donna

Not everyone gets aroused during an oil Massage, Joe. God. Some people are there purely for therapeutic reasons and wouldn't think of anything else during the massage.

bobrcb's wife was having an oil massage and being a Thai woman, she would more than likely have had a female masseur. I think that the last thing from her mind was getting aroused and intimate with the person massaging her.

You really have a thing about HIV don't you, Joe? I'd suggest a chat with your doctor for a bit of education.

I got in a taxi last week from Bumrungrad and wanted to go to Thewet. We took the highway for an extra 40 baht as the traffic was pretty bad. The taxi was an old rust bucket of a thing that I think the taxi driver would wai each night when it got him home safely.

Anyway, usually the meter fare is about 90 baht in heavy traffic to my place.

Before we got off the highway at Mission Hospital it was already 93 Baht and had 13km on the clock (the trip is only 7 or so km). I questioned the driver about the price and told him that it was a very expensive taxi and as I was only half way home (or so) I think that there may be something wrong with his meter.

He looked at me with a dumb look on his face and asked me how much I usually pay and I told him that the most I have ever paid was 100Baht and that was a 45 minute trip due to the traffic being so bad.

OK. 80Baht.

He turned the meter off straight away, probably embarassed that I caught him out on his little rip off scheme.

But on the other hand, the next day I had a lovely taxi driver who sang "Beautiful Sunday" to me all the way home.

I second Dr Niyom. He is a lovely guy, and an excellent Doctor.

Good luck.

So, Teach. What's the go now?

I think that many Thai men have it in their genes to lie exactly like O did. I had a bloke who lied and lied and lied. I caught him out eventually.

I am a forgiving soul (some will probably call me stoopid) so he did this twice to me.

The first time he was cheating with a girl who I knew and who worked with him. After that, he hung his head in shame and left the country for nearly 2 years to work. The little maggot returned later and was really sick. He couldn't walk, talk or eat. It seemed like all the muscles in his body had broken down. His family came down from Udon and asked me to go see him. I didn't really want to, but did so for his Mum. (The family NEVER asked me for any money in the time I was seeing him).

We went to Bumrungrad and they didn't have a clue what was going on, so they put him into the back of a pickup and took him back up to the village.

I was summoned up there 2 weeks later when I had a break from work. By the time I had arrived, he was up and walking and even managed a game of Ta Kraw. Amazing recovery. Amazing Thailand.

So, I sort of 'fell' into the same thing again, but made him move in with a friend - not with me. The first few weeks were great. We got along so well and were having a fun time.

Then, SNAFU again.

The lies started. The silences started. I found messages on his mobile phone with little cutesy love hearts in them. I called the number and it was his EX (the one he had before he was with me). I didn't really think much of it, but didn't forget about it. I had my guard up for sure.

When I was away working he would not have his mobile turned on.

Anyway, I decided to dump him, but had a couple of nights accommodation free in the Sth. I took him down there and dropped him like a hot potato. I was really upset about, even though I knew it was the right decision. He was doing the sob story and telling me that he loved me (read: my wallet) and didn't want me (read: my wallet) to go. (Although, I might add, that the second time around I held off paying for anything for him except his airfare to the Sth with me - discounted )

I went home to Australia and still wanted to be friends, so I called him and told him that I wanted to get him to a doctor to find out what was wrong with him once and for all because he kept on getting this 'thing'.

When I arrived, his phone was turned off. You guessed it. He had done a runner to Hat Yai to be with his 'ex' who had been sleeping with him all along whilst I was away working. Bitch. Both of them.

It ends up that she has been working as a hooker (Yes, I got checked for STD's even though we used condoms and came up safe) in Hat Yai for months. This 'illness' was checked by his mum who went to the temple. The general concensus in the village is that she has somehow made him consume her menstrual blood (aren't you lucky you don't do girls!) and it made him crazy for her. This is an old black magic trick, according to all of my female Thai friends.

But the good news is that I am well and truly over him and hope I never see the rotten maggot again. She deserves him and he deserves her as far as I am concerned.

Has this turned me off Thai men? Absolutely not.

Has this turned me off Men in general? Absolutely not.

Am I bitter and twisted like many men in this TV forum think? Nup. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I will just be careful in the future of whom I trust and whom I give my heart to.

There has to be some good ones out there somewhere and we all deserve a little lovin' in our lives.

You DO have go endure a few pricks before you get to the roses though.

Gee, I just realised how long that post was. Sorry if it bored you. It all looks so silly when you write it down, doesn't it?

Geez you guys are hard!

Anyway, personal opinions aside of what YOU do, I usually round up to the next paper denomination. Aside from that, 20 to 50Baht is fine.

I often eat out with 12 others, and I advise them to put in 10-20 Baht EACH if the service has been good.

Come on. The poorest of us are rich compared to these kids working in restaurants. Have a bit of spirit and make their day by leaving a decent tip for decent work.

I don't think it matters what country you are in or who you are dating, you treat your date with the same respect you want her to treat you with.

Be yourself. If you want to open the door, do it. If you want to pull her chair out, you just do it.

I see nothing wrong with all of this and speaking as a farang, I think it is lovely if any guy does this for me. (Although going to a Thai's home for dinner, it is more likely that they will not open the door - it is already open, and you don't need to pull out a chair - just make sure the floor beneath her is clean!)

Good luck.

I agree, Darknight. I often ask my Thai friends why they have so many 'on the side' because it makes such headaches for them.

I don't get it. (But I get THEY do!)

Well, I think it's a great thing for Scampy to want to help his friend.

So, is she gonna come over for a long time, or are you thinking that she will pass through Thailand for a few weeks and then move on?

Does she have money to travel? If she is a little scared to travel alone, she could join up on a group tour first and see how things go, then head out on her own. There are many companies that do stuff like this. Not big buses or anything like that, but maximum 12 people on the trips.

I can PM you some info if you like.

Ok. Maybe I flew off the handle a little. I apologise for that outburst if it offended anyone. But I don't agree with animals being mistreated for the entertainment of people. (And, no. I've never been to the circus).

Elephants. Yep. I've seen some beauties. Knives used to cut them on the head. The spike things used to beat them really hard when not necessary. But if you are ever riding these animals and the mahout gets out a knife or mistreats it, you can tell them to stop and they will.

Monkeys. Belong in the wild. Not on a leash.

All those guys in Phuket and other places with lizards and gibbons with them who charge for a photo should be fined and have their animals removed from their custody.

And Kan Win. Good for you for doing your bit. If we all did a little bit, the world would be a much nicer place.

I was flicking through an Australian mag today and found an ad for a cream that seems to do exactly what you want. It can be used for lightening marks caused by hormones, as yours seem to be.

Anyway, you can log on to johnplunkett.com.au and have a look. I have not looked at the website yet, but the prices are really reasonable. Only AUD$20 for a bottle of the stuff. Results in 6 weeks or so I think.

Good luck.

I agree with you guys. This is the only board (Farang Females is an exception) where you seem to really give a shit about each other and want to give good advice when needed. Many others are too busy giving smartass answers to any question asked.

I hope you don't mind a straight chick dropping in every now and then?

And by the way, you do have class, pizazz, glam and glitter.

I don't compete for men, because they are either interested, or they're not.  And I don't go after other women's men.  That is a process of civility that I learned in my late twenties.  Secondly, if we are talking about Thailand, possibly even more than other parts of the world, there are plenty of Thai women that compete for each other's men without dragging foreign women into it.

And thirdly, the vast majority of the men in Asia are here because they are fixiated on Asian women.  So there really is no competition because their attractions are completely racialized.  Fourthly, in my experience so far, I'm not attracted to the vast majority of foreign expatriates.  Hence, I'll second the other comments that there really isn't a competition, either here or in my own country, for the majority of these men.

Couldn't agree more with all you have said. I think that women who chase after another womans man are dirty cows. Why not find one of their own? And if he wants her after she persues him, he can ###### well HAVE her.

So many Thai friends of mine say that Thai men are all playboys, but who are these Thai men fooling around with? Thai women in the majority of cases. And many of these women know that the man is already taken. I am not speaking from hearsay. I've had it done to me before in Thailand and it wasn't nice. But it hasn't put me off of Thai men. There has to be some good ones out there.

Now, I have many female and male friends who are Thai. Please don't think that I am saying that ALL Thai women are doing this because I know that they are not.

As for a mans attractions being completely racialized, I couldnt have said it any better.

Imagine if the men were in their own home countries and groups of particularly unattractive women were in town to specifically pick up men of a particular build, colour and level of attractiveness. Wouldn't be a pretty sight would it? But if these women were waving around lots and lots of lovely money, just how many of these men would jump at the chance? No matter how unattractive the woman offering was?

I have visited that temple many times, but as I don't have children, I have never had the need to ask about childrens safety at such a place. Thankyou so much for your information Guesthouse.

Now I will never visit it again. They are getting more and more greedy there too. They used to have admission by donation of whatever you thought was a good amount. Then they specified one USD. Then it went up to 150Baht, and now I believe it has gone up again.

I would fully support a place if it were doing the animals any good, and if the reasons for having such a place were honorable. But it seems that this temple has just gone for the money. Very stupid.

The abbot there told me that the first one was given to them as a cub years ago. The local Karen villagers had shot a tiger (not sure if it was for meat or for safety reasons) and they then realised that it had a cub. They took it to the temple and asked for some rice in return. Then the idea caught on and it kept on getting bigger.

Supposedly the money 'donated' is used for food, but all I have seen is what looks like dog food given to them.

I find it hard to believe that there is such an abundance of tigers in Thailand that these same Karen people keep on coming across them and donating them to the temple. Word has it that they are being bought by the temple for the specific purpose of using them to entertain tourists.

Disgusting. Bloody disgusting

Sure, JD.

In some boards, if anyone disagrees with anyone else, they resort to name calling and childish stuff like that. Not very mature, and not nice, either.

I absolutely know some Thai people that are in it for the $$, but they aren't everyone. One friend of mine gets money sent over from the middle east every month and used it to get a boob job. He hit the roof! Very funny though.

But for every one person who is in it for the money there is one or two who arent. We just have to be lucky and meet those ones, hey?

As for lying about our ages. I've never done it. I am 40 in January and have mixed feelings about it. I guess I should feel lucky to make it this far without 'expiring' before hand, so what the heck. I'll have a big party! Yay.

Very true. I don't see why we should fight over a man.

I've got lots of Thai girlfriends here and we don't even have the same tastes.

Most of them are happier being single anyway as they have been burnt before and don't want to risk it again.

On the other hand, some of them are real players and play the men for all they are worth and then spit them out at the end.

A friend of mine at home had given up on meeting anyone at all. She had resigned to a life of singledom at 43. Then, she met an amazing guy, fell in love, and married him a few years down the track. They have the fairytale and are loving it.

But back to the question about being in competition with the Thai ladies? Hardly.

Ahh, Boris. You see, I'M not gonna be there. I have 2 weeks with them after that. I don't need to start with THAT kind of thing!

Group Leader means Tour Leader. Same same. Not different.

There's a shop in Banglampoo which sells great pizza. It's in the soi behind the petrol station on the top end of Khao San Rd (just near the Israeli restaurants). The sign says PIZZA OWEN (I think it's meant to be OVEN ) and he used to have a shop in Ko Lanta.

He has the following pizzas and I have included prices for medium and large. These are wood fired oven pizzas too and are really good. (please note that I have copied these verbatim from the menu - spelling mistakes are included):

Pizza Quattro Stagion!

Pizza with eggplants, ham, shrimps, mushroom and cheese

130/150

Pizza Pescatora

Pizza with mixed seafood, onions, tomato and cheese

140/160

Pizza Calzone

Wrapped pizza dough with tomato, capers, onion, ham, egg, cheese

160/190

Pizza a Vostra Scelta

Create yourown pizza for basic pizza with 3 topping 10 baht per additional: tomato, ushroom, pineapple, onions, green pepers, egg, ham, bacon, shrimps, tuna, sausage, fish

130/150

Pizza Margherita

Pizza with tomato, basil leavs and cheese

110/140

Pizza Alla Napolitana

Pizza with tomato,capes, anchovies and cheese

130/150

Pizza Alla Rustica

Pizza with tomato, onions, tuna and cheese

130/150

Pizza Cappricciosa

Pizza with tomato, onions, bacon, nushrooms, ham, green peppers and cheese

140/160

Pizza Tropicale

Pizza with ham, pineapple, tomato and cheese

130/150

The 9.30am train arrives at about 2.50pm. It's usually a good train. Not much room for luggage though, as it's all stored above your head in the overhead racks.

Normally (whatever that means) it is freezing cold on that train. I end up rugged in a fleece and thick explorer socks.

Try to not get a seat close to the bathroom as it normally stinks by the end of the trip.

Poor girl I saw today. She was farang. Got her hair cut at my local salon (but not my usual hair cutter). She looked like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music! She wasn't impressed at all.

But the good thing is that it's all dead cells (despite what we like to think about our 'lively' hair) and it all grows out eventually.

And hats are aplenty here!

Thai

Malaysian

Italian

I am hoping someone on this forum will be able to help me.

I am a group leader and have 5 families arriving for a 2 week tour with me on Christmas Day. Does anyone know of any places that will welcome families to come and eat a Christmas Dinner (Lunch) at very short notice, like the morning of the 25th?

Some of the kids are young (8 years old) and I want to give them some good options because I will be out drinking Champagne in the morning.

Other options are available such as heading down to the river, to Lumpini Park etc, but I want to give them as many options as I can so that they can have a memorable Christmas Day.

Oi! Donna!

Don't

Arai Wa?

Normally you get what you pay for. If you go too cheap, you will get poor quality.

If you see what most people are asking for a decent quality suit when not on 'special' you will be better off. The cheaper 'special' ones are usually made from inferior quality materials. And they will always get more money off you from adding on stuff.

If the suit is to wear on a regular basis at home, I would go for the best quality I could afford.

A friend and I were dropping off some stuff one day and the security guy was telling us in english to go down 'just past the chicken and turn left'. I think me meant the kitchen. Very cute.

You're right, SBK. I have had a few girls traveling with me over the past 5 years who have been drugged in bars in Thailand by guys. Farang guys at that. Nasty stuff. Two of them were sitting with some guys in a bar in Samui. There were some farang guys behind the bar serving drinks. One of them suddenly felt her legs going numb and told her friend that they should get the flock out of there. Luckily for them they have all managed to get to safety before anything bad happened to them.

I do have a friend (male) who was down Khao San a few years back. Met some (Thai) guys and the last thing he remembers was sitting with them on the street drinking, and then waking up in his hotel room the next day in a real state. He had been drugged and robbed of all his stuff. Normally a very sensible and kind guy, he would never had gotten that drunk that he would 'lose' his stuff.

There ARE a lot of men on this forum who are openly nasty to farang women. I don't know why this is. But it is THEIR problem and THEIR loss. I am certainly not saying that ALL men on this forum are like that. If that was so, I would never log on to this forum.

It appears that if we choose to assert ourselves we get slated for it.