Groongthep

I got mine way back in May. Basically, Anyone who filed a US tax return and paid taxes qualifies for a rebate check. The details are here: Stimulus Check Details from IRS Site

Not the case - I paid $60k in taxes and didn't receive a penny. The only thing that disqualifies tax payers is too much income.

You're right too siamamerican. The payments begin to phase out for those who make over so much money (Based on Adjusted Gross Income or AGI). Here's the formula:Stimulus Check Phase Out

I got mine way back in May. Basically, Anyone who filed a US tax return and paid taxes qualifies for a rebate check. The details are here: Stimulus Check Details from IRS Site

Interesting, according to your link, we do not qualify. Could the IRS have made a mistake? Hmmm???

After reading the link more closely I believe you're right. I'm single and so I didn't read the the part about the ITIN and maried people filing jointly at first. Maybe you might want to contact them. I know the US Counsulate at the Embassy in Bangkok answers tax questions. You might want to give them a call. US Consulate BKK Link

I got mine way back in May. Basically, Anyone who filed a US tax return and paid taxes qualifies for a rebate check. The details are here: Stimulus Check Details from IRS Site

I often smear Tinactin on my testicles. Doesn't make me smell any better but it keeps my balls from itching.

With this approval, Airbus has made another significant step towards airline operation of the OnAir service that allows passengers to use their BlackBerry-type and mobile phones to .........make and receive voice calls.

The already miserable state of air travel is about to get even worse with passengers jabbering away on their mobile phones the entire duration.

The title of this thread is "Democratic Party May Face Dissolution". Therefore it implies the question: What would happen if they were dissolved? The simple answer is that they would simply re-organize under a different name just as the Thai Rak Thai reorganized as the People's Power Party (PPP). In other words, nothing would change.

Thank you all, I am off to the kitchen to start cooking.

Special thanks for the name of the green berries, google brought the correct images with a scary name of devil's fig

Bai Horapa ใบโหระพา is the same sweet basil you get when you order pho at a vietnamese restaurant. It's much milder than regular basil.

oops. just took a closer and realized that a few corrections need to be made:

ปู่ - Father of Father

ย่า - Mother of Father

ตา - Father of Mother

ยาย - Mother of Father

พ่อ - Father

แม่ - Mother

ลุง - older Brother of Father/Mother

ป้า - older Sister of Father/Mother

อา - younger Sister/Brother of Father

น้า - young Sister/Brother of Mother

I think siamesekitty meant to write that ยาย refers to ones mother's mother and แม่ยาย (mother-in-law) refers to ones wife's mother. I know she's a native speaker and I am not, so I'm guessing this was a misprint (or I might be wrong). Right?

I haven't tried them... but the burgers at the new Mango bar got panned pretty badly by another poster here.... Anyone else have experience with their offerings??? Hard to judge by just one opinion....

I had a burger at the new Mango Bar which is now down a small alley to the left on Suk Soi 4. I ordered the jalapeno and salsa burger. Not bad; I thought the meat was pretty good and the bun reasonably fresh. If I were to order a burger there again however I would try just the plain cheeseburger. The salsa they put on the one I ordered tasted like they had added a lot of sugar to it. Overall, I'd give it a 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 but that's just my opinion. Some people might love it and others hate it. Food reviews are terribly subjective.

You know the song- I hear it all over the place recently

Its a guy without a band singing

something like

'Do Do Do doo doo Dum"

anybody know the name/band

and more importantly, a link where I can stream/DL it

Job 2 Do Click Here for Video

The Ocean World pricing website is rather funny.

http://www.siamoceanworld.co.th/visitor_in...ation/price.htm

The thai script section :

ผู้ใหญ่ (puu yai = adult) ๔๕๐ บาท (450 baht)

The english language section :

BIG BONUS PACKAGE

Adult 850 Baht

Website does not mention anything about thai vs foreigner...so I pissed mysef about he BIG BONUS thing.I wonder who the genius promoter who came up with this beauty is...hahahaha.

Someone should email them and heckle their stupidity.

I wonder if that come with a free meal and a guide.

That mess up thou because Thai has their own number which most farang cant' read.

Lumpini Boxing Stadium does (or used to do) the same thing. I haven't been in a few years now but they used to have a sign in Thai script that announced admission at ๒00(200 baht) but charged foreigners 2 or 3 times that. No exceptions. I was last at Siam Ocean World in November of 2007. They clearly stated the double pricing scheme but as other posters have mentioned, they said that if I had proof that I lived in Thailand (drivers license, work permit, long term visa etc.) that I would get the local price. Since I don't have a Thai drivers license and I don't usually carry my passport around with me I just paid the 850 fee even though it put me in a foul mood the entire time I was in the aquarium. The Chiang Mai Zoo also has double pricing but the guide I was with (we took one of those chauffeured golf cars) suggested that since I speak Thai well I should ask them for the local price. I did and they gave it to me. The historical sites in Sukhotai also charge more for foreigners than locals but since this is a nation park maintained with Thai tax money (I assume), I didn't feel it was so unfair to charge me more. As others have already said, it's the private businesses and organizations that double price that p#ss me off not the tax supported ones.

Once you get through the forest you come upon a real floating market, not one set up for tourists.

Hi,

sorry to contradict you but I often cycle there and have asked locals about the floating market - it was set up only a few years ago specifically to attract tourists (both Thai and farang) and stimulate the local economy. You can easily tell that from some of the twee bijou stalls there. I understand they would like more farang tourists to go there as they are the ones that spend money! But it is a nice market if only open at the weekends. It's great, though, that the whole place is so difficult to reach for tourists - keeps it quiet!

Tyke,

Come to think of it, you're probably right, it does look a little too clean and well kept to be a regular market. But as you said it is a nice place just the same and you'll see many more more Thais there than you will farang even though the Thais themselves are probably weekend tourists. I have to admit I had to look up the term "twee bijou" in the dictionary as I had never heard it before but having done so it does descibe some of the stalls quite well.

hello, i'll be flying to Usa this weekend for my training for the company. Since this is my first visit to USA, i'm pretty excited and scared at the same time. I heard immigration officers are really tough there. Even though i have all the papers and business visa but just need to know if there is anything i'm missing. I'll obviously have my passport, wp, driver license, invitation letter, hotel booking, leave letter from the company etc.

do i need any health certificate or something? any tips? what is the thing that i can't carry with me.

i'll really appreciate if anybody shares their experience.

i'm south asian and will be in chicago.

thanks so much,

As a south asian I think you know you are likely to attract some interest given the USA's terrorist precautions, but I am sure you will be fine assuming, that is you dont make any jokes about guns bombs or bin laden etc.

You hear horror stories about abussive Imigration Workers in the US and I am sure there are some like that but fortunately I have never experienced any problems with them, apart from the fact that some of them can hardly speak english that is!

However that was in Miami 20 years ago where I also saw a sign in a US Post Office that read, NO ENGLISH SPOKEN HERE!

I remember a rather large elderly American lady at the front of the line who was visiting florida from another State

shouting quite loudly, "I cannot believe it, nobody in a damned Post Office of the US of A can speak english?

Whats this damned Country coming to?", as a Brit I can appreciate what she meant.

I am sure that Chicago is unlikely to have such alarge spanish speaking community as Florida so I wuldnt worry about the language too much.

I hope you have a good time in Chicago, I also hope you will not be there in winterime as I understand it gets very cold there.

Regards

Roy gsd

Just wanted to expand on a couple of points made by roygsd.

As a south asian I think you know you are likely to attract some interest given the USA's terrorist precautions, but I am sure you will be fine assuming, that is you dont make any jokes about guns bombs or bin laden etc.

He is correct. The ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers can sometimes be real d*cks even to native born americans, but professionals from south asia are usually held in fairly high regard by most americans due to the quite possitive impressions made by the large number of Indian doctors and software engineers now living in the US. The State of Louisiana, long known as a rather conservative and even red-neck state has recenly elected an Indian-American as their governor. Piyush "Bobby" Jindal

I am sure that Chicago is unlikely to have such alarge spanish speaking community as Florida so I wuldnt worry about the language too much.

A little known fact among most Americans outside of Chicago is that it has the second largest (530,000) population of latinos in the country, even more than Miami, Houston or Phoenix. Chicago Lation Population

Enjoy your trip.

A little old lady goes into the store to do some shopping. She is bewildered over the large selection of toilet paper.

"Pardon me, sir," she says to the store manager, "but can you explain the differences in all these toilet papers?"

"Well," he replies pointing out one brand, "this is as soft as a baby's bottom. It's $1.50 per roll." He grabs another and says, "This is nice and soft, strong but gentle, and it's $1.00 a roll." Pointing to the bottom shelf he tells her, "We call that our No Name brand, and it's 20 cents per roll."

"Give me the No Name," she says.

She comes back about a week later, seeks out the manager and says, "Hey! I've got a name for your No Name toilet paper. I call it John Wayne."

"Why?" he asks.

"Because it's rough, it's tough and it don't take crap from anybody!"

Geezuz! I'm 52 years old and believe I heard (a version of) this joke over 40 years ago when I was in elementary school.

Sorry, the above link is not right. Should be Bike Tour.

Hi ,A friend told me about this place last year but I lost the details..Can anyone please help..I want to know..How to get ther from Bangkok....Any charges for entry... or really... any information or tips from those of you who have visited.Many Thanks in advance..

If you are looking to go there on a tour I highly recommend ABC Amazing Bangkok Cyclist Tours Bicycle Tour Phra Pradaeng. I am in no way associated with them and this is not an advertisement, but I took their bike tour last year and really enjoyed it. You start out going through some way off the beaten path alleys in the Klong Toey slum (Yeah, I know it sounds wierd but it's really pretty cool) and then on to the Klong Toey pier at the location the above posters have already mentioned and get on a boat over to Phra Pradaeng for the bike tour through the thickly forested area. There are raised concrete pathways through the wooded area that make the bike ride an easy one. Once you get through the forest you come upon a real floating market, not one set up for tourists. On the way back you go through the Klong Toey fresh market which is pretty interesting in it's own right. You'll see very few farang along the way and the food stalls are great. I took the 5 hour tour and it wasn't particularly cheap (1,500 baht) but IMHO it was well worth the money. Besides, once you've taken it once you will then know the way and can go again anytime on your own.

QUOTE (tuky @ 2008-07-10 02:42:32)

QUOTE (tomuk76 @ 2008-07-10 09:36:22)

Please dont get me wrong! I try to live thai style as much as possible as of course im living in the kingdom of thailand so i should do.

Why?

Exactly, when was the last time you saw Thais in your home country (immigrants not their kids) abandoning Thai culture, food, customs etc, and taking up those of your home country? They don't, why should we? They set up their own restaurants, ghettos even, temples, festivals, community groups etc etc H*ll, they can even starft buying up land. We call it multiculturalism, mainstreaming....

I don't know where you are from but most Thais in my hometown of Seattle have done a very good job of fitting into the mainstream, even the immigrants. I don't have exact census figures but I think it is a conservative estimate that the Thai community there is easily in the thousands. I'm certainly not saying that they have abandoned their culture but to say they have set up their own "ghettos" is absurd. hel_l, most of them make more more than I do and I make an above average salary. Practically every single thai restaurant in the area (and there are lots of them) are businesses set up to cater to farang tastes and are not intended to be extensions of Thai culture but simply businesses intended to make money. (Hence, lousy, bland "thai" food, but often big money makers) You seldom if ever see thais eating at these establishments. There are two Thai Wats, Wat Atammayatarama which is a forest monastery in Woodinville and Wat Washington Buddhavanaram Seattle Thai Wat which is a more mainstream temple but both welcome and have numerous local non Thai members. The law allows any foreigner who is in the country legally to buy land, so singling out Thais for "buying up land" is unfair. All in all, I thinks Thais in the US for the most part have done a much better job of adapting to the west than most Americans have adapted to Thailand. Notice I said "for the most part" there are certainly some exceptions on both sides.

Found a picture I took at Marine Parade Laksa (Singapore)...

The best one I ever had was opposite the rear entrance of the Paramount Hotel , very close to Marine Parade.

Cheers

Thanks to skippybangkok, lomotopo and percy2 again. I think laksa in Singapore is a little bit like spaghetti sauce in the west in that everybody makes their's a little different from the next guy. I like mine spicy with a fair amount of that red chili oil floating on top, but to each his own. Thanks for the leads, I'll check them out.

And famously of course at the Landmark Hotel!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers

Thanks percy2. I'll check it out tomorrow.

There used to be a stall at the old food court in The Royal Garden Shopping Center in Pattaya. It was called Noodle Planet.

They had it there. When I would order it, I would ask for "ba mee Malaysia".

So, you might try asking at places for "ba mee Malaysia".

Thanks maxjay, but because ba mee or บะหมี่ refers to egg noodles like you get with red pork or roast duck I'm afraid that most vendors would assume I am looking for something more like Kao Soy. Laksa is more soupy and made with rice noodles (guay-dtiow or ก๋วยเตี๋ยว). I was once at a Pan Pacific restaurant (one that specializes in foods from various different asian countries) in Seattle that served laksa. I asked a Thai waiter there what laksa would be called in Thailand and after pondering for a moment he told me it would probably be refered to as guay-dtiow kaek or ก๋วยเตี๋ยว แขก. The few times I have asked about gweatiow kaek in Thailand all I got was puzzled looks. I'll give ba mee Malaysia a try and see what I get. Thanks.

I have looked all over Bangkok and cannot find anywhere that serves laksa, the Singaporean (or maybe Malaysian?) style rice noodle soup with prawns and yellow curry broth. I have PMed another Thai Visa poster who works in both Bangkok and Singapore and asked him and he told me he once saw a place in the food court on the 5th floor at MBK called Singapore Delights which may have it. I went there yesterday and couldn't find it. Mah Boon Krong is a big place though, so it may have been there and I just didn't come across it. I have described laksa to some Thai friends of mine and they mostly tend to get it confused with Kao Soy which is somewhat similar but not the same. Kao Soy is thicker and uses egg noodles and chicken, not rice noodles and prawns. Anyone out there know a place in Bangkok that has real laksa?

Why limit it to avatars? Some people have strange names on here too,do you dislike someone because of an on screen name?

After taking lots of heat for not using the spelling krungthep instead of Groongthep I wish I had used the former. I've been using this one for a long time now though, so I'll stick with it.

"Learning to understand spoken Thai and speak Thai without the help of anyone is very hard. Learning to read Thai by yourself is not that hard."

kriswillems is right. A professor of history at Chula Aajarn Tak once told me he used to work with a renown farang scholar of Thai history who could read and write Thai perfectly even writing academic papers in Thai for publication in journals. He was also was able to translate early thai/khmer script into modern Thai and English. Unfortunately, when he tried to speak Thai nearly no one could understand him. Speaking and comprehension take practice practice practice. There is no substitute.

What a nightmare with BofA. all is well except when using the ATM outside of the U.S. I went to all the trouble a while back, before going to Cambodia, to make sure my ATM would work and of course it didn't. Before going to Hong Kong this time i spent an hour on the phone as well as an email on the web site and an email to my premier account manager to make the card work. Worked the first day and then wouldn't.

I need a world wide bank to use when I travel outside the U.S. and outside Thailand [here I use a BB ATM card with no problem]. I have been thinking about HSBC in Bangkok. Is this a good alternative to put US dollars into? Will an ATM from there work worldwide? It appears they have branches everywhere. I can keep my account in dollars here and if the baht ever crashes i can immediately change into baht.

Is this a good option for people that use HSBC

thanks

Just a little anecdote about my Bank of America ATM card experience. I am a merchant seaman and over the years, have used my BofA debit card in ATMs in both developed and 3rd world countries on 6 continents without ever having a problem. Last year I was visiting a small town in Illinois near my parents home and tried using my card at a small local bank only to find the transaction blocked by BofA. When I called my local branch in Seattle and asked about the problem they told me they blocked the card because I was using it in a "remote' location.

I believe that the tracking number is only good whilst the package is inside Thailand, once it leaves the country it is no longer traceable.... I was told this buy a post office clerk.

This despite the fact that the service is apparently worldwide.

This has been my experience too. I have only used the Thai Post to send parcels to the US West Coast on two different occasions though. Both times the items were sent from the Central Post Office on Thanon Charoen Krung in Bangkok and both times the items were sent regular mail (not express or certified). Both times the tracking service worked only while in Thailand then stopped. The parcels did arrive on time however (about 2 weeks if I remember right).