jacko

Sounds like a great vehicle but the switch to a VW beetle blew my mind....all those hills and forests there.

If I had your money I think I would burn mine! Well, maybe the ex will see to that, good luck anyhow!

Although I do get surprised that a pint of Heinekin is so much at the 'Pubs'....Jamiesons, Shennanigans etc. If one needs to drink a pint of John Smiths, sit in an English pub environment and eat pie and chips every night, one wonders what the reason or point of being in Thailand is? This type of evening is an occasional change for me, but rarely lasts more than an hour or two. You hear too much BS.

My first ever trip to Thailand I think there was only Singha, normally big bottles. Never mind no preservatives...it had a definite chemical taste and smell, formaldahyde maybe! Was strong and gave the nastiest hangover. Then along came Klohster...advertised by Rod Stewart looking young and soppy. Better hangovers..... At last Carlsberg arrived and I was good for a decade! So many things loosen bowels in Thailand, you yanks eat and shit too much anyhow.....one shit a day should be enough. Try Mango salad if you want to shit.......

I like the taste of Chang, but I have had 3 incidents of being very ill after drinking it.....(not every time I drink it note).....so I gave up on it. Cheap Charlie contest.....bring it on! I send my lady out on the motorcycle to bring back a case of Archa from the nearby shop as it is 30 baht more if I go there. Farang factor....... I nearly had her send some over with her friend coming over from Korat until she found it 10 baht less here.

It isn't that great, but I started ordering it when in restaurants where a large Heinekin was 180 baht, a Singha 160...or a Chang at 70! Don't trust Chang so I noticed this Leo stuff about 80 baht and started drinking it. As I have said, you can get used to a beer unless it is really crap.

I was a Carlsberg drinker for a long long long long time...used to peel and fold the foil top wrappers into rings for the girls. Not sure what constitutes a man's drink from another though? I sort of feel that your favourite beer is the one you get used to.....unless it is basically crap. The old aquired taste syndrome....Guinness when I am in the UK, Labatts when in the USA....then there are some I just cannot handle, Tiger is one sadly, seems to send me daft, I get crazy drunk. My father warned me off it from his time in Malaysia in the army....maybe 1950s. I never listened and first came across it in the Middle East.....never had a hangover like that before!

Glad you like the phrase, off the top of my head and bottom of a beer bottle -honestly. But you know someone once said 'an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters will come up with a Shakespeare play eventually' ...maybe that was my moment! Coincidentally I was sat on a friends balcony recently enduring an overly loud Karaoke nearby....I HATE karaoke......although my girl likes to sing a song! Can't be doing with all that adolescent rushing around to do as much as possible before I die! You only get so many allocated heartbeats, use them sparingly.

I have no real idea about work visas...but I believe it would be a non imm B type, 3 month validity. When I worked here (ages ago) it was short duration and hence visa runs not an issue. As I stated, with a retirement visa you do not have to do visa runs and leave the country. But are required to 'register' every 3 months to confirm where you live etc. The initial visa is actually an extension of your non-imm visa taking it to a total of 12 months validity. I do not have a retirement visa, but a tourist visa. (this is not what you get at the airport, but is issued outside Thailand) As U stated some guys had problems when their passports showed too many tourist visas.......but I believe these were people with a LOT of them..maybe several years worth, but this is why I am considering a non immigrant visa, (and probabaly going on to a retirement later). I still have ties with home and wish to go back maybe 2 times each year anyhow.

Now we have all seen those guys drinking Chang infront of the 7-11. Maybe me in a year or two...... But for those of us who don't go out as much as we used to, but still love a cold beer after tilac has cooked a nice spicy meal, (that sure has developed a beer only thirst)...what is our tipple of choice? Heinekin is good, but overpriced..... Singha isn't that good and hence also overpriced..... Chang makes me throw up now and again, I think there is some quality control issue. Tiger sends me daft if I drink one or 2 above the norm..... I found Leo tolerable at restaurants, but when I can get it I have developed a taste for Archa....picture of a pony or horse on the label. About 280 baht/case, 12x640cc bottles. I hope beer Lao becomes readily available soon. Oh and I put ice cubes in it so what do I know about taste?

I would hardly call them demeaning.......just a day out with duty free included. Retirement visa allows you to stay 1 year, but you have to 'register' every 3 months, a visit to the immigration dept or you can do it on-line. O Visa lasts 3 months... 'crim on the run'...... You could apply for permanent residency or citizenship! Not so easy. Better still make a trip to Cambodia and stay.. have some fun there for a few days. I had a very nice stay in Laos too. A long weekend in Singapore....

I am going to sound a bit of a whiner here but....... Do I have to go to Hull? I have been outside of the UK now so long that I would never request any of my old friends to supply such a committment. I suppose my mother might! Thanks for feedback.

Laziness perhaps. I always felt that I would be bullshitting to get an O visa. Not married here...... category O...visit friends or relatives....No does not apply. category B....business, nope. Having to prove some financial status, hate having to tell anybody anything in UK. Whenever I get the form in UK, the tourist visa requires very little, the Non-Imm seems more complex, my time in the UK is limited, and normally return trip is booked. I would appreciate advice on this..... Retirement would be next logical step on.

Not sure if this is a serious question but I will answer as if it was. She wanted to work, more for something to fill time than the monetary need. Not so easy to find as she does not have qualifications and at 32 is 'getting on' in Thai terms. Part time jobs are scarce as hen's teeth. She had interviews at supermarkets, one place called back, but I answered the phone and that put paid to that...have farang means not need job. The reality was that any job she got would be paying only about 4000 baht, she would be working 6 days/week/48 hours. I thought it a waste of time for 4k, also that taking care of home and me on top was too much, and we would have to buy/rent another motorcycle to get her there (we live other side of Sukhumvit). Now she is looking at some schooling!

And here.... Pattaya Expats Club

Saudia used to allow you to have a bottle but that was if you boarded outside the Kingdom...they would give you mixers and dispose of your empties. Wouldn't fancy wandering around in Riyadh airport as a transit passenger with a couple of bottles of scotch in my carry-on. I was told that the Kuwait customs would let you bring a bottle into the country when I was working there and doing a visa run to Bahrain. But bring 2...he keeps one, you keep the other....he took both without so much as a word! Yes Kuwait and Saudia flights are 'dry'.....the other Arabian Penninsular countries airlines are certainly not. Is Sharjah still dry?

That is certainly cheap.........don't know how they do it? Hate transit in the Middle East though, used to work there, travelled a lot, seems to get under my skin now.

Can't speak for Soi Buakou, don't get around there much but yes they are common. Tsutaya chain are in a few places, Big C and Carrefour Malls. There is another chain called ...shit the daft cow has took the card..sorry..will add later. You have to 'join' and the price is more if you want DVDs. She is back...where else would you keep the membership card but under the motorcycle seat?....VIDEO EZY...web page is useless. They don't change their selection too quick...

Well I only had a couple of glasses so far but please don't make me drag this out. I am planning to get as plastered as you. Something electrical is rated at say 2kw....not 2 kw per hour.....if you use it for 1,000.000 hours it is still using 2 kw...if you use it for 0.5 seconds, it is still 2kw. A KW is a measurement of power not energy. Your electric bill is based on the average power multiplied by the time (a month actually)...they could use kilowatt-months, kilowatt-days...I am trying to say it is kilowatts multiplied by time (or integrated over time), not per which means divided by time. Oh sod it, I am going to have a dump and another beer, I am too analy retentive! My apologies.

A very valid thought too.....I would be thinking 'stay away from these cheats!' Subtle inclusion of a link I was going to post too!

You need only say 0.75 to 2.0 KW.......adding per hour does not make sense. A kilowatt is an 'instantaneous' measurement of power and not time related......it is the current times the voltage. The cost is related to the power multiplied by how long you use it.....let us say you run a 2 kw device for 2 hours, that is 4 Kilowatt-hours. If you are paying 3.5 baht per KWH, let us say you sleep 8 hours with an AC using 1.5 KW on average.....8x1.5 kwhx3.5 baht/kwh=42 baht. Not worth sweating over and you got the cost right! Apologies for being a know all.......but having some major electric cost discussion over in members area! My first electric bill!

Well no answers so I guess you should ask Western Union yourself.

Hagley Road.....that takes me back, used to live off there when I was student at Univ B'ham in '75.......what a dump! Mahan Air has been coming up on a few searches Biz class from Manchester. I don't think Tehran will be a good transit since they stopped the dancing Mullahs show.

I think we can do something between your return and my departure. PM me. Tirac wants me to make you an offer on one of your bikes!

Thanks for link to map. Was it you that posted about some of the ST places East of Sukhumvit a while ago? Yes I have looked around over here, but tried only 1 place to eat. I am up for it before I go to UK...Tilac off to her village next week.....I need to take care of house so cannot go.....yeah right. So got a free week, name a place up Soi Siam CC on your map. Be nice to go out for a beer and not worry about getting back over that crazy highway.