Kitsune

Again I mention there are very simple techniques to build houses here in

way too hot Thailand that can cool themselves naturally.

there is no such thing that a house can cool itself below ambient temperature based on building technique for a prolonged period of time.

Maybe not in Bkk, if you have cooler temperatures overnight it can be done

One thing that wd work and I'm planning to do is a solar grid tie, basically a 1kw panel set up to cover the air con etc during the day. This cd potentially halve my electricity bill

where do you buy these ?

Yummy, spread on a loaf of white bread sprinkle salt on top.

But then I might not be able to finish my dessert!

Your dessert being full fat taramisu I presume ?

And realize that a lot of the stuff you were planning on bringing on the plane can be bought here more cheaply new, so you can actually use your baggage allowance for the most critical bits of what you would have shipped.

Also some airlines have promotions where they allow greater baggage allowance from time to time.

+1

Is that what we should all be working on ?

-

I don't think anyone's advocating for us adopting Thai cultural values. Just not using our own as a "right vs wrong" lens used to cast judgment, venting moral outrage over stuff that usually isn't important or doesn't affect us anyway.

When it is a genuine moral issue by objective standards and it does affect us, and we then want to make it our business to try to affect change, the go out and try to do so by communicating with the Thais, and good luck to you.

But B&M'ing about it here really doesn't accomplish much does it.

And saying "Thais are disgusting" because you saw someone picking their nose or spitting in the street is - well. . .

words fail me.

Oh OK so it's fine to stare at people constantly, ignore their "sawadika", discriminate them per race and consider our own race is superior ?

Have you seen how difficult it is to actually cross the road here?

This topic has been done to death but let me bring up some points that have generally not been raised by any posters so far:<br /><br />As has already been stated, there are plenty of ways to avoid dual pricing including speaking Thai, flashing your Thai driver's license and asking to speak to management. Of course an even better way would be to highlight this discrimination by writing a polite, but firm letter to relevant authorities and perhaps taking it further by publishing your experiences in a local newspaper in case your case is not heard or responded to favorably - this might actually stir up a positive change just like what happened when a reporter pointed out how the ferris wheel at Asiatique was trying to charge Thais a measly 50 Baht less than foreigners (Thais 200 Baht, foreigners 250 Baht), which eventually caused Asiatique to back down and charge everyone the higher rate. Of course it doesn't help when Asian foreigners are sometimes charged only the local price (and often don't have to do much apart from not talk to receive this privilege) because the Thais can't even tell the difference between themselves and other Asians and wrongfully assume the only foreign tourists in Thailand are westerners and perhaps a smattering of Indians and Africans when in fact the majority of tourists these days are from East Asian countries.<br /><br />Thailand should really start to move beyond this racist practice, by also considering that these days, Thailand has moved well into the realm of middle income countries so playing the race card by saying foreigners are rich is almost akin to admitting "Thailand is a poor country where everyone is poor, thus the locals should pay less than the foreigners". It's with this attitude that the country seems to be content with its position in the global hierarchy and thus doesn't seem to want to become more developed.<br /><br />Case in point that this practice needs to be urgently reviewed: virtually every Thai that can afford to visit a national park or an attraction such as Siam Ocean World has a car, often a new one. Now given that Thai car prices are higher than car prices in many western countries, the very fact that so many Thais can afford a car, even if it's financed means they have money and can thus afford to pay a reasonable amount for a ticket. It is thus ludicrous to rely on foreigners to subsidize the cost of entry - indeed, at many attractions in the countryside there may not be any foreigners visiting these attractions at all, so the extra income that a foreigner would bring is tiny and thus not worth it. The best price to charge would thus be one which is somewhere in between the current local and foreigner rates and thus eventually charge everyone the same. The argument that poor people would be left out is also just as ludicrous - first of all, even at current rates of say 40 Baht to enter a national park, poor people can't afford this and for the most part don't have time for leisure activities like this. Poor people are usually too busy working all day, every day to make a living in the rice fields, or as laborers etc. so clearly tourist attractions in Thailand are for middle and upper class people, who apart from having the financial means to visit these attractions also have at least some work-life balance, i.e. time to do so.<br /><br />China and Vietnam both stopped the practice of charging foreigners more for entry at all tourist attractions some years back (although in Vietnam the Hue Palace is one exception; though the price difference isn't huge, foreigners pay 55,000 Dong, whilst locals pay 35,000 Dong) and Vietnam is a much poorer country than Thailand, go figure! So if the Vietnamese could do it, why can't the Thais? How about China? Not only are most tourist attractions there much larger, more interesting and you get more value for money than anything in Thailand, but seniors upon showing their IDs, students (including foreigners studying in China and sometimes even foreigners studying abroad) will, upon showing their student cards be entitled to a student discount. In Thailand? Forget it - not only do seniors and students of foreign origin have to pay more than locals and the same as every other foreign adult, but locals in these categories are also discriminated against - I have never seen any senior or student discounts at national parks, museums or other tourist attractions only one rate for adults and another for children. So in summary, Thailand still has a long way to go in this respect.<br /><br />Fortunately though, unlike Myanmar, in Thailand there is generally one rate for all when it comes to hotels, plane tickets, bus tickets etc. except in the case of special promotions, which sometimes even entitle foreigners to discounts that locals can't access although conversely, the opposite is also sometimes true especially during peak local travel periods when locals and expats can get a special rate but not visiting foreigners (although the differences are usually small). Most recently I was listening to an ad on Met 107 for a 6900 Baht voucher for some kind of accommodation for Thais, expats AND ASEAN citizens? Hmm...why should ASEAN citizens also be entitled to this voucher especially if they don't have Thai work visas etc.?

Bloody hell mate you don't get charged the foreign price for writing in paragraphs.

lol

Well, OldSailor: "i am over 69 even though i am fit without any pre conditions."

If that's so true, why would you bother with insurance anyway?

I'm sure you could get some, though. Might be a payout of 100k baht with an annual premium of 1 mil baht, but would you really want it then?

He still need an insurance though

Didn't McDonalds bring in some new rule lately about only being able to stay for a maximum of 1 hour after purchasing food ?

They have many rules in Thailand that are not enforced.

Can you really see Thai staff confronting other Thais over the time spent in the restaurant ?

I was confronted by a Thai manager of a Starbucks for not making a "second purchase" because apparently it wasn't enough that I'd been there just a few hours earlier and bought / finished my drink (as well as having been a customer almost every week day for the past 6 months). I found THAT very rude. As was mentioned here already there are likely at least a few Thais at tables there who haven't bought anything. I didnt seem them telling anyone else that but me...the one farang that was there.

i see. so you are that guy who sat down for few hours after purchasing a single drink. every single day for the past 6 months. brilliant.

Yes the shareholders are scared now

Well those that control pools of capital in the largest quantities will certainly try to find ways to preserve the value of that capital if the dollar heads south.

Flight to other better-managed currencies will cause deflation in those countries.

Bottom line globally is too much liquid paper-wealth chasing too little real value.

The currently-minor currencies just aren't large enough to take up the slack worldwide, so then commodities - not least gold and real estate - will have to substitute. So major inflationary forces there, mostly hitting the poorly-managed currencies.

+1

US consumer advocacy groups need to put in the time and energy to raise awareness as they did with dolphin-safe tuna.

Unfortunately most people probably care more about dolphins than third-world poor, but maybe one day. . .

Dolphins are soon extinct not people

1. Purchase or otherwise obtain a few 1 litre containers (ice cream tubs do the trick)

2. Fill them with water or add salt as the latter has a lower freezing point therefore is colder. Be sure to leave space at the top to allow for expansion or the tub will split.

3. Freeze them.

4. Place one behind your usual fan & allow the cold air to be blown through the fan towards you.

5. Replace as needed.

You'll need an oven tray or similar to stand it on & a bowl beneath for the water but they'll keep you going all day.

HTH

do you have a pic of this?

they all love me

I think it's sad to discriminate cute kids

I personally love the rain

Welcome and best wishes

Not compared to a whole kilo of Swiss chocolate at one sitting. . .

or to a kilo of lard

There is a clinic here in Pattaya that offer a 15 item health check up for 500 baht, or a 27 item programme for 2,000 baht.

+1

lemongrass

Try working in a workplace where you are adding up, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers for hours and hours. By the end of the day, your brain turns to mash, and even simple calculations can hit a road block.

Best way to ensure you have the correct total is to add up in your head, and use a calculator to confirm the numbers.

even when no calculation is needed?

Yes can't believe there's a dedicated machine for this when a big soup pot will do.

For the health nuts, as long as you're not slathering it with butter, and choose a healthy oil, it's such a small relative amount as to make no difference.

For the rest of us not only melted butter but a little garlic-seasoned salt and fresh-grated Parmesan yumm.

Never did figure out how to get the crispy caramel coating the street vendors manage. . .

Fattening ..

National Thai Lottery site: http://hopes.glo.or.th/main.php?filename=index

I won $100K baht total less 3% tax on two tickets (2 X 50K) no issues. So what's your worry? Just play and have fun.

great

Some people would benefit from taking pride in their own 'culture' irrespectively of their location.

-

The wider definition is that of cultural anthropology and sociology, everything that shapes a people's way of life, how they think and act, including linguistics, beliefs, customs, norms and value systems.

What you're talking about, art and "high culture" is a completely different topic.

However your assertion of superiority of the west is a great example of the root cause of so much unhappiness, not just to many without-a-clue expats here.

I would be much more proud of my society's culture if its leaders actually tried to live up to its values. I know I can have a much greater impact on my own society than trying to impose my foreign values on Thailand, so that's where I would start if I wanted to be an activist.

Remind me of Thai values again ?

Last time I checked it was Money, Patriotism and Face.

Is that what we should all be working on ?

As a farang the second value is just nonsensical.

Leave us with money and face ...

Sorry for trying to give you answers to your questions.

I leave you to "discuss" with people who agree with you

Got to like this guy!

-

Either not actually Thai (on the Internet no knows you're a dog)

or taking the piss

or raised overseas and doesn't understand his own culture

or mentally disturbed

or something.

But what he says on this matter is pure &lt;deleted&gt;.

Wow you know better than the Thai themselves !

News flash : Farang is not just used to make sure they got the right person, it is a replacement for the words person/lady/gentleman/man/etc

-

News flash - this is a common and no-disrespect-intended linguistic feature of the Thai language, they often use these "objectifying" words rather than each others' names, especially in relaxed informal contexts, you're just being overly sensitive.

Now it's quite possible the Thais around you have no respect for you, can't argue about that, but that doesn't make the term itself derogatory from a linguistic POV.

"Pee" - someone older, "Nong" someone younger

"Ouan" - the fat guy, "Geh" - the old guy (nothing disrespectful about either, except to overly sensitive farang)

"dTua lek" and "Noo" - the little one

Also relationship words - we do the same as Thais with "Granny" "Uncle" etc.

It's only disrespect if you tell them you don't like it and they continue to do so to your face, but even then more likely they just forget, old habits are hard to break.

News flash : Our very own Thai contributor AnotherOneAmerican who is I repeat THAI says that (and I quote) :

In my country it is rude to refer to white foreigners as farangs.

Got to like this guy !