properjob

Smoking has been banned in all Thailand restaurants, bars and other indoor public areas throughout Thailand for 7 years. Open air bars and restaurants are exempt. Some hotels are 100% smoke free though most offer both smoking and non-smoking rooms.

Some indoor bars and other places do allow smoking, but most places you would likely go do not.

I don't like to be around smokers either and it is generally not an issue here in Thailand.

Finally, someone answers the OP's question.

MMan is correct. Anti-smoking legislation is quite well observed in Thailand, meaning that in the vast majority of bars, restaurants, hotels - and ALL retail establishments - you will be hard pressed to find anyone breaking the law. Smokers are allowed at outdoor bars and restaurants, meaning you sometimes have to go indoors for some fresh air. But as MMan and one or two others say, the invasion of your air by cigarette smokers is hardly an issue in Thailand.

pj

I want to learn to speak Thai in Chiang Mai, and seek recommendations for the best language schools (not private teachers).

I want a school that offers support to obtain a study visa AND that does a good job in the teaching of Thai to foreigners.

Any pointers will be appreciated.

pj

'How's your life in Thailand?'

'Oh, it's OK, except for all the terrible inconveniences with all the people who insist on speaking Thai, and the awful drivers and the weather and the difficulties in getting a decent pint of bitter or a real quality pizza - and sometimes even TV is suspended for a whole 40 hours.'

Jeez, guys, get a life.

There's another shop on Thaphae Rd almost at the gate on the right side. It has a green side that says "Gems" and a lot of bags and suitcases displayed. They sell a fair bit of supplies and leather though you wouldn't know from the outside.

Found it on Google Earth street view, so I know exactly where you're talking about. Thanks

Thanks, FG, for all the tips and the feedback and the education! Thanks, Bamboozled for the 'new' shop tip. I'll get into town after the water-throwing has subsided and have a good look.

I'm a little surprised that there isn't a neighbourhood cluster of shops selling leather hides. Maybe the Chiang Mai market for leather raw materials just isn't that big.

I appreciate all the help,

pj

Maybe I should be embarrassed, but I'm just amused

However, your explanation doesn't explain why the pieces I have bought have ALL had precisely two cuts like those never one or three or four, and always in line with the long side of the leather cut. Nor is the leather thin. I'm perfectly comfortable learning I was wrong about the leather's source, but I'm not convinced of your take on it either.

But in any case, where it comes from isn't important to me. For my needs, its quality and size are perfect - and it's inexpensive.

I'll check out the store you mentioned, thanks.

Thanks, PUWA. I'm not very good with the acronyms

I can honestly say I've never seen leather sold like that. Very unusual. If you look at THIS diagram, these are the most commonly sold cuts for cowhide, while THIS is the diagram for the cuts sold from horsehide. Sheepskin, lambskin, goatskin and pig skin are generally sold as full hides. Snake skins and alligator skins can be had in various sized pieces. None that I've ever seen for sale have had heads attached.

I don't think I've ever seen face hide being sold anywhere, and I've been a leather hobbyist for many years. Where did you find the hides with the eye holes in them?

I only have one piece here now. See the photograph, in which about 9 inches or more have been cut off the top, and maybe 18 inches off the right side of the piece. I recall other pieces in which the two long holes were much smaller - but these ones are so long and so far apart I'm now wondering if they're from where the ears might have been. You might be able to tell I'm no expert! But the two holes are a feature of several pieces I bought like this. Thanks for the chart; I really can't see where my pieces correspond to it!

I got them in Bangkok, on Rama IV, where there are leather dealers on both sides of the street where the street curves after passing Klong Toey market and before you get to the big BMW showroom (which is at the Rama IV end of Sukhumvit Soi 24).

Try Charoen Sin just west of PRC on kaew nawarat road.

Can you expand on this for me please? Is Charoen Sin a business or a street? And what is PRC (I don't think it's People's Republic of China, unless we're talking near the Chinese embassy).

Four feet long and two feet wide? Not very large pieces? Hmmmmmm..... Did you perhaps mean inches? Most cows I've come across don't have faces four FEET wide! LOL! I'll assume you meant to write inches!

No, I meant feet. If you imagine a steer and cut the hide off the neck from above one shoulder, around the face to the other shoulder, you get a long, narrow piece with two eye holes in it.

Or, at least, that was MY interpretation of the pieces I bought

That shop on Chiang Moi also has large, full-sized shoulder, sides, and backs, of different leathers, but most are chrome-tanned leather rather than vegetable tanned.

I don't need very large pieces for what I do. In fact, in Bangkok I often end up with pieces about four feet long and a little over two feet wide, with two elongated holes in the middle. Yep, the hide from across the cow's face, eye holes and all.

What is chrome-tanned? Is it something to be avoided?

pj

Thanks, Indi. Sounds like a good starting point for the search

I am fairly certain that there must be a Chiang Mai street filled with shops that sell leather hides to shoe makers. I know where they are in Bangkok, but haven't found any leather dealers in Chiang Mai. What I need is tanned leather cowhide, already dyed. I use it to make musical instrument straps.

Can anyone point me to leather dealer stores?

Thanks,

pj

The visa agent,VFS, is in the Post office near the CM Railway Station about 2 sois coming back into the city ,same side of the road.Its no where near the moat.We were there last week to submit our application after downloading the relevant form from www.immi.gov.au. All the info is on that site explaining what is required.They send application to to the VFS office in Sathorn Rd, Bangkok.

My wife's is a tourist visa, max 6 mths Total cost was 5,200b and passport will be sent back to us EMS.This will be my wife's 3rd visit so don't expect any problems. There are a couple of other visa agents in town but their cost is probably twice as much so I have been told.Hope that helps.

Thanks for that. I'll look into the online process first, and if that doesn't work for any reason, now I know where to go.

ron

My wife got hers from BKK by post she is Thai,Some nationalities can do it all online with a credit card

You can see if eligible here

https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETA/etas.jsp

Good Luck

Thanks for that link. I have a British/EC passport, and the countries eligible for the online application are extremely limited. They don't include Britain.

HOWEVER, Jonny's link put me on the right track. It seems like I can apply online for a free visitor visa through this page;

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/651.aspx?tab=1&heading=who-could-get-this-visa

would the Hon, Australian Consul handle an application?

It has to go through Bangkok, but I was told it can be handled by 'a central post office inside the moat', agency-style. Has nobody else heard of that?

I need to get a tourist visa for a short trip to Australia in April. I was told that a 'central post office' inside the Moat will accept applications - and send the passport to and from the Australian Embassy in Bangkok.

1. Has anyone done this?

2. If so, where is this post office I was told about? I can't find a Central Post Office inside the old city.

Thanks.

@properjob

Kefir is not the same as yoghurt. The grains are a symbiotic yeast/bacteria culture.

The resulting drink is both fermented and cultured with the consistency of thin fizzy milk.

The taste is like rancid watery beer, kefir is mildly alcoholic.

Thanks for the information. Makes me look a bit of a chump but I deserve that!

Disregard my lengthy post then - though maybe, just maybe, someone prefers real yoghurt to rancid watery beery stuff.

I have no idea why keffir grains are better than anything else (I'm not skeptical, just ignorant of their characteristics), but I very successfully make yoghurt at home just using commercial 'Dutchie' plain yoghurt as a starter. I use 3 little 140g tubs to start a little over 3 litres of milk base. I might be using too much starter, but am reluctant to try 2 tubs or 1 tub in case it doesn't work. The only tool you need is a cooking thermometer of the type you push into a roast turkey.

In case anyone is interested, here is the process:

• take tubs of starter yoghurt out of the fridge and put them in the sun to warm up to something like room temperature
• sterilise cooking pot, stirring devices, and a large whisk by boiling water in the pot for a few minutes
• pour water away, fill pot with 3 litres of full fat milk (any brand - the dark blue tops are full fat)
• heat at a medium heat until it JUST begins to boil - the moment it starts to bubble and rise up, switch off the gas, pronto (it will be at between 95-98 degrees C). Keep a VERY close eye to stop it boiling over. Messy.....though it doesn't spoil the process
• put lid on pot and allow milk to cool until it is between 50 and 55 degrees C (accuracy is important - which is why the thermometer is vital). I use a fan to quicken the cooling, otherwise it takes an hour or more. With a fan close to the edge of the pot, maybe 25 minutes.
• when it is between 50 and 55 degrees C, gently stir in the three, 140g tubs of plain, unflavoured Dutchie yoghurt
• wrap the pot in a towel and sit it outdoors in the sunshine for at least six hours (don't leave it where rain will cool it down, and spray around the pot to stop ants colonising your culinary experiment)
• bring it indoors and let it sit for a few hours more
• put it in the fridge overnight
• wake up to 3 litres of gorgeous, thick, unsweetened plain yoghurt. Wash whisk in clean water, then whisk the yoghurt to a creamy consistency.

Then the difficult bit: not eating it all at once.

Note that this isn't a very cheap process. About 150 baht for milk, 40 baht for starter yoghurt, a few baht on cooking gas. But it's worth it. The quality is sooo much better than commercial yoghurt.

pj

Odd request time:

I need a small quantity of dense, thick foam insulation board that I believe is called 'Phenolic Foam Board', like this stuff that is used as insulation in cavity wall construction.

I need it to make a prototype model of something I am working on, so I only need one board at most.

Today I went to one big builder warehouse, but they only had three-inch-thick styrofoam, which isn't up the task I have in mind. I'm wondering if in this hot climate, there is simply no demand for the dense Phenolic material.

I'd be delighted if someone could point me to a source somewhere in or near Chiang Mai.

Thanks in advance.

pj

Guess who hadn't been paying attention, and had no idea that rights to the football had moved company?

I've been getting sick of True and their endless runs of dire <deleted> cooking shows and terrible phony documentaries, so maybe I'll have to look into the CTH option. Trouble is we live in the boonies, and even getting True installed a while back was a real hassle.

pj

in another world, perhaps. What da phk is CTH?

It looks like the English Premier league's broadcasts are all messed up for the new season. Just about all the major games used to be on True Sports. Where are they now?

pj

Thanks, Nivram. I'm only an occasional visitor to the forum, so I managed to miss that thread. I'll get in touch with FolkGuitar.

pj