Seastallion

"They" are individuals and no more uniform in how they think and act than the people of any other nation.

Disagree.

On two counts:

People of any other nation will show general mindset or attitudes on some things,.

Thai in particular because of the reluctance to risk losing face, conformity is a big common factor here.

Happy day to those like me that don't have family to spend the day with, and are hanging out on TV. Cheers.

I forbid my Thai wife/family to mimic any Christmas celebrations.

For New Years Eve three suckling pigs (boar type) are reserved for the big party when they all come home.

The sons will do the "dirty job" and then put them on the stick.

It was just another work day for my Thai wife when I called her, though she did wish me Merry Xmas.

I took my wife to work as per normal. I would have worked too, but the school is having mid-term exams, so no classes.

And she did wish me a merry Xmas at about 4 am

snip>

Winning POTY --

What would winning the POTY Grand Finale mean to you? Do you want to win? Why? There is no cash prize, you know

-it would mean much less than a big and belly relaxing fart.

-i don't want to win and i [not so] humbly beg the committee in charge to remove my "nomination" from the contest.

You should have waited so as to get a REAL good reaction from JT.

Merry Friday, everyone.

Can you please tell why Sheryl is not on the list?

https://youtu.be/8spRyPGSpds

Russian model here on her own volition and earning money...Crikey! It's time to boycott and sanction Thailand. This trafficking is getting out of hand.

Saw a video on FB of the PM kicking a by-standing muay Thai boxer.

I'm surprised it has not been presented on the news here.

It's not a good look at all.

Just make sure you get your cheeses into a cool place quickly. You don't want the oil to start separating out (Personal experience).

I don't recall any declaration of food-stuffs entering Thailand. Having so many land border crossings, quarantining food is pointless, unlike NZ and Australia, which are islands and have agriculture to protect from imported diseases.

I used http://www.vietnamvisapro.com/ early this year no problems.

Yes the invitation letter included a whole crowd of people I'd never heard of, but the most important thing was my details were there spelt correctly with the right passport details.

Wifey and I want to go for a holiday, Ho Chi Min, so looking for advice.

Clicked your link and my McAffee Site Advisor warned me not to proceed.

Did a google, Australian gov "Smarttraveler, and got this piece of advice: "

• There have been reports of scams involving online Vietnamese visa applications. We recommend you apply for your Vietnamese visa directly from the nearest Embassy or Consulate of Vietnam."

Can anyone confirm: I need a visa (Australian) but my wife gets visa on arrival (Thai passport)?

While you're at it....HCM City...nice but not too expensive hotel? Places of interest? We plan to be there 4 days.

McAffee barks at everything, I had no problems using the site and neither did Kaspersky.

Yeah...I ended up using your link, and it was good and prompt.

So many scam sites out there...so be wary people. As my post above where the site required me to sign in to my email account through their website...a total scam.

Back now from VN (HCMC)...is there a thread about the scams...wow....scam central is HCMC!

Hmmm. OK, but the animal I saw really looks like the thing in the photo, but was not a chincilla.

Lets forget the photo, except as a guideline, and keep in mind, smaller than Thai street rats (about half sized), and sort of hopped but on all fours.

Thanks guys...are you sure he photo is a chinchilla? The animal I saw was so much like the one in the photo...smaller than your standard street rat, larger than a mouse, shorter snout, more slender tail, hoppy sort of gait.

I have seen chinchilas...far too big.

Saw a rodent the other day. It was sickly and not afraid of my approach. Hiding behind the tyre of a car. It struck me as different, and I called the little boy neighbour to have a look...he just thought it was a rat, and prodded it with his badmington racquet.

It sort of hopped, like when kangaroo joeys hop on all fours. Shorter face than the normal rats, and longer tail..I recall a bit more slender tail.

Wifey thought it might be a field rat.

Google search of "Thailand rodents" brought up this, which I immediately recognised as my animal. Unfortunately the photo has no caption.

What is it?

Yes, Naam is good. I always stop to consider his posts. Dexterm is another cool-headed, wise, informed, and thoughtful poster.

Roo, Sceagudenga (sorry, spelling) Humphrey, and Issanbirder always make good points, well written, as well as Simple1 and Notmyself, and a few others I can't recall off-hand.

I don't always agree with them, but they do make considered and thoughtful remarks....albeit Naam's can be more humourous than thoughtful at times.

Thanks mesquite, that did it. I don't want to be a "chicken little" - the sky is falling!!!

However, everything nowadays is suspect.

Cluck cluck....watch out for the soldier hiding behind that plant pot

It was valid paranoia.

On Sunday mornings I pick up one of wifey's private students. Straight across the road from her house is an open section, with a roofed area and seating, and rows of rails to hang the bird cages from.

I observe the men sitting there...the cages all hanging up, and every now and then someone will call out something, or place a number on a cage, and then an owner will move the cage to a different rail....it all seems very odd and I can not discern how they can distinguish which bird is singing etc.

Does anyone know how these competitions work?

Peanut butter or corn.

I used peanut butter in NZ and got a hedgehog (they are carnivores, so it was a surprise). Took about half an hour to get it out as it's spines pointed backwards.

Just went here...seems good, and $13 for my one month single entry visa approval letter.

http://www.getvisavietnam.com/faq/9/who-need-vietnam-visa?#9

to answer my own question above, Yes, I need one, wifey doesn't.

Heyyyyy!!! Warning bells!!! To complete the application, I have to sign in to my email THROUGH THEIR WEBSITE to "get the activation code".

If they need to send an activation code, I should be able to just give them my email address and get my email through my normal means.

typing my email password in their field is giving them my email password!

No thanks

Why use an agency when you can get a visa in Bangkok?

Because BKK is 17 hours on the train, or 2000 baht flight.

Also try vietnamvisa.gov.vn

No don't.

This site says they are fraudulent.

http://tnhvietnam.xemzi.com/en/aska/answers/qid/9662

The ones in the photo look too tame to be truly "wild"....but they do look like wild boar stock.

My experience is you're lucky to get within 30-40 metres if you're not actively stalking them.

I think there's a nomenclature confusion going on here...."boar" is male. Wild pigs are wild pigs (and different breed, but still "pigs" or "hog"), and some of them are boars, thus wild boar.

Yes these are wild pigs (moo pah in Thai). Some farmers around here keep them although they don't grow as big as your normal domestic pig. Until about 5 years ago I had a few. They grow quite tame although they have fearful tusks. You have to watch them as if they get out of their sty they will dig up and eat just about anything that's growing. They are good eating, pork with a gamey flavour. The males are inedible unless they have been castrated when very young.

If you're referring to the extreme gaminess for the inedibility of males...the moment you kill it, take your knife and slice off the testicals AND the sweat glands on the inside of the front legs, down near the trotter. This stops the extreme male game smell tainting the meat.

angel or goddess, I'm sure it doesn't matter as it's a translation.

My rule of thumb when there are two (seemingly) different translations, is to think of some sort of compromise, to realise that not every word in every language has an exact equal translation into another language....in this case, I would be tempted to think of goddess-angel, or an entity that English has no word for but is an entity somewhat like what we think of as an angel, and also somewhat like what we think of as a goddess.

Some might even think of it, or translate it, as "magical fairy".

Don't take translations too literally.

Previous comment about teeth, if u can lift the skull with a stick, will make ID much easier. From what I can see of the skull though, and looking at the tail and legs, I'm gonna say, "rat".

thank you for this pointer, i did, and i am afraid you are perfectly right. rodent, possibly tree rat (Chiromyscus chiropus). the dark matter under must be the fur.

strangely this has completely reversed the comfort positions here at my home. everyone is ok and almost happy with 'rat', the girl already wants to find more and sell them at the market. i myself would have preferred the lizard option.

but seeing these creatures live in trees perhaps they keep the tree snake population down a bit. we have got heaps of them here, too.

a very good sunday to everyone.

cheers

That photo does it as far as it NOT being a lizard, a rat, or a cat.

Interesting hind leg bones in the OP...almost kangaroo-like in proportion to the front legs.

I stick with my civet suggestion.

The shape of the skull is wrong for a lizard. It looks more like a cat. Although the tail looks a bit long for a cat. The teeth would help confirm. Lizard teeth tend to be the same size throughout the mouth whereas cats have the large frontal incisors.

Agree, I suggest civet. It's far too big to be a rat, and it's not a cat (they have more spherical skulls) but it is not lizard-like at all

Just went here...seems good, and $13 for my one month single entry visa approval letter.

http://www.getvisavietnam.com/faq/9/who-need-vietnam-visa?#9

to answer my own question above, Yes, I need one, wifey doesn't.