witold

I think we all took you on your word, but you just had to go there and post a pic anyway, didn't you. Hmmm....

Good job sexy man. :jap:

Well, it looks decent enough - in the pictures.

But...

-400cc twin is still too gutless to go anywhere.

-price tag sucks. Just a little more and you can get Kawi Er6n which is quite a respectable big bike.

-chances are that Chinese workmanship sucks just like it sucks on every other Chinese import. Stuff wears quicker and breaks quicker. The 'feel' of the ride is probably not that good because of dodgy suspension, etc. Consequently, the bikes do not hold much value so when time comes to get rid of it, you will be taking a bigger loss.

I hate to bad mouth Chinese bikes because the potential is there. They generally license old Honda engine designs that are bulletproof. One day one of these Chinese companies will figure out it's quality control issues and deliver a great bike at a low price, but I am skeptical that that day has come with this Lifan.

Darn good rates for longer term rent. Might have to try them one day.

You mention that HCMC has so many more entertainment options that HH lacks... I'm sure that part of it because of size, but can you give some examples?  A lot of Thais come down to HH just for this sort of thing...

 Why do most expats with no business experience always want to start a business that caters primarily to other expats?  

This is the wrong way to approach things, IMO.  There are very few openings in that segment.  

I would think about the stuff that seems to make money in HCMC and appeals to a ton of people and try to bring it to HH... 

There's some questionable claims made in this thread. The bottom line is as follows:

Regular air expands and contracts ALOT with heat. Check your tire pressure some time, ride the bike for 1/2 hour, and check it again to see what I mean. As your ride your bike and warm up the tires, the tire pressure increases alot. And tire pressure affects performance greatly. If you are doing some trackdays or racing, using tire warmers, etc, tuning in your pressure is quite an art with a lot of weather/ambient temperature variables. At most track days (at least in the US) the first question on everyone's mind is what tire pressure they should be running that day for a given tire they have.

Here is where nitrogen comes in. Because Nitrogen is not as susceptible to heat, it means that when you warm up your tires and regardless of how hot or cold it is outside, your tire pressure does not vary as widely. This makes tire pressure tuning a lot easier and gives you a lot more room for error. Consequently, you are more often in the optimal operating temp for the tire you are using, which in turn equals better performance, which in turn equals better lap times.

This is the only practical and good reason to use nitrogen.

Stuff about leaks and fewer flats is unnoticable/theoretical salesman BS. If your tire needs to be topped up often you have a problem and you should have it remounted. Tell a real tech or racer that you put Nitrogen in your cruiser or street bike/scooter and they will think you're a fool with too much money.

Out of the different countries I have visited and traveled around in, Thailand tops the list for having the weirdest and creepiest Westerners living there. The old retired guys and guys on business are generally a good and normal bunch, but a good chunk of the rest are pretty disillusioned, depressing, and exhibit a warped sense of reality. The difference between Westerners in Thailand and Westerners in S. America or even China is absolutely striking - in a bad way.

My advice to Thai girls - stay away... and most seem to be doing that already.

I read a story on this somewhere. Apparently they catch stay dogs and export to Cambodia (or Laos - don't remember which.)

Granted, poor Thais do eat dog meat, but it's not really their things which is why it is primarily for export.

Sounds like they were drug mules, which I believe is punishable by death in China.

Did they break anything? If not, so what.

You're getting worked up over nothing. Clearly, this wouldn't happen in the west. But we're not in the west. Enjoy the LOS. Life is short, it seems dumb to waste it on "getting angry" over little things. Unless you derive pleasure from that?!

Live and let live

I agree with you in spirit. The problem is that eventually someone will accidentally tip it over, and someone will accidentally scratch it. Do you think some poor kid will wait for you so he can give you $600 to replace you scratched GSRX tank? Or $1000 for scratched plastics and broken fairing stay when the bike falls?

I seriously doubt it.

Also, this does happen in the West as well, but it's not as much in your face. If people get caught doing it, they know they are in the wrong. This is part of the reason why riders put bike covers on their parked bikes. No more unwanted attention.

If you randomly stumbled into Pai without knowing it is Pai, you would notice nothing special about it. Don't waste your time going there. I'm not a good trekking advice person, but if it was me, I would go to Chang Mai and go with one of the operators that does 5-7 day treks. If you insist on seeing the mountains in Thailand you should go to Mae Hong Son. But even then, nothing special compared to the real mountains you can find a short flight away from Thailand.

Krabi town is a bit drab and I would advice to stay in Ao Nang instead. Krabi is a good place if you want to see some of the famous islands. (same island destinations as from Phuket) However, keep in mind that there will be a lot of foreigners there. You will need to ask around about the best time to go to avoid crowds.

Personally, I rather enjoyed Trang and all of the deep South coasts. This is what I would suggest as a final visit. As mentioned above, it is almost completely devoid of tourists and it's quite nice and relaxed. The security situation doesn't look good but as a foreigner you will be fine. Deep south has a completely different atmosphere than the rest of Thailand so I think you might find that interesting in itself. If almost feels like a different country.

My strategy is to check a few flight comparison sites, and book whatever is the cheapest/has best schedule.  

It is not perfect, but it is probably the best strategy considering the minimal effort.  

My strategy is great from flying out of the US.  It is not that good elsewhere because smaller airlines like Air Asia/Tiger/whatever, do not post fares to fare comparison sites like Travelocity.  

You should be posting the name of the company, not the location of the job.

If it's a sizable US or EU company, I wouldn't worry about getting paid.  But I guess you are concerned about some no-name little company?

Full SS Benefits retirement age has been creeping up for a long time now. It will continue to do so. As SS solvency issues become unavoidable, tough choices will be made.

For me, to get full benefits, my retirement age is 67. (source)

The statistic about Americans not having much savings is deceiving. At that point in their life, a huge portion of Americans has a lot of equity. (house/s paid off, etc.) As you can see quoted above, the stats are:

Median Net Worth: $209,200

Top 25%: $647,200

Top 10%: $1,429,500

This is a 2004 statistic. That means the data backing the study is likely 2002-2003. You can be almost certain that the 2010 numbers are drastically higher. Property prices - even after the bubble bust - are still much higher than in 2003. Sure, the house prices are not as great as in 2006, but they are still much higher than pre-bubble prices.

Also, I think a lot of people forget that there was no bubble in many places in the US. The places where property values plummeted were places where property prices skyrocketed for no reason in the first place. In most places in the US, house prices have been steadily creeping up in the past 10 years, just as they have in the past 100 years. During the 'boom era', those folks felt a little left out that their property didn't skyrocket in value but they are probably pretty happy now after seeing what has happened in some areas that were overrun by speculators like Las Vegas.

Thailand is a good value place to retire so the link to Thailand is pretty clear. Instead of worrying about US SS, I would be more worried that Thailand becomes too Western and prices in Thailand skyrocket to the point where moving to LOS carries minimal financial advantages.

The main issues I have with Thailand is the fact we cannot own a house and land. Yet if a Thai was to come to Aussie they can buy whatever they wish.

A lot of cheaper places in the World are rather unstable.  You might have more property rights in some S. American cities, but you are giving up safety and stability.  Latin economies have been through hel_l and back.  They are on the upswing right now, but who knows if that will continue or whether the next fall will be even harder.  

That's not a burger, that is a sub!   Burgers are round!

This video could only be exciting to watch after 17 hours on the plane.

<br>Very unclear story from the Nation ... again.<br>

<br><br>Thaitv.tv is rebroacasting content they don't have rights to on US airways and streaming it on their site.  They are also selling bootleg dvds/etc in stores.  This business is operated on US soil so the lawsuit was files in the US.  What is not unclear about this?  <br><br>Also, there is no such thing as stealing satellite signals.  If you can pick up satellite signal from some broadcast from other country, it is perfectly legal for you to do so.  Many people do this in the US.  I know that a lot of Easter Europeans buy regular dish network and change the reception to get Euro channels, for example.   This case has nothing to do with that.  <br><br><br>

If you want to see what expensive is, take a look at rare and collectible cars.  Vintage bikes are outright cheap. 

Because everything aside from street food and housing is so expensive in Thailand, you need to dedicate a small percentage of your income to housing to make up ground. Otherwise, you will find that your disposable income doesn't go far each month if you want to have a similar lifestyle to the US.

I think most people get the hint that they are allowed to live here but only live here as guests, every time they need to do a visa run.   

Thai govt is very generous is letting people stay in LOS for many years via these sorts of lax arrangements, but they are quite clear that they don't really need outsiders to reside here permanently and always have the ability to throw you out on a whim when they feel like it.  This is demonstrated via permanent residency, citizenship, land ownership, visa rules changes, etc, laws.   That's the way I look at it.  I understand that if someone has been doing these things for years on end, the place will feel like home...  it is what it is.  

Elephants are a relic of the past. <snip>

Nonsense. Get out of the tourists areas and you will discover that in many parts of Thailand there are working elephants that are well fed and cared for by their mahout.

Please substantiate your claim and tell me where these places are located.   

I have traveled from jungle Mae Hong Son/Mae Sai/Nan all the way to Malaysia border areas and almost everywhere in between.  Elephants are *not* put to work in 99% of the country.  I believe there are some tribal villages in the middle of the jungle that still use elephants, but even in this 1%, it will end soon as a practical economic matter.  All the other remaining places where elephants "work" are nothing but a tourist show/historical attraction/festival.  If you can point me to some locations where people actually use elephants for work and not to get attention and money from tourists, I would love to go there!  Let me know where these areas are.  

Love elephants or not, anybody with half a brain knows that elephants don't belong in cities...and feeding them bananas and sugar cane doesn't really help to keep these mammals alive. Anybody who really wants to help should donate money to one of the various funds for elephants or directly to the elephant farms/villages (or whatever they're called). 

There's one youngish elephant that is paraded around Hua Hin every evening. It disgusts me to see these idiots (tourists and locals alike) feeding them.

Elephants are a relic of the past.  They no longer serve a purpose other than entertainment for people.  If people didn't visit the camps and pay to feed them on the street, you can be pretty sure they would all die out or be killed for meat or something.  

While walking from bar to bar each evening is probably not the perfect lazy life for elephants, it's couldn't possibly be that horrible.  

And ultimately, this is one of the things that makes BKK/LOS unique.  It's kinda cool.  I don't want BKK to become the sanitized perfect city like Singapore.

Isn't it just a form of resistance to compulsory uniforms?  If the girls were able to select their own clothes each day there'd be no problem would there?  I'm not aware of university students' short skirts constituting a social problem in other countries I'm familiar with.

In the USA, the topic of short skirts reappears at most schools every year, regardless of whether the school has a uniform or not.  It is certainly not a Thai thing.

Many properties rent for a month or few months.  It is currently low season.  Prices will be considerably lower.  

People are in the habit of listing both a rental price and a selling price even though they have no intention of selling.  So they just post a very high selling price to discourage offers.  They might also do this to make the rental price appear that much more attractive.  

Real estate is a speculative business.  Part of what you pay for when you buy is the ability to profit on any sort of appreciation.  Future prospects for Thailand are great.  I'm sure all those beach front properties in Phuket seemed completely overpriced 10 and 20 years ago.  Guess who got rich; people who rented at a cheap price (and eventually got thrown out or had their rents raised) or the people who purchased?  

As someone already mentioned, commercial real estate is a different ball game with substantial additional payments (key money) necessary in addition to monthly rent.  

As a general rule, residential properties in Thailand rent for about 6-8% of selling price.  This is standard.  Deviation from this is rare.