4amExpat.com

This is the view from Google maps:

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The current coming in to the city is moving at about walking speed. That said, I’ve checked the Wat Laksi / IT Square / Chengwattana / Vibawadi area for the last 3 days and the Channel 7 van has been in the same place.

Here you can see swirls of water from fast moving currents:

Is this what Venice looks like?

I think these could be put to better use:

Back to the old ways:

Heading past Office Depot, no need for office supplies today:

 More Photos @ yfrog

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Flight over Ayutthaya

EveryTrail – Find the best hikes in California and beyond

Tried out the NFL.com Game Pass for the weekend.  Cost is $25 for the weekend.  $210 for the whole season.  Check out all their packages here.

Quality on an 8mb DSL connection from True was quite good.  There are 6 levels of quality ranging from 400 Kbps to 3000 Kpbs.  If you set the quality to auto, it will adjust the quality depending on your internet quality.  Most of the game seemed to be in the mid rage quality at about 1600 Kbps.   About once a every 10 mins there was a 1 sec pause in the action.  No worse than satellite tv reception.  I watched the output on a 46″ HD TV as a second screen from my MacBook Pro.

The game options work like a DVR with a live button, back and forward 10 seconds and a play/pause button.  You also get access to NFL network shows and Red Zone coverage on Sunday which skips around to all the best bits of the games.

Most likely you will want to watch the game Monday morning or Monday night.  Not a problem – you just select the game and it starts playing at the beginning of the broadcast.  Since the games have all the commercials, the plus side is you can skip them 10 seconds at a time. (a bit tedious).

Commercials – yeah you get all the glorious car, light beer , motor oil and insurance commercials.   This was rather novel to me as I’ve been on the torrents for so long I’d forgotten what American TV commercials looked like. You can skip past if you not watching live.

All and all a good experience, but with a price take of $150 to watch your team for the season WITH ads, I find that to be pricy.

Conclusion – Put that price at $50 for the full package and I’d likely pay.   As long as there is still TenYardTorrents.com offering HD games with NO commercials, I’ll likely stick with downloading games.

Monkey Vs Dog. Hilarious! – Watch more Funny Videos

All three networks have dedicated their front pages to allowing you to register your interested in knowing when they will know the price, and time that they will be able to actually sell you an iPhone4.  I think anyone that interested has already made their way down to MBK to see iPhone4′s everywhere.

This is a new one.  The Thai auction site 25Satang.com launched earlier this year, lets you buy bids by the pack, like 10 bids for 90 Baht or 700 Bids for 4,800 Baht.  The average price per bid comes out to 7 baht.  The bid increment? You guessed it, 25 satang.  This means to get to the bid price of 10 baht, there are 40 bids or 280 Baht worth of bids.  If an item sells for a winning bid of 10 baht, and you are lucky enough to come in at the last minute with the winning bid, you pay for you bid (7 baht) and the price of the item i.e. 17 Baht.  If you lost the auction, but bid 20 times, you paid 140 Baht.

Two actual examples from the company site:

Auction: Samsung 32″ LCD TV. Retail price: 13,990.  chai1974 was the winner with 202 bids, and a final auction price of 214.75.  chai1974 paid a total of 1,679 Baht to for this brand new TV.  Not bad.  The company pulled in about 6,000 baht worth of bids.  Likely a bit of a loss for them.

Auction: Iphone 3GS  Retail price: 27,948 baht.  chai1974 was the winner (again) with 3,855 bids, and final auction price of 5395.25 baht.  chai1974 paid a total of about 33,344 baht for this brand new iPhone. Whoa. And how did the company do? They pocketed around 151,000 baht!

It’s and interesting concept, but lets see how long it flys.  With every bidder but the winner losing money on each auction, not sure how long it will be till people get the hang of it.  It’s got a great hook though, once you’ve blown 100 Baht in bids, you can hardly stop.

If you are looking for a suitable big bike for Bangkok or anywhere in Thailand, look no further than the Kawasaki ER6-n. Besides looking as good or better than anything in it’s class (SUZUKI GSR600), it’s assembled in Thailand.  As with all vehicles in Thailand that are subject to a nearly 100% tax rate, at 247,000 Baht for the 2010 ABS model, you’re able to avoid paying double.  As an import this bike would go for around 500,000 Baht.

Besides the price, the look and feel of this machine is top notch.   At 649cc, it’s a smaller big bike, and it handles great, it’s a comfortable ride and a great bike for a novice.  It doesn’t get overly hot in city riding like you would find from a Yamaha R6, but it’s also not build for top speed racing.  The ABS brake system adds that extra safety touch to give you more piece of mind.

Reasons to buy:

• Price – Because it’s built in Rayong, you don’t pay import tax
• Handling – Good in for city and street riding and novice riders
• Looks -  Great design
• Parts – Most parts made in Thailand and fair priced

Great video showing the aftermath of the Bangkok protests two days after it’s completion. Red shirts left a bit of a mess behind, but it won’t take long to get cleaned up. Thankfully the bad example, started by the PAD, of protesting till the PM steps down, won’t become a Thai habit.

The protests are over, for now. Reds, upset with the outcome, take it out on the city of Bangkok. It will take a while to wash themselves of their tarnished image. Taksin’s hope of setting foot in the country ever again, has faded.

Boston Globe has some great large sized photos of the day.

There is a good article at the Economist called No End In Sight, but I think an even better comment by Felix Qui.  Also some really great photos at CNN.

Felix Qui wrote:
May 16th 2010 6:43 GMT

I live on Silom Road, near the blockaded area.
Until Thursday evening, things were daily becoming more and more normal apart from the presence of lots of fresh faced young conscripts seeing life in the big city and the odd stretch of razor wire, even the night life was picking up again. That all changed with the shooting of Thai army general Kattiya on Thurday evening, at the beginning of the current crackdown, which has not been quick, smooth or obviously effective as the continuing shooting, fires and skirmishes prove.
Silom Road is now dead. It’s more silent and eerie than it was during the coups I’ve lived through here over the past 20 years. It’s also more scary. It would be useful to know who shot Kattiya and on whose orders. Lots of speculation so far, and what it all has in common is that the guess being made tends to serve the view of the person making it.

The Red leaders were fools not to jump for the face saving offer of a Nov. 24 election, and things have deteriorated since, as I guess someone wants them to. Presumably not Kattiya any longer, though until his shooting, he was the one I thought most likely to want to push for a more violent escalation, and the most capable of inspiring and leading such a move by the Reds, as shown by his intemperate raid on Chula. Hospital and the subsequent conflicts with other Red leaders.

Awful as the current days of violence are, what comes after them will be far more crucial for Thailand’s future. Whether the Reds are being funded by Thaksin or other deep pocketed groups, and whatever the motives of their leaders, it is certain that there is a very real and very widespread sense of betrayal, injustice and double standards throughout the majority of the country. The divides run deep between the Bangkok elite and the people of the rest of Thailand; if Abhisit and his masters merely suppress the current protest without taking real steps to reach out to all Thai people, and if they fail to make radical changes to the social, political and legal system, then the stage will be set for far more explosive protests sooner rather than later.

Thailand desperately needs mechanisms installed so that the Thai people’s voices can be heard and so that those voices can be respected, not overturned by the army or a mob of Yellow clad People Against Democracy (the PADsters) in Bangkok who look down on the rural majority with contempt. In a well functioning state, the Reds would not have been able to escalate their protest to such a point, in imitation of the tactics of the PADsters, who after occupying government house for months on end then occupied Bangkok’s international airport for over a week to enforce their will on the entire Thai nation contrary to the repeatedly expressed will of the Thai people in a series of elections. That the Yellow PADster leaders continue to run free and have recently come out to categorically oppose the offered peace plan is not helpful.

The best video coverage of yesterday’s skirmish on Bang Na Trat road:

BBC:

Grab a few friends, some long bamboo and used tires, and you can make your own defensive barricade. Watch how:

Is the best solution for the government to wait it out?

From a piece by Imtiaz Muqbil:

In what could be an entirely new new chapter in the history of handing public protests, the Thai government has effectively stalemated the red-shirts. Far from buckling, as the red-shirts had expected, the government now believes that time is on its side, and appears willing to wait it out. Effectively, this has put the onus back on the red-shirts to decide how much longer they can wait. The weather is getting hotter, and the monsoon rains are on the way. Major counter-protests against the red-shirts are emerging. Life could become increasingly uncomfortable on the streets where the red-shirts are camped in wretched conditions. At the political level, not only will a waiting-game further bleed the coffers of the Thaksin camp, further attempts to disrupt daily life is likely to see the red-shirts face an even stronger backlash in a future election.

Most important, the government is hoping that waiting-game strategy will put the red-shirts’ leaders under further pressure to deliver results to their followers and/or explain why they are failing. So far, the government is abiding by the classic principles of not rushing to action but examining the broader ramifications and implications of all possible courses of action – slow and steady will win the race, haste will make waste, patient is a virtue, the rule of law is the best option, take the long-term view, and perhaps most important, do not submit to blackmail.

Launched in September 2009 and produced locally, the streets of Thailand are starting to see more of the upscale scooter, the Honda PCX 125. Why is this significant? The price for the transport of choice for the non-car set in Thailand is a 110 or 125cc scooter with an average price tag of 50,000 Baht. But let’s say you you’re a Thai with a bit more spending power than average, but you’re not quite able to spend 400,000 Baht for a new car. Honda’s next best option has been the Phantom, at about 87,000 Baht.  But with it’s chopper style design, it’s not a natural jump for the scooter set.

Enter the PCX 125 – a premium scooter, that still allows you to fit in with your peers, but at a price of 70,000 Baht, lets them know that you have that extra bit of class and spending power. Will Thais eat these up like they do with premium hand phones? Is this bike enough of a status upgrade to pay and extra 30k? I’ve sited enough PCX’s around town to think this is a great move by Honda to place this premium scooter just within in the reach of the masses.

Some of fighting against the Red Shirts at Silom Road. This report shows Silom business owners and workers fighting back against the Red Shirts, in order to keep them away from Silom. Red Shirts seem to be running out of friends. BTW, this is right next to Dusit Thani Hotel, so avoid staying at this hotel for the near future.

Pro government support:

Some well shot video on the scene of the Red Shirt / Military skirmish from Thai blogger Thai-faq.com.

So you finally moved into a big enough place or far enough out of the city that you can entertain the idea of a barbecue. Congrats, however, you’ll be pleased to find that you will be paying more for fewer features.  But of course, if you’ve made it here this long, you are used to that by now.

So here’s a round up of what you have available to you when buying a BBQ in Thailand.  This is mainly a look at gas BBQ’s as decent Thai made options for charcoal grills are sold at road sides, in Home Pro as well as these stores below.

I have found 2 places to buy a BBQ in Bangkok:

The Barbecue Store – Sukumvit Soi 39 (Also Pattaya, Hua Hin, Phuket) – Import BBQ’s from Australia with brands Fuego, Beefmaster, Turbo and Grill King.  Online ordering and delivery.  Their service is quite good and they offer good after sales service.

Cheapest 3 burner: 21,900 – Grill King

4 Burner Stainless: 35,600 – Beefmaster

True Value – Sukumvit  Soi 26 (Also Pattaya,  – Large US hard ware chain, carries the 800 pound gorilla – Weber as well as a Chinese made Grill Zone.  Bad news is you’ll pay more than double the price for a Weber grill bought in Thailand.

Cheapest 3 Burner: 21,500 – Grill Zone

4 Burner Stainless: 47,500 – Grill Zone

Weber Q300 – 32,00 baht.

Other options:

BBQThailand – Located in Phuket – with shipping within Thailand. They carry the brand Masport.

Cheapest 3 Burner: 13,900 – Masport Weekender 3

4 Burner Stainless: 33,500 – Masport Entertainer Plus

Quick Fire -  Locally made in Udon Thani – shipping within Thailand.  They have some great reviews, but the prices are a bit high.  They do custom work as well.  They have a fourm thread where people can hear from they main guy, “Doc”.  Just don’t ask any tough questions.

Cheapest 3 Burner: 29,000

4 Burner Stainless: NA

Conclusion:  For the small size of my family and the size of my space, I think the Weber Q is the perfect choice.  Looks great, portable and is a quality brand.  But as they can be had on EBAY for about 15,000 Baht shipped to your door, I don’t think I am going to be able to bring myself to pay 32k for one here.

As the Ted Shirts are getting 2,500 Baht a day to hang out and protest, why don’t the shop owners of Gucci, Louis Vuttion, and EGV pay the Red Shirts 3,000 baht a day to leave?

Here’s what the Tourism Authority of Thailand suggests:

“You may be better off paying cash than using a credit card. While it’s technically against the law for the Thai vendor to pass onto you the fee that the credit card company charges them (approximately 2.25% to 3.5%, depending upon card type), it’s quite common for them to do so, and it’s usually not negotiable — you either pay the surcharge or don’t use your credit card. They often want to charge 4 or 5% instead of the 2.25% to 3.5%.

You should also be aware that many vendors use a third party to bill your credit card. So they may be paying the fee to the 3rd party.

If you lose your credit card or have other problems, you can reach the credit card companies in Bangkok on the following numbers.

MasterCard (02) 260-8572
Visa (02) 273-1199 or (02) 273-7449
American Express (02) 273-0022 or (02) 273-0044
Diner’s Club (02) 238-3660

Skype for wifi networks coming soon?

According to this page, you will be able to use your Skype credit to pay for wifi access with wifi networks around the world, including True Corporation Public Company Limited. Other majors include KSC, Boingo, Airborne Access, Starhub, Singtel and about 150 others.  This is great news as the current state of pay for wifi is more of a game of account collection than anything else.

You will need SkypeOut credit, and you pay per minute.

From 00.00 GMT on Saturday 20 March to 23.59 GMT on Sunday 21 March, Skype Access will be completely free to use from anywhere in the world.

How Skype Access works

Simply select an available public access WiFi network (the stronger the signal the better). Skype will automatically pop-up a message if you can connect to this network using your Skype Credit balance. If you don’t see a pop-up message, try another network.

Once you’re connected, you only pay per minute for what you use – no more paying for an hour’s access if you’re only online for 20 minutes.

More details

Technology Upgrade

Have a been away from blogging for a while, but haven’t been idle.  I have put up a couple of sites that while not perfect, I think make some improvements on what is out there.  The first is a Thai classifieds mashup from some of the local classifieds sites.  Rather then checking the major ones, you can check classifieds.4amexpat.com and get them all in one feed.  It also has a pretty decent free posting system, so you can sell your stuff there easily.

For news, getting all the major Thai blogs and newspapers in one place is the challenge I went for with news.4amexpat.com.  It’s not perfect, but it’s a decent way to find out what’s going on in Thailand at a glace.

Have finally converted to Worpress as well.  Been using it pretty thoroughly here in the last several months and decided it was finally good enough for my blog. I still think Blogger is a simple and powerful way to get started, but the theme and plug-in libraries of WP are just to strong to ignore.

Also been helping out with ThaiPrePaidCard.com, a way for people to top up their Thai prepaid GSM phones using Paypal.

Written in a language we can all understand.

Check out the the episodes here. Shown on Bravo UK.

Here’s a story ripe for the breaking… the mystery BNE tags that have shown up in Bangkok, New York, Tokyo, Madrid, San Fransisco and Prague. Who’s behind it and what does it mean? Don’t ask CNN or ABC.. they have no clue.

So what is this BNE tag? Here’s some more photos. And more..

$25k Reward for his capture in San Fransisco. Even Not The Nation is getting into the jest:

BANGKOK – Canadian expatriate Jamie Redwood filed a police report yesterday after finding his entire one-room studio apartment plastered with BNE stickers.

For now, it seems no one has an answer to what’s behind this global tagging moment that seems to date back to 2006.