Family Money: The case for collective investments

By Leslie Wright

Over the past fortnight we looked at some of the technical aspects of equities - stocks & shares - and how they work.

Over the long term, stocks outperform bonds, which outperform cash. But in the shorter term they are much more volatile: they move up and down in fits and starts. To a shrewd investor these jerks present opportunities for gain; to a nervous or inexperienced investor they represent possibilities of loss, which leads all too often to panic.

Diversification

The term ‘diversification’ is often bandied about as the answer to these concerns. But all too often, amateur investors don’t really understand what this term means in practice. They believe that having a few shares in a few ‘blue chip’ companies that they are familiar with in their home country is diversification. It isn’t.

Those few blue chip companies may not move exactly parallel to each other, but they will almost certainly be affected by the general economic climate of the country as a whole, and move more or less in line with the market index, of which of course they form a part. This movement may be exactly contrary to movements in another country in a different stage of the business cycle.

Diversification to a professional investor doesn’t mean simply having a few blue chips plus some government bonds plus some cash in the bank. It means having a portfolio of equities which are spread across several sectors and in several countries, plus perhaps some government bonds from several markets, as well as a cash reserve for living expenses, liquidity and emergencies. And this portfolio requires constant monitoring to be able to take advantage of opportunities as they arise, and similarly react to the danger signals.

Even so, direct investment into a portfolio of shares, bonds and cash spread in the manner described above would be administratively burdensome. Also, frequent trading as market conditions fluctuate - which they do all the time - could work out relatively expensive.

In addition, the time it would take to monitor such a direct portfolio would be more than most amateur investors could devote; and the research needed to make informed trading decisions would be not only very time-consuming but the required information might be difficult to come by.

Delegate the bother

For substantial investors, the solution has always been available and relatively simple: hire a professional. Private banking services have provided portfolio management services to high-net worth clients for many decades.

In recent years, various High Street banks have begun offering smaller investors a somewhat similar service - but this is rarely a personalised tailor-made service catering to the investor’s individual needs and circumstances. The costs of providing such a service for a portfolio of, say, $150,000 would simply be too great. Thus they have adopted a one-size-fits-all policy, where the management services are provided at low cost through the economy of scale.

One solution which amateur investors have been able to adopt has been to use collective investments.

Professionally managed funds which pool the resources of thousands of ‘small’ investors together have been around for over 30 years. Known in the US as mutual funds and in the UK as unit trusts, these collective investments have developed into a huge international industry. Benefiting from the resources of large institutions with teams of professional fund managers, amateur investors are able to select a suitable mix of funds to create a truly diversified and highly flexible portfolio.

One can choose funds which access every asset class, and invest anywhere your heart desires.

For instance, there are funds which deal only in instant-access cash, yet pay wholesale rates of interest which only the largest investors would be able to get from a bank or building society time deposit.

There are funds which deal only in bonds, in either a specific market or internationally around the world.

There are a huge number of equity funds which range from actively-managed global funds (which invest wherever the fund managers see opportunities and eschew under-performing areas); to single-country funds; to specialist sector funds which only invest in, for instance, telecommunications, or Japanese technology, or US healthcare companies.

The truly dazzling choice of offshore investment funds - over 30,000 at the last count - can blind the investor at first sight. Name any open market in the world and there’ll be a fund investing there which can be tapped into tomorrow.

To avoid fund blindness, and ensure that you opt for the most suitable investment via the best available fund, arm yourself with an essential list of do’s and don’ts.

Dos & Don’ts

To begin with there is no investment under the sun which can bear the label “safe as houses”. Every investment, be it the bluest chip or the most gilt-edged government bond, carries some element of risk. And in fact, even investing in houses carries risk. While acknowledging that risk, funds - be they umbrellas, ucits, sicavs, oeics or mutual funds - do offer increased scope to spread risk.

Spreading risk is effected by entering a large pool of money, which is managed by fund management experts, placed across a range of well-selected stocks. But don’t lose sight of the key words spread, expert, range, well-selected stocks - and be persuaded to enter a fund which is too niche, too specialised, too obscure. This scenario spells out “too risky”.

If totally new to the whole investment fund business, be cautious, too, of a fund just launched. There will be no track record to check up on. Forecasts of performance hinges on the premise for the investment, the company launching the fund, as well as the fund managers hired to manage investors’ money.

Some well established, professional and top-performing offshore fund managers regularly appearing amongst the pages of the financial press include: Ashburton, Barings, Fidelity, Fleming, Gartmore, Govett, Henderson, HSBC, Investec Guinness Flight, Invesco GT, Lloyds TSB, Mercury, Newton, Perpetual, Rothschilds, and Templeton. Some of these names may be familiar to you; some may not.

Would-be investors must also appreciate their own investment profile. Ask yourself: “Am I cautious about this investment, or could I afford to be adventurous?” Take a realistic and analytical approach to your own ambitions for any capital gain made as well as what the investment money means to you in the first place.

Bear in mind that monies paid into investment funds should always be viewed as not essential, so don’t raid the deposit account down to the last penny, cent or satang; and be confident that such money will not be needed for at least three years.

Investing in stocks, and funds which access them, is not about getting rich quick; it’s about getting rich slowly.

Occasionally there will be spectacular gains over the short-term, and then similarly spectacular drops. One has to keep a cool head in both scenarios, and sell when the market has been going up too steeply, and buy back in when it drops. Many amateur investors, however, persist in doing things the other way round - and wonder why they consistently lose money.

Investors may feel confident about an investment being made into a chosen area - be it country specific, regional or industrial. However, the whole success of the investment will hinge on who is managing the fund’s pool of money.

Do your homework

Check out the strength of the fund management group itself. Ask how financially sound is the group? Does it have a wide range of funds? Does it have overseas offices which may suggest a particular expertise in that market? Is the group easy to deal with? Ask for performance tables of existing funds, preferably published by an independent source.

Next, check out the actual manager in charge of the fund. Ask how long the manager has been running the fund? What experience has he or she had with other fund management groups? Find out how well supported the fund manager is with research on markets, economic indicators and access to information on those companies, sectors and regions the fund manager is investing in. Check out, too, what the fund management group’s policy is on allowing a fund manager a ‘free hand’ or whether an investment advisory team holds more control.

This amount of necessary research is beyond the scope of most investors. It’s easy enough to read the marketing prospectus of one or two funds which interest you, or are being sold to you by the investment house. But to wade through the required reading material of the literally hundreds of funds that invest in, say, European equities would take more time and effort than most amateur investors can or are willing to devote - even if they have access to the right information, which most do not.

Fund management companies broadly divide into two categories when it comes to strategic stock picking. These are called ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’.

The bottom-up approach means the fund manager’s priority is to identify good stocks, often with painstaking concentration. Such stock selection encompasses an analysis of the technical aspects such as earnings per share and yield. Also stock selection will be based on close scrutiny of a company’s profitability - so here we are talking about assets, cash flow, order book and management’s performance.

The top-down approach doesn’t concentrate on the detailed circumstances of companies. Rather there is a focus on the broader economic and political trends and influences as to how these affect the stock market sectors. Fund managers with this approach first think economy, currency of the market, and then sectors within that market.

Administrative details too could cost you more money than originally intended.

Check out all fund management and administrative charges. If the charging structure confuses, ask for clarification. If still in doubt as to what you are paying for the total bill per year, go elsewhere.

And be careful of investing into a fund which is denominated in a currency which has no relation to your own needs - i.e., a currency which you neither earn, spend or save in.

Personal portfolio management

And if all this seems too complicated, and you feel you don’t qualify for private banking portfolio management services (which typically turn their noses up at less than half-a-million dollars), then look for a private firm in your local area which provides personal portfolio management services.

Before making a commitment to them, ask who they work for and how they get paid. Are their primary loyalties to you, the investor, or to the institutions with which they place your money? How many firms do they deal with? Do they charge you on a flat fees basis? Or do they receive commissions from the institutions with whom they place your money? Or do they discount those commissions in favour of performance-related management charges? The answers will tell you whether you’re going to receive a client-orientated dedicated service or not.

Then, how often will they report to you? (Private banking services typically report only once or twice a year.) Will you have a dedicated account executive with whom you can talk - or better, meet regularly? Or are you just a number at the end of a telephone talking to a glorified clerk who doesn’t know you from Adam and is merely looking at some numbers on a computer screen?

Will you be able to meet with the portfolio manager himself? (Although it must in fairness be said that time devoted to discussing your portfolio with you is taken away from his managing it. Which, at the end of the day, is more important?)

And in case you were wondering, there is at least one firm right here in Pattaya which provides personal portfolio management services...and I know the portfolio manager intimately.

Leslie Wright is Managing Director of Westminster Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd., a firm of independent financial advisors providing advice to expatriate residents of the Eastern Seaboard on personal financial planning and international investments. If you have any comments or queries on this article, or about other topics concerning investment matters, contact Leslie directly by fax on (038) 232522 or e-mail [email protected] . Further details and back articles can be accessed on his firm’s website on www.westminsterthailand.com. 

By Mirin MacCarthy

Walter Kretschmar, the German director of the Thai German Institute (TGI) here on the Eastern Seaboard, is a person who is positively brimming over with enthusiasm for life. Here is a man who enjoys windsurfing, ballroom dancing, riding motorcycles and playing with his grandchildren!

Even for his work, the enthusiasm bubbles over. Here since March this year, his current position is for him a dream achieved. “I get the most satisfaction from supporting and being able to help other people. When that is your dream you can’t do anything better than working in a training institute,” said Walter grinning infectiously.

Once in his stride, nothing can stop him. “Many people say we are in the age of information, but information is nothing without knowledge and training. That is what is so exciting about what we do at TGI, the integration of knowledge and skills, and teaching people to be able to use those skills.”

No stranger to either hard physical work or to study, Walter grew up the hard way in a one-parent family, which did not diminish his spirit at all. “There was only my mother and me, so I was always head of the family. I had a good life, my mother was a midwife, and I grew up in a little farming community close to Frankfurt. I used to work on the farm in the school holidays.”

That hard work brought him fluency in four languages and now he is attempting to learn Thai. His hobbies are demanding too - downhill and cross-country skiing, hiking and windsurfing in the summer and ballroom dancing! In fact, Walter was a member of a dancing club for ten years. In Pattaya he spends his spare time training his dog (a German shepherd naturally), riding his motorcycle and listening to classical music and opera “for real relaxation.” All the attributes of a well-rounded personality.

Looking at the start of his working life, Walter joined Seimens as a young lad of thirteen as an apprentice telecommunications fitter, and studied for his University entrance levels at night. From there it was telecommunications and high frequency engineering and graduation as an electrical telecom engineer five years later.

He has always worked in different areas of service. “I never did the same job longer than 3 to five years. I started in telecommunications then moved to energy. Both quite different areas but the principles are the same.” Walter firmly believes every problem has a technical and peaceful solution.

His favorite project was during the building of the National and District Control Centre of Kuwait. He was responsible for controlling all power, water de-salination and water distribution in Kuwait. Now there’s a real technical problem.

His next favourite project was in Tasmania Australia. Walter was project manager for refurbishing the iron plant at Savage River and branch manager for industrial and technical services, responsible for complete plant maintenance of the paper mills between 1995 and 1998.

After that, he returned to Germany to develop and implement a global industrial maintenance strategy. A challenge he promised to take up for two years. After that he couldn’t wait to get back in the field overseas and was excited to be seconded to GTZ, “German Technical Co-operation”, for three years.

GTZ is the company which manages intergovernmental co-operation projects and jointly with the Thai Ministry of Industry, supplies management and technical know how training at TGI. His business objective is to develop TGI into a company that can operate as a break even project for the benefit of the Thais.

Obviously a man who thrives on a challenge, Walter values peace and harmony in his life first and foremost. “To me harmony both in the family and the job is essential. In my work I want to achieve a harmony of technology and environment, to use high tech solutions without harming the environment. No scientist or engineer can exist, if they are honest, without believing in something. I believe in humanity. I believe the human race has a purpose, even if I can’t state what that is - maybe religion has the answer? My nominal religion is Catholic and I have read about Allah and about the Buddha’s teachings, all of them have their good points, but none are 100% perfect.”

Asked to account for his undaunted sense of humour, Walter said, “I always think positively. Normally everybody does their best. I just believe in people, I just love people. When you are positive other people are positive to you in return.”

Married for 26 years, Walter is now a delighted grandfather. “We have one daughter and two grandchildren. The grandchildren are my biggest hobby now. Grandchildren are just perfect, you can love them and play with them and give them back. They give you a sense of life. We would have liked to have had more children, but after a while we gave up consulting specialists. This is what I mean about a positive attitude, why be sad over the things you cannot change?”

Success to Walter is not material. “Success is setting personal objectives and achieving the sense of those goals. And which is recognized as being effective by others. Success does not happen alone. I need to be surrounded by people, I need relationships. My major goals have shifted from profitability to training others for success.”

With so much of a positive nature about him, no wonder he spends time making a positive difference in other peoples’ lives! Walter Kretschmar with the genuine appealing personality is certainly a breath of fresh air!

by Mirin MacCarthy

by John D. Blyth

Of all the railways in mountainous country operated by the rack–and-pinion system, one of the most famous and hard working must have been the Erzbergbahn in Austria’s Province of Steiermark. The line owed its existence to a geological freak, the ‘Erzberg’ or ‘Iron Mountain’, which consists almost entirely of high-grade iron ore. Small wonder that men have been chipping away at it since, at least, Roman times, and inevitable that, in due time, there should be a railway to take away the spoils. Providence had put the Erzberg in difficult country, so it had to be a rack railway, approached from Leoben in the south, and Hieflau in the north by orthodox railways; the rack sections total just 20 km from Vordernไberg at the southern end to the summit at Prabichl being 8 km., and 12 km thence to Eisenerz. As there are reasonably easy sections, the line was worked by ‘rack-and-adhesion’ locomotives, the principle of which was applicable to all three types but not to an experimental diesel-hydraulic locomotive seen on site in 1963. There were six separate sections where the locomotives used the rack.

Austrian Federal Railways No. 97 201 was the very first engine to be put in service on the Erzberg Rack Railway, in 1890. 71 years later and hard at it, it hasn’t changed much.

Of late, the Erzberg has been the property of Alpin-Monan Gesellshaft, who have formed the mountainside into a series of galleries, each with its own narrow gauge railway system with tiny steam locomotives taking the ore to a species of funicular, whence it was loaded into trucks and taken to one of a number of loading points to be moved to Linz in the north, or Donawitz in the south, where AMG had major steel works.

Of late, major changes have resulted from the lessening demand for steel, and so of iron ore, and the line towards Linz has been closed at least as far as the junction at Hieflau with the main line; in some places the rack has been taken up and adhesion working introduced. For this reason I have written the above in the past tense as an indication that I am not completely up-to-date!

The extra big 2-12-2 locomotive of 1940 has just pushed a train load of empty wagons from Vordernberg, and is backing on to the front of the train to go down to the loading point.

All the steam locomotives (but not the diesel) came from the Wiener Lokomotivfabrik at Floridsdorf, near Vienna, and the first four were delivered for the opening of the line in 1890. 97 201, illustrated, was the very first of them, and as my picture shows, it was still hard at work 71 years later, and with some years yet to go. This type of 0-6-2 tank locomotive eventually totalled 18, but two were damaged and not repaired in 1944, and four were sent to a rack line in Bulgaria in 1956. Seven of the remainder were fitted with the ‘ejector’ devised by Dr. Giesl-Giesling, himself an eminent Austrian railway engineer.

The maximum load for these engines was 140 tones; this was soon seen to be insufficient as traffic built up, and in 1912 three 0-12-0 rack-and-adhesion tank engines went into service, designed by the well-known Karl G๖lsdorf. The increase in loading was only to 220 tonnes, a disappointment, I would judge but they did their work and were reliable. I rode on one in 1958 and it is plain that much thought had gone into the design, making them very smooth riding. They received Giesl ejectors, and lasted until the late 1970s.

Not much change to the first of the 1912 G๖lsdorf engines, either, other than the Giesl ejector and extra air-rake cylinders on the boiler top.

By 1936 an even bigger locomotive was under design for the Erzberg line; maybe the war was foreseen, but the nation was soon to find out, as two years later Hitler’s troops marched into Vienna and Austria became part of the German Reich. This should have surprised on one; it is often forgotten that Hitler himself was an Austrian. The prospect of war made the products of the Erzberg vital, and the new locomotives were in traffic, by 1947 – just two of them. They were very powerful indeed, as befitted the biggest rack locomotives ever built, but this brought their downfall; working at full power on the rack, they soon began to bend, and later, to break the teeth of the rack rails, maybe not maintained to good standard under German domination. They could do a lot of work without the rack, although on rack sections it had to be engaged and used under light steam. Thus they saw out the war; eventually the track was repaired, but the need for their power had receded, and they were far less used. One of them, indeed, ran for a time as a pure adhesion locomotive, all the rack mechanism stripped out, taking the ore from Vordernberg to the Downwitz works.

It was a surprise when news broke that the first one had been overhauled, given a Giesl ejector, and was back at work. I did not see it until 1961, and then it was in its depot, all the rack mechanism in the pit below, and a rod, which had broken and was to be replaced – itself a surprise as I had already seen the trial diesel hard at work, amid high hopes not to be fulfilled.

Unlike the Kessler rack-and-adhesion engines already described, no Erzberg engine was a compound. Off the rack they simply operated as a normal adhesion locomotive; on the rack a second regulator valve was opened, admitting steam to the inside two cylinders that drove the rack wheels. Careless engagement of the teeth could do much damage, and a simple device, a small flag which was rotated from the rack engine was to be synchronized with the rotational speed of the adhesion wheels, which the driver could judge by ear; when they were at the same speed it was safe to go on the rack.

by Lesley Warner

Unlike the lovely Thais with their beautiful, silky, virtually hairless skin, many of us ‘farang’ can suffer with hair in unwanted places, mainly facial. (It makes you wonder how they managed to get the figures and the skin). This unhappy state can ruin a person’s life and they will go to any extremes to rid themselves of this unwanted growth.

What causes women to have dark, coarse facial hair, and what, if anything, can be done about it?

Heritage and culture play the biggest roles in unwanted hair and the amount of body hair can vary considerably by ethnic group. Dissatisfaction with that God-given hair stems from screwy cultural ideas about how much hair women are “supposed” to have, and where that hair should be. It is perfectly normal for women to have dark hairs on the upper lip, around the nipples and along the line from the navel to the pubic region.

Before investing in hair removal, especially if you’re the only hairy one in your family, or if the hair sprouted recently, it may be prudent to check with a specialist who understands hair issues just to rule out potential medical problems.

Some unfortunate women find themselves with coarse hair growing on the body, where hair ordinarily grows on men (upper back, upper abdomen, chest or chin); this is called hirsutism. Lots of hair all over the body is hypertrichosis. They’re both usually hereditary and are generally cosmetic rather than health concerns. However, some drugs and medical conditions can encourage hair growth so check with your doctor before taking any action.

Only growing hairs can be killed. Once a hair enters its rest cycle, it’s destined to fall out no matter what and will grow back on its own schedule. At any time, a proportion of the follicles are resting, so the treatment misses them and they grow back. All methods, even permanent ones, require multiple treatments.

Most people are familiar with shaving, bleaching, plucking and depilatories, which chemically dissolve hair. Despite the myth, shaving doesn’t alter hair growth. Plucking, however, may cause more vigorous regrowth. Waxing, sugaring and threading (used for fuzz and fine hairs) are large-scale versions of plucking.

Electrolysis is considered the only permanent removal method and treats hairs one by one. A fine wire is slipped into the follicle along side the hair shaft and an electrical jolt, heat or a combination, destroys the root. Yes, it hurts. Some people even take aspirin or ibuprofen beforehand, they tell me. The problem is finding a good Electrologist, bad electrology varies from ineffective to damaging and can be quite serious. If the Electrologist misses the root, you still experience the pain and your money is still gone, but the hair grows back. Unfortunately, it takes weeks or months before you can tell if hair is thinning. In the worst hands, electrolysis can cause infections, skin damage and scarring, even permanent disfigurement.

Lasers are the newest concept on the hair-removal scene and can remove hair from large areas. But it’s not for everyone. The key requirement is contrast between skin and hair color. An ideal candidate would have fair skin and coarse, dark hair, and a lot of it, so it’s even more cost-effective. Laser methods don’t work well on very dark skin or light hair. Darkly pigmented hairs preferentially absorb the laser light, which heats the hairs and destroys the follicles. It can feel warm to uncomfortable and skin may redden. Dark skin may lighten and light skin may darken, usually temporarily. Avoid sunlight during healing (all the time, actually).

Investigate carefully before undergoing any treatment.

Finally, what about personal electrolysis systems and the so-called hair inhibitors you smear on your skin? “What do you think, if it worked, we’d use them!”

by Jan Olav Aamlid - President - House of the Golden Coin
http://www.thaicoins.com

Last week I wrote about some of the earlier Thai coins where animals like cows, goats, rabbits and of course elephants can be found.

The three-headed elephant was used in Thailand as the seal for a governor’s letter, but was later adopted as the seal of various Thai kings. The three-headed elephant, known as the Ayrapot of Erawan, is the vehicle used by the Brahmin god India. In 1907 King Chulalongkorn (Rama V 1868-1910) visited the Paris Mint and had new designs made for coins. 

The obverse had the King’s portrait and the reverse had the three-headed elephant. Different artists made the obverse and reverse, as most artists do have their specialty. Three coins were produced: a quarter baht, half baht and one baht. The coins were never put in normal circulation because the King passed away. Some of the one baht coins were distributed at the King’s funeral as a memento. The smaller coins are very expensive, and the one baht is also expensive; for a nice one baht one must expect to pay 200,000 baht.

During the reign of King Vajiravudh (Rama VI 1910-1925), the King continued using the three-headed elephants on his quarter, half and one baht coins. Obviously on the obverse was the portrait of King Rama VI, but on the reverse is the three-headed elephant. The three-headed elephant coins from Rama VI can be bought for a few hundred baht.

In year the 2472 (1929) some beautiful coins were struck: a 25 satang and a 50 satang. On the obverse is the portrait of King Prajadhipok (Rama VII 1925-1932), and the reverse is a white elephant with trappings. One might say that it is hard to know that the elephant is white, but this is according to the literature. The set of the 25 satang and the 50 satang can be bought for about 1,500 to 2,000 baht depending on the quality.

The tiger appears on 10 baht coin issued for the Centennial of the Ministry of Interior in 2535 (1992) and on a 20 baht coin for the 108th Anniversary of the Ministry of Defense. The obverse of both coins shows the portrait of King Rama V and the present King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX. Both coins were made in copper-nickel, one version in proof and one in un-circulated, the ones in un-circulated can be bought for less than 100 baht while the ones in proof cost quite a bit more because of the low mintage.

In 2517 (1974) three coins referred to as Conservation-coins were issued. All the coins show King Rama IX’s portrait on the obverse, and on the reverse of the 50 baht coin shows a Sumatran Rhinoceros. The 100 baht coin shows on the reverse a brown-antlered deer.

The 50 baht and 100 baht coin are normally sold in sets, and the price in un-circulated condition is about 4,000 baht, while in proof one must expect to pay about 6,000 baht.

The last of the Conservation–coins were struck in gold and have the face value of 5,000 baht. It shows on the reverse a white-eyed river martin. The mintage was very small, in un-circulated 2,602 coins were struck, while only 623 were struck in proof condition.

This reflects on the price, for a coin in un-circulated one must expect to pay about 40,000 baht while in proof the price might be as much as 90,000 baht. Some years back the prices were even higher; I remember the one in proof being sold for 150,000 baht.

The animal most frequently seen on Thai coins is the Garuda bird. But this interesting bird needs from my side a thorough examination before I write about him. What I can say is that the Garuda is the son of Sun and of Indian origin.

by Richard Bunch

From Jim, Texas: I have a friend here in Texas USA that has a need for software that converts symbols into Thai. The problem happens when trying to read Thai. My friend is able to read Thai and all we see is some strange symbols. Could you please direct us? We can supply additional information as needed. Thanks.

Computer Doctor replies: Some more information would be helpful! However, as this is a fairly frequently asked question, I will deal with it in broad terms, if you still have a question then please e-mail me directly. The operating system and its language determine the method by which Thai language is displayed. I will limit this response to the Windows platforms available. For both Windows 95 and Windows 98, there are true Thai/English versions available, these incorporate the Thai fonts and allow for easy switching of between languages. It is, however, possible to use an English only version by installing additional software, such as Thai Master or a basic software switch and fonts. You can purchase Thai Master on-line or download the switch and fonts from http://thaigate.rd.nacsis.ac.jp/refer/thaiio.html The latter consists of two small files; thaikdb.exe and thaihook.dll and a couple of Thai ttf fonts. Whilst these solutions work for text based applications like Word, to view web pages that incorporate Thai text it is necessary to have this feature installed within your Internet Explorer browser. If necessary, download from www.microsoft.com. Once installed, then from within the browser select View> Encoding>Thai (Windows). If you are using an English version of Windows 2000 then Thai functionality is already incorporated, as are many other languages, it may just be that it has not been enabled. If this is the case then from Settings>Control Panel>Regional Options>General, within Language settings for system, Add Thai and apply, then from Settings>Control Panel>Keyboard, select Input Locales tab then Add Thai language and Keyboard Layout Thai Kedmanee.

From Richard Lee Montgomery: I bought a used UMAX laptop model 316T with Windows 98 Build 4.10.98 already installed. It has only western alphabets. How do I get Thai fonts so that I can read and write Thai? Thank you for your articles.

Computer Doctor replies: I think the solution above should solve your problem.

From Ian Jackson, Pattaya: I have a simple question: there is not a UK pound sign on my keyboard. I need this to be able to write effectively to my bank in England. How do I achieve this please?

Computer Doctor replies: This is indeed an easy one! Simply hold down the Alt key and on the numeric keypad, type 0163 and hey presto ฃ.

Send your questions or comments to the Pattaya Mail at 370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, 20260 or Fax to 038 427 596 or E-mail to [email protected] . The views and comments expressed within this column are not necessarily those of the writer or Pattaya Mail Publishing.

Richard Bunch is Managing Director of Action Computer Technologies Co., Ltd. Providing professional information technology and Internet services which include custom database and application development; website design, promotion and hosting; domain name registration; turnkey e-commerce solutions; computer and peripheral sales service and repairs, networks (LAN & WAN) and IT consulting. For further information, please e-mail [email protected]  or telephone/fax 038 716 816 or see our website www.act.co.th 

In Search of Happy Hours: Almost every ogling den and beer boozer worthy of the name offers a period - or periods - of time when the price of the giggle juice is reduced in an effort to fill the joint up with elbow benders. In the case of the ogling dens, these Happy Hours tend to be concentrated around opening and closing times.

Fun Town has a tick over 50 ogling dens spread from the bustling cluster in South Pattaya to the odd seven or eight oases between Soi 8 and Naklua. Apart from the obvious attraction - namely the dancing maidens - some ogling dens try to pull extra punters through the doors and into the air-conditioned comfort of their playhouses by having Happy Hours.

Unfortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, most Happy Hours seem to concentrate on reducing the price of the amber fluid alone, thus alienating those who either prefer the harder intoxicants or the softer liquids. I say surprisingly because the average unit cost to the bar of spirits such as gin and vodka and soft drinks such as Coke and orange juice are far less than the unit price of a bottle of beer. Therefore, in percentage terms it would make just as much sense to reduce the prices on these as the amber fluid. Not being much of a beer guzzler I am always on the lookout for those entertainment spots that cater for the broad spectrum.

Anyway, in the interests of helping readers to prolong their baht while slaughtering their liver, I encourage you to check around for the places that offer Happy Hours – most that do will make it obvious in some way or another, be it neon signs or placard holding employees.

For The Hungry: The Green House (located at the back of the Made In Thailand Center on Second Road) is well known amongst the Finnish community and during the high season tends to be packed to the rafters with holidaymakers from Lapland (sans huskies and reindeer). The Green House has an extensive menu with no meat dish priced at more than 160 baht (and that’s for a Pepper Steak that some say is close to the best in Pattaya). Most of the dishes are around 105 baht with Thai food, naturally, even cheaper. Soft drinks and the like are 25 baht. A non-descript place, to find it all you have to do is look for the red and white umbrellas with ‘Karjala’ stenciled on them.

In The Hot Spots: Spicy Girls Too (Pattayaland Soi 1) recently changed hands and may eventually have a name change to reflect the new ownership. Despite the change, drinks prices remain the same as those in its former big sister Spicy Girls (just a wet g-strings throw down the road). However, a lot of ‘new’ faces have made the move from ogling dens close by to come and shake their little frames around the chrome poles. The music mix, from about 11:00pm onwards, reflects the more dance-style nature of the den and the maidens working in it.

My e-mail address is: [email protected] 

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