dclaryjr

Good idea or not, I built a house than I plan on retiring to but it won't be for another seven years. The positives are that I will have a nice, paid for house when I get there, and I'm paying for it while I still have good income. The bad part is that I bought it when the exchange rate was something like 42 baht to the dollar so I'm taking a big hit now. I'm married to a Thai so I feel pretty confident that one way or another I'll be able to stay. It could turn out bad but I'm thinking positive!

forgot:

Chicken or Shrimp (prawn) Jambalaya

Dirty Rice

Boudin

Cracklins

Black-eyed Peas!

you get the point....

Don't forget the crawfish!!! (I know it says "From: Texas" over there on the left but I was born and raised in New Orleans and went to school in Lafayette)

I recently started training with kettlebells. If your not familiar with them they look like cannonballs with handles! I'm just curious if they've made any appearances in Thai gyms. Anyone??

When I first joined the U.S. Air Force some 35 years ago, I took a test designed to test language learning aptitude. I had already been picked for the intelligence career field which consisted of both linguists and analysts. My scores we abysmal. I ended up spending six years in Berlin and picked up a little bit of Deutsch (I could order up to 100 beers and ask where the restroom was), but that was about it. I don't expect that I'm going to have a whole lot of success learning Thai once I move there full time.

How do you deal with it everyday?

That isn't going to be a problem when I relocate for good. I've lived in Corpus Christi Texas since 93 and you don't find much worse for combining heat and humidity. I'm sure not crazy about it but then I don't have living in San Diego as a point of reference. It also helps somewhat that I've built my house in the Khao Yai area.

Great just what we don't need more self indulgent American sports C***P, your Baseball World series featuring 1 foreign team from Canada, as for Basketball maybe they could show some European teams but it would still be boring, and American football is starting to get so worried about the growth of real football(Soccer) amongst the youth in the U.S that you are starting the next season staging league games in Europe still looking for overseas markets,

Talk about C***P. The scheduling of NFL games in Europe has nothing to do with the popularity of real football amongst U.S. youth. Youth soccer has been big in the U.S. for a couple of decades but that popularity just doesn't translate to fans when they are adults. The NFL is just trying to expand their base despite what would have to be called a failure with their euro-based league.

Baseball and "gridiron"are deeply embedded in the culture on this side of the pond, and it's perfectly reasonable for an expat to wish to have more of that type of programming available. I sure hope that when the time comes for me to buy the one-way tickets, that there will be more TV options than there are now.

Just for your information, I am an American and I have always said Albatross, the many times I have had one, that is.

Well I've had ONE and I called it............a ###### good shot!

Actually it gets very nippy in Udon that time of year, at the moment it's not nippy at that this time of year.

I remember it getting in the 40s when I was stationed there in '75. The heating system for my off-base residence consisted of sitting outside in the sun!

I moved to khao yai 3 months ago and I visit my office in pathum thani every week. I feel very happy and relaxed when I am approaching the mountain area of khao yai. The temperature in khao yai is much lower compared to bangkok.

Only in april we had to open the aircon in the bedrooms, the other months a fan was more than enough. Our place has mountains all around, many days we have a cool wind. There are lots of resorts around and western food is easy to find.

For me this is heaven.

rono

I like the sound of that!! We built our retirement home near Pakchong (Phupimarn resort) and that is why my brother-in-law recommended the area. He saw how much trouble I had handling the heat in the village outside of Korat.

They call their sport football in the US when the players mostly carry the ball with their hands.

Yep, as a die-hard fan of the American game, I've always thought that "football" was a strange name for it. A friend of mine from Oz always refers to it as "Grid Iron"--much more appropriate IMO.

Hardly ever ate Fruit apart from the occasional Banana or Apple in the UK.

Never stop eating all sorts of exotic, inexpensive fruits here.....wonderful.

This is probably the thing my wife misses the most by living in the U.S. We get some good Mexican mangoes from time to time, but there is so much more she would like to eat.

Knock Three Times - Tony Orlando & Dawn

any bubblegum music like that one that starts:

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I Got Love in my tummy.

(dating myself)

I'm actually happier being closer to 80 kilo's than 70 and wonder if anyone else experiences such large scale weight changes from Asia

I think I can top that although you'll have to do some math to be sure (I don't do metric)

In 1975 I arrived in Thailand weighing around 225 pounds. About five months later I was 175. Fast forward to 1983 - I arrived in Korea at 230. I came home on leave six months later at 180. In both of cases it was matter of no car, lots of exercise, and better eating.

I'll be curious to see how I do once I retire in Thailand.

Chiang mai social golfers play every tue at Lanna 8.30 Tee off. All welcome any ability, check our website chiangmaigolfers.blogspot.com

There are a few members who play at Gymkhana through the week also.

A good bunch of blokes!

I checked out the blog--looks like you have a great group there. Does anyone know of a similar organization in the Korat/Khoa Yai area?

Six years and rarely a disagreement, and never a fight. It all comes down to communication, friendship, and really getting to know and understand each other.

Thirty-one years and we had some tough times early while she was establishing the fact she wasn't going to take the kind of crap she did from her Thai husband. At around the 8-year mark, the Air Force sent me to Korea solo for a year. During that time we wrote each other everyday (with a pen and paper nonetheless) and it really was the turning point in our marriage. It's been great ever since--we were good friends before we got married and remain so today.

I've paid for three full-tilt cremations in my wife's village--both her parents and a sister. I plan on treating them to one last big bash when I go!!

nick2k>> I am going to kick myself tomorrow for taking the bait and replying to your postings. In particular your remarrks on Russian vs

The aircraft itself is not the major factor...it is simply a weapons platform...and the Russians have some of the best software and best weapons. Do not kid yourself that everything American is the best! I only agree that their marketing is better!

ps DO NOT believe everything you read in the US press releases

I don't need the US press releases to know that historically Russian fighters have had reliability problems. For that I rely on a 20 year career spent monitoring Russian (and their clients in the Soviet era) operations and training. The weapon system does matter if it can't get out of a hanger.

My brother-in-law flew Hueys for the Thai Army--now there was an aircraft!!

My friend says his bank manager at Bank of America in the US won't let him wire tranfer money from his US account to Thailand citing money-laundering problems or something. This sounds pretty bogus to me as I tranfer from Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Bank with no problem. Anyone with any problems wire transfering from US banks to Thailand? I appreciate your experience. Thanks.

I transfer $1000 every month from my Wells Fargo account and it costs me $15 (although the form I sign says the cost is $30). It always goes through without a hitch.

Hahahahahahahaha!!

Who got as far as halfway before the satang dropped? But what made it believable at all? TIT, that's what!

I was a little worried until I got to the dongle!! That's when the light went off!!

Have one, has LAN connectors and wireless, works fine, 1 year old now.

This post is brought to you via a a two-year old Belkin wireless router--no problems so far.

looks like only a small # of users have wide screens. 6% 1280x800

That's my resolution on a 15.4 inch laptop. I do mainly text stuff so that's good nuff for me.

So, what is the most memorable shot you've hit, and more interestingly, why? Was it simply a great shot, a particularly tough hole, or tricky match play or competition conditions.... or even a Hole in 1.

This is an easy one for me. No. 14 on my home course is a relatively short par 5 with a sharp dog leg right. I hit my drive through the turn and was sitting in the first cut of rough about 210 yards out. I hit a seven-wood that I saw hit the green but I wasn't sure if it held or went over the back. I didn't see it as I approached the green, and my playing partners were looking for it as well. We finally found it--at the bottom of the cup. So although I've never had a hole-in-one, the double eagle (nee albatross) is statiscally a more rare feat. I was pretty stoked!

The course is, as you'd expect, lovely.

Then they have done some work because when I played it in 2001, the native grasses were starting to reclaim the fairways. It now sounds like something I might play for a change of pace, but I like to walk rather than ride so I guess they won't be getting a million baht from me!

The other course I played in the area was Friendship Meadows. Still there? There was one hole where I felt like I was driving into a half-pipe. See picture on top-right:

Friendship Meadows

Yes, it is the same place and they have done a lot of work on it. Near the entrance to the park.

Dang...shoulda bought some land!!

I paid a LOT less to play it back then.

There are many beautiful resort there and Bangkokians country estates. I'd say it's a hot area right now and sure to develop as well it should.

I've built my future retirement home in the area on the Phupimarn resort. I would have liked to have built a fairway home but I'll be close to several courses.