cooked

 

 

Both not true:

McDonalds

Pizza

Bread

KFC

all the Chinese and Japanese Food

every saw the milk products and sausage in the supermarket

They sell these lot of spaghetti and chocolade not only to Farangs

 

So a lot foreign food in Thailand. Just they don't celebrate it as foreign food, they often include it into their food.

 

And in the USA you have no other choice than to eat foreign food. I am not aware of any US food. Even the Burgers were known in Europe before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Many of the originals of what's now been massively modified and sold as Mexican or Texan food.

 

 

It just came into my mind that chili isn't native in Thailand, it is South American (true???) which technically would make all food with lots of chili not really Thai food. Or just recently developed Thai food.
 

 

Pappaya is from South America also. Try that on one of your Thai friends.

Valid for one year I believe (although I have seen three months and six months quoted). I believe that some insurances become invalid (could become invalid) if you don't have a Thai driving license. Get a Thai license, this was one of the funniest time wasting mornings I had in Thailand.

The Thai language has no way near the vocabulary as- for example - English or Spanish. The OP mentions tones and that is where farangs always trip up. Thai's will make allowances for our lack of melodic tones. From an English perspective try and understand what your local Indian in a corner shop or driving a taxi is saying. We make allowances without even thinking about it, so do the Thai's.

Nice comment, I remember trying to buy butter from an Indian in south UK many years ago. After a few tries he corrected my pronunciation. (I'm from the North).

The whole 'sleeping gas' train thing is such an urban myth. There's never been one proper shred of evidence over it happening. I'm pretty sure all anesthetic gases are heavier than air, so you'd need way more than "one small canister" to do the trick, you'd need a hell of a lot of gas to successfully flood a carriage- especially as carriages aren't totally sealed off from the outside either- and yet nobody smells anything, despite the massive volume of gas there's no toxicity and death... 

If these robbers have managed to do it then it's a huge leap forward for both chemical warfare and anaesthetists everywhere, and they should probably be found and congratulated for their scientific breakthrough.

Happened to a relative 40 years ago in Italy. They were robbed.
 

This was happening in Italy 40 year ago.

 

you have about ten times the income of the saleslady. You can afford it. Live with it (up to a point of course). You haven't been in Thailand very long, have you?

And neither have you by the sounds... allowing oneself to be ripped off because one may earn more, classic newbie error which has the vendor laughing behind your back at the senselessness. Give it a couple/three years, you'll come around, maybe.

 

I don't get ripped off, I rarely pay Farang price, thank you for you good and charitable advice. Let's start again: In Switzerland, only locals like me had access to worthwhile travel reductions, museum passes, and a load of other things. I won't be falling into poverty if I occasionally let myself be over charged by a hundred Baht or so. If you are, maybe you shouldn't be here.

I do however shop at Makro because it is generally cheaper than the local market, no longer go to Homepro as I know where to buy stuff cheaper...  but begrudging a vendor a few Baht and getting indignant about being ripped off is ridiculous and petty.
 

I am the world's expert on weeding by hand.

This is the only way to do it, I cut back two tines of a short digging fork. I see people ****ing about with kitchen knives and the like, you'll never get the roots out that way. The grasses that you describe are difficult to get rid of, leaving just a small portion of the root will result in a new plant. You need to pull gently, pushing the fork backwards and forwards whilst doing so. Irrigation beforehand is essential.

I just went through my 'Portulac lawn' getting rid of this stuff.

 

you have about ten times the income of the saleslady. You can afford it. Live with it (up to a point of course). You haven't been in Thailand very long, have you?

So by your logic a Laotian or Cambodian should pay even less than the "Thai" price, right?

Sent from my GT-I9300T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

 

trolling again?

Firstly, I bought a packet of cat grass back in Farang land, it turned out to be oats.

Secondly, this is traditionally something that grows in colder climes. I tried barley when I came here, it sprouted ok and that was it, nothing happened.

Johnson gives a very unusual definition for the word oats: 'a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.'

I had some in my garden in Switzerland, more to keep the weeds down than anything else. I couldn't do anything to make the seeds palatable.

The small restaurant next door to us trundles all its rubbish down behind the trees, fortunately not adjacent to us. The rats love it and our dogs always find a way of bringing stuff home. We are looking forward to the annual 'burning' (smoulder more like it) ceremony, meaning I breathe the equivalent of quite a few cigarettes in one day I imagine.

Prayuth said something about Phuket being a test for what he intended to extend to the rest of Thailand. He repeatedly says please have patience.

Phuket is, as far as I understand it as an occasional visitor, a tougher nut to crack than Pattaya.

Just dodge out of the queue if you have to, book or buy a ticket to KL in the airport, and come back puffing and panting 30 minutes later. I think it is very unlikely that you will be refused permission to board.

It's illegal . On thread http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/735670-thai-highway-code-in-english/

You get a link to a translation of the Land Traffic act BE 2522, http://thailaws.com/law/t_laws/tlaw0140_5.pdf Skip the article about bullock carts and go to article 43.

I just watched 4 minutes on Project free TV. YUCK, gag, bemoan the state of the human race. Boring trash with a large smear of make up all over it.

 

Loudspeakers blaring out at high volume announcements by local authorities, interspersed with music, is a major source of irritation for farangs living in Isaan villages. It starts way before 8 AM.  Living in an area like that, my number 1 requirement about a house would be that it must be beyond shouting distance of these things. 

 

Yep, usually starts about 6 AM out in the country. Glad I have none around my neighborhood here in Rawai. When are you leaving EB? 

 

I contest that.  On Buddha days here it starts at 05.00. We had a quiet, financial, word with the monks and it is now at a reasonable level. We get up at 05.30 anyway, chickens and dogs to be fed.....

They do communicate important stuff sometimes, every rice farmer in the village got a free sack of fertiliser recently, mysterious handouts occur occasionally, warnings about mosquito spraying about to be carried out, buffaloes being stolen and so on...

Anyway, if there are cables running up the pole, banging a pin in between the wires so that they are short circuited will effectively sabotage the loudspeakers, difficult to find also. I  never tried this but an army guy told me about it. The Thais don't necessarily like the noise either but they react differently from Europeans

Isn't there also the question of front wheel / rear wheel drive? I did a course on a skid pan many years ago and I seem vaguely remember this being talked about. No ABS then, we pushed the brake pedal down as many times and as quickly as we could, worked too up to a point. I had a few skids in Switzerland in winter, one time when changing down gear on the 'toboggan' stretch of motorway. It just needs experience and alertness to get used to. My last truck had front wheel drive + ABS and in five years I never had one single skid, the ABS set in three times during emergency braking.

My wife was a matchmaker, the money was quite good. However the number of times unpleasant things happened eventually stopped her. We still get stopped at least once a week by 'ladies' who want a Farang (meaning money). They always eye me up. So many stories. Scottish guy comes knocking at the door late with no where to stay, the Thai husband had returned unexpectedly. Many with a Thai husband in the background. Most know all the best hotels in Pattaya, Phuket and all the islands as well as their home town. My wife tried proposing that they learn English from me first and then she would try. This means at least two months of study and they aren't ready to do that. She no longer wishes to chat with Farangs on Thai love links pretending to be the girl in question.

A friend once observed a Chinese lady accompanied by a gaggle of 'ladies' waiting for a herd of Germans at the local airport. She collected what she though must have been ฿20 000.- from each non-Thai speaking German, got them into taxis and disappeared. You really need to have a heart of ice to do stuff like that, you are flirting with illegality and are basically telling lies (withholding the truth).

I could also tell the stories about these ladies only having the vaguest idea concerning STDs, my wife was expected to take them to the clinic when they came back from their holidays in Pattaya.

Keep away is my advice.

May one ask what is specialabout these, apart from the colour?

This is a bit like the ever repeating thread topic about cost of living. Everybody is in a different situation , has different needs and aspirations.

Our bright 8 years old granddaughter goes to a private school in Buriram, involving a 100Km drive every day for me. There are a few things I don't like there but in comparison to a state school it is infinitely preferable. In parallel, we only speak English with her, she understands a lot of our conversations now after one year with us. I also try to find games for her that don't just involve colouring in drawings. On top of that she twirls a mean drum stick and I let her make bread last week (don't ask if it was eatable). So home schooling to some extent and we have another person in the family that takes interest in her schooling.

At the age of 11 and/or at the age of 15 or 16 we will ponder on whether we can integrate her into a year's schooling in the UK or Switzerland. She would of course have to restart her Thai education from the point where she left off.

By the way I try to avoid the English teacher in the village as I can't understand a thing he says, nor he me.

Just use Google maps, it has a sat navigation feature now

Google maps is pretty good for me, however now and again I get 'turn sharp left' while the map shows I should drive straight on and there is (luckily) no possibility of turning left at all. I also occasionally get 'slight left'when what is meant is get in lane to prepare for a U-turn, and my biggest complaint is  'take the ramp'. This can mean anything from leave the express way to take the express way to nothing at all. 'Continue straight' is a funny one as I have strived all my life to be straight.

Anyway, once you get to be acquainted with these little quirks you can go all over Thailand in my experience. The advantage is that you can look for a place on Google maps on your computer, mark it as a favourite and then navigate to it later. The favourite may be in Thai, so you go to Google bookmarks and change the name to 'Fred's' or whatever.

I am on my 2nd yr of Non-O. We had a visit after my first application and had to pay some tea money. I hope this does not mean they will be coming every year expecting tea money everytime, they can go and fornicate with themselves if they think they will get it.
 

 
if everything was in order, why did you have to pay?

If they have any doubts about the genuineness of your marriage (I, for instance, said 'nothing', which is the truth, when they asked me how much I give my wife a month)  they may well come and visit. They get bored sometimes. We were asked for a petrol money donation and cooked food.

 

I have been looking all evening for the law pertaining to the carrying of ID at all times. I doubt that it specifically mentions that Farangs should carry their passports at all times (even if it doesn't, it's up to Immigration to decide what qualifies as an ID. Any ideas, please?

I haven't found anything else except what I mentioned earlier, that it might be a part of the National Identity Card Act, of which I've been unable to find the actual text of. That would very likely affect Thais and foreigners alike.

 

A guy on the Buriram expats forum tells us that

http://www.immigration.go.th/nov2004/doc/act_imm_2522.html

contains the relevant articles, in Thai only. According to Starman, the following is a quote:

The Immigration Act states that all "aliens" must carry a passport. The reason for this is that visa/extension of stay status cannot be checked on any ID other than a passport.

The Identity Card Act states that all persons must carry a photo-ID (including Thais).

http://www.buriramexpats.com/forum/index.php?topic=7872.msg49881;topicseen#new
 

Same as you sir, extra virgin olive oil. I like my oil like I like my women, olive skinned, virgins and covered in oil. Sadly Thailand is devoid of virgins.

Wasn't rapeseed a few years ago the answer to everything with easy production, minimal environmental impact and omega 3.

Back in NZ I used to pay a bit more and buy rice bran oil......this is Thailand, so why isn't there rice bran oil available?

As to the gist of the OP, I fully endorse boycotting palm oil and products that use palm oil.

At the very least, if you do not care about the forests or wildlife, do you care about the smoke from the burning off drifting over to Thailand?

Boycott palm oil!