Neha

I'd like to add one more thing. I hope you have acquired some haggling skills while living in Thailand because you will need them in India. Whether it's a roadside shop selling souvenirs or an air-conditioned shop selling clothing material, if you don't see a price tag, then the shopkeeper will most likely give you a number at least 2x as much as the item actually costs. When you hear this number, just say you will pay 50% of whatever is quoted to you. If they agree without much convincing, try taking the number down a little more.

More often than not, they will say no but they might ask you how many items you want to buy - the more you buy, the cheaper it will be. Also, try walking away and they will call out to you and offer a lower price.

^You've been away too long Neha, you've forgotten your geography, Kerala and Pondicherry are in the south also

Oops, you are right. Seems I skimmed over part of the post - saw it as "Utter pradesh, goa, rajasthan, taj mahal" hahha! Talk about selective reading. I made the comment about the North and then Goa because it seemed like Goa was out of the way. Of course Kerela and Pondicherry are a great idea and would make it seem like more of India is covered, but I would advise the OP that it's too much to do in 2/3 months. I reckon if Uttar Pradesh/Himachal Pradesh/Rajasthan alone could take up all of that time depending on how old one is and what kind of traveling is desired. If OP just wants to see touristy spots and retire to the hotel room (which is totally fine and a personal preference of course) then 2/3 months would be sufficient.

Dharamsala, Ladakh, Leh, Kasol, Jaipur are also my recommendations up north. Cheap jewellery, especially silver and some stones are available in Jaipur -your wife might like that a lot. I know all the farang ladies go crazy for it (as do I). There are also lots of old monuments to see there.

I worked in Bangalore last year and my family were with me , I can recommend a few hotels in that area - it's true about the deficating in the street - but here in Los I see men pissing in the roads on a daily basis.

But it won't be compulsory for you to do it also.

India is one of those places that you immediately either love or hate.

If you love it you'll enjoy your 2/3 months (I travelled around for 4 months), if you hate it you'll be back in Thailand within a week.

Quoted for truth.

I am from India - lived there until 2006 and visit almost every year. There are some crazy things about it but everyone either loves it or hates it, not much middle ground.

Food poisoning can happen, make sure you eat at places where there is a huge crowd at most times. This can be a restaurant or a roadside stall. But make sure that you avoid the ones that look deserted. The rest is all fate You'll want to avoid meat as much as possible but don't worry, there's a lot of vegetarian food everywhere and it's freaking delicious. In most cities, you'll find McDonalds/Dominos pizza, etc where you can have your meat fix if necessary. But remember- most of them don't serve beef products so you'll have to make do with chicken.

Seems like the places you have mentioned are all up North except for Goa. Since this is your first trip, make sure you plan ahead. If you love it there, you can extend your stay and go on your own adventure. If you don't love it, you can finish up your trip without worrying about any further planning.

EDIT - of course if you're going to Goa, make sure you have some seafood curry

She may be allergic to what u are using. The best treatment for sunburn is Vaseline by the bucket.it keeps the skin moisturised and also cools it.

Thanks, actually looking this morning it looks like the skin is peeling a bit ... never seen that on Thai skin before ... still 8 hours in three days lying on your tummy with the back of your legs barely in the water is unusal. I suggested Vaseline a while back ... what do you think the reply was....knows better of course.

It sounds like a regular ol sunburn. This doesn't happen easily on brown skin but it is possible after long exposure. This happened to me last year when I went to Phi Phi and stayed out all day without sunscreen (I'm brown too - from India). It was painful to the touch and looked like a rash on my skin but it was just sunburn. Took about 5 days for it to start peeling and when it did, the tan came off with the skin so the skin underneath that grew back was actually lighter! Looked funny for a while but all I cared about was to let it heal. Give it a week more, there will be more peeling and soon she will be okay.

In the meantime, ask her to apply idea to the area for a while everyday and avoid further sun exposure.

All the best!

EDIT - I also used an aloe vera sun relief cream which helped.

I bow before your knowledge on this field, but tropo do you think that if your eating at a deficit and you have an impaired insulin metabolism you still get fat ? Or because its a deficit you don't ? I can understand carbs being turned to fat if you have a surplus and impaired insulin metabolism.

That's a very good question and to be honest, I hadn't given it any thought.

Maybe even a deficit can be turned into visceral fat as I've seen quite a few skinny guys with proportionately big guts.

The fact that I can display abs with fairly low subcutaneous body fat (under 10% on a pinch test) yet sport a big midsection gives me a clue it is possible.

Right now I'm happy that my gut is slowly reducing in size. I believe it is because I am being meticulous about my blood sugar levels. Right now my body can handle carbs and they're being used efficiently.

From what I know, if you are insulin resistant, you can still get fat on a deficit. In the case of insulin resistance, the calories do matter but also where you get them from ie your macro split. In such cases, a low carb diet works to alleviate blood sugar abnormalities in the day to day, but it won't "cure" the underlying insulin resistance, so whenever the person does increase their carbohydrate intake, they will inevitably gain some fat (along with water weight). I was reading Lyle McDonald's book (The Ketogenic Diet) yesterday where he talks about this pretty extensively. In fact he also mentions that doing the Ketogenic Diet long-term can actually lead to insulin sensitivity since the carb intake is very limited, therefore it's important to only do such a diet for a little while, or cycle carbs (either 1-2 days of the week or post-workout only). Even then one shouldn't be on it for more than 12 weeks.

The reality of "metabolic damage" is very real and even more research is coming out these days about it. It's important to switch over from eating in a deficit to eating in maintenance mode for a little while. This is why you'll see a lot of athletes or lifters do a "cut" (deficit) then a "recomp" (maintenance).

It's more complicated the more you go into the specifics but it's not impossible to learn about these things. The folks who are caught up in the low carb fad don't understand this and say "I lost weight on low carb, then I ate some carbs the other day and felt miserable so I'm going back to low carb." It's a vicious cycle where they're just giving themselves insulin resistance. Any diet long-term will have diminishing returns as the body will adjust to the deficit. It's very important to cycle calories (as well as macronutrients) rather than constantly restricting them.

Well, it is predictable and clean and the food is served free of crawling bugs!

(Great marketing!)

I found a dead fly in the "pee water" the first (and last) time I went there. I guess technically it wasn't really "crawling".

Thanks stevenl and Shot

It's a combination: western wind higher waves than eastern wind, stronger wind higher waves than less wind. Also tide plays a role in this (wind different direction than tide tends to make the waves higher).

Windguru does also predict waveheight btw.

In Nai Harn the waves tend to be a bit higher.

Thanks stevenl. So basically I would most likely find waves if I go to the beach when it say waves above 0.5m? I think I tried that a few times and found still waters. Perhaps it was just an inaccurate prediction and I got unlucky?

It says on Friday after 16h it's going to be >0.7 and Saturday, Sunday, Monday it's just going to keep increasing. I guess I'll try then

Windguru is showing nothing but west/northwest winds for the next 10 days.

Hey steelepulse,

Do you know what the significance of such wind is? I'm a newbie at all this and for the last couple of months have been trying to determine when the sea will have most waves. Not necessarily for surfing, but just for swimming. Calm seas = booooring!! I've been checking windguru and neither the wind speed or wind gusts or wave periods have helped predict the height of the waves. I was going almost everyday to check.

I do live in Nai Harn so maybe that's why...?

Would love to be educated on this! Thanks

My best guess is that it's something you're eating - like legumes or beans or seeds - pumpkin seeds perhaps? I know some of those don't get digested by a lot of people and can be seen in excreta.

Can you not ask her whether this particular tooth had already come out and grown back in? My guess is not and that what was pulled was a "baby tooth" as it would have had to have been in place for some time to have developed as many caries etc as you describe.

Which would also explain why they didn't hesitate to pull it.

yeah...I said 'eek feen ma?' and she didn't seem to know whether it came out before or not...it's one of the canines and I thought that they had all come out already with the front teeth...however, it is true that the tooth was rotten and that the decay would have taken more than 2 years to develop so on that basis we could maybe say that it is a baby tooth...

it was a shock as here she was showing off the gap when I didn't have a clue...her dad who lives in the house must've taken her to the dentist and didn't say anything...maybe he was trying to assert parenthood because as I say SHE'S MY LITTLE GIRL, godammit...

and yeah...the tooth fairy...next time I'll say: 'there's a tooth fairy, yessee and I know her, she hangs around down the market...so you tell me about these things and then the next time maybe she'll visit you...'

Tutsi, I understand you are concerned and I am sorry for this - but I just wanted to say THANK YOU, this thread made me laugh so hard!! especially the linen gown and smile part!! oh my god

Just to let you know, I was 8-9 years old when my canine was loose and shaky, my mom took me to the neighbour lady who was a dentist, she talked to me really sweetly and was like awww dear come let me see your tooth.... then she grabbed it and RIPPED the dam_n thing right from my mouth with her bare hands right there next to the door!! I was like WHAT THE F!($^*%$£!

Needless to say I have my full set of teeth. I think most likely your niece will too because it was probably a baby tooth. Teeth start falling out at the age of 6 and continue until 11-13 years of age though it varies between person to person. Read this for information to give you peace of mind: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/baby-teeth/AN00355

The link also mentions that canines are one of the last ones to fall out and that teeth fall out in the order in which they erupted (so middle teeth first, going outward)

In the unfortunate (and probably unlikely) case that it's not a baby tooth, you will know soon enough. And in that case, please don't get her a bridge until and unless she tells you she wants one. And believe me she will tell you if she wants it. Anyway it would be advisable to wait a few years because her jaw wouldn't be fully formed yet, as you already know.

In the meantime, enjoy the cute gap when she smiles

I'm totally with you on this. I don't even like the hydrostatic options for weighing. A lot of people say calipers are only good to measure progress ie if you go to a professional who will measure you in the same areas every week or month or whatever, but the number won't be accurate. Scales can totally change the BF% number depending on a lot of things like how much water you've had and whether or not you've taken a tinkle! hah

BMI is worthless if you do exercise. If one is sedentary it can provide some guidelines.

I have stopped using the weight scale too.

Like you, I use the tape measure, clothes and mirror. Also, you can always poke yourself on the tummy/back/arm/sides/thighs and see how deep the finger goes!

Like jingjoe8 and mca, I think everyone needs an epiphany at some point in order to quit. A moment of truth if you will.

If you are able to get your hands on it, please get a book called the Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Alan Carr. Others have talked about it on this forum under the thread titled "The book that helped me quit smoking" or something like that. It has helped many, many people including myself.

If you (or anyone else who wants it) are unable to find a copy, just let send me your email address in a personal message and I'll email you the ebook. I haven't smoked for a long time despite being 1-2 pack a day smoker and it's all thanks to this book. It's full of information so it will educate you and answer any questions that might come up. It will explain to know just why you are addicted which will help you understand your addiction. It will then give you steps that you can take and thinking patterns that will help you break out of this. It's also very easy to read, not too much science-y stuff.

All the best mate. You can do it.

The biggest problem is that people who are genuinely depressed are unable to get up the energy to do these things.

Agreed and yes these people need additional support and expert assistance as usually they are beyond energising and motivating themselves to get out and about.

WE should all keep an eye on our loved ones and friends and offer genuine, long term support to make them feel important and worthwhile.

If people who are stressed out and feeling under the weather can do things like walking and other preferred ways of relieving the causes by way of a change of scenery and release, they are a good way to halting a build up to more serious situations you rightfully mention.

Health wise, lack of importance, self esteem and motivation / support from others can be another factor in all of this.

Please watch out for those you are usually in regular contact with and may have noticed a negative development.

IMHO of course.

( I did a longish post that was lost to the gremlins so this is a shorter version of my reply and initial thoughts. )

Whatever way of dealing with this dreadful infliction, exercise wise, you prefer / choose I recommend it and cannot fault obvious differences in how to put it to good use, so long as it makes us feel better.

marshbags

Marshbags, I appreciate your thought out response and also thanks for posting this up. At least it has lead to an interesting discussion. I also agree with you about looking out for our loved ones. Having a supporting group of people can perhaps be another great treatment. Some people say a lot of things are placebo effect, but the way I see it, if even the placebo effect helps improve someones life, it will be worth it to try.

tropo and robblok it's the same for me! If i stop training for a week or two, I feel quite awful and it goes away as soon as I start exercising again. I don't drink, smoke or do any drugs so don't have other "external" stimuli to make me "happy" hahah. I love the boost after a great workout!!

There's not such a strong link between training and depression for me. I didn't train for 7 months last year (5 months and 2 months) and I wasn't depressed during that break. I enjoyed the break so much it was very difficult to get the motivation to get back into it.

You've made a good case for getting drunk though. It's a good break from reality.

For me its not as much depression as stress when i dont train for more then 1 or 2 months. Stress leads to drinking, and drinking can lead to depression. I doubt i ever had a full blown depression. It was mainly stress and not feeling happy / good. So for me there is a relation between those two.

Yeah I understand. I wasn't talking about depression either, just about stress and life in general. And I only mentioned the drinking because up until 2 years ago, I used to smoke and drink everyday. One day I just quit both and started exercising instead, so I can feel the difference if I stop working out for a while. Perhaps it's like robblok said, that we are probably made to do some regular exercise.

I think it's important to note, as others have brought up, that depression is a pretty horrible condition and is very different from just feeling bad or sad or stressed, as described in the video I posted above. People who are truly depressed like sinbin described, don't have the energy to do anything - not even shower or put on clean clothes, much less get themselves to exercise. Perhaps what we are talking about is just exercise being a stress relief in our lives. Walking is great as a preventative measure for depression but one cannot expect an already depressed person to go for a walk.

Just as a comparison, I want to talk about all these very high intensity workout videos. I think those exercise routines are great for people who are already at some level of fitness, even overweight people can benefit from it (p90x type workouts) but can you imagine a morbidly obese sedentary person on a program like this? It's going to be way too difficult for them to keep up and will most likely even result in injury or over exhaustion. Maybe for people like that, it's best to start them out with some very, very light exercise.

Personally I think there are many tools in treating real depression - antidepressants and therapy by a professional and perhaps later some exercise will probably work better in synergy rather than as separate approaches. Purists who seek to avoid antidepressants might be missing out on the key that will make them feel better.

On the other hand I want to acknowledge that antidepressants are very over-prescribed by doctors especially from the stuff I've read in the US, and it's probably not a good idea to go out and start taking antidepressants without reading up on it and fully understanding the mechanism of action, side effects and indications. It seems a lot of people who take SSRIs expect them to work instantly (which is very untrue - it takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to take effect) and end up having suicidal tendencies when they think the drugs are not working. This is very unfortunate and easily preventable if doctors and people took the responsibility to make sure people are well educated before popping pills.

Say, does anybody know if Fluoxetine is available over the counter here?

I had to get it from from a hospital after seeing a doctor. Not every hospital stocks it. It was that doctor that helped me come off my meds. He sarcastically laughed and asked my wife why she didn't take me to the temple. He was referring to the belief that some Thais believe mental health problems are associated with being possessed by spirits. So by taking depressed people to a temple the monks will physically beat the spirits out of people.

As for exercise being an aid to depression, I'm a non-believer. Sheryl is correct, in that really depressed people cannot motivate themselves to even wash themselves, let alone plan an exercise routine. Me, when I was at my worst, I just adopted the fetal position and stayed like that for hours. I found that talking to a person who understood my condition was the best remedy.

Hi sinbin,

Thanks for your contribution. I'm sorry to hear about your experiences with the hospital and suggestions to go to the temple etc. I respect people's beliefs but I think people should also respect mine and I would have been pretty annoyed if my doc said that to me knowing I'm not a buddhist. Though we are in Thailand after all so it shouldn't be too surprising.

I did a quick search on this last night after posting and found out that one can actually get a wide variety of antidepressants over the counter here. This was 3-4 years ago so it might have changed but somehow I doubt that. Perhaps someone else can confirm?

Sheryl is right though, it can be a great preventative measure but not a prescription for someone who is already depressed. Say, does anybody know if Fluoxetine is available over the counter here?

So basically vigorous exercise is a great way to prevent depression, but not an effective way of treating it.

I do find it hard to get to the gym when I'm depressed so I can relate to what Sheryl is saying. It's getting started and through the first 10 - 15 minutes which is crucial.

I have fallen into stress and maybe depression because i gave up training for a while. After i started training again things cleared up. I know that i just need to do some exercise or things will go wrong. I guess we are made to do some physical exercise.

There is a great lecture on depression here, I think most people who feel they are suffering from depression or have stressful lives should watch this just to get a basic understanding.:

tropo and robblok it's the same for me! If i stop training for a week or two, I feel quite awful and it goes away as soon as I start exercising again. I don't drink, smoke or do any drugs so don't have other "external" stimuli to make me "happy" hahah. I love the boost after a great workout!!

The generics are fine.

Sorry I don't know the cost of the generics.

Hi Sheryl, just wanted to say thanks for all your posts in this forum. You might not have answered any of my questions directly (except the one here) but you've been a great help to me!

If anybody is interested, I found Nootropil (generic Piracetam) over at a pharmacy. It's pretty expensive considering the dosage required especially at first. I had 400mg x 20 capsules for 250 baht.

I am ordering it online now instead. The shipping cost is pretty high but I got 800mg x 100 capsules and 1200mg x 60 capsules for 40 euros (shipping included). That's just under half the price of what it would be if I bought locally. Shipping cost was much higher than (over twice as much as) the actual capsules!

The problem is that walking is not a vigorous exercise. It gives me too much time to think about my problems. If I go to the gym and cane one of the cardio machines - that does the trick. I go for a 1000 - 1200 calorie burn in 60 minutes - sweat 2 litres of water. You forget about everything and after it you'll be too tired to focus on problems.

I agree tropo! And cardio on a treadmill forces you to keep up the same pace whereas walking outside will inevitably lead to adjustment ie decreasing speed due to fatigue. I find having headphones on during cardio is great too.

Sheryl is right though, it can be a great preventative measure but not a prescription for someone who is already depressed. Say, does anybody know if Fluoxetine is available over the counter here?

Like all drugs, these do have side effects and contraindications, which should be taken in consideration

Piracetam is legal over the counter and there are locally made generic equiavelents not as expensive as the imports. Brand names include Mancetam, Mempil, noocetam

oxiracetam and aniracetam are approved for use in Thailand but no one seems to be importing it and no local brands AFAIK.

this is an old post

whats the price range of these nootropics now

and are the generics as good as the real thing

thanks

I realize this is a really old thread but I am doing some research would also like to know about this. I live in Phuket. Thank you!

Does anybody know if I can get Nootropil in Phuket? Thanks!

Red Cross Hospital, Henri Dunant Road. Silom MRT nearest or Siam BTS longer walk

Sent from Android please excuse errors in type or judgement

Hi 2unique! Sorry I didn't specify in the post (but I did in the topic) that I am in Phuket! Thanks anyway for the prompt response. Cheers

Hi all,

I was wondering if anybody knows where I can donate some blood without any appointments or anything.

I keep hearing that hospitals need it and I would also like to know my blood type so, two birds with one stone eh?

Thanks in advance.

Congratulations! You look great and have probably added a few years to your life. Well done!