Happy Jack

Yesterday in Bangkok I twice used a zebra crossing; one of the newer ones with traffic lights. When the lights changed some of the traffic did not even bother to stop, in fact one black Vios increased its speed past an already dangerous velocity to beat me attempting to cross the road, and in doing so almost hit me.

Every time I use these crossings I am extra careful as Thai drivers have little or no regard for the pedestrian.

When walking anywhere in Thailand I carry a walking stick. At night it serves to keep the stray dogs at a safe distance and during the day it can be waved threateningly at motorcyclists who don't stop when they should. A hard whack on the seat directly behind the rider generally does wonders!

If Wee Wifey (From Mae Chiem in Chiang Mai province) is any indication of public opinion then Taksin's popularity in the north is no longer what it was. She says he's just trying to make trouble for Thailand. She says that people only liked him because he gave everyone money. Wee Wifey is a more educated than many so her opinion might not be the same as everyone's but it still suggests that Taksin's strongholds are not as strong as they were. I guess that money is all spent now and obviously there is no more coming. He did buy his popularity but he hasn't made another payment for some time now.

Simple solution for Thailand: Send a sniper team across the border one dark and stormy night........

Oddly I've never been turned on by any Thai University uniform. It's the lithe warm smiling friendly contents of the uniform which is always my downfall!

p.s. It has come to my notice that women's underwear are also too sexy. The use of these by any woman under 45 should therefore be banned throughout the kingdom.

My experience of Thai wiring is that it's all pretty rough and an earth is generally not installed. Your electrician may have installed an 'earth' but has he actually connected it to anything? or correctly?

For what it's worth - and because in Thailand you inevitably have to do most things yourself if you want them done properly - I have attached a simple diagram of how things should be. I trust of course that OP is intelligent enough to apply this info without electrocution. Phase and also Neutral if a circuit is connected can produce deadly amounts of current so please be careful. Even an earth wire connected to an appliance but not properly earthed could be deadly.

Incidentally - if your plumbing is all copper it should also have it's own earth connection at some point. This can be connected in the same way as the wiring to the earth peg as shown in the attached diagram. If you have fitted a metal shower tray or bench top these should also be earthed. All of these earth connections should be wired back to an earth rail on your main switchboard.

Hope this helps.

Earthing.pdf

I did this a few years ago. I took a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt then Finn air to Helsinki, then a bus to St Petersburg. The only hassle was a terrible lack of legroom on the Lufthansa flight so i would suggest a different airline for that leg.

Didn't you run the story about the horrific bus accident last month? ..and the month before? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ..and the month before that? ...................................

Personally I always thought it a dodgy proposition to stick one's wanger in anything that has teeth.

welcome to the organic forum Stoneman  !!

Thanks for sharing your pictures . I'm based up in Chiang Rai and want to put in a couple of Avo's myself !! Don't worry about not being 100 percent organic please post any info you have here ( I followed a few threads on avocados and your name always crops up, pardon the pun !!)

Hopefully between us all we can find a way to grow avocados organically without to much of a drop in yield !! As you may have noticed there's a wide range of pinned topics here and hopefully you will be able to find info to help you grow 100% organically whilst at the same time hopefully impart some of your wisdom to other growers  !!

cheers Jandtaa

I've never grown these in Thailand but in New Zealand (sub tropical coastal) have grown with great success just from seed. Plant in a heavily composted area and they just come up. We used to dig holes to bury our kitchen compost and the trees came up out of the holes. I then transplanted these into a light soil area (they don't seem to do so well in clay) and within about 6 years had huge fruiting trees. I planted three trees and 2 of them fruited. They may have a male/female thing going on - but I don't know about this.

In Thailand where everything seems to grow more you should have no problems. These trees are big and take care of themselves. No reason not to be organic. they just grow. Plant them, wait a few years, live off them. They're a complete food! Pretty simple really.

Hope this helps!

Is there an acceptable way to just POINT at the meat and order number of pieces as you can in English for ANY kind of meat (or really anything)?

How about 'Pom Chor Nii Krap'

(I would like this please)

For example, you point at the chicken breasts and say in English,

5 pieces please

Provided you have a helpful shop assistant you could probably just add the thai number (which you can get on any Thai language site) and again the very endearing "Krap" (or "Kha (Car)" if you are a girlie).

Hope this helps.

My thai is pretty basic but I always think of the 'mai' on the end of a phrase as similar to a question mark or intonation at the end of a sentence in english (indicating a question).

So chai mai = Yes? and chai = Yes

chawp mai = like? and chawp = like

ow mai = want? and ow = want

It is then easy to work out if a question is being posed or not and formulate an answer if required.

I know it's probably just a simpletons way of making sense of it but it does help me to think of it like this.

Edit - don't forget your khrap - "chai khrap"

A simpleton's way is what most of us need - and yours sounds like a pretty good explaination to me.

I think (but am not sure) that the Mai in this instance is a rising tone where the Mai that means no is a flat tone. Ow Mai (do you want this?) is always said with the Mai rising whereas Mai ow (I don't want this) is said with the Mai flat and (I think) the Ow falling - but then I am not an expert at this. Regarding the Mai bit I just asked Wee Wifey and she says I am correct.

So Chai Mai would mean Yes as a question.

Mai rising means 'is this correct?"

Whereas Mai flat means 'No', 'Not' (or any negative).

Hope this helps and please correct me if I am wrong.

You could do a 'thai visa' search & have a look at some of the other threads about some dirty beaches around Thailand.

No one is going to argue with you, its true, the situation in Thailand with filth, polution, littering ect is country wide. Natural resources are being raped here is such a voilent way the damage is probably irrevesible. Nobody seems to give a dam_n either, its a shame yes, but if you find 'Richards' thread about it you can see how the thais get a real good laugh at a farang that tries to make a difference.....you're pissing into the wind.

Want clean beaches.....go somewhere else, they are few and far between here.

Agree with you.........FILTHY. I am amazed when Russians come to "Amazing Thailand" and sit on the amazingly filthy beaches and swim in the amazingly filthy water and smile.

You haven't seen the Russian waterways then. Last time I was in that part of the world Finland was paying for the construction of a sewage plant in Russia just to keep the Russian sewage from flowing down to Finland - and the standard of filtering into the gulf of finland from Russia at that time was that anything bigger than a single bed floated right on out to the sea.

So that explains the Russians - but I agree - many Thai's just don't seem to understand - or even see polution.

Sell it quick to someone else - preferably at a profit - and tell the wench it was stolen.

Very sorry for the victims and their families but its not a surprise , we all know they drive way to fast most of the time and they don't have the brains to ajust to the prevailing road conditons . Travelling on a bus in Thailand is not much different to playing russian roulette .

This is why I do my own travelling on a motorbike folks.

I gave up riding motorbikes in Thailand after the third time someone pulled out in front of me. The first two I somehow managed to miss - but the third one I hit - a kid on a bike who decided to cross the road in front of me. And of course I was hurt worse than him - I got a crushed hand and he got a graze and bruising - and even more predictable it was also my fault for failing to toot like a mad idiot as I passed by. So now I do my travelling in LOS encased in a nice secure metal box - which is best fitted with off road tires for the times you have to take to the grass to avoid various mad B*stards!

One time when we were on the way to Wee Wifey's village she told me to be careful because "In Thailand SOMEONE is a bad driver!"

Only SOMEONE????????????

Mathew 5:22 in the King James bible says (in part) "...whoever shall say [to another person] Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hel_l fire."

I therefore have nothing further to say!

Whatever your morality may be and regardless of your attitude to this sort of behaviour ... I don't see that this undertaking is of any relevance to anyone other than those who have chosen to be part of it... ie consensual sex between people of legal age.... therefore why are the police involved at all?

kanom bung bing (toast). It's just silly!

Oh good!! Another band of cheats, frauds, swindlers, cronies, wasters, corrupters, rogues, rascals, blaggards, cads, fakes and fly-by-nights coming to an electoral constituency near you SOON.

Have I left anything out!!

The best we can hope for is that they will be a democratically elected 'band of cheats, frauds, swindlers, cronies, wasters, corrupters, rogues, rascals, blaggards, cads, fakes and fly-by-nights'.

From form 47P :

Apply at :

Police Clearance Service Centret

Special Branch (Building 24)

Royal Thai Police Headquarters

Rama 1

Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330

Resident Citizens Provide :

passport; Thai ID card house registration; evidence of name change; evidence of military service (Sor Dor 8 or Sor Dor 43); marriage certificate or divorce certificate, if availible; in case of minor, the parents or the guardian must be present to give consent.

The Police Clearance Service Centre open Monday to Friday from 08:30-16:30

Phone: 02-2052168 and 02-2052169

Fax: 02-2052168

Internet: www.sb.police.go.th

E-mail: [email protected]

Fee: nil - processing period is 7 working days.

We went through this process when my wife came out to New Zealand - Went to the police station mentioned above and after exercising reasonable patience and lots of smiling the necessary hoops were leapt through in a couple of hours - no problems at all and the police were quite pleasant to deal with. It took them a week or so after that to process the paperwork and then they posted the documents out to us. No hassle at all - just a bit of waiting.

im just a regular guy living holidaying in thailand.

im just wondering happy jack can you explain the situations you get into where you need so much help.

I'm sorry - I don't know what I was thinking - I never in my life need help from anyone. I am a rock, I am an island!

Perhaps you'll be greeted in Thailand by Thais who hold similar views about foreigners.

He probably will GH. Being an expat doesn't guarantee you total acceptance anywhere. I think Chang is entitled to his voice and you can't say there are absolutely no lawbreakers among immigrants. This applies equally everywhere - note my "PC" location. You're only taking umbrage because you're not one of them.

In my 2 years in Thialand with only one exception the people who ripped me off were expats. (The one exception was when I got really drunk and did some stupid things that would have got me ripped off in my home country as well.) On the other hand when I needed help Thai people (even complete strangers) time and again came to my aid. I once even left my cash loaded wallet and cellphone in a bar and only noticed they were gone hours later. When I went back they were there waiting for me - the bar staff had hidden them from the other falang in the bar and presented them to me as soon as I walked in the door. Despite what many posters here would say I have found many more trustworthy Thai people in Thailand than trustworthy falang. I can think of more than 3 dozen Thai's who have helped me significantly with no reward for themselves - and my wife's family will bend over backwards for me and have never asked for a thing (not even a dowry - as they said I had done enough for my wife already). When it comes to expats who I trust I can think of 5!.

So yes, immigrants really are a big problem in Thailand - where too many think that they can do anything they like and get away with it.

Slightly off topic sorry....

One thing to take into consideration in South East Asia in religious fanatics fighting for more land, internet access and how many hours a day the water and electric stay on.

what about the quality of the beer?

Now there's my pet peeve. If only they would learn to manage the beer I could live with everything else.

I love the beer!

Chang is $7 for a small bottle in the Thai restaurants here or $18 for 6 at the bottle stores - and I still drink it! (when I can afford it!)

My experience is that you don't really know a place until you've lived there for at least a year - and that is definitely my experience of Thailand. After two years living there I now think of Chiang Mai as my home, am married to a Thai lady, and intend to live permanently in Thailand if at all possible.

However my ultimate conclusion after two years there was that I need to have reasonable money in a non Thai bank to feel secure there - as unless my wife and I want to become corporate slaves in Bangkok (which we could do) we will not earn enough to live the lifestyle I/we prefer (I like to live comfortably and to travel. My wife is somewhat easier to please but it would be nice to provide her and her family with things they otherwise couldn't have - such as better education for her nephews).

So we are now back in my home country (where my wife will qualify for citizenship in another 3.5 years - ie a much more viable passport for international travel) setting ourselves up with both funds and passive income streams in order to allow us to relax in Thailand for the rest of our lives.

We probably will work in Thailand. We may even open a restaurant or bar - but will have no expectation for this beyond covering our basic living costs - and if it gets boring or too much like hard work we will be able to walk away.

I have a friend who is also doing a similar thing - setting up an internet based business whilst still living in his home country with the intention of moving to Thailand once it's up and running.

Another friend took a different approach - moved to Thailand 20+ years ago when still in his teens - and still lives there - but has been able to do this because he has always managed to find reasonable jobs, lived in Bangkok for the whole time, and still has to go to work to pay the bills. He doesn't place great value on material things (which is an approach I don't discount) so is happy in this lifestyle - but this may not suit someone (such as myself) who wants to move there and have time to relax and pursue his/her own personal goals without need to make a living.

So my advice - if I could presume to give any - is to save up enough money to go and spend a year seeing if you love the place - and then go back home and set yourself up prior to making the move.

My caution would be that without independent means behind you, you will quite possibly find yourself in a quite difficult position rather quickly.

Oh - and it sort of goes without saying but don't trust any expat that tries to sell you on a great deal/bar/partnership/investment with great return, or asks to borrow your money.

To sum up - Chiang Mai (can't really speak for the rest of the country) is a great place to live - but be careful and don't expect to make your fortune there.

Quoted from article.

"Moreover, problems at Suvarnabhumi are tiny and need not to be concealed given that they do not lead to safety problems," he added.

Does this mean that if it was a safety problem, that the problem would be concealed?

Of course it does! This is the part of the report which caught my eye too! So from now on I will not be using anything that hasn't had all its non-safety-problem-causing aspects thouroughly revealed.

keeping in mind of course:

- the guy I rented a motorbike from in Chiang Mai who assured me there was no problem with being able to push the front suspension down to the end stops and hold it there by merely leaning on it.

- the lady who owned the guest house where I first stayed in LOS who assured me there was no problem with my room on the third floor having only one narrow access way, no firescape, and no windows which could be opened wide enough even if I was prepared to leap out. (Fortunately I was out the night of the fire!)

- the guy who rented me a car to drive to doi inthanon (I told him where I was going) and assured me it was a good car and would get me there fine - even though he knew it had a huge split in the radiator.

- the taxi driver who assured me it was quite safe to stop for ten minutes on a rail crossing in the middle of Bangkok gridlock.

- the tuk tuk driver who explained that it was quite safe to run a red light if you were turning left.

- and not forgetting the 'girl' who assured me she wasn't a gatoy and suggested I have a fondle of the surgeon's craft to make sure.

Hey, I'm still alive! It must all be OK!

My good old New Zealand dollar is also strengthening against the US dollar (the later being arrogantly referred to as THE dollar as if no other part of the world has a monetary system) but staying about the same against the Baht. If one had no faith in America one might think this was a sign that the US dollar is collapsing.

heaing to phuket, shoul I postpone my trip until after xmas or go now? I hate driving a motor bike in the rain & it is the only time I am real cold there...

You should stay home and use the money you save to buy a new keyboard for your computer - one on which the 'D' button works every time. Whatever you do, don't risk getting cold - you might think you were no longer in LOS.