gavin310

I have one more question, if you don't mind. Let's say I'm with a friend (a girl) and somebody asks if she's my girlfriend. I want to reply with "no, only friends". Would that be "mai chai, puuan diiao"? (I know I could just say "mai chai faan" but I'm only using this situation as an example.) Thanks for all the help!

แค่ -

just, only, merely, solely, no more and no less.

Using the word only is full of pitfalls as anyone who has taught English will know.

I may be wrong, don't wish to sow confusion.

Thanks for this. From what I'm seeing แค่ / kae (rising) is used for lengths and distances. Good to know!

eng เอง is mostly used to express that you did something, as opposed to someone else, like going somewhere or doing something yourself ไปเอง / ทำเอง / ซื้อเอง.

diao is mostly used to express singularity. for example: one minute นาทีเดียว / one time ครั้งเดียว / being by yourself อยู่คนเดียว

hope this helps...

Perfect. Thanks for the explanation. It's difficult to learn things like this from a dictionary.

You could say "seu nam yang diaw"' which does correctly mean "buy only water" but you wouldn't ask for water using that phrase, it would however be the a normal way to answer the question "bai seu aria?" Meaning "What are you going (to the shop) to buy?".

Nevermind, I found the word. It's อย่าง (yaang). "Yaang diiao" is อย่างเดียว. It means "solely" or "one/only thing". I'm glad I know this now, it'll be useful. Thanks again GooEng.

You could say "seu nam yang diaw"' which does correctly mean "buy only water" but you wouldn't ask for water using that phrase, it would however be the a normal way to answer the question "bai seu aria?" Meaning "What are you going (to the shop) to buy?"

Thanks GooEng! That's what I wanted to know. I meant in response to someone asking what I'm buying, not how to buy water. Is ยัง the word you mean by "yang"?

Only is pieng, tair and townan

Diow 'alone' or 'on its own' not really translated as only

Eng is translated as 'by itself' or 'on its own ....... but usually for a person not an object.

Thanks. Do you know which of those words would be the most commonly used one if I'm saying "only buy water"? Or can you not answer that without context?

Wow.. too complicated.. Would never use those examples to buy water.. Kor naam plaou kwat krup Doo eng.. by yourself Duay. .. also/ with Yaak .. falling tone

Thanks for the reply. I'll simplify it and add more context. Say you tell your girlfriend that you're going to the store. She asks "suu arai?" I want to tell her I'm only buying water. Obviously I could just say "suu nam", but I want to include "only". Would I reply with "suu naam diiao" or "suu naam eng"? I don't want to specify if it's a bottle of water or anything like that.

I'm not taking any Thai courses, it's just my dictionary and my Thai friends, so some things are hard to grasp. Today my Thai friends had a hard time understanding what I was asking.

I'm wondering when to use 'diiao' and when to use 'eng'. For example, if I wanted to say, "I only want to buy water" would I say "pom yak suu nam diiao" or "pom yak suu nam eng"? In which context would I use both of these words?

Thanks for the help. I'll need to start up a Thai language course at some point, but for now I hope I can post on here when I have a question I can't get answered by my usual means.

Forgot, there's a new late night bar next to Tesco that is really popular called Por Nueng. It's not a nightclub, just a popular restaurant with live music and lots of drinking. People are much more well-behaved there than at the nightclubs. There's another new bar/restaurant/music place by the lake that's nicer (more expensive) than the others. It's called Riverside.

Oh and there are always many beautiful girls there. Just be careful to make sure a girl isn't already with a guy, and don't be too aggressive. You'll have many eyes on you at all times. That's how farang/Thai fights happen.

There are two nightclubs in Trat. One is called Kol Tol Mol Sam (not sure if that's how you'd spell it) and the other one is The Knight. They're Thai nightclubs but there's rarely problems with being a farang there, especially at The Knight. Kol Tol Mol Sam has a reputation for having younger kids drinking there, even some in their teens. There's been shootings and other problems before. The Knight is better. If you're at the market driving towards Tesco, keep going kinda far and it'll be on the right side of the road. Kol Tol Mol Sam is about the same distance, but the opposite direction from the market. Typical Thai nightclubs with tables and everyone drinking whiskey in their group, but it's really fun. If you're friendly and smile people will be friendly and smile.

Just kill the dam_n overgrown rats. You can't let them form packs. The Thai Buddhist mentality towards dogs doesn't work. No training, no punishment, and when one of your dogs has puppies you wait a couple months then take them about a kilometer away and turn them loose. When there's too many to deal with you turn your back and let the government kill them all. If you have sympathy for the aggressive street dogs then I'm assuming you've never had to deal with problem dogs.

I live on a small island. 99% of the trash on the beaches is from fishing boats. I've been on many boats and have seen it many times. You're finished with a plastic bag? Throw it overboard. Cans, plastic bottles, rice bags, empty cigarette packs... throw them overboard.

If you're concerned about tourists throwing their trash on the street, here's an idea... PUT SOME F'ING TRASH CANS OUTSIDE. I'm always perplexed at how few trash cans there are outside of Bangkok.

What is the "visa on arrival"? Is it like the Cambodian e-visa?

that blade looks pretty clean seeing as it has been used? who was kind enough to wipe the blood off then as surely it is evidence?

Blood doesn't typically stay on a blade after a stabbing, especially with a single stab wound. Pulling the knife out wipes the blood off. It's Hollywood that leads people to believe there will be blood on a knife after a stabbing.

Koh Mak is nice too and has many cheap options if you're not looking for resort style. From Laem Ngop there's a speedboat for I think 450 baht. The catamaran that is 350 baht isn't running right now, but should be soon. From Koh Chang you can take the slow wooden boat for 350-400 baht (350 if you book more than a day in advance from certain travel agents). Sorry but I don't know much about traveling to Koh Kood.

I use DTAC and when I visited Koh Chang I had decent 3G. Who is the strongest provider of 3G (a.k.a. fast 2G for now) on Koh Chang? I'm thinking it's True but I want to check here before signing up for any plans.

Slow down a bit. Who said the stab wounds caused his death? Who said he was stabbed by a local ?

Assuming is a very bad business, so is crucifying the place without having facts.

May he RIP.

Yeah. He was found with 4,000 baht still in his wallet and all his cards. Doesn't sound like a local...

He already has that, so I'm not sure why he needs those. He transfers to bank accounts often so he knows what he's doing. I sent him that link. Hopefully it will help. Thanks for that

Someone needs to send me money and they say they need my NCC (National Clearing Code) and possibly IBAN. I'm with Bangkok Bank. Does anyone know what these codes would be?

Aircards are really 3G and/or EDGE cards...that is, if a 3G signal is presence they will use that...if no 3G signal they will fallback to using EDGE. During the late 2011 floods I used an AIS 3.6Mb 3G/Edge Aircard along with a month's worth of unlimited 3G/EDGE service...the aircrad worked fine but unfortunately the place I evacuated there was no 3G coverage; only EDGE...averaged around a 200Kb download speed.

Wait, your EDGE connection was getting 200kb download speeds? That sounds like 3G speeds to me? The EDGE connection on my phone gets about 8 kb...

My guess is that Air Cards are depended of 3G and if there is no 3G available I guess they will fall back to EDGE.

That's my guess too, but I was hoping it worked differently. Right now I can tether my iPhone to my laptop, so I guess I have no use for an aircard. I live on an island with shoddy internet, so I'm trying to find a backup connection other than EDGE if the broadband goes out.

Does anybody know if 3G aircards work even where there is no 3G phone service? Finding any solid info on aircards seems to be impossible....

I'm just wondering, why can't you tell them you don't live there anymore? I've moved many times (within the USA) and changed the address well after I already moved. People move out of the country all the time. You haven't defrauded anybody. I really don't see why you can't tell them you've moved. Wells Fargo has always been a-holes about fees and penalties, but they're always great when you haven't done anything wrong or aren't pissed at them.

@gavin, strange that you weren't asked for a travel itinerary. When I went to get my Thai tourist visa in Phnom Penh back in July, I was offered a 3 day 2 night turnaround for $5 more than the standard fee of US$40 by giving my application to the guard outside. He also requested my itinerary showing flights both in and out of Thailand. Although he didn't specify which one he was after, I had flights both in and out of Thailand anyway so there were no problems here. The guard did check my itineraries thoroughly though. I asked if I could get the visa sooner, but the guard insisted it would only be back 2 days later in the afternoon (I submitted my application before the deadline of 11am that day).

I was told by a travel agency in town that the turnaround would be no less than 3 days as well but for about US$50. I recall the travel agency hinting at the need for some sort of airline ticket either into or out of Thailand, but since I decided it might be quicker to go to the embassy myself I didn't use their service.

I just told her right from the start that I didn't have itenerary. I knew from other threads that if I went into the embassy without it that I wouldn't get my visa. When she said that with itenerary it would be $47, I was expecting it to cost a lot more without, but she said $48. A friend of mine from France and myself did it at the same time, and we both didn't have outbound travel plans. We were guests at the hotel, so maybe she didn't try to price gouge us? The tour, bus, and visa prices at the hotel were cheaper than the travel agencies. Like for the bus from Phnom Penh to Koh Kong at the travel agencies was $9, but only $7 at the hotel.

That was my first time into Phnom Penh and I have to say, the Cambodians that deal with farang are the most dishonest people I've ever met. Even at the street food carts, I guarantee what I paid was more than what any Cambodian has paid. The tuk-tuk and motorbike taxi drivers are nothing but crooks. There's dishonest taxis in Thailand, but EVERY taxi in Cambodia tried to rip me off. Like asking for $12 for a 10 minute ride. A-holes.