JoePai

The number you want is probably the Thai Visa insurance girl in Chiang Mai - 086 181 8383 Very good and extremely helpful

^ how much is "not that expensive"? I recall I had one years ago and I though it was more than it was worth, can't remember the exact amount though....

When you have an accident you do not start worrying about the cost ! That's the attitude many 'uninsured' riders have and why problems occur. Sorry to hear of your accident Raro

There is some information out there on "rooting" the phone to trick it into thinking you are in the US but I don't know what Rooting is or what I will loose if I do it.

'Rooting'is explained here.

It's easy to do and you don't lose any of your stuff on the phone such as pics, contacts, themes etc.

http://forum.android...ually-mean.html

Also here

http://lifehacker.co...r-android-phone

I rooted mine and now use a different UI. Battery life improved tremendously.

Can we ask what UI you use now please ?

All correct, at least the 'agent' told you correct, us them !

Premier account the best thing since sliced bread. I opened an account in BKK, very simple and my client relationship manager is a dream to work with - only have to ask and they/he does everything. Told them to set up a US$ and a Thai Baht account. Then went on to open 2 accounts both in Jersey and Singapore.

3m Baht to keep Premier status - simple, don't leave it on deposit, put it into a few mutual (equity based) funds. Make much more than any bank interest. Again with Premier so easy.

Internet banking : once set up a dream to use and can move money around without problem - except large amounts of Thai Baht to send abroad then a phone call/email to your client relationship manager and he will sort it out. Note this is all "free" - to use other banks SWIFT is an expensive mugs game and with using the Premier account you get the best rates should you need to convert currencies.

As you can probably tell I am more than pleased with HSBC

Interesting your's about the only positive comment on this account. Can you tell us about you nationality? Some are not allowed Jersey accounts.

Also, what approx. return are you getting on from your HSBC mutual funds? I'm interested in current returns...do they have some decent bond or stock funds with low expense ratios and no "loads" with decent returns?

I am a Brit and have lived in Thailand for a few years struggling with the local banks until I 'found' HSBC.

I had no trouble opening the 3 BKK accounts (one USD and two Thai Baht accounts) even in the middle of last years riots in BKK. To show you how good the Thai end of HSBC is, the accts Manager suggested we meet in Tescos (yes you read that right) as he did not want me to go all the way into BKK to sign the papers because of the fighting there - now would you ever get that sort of service anywhere else in the world !

Once these accounts were opened I said I wanted a Jersey acct as my money is based in USD and GBP so a week after my BKK accounts were opened he sorted out all the paperwork with Jersey and so I now had my 2 accounts in Jersey.

Wanting to keep my 3m Baht (Premier amount) in Mutuals (stupid to leave on deposit) I found not all the funds I wanted could be bought via the Wealth Asset (Jersey) but could be bought from Singapore so I simply emailed my man in BKK and he arranged for accounts in Singapore to be opened.

As I said before all just so easy.

Mutuals : I like S.E.A so have a good spread with the usual China/India/Malaysia/Indonesia and of course Thailand. Obviously all are well up but do need to keep an eye on what happening politically in some of the countries and be prepared to sell quick should "something" happen ..................

Please feel free to PM me for help/name of my BKK Manager if you wish

Premier account the best thing since sliced bread. I opened an account in BKK, very simple and my client relationship manager is a dream to work with - only have to ask and they/he does everything. Told them to set up a US$ and a Thai Baht account. Then went on to open 2 accounts both in Jersey and Singapore.

3m Baht to keep Premier status - simple, don't leave it on deposit, put it into a few mutual (equity based) funds. Make much more than any bank interest. Again with Premier so easy.

Internet banking : once set up a dream to use and can move money around without problem - except large amounts of Thai Baht to send abroad then a phone call/email to your client relationship manager and he will sort it out. Note this is all "free" - to use other banks SWIFT is an expensive mugs game and with using the Premier account you get the best rates should you need to convert currencies.

As you can probably tell I am more than pleased with HSBC

Have been using USB 3 for a couple of months between computer and external USB 3 HDD . Stickers on the computers say 10X speed - absolute rubbish - 2 or (max) 3 times is all I have got. However, even at those speeds it does make things easier

When you say 3rd party.. i presume you mean the extra insurance (2,000b for 2 years). in that case he should certainly have called the insurance and yes it would probably have turned out differently.

seconded

Insurance doesnt want to pay unless they have to. Police backs off more easily when insurance is present, so do "witnesses".

In general, never admit fault, or actually do not speak, until you insurance rep asks you to speak

Can someone clarify, what happens generally if a car is hit by a bike in the rear and say needs the bumper replacing? Can we take it that it is a normal Wave type 125 that has the two statutory tax/insurance items. IS the insurance that the bike has adequate. I see this regularly and just wondered.

Nope the owner of the vehicle will have to claim off his insurance - but will not loose his NCB as not his 'fault'

I have a 9700 Bold and have been using it for over a year now - never a problem even when it got 'launched' at a brick wall ..........................

First you will have to 'up' your budget to 40k - you are not going to get a good machine for 30k.

Asus is the only way to go here in Thailand (and elsewhere) due to their reliability and service/backup

No sense in going for a large screen - just more to carry around/heavier - a 14" is sufficient - then when you want to play games plug in a large monitor although I have no problem with 14"

I have an Asus N82J which ticks all your boxes. Has Blu-ray and the new(?) Nvidia 'Optimus' switchable graphics card - save power.

One requirement you did missed out is USB 3 - this is now a must and 2011 will see all the new hardware come with USB 3

Hi - thanks - it's made where? what about the graphics card? 1gb? how much did you pay? I want to play Call of Duty Black Ops on it + normal surfing - yes I could link it to my 55 inch LED I guess - thanks - it is a i7??? cheers

Asus is based in Korea. The graphics Nvida card is the latest switchable ie if not using it for heavy gaming it shuts part of it down to conserve power (veryclever and what all cards will be doing) I picked it up for 40k and has all the usual high end outlets to connect to your large HD tv screen. Note : the specs for the N82J model we get in Thailand is higher than (say) Singapore :-)

First you will have to 'up' your budget to 40k - you are not going to get a good machine for 30k.

Asus is the only way to go here in Thailand (and elsewhere) due to their reliability and service/backup

No sense in going for a large screen - just more to carry around/heavier - a 14" is sufficient - then when you want to play games plug in a large monitor although I have no problem with 14"

I have an Asus N82J which ticks all your boxes. Has Blu-ray and the new(?) Nvidia 'Optimus' switchable graphics card - save power.

One requirement you did missed out is USB 3 - this is now a must and 2011 will see all the new hardware come with USB 3

Why use foreign Brokers who do not know the country ! We use Thai Visa Brokers (link on top banner) as they know Thailand and what foreigners expect well.

Is the process of setting up a business in HKG painless? I assume they require local registration and a local address in HKG?

I agree HSBC is very good but why go to the bother of going to HKG to set up the account ? I opened an account in BKK and it was very easy. As I wanted to buy a few mutual funds I asked BKK to open accounts for me in Singapore and Jersey - again all done quite painlessly by BKK

Called Winner Telecom at MBK.

They said they gonna get the Z next month, January 2011.

Guess HTC will also offer it in Thailand. The HTC Desire is on discount now at J-Mart. They probably free up space for the new Desire (the HD is already available, nice built quality BTW!).

What price have you seen in J-Mart for the Desire ?

Hahaha - all heart, quote :

The wholly owned subsidiary, which will be capitalised at Bt50 million, will provide loans of up to Bt10,000 to individuals at low interest rates,

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said the first loan was expected to be made in February. The interest rate has not yet been decided but it would not exceed 28 per cent.

What party ???

You can get John Smiths in some of the British pubs, but I've never seen them in cans here.

Personnally I'm looking for some real British beer (sorry, John Smiths and Boddingtons don't come under this catagory). When there are so many imported German and Belgien bottled beers here, why doesn't anyone import any bottled real ales? You can get so many great real ales in bottles now, how come no one imports these.

What I'd do for a pint of Adnams!

A couple of pubs here say thay have real ale, but it's only going to be John Smiths and this is about as close to a real ale as a Big Mac is to Fine Dining cuisine. The Londoner is the only place that does have a real ale as they brew their own, but sadly it's just not very nice.

With all the British pubs here in Bangkok, it's strange no one is importing british beer, surely they could make a killing! I'd probably buy enough to support it alone.

Is Fullers a "real" ale?

It's as good as it gets

Funny you should be asking about Fullers as I have just been talking to them in the UK about where to buy cans of Pride. The told me a new outfit is distributing their products who go by the name of Paulaner in BKK. I have emailed them but nothing back so far which does not bode well.

Sadly and like it or not, the Thais are saying that the 60 day tourist visa is just that: a visa for the purposes of tourism. After 2 60 day entries - and many people add another 30 days at immigration, the authorities, kind of understandably feel at 150 days is enough for most people to explore Thailand as a tourist fairly thoroughly. The message is becoming increasingly clear. If you want to live here you have to get a non-immigrant visa. If you qualify for one, you'll get one, if you don't qualify then after 150 days or so, they'd like you to go home. That's the law and its more liberal than many countries. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear OP, but that's the case!

The Hull consulate in the UK are still issuing triple entry tourist visa's so it seems to be ok for us Brits.

If your paying for a triple entry at Hull you may as well just apply for a non-o for the purpose of visiting friends, its multi-entry and lasts a year(well 15 months with an extension) for about 100 quid. I have a friend who got one before coming over here and the procedure took 15 minutes and he walked out with the year visa.

Agree totally, very easy - cannot understand these people who just have tourist visa's when Non Imm visa is straight forward to get

Rental m/bikes are not insured - if you rent do so at your own risk !

In Chiang Mai ask for Gary at AA Insurance Brokers - they have all the different companies and know what they are talking about !! 084 805 8815

Well I suppose that depends on where you live ! Why not just ask your local taxi service ?

Also,in regard to purchasing, there is a huge vacant lot on the walking street side. Those poor buggers on the Naklua side got a royal screwing when the festival and hotel got built.

In other words, the owners on the Walking Street side will eventually get screwed too.

They sure will when the next high rise condo is built - but that's Thailand.

As for the rents quoted here at 15-20,000 Baht for a studio, that is plain crazy as the Agents mark them up. Go direct e.g put ads on the notice board

Super night, and thank you for a superb Guinness, you pour a great pint(s)

falcon does rental big bikes less than 10 years old

1 for pivate use

2 for commercial.rentals. approx double price

Please say the agent you used as when I talked to Falcon direct the said that was nonsense as they do not insure big bikes for rental

Thanks chaps - a great help