ollylama

my religion: dudeism. they will magically transform any bathrobe into an official religious garment.

Dude! Is it possible that I have been practicing your teachings for years... and didn't even realize it?!

it's very possible. are you a fan of the big lebowski? head on over to dudeism.com

thanks! not sure what you mean by thrilling day of yesteryear - bad 80s fashion? these patches will be to help promote my religion: dudeism. they will magically transform any bathrobe into an official religious garment.

Until just a couple of weeks ago there was a computer-generated embroidery company on Moon Muang Soi 9. Now they're gone. Does anybody know where they went or where else in town there might be such a business? I wanted to get some embroidered patches made.

You will get your steak, beef from the Angus, the way you want at "the Neighbors".

A little patience.

where will 'the neighbors' be?

no, sorry. Warren

Jimmy

OP, what level are you looking for ? Also, are you teaching general English convo or something specific, such as for tourism, business, etc. ?

Actually all sorts of subjects - tourism, business, even engineering, of all things. There should be some website out there where teachers can pool their resources. Otherwise it's just a case of reinventing the wheel each time, right?

I've been scouring the net looking for complete lesson plans for adults, not just worksheet or activity sheets, but ready-to-use 2-hour lessons, mainly teaching conversation.

Does anybody know any good free resources?

Thanks!

May 13th 2008

Onshore rate: 32.17 (BKK Post)

Offshore rate: 31.91 (XE.com)

I believe, and correct me if I am wrong, the onshore rate is only used internally in Thailand and not recognized as the true rate by world markets. You can't even find the onshore rates in most international financial publications. It is one of the only, if not the only country to use this system. To me it makes no sense, If I bring cash to the country I get a higher exchange rate than if I was to transfer it in. These numbers also move independently of each other due to factors I don't yet understand. I remember not to long ago there was a difference of at least 3 baht between the on and offshore rates, the gap now seems to have closed substantially.

i think that was only when thailand imposed capital controls to stop the baht's rise. it backfired. anyway, seems that's all over with now. the onshore rate and the offshore rate are the same:

http://x-rates.com/d/THB/USD/graph120.html. not sure why xe.com is different.

as far as i understand it, it was due to supply and demand - when thailand imposed the capital controls the supply of baht outside the country grew smaller, or people thought it would grow smaller, and got more valuable in relation to the dollar. not sure exactly, maybe an economist can explain.

i've got the same problem. only youtube doesn't work - not other streaming video sites. i have tot. you? maybe they're blocking it to save bandwidth.

"One thing to keep in mind is that it *IS* medicine.. Herbal, chinese, sure, but there are medicinal properties to it, so take a little care when consuming more than a coupe thimble fulls of the stuff, especially if you're also on other medication(s)."

I most certainly agree Mr. Jefferson. I only recommend a couple to few shots at any one sitting. This is real medicine here and has is its origins in the native knowledge of the Thais, the Chinese, etc. Traditionally in Asia this type of drink is taken solely as a once or twice daily shot for health. At times where I've had a few more than that, the properties tend to mess up my head, and make it near impossible to sleep for several hours afterwards. Moderation is the best way to do it.

i think it's perfectly okay to get wasted on ya dong once in a while. it's only when you do it a few days in a row that you start to hallucinate and get tremors and shoot people from book depositories and the like.

anybody know exactly what herb it is in ya dong that seems so amphetamine like?

o

My old mate told me yesterday that I really should try pad thai. Too late - can't afford rice.

Great news for you, PB. You can try pad thai -- there is no rice in it!

sadly there is. pad thai noodles are made from rice flour.

enchiladas it is! which reminds me of that jack handey "deep thought"

If, as the mystics say, God dwells in each of us,

I hope he likes enchiladas

Cause that's what he's getting!

Yeah RTD, let's get down with some 'o that brew....

i'm in. what's the venue?

To me this all goes back to a little boy hollering wolf, and thinking he is god. WMD my azz

Either that, or the effects of selling food crops for bio-fuels, and the fact that the Indians and Chinese are buying much more imported food than in the past and they both have a huge population.

It doesn't look good at the moment for sure.

Yeah, I'm with UG. Actually, just about everyone is. That's pretty much the reason. Along with poor crop yields recently.

Guess it's time to start planting frankenfoods. It's better to be merely unhealthy than just plain starving to death. Save us Monsanto!

O

Is that the same as lao kao, the stuff you find in large jars and different colors and they scoop it out?

but yes, that's what i'm looking for. where have you seen it?

Is that the same as lao kao, the stuff you find in large jars and different colors and they scoop it out?

lao kao (literally "white liquor") is ya dong without the all the stuff that gives it color. you let all these chinese herbs soak in lao kao for a month and then you've got ya dong. lao kao tastes like paint thinner.

Dear Op,

The above comment was from a rare yet insideous tribe known as the grumpy old farts. They spend hours every day trawling these forums as they have nothing better to do. He didn't of course see you had only 15 posts and may not yet have achieved his high ranking in grumpiness or even be aware of the search function.

I read this a bit and I've never seen that subject come up so a good question. Plenty of Taekwondo, there is another that teaches a type of Bumese as well. Use the search at the top of the page to check if no one else responds.

Up yours Gravelrash. That's what the search tool is for.

boys, break it up or i'll have to som tam poo the both of you. hi-ya! (splat)

I've been here 15 years, but things seem rather dire at the moment in terms of cost of living.

not just here. all over the world. people are killing each other in Africa over gruel. last year the economist magazine had a big article about how global food prices were going to soar and i sort of glossed over it. but the implications are staggering. food is the number one "must have" commodity. bleak.

I used to enjoy sitting at a little bar on Moon Muang Soi 6, up the lane from Somphet market, whilst sampling fine vintages of herbal Ya Dong whiskey. All the different varieties were named after animals. Got me nice and wasted and I suffered nary a hangover.

But apparently selling ya dong was borderline illegal then, and my friend Chin who ran the place had to shut down. Ya dong bars have operated in other cities, though, notably Pai and have not been closed.

Anyhoo, is there any place in Chiang Mai proper at which one can sip this fine beverage in the company of local connoisseurs? I love the stuff. A health tonic that gets you drunk. Brilliant idea.

i know a rare martial art known as Som Tam Poo. Basically you eat a lot of som tam, and then you crap yourself, and then no one wants to go near you.

I'm a brown belt.

it doesn't end GTF.

the huge tragedy in burma is going to make things even harder on poor folks in thailand and the rest of asia. prices are going to go up quite a bit, apparently.

forget about subsidizing petrol (as the thai govt used to do) - they should subsidize rice!

but then of course, there would be hoarding, etc.

guess it's time to switch to bread pad gai. no kidding. probably cheaper.

That's all poison you're drinking my friends. Had a friend looking into exporting the swill into germany and had it analized as per govmt regulations and it turned out to be just grain alcohol with additives, flavor and color.

If you go for the cheap alcohol, then kiss your liver good bye.....

i always wondered why you never see sangsom in europe

vodka is grain alcohol. you see that in europe. want additives, flavour and colour? buy rum (caramel colour sometimes added). or just mix it with coke. you see all that in europe as well.

the myths associated with sang som are endless. the reason it's not exported to europe is because too few people actually like it.

i love it.

That's all poison you're drinking my friends. Had a friend looking into exporting the swill into germany and had it analized as per govmt regulations and it turned out to be just grain alcohol with additives, flavor and color.

If you go for the cheap alcohol, then kiss your liver good bye.....

why is cheap alcohol worse for your liver than good alcohol? alcohol is alcohol. just because you get a worse hangover from cheap alcohol doesn't mean it's worse for your liver.

after doing extensive research on the subject for an article i wrote it turns out that even severe alcoholics only run a 1 in 10 chance of contracting liver disease. and only one in ten of those actually die from it. so drink away! only problem is you'll probably die from other stuff like car crashes or falling down stairs or forgetting to eat food.

on the plus side as well it turns out that coffee protects the liver very well and prevents you from getting liver disease if you're a drunk. so drink coffee and booze!

but don't smoke cigarettes - that's the worst thing for your liver according to my research.

but don't take my word for it. look it up!

you mean a big bottle, right? not a small one ("ben"). I always buy small bottles and the price has been the same for a long time - 115 at seven eleven, ten baht less sometimes at other shops.

when did the price go up?

Dudeism

The most easygoing religion in the world, man.