Michael W

Are you permitted to work in Thailand with an investment visa?

[still not sure what you wanted to point out.....

What I wanted to know was if there was a common Thai word or expression for someone who takes pleasure in the misfortune of others, or the word or expression that comes closest to expressing this sentiment.

Maybe this isn't precisely the word I want, but let me explain. My girlfriend watches many Thai soap operas on TV and whenever something bad happens to a character she doesn't like she's quick to blurt out to the TV "sohm-nahm-nah" or say the English, "serves you right." This happens often enough that I would like to in some way make her more aware of how others might see this.

Yep, I ran right over to Foodland to get my girlfriend a small box of chocolates, but because she's so benoak she insisted on eating them with a large bottle of Leo.....resting on an overturned plastic bucket of course.

Sometime ago, someone published a map of the furniture area of BKK.

I thought I'd saved it but cannot find it now.

Do a search for 'furniture' in all forums.

I'm sure it is still here somewhere.

Good luck.

Sorry, I gave up after about six pages of search results. Could you provide any other info, e.g. date (range) posted, poster name, etc.?

Sorry, no.

Is this the one you meant: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...pic=42351&st=15

Thanks again to the guy who PM'd it to me.

The Aquarium is worth seeing once

I was about to buy a couple tickets to see it with my girlfriend but I balked at 450B/ticket price (we had just visited the Duset Zoo the previous month for a fraction of the cost). At some point I guess we'll get around to it.

the KinoKuniya bookstore there is great!

I missed that; definitely on my list for next time.

Anyone have a link to a Thai Buddhist Calandar? I'm looking for something poster like, probably a PDF file but I guess it doesn't have to be, that has all the months and days of the year with special notations for days of religious observance, Thai national holidays, etc.

I don't remember the last time standing out on my balcony felt like the cool breeze of my aircon.

Sometime ago, someone published a map of the furniture area of BKK.

I thought I'd saved it but cannot find it now.

Do a search for 'furniture' in all forums.

I'm sure it is still here somewhere.

Good luck.

Sorry, I gave up after about six pages of search results. Could you provide any other info, e.g. date (range) posted, poster name, etc.?

I know for a fact that many of their fabrics are fake

An easy test I've heard of but never tried is to get a thread of the fabric and put a match under it.

If it melts, it's polyester.

If it flairs, it's cotton.

And if it stinks like burnt hair, then likely it's wool.

New liquor store located in the basement level of Siam Paragon (Great Grocery store as well!)

If you mean the liquor shop actually within the grocery store (off on the left side), I also checked that one out a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, their rum stock is significantly less than the Soi 33 Villa Market. I did buy a 400 baht, 750 ml, bottle of Ron Rio rum. I've had better but not too bad for the price.

Any place in Bangkok (closer to lower Sukhumvit the better) that sells used furniture? I'm looking for one or two basic, cushioned, armless chairs and maybe another smaller chair and table that'll fit on my small balcony. Otherwise, I'll have to check out Homepro Plus on Ploenchit (or maybe MBK) and this isn't the sort of thing I see value in buying new.

My electricity bill for this month was about 25 percent higher than last month though I don't think I used that much more electricity. In trying to figure out the bill (which is in Thai and is kept by the building manager who speaks very minimal English) it looks like I'm only being charged a flat rate and a 7 % tax -- there didn't appear much about the rate calculations (at least at the moment I was in the building office I wasn't able to calculate back from the total to get one of the other numbers shown).

What I'd like to know is do they simply charge a higher flat rate for your entire usage if you go over a certain amount or do they use a more conventional stepped calculation, i.e. a certain rate for the first X kilowatt-hours, then another (higher) rate for the next Y of usage, and so on? Also, do the rates change according to the season? I might have also heard something on the news about electricity rates going up in general but certainly no numbers which is what I'm trying to get now. I tried looking for all this on the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand Web site ( http://www.egat.co.th/english/ ) but didn't really see anything.

And I thought I had censored (redacted -- blacked out) the sensitive parts of the article pretty thoroughly and all the replies that I saw had similarly been careful.

What's impressive is you can't even look up the book on Amazon.com. When you click the link of the search result it takes you to the Thai police censorship page. Even happens if you go to Amazon through a Web proxy like ProxyKing.net. I guess they're blocking on certain phrases or something rather than URLs, though I was able to save the Amazon page to some Web space of mine and view it there.

You might be bah-noak if....

you have late night cravings for kaw-neo moo ping or som tom

your booze of choice is lao kao or on special occasions 100 Pipers

food tastes better when you eat on the floor sitting on newspapers

every 7-11 or Big C bag is saved for a garbage bag or other uses

you brush your teeth with salt

you or a relative sleeps outside with the buffalo to protect against thieves

you consider owning buffalo a good investment

you never have to buy rice

you have to walk more than 100 meters from your house to get any mobile phone reception

you've spent more than four hours on a straw mat drinking whisky flavored water

instead of saying 'ah-rai-nah' when you don't hear something you shout 'HUH!?'

you have a relative who works as a motorbike taxi.

you watch movies outdoors at night on a temporary screen

you don't use toilet paper

you wash your clothes in the bathtub

you think wearing heavy gold bracelets or necklaces is fashionable

you like to snack on fried grasshoppers and other bugs

I second the Soi 33 Villa Market, be sure to also go upstairs for a booze-only floor with some pretty nice stuff

Thanks, I made it over there a couple of days ago and was indeed impressed with the second floor selection compared to what I've found previously in Foodland, Big C, Tops, etc. They even had Grey Goose vodka (though only the girly orange flavor), but unfortunately not the rum I was looking for. I ended up settling on some rotgut called Baita (about 350 for a 700). Couldn't find much about it Googling but it's reasonable for a buzz.

Just got back from the Chitlom Big C yesterday and all they also had was A4.

I should add that the computer case is, right now, at best only modestly warm so at least there's no obvious indicator of a cooling issue there. The only things that seem to be running warm are the small DSL router/modem I keep on top of the case and the power supply for the external speakers plugged into a power strip.

I have a basic, old Pentium 3 desktop which in addition to the power supply fan has two pairs of small internal fans for each of the two hard disks. In my apartment to avoid....er minimize....'aircon boxing' with my girlfriend the air conditioning is only turned on intermittently, usually only after my t-shirt is thoroughly sweat-soaked. This I've growned used to and I certainly appreciate the savings on the electric bill, but I wonder if I shouldn't be doing something extra for my computer. I'm particularly becoming mildly concerned about the next few months ahead when BKK really starts to boil.

Anyway, are there any additional cooling precautions people take for their computers such as directing a small external fan towards it or keeping the aircon on, etc.?

A little trick that saves the 50B fee and provides a much nicer taxi than those old pieces of junk usually seen in the Arrivals area is to go one floor up to the Departures area and pick up one the taxis that just got there.

Or better, if you're coming in on your own and without a lot of luggage just take the Airport Bus for 100 baht. The A3 goes right down Sukhumvit. The airport buses are fairly new, air conditioned, and generally not full -- sometimes nearly empty. Oh, and they run only to about midnight, so if you have one of those late night arrivals, which in general you should also try to avoid, you're also out of luck.

Looking for a good, well stocked liquor store, something with a wider selection than Foodland or Big C. In particular I have a taste for rum, Cruzan Dark just for a nice buzz, or perhaps Ron Matusalem Gran Reserve for those special occasions. Anywhere in a ######ing 'world city' like Bangkok I might be able to find that? Jeez, JWB gets old after a while and don't get me started on that benoak piss, 100 Pipers.

A few months ago I switched from a 25 lb 17" (16" viewable) CRT monitor to a new flat panel 17" (17" viewable!) LCD monitor (Philips 170S). While I've been fairly careful not to touch the screen with my fingertips (to point something out), it still happens on occasion, along with my girlfriend also doing it. These have always been light touches but could these also bepotentially damaging, or should I not worry hugely? Also, are there any differences or things to keep in mind in cleaning the screen? I imagine (or at least, hope) a damp rag wouldn't be harmful but it'd be more assuring to have a bit more information.

Just to add another data point, I've just come back from the FBT Sports Complex on Rhamkamheng at the corner of Soi 65. This is a massive (5 floor) structure devoted to nothing else but athletic and sports team wear (including trophies). I went on the recommendation of someone who PM'd me about it. They also have a Web site ( http://www.fbtsports.com ) but there's much more in the store than is online; they're open until 8pm. Unfortunately, although I found some pants that sort of approached what I was looking for, I still wasn't quite satisfied (nor am I particularly desperate at the moment for sweatpants). However, they may have something to satisfy someone a bit less fussy, so you might want to check them out.

To get there, take the Skytrain to Prakhanong station and then the 22, 71, or 501 bus to Rhamkamheng Soi 65 (or a taxi for about 85 baht). Also on Soi 65 on the same side as FBT but at the end of the block is the much smaller Grand Sport ( http://www.grandsport.com ) which was closed (they close at 6pm during the week and noon on weekends) so I didn't get to check them out, though a security guard said they sold the same stuff as FBT but who knows.

Anyone know where I can find basic athletic sweatpants such as Russell Athletic ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000ANEW...1862228-2574512 ) or a quality knockoff? Everywhere I've looked (Robinson, Pratunam, Big C, etc.) I've only found the lighter weight warmup pants (often striped) or a cargo pants hybrid rather than just your basic sweatpants. Oh, and of course I'm looking for male farang size L, XL, etc.

Do you have to have a buisness visa to hire some people to watch your forex charts for you 5 days a week in about 8-10 hour shifts to alert you when a certain signal you are looking comes up?

What would be the normal pay for a person who would watch the charts they would have to speak some english be alert decent with a computer and smart enough to match patterns?

How about instead a computer program to automatically search for such patterns and alert you.