pattayadingo

The main presents I've had from Thai friends over the years have been shirts.

One took me out for a meal with the family...... yes, I paid (Something many Thai people do too, take you and the family for a meal on your birthday).

Asking the current g/f what she, her sister and her parents do on their birthday(s)..... They go to the temple.

Great video.

I suppose you could say he is having a 'whale' of a time.

I LOVE A PARADE!

We used to hide those under the bed and if mother found them we'd be in big trouble.

Parade.... a magazine full of naughty ladies skimpily dressed way back in the 60's

BigC Pattaya Klang have some in at 69 Baht each.

Jacket style with plastic styds down the front or Poncho style with studs down the side under the arms.

Both come with a small pouch to carry them in. Easy to fit under the seat of the m/c.

Pretty good quality too and big enough.

Yes, yes, seen all the antics desribed above in the past hilarious and dangerous at the same time

For me I like when I see the gf on the back with his jacket pulled over her head yet she is kind enough to go further and pull it over her bf's face as well. I must admit that the ole umbrella trick on a motorcycle is also quite entertaining.

You see dingo, you don't really need a rain suit.

But I want to live longer with my brains intact

Thanks for the replies and ideas

When it stops raining I'll be popping out on the m/c to have a look.

Now the rain is starting, where can I get a decent quality rain 'jacket' for when I am out on the m/c and it rains.

Those from 7/11 are cheap enough, but tear too easily. I'd like to buy something more substantial but I've yet to see any.

Can someone tell me where they sell them, please?

Plenty more places to get your fix from

As Cluey says....

No trackinhg number, no insurance it might well have to be written off.

2 weeks late is not a lot. Thailand can be very slow at times with these things. Yet to send it the slowest and cheapest way was not a brilliant idea.

Not a condo, but I looked at some houses recently, all of them empty.

Each of the properties I looked at were dirty with stained walls and bathrooms. They were Thai owned and the general gist was that I'd have to pay to have the places redecorated.

The point being that a clean (painted), empty place can catch the eye as much, if not more, than a furnished one from my point of view. And furnishings can hide problems.

The only furnishings I'd like to have in place are curtains.

Then it appears someone is telling porkies. Tsk Tsk.

Because if they are "short" money in the "till" at the end of the day, it comes out of their paycheck. Better be safe than sorry.

That is often the case from what I understand plus the fact it is often easier for them to show you how much the total cost is than to try and say it in English.

i live in unbon and yes getting very expensive now in essan my wife and two kids gets 500 barth a day when a am in new zealand

and she's saying she wants more the 500 barth is only for food for her and the kids all other expensive are paid by me

i think you should go to the local market and buy food still cheaper than TESCOs!!

You are not being told the truth.

My wife gets 200 baht a day for food and that includes 50 baht to each of my kids for their school snacks. She also buys petrol with that. This puts a substantial meal for 4 on our dinner table, with plenty left for the 3 dogs.

Bloody hell - sounds like Yorkshire up there.

Nah, we have sheep in Yorkshire and wellies too

I know fine well that people have a choice, so I do not fall into the category....

"have convinced themselves that Thai Woman have no choice but to work in a Bar."

7/11, BigC, Tesco, the water / electric companies, banks, shops, the family farm / shop / business, factories, to name but a few options they have available to them.

Some decide early on to sell themselves, even as students.

In one place up North there were two main 'shops' if you would call them that, from where the students plied their trade. There were no customers allowed inside. It was all done over the phone.

There were no bars with ladies for sale like in Chiang Mai, Pattaya, BKK or Phuket. Yet many of the ladies working in the bars - mainly frequented by Thai people - had a regular man who paid them for sex. That is how they could afford a better life as students.

There are many many towns in Thailand where they do not have bars with ladies for sale so I presume you are talking about tourists in the main who go to certain cities for their sexual fulfilment.

We all have a choice in this life, but some are given less choice, a few are forced ito that type of work.

give the Naklua/Banlamung one a miss there were 300 numbers in front of mine on the 2 days i went down. Its in the road that runs down the side of the police station off Suk. i had been away for a few weeks so the meter was taken away.

normally 7/11, tesco express etc if within time limit allowed, if you go over the days allowed then its one of the officers.

The Royal Garden is probably better but only 3 staff and 30 numbers in front of mine on that particular day.

Never takes more than a couple of minutes when we pay at Naklua ,been going there for 8 years.

On the one occasion I had to go to Naklua, I also had 300+ numbers in front of me. Took about 90 minutes before my turn.

Maybe some days are better than others.

Definitely a big bill.

My two most expensive single items are bacon and sausages. 275 for a kilo of good bacon with no fat. 175 for 20/24 sausages. They last between 2 - 4 weeks.

Ham scrap is about 170 Baht a kilo and tastes as good as any other.

A kilo of cheese was about 700 Baht and lasted at least 5 weeks - but I eat (ate) too much cheese and stopped buying it.

17,500? Yest it sounds like a cashback.

On that note, I read an article recently - granted from the U.K. - that cashiers were adding cash-back to the bills. The cashiers would not give the cash-back to the customer, but often hand it to a friend in the checkout queue.

Did you check the bill? I count the items I've bought against how many are on the bill itself and only takes a few seconds.

This current rise to 48 will make a lot of pensioners happy and certainly a few I drink with will be happier.

Let's hope it remains this way or even back to 50.

Just to throw my spanner into the wheels:

I never wash my new cloths.

I never wash my worn cloths.

I never need a fork or a knife.

My wife does all the washing and cuts my stake so that I can eat with my dirty hands.

BTW she always complains that I never wash!

and I do not understand why she irons washed cloths!

Is that before or after she sticks the stake in your heart?

Many who have been drunk have done some weird things that may well be out of character. It is also easier to lose your temper when drunk. You can also take things the wrong way a lot easier when drunk too.

Maybe that is all it was. We will not really know what triggered it, but if he was drunk as the 2nd report says, it is more imaginable he lost it easier than he normally would?

The police have control...... control over their cut of the proceeds.

You use a kettle for one cup?

I fill the cup and pop it in the microwave.

I wash brand new clothes usually, god only knows who tried it on in the store. So, no, not a "Thai thing"

Should add, that if I were going to cut something up, I would not be using a regular table knife and would never use when cooking or anything of that type. I use a table knife for buttering my toast but rarely for any food on my plate unless its steak and then I would use a steak knife.

Maybe its a "British thing"

And sometimes there are chemicals in the clothes and they can give a nasty rash. I know someone who bought some new underwear and wore them without washing them first. Had an odd rash for weeks.

Yes, always wash them first, you do not know where they have been or what they have been treated with.

Just on the Australian news, the case has been suspended indefinitely due to him being in the advanced stage of prostate cancer and he has been granted bail.

Suspend the trial is okay if he is genuinely unfit, but if they have the evidence no bail!

Maybe they dressed the lions up in those silly doggie jackets and brought them through as big pet dogs.

If that £18,600 is barely a liveable wage, how on earth do all the U.K. pensioners survive? The greatest majority get a lot less than that.

The U.K. income support level is also way below that figure too, yet there are people who manage on that.

They survive on a raft of welfare add ons to the state pension. Housing allowances, winter fuel allowances, independance allowances etc etc etc.

Just like families on low incomes receive welfare. Hence a minimum income requirement above which most would not receive welfare.

Those welfare add ons are a pittance.

Add to that the bedroom tax and the minimum interest mortgage rate that many cannot achieve so they also pay out extra each month.

Some people seem to believe all the crap doled out by the government about welfare scroungers getting a fortune and that pensioners are now so well off.

The odd case of some people who do get away with a lot are headline news and trumpeted as much as possible.

I know many pensioner couples who get by each month on a lot less than the stated amount.

That though is besides the point. The bar at £18600 has been set too high as far as I am concerned. many pensioners here in thailand would not qualify. Why/ Because their pensions are below the minimum required amount being talked about.

The current single basic pension = £5,587 per year.

Some get extra help but in no way do they get more than triple their basic pension in extras.

Weekly state pension allowances

(2012/2013)

Single person state pension allowance

£107.45

Married partner's state pension allowance

£64.40

Married coulple's state pension allowance

£171.85

Both partners with full individual entitlement

£214.90