greasemonkey

Hi all. Was going to post a topic similar to this, but will butt in on this one.

Nice to hear the flooding is receding, I'm thinking I will get to Thailand mid January. Head up to Chiang Mai, and do a side trip to laos, and then down to Phuket for a day or two.

Opinions please.

I hear the Thai governernment is mumbling something about attracting tourists ( again). Given this, is there any likelyhood that flights may become cheaper, or do i just go ahead and book now?

And, not really so relavent, but how is the Baht staying so strong, surely the flooding must have weaked the economy a little bit, or is the pound loosing value equally as quickly?

Thanks all.

Same as what anonymouse said. Had a month in Chiang Mai last year. Spent about £850.

Stayed in guest house, ate mostly western food. guzzled a couple of beers most nights.

Kept away from the girlys and traveled around a bit.

How it hanging Mister Mouse? Hope your well.

Hows life in the Mai?

Is there also the possibility of a homicidal nutter stalking the corridors of said hotel? With a bottle of poisonous gas or the like?

Certainly not casting aspertions, or sugesting there is. Just a paranoid thought.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Cant think of anything inteligent to sugest a way out too you, Exept possibly extending the term of your morgage, to reduce the payments, and hope for sunnier times ahead.

I dunno what part of the UK your from, but up in deepest darkest wales, there is work about if you look, aint gonna make a fortune right now, but wont starve either.

If you've got a free roof over your head for a while, you'll soon get on your feet. Even with the level of unemployment, and the downturn, all I hear from employers is " Cant get reliable staff"

Best of luck.

As she reached a pinnacle of sexual frenzy she sobbed "God Bless America," and then put the rifle in my mouth and pulled the trigger.

:cheesy:

Havent laughed like that for a long time.

I remember a blogger called Morally Diminished puting up a small sticker all over C.mai a few years ago. Was Mr Forbes Mr Diminished in a past life?

Bloody strange place....

Millwall fan, just pin a cloth over the pic while your dumpin'. You can't take it down.

Im pretty certain the lack of eyebrows on most women is a side effect of the hormones they have to take to stop the gender realignment reversing.

Thats an interesting link Scea. Could well be the Man who wrote the book I read, but the text is not the book itself. I wish I kept better records of books and writers I read. Got about a third of the way through, so will read the rest later.

Seems the siamese fell out with the french, which in part is why northern thailand was declared part of the kingdom of thailand insted of lao. Back then the french influence in lao would have been stronger than in thailand.

Interesting to read the attitude, along the lines of the Thais being inteligent enough to follow the western way.

Another water soaked book I managed to read a little of was about the Teak Wallahs, who harvested Teak in Northern thailand and burma around late 1800's.

Really interesting the way they did it. Might try a google search to find out more.

Cheers.

My understanding was that Thailand was called Thailand as a concession to the Tai Yai, Tai Lek etc, who found it slightly irksome that they would now become part of a country previously known as Siam. Apart from not particularly wanting to be ruled by anybody, it was in the balance weather northern Thailand would become part of Lao, or Siam, and at that time Northern thailand was not uncomonly refered to as Western Lao. All this around 1910 or 1920?

The H in thailand was added to aid in transliteration.

Gleened most this from a marvelous book writen by the last UK ambassador to Siam, just before it became thailand. Unfortunately the book was badly damaged with bits missing. Shame.

But dont bet any money on the above, I would hate to be responsible if you lost it.

I'm not sure what this has to do with this thread. Maybe I intended to post in a diffrent thread. Cant really remember. Hope someone finds it interesting anyhow

I too like sensor exel. Find a head lasts about three months, shaving on average four times a week.

When I run out, and need to look my best, I use a sur-form, failing that a piece of hardwood stick, poked in the fire till its glowing nicely, will remove the unwanted hairs.(carefull not to get to close) Follow this up with a good rub with a piece of course grit emery cloth, and a splash of heating oil, just to open the pores. Perfect shave every time.

BTW, what is sensitive skin?

With an accent like mine, you need to change it, no matter how weird it sounds. Its not only thais that can't understand me.

One of my favorite comedy moments was two germans struggling to talk in pidgen english to each other, before discovering they were from the same town.......

OK, if it has HNL, its either permanantly engaged or electic switch engagement. The stick should be in H as it is. This is High box, as in normal gearing. If the stick is in N, thats neuteral and you wont be going anywhere. L is low box, which gives you very low gears, maximun use of power, and massive fuel consumption. Leave it in H unless your going mud plugging or towing up very steep hills.

My guess is, And this is only a guess, that it is electric switch engagement for the 4WD. You need to find a push switch with, like a big sideways H in it with a little wheel at each end if the side of the H. this reprasents a plan view of the axles. Make sense? sorry I cant describe it any better.

Any way, If you find this switch, press it. 4WD is now engaged, and a light should indicate so on the dashboard. Press again to dissengage. Remember the bit about reversing to disengage the hubs, after you put her out of 4WD.

Go play. good luck.

I dont know the fortuna smaart 4X4, but I do know my way aroud 4 wheel drives.. So most of this is an educated guess.

IF your vehicle is permanant 4 wheel drive, the small shift lever should have H.N.L. stamped on it. This is High box, Neuteral, an Low box.

If Not permanant small lever may have 4H, 4L, N and 2 on it.

Or there may be an electric switch to engage 4WD In which case your back to H.N.L.

Pressing the electric switch will, or should bring on a warning light on the dashboard. Pressing again will disengege and ligt should go out.

Yes, it should be engaged periodicaly, to stop moving parts ceasing.

When disengaging, remember to reverse about 3 meters, to disengege the free wheeling hubs on the front wheels.. this stops the halfshafts turning when you drive in 2WD.

You will hear a click when they disengage.

Go play, you cant do any real harm, just make sure not to leave her in 4WD if she is not permanant, coz this will "wind her up".

Take a look in the glove box or on the underside of the drivers sunvisor. these vehicles sometimes have instructions printed there. Exept it could be in Thai.

You will soon know if she is "winding up" coz you wont be able to keep the thing on the road. If it starts, and you cant get it out of 4wd, get on some soft ground and spin the wheels a bit. This usually releases them.

"You will probably get better replies there."

What wrong with my reply? Not good enough for you or what?

Only kidding, Merry Xmas

To the OP. And anyone else interested.

I'm in the UK, and was trying to use facebook at a similar time to when you made your post, and it was all cocked up for me aswell. Still is actually.

Is the one on the right your friend?

I dont have a degree, nor much formal education either. I've been self employed most my life, and do ok, just.

On the occasions I have worked as an employee, for a big company or corporation, most managers seem to have degrees, and there is no way I would employ any of the managers i have worked under.

I cannot for the life of me understand how such rank incompetence has ingrained itself into the lower level of management, but my guess is that worthless degrees are valued more highly than skill and experience when it comes to the interview. Either that or the higher management cannot tell when a potential employee is lying through his teeth.

The very fact that a manager will seek to hold down an employee through fear of being shown lacking, is the evidence in itself that the degree is worthless. j

Having said that, I know plenty with good degrees, who know what they are doing.

And if I had enough funds, would do a degree myself.

If you want a beast of a phone the Samsung B2100 is the kit. Resistant to a meter depth of water for 30 minutes, drop it down a cliff, tread on it etc. Dont know how much one would cost, or weather availiable in thailand. Its next best predessesor, a rubber coated nokia(cant remember model number) was a bout the equvelant of £50.

I looked all over town for my cheapy thai phone and ended up with a simple, easy to use nokia for, I think 1500 -1700 baht. found the 800 - 900 nokias to be a bit on the flimsy side.

Airport plaza seemed to have the best range at the best prices. Dont know which floor though. I dont even know which floor im on most the time when I'm there.

On a side note, If you buy a good phone, make sure its Genuine, and not "reconditioned". If its genuine, it is possible to program it to work in any country , so you can take it home with you. If its reconditioned it means its got chinese guts in it. Probably will work fine, but not so versatile. Dont quote me on this though, its just what i've been lead to belive. sure someone will know more.

I think it may be a Baseball competition. Used to call the game Rounders when in primary school.

How much did you win?

Long story cut short. my cards were removed and replaced in a Hotel in Vientiane. I only discoverd this about four days later, due to some missing cash that was inthe same bag. Reported the suspected copying and had a security lock put on them. ie cannot now be used unless I phone company first.

Two months later, after returning home, had a letter off the bank telling me ATM card was used in Nong Khai. They had no way of knowing PIN, couldnt even tell it t you myself, just comes automatically when I go to ATM. So how did they know it? No idea

All Im saying is the crooks sometimes appear to wait a long time before they use a cloned card.

What a coincidence. I've just been surfing the web looking at how to buy silver bullion, and how much to pay. Seems the cost of bars is way above spot price, although Im only looking at 100 grams.

Makes me nervous buying over the phone from a dealer, possibly my lack of experience, and there are not many dealers in rural mid wales, so I think I will have a word with my bank.

I see a positive future for silver, and at worst it will always be worth something, so not a great lot to loose with the amount I plan to spend.

Could have made a fortune with gold if I did a little more doing and a little less thinking, so dont want to make the same mistake with silver.

Regards.

Edit. Does anyone know if there is a set way of selling silver and other metals? Do you just take it to a dealer and they all give the same price per weight? Any one know how it works. Thanks.

New Years eve at Thae pae gate. You will never forget it. Atmosphere like nowhere else.

I'm a compulsive whistler, and some Thai friends told me it was rude to whistle, although they never mentioned ghosts. I thought this was odd, as I was sure I'd heard burmese construction gangs whistling.Then my brain started working and realised that the group of friends that told me were mostly burmese, who do whistle. Go figure?

Whatever weapon you choose, make sure you know how to use it, Bear in mind that said thief may well have been confronted before, and is possibly more used to that situation and more comfortable than you are. wouldn't want thief to take baseball bat off you coz you hesitated, and clout you with it.

Personally, I would probably have ripped the head off the first living thing I saw, even if it was the maid. Best do what you did, let the next person sort him out. Get the grating fixed.

Dont underestimate the disabling properties of an extremely bright torch shone in the intruders eyes, just dont look at it yourself.

I've seen first hand the damage caused by the lunatic rantings of the catholic church. Is it human nature to ignore the abstinense bit and just carry on bonking like bunnys without protection? What I find more alarming is why so many people and the media give any credit to the distructive sewerage that oozes out of the vatican.