get taken by bus to where is stationed the vehicle. Alternatively the hirer could bring the vehicle to the beach road once the deal has been made. Tuk tuks can also be called in on as needed basis.