Tarragona

I've just done a format and fresh install of Windows 2000 Pro on a machine which had been on Win ME. All seemed to go smoothly except that the new system didn't seem to recognize the monitor, NEC MultiSync V520 . I've got hold of the driver and it sees this but won't install and gives the message:

The installation failed because a function driver was not specified for this device instance.

What should I do?

The Croc Farm will let you in for Thai price if you speak Thai. But they won't let you have the Thai price for any non-Thai speaking foreigners that are with you.

Thailand does have some of the world's greatest music and one thing I love about Thais is that they can be fans of all of it without saying this is cool, this crap etc. etc. I love the local village festivals where you can go from a number on the khaen to 'look tung' to 'peua cheewit' to 'pop' to 'rock', one after the other.

I like Carabao. Once upon a time Carabao really stood for something. And although that is mainly in the past, they are nice guys who will still give you the time of day. I learned a lot of Thai through their songs and other "peua cheewit" bands. If you listen to the long-established 'peua cheewit' bands, you'll find they incorporate a lot of Thai musical tradition into their songs and were nearly all inspired as kids by the great 'look tung' singers.

Malihuanna had two very haunting vocalists and were extremely innovative musically. I have never heard another band like them, which is rather unusual in itself here, as clones tend to appear on the scene very quickly. None of the pub singers I've heard doing their songs get anywhere close. Still worth seeing even though the advertised concerts are no longer the full band.

I've been to many 'look tung' / 'morlam' concerts and invariably had a good time. The wife's personal favourite is Chalermporn Malakham and I've seen Siriporn a few times.

The khaen is my favourite Thai instrument and there are few musical experiences in the world that can better getting pissed to an Isaan village band who are themselves getting pissed up.

You will hear many farang use the K sound where it should be a G sound and P where it should be Bp.

Think that's an unaspirated K not a G. Although that probably sounds pretty much like a G anyway.

I'm interested to know from any gentleman who's been married in Thailand in the last couple of years whether your wife kept her surname or took yours. What was the thinking behind your/her decision?

I saw them about a month ago and we are due to stop at Ad Carabao's birthday on the way to Chiang Mai.

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But they do not make any new album in ages

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The last full Carabao album was "Nak Su Phu Ying Yai" in 2002 which was the 23rd full Carabao album. This year Ad released "OTOP" as a solo album and there have been a few live albums plus a reworking of "Made in Thailand" over the last couple of years. There will be a new Carabao album out very soon.

Carabao hav'nt split up.

No, I know Carabao haven't split up. I see them 6 or 7 times a year. But Malihuanna have.

I've got dozens of Carabao albums and really liked Malihuanna - shame they split up.

yes

According to the wife there are two "international" schools in Nakorn Sawan, Lasan Chotrawi and St Josephs,

Lasan Chotrawi teaches up to age 17-18 boys and girls (finnish high school)

St Josephs according to the wife only goes up to 15 for girls and 12 for boys

They are both Christian schools and both are about 30,000 bht a term live in or 3,000 live out, and apparently Lasan Chotrawi has the better reputation.

They're regular private schools, I'd guess. If so they probably follow the Thai curriculum.

I've never eaten a bug that tasted bad. 

Me neither. I don't think people eat them because there's nothing else but because they taste good. Or rather, even people who don't have to eat insects still enjoy their bugs.

I've never eaten giant snails but often have the regular-sized ones.

http://www.frok.co.th

That site looks really really shit in Firefox.

A bit out of the blue - I was offered a place.  The salary is 55KTHB per month approx and includes an amount for accomodation.

I have spoken to a few people and they are suggesting that this is a bit low.  One person mentioned a salary of 80KTHB and another started saying around 2kGBP (about 150KTHB).

55K doesn't sound low unless they're hiring you because you're a particular expert in the field and of a level not generally found in Thailand and even then 55K would be much higher than most other faculty members are on. 150K sounds highly unlikely under any circumstances.

I have the version 7 (free) and find it to be fantastic.

I second that.

The basic salary for farang language ajarns (not just English, but French, German, etc) at government universities (including what are considered the best universities in Thailand: Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Kasetsart, Mahidol, etc) is fixed at 26,000 baht a month throughout the country, but there are ways of supplementing this with extra programmes and outside work and the teaching hours are relatively low at 10-12 per week.  Private universites, like Bangkok U, ABAC (Assumption), Siam, UTCC, etc pay you more but tend to have more teaching hours and generally expect you to be on campus a lot longer.

I once applied at ABAC and they were offering less than the government rate. That was about 5 years ago.

I think calling in with your resume is a good way to go. You might get lucky and get to talk to the right person but even if you don't you should be able to leave your documents at the right office. Some university websites have online application forms e.g. Bangkok University. Even if you don't fit the bill for the available positions they might pass your details on to other departments.

Been there, done that, wish I had saved 50% of it.

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Know the feeling.

I've got no problem whatsoever with the land ownership laws as they currently stand.

Agreed. As it seems that women with foreign spouses no longer face problems with owning land, then I don't really think there is any injustice.

That makes sense. Our neighbours seem to be divided as to whether they're unlucky or lucky. Those from the NE seem to feel that they're a good omen and most of the others that they're bad. The Northerners occasionally mention how tasty they are and when family are visiting from upcountry start planning to catch some - though I don't think this great water monitor hunt has ever taken place.

May I suggest that you use the word เหี้ย "hee-a" for the monitor lizard as Sabaijai has already advised?

We fairly often get water monitors wandering around our area and I've only ever heard them referred to by neighbours as ตัวเงินตัวทอง, never the h- word.

Loads of luk-kreungs working in high places in the government methinks.

That'll be the by-then aging actors and actresses using their popularity to step over into politics.

Carabao will be back in Chiangmai on 7th (something to do with Beer Chang, not sure where), 8th (Sukhonta Moo Kata) and for Add's birthday on the 9th of November (Imperial Mae Ping).

Carabao play around 20-25 gigs a month every month of the year, so not too difficult to find them somewhere near at least a few times a year.

My father-in-law said he wasn't bothered whether we registered our marriage or not. As has already been pointed out the Buddhist / traditional wedding ceremony is not officially recognised but for the family it is all that counts. That is the occasion where everyone they know gets to see the marriage and so announces to the world that the couple are now husband and wife. That is how they are then perceived whether the marriage is legally registered or not.

and of course ..the rip off ...Crocodile Farm

LOCATION: 555 Moo 7, Taiban Road.

OPENING HOURS: Open daily 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

ADMISSION:

There is a two price system. 80 baht for Thai and 300 baht for foreigners.

They will let you in for the Thai price if you speak Thai though.

I got pulled over driving through Saraburi once. The officer wanted 200 baht as it would be more to pay the real fine etc. etc. I knew I didn't have anything smaller than a 500 note in my wallet so I wasn't about to pull that out. I went through my pockets, the glove compartment, door pockets pulling out coins and a couple of 20s, asked the wife if she'd got anything, until the officer had had enough and hissed (almost literally) something like "Just give me that." Grand total of 72 baht.

Other than that I've only had good experiences with traffic cops, including somewhere in Buriram when the sister-in-law was driving and it turned out that I was teaching (in Bangkok) the brother of the officer who had pulled us over. Small world.