coolthaihouse.com blog

You often hear this ‘If it comes down to a legal hassle between you and a Thai who do you think is going to win?’, as if everything here is thoroughly rigged against the farang. I couldn’t disagree more. Maybe it is true in some areas, but as I’ve seen and heard in traffic accidents the police are effective and fair. This opinion applies to my experiences in Pattaya, and also similar discussions with friends living up country.      I was recently involved in an accident. Here is what happened. I was driving a pickup truck with my wife and some workers in the rear on a curvy country road on the way back to Pattaya when a motorcycle going about 120 km per hour came around a rather sharp corner and laid the bike down. The rider came off the motorbike (prior to hit impacting the auto) and the bike became like a weapon speeding onward towards my truck, which hit like a thump! (more…)

It’s funny how I often get asked about the cost of living here in Thailand, not as to how much I, you or the typical expat spends, but the minimum cost of living. Rob writes me ‘Hi Dozer, I’m currently a Vet student with another 2 years to go before graduation. I have a chance to take a year off and ‘travel’ – or I should say ‘pick a place and go there’ as there really isn’t a travel budget. Just to check the feasibility of the whole thing – can you tell me what it would cost to live there, say for a year, just basic lifestyle not including any extras?’. (more…)

Here was the fate of an unfortunate truck who was driving on the shoulder of the road. Although the dirt shoulder ‘looked solid’, there has been a lot of drainage work going on. There truck tires broke though the solid ground to reveal a hole about 1 meter deep. He’s just about to get towed out.

I just wonder who are all these shirtless farangs who seem to be everywhere these days. In the US at least nobody goes around without wearing shirts. Here, of course, in the LOS due to the culture the Thai’s are very conservative as far as what they wear out in public. You could live here 100 years and never see a Thai in a bank, for example, without a shirt. God forbid if a Thai did go into a bank without a shirt he would be asked immediately to leave, and if he put up a fuss, the police would be called. (more…)

I’m deviating a bit from normal topics today, because I’m getting ready for a trip overseas, and my mind isn’t much on construction. Small details here can sometimes be more daunting than you would think, for example the drive to the airport. Before having wheels it all seemed pretty easy, go by taxi or bus, some form of transportation where the driver actually knows where he is going.

Since getting my own vehicle, the batting average for getting lost on the way to the airport with only minutes to spare before the flight isn’t good. Several times I’ve took the coward’s way out, waving down a taxi driver and having him ‘lead me home’ so to say. Even then, one time we got lost after the taxi driver didn’t lead us far enough and veered off. (more…)

I’ve been at learning the Thai language for a while. Besides obvious uses applicable to those of you living here I consider it a hobby of mine. It is real handy with respect to real estate projects, having someone translate for you isn’t the nearly the same, as I’ve come to find out.

After studying in Bangkok for a while, specifically for the department of education P6 test, I did indeed take the test (given once a year) in December of 2003 and was one of 100 or more Expats that passed. It is a pass/fail exam, but they will tell you your percentage if you ask them (when you go to get the certificate). (more…)

The beginning of this year there was no doubt about it, I was unfortunately overweight. A diet was one of those things I had been putting off, partially delayed by an emergency appendicitis operation and motorcycle accident last year. In any event, I did finally get started on the 26th of January of this year

It preparation, the first thing I pulled out was my handy ‘Recommended Thai Food Menu’. This was done by the manager over at the Dusit Sports club a while ago, I picked it up from him a few years back. I’m sure he won’t mind me sharing the information. One of the difficulties with dieting here is it is sometimes hard to differentiate between diet and non-diet foods. That’s where this small chart comes in handy. A lot of foods on there I don’t like, so mostly I just picked out a few and normally when eating out that’s what I have. (more…)

I’ve been off the net for a couple of days. ipStar down again. Sunday I was on the phone to tech support in Bangkok to no avail. Then Monday morning I went into Wattana Computer (Pattaya branch) and took in some diagnostic screen prints showing the problem I was having. She said they could come out Tuesday to look at it. ‘Can’t you come out today? I really depend on being able to hook up to the internet at least daily.’ ‘No, because the Bangkok office needs to send a ticket over and we won’t get it until 1 PM, so the earliest we could schedule from there would be tomorrow’. I don’t really get irritated, but it is ever so true that customer service in things like this just suck. (more…)

Some aspects of customer service are just soooo primitive here. Example: casio shock resistant baby-g pathfinder with tide/moon bought for mrs. d about a year ago at the watch shop in Big C, North Pattaya. After a couple of weeks there is water seepage in the face of the watch. (more…)

An interesting question about day laborers and tools. Our group here, who really does have a pretty good collection of tools said that we should be paying for the tool usage. They are now doing a metal gate which requires a welder and metal cutter. Happy with their work so far so we agreed on 50 baht a day for the tools.

Upcountry (ie. outside of tourist areas) (more…)

I got this rather alarming shot of a phony ATM card reader along with a spy camera mounted in a nearby pamphlet holder from a reader. Just goes to show you can’t really be too careful. This is the real deal as I check it out here. full story phony ATM reader

From Jeff R Anywhere in the world you can have bad neighbors, and Thailand is no exception. I’ve lived in Bangkok 5 years in a townhouse my Thai wife had prior to meeting me. I am the only farang in our housing area and very happy with that fact. My problem from the start has been one Thai guy across the street keeps 4 large dogs that he allows to run loose 24 hours a day. They usually start barking about 11 pm in front of our house and don’t stop till around 4 am. (more…)

have the coolest ride on the block, new for about 250,000 baht

from Robin T Everyone should have one of these locally made farmer’s truck powered by an 11hp Kubota diesel as used in mechanical ploughs. It does 60 mpg and can carry an astonishing 3 tonne payload. 0-100km/h never!

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One of my favorite Thai parables that I read when I was learning Thai goes like this. There is a boatman who takes people across a river to an island for a fee, 10 baht a piece. One day there is a family that goes to the island. When they get ready to return, the boatman asks why he should take them back, he already has enough money in his pocket? (more…)

feedback from Jeff T

I love this site, I’m thinking of moving to Thailand when I’m done here in Iraq in 2 to 3 years and would like to find out everything I can about building a home there and living there in general. I don’t ant to spend over 35,000 in us dollars for housing and I figured about 10,000 for a vehicle if this is not possible let me know, I’m also thinking around 1000 to 1500 us per month is enough to live on. Any help would be great. (more…)