Gonzo

http://youtu.be/X1ZRBPA8SK0

Forget about Ribery and Bayern, Chelsea, Barcelona and the rest. Liverpool and their Brit and Aussie fans are what really matters in football.

Hi Jacko, I was trying to point out how easy it is to afford to buy one’s own condominium in Thailand compared to other countries. True enough, the same can be said about renting a place here. Since you mentioned London, I have been watching a series on Deutsche Welle TV lately, where couples working abroad are looking to buy or rent accommodation in several cities, like London, Vancouver, New York and Shanghai, just to name a few. Last week it showed a young German couple checking out a very ordinary 64sqm flat in Brixton for 350 quid per week. That gives me a good idea how much it would cost to buy or rent in one of the better areas of London. Since you mentioned Darwin, the real estate prices have gone through the roof there, since it was decided to move a large part of Australia’s defence capability to the North of Australia a few years ago and after the NT Government managed to get the 10 Billion Impex gas project for Darwin harbour. In my opinion there is no right or wrong answer whether one should buy or rent in Pattaya, without considering one’s own circumstances and preferences. I would not completely dismiss buying a shoebox-sized 28sqm condo for a million baht, if I had little saving and had to rely on a pension. That little shoebox-sized condo would cost 10 times as much in Brixton or in Darwin.

Four years rent would buy you a condo in Jomtien. I had to pay that much for a second carport in my apartment building in Australia. A friend bought a small condo in Jomtien for 450K a while ago for storage.

If anyone is interested, the recently released CN THAILAND NT 2013.40 (DUAL) ALL map is now available. I went to SMART ICON CO.LTD. on the ground floor at TUKCOM yesterday to have the free upgrade installed on my nüvi 3560LM by their friendly staff. The upgrade wiped out all my previously saved locations on the GPS, but that isn't a big deal. The new map is working fine and seems to be an improvement on the 2013.10 version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOJAUs4b28U&feature=share&list=PL60E56CAD9148FB5D

CT, Thanks for the information. I will give it some thought. If I decide to go back to Australia before the World Cup, I would be more inclined to sign up with Astro after I return to Jomtien later this year.

Hi CT, How much do you pay for Astro Sport and what is available on Astro Sport regarding live broadcasts of the Bundesliga and the World Cup in Brazil?

Before you check it out on Google, I was wrong about Schweinsteiger scoring a goal. Schweini got a high ball to Thiago, who converted from 8 metres (34). Müller scored twice (25), (59) and Mandzukic in the 66th minute. Is there any substance to the rumours about Man U wanting to buy Schweinsteiger at the end of this season? He is under contract until 2016.

C Tom, Did you contact Pep Guardiola and Joachim Löw and put in a good word for Schweinsteiger? He played for Bayern yesterday and kicked a goal as well, when they had a 4:0 win against Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga. Franck Ribery is still out with a sore bum.

Not to forget the French Bayern star player. http://youtu.be/Ea9FOhR41W0

Only the very best amongst this lot of players. Brings back a lot of memories.

CT, mate. Then there is at least one thing we have in common. We are both fanatical Bayern supporters. If Pep Guardiola lets Schweinsteiger play in a few Bundesliga games, and if he does not suffer any more injuries and proves himself, then Schweini will be playing in the World Cup in Brazil, together with Arsenal's captain Mertesäcker, Özil (not your boy) and possibly Podolski as well.

Play me the song of death. One of Ennio Morricone's famous movie themes. Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda weren't bad actors either.

Have you forgotten how to google? Schweini is happy to get paid sitting on the bench. Guardiola thinks he has better options than Schweinsteiger playing on the left. He is probably right. Why was your boy Özil allowed to take that penalty? He and Neuer were born in Gelsenkirchen and went to the same school. Neuer could read him like a book.

http://youtu.be/E_8IXx4tsus

Great music, Obsession and Briar.

He didn't get an arse-kicking in the Ballon D'or. The vote was Ronaldo 27.99, Messi 24.72 and Ribery 23.86. All of them deserved to win. Arsenal must be happy Ribery won't be playing tomorrow, as he is still recovering from the operation on a burst blood vessel. http://youtu.be/88d4_evi_Rc

Eric Clapton at his usual best. I like the backup vocals as well. The two dark girls are a bit on the heavy side, but I bet they are good in bed as well.

Yesterday afternoon I bought a Garmin nüvi 3560LM at Tukcom. I parked in the multi storey car park behind Tukcom, a couple of hundred metres away. From Pattaya Thai I drive on the left of Tukcom to the next small Soi on the left and then turn right in the next small Soi to the car park, where one can park four hours for free. The car park it is normally quite full, but I always find a place to park there with a bit of patience, yesterday at Level A3, which is the second last level near the top of the seven-level car park. It is only a 5-10 minute walk back to the Tukcom building, where one can enter the rear of the building. I quickly found the shop MM showed in his picture, the second shop on the left, SMART ICON CO. LTD., Tel. 038 724017-19. I looked at the five different Garmin GPS models on display. The cheap copy on left was of no interest, neither was the Garmin nüvi 40 for less than 4000 baht. I compared their next two Garmins, priced at about 6500 baht and 8500 baht with their top of the range Garmin nüvi 3560LM, which seems to be a fairly recent model available in Thailand and was manufactured in Taiwan in 2013. After the knowledgeable staff inside the shop, two young Thai girls and a young Thai man explained to me the difference it took me less than 10 minutes to make up my mind to buy the 3560LM model. They told me about the free upgrades every six months and told me to come back as soon as four month to check for the next available upgrade. I paid 12 790 baht for the Garmin 3560LM including 7% VAT. We walked back to the car park and I installed the GPs inside the building. When I drove outside the building, the satellites kicked in almost instantly, unlike the old 3770 where I often waited for several minutes. I tried to find my condominium in Jomtien. The GPS did not like Jomtien, but accepted Chomtien. I could not find the condo in our condominium complex, so I typed in the Villa Navin hotel opposite our place on Jomtien Second Road. When we got to the Hanuman Square, the GPS wanted me to drive along Jomtien Beach Road, as the main entrance of the Villa Navin is on Jomtien Beach Road. I ignored the GPS commands to do a U-turn to drive back to Jomtien Beach Road and drove up Second Road, past the now busy with Farangs Rhompo market and its many bars to our under cover car park next to the Villa Navin estate. From there we witnessed an accident just before we crossed Second Jomtien Road on foot to get to our condo, when a mini bus clipped a young Russian on his rented scooter. The mini bus took off in a hurry, in typical Thai driving style, as he was in the wrong when he overtook the Russian riding his scooter on the far left. Actually I only saw the aftermath of the accident, as I was still busy with the GPS having a look at the many new functions of my new toy. My missus saw the accident happen as she was waiting for me by the roadside. There were a few Farangs from the JBC buildings giving First aid waiting for the ambulance to arrive. There was a Thai police man taking pictures only of the possibly quite badly injured man and his rented bike. The Russian was bleeding from his head and had most of the skin from both knees was missing. I told his uninjured Russian girl friend to keep him lying flat on his back, when he started to move. We went back to back to our condo as there were quite a few Farangs already there trying to assist. Sorry for thread fucking my own GPS thread. Back in the condo we had a meal and I then went back to work out the many new functions of the Garmin 3560LM. The booklet that came with it was written in Thai only and I did not feel like downloading the instructions on the laptop. Anyway, most things I had a few problems with can be looked up on the help files on the GPS. I thought I would have to use the GPS simulator inside the room, but the new Garmin still works inside the room, sitting close to the doors of the two small balconies. Living in a corner room on the 14th floor probably helps, but the old 3770 would always cut out with any roof above it or a tall building close to it. Finding a new location is a breeze. I typed in Khao and then Kit and there were about 20 Khao Kithchakut destinations, including a hospital, a police station, the National Park and many others. I had to go through them one by one to find the mountain, I96.8 kilometres away from our place. Last year on the old map, I could only find Chantaburi City about 20 kilometres away from the mountain. Even when I got to the Chantaburi province I couldn’t find any reference to Khao Kitchakut and nearly missed the left turn to 3249 driving along A3. It was not hard to identify the mountain, but it was a bit more difficult to find a room nearby, as everything was written in Thai. When the missus asked a few of the friendly locals, most of them didn’t know either. We eventually found a room near the mountain, owned by a 76 year old Thai lady. She spoke fluent English as her French father took her to England to go to school. Thanks again to the board members for helping me to find the right GPS. It is fast and precise with its 5 inch LED screen. When it says turn left in 60 metres it is 60 metres. The 3770 would tell me to turn in 200 metres and I often missed the turn to the left or right after driving only 40 or 60 metres. The You Tube clip does not give it much justice. There is a lot more to the 3560 LM Garmin than what is shown on the You Tube video clip. http://youtu.be/7voxeZemhRY

Thanks for all the informative and positive replies from the above board members. I will go to Tukom first tomorrow afternoon and I am pretty certain I will buy a Garmin GPS there, probably one of the more expensive models, where I can get a free six-monthly update. The nÜvi Garmin 40 and the Garmin 3790 have been around for a while , but I have heard good reports about them. The picture MM posted shows they all come with an Esri Thailand map and Gary has always recommended Esri maps .Cheers guys.