36 minutes ago, howlee101 said:

Suggest Owndays located at Central Festival.  My pair cost ~3500 baht.  Of course the frames will be a factor in the total cost.

Reasonable price and fast service about an hour but they dont have trained optometrists so always best to see a real doctor first to get your prescription...

1 hour ago, rattlesnake said:

I am always very surprised to see how many Westerners get frustrated about Thais (and venture into ridiculous interpretations such as "they are so selfish", "all they do is lie" etc). I suppose you don't speak Thai? There is no way anyone can begin to understand Thai culture (and interpret things the right way) without speaking the language. This is especially true in the workplace.

 

Practical example: they ask you for 500 THB for the monks (if I had a guess one of them said jokingly "let's ask the farang for 500, farangs have money" – there would be no bad intentions or anything negative behind that, they just like mucking about, almost childishly). Now if you had replied, in Thai and most importantly with a smile "Why would I give 500, the normal donation is 20? Oh you think the farang is rich, do you?" (at which point they would all be laughing and joining in, within minutes you would be friends with them and participate in normal Thai social things with them. But if you behave like a "farang" (refusal to smile, overthinking, explaining your "rationale" and "principles", answering in English etc), you will treated like one and it will never ever work.

Great answer!

Actually it is normal to not pay tax on certain government land which is given for farming - no real paper.

Inside the village they usually have an informal system for transfer - sometimes the forest department collects a fee...

In theory if a farmer has government land given by the forest department it is currently being recorded on a computer database/map.

Children have a right to inherit if they are farmers - can't build resorts etc.

4 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Many time here, we are talking about land given by the government. That kind of land is hard to transfer, as the family will always have the first say in the matter.

Exactly - forest land etc has rules to follow - usually the children etc can inherit but exactly how would require talking to a local lawyer...

2 hours ago, brianthainess said:

I was asking my wife about roadside breakdown and she reckons they charge by the kilometer. I live on a mountainous Island, <deleted>. 

Sounds about right if you can find someone at night or on a holiday up on a mountain...

1 hour ago, HauptmannUK said:

The photo is the gearbox end of th shifter cable.  I suspect the bushing has failed. A cheap part. If you want, a complete replacement cable will be around ฿1000 from soMewhere like Lazada. More from the dealer. Bit fiddly to fit though..

Thank you - already replaced at the dealer - not possible for me to do it... I don't trust most of the small shops to do a good job with the correct parts. From experoncethey can be honest and try to save you money but the savings aren't worth it when you have problems later. And I have had problems later...

Automatic

My car is 10 years old so what they call here First class insurance with extras as you mention is not available. Thank you for the idea

My dealer said if they are open they will help but they are closed on Sundays and holidays...

7 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

CarWorld Club   https://www.cwc.co.th/index.php

Thank you will take a look

Checked - very limited use - example:

"NOT covering vehicles on top of mountain and island areas"

Mountains is where I need it most.

I miss AAA in America!

I forgot the name but it was a small part that failed from age (10+ years old) the part plus labor at a dealer was 2,400 baht. 

Thank you guys for your support much appreciated. The plastic casing around my gear shifter now has a crack due to the mountain mechanic not having the correct tools to remove it but the dealer glued it back into place and I don't even notice the crack and it is a non moving part so lets let it be - also the replacement would be 5,000 baht and a long wait...

The mountain mechanic guy helped my wife return home safely so all is well... Note now she wants to go back with me - I love the mountains but am not excited about the temples as my Thai is just basic conversation not up to deep discussions...

Here is a photo of the loose part:

39 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

It may simply be a hot transmission, from using too high a gear.

 

https://magazine.unsealed4x4.com.au/unsealed-4x4-issue-068/mu-x-common-problems-and-solutions

Thank you for the link lots of things to think about My Isuzu is a Mu 7 about 10 years old but low miles. But anything can happen in the countryside on dirt roads...

1 hour ago, Olmate said:

Transmission oil level?? 

Interesting something easy to check - thank you.

Why would the level be low?

Is it possible the cable between the shifter and transmission broke?

US AAA Thai style is it available? Transmission problem today - Note I am in the Chiang Mai area.

I have a 10 year old Isuzu with low miles which usually runs great; today the transmission started slipping as in the gears light up Park, Drive etc but it feels loose and won't move.

My wife likes to visit temples on back roads made of dirt. Today she got stuck (still is and luckily the monks called a local tow truck for her, so step one she is OK.

1) Should she have a village guy try to fix it or tow an hour or so to the Chiang Mai dealer?

My thoughts are if it is something very simple to fix ok fix in the village if not let the dealer fix it.

2) The guy who was driving was shifting often high low gear etc as it was a dirt road on hills - does that hurt a transmission?

3) And last but not least going forward is there a Thai style AAA available? I have Viriyah insurance but the car while in good shape is old so they only insure for liability and accidents...

Thank you for your help!

Thai EMS for the countryside have shipped many times no problems.

You can put the house in your name without a problem usually.

Taximan 

Better safe than sorry

Go see a good dermatologist that speaks English

Go to one of the big private hospitals

14 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Actually, minor side effects -- the usual kind of post vaccination reactions -- are not necessarily a bad thing, and may even be a good thing.

 

A study the other day reported that people who have noticeable vaccine side effects tend to have stronger vaccine-induced immune responses to COVID than those with no side effect reactions.

 

In other words, the minor side effect stuff often can be a telltale sign that the vaccine has spurred a fighting immune response in your body to the COVID-related parts of the vaccine.

 

Covid-19 vaccine study links side effects with greater antibody response

(CNN) -- People who reported experiencing side effects to the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines such as fever, chills or muscle pain tended to have a greater antibody response following vaccination, according to new research.

 

Having such symptoms after vaccination is associated with greater antibody responses compared with having only pain or rash at the injection site or no symptoms at all, suggests the paper published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

 

“In conclusion, these findings support reframing postvaccination symptoms as signals of vaccine effectiveness and reinforce guidelines for vaccine boosters in older adults,” the researchers – from Columbia University in New York, University of Vermont and Boston University – wrote in their paper.

 

(more)

 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/health/covid-antibody-response-vaccines/index.html

Very interesting!

For myself I am ok with no pain for suffering... smiling!

In Chiang mai Bangkok hospital is not currently offering Covid shots. But CM Ram is which is where I went a few days ago.

Got Moderna for 1,200 - no appointment was needed.

No side effects so all is well.

On 11/1/2022 at 2:51 PM, jayboy said:

Some very good information.There's one point on which I'm still unsure which is, based on the present state of knowledge, is it recommended that for the at risk groups, including all those over 60, booster jabs should be had every 4-6 months?

Sounds like - yes - I am not going to take dance with COVID and will get a booster every  four to six months for now

Anyone know if the annual farm fair at Mae Jo University will be back this year?

On 10/29/2022 at 3:24 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

You may be able to avoid using a windows computer, even for that job. I have one program that is only available for windows however I run it in Parallels so I don’t have the problems inherent in running a pure windows computer. For that use backing up is a simple job of making a duplicate of 1 file.

Thank you for your idea but you lost me...

What file am I duplicating?

As an example every month I do several Thai tax forms such as social security etc these currently seem to be for Windows only computers I also daily make DHL labels again they don't seem to support Windows.

I need everything to be super simple and work perfectly.

The  money is not an issue for the Windows computer as I have one which a bit old works but fine - but not as good as an apple - keyboards etc..