andre47

6 hours ago, Dizer said:

Looks like in the south Asia and and south east Asia, India is the only counter to the chinese. Democracy will always triumph over communism.

China has no Communism ???? 

Everybody who takes money either from a friend, a bank or from China must know that he has to pay a price for it. Nothing is for free.

The only problem is if corruption is involved.

8 minutes ago, Guderian said:

Not sure if it's still the case but you used to be able to renew the tax at Big C on Sukhumvit. Only for newish bikes that don't need the local equivalent of an MoT though, so under five years old I think. Older than that and you'll need to take it to a testing centre and you might as well pay them to get the tax sorted out for you as well.

No, they moved to Central Festival half year ago. They are not in Big C any longer.

Before you pay the tax you have to buy an insurance and for bikes older than 5 years you need the checkup. The testing center can sell you the tax sticker, but they will take your green book and you have to go there again a few days later to take the green book back. After the checkup you can drive to Central festival and do it yourself as well.

4 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Many agencies will do it in one day for a few hundred baht.

Yes, but why pay money to them and must go again there if I can do it myself in 15 minutes for free ????

They changed the location again...

Now every Saturday in Central Festival 6th floor near the Beach road front beside the Pizza-Company-Store.

5 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Keep on comparing persimmons to kiwi fruit if you please..keep on scrambling.

 

Meanwhile..my gawd..the power has gone off with a blam at the end of the soi...3rd world nightmare,as usual.

 

Oriental fantasy.These people could not run a booze up in a brewery.

What did you smoke? It must be good stuff ????

1 minute ago, Odysseus123 said:

Nope..I am comparing electricity bills..

 

First world country..to third word world-sans the local supply bowing up on a regular basis.

 

Comprende compadre?

If your comparison should make any sense you should compare your consumption (kwh) and even then....Australia is large...where in Australia? How is the temperature? (aircon) How many people are living here and there?

You can only compare the cost per kwh but not the final amount of your bill.

2 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

My Thai bill against my  Aussie bill.

At the moment it stands at Australia..7,500 baht per 3 months..

Thailand-4,200 baht per one month.

Very funny...what are you comparing? You are comparing apples with oranges ????

16 minutes ago, rhodie said:

 but western food is better and cheaper IMHO.

Maybe better than in Isaan ???? But they cannot compete with Pattaya, Phuket, Chiang Mai or Bangkok....

It is still the 4. world. A lot of poor people, bad infrastructure, a lot of plastic waste in the nature.

The main obstacle for me is that it is quite unsafe. I don't feel secure in the Phils.

11 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

ya ya ya

they speak kinda laos in Surin

 

as I suggested, he should now turn to Kamen

No, no Lao. It is Khmer. Lao is similar to Isaan and in Prasat they speak similar to Khmer from Cambodia. 2 very different Languages. Lao/Isaan have some similarities to Thai, Khmer don't have any similarities.

33 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

you've already done lanna and central, now you are in laos land

Khmer could be useful in Prasat, get on with it

 

Not Laos....now he is in Khmer land (Cambodia). Lao is very similar to Isaan language/dialect.

17 hours ago, ZeVonderBearz said:

Grab is the only viable option for local trasport in this country. 

I don't see any need for companies like Grab. They are extremely expensive, they are exploiting the drivers and they violate the law. It is unfair against the official taxi companies.

55 minutes ago, Tweedle dee said:

I may stand corrected  but i think our German buddy's seem to get there 'heads' round the language much easier.

I don't think so. It is all about motivation and discipline. If you want you can do too. ????

I was last week in Bangkok and had no problem at all to get a taxi. Each taxi was using the meter. Even no discussion at all.  ????

4 minutes ago, Ashto said:

I’d be interested in having a go. Can you indicate what were the right resources for you?

take a look here:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Ruedskins/playlists

25 minutes ago, Pete1980 said:

I have been learning Thai since i arrived here.

The most important thing is to learn the script. It doesnt take that long and saves you time in the future. And by learning the script you are then surronded by Thai language, on signs, on TV etc etc.

I am not sure if i am allowed to plug this, but about 6 months ago I stumbled on to "Learn Thai with Oliver". IMO it is the best way, and i wished i had found it earlier. It doesnt teach you how to read the script, you must do that yourself, but once you do, this is the best website. It is a fun website to use, not just like reading Thai from a book, which sends me to sleep after about 30 minutes.

I went to a couple of schools in Pattaya and they were useless. 

I also use "Learn Thai with Oliver" and can recommend it.

I good way to learn the Alphabet is this on youtube:

1 hour ago, fvw53 said:

The most important factor is "necessity" ....before settling in Thailand I worked and lived in Pakistan, China, Sweden, Germany and Vietnam : in everyone of those countries I learned to speak the local language fluently...but here I got retired and married to a Thai wife and she is doing the communications in Thai for me. Also I cannot pick up a language from street talks and I need to go to school...but the nearest Thai language school is 2 hours drive from my house.

If you have an internet connection you can learn Thai easily with your computer. If you like, send me a PM and I can give you some good websites. And you have your wife who can answer your questions. ???? 

2 hours ago, Justin Side said:

I used to try and make an effort but soon realised that most Thais make no effort to even try and understand me if my attempts are not perfect so I gave up.

Yes, many Thais don't like to speak Thai with farangs. I think that is because for us it is difficult to use the right tones. Then the meaning is changing and for Thais difficult to understand.

Don't give up. For me, I am learning Thai now for 3 years, it is going much better now. Sometimes Thais are trying to ignore my Thai but I insist in speaking Thai with them. When they are realizing that I know some Thai they start to take me seriously and talk Thai with me. Often they are much friendlier when they feel that a farang can speak Thai.

2 hours ago, sirineou said:

Absolutely right, in addition Thai is not related to the european languages   and if you simply learned the words and then try to structure a sentence the same way you would in English, you would make litle sense. For instance in english you would say the red car. same in Greek "to cokino autokinito or in italian " La machina  rossa . different words but same structure   But in Thai you would not say "the red car" but rather "the car red"  (rot si dang)  I know the words but I have trouble with the sequence.   Next year when I retire and have more time in Thailand I plan to  take lessons and hopefully crack the code.

Try to exercise whole sentences, not only single words. Practicing whole sentences will give you a feeling for the structure. It takes a bit of time but it can be done.

31 minutes ago, rhodie said:

Did it ever occur to you that Thailand is a military dictatorship! 

I did not write that in Thailand is everything perfect, but as far as I know the government here is not killing thousands of people.

13 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

Donald Trump is a total a**hole. Did that stop me from spending a month in the USA and enjoying it immensely? No. Would it stop me from living in the USA if I wanted to (and if I could afford the health insurance)? No.

You are funny....

yes DT is a AH, but not a murder (as far I know ???? )