IMA_FARANG
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Posts posted by IMA_FARANG
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What you are looking for is technically called a stepdown transformer. It has two coils, one for 240 input and one for 120 output. It will be big and heavy, because it has a lot of wire coiled together. Often there will be taps, or a switch that you can change to vary the ouput voltage slightly.
The wattage is the important thing. You need to be sure your output wattage is enough for the equipment you are running of the 120 volt side. Think PIE or Power(in watts)= I (current in amps) times E (voltage). So at 120 volts a device drawing 3 amps you need a minimum of 360 watts. But you want at least a 50% excess for a temporary spike. So at least 500 watts for that example.
The frequency problem is really only important for those devices that use motors in them. A 60Hz motor won't run well on a 50Hz current and vice versa. But often small motors now are capable of running on both without too many bad results. It is possible to get a spindle you can place in small motors to effectively change the speed of the output of the motor to compensate for the frequency, you probably would have to look in a speciality electronics shop to find such a thing.
I've found some autotransformers (stepdown and stepup transformers) in Central, the electronics and home appliance area. But the selection was limited. You might need to ask the attendent. You may have to search a bit through the department/home repair stores in Bangkok.
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Hey guys,
I got my Non O Multi Visa, as reported in this forum and I am in Thailand for 88 days already.
So in 2 days I have to leave Thailand and I think to remember that I read in another thread the possibility for Non O Visa holders to to make a short border run and stay in Cambodia for a couple of minutes and get through the border again with a new 90 day stamp.
Other people without a Visa with their regular tourist stamps won´t have the oportunity running to cambodia. But am I right to get new 90 days with this Visa or not?
Sorry, I know it is a bit late to ask, but I was kind of busy the past couple of weeks. Was looking for a new house and was in the hospital for a while.
Is there a chance to get rejected? I mean, you normally get never rejected when entering Thailand, if your papers and the rest are clean, but here is everything possible. Especially through the immigration changes the government is doing regularly now.
thanks a lot
If you have a double entry or triple entry visa you should be able to leave and return immeadiately as long as:
1. There is another valid entry unused on your visa.
2. Your visa is still valid (not expired).
3. Your passport is not within 6 months of expiring.
But to make it seem more realistic, why don't you spend at least one night in Cambodia. Then re-enter on your valid unused entry.
That avoids the awkward questions at the immigration of, "Why you just leave Thailand today, but now want to come back?"
I mean they probably know what you are doing, but they don't "lose face" if you play the game.
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I have made 4 meetings this week for various things all with thai's ........... have any been on time?......... not one!!! and i dont mean 20 minutes late i mean 3 or 4 hours.......... and they turn up as if nothing is wrong............ then when I have ago at them for wasting my time waiting for them ............ i get the "pud maaaaaaaa " treatment from the g/f.................. can not win
So what is the secret to getting a Thai to keep to a meeting time???
Look I'm not criticising, but you have to understand:
You don't expect them to come to meet you, you go to meet them.
If you want to have a meeting with them call them or their secretary and ask when you can come to their office. Make an appointment time to meet them at their office. Then call again to confirm that meeting before you leave, to be sure they are in the office and available for the meeting when you get there.
I assume you are trying to sell them some product or service?
From the way you talk it sounds as though you are expecting the Thais to come to meet you as a favor. You are giving the impression that you feel you and your concerns are more important than theirs, and you act as though you were summoning them to you.
You won't get very far in business in Thailand with that attitude, because you are telling the Thai, "I am more important than you so you must come and see me."
To a Thai that means they are "losing face" to you. The whole "meeting" thing is poisoned because you are assuming an attitude of superiority before you even meet them.
Type A personality doesn't work in Thailand. Many of the business contacts are cultivated by a long period of contact and mutal respect based on those contacts.
Social contacts, outside the office, are also important. Don't just barge in and expect to do business.
So if you want to have a meeting with a Thai businessman, you should expect to go to meet him, not the other way around.
If you want to have success in Thailand, get off your European/Farang obcession with "on time", and "quick decisive meetings".
You mau not agree with that, but unless you learn to be more laid back, you won't do well in Thailand.
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Just saw the thai news..
Some english guy was relieved of 25.000thb on the airport for having to many cigarettes. A cigarette that was lit outside the airport and was given to him by his friend..
He had scratch marks and bruises on him after the encounter..
Maybe someone has more info on this?
No comprende.
Too many cigarettes? As in bringing into the country?
Relieved off? Confiscated you mean?
A cigarette lit outside of the airport? I.E. as after he entered the country?
Somehow I'm missing something here.
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No, it was not my money. My Thai family is much more rich than I.
They still believe the machines are working, even after I explained them there's nothing inside.
They went to some kind of big meeting with a bogus doctor and a group of pseudo-scientists.
My Thai family wanted to sell the water made by the machines.
Well, being Thailand...she might be right. There might be people who will buy it. Isn't "activated water" better than normal water? It's all in the marketing.
Here in Crete there is only one terminal that stores gasoline (petrol for you Brits). Yet every Greek I know believes that the brand of gasoline he uses is better than the others. Since they all come from the same storage tank, there is no possible difference between the brands. But the gasoline stations advertise their own brand, and the advertising convinces the locals.
One is born every minute.
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I've heard about the option of getting additional weeks/months on visas just before renewal time, but haven't yet experienced it first-hand. It sounds like, if the visa holder goes out and returns back over a border in to Thailand during the days just before visa renewal, that Imm officials will automatically add significant weeks/months to the original visa.
I've got a renewal for a 1 year type O non-imm visa in September. I had multi-entry added at its issuance last year. What's the drill for getting an additional 3 months (or however much time) added? thanks in advance.
I'm not sure I know what you mean?
If you have a multiple entry visa....each entry is for 60 days....which may be extended for 30 days in country. After 90 days you will have to leave Thailand. Then when you re-enter you will use your second entry...which will get you 60 days...that entry may also be extended fror 30 days...and so on.
So if you have a 3 entry visa, you can do this 3 times. If you get the timing right, you can do your third entry just before your 3 entry visa runs out. And that will give your final entry (60 days entry plus 30 day extension in country).
Now if you are on a one year extension, that extension is just for one year. Once it runs out, you will have to leave Thailand and get another visa.
Just to make it clear, a 3 entry visa is good for 3 entries. Each entry can be for 60 days and a 30 day extension. Then when you leave country and return, it is another entry. When you do your third entry, there are no more entries on that visa. After that you need to get another visa to return.
Clear?
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I'm curious as how the various contributors in this forum define "sentient being".
I was thinking about this as I was killing creepy crawlers (in this case, ants) in the house yesterday. But I want to expand the discussion beyond ants! It's just what got me thinking about the topic.
I'm not sure all Buddhists would have the same definition.
Certainly many Buddhists would be very opposed to the killing of animals...such as cattle or chickens....because they have the ability to feel pain and can at least be said to be aware of the concept of the possibility of their own death.
Another definition of 'sentient beings",however, could also be those who are consiously capable of knowing and understanding the Dharma and Buddhisim. That definition limits "sentient beings" to human beings, who are consiously capable of choosing to hear and understand the teaching of Buddha.
The 2nd definition is very important in some Buddhist traditions, as in those traditions it is thought that "sentient beings' are the very tip of a pyramid, and only through their concious acceptance and understanding of the Dharma and teaching by "sentient beings", can the whole world come to "liberation" and the acceptance of Buddhas teaching.
Believe it or not, I suspect you would get a number of definitions of that term "sentient beings" from those who called themselves Buddhists.
Some would lump animals into their definition, some wouldn't.
So there's no easy answer.
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About a dozen years ago I visited Phuket Island and rented a motocy to go exploring. There was a beach that had a rather long footpath as its only access and the footpath reached the beach at one end only. The beach was naturally sort of split in half by some rocks and the near part of the beach was for wearing clothes and the farther, more secluded beach was for no clothes. There weren't many people there on either part of the beach. It was all sort of low key. At the time I wondered if this was legal or not and whether it was a regular thing or just something the few Thai men who were hanging around had invented with the hopes of seeing some nud_e bodies. Has anyone else run into this?....does it still exist?
If you know of this please do NOT give any indication of its location...don't spoil a good thing.
Sounds like Nai Han Beach. Past the rocks at the south (maybe that's actually SE?) end of the beach there was a tradition of topless and/or nud_e sunbathing. Might still be.
Back in the 60's and 70's when Thailand was still a stop on the "hippie trail" Phuket was a little out of the way Thai village and a lot of the beaches were all nud_e. Nobody cared what the Farangs did there, and the locals were too busy trying to make a living to notice. But that is long gone, for a long time now.
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I believe Interpol has international juristiction, and if their were open warrents for his arrest, Interpol could have arrested him as he tried to get off the plane, or on one of the land borders...I would think maybe Malaysia. Since he never would have gone through immigration, technically he wasn't yet "in Thailand" if he was arested at the airport or at the border before entering the country. That could be the source of the confusion on whether he was "in Thailand" or not.
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Drugged and mugged in Bangkok
On the morning of July 7 I left my hotel in Sukhumvit Road to walk into central Bangkok. A young woman of perhaps 30 and a Filipino man of about 50 approached me in a friendly manner. Finding I was English, the man said that his sister was coming to London to work as a hospital nurse.
As she was apprehensive about living in Britain, he asked if I would come to his home to reassure her. I said I would be happy to help as, by coincidence, my grandson was also a nurse in London.
He called a taxi and after 15 minutes we arrived at an attractive bungalow set in a garden. I accepted a soft drink and the sister came and sat beside me. I spoke to her about nursing in London and she listened politely.
Then the man asked me to come into another room, where he produced a pack of cards and said he would educate me in the secrets of card play.
By this time I seemed to be floating in a dreamlike place. I started giggling, which annoyed the man. He asked to see my wallet and roughly went through it. Other people came and went. We played cards but I had no idea what I was doing. He then took my camera and put it in a cupboard. I was incapable of saying or doing anything.
Finally, I was told to get into a taxi and taken to a modern shopping complex by the man and his "nurse" sister. I was told to hand my bank card to a shop assistant. I remember signing the till printouts and seeing the man and his sister head off with shopping bags. The taxi driver then took me back to my hotel.
It was not until I reached my room that my brain seemed to clear and the enormity of what I had done dawned on me. It was clear I had been drugged. I phoned my bank to cancel my debit card but three transactions totalling £2,550 had already been cleared and the money taken from my account.
The following morning the Filipino man rang my hotel room and made it clear that I should tell nobody. He said if I told the police then we would both go to a Thai jail (I had already informed the police and the British embassy). Fortunately, I did not hear from him again.
It was such a frightening experience that I want to warn other travellers to Bangkok. I will not be able to recover any of the £2,550 because I had voluntarily signed for the sums being taken from my account.
Name and address supplied
Gill Charlton replies
Bangkok is known for its sophisticated ways of parting tourists from their money and this appears a particularly elaborate swindle.
Beware people who befriend you on the street and ask favours or offer taxi tours. As this male senior citizen discovered, it can prove a life-threatening encounter.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/columnis...in-Bangkok.html
A similiar scam has been running for at least 25 years in Bangkok. I was approached once on Sukhumvit road about 1980 by a Fillapino I had once met on a flight into Bangkok. He wanted me to come to his house, which I seem to recall was somewhere around Soi 101 for a "few drinks and a friendly card game". I was not about to go with someone I had a brief acquaintence with on a plane flight. I kept refusing him until he gave up.
I wonder if they were somehow related?
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As a foreigner, should one expect to receive a "wai" from Thai friends and family when being introduced the first time? (In this scenario the foreigner is clearly older than the people he is introduced to).
Also, if a wai is not shown, what conclusions can be drawn from this if any?
I'm not an "expert" on the wai, this is just just my humble opinion.
You should not expect a wai from friends and family when you meet them for the first time. However if it comes, return it politely.
My Thai girlfriend taught all her children to wai me when they were children. It was out of respect for me. As they became adults, the wais became less frequent. I still ocasionally get a wai from them however, which I acknowledge with a brief return wai.
I rarely start the wai process, but I have waied my girlfriend's father or mother before when I was introduced to them.
The family is an "old school" Thai family, and a wai is just the way they greet each other. My girlfriend was taught to wai all her elders when she was young.
There is a whole cultural proticol of who wais who and how, that as a Farang, I don't pretend to understand. I think most Thais understand that Farangs may not know the protocol, and don't expect a wai from a foriegner. So I don't force the issue. However if I am given one, I will respond in kind.
The one thing I will do is always wai a Buddhist monk as a greeting. It is a point of respect to the monks.
If you don't recieve a wai from a Thai, it may just be because they aren't sure how the wai will be recieved, and they would rather not make you "lose face" by replying inapropriately to their wai.
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Hi long time since I have been to Thai from the UK , so I wonder if anyone can let me know if this is possible and if so the best way to go about it. The wife and I plan to return early next year to begin the process of building a new bungalow on her land , mabe staying 3 weeks , later on we want to come back and stay for a longer period , mabe up to 2 months , is this possible or not ? obviously as a Thai national she will be ok but I wont. If its too much hassle I wont bother ,, her land is close to either Nong Khai or Nakhon Phanom areas for crossing to Laos if thats any use. Cheers
There are at least two ways to do it.
First you can go to Thailand and should be able to get a free stamp on arival for a 30 day stay. Then, just before the 30 day stamp expires, go across the border to Laos. Get a 60 day tourist visa there and return (should be free until March 2010). I believe you can extend that 60 day visa in Thailand at the immigration nearest you for another 30 days.
The other way is to get a free 60 day tourist visa before you leave the U.K. for Thailand from the Thai consulate. Then you can extend that for 30 days in Thailand. That gives you 90 days.
Either way you can get at least 90 days in Thailand.
And finally if you want to go the 'big time" route you can try to get a one year multi-entry visa from Hull. But that isn't free, it costs. I can't remeber if it costs 100 or 200 pounds now. Contact them or go to their website and you can download all the forms required. As "reason to visit Thailand" use "to live with friends and/or relatives" as the reason. You can mail them your passport and pay for return mail. Do this before you leave for Thailand. With a 3 entry visa, you can do 90 days each time. Each time you leave Thailand and re-enter use one of the entrys. With 30 day extensions on each stay you can stretch it out to over a year, for that triple entry.
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I've heard stories....but never actually seen a confirmed incident....of scammers using some kind of a drug...a balm or a lotion....that they rub into your arm or on your palm....and which makes the victim feel woosy or giddy. This substance is supposed to make a victim compliant and willing to agree to whatever the robber or scammer asks them to do.
As far as I know, it is just an unproven rumor.
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It is my understanding that whiskey can be legally made here in Thailand as long as the pertinant laws are observed and taxes paid. Could not one make a better profit from their farm grain by turning it to something that has a higher profit margin. A value added product would allow the farmer to realize a better return on his crop. I visited a distillery a few years ago in Sing Buri that was making a distilled product from rice. This was an individual who was using 10- 55 gallon stills to make his product. I never did find out if was legal or not. If a farmer can add value to his crop then he will realize a better profit. Some farmers do this by growing corn to be used as silage to feed dairy cattle. I would like to hear some feedback on this idea.
Thanks for the responses
I'm trying to tread very carefully here...to avoid any problems on this subject.
First of all, I do not know for certain but I believe it is not legal to produce alchohol from maize or any other grain without the proper government liscense, either in Thailand or any other country. Therefore I'm assuming that the making of alchohol in Thailand by individuals is illegal. Leave it at that .
Now for making alchohol from any grain...it requires a lot of mash to produce one unit of alchohol. I would guess you would be looking at at least 30 gallons of mash for 1 gallon of drinkable alchohol produced. That is not efficient and you need to sell the product if you could do it legally for a price that would compensate for the expense to cover the cost of the ineffeciency of production.
You need to know what you are doing to produce drinkable alchohol from mash. It must be distlled repeatedly. When I was in Saudi Arabia, we never accepted anything less than "fifth run", i.e. the fifth distllation pass through. Anything less, and it possibly contained contaminents, and other non-alchol liqueds, that could make anyone drinking it very sick. You have to be very careful not to get toxic and poisonous products or contamination from the still and distlation process. Even then it takes a long time, many repeated distillations, and a careful and knowledgeable handling of the ingrdients. Doing it incorrectly can cause a still to explode, and alchohol burns...so fires are always possible.
For some history...farners in the U.S, in the 1800's that lived on what was the them frontier territorys used to produce alchohol from their corn (maize to you brits and Europeans). The reason was that the only transport was by slow barges on the rivers...there were no roads in the frontier. So corn/maize would spoil during the slow shipment to market. So the corn/maize was made into whiskey, which could be transported by barge easier, and stored in kegs without spoilage.
But again...I think making alchohol by an idividual without a liscense is illegal and therefore must not be done.
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Bring it in sterling travelers cheques.
Free at Lloyds TSB.
Otherwise get travellers cheques free at the U.K. Post Office in Euro or US$
Keep cash in hand to 250 GBP maximum.
I would go with the sterling tavelers checks.
If you can get them free from Lloyds check with them to see if they have a correspondent bank in Thailand. If so, you may get a slighly better rate (a smaller fee) for changing them with the Lloyds correspondent bank in Thailand vice some other Thai bank.
Bring them in the biggest amounts you can handle and change in Thailand handily. I would say at least 100 pound checks. You will be charged a fee for each check, so the bigger they are the smaler the fee will be in porportion. But also realise it may be hard to cash/exchange anything over 100 pounds to baht even at a bank. But that is your choice. I would say that 100 pound checks would be a practical choice. but you could go higher. Just realise that leving the Thai bank you will be carrying a wad of money, and there are pickpockets around.
DO NOT change your money to Baht before you leave the U.K, except for very small 'pocket money' for expenses. The UK baht rate will be much worse than you will get even at the airport in Bangkok at the money exchange counters.
If you are on a tourist visa, the Thai banks may not want to open a Thai bank account for you. Keep trying, one branch may be willing to open an account for you, while another jst a block away won't want to do it. Supposedly you need a work permit to open an account, but other banks may ignore that. TIP: the more money you have to put into tha account to open it, the more interested the Thai bank may be in opening the account for you. But if one refuses you, try another onr. In Bangkok there are a lot of banks, and many branches of each one, so keep trying until one agrees to open an account for you. get a Thai ATM card or debit card if they will let you. No fee on a Thai ATM card from that banks ATM.
Hope you enjoy Thailand.
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has ever anybody come across a proper answer to this often used term?
No. "Soon" means different things in different countries. The best you can say is it means "sometine between now and when you die".
When I worked in Saudi Arabia, we said everyting worked according to IBM. That's Inshallah, Bukra, Maleesh...or God Willing, Tomorrow, Don't worry.
"Soon" means a different thing here in Greece than in England.
It means something else in Thailand also.
Just learn not to worry about it. "Soon" will be soon enough, if it is before you die.
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I have 2 tattoos, and my old gf got one of a butterfly in BKK because she was so captivated by my tattoos. So how many tattoos do you have and does your Thai GF or wife have any?
Most of my farang friends in Thailand have at least one, but many of them have 4 or more.
Zero and Zero. As far as I know no one in my Thai family has a tattoo. Wrong generation I guess. Frankly tattos turn me off.
I was at a local beach last week and an otherise very nice looking girl had had a tattoo on her thigh. An absolute turn-off on an otherwise good-looking girl.
Just my humble opinion.
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What was Thailand like during the sixties and seventies. It sounds like some type of golden age. Was it?
I didn't get here until May 1977, which is late in your time period. Patpong road, long before the markets and vendors were there, was a real road you could actually drive down. At night you could walk down the center of the road. and the bargirls would yell at you to come in and have a drink. But I wouldn't say it was a Paradise or a golden age.
When I first got here, there was still a 1 a.m. curfew. A hangover from the events of 1976. Many of the bars closed down at midnight, so the girls could get home before the 1 a.m. curfew. There were a few restaurants and hotels that were allowed to stay open, but if you were in there at 1.am, you had to stay until the curfew ended (I can't remember when, maybe 6 a.m.). If you were staying in a hotel, and could get one of the bargirls to visit, she had to stay until the curfew ended in the morning.
A lot of the "oldtimers" were already complaining that Pattya was "spoiled" by the influx of "tourists". Phuket, even in 1978, was still relatively undeveloped compared to today. The first time I stayed in Phuket, I stayed at a beach that had electricity only from 6 p.m to 11 p.m. I stayed in a hut on the beach. No air conditioning of course. About 1 p.m. the fishing boats came back with their catch. The local restaurant owners bought the fish and shrimps, The chrcoal was fired up soon. By about 4 p.m. the first fish and shrimp were ready. I had a meal for twp. We had a dozen crabs (6 ea.), 6 large shrimp, boiled rice in bowls, and one large fish grilled on the charcoal. I had a beer (liter size bottle), my girlfriend had a coke. My beer was 25 baht, the most expensive single item on the bill. The whole food (except for drinks) was 100 baht. We weren't charged for the rice, only for the fish/shrimp/crab. My Thai girlfriend thought it was "too expensive". Each crab was 50 satang. Who in Thailand today even knows what a satang was? By the time I was there the "hippies" and the nud_e beaches were gone.
In Bangkok the taxis were old, many had holes in the floor of the cab. When it rained Sukhumvit road would flood from about Soi 34 to about Soi 40. You had to lift your feet when the taxi went through the water, because the water came in through the holes in the floor. There were no meter taxis, you bargained with the driver about the fare before you got into the taxi.
Even then there were 'backpackers" on Khao San road. Some of the hotels there were built in the 60's or 70's for the Vietnam G.I. R&R trade, and hadn't had any maintenance/repair done sine they G.I.'s stopped coming after 1975. They were in pretty bad shape, but they were cheap.
Bangkok was cheaper to live in, but for the average Thai it was still hard to live. My Thai girlfriend and her 3 children often had to try to live on 10 baht a day, after her husband left her. Not much fun, even if a Thai could get a plate of rice for2 or 3 baht.
Yes, it was less expensive, but those at the bottom still found it hard to live.
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Is anybody aware of ways which our tasting capabilities can be improved? Like with certain hygiene, foods, or health products? Or maybe some toothpastes or mouthwashes, like Listerine, may be harming our taste buds in our tongues and should be avoided?
I'm adding more and more salt to my meals now. And while in the states, where I eat nothing spicy, my favorite fruits like raspberries, peaches and pears, tasted just so-so, nothing near like in the past.
Actually I'm surprised product advertising doesn't target this more with supposed "taste enhancing" benefits, since nobody in the world wants to experience decreasing tasting ability. A huge market to be sure.
Is there anything which we can be doing to enjoy better tasting meals?
The bad news...your tastebuds change as you get older. Children have far more "sweet" receptors. That's one of the reasons they like sweet and sugared foods. As you get older you lose those "sweet" receptors. That's why adults perfer less sweet drinks. There isn't much you can do about that. That also is why you "remember" that good tasting strawberry you took right from the garden when you were young.
But your right about fruits and vegatables. Most of those now sold in stores in the U.S. are picked before they are ripe. Then they are "ripened" by a gas mixture that carrys a dye with it. The gas/dye combination makes the fruit appear to be ripe, softening the fruit, and the dye colors the skin so the fruit looks redder, yellow, etc. to make it seem "ripe". The reason this is done is that mechanical pickers are used, and if the fruit is too ripe the growers lose to much fruit to picking damage. So the fruit is picked earlier, and artificially aged.
Have you ever seen Plums with a deep blue skin (from the dye). Take the skin off carefully and you may see a thin layer of blue dye inside on the Plum fruit. It's from the blue dye that penetrated the skin.
And the fruit tastes like crap. (My personal opinion).
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Hi I am going to the states soon and would like to buy some electronics - ipod speaker, juicer
Do I really need a converter?
Dumb question perhaps... but thanks for the responses
Frankly for electronic items, I personaly think you are better off making a stop over or a seperate trip to Singapore to purchase electronic items than to buy them in the U.S. You can "bargain" on the prices at the electronics specialty stores and 20% off the stated prices is not difficult if you know how to haggle. Most electronic items now are not made in the U.S. anyhow including American brand names which are actually manufactured outside the U.S.
But if you really want to, here are the things you need to watch for.
50 and 60 hertz (cycles) AC. The US standard is 60 hertz. Most places in Thailand will be 50 hertz. This is most imortant for devices using motors. 50 to 60 hertz converters are available, and many newer items will be dual frequency 50/60 hz items.
120 and 230 voltage items. 120 volts is standard in the US. In Thailand it will be 230 volt. If you plug a 120 volt item into a 230 plug (the plugs are differently shaped, but adapters are found) you will destroy the 120 volt power supply in a second. Again newer items are dual volatgae (120/230) and dual frequency (50/60 hz). Any extra cost is well worth it. If you live in areas near the Canadian border, you are more likely to find dual frquency/dual voltage items for sale. The american computer manufacturers have finally got ther act together, and computers are now commonly dual frequency/dual volatge or come with adapters.
Television. The standards for the US and other countries are different, The US uses NTSC, PAL or PAL/SECAM are used outside the US. You are best off buying a slightly more expensive MULTISYSTEM television which can be switched to use all of those systems.
Many items in the U.S. are often marked as 120 volt only or 60 Hz only. This is for the US market. The manufactuer may make the same item with an adapter which they sell overseas. Ask the store, you may be able to get one.
Sorry I made this so long.
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The normal hangover should not last more that 48 hours. If it does then it is a posible indicator of a potential problem.
Like an car with a part on the way to failure, the faster you drive it, the more stress you put on it, and the closer it comes to a critical failure.
Alchohol puts "stress" on all the systems of your body, so any system with problems devloping is pushed closer to failure.
The normal areas that are harmed by alchohol are the liver, the kidneys, and the heart.
Alchohol dehydrates the body and lowers the blood sugar levels.
If you are a pre-diabetic it can cause your blood sugar levels to vary and in that way affect your insulin levels. High or low insulin levels, or insulin levels that vary too much can affect you badly.
The best thing you can do is stop drinking. It's hard, but it is the best thing you can do.
You need to keep track of your blood pressure. Alchohol can also raise your blood pressure. Long term high blood pressure can harm a lot of systems in your body. It can also cause headaches. Therefore a alchohol binge can raise your blood pressure to a point where you get headaches...which you may interpret as a 'hangover".
You need to have a fasting insulin test...to check if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic. They make you fast for 24 hours and then check your insulin level and comapre it to your normal insulin levels. If it drops to much it is an indication of a diabetic condition.
But the most important thing is to get to a doctor and tell him about these extended "hangovers".
You will probaly need blood workups and a blood electrolyte test. They may want to give you a small amount of alchohol to see how your liver and kidneys react, and check your blood and urine results to that achohol.
And extended hangover is not a "minor" problem.
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Many many years ago when I was in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, a Vietnamese friend convinced me to try the homemade rice alchohol they distill. Terrible stuff, probably like the Lao moonshine you get in Issan.
My Vietnamese friend poured a shot of this rotgut, and drank it done. I happened to be watching his face, and I swear his eyes both rotated in opposite directions at the same time after he drank that shot down .
"Good stuff", he said, and offered me a shot.
I've also tried that Chinese Plum Flavored Brandy with a Thai/Chinese friend in Bangkok. Terrible stuff, very sweet and syrupy tasting. It made me sick.
And you've got the Greek Raki and Ouzo. Ouzo is the stuff that is clear, but turns milky white when you add water to it. Raki is made by fermenting the leaves, stems, and small ground up branches from the Olive tree that are trimmed off the tree after the olives are picked. Both can be very bad news in large amounts.
But the worst drink I ever had was at the end of a birthday party. We had some Gin, Scotch, Vodka, and Bourbon left over, just a little bit in each bottle. I was drunk anyhow, but I decided I shouldn't let all that booze go to waste. So I mixed them together in a glass with a few ice cubes and drank the whole mess down.
Don't EVER do that. I was sick as a dog for two days.
Tequilla always made me sick....until I tried Old Patron Tequilla. It runs about $100 a fifth. I've never been sick on Patron, but I can't afford to drink it at $100 a fifth very often. By the way, have you ever heard the country western song called,"Tequilla makes her clothes fall off"?
And as a Vietnam vet, I must mention the beer that was sold in Vietnam,we knew as Bamiba (sp?) Ba Moui Ba is Vietnamese for the number thirty three. The bear was originally French, and was called Bierre 33, because it had a big red 33 on the label. The beer made in Vietnam contained just about anything possible to stretch the alchohol. Cleaning fluid, rubbing alchohol,paint thinner, etc was a regular ingrediant of the mix. I was only 19 and stupid, but I drank it.
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I really don't see why this should deserve it's own topic since the video and the explanation has been showed AND discussed into great detail at the main topic.
It's also not the point; the point is -guilty or not guilty- the extortion of enormous amounts of money from the people involved, apart from the fact that they were kept against their will, missed their plane and the amounts are not proportionate to the products involved, whether KP is/was involved or not.
The cases are absurd and would create ENORMOUS bad publicity for the shop owners and (airport/police) staff in every other major airport in the world.
It's very bad publicity -again- for Thailand.
LaoPo
(statement above = Male Bovine Feces). If she deliberately put the wallet in her purse, and exited without making an attempt to pay. then she was SHOPLIFTING, which is a crime.
It doesn't matter what the "fee" they had to pay to get out...I don't approve of it, but this is Thailand...anyhow, shoplifting is a crime and she could have gone to jail for that crime.
Period. Full stop.
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Al-Queda trying to form alliences with other Islamist radical groups? Rather "old news" now don't you think? Hasn't that been going on for at least 5 years or more? Exampe: Al-Queda in the Magreb (known as AQIM) in North Africa uniting groups in Algeria,Morroco, and Tunisia.
Actually, in regard to the "Insurgency" in Southern Thailand....it has roots that go back to the 60's or 70's. Back then the Pattani United Liberation Front was backed by Libya and oil money.
Now the leadership consists of an "old school" hard core who have links back to the old PULF days. They are being challenged by a more radical youmger group who support the Indonesian (remember the Bali bombings?) Muslim radical groups.
So far the old school leadership has managed to keep the younger radiacls out of the leadership. How long that will last, no one knows. That is the reason why there are attacks such as those on teachers and girls schools or school childrn on their way to school. Such attacks are not approved of by the old line leadership, but the younger radicals are foaming at the mouth to have a more "active" insurrection.
We will just have to standby, and see who comes out on top in the end.
" The Crash Of The E U R O "
in Jobs, Economy, Banking, Business, Investments
Posted
As I am quite aware, having to support a Thai family that spends in Baht what I earn in Dollars, the Baht rate is not simply of "benefit to foriegners". Yes, I get more Baht for the Dollars I exchange as the dollar/Baht rate changes, but since many of the goods that are sold in Thailand are imported from other countries, and are denominated in Dollars, as the Baht/ Dollar rate varies I get more Baht, but the cost of living also increases, especially for those "imported" items.