Carmine6

Sounds like ugly rabbits is the key. I have to believe if you let a whole bunch loose in the fields they'd start disappearing, and not due to snakes or dogs.

Anyway, since few have a taste for rabbit and I'm not going to be around to create the demand, that'll be an idea for later.

Let me see if I understand this. Falling dollar foretells the doom of the US?

Not quite in my opinion. Really it is the only way to start fixing the trade deficit, which many people seem to think is the fault of the government. It's actually just due to people making normal purchases every day. And a weak dollar is the only way to get the Chinese to move faster in letting the currency float. Diplomatic dicussions won't have nearly the effect as them continuing to face higher oil, steel, and other raw materials prices.

The US wants China to let their currency float and strengthen. While this would raise prices for American consumers, it makes US goods (and everyone else's) more competitive internationally. It would also let other developing countries compete more fairly.

But China says no, they're taking their time getting there. China has been keeping their currency tied to the dollar by buying US bonds which probably yield about 4% on average. Now that the dollar has fallen, those bonds are worth a whole lot less. Maybe 10% on the exchange relative to other currencies, and much more on what they could sell the bonds for since the rates are now above 5%.

So the Chinese have taken a huge hit by trying to keep their currency tied to the dollar. Not only are the bonds they own worth a lot less, but the price of steel, copper, oil, concrete and everything else is a lot higher. That's going to be true as long as they try to tie the currency to the dollar and the dollar falls.

US exports of goods and services hit a record for March and also a record for exports to China. And the trade deficit fell in both February and March. Somehow the media doesn't seem to care about those stats or the sub-5% unemployment rate.

I don't know where the exchange rate is headed, but I'm hardly worried about the US.

Thanks. I'm not really thinking I'll have problems. I was mainly wondering if I'm supossed to declare them.

The only reason I feel ok about the seeds I have is that they're packaged for Southern California and similar regions. What most people don't realize is that Los Angeles was originally basically a desert. In the valleys it regularly exceeds 100 degrees (38C) during the summer. I think with no thunderstorms, there's actually more sun exposure here. It's also very dry. We never pulled record breaking vegetables out of the garden when I was a kid, but some stuff did pretty well.

I am am going to look for some greens over there though.

Just a little brainstorming on my part.

My girlfriend has promised to buy some rabbits for her little brother and two cousins when we go up there to visit. Half jokingly I asked her if we should get several extra and then they could raise some to eat later on. She says that rabbits are too cute so people wouldn't eat them. But people do eat the wild ones in the forest. When the family's house was being built last year some of the workers ate her little brother's pet turtle for lunch. So the question isn't whether her family would eat them, but if someone would eat them.

I think that once the novelty wore off, and if they had a lot of them, they'd just be another farm animal. My mom grew up in Hawaii and along with pigs and chickens, they used to eat some rabbits they raised. I also think that if bird flu got to be a big deal, then it'd be a nice alternative.

Anyone have experience with people eating rabbit in Isaan? Any opinions?

My girlfriend is buying her little brother and his friends some rabbits the next time we go up to Isaan. I know they have some stuff that the rabbits can eat, but they might have to buy some food. Since they have a lot of farm land, I figured I'd bring some vegetable seeds so that they can grow some stuff for the rabbits. There's actually enough room on the side of the house for a small garden. I'm talking about a few packets of commercially packed seeds, so it's clear what they are.

The Thai Customs website mentions restrictions on animals and "flora". Does anyone know if seeds fall under "flora"?

And, and.... such a long-winded article with nothing to say? How much will regular calls rise by if at all????

My girlfriend mentioned in an e-mail that a 5-6 minute call cost 67 baht. But she also said a 3-4 minute call cost 69 baht. So I wouldn't trust her estimate of the length of calls, but it was a big enough increase that she mentioned it to me. She was annoyed enough to contact them to complain.

I was checking here to see what the new rate was myself.

The reality is that US laws are not geared to cater to expats. Most Americans consider expats unpatriotic. Why would you leave, they think, the country that EVERYONE on earth is clamouring to get into, even illegally? Must be something wrong with you. If you live abroad, other than the president, what other representative represents you? Nobody. So just file the form and grin and bear it, because if anything else, a US passport is a good passport to travel with (unless you fancy a holiday in North Korea or Cuba).

I don't agree that most Americans think expats are unpatriotic. I do think people want ex-pats to pay taxes in the same way that people think the rich should pay higher tax rates. Too many people are willing to raise eveyone else's taxes.

By the way, one of the "loopholes" John Kerry wanted to close was the credit for foriegn taxes paid. So that you would have to pay BOTH the foreign taxes and US taxes on foreign income. Remember the "loophole" that companies supposedly got for "outsourcing" jobs. Well this was it. Went to his website to see what loophole he was talking about and I couldn't believe it. Has to be 99% of the credits taken have nothing to do with outsourced jobs.

If I transferred over $10,000 to an account I'd definitely file since it'll be traceable that the account had over $10,000 during the year. But honestly, if I had an account that occassionally went a bit over the limit during the year from foreign income or something, I probably wouldn't file it.

Fair enough, but how big a difference? Are we talking 1% less, 2% less?

Unlike changing money at a hotel (or other airports) where you really get screwed, I haven't looked at the airport rate and thought it was outrageous. No one should change a lot of money there, but if you don't hit the ATM, changing $100 isn't that bad.

But hey, I'm fully willing to be talked out of that.

Yeah, I agree with this. I've never compared rates on the same day, but I haven't noticed a difference between the airport rate and a rate at a bank downtown. An ATM will normally give the best rate, but I will occassionally change $100 for the cab ride since the rate is not that bad. If changing cash, bring $100 bills, not smaller bills. You'll get half a baht to a baht less for each dollar if you change small bills.

The money changers are in the big hall right after you pass through customs. You can't miss them. The ATMs are past where the big mass of people is waiting for arrivals, and on the left side. Keep going straight to the ATMs, and politely decline the folks advertising "taxis". The real taxi stand is outside and the folks inside are really advertising car services which cost about twice as much.

The arrival hall exchange offices give you a different rate than the one the same bank gives you downtown.

It's not the .ZIP extension they don't allow.. It is the .EXE extension in the zip file.

Good catch. I missed that it was a program being sent in the zip.

A website I use. Customizable if desired. By the way, my girlfriend has absolutely no problem keeping track of the time difference even with the switch to daylight savings time. So it's not all Thais, just like not all people anywhere get it.

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

I had no trouble sending a zip file to my Gmail account either from Gmail to itself or from an outside address. Standard zip "folder" that I created with Windows XP built in functionality and didn't change the extension.

One thing kind of strange with Gmail is that depending on what language you use, it changes the various options available. For instance, chat is available on the main page in English, but change to Thai and you can't do that. In fact the option pages are completely different so that as far as I can tell you can't even activate chat when in Thai.

Perhaps like hotmail, Google restricts the account if you're in Thailand or something similar.

There are severall exchange counters from different banks in the arivals hal, the rates are the same as down town banks.

If you want to withdraw money from ATM (plenty of them in any town, not in the villages though) ask your bank if your card is ok and what theey charge per transaction.

Yeah, I agree with this. I've never compared rates on the same day, but I haven't noticed a difference between the airport rate and a rate at a bank downtown. An ATM will normally give the best rate, but I will occassionally change $100 for the cab ride since the rate is not that bad. If changing cash, bring $100 bills, not smaller bills. You'll get half a baht to a baht less for each dollar if you change small bills.

The money changers are in the big hall right after you pass through customs. You can't miss them. The ATMs are past where the big mass of people is waiting for arrivals, and on the left side. Keep going straight to the ATMs, and politely decline the folks advertising "taxis". The real taxi stand is outside and the folks inside are really advertising car services which cost about twice as much.

There are other threads on flying on a one way ticket. I believe basically you need to already have some kind of visa (you won't obviously have the 30 day until you get there) in order for the airline to let you on the plane with a one-way ticket. Otherwise you need a return or onward ticket. Immigration may also ask for proof as well. Although based on experience, it's the airlines that are strict on this. I and most other people haven't been asked for proof of the return ticket by immigration.

There's nothing preventing you from buying a fully refundable ticket and then calling for a refund as soon as you get to Thailand. Although that can take a while to refund. You could buy a ticket from Bangkok to some nearby country like Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. so it'll cost less up front and then refund that ticket.

Some other people have planned on leaving the country by train or bus so perhaps you can try to make some kind of arrangement like that and then show that to the airline.

As for buying tickets, there are lots of travel agencies in Thailand so you won't be restricted to online purchases. But, one way tickets are generally more expensive than buying a round trip ticket and changing the return flight, so unless you are going to be there for a long time, it might be worth it to just buy a changeable round trip ticket and then avoid the whole hassle.

Crazy to criticize families with houses worth 40million+ baht. What else could they have done over the years that would have gotten them that much wealth, especially considering the currency value was almost cut in half less than a decade ago? How many non-Thais have net worths that high even with education?

The real question is are they happy with their lives?

If I'm not mistaken, the Euro has only been around since 1999, not 16 years.

hello usatrader

im afraid you are wrong when you say the sterling high was 76.011in dec2004.

i have a receit in my house showing i changed 500 pound cash at the rate of 89.6 without digging the receit out i think i changed the cash in january 1998.

i had been brought up on 36-40 to the pound so you can imagine i was like a kid in a free grotto when i returned to find the rate had gone up so much

Thank you. Actually I went back and researched it and found I made two mistakes. One, I gave the wrong URL link and second that the Jan 1998 amount you mention appears correct, as my sources, which I overlooked, shows a monthly average for Jan 1998 at 86.624670.

Corrected Historical data link

5,May 2006- 69.934346

The Sterling has had an average Bhat to Sterling rate of 54.197 over the last 16 years, with an monthly avg high of 86.624670 in Jan 1998 and a monthly avg low of 36.72 in Jan 1990.

5,May 2006 -37.750700

The US Dollar has had an average Bhat to dollar rate of 33.384 over the last 16 years, with a high of 54.7 in Jan 1998 and a low of 20.66 in Jan 1981.

5,May, 2006- 47.958407

The Euro has had an average Bhat to Euro rate of 42.827 over the last 16 years, with a high of 53.18 in Dec 2004 and a low of 37.012 in Jan 2000.

One thing I do if key loggers may be an issue is just type garbage in between real info. You just change focus away from the form and type random numbers in between typing in the real numbers. Then the key logger will log extra numbers in there.

You should also type in real info in between your data so it doesn't look like credit card info. So in a different window, do a search for hotels or addressses or whatever in between typing in your name. Get lots of normal words and numbers in there and I'd be amazed if you have issues with the card.

You can also type an e-mail and cut and paste info from that into the form. Even more tedious, cut and paste letters and numbers from a regular website like this one to create the data in the form.

Could not be happier with my 20/15 vision. No contacts, no glasses. Someone else here mentioned that many people caught in the Tsunami lost their glasses and didn't know where to swim or what to grab onto while they were flailing around in the water. You never think about that benefit until something like that happens.

The only side effect with my lasik is a little bit of flaring around lights at night. If I look at a point source of light at night, it has a bit of a halo around it. Early on it was bad, but after a month or so it got much better so I don't notice it. Doesn't interfere with my vision although it is still there if I look for it.

Unlike the older lasers, the newer ones customize the treatment for the shape of each eye. So instead of shaping it uniformly, they try to shape the lens so it's more consistent all around. So high spots are burned down more than others. It gives much higher odds of achieving better than 20/20 vision. It's called Wavefront or Ladarwave or other marketing names based on the manufacturer.

Find out what machine they have and look it up at the manufacturer's website. Make sure it's a newer model for the best chance of sucess with the surgery. You want the best results the first time.

Not a Honda, but I rented a Yamaha Nuovo that had an underseat compartment that could fit a helmet. Not sure of the cc, but it was one of the larger ones.

The biggest problem I have with movies is, you can't get your money back if it sucks. If my TV is bad, if my watch breaks, if my beer is flat, I can give it back or get a replacement. So I walk away feeling like I got what I paid for.

If my movie is bad I get nothing but the feeling that I got ripped off. And that's happend a lot. I can't think of any product I've been so disappointed in as often.

As for music. The music industry in the US conceded to price fixing, and had a settlement program that was approved by the court. All of $10 per person for all music ever purchased in their life. I submitted my claim 4 years ago and never received any check after the settlement.

Stealing? Yes of course it is. But so is taking money for all the crap they've put out. Some movie theaters are starting to offer money back guarantees because attendance has been falling. Nice that it took them so long to start operating like most other businesses.

You can go through all my DVDs and you're not going to find pirated stuff, but I don't really feel sorry for an industry that's disappointed me so much.

The nukewater plant gets cut back everyday? Am i missing something here?

Kind of hard to believe that students in the US on average don't rank so high in math and science, huh?

I wouldn't be surprised if the teacher wouldn't be able to point out the faults in the experiement. I had a "math" teacher ask me a few years ago why you multiplied a number by 100 to change it to a % figure.

For sunday lunch this week:

Roast Pork, Appen sauce, Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, Choice of veg, Gravy.

Roast Chicken, Stuffing, Roast Potatoes, Yorkshire Puddings, Choice of Veg, Gravy.

Both these fantastic meals are on offer for a mere ฿175

Spacila OOfer this week only:

Pie, Mash & Beans.............................................฿120

Choice of veg. Now we're talking. No more brussel sprouts. If only I were't half a world away, I'd be there.

nana hotel is haunted for sure... had some weird experiences in there. don't ask me why i was staying there.

Would be very interested in hearing about your experiences, as in what room number or floor. There have to have been some bad things that happened there over the years.

The only story I can relate is from a week or two after my father passed away. My niece was staring and waving out a side window which looks only at a concrete wall 10 feet away. There's nothing out there to look at. My sister-in-law just thought she was playing and asked her who she was waving to and she said grandpa. So she asked if he was outside and my niece said yes. Freaked my sister-in-law out.

I found out by accident how to create shots like this. What you have to do is get your finger or something else like a strap partially over the flash so that some of the light is either coming back towards the lens or sideways rather than out. Ghosts galore if you get it right. Try it at night yourself. You can try completely clear ones and partly covered ones and you'll get a big difference.

Anywhere there's water spray or dust in the air is a guaranteed bonanza. Condensation on the lens can do something similar.

Sunday lunch at the good old FC this week will be Roast Silverside of Beef, massive Yorkshire puddings, Horseradish sauce, Brussle Sprouts, Carrots, Roast Taters, Bisto & Oxo Gravy

All this for a mind boggling ฿250

Also we have a Toyota Avanza leaving Pattaya for Surin at around 10.00 Thursday moning. Cost

฿600 per person,up to 4.

Why take a fantastic sounding meal and ruin it with brussle sprouts?

Could someone if possible post up a map where abouts the airport is as I dont have a clue

http://www.bangkoksite.com/NewAirport/Suvarnabhumi1.htm