steveromagnino

is it me or when one goes to a chinese, indian or other foreign restaurant in 'farang lands'  the people working there is from the respective countries while here in thailand if you go to a italian or other foreign cooking restaurants, other than chinese/thai, the people working there are thais...

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Must just be you. Head chef at most of the decent Italian places are Italian; although I have it on good authority that the place in Thong Lor opposite the police station is a Thai woman who lived in Italy for 20 years or something and makes the best Italian in the city. Ditto for Indian. Ditto Japanese.

Grunts in the kitchen can be from anywhere.... in western countries Asian labour is cheap so often is Asian. in USA maybe Mexican. here Thai, Burmese, Cambodians are cheap.

87 what a good post number, do i detect a note of jelousy from our poster.

just remember one swallow does not a summer make (it might be winter)

but as we say at least we can afford the BMW the sheepshaggers would convert it, by the way what do you call a kiwi in a suit in OZ

A defendant

just good fun as we say though

Classic stuff mate :-) I know you blokes will win the rest, so I have to bask in the glory of my 2nd cuntry while I still can :-) Isn't likely that Thailand is going to be a power house in Rugger league for a while.

The dude -

yep totally agree.... edukaychun is da key :-) There are two key issues; one of mobilising the culture to want to achieve certain things, and the other of giving them the skills to do that.

I personally believe that there is no "conspiracy" anymore like there used to be to stop being getting smarter and more knowledgeable.. it is more just incompetence in the civil service and other areas that leads to an ongoing problem still not resolved. This is not helped by the fact that so many of the smartest people do study overseas, thus reducing the brain pool at universities and so on locally. You are only as smart as the people you study with after all.

Influencing culture is done in many countries; I just think that the values of many of the people in power here are not necessarily appropriate to be taught; while other values that need to be taught (for example the need to budget and not live beyond your means) are either ignored or what the govt does (30b healthcare, debt forgiveness etc) actually encourages ppl to rely on the govt to look after them.

There are solutions; step by step Thailand is improving in some areas, and falling back in others.

But not much of that of that improvement will ever emminate from some of the negative people who spend too much time on these webboards Oops, maybe that includes me?!

16.10.05

SYDNEY- The Kiwis scored one of the biggest boilovers in the history New Zealand rugby league with an amazing 38-28 win over Australia in a see-sawing opening Tri-Nations clash at Telstra Stadium last night.

...

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Congratulations again to the real World Champions.

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The Famed Aussie gold now looks like a distinct shade of, how does one say in english? er pi$$.

So let's examine shall we?

Cricket er no

Rugby er no

Yachting er no

Rugby league er no

Am I is leave anything out?!!!!!!

Q. What do you call an Australian who has purchased dinner at Sirocco, goes to Q Bar and then leaves for home in his BMW but he has still not drunk enough to be over the limit?

A. f&*king ocker

Regards

"Sheep Shagging Kiwi" (at least that will be the retort for the ockers out there!)

p.s. all in good fun; you've been champions at almost everything for a few years, let everyone enjoy your misery for a while, ya aussie barstewards

Is there any etiquette for afemales at these shows?

I think a friend of mine who is familar with these ladies who work at these places, that the usual etiquette in doing a show is to bend over, fire out the balls, then bow.

They aren't the most polite of slappers though, them ones that work in the dregs of the entertainment industry innit.

That's why my friend tells me.

He also says that one should be particularly careful of Lek #47 in the Super Pussy bar who has the etiquette of a red rotten herring and a yeast infection that could scare a bull at 20 paces.

I think my friend might be the same friend that Mr Gazzism has innit.

Well to the original poster, I will attempt to answer your question, and perhaps offer a contrary view to the people who believe it is not possible for a westerner to make some serious cash here.

There are many westerners I know that are multi millionaires here, selling either to the local market or for export. A few doing import.

For the most part, they have leveraged off what they already know, and set up a business that compbines their knowledge with (often) the untapped labour resources of Thailand. Thai people can be very good at producing stuff of high quality; hel_l Louis Vuitton (who have some of the strictest standards for making stuff and unlimited money) are doing some of their new store fabrication stuff for overseas right here in Thailand, then shipping it there.

So you knowledge of construction could be very useful.... But that could is a stretch to will. You need to figure out how to leverage your knowledge; either in setting up your own business or working for a successful one here.... Carpentry isn't going to do it; high end cabinetry and so on probably has a better use; and there is a high demand for quality shop fitouts and commercial stuff of that nature; Curve and Kingsmen and two I can think of with farang work staff who are doing a lot of work. You get in with one of these guys and work mighty hard (the farangs working for these companies do just that) and you might get somewhere. Probably the most useful role is to liase between the client (probably some westerner based in HK/Singapore) and the local contractors. To do that requires project management skills; have you got that?

So... you must look at what you really know something about; what your strengths are; you may be surprised at the opportunities. However, they will take a spot of work, and you WILL need to know how to speak or at least understand Thai if you are to get anywhere at all in this place. Unless you own your own business and either don't require staff or local customers/suppliers or can afford to hire a right hand person to do the "Thai stuff" for you.

>>Thailand is a country utterly without natural resources or an educated workforce. Other than agriculture, corruption is the only real industry it has ever had.

Well I can think of plenty of natural resources... hmm shoot that one down - lignite, coal, lime, gems, seafood (Thailand is a heavy weight in shrimp and tuna)...besides which a lack of natural resources, according to a bunch of research by guys like Porter is not necessarily a kiss of death anyway; actually the general explanation of why Thailand is not so money hungry compared to other countries is precisely that there is rice in the fields and fish in the river.

And educated workforce - well again can think of McKinsey with its mostly Thai staff, Accenture consulting (ok they are a joke but still not that funny), CPN, Land and House and other successful Thai companies - they must be doing something other than growing rice or ripping off people....Sure the general level of education could do with improvements, but let's say the team of people I work with; well I would be happy to put them up against any other marketing team from any other country in the same industry; hel_l some of the stuff we do here has never been done before in 100 years of this industry; we have people contacting us to ask us how we run things. And we are not the only ones being asked that in this industry.

And then we look at the GDP and the massive investment in factories and labour intensive work like car assembly, windsurfer assembly (Cobra, undisputed market leader in this market worldwide)... again not all rice farming.

Then you've got tourism. That is certainly a natural resource; unless you want to argue that everyone is coming here for NEP.

No doubt there is a lot of corruption here.

But there are also people doing some very cool stuff and if you don't scrape the surface beyond the dirt of corruption, and not so hot education system, then you miss out on seeing the opportunities.

Seawng - the wealth in Thai Chinese hands is estimated to be around something like 55% from around 10% of the population (if I recall the study about wealth distribution from CHinese migration). This is in keeping although slightly lower than Malaysia, Philipines and Indo; Indo is the highest with 3% of the population controlling (supposedly) 70% of the wealth. It has been studied and I am simply recalling the numbers from reading maybe 3 years ago; you should check it out. However, the authors did make the point that Thai Chinese are more integrated into Thailand than any of the other countries; and most would consider themselves to be Thai first and foremost, and of Chinese decent second; which is different to the othe countries they surveyed. If it had to put down to one thing, Chinese tended to be immigrants. Immigrants have a lot of risk already, and thus want returns - work hard, save, that sort of thing. Couple that with coming from a country of intense competition already, and that's why you see Chinese poor immigrants becoming successful most places they go, not just Thailand.

That's also why you see anti Chinese, anti Jew and anti other immigrant minorities in most places; the people who are already there often don't like it. I estimate that the effort to migrate to some new place takes a certain kind of go getter person in many cases; that type of person works hard to make something from a low starting point.

Tha t said, your wife is not exactly indicative of all Thai Chinese - many of the successful ones are the most ostentatious showy people; rolexes, Benz and massive wedding ceremonies just for "face"; but I agree with her they do tend to know how to save money better than some other groups of people. And some, like my mum, would even walk rather than catch the bus to save money, even when she is a millionaire in any currency.

And certainly some of the really uneducated Thais from the poorer provinces, who may work very hard, but really don't understand principles of budgeting, planning and so on for the most part.

I actually have this issue sort of, and another friend has also had this issue. He ended up having to show up for the draft, and was not selected.

I also have several other friends in the same situation.

Yes, if there is registration of your birth certificate, you can expect to get a letter. If you claim that you are an American to avoid, they will record that against your name, and when you come to renew the passport, it may come up against you. Ditto for voting and other stuff (maybe). If you do not intend to live here you are fine.

If you are from BKK, the odds of you having to do it are now very low. They first of all take the ppl who want to do it (which tend to be provincial ppl) and after that your odds are fairly low anyway.

I am in no way suggesting you should, but certainly it is possible to broker payment to avoid doing duty (which is 2 years without a degree, 1 year with). You would probably be best to consider asking for an extension to finish your study (which they will normally accept) and then you theoretically go into the draft thereafter; however you can pay your way to ensure you get the right ball. Or you can pay off to say you did it when you didn't.

However, if you are planning a career with a profile, e.g. actor, MC, model, senior business man, politician, then bear in mind this dirt will be traceable the rest of your life. It may come back to haunt you. You may be blackmailed.

Therefore the best course is to consider whether you need to live here; if so then consider doing it - get a degree and go in the draw - you might even enjoy it and it is only a year if you have the degree. I'd say the odds would be quite low. I do not recommend the payment option:

- it is illegal

- you will have a papertrail that will be with you the rest of your life and someone like a prominent MP from the Thonburi area will be able to find that and hold it against you later on should you make something of yourself

- you will know that you cheated your country, and that feeling may get heavier later on

Best of luck with what you decide to do. However bear in mind they may have eliminated the draft by the time you have to do it.

Yes there is but it's few and far between, check listings in magazines.

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Hmmm... well a house DJ (I am guessing!) would say that wouldn't he

The scene is well underground, but you can listen to the D and the B probably up to 2-3 nights a week.

Major places to reprzent

- Democ (near Khao San)

- Astra (RCA)

- Q Bar (hard to believe, but Nookie is playing there this Oct 29!) - not often

- some places around Tong lor from time to time

- other khao san rd places from time to time

Best thing is to get in tight with the two crews who are making the DnB scene here:

Homebass Communications: DJ Wen and DJ Dragon would be the founders of the scene here; both Thai and well versed in DnB they DJ well and Dragon could hold his own against most of the big names that have come out here (and well better than pikers like Michey Finn) - play the full gambit from the hospital records soft stuff to full on pressure RAM stuff

The guy in Siam Square whose name I cannot remember - he is the other one; DJ Paul I think maybe? is his name, also a good DJ and brings regional guys over; he brought over Makoto a while back this year (who was great). Name is ....recordings; man it is frustrating not to remember!

They both play regularly, but you need to get to know them to find out when . The whole scene is tight, so you see the same people again and again; befriend a few and you'll find a ton of overseas udjakated Thais innit who are on the whole not full of s&*t like the people who go and listen to losers like Judge Jules. Then you can enjoy whenever you want.

Of course, if you cannot wait, then 1xtra is the place to go online; I have driven my staff mad already with repeating DJ Flight's show like 5 times in the week :-)

At the moment hip hop is sadly strong, but it won't be long until we hear...Tarrrrantulllllaaa!!! at every club... maybe

BTW I think Faith Club is now called Glow; it was never that good as a club; just somewhere cool to hang out with your essays while reprazentin on the pool table aiiiight.

interesting indeed

im thinking about ,how to put dolby stereo  sensurround...but my size is not that huge!

  nuff told me

Bambi

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Don't worry; if you be installing sound system there, I be well ready to help you set your graphic equaliser and play with your woofer and tweeters.

But first off....if you is being a sound system in the breasts, how will I turn you on?

I know my friends in Pattaya have an endless stream of western and Japanese women hitting on them (they work on the beach); and lookers as well.

I had to work and steal a few for myself but most were not interested; they want to really Tueng Brataet Thai I guess

The point about resale value is a good one; the Mitsi looks great, but Mitsi has such a poor reputation in Thailand for service, that 2nd hand prices are not so good... therefore good for buying second hand but not so good for buying new.

I gotz the Vigo 2WD 2 door; nice machine; I replaced a brand new BMW and brand new Honda before the Vigo; would never go back to a car again in BKK; it is great to be a fraction above the road, and feel like a worker (not some ponsy ponser). Love the fact that it rubs all my customers right up the wrong way, the BMW/Benz crowd :-) Pretentious people that they are.

The Isuzu/GM is definitely a generation back now; not as nice looking, not as stylee, just not as good as the newer Vigo and Mitsi.

For what it is worth, you can make the 2WD (which is a little lower and so looks a bit nicer IMHO) look like a 4WD with big wheels...however it tends to bottom out a bit from time to time and rub up against the rims.... since it was so cheap I can tolerate.

And everyone from overseas who rides in it thinks it is great; much more popular with my guests than the poofty Bemmer.

Jaidumb & others who were lecturing the herd, "fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals" .....

     

Well, I like fundamentals, because i understand them.

Well, let's take Thai shipping stocks; fundamentals say there is a fundamental lack of link with the Baltic Dry Index (which is the basic quant driving funds investing in it).  And there is no chance of a takeover or merger really.  But local more indepth "fundamental" knowledge reveals that say PSL do a lot of forward contracts for a year, they aren't selling their ships to be used on a monthly or trip by trip basis... so using fundamentals you might say that the sub 4X p/e ratio and a major dip earlier this year around July from the BDI was actually not reflected in the fundamentals since they have annual contracts which will be reflected in their year end results, rather they reflected an external driver... so you would have bought around low 40s in June/July, then sold later in late Aug when it was around high 40s; made about 15% and that is well more than what I can get hold of the money for.  Ditto for RCL.  And besides which the dividend pays healthily, as a non trader, I don't have time to be looking at these charts to see whether my mum is sick, share is high low or whatever; so fundamentals make a nice decision driver...

Also you say.....

And wherever and however long it takes for Crude to complete forming the TOP; i.e. even if we go back to $70, I'll keep trading and raking,  while Dumb and Dumber just watch in dismay as their equity goes up and down like a yoyo.  Its no wonder they're in such a bad mood.

God, do I love it so!

   

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I am not in a bad mood; actually rather happy I guess what I am asking is a little more "fundamental". If the price of oil keeps going up and you keep taking stop losses like I have read through after wading through 12 pages of this thread (and also noting your belief in $10 oil)..... then how can you me making money and raking? You are selling short at a price, then it goes up in price... how do you make money on this, or do you ride the dips so even though the price is going up, you can find someone who will sell you future back at a lower than market price?

I think I am missing something... what is it? This is not a smart ass question; I invest in the sharemarket based on the thing you don't like - fundamentals -

this futures thing is something new

Well ... she's different

Same same but different.

She is like an animal sometimes, and she sometimes can fix a bulldog to be like a dog, but less than bull.... she be well fine innit.

okie ... happy hour

- dawry = 2 satangs

- free work permit

- 1 ATM card (no..thats for me  to use wit you)

- free pah rah 1 yr  (or  fried grasshopper)

if u contact me  now...  i will give u  1 sick buffy 

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Sin sot maybe 5 salueng (I am mai tueng 6 salueng)

I give you my work permit...well a photo copy of it

I have many ATM cards 4 u

Pah rah bor mee, dumbahoong dai bor?

I need a kwai, because I am general bae at work, and maybe an i-kwai to chuay is gonna be good :-) As a satawapaet U can check for find a good i-kwai hai pom laew gun

Anything for my new paray ya :-)

er.. its a fact that one of the major shareholders is one of the MPs in that area of Thailand on the Thai side of the border?!

There are a LOT of voters who do not want casinos here in Thailand.... remember that MOST of the population do not go to Poipet.

Look at what is going on with the listing of Beer Chang etc and imagine the backlash against a casino.

I love gambling, well actually to be more precise, I love winning (and I am a consistent cardcounting blackjack winner based on experience of mindnumbing work as a dealer for almost a year with nothing better to do than countdown 6 decks again and again and again), but I don't support bringing casinos to Thailand. If people want to do it, having to travel is a pain, so there is at least some cap on it. The damage I see it does to people who can least afford it is problematic; and the instant reward/cost factor far more addictive than the underground lottery/Muay Thai/cock fights/fish fights.

I argue that much of Thailand would be unable to cope were casinos introduced that allowed them to gamble here, and that the people controlling the casinos here would probably be non-legit business interests.

It also brings unhealthy elements; in my experience prostitution, loan sharking and drugs come in not long after and we already have enough of each of those here without needing more.

The argument that it is going on so should be legalised is weak at best; should we legalise murder simply because we cannot stop it?

Leave it in Cambodia; give the economy something there to do and do not legalise. It will not bring tourists since almost every other &lt;deleted&gt; country has casinos anyway...unless we want bus loads of spitting Chinese tourists as per Genting

And Pattaya is the worst location anyway; it should be Chiang Mai if it does go ahead; deliver some growth to a new location.

I think the zero borrowing is relating more to Chinese rather than Thai Thai custom...common practice for many Thai CHinese to practise cash accounting; and try to always be not borrowing....

The funny thing is that it sits against the odd customs of blowing it all on gambling, weddings and "face things" like er, 100k handbags (which are a very nice BTW :-).

Gotta look like a success I guess.

Yep, it amazes me too the level of debt that people are willing to deal with, but I suspect at least some of that is a generation thing. My mum would not dream of hving a mortgage of a term more than 5 years; for my brother and I we would buy the nice place with a 25 yearer without not sleeping.

Re. all doing the same thing... well if there is enough demand most people do ok; just look at the MBK telephone biz.... and especially if ok ain't that much.

- many of the ppl doing these non innovative businesses have no education and minimal skills....they have the energy but not the creativity

- the barriers to entry of these businesses are very low

- the risks of innovating are that you will be copied very quickly (look at the Siam Square for that sort of thing) so this is in itself a difficulty because innovation does not deliver the super normal profits for a long duration that it might overseas

- the supply chain for many of these "same" product types are actually the same logistics supplier in the background; they might have 10 stores the same, and supply through 1 warehouse facility somewhere else in the building (e.g. MBK mobile phones)

- the value of branding is difficult; for an SME being Thai automatically means "mid to low quality" so why invest in branding? On the other hand, there are plenty of Thai brands that are well known even outside Thailand, and certainly well known here... hmmm The food brands, Jaspal, Greyhound, etc

Sometimes the things sales people say are not a good indication of what the underlying factors of the market are; they are earning what, 200 b or less a day and in many cases are under orders to do things and don't have any authority to do otherwise. Couple that with the desire to keep you happy, and you'll hear all the time what you want to here, confusing as that may be.

I run one of Bangkok's premiium shopping destinations and I can advise we have absolutely no problem with Thai people willing to spend 100,000b on a handbag or whatever. MOst of our customers are Thais.

However, those same people will often go and haggle for a kg of fish or whatever at the market.

Perhaps instead of Thai National they could say:

- fluent in written and spoken Thai and holding some sort of legal status that enables the applicant to both work and reside in Thailand for an indefinite period and able to understand and cooperate with Thai people and be an effective manner through whatever means and not likely to show up the office unwashed and smelly, not likely to come to company functions with a partner who appears to come directly from a house of ill repute, not likely to complain about all aspects of Thailand incessantly, not likely to be unable to order own food or food for clients and/or entertain those clients in an appropriate manner.

Yes, I think there is another solution of than the 2 words Thai National! :-)

LivinLOS

I respect that you have taken drugs and have no issue with that; start stop when you want. Your experiences however hold little statistical validity, and for every survey saying how safe this stuff is, there is another one saying how unsafe it is. ######, they can't even agree on cigarettes, so science is well stuck on how to deal with these other drugs. This debate seems to keep referring to Ecstacy, and this is usually where the pro drug group start; ecstacy and pot.

I know a few heavy users, they show some odd aspects of personality I wasn't aware of (laziness, mood swings, slight paranoia in some cases) as a result of one or either or maybe they were screwed up anyway...but nothing that much. For me, I wouldn't really care that much about legalisation of these two with heavy taxation and massive penalties for dealers of illicit versions. BUt I feel very differently about heroin, coke, speed and so on; having lived with an addict and seeing several people around me lose their lives basically through addiction...well these are bad drugs that a lot of people seem unable to cope with. Of course, much like your experience, I cannot project this to the population as my sample is not significant.

The argument "we have tried prohibition and it doesn't work, so let's legalise" just doesn't hold water. Murder is illegal, it still goes on, so should we legalise that too? In NZ they have legalised prostitution, thinking that it would encourage legitimate business people to get into that trade and force the gangs out. From what little I know, instead it has opened the doors to more open business and the same gangs and dodgy business practises are now basically legal and cannot so easily be shaken down. Last time I went to NZ I was amazed; the casino is now surrounded on all 4 sides by prostitutes; mostly illegal immigrants apparently... wasn't legalisation supposed to let market forces sort this out?! So if that is what happens with prostitution, are we to believe that big legit businesses are going to be lining up for a piece of action when they legalise selling E?

Holland is the second argument... the only problem is that all the Dutch people I know living outside Holland generally complain about the very permissive approach as the reason why they left. But of course that is a skewed sample too; however can we really directly compare Thailand and Holland? I don't have an answer for that, but I do know that there is no way that Thailand can regulate and restrict the supply of drugs coming in from Burma in the way Holland might be able to. Same as USA with South/Middle America....and some of the stuff flowing is not ecstacy and pot, it is a bit stronger..... so are you suggesting we legalise it and allow anyone to have a hit on the yah bah pipe for less than 50baht as it was before the war on drugs a few years back? That is some bad stuff.....

As far as I understand, much of the problem with criminals and drugs is not that they take the stuff (which is of course illegal) but it encourages them to often engage in illicit activities to fund their addiction. e.g. theft, prostitution. If we legalise the drug, and the price drops super low, are you suggesting that they will now be able to hold down regular jobs and thus no longer need to steal or rob or sell their bodies? For some of the speed addicts I've met they don't seem like the type of person I would want as say a surgeon or taxi driver :-) And if there is demand increasing as the price drops; well how many lazy people sitting around smoking pot can the economy sustain? Or wound up speed addicts? At least now maybe the higher illicit price restricts demand because people cannot afford it.

The next argument of the pro drug crowd relates to who does the selling, if the price slumps then rolex dealer crowd will be replaced by legit business men. You mean the same ones you are attacking now who sell legit drugs, alchohol and cigarettes? This is a dirty business, and I cannot see that decent business ppl will be lining up to do it. Besides which the economies of say yah bah here are such a low price of manufacture that a fairly inefficient dealer network can still be probably competitive.

So now you would, in Thailand, basically be handing the power of a legit business to sit alongside the world of vice and gambling and all other manner of illegal things that some of these drug baron guys (a few of whom I have the dubious pleasure of knowing) do. They would be as happy as the gangs in NZ are, to be able to not have to set up restuarants and strip clubs and stuff as a cover up anymore.

Besides which, the many Thai voters have nothing to do with illegal drugs, they are hardly likely to vote for legalisation and thus I see that this is a bit of a pointless debate, but very interesting nevertheless.

Without slagging off Glass Home, which is very nice, it is hardly trendy; just a nice middle of the road night out, on par with Dawandaeng or similar.

It is in my neighborhood sort of, so well, I like it.

New places:

Bed - pretentious bad food with cruddy copy environment from overseas (which they paid big money for); uncomfortable seating and too many smelly feet tourists to be enjoyable

Hu-u - I got food poisoning from their fish and fainted on a first date (first dose of food poisoning in like 4 years) - food cold and average; all presentation and tasted like c^&p

Fireplace Grill - great food in an old classic reopened earlier in the year Holiday Inn - I likes it more than these other two try hard spots

Hiso modelly place in Lard Prao?! Really? Have no idea where this might be....R U sure Lard Prao?!

Is what they sell at Sizzler mostly the steaks or the salads? hmmm, I don't like zer place so much; Outback is better value for low grade steak....on the other hand for high quality....

Well, having spent some time in USA, I would say I prefer grass fed steak vs. grain fed; healthier, no fat lines and I like the taste...I also cannot eat the massive steaks you guys (as in you Americans) serve there. but also it comes down to cooking so....

- NY Steak House is very nice

- Fireplace Grill in Holiday Inn (an old classic that reopened recently, best steak I have had for a while)

- Landmark Hotel at the top (u cannot select a huge cut, but since I cannot stomach eating huge pieces of steak it was great for me)

- the one in the sort of shopping mall opposite Central Chitlom inside is good as well; on the corner of Langsuan

I prefer Aussie over US, and NZ or Japanese over either Aussie or US; don't really trust the US beef that much since it is apparently loaded with drugs/hormones, and I find it tends to be a bit fatty with those fat lines....

Taxexile

Nice list; haven't seen all of them, but know some....

Ronnies were funny, but not so relevant...compare that to the relevance of some classics of the last 10 years or so:

- Father Ted

- Harry Enfield

- League of Gentlemen

These draw inspiration (somehow) from the nastier side of life; depression, losers and all the things we don't like - and turn them into comedy. Kind of like Perrin, which is still eminently watchable.

Well, maybe not quite true life, but they are still classic.

The funny thing is that some classics like the Young Ones which I was sure (as a kid) were the funniest cleverest thing ever! now seem to be very aged.

Although I still do like

- Some mothers do have em - physical comedy from the Phantom

- Red Dwarf

There is indeed trivel coming from the UK, but also some brilliance as well. And over the last 20 years, the Yanks have at least stepped up with a few tastes of brilliance of their own:

- Seinfeld

- Trailer park boys

possible depending on the relationship; since the condo can probably be in your name I would not be keen to just give away the deposit...if it is a super farang building with tons of foreigner,s you may exceed the 50% allowance (I think it is 50%).

So try to get a mortgage in your name with her as gaurantor....

FYI interest rates are around 2.5-4% for the promotional period of a year or 2 then up around 6% or so thereafter...so not as cheap as you think.

U will need (probably) a work permit, non imm visa of some sort I think.

The examples that just spurred this question are:

Foot - เท้า script, ตีน speech

Head - ศรีษะ script, หัว speech

and several others

Well, I am not sure what you are reading, but I normally see head as หัว and I would not use the word ตีน at all in written or spoken; it is a fairly impolite word!

There are however, differences in written and spoken Thai; my lack of knowledge tends to prevent me from explaining further; in general from what I understand the written is more formal and polite and "old style".

That said, reading the pocket books of say Nui Sujira, it is clear that many of the younger generation just use the spoken Thai and write it down now, rather than the more formal stuff one might see in some older books or text books.