Jim's_a_Thai_Fox

Hi,

just driven back home with the wife and on the journey she told me about the prophecy from Thai 'Nostradamus Apparently, this 8 year old kid made several predictions/warnings about 30 years ago. His dad said that his boy was a reincarnation of a Buddha-like figure who had come back to warn humanity. He died at the age of 8.

He supposedly foresaw several catastrophic events, including 9-11.

The reason for this post: he also said that on  New Years day there will be a big earthquake in Tak province and that a dam will fail, causing countless fatalities. Now, it is not known if he meant 1st January or the day after Songkran, the Thai New Year, but he was adamant it was the year 2012.

This has caused such a stir that the boss of the massive Bhumipol dam in Tak has appeared on  national TV assuring people that the dam is 'earthquake resistant' up to a 8.0 tremor, and that anything stronger than this can't occur in the north of the country so as not to worry...hhhhmmm.

... is this story a classic case of my wife talking out of her arse? or maybe 'lost in translation' somewhere? I have googled this, but nothing came up, so TV is my next port of call!

Want to hear your thoughts/ feedback on this subject... and of course, happy new year.

Cheers

James

Hi there,

just wondered what your experiences/thoughts are on male caddies.

My friend and I recently played Gold Canyon in Lamphun (350 B for the round, 250 B for the caddy) and we had two male caddies. My friend, just here visiting, was a bit miffed as he likes a bit of banter with a smiling lady. I assured him that I had had a male caddy in Udon once and he was brilliant - a golfer who knew the course.

These two guys were very different and were so poor that I think that I shall never have another male caddy again. I can forgive the fact that they were new (3 months) but most of the time they were inattentive and just plain crap. We lost several balls through terrible spotting and poor instructions (first time playing). It ended up with us taking our own clubs out and not bothering to ask for green advice. However, what we found the worst was the lack of course maintenance - they didn't repair pitch marks on the greens (they did after we pointed it out) nor pour sand on the fairway after our shots. They were so poor, that we tipped them 100B each instead of the 200B (I wanted to not tip them, but felt a bit guilty so I relented). There was no one there who I could speak to about them, apart from the waitress, so I didn't bother.

To sum up - if you go to Gold Canyon, DON'T GET A MALE CADDY!

Cheers

James

PS The course is very good and highly recommended for the price :-)

Hi there,

A current colleague of mine did not have his contract renewed at his previous school (non-govt school). He had worked there for 6 years. He applied to this school, and was accepted. In the interim, he informed his 'old' school that he would be seeking severance pay to the affect of 1 month for each year of service, quite a bit of money.

His old school is a very well regarded institution with high academic standards. My colleague was shocked when he got a call from his future boss (my current boss) telling him that his 'old school' had called his new employer threatening to drag this teacher's name through the mud if the claim for severance pay was dropped! He was effectively blackmailed.

My boss was in a bad position. He was looking at taking on a teacher who could cause massive problems for his program in the form of parent protests/complaints (albeit complaints based on lies). My friend/colleague was understandably shocked at this underhand tactic, but was ultimately left with no choice... follow his claim for 6 months pay and risk never being able to work in his adopted 'hometown' again, or simply 'suck it up' and move to this new school.

In the end, he dropped his claim to 6 months severance. When he told me about this, I was genuinely shocked and saddened that his former school could be so horrible. I know several teachers who are currently there - they have no problems at all... seems that if you don't rock the boat, all is well.

I suggested to my colleague that he 'name and shame' his previous employer, but after all this hassle, he just wants to leave the mess behind him. Fair enough. It is not my battle to fight, however, his claim for severance raised an interesting point with me personally:

Back in February 2011 I was given 30 days notice that my 24 month contract would not be renewed. I was given a letter from HR stipulating this was due to financial reasons and was verbally assured by the HR manager that should things change in the future, they would love to have me back.

However, in May 2011 my previous school has indeed hired several new farang teachers. Personally, I have no 'ego' involved here - I don't hold a grudge that they wanted new staff in and they have done so. However, legally, I am thinking of making a claim with the Labor Department as I was effectively made redundant, and for false reasons and as such, I could be entitled to 2 months severance pay.

I have no idea how to go about making in roads into finding out if I would indeed be eligible... I read somewhere about going to the labour court?

Any suggestions would be great. Apologies for the long/dual post.

Jim

Ford Focus
Black 2.0 Sports
Year 2549

Details:
Dual climate control
Immaculate interior with some of the best leather/sport seats available
Trip computer
17" Firestone Tyres on 5 spoke mags
After market dual pipe exhaust
Remote central locking
5 door with fully folding rear seats makes for very large rear cabin
68,000km

This is the Focus Sport, with slightly stiffer suspension and the excellent Durateq 2.0 engine. Excellent road holding and drive ability. I have had her for 2 years and done 20,000km, serviced at the right times.

Car is in Lampang and under parked under an open roof, so protected from most of the elements. Used to potter around town and the occasional Chiang Mai trip.

Thanks

James

I was going to tag this on the end of the "I bought a Cruze" thread, but thought it might be useful to someone in the near future, hence a new topic.


After driving the Mitsu EX 1.8 GLS Ltd yesterday, I went back into the Cruze today for another spin to get a better idea (I drove the Cruze for the first time last week).

Overall, I prefer the inside of the Cruze, but the ride/gearbox/engine of the Mitsu. Isn't it always the way that you can never quite seem to find that car that ticks every single box? Life is always about compromise!

After the 2nd Cruze test drive, my thoughts are the following:

Interior - Cruze is the winner...

- Cruze interior is definitely nicer, it 'feels' a better quality car from the inside (The Cruze's speedo and dials look better and it has more interior cubby holes and the Aux/USB connect is good.)
- The Cruze's boot is bigger and both car's rear seats fold flat
- For the short time I sat in both, the Mitsu had comfier seats.

Driving - the Mitsu felt slightly 'better', though neither are 'bad'.
- the CVT gearbox on the Mitsu is very smoothe and would be great around town.
- The Cruze gearbox was a touch 'jumpy' and when coasting (foot of the accelerator) the Cruze felt like is was braking slightly (more like a manual)
- The Mitsu felt slightly more connected to the road and the 'manual' sequential shifting was much quicker in the Mitsu (though this function is rarely used by me).
- The Mitsu was quicker and more responsive.
- The Cruze 'cruised' as lower revs, but I found the engine noise and from the tyres louder than the Mitsu (though the Cruse was on 17" vs. 16" for the Lancer). For fairness, I must say that both were quiet.


However, an issue I have with the Cruze is that the test drive model is the LTZ, I am looking at the LS model. The top spec Cruze compares favorably with the 1.8 EX Lancer as the specs are quite similar... however, for an LS Cruze, the spec drops a bit.

Examples are:
- leather interior is 25k extra on the Cruze, standard on the Lancer (but more choices of inside and outside colours on the Chevy)
- The Cruze LS has no 'auto setting' for the a/c blower - this sounds like nothing, but I find it to be on one those things that is simply 'very handy' to have and is standard on the Lancer.
- The 'a/c fan buttons' look nice on the Cruze, but again, after driving and playing around with them, I find the Lancer's less attractive dials to be actually more 'functional'. I didn't play much with the stereo on either model.
- keyless entry and push button start on the top LTZ Cruze but not the LS model (the number of times we've searched through the wife's bag looking for the key means I find this a nice option to have on a new car) standard on the Lancer (though to be fair, the lancer is not strictly 'keyless', you do need to press a button on the handle and turn a dummy key as opposed to pushing a button).
- Cruze LS has 1 airbag, the Lancer has dual. (Although I have read the Cruze fairs better in overall safety and has been voted "Car of the Year")

So, it has been hard to compare 'like with like' and as a result I left Chevy with a feeling of potentially 'buying the unknown' whereas with Mitsu I knew exactly what I'd get.

Other 'non driving' areas of interest:

- Both offer 1 year 1st class insurance, free registration, free window tinting and floor mats and the promise reverse sensors
- 150,000km /5 year warranty in the Mitsu. 100,000km / 3 year in the Chevy

Given all of the above, I can make a case for getting either one - The Chevy is more 'luxurious/serious' whilst the Mitsu is 'lighter' and 'sportier'. However, as I previously stated though, the deal breaker/maker will be what the individual dealer offers me for my current car. Chevy has offered 440k. I have yet to hear from Mitsu. I informed both firms I wanted 500k.

Prices:

Mitsu EX GLS-Ltd 889,000 (+10,000k for white!)

Cruze LS 900,000 (+25,000 for leather interior)

If Mitsu come back offering me 500k, that leaves me with 389,000 over 5 years, about 7,200 per month. Chevy is 460,000k over 5 years is about 8,500.

They are so closely matched, that it is often something like the trade in price that can be that 'swing vote'... so I guess the ball is in Mitsu's court to lose.

Hopefully this has been useful to some readers - it has helped me too... writing out your thoughts can be quite handy :-)

All comments/feedback are welcome!

Cheers

James