Beachbunny

Burritos was very dry as well. There is hardly any seasoning at all. I expected to have ground beef in it, but it didn't turn out that way....

I will never visit that place again...

Ground beef in a burrito??? surely you jest.

I'm from San Diego and I've never seen such pathetic looking salsas in Mexican owned & operated restaurants in San Diego, or in Mexico. Most salsas you should

be able to tell what the ingredients are......and if those were supposed to hot sauces, they shouldn't be thick like ketchup.

You shouldn't be getting communal bowls of salsa either. .....disgusting. You should be getting your own smaller servings of each salsa for your own use....the way

Mike's does it Pattaya. That's not saying that Mike's is great Mexican food either....but it's OK.......and my friends that like Margaritas say his are the best.

Beachbunny

I used to feed my cat Whiskas canned cat food, but the price kept going up and the quality wasn't that good and lots of gelatin.

Then I tried Big C and Tesco Lotus brands.....basically the same except for the label...........surprisingly they are much better quality and her

favorite is the sardine and chicken which has lots of fish and chicken in it. She loves it and her fur is super soft. The vet that comes to treat our

dogs says she is really healthy and her vet says the same.

So sometimes the house brands are worth a shot.

beachbunny

check this site.....scroll down for blurb and pictures of condensed and evaporated milk distributed by F&N in Thailand.

http://www.fn.com.my/dairies.aspx I see a couple of these carnation evap milk products in Lotus most of the time.

There is one cheapy brand of sweetened condensed milk that has a pretty high milk content....higher than the more expensive brands, but I can't

remember if it's a store brand or if it was orchid. I always check labels before buying.

good luck

Beachbunny

Actually, because sidecars have three wheels and are illegal, they never get in accidents, and they jump three meters into the air, sprout wings, and fly away. However, Thai law requires all occupants to wear three point shoulder harness at all times.

huh???three wheels on a sidecar??? Ours has one regular sized wheel....

ha ha ha.. Female perhaps ??

So the side car has a wheel.. And the bike has how many wheels ??

How many fingers are you now holding up ??

hey dipstick....he said three wheels on the sidecar.......sidecar is NOT a motorcycle no matter what sex you are... if you are any.

Any idea where to get a good Beijing Duck in Bangkok?

I'm still trying to find out the name of the restaurant in BKK that has excellent Peking Duck. Let you know as soon as I hear

from my contact.

Beachbunny

There is also a black jasmine rice.....it's not the black sticky rice. Also a red jasmine rice.

Beachbunny

Sir Burr's vitamin E recommendation is good. Jojoba is another one as it is very similar to our own skin oil. It's really a wax, but in liquid form at room temp.

Here you can check out all several different blends for making your own balms/butters for both you and baby.

Make your own cosmetics If you aren't in Bangkok or other big city

some of the ingredients might be hard to find.

The one that has the most common ingredients is this one. My first belly butter The only ingredient that i've been trying to find for other things is borax, it's a thickener....different than boric acid.

Beachbunny

SCB you don't need an account. This would get you by until you get here and set one up at whatever bank.

SCB money transfer

With SCB we've never waited longer than 24 hours for a transfer and it's usually there overnight.

Beachbunny

Prospero has given you some good advice!

Mike's is a regular stop for me every couple of weeks, when I feel the need for a "Mexican food fix".

I lived in So Cal for most of the last 30 years before moving here. Mike's, IMO, rivals any of the good Mexican restaurants there; and, by the way, that includes his Margaritas, which are excellent.

I have had better in So Cal, mind you. But Mike's would definitely rate as above average there. Good sauce, quality ingredients, and great quantity. The 'quesadilla supreme' he serves is really more like a burrito than a quesadilla, in that it is "burrito shaped". You can't pick up a triangle-shaped piece of it, as is the case with quesadillas served in So Cal. But it is HUGE, and it is delicious!

I'll be most interested to see the opinions of others, when you try Mike's. Especially you, Jingthing, since I haven't tried any of the others; and, if you like Mike's, I won't bother to! :-)

Since I'm happy with Mike's, my only regret is that there is no Mexican food place over here on the Darkside. We've got nearly everything over here now, with the exceptions of Mexican and Japanese restaurants.

Well, patsfangr, since I am one of your "let's go eat at Mike's buddies", I'll say it's not bad, but the little shop down the hill from my house in San Diego was way better.....So for a decent Mexican fix here it's better than average.........but doesn't compare to San Diego. IMO.

Beachbunny

Where are you BB? We've been showing tax returns for about 15 years.

Sattahip......Pattaya Immigration....but he retired here after 30 plus years in the states.

No, the husband is making the request for his wife to have her visa extended. He must show he is paying income tax, not sure what the amount is tho.

strange, my husband has never ever been asked about paying any taxes, or to show any papers proving anything. Maybe he looks too old or something.

Beachbunny

Actually, because sidecars have three wheels and are illegal, they never get in accidents, and they jump three meters into the air, sprout wings, and fly away. However, Thai law requires all occupants to wear three point shoulder harness at all times.

huh???three wheels on a sidecar??? Ours has one regular sized wheel.... Harley Road King with a sidecar........sidecar came with safety belt. Not required in U.S., but our sidecar was custom made for using over here. Don't know about here, but states you don't have to wear a helmet in the sidecar. However, no way am I getting on a motorcycle or in a sidecar without one.

I've seen quite a few real side cars around the eastern seaboard......besides the regular scooters jicky jacked with a so-called side car...

That aside, when we ordered the sidecar we thought we would be safer, mainly because my husband is not a big man and a road king is huge..........but, even though we are almost as big as a small car it seems people here think they can treat you like a scooter. I don't know how many times we've either almost been run over or run off the road because someone will pass us with oncoming traffic and we have no place to go. In 2 km from our house to Khao Chee Chan it happened three times. Fortunately the bike has a really loud horn...

Beachbunny

The new thai drivers licenses are in thai AND english. You don't have to wait for renewal time

to get yours changed to one of the new ones.

Also see..........Drive in the U.S. on foreign DL

U.S. gov site only recommends IDP IF your dl does not have english. the new dl in thailand do. USAGOV

Also, if you are from the U.S. and your dl has expired, easy to get it renewed.

Beachbunny

I would think it's not more than SPF15 IF that.....If it doesn't give specifics, I wouldn't depend on it as a sunscreen if I were going to spend any amount of time

in the sun.....as I mentioned one of the ingredients is photo degradeable.....if you are not going to be out in the sun, but just popping in and

out you're probably OK. It's better than nothing.

My Olay SPF 15 moisturizer for sensitive skin, on the other hand, uses zinc oxide, which is a good sunscreen, but it doesn't say it's for

both UVA & UVB, so there again you come up short. Nivea does have a Total UV milk body lotion..........not sure if they have a face moisturizer....

I've been trying Nivea again and have this lotion. The thing about Nivea for me, is that after I use it I still feel dry. This time of year I like

a heavier cream. I really like Scacare treatment cream with C&E evening primrose oil and aloe vera. I use it on my face and hands at night,

very good for your skin, but if using for daytime moisturizer, unfortunately no sunscreen.

I think Vaseline now has lotions with both UVA/UVB protection. If I remember from my trip home this summer, some of them even have a tint in

them.

Whatever you end up using don't forget your neck and the back of your hands. I get a headache from the sun, so I usually use a wide brimmed hat or

umbrella and try to stay out of the sun the hottest part of the day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Beachbunny

This is not the one I was thinking of, but I've been to this one and it's very good.

Royal Kitchen

Beachbunny

China Town

We used to go with friends to a really good place, nice restaurant.....mostly thai and chinese people go there. Excellent food. Have to ask my friend the location though.

Beachbunny

Rice Bran oil in Thailand used to be cheap, now it is way expensive. More than tripled in price.

I haven`t seen it yet....But people told me if your australian it`ll be boring...so i dont want to watch it

Maybe thats why you found it boring skippy......or is it just a shit movie in general??

Yeh, maybe made for an american audience with another Crocodile Dundee character ! I mean, when i go to the US these days, they all think we wrestle crocodiles on a daily basis . In fact, i think its a Crocodile Dundee repackaged.

It was just tooooo long, and, well - boaring. And the "mystical" way grandpa and kid Aborigine could communicate, was amazing. ( Put a bottle of grog in their hands, would look more realistic )

Best part of the picture was when they shot the Kangaroo ( ok, i am gonna get flamed for this comment )

funny....my ozzie friend just said she heard it didn't go over to well in the states because they didn't get the underlying ozzie humor. guess maybe you didn't get it either.

Benjawan Poomsan Becker--- Paiboon Publishing

All of her stuff is available in Siam Paragon Bookstore. The best that I have come across so far. And she insists that you learn to read and write if you go beyond beginner level.

Rosetta is good in that you can slow down the spoken word. Try Pantip Computer Supermarket.

I am able to speak enough to get most stuff done but cannot understand one single word spoken to me. Therefore I am concentrating on reading and writing for the time being.

After looking for 20 years for books to learn thai, I found Poomsan Becker's books at Chula bookstore. (by the way I'd think they would be way less expensive there than at Paragon)

Anyway, on that trip to Thailand I learned the alphabet very quickly. If you are good at self study this is a good way to go. They now have cds with the books too instead of the old audio tapes. Learn to speak, read, and write at the same time. I'd say being able to read thai helped greatly to contribute to the words I know and understand.....and I am a lazy learner.

Becker also has a CD I just asked a friend to pick up for me.......Improving your Thai pronunciation.

Beachbunny

Just because it says whitening doesn't necessarily mean it has any bleaching agents in it. I think using the term whitening is kind of a misnomer since it is more of a exfoliation with sunscreen benefits.

I asked a Thai friend about all the whitening lotions when I first moved here and she basically said it was sun protection. She was educated in the West, so I'm sure she understood me.

I've used a few that say whitening and of the ones I've used all they have in them are mild sunscreens. The one I have now is Citra extra nourishing uv white lotion. It doesn't give an spf rating as one of the ingredients is photoreactive making the degradation unpredictable. I used to make soap and toiletries in the states, and I had to list not only the common name but the INCI list name, so I'm always looking at ingredients.

Visit My Website even if those ingredients has sunscreen benefits such as titanium dioxide, you couldn't make that claim because it was unmeasurable.

This is the list of ingredients on my Citra whitening lotion.

Ethylhexyl p-methoxycinnamate: 1.25% sunscreen

Butylmethoxydibenzoyhmethane: .40% sunscreen

Vitamin b3 1.00%

shea butter .10% (very good for your skin)

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ethylhexyl p-methoxycinnamate: sunscreen (for most important UV rays the ones that go deep.)

2-Ethylhexyl p-methoxycinnamate, 1, is a known sunscreen agent which absorbs ultraviolet radiation in the UV-B range.

(I read thai, but don't always understand what I'm reading so I asked my husband if there were any other ingredients, and he said no.)

THE INVENTION

It has now been found that heating, preferably distilling, 2-ethylhexyl p-methoxycinnamate in the presence of a phenol can be used as a reliable procedure to insure that the product manufactured will not test Ames positive.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Ethylhexyl p-methoxycinnamate

Title:

Light-stable cosmetic formulation containing butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane

Document Type and Number:

United States Patent 6436374

Butylmethoxydibenzoyhmethane: sunscreen

Butylmethoxydibenzoyhmethane

Abstract:

A cosmetic preparation having butylmethoxydibenzoyhmethane as a protection filter and insoluble inorganic particles which are titanium dioxide particles doped with cerium or iron ions which absorb in the UVA region and are added to improve the photostability of the cosmetic preparation.

http://www.thaipr.net/nc/readnews.aspx?new...G1hbmFnZW1lbnQ=

http://asiams.net/Skin/Lighten/lighten.html

There is a wide range of lightening (a.k.a. whitening products) products in the U.S. but most of these domestic whiteners contain hydroquinone, a possible carcinogen as noted by the FDA.

Hydroquinone is banned for cosmetics usage in Asia, so the products marketed in Asia use plant based kojic acid(fruit or plant acids) instead.

http://www.skin-whitening-product.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_whitening.

From my searches looks like the so called whitening creams in asia are safer than in the states. However, you're free to dispute that.

Beachbunny

The nurse at BUPA office Pattaya recommended Phayathai hospital in Siracha to us. We liked it

very much. It's not like a luxury hotel, but a regular hospital and doesn't overcharge foreigners.

When we were there they were also in the process of remodeling. The only thing I don't like about

going there is the traffic and distance.

My friend had a plastic surgeon consult for 100baht.

Normally we use Queen Sirikit for everyday illnesses...and they offer most testing for health checkups.

I've heard some good reports from friends about Bangkok Rayong Hospital. They have specialist that come

in from Bangkok on certain days. Prices are way better than Pattaya too.

Beachbunny

Many thanks for the helpful replies.

I am the owner of a spa and I usually use the Thai herbal hair care products we sell. I did add in a deep henna treatment (which I brought from a local health food shop) for a while but have stopped using that about 6-8 weeks ago. I have tried a kaffir lime shampoo and a bergamot hair tonic for the last 2 weeks. I ask our staff to give me a scalp massage and apply the tonic. They say there isn't any bald patches and I'm losing hair from all over and not to worry it's the cold weather!

The dogs - I only mentioned them as a comparison for the amount of hair I am losing - they are not shedding more than nornal but our floors are covered in long red hair from me. There's no mange and I don't have an itchy scalp.

Funnily enough our neighbours do collect recycling - plastic and glass bottles - no idea where to source a geiger counter.

To answer Sherly's questions.

I'm 43, never been pregnant, medication - an antihistamine Dormirax 50 - to help insomnia and occassional pain killers usually Nurophen for back pain. I have insomnia badly and for more than the last 5 years so nothing new there. I have recently recovered from Dengue fever - otherwise healthy. I go to yoga 4 times a week and get massaged regularly. I do get stressed easily and have found the pressures of adapting to life as a buiness owner difficult but we've been open for over 4 years now so there's nothing really new here. I have had some upset with my family in England and this began in September, peaked in October and is still unresolved.

I have had a thyroid test twice - due to concerns of unexplained weight loss coupled with slightly bulging of the eyes. This has been done twice over the last 5 years and both times came back as normal - I will happily go again.

I have contacted a GP type practice in Bangkok and arranged for Dr Donna to call me today for a telephone consultation - I will report back after her call.

Thanks again for your help so far.

Get a TSH specific test for your thyroid. I am thin and have a thyroid condition. Actually I was even thinner when diagnosed. My doctor told me that she would have never

guessed by looking at me that I had a thyroid condition if it wasn't for the TSH test.

Beachbunny

I couldn't get the link referenced to open....so don't know what it said......

However, according to the way my husband and my thai friends use greeng-jai ( เกรงใจ )

it means not wanting to hurt someone's feelings, even if you don't like what they are doing.....which by the way

my thai husband says is a bunch of crap!

Anyway, the definition for greeng-jai is: to have consideration for, be reluctant to impose (upon), be disinclined to disturb

or offending, be afraid of offending.

It doesn't seem to apply to Nampeung's situation, unless she is the one being greeng-jai toward the ones that helped her out

behind her back so to speak. If the people that helped them out is family or close friends of the family....a touchy situation to

say the least......but irritating none-the-less, especially if help was offered and not asked for.

Beachbunny

out of interest- how much does a kitchen cost

imagine you have a fridge, microwave, sink, and the granite worktops as is standard

but you haven't got any cupboards, drawers, etc

prices?

Granite, is not certainly not standard...

I paid about THB 280,0000 for my kitchen, with no applicances

I should have asked this before, but how satisfied are you with the kitchen cabinets you had made in Ban Chang?....From what I've seen at the store and the shop, IF they do

at least that quality of work I will be happy. It's really hard to find someone to make cabinets that even actually has adequate tools let alone using good hadware.

Would it be possible to post a picture of a section of your cabinets?

Also, in reply to the granite being standard....it may be standard in a finished house you are buying in a development, but you can be certain it is not standard......even for the developer, they are just offering it as standard and rest assured you are paying for it in the cost of the house.

Beachbunny

global house at the corner of hwy 36 and the bypass road. Also a big ceramic etc. store, can't remember the name, but you can't miss it.... about as big as global house, just west of global house on hwy 36. Other than that, Home Pro in Rayong....

Beachbunny