Patong2
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Posts posted by Patong2
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If I recall
at the time, the difference between an RS which had to have a sunroof
and the EL without sunroof was about a B100,000 and I felt paying extra for something which we have already found a problem and actually never used, in previous cars NZ was not a good idea.
By the way, we reluctantly agreed to some coating which had to be a applied 4 times, 6 months apart. It has actually been very effective and definitely keeps the car sparkling and rarely does dirt accumulate. Our car is pearl white colour.
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Hi Niltava
We picked up our HRV- EL in February 23.
Would have bought an RS but I won't buy a sunroof vehicle after having owned one. Can't see the point, the brightness coming in from the roof doesn't help my vision and one more thing to cause problems, rust etc.
But we are delighted with our HRV-EL.
Lovely to drive with excellent vision and good handling.
Heaps of power even in Econ mode and Sport mode really sets you back in your seat.
I thought the electric mode was a bit of a gimmick but my son had an ICE HRV in NZ and I really liked the driving position, handling etc and as the HRV in Thailand only came in Hybrid, I just went along with it and ordered it.
The economy is outstanding, petrol wise and I live in Patong so it is all stop start traffic etc.
Fun sitting at a standstill in traffic enjoying the aircon and not having the petrol engine running.
Done about 10,500km absolutely trouble free of course (it is a Honda)
I have enjoyed this EL so much I bought and picked up a ZRV in NZ in January and that is even better but not yet available in Thailand I understand.
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That's a really bad night Xylophone.
Hope you recover quickly and with no lasting effects.
We all enjoy your posts and updates.
Finding the traffic starting to ease a trifle in Patong but went down to Nai Harn for a meal last night and surprised to find not a lot of traffic but still lots of people on the pavements so I think retailers in Kata and Karon are still enjoying good sales.
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On 3/5/2024 at 9:38 AM, xylophone said:
If you were to go south about a hundred metres or so, past the massage place on the right and then a bar of some description, then you have the restaurant "Le Bistrot", and it is just about opposite the entrance to Patong Bay Hill resort. Before that, over the past couple of years it has been a bar, then a small restaurant/café bar and then a bar with a massage place attached, all of which folded after a short period of time – – along with some poor suspecting farangs and their dreams!
On a whim after you after you mentioned it, we tried Le Bistrot last night. Impressed with the food,
Very generous portions of very nicely cooked food. Will go back.
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About 8.15am this morning a foreign looking guy and a girl, who may have been Thai, were rolling around in the small waves on Patong Beach this morning. Looked like a bit more than a heavy grope session. Certainly looked out of place at that time of the morning and there was a group of people including young kids about 70m away and others as well.
A couple of Thai guys and myself had stopped and one of the Thai guys walked down and from the gestures, told them to stop with lots of pointing to other people on the beach etc. After a bit of back chat, they stopped and started to get out with the girl trying to adjust her clothes.
It was the inappropiate time and place.
i have no problem with sex, nudity and it would have been a boring life without trying sex on a beach, but this was not acceptable even to my very liberal views.
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22 hours ago, Lacessit said:
There has been a 12% increase in crime, type unspecified. According to Google, New Zealand is quite low on the crime list, generally regarded as one of the safest countries.
Please post a link to support your claim there has been a huge increase in gun crime in New Zealand.
Unfortunately there are no up to date statistics on firearms crime in NZ and it is a very deliberate policy of the previous government to understate crime.
However there are plenty of reports from last year, and when I was back there last month, there were daily occurrences of gangs using firearms. An armed carjacking within 200 meters of Govt house in Auckland went almost unnoticed in my suburb.
Compare that with when I left school when most houses had guns and there was only a few murders in a whole year by any means.
Try this article from last August.
String of fatal shootings sees NZ reach half its annual gun deaths in 17 days
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15 hours ago, StreetCowboy said:
when there is an active terrorist insurrection funded by donors from the the USA, it is challenging to prevent violence. Were shooting incidents more common in Northern Ireland at that time (per capita) where there was an ongoing terrorist situation, or in the USA?
Not the issue.
The issue was that despite extremely tight laws and penalties, random vehicle searches etc, gun crime in Northern Ireland was higher than any where we could find reliable figures for.
As a matter of interest NZ changed its gun laws after an Australian terrorist who did not meet criteria for legal ownership tragically killed 51 people in Christchurch.
Since the laws were changed there has been a huge increase in gun crime despite legal owners like myself surrendering, in my case valuable target rifles, as our govt told us it would reduce gun crime.
What a load of rubbish and tragically police and civilians have died and been injured as more and more criminals carry guns in NZ and use them.
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7 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:Yes, I wish I had held onto my Dan Wesson .357 & companion Marlin .357 carbine....Those were my 2 favorites.....
I've had a few other guns along the way....
We ended our last trip in Texas (family) & I went gun perusing but lacked the necessary time in state.....
On our next trip I will pick up a couple to have as we RV around along with any necessary permits.....I have the models picked out....Throughout our trip to 8-9 states I spotted many open carries = it didn't bother me one bit.....
If I'd had any, I probably would have done more boondocking. ....The only semi useful things I had were kitchen knives, a survival knife, a machete, and a fire extinguisher.....
My wife supports the idea of available firearms & questioned why we didn't have one.....
We were, at times, in the wide open spaces as far as the eye could see in any direction.....
Envy you your planned trip.
Used to do a yearly USA trip Montana down to Texas and wherever. Not being a US citizen I was ineligible to buy a gun and you are right some of those roads are real lonely and you would be a bit vulnerable if stranded. Highway 50 in Nevada we thoroughly enjoyed but we never saw another vehicle. Would have been more comfortable with my CZ 9mm than the can of Bear Spray we had.
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I've shot competitively for over 60 years and plan to continue for a few more yet.
Pistols, rifles and shotguns.
Over that time I have met thousands of shooters and hunters.
I cannot recall any of them ever being charged with a firearms offence.
Criminals will always get guns no matter what the law.
In the 1980's the toughest gun laws in the western world, that we could find, were in Northern Ireland and look how useless the law was.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1980s_murders_in_Northern_Ireland
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Unfortunately we can compare with our NZ experience.
Bangkok Phuket Hospital was excellent for my 2 nights in January.
My wife just attended a top private hospital in Auckland NZ, Mercy Ascot, and being a clean freak she thought the Bangkok Hospital was a better standard of cleanliness. To be fair, Mercy Ascot is an old hospital and there are wide staff shortages in NZ.
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Sad about your friend Xylophone, but it sounds like a life well lived.
Just add a note about the excellent care at Bangkok Phuket Hospital that I received.
I was admitted on Jan 1st and spent 3 days there with an infection.
Very painful and high fever. Immediately saw a doctor, had an ultrasound and was put on a drip within a couple of hours and admitted. Excellent care and very attentive nurses who seemed very competent. Had to go back for an IV each day and then antibiotics and now feel excellent.
The standard of care I received matched and in some ways exceeded the care I received in a New Zealand private hospital.
I have to fly back to NZ tomorrow so I wanted whatever was wrong fixed quickly and they certainly did that.
Reassuring to stay here and know excellent health care is at hand if needed.
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1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:Gee, those Al Jazeera censors must be the most incompetent censors on the planet!
Sure, some shots better deleted to prove one sides' view. Why they were left in I don't know.
What I do believe is that israel dropped over 6,000 bombs on a defenseless people, because the israelis said they did. Over 6,000 bombs is killing a lot of defenseless people. Whether it's 5,000 children or 500 children dead it's too many.
Otherwise, I believe what netanyahu says, and it's monstrous.
6000 bombs eh?
Well it certainly isn't Genocide with only 12,000 dead is it?
Genocide is bombing all the hospital compounds full of people.
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7 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:Are you aware that communications were lost with the hospital a while back, so are those lights and computers on right NOW?
There were 8 or so babies lying together on a table that had supposedly been taken out of incubators because there was no power to run the incubators, yet there was power to the room they were in.
Bit like the shots of the outside of a hospital that had no water or fuel.
The apartments in the background had washing hanging on the balcony of nearly every apartment.
Truth is the First Casualty of War - a great book
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Al Jazeera showing shots of babies with the incubators off because there is no power at Al Shifa hospital.
But the lights are still on.
The computers screens are turned on.
But there is no power for babies incubators?
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Cruise ship arrivals for those who are interested.
Great being on the beach and watching them arrive around the southern headland and coming in to berth.
Not so pleasant with all the passengers on shore but heck, we have Patong everyday and these poor passengers only get it for one day.
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4.819 passengers28 Oct 2023 - 08:00
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4.819 passengers04 Nov 2023 - 08:00
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4.819 passengers11 Nov 2023 - 08:00
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2.860 passengers16 Nov 2023 - 09:00
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1.040 passengers18 Nov 2023 - 08:00
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4.819 passengers18 Nov 2023 - 08:00
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3.373 passengers23 Nov 2023 - 10:00
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4.819 passengers25 Nov 2023 - 08:00
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2.590 passengers02 Dec 2023 - 07:00
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4.819 passengers02 Dec 2023 - 08:00
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4.819 passengers10 Dec 2023 - 07:00
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2.500 passengers11 Dec 2023 - 08:00
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2.362 passengers11 Dec 2023 - 08:00
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2.866 passengers13 Dec 2023 - 07:00
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4.819 passengers14 Dec 2023 - 08:00
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557 passengers19 Dec 2023 - 08:00
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2.590 passengers19 Dec 2023 - 08:00
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638 passengers20 Dec 2023 - 08:00
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4.819 passengers22 Dec 2023 - 07:00
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2.590 passengers25 Dec 2023 - 07:00
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5 busloads of mainly chinese tourists disgorging onto the pavement outside the Best Western at 6.45am this morning.
The pontoons are now set up in the bay so it appears the cruise ships will restart in the next few days.
At least Jung Ceylon is nearly completely open so that will soak up some of their time.
The local businesses certainly need more custom and I hope they get it.
The large number of bored looking girls outside massage parlours, empty bars and restaurants all need a boost.
The great thing about Patong is we can hop in the car and be away from the tourists in 5 minutes.
If you haven't been on the newish concrete road on the left, at the top of Patong Hill going towards Kathu, you need to go up there.
Great scenic shots looking down on our little town and the bay, world class. Then carry on over the top of the hill and keep right and you will end up back on the main road or turn left at the sharp corner at the bottom of the hill, drive through the elephant camp, turn right and come out at the back of Kathu.
Very pleasant drive, albeit a bit steep in parts.
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16 hours ago, xylophone said:
I've not been out and about much over the past couple of months for one reason or another, but that changed when a friend came over from Oz, so we agreed to meet up for dinner and then "whatever".
We went to the Norwegian restaurant, "West" in the Soi leading up to Patong Tower, as my friend was a keen meat eater and they do serve a very good piece of medium rare steak, so we settled down there for the evening with his bottle of wine and had a nice meal and a good chat as we hadn't caught up for over a year.
I thought we might go along to Blue Beach, however he was keen to visit Molly Malones, because he hadn't been there for many years and neither had I, so MMs it was.
It's quite a large long bar and had a five piece band in it, and they weren't loud at all, which was good because we could hear ourselves speak, and there were about 18 people in there all told, all enjoying the music, and the band had a Filipino singer who was very good and even better was the tubby lady Filipino drummer – – excellent.
My friend from Oz encouraged me to get up and sing a song, so I did, in fact I sang two and they went down very well, according to the punters in the pub anyway!
A couple of nights later we repeated the night out and this time ate at the Italian restaurant in a small Soi opposite Soi Sea Dragon, "Amena e Core" and that was excellent, and we repeated the Molly Malones experience, mainly because he was going home the next day and wanted to see it again, and of course he enjoyed it.
On the subject of dining out I went to Blue Beach Restaurant and Bar on Friday evening to catch up with a couple of friends, and as always the food was great and I really enjoyed the chicken schnitzel and that with a couple or six glasses of wine set me up for the evening and as I wasn't feeling too special, I trundled off home at about 10:15 PM.
A couple of things to note are that the roadworks in the middle road are coming along appallingly slowly and I don't think the engineers have got any idea as to what they are doing, which means that traffic gets diverted along the beach road and also Nanai road, which makes it almost impassable at sometimes during the day.
The constant banging, crashing and renovation of the little "recreation area" which sits alongside the Chang Residence has now ceased because they have replaced the leaking roof and cleared out all the collapsed crap inside of it, and rumour has it that there are going to be some beer bars built in the place??? One would have to wonder at the wisdom of this move, but there again it is pointless trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of events here in Patong.
The Chang Residence itself (hotel) hasn't had any signs of life for at least three years and I have been told that the electricity was cut off a long time ago, so what's going to become of this, who knows.
Also what was previously an Italian restaurant and guesthouse, called "Loft" just around the corner closed down many months ago and someone has resurrected that, and I saw a lot of wooden furniture bits and pieces being torn out, and some new TVs being put in, so I'd suppose the guesthouse part is going to be up and running again.
As regards the restaurant, well it's not the most inviting place, sitting right alongside the road, and they have renamed it something absolutely stunning, startling and inviting, and it's called, "Nice to Meat you"............yeah right, that's going to draw the punters in!!!
I've often mentioned about the planning, or not as the case may be, which goes into these places, however suffice it to say that right opposite this Italian restaurant is another small restaurant which closed down due to lack of business, and just around the corner is a small coffee/waffle/cake shop which also closed down due to lack of business, and if you follow this road round just about a hundred metres, you will find two very small bars attached to the side of Makro, which have done very little business in the many times I've been past, and then further round the corner, one I mentioned a short while ago which replaced the "Ting Tong Bar", "The Hurricane Rock Bar", has a scarcity of punters although the owner has now put five bar girls in the place to try and bring in the customers.......hmmm.
Further up Nanai I noticed that a very large double concrete bar (colour light blue) on the corner, which has had several owners over a short period of time has opened up again and whereas the last owner was a French guy, I've no idea who the new one is, but again it's sparsely populated on the many times I've been passed, but then again it's got two bars directly opposite competing with it for business, and one of them, "The Rock Bar" has a good reputation for camaraderie and food.
The whole of Nanai seems to be struggling one way or another and I forgot to mention that further south just past a long-standing massage parlour, a beer bar has reopened called Mojito, after it had been closed for nigh on a year, and just down from that another beer bar attached to a massage parlour has closed, and I believe that was a joint venture between an older farang and a Thai woman....
A friends massage shop in Soi Banzaan has had a new bar built next to it, which has taken the place of the bar called, "Canada House", which was part of an unfortunate incident of the owner's girlfriend, hanging herself in a shop opposite.
Of course that put a hex on that place and it has had no business since, although I noticed yesterday that the frontage had been taken out and the whole place was being redecorated, and according to my friends in the massage shop, it was going to be, it was going to be, it was going to be.........yes, a bar and small restaurant, immediately opposite the Canada house bar, and almost immediately opposite another bar, which is just a few metres away from another restaurant and bar, which is...........I'm sure you get the picture.
And to top the lot, just a few metres along from the outside of this place there are two or three food carts which seem to do pretty good business, so the competition is extremely high!
Last but not least, although I walked up Bangla a couple of days ago, I didn't notice anything spectacular about the Tiger Complex which is supposedly being rebuilt, but which is still covered in tarpaulins, but I did notice that Soi Sansabi was absolutely packed with people and vehicles of one description or another, and I believe I can say that this is the most crowded I've ever seen it in a "low season", and the people were of all nationalities.
Jungceylon is all but finished and it's good to see people and colour back in the place although as I said previously I would love to see a "Subway" open up there again. Having said that, I do most of my shopping in Big C, and just occasionally in Tops in Phuket Central, so plenty of opportunity to look around for what I want.
So, onwards and upwards, and I will be so pleased when the engineers have found a way to repair the water pipe in the middle road, because at the moment it looks as if they are clueless.
Thanks for the comprehensive update.
and we'll try the restaurants
I am back on Wednesday after freezing in NZ for a month.
Patong may not be perfect it sure is better than many places.
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On 7/30/2023 at 6:13 PM, Guderian said:
Sorry, double posted
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On 7/30/2023 at 6:13 PM, Guderian said:
Glad to hear a positive review! From what the salesman told me, the only differences between the RS and EL are:
17" instead of 18" alloys
manual seat adjustment controls
no sunroof (hurrah!)
no fancy chrome front grille
no wireless phone recharging pad (that doesn't bother me at all)
Is that really the lot or did he miss anything out?
The other thing is that he claimed apart from these relatively minor things, the body and engine are exactly the same. So in principle, if I wanted to spend the money, I could replace the 17" alloys with 18". Is that right?
Yes that looks like the differences.
The 17" wheels ride better than I thought and that is around the crap roads in Phuket.
I'm back in NZ for a few weeks and are taking a ZRV out for a test drive this afternoon. Available in ICE or Hybrid. I'll look at the Hybrid model. There is a 6 month wait if I decide to get one.
To confess I really don't know the difference between the HRV and ZRV but I only have a few days left so I booked a drive yesterday.
I'll report back later
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Picked up our EL HRV Hybrid without the sunroof in February 23
Delighted with it but would have happily bought the RS except for the stupid sunroof.
The EL is very comfortable to drive, the switch between battery and ICE is seamless and we are getting incredible economy. In the crazy Patong traffic I feel very smug sitting quietly burning no petrol.
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11 hours ago, BritManToo said:
By locals ..... you mean all citizens of your country?
By locals I mean local city residents who are in the rate paying area for the council
that runs the zoo.
Las Vegas locals enjoy great discounts from casinos, shows etc because the businesses know they want the full time residents to support and attend the venues etc. Good business sense.
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9 minutes ago, grs90 said:
But do they charge someone living locally extra just because they are foreign, even if they have lived locally for years?
Not at this stage
but NZ govt is trying to bring in Co Government which will effectively means one race will be getting advantages and prices over all others.
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Not a big deal really
The locals should get it cheaper, happens in Las Vegas too.
Our local Zoo has differential pricing as locals subsidise the zoo in their rates.
The biggest change is for New Zealanders living outside of Auckland who will now pay the same price as international visitors with ticket prices jumping from the current $24 to $35/adult and $20/child
Aucklanders who purchase tickets on the day of their visit will now pay $29/adult and $16.50/child
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All the info above is accurate and the process is not difficult.
Just a word of caution, have a friend who converted from a retirement visa to a married visa last year and the extra paperwork, photos etc has annoyed him so much he is converting back to an ordinary retirement visa next application. He has been married and lived with his lovely wife for 15 years plus, so very stable relationship.
The dark secrets of Thailand’s elephant tourism industry
in Thailand News
Posted
So you can't have elephant rides or play with them on the beach anymore?
So how is 500lb of daily feed goingb to be paid for?
What happens to the elephants here now?
Do you want to see "elephants steaks"on the menu boards?
Be careful what you wish for