Michael W

that stuff tastes like kerosene, pal, only kerosene is better on the stomach

Says you. Like I said, I've drunk enough different rums, from US$6 to $30, to know what's good, at least to me, and if you think Similan tastes like kerosene then you plain don't know rum and are better off sticking to your Bud, if you can find it.

BTW, if you want kerosene, during my rum search I found this at the upscale Siam Paragon liquor store:

Beer is OK, maybe when you're really thirsty or with a meal but I've never drunk it much for its own sake, though I've sampled a fair range of brews. For me, my poison of choice in recent years has settled on rum. When it was easily available, I maintained a stock of Cruzan:

But now in Thailand, I've given up trying to find that and instead have taken the economically sensible alternative of the local spirit:

Likely I'll hear from some saying how can you drink that <deleted>, but I've tried a handful of available rums and Similan remarkably stacks up well, at least to my taste. The price isn't bad either. I'm not one for a bender but there's nothing like the relaxation a 4 oz shot before bed gives me. That hazy, numbing, buzz drifts me right off to dreamland and the next day I wake up refreshed and clear headed without the slightest hangover.

The Web server admin (or someone) may've moved the home folder for your Web site and you may be updating the old folder rather than the new.

Land of Smile or Land of Smiles, the second obviously sounding more correct. As to its origin, while the term has probably been kicking around for a good while, I remember what seemed to really popularize and enter it into usage was sometime in the late 90's when a wooden archway style sign was put over one of the airside passage entrances in Bangkok International Airport. As I recall (I haven't seen it for a few years now -- don't know it's still there) it said in capital letters in a stylized script "WELCOME TO THAILAND THE LAND OF SMILE" with no 'S' at the end of SMILE. Hence the first choice for what LOS stands for!

Thailand is caught up in a semi-feudal sythem

this basically unjust sythem

Sorry, what's a 'sythem' ? Thought it might be a typo but you spelled it the same way twice, and it's not in the online Webster's (m-w.com) nor OED (AskOxford.com) nor tfd.com nor dictionary.com, nor does Google turn up anything obvious either.

Mallee is a brand of thai fruit juice...the type that's got the 'pulp' in it...

Malinee is also another variation and can be an actually first name,(derived from a popular Indian actress in Bollywood),

Thanks for that. I was thinking when I typed 'Mallee' that I might not have it quite right.

Nick names would be the appropriate - their real names are well rather Thai.

Yes, those were the examples I gave, mostly. Sorry for not explicitly spelling it out.

Needs to get out more then!

And you say that based on what, that you think I don't know Thais have nicknames? And how did you conclude that?

So what you getting at OP?

Need there be something to get at beyond the question at face value?

Don't you know that Thais have nicknames?

Yes I do.

Male or female?

Please check the thread title again. Thanks!

Why you asking?

Why not, some law against it?

And are you talking about real names or nicknames?

More likely nicknames, as I thought was apparent.

Let's see. Off the top of my head I can think of:

Mallee

Ahn

Joy

Pat

There must be at least a few others. Anyone?

Who on earth would buy a lottery ticket in Thailand? LOL

I know a few girls who have a knack for regularly getting 5k or 10k baht payouts. They consider it a major part of their income.

Not sure what would happen in thailand, but the (thai) mrs. figures the farang would be able to keep the money with no one holding it against him.

I wonder if they'd say, if it was a jackpot, that it was illegal income earned without the appropriate (or any) work permit and deport the guy?

The webside does not specify the days when he goes where.

That's because the Website say "Daily Cambodia Tour Scheules[sic] and Details" meaning it's an everyday schedule, i.e. seven days a week. Again, maybe it needs to be updated, but the site at least implys everyday.

Take a look @ the BKK Post.

Do you have a link for an online ad? I don't have a paper handy.

Unless the Website is out of date, there's a daily 5:30am bus to Poipet and a daily 7am bus to Ban Laem: http://www.jackgolf.com/eng/visaService/cam_schedule.asp

I've won the lottery twice, tragically it was only the last 3 digits, 2 or 3 thousand baht per win. Both times I had no problem cashing it in with a vendor.

That's good to hear.

When I lived in Min Buri, My then GF won Bt12,500 in the lottery. The seller refused to acknowledge 10,000 of the winnings. After getting lottery officals and the police involved, it turned out she was not turning in the receipts. She was not seen again in town. The GF got her money from BKK officals. What do you think would have been the result if that happened to a farang?

This is much more the scenario I had in mind: not winning the multi-million baht jackpot, but rather just 10k or 20k or even 50k baht and then you the farang showing up to cash in.

why are you asking?

Why not? Isn't my question valid?

because its a question everyone should know.

Really? Sorry for my ignorance. Do you have the FAQ or URL that mentions this and anything else I already "should know"?

why are you asking?

Why not? Isn't my question valid?

And would they be allowed to keep anything they won, or would it all be 'taxed' away?

The pensil eraser is ok but not too hard.

I've already tried the eraser a few times and that hasn't really made a difference.

I have an old Sony Ericsson T100 mobile phone which is now having a lot of problems getting recharged. Normally during the charging process the charger has a solid red light until the battery is fully recharged and then the light changes to solid green. Here instead even with a discharged battery the light is green unless you hold the charger plug into the phone just so, and then the light changes to red. If you take your hand away the light goes back to green, halting the recharge. After trying a new battery and charger (both surprisingly available for such an old phone and fairly reasonably priced at Big C) with little improvement, it would seem the problem is with worn electronic contacts at the end of the phone where the charger is plugged in:

The bottom end of the phone.

Closeup of the right two charger contacts.

The phone otherwise is in good shape and I'd hate to just toss it. So my question is, what are your thoughts on the possibility, cost, and overall sense of making a trip say to MBK and paying to have the contacts replaced with a new set (and/or possibly just reconditioned)? Is this a typical repair or the point more often when a new phone should be considered?

I got to Chulia for just after 11pm and handed my passport to an agent next to The Swiss Hotel. The agent had no problem doing my visa for me. I then picked it up the next day at 2.30pm. No worries. I have done this on 2 occasions.

Interesting. So if an agent handles your visa and presumably submits your application at the consulate first thing 9am the next morning, the consulate will have it ready for pickup after 2pm the same day. Hmmm, I wonder if agents have a special arrangement in that way or if you're there yourself right when the consulate opens you can have pick up the same day? Because when I was there, I asked the guy at the consular window when I could pick up, and he confirmed it was after 2pm the next day. But again in my case it was after 11am when I was asking.

He asked if i wanted to go to the Embassy. I re4fused. I'd rather pay an agent on Chulia street. Less hassle and in the long run. Less money. I too picked up my passport the next day.

Well, I certainly had nothing against using an agent in principle, but for my schedule I didn't think I had time. If my flight arrives after 10 in the morning, and mornings are the only time you can apply, I would have to motor it over to Chulia first to employ an agent and he would have to be willing at that late hour to get my individual application in. Maybe that wouldn't be a problem but I was going by what others have said that agents prefer to collect passports in the afternoon for submission as a batch first thing the next morning. It just seemed to me that trying to use an agent in this way would both increase the hassle factor and/or likely require I stay an extra day (or the weekend in my case since I arrived on a Thursday). How were you able to pick up your passport the day after arriving when using an agent?

Also, I'm not seeing how it would be cheaper. A taxi round trip airport-consulate-chulia seems to be able to be had for 60-80 RM. If you use an agent you'll still taxi round trip airport-chulia which would seem to cost, unless I'm mistaken, only marginally less at best. So unless agents only charge 10-20 RM for handling tourist visas, it would seem the do-it-yourself route would have you come out ahead. How much do agents charge for tourist visas?

Thank you for the pictures. I already had occasion to link to one of them (giving you credit, of course)

I'm glad you found them useful. I thought it worthwhile to nail down a few of the obvious basics and pictures seemed to do so most definitively. BTW, which one did you link to?