speleo

Sorry to post about something so lame, but I can't wait for blog responses if I post this on there and this is kind of an emergency.

I went out to find a gym and sauna but it was a tanning place that had a rowing machine and that was it so I went for a walk around and went to the butchers to buy a haggis but I changed my mind after a minute in the que and went to Somerfield instead where I bought 3 oranges, a carrot, a bottle of mineral water and, without thinking, two big, fat, prime boneless salmon fillets because the sight of salmon makes me salivate and after all, 2.99 isn't bad - the thing is, how do I cook them?

I've already cut the carrot into batons and will steam them over some honey water and i'll get some potatoes on the boil after I post this which I will later mash up with some salted butter, a little cheddar and some cracked black pepper.

I don't know how to cook salmon fillets as I've never done them before, should I fryor grill them and for how long?

Please advise, the clock is ticking.

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Shallow fry on medium heat. 4-5 mins on the skin side then turn over and give them a couple of minutes on the flesh side. Stop cooking as soon as they have changed colour all the way through

Unfortunately I now know the Thai for 'fat bald monkey'.

Deep-fried bamboo worms (caterpillars) in batter. Honest...

My worthless opinion? Insurance fraud.

Leaving money lying around would be out of character for an Israeli.

Are they playing anywhere else in UK after that?

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Afraid not - just the one night.

I've been told that following this UK appearance they have some gigs in Germany, but I don't have the details.

Is she really talking like that?

It might mean you were not very clear in the beginning what she could expect from you. Maybe you were flashing with a lot of money before and now you are together it is not there. Whenever you meet someone just be clear what she can expect.

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I made it very clear what she can expect, hence her comments. I don't find it insulting as it is an accurate description of my personality

To be fair I must point out that the comments are made as part of a long running joke, not because I've been meaner than usual.

Thanks Bannork.

It's one of those phrases where I know what she means, but not what she is saying. Doesn't help when the 'Thai' being spoken is a very fast mix of slang, Lao, Northern, local dialect, pidgen English and badly pronounced Central Thai (e.g. every r becomes an l).

When I refuse to buy the girlfriend a 1 baht necklace she comes out with a series of insults including "kee nee-ow" "jai dam" and "kit tee".

I know the meaning of the first two, but she couldn't find "kit tee" in the Thai-English dictionary and I can't work it out on www.thai2english.com. My guess is that it is "selfish" - kit = think tee = who. It is possibly a Lao or Northern phrase.

Any hints as to what it means would be appreciated,

Yeovil Town.

Had a great evening in January last year watching them live on Thai TV in a small up country restaurant. They were playing a team called Liverpool. I think I was the only Yeovil fan in the place, possibly the only Yeovil fan in the province.

A quiet day at work so have waded through the 38 pages of this thread to find that, apart from HarryHacker's GF on 23/07, Neeranam on 09/08 and RDN on 14/09, I'm the only one listening to luktung and morlam: Jintara, Mike Piromporn, Banyen, Yu & Rock Sarderd, Job & Joy, Siriporn (or as the GF pronounces it, to my childish amusement, Silly Porn).

The electrician came buy now tonight. Nothing wrong with his work, even though he said something about it burning because something was out of date, then cut the burnt cable-sections and twisted them (side-by-side, not 'meating ends', but that is just preference I guess) and covered with electric tape. Nothing bad on him...but I cannot help to wonder if now the cables was out of date (or whatever he meant) then it's just a waiting-period until it burns again...

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I wouldn't have paid someone to just twist the ends together and cover the join with tape - I can do that myself as safely as any qualified or Thai electrician

Follow lopburi3's advice and then I suggest you get another, trustworthy, electrician in before your house catches fire. However, don't ask me where to find such a person.

Thai Airways International (THAI) yesterday lashed out at Singapore Airlines (SIA) for the ``unethical'' practice of charging substantially lower fuel surcharges on air tickets than the industry standard. Wallop Bhukkanasut, vice-president for sales and distribution at THAI, said SIA's move was a breach of the ethics guidelines of the Board of Airline Representatives in Thailand (BAR), in which both airlines are members.

And I find it 'unethical' that the airlines have a cartel which are setting surcharges. Does the cartel also set the ticket prices?

Wouldn't this be illegal in the States or Europe? I appreciate that in Thailand they can do what they want, but the cartel is setting prices on sectors to Europe, etc.

street copper . .I think I read it was around 9,000 (plus 90,000 in bribes)

If I understood a drunken conversation correctly an army major (or was it the captain?) was on a salary on 10,000 baht/month. Probably had 'other business interests' to support his lifestyle.

Thais don't seem to be as uptight as westerners when it comes to discussing income.

Compare that to what you spend for a night in, say, a 4-star hotel. Just your bar or pool-side snack bill is almost certainly more than what the waiter/receptionist/driver makes in a day.

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Many of the staff would be paid less than the price of two bottles of Heineken for a day's work.

As an example in a small bar in northern Thailand the staff are paid between 100 and 150 baht for a 7 hour shift, plus tips, though the new employee was on 80 baht. The cook is paid 200 baht. Helps explain why many see prostitution as a tempting financial move.

Agricultural work: handpicking chillis - 10 baht a kilo.

Devil

You could try ESRI Thailand - they sell an electronic map suitable for a Garmin GPS. You need a Garmin Quest or similar due to the amount of memory required (over 80 MB). Can't remember the details, but cost of the map for the whole country was around 11,000 baht. The Garmin Mapsource software has a real time interface to a GPS unit. Fugawi and OziExplorer are two other well known moving map software packages with GPS interfaces.

The MapMaker CD-ROM map is good. It is the most detailed road map that I've found for Thailand though it looses it a bit in the border areas. However, it can't interface with a GPS. Available from eThaiCD for USD13. Someone might know how to get this to work with a GPS.

Dig up the road - if it's full of potholes there is a slight chance they might slow down. However, you're going to have to dig really big holes to slow down a Thai truck.

One of the more unique things you see in Thailand are street vendors with a cart of hanging dried squid. You pick out the size you want with small ones 10 baht and they go up to very large sizes. They grill it on the spot over charcoal and then roll it through a press till it is flat. Comes with a spicy peanut sauce. I have to say I really like these. It's kind of like beef jerky, only squid. A good snack and goes well with beer. What do you guys think?

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One of the World's great beer snacks.

Has anyone tried the sugar coated barbequed fish sold by the squid vendors - a bizarre culinary experience.

Lom Sak has been flooded for the past week.

And so is Phetchabun town, if I understood the conversation correctly...

Weather report from northern Phetchabun on Sunday:

"fon tok took took wun"

Mae Hong Son-Chiang Mai tunnel proposed 

...construction of a tunnel, which would slash the journey time between the two provinces.

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The idea of Thai drivers in a long Alpine tunnel....

mostly rodents such as rats etc are the carriers; bats carry something similar (hence the cave disease, one of many)

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Drinking beer straight fom the bottle might put you at risk of leptospirosis if rats have run over the crates and p1ssed on the bottle tops. However, this might be an urban myth...

Incidents of leptospirosis from caves have been blamed on rats upstream of the cave. Bats (and birds) transmit histoplasmosis, which is a nasty lung disease, via their sh1t . This disease hasn't been recorded from SE Asia.

Yes, chuchok, but other animals as well.

Outbreaks of leptospirosis are usually caused by exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals. Many different kinds of animals carry the bacterium; they may become sick but sometimes have no symptoms. Leptospira organisms have been found in cattle, pigs, horses, dogs, rodents, and wild animals. Humans become infected through contact with water, food, or soil containing urine from these infected animals. This may happen by swallowing contaminated food or water or through skin contact, especially with mucosal surfaces, such as the eyes or nose, or with broken skin. The disease is not known to be spread from person to person.

Also, there are some other symptoms to look besides those already mentioned including high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, diarrhea, or a rash.

Finally, for treatment, Leptospirosis is treated with antibiotics, such as doxycycline or penicillin, which should be given early in the course of the disease. Intravenous antibiotics may be required for persons with more severe symptoms.

Bottom line is to avoid cow piss, dog piss, pig piss, and rat piss. Human piss is ok, but I would still avoid it on principle...  however it can't transmit Leptospirosis.. 

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It's not only Isaan farmers who are at risk. In October 2000 a Brit tourist died from leptospirosis/Weil's disease thought to have been caught in a cave in Mae Hong Son. [For reference search under weil's and thailand on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/].

what is a stock lang.; i'm anthro/ oriented but have not heard the term?

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I think Mattnich means it is a language for speaking to stock i.e. animals.

Where I come from farmers use a dialect derived from classical Anglo-Saxon and the occasional Old French word when working with animals.

Do not be too forward, the girls are not whores like the go-go bar girls,

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OK, perhaps a slightly naive/careless comment, but Backpack is also being slightly cynical. Some, maybe most, of the girls will have a price, but it will be higher than the price you would pay at the massage parlour. However, if you think (and behave as if) every woman working in every karaoke bar is a whore then it wouldn't be a surprise if you attract trouble from the Thai males.

Just wondering if anyone has had any interesting experiences with the Thai Karaoke bars. There are plenty around and I am assured many do not object to the farang (especially if accompanied). Im fairly curious as with most things so, anyone got anything to say on the topic? Cheers

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Have done a fair bit of research on karaoke bars. I haven't been accompanied by Thais at any of them.There are two types - ones where you do the singing and ones where the girls do the singing.

The first type tend to be cheap 'n' cheerful, often just a bamboo shack on the outskirts of town. Girls will have a chat and make sure your beer glass is full. If you can sing there are usually English tunes on the machine and you will be a big star if you give them a couple of songs. As they make most money from the food order a couple of dishes to keep the owner happy. The posher, air conditioned karaoke bars found in towns and hotels are more expensive. These often have private rooms for you and your mates to sing in. Take one of these rooms if you want the girls to look after you. The staff in these places are (usually) not 'professionals'.

The singing girl or 'naclong' bars are more classy and more expensive. The girls do the singing. As a rule of thumb the worse the singer the less clothes she wears. If you like a girl send up some garlands up to the stage when she is singing and she'll keep you company all evening. However, take the time to suss out the joint. If a Thai is sending up garlands do not try to steal his woman by sending up garlands of your own. Try not to be too flash with the baht as this will also cause resentment from the locals. Do not be too forward, the girls are not whores like the go-go bar girls, but if you get along it might be possible to negotiate something for after the bar shuts. Always a good idea to check the bill (at least the number of beers consumed if you can't read Thai) as they have a habit of inflating the bill.

Never had any trouble from the Thais, only the usual drunks coming across for a chat. A couple of times I have been so drunk myself one of the girls has had to give me a lift back to the hotel on her 'bike. In many places the karaoke bars are the only places you can get a beer or food after 9 pm.

One final observation: all the bars seem to run by women or katoeys.