Som Nam Na

Is the second icon not for your Local Area Connection

I have been trying to get rid of that icon for a month

right click on the icon and select disable. (if you don't use a network).

If it keeps comming back after you reboot go to.....

start>>settings>>control panel>>system

Click the hardware tab then select device manager.

Find your lan card in the list and open the properties.

Select do not use this device (disable).

Cool game.

I got 73 on my 3rd go but then couldn't seem to do better than 65 after that (gave up after 15)!

I've got bored with the stock replies to "what is your name, where do you come from".......now I reply

Cheu pom kii neow, krap. Pbrateet pom, pen din gub mai me dtang.

If they are prepared to talk to me after this (about 20%) then they are probably worth talking to and don't cost me a lot .

doesn't work very well with baqr girls though

Give em my telephone number.

They'll be speaking English in no time but I bet it's not the English you want them to learn. Hehe.

On a more serious note.

1. Agree with find the ringleader...isolate and intimidate, don't try to be his/her friend. Teenagers are pack animals. You want to be the Alpha Male/Female in the classroom!!!

2. In all probablility the ringleader is the one that turns up the latest which is his/her way of saying "i can do what I want" to the others and exhibiting her power over you to the others.

Start the class when you have an odd number of people (You make up the even numbers). Make those that turn up late wait until you have finished that particular excercise with those that came earlier before they can participate. If you've got the courage, make them go and sit at YOUR desk away from the others so they cannot participate. Then when you have finished the excercise you can tell them to be seated in thier proper place. WARNING......That is punishment enough, don't let that detract from giving them attention after.

3. Similar vein to 2. Why not have a lesson (or series of lessons) where you talk about excuses for being late and they are expected to give you a new excuse every time they are late (why they were late, what they will do next time to make sure they were not etc.) Start off by giving them the bolt standard ones like my dog ate my motorcycle (or whatever....3 or 4 will make sure they do not see the fait accomplis in 5 lessons time)

4. Topics to do with mobile phones and money are always a winner. Get 1/2 to be retailers of mobiles, the other to be customers. Get them to get the best price for their mobile if they were to try and sell it. (Make sure they know they don't have to hand it over!!!)

Ditto with gold chains and bracelets (they can all identify with gold...its in their programming).

5. Introverts are much harder. Thai teachers ignore them because they are too difficult. In all probablility she /he is far more advanced than the others and does not want to show the rest of the class up.

When doing a group activity (as mentioned above) walk amongst them, and take over the roll as seller or buyer for a few groups. Make sure the introvert is the last one so you can spend more time 1 on 1.

This method is also good for the ringleader as well as you have already isolated them and you can start the intimidation.

Sound like you've got your work cut-out as you have the entire spectrum of difficult personality types in just 4 pupils.

When pootling home after a good night out I make a concerted effort to try and run them over. If they don't move I slowly decelerate and get as close as possible and try to mount thier nose with my front wheel. After a couple of these encounters, they now hear my bike and and run like buggery.

TRYING to put the thread back on track (difficult I know) but I'm actually agnostic.

I don't give a flying <deleted> at a rolling doughnut for any religion but i respect other peoples right to believe in whatever hogwash they like. (After all a lot of the Thai economy is based on farang idiots who believe they will find the perfect partner in a Thailand brothel).

I remember similar arguements about a film called the "Life Of Brian"......this dude Brian (AKA Jesus) and how he really didn't want to be the son of God, just a load of idiots thought he should be!......sums all religions up really.

But the long winded point is, if it annoys enough people....don't do it. So the guy probably thought he was being funny/sarcastic/cynical but he's retracted and apologised so what more can he do?

Putting ice in my Chang even when I've said "Mai sai nam keng, krap" 20 times and not had ice in my glass on the previous drinks.

Inviting a sexy babe out for a night on the town (which she says yes to) only to be greeted by her and 20 of her mates who get shirty when I say "Nah. Pom ja bpai kon diow"

Pattaya is an overrated slimy dump masquerading as a beach resort...The balconies of the hotels there are just asking to be jumped from...

Or pushed from

Don't buy...rent.

Property here is not the investment it is in the UK. You will have a hard time recouping your money once your travelling has finished and renting it will take you 30 years to break even.

Keep your money in the UK (ALL OF IT) and use a switch/ATM card to withdraw. You also don't get interest in an account here as you are a farang.

why not have special nights for students so they can come in with thier whiskey and buy one bottle of soda between 10 of 'em (normally lasts them about 5 hours). You will save lots of money on accountancy and paper bills.

The girlfriend leaving the screen doors open when she goes outside and then when I complain about the mosquitos replying..."but they don't bite me!".

I was watching a new bar being built the other day (sipping my Chang in one opposite). I nearly fell off my chair a few times with the things Bodgit, Uncle and Sons got up to.

e.g

Step 1. Paint the front.

Step 2. Weld supports to the already painted front for a canopy.

Step 3. Mix some more paint.

Step 4. Repaint where the black welding marks have spoiled the colour.

Step 5. Repaint the the entire front cos the colour we mixed isn't the same.

Step 6. Re-weld one of the supports cos it fell off when we tried to raise the canopy.

Step 7. Mix some more paint.

Step 8. Paint the entire front cos we know its not going to be the same as we mixed.

Hours of fun for all the family.

Just remember that if she signs the documents....she can kick you out and move another farang in!

Usually once a price has been agreed (most) Thais will not go back on it.

Many places to hire a car. Ranges from THB 1000 to THB 2000 per day.

Sitting down at a table with some cuties with a bottle of whiskey then being joined by 5 of their male "friends" who get shirty when you say they can't have any of your whiskey!

she'd wear shades, surely? Come to think of it, not many of them do,

Because they don't have a nose bridge and they just fall off. Saying that though.....seen some Thai idiots in nightclubs with them on.

Going to the toilet in a Thai nightclub and being pounced upon by a dude insitant on doing his best to make me piss on my shoes.

Whenever I speak to a Thai person that I don't know I always open with "do you speak English" (Pood passa angrit dai mai, krap). then regardless of whether they can or cannot say "never mind. I can speak Thai" (mai bpen rai. Pom pood Thai dai).

Generally speaking, my tone is terrible, my pronunciation is pittiful and my grammer is grotesque. But this opening is fairly unambiguous and seems to switch them into listening mode.

MS's number 3

3. Weird constructions/word order on part of the speaker:

is my worst trait because I am always trying to increase my vocabulary with words I find in my dictionary......BUT.......

even in this insurmountable environment people do seem to understand once they've turned thier ears on.

I was given Tiw (pronounced teeeuuuw). Has something to do with being in a picture.

Why should teachers get stuck with bar girls when they have all those students to prey on eh?

My most valuable possession is an Thai-English, English Thai dictionary By Benjawan Poomsan Becker.

The purists out there will say that you should learn to read Thai at the same time as speaking since Thai is a phonetic language........didn't work for me.....brain to small to cope.

The dictionary translates English->transliteration->Thai and vice versa. This means that I could get used to pronouncing the word (I'm the type that learns best from example) instead of just pointing to the Thai translation and trying to pick up the nuances of the Thai pronunciation.

It also has a transliteration->Thai->English section that meant I could hear a phrase in conversation and come home and look it up.

It also has (I think) the best transliteration for tones, vowels and consonant sounds that I have come accross. I could read a word from the dictionary and they actually understood me!!!!.

Your example of ????????? is described as "sat-dta-wa-peet" where (my keyboard does not support the font) "sat" is pronounced with a low tone (a sounds like the a in Alaska), "dt" is half way between a "d" and a "t" (both unvoiced and unaspirated), wa with a mid tone (a as in Alaska again) and "peet" with a falling tone (ee is like the a in "sad").

Just asked the woman down the shop where one is and she told me correctly so must be close.

As a footnote: It also has multiple usages. For example the word rack is not directly translatable so it has

RACK

chan(shelf)

raao(for hanging things on)

kroong(framework)

I've been bald since I was 20yrs old.

I don't have to pay any more for bar-girls than people with hair......so no problem!

Just think of the extra beer you can buy instead of giving your hard earnt cash it to a barber.

all Thais have PRIDE.

Indeed....but no loyalty!

Somebody with a modicum of sense......how refreshing.

If she is a gogo-girl, then usually they have six monthly checkups anyway if they are from one of the tourist places. Just ask to see the results of the last one.....you will understand cos theyall use English mnemonics like HIV HEPB etc.)

If she is not you can get it done at any hospital (I think last time it cost me about 2000 THB for blood and swab tests and it took 3 days to get the results).

Don't stand on ceremony. They very rarely get offended (unless they already know they have something). Normally they are quite happy to prove to you (or more importantly, themselves) that they are clean! But do it together, there is very little excuse they can proffer if you also get tested to "prove to her" that you are clean also.

My last one asked me why we needed to be tested and I replied........

"To make sure our babies don't look like your sister!"

I don't understand either!

I met my bf 4 months ago and so far he has been very honest with me, he even told me that he used to "have a serious relationship with a hooker for a year"............It seemed to me that he was so PROUD OF HER!!!

Of course he was proud of her. She was earning him good money.

I have met many men with g/f (even wives) that are hookers. They sit on thier arse with their mates drinking all night while she earns the bread from the stupid farang.