joe84330

About helmet checks: After getting 3 tickets 2000-2001, I`d learn where they (police) stop and charge people and between what hours. No helmet - no tickets (maybe not too much wisdom) between 2002 -2010. This stop routine has not changed during this time. Do the math.

Un-obviousness (changing check-points and hours) would be the method to make a REAL change and I can easily say this from the distance

i do the same thing. i know the law but refuse to wear a helmet, didn't in the states and wouldn't here. hell, in the states it is now a state law to wear helmets on a bicycle and i don't have enough curse words to tell them off. got plenty of middle fingers though.

anyway, it's pretty obvious what areas and what times they do helmet checks, very easy to avoid if you live here. i drive a truck 99% of the time though so the biggest problem is the thieves office in maenam stopping traffic all the way back to the stop light in maenam for the daily rip off.

Source of all evil on Samui roads is the lazy 'Royal Thai Police' of Samui. They only collect 300 THB for not wearing helmets from Farrang once a month.

As everybody knows Samui is a lawless island when it comes to traffic law. And so is the driving from everybody!

Set up 3-5 daily checkpoints for 1 month, charge the wrongdoers and things will change within days.

But insteed they start a campaigne 'Smoke Free Samui'. There are 99 much more important problems on the islands to solve first!

they are also pulling over vehicles for no plate or insurance, 2k baht.

more thai's than farang getting stuck with this bill as westerners are far more accustomed to driving only legal vehicles while thai's seem to be of the opinion that any vehicle capable of polluting the air and ears meets all thai driving standards.

Are Thais being fined the same 2k as expats? Or are they paying less like in most everything else around?

my office mgr is thai and is one of those that knows someone in every dept on the island, i've seen her receipt for 2k baht for no front plate just one week ago.

Source of all evil on Samui roads is the lazy 'Royal Thai Police' of Samui. They only collect 300 THB for not wearing helmets from Farrang once a month.

As everybody knows Samui is a lawless island when it comes to traffic law. And so is the driving from everybody!

Set up 3-5 daily checkpoints for 1 month, charge the wrongdoers and things will change within days.

But insteed they start a campaigne 'Smoke Free Samui'. There are 99 much more important problems on the islands to solve first!

they are also pulling over vehicles for no plate or insurance, 2k baht.

more thai's than farang getting stuck with this bill as westerners are far more accustomed to driving only legal vehicles while thai's seem to be of the opinion that any vehicle capable of polluting the air and ears meets all thai driving standards.

your post is probably sincere and deserves legit responses but you're about to find out in a few moments through some inevitable comments that you are better off not involving the police at all, in almost any encounter and that there is no need to call an ambulance, five have probably already been called for you.

Don't even try BKK Samui Hospital. As of this morning all their 40 rooms are full with dengue fever patients !

that's not good news, dengue is not fun.

your post is probably sincere and deserves legit responses but you're about to find out in a few moments through some inevitable comments that you are better off not involving the police at all, in almost any encounter and that there is no need to call an ambulance, five have probably already been called for you.

probably 500b per eye per month. i use duna and they are 450 each.

there was a lot of chatter about this place after it opened, mostly involving staff needing to be replaced for a variety of reasons which i probably can't say here. doesn't surprise me too much to read this news.

Does anyone know details of a walking group here on Koh Samui please?

Where do they meet? How often? When?

Thanks for any advice.

there used to be a guy in the samui express who wrote about his weekly walks, not sure if he still writes those, but best just to do it use self,

Yes there is a walking group in samui, we meet every wednesday between 8 to 8.15am outside 7/11 in Lamai. Des has now got a new

web page walksamui.blogspot.com, so if you need any info you should check out this site, the walks are brilliant, we usually walk around 20 to 25k, up into the mountains and the views from 600 meters are spectacular.i wish this info is useful for you.

you've at least narrowed it down to a 1 in 20 chance of someone showing up at the right location.

that actually might be a good idea for a walking group, tell them you will meet at 7-11 and then leave it up to the group to find the right one.

you can have as many beach front hotels as you like but surley you need a decent beach and water to be in front of them which samui is lacking big time.

*scratches u.s. eastern seaboard off of beach front list...

double

I nominate all staff of wikileaks to be sent to Quantanamo Bay for re-education.

no need for that Obamas said its ok now......

"The U.S. stands for "universal values," Obama said, referring to the freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and the freedom to access information".

unless of course it is horrible legislation that he is trying to ram through the house without any chance for anyone to read in advance. in that case you have to "pass the bill to see what's in it"

Story doesn't say what part of California he is from. Where someone such as County, or City can tell you a lot about the person.

Stockholm was previously living in Imperial Beach, CA and was described as a man who kept to himself and was often visiting the local VFW club in the area.

http://www.viscosime...michigan-mosque

VFW stand for Veterans of Foreign Wars of the USA, i assume.

What does that tell you now?

he likes the friday night catfish fry at the vfw hall?

I was told by an alcoholic, struck off ex doctor in a posh bar in BKK, so it must be true, that drinking lots of Chang keeps Cholesterol down so have been sticking to this method of Cholesterol reduction since

*cancels lipid profile tests

this thread should be pinned so we can just add to it instead of starting the same thread over with each new week.

that seems pretty high for such a small island but i'm not going out to count them myself...

Does something you see in the mirror inspired you to write this piece of.......

no its the replies like yours that inspire me to post. Just which part of the posting do you object to ? or is inaccurate ? You obviously haven't parked your motorbike, taken 2 steps and been asked by the guy you have just parked next to if you want a taxi.

As you post a little more and read some of the posts here on this section you may come to realise there are a bunch of us here who have the same type of humour rather than none at all. We enjoy the banter.

Crusty the parlour isn't open yet. Still having quality control issues that are taking more time to resolve than first expected

i cannot tell if they are joking, winding us up or stupid. I mean i have parked my bike out side a motorbike taxi stop. walked about 5 steps towards the family mart. they shout out. " Taxi " whilst on my way in then " taxi" when i walking back to my bike.

OK on the subject of stupidity I gotta tell you guys about my return trip from the UK, after checking in at the airport I proceeded to the security check point on route to departures, my carry on luggage contained a few bits for friends here on samui, after my bag was scanned xrayed and swabbed for everything ranging from cash to explosives the very dilligent security lady who had just watch me place said bag on belt asked "is this your bag sir" ok well done sherlock for observation, "yes it is" I reply, "ok I need to check it

OK on the subject of stupidity I gotta tell you guys about my return trip from the UK,

After checking in at the airport I proceeded to to the security check point on route to departtures, my carry on luggage contained a few bits for friends here on samui,

after my bag was scanned xrayed and swabbed for everything from cash to explosives the very dilligent security lady who had just watched me place the said bag on the belt asked "is this your bag?"

err ok well done sherlock for observation "yes it is" I replied "ok I need to check it" on opening the bag and rummaging around she pulled out 2 tinned steak n kidney puddings,

" aahhh you can't take these she says" so I reasured her that they where pre cooked and conformed to regulations, "ok I'll check with the boss" on her return I was sadly informed that I definately can not take them on board, asking for the reason why I was told " these puddings have gravy in and thats a liquid and you aint allowed liquid on aircraft" well knock me down with a bunch of grapes, I couldnt believe it.

I asked if I could photo the puddings going into the bin so my friend would understand that his precious pudds where in the bin, "eerrr sorry sir this is a security area and photos are not allowed"

so be aware on your next travell not to try and carry exploding gravy, on a serious note I do appreciate that the security is for my benifit, but come on somebody give these clowns the authority to make a

decision rather than have an unflexible rule.

^^^the terrorists have won

i was planning on hitting this up last night however when driving home from the office it took me more than 20 minutes to drive from the maenam thieves station past ptt and on to the other side of the traffic light. no way i was going to fight that traffic one more time. was the busiest i've ever seen maenam though in 5 years.

thanks guys. ended up using the paper egg cartons. would still prefer actual seed trays for portability, sturdiness etc. i've grown plenty in rockwool and hydroponically however this is an organic effort as much as possible. next effort will be aquaponics.

Would get the plastic ones, last a lot longer. Paper ones will break down quick.

actually i want them to break down quickly, i'm germinating seeds in them so whenever i have a dud it's quite easy to add the egg tray to the compost pile and start over.

Joe, I got thinking about this today, I can see some advantage of using the paper ones for some seedlings... things like squash & pumpkin ... the fine hairy stems do not like being touched.... if moved or transplanted....

Some seedlings can be a bit tedious to get out of the plastic flats...

yep, melons and pumpkin are getting started now and they do not want to be disturbed. plus, the "crack crack pop" of the plastic is maddening.

Cheers Joe. No idea on pricing or what actual karts are available ? No doubt it would pay to just go and ask really

They have Junior, standard & Superkarts. Karts are tired, rock hard tyres. I know a superkart is around Bht 700 for 15 minutes from memory, could be wrong.

The actual track is now blacktop. One thing to bear in mind , their policy ' You Break It ! You Own It "

sounds like the jet ski's , 1000 baht to rent and then 50,000 baht to avoid being stabbed after you return it.

believe it is. i've seen a few tourists coming and going lately. one of my friends got a bit crazy in there a few years ago and broke his collarbone so caution is advised lol.

what about night blooming jasmine? we had it growing all over our coastline and interior in the caribbean. not particularly pretty but certainly makes up for it in fragrance.

hm, i have family in maine. they don't really care about severe weather, they want relief from the thousands of somali "refugees" that are currently infesting the state. maine of all places is rapidly turning into a ghetto.

the company i'm referring to specifically is "not a very minor group", owning hotels all over samui in addition to a number of restaurant chains etc.

they probably own at least one property here for each of the 4 seasons, climatically speaking and now they are branching out to phangan.

Whats more annoying is the attitude of "why bother to clear it up, if we wait long enough the sea will take it away again". Oh great, so it can wash up somewhere else later on.

this is why i always carry a plastic trash bag when i hike, play golf, go to my beach etc.

may not make a difference to someone in tahiti or tanzania but i hope it carries over to my kids, and their kids and on down the line.

once or twice a year i have to carry a large plastic waste bin down to my beach for a cleanup, thankfully most other times of the year i'm only carrying a small plastic bag.

pretty easy to tell where it comes from here, plastic bags, snack food foil wrappers, glass and plastic bottles etc. fishing boats and ferries. on the plus side, i don't have anyone nearby to tell me who is to blame for all the trash.