cooked

Increased to discourage alcoholism. If they really want to do that they would double the price, but that will never do. For the last two weeks I have been unable to find my Beer Chang Classic in BigC ot Makro (Buriram, not Koh Samui). This morning I got some difficult to understand excuse about 'waiting for the price rise'.

I really must get home brewing going.

dokmai nang dam) according to my wife, but she thinks that this may be the Isaan word for it. Ours isn't in bloom yet but the leaves and stem look the same. It is used in temple offerings.

I also started to watch the All blacks v SA rugby match yesterday, the Thai comentary over the English was bloody annoying, & after the first half i gave up.... I did check my TV was set to English, but that made no diffrence.

I also tried to pay my monthly bill @ there office in Lotus in Pattaya nua on my Thai bank debit card like I've done many times before, the girl i got ran my card through the machine 4 or 5 times & nothing would happen eventually she said better I pay cash, I said better for u not me, I walked out & didn't pay, bloody useless.

After coming home a little later I tried to register with there web site to pay that way, did first stage easy enough, but then they ask for your service number & top of the bill which i put in, tried it few times & just wouldn't work, so also gave up.

I've also been having problebls with the sound on the History channel cutting out for few seconds quite regularly

I had the same problem, doesn't bl**dy well work. Last time I complained about something (having to pay full whack after 12 days with no TV) I eventually got an 'I don't care' when I threatened to buy a satellite antenna.

Apart from that watching a snooker match commented on by Thais that obviously know nothing about the game can be frustrating also. 'Di', 'Mai di' and 'why he do that?' isn't what I expect. I can usually get most sports bilingually nut not always.

In relation to the airplane accident, some of you might be interested in the following news item: http://jansaviation.com/news.php?art=crash-landing-in-bangkok

Nothing about nose wheel failing.

Switzerland was never bothered when most of the world was fighting against the Axis tyranny.

Why should they care about Thailand's?

Another uninformed comment about Switzerland. At the beginning of WW2 the Swiss had outdated weaponry, 5 tanks, three of which were being repaired. You bet they cared about what was happening outside their frontiers, they were completely surrounded by fascists. The plan was to stand and die basically, most Swiss were convinced that this was what was going to happen.

Do some reading

Really. And so, in good old Swiss tradition they became bankers to the Nazis and Facists. Those nice SS customers made some fantastic deposits and very few withdrawls.

Neutrality guaranteed by the amount of crooks, gangsters, thugs, warlords, "world leaders" and other undesirables who are good banking business.

Wasn't there some token efforts made to find some of the real owners of pirated wealth?

I guess the Shins are good customers of the Swiss banking system.

Really uninformed. The Swiss banks were combed through for money floating around dating not only from the 2WW but otherwise, nearly all of it was allocated. No crooks, gangsters thugs or warlords profiting from the American banking system of course and sending the world into a downwards financial spiral? Swiss? = cuckoo clocks and bank secrets. The Swiss sell cuckoo clocks made, all of them, in Austria and China, because people like you expect to find them there. Same thing goes for the Swiss bank secrecy, seriously weakened since the 2WW. Any sensible 'black' investor would put his money into the state of Delaware, the GB channel Islands or the Caymans etc.

You never went there, did you?

Odd, I came here 4 years ago with $2500 and have never left. I have no rich family/friends, no assets back home, no investments to cash in (I lost everything to escape from my last divorce to a farang woman). However, I have never had to sleep on the street. Granted, I don't drink or do drugs (had enough in my younger days), I have never been conned or given a sob story (that I bought into)by a bar girl (but I know many bar girls). My wife I met here is NOT hi-so Chinese-Thai with a rich family and 2 MBA's. She is an Issan ex-factory worker and I am the only support for the family as she stays home and cares for our child. What did I do that kept me off the streets?

1. When I knew I was running out of money I got a job (and I wasn't picky, or arrogant, anything that pays the rent).

2. I didnt quit my job until I had a new one.

3. When my job ended unexpectedly I lived off what little I had saved, leaned back, and looked for another job,

4. I don't loan money I cannot afford to get back (and I NEVER loan to a farang anymore). Only time I was ripped off was by farangs.

5. I dont shop at Paragon or Emporium, I shop at Big C or the markets.

6. I don't spend 500 baht on a frang meal because the same amount would buy 10-15 Thai meals.

Now I don't live a rockstar lifestyle but i also dont live in misery. I am happy living within my means and have all my needs met. While I am just being honest and open, I am sure I will receive some type of critism, but my point is, most farang who bottom out here do so because of their own actions or stupidity. For ever case of asset theft or medical problems that spiraled out of control, there are 20 cases of blatent stupidity and arrogance; "Its the 3rd world, I am a European God, what could possibly go wrong???"

As it has been stated many times in this thread, most just don't listen. It is hard for me to feel sorry for them...

I started off on Thai Love Links. After a week or two I wrote something like 'big heart, small wallet'. That sorted things out I can tell you.

I read all the stories on Thaivisa and thought, 'well, I have just enough for a marriage visa, I don't have anything to lose'. My wife has her own house and I just add bits and pieces on as I see fit and able. If she threw me out tomorrow I wouldn't be any worse off than I was when I came here, 47 000 Baht a month and a lot more if I go back home.

She was (still is, a bit) a marriage broker, I get to hear stories all the time, and they aren't one sided 'evil Thais' or 'evil Farangs' stories although I have seen lovely naive village teenagers going to work in Bangkok and come back completely jaded and disillusioned due to their association with exploitative farangs.

I am maybe going off topic here by going into the causes of so many Farangs ending up with nothing, but I have met many people that seem to deserve what they get, I thought it was me that was lacking in common sense.

Switzerland was never bothered when most of the world was fighting against the Axis tyranny.

Why should they care about Thailand's?

Another uninformed comment about Switzerland. At the beginning of WW2 the Swiss had outdated weaponry, 5 tanks, three of which were being repaired. You bet they cared about what was happening outside their frontiers, they were completely surrounded by fascists. The plan was to stand and die basically, most Swiss were convinced that this was what was going to happen.

Do some reading

Oh, please! Try taking some of your own advice.

Other countries were in a similar position but they didn't choose to become the Nazi's bankers.

But they would have if they could have. Nobody else was completely surrounded and desperately trying to keep out of the war by all means. I don't need to do all that much reading as I lived there for 40 years. The UsA profited by entering late into bothWWs, Switzerland accepted more Jewish refugees per capita than any other country despite a grave lack of supplies.

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/dog-accessories-dog-ticks-c-628_821/beaphar-tick-away-p-8536 no good?

Switzerland was never bothered when most of the world was fighting against the Axis tyranny.

Why should they care about Thailand's?

Another uninformed comment about Switzerland. At the beginning of WW2 the Swiss had outdated weaponry, 5 tanks, three of which were being repaired. You bet they cared about what was happening outside their frontiers, they were completely surrounded by fascists. The plan was to stand and die basically, most Swiss were convinced that this was what was going to happen.

Do some reading

Maybe the fact that I usually use agricultural products has misled me. Anyway, I googled this product and found it quick enough.

Go to a hospital that suits you/fills you with confidence. Ask them which insurance they recommend. I use http://www.thaihealth.co.th/product_simply.php

Entry available up to the age of 65. I paid 10 000 this year, will be paying 15 000 a year until I am 70 from next year. Minimal coverage but as someone suggested above, useful for initial emergency care, I also have a local agent who will look after me. ALSO: saving 6 500.- a month, and am looking at repatriation insurance with the same company next year.

The contents should by law, be printed in English somewhere on the package. Then you can google it.

Before geotextiles became available we used to use heavy duty black polythene. I have never seen geotextiles in Thailand.

Catapult

In the villages around Buriram you still see guys with a tea towel on their heads and a bath towel around their hips. Not in the town however.

I didn't get my Thai license because of reductions at national parks and so on but I must have saved a few thousand Baht since I got one. Probably works best if you have a Thai wife with you.

You feel better if you can present a Thai license, so does the cop.

By the way I was spared the film, I have been driving for over 40 years ....

I bought the cheapest I could find as we plan to redo the bathroom entirely. No problem.

Cow sh** soup? (true) Bile soup? Blood soup? How about placenta? Tried it all, very good, but won't go there again. I refuse to eat little birds, frogs, strange snails and insects (although I have tried them all). Rats? Can be good, but only if they are prepared properly, some people just chop it all up, meaning all, and eat it. They actually like it.

I had a blind dog for a year or two, her quality of life was diminished but she bseemed happy as long as we were nearby.

Again and again: these guys will, in the end, let you down unless you are very rich. Self-insurance, a cheapo Thai insurance to get you through the first stages of an illness. A Farang getting ill after the age of 65 without a supporting Thai family is right up Sh** creek without a paddle. Pay many thousands over the years and find yourself uncovered/unable to pay further premiums. Seems so simple to me.

Sorry about your state of health mate.

I have seen 100 000 being counted out into a silver tray and then being given back to the bride who supplied it in the first place (!) in the evening. Both were Thais. Ridiculous but the older generation expect it and they can be pretty rigid about it, the mother-in-law wasn't aware of all this manoeuvring going on behind her back.

... however most tiles have 6 inches of reinforced concrete underneath them.

What? How long have you been supervising building sites? Waste of money for most jobs.

Maybe too much water, the little pictures on the back of the cement sack show you the correct quantities. For a normal job: 4 / stones, 2 / sand, 1 / cement. And a half of what ever measure you are using for the water. It needs tamping down and maybe protecting from the sun.

Most people (especially in Thailand) add water until it is like soup, the cement can only deal with a limited amount of water, the rest just rests in limbo inside the concrete.

Do a 1/3 mix of cement/sand rendering on top of your spalling concrete, should be ok.