seonai

Forgot to say that there are a lot of volunteering opps too in Thailand, you'l have to trawl thru them to find one that you don't have to pay for. I wouldn't trust the ones who ask you to come up with money in exchange for volunteering.

Derek, one of the cheapest ways to travel Thailand is to 'Homestay' I'm sure you can Google it. It's usually 100 baht or so a night and you can have the Mum of the house prepare you meals for about 150 baht a day. It's an interesting way to experience real Thai life. usually homestays are in a 'normal' Thai family home and you sleep in their house. Good luck at finding your roots

I use the same one as Sumrit

I just started taken the soluble ones with 1000mgs a day. Is that too much?

Thanks for the offer Beardog Sasha... cool

I feel slightly better as I have just called to discuss this cute portable O2 bag what do you think?

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h...K%257CcountryGB

I am luck VF and if it's not too big headed, like attracts like

I always suggest this but it's a bit pricy http://www.krabiresort.com/

I am very moved by all your replies, a huge thank you.

I am going to email my doctor now.

My resting sats are/were 92 Darrill.

I will go to ask at the pharmacy for Ensure, managing to eat small amounts now.

This is where I (sadly) have to agree with Naam. If I have read him correctly, he says that you do not rely on external stimuli for your intellect, but you provide it from within. Same as motivation: I can not motivate anyone but myself, but I might arrange for the right environment, for people to motivate themselves...

Of course, to learn and grow, you do need help from the outside, but the initiative must always come from within. Or is it just me again...?

And why, oh why, do we have to be so bad and shout to each other? Can we not just try to understand what others are saying, and perhaps learn something?

Disagree that you can 'only motivate yourself' ... my friends and I are always bouncing ideas and theories between each other about a massive range of subjects that motivate each other to make changes or think in new directions

I love Her Majesty because she has always sat in the background of everything the Royal Family has done but she has been supportive throughout

Naam you are so sweet

Hi Naam,

I hope I did not sound grumpy. I see what you mean absolutely...

Yes good point Howtoescape... it can happen in any country. All I was trying to say, and I realise this goes over the heads of a lot of TV members,

Is that there are a few Thai women and men that can have a decent conversation, lots in fact but it is hard for us to meet them

Alex why do you keep asking me?

I tried to explain before... It seems easy to me and some friends that I have dicussed this with. On a daily basis I don't find that my 'intellect' is stimulated in day to day Thai conversations but in Europe I can find at least one person a day to have a decent chat with and feel that my brain was working as opposed to merely answering the normal questions.

I am by no means saying that Thai people are less intelligent (I hope that is clear) but I feel through their educational system they have been exposed to less opportunity than some westerners to think and have opinions.

Don't get me wrong, I have met a few (small amount) of thai women in my life in Thailand who made an impression intellectually, if I am being honest two women over 16 years.

Hey I just asked a simple question, I was curious as to the answer... don't beat me up about it please

Yes get well soon your RH

Perhaps some of us are confusing intellect with intelligence. As was just mentioned, we may not go to the functions or places where intellectual Thais discuss ideas, in their own language. Hard working locals have little time for introspection, anywhere in the world. Mass media has dumbed down discourse, while providing alternate media such as educational TV and internet websites.

But I do believe that intellectual stimulation of the masses has been repressed in Thailand for centuries.

Good point PB and Sibeymai too. Naam, disagree completely with your ridiculous suggestion that if you are naturally intelligent you don't need stimulation

Hey GunnyD thanks for that and it's very sad that a lot of people will be caught up in that scene. It's not Thai or Western... anyone can get mixed up in that sort of thing. I pray (not religious) that all Thai women don't get involved in this and actually all women around the world

Yet another "crackdown" on something that can never be eradicated. A battle that year after year , can and has never been won.

Yet Governments around the world spend billions every year on crackdown after crackdown on a battle they know they can't win. Is it worth the money and effort??

Educate people about the dangers of drugs right through their schooling, and through the media, and then if they choose to ignore it , let them get on with it.

I am totally with you on education yaketyak, in school, the media etc etc etc but don't just shoot people

I said it before... there will be blood shed in Bangkok again, it's heading that way

Thanks Xsplat

Gosh what a bore this thread has become... I merely meant to ask if people felt in the same way stimulated on a day to day basis in Thailand as they might do in their own home/chosen home towns. I totally understand all of you who say that we need to make our own intellectual stimulation by reading or going to the library or on the Internet ... no question there. But in England, on a day to day basis I am much more stimulated than I ever will be in Thailand. I put it down to the education system for the masses. The Thais are, in the majority reluctant (because of conditioning at school/uni) to have opinions about anything greater than themselves. I love Thai people with all my heart but I find myself struggling to be me in this world of Thailand. In England, I may meet a lot of bored women on a day to day basis if I choose to frequent places they might hang out but if I go to Internet Cafes or other spots I just sit with a tea and meet all sorts of really interesting people. In thailand, because of the rote learning system, the people (who are lovely) have been taught not to ask questions and not to have opinions so the intellectual stimulation of the conversation is limited...

I'd take her to the Thai Temple as Camerata suggested

Interesting link to an Indian website re PMS and papaya

http://www.indiwo.com/india/features/menst...-periods/4823/0

Although ECPs are available in many countries, women in India and Sri Lanka have another solution. They have been using the papaya fruit as a form of postcoital contraceptive for centuries. Researchers found that the enzyme papain in the papaya interacts with progesterone so that eating one papaya a day for a week will bring on menstruation with no side-effects.

http://www.scpronet.com/point/9607/p07.html

Isn't it written somewhere that exessive amounts of papaya is good for female hormones and even acts as birth control too ?