sylvafern

All depends what you want it for ... I started with a cheap 2000 baht one from the mall (forget the brand) and the seat/padding part fell apart the first time it was washed. If you a buying cheap, make sure the fabric will be able to stand up to wear and tear as it will get food on it, puked on, etc. My second one was a Graco which was pretty good but rather expensive - 10,000 from Central on sale. Only problem, my son outgrew it by about 1 1/2. For me, having my son walk at 1.5 years as another poster said 'should' be done was not an option - I would never expect a kid of that age to walk for hours at a time while in shopping malls, airports, while travelling, at the park for long walks etc. In the end I bought a second hand mountain buggy in New Zealand for about 3000 baht (new they would be 4 times the price). I wish I'd done my research and bought one right from the start. It is a 'super duper' 3 wheeled style one BUT it is easy to get in and out of cars, up and down escalators (all pushchairs are if you know how) and it is very smooth and zippy to push around. What's more it reclines to any height you want from fully upright to fully lying down and the hammock (seating part) is easily removed for washing. My son is 3 1/2 now but it still gets used a couple of times a month if we have a big day out.

My suggestion is think about what you want to use it for and how old you think your child will be before you stop using it and then make a decision ... better to pay more upfront than end up buying three times like I did!

Neilson Hayes Library has children's books you can borrow, however it is only handy for those that live in town so I never use it. If you enrol your baby in a pre-school/int'l school (nursery) you may have access to a library - depends which school. The school where I teach (which has a creche for babies 3 months up) has a big library with lots of books for young children.

There are also a lot book shops, particularly Asia Books and Kinokuniya that sell children's books. There are many others as well - Books on 54 (I think it's called) Nanmee Books, etc. The Kinokuniya in Siam Paragon Shopping Centre has a huge kids section and stocks a lot of the same books that would be in a western book store. In saying that, I still buy kids books whenever I am back in New Zealand, but mostly books by NZ authors that you can't get here.

I'm not an expert so this may not be correct, but from what I've been told when you 'delete' an image off of your memory card what you are actually saying is that you give permission to copy over the top of the image so, over time, you have layers and layers of images on your card. When I've had format problems with memory sticks and USB thumb-drives, I've reformatted the card using the computer and that permanently gets rid of everything on the card which means it is completely blank again. Mind you, it could just be that your memory card is too old and if so, they are not too expensive to buy in shops in Bangkok these days.

After several months out of Thailand I'd like to get a bit of a tan before going back to work in Bangkok. I was thinking of getting a spray tan here in NZ but from research it only lasts about 7 days so it will have worn off before I go back to work. Is there anywhere in Bangkok that does spray tans? Has anyone tried spray tans and what do you think of them?

Can you buy self-tanning lotions in Bangkok? I have been using one here but the bottles are pretty heavy to be taking back in my already overloaded suitcases!

(PS - I am not interested in sun-bathing or sun-beds for health reasons which is why I am interested in finding out about sunless tanning!)

Maybe it would be a good idea if others could also add good websites they know or maid agencies they have used and this topic could be pinned for future reference as it can be really hard to find a good maid and/or nanny.

Finding a maid/nanny comes up on Thai Visa heaps so this might be useful.

I need a new maid when I return to Bangkok in a couple of weeks so was doing an internet search and found this website. It seems rerally good. Lists maids/nannies by fulltime/part time, live-in/live-out, etc and even has CVs online. Has anyone else used it before? It seems really professional and they will even do background checks for you, etc (for a fee).

http://www.thainanny.com/eng/index.php?

Burmese maids and nannies don't have a work permit as such but a card that allows them to work in the job specified for a particular employer. I don't know the exact details of how to get one but we did it for our former Burmese maid some years ago. It requires the Thai person living in the house and who has a 'tabien baan' (???) to fill in the paperwork - I guess it is almost like sponsoring them. As far as I know it is not possible for foreigners to do this. In our case our landlord arranged it for us .... although it helped that he was a very high up person in the justice system and one of his mates was the minister of labour!!

Bindeez have been taken off the market here in NZ and in Australia after it was found that once ingested the beads convert to a drug known as 'fantasy' which can cause comas and death.

These schools definitely have over 1000 students: ISB, Bangkok Patana, NIST, Harrow, Ruamrudee (and maybe Shrewsbury???). Just because a school is big in numbers doesn't mean the classes have big numbers - just that there are more classes .... I would imagine that all of these schools have max class sizes of 24 or less in primary.

This is a long shot, but worth a try. When in Sydney recently there was a clown at a shopping centre who did balloons, facepainting etc. While my son was having his face done, the clown and I got talking and it turns out he comes to Phuket twice a year and is happy to arrange entertainment while there. Here's the website .... the main picture is the clown I was talking to, although I think the agency represents others (this guy's name is Stretch). Worth contacting him to see if he will be in town around the time of your daughter's party.

<a href="http://www.carouselclowns.com.au/main.htm" target="_blank">http://www.carouselclowns.com.au/main.htm</a>

Just saw the original post was ages ago! This might help someone else, though.

Thanks very much for the ideas - Tywais's idea of choosing replace color and adjusting the fuzziness, etc worked pretty well. I had played around with this before but didn't get a good result but by fiddling with the sliders it was better this time. Using selective colour hadn't worked too well for me with this photo and I still didn't get a result as good as the one Twyais uploaded, but when I played around a bit more and changed from realtive to absolute I could get a better colour. As someone else had suggested in an earlier topic I had about making blue sky bluer, I made a layer mask first and then used a white bruch over the rest of the picture (i.e. everything but the sky) to return it to the original colour. Thanks lawling for your idea too - I haven't tried it yet but will do.

Lots of different opinions here - amazingly so really, as in my opinion the safety issue of your child is paramount, not to mention he is obviously being brought up with values that you do not agree with. Just because you agreed for the grandparents to help raise the child does not mean that you can not change your mind now if you do not feel your son is receiving the care that he should be getting. Just because it is culture to give the grandparents respect, does not mean you need to sit by while they are putting your child in harm's way .... how would you feel if he does come off the bike and is killed or permanently disabled or brain damaged. If you choose 'option B' and something like this happens, how would you feel knowing that you didn't step in and do something about it when you had the chance?

You are his father and if you want to play a positve and active role in your son's life then you need to do something pro-active about it NOW. Don't wait for something serious to happen before making this decision. For now, I don't think you have any choice but to delay university. You are young and have plenty of opportunity to complete this in the future, even as a single parent if it comes to this. Yes, even at 19 months your son will have a bond with his grandparents and for the person who made a comment about this, it is ridiculous to think that this will not affect the child. While he may not actually remember exact details long-term, it will impact on the child's personal, social and emotional development. While it will be tough at first, kids are resiliant (sp?) and he will soon adapt to his new living environment if you choose to take him away from his grand parents and live with you. Whether or not this causes huge family issues is irrelevant .... the needs of your son come first and you are his father so you have more of a right than grand-parents to say how he will be brought up. You will, however, need to involve the mother in the decision making process which I imagine will be difficult.

Good-luck

if the school is "true-blue" international it should be paying more in the neighborhood of 120K+.

Can someone confirm that genuine international schools pay over 120,000/ month.

Yes, it is true and them some .... as someone said there are all the other benefits on top of that as well. I think ijustwannateach has a good idea .... if you find out what the teachers are being paid then it will give you a reasonable idea of the quality of teaching. Most well-qualified, experienced and excellent teachers would not except anything less, nor would schools employ mediocre teachers when they are paying so much (of course, some still slip through the net). As an international school teacher who is on one of these salaries, it does annoy me that people make claims that int'l schools are only in it to make money, etc. I wonder if those people have ever actually asked a school what their annual profit is .... I think they would be very surprised - not all schools are make the huge profits you might think they are. I do believe that, for the most part, you do get what you pay for. If you want a high quality education delivered in the English language in Thailand, then you will need to accept that it costs a lot of money. The key to finding the right school is by doing your research thoroughly and by asking as many questions as you can think of when visiting prospective schools.

Sorry I can't help with the original poster's question. I just wanted to respond to some of the comments about international schools .... it really irks me when people make comments with out really knowing what they are talking about .... and as for the post about the types of students at international schools, well there may be the odd kid like that but the other 99% of the student body are normal, well-rounded super kids.

There could be hundreds of reasons why your son isn't speaking and they may not be as simple as a hearing problem or speech problem. At 3 years old he should be speaking way more than that and I don't think anything can be blamed on a past teacher. You need your son to have a though assessment by an educational psychologist who will be able to assess if your son has a learning problem or some sort of disorder. You also need to do as suggested and have him assessed by a doctor, but I would reccomend that you only go somewhere reputable and see a pediatrician (I recommend Dr Suban at Smativej). Be aware that it is very common for doctors in Thailand to mis-diagnose disorders and label a child as having a certain condition and medicate or give an inacurate prognosis without fully investigating the condition. I would tread carefully and make sure you get second opinions if you are unsure, especially if medication is recommended. After seeing a doctor and ruling out hearing problems, I recommend you arrange an appointment with an western Educational Psychologist... assessments are not cheap but they are extremely thorough. Try the Village for a contact, or another SEN center called Ashes to Oaks (I think that's the name) on Sukhumvit 71 - ask for Allison. I could also put you in contact with a British ed Psych who flies to bangkok every few months to do assessments (they are costly but for the sake of your son if may be necessary).

Edit: Woops, just realised that ATOC you mentioned must be the Ashes to Oaks that I am talking about ... you are definitely doing the right thing by making that a starting point.

At places like Central (B2S) and the Mall you can get mosaic kits which start from 79 baht. I do this as an afterschool activity at my school with kids around 10 years old and both boys and girls like it. No need for great English skills either. You could try searching on the internet for art and craft ideas for kids that age and I am sure lots of stuff will come up. Getting out doors, you could go to Lumpini park for a walk or even a ride on the peddle boats (not expensive). If you have a car you could go for a day trip to the beach. Dusit Zoo only costs 50 baht entry (100 baht for foreigners unless you can read the prices in Thai!!) and there's hours of entertainment there - not just looking at the animals but there is a big playground, a lake with boats and a side-show entertainment area (which I personally avoid!). Across the road is Vimanmek mansion - I sure they would be interested in seeing a bit of Thai history - they could even do the tour in Thai so they really learn and get the most out of it. Baiyoke Tower would be a great activity for early evening. No need to go for the buffet, just take a ride up to the viewing area (120 baht ??) and watch the sun set. great views across Bangkok as well as displays inside that the kids love (e.g. sitting in a tuk-tuk, etc).

If you are in Ayuttaya town, it's not that far from Bangkok - only 45 minutes to Laksi. If you have transport, there would be nothing to stop you travelling into Bangkok a few days a week to join groups. There are plenty of voluntary organisations where expat wives help out in North Bangkok which you could join.

I am typing this on my mother's PC and have just noticed that the image I attached in my original post looks heaps different than when it is on my ibook .... perhaps the colour issue is not with my camera, but with my computer!!

I'll leave it to the expert photographers to advise you on how to prevent this in the first place.

So far as Photoshop is concerned there are various things you could do but the simplest which you might want to try for starters is to select the offending area of sky with the Magic Wand (with a Tolerance of about 25). Then go to Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Hue/Saturation and use the sliders to achieve a reasonably desirable affect. Then Ctrl D to deselect.

There are some more elaborate tricks that I can suggest if that isn't satisfactory.

Thanks for that - adjusting the hue (in photoshop) works quite well with the photo I attaced in my original post but when I tried it with a different phot there were issues with selecting the correct areas to change. If you do have another tecnique that you think gives better results, please share that as I can be fussy and want my photos perfect. At least changing the hue helps a bit!

I don't think I have hue/saturation settings on my camera but I'll have a check. Would a polarizing filter help as well? At the moment I have no filter on the camera as the design of it means I can only buy Sony accessories and Sony brand filters are very expensive here in NZ where I am at the moment.

I am finding that I am regularly getting an unattractive cyan coloured sky in photos .... I never had this problem until owning my current camera - a Sony H9 full featured camera. I've got a little sony pocket camera and previously have owned an earlier model full feature and an A100 (which I sold, somewhat regretfully now!) but have always taken photos with natural blue colored skies.

I've tried playing around with the settings - white balance, scene modes, etc but I still seem to be regularly getting horrible aqua-cyan colored sky (see unedited example). It doesn't happen all the time, though with some pictures having really nice blue skies.

Does anyone know what might be the problem when taking the photos and what I can do in photoshop to fix the cyan sky. I have spent ages searching for a way to solve the problem and experimenting myself but nothing seems to work (have tried selective colour, colour burn/multiply, replacing the sky (looks fake and not always easy to select area)) etc

Any hints appreciated!! Thanks.

try lulu.com and publish your own photo boks and calendars, etc

The bigger issue here is not the pros and cons of having the child in your name but the pros and cons of having a child fullstop. Even though you feel too young to settle down and have a family, the fact is you have a baby on the way and you need to take 50% of the responsibility. Even if she did trap you into getting pregnant, it takes two to tango and all that so you can't put all the blame on her. While you might not be ready to settle down and marry her (or even live with her) you do need to think what kind of role you want to take in your child's life. It seems to me as if you feel you might be trapped into giving child support payments .... but morally, don't you feel you should be doing it whether she asks for them or not? If you were in the UK and your girlfriend accidently got pregnant, would you want your name on the child's birth certificate, etc? Would you legally be entitled to provide child support? If the answer is 'yes' then it should be the same in this situation .... the fact that your girlfriend is Thai and you are in Thailand should really have no relevance.

Based on all the stories I have read on here and heard and seen, I do understand how you must feel at the moment though so you are in a delicate situation. Whatever you decide, I think you really need to think about the child's best interests, not necessarily what's best for you or your girlfriend.

Like someone said, if you are not ready to commit to any aspect of this relationship, including the child, then run now. It wouldn't be responsible, moral or the right thing to do in any way at all and think serioudly about the negative affect it may possibly have on your life and the child's life (e.g. in ten or twenty years time when you are settled down with the right woman and have children, will you still be wondering about the child you abandoned in Thailand and harbouring strong feelings of guilt? How will the child feel growing up never knowing its father?)

Is it possible that you could convince your girlfriend to think of other options? I think abortion is illegal here, although it sounds like you might be past this stage anyhow, but can you convince your girlfriend to put the child up for adoption if you feel that you are not ready to take on the life-long responsibility of having a child. I am sure there would be ways of doing this - there must be people within Thailand and internationally lining up to adopt a baby. How do you feel about taking full custody of the baby and bringing it up without your girlfriend (if the issue is that you just don't want to be with her). Do you have parents in the UK that could support you with this?

As far as your original question goes, there are only pros for your child for having them registered and getting a passport from your country. Whether or not your girlfriend uses this in the future to gain child support, etc, is irrelevant as these details will be benefitting your child. Just try and think about your child in the future .... do you want him or her growing up in Thailand and going to public schools here and only ever knowing Thai culture, or do you want your child to have the opportunity to come and live in the UK, go to school there, attend university and receive all the benefits of having a UK passport compared to a Thai one?

I hope this helps you to think through the issues and focus on the key ones. Whatever you do, don't 'do the right thing' and marry her just because she is pregnant. I have seen first hand the state of relationships where the guy did this and it is not healthy for the guy or for the kids involved.

I can't imagine that you will be able to get creche style care for the same rate you pay your nanny, especially if you want a western style care centre. I imagine that you will need to pay a significant amount of money to get this. I personally am a fan of creche and pre-school type care and would 100% rather have this for my son than a nanny but I am in a situation where this is possible. If you can not afford to pay for fees, can you afford to pay more money for a better nanny? Perhaps a Filippino that speaks English? You could also get the nanny to take your child to places like Gymboree or Little Gym so the are socialising with other children.

I found it interesting reading a topic in another forum by this OP .... maybe I am tired and am missing something, but in this topic the OP seems to be female with a husband and wanting a baby, however in their other topic the OP seems to be male, with a wife and a girlfriend on the side whom he has already had a baby with.....something's not adding up!!!!!

my thai girlfriend lives in bangkok. can she apply for a thai passport for our baby? we are not married to each other but I am married to another woman who is not Thai (I did not get marry in Thailand).

HPV is the human papilloma virus. It is a sexcually transmitted disease whiuch saffects both men and women. Infected men may be asyptomatic or may have genital warts. Infected women most often do not have obvious symptoms alth there my be warts, usually on the cervix where it will not be visible except upon internal examination.

The most serious consequence of HPV is that it can lead to cervical cancer in women. A vaccine has just been released and is recommended for all women who have bnot aready been infected by the virus. Ideally girls should receive it before they firsat become sexually active.

I am back home in NZ at the moment .... is this something I should be investigating getting while I am here? Is it something that is being given to girls as standard practice in western countries? If it is an STD then it must mean you catch it from unsafe sex and therefore is preventable by being safe, right?

You definitely need to get legal advice on this and not rely on information given to you here (use as a guide only) as it sounds as if you are about to enter an extremely difficult situation. I know you were only asking for information on passports so this is not a question for you to answer here (unless you want to) but to think about (if you haven't already) ..... what exactly is your reasons for choosing a Thai women in Thailand to be the surrogate mother rather then in your home country or closer to home? Have you ever been to Thailand and will you be here throughout the pregnancy (can you even get visas to stay while here?) How well do you know this women? Can she be trusted that her intention is to carry your baby and not keep the baby for herself? I know it's bad to think this, but my first thought was that this could be a situation of a Thai woman planning to have her very own farang baby which she can call her own.