millwall_fan

I've never heard of the Mall Bang Khae but I'll look it up. thanks for that. As for Mirin, well I'd prefer the real thing, but I might try it if I really can't find sherry vinegar.

Prices in Mukdahan may be on the rise due to the bridge.

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According to your Bunters link, they don't sell Branston pickle, only Branston baked beans,

The full price list is at http://www.buntersfoodsbkk.com/new/Retail.pdf

And yes, they do have Branston.

Thank you for that!

Thanks AyG! I'll take a look next time I am in Gourmet market.

BTW my previous post should have read: I'll try using balsamic vinegar, but I can't imagine its really the same.

I currently teach in Bangkok and, unsurprisingly a number of my colleagues are female. I think they would tell you that, in general, Bangkok is one of the safest cities in the world for a single female to be and you will enjoy more freedom of movement here than in most cities. That said, women need to be on their guard anywhere in the world rather more than us chaps. The advice re taxis above is good, although whether you'd get one reliable enough to turn up regularly is debatable. Better to get one from a call centre so that they know who is picking you up. Moto taxis have been known to grope solo females.The drug scam is a problem for all at the moment, around Asoke junction especially.Probably best not to go out drinking/partying in that area until you have found your feet and made some friends as solos of both genders are more likely to be fleeced by plod. Other than that, welcome to Bangkok. Hope you have a good time here. Feel free to PM me if you need any more info.

I saw live guinea fowl on sale at Hang Chat near Lampang (on the main highway from Chiang Mai a few Kms beyond the Elephant conservation' centre) on Thursday, along with other delights like (endangered) Barking Deer abortions.

Priceless - this sounds like your department!

My understanding is the same as lor. You can keep 2 passports until a certain age (I heard 15, but it may be 21). At this point the Thais say your daughter must renounce her British nationality in order to keep her Thai one. So she/you tell the Thais this is what you have done. Except the Brits have no such divisive rule so you get to keep you Brit passport anyway. Just another little quirk here in LoS!

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I brought three jars back from UK in the Summer which ran out over Christmas, I bought another jar from Rimping supermarket in Chiang Mai for 190Baht.

Ok cool. I thought I saw big jars in Makro Hua hin once as well. Might make a trip to the seaside to check.

Some Makro branches are more set up for Western products than others. In Chaing Mai the branch on the Hang Dong rd had more Farang goodies than the other ones. In Bangkok it seems to be the Bangkapi branch (though if anyone knows better please post as I've only lived in Bangkok for a year!). The same applies to Big C - the ones that used to be Carrefour have a better range of Farang stuff than ones that have always been Big C! So the usual chaos and disorganisation from Thailand that we've come to love!!

Below is a link that may well serve you well as it has me for a few years regarding its whole product range when we ae in Bangkok and it is near to our Bangkok house .There is a delivery service and Thailand post can be used too for non perishable goods just make sure said items are packed well.

http://www.buntersfoodsbkk.com/products.html

If one is in the Surin area, Isaan try these people, same as Bunters and delivery possible in the same fashion too

http://www.staffordsfoodsthailand.com/

According to your Bunters link, they don't sell Branston pickle, only Branston baked beans,

'Sausage King' in Chiang Mai does the best ham in Thailand imho. From memory it costs around 380 B a kilo. I think he can deliver nationwide if the quantity is sufficient. He also does lots of other good product including bacon, at reasonable prices. Try Googling him.

I've been searching for sherry vinegar in Bangkok too. I'll try using balsamic vinegar, but I can imagine its really the same.

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Since this Gen. took the power, the country moved only backwards , now he ask help to move forwards... Good intentions for the new year ?

Moving it backwards? How so. Never any facts to back it up. On a stretch the best that can be mustered is "beliefs"

Here are a few facts for you.

The SET couldn't be stronger under the Junta? Look at the graph here. Look at Thailand inflation rate here. That is going in the right direction as well. Look at the GDP growth rate here. Thats looking pretty good as well heay. Consumer confidence has gone through the roof here. Couple that with consumer spending here that is looking very health. Business confidence is plodding along nicely here.

In fact if you look at all the economic indicators they all started going down hill when the PTP tried to introduce the amnesty bill (against the majorities wishes) and unsurprising started to recover when the Junta took power.

So really the country was going backwards until the 22nd of May and is now in a healing process. And after what the PTP put them through there is a hellava lot of healing to do.

Well done on the most popular PM in the last decade for saving the country from imploding. Unless of course you preferred the pre 22nd of May chaos?

The only problem with your all too rosy statistics is that they were compiled by the Thai government and that government is in the hands of an unaccountable dictatorship. Has there been any independent analysis of these figures? I would doubt it. Thai inflation year on year, 0.6%!! You're having a laugh!

There are lies, damn lies and stories in 'The Nation'!

More damning evidence. This case needs independently investigating using the DNA samples held by the British police.

If this were true, it would be good news, even given that most of the money would be spent in Greater Bangkok, but without any independent scrutiny or even investigative journalism to verify whether a) there is any scheme at all or just the Dictators thoughts about what should/could/ought to happen, b ) it is not a scheme like all others to net the initiators a large cash sum or c) hopelessly unrealistic and

unfull-fillable, how are we to know if this is good news or not?

Pol Pot was more popular than Abhisit.

We speak a right mish mash. I speak to my son in English, my wife in Thai and he is completely bilingual. To each other we speak Tinglish or Tangrit. "What are you tam alaI uing" is one of my favourites. She says "by 'nai daddy' and stuff like that..

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" A society is judged by the way it treats its weakest members!"

So well done to the government to address this issue!!

Nobody is addressing the issue, the Dictator is just making another speech which will amount to nothing - its probably an off the cuff remark because Stephen Hawking is planning a visit.

The EU, flawed as it is, is the only game in town for UK plc. Sure trade would continue, and tariffs will not be introduced if we left, as long as we joined the EEA (which we would) because the EU exports more to us than we do to them. But if we join the EEA we lose our say over EU policy and especially fiscal policy and without that say - or at least that blocking power, which we still have over major changes - the Germans and the French will gradually introduce fiscal legislation to our disadvantage. And the city of London contributes more to the British economy than North Sea oil.

Wake up Britain, don't let Rupert Murdoch persuade yo to leave!

Does anyone know if this applies to pensions too? I am taking a government pension in March and was resigned to losing 20% of it in tax, but then I read a UK government consultative document online yesterday and they are saying that it is not the governments intention to cane pensioners. It seems that you guys are confirming this, at least in the short term.

...and I thought the Thais were masters of obfuscation!

BTW I have long come to believe that all the mainstream parties in UK have pretty much the same policies, And the alternatives are the fascist BNP and UKIP or the idiotic back to the stone age' Greens. I'm glad I live here and don't have a say in party politics

I suppose I've lived in Thailand too long and I don't really like to book things in advance any more! I tend to go with my mood as the Thais do. As a result of this Mrs Millwall_fan and I will probably be having a nice seafood meal at Mho -0-Cha in the Anusarn on Christmas Day and forego the traditional turkey this year. The hotels are now too expensive as Northern John says -especially the booze prices and the pubs (quite understandably) all seem to require pre-booking. Mho-o-Cha let me bring a couple of bottles of wine with a nominal or no corkage charge and for two or three thousand we can pretty much have anything we want to eat. Couple of pints in O'Malley's afterwards and then off around town to visit some of our old mates in the pub game! Hopefully a fun day.

I usually found that trying to include a Chiang Mai leg to an online flight itinerary resulted in higher fares than booking it separately. I generally booked ex Bangkok and then did the CNX add on afterwards. Mind you my experience of flying Thai is obviously different to yours Rob, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Emirates/Etihad/Qatar are far better IMO.