juggler

I would definately tick the number 2 box that says kratom........hold on now it's not there, yes it is, no it isn't.....here there and everywhere.....

what the heck....

it's all gone to pot so mine is a no vote

Turn off the preaching, for God's sake

Er, is that preaching too?

I find this whole situation so strange.....particularly with Thailand being a producing country to a certain extent

Er, 'cos maybe they want to move away from this reputation and clean up their country - seems logical to me. I mean, we don't say we shouldn't arrest gangsters because we aknowledge having (and therefore produce) Mafia gangs, do we.

Thailand has done a lot to try and remove the production of drugs.

I have a book published during the 90's which is an investigation into the drug industry in LoS. During this time, 90% of the world's Heroine came through (not necessarily directly from) Thailand - the worlds biggest producer at the time. Great projects like those by Mama, the late mother to HRH the King (a truly great person), their HRH the King and Queen and Crown Pricess HRH Maha Chakri Sirindhorn which have moved hill tribes and scratch farmers away from the growing of opium in favour of flowers, strawberries and the like - much more profitable to the farmer too! Crackdowns and istallation of Army outposts near known trafficing border areas. The massive crackdown on dealers over the last few years (OK, a thousand or so small time dealers took the brunt of this with rumours of execution like street justice and criminals using it to clear turf for cultivation etc).

With the profits so high and the choices of some of these people so low, its a hard struggle. Corruption and organised crime is a constant obsticle, and its all too easy to get drugs in LoS, but most of it now comes from across the border. Afganistan is now the major conduit (figures from pre-war, so may have moved again).

I got to puke some more irrelelavance........untill the scan arrives

Thailand has done a lot to try and remove the production of drugs.

IMHO thats a good thing (and addiction to anything is a bad thing). I only meant that it grows by nature. Sorry for the misunderstanding (which is a fault of my own poor writing!) and warrants your explaination.

what a nasty end to your holiday Mr Chumbles

Addicted

Just saw this smiley.. <deleted> is that about. Made me laugh though

This topic goes way over my head, but thanks for that poem neeranam, when I have printed it out I will see if my girlfriend will yom rap and help.

BTW I have reflected and now believe I am virtually unable to speak Thai

yom pair yom pair!

PS If you dont mind my asking, did you actually write that out in Thai on keyboard? and how long have you been living here?

Theres a 7/11 directly next to the temple school (across the road from the temple) nearish where I live. They are still selling boooooooze, but it is in Don Muang area and off the main roads. I wait to see if the shelves get emptied but they were stocked last night.

Just to have a moan, YAWN...... went to Cha am to relax the weekend out. I forgot about the new restriction and went into 7/11 about 1AM for a beer to take back to the room after walking on the beach........ No sale, no prob - bit annoyed but my own fault. Then i did get a beer off a shopfront (where the shutter was nearly down) - with the help of a local who pointed me in the direction, then came along and ordered it for me. Nice

This hour restriction is sooooooo dumb IMHO. Not only for the reasons that ThaiPauly pointed out earlier in the thread, but for the feeling it envoked. I was doing something criminal by buying the beer!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Loads of BIB driving up and down the beach late at night there. Seems like they are enforcing this bul***t rule quite effectively. But like someone said at least the small Thai shops benefit and the franchises lose out. Interesting about 7/11 vs mini mart.......

In general it all seems to be going tits up at the moment

I am hardly the epitome of a patient and tolerant person now, but in comparison to when I first came to live here, the difference is dramatic.

I now only get really pissed off when Thai people actually turn up on time or tell the truth...

Nicely put!

I think this is an interesting topic. The thing I notice, when I head back to that horrible city where I was born, is that it changes me back to the way i was before I ever came here, suprisingly fast. There must be a catch somewhere!

A sign in Thai saying Udorn would make my intention clear but like you say prem-r, quite dangerous (specially considering hardshoulder usage on busy motorway days)

Adding 'money offered for lift' to the sign - now then i would fear robbery!

Sure, i have hitch-hiked in Thailand.

However, i have only done it when there is not any public transportation around ie...i missed the last bus etc.... Hitch-hiking like this is all right off the beaten track.

On a route where there is plenty of public transporation the locals will be wondering what you are doing!! Pretty unheard of!

Hitch-hiking is all right for short distances but for long distances like Bkk- Udon! The driver will be expecting you to help cough up for petrol money!

I once hitch-hiked up to Phanom Rung in Buriram cause the motorbike taxi from the main road was something like 150 baht. Just flagged over a cop pick-up and jumped in the back!

ANother easy/convenient place to hitch-hike in Thailand is off the beaten track in Mae Hong Sorn up to the hill tribe areas. I have travelled around like this in such parts as there is NO public transportation (except before say....midday). It's either walk or catch a ride! Then find a local temple to stay at for the night or the home of the village headman.....

thanks for the input.

I think you may have a point about coughing up and I would offer (i'm not that stingy). But then people might not stop anyway. My GF is going and booking a flight for herself today (already round 3500 ish for a single and soon there wont be any), and right now i'm not sure if i can make it cause of some other stuff i got to do round that time blah blah

Mae hong song is best viewed from the back of the pick up IMHO. Such a beautiful place and the people so friendly Your post makes me feel like going on an extended break in fact......if only possible now but at least a 'look forward too'

I'm not 100% sure people would stop on the big routes like you pointed out so I think i'll probably stay put this year.

cheers

I don't use any drugs beside beer

me neither - but i do take paracetamol in the morning afterwards

but as well I don't see the huge problem for Thai society if that guy comes into Thailand and use a bit drugs...

me neither if thats were it all ends.....totally draconian but nevertheless the law.

I find this whole situation so strange.....particularly with Thailand being a producing country to a certain extent

you would likely be a burden to Thai society

along with the officials who readily except bribes and use it at home?!?

Doing that and not even taking your passport definitely doesn't sound like a good idea, you're supposed to have it with you when going around the place anyway.

On reflection I agree (not sure why i said that in fact!

It costs 95 Baht to go to Udon Thani 3rd class by train

I'm a stingy git and even by my standards this is reasonable

which though a long ride would be an entertaining experience

disagree my friend. Getting from a to b 3rd class is fine. done before. Have you seen third class the days areound songkran. People have died in the past by roofing it, (forgetting that you go through a tunnel on that route of course). I would rather stay in Bangkok than smell someones armpit for 12 hours whilst standing in a overfull matchbox

if you can't afford that, I'd be more worried about dying of hunger rather than anything else

Money is a motivator but my original concern was whether hitchhiking would be safe, and whether people would actually stop. Thats why I wanted others experiences

I was thinking with tickets needing buying to get out of the city for Songkran, that it might infact be very easy to make it to udorn Thani from Don Muang, without even having to buy one. Has anyone tried this before?

BTW I wouldn't take much cash (if only i had it in the first place, I'd fly) passport neither, and in general feel little danger (life on the edge eh!). Also it's stupid to just buy a ticket now as i might have to stay in Bangkok during that time anyway and don't have the money to throw round right now.

Suwat said the other foreigner was suspected cocaine dealer Afdul Dialo, 29, who was arrested in a sting operation in Bangkok's Wattana district following a tip-off.

However, police found only one kilogram of baking soda in his possession. Dialo told police he had sold his stock of the drug to other customers and was trying to cheat a first-time customer.

--The Nation 2006-03-17

I would loved to have sat in on that interview where he confessed he was going to attempt to pass it off as cocaine, and that he had previously sold actual cocaine. I am sure the Thai police followed their equivalent of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, and no pressure was put on him and he had access to a lawyer etc.

In the UK he would have sat their grinning away saying 'no comment' to everything asked of him, before walking free.

coke + soda = crack (one of the most evil), knew of two schoolfriends whos lives went downhill in a bad bad way, families affected. One got rehab i heard and the other last was seen homeless by someone I know. The stuff is on a par with smack and worser than coke alone. My guess is that this guy was processing and was know to the police too. If thats the case he's pretty much on par with the murderer IMHO. Thailand does seem to often attract the dregs of society from around the globe. Even stranger they mostly seem to head for Pattaya!.

the new wife is an exception. Maybe the latent detatchment from worldy matters is partly to blame for Thailand's demonstrably poor education system. Nobody sees the need to do anything about it.

I believe self motivation can teach a lot, but so can compulsory (free) schooling till the age of 16, with a 'well-fair' state to help famillies who can't support their own kids.......dream on ....yes...I know (I can say this even though i'm no teacher). If children/teenagers have to work when they should be at school or want to be.........the madness continues (probably as intended)

Why buy them in Burma, when you can buy them on this side, and don't have to pay $5to go. There is one shop just right of the bridge, overlooking the river if there was a window. Good DVD movies, vids, watever- kind of a garentee, if you live close and can return bad sh%t.

exactly........DVD smuggling into Thailand, across the border.......... the comedy of it!

Sorry but i carried on the old bollotics thread...........only writing this to keep it all on track and delete what i wrote. Sorry the more as i'm no teacher and so can't help you there

bag searches coming into Thailand from Burma................hmmmmm let me see? ahh I got it........ they are checking that your bag hasn't got any holes in it, so your passport or personal things don't get lost.

Thaising

It's not worth saving a few baht just to bringing in a illegal DVD, if get caught your name & foto will be in the world media.

Sometimes makes me feel like i'm actually forgetting instead of learning- but thats just on the concious level (hopefully)- and i'm making no excuses if I scored 0 in your test. Thats the best i could do. so whats the % result in accuracy neeranam?biggrin.gif

I'd say you can speak Thai! But with poor vocab - I find that after time I remember and learn all the words.

If you can explain using the long-winded approach - you have a good understanding.

"Ekasan" is quite commonly used for documents/papers

"yom rab" is to accept.

Thanks for improving the knowledge neeranam,(now fully equiped to answer qu3 in one sentence)

in conclusion some understanding yes, but not the experience.

so give us another 5 years will you?

OK back to topic and enough of this nastiness guys

now if my wife told me to use red rizzla to smoke instead of the thinner blue or grey paper - she would be very uneducated IMHO, and the Thai paper that all burns in one go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!well thats just madness

but at least it's nice to see some humor in a thread thats gone well off the beaten track..................got to tell you that made me laugh

1. How do you say,"Good Morning, it's nice to meet you"

2. "I've never been to Korea"

3. "Yesterday, I took my documents to the Embassy, but they didn't accept them"

then i ask a few more getting increasing harder, telling me what their level is/

Your cracking me up now! -yeh now I do know rude words and your post almost invokes- alley wah respnse ,

number three isn't so easy and would definately not be a single fluent sentence, from me at least. Thai would say it different for sure I know. I could get there slowly with negotiation and some confusion probably so I'm definately not fluent.......you know how thai doesn't translate so well to english but vocab would include..... mua wan, (pom) pbai satarn toot tam tauragit (krap). Sia waylaa pra waa kon tam ngaan ti norn dairap aygasarn mai dai. Mii bpunhaa dte mai saap tamai (mai saab tammai krap jao nai) hahaha

in other words i still have to take the long winded approach at almost every turn but can sometimes get a message through.

Ps had to look the word for documents up. knew it but couldn't remeber grrrrrrrrr so often the way. Also not sure whether you should say dairap or just rap. Lastly this took a while to work out, something which the leisure of real time interaction doesn't provide, and which lead to those great moments of confusion........Anyway enough of this *rap i got some more reading to do. It was quite interesting trying to sork that out though. Just goes to show how I have to work with the things I do know( grammar/vocab )to explain somthing in a totally roundabout fashion. Guess i got a long way to go still......

also you got to keep learning to improve or you go backwards. I'm doing an IT computing degree with OU from England, but living in BKK. It's dammed hard work the mo and am reading English all day, not going out much, not watching TV and speaking very little Thai as a result. Sometimes makes me feel like i'm actually forgetting instead of learning- but thats just on the concious level (hopefully)- and i'm making no excuses if I scored 0 in your test. Thats the best i could do. so whats the % result in accuracy neeranam?

I can't understand when people talk about political stuff. I can't understand a lot of official Thai.

they sure don't teach you official language in those thai learning books and those topics on the news and just the news in general have me lost for the most part.

I agree with steveromagnino, total immersion is the fastest way. I take my hat off to you for getting the 'basic stuff' down in 8 weeks! Mine is still relatively basic after 4ish years (in terms of natural communication) and still find it hard to espress myself, (in English too haha) terrible speller that i am!

Stevo is right that youreally have to go for it, throwing away those crutches, but just to add some neg, rest assured you WILL fall down often as part of the process great imagery

(I still cannot hear the difference between บ ป most of the time)

don't beat yourself up about it. Your fine aslong as you know the difference and when to use which!

calling the old lady in shop downstairs bpaa (ป้า) with falling tone is all good as it means aunt. Calling her (บ้า) baa (falling tone too) means mad/crazy...... I'm sure you know this but.....you get my drift......what options have we then, as learners of Thai, other than to keep getting up offa that floor, to find the crutches?. It's just the nature of the language and you have to both live and learn. (She's a nice woman anyway and i think she would see the error in it's context....but maybe not correct me! - funnier that way for her probably)

I remember when i was speaking to my girlfriends mum and dad who are english teachers upcountry. I hardly new any Thai at all then but was of course making an effort (as they teach kindergarten English and basically speak it too). Anyhow they wanted to know about slang in English.

"English, slang, slang" I think was waht they said, indicating that they wanted to talk about English slang ( and learn some probably ) to which I replied

"slang haam" Thinking i was saying, it's forbidden to talk about slang.

I couldn't understand their faces of complete horror/shock mixed with confusion (I didn't know them very well back then) and as I repeated this over and over and over things didn't improve. I got it in 'the end' though later (no pun), when I found out that haam (falling tone) is forbidden , and haam (rising) means penis (and not in a medical sense either). So be warned!

These days I seem to find myself literally "on the floor" unpleaseantly often, but thats for other reasons. Off topic too, and probably best left that way.

good luck and dont give up

first time for "the beach" (not the film). I remeber it was 2001 September, but friends told me about full moon.....about 10 years back and said it was all good, so I went to koh tao and travelled round. sanook sanook

second time for the woman I'd met the first time. (singular)

third time - i guess for the same reason but it all turns into a blur somewhere round there.......

I just looked up http://www.imdb.com/ to see when the beach was released, purely out of interest. (2000). On their webpage is a MXflash advert which ends up as a triangle, not completely dissimilar to your very own avatar tripxcore

Britmaverick

Work then love!

I wonder if i'm employable with four years work history which is essentially holiday

anyhow you only live once.......or do you?

Well, Sir; I beg to differ. Whereabouts in Pattaya were you, to be made feel so bad and negative.

I have lived here for nigh-on 14 years and love every minute of it.

I could show you a Pattaya that would be rather pleasant.

In terms of "infrastructure" I reckon Pattaya's pretty hard to equal. Look at the facts:

Best Hospitals (easily better than in my home country [Holland])

Extremely good sellection of Restaurants

Brilliant shopping (2 x Lotus' 2 x Big C; 2 x Top's; (almost) 2 x Carefour plus a collection of locals.

Some excellent Bookshops (and I'm talking about the second hand book-shops)

Reasonably clean beaches (Jomtien)

Absolutely brilliant sailing and winds-surfing

Some of the best Golf-courses within minutes from Pattaya-City

With regards to the "seedy areas"; that's fairly easy: don't go there.

Cheers,

Happy Pattaya-an

I wish you could have showed me the nice side of pattaya, and i did get a room in the seedy areas both times (are there any other rooms to be had). Funny thing that both times i got neg was from foreigners, one guy with his knights trophy (a young maiden) who kicked off when we both tried to open the same windowed door in opposite directions, (quite funny really, but they didn't think so), and the second time from these two falang on some hight powered motorbike they had rented .Let me tell you

I was walking down the street with my girlfriend (not bargirl) and they were coming the other way slowly. It must have been one off those small sois that run parallel to Pattaya beach. We didn't know which way to go and neither did they, to avoid a collision! quite funny too in normal circumstances really. The sort of thing that could bring a mutual smile. (at such slow speed no one would have been injured). This guy just revved his engine up hard, like get the ....off the road (impossible with the amount of bargirls on the street) and then his girlfriend was shouting at us both. I stopped him by grabbing his arm, which i dont think he expected. They were shouting, telling me i should be on the pavement blah blah. He had a helmut on and looked ready to take it off and hit me but i just told hime there was no need to be like this.

I'm not flaming you, and if you like the place youve done well for yourself, but

best hospital - probably bumrungrad, if you got the dosh

restaurants - if you like western food at western prices/at least thats what i saw for the mostpart

brilliant shopping - second time I walked vai the coach station through big C, missed the carrefor and Tesco but have been to many of these (they are common as any other capitalist chain removing the need for small business

bookshops - you got me one that one:) but i got no time to read righti now unfortunately

Went to Jomtiem beach - Thailand has a lot more to offer (unless your of certain unstable mind) - trust me (suprised if you don't realize that after 14 years)

Watersports - looked great, lots of boats people flying in the sky jetskis,....... preffer a good snorkel myself......and i get the feeling that if i lived in Pattaya a few years i really would be'swimming with the fish' In my best italian mifioso tony montana voice

Golf can't play./ so maybe me and you just got different interests

seems stupid of me to list it like this though as you know where to go and what to do ..........- I didn't find it like that though (a shame) and really just wanted to get out of that place soon as.....i.e not spend much time looking round at all. Do you have to get right out of Pattaya city to places were it's quite and people don't see 'another falang with a another thai woman'. Where exactly?

Funny thing is that the second time we went we were going to get off the coach at Banglampung but missed the stop. Tell me where to go and I'm there . Anywhere nice and quietish without the fumes of Bangkok is what i call a holiday.

Don't joke me though, if you really think there is a nice side to Pattaya which you could show, I would take the offer on:)

regarding the storms damage etc that is a bad thing so i'm sorry if my jibe was originally in bad taste. I hope no damgae is done

(an unhappy bangkokian - (can you tell from my bitter and twisted outlook) I quite feel like a move to laos or cambodia these days, just though i'd add that as a closing comment

not suprised in the slightest

Thai seems to have a total disinterest for affairs not concerning Thailand. I know this is a complete stereoptype but i feel it is the general trend. On the news too. There will be a short burst of intrnational coverage in no great depth (after the Thai coverage naturally) but the main emphasis is usually on some truck driver getting caught with someting or an explosion in the south or something other crap like a woman jumping off a roof.

This seems the way for the west too, I spoke to my dad back in the UK. Knew noting of any political unrest in Thailand. He is getting on a bit though:) I guess contries in general have their own interests best at heart. (did the Thais fight against hitler/japan?)

When the south starts bombing Bangkokyour wife will know about terror and it will all make sense (with a little (or lot) explanation regarding religion, the American's 'ENGLSIH edit-' giving Jew's what the palestinians considered their homeland after the 2nd world war.........and the general hatred that has bred an era of terror. not just recent either......)

(PS Thai sent forces to iraq to appease bush - not to let the the Thai people know how great they are (!?!?!?!?!?!?) _I might be wrong but i think their army isn't up to much and it was a purely token gesture. Bush is Sith lord and leader of the fourth reich who will probably be assassinated to establish martial law in the US, all possible IMHO but i don't think the majority see it that way! Try telling your wife they blew up their own world trade towers and explain that, now that will really confuse her. My next worry is iran. China diagree and only need to step in and things could get ugly

Just looked on yahoo today and 51 UK firms in iraq. The UK and US have made a serious and i mean SERIOUS amount of money ie billions/ not millions......no idea about Thailand though.

bedtime

PS got some great avi videos on conspiracy - looks like they worked on me!

Troll post or extremely stupid.

On another note. I had dinner (outside) with a Thai girl that has a Uni degree in Microbiology. The moon was out and she asked me if I could see the moon from the United States.

I'm no troll and have thought in the past quite deepley about the point you put in bold a lot. I also never believed the person who told me this unbeleivable truth for the first time. When I watched farenheit 9/11 and several other films (some of which were made for broadcast, obviously not airable on TV though) my thinking changed. i.e. after considering evidence.

Don't forget too thant the USA's past now reveals some crazy cover ups and conspiracies which you would not have beleived possible at the time, regarding communism and the cold war..(a BBC documentary I have)......Anyhow i'm in BKK and have these videos, too many of them for my own good probably) .avi and .mpg files. I know this really is off topic from the OP, but maybe you wouldn't call me stupid if you watched them - and if your in BKK just PM me. I would be interested to see if they changed your attitude:) Maybe you could even show me otherwise through them?

for anyone with a good connection you can download most of them too. heres some titels and i got others

In plane sight, 911

The Greatest Lie Ever Sold

Noam Chomsky On Iraq War,

The Power Of Nightmares Part 1 (BBC 2004-10,

GNN - CIA Mind Control Operation MK-ULTRA.

To relate this post to the OP and hopefully prevent it getting removed I think a level of ignorance can only be judged on a person to person basis, but that Thailands culture is still pretty strong (and Thai is the dominant race, (compare it with the UK for instance)). Therefore Thailands interests intrest the Thais

Am I still a troll?!?!?!

PS this stuff about the moon is really starting to confuse me

not suprised in the slightest

Thai seems to have a total disinterest for affairs not concerning Thailand. I know this is a complete stereoptype but i feel it is the general trend. On the news too. There will be a short burst of intrnational coverage in no great depth (after the Thai coverage naturally) but the main emphasis is usually on some truck driver getting caught with someting or an explosion in the south or something other crap like a woman jumping off a roof.

This seems the way for the west too, I spoke to my dad back in the UK. Knew noting of any political unrest in Thailand. He is getting on a bit though:) I guess contries in general have their own interests best at heart. (did the Thais fight against hitler/japan?)

When the south starts bombing Bangkokyour wife will know about terror and it will all make sense (with a little (or lot) explanation regarding religion, the American's giving Jew's what the palestinians considered their homeland after the 2nd world war.........and the general hatred that has bred an era of terror. not just recent either......)

(PS Thai sent forces to iraq to appease bush - not to let the the Thai people know how great they are (!?!?!?!?!?!?) _I might be wrong but i think their army isn't up to much and it was a purely token gesture. Bush is Sith lord and leader of the fourth reich who will probably be assassinated to establish martial law in the US, all possible IMHO but i don't think the majority see it that way! Try telling your wife they blew up their own world trade towers and explain that, now that will really confuse her. My next worry is iran. China diagree and only need to step in and things could get ugly

Just looked on yahoo today and 51 UK firms in iraq. The UK and US have made a serious and i mean SERIOUS amount of money ie billions/ not millions......no idea about Thailand though.

bedtime

PS got some great avi videos on conspiracy - looks like they worked on me!

Aren't you a racist beotch check your facts jack. The British were in charge of Palestine after the war. What color is the sky in your world.

I'm not rasicst, infact my grandad was american, but i was pretty offkey in my post factually - and didn't mean any offence, so sorry for that. I felt that the post started on track becauseinternational news coverage does seem poor to me on the TV thats all. The rest of it was the Chang talking

Also, I just can't remeber some of those things they taught me at school, like the name of the meetings the allies had, hold on....ahhhh so versialles treaty was world war 1...I'm no historian so please except my appologies....having a look on the internet though, its a topic i don't know much about and would like to know more about, what with it's ongoing relevance to the world we will live in.......but thats offpost so let this just be an appology for providing bad information and offending you

keeping on track. Is it true that Taksin has a problem with the Muslimis in the South? Has Taksin has talkjed to Bush about these things?. Does ush and the US support Jewish interest in the US above Muslim interests? Has the world of 'terror' as we know it today has been created partially because of this? I know my histories not good and am genuinely not sure on all the above? you seem to know a lot more about it than me tavarich so maybe you could helpeducated ( in a friendly way this time please)

cheers

I know a guy who worked for the Foriegn Office - he was 48 when he did an intensive course in Thai.

I 6 weeks he could speak incredibly good Thai. Motivation is what most people are lacking. If you need to learn you will be able to.

I reckon you've hit the nail on the head neeranam. Having done teaching english (in the past) showed me this. You simply can't can't teach an unmotiveated learner, it's near if not impossible. In that way teaching is a bit of an impossible task (one of the reason I don't like or do it)

Thirst for knowledged can motivate a learner to still learn a heck of a lot outside Thailand with books and a tape alone. This is what I did whenever I was back in UK for a few months. Then i came back to Thailand and practiced what I learn't, (irregularly at first but now ilive here).I know people living here a few years and they can still only order a beer, if that! sad really but the saying goes you make your bed and lie in it!