The Dude

Totally agree with above comments

soic, hate to break it to you, but that happens quite a bit with Thai families too. In fact, more often than not, I'd say.

No truer words have ever been spoken

The Dude, no tats. The Dude's hot gf, no tats. Both will never ever get cause they have no shovels reserved for tats cause they no dig. Tats for others are cool by The Dude though and will toss shovels to anyone who digs. Dig?

The Dude=44. The Dude's Super Hot gf=21. Need to keep numerous shovels on hand cause very diggable and hot. 3 years running strong. No hitches, no glitches, no problems

Wow Donna, what a living nitemare! The Dude reserves the right to withhold shovels for living in that kind of hel_l cause he cannot dig it. Congrats on moving to Phuket cause it rules. I hand you a shovel for your Phuket move because it is diggable

####1 MTV

Pushing Hip Hop culture on Thais youth is hands down the worst of the worst. Soccer and fast food very tame compared to MTV. The Thai youth thinks hip hop is oh so cool

And I bet you've forgotten what it is like to be young.

Edited to say: it's Ragnarok, not 'Ragnorak' greenwanderer.

Hip Hop has nothing to do with being young. MTV is selling dog poop and has convinced folks that dog poop tastes good

The Dude agrees that bar girls are cool and looking for a way to a better life for themselves and their family. The Dude would like to hand the OP a shiny new shovel cause he digs what he has to say. Dig it TP exP

The Dude posts more pics of is beloved Cuba. He has tears welled up in his eyes cause he misses the place so much. What a wonderful country. Perhaps the day will come when it will be as accesible as Thailand and The Dude will secure his retirement spot there and never look back. Ah Cuba! In one pic below, The Dude swims in Cuba with hot chicks. Hardly any motorcycles, ah what a pleasure. A much more mellow and most popular mode of transport, the horse cart. Not many cars in Cuba either and the ones that are there are generally american from the 50s and small Soviet Lada cars. A super hot Cuban chick with green eyes that works the local store. The Dude fancies this hot honey in a massively diggable way. yes believe it or not a town in Cuba near The Dude's old stomping grounds. I love you Cuba. The Dude with tears in his eyes posts pic of his sweet ex gf. The Dude's ex gfs back yard family piggy with baby piggies. more tears. playing baseball in Cuba. everyone is welcome to play. more tears. real nice hot chick cruising around with The Dude. did I mention tears? A real cool Cuban Dude. No one ever asked anything of The Dude other than to be his friend. A truly unique place

The Dude would like to apologize but he cannot go on with this post as he had planned to. tears are running down his face now. This has been far and away his most difficult post. The post is to be treasured.

***all pics property of The Dude Dig It Enterprises Inc. not to be used w/o permission

The Dude would like to know what the fascination is with tattooing. He has no shovels for tattoos because he can't figure out why persons like to put permanent marking on perfectly good skin. Can someone help The Dude out on this one?

Italian pizza rules.

Beg to differ -- NEW YORK Pizze rules.

As I understand, pizza was actually invented in NY by Italian immigrants. There was/is a somewhat similiar Italian dish (bruschetta or foccia-something or other, I forget which) from which it is descended. They way I got the story, growing up in NY, was that in Italy there are long lunch breaks and people went home to eat, but once in NY the men were working long hours and had to eat quickly on the job, so the wives came up with pizza, which is much more substantial than its bread with a little sauce & cheese predecessors since it was meant to serve as a complete meal.

Anyhow -- us native New Yorkers consider pizza to be native cuisine. Unfortunately it is not possible to get 100% New York pizza outside of NY because apparently the NYC water is essential to the flavor of the dough (same story with bagels). Even a NY chef using the same ingrediants but in a different state can't do it. I recall talk of actually importing NYC tap water to try to rectify this problem in parts of the US with a large NY expat community, but of course cost would be considerable.

Anyhow -- forgetting the water problem -- where can one come as close as possible to NEW YORK pizza here? Ronnie's? (where on Nana is it?) and 2 related questions:

- where, oh where, can one get a cannoli???

- what is it with the putting bechamel sauce in the lasagna? Even the supposedly authentic Italian places are doing it here. Lasagna should have mozzarella & ricotta. New York tradition but I also vetted it with an authentic Italian cookbook. Bechamel sauce isn't even Italian, it's French and IMHO anyplace that puts it into a dish they then call lasagna should be fined and forever barred from running an Italian restaurant!

The Dude, having grown up in a NY suburb with hundreds of authentic NY style Pizza dumps around run by original Italian immigrants can say unequivockly that it is the greatest pizza in the world hands down. The Dude has numerous shovels with which to dig this type of pie. Shovels also needed to dig greek style pizza

The Dude has been to Cuba, Cuba and Cuba and he must say that he digs it with a shovel far more than any country he has ever visited. Just go and you will dig, dig?

The Dude pondered this for a few moments and then thought of the #1 answer to the OPs question.

####1 MTV

Pushing Hip Hop culture on Thais youth is hands down the worst of the worst. Soccer and fast food very tame compared to MTV. The Thai youth thinks hip hop is oh so cool

runner up:

PEPSI

they use the English soccer leagues and Hip Hop to push their useless unhealthy products, Sugar water and potato chips

Yeah, she's still hobbling 'round down there looking for beers. Saw her a few nights ago

Krung Thai is the way to go for this type of visa

The Dude says avoid confrontation. Just get up and walk away; fighting is pointless. The Dude never ever fights

PSS: The Dude does not speak the language and has no plans to start. He thinks that farangs speaking Thai look and sound stupid when doing so. The Dude does however love hearing Thais speak it

donna dont dig.

donna thinks the dude should try to assimilate himself a bit more with the country he chooses to live in. donna thinks the dude would be a happier dude if he did so. since donna learnt to speak basic thai, donna has been able to communicate with many different kinds of people. the experiences donna has had are far more than what donna would have had otherwise.

donna thinks the dude should perhaps learn a little thai. donna thinks we dont all sound stupid when we speak thai.

Deat donna,

Please re-read The Dude's original post:

...Went to Grace Hotel and met nice lady and hung with her for 2 days...

...We meet another farang in Thermae...

...Ticket burned at ceremonial burning outside of The Thermae...

...The Dude still loves this same Sukhumvit area and has no plans to move anywhere else...

Do you think a sex-tourist like him will bother learning the language, let alone assimilate himself into the culture? His highly paid translator(s) can get him from bar to McDonalds and back.

Please lest we not try and label The Dude

The Dude was not trying to win a popularity contest in expressing his opinion about the language as he knows that 95% of forum readers will disagree. He merely states his opinions based on his experiences and respects those of others.

Re: Mark. He is, as evidenced by his many posts in the ladies forum and elsewhere, a person with a shovel sized chip on his shoulder regarding his home country in general and farang women specifically. The Dude is greatly saddened by this but will try and understand. No shovel for mark until the chip gets dislodged cause it's not diggable. Dig?

Dig the bar girls

Don't walk behind elephants

Avoid Pat Pong

Don't Send Money to Said bar girls

Beware of Hot Chicks w/Deep Voices

Don't Drink the Water

Don't Drink the Beer

Learn How to Use Sink Spray in the Terlet

Don't Play Pool for Cash

enjoy enjoy enjoy the ladies: they are Thailand's crown jewels

PSS: The Dude does not speak the language and has no plans to start. He thinks that farangs speaking Thai look and sound stupid when doing so. The Dude does however love hearing Thais speak it

donna dont dig.

donna thinks the dude should try to assimilate himself a bit more with the country he chooses to live in. donna thinks the dude would be a happier dude if he did so. since donna learnt to speak basic thai, donna has been able to communicate with many different kinds of people. the experiences donna has had are far more than what donna would have had otherwise.

donna thinks the dude should perhaps learn a little thai. donna thinks we dont all sound stupid when we speak thai.

The Dude's hot gf is his translator. She is by his side most of the time so The Dude can interact with all comers. It is a diggable situation in which he digs with said shovel. Can you dig that?

Lovin' Mai Tais makes some good points. Take heed. Dig?

The Dude had NO FEAR moving to Thailand whatsoever. The Dude's Thai history:

Came for 4 separate 1 week vacations from '99-'02 and was only very modestly impressed. Spent most of that time in Phuket. Thought it was OK but not overwhelmingly special. At least 2 other countries were higher on my list. I never thought about moving out of US during this time as I was perfectly happy traveling

Flew into Thailand on way to Cambodia in late '02 for trip planned for spending 3 weeks there and zero time in Thailand. While in bkk airport, debated with friend to forego Cambo in favor of going to Calcutta and other Indian spots we had never gone before. We purchased India tickets at airport and found out afterwards that we needed visas that had to be obtained at Indian embassy in BKK. We were pretty pissed off that ticket seller did not bring up this minor detail. We then booked hotel near Indian embassy (Tai Pan). Went to emb and found out it would take 3 days to get; more unhappiness ensued. We did not plan on spending even 1 night in BKK or thailand prior to arrival. Spent 1 night at Tai Pan and slept while friend went out and walked around cowboy in early AM. Friend ran into farang who mentioned that the Ambassador was decent hotel and informed me. Me not being impressed with the Tai Pan, packed bag and walked to the Ambassador. The Dude booked room for 1000 baht and was pleased with accomodations. The Dude's friend stayed at Tai Pan for 2 more nights before moving to Ambassador at The Dude's urging. Went to Grace Hotel and met nice lady and hung with her for 2 days. We meet another farang staying at Ambassador from US who took us to The Thermae. Rest is history. We meet another farang in Thermae who convinces me to burn the India tickets. The Dude and his friend argue about the India trip as he does not want to waste cash. I explain that we are having blast in BKK and that India would be a downer. Guess who wins out? The Dude. We burn the India tickets at ceremonial burning outside of The Thermae. After 2 more weeks, we board flight back to US

After getting back to US, me, The Dude, having no committments scours internet for flight back to bKK. Booked flight some 10 days later for 3 month stay at Ambassador. At this point The Dude is pretty much hooked on Sukhumvit. Spend the 3 months enjoying each day. Take side trip to Bodia for a few days and remaining time spend on Sukhumvit. 3 months end and flight boarded foe US by The Dude

This time The Dude spends all of 3 weeks in US. He boards flight bound for bkk on another 3 month ticket. The Dude books himself into ambassador where staff know him quite well by now. 3 months pass and The Dude changes flight ticket to 3 more months out. 3 months coming closer and The Dude makes a major decision to burn the USA ticket. That was in August '03. Ticket burned at ceremonial burning outside of The Thermae. The Dude has not been back to the USA since. He has not disowned the place however.

The Dude checked out of said Ambassador in Aug '03 and into palacial condo a few blocks away. The Dude still loves this same Sukhumvit area and has no plans to move anywhere else. In short, The Dude never feared moving to Thailand cause he never had any plans to do so. It was a situation that developed. The Dude has numerous shovels to hand out to anyone who can dig his Thailand story. Can you dig it?

PS: The Dude could never have made a plan to move here.

PSS: The Dude does not speak the language and has no plans to start. He thinks that farangs speaking Thai look and sound stupid when doing so. The Dude does however love hearing Thais speak it

PSSS: The Dude maintains a palacial residence in a Beverly Hills type community in The US and will never sell it. The Dude, in addition, will never purchase a residence in Thailand, he will only rent. Would buy a shovel factory though cause do a lot of digging. Dig?

Nope, The Dude is not 55, he is 44; thank you anyway Mr Grant.

Sorry JD, I can say with certainty that 20 years is age to get passport w/no parent siggy. As for travel, I do not know but I can't imagine any age restriction on travel with parental consent

The Dude can answer this one as he has 1st hand experience in the matter; so put down your shovel OP cause you are not going to dig it. The Dude and his hot gf went down to get a passport for her 2 years back. The Dude's hot gf was 19 at the time. The Dude and his hot gf were told they needed both parents signatures to obtain it. Fortunately for Them, The Dude's hot gf's mother had no problem with this. The Dude's hot gf's father is deceased so a copy of his death cerif was needed. Sorry to be bearer of any undiggable news. Can you dig that?

Hey Skipper dude, you little buddy, The Dude over here. Very saddened and horrified to hear of your nitemarish ordeal. I have not scoured this thread so I do not know if you have assets here in Thailand. If you do then get them out immediately! You can open a bank account online using any relative's address in the USA right online, if you don't have one already. If you have one then transfer all that cash to it and quickly. Do not mess around. I wonder if the professor is around to give some insight on this situation. Get the cash out and I will ship you totally free 100 shiny new shovels so you can dig your asset protection.