timmyp

The water tasted weirdly salty when this happened last year. Then I read in the newspaper about the sea water getting into the water supply and realized why. I could certainly do without a repeat of that. It's tolerable, but it's pretty unpleasant to drink.

Normal filters won't get the salt taste out, the filter has to be capable of desalination.

I'm so glad the article included photos of the winning sculpture!

The carvings looks so life-like in those blue jackets.

how does one look English?? please tell do Aussies look Australian do Canadians look Canadian

"English" is an ethnic group of people, so their is most certainly an English "look," separate from Scottish, Welsh, and other white folks, etc. That isn't really the case for immigrant nations like Australia, Canada, and the U.S (although certainly their is a native look of folks from those regions,).

It's not strange to say someone has an English face or build, but of course it's weird to talk about an "American" or "Australian" face or build (other than fat?), unless referring to the true natives of those areas, because Canadian/American/Australian refers to a nationality, not an ethnicity. Not the case for England or Sweden or German, even though there might be lots of recent immigration there.

I lived in a city in northern India for a couple of years in the early 90s, and I remember packs of monkeys patrolling the city, breaking things and stealing things. They would hop from rooftop to rooftop, and they were very aggressive. People would hang laundry up on the roof to dry, sometimes do food preparation up on the roof. But when you would see the monkeys coming, you would put your stuff inside so the monkeys weren't attracted to anything.

If someone stepped out for a bit, but left laundry drying on the roof, the monkeys would snatch it.

Sometimes, I think those monkeys would put on the shirts they stole, and wiggle themselves into the pants...

and get a job at the bank, or at a government office...

and that is the real problem. There are monkeys hiding among us.

Stories like this intrigue me... I guess I have the delusion that the incredibly privelaged have their life in order more than they do. The tragedy of having so much a losing it all due to such moronic behaviour is captivating.

Is that guy back from Singapore already?

I have Thai festivals listed on my Google calendar. It surprises that Christmas shows up. Obviously it's not a national holiday, but it is given recognition just like Chinese New Year. The Christian population in Thailand is less than 2%, but it gets a mention on the calendar. There is not a single mention of any Islamic holidays (Ramadan, Ead, etc.), although the Muslim population in Thailand is twice as high as the Christian population at 3-4%.

Japan has about the same percentage of Christians as Thailand, and even though Japan has really embraced their own (slightly odd) interpretation of Christmas. they still didn't mention it on their national calendar! It's weird to me that Christmas would be given such acknowledgement on such a national level over other traditional festivals.

Valium is not the best sleep aid, but it isn't something to fear either. You are being responsible about being concerned, you are clearly the type of person that will use such medication responsibly. Sleep is important when you are sick, and if you are having trouble falling asleep naturally, it is not at all a bad decision to take something that will help you rest so that you can get better.

Just like Sheryl said, diphenhydramine is an antihistamine that also doubles as a sleep aid. It's the active chemical in Benadryl (but Benadryl in Thailand tends to be a sugary syrup, so I ask for it by the chemical name).

Back to the mother's little helper: Valium can work as a sleep aid. I find it works well on flights (I really can't sleep on airplanes without something to knock me out). Drinking booze isn't a good idea with valium, I'm sure you read. If you're not feeling well, I would recommend laying off the booze until you're body heals. That's probably a bigger concern than taking a couple of 5 mg tabs of valium.

They can be very dangerous: commonly used for suicide in Japan.

They use kerosene in Japan, but same idea

Charcoal. They light them up in a enclosed area. Super common way to suicide.

OB

You're totally right, i was just thinking about people heating their homes. Yeah, that charcoal stove was all the rage for the suicide fashionable.

They can be very dangerous: commonly used for suicide in Japan.

They use kerosene in Japan, but same idea

There is an network of Thai people homeschooling their kids. The kids I have met that are connected through this network seem to be well educated. Their English is great.

http://www.homeschoolnetwork.org/

I don't believe it is necessary for kids to go to a Thai school for them to be proficient in academic Thai. Even if you are homeschooling them in a language besides Thai, you can integrate reading and writing of Thai on an academic level into their other subjects. If they don't specifically study academic Thai, though, then their Thai will always be sub-par. I don't have experience with this in Thailand, but I have seen it several times in Japan with bilingual kids who didn't learn one of the languages academically. I have seen successful bilingual kids who had a proper master of both languages as well, and it was part of their education.

Total sympathy to her, and I hope she has success with the cops actually doing something about the case (perhaps the story in the newspaper will at least get them to pretend like they're doing something?).

As someone who grew up in the city, sitting alone distracted at night in area where there aren't other people is pretty much an invitation to a mugging. There may have been a time when doing that in Pattaya was perfectly safe, but those times have changed. Not to blame the victim here, but sometimes I wanna ask, "What were you thinking??"

Adjusted or not I'm betting that most of them will still not be used !

i take taxis all the time here and it is rare that the driver will not use the meter

i know my way around bangkok and it is even rarer - in fact i cant remember the last time it happened - that a taxi driver didnt take the most direct route

taxis are very cheap here and a price rise is long overdue

I have been visiting Bangkok since 1990, and back then they rarely used the meter. Many didn't have meters. But by the mid/late 90, they all started using their meters. In recent years, I've probably had 4 or 5 cabbies say they didn't want to use the meter, so I went on to a different taxi.

Even the few times I've been on Sukhumvit late at night, the driver used the meter.

Jealous Chonburi official shoots GF and German before cops shoot him dead Pattaya News Forum.

Jealous Thai man kills mia noi over relationship with foreigner and hangs himself Phuket News Forum.

Another love triangle murder coming to a place near you soon.

Re Chonburi:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/785099-german-man-thai-woman-shot-by-jealous-chonburi-official

But lets not forget this other recent police shooting episode out of Koh Samui:

Furious Samui Police Officer Shoots His Colleagues in Lamai

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/776033-furious-samui-police-officer-shoots-his-colleagues-in-lamai

Heard news on the radio report that Pol.Sgt. Matthew found out that Pol.Sgt. Wichit was having an affair with his gf.

A friend of mine was flirting and emailing a woman he knows is married to a mid-level police officer. I told him that he should put all thoughts out of his mind, but he just laughed it off.

The same exact thing happened to me when I was 10 in Chicago. A couple of minutes passed after I got out of the car and I was sitting behind it, looking for something in my backpack. When the car backed into me, I sprawled out to the side, so it just drove over my leg. Freaked me out pretty badly, and the driver, too. I limped for a few days, but I was fine.

I guess I have now left myself open to a bunch of "that's how you got to be that way" jokes.... Maybe the family could use me as proof for why they should be able to sue the driver of the van?

...Anyway, just sayin' it could happen anywhere.

Am I correct in thinking that this was just a 'Proposal', perhaps one of many?

Yes, this is just a proposal, it says so in the upper right of the diagram, เสนอตุ๊กตา

I can't wait to use these stickers to express how well I strive to embody the 12 values. I hope my frequency use of these brilliant stickers were have a positive influence on all my friends who need to live more virtuous lives.

It is Free. Thank you General Prayuth. You are so kind to the Thai people.

We all will vote for you forever and ever.

Yes! Vote for him again and re-elect him!

I can't wait to use these stickers to express how well I strive to embody the 12 values. I hope my frequency use of these brilliant stickers were have a positive influence on all my friends who need to live more virtuous lives.

They were not taking the locals into consideration at all. Thais spend a lot of time and money on transport, transport without a comon fair like many cities

Wealthy Thai people and companies who pay for their employee's commute can pay for it quite easily, so I think they took those locals into consideration. But they left out the less privileged. The folks who would benefit the most won't make the companies building and running the trains much money.

Affordable for those earning wages outside Thailand?

Taxis are cheap, but the cost to ride the MRT and BTS seems unfairly high relative to the wages earned by those who need to take the train the most.

Well I certainly feel much happier knowing taxi drivers don't discriminate.

You will not just stop complaining about the food, you will be forced to say how yummy it is.

Crowded area aside, are police ever allowed to shoot at someone running away?

Got to feel for the family. Seems the father is having a very difficult time accepting the deaths and the fact he may never get a conclusive answer is not going to help.

Though am confused by a few statements including how police couldn't identify them as their names were made publicly very soon after their deaths and before they got sent back to Canada. This like many stories has also had so much BS speculation posted too which certainly doesn't help him --- I actually recall reports that said they (Thai & Canadian) authorities determined the cause of death to be insecticide poisoning. Then there was also the reports of the foreigner who escorted them to the room that night --- did they ever have police in his home country question this guy?

I have read a few news stories about poisoning in Thailand having been intentional.

Some say it was too much insecticide sprayed in the rooms, and police at the time were suggesting that others consumed the insecticide intentionally as a recreational drug (first I ever heard about something like that), but others have suggested that the poisoning was likely intentional, and that it has been happening quite a bit. This is as of 3-4 years ago. I read about other murders around the same time in different places in Thailand that also involved insecticides, Thais and foreigners alike. I don't have time to dig up link, I encourage the studious TV readers to do that if interested.

Here is a story NPR did a few years back:

http://www.npr.org/2012/10/20/163303716/tourist-deaths-raise-poison-experts-suspicions