plachon

Mrentoul, you better keep your head down lad, or you'll be next in the firing line at this rate! Don't forget to wear your "I love Thaksin"badge each day at work.

As I said in a different thread just a couple of weeks ago, The Post lost me as a loyal reader/customer for the past 13 years (with a few years away here and there), when your bosses introduced the on-line registration (without any consultation or warning) and the hard copy has been going downhill for the past couple of years (funnily enough, just about coinciding with our Dear Leader's arrival as PM). I might buy the odd copy in the future, but only for comparative or boredom-relief purposes - I can think of better uses for the 20 baht than lining the shareholder's pockets.

However, apropos whether Veera was a critic or a boardroom stooge, I think the answer is somewhere between. He may have let slip the odd critical article or editorial, but the on the whole his own editorials were on the weak side of insipid in content, and could be eclipsed by several other writer's insights and ability to get to the core of Thai politics and life. Kowit I imagine will be a chip off the old block. Why can't they put Kanjana Spindler in the hot seat, or even better, Sanitisuda Ekachai. A bit of gender balance is what is needed in Thai editorial circles is what I say!

Anyway, the best "French" fries are in Belgium.

Mussels and fries are a must. Have you ever tried ?

Funnily enough, that's exactly what a Dutch friend who lives only about ten miles from Holland's southern border with Belgium said. So we dutifully cycled (naturally) over the snaking border in that area to a Belgain town to try the fries. Tasted identical to what you could get in NL, so not convinced by that theory, although it confirms the one about the grass is always greener on the other side.

Stick with thick cut British-style chips, which even if dripping in grease, due to their surface area : volume ratio are still healthier and tastier than anyone elses. The yanks don't even get spuds in their extruded-Mac <deleted>.

Yeah, I'll go along with weak, but you haven't given me much to work with yet.

If I get hassled enough, I could do a search of your old posts and look for some material, but if you are pro-American, forget about the past and help us out down here instead!

By the way I LOVE that comic, and it's not too far from the truth. Maybe it gives you some insight into why they lock me down in the Bear-Pit!

He may be as shallow as a paddling pool Gent, but he's still in way over his head on every issue you care to mention. Trouble with some potatoes is they don't know when to call it quits and go back to the couch.

Fast food comes from the US as the entrepenuer had less of local tradition to counter and it fitted the hussle bustle of US daily life. Don't know what to say about fish and chips except that people in the UK are poor in comparison and a small cod and chips is cheap and filling.

I need another nomination for the Peace Prize award. Tutsi; two time Nobel laureate re: bacon wars in Thailand...please help me out...

blinkin 'eck Tucker, when woz the last time you was back in Britten? If you think a small cod and chips is cheap, it can't have been in the last 10 years, or your small portion was the size of a sprat or Georgie Jr's cod-piece if it was. Cod has become that rare and hence, expensive, that it surpassed the price of salmon years ago and is now the most pricey fish down the chippie. Haddock or coley might be more to your pocket's liking these days, or just the deep fried, batter- covered piece of lard masquerading as a sausage, mushy peas and chips if you're really hard up. So you can forget any Nobel nominations from this quarter buddy, til you get up to speed on the superior nature of British cuisine today! Anyway, I voted for you and Nelson back in '89.

Now we've established that Britain has the best bacon in the world, anyone for a debate over our best chips (that's "freedom fries" to you red-necks out there) in the world.

There, what I tell you Francois - this disease is now confirmed in cats and a leopard in the zoo and even possibly, cows. It's too darn late for culling, unless you propose cullling all domestic and wild animals in Thailand too! (mind you, wouldn't put this one past the GL). Working on a vaccine, while building up resistance in the remaining birds (cheapest, easiest and most sensible option) is the only way round this that won't cause irrersible harm to the society, economy and environment. If Thailand has to stop exporting poultry for the next couple fo years then so be it. That is a cheaper price to pay than the alternatives, but might hurt the pockets of a few multi-billionaires for a while. Follow the King's sound advice - "por yuu, por kin" (enough to eat and live) and "kaset por piang" (sustainable agriculture) and Thailand could get out of the mess it's in today.

Build a bloody great wall between Thailand and Malaysia; declare martial law and send out mysterious men in black to lynch arrestees released after questioning; build an atmosphere of mistrust and fear amongst the local law abiding popn; close down the schools; put in military leaders with zero local links and sensitivity to the south's problems; keep the rest of the nation ignorant of the seriousness of the situation; blame it all on "foreigners" etc.,. These are the first things i'd do, but luckily we have a wise leader in place who'd never contemplate such idiotic measures.

First of all, classic that a simple request for somewhere to buy decent English bacon, not American crap, should be elevated (?) to Bear Pit status. What sensitive admins we have these days, who'd see a political comment in an argument over the culinary delights of mushy peas!

Secondly, David M, while doing a fine job in letting our ignorant gallic and new world brethren know that there is such a thing as English cuisine and it is something that not only every blue-blooded Anglo-Saxon can be proud of, but British (the wider countrymen) cooks are absolute masters at learning and adapting other's cusines and serving up the finest (and unfortunately, often most expensive) examples of it on this planet. But you got so carried away with overstepping the bounds of the argument and including ale, which of course as everyone with a palate knows, is undisputedly the finest in the world (see Rinrada for details, but don't expect him to buy you a pint). No, you should've lifted up some othe examples of mouth-watering home-grown food, like jellied eels (Thames estuary towns); fried elvers (Gloucestershire); devils on horseback (Whitstable?); Melton Mowbray pork pies; Cornish pasties; Devon clotted cream on scones or apple pie (stick it up your cultural hole yanks on that one!); baked Test brown trout and almonds on watercress salad; oak smoked hams all over the country; Geordie kippers; what's the point of going on - point proved to New World ,unwashed heathens, who wouldn't know a decent homegrown plate of food if it bit 'em on their fat, bloated bellies and said "corn-on-the cob" (as if Aztecs and Incas weren't eating that for centuries before Georgies arrival!)

Were test drives allowed...Try before you buy ... so to speak

I'm buggered if I'm going to test drive a dildo.

Try before you buy I always say David. You never know

Never know what Doc? Like, when you're gonna find a use for a dildo? Illuminate and elucidate your secret fetish Doc?

Could this member pls translate "westerner" to Thai for me?

And could he pls explain why he thinks the word "farang" is derogatory?

Any history about the word?

How about "khon dta-wan tok"? Bit of a mouthful, agreed, but it means Westerner more accurately than farang, which is applied to only those who look Caucasian. A southern European Greek for example, might be referred to as "kaek" due to the dark skin and black hair, and Colin Powell might be referred to as "khon dam" or "khon Africa", but Tiger Woods is identified as "Thai", even though he can't speak the lingo and has only set foot here about 3 or 4 times. LOL.

The bottom line is "farang" is a totally contextual term, and can be derogatory or not. Hence, I haven't bothered with the meaningless poll. If I think it's use is inappropriate then I'll often tell the person and make them confront their own prejudice often to a blank incomprehending stare. However, next time they meet me, they are generally more careful with throwing "farang" about, and some have even become quite polite.

It seems all the Thai guys are whisking their fighting cocks off to the farms to avoid the cull. So I dont think that bird flu is going to go away quickly ....

might be that the people coming for get rid of all these birds don't warn the people from the villages, it's a pity that such things happen ...

risking lives for a fighting cock ... wasn't it a thread? how much cost a life downhere?

francois

Afraid you just don't get it Francois. These villagers are being smart and rational, the govt. is being a dolt. The cull IS A WASTE OF TIME. period. It's too late - see above post. It's only partial, selective and will miss the real carriers and threats. If it had started in November, when the flu was first detected, and had been carried out without favouritism, then it might have had a chance of containing this disease. If wild birds are carriers now, it's too late for any effective cull. So better for the villagers to save their strong, resistant stock from the grips of officials who have no idea what they're doing - just following orders from above. These villagers know the compensation is a joke, if they seee any of it at all, and are doing the country a favour by saving their birds, not putting lives at risk. It's Toxin who's done that, by helping out his buddies at CP, etc., put export money and share value first and lied through his teeth from day 1 on this. Apart from telling people to eat KFCack and doling out free eggs, what true public service and health advice has he given the country?

What, you mean you don't pick your nose in public too Tax? When in Rome......... and all that. No hope for you blending in unnoticed in a crowd then. Personally, I love the casual way that the girl on the make-up counter inserts a manicured nail into her nostril and brings out a blooter for close inspection. The mutual picking of a friend's nasal cavity is another endearing habit, especially when done across the aisle of a songtaew. Removes the embarassing dried bogie from public show, which has got to be true friendship. No friend would be that considerate elsewhere.

They are coming to our village (near Suwannapum, Roi Et ) today to kill all of the chickens and fighting cocks. Weve been told that our caged Budgies will have to be culled as well which the wife is not happy about it. I tried to explain to her that our son is more important than a few birds.

It seems all the Thai guys are whisking their fighting cocks off to the farms to avoid the cull. So I dont think that bird flu is going to go away quickly ....

Hmmmmm..............deep fried budgie in batter on a stick? Sounds tempting. Call us if they drop round for the birds and I'll bring a bottle of lao kao.

My advice mate, seriously is to take the budgies out to the fields and hide them for a few days. The cull is a waste of time, unless every feathered friend - wild, tame and farmed is killed - as it's too late in the epidemic now to contain by cullling. like human flu, resistance is going to be building up in the surviving popn., and it's those survisors whose genes need to be saved for future breeding stock. Toxin won't like it, cos his buddies chickens in CP farms have s.f.a. resistance to disease, unlike the farmer's gai baan. Do your wife a favour and save their lives.

I've tried rat meat a few years ago in a Thai village. Not bad. But not delicious either.

In fact, people don't eat rats but field mice.

You can call it what you like Adjan, but they're still rats. Bamboo rats, field rats, rattus norvegicus, etc., all tastes bloody good on a stick and barbequed till black on the outside or pad pet noo, for the more squeamish. Bet in a blind taste test, 9 out of ten punters wouldn't know the difference between chicken and rat, once it's all fried up with loads of garlic, chillis and black peppers. Saep Lai!

Isaan people have been eating rat for generations, and so too have Cambodians I suspect, so this is typical non-news from a pig-ignorant reporter from a city.

Surprised no one's mentioned the similarities between this wall of exclusion and Israel's wall across the Occupied Territories of Palestine, to keep out the "terrorists". Doomed to failure and creating more mistrust and walls in the minds of local people who will be negatively impacted.

It also makes a bit of a joke of moves towards Asean unity and single market claims. If they were serious about creating a single market they wouldn't be building walls at this stage and for certain, one would be able to change baht into ringgit and vice versa in state banks (try changing Baht outside money changers and the black market in Penang!).

Reality is, our man is such a control freak that he even proposed building a massive fence round the biggest national park in Thailand - Huay Kha Kaeng - "to keep the animals in and the people out. Raving mad pal!

The MAJORITY Georgie, the majority. Or do you really think that is the category you fit into, which really would make our day.

PS Hint : go back and check the results of the polls set up to see if US was in Iraq for honourable reasons, or OIL.

Well back when Tuberculosis was high on the health agends of the west,spitting was outlawed as it was a means of transmitting the disease. So the argument about germs is obvious. Singapore was right to outlaw spitting duringthe SARS crisis.

India is anamzing place to witness the morning riutal of cleansing ones body. Part of this process is to jiggle a tooht brush down ones throat in order to induce a gag so that you bring up any 'unclean' things down your gullet. It almost makes me gag thinking about it......bloody disgusting.

I dont know what the reasons are for this but for sure culture plays a part in it, as people learn it from others around them.

Another anecdote.......one time inKashmir I was standing face to face with a Kiwi girl and her boyfriend, sheltering from rain in a bus shelter. Anyway, my face must have been 30 cms from her face and during our new found friendship and conversation, this woman drags back a big gooly, hoiks it up and spits it at our feet. After that all I could think of was how hairy her legs and armpits must have been or when did she last shower........filth !!

Hey Ned, your close encounter with the Kiwi lass, reminds me of the one about the chick and the rastaman. They're getting pretty amorous and into tongue olympics, when she pulls back and says: "Hey Rasta, I loves de way you pass that chewing gum from your mouth to mine". He retorts, "What you talkin' bout woman? I just got a heavy cold dat's all".

But seriously, nowt like a good hawk and gob on the pavement to start the day. Always make sure you curl the tongue, cradle the greenie carefully and aim at the turn ups of the person walking just in front of you, then look all innocent and walk on when they turn round and wonder if something hit them or not. If there's an old Chinaman next to you, so much the better for passing the buck in his court.

Strange, according to the hubby who said he was unpacking and she simply opens the sliding door and goes over the rail. I wonder if she knew what she was doing. Or maybe she saw something that the hubby did while they were gone, or she got some bad news or serious problem that she did not want him to know about. Too many questions on this kind of case. So lets wait and see what the investigations turn out and what news we get from that reports.

Daveyoti

Maybe she opened the sliding (HaHa!) door and found this half naked chick out on the balcony that hubby had lined up for later on. So mia luang takes a swipe at her with her handbag and misses and sadly the weight of the darn thing is too much (like a bloody ball and chain to tell the truth) and the momentum just carries her right over the rail? The rest is history.

Hubby continues holiday unperturbed?

sorry guys, but the last word is not yet written. Great interview Gent, just confirms what the majority of the thinking, reading world knew all along. Of course, it can be dismissed by a few air-head ol' red necks as "leftist propaganda" or just a blatant lie, but the most illuminating part of the whole interview is the allusions to dwindling morale by the US ground forces in Iraq and lack of preparation for police and peace keeping work. They'll be begging the UN PC forces to replace them soon, but hopefully the UN has learned a long and painful lesson about US mendacity and utter contempt for the opinions of the many on this and never make such concessions, UNLESS, it is on the terms of a truely representative UN council, not the self-interested G5 Security Council (who incidentally would have trouble agreeing on the shape of the earth).

remember he is an American Officer, who love the USA - he is stating his opinion, with time served in the region he his talking about.

A bit like the Major assigned to represent one of the two Ozzies incarcerated in Guantannamo Bay, who said they can't get a fair trial under the present process, and it would be much better for all concerned (including the USA), if they were sent home to their own countries to face trail for any supposed "crimes". (See papers yesterday (Mon 17) for more details. G-P will sadly miss this revelation, as I can't be bothered to search it out any more than he can be bothered to read around subjects and news sources.

Adjan, by the way, you're in good company about considering GWB Jr's stance on the environment (climate change esp), even more worrying than his War in Iraq, as so does the Uk's chief scientist (Dr david Smith), as recently reported in The Times (Murdoch's rag!) of London. Now that source can't be ignored, as much as the GWB patriot's would love to.

remember he is an American Officer, who love the USA - he is stating his opinion, with time served in the region he his talking about.

A bit like the Major assigned to represent one of the two Ozzies incarcerated in Guantannamo Bay, who said they can't get a fair trial under the present process, and it would be much better for all concerned (including the USA), if they were sent home to their own countries to face trail for any supposed "crimes". (See papers yesterday (Mon 17) for more details. G-P will sadly miss this revelation, as I can't be bothered to search it out any more than he can be bothered to read around subjects and news sources.

Adjan, by the way, you're in good company about considering GWB Jr's stance on the environment (climate change esp), even more worrying than his War in Iraq, as so does the Uk's chief scientist (Dr david Smith), as recently reported in The Times (Murdoch's rag!) of London. Now that source can't be ignored, as much as the GWB patriot's would love to.

My guess is that Shincorp will increase its stake in Nation Multimedia and turn it into another syncophantic rag like the Bangkok Post.

cv

Not quite Shincorp, but his transport Minster recently bought a 20 % stake in the Nation Group, so same difference. For failure to report the news in the B. Post and ass-licking sycophance, one only has to check out yesterday's paper, where there were two pics of the BKK Fashion parade on the front and a whole crop on page 4 (along with one of DL Tok-sin scoffing an ice cream), while the deteriorating situation in the south is given about 50 lines of weak reporting. I've seen better from the Daily Sport in UK. At least there's some humour in that rag.

The wife lost interest at the sight of the mee italie, but regained it at the sight of all those chillis and garlic cloves I shoved in. A dash of Worcester sauce is the je ne sais quoi, essential ingredient for all spaghetti dishes that should never be left out, along with the slopped beer of course.

(Make the chicken a gai baan too)

Bird Flu Detected in New Thai Province

"If you compare it to an egg, we found the disease in the yolk and we will continue destroying the disease until it reaches the edge of the egg white," Thaksin said. "But there might (still) be the disease in some spots of the yolk."

Thaksin earlier insisted the government could handle the bird flu outbreak, telling members of parliament that officials monitoring the disease were basing their decisions on scientific data.

Comparing the bird flu disease to an infected yolk of an egg, while to the consumer the shell and white looks OK, is hardly a very comforting simile to get consumers eating eggs and chickens, is it? Think he's gone and stepped in the dog doo again!

Reminds me of the old Thai proverb of being beware of the beautiful-skinned mango, which has maggots and rot eating away at its core, unbeknown to the consumer til he/she takes a big bite, which could be a good warning against a lot of things...................

Best time I had was while I stayed in a Bangkok ghetto for a year in my own built slump house, met people there with the heart at the right place.

Please, PDNONVJ, do not tell us that.

Thai people will never, ever have an heart at the right place with farang without money (or with money).

Actually, they never had and never will have their heart at the right place, they have NO heart with us, farang,...

Believe me, I know, I have been here for many, many years,...

But,..., am I wrong?

What a load of old codswallop! If you ever read any of Fr Joseph Maier's occasional articles in the Bangkok Post, you might appreciate that even the lowliest drug addicted, AIDs-riddled teenager in Klong Toey, can show a heart of gold to others. Whether that person is a farang or not, is immaterial, it's called humanity and Thais are as human as the rest of.............humanity. However, many farangs will tar all Thais with the same brush even before they set foot in this country, due to a nascent fear of different cultures and living patterns. It's some sort of racial-cultural superiority hang-up, which sadly is ingrained in some people to the day they die. Conclusion: you're wrong!

Yep Plachon it's a different world in here these days, I usually only wander on when I've had a few too many sauces...hic.

Just got me thinking about the old school brigade , heres the ones from memory..

Me.....

You....

Tutsi....

Tax...

Butterfly....

Markt....

Mrs Vietnam...

Dr ( Obviously )

Mrentoul

Roger13

Edward

pnustedt

SeavisionBurma

Kan

Kwiz

Sh1t there must be more , I'll just open a bottle of bleach and finish this in a min....

How could you forget the most prolific poster on anything and everything - the incomparable Bud. Was that guy for real, or was he the most convincing troll ever? You also missed out the old faithful geyser - DaveYo - who can spout a bit, but his heart is in the right place (Thailand - naturally).