joe84330

google thinks it's a caterpillar. i never saw it so don't have a photo, only a memory.

so yesterday i was burning several large piles of wood and leaves that i had trimmed and cut down once my neighbor chopped down a mango tree and other assorted unwanted trees from his yard. i had already gone through these huge piles once, trimming cutting and sorting.

then after reaching and grabbing my next load to drop into the fire, i notice that i have literally thousands of very tiny spikes or spines in both of my hands. obviously i had touched an animal or insect that didn't want to be touched. after about one hour of tweezing and scraping we had managed to get the vast majority out and i finished all of the work but now my hands are swollen and itch like hell.

any idea what kind of insect this was so i can google it and get a better idea of how to avoid it next time?

i don't pay for any trash collection. all of my kitchen waste goes into the garden. plastic bottles are separated from the household trash as are glass bottles except for my beer bottles, my 10 year old has decided their might be some value in collecting them so he hordes them. each of the bags are dropped into the bin at the main road each evening and as they are separated they are all gone in the morning. the only thing that doesn't get sorted is the trash we collect from our beach.

i drove down chaweng beach road yesterday, had to put up the windows and use the air con the stench was just that bad.

wish i could have made it. "any minute now" has turned into a week of stress...i can't imagine what it's like to be at 9 full months in this heat

If you like to cook bring on of these.

Impossible to find here.

aha! that reminded me to get a salad spinner. thanks.

there are still bars open on soi reggae?

from the OP...

I am planning to move to Thailand (currently Koh Saumu, is my first choice) in about a year and a half

thank you for coming back to the thread and as it is apparently not a landlord related issue, i'm sure a few people here would appreciate it if you post again once a qualified person has looked it over.

Ok, we have had a very professional British qualified electrician come to evaluate everything and as many of you suspected, several cables have been found spliced to our line at different points..We could actually see where our cable had been cut and then split into 2 or even 3 lines!!

Also the electric system in the house are also of a very bad standard with no earthing, wrong breakers etc etc. potentially very dangerous wiring. he also sad that with the aplliances, fans lights etc we do have, our bill should be no more than 1200 a month.

So he recommended putting in a brand new line as it is difficult to tell exactly what cables go where and a complete rewiring of the faulty system. Work will start this week and should be done in a few days.

If anyone is experiencing similar problems and wants the contact details details for guy we are using just PM me and I will be happy to give you his number.

Thanks again for everyones input and help with this.

Cheers

Nick

dam_n. that's unfortunate but at least you know what is going on. i've noticed lots of outlets here in thailand aren't grounded. always have some staff that ask me to plug something in for them because they are scared of getting "chock". good luck.

one of my favorite sunday drives here is the 4171(? i think) road from the hua thanon area to namuang area. the road is in great condition with some fantastic views over to koh taen and mudsum then heading up the mountain to the magic garden to cool off in the shade. there are waterfalls to stop at however they aren't that impressive unless it's been raining recently.

i brought cast iron pans over from the states. heavy as hell and a lot of extra effort but since there isn't anyone on this island capable of making a cheeseburger or a steak it was worth the effort.

I popped onto the Reggae Pub last week. Hadn't been for ages so thought I'd take a look. There were about 10 bored looking tourists and about 20 bored looking staff!!!! The band was even more bored (boring?) than usual. Really hope they go tits up and we can get some peace and quiet from those dam_n trucks!

i bet that there is still that one expat waltzing his way through the pop music, wiping the sweat off his forehead the entire time.

Good one, PoorSucker, but I'll bet some person with take it seriously. :jap:

I'm serious, this closed shop exists on Koh Samui.

On the ring road, Chaweng.

Between Bangkok hospital and the PTT station.

i remember that sign and "business" well. seemed pretty ridiculous to me at the time but who knows, maybe they'll learn from that and start the next google or fb.

directly opposite the ptt station on the ring road south of tesco

there is a really decent thai computer repair and parts guy in the ban tai area, immediately before the old gas station and on the same side of the road. in between farmer restaurant and the gas station more or less.

he's never tried to upsell me, and always taken good care of my equipment.

The photo you posted the Italian stove top type one i have seen them in the kitchen shop in nathon on the left about 50ish meters before you get to the big kassikorn bank.

The better quality ones are made by bialetti and cost around 2-3 000 in thailand (remember seeing them in central shopping mall in bkk) however the one (of several they had in stock) i spotted in nathon about 6 months ago was a non brand one and was a 6 cup not a two. cost was 900b i think.

good luck.

Ooof - that's expensive! I think I'm going to buy from EBay. The one below is 600B including postage.

Thanks for all the input everybody!

Cheers

R

OH good news and bad news...

I think the shop that williamrobson mentioned is Chaokoh, just up from the 7-11 as you come out of Nanthon towards Maenam...(the newer road from the ferry) ....but turn right, back toward Nanthon, then 50 meters on the left.... on the ring road. (is that clear???)

They have the one you pictured in two sizes, the larger one I am pretty certain was 550 baht... I just happen by there today and thought would check them out... (also there is a huge hardware store next door which you would never know was there, I think part of the same store...

The Kitchen shop actually has some nice stuff in there... as to compared with some places... Also had the hand press coffee thingies too, but they were in the 1500 baht range...

The bad news is for Mr Joe! he won't be able to make an outrageous markup!

i will just have to increase the markup to obscene levels to make up for it

Just wait and see. Now they've done the deal with CAT, they may have 850Mhz 3G up and running again.

OK, ... I stopped by at CAT Office in Nanthon today, just to see what they had to say about it.... The guy there says August....

Should we start making bets on this this?

ok, so we've narrowed it down to august.

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now, what year?

I was there on 9th of May. I had borsch (beet soup). It tasted just as common borsch in Russia, but as the one which was put in refridgerator yesterday and warmed up today. I prefer fresh, but it's the matter of taste. Vodka is cold and does no taste like bad or cheap.

Also nobody mentioned that in ТРОЙКА for vodka you get salted cucumber (pickles) and small sandwich made of bread and smoked bacon. This is a must for vodka and it is dam_n good.

The place is nice, but small. And I prefer indian restaurant in Maenam for everyday meal although I'm Russian

that sounds fuc_king delicious. i don't need a meal with the vodka, just a plate of that please.

I checked with the Gazette. The cost to print each newspaper is about 14.5 baht. They get 60% of the 20 or 25 baht price, and the 40% goes to the seller, or they get 12 baht or 15 baht. at 20 baht, they lose 2.5 per issue sold. At 25 baht, they make 1/2 baht per paper sold.They then pay someone to deliver the papers to the sellers, all over the island, plus editor, reporters, writers, contributors, graphic artists, salespeople, secretaries. Not a real money making proposition. They suggested they were doing it more or less as a public service, since they were digging out real stories on Koh Samui, not cut and paste blobs of National and international news.

that doesn't appear to factor in any print ads or website ad space. if they are doing it as a public service, as suggested, they'd be well served to identify who their potential audience is before unleashing the final product on the GP.

as someone who's spent hundreds of thousands of baht on local advertising, the only way you'd get me to put an ad in that paper is if you paid me.

I supect this guy works for the Express!

well you're not very observant so i'll agree with boater and suspect you are associated with the paper in question.

is that the russian place, just on your left as you leave makro and head towards tesco?

That would be it. Granted, if you don't like Russian food or vodka then it probably isn't a good deal for you. But we ended up with at least 700 baht worth of free alcohol (assuming 100 baht/shot).

btw - we didn't have to ask the waitress for more. She would just bring the bottle by every so often and give us a refill. Much like the free refills we'd get back home on coffee or tea.

I guess it must be the very cheap Noble brand vodka which gives me a headache if I drink it!!

could be. could be home made, it's not a terribly sophisticated product. could be a combination of top shelf and rubber bar mat runoff. pretty good promotion as far as promotions go. i've heard your head is always responsible for where your butt sits, seems appropriate here.

I checked with the Gazette. The cost to print each newspaper is about 14.5 baht. They get 60% of the 20 or 25 baht price, and the 40% goes to the seller, or they get 12 baht or 15 baht. at 20 baht, they lose 2.5 per issue sold. At 25 baht, they make 1/2 baht per paper sold.They then pay someone to deliver the papers to the sellers, all over the island, plus editor, reporters, writers, contributors, graphic artists, salespeople, secretaries. Not a real money making proposition. They suggested they were doing it more or less as a public service, since they were digging out real stories on Koh Samui, not cut and paste blobs of National and international news.

that doesn't appear to factor in any print ads or website ad space. if they are doing it as a public service, as suggested, they'd be well served to identify who their potential audience is before unleashing the final product on the GP.

as someone who's spent hundreds of thousands of baht on local advertising, the only way you'd get me to put an ad in that paper is if you paid me.

ha, i was reminded of this thread as i've just had the misfortune of attempting to read the most recent issue of the gazette. attempting to read because i literally had to decipher what original language was used prior to the google translator to thai to engrish abortion of an editing job presented on the page.

it wasn't even one article but one after another and another. what an absolute disaster. considering it is thailand however, i'd expect a 10 baht increase in the near future as they will need an editor with a kindergarten level education soon.

the chalkboard tells a different story my friend!

seems like putting the sign in russian "for russians only" would be a recipe for business disaster.

russians would logically be the main customers, would eat russian food anyway, and of course would drink vodka.

put the sign in english/thai and get non russians to try russian food and wash it down with some free shots of cold vodka. make the russians pay for theirs.

Then it's a good thing they have that other sign in English.

hm i must have hit quick reply since my post was meant to be in response to this quote "Apparently its only written in Russain language (about free vodka with your meal), so it seems to me that it is aimed at Russains only and with your name and bias toward Russain food it sounds like you maybe Russain or understand the language. " which should help contextually as well as limiting smart remarks.

in soviet russia, party always find you!

For us uninitiated, what is TCP ?

and here i thought i was the only one left out. i used to use a product called TCP back in the states to clean grime and dirt off of the paneling on the sides of my house. i don't suppose there's any need for that here and the only thing you'd need at the pharmacy related to TCP was in the event you inhaled it or didn't wear gloves.

No Joe!!! that is TSP they sell in North America! for cleaning walls etc etc... Tri Sodium Phosphate .... Not very good on the skin, as TCP would be...

Dettol certainly available just about everywhere here... just need to dilute!

ah yes, you are correct sir. it was tsp. nasty stuff, glad it's a distant memory.