leftcross

one thing you may want to consider if your wife is of small stature is that the baby will be unusually large for her body to push out. this could lead to a loss of elasticity (i believe the medical term is 'soggy welly top').

not something either of you want.....

my wife gave birth at bkk christian with c section for around 36k and that included three days and four nights stay in the hospital. the service was excellent. actually after i paid my bill they telephoned me and said they had charged me a couple of thousand too much and i hadto return for a refund

the reason we chose to go private is because we were given quick, professional care throughout my wife's pregnancy. we did look into going to a thai hospital (chula) but we had to wait ages to be seen and just gave up on the idea.

also there can be a big difference to the scarring on a c section. my wife's scar is very small and hardly noticeable - which was worth the extra money alone (from her point of view).

as gunnyd points out though (so sorry to hear about your situation) there could be problems if things go wrong. that's just one of the drawbacks with being in thailand in general though - no safety net. i would have my next baby in bkk too.

i could never send my child to a catholic school, even a fake one in name only.

buddhist yes, but never, ever catholic. i often wonder why the thais are so keen on this branch of christianity.

in fact, a thai lady i know is a catholic once asked me if i was. i told her i was a protestant but she had never heard of it!!! makes you wonder how deep the thai style of catholic faith goes and how much is just for show

sirimongkol's nickname is ''Oh'' so that's what they probably mean

where teh hel_l are we supposed to watch it at?

youtube?

im sure its on a bittorrent site or something

i just got a dvd from the uk with, among other things, a short tv film called ''the thai bride''.

it is only 30 minutes long but i thought it was absolutely brilliant (except the main actress looks a bit like a filipino).

not sure if this is on the net somewhere but if you get the chance to see it i reckon you'll like it.

dont want to mention the plot so i dont spoil it.

it's a drama/horror by the way.

But any form of confrontation is disliked by the Thai people, and our negotiating a cheaper entry causes much embarrassment to our Thai wives, girlfriends, mothers in law etc. Not a pleasant way to start what should be a happy family day out.

wrong! bargaining is a key part of thai culture - watch the haggling at a market. it is not confrontation to try and get the best price for yourself.

siam ocean world has operated double pricing since the first day it opened.

however, if you have a thai driving licence they will let you in for thai price.

walked near ''ripleys beleive it or not'' in patters a few weeks back, a thai woman dressed as a witch showed me a card with the prices on asking if i wanted to go in. it said 780 baht in english and when i flipped it over there was thai script and the witch said ''same same''. but i read it and it said 580 in thai, so i asked her in thai why she was cheating me. strangely, she lost the ability to speak, even when i repeated it in front of my wife (who was coming up the escalor behind me).

when my wife was pregnant, i always used to make a point of saying how dangerous it was for babies to be carried on motorbikes. she always agreed...

when my son was six months old we took him to visit her parents. one morning i was laying in bed and the wife shouted that she was going to the market with her mum. now the market was 500m and i knew neither of them would walk it. i presumed my little lad was going to be left with me.

i got up and my son was there and they were getting ready to put him on the bike with them. i asked what she was doing, then told her ''no way''. i pointed out he could stay with me while they went.

anyway, i took me son into the back room and my wife followed and said i needed to apologise to her mum (who was going to be riding the bike!) because she was an elder and i shouldnt have told her not to do something.

i said my primary concern was my son's safety, not the mother in laws feelings and a big row erupted.

nobody went to the market and the mother in law didnt speak to me for the rest of the day.

in the evening i told he that i knew she was a good motorcyclist and she would take care of my son but there were no gurantees about the other drivers (i really wanted to ask her how she could be so stupid and thoughtless)

there was a truce.

the next day we all went out in the car and saw a pickup smashed into a pole on a straight road. i think she realised, but i was surprised she didnt know already.

i paid about 9,000 for my first year at Cali WOW and now pay 1,800 per year to renew it.

all it takes is a bit of negotiation in a nice manner.

i'm 6ft 2 and 14 stone and there is no way i could drive a corrolla, vios etc. i got in them in the showroom and they were like toys cars.

the prerunner is a perfect fit, plus it feels a lot safer to have my little boy in the back of one of these. you have better view of the road, fuel economy is good .... and they look impressive too. best ''car'' i have ever owned by a long way.

the craze for mercedes always brings a smile -they are for old men in england! wouldnt be seen dead in one for another 40 years....

Depends where you are in Bangkok for convenience. Bodyshops are everywhere. Just pop into one and get a quote.

The one I used to use is right at the end of Sukhumvit 71. Hang a left onto Petchburi road at the Khlong Tan intersection and it's first or second small soi on the left. Doesn't look like much but they do a great job.

cheers. how much do they normally charge for this sort of work? i'd like a figure to start with rather than trying a few shops to get a realistic amount.

im in sathorn but was down soi 71 today. anywhere will do within the city limits if someone can recommend that they do a good job.

today i backed my black pre-runner into a parked motorcycle and got two big scratch marks about 10cm each just above the off side wheel arch.

does anyone know a decent place in bangers to get this sorted out? i'll pop down to the toyota dealership on tuesday but if anyone has somewhere to recommend in the mean time i would be most appreciative.

depends where the mother is from. if she is from isaan then nose will probably be like the electric socket. bkk and northern mothers are more likely to have kids with a noticeable nose.

i didnt want a thai name for my son as a thai name doesnt travel well. give a kid an english name from the start and it will avoid a lot of problems in the future.

thai names are also supposed to be chosen by the monks according to date born etc etcbut i wanted to choose it myself.

i would, however, call my second son (if im lucky enough to get one) Luke ... which the Thais wouldnt have any trouble with.

poor selection? the website says they got pretty much ever ufc from 53 onwards! not to mention the bushidos, and adcc highlights....also instructionals from marcelo garcia and mario sperry! id say thats pretty damned good for bangkok!

Sorry to send ya on a wild goose chase, i had no idea that they moved location, but thanks for finding the website and new location for us!

Yeah, my mistake. I didn't look closely that it was mutiple pages! BTW, he said they are in aisle 2 at J2J, but not sure which section. If anyone needs his phone number feel free to PM me, as I don't think we're supposed to put phone numbers on here.

it's a shame that shop closed down because it always got the UFC/Pride cards in quickly.

the only problem was that they used to have a load of gay vids on the other side of the shop.

once i went in and got a UFC dvd and these two fairy boys (one old farang and one teenage thai) were looking a the gay vids and spotted me with the mma book. of course, most of the mma dvds have half naked blokes on the covers and these two characters were giving me the eye!!! now im a good looking bloke but this freaked me out!!! hopefully the J2J stall will be ok!

sounds interesting.

how many people are you allowing for the course in bkk?

could get together a few lads for this......

lad wouldnt touch a bottle, had big tantrums anytime one went near him.

however, we then tried a cup and he loved it.

the bottle isnt the be all and end all.

getting a thai passport is quite easy for the nipper. just use the thai one to leave thailand and the UK one to enter UK. best to show both passports when checking in either way.

strapped into a seat belt on your lap that threads through your belt.

sky cot has a strap inside that can secure a baby during turbulence.

yes, it's your choice but many parents would think three months is too young to take a baby on a long haul flight.

just flew to the uk and back with a six month old boy.

you have to have the baby strapped in while taking off and landing, and also while the seatbelt sign is on. you wouldnt be able to hold the baby while taking off or landing.

we just used the skycot thing, it worked fine. lad slept for a while but he was awake most of the time. didn't cry once as i just took him around for a walk whenever he was bored (good for me too). there were plenty of other kids on there too and no-one had a car seat - seems unneccessary to me.

i would think the chances of a luk krung being loved in a stable family environment, with both parents and a steady income to give them a comfortable standard of living and a bright future would be higher than those from thai-thai households. that's a good thing isnt it?

i think these kids will make a valuable contribution to thai society when they grow up. that's what i am teaching my son to do.

thai rath said today that the girls were probably brought over here by russian/thai mafia (working together maybe) to be prostitutes. however, the girls thought better of it once they arrive and decided to have a two week holiday instead, hence the lead poisoning on the beach.

the wife saw the picture of them sprawled out and said 'they are prostitutes because they are drinking mekong whiskey'. what a lovely thought.

we should always have an englishman in charge.

they show old ufc fights but not pride.

wwe is not a sport.