sylvafern

Im planning on a move to LOS in next couple of years and would like to show my parents that its not all sleaze (they're very old fashioned)

I thought this was a serious request for help based on the above statement, but i see by your more recent posts that you have no intention of showing them that the place is not 'all sleaze'. Luckily, most of us know that it's not, but i doubt your parents will with your intentions of hiring a 'guide' that obviously you expect will provide other services. Good luck to your parents. Wish I hadn't bothered replying to your original request.

No I never have and never will let my son on the back of a pick-up - especially during Songkran, and yes, when he is old enough to ride a bike, he will wear a crash helmet. (It's the law in New Zealand and I am not going to drop my safety standards just because I am here). His Thai grandfather tried to take him to the shop on his bike once (while clutching onto him) and when I explained to him that a 3 year old boy from my old school was in a coma for 6 weeks and permanently brain damaged after falling off the back of his nanny's bike, he understood my concerns.

The point of your question was ??????

Yes, you are paying a lot, especially compared to the salaries that university graduates get who can speak English very well (e.g. my son's father only got 8000 baht a month for his first job after graduating - went to a college that was 100% English language .... that money was supposed to cover everything - transport, food, etc). However, in my experience, good maids and nannies are extremely difficult to come by so if you are happy with the one you've got and can afford to pay that much for her, then stick with her. I am on my 3rd maid in three months - they just never seems to stick around - I pay decent money too - 5000 baht for 3 days a week - no nanny duties and only two people in the house - me and a 2 year old. Overpaid in comparison to what I've paid in the past, but still they don't stick around. Best maid I ever had was Burmese. She stayed with us for 2 years til she disappeared one day but would take her back in a second if she ever contacted me.

Here's some advertising from new zealand that promotes the importance of wearing seatbelts. They only seem to have copies of print adverts (for seatbelts) on their website (which should get the point across - very graphic) but there are also TV ads available which are very good and they do work when showing them to Thai people. I did it as part of a road saftely campaign some years back at my school. We showed selected clips during the parents information evening. During the week many different education related activities were carried out with the children. For months afterwards I was still having parents talking about how they always wore their seatbelt and how their children would tell them off if they forgot.

http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/advertising/safety-belts.html

Incidently, I agree with insisting on thy child being in the car seat. If you're driving then your rules apply. No one is allowed in my car without wearing a seatbelt - even if they've never worn one in their lives before (e.g. my son's grandmother didn't even know how to do one up). It's not just their safety you need to be worried about. In an accident, if someone is not belted in behind you, they can be thrown forward and the person in the front. Think about it .... definitely something worth insisting upon.

PS - the pictures on this website (and videos for other road safety issues) are very graphc and should not be shown to children. When I did this topic at my school, I had to sign a form agreeing that it couldn't not be shown to under 12's.

One thing I do like though, is how shopping centres allow you to use the buggy/stroller on the escalators - once you get the hang of going up and down them you can get around much faster than waiting for an over-crowded lift (especially as it often takes several attempts to even get in a lift with a buggy dur to people pushing in front of you and jam-packing in til the buzzer goes off!).

Incidently, when in Khon kaen you'll still suffer the same things with lack of lifts, esculators and negotiating stairs .... the steps up into Oasis for instance, and the breaking down of esculators at Big C (they always did that when I lived there and still did it when I visited last year - was stranded on the top floor for awhile with no way of getting down with the push chair!). The walk around the lake is good with a stroller though - and good exercise.

My father and his wife were here recently for the first time .... here's some of the things I suggested we do. We did most of them (over a period of two weeks) and they seemed to enjoy their time here. For the Kanchanburi part we hired a van and driver which was an excellent way to do it. The daily rate was 1750 per day plus gas (deisal) and we gave him about 300 baht per night so he could find his own guesthouse accomodation. PM me if you want the contact details.

Around bangkok:

Chatuchak Weekend market

Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), Wat Po, canal tour by long-tail boat.

Chinatown / Jim Thompson’s House

Vimanmek Mansion, Dusit Zoo (Dusit Zoo was for my son's benefit but they still enjoyed it - more than him even!)

Aquarium /Siam Paragon Shopping Centre/other shopping centres

dinner cruise on Chao Praya River (Shangri-la cruise)

Outside of Bangkok

Day trip to Ayuthaya – ruined city

Day trip to Phimai Ruins, Baan Prasart Archaeological site and Chokchai Farm (Isaan area - Khorat province) This was a long day trip - 600 kms in one day but worth it).

Trip to Kanchanburi - Possible activities include:

Bridge over the River Kwai

Hellfire Pass

Elephant Riding / Bamboo Rafting

Tiger Temple (make sure you get there before 4pm)

War Cemeteries and Museums

Death railway (train ride)

Erawan Falls, etc (Our driver took us to lots of other sights as well).

Hope this helps.

If they are telling you to get a new camera, then yours is probably beyond repair. I've always found the sony service centre great - my old sony video camera needs repairs a couple of times a year and the 500 baht or so it costs me each time keeps my camera going until it eventually dies a complete death.

Try gymboree which have different locations around Bangkok.

www.gymboree.co.th

I'd love to find a place to get Seaseme Street and Mr. Roger's Neighborhood DVD's in Thailand. Haven't heard these mentioned yet. Anyone have any idea?

Peace

Seseme Street (esp Elmo) VCDs - haven't see DVDs - are available at the toy department at the Mall and at Central.

Central Lat Prao has a kids hair dressers with racing car seats and TV's to watch while they get their hair cut. I think there's one at Central Chitlom, too. At Lat Prao it is towards the back of the children's toys section.

This is such a terrible story and so sad. Unfortunately it's not the first story we've heard on this forum about the way animals have been mistreated and misdiagnosed by vets and animal carers. I'm sorry I can not offer anymore advice, but I do think if you feel up to pushing it you should be able to get some compensation out of them (e.g. money) While it does not bring your dog back, hopefully it will make them realise their mistake so that it does not happen to someone else's pet

(The reason I say you might be able to get compensation is a few months ago I took my dog to be groomed and he was severely cut on his leg and needed stitches as the dog groomer was untrained and did not know what she was doing. I managed to get them to give me 2000 baht so I could pay for vet's bills afterwards) Please let us know if you manage to get the TSPCA get involved and if there is anything they can do to help you.

Actually, I thought that a jeans size 32 was the same as I size 12 in Aus/NZ which is the same as size 10 in the US (when I was a NZ size 12 I used to get Levis that were size 32). I think there is a difference between jeans size 32 and European size 32 that some clothes labels use ... I think a European size 32 is very small - about size 2 or 4 US..... this probably confuses the situation. If you want to buy her some sort of clothing present maybe it would be better to go for some sort of figure-hugging stretchy top so it won't matter if you get it a few sizes wrong!

As others have said, you can easily take photos through the fence - you have unobstructed 360 degree views, and with a camera with a zoom on it can get great photos. I have been quite a few times, always take visitors to Bangkok there. Big variety in buffet which includes western and Thai food as well as other Asian foods... should be about 400 baht. but last time I went it was double the price. When I said I normally only pay 400, they told be if you go in after 8pm, that is what the price is. Either way, is pretty good value for money in my opinion. Also, the indoor observation deck has a nice display of old bangkok photos as well as tuk-tuks, etc, you can climb on and take photos .... great for kids and tourists.

i wash mine in a bucket, thai style. maybe i should just start sending it out to the laundry lady.

You can get cheap washing machines now (altho I'm not sure whether or not Lotus delivers to where you are) which actually work out cheaper than the laundry lady once you've had it for a few months. Are there any 2nd hand shops where you are ... that might be a way to get one too.

I recently just gave my Thai inlaws a washing machine that I no longer needed due to moving house and there already being one in the new place. It cost about 1500 baht (maybe less) to post it from Bangkok to Samui - seriously! I did not believe my b/f when he told me we could take it to the post office and send it, but it was true.

I've answered your question in the family forum .... plus, is you look back at some of the other topics (in the family forum), you will find quite a bit of information on hospitals people have used and what they thought of them.

Someone else may be able to confirm this but, from what I've been told, I think that Samitevej and Bumrungrad are the only hospitals that allow your partner to be in the room with you during the cesearean (ie - BNH doesn't allow this) so this might be something you should check out before deciding.

I was looking at it 2 weeks ago when in Dubai and comparing it to the Sony OX, also 10.2 mp. I finally decided on the Sony as it seemed to be really good at taking photos in lower light conditions without the need for flash. The auto focus also seemed to be more acurate. It is a bit bigger and heavier than the Canon though. Set came with a 18-70 mm lens + a 70-300mm. However, when I went to pay for it, the "international" warranty only applied in 8 countries and Thailand wasn't one of them! So left Dubai with neither! Haven't had time to look here yet, but does anyone know if the Sony is available in Thailand and how much?

Hi

are you referring to the Sony A100? Anyhow, I found this camera in the Sony Centres in BKK. There's one in Emporium and one near Sala Daeng BTS, on the corner of Soi Convent (for the latter, the shop is sinsiam electronics - this is where I got mine from> They'll give a discount for cash but warranty is Thailand only. They had to order it in).

thecameracity also has the camera but I found them to be less helpful. However, it looks like they have knocked their price down.

Yes, I think that's the one. I have since seen them in Central and a Sony shop for 40,000 baht (or 50000 baht incl the second lens).

It can happen [taking children from a pram] but it's not like it happens all the time .... just happened once to me, but has happened to 3 other mothers I know .... also once only and this is over the course of the 8 years I've been in Thailand.

Think-too-mut - sorry that you think I am "bullshitting" and trying to get a bite from others .... have way more better things to do than waste my time making up stories. I wrote the original post at a time when this was really upsetting me asking how other people deal with it.

If you don't have this problem - lucky you and lucky them, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen to others. Can I ask, are you children pale skinned with pale hair, or are they dark skinned or full Thai? If they are darker skinned or full Thai, this just proves the point that others made that this nearly always only happens to light skinned or farang babies and kids. If your kids are farang/light skinned and are able to move through a shopping center or similar without recieving abnormal attention from strangers then you are, like I said, very lucky.

Why don't you ask some farang friends or collegues you know, especially women, and see what they think ..... Without a doubt I garuntee they will be able to tell you similar stories about the way Thais react to their child (again, I'm talking about strangers here, not people known to them).

We have never allowed stangers to mess with our children in the way that is common in Thailand - But let me clarify 'Common'.

Thais do this to foreign kids. They do not do this to the children of other Thais they do not know.

Putting asside disease, there is an issue about establishing the right of a child to its own privacy in its own body.

When our daughter was young we caught one woman cutting a curl of blond hair off my daughter's head! Pinching, tickling, picking the children up was obviously more the norm, my response, our response was to take care of our children first and care about Thai sensibilities second.

I treat any stanger who wants to mess with our kids exactly the same, no matter who they are (Thai or not).

They do so at their perril.

I've slapped hands, pinched people back, and in that extreme case where we caught a woman cutting a blond curl off my daughter's head, I took the scissors off her and cut a chunk out of her own hair.

Thais don't do this to the children of other Thais they don't know, and to put it in context. If they came across a wealthy Thai and his family, the would not even dare go near the children, let alone mess with them.

Thanks for adding your comments - it's exactly how I feel and I have been known to do the same as you and do the same behavior back to the person so they know exactly what it feels like. However, after doing so I feel guilty and worry that I'm not exactly setting a good example for my son!

The apple shop on the ground floor at the back of Pantip had the best prices when I bought my i-book just over a year ago. They also had the new model out when all the other shops said they wouldn't get it for 1-2 more weeks.

Apparently there is a good apple shop in the basement of Central Latprao. Haven't been there but was told about it by a mac enthusiast advising me where to go. Apparently the owner speaks english and can help with anything mac related.

Also, a there's an apple shop in IT Square (also known as Laksi Plaza near the old airport) that might be ok.

I don't think changing the name will help - I actually quite like it and think it is appropriate. Like I said, I think the main problem is the sponsors. I liked the idea somepne had of trying to get some sort of spa/beauty place to be the sponsor. I don't know how this sort of thing would be done though. Do the people that work for thaivisa contact potential sponsors directly, or wait to be approached? Can we suggest potential sponsors to be researched by thaivisa staff? In the larger picture, not many people know about this website so I don't think it's likely that potential sponsors would contact the website directly. I work with a lot of foreigners and no one I know has ever heard of this website. I only came across it when trying to find out visa information for my son and it wasn't until many months later that I explored the other forums. Does Thaivisa ever advertise themselves? Today at the Ploenchit fair there were lots of stands advertising farang focused things in thailand ... e.g. shakers and movers, radiobangkok.net, etc. Perhaps a presence at events like this would be a way of finding sponsors (as well as more members).

I think you have misread my posts. My son does live in an environment where he is treated as special - he is in a daycare centre which is like a family and recieves a lot of love and attention from the people that care for him while I'm working, as well as from family and friends. On the occasions he gets to go to his father's village he loves recieving attention from his Thai family and extended relatives. When he has had enough of the attention he is passed back to me. This is a situation where he knows the people and this is absolutely fine .... you're right that this creates a well-rounded happy child.

What I am talking about is unwanted and inappropriate attention from complete and utter strangers that appear in his life for 10 seconds to pinch his cheek, kiss him, grab him and then walk off on their way never to be seen again. I object to it because it distresses my son and as a parent I don't like to see my son distressed and upset. Fair enough, I think.

She wasn't actually my midwife ... she just came round visiting the farang patients in the hospital to check everything was ok and if there was anything I didn't understand - before that visit I didn't even know midwives existed in Thailand. She worked for Samitevej hospital so I'm not sure if she would be able to do private patients. Maybe you could still try contacing the hospital and getting hold of her as she might be able to answer your question on how to find one.

I'm not sure but it does seem very young .... I can't imagine wanting to fly 7 days after giving birth unless it was an emergency anyhow! My friend flew Emirates when her son was 4 weeks old and that was fine - he slept most of the time.

Are you already in Thailand or are you coming at a later date? The norm here is to have obstetricians and I think you'll find that any OB at a hospital you're likely to visit will speak English. Not just at the top hospitals, but the less well known hospitals too (not sure about government hospitals). I started maternity care at the hospital local to where I live as I did not want to travel into town for every appointment and the doctor spoke excellent English.

When I had my baby at Samitevej (Sukhumvit) I was visited in hospital by a lady called Karen who is a farang midwife based at Samitevej. Before that she was at Bumrungrad. This was 2 years ago so I'm not sure if she's still there, but you could try contacting the hospital and finding out.