worldwalker

never get involved with a bar girl period.

Generally good advice I'd say. If you do at least be realistic about what what you're getting involved in. I don't buy the prevailing notion here that most bar girls are rotten to the core (though plenty are), or that they are prone to violence (small minority). The heavy drinkers seem to be the really crazy ones (what a suprize, goes with the guys too) Bar girls are fine if you want to have a kept women for a while.

Bar girls are in the bars for a reason, and honestly is NOT one of those reasons folks - wake the hel_l UP!

Biggest reason: Single motherhood with no decent means of support. This poo may or may not have had a husbund. If so, fantastic odds he's an alcoholic deadbeat, and poo would love to ditch him but is not in a position to.

This is not in itself a cause of lying. I belive bar girls are reasonably honest with me, but then I don't come off as a sucker who's going fall in love with them, or go back to my country and send them money. Maybe speaking fluent thai helps too. As far as I know, I have never had a girl lie to me about having a child (most do). IMO the guys that get lied to are the guys that lie to themselves about who these girls are, and want to be lied to, in some way, by the girls.

If it's not single motherhood, it's family debt, often at usurious interest rates, or they enjoy the bar girl-lifestyle (partying & lots of $) The later two are more likely to be really rotten IMO.

But they all become bar girls looking for a meal-ticket, and that's most likeley what you will remain for the duration of your relationship with a bar-girl.

This is indeed extremely bad & sad for the affected people in this area.

However; much like the annual floods in Bangkok and a few other 'regular' disasers in this Kingdom; they all have one thing in common: the are PREDICTABLE ! !

Therefor, it baffles me (as it has been for my 14 years here) that the "authorities" haven't got a better grip on these events . . . . . . ? ? ? ?

Yep, just like New Orleans in the US. Everybody knew it was a matter of when, not if, the disaster would happen. If one of the richest countries in the world does such a bad job of preparing for disaster, you really think Thialand can do better? With fewer govt. resouces, and more incompetence/corruption, I don't.

I've been on Lamai beach on Samui for the past week. A bridge washed out yesterday evening, along with several power poles. I figured that was it for power for several days.

But, nope, they just took down the power cables, layed them on the road, fixed whatever caused the problem, and had the power back on in 4 hours. This is, mind you, with power cables on the ground for about 40 meters, crossing the road, and lots of cars and people are going across it. Just a little bit scary, especially if they are high voltage cables. Truly a TIT moment.

Lots of damage and flooding. It's astonishing how much water dumped down in 30 hours.

Sounds like 400 baht is going onto the price of my Jamesons or Tullamore though.. Quite a hit on a 550 baht bottle !!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion and exageration over how this will actually effect prices:

In a 750ml bottle of spirits there are usually .750 x 40% = 0.3 liters of alcohol. The 400B tax is on a liter of pure alcohol.

Under the old scheme the tax was 240B x .3 = 72B

Under the new scheme: 400B x .3 = 120.

That's a 48 baht per 750ml bottle increase in taxes, at least for the cheaper stuff. Yep, that's a hefty tax hike, but no, they're not doubling prices.

Dunno if they recategorized different spirits under the percentage of 'market value' sceme, but raising the floor from 35% to 40% means roughly a 5% increase in the price of a bottle for more expensive brands.

"Customer Satisfaction, Thai-style"

please move this to the jokes section.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yesterday I went to a hardware store, needing a wrench. They merchant didn't have and adjustable one for sale, just lots of wrenches of specific sizes. Not wanting to spend money just to complete a specific task, and muttering to myself how wacked it is for a hardware store not have an adjustable wrench, the guy offered to let me borrow his to get my task done.

Try finding that in the West.

Generally, I agree with the sentiments of other posters though....

The 220-110 step down transformer is the way to go and easy to buy.  As for the 50/60 Hz issue it shouldn't be a problem.  If the pump is an async motor it will run slightly slower and a little warmer then normal.  But since you don't pump for several hours it won't be a problem.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks.

I got myself a 1000W 220V->110V step down transformer at Pata for 1550B. Seems to work great. Perhaps the pump works slightly slower, but it's hard to tell; Seems to work just as at home. Makes great espresso drinks and that's what counts.

I was tempted to go with a 500W or 700W version. Partly to save some baht, but also because the 1000W one must weigh like 10 kilos which I did not want to lug home! Figured with just a few minutes usage the thing was unlikely to overheat. In a moment of sanity though I got the properly rated one. Maybe a vague childhood memory of an expoding transformer from a neighborhood powerline had something to do with it. (Then again if I was really concerned, I probably would have opted for the 3500B foreign model, instead of the Thai manufactured one.)

Hello, I've read through the threads about this issue of using American appliances in Thailand. (Curses, why do we have to do everything different?!) Looks like I would have been better off just buying an espresso machine here. But, here it is, and I tried using it with my cheap 'travel converter' that I got in the states, and it didn't work. Seems the pump cant get enough pressure. (It sounds like it's running a little slow, and very weakly.)

I did a bit of research on the net on my travel converter, and found comments like this: "These units are NOT transformers, but are partial-angle-conducting thyristors that generate lots of high-voltage spikes and non-sinusoidal waveforms. The peak voltages are NOT reduced from 240V, only the power cycle. These converters are only to be used on resistive loads that don't care about the nasty output, like hair dryers, etc. Don't use them on your laptop either."

So, I'm guessing the pump in my espresso machine does not like this 'nasty' power output, and that my beloved espresso maker, might, just might work if I go down to Panthip of some electronics store, and buy a true 240v-120v step down transformer with the proper power rating. But of course this leaves the 50hz issue, and uncertainty in my mind. Will the pump run with a 'clean' 120V/50hz ac current?

So, I want to know if anybody out there has experience with this issue, or any wise words of advise. The instuction for the machine (starbucks barista) are mute on this issue, but I intend to call them tonight (though I expect them to say they don't recommend using it outside the US).

I have an unregistered 12-call sim. I would have expected to get text messages from them, telling me that I needed to register, and what will happen if I don't. (Will anything actually happen if I don't?) So far nothing. Has anybody been contacted by thier service provider, informing of the need to register?

World class toxic waste dump more like it!

No money in the world would make me live there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey, this is the the problem they are trying to solve!

Addressing local politicians...  during a workshop on transforming Bangkok into a liveable city

They admit BKK is not livable right now. That's a good start, I guess.

The traffic problem is intractable, and to me that is the worst thing about BKK, and dooms it forever to being second rate. If I had to drive in BKK, I'd go insane.

Though who knows, if you can believe what many geologists and economists are saying, oil will be extremely expensive in 20 years, and traffic won't be much of a problem. That would make irrelevant BKK's hugest, uh, 'design' flaw, leveling the playing field quite a bit, and BKK would have a shot at being world class in relative terms.

Songkran Week Tolls – 351 dead, 8,769 injured 

In an overall picture, nearly 8,800 traffic accidents occurred nationwide during 8-14 April, killing 351. Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima record the highest number of death tolls at 16 each. The only three provinces without any death toll during this year’s Songkran so far are Narathiwat, Mae Hong Son and Satun.

--TNA 2005-04-15

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Once again, the story utterly fails to put the statistics used into perspective. Thailand had a bit over 13000 traffic fatalities last year - 36 on an average day, with or without Songkran. I imagine most people take away from this story that 351 deaths occurred in these 7 days due to Songkran festivites, but keep in mind that in the 7 days prior, assuming it was a typical week, about 250 died in traffic accidents, even without water fights. Accident rates go up about 60% during the '10 days' of Songkran. This is hardly suprizing with all the mahem and people driving drunk. The Songkran road death toll certainly tragic, but not so shocking when held up against the tragedy of the daily carnage that happens on Thai roads every single day.

From the vendours I deal with normally they know ahead of time when the raids will occur. I have a feeling the 4 that were nicked didnt pay their tea dosh!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Probably. Last visa run I went to Penang, Malaysia. A DVD copied game/movie costs about 50 Baht there. Had Yai was only slightly more expensive. Then I get to Krabi - 100B per DVD, which seems the general going rate around most of the country. I ask the seller in Krabi about this discrepancy and he explains it's police payoffs. Heard the same answer at Pata Plaza in BKK. (So I guess the police in Malaysia aren't as corrupt, but they don't enforce piracy laws very much?)

Waste of life indeed.

However... stories like these seem to always fail to put their data in perspective. Thailand has in recent years had on average 36 traffic fatilities a day, so 27 is actually a pretty good day. And the 'staggering' number of injuries on the same day last year is also in line with annual averages. Associating traffic deaths/injuries with Songkran this early is a bit silly.

It seems the govt efforts against drunk driving are having an effect, and I hope this years checkpoints prevent a lot of tragedy. If they were really serious though about saving lives they would enforce the helmet laws, and make motorycycle taxis carry an extra helmet.

(http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501040809/story2.html)

Ko Chang is on the rise though. Some places (such as KC and Sabai) seem to be slowly going from the mellow background music/tables and mats on the beach to louder music and a bit more raunch.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Personally I am not going back to Koh Chang anymore, since there are better (read: not as expensive, less exploited, less noise-polluted, less trying to be internationally service-minded and mostly failing) islands available.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What do you recommend? I haven't been to the islands south of KC, mostly because the transport is still very expensive.

(Deep breath)

Koh Chang is a dull, badly developed, overpriced pit of a place and it's going down hill at a rate of knots......

Why? The land for developement was al bought up by bigwig friends oif the PM and now anyone who wants to set up a business there has to pay tghrough the nose for it. All the hotels are overpriced especially when you compare with Phuket and Samui.

[snip]

Now you may think I hate the place, well I don't, I just get very dissapointed in the direction the powers-that-be have taken KC, it's lack of infrastructure and forward planning will mean that soooner reather than later this place will become a collection of overprice resorts and nothing else.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sadly, I mostly agree with your post. I've now been there about dozen times, first time 5 years ago, and I'm shocked everytime at how overdeveloped it's becoming, and the invasion of big resort hotels. Bang Bao in the south used to be a cute little fishing village with a few seafood restaurants, 1 guest house, and shops selling their local product: squid. Now it's got several a 7-11, lots of ugly places to stay, and 95% of the homes you used to pass waking down the pier are now shops selling diving packages, clothes, baked good, coffee, etc. But not much squid to be found.

Still, though, it's one of my favorite places in Thailand for it's forest cover, nice beaches, and lots of little explored places to go to on motorbike.

I hope that they've actually overbuilt ko Chang and that these big ugly resorts loose lots of money. But I fear that's not going to happen. 10% growth a year in tourist and they've got to go somewhere, and post-tsumami they're more likely to stay away from the anadaman sea, at least for a while.

KC is way, way better than Samet IMO. Motorbike mafia wants to charge 1000B a day to rent a motorbike there, and for 800B all I got was a basic fan room. Not much forest cover, if you like that sort of thing. (I'll concede though that the powder white sand is nice) They charge 200B a head to go to the island, but don't even bother to make passable roads. Where the ###### is that money going? I won't be going back there.

KC beats Phuket and Samui too IMO. I still like the remote spots on Ko Phangan, though there you're really remote.

On KC I stay at Alina Resort (01-863-0543) on White Sand Beach. I got 1200B in January for air-con/fan room w/ TV (local channels + HBO), hot water, fridge. 1000B off season.

If the beach accomodations are packed try some off beach places:

Para Resort 01-6204411 south of white sand beach a bit

Ko Chang River Side Resort 06-7108283 in klong son village, far from beach

And unless you're uncomfortable on a motorbike, rent one and explore the island you'll enjoy your stay a whole lot more.

Can a blood test tell if one has had the infection?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think so. I have a friend who got it, and he was diagnosed by a blood test after most of his symptoms had passed. He had it fairly bad - had him in his hotel room for 4 days, and exhaused for another week.

Note that most of all cases of Denge are asymptomatic to mildly symptomatic. I had it a couple years back. Had a high fever for about a day, which passed. Two days later the fever came back with a vengence, but again passed within a day. Next day I had a bit of a rash on my forearms. (I though I'd come down with ARS!) Overall, not so bad.

BTW we both got it in Pattaya around march (different years) before the 'season' is supposed to start.

Appearantly there are 4 main strains. You are immune to a particular strain after you catch it. The scary part is that if you catch a second stain, the symptoms are often much worse including hemmoraging and often involving hospitalization.

BTW. It's ASPRIN (a blood thinner) that you avoid, not paracetemol.

I was wondering, are tourist going/staying away from Thailand in general or is it just the South. I'm planning on going to Ko Chang (in Trad province) early January. I was thinking it would be much less crowded due to the tsunami and people staying away from Thailand. Then it occurred to me that beach goers may simply go to beaches on the gulf side (hua hin, pattaya, samui, etc.) making them even more crowded than they would already be.

Anybody in any of these places and know which of these scenarios is the real one?