khunano

"Bangkok Governor Mom Rajawongse Sukhumbhand Paripatra said that approximately new 100K cars are registered each month in Bangkok"

100K or 100'000 new cars each month!?! This equals 3'333 vehicles per day or 1.2 million a year! If this figure is really correct and considering that close to 8 million cars are already populating Bangkok's roads (1.2 million mean an increase of 15 % over that number each year), I think total utter gridlock is imminent!

This is probably similar in other (Western) countries since the moment you drive your new shiny vehicle out of the car dealer's showroom its value has already lost some 20 %.

That drop in value does not happen in Thailand. Used cars hold their value extremely well, particularly Japanese cars. You might see a 20% reduction after three years.

Though you are right that values particularly of the Japanese standard cars do not depreciate as much as elsewhere, you would not be able to resell your car at 100 % on day 2.

The minimum is 5 liters You dont mention the size of bottle you bought, but if you got 12 bottles @ 33cl you are short about 1 liter If the other guy got 12x 0.5 liter bottles he was good to go...

the minimum is 10 litres, at least that's is the case at Tesco, Big-C, Foodland, etc. They have a wholesale license, which is exempt from the curfew times. Hence, take a case of beer (around 7.2 litres) and a few individual bottles or whatever alcoholic beverage, as long as you reach 10 litres you are fine.

The first comment about the famous temples was, for what we come here only old stone!

I love this line

found this one great too; should have shown her "new stone", i.e. shopping centre!

Yes, same for me. 11 yrs have been great but it's over. Not even 30 baht /USD. Really sucks! More than a $ for a cheap beer at the 7 and its only 10oz? Hell, can get 12 oz beer for 50 cents in the STATES. No bargains here anymore.

Not knowing how many of those cans you consume per day, but on my average consumption the difference between Thai and US prices would be a staggering US$ 45 per month or an amount that you will have to spend on e.g. much higher rent back home.

You can go to any village in Thailand, except maybe in the southernmost areas, and there will likely be rice moonshine for sale; 40% alcohol - for a pittance. It's so easy to get drunk in this country, it's shameful. I've seen men and women walking on jelly legs at 10 in the morning. How can there be a crackdown on alcohol when nearly all politicians and police/army brass are whiskey guzzlers, and the top 'drug fighter' in the country (Chalerm) also sucks whiskey every day and night. Amazing Thailand, indeed.

Well said, two days ago somewhere in Isaan at my wife's sister house, me asking her where is your brother (a policeman) who lives next door? Answer: he is still sleeping, had to work a night shift, oh I see, and, she added, he got drunk while on duty, oh well.....T.I.T.!!

I have been holding a Thai DL valid for cars for many years. Now intending to buy a motorcycle, how would I obtain the respective DL if I was only allowed to drive mopeds back in my home country (which is mentioned in that DL)? Would I have to pass a theoretical and practical test to obtain a motorbike DL here or could I somehow "extend" it from my existing Thai car DL? Your advice is appreciated.

These are two separate licences in Thailand. You cannot extend your car licence and just add motorbikes (as you would in Europe).

That said, if you have a valid international DL from your home country for motorbikes, you can try to have it transcribed to the Thai licence. I did that, but that was many years ago and the laws may have changed.

Thanks for the quick replies from all of you, looks like I have to do it from scratch then, any chance to obtain the traffic rules and signs currently valid online?

I have been holding a Thai DL valid for cars for many years. Now intending to buy a motorcycle, how would I obtain the respective DL if I was only allowed to drive mopeds back in my home country (which is mentioned in that DL)? Would I have to pass a theoretical and practical test to obtain a motorbike DL here or could I somehow "extend" it from my existing Thai car DL? Your advice is appreciated.

Interesting mathematics here: 5025 rai x 1'600 m2 = 8'040'000 m2, if average is 4.73 sqm/person as stated in BMA's report Bangkok's population stands at only 1'699'788 persons. Assuming that at least 10 million people live in Bangkok average green area is less than a square metre per head.

However I am sure those tablets will help improve numeracy of future generations....

Not that I would care about Starbucks, I was there one time only - the 1st, the only and the last time - but it is common sense that with a business set up at a (usually) expensive location you need to do quite a bit of turnover to get a return on investment. Obviously you will not be able to achieve this goal with patrons sipping on just one (cold) coffee for several hours.

From the OP

Thai AirAsia recently agreed to relocate its operation to Don Mueang, effective October 1. Thirteen other airlines are in talks with AOT. If successful, this would help reduce by 8 or 9 million passengers a year the load at Suvarnabhumi, according to AOT.

I am not sure if they have considered that a lot of Air Asia customers will now use Thai in order to avoid all the hassle with connections...

They surely need to revise their numbers

Of course, they have, this is how you get rid of your competitors....

don't worry, they will just use those tablets to play games on them. ever observed these ipad carrying yuppies in bangkok (just watched one today)? they do not read books on their tablets nor do they surf the internet nor reply emails, they just play funny games on their expensive equipment.

Do six years old kids ever drop or break anything? Hope the govt has a robust maintenance/repair/exchange program for the tablets.

I wonder if the tablets are going to be wifi or 3g or both? If just wifi, what do the kids do at home (just an e-book reader?) if no wifi?

Who pays for the internet connection at home or if 3g, who pays?

Could get expensive.