sylvafern

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.

Seeing as this topic has been brought back up ... my son is now just over 2 and he still gets lots of unwanted attention, although now he's bigger no one bothers with trying to get him out of his pushchair or anything like that. However, strangers still touch him, squeeze his cheek and sometimes try to kiss him. I'm surprised that this has never happened to 'think-too-mut's daughter as I do not know anyone that this doesn't happen to. (I am refering to farang kids and pale looking half-Thai kids here). My son screams 'no' or 'go away' to strangers that even just look at him which is horrible as he does this even to people that are being nice and polite.

I hate the 'go and live somewhere else' statement ..... especially when I started this thread asking others if they had the same problem and how they deal with it. I am not so shallow as to run away from the country and deny my child the right to know about his Thai heritage just because I don't like one aspect of the culture. It's a ridiculous statement that does not take into account the bigger picture and the millions of reasons why I am in Thailand and choose to stay. However, in saying that, I am currently considering a move away from Thailand for other reasons and when drawing up a list of pros and cons of moving, this is definitely on the pro list as I would love my son to be able to go out in public without being harrassed by strangers touching him all the time.

I also agree that if different sponsors could be found for the ladies forum it could help keep the posters out that are looking to meet 'girls'. I don't think changing the forum name to something 'girly' (e.g. the Cosmopolitan idea) to keep the guys out would work as it might also detract potential ladies from checking out the forum. Besides, I also agree that it is ok that guys post and sometimes they genuinely are looking for a female opinion (even if that's not what they get!) Really, the only idea I have is finding a more suitable sponsor but that's probably quite hard.

To reiterate what everyone else said .... avoid Thai even if it's just for the fact they don't give out infant belts. Was shocked at this as I thought it would be standard safety precautions but I was told that I just had to hold on tightly.

If you choose your flight times well and go on a flight that's fully booked, attendents will always give you extra seats if they're available .... luckily almost every long haul flight I've gone on I've ended up with a seat for my baby. Air New Zealand (which doesn't fly to Bkk, at the time to Singpore but now only to Hong Kong) rearranged the whole plane upgrading lots of people in order to give all 15 infants on the flight their own seat! Great kids TV on Air NZ, too.

Recently flew Etihad and, although my son was on a child's ticket (just turned 2), they still gave me an infant belt so he could sit on my knee for take-off so he wouldn't be scared.

Hint for seat choice .... if your infant/child has their own seat and it's a daytime flight choose a bulkhead seat as there is loads of legroom and space for the child to play. However, if it's a night time flight, then a regular seat is better. In the bulkhead seats the armrests don't go up and the seats are slightly narrower due to TV's being in the arm rests so it's difficult for the child to sleep. However in a normal seat, the arm rest can be lifted and the child can lie down with their legs on your lap .... makes for a much more peaceful sleep and a more relaxing flight for you!

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?

Thanks - I thought it would be easy to fix but couldn't figure out how.

This week when I have been using my ibook to read posts on Thaivisa, I have noticed that the view is different than before. I normally use my PC and can see a whole page of posts (in order) at a time, but wen use my ibook I have to click on the links to individual posts at the bottom of the page which is very annoying. I don't think it used to be like this. Is there any way to change it back to the way it looks on my PC. Thanks.

I can't say that Thailand is my home any more. I don't feel that going back to Thailand is like going back home. It's still my home country though. And I can't really say that US is my home country but I do feel like home whenever I come back from Thailand.

That's the same way I feel about New Zealand / Thailand .... whenever I go back to NZ for a holiday I say I am going 'home' and it is like home with my family there, but I do experience 'culture shock' of sorts. After my annual 6 weeks there and on arriving back in Thailand, as I step out of the airport I get that overwhelming feeling of 'it's great to be back home'. I've spent almost all my working life here (2 years in NZ, and I'm in my 9th year here) so I think that if/when I ever go back to NZ I will have a lot of adjusting to do.

It's only natural, but living away from "home' for so long, and experiencing all the different things here, has led to drifting away from certain friendships ... especially people who have never travelled. Only two of my good friendships are still strong, and both of those people have travelled and/or worked overseas (both have visited me in Thailand).

Buy a wireless router from True for 2,900 baht - you can't exchange the other one even if it is uused and still in the box (I just moved and the landlord kindly set it up for me but got normal broadbrand rather than the wireless that I wanted). Be warned - the instructions are impossibly difficult to follow to set it up - in fact there are bits that are completely incorrect/missing so unless you're really technical you won't be able to set it up yourself .... they have technicians that come for 500 baht, but luckily I had a friend that helped me as i really didn't want to pay the money when it was their instructions that were at fault!! (Also no instructions for setting up on a Mac .... i have a regular PD and an ibook)

edited to add: just in case you're still confused, when you go into the True shop look for a white box with a drawing of a lady in a red dress on it. The box says Wi-Fi@home .... that's the one you want (can be used up to 15 metres away from the modem).

I've been looking at flat screen off and on TVs for almost a year now and the are WAY cheaper than they were when I first started looking. You just need to look around for the best price, although even places like Central, The Mall and Homepro have good deals. Also look at what freebies are being thrown in. Homepro usually has heaps of extra stuff - DVD recorders, home theatres, vouchers, etc. If one of the freebies is something you also want you could be saving yourself some money. e.g. a deal I saw recently for a 32" LCD (name brand but forget which) was around 47,000 baht but it came with a free flat screen 17" monitor which I also want to get ... i know they're not too expensive now, but effectively it made the TV around 40,000 baht as I would have been buying the monitor anyhow (altho have bought neither as yet cos can't actually decide whether I want a 32" or a 37"!)

I wish I could find it again, but I can’t. I remember clearly seeing information, or a link to information, in this forum indicating which baggage carousel is assigned to which airlines. Can anybody point me to this information again, please?

I know there are blinking monitors giving arriving passengers that information for their flights, but apparently there is a pre-defined assignment of carousels to airlines – whether it is being followed is another matter, of course.

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Maestro

If there is, that could explain why all the other carousels were empty yet the one my bags were on was stacked ridiculously high with bags from two completely different flights last Sunday. It was complete madness - so many people crowded around it and bags stacked so high on the carousel that there was nothing you could do but watch your luggage go round and round until the crowd thinned out as it was impossible to reach in and grab your bags without seriously injuring yourself!

I hadn't noticed either. It is expensive compared to other places I guess, but I wouldn't do without. Even though i don't watch a lot I have my regular shows that i never miss.

Has anyone tried True's broadband TV yet .... interested to try it but don't know how good it is (e.g. is it the same as my internet connection which just stops working every now and then for no reason?)

Hi there - I can understand how you must be feeling now - there's so many things to worry about with a newborn that later on you will probably look back at and think why was it ever a concern! You're probably going to get lots of conflicting advice here, so just do what feels right for you. I would say 18 degrees is very cold, but of course it depends on the effectiveness of your air-con. I had a baby book (which I've leant to a friend so can't refer to it exactly) that gave different temperatures and the number of blankets or sheets needed. I always went for 24 degrees and one blanket (and a full body sleepsuit) - this is what seemed to be best for my son. I think the book is a Doreen Kindersly (sp?) book and called something like Mother and Baby. It has purple writing on the cover and has lots of useful information in it right from conception up to 36 months, so it may be wortk having a look for it in Asia books or Kinokuniya.

Personally, I would be hesitant about letting a small new born sleep in your bed. Only because in rare cases it is possible to smother your child (and kill him/her) by accident especially if you are a heavy sleeper or drink, etc. Of course it's rare, but was enough to scare me. My son was in a cot right next to the bed so for night time feeds I just had to move a metre or two to get baby and sit in my 'breast feeding chair' (one of those wooden ones you get from chatuchak was perfect). I found that much more comfortable than lying down and feeding.

The person that visited me in hospital that came to register my son's birth (2 years ago) told my you can't have hyphenated names in Thailand which is what we wanted (Thai-Farang, though). I believed it at the time (shock of labour and all that) but thinking back, I think I should have pushed the issue, because surely you can? I don't understand why not if you can't.

I never had the test you are talking about, but if it is something a little out of the ordinary, perhaps you might be better off doing it as you pass through Bangkok. My OB at Samitevej hospital (Suk Soi 49) was Dr Pongsak and he was excellent - very friendly and very thorough. After having tests one day, he called me up within hours of the test to come back for more due to high sugar levels and for a while I was going every week for blood tests as he was concerned about pregnancy-onset diabetes (everything turned out to be fine tho). A lot of friends have had babies/used the women's clinic at Samitevej (incl using the same Dr as me) and all have had good experiences.

I agree with the above post - don't get roped into paying more just because you are farang. Some farangs pay huge amounts to their maids ... well in excess of 10,000 baht a month. While it may not seem like much to a lot of expats who earn big bucks, I think it would help if things were looked at compared to other Thai salaries. When my b/f first started working at a travel agent after completing a diploma in Hotel and Tourism managment at an International college where all classes were taught in English, he earned 8000 baht a month - exactly what we were paying our uneducated maid .... except that she was even better off then he was as she had free accomodation and free food and my b/f had to travel across town every day and pay for food (not to mention the 1000's of baht that were spent on his uni costs!).

Currently, I have a part time maid (3 days a week) who I pay 5000 baht a month, live out. Prior to this maid, I had a live in maid for 7,500 b/m. I wouldn't reccomend paying higher than 7-8,000 baht to start with. If they turn out to be fantastic, you can always increase their salary after a while.

maybe they are their boyfriends and it is okay.

In the time I've lived in Thailand (more than 8 year) the only time I have ever come accross Thai men touching women inappropriately is during Songkran when it seems as if being drunk and disorderly is acceptable. After a few songkrans and having being groped each time, I now avoid the situation and don't go out in public places where there are lots of drunk people.

Other than this, I've never seen men here behaving in the way you seem to think they do. Are you sure you are not misreading situations, just like you misread the situation with the married man?

Congratulations, Boo!!

I found out as I really wanted a girl and I decided I'd rather know if it was a boy beforehand in order to prepare myself. When I found out it was a boy I was momentarily disapointed (my heart sank a bit) but by the end of the day I was totally over it and just so excited about the baby coming. For me, it was better to find out sooner than later.

Sometimes, if it is a boy, it's blatently obvious it's a boy depending on the angle of the camera - it was with my son, so even if I hadn't wanted to know I would have figured it out pretty quickly!

Clothes shops with clothes to fit always make me miss home when I'm trying to find something nice (but cheap) to fit here. Also, chocolate and sweets that are uniquely new zealand (e.g. pineapple lumps, jaffas, moro bars ... most kiwis would agree with this, I think!).

More seriously, the think the thing that makes me miss home the most is when there is some sort of event onthat I am unable to attend ... e.g. a wedding or a milestone birthday party, etc. One of my best mates is about to have her second child any day soon which makes me wish I could be there, especially as I wasn't there for her first baby either. Also, if something goes wrong or if I'm feeling a bit down about something, I can't run away to my mum's house and have her make my favourite meal as I would be able to do if I was home. The only other thing is not having my immediate family around to enjoy my son as he grows up.

In saying that, all the good things about being here keep me staying year after year and I'm not about to rush home anytime soon. Just have to be contented with holidays, I guess!

Sofitel Raja Orchid in Khon Kaen - definitely unbeatable value - 5 star luxury for less 2000 baht a night! Have stayed there loads and take any visitors I have staying with me there. Everything about that place is great - great decor (very Thai), great food (love the bakery and the buffets!) and great atmosphere. I'm biased as my first and most memorable year was spent in Khon Kaen, but 8 years later I still go to Khon Kaen at least once a year just to stay at the Sofitel!!

Also, I just remembered that True now do Broadband TV which includes Disney channels including Disney Playhouse which had things like Barney and Baby Einstein, etc. I haven't got it yet but plan to as it seems quite good - you pay for the channels you want - mostly about 80 baht per channel per month (plus monthly fee which is only about 190 baht). Has anyone else got this yet? I wonder what the other adult channels are like as the package for them all isn't too bad either.

Probably ordering off Amazon or similar is your best bet, or getting someone to send from home. I've found that kids programmes from Australia are the best. My son absolutely loves "Hi-5" and the "Hooley Dooleys". He also likes the "Wiggles", and Australian Play School, as well as Barney and Teletubbies.

My bf who is from a small town in the south got a waiter to bring me a pink tissue that he made into a rose at a pub type place. Sounds like the same thing.

That's it - I had forgotten about the tissue roses!

It doesn't really worry me too much anymore when I'm told I'm 'fat' anymore as I've heard it so many times now - e.g. when my 'inlaws' haven't seen me for awhile they always comment on how I'm bigger than last time even if I think I'm smaller!. But that's when I'm being told face to face and by someone I know. It still really gets me even after 8 years when shop assistants tell me, and how they automatically assume you need the biggest size and if it doesn't fit you must need an even bigger size rather than smaller. The thing that I absolutely hate the most though is when shop assistants are discussing my weight and body size right in front of me assuming I can't understand them. I always turn to them and ask them why they are speaking so impolitely which usually results in profuse 'kor thort ka's'. In this situation I think it is good to let them know you understand and if they're going to gossip, at least wait until your out of earshot!

Good luck for meeting up with this guy again - I hope it all goes well .... you never know how things will turn out so it's definitely worth persuing if you think there might be something there.

When I lived in Isaan (Khon Kaen during 1998/99) when we went out to a pub type place, a guy would show they liked someone by sending what we called 'pink slips'. He'd write a message or phone number on a piece of tissue (which was always pink) and get the waiter to bring it over, sometimes accompanied by one of those 5/10 baht roses. Nothing to do with your post, but got me reminising (sp?) of the good old times .... .... don't know if that was unique to Khon Kaen or not, but I wonder if 'pink slips' are still given these days.