Tarragona

"Papa died last night". (Verified, no joke!)

Funeral Expenses for a "decent" funeral are projected between 60'000 and 70'000 BHT.

Reasonable? Probably on the upper end of the bracket, since the deceased is no member of the Royal-Family, but was a humble, but honorable Rice-Farmer lliving near Phitsanoluk.

Any Input?

Cheers.

I reckon you could do it for less. But, as long as the money's not a big problem for you, why bother? You can try and keep tabs on where it's actually going (and once it's gone no top-ups) but if you and your wife had a decent relationship with him send him off in a little bit of style.

As mentioned below, an insurance policy is often taken out for this eventuality. The wife has one on her Dad (long may he be with us ).

In over 15 years I've hardly had any problems with the post in the Bangkok area. Three small packages have arrived from the UK in the past two weeks and all have taken less than a week to get here. The only thing I can ever remember going missing is an edition of a magazine I subscribed to and that was probably to do with a change of address at the time.

Isn't this documentary about 10 years old? I've got it on video somewhere. I think someone in the UK taped it and sent it over.

I feel he is trying to set up a situation that he can claim the need for some sort of martial law that gives him complete control over all agencies.

If there is any kind of military intervention I doubt it will leave Thaksin in control.

The Nation made Siam Paragon incindent their frontpage story today, I can imagine what they will print tomorrow.

What I saw was on one of the small cable TV channels with Chirmsak Pinthong. I think if it goes out on the major stations Thaksin's days could come to an end very quickly. Maybe Sorayuth will get on it tonight - won't hold my breath though.

I've just watched an in-depth look at what occurred and it seems that two of the attackers were beyond doubt plainclothes police officers. They were caught very clearly by the TV cameras. One was in your typical plainclothes style with the shades, black jacket etc and both were handing protestors over to the uniformed boys.

Work will start shortly on the extension to Soi LaSalle (is that 107?). It's not going further because the project belongs to the Bangkok administration and that's their outer limit. The traffic police have been talking about the preparations on the JS100 radio station and the poor guy in charge of North Samrong is sounding resigned to his fate.

An extension to Samrong or Paknam would be an absoute blessing and really make a huge difference to the traffic situation - but it doesn't look to be on the cards in the near future.

Campbell is now well past his best. Both him and Cole were out for long periods last season and they did fine without them. Reyes would be a disappointment for them but (and I'm not an Arsenal fan) it looks like Wenger is building another fine young team. They'll do better than last season and in a year or two will be really challenging again.

Wouldn't it be quicker to go by bus, and certainly cheaper?

I'm not sure that any buses go out there yet.

i had been informed ( not sure if rightly or wrongly) that as long as the fathers name is one the birth certificate once the "mess" that a few of us find ourseleves in is sorted back in the UK and we do marry our pertner here that that will "legitimize" the birth and thus allow for the application of a UK passport for the child........

Out of interest, what exactly do you mean by "mess" and it being "sorted back in the UK"?

I used bangkokserver.net in the past. I didn't have any problems with them but as someone has already said the pricing in Thailand is high for the features you get. I didn't desperately need local hosting so I went for better value elsewhere. I would probably give them another go if I did need anything local.

I don't think the DELTA will get any more recognition here than a CELTA or any other lower TEFL qualification, except at the British Council. For teaching at universities here, you'll find that a master's may get a higher salary but I don't think that's the case everywhere.

Crispin John Grandvil Papon-Smith

You can imagine the childhood the poor guy had with that name. I'm not surprised it's come to this.

Update to this story from ITV last night.

The mother has now reported that she was also raped. The 'bodyguard' has a previous history of committing rape. The police say they have matched his DNA with the crime (they have a DNA database??).

The big twist though is that the 'German' father is actually a Croatian, real name different from that given earlier. In November a court order was issued forbidding him from leaving Thailand.

Very sad if the family are paying for the father's sins.

Which goes to show that you can't trust everything you read!

True - interesting post. Thank you.

If you hear someone ask for 100 delicious hot guavas and ask for loi aloi lorn falang thank you very mahk you know they haven't stepped foot in Thammasat.

Maybe not Thammasat

but I've worked in a couple of universities and it's very common to hear the Thai ajarns bemoaning the way the students are butchering their own language- and not using the 'r' is one of the biggest complaints. As in any other language, use varies in context, so it's not just that people either use one or the other and it means they're educated or uneducated. Knowing when you can be more casual and when to speak proper is the important thing.

The Lao language in Laos, which is very closely related to Thai, does not have an 'r' sound at all, not even in the formal language.

Which, I have read, indicates that the 'r' sound is a later addition to the Thai language.

Sven had never seen Walcott play before selecting him. I reckon he picked him and then from what he saw in training realised that Walcott wasn't ready for international football, especially the biggest competitive tournament in the game.

As for Steve McClaren having balls, I just can't see it. His whole philososphy with Boro doesn't seem to offer much hope. Let's hope he tries to make the most of his players, rather than making them fit his idea of how to play. You can go back and look at players who have been 'crippled' by being forced into the manager's rigid system. John Barnes took huge abuse over most of his England career but he actually played how he was told - stay out left, don't come in, don't push too far forward or you won't be able to help the fullback. Then, they still expect his magic.

We need someone who recognises what his players can do and plays to that. I'd love to be wrong, but I doubt it's McClaren

either Ashton, Bent or Defoe could have gone and done a far far better job than Peter Crouch....I really hope that Steve McCLaren can see that this guy has no business being an International Player, now or ever

I thought Crouch did a good job when he came on. If you get past the appearance he's a decent player, especially on the floor. I'd have liked to see Defoe there but I'd definitely take Crouch over Bent.

I'm sure Rooney will be having a word with Cristiano when they meet up again for pre-season training.

I reckon Cronaldo's off to Madrid.

I don't understand how you still can argue with the red card????? See pic's in previous posts and you will probably get it. Sorry it went as far as penalties, but let's face it, Portugal did have a great goalie when it came to ridicule England penalty kickers...

I'd agree that it was red. Actually I think the push might have convinced the referee - probably could have been two yellows. The only problem I'd have with it is that Rooney was fouled first, but everybody knows he's not too difficult to get a reaction out of.

I thought the ref was good. He didn't get conned and kept control of it well. He could have yellowed Maniche for his acting though.

Didn't he make a total clown of himself? Absoutely useless. Portugese took a ball off him like he was a school player.

He looks awkward but the Portuguese hardly ever took the ball off him. Most of the time he held it up and laid it off very well. Crouch should have been playing from the beginning in a 4-4-2. Rooney's wasted up front on his own.

Interesting this. None of my children will willingly watch Thai films or TV. Nor do they want to listen to Thai music.

Going to the cinema was something I did together with my daughter from when she was 3/4 years old. My wife didn't use to like trips to the cinema much and didn't usually go with us. So that was an English part of my daughter's life early on and she soon refused to watch Thai-dubbed films that my wife got to watch at home. (There are Thai films that she enjoys though).

I think the TV thing is partly down to the difference in quality and content between Thai TV and foreign-produced shows. Her favourite channel is Nickelodeon (favourite show is Josh and Drake) which seems to hit the mark for a young teenager.

So her preference for English viewing material is interesting given that her dominant language is Thai.

One other point of interest to add to the discussion. I have always read bedtime stories to my daughter and still do (in English of course). My wife has never ever done this and as my daughter has become a teenager has voiced open opposition to what she sees as a babyish habit. I see it as a vitally important link between us and also a wonderful way to use language that would never occur in our everyday interaction.

I think the no recourse to public funds refers to housing benefit, dole money i.e free handouts etc Fairly sure not applicable to NHS, maybe other posters can confirm.

I think she would receive emergency treatment free but any follow-up treatment should be be paid for. What happens in practice I don't know.

I'm from the UK, wife is Thai, daughter is 13. We live in Thailand and my daughter goes to a Thai private school.

Since my daughter was born I have only used English with her and my wife speaks to her in Thai. With the wife I use Thai. My daughter generally prefers English-language TV channels to Thai ones and won't watch films that are dubbed in Thai.

She understands English fine and speaks pretty well. When speaking there is some Thai-style English grammar but if I give an indication that something is not quite right she can usually correct herself. I suppose this is because Thai is the dominant first language. Her active vocabulary seems to be a bit limited which is probably because I'm the only person she has to use English with on a regular basis. Reading and especially writing skills are much weaker but this is something I have to work on with, as the English at school is not very demanding.

She's just come back from 6 weeks in the UK with my family and without Mum and Dad! She didn't have any communication problems and there has been a noticeable effect on her vocabulary.