Valentine

Must admit V

me Too

Now now boys. All will be revealed at tomorrows fun filled event. BTW my kids firmly believe I am SC.

The International Business Association of Phuket will hold their annual Xmas party on Friday the 11th at Phuket Brewery, opposite Tesco Lotus. Doors open at 6.15pm. All members & guests are urged to bring along their kids to meet Santa, have their photo taken & possibly receive a Xmas gift.

There are up to Baht 100,000 worth of door prizes on offer so come & join this fun filled evening.

Entrance fee is Baht 200 for members, Baht 400 for guests who do not need to be accompanied by a member, Baht 100 for students. Includes complimentary drinks & snacks.

Current members are urged to renew their membership for 2010 & any new members who pay for 2010 will be admitted at the members rate. One year membership fee is Baht 2,000 but will increase next year so be sure to pay now.

Check the IBAP website http://ibap-phuket.org for further details or tune in to 91.5FM just after 2pm Thursday to get a rundown on the event.

If you come from Saphan Hin to the clock circle in Phuket Town & turn left you will find a catholic church next to the bridge. This coming Friday night Santa will make an appearance at the IBAP Xmas party.

I just received an email saying Fashion Cafe (Chai Fa East) has had to close down although Perfection Spa will remain open. I used to enjoy eggs benedict (I don't know where I can get this now in Chalong area) & apart from the unique version of hot chocolate at Les Anges the one at Fashion was simply far & away the best.

That's a real shame Valentine. The guy tried so hard too. It's such a terrible shame when a restaurant selling good food closes for whatever reason. Is it a permanent closure? Wonder what he will do with the restaurant space?

He closed as revenue continued to go down & is unsure of future plans although open to any ideas. He did try hard , the food was good & the staff were really nice.

You should be able to find some expert help by going to one of Woody's computer clinic held every Sunday at one of his sandwich shops.

I just received an email saying Fashion Cafe (Chai Fa East) has had to close down although Perfection Spa will remain open. I used to enjoy eggs benedict (I don't know where I can get this now in Chalong area) & apart from the unique version of hot chocolate at Les Anges the one at Fashion was simply far & away the best.

There is a bus which leaves Patong twice weekly (?) & goes direct to Nong Kai. It stops outside Big C to pick up passengers & will drop you off in Udon if you desire. It is quite convenient for those who travel by bus to Udon as there is no loss of time changing buses in Bangkok. With the promotion special being offered by Air Asia it is much cheaper than the bus which costs 1,500.

this actually confirms my theory.

if there is a bus twice weekly, this means: not more than 80 seats per week (and the bus dropping passengers all the way up Isaan, not only in Udon).

How does AirAsia wanna fill 720 seats a week then....

A few weeks ago we went to Big C to put a package on the bus & there were two of them waiting to go. Who knows how many people travel to Udon on the numerouse buses which leave Phuket everyday. On the direct service there is only one price which is to Nong Kai & so for some it may be too expensive using this service to get dropped off along the way.

Classic indeed to make a sweeping generalization on foreign males yet most likely has no idea about the OP & his personal life. I feel the OP was trying generate comment on not only the morally correct thing to do in this stuation but also the sensible way to handle it. If the attacker all of a sudden pulled a knife & started stabbing the girl would you just advise all foreigners to just walk away & forget about this so called domestic dispute. To me your comments indicate an inferiorority complex & racism. Unless it is self defence, males assaulting females is a despicable & cowardly act & the great thing which has come out of the discussion is knowing about the reliable 1300 helpline service which should be made more widely known.

Let me suggest an alternative scenario: Japanese visitor to South London (speaking no or no adequate English) witnesses a similar scene. He can do what? Attempt to ring the Police or a helpline on which he will not be understood (as the OP did); he can attempt to intervene (and seriously risk death or bodily injury) or he can walk away. The Japanese are a pretty sensible bunch on the whole; they are not afflicted with the notion that they are as individuals entitled as of right to intervene in the lives of others whom they do not know nor understand. I think we can safely trust him to do the right thing.

All sorts of scenarios can be imagined but it boils down to a moral obligation & whether or not, as an individual, wish to get involved & if the person at the other end of the help line speaks Japanese, double Dutch or whatever one can at least try which does not involve any threat to your person. In most countries it is against the law to assault another person but unfortunately many societies tend to look on domestic violence as some sort of grey area due to many reasons one of which is the female will not wish to press charges.

We may not have the right to interfere in anyones affairs but there are moral, ethical & legal reasons to get involved not to mention the instinctive & natural feeling to help a fellow human in distress.

Home Pro or the like generally have a good range of epoxies which bond to most materials some of which will set underwater. I thought some of those vinyl pools came with a 10 year warranty & if so you should be talking to the supplier.

My piece of advice for you is stay out of the business and mind yours. This country is no business for farang! Your purpose is coming here for the girls. I don't think the victim need your hand and I guess your intention is a hero wannabe.

Cannot believe your post, l am surprised you know how to use your key board with a non intelligent comment (post) like that. You have read a post from a guy who has normal feelings for what's right and wrong in a bad situation where NORMAL thoughts from a NORMAL guy is to help a girl in distress. Sheeesh, and you seem to think that all of us are here for the girls. Perhaps you are, but don't assume this guy is. God help us, or should l say god help the girls with people like you around.

Don't get me wrong. I have never ever assault a girl in my life, not even my gf. I was born half Thai and not here for the girl purpose. I just hate to see a nosy farang in a foreign land trying to be like a hero. I wouldn't mind if he is a Thai. You get my point? Why the hel_l did you want to come to Thailand if not for the girl?

Classic indeed to make a sweeping generalization on foreign males yet most likely has no idea about the OP & his personal life. I feel the OP was trying generate comment on not only the morally correct thing to do in this stuation but also the sensible way to handle it. If the attacker all of a sudden pulled a knife & started stabbing the girl would you just advise all foreigners to just walk away & forget about this so called domestic dispute. To me your comments indicate an inferiorority complex & racism. Unless it is self defence, males assaulting females is a despicable & cowardly act & the great thing which has come out of the discussion is knowing about the reliable 1300 helpline service which should be made more widely known.

I read a few months ago the number of registered vehicles in Phuket was 700,000 plus the number of other province vehicles surely makes the population of Phuket at more than one million so yes the official incidence of HIV+ in Phuket is lower than stated. However, with the huge sex industry which flourishes in Patong & growing in many other places on the island there must be those who have HIV+ & getting treatment from outside Phuket,, those who have it & are not aware, it could still make the incidence in Phuket quite high.

I think one of the ways to get BBC Prime is through a satellite dish & modem. There are comapnies in Phuket providing this service & it has not been on True for many months ago as they replaced it with a really awful channel, the name which escapes me just now.

I took the passport photo instructions to my local photo shop in Phuket & she produced as required. When I turned them in at the embassy the lady commented they were the best she had seen according to the required specs. This was for a New Zealand passport & the required measurements were shown in metric.

Keep persevering as they have the technology.

The channel they replaced BBC E with is an absolute joke unless you like constant reruns of The X Files. Programmes like Estate of Panic are an affront to the intelligence. The dearth of almost anything British has left me sitting with the Silver package along with cable TV where I get most of the sport I like plus some entertainment.

True claim they do surveys to guage their veiwers preferences but I have been with them from the time they started broadcasting in Phuket & not once have I been asked for my opinion & until earlier this year I always had Gold & then Platinum when it started. I did voice my opinion to the customer serbice department when it was known they were going to replace BBC E & was told many many subscribers were annoyed about this change but of course it fell on deaf ears.

I related the Op's story to my wife (thai) up to the point of stopping and observing the beating and asked her to continue the story.

She said that she would have phoned 1300. A program started by the daughter of the prince, Pra Ong Pa, who has a master's degree in law, who take violence against women and children very seriously, and will react against any perpetrators with dire consequences. They in turn would take it up with the nearest police station and demand an investigation.

She also said that if a woman was molested and reported this to the police and their response was inappropriate or inadequate the name of the police officer was to be reported to this organisation for further action.

This scenario might just change the general attitude of the police if this is so.

This to my mind is by ar the most useful post on this thread and if Saiyan could expand on it with more information perhaps every participant to this thread could take note of the details and store them in their cell phone

I agree, this is great information I had never heard about before. If the general populace knew about & used (one thinks they would trust this service more than the police) it must surely help in changing the attitudes. By law & tradition the female population in Thailand get a fairly raw deal. Boys grow up believing in their superiority & that females are there to serve them. Do you notice at ATMs, when there is a couple together, it is always the female taking out the money.

I love the females here & believe they are the backbone of the country but remember, beneath that sweet, charming exterior, there can lie a vicious, nasty streak which can be brought to the surface on occasion.

I don't know where you are based but here in Phuket I get asked occasionally about using gunite but to this date I am not aware of anyone having the equipment or trained personnel. I do know there are many pool building companies in Phuket, of which I am one, plus many of the house builders also undertake pool construction with varying degrees of success.

If true it has the potential to give some very negative publicity to Thailand's premier sailing event. As it should be considered a sporting event it could set a precedent whereby every sporting team coming to play in Thailand will need to be vetted for WPs.

There is a bus which leaves Patong twice weekly (?) & goes direct to Nong Kai. It stops outside Big C to pick up passengers & will drop you off in Udon if you desire. It is quite convenient for those who travel by bus to Udon as there is no loss of time changing buses in Bangkok. With the promotion special being offered by Air Asia it is much cheaper than the bus which costs 1,500.

People choose gated estates for many reasons, not just for a sense of security. Gated estates are convenient as all construction is generally done to set plans & undertaken by the developer (no need to worry about building permits or dealing with contractors), if properly managed all the facilities are properly maintained. To infer that people who live in gated estates imagine the rest of Phuket as being like Soweto is absolute rubbish. Surely no one in their right mind would choose to live here if they believed it was like Soweto.

There is no 100% guarantee that anywhere you live will be safe but common sense precautions help. Phuket has a large population, I reckon more than one million, & consequently has an increasing crime rate. In my early years here I never heard about any of the things I hear about on an almost daily basis in respect of crime but then again the population was much lower & the good times were rolling. Back in my home town I do not know anyone who has been burgled but I know plenty here of which I am one.

BTW I do not currently live in a gated estate but have a home in one which has never been burgled which I believe is due to the fact of having security screens on the windows & a medium sized territorial dog even though many homes in the estate have been burgled, including close neighbours & the one next door which has been done twice (the first time it happened a bunch of guys from the home on the other side jumped the wall & beat up the burglar who was found to have a gun).

Over the years I have noticed the smell in both Kathu & Chalong but lately it seems to be OK. Having no idea how the water authorities control their dosing it is hard to say if they are putting in too much or too little. Liquid chlorine is prone to fluctuations in its strength depending how long it has been sitting on the shelf. It is a fallacy if you smell chlorine in the water that there is too much chlorine. In swimming pools if you have the chlorine smell it is actually chloramine (these are formed by a combination of chlorine & ammonium compounds) & usually means there is not enough chlorine.

If you do a search on chloramines in drinking water you will find it is used as a disinfectant in municipal water supplies (this may be the case in Phuket) & you need a filter with activated carbon to remove them. Depending on the process in making all that pure bottled water you buy. it may still contain chloramines which may not be that good for your health over time.

Getting back to the OP's topic 'safe for a woman to be alone here?'

Can someone tell me when they last (or ever) heard of a woman living alone being attacked inside her house? Anyone?

Wasnt it just last month that a man broke in and raped a single (american ??) woman in her own home..

Yes. There were quite a few postings on TV about this along with the attempted rape of a female jogger in the same area. There was speculation about it being the same guy but never heard if anyone got arrested & charged. I also think this issue was clouded by a police pursuit & arrest in Kata not long after with speculation about him being the Nai Harn rapist.

Living in a gated estate, being friendly with neighbours, simple security precautions such as window bars & good door locks, can all help lessen the odds of being burgled or attacked in your home. If we ever have to resort to razor wire on the walls & armed guards then we truly have a major problem.

When I saw his car on the morning after the accident I thought at the time he was going to have some problems. Although it looked bad I did not realize that someone had died. The car was parked as far off to the side of the road as possible but was in a section of Chao Fa West where the "4 lane road" narrows considerably as it does outside Promphan & elsewhere.

I hope a good compromise solution will be found.

Depending on where you are you should get a local pool company to take care of the pool &/or supply any new products which might be required as then you should have local back up service. What are you looking at buying?

There have been many burglaries around my ex's home in a gated estate in Kathu but so far ours has not been touched. No alarm system, just a medium sized dog & imported security screens on the windows. Given the OP's circumstances she should not have a dog but I agree that any kind of deterrent such as alarm, grills on the window, being friends with the neighbours & keeping an eye out for each other, etc will possibly make potential burglars look for an easier mark.

As for L & H there was a spate of burglaries there at one stage which were done in connivance with some of the security guards. The standard of security guards in general on Phuket is pretty abyssmal but you get what you pay for although I am sure there are some good ones out there.

As far as being a victim of violence I guess the chances of it happening here are no greater or no less than many other places, depends on which cities you compare them to.

You will need something bigger than the Jazz or Yaris which is being talked about. Some years ago David Car Rent, next to the airport, looked at buying my Honda CRV so I suggest you try them & enquire if they have one of those or similar. I am sure they would also pick you up at the terminal.