thaibites0

Well, maybe finger probs too!

Sorry, computer probs!

Sure Mike,

You must know Wat Nong Bua with the famous chedi, Wat Nong Bua

is on the outskirts of Ubon Ratchathani on Highway 212 Ubon-Amnat Charoen. At the third kilometer of the highway, there is an 800 meter side road leading to the temple. It is the only temple in this province that has a rectangular chedi built in an imitation of Chedi Buddhakhaya.

Driving from Tesco Lotus to BigC turn left at the first set of traffic lights and then take the first left, it is a small side road ending in a 't' junction. Look to the right and you will see the sign in the pic. Plenty of parking space inside and NO CHARGE!

Having turned left at the lights you are on the road to pass the market (on the right) and the Temple (on the right - can't miss that chedi!) and the turn of for a swathe of restaurants including staff city (well signed).

Places open and close all the time Jay, I know of no new places worth mentioning but that does not mean there are none.

The Laitong hotel does a great buffet lunch - all you can eat for B150! Most of the big hotels do buffet lunchs' and some of them are B50 a time.

For a real Thai meal try 'kha moo dang' at the place opposite Ubon plaza - a firm favourite!

Want to see the orchids Jay? Since my wife retired she has taken up gardening to pass the time!

Whoops, I seem to have stretched the page!

Here is a view across the lake and one of those tiny buildings you see is Staff city Korean BBQ or 'nur yang Koree' - nice place with live music if you want it and seating outside if the weather is good and you fancy some peace and quiet!

Hi Jay,

Good luck with the happy event in April, say hello to your wife for me.

The park ----

No problem getting you a few pics Jay, I will put the batteries on charge right now. I drive past the main entrance where that sign is every morning and then up past the road to 'Staff city' so I will get you a few pics.

Do not worry about bisto n herbs, we use them sparingly and really do have half left - enough for a good few months!

Trying to organise another do but my offer seems to have gone down like a lead balloon, have to wait and see! Staff city? Well, it's right here - lots of other venues to be had - Sepsoi9 is a favourite too.

Having been here a few years I can tell you that the number of Farangs now here in Ubon has increased exponentionally over the years and a lot of them are willing to meet and greet, meeting people in 'Tesco Lotus' or 'BigC' is not the same as a group get together where you can forge long term friendships.

There will ALWAYS be the guys that are insular and here to just live out a sad live to completion but there are also guys that would love to meet other Farangs outside the confines of 'swing' on the main road. We have other Falang places that we are not allowed to mention because the Falang owners will not sponser this site.

Do you think that living in Ubon as a Falang makes anybody different to living in Surin and going to FC?

OK, I will organise a get together similar to the last one - got 2 choices for venue, the same as last time where the guy now does an all you can eat buffet (so many choices of dishes I couldn't list them - Farang food too!) for B95 or 'Staff City' with standard 'Korean beef' fare and cocktails at a charge per suit.

I will organise transport where needed and lodgings where needed - sort out the venue for special considerations if we get enough takers. Anybody interested? Sometime next month on a weekend? Name the day and I will see what I can do - I ALWAYS say hello in Tesco Lotus and agree that most people look at the floor with a mumble and move on! Not my fault.

I went to AOD (the last get together) with my wife on Saturday night to eat my fill of the buffet and greeted the single Falang in there - got a mumble and an eyes down!

Lets see who's up for a get together here! Marco is somewhere screwing penguins inside the antartic circle? How you doing Marco? You never phoned me for the coffee!

Sorry Jay - missed the post! Been busy recently.

The park has been opened a good few years now but they are always adding to it and the structure with the date on shows the date that structure was built - 2547, it is a firm favourite for healthy people to walk, jog or run around - they recently extended it all the way up to the road fronting 'Staff City' Korean beef place.

It is a lovely place to spend a couple of hours with the family and we have been a few times - when you came to my house it is behind us from the main road - a few houses in between but lots of ways in to the place, the border patrol family quarters are right next to the main one.

I have no pics but would be willing to go get some for you if you want. It is a big lake, Thai's just love water!

Half way through the 'bisto' and mixed herbs by the way!

Thai.

You could try the website -

http://www.khonkaen-hotel.com/home.asp

And then email them -

http://www.khonkaen-hotel.com/other.asp?id=6

I just mailed them - got a reply too! They are on the ball!

The wonders of google!

Just how the h_ll do you think macb will get to 10,000 posts and earn a gold star if you lock all his posts into this tiny little corner?

How do you take it from the worlds Police? How do you say 'excuse me, would you mind going home now' to the country with the biggest arsenal in history?

Who would dare to do it? The Japanese or the Phillopines or S Korea or Germany et al - just who would dare to say 'get out' ?

How would the very sick Castro word his letter to ask for that part of his country back and who thinks he would get it?

Politics and hate Gary? Surely it is just history here, might not be taught in the schools now but US bases in Thailand was a fact - the only thing that is hidden is what those bases did.

For a country that has never been invaded (except the invasion 400 years ago) there seems to be a lot of US bases around the world.

Should we tar the UK government with the same brush (I do - Mr Blair needs to be on the same gallows) as we do our beloved leader?

Try making a list of US military bases and start with the arch enemy 'Cuba' - just how do you get a military base in a country you hate?

@ Hastings.

When all is said and done it really does come down to you. Most people here think you are being ripped off but it really is down to you - if you love her and she loves you, I guess you follow your heart but if you are following your dick you are in for a whooping.

You do not seem to read the thread you posted but it might be router probs again so I apologise for the insinuations - if she's real, she is taking you to the cleaners even before the marriage.

The family are getting buffalo or cattle - that is pure Issan and 10 of them makes them VERY wealthy, no problems with that if the other residents look upon you as a friend but if you are deemed a fool it will give you problems forever!

Again I stress that her records are still at the embassy and her chances of getting a visa are very remote - you think it will be easy but I assure you there will be difficulties in getting her over to the states!

My wife and her family befriended by an Australian Major that just wanted to chat to real people - he was stationed in Ubon during that fiasco and wanted something other than the NAAFI or the girly bars, he writes to the whole family often and there is always a Christmas card for all of the extended family.

We have been to visit him in Sydney but at 86 years old he is joining the other vietnam vets - just memories now. One would have to wonder just why so many American servicemen were stationed at chiayaphum if it was just a Thai airforce base and visited 'rarely' by the American airforce!

Sorry, no real info on chiayaphum as an American airbase but then again I guess it is very deeply buried - much like Saddam now - bad news needs a VERY big shovel.

Our resident expert (so easy to be an 'expert' on the key board - mai pen rai Chai krup?) has given you the best lead - talk to the guys that were there, they might be few and far between now but there were a lot of them stationed there!

There are VFW stations here in Thailand but you would be looking for the older members. I guess VFW is a growing business everywhere - what a pity that they never actually go home when the war is over. Still, lots of money to pay for all those bases isn't there?

Where is 'hastings' - he was here for most of the first replies! Why has he disappeared?

No info - no sort of reply?

It smells of goats bottom to me - is he under a bridge?

Yes Lite beer - that's where most of them live, some of them live in a dark cellar in the darkest corner of BKK but we never talk about those one's!

can anyone enlighten me on the role of the us military base in the town of chaiyaphum,where my dear wife used to pilfer scraps of food with her 9 brothers and sisters as they lived next door to it.....thanks

Yes we can , it was there to carpet bomb innocent civillians in Laos and Coambodia - read the papers and maybe do a rethink about the quagmire in Iraq!

first thank you all for taking the time to respond to what has been one of the most aggrevating things i have experienced since coming here, some very good ideas and i plan on acting on at least two of them, wish you the best

jasper

Just entering 'mor lam' on google got 900+ hits, do not mix up 'mor lam' with traditional Thai dancing - 2 different things - mor lam can be danced by anybody and the hand movements are as the dancer wants them to be!

Traditional Thai dancing is similar to Ballet in the west but run of the mill mor lam is everybody getting up and enjoying themselves. There are styles that will become shows and there is the local village party - everybody from Issan likes mor lam!

consider myself lucky - my wedding ceremony for the closest family and friends (40 pax) at my mother in law house was some 15k baht + 9k wedding rings, no special outfits, no pictures, a symbolic 1 or 2k dowry.

My wedding to a city dweller 13 years ago cost about 50,000 Baht but our house was full of family from all over the country for a week.

My wedding to a village dweller 25+ years ago that took place on the farm and in our city house cost 20,000 Baht and our house was full of family from all over the province for a week!

I know inflation takes it's toll but 700,000 Baht to marry an Issan village girl? I think that is kicking the arse out of it!

Why has 'hastings' not posted again? He is logged in ----

here look - l l l

\/ \/ \/

Hastings . I hope I am wrong but as your GF went to America 5 years ago to marry another American and he cleared off,could it be that he did a runner because he realised she was a gold digger.

STAY WELL CLEAR.

Where did this information come from? I saw nothing about the G/F being in US for 5 years.

Hastings is logged into this thread - why no more posts?

OK - Found it.

Your future wife is going to find it VERY hard to get another visa to the US - imagine shelling out 700,000 Baht and only seeing your wife on rare visits to the land of very wide smiles!

Providing 'hastings' is not writing these posts from under a bridge somewhere!

This is FAR too much for a 'village born girl to be asking from her future husband, the very fact that you are here questioning it should ring a few bells for you.

If she is from a village you are just about to shell out 5 years total income for the family in one fell swoop and your chances of getting the 'show money' back into YOUR bank account after the fact is VERY remote.

It all comes down to just how much you love your future wife and how much you are willing to gamble on her love for you, if you can afford to lose the money it is purely a test to see if she really is the one for you.

What does she hold a degree in? What does she do for a living at 28yo living in the city? She speaks 'perfect' English? That is VERY unusual for a girl that has not been married to a 'Farang' before - you got the background?

Worst case scenerio? You turn up for the wedding and there is nobody there, you'r down 700,000 Baht and holding a ticket for her to the states. Who are you going to make a complaint too?

Best case? You get married to her and raise 4 kids over the next 40 years with frequent trips back to the village to see that the 10 cows/buffalo have increased over the years to a herd of 400!

I go with Gary A here, the guy sells pizza from the back of a truck and everything will be in the wifes name. He knows it's wrong to do it but does it anyway - HIS business and being gay or not does not enter into it - Thai's have a soft spot for 'Khatoeys' and if he is gay it would probably increase his business!

I sold pizza about 15 years ago from a resteraunt - they make a GOOD profit here! The Mozzarela is expensive but you buy in bulk and it gets cheaper.

Why would you need to 'discretely' tell him that it is illegal marshbags? He knows it is but still does it.

I too would just buy a piece to see how good they were - anything would beat the crap that our local 'pizza company' serves since the guy split from 'pizza hut' - such disappointment on the last visit!

Perfect Nikkijah! Thank you very much.

Looks like it will be just me and the 170 Thais that I am travelling with, I guess roast beef, roast potato's and mushy peas with gravy was just a pipe dream!

Still, it looks like it will be a very restfull few days. Went to Koh Chang last year and enjoyed it so maybe the peace of Koh Kuut will be just as enjoyable in a different way!

Thank you again.

If my work permit and Thai drivers license does not get me into the sights with the Thai's I am with at the Thai entry fee I guess I will miss the sites on Koh Kuut too!

I have done the net search and came up with just 2 pages from the same dive company, anybody got info on shops/shopping or Farang centres? I do not need hotel or travel info, just places to visit to buy a few things and maybe a Farang food restaurant or bar.

Travelling next week and would appreciate any input.