skylar

Actually you're right there toast, I've heard/read about the term "smelly farang" more so than any other

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We are smelly farang. We eat red meat and drink dairy products which gives us a characteristic smell which the Thais notice because they don't eat as much red meat or dairy. When they say we smell what they mean is that we smell different to them.

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Thais aren't alone on this. Foreigners in Japan in the late 1800s were described as 'bata kusai' or 'stinking of butter' as Japanese at the time ate no meat or dairy products. I am guessing that by the translation that they found the odour offensive.

Anyone hear about the story of an African-American who guest lecturered at one of the main 2 unis in Bangkok (Thammasat or Chula, can't remember) for a semester whose students walked out on him when they realised he would be taking the lectures?

Solution: Learn Thai. I don't know if you've ever lived in Sydney, but Thailand's public transport systems are a piece of paradise compared to ShittyRail, or England where buses/trains don't even turn up. And for the record, I frequently miss out on decent clothes in Sydney simply because the "average" woman here is a size 14. Far cry from my size 6/8! You're too Anglo-centric to belong in Thailand - shape up or ship out!

You'll have a great time. You can rent a bike and look around the park if you like. I don't know if you are going to Si Satchanalai (nicknamed Si Sa) as well, but imo the Old Sukhothai structures were more interesting. Still, Si Sa is in a very foresty area and has an amazing atmosphere.

Your wife's family has done the right thing by booking a tour, as unless the hotel offers them there is no other decent option. (I could expand greatly on this point, but I'll keep that wound closed). I saw a farang with a rented car at Si Sa, so if I go back, I'll just do that.

There is 1 ATM in the city centre, near the 7-Eleven. There's a decent photography shop there too. I didn't get much time to look around as I only spent 1 day in Si Sa and the other in the historical park.

Thailand's standard of living has also increased sharply for so many Thais - there's a huge middle class now whereas 15 years ago most people were at one end of the wealth spectrum or the other. Of course they don't want bog-standard jobs if there is an opportunity to be employed in a profession that earns them more money with better conditions and more prestige.

mbk

Blue is not the colour of innocence but nice try.

Homealone and waiting

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Purple is the colour of frustration.

At the train station, they tried to sell me the 300 baht ticket, but my wife wouldn't hear it and insisted that I pay the same rate as every other Thai boarding that train.

So there may be a "tourist train" and a regular commuter train, but they both use the same track and go to the same stations.  So I'd recommend you just buy a regular ticket and ignore any other option.

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So how much did you pay for the ticket? You were lucky to have your wife there to stand up for you.

And I found my Thonburi-Kanchanaburi ticket... it was actually 25 baht.

The actual train fare itself from Thonburi to Kanchanaburi is one price. This price is 35 baht or so from memory as of February 2005. I think what your friend is referring to by saying the "tourist train" is the Death Railway ride. This goes from Kanchanaburi train station to Nam Tok (Translation: waterfall). I have a leaflet here in front of me, which you can pick up at Kanchanaburi Station, which reads thus.... I am warning you of long winded pitch about to start:

"State Railway of Thailand in cooperation with Train Travel Tour Co., Ltd

recalling the "Great World War"

The Trans River Kwai Death Railway

Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Daily Departure Time, 10:30 AM

From Kanchanaburi Station to Nam Tok Station by special railcar No.257

<insert a picture of the railtrack on the bridge, another picture with railtrack in the forest and another picture with the train on the bridge at night with fireworks in the sky; then 3 paragraphs of WWII stuff>

This deal includes

Train fare and seat

Coffee and soft drink

Insurance of 100,000 baht per seat

Certificate of pride by TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) Kanchanaburi

The Trans-River Death Railway Programme is a special offer for tourists only

<insert more beaut pics, new and old of the Bridge>

NOTICE This offer is subject to change without advance notice depending on bad weather or train delay

Charge for the whole programme

ADULT 300 baht per seat (KANCHANABURI - NAM TOK)

CHILD 150 baht per seat (TAKILEN-NAM TOK)

for more information and reservation please contact: Train travel Tour Co., Ltd

378 Tharua, Tamaka, Kanchanaburi, Thailand 71130 TEL 034-561 052 etc...

Kanchanaburi Train Station 034-511285

For the record, Thai prices for everything are written using Thai numbers at the train station. I can't really remember what was written, just that the farang prices were vastly different to the Thai prices.

Took Sood =ถูกสุด (halftone :reduce tone) =cheapest

Sod =สด  (short tone)=fresh

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and if you always like ถูกสุด you stay โสด

Imagination. I'd spell it for you in Thai except I don't have a Thai keyboard.

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So จินตนา

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Ah, brill. I had horrid visions of henpecking at my keyboard using a keymap as a guide.

Well...I got the name 'Jintana' from some random person, no idea what it means but it sounds pretty.

Anyone know how to actually write that in Thai...?

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Imagination. I'd spell it for you in Thai except I don't have a Thai keyboard.

Tina Arena, The Veronicas, Shakaya, Ben Lee, Rogue Traders (now with Neighbours' Natalie B.....), Thirsty Merc, The Living End, The Cat Empire, Delta Goodrem, Keith Urban, George, Killing Heidi, Holly Valance, Silverchair, Gina G, Peter Andre and if you like all of the Australian Idol contestants.... Guy Sebastian, Ricki Lee, Shannon Noll, Casey Donovan, Paulini, Cosima de Vito, Anthony Callea, etc... and apparently Mark Holden was a heart throb in his day, according to himself. Olivia Newton-John.

and MISSY HIGGINS. Winner of 5 ARIAs at this year's awards.

Oh, and maybe you'd like to check out the Big Day Out website - http://www.bigdayout.com/

Eat more meals at McDonald's. It's worked wonders for this generation of Thai youth. Then she can be as uan as she likes. Alternatively, put her on a typical British diet, which has oil in everything, including the puddings.

Plenty of those in Ladawan on Srinakarin Road... also there's a nice housing compound on Sukhumvit Soi 103 that has plenty of huge houses... nice moo bans on Sukhumvit 105 (Soi La Salle). Go ahead and knock yourself out with all the choice.

If it's Thai coffee, no thanks... it's a way to increase visits to the dentist more like...

I'm suprised no one has asked you the following question, muldoon... would you adopt me? I am in my mid-twenties, university educated, have a good job, have dual citizenship and speak, read and write decent Thai. In return I will care for you and your wife in your old age, will not marry anyone you deem to be unsuitable, take care of all administrative arrangements so that neither of you want for anything and provide you with many beautiful and smart tri-lingual grandchildren to be proud of.

Joke aside, you should come to Bangkok and see for yourself what you want out of it. Expats who are using these boards are living so many different lifestyles in so many locations for different reasons that their opinions of what a good lifestyle is will vary. It's all subjective.

The only "underlying sentiment" I can think of is for tourism.  Lanna this or that might sell alot of bus tickets and fill innumerable pages of guide books but what other sentiment other than making money from tourists would there be??? 

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Lanna also sells a shitload of albums for a certain Miss Lanna Commins...

I was in Big-C today and noticed that they've already got the Christ-mas trees up for sale. Have they no shame?

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Are they starting later than usual these days? I remember the days when all the department stores and malls had all the decorations in place and Christmas jingles blaring by mid-September... ah jingun-ben, jingun-ben, jingun all de weyyyy.... oh what fun it is to lide on a wun hoss open sreighhhhh...

The weirdest thing is that Bangkok's wide variety of Christmas paraphenalia puts the selection available in England and Australia to shame.

Throw a couple of padook outside your door and take your pick, shoot the rest

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Actually this is technically a pretty good idea. I found my cat wandering up and down the road. I gave her something to eat, and she kept coming back every day for food. One day she never left, and our family was fortunate that first year of five she was with us that she had a litter of 4 kittens - 3 that were white splotched with black like herself, and one tortoiseshell whose colouring gave away as to who the father was

One of my cousins had the opposite problem... he had thirty cats by the time he felt it was all too much... so he picked out 28 and drove them to the kitchen of a 5-star hotel in the middle of the night and turned them loose.

I've heard two weird thai myths

1. a young single woman should not sing in the kitchen or else she will have an old husband (heaven forbid...)

2. a pregnant woman should not sit on the stairs (I never found out the reason for this one?)

If a prescription is all you want, I like Boonteng Optical near Villa supermarket (Soi 33) on Sukhumvit. My optician was US trained. Don't go to any optician on lower Sukhumvit Road as their prices are considerably higher and will try to fob you off with something you don't need or want. Boonteng's choice of frames are classy, too. I agree with sierra01 in that I don't think they are that much cheaper than anywhere in the UK.

In the event you do want/need an opthalmologist however, then it is better to go to a hospital.

its the best thing for the poop shute

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I bet you're wondering his or hers

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I must admit I was thinking along different lines...

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I'd rather use a suppository. At least I don't have to eat it. And there is little waiting time

The dates he is out of the country are very convenient, if they are accurate... many a Thai with Communist tendencies/suspicions left Thailand in the 70s to escape repression and came back at a more convenient time.

The usual two events for this year are detailed below:

1. Parramatta Loy Krathong Festival

Event date: 5 November 2005

Location: Prince Alfred Park and Market Street

Time: 10am - 9:30pm

Cost: Free

2. Sydney City Loy Krathong Festival

Event date: Sunday, 13 November 2005

Time: 10am-6pm

Location: Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour

Cost: Free

For more information call 02 9264 3166

This year I was caught out when Songkran was moved a week ahead at Tumbalong... not happy, Jan! These dates could potentially move at the last minute, so do check before you decide to show up

The alternative, of course, is to hire a full-time driver, but it's frequently hard to find a reliable one and the cost of cars here is very, very high due to import duties.

I am not assuming anything, but judging by your posts, it sounds like you will be here on a full expat package. This means your husband will be allocated a driver and a car. If you live fairly close (within an hour) to your husband's place of work, his driver would be able to transport you when he is available. However, if you want to be truly independent in the areas you specify, you will need to be able to drive or take taxis everywhere. Most non-working women expats I came into contact with who came with their working husbands bought 'cheap' jeeps either new or second hand from other expats leaving the country.

Secondly, so-called 'international schools' vary wildly in quality and cost. Sometimes I think half the major families of Thailand are in the school business -- and, yes, it is big business here. At the top of the heap are ISB (International School of Bangkok) and Bangkok Pattaya

It's Bangkok Patana, not Bangkok Pattaya. I have seen quite a few posts referring to BPS as Bangkok Pattaya for some weird reason or another. And although these schools are the oldest and the most famous, Japanese students will normally go to the Japanese school; German speakers to the Swiss school; French speakers to the French school and so on Not 100% of the time, but most of the time.

International schools provide a private bus service that travels around from house to house in your area, picking up other students along the way; this service will usually be paid for by the company as part of the deal, though it is an optional extra. Most kids travel anywhere from an hour to two hours to school, and is a common and usual arrangement. This is not due to the distance but because of the traffic conditions. I was lucky that my school and father's workplace were very close to each other; it was because of this that our family could choose a place from a wide variety of areas.

Whatever you choose to do, you, your husband and children will have to compromise. If you want to be in the company of other expats, rent a place on an estate like Lakeside (lots of Americans) as Terdsak suggests or Ladawan (lots of Brits and Australians) or move into a condominium - you might hate this idea at first as you are used to living in a house, but it is a fantastic way to get to know people. Of course, if you want to live in Chonburi, that's another kettle of fish altogether and not my area at all, but there's plenty of people here who can help. Good luck!