burman

Why wouldn't people believe him? Do people think that all Thais think this is the only way to mourn? Many consider it unnecessary, much like the yellow shirt wearing.

I would believe it and know plenty of Thais that want to stop wearing black already but are have to because of their job.

Perhaps some lifetime award could be given to Britmaveric for his continued wisdom through the years. Thank you Brit!

What size is the tank? What filter do you have on there? What maintenance do you do on the tank apart from top it up with water?

Probably a water quality problem, but it's easy enough to fix if we can find out where the problem lies.

It's strange because now when I see farang, I don't feel that I am one myself.

I used to be a farang

Have you 'upgraded' to become Asian now?

Ok, better take that back coz no proof. Lived near the building a few years though and always heard the same thing, so guess I was assuming it was the truth.

Yep the building is owned by the wife of Thaksin, whether it was a message o her or not though who knows?

When I was watching the fire a couple of Americans were talking about it collapsing but never the one to miss a sly dig at 4 am in the morning I told them that only happened on 9/11.

One of the Americans then went on to tell me how lucky it was that the building wasn't made of wood coz then it would definitely have caught fire. I pointed out this was why buildings were made of concrete and steel and he told me 'In America I think buildings of a certain height are not allowed to be made of concrete, only wood'. I was too tired to rip the piss out of him.

I live near this building and at our condo block everybody had to leave in case the fire spread so I pretty much watched the whole thing. Because the building still had some work going on it has sheeting/scaffolding up on the outside which is what was burning mostly. The actual building, and inside on the floors didn't catch fire properly, so whilst the fire looks impressive in the pics in reality it wasn't quite so bad.

I was on the 'wrong' side of the building to see any fire crews but I expect they were putting out burning debris and keeping the base of the building from catching fire rather than fighting the fire elsewhere which was left to burn out by itself.

It was a big fire though, lots of burning debris fell down, very surprised it didn't spread further.

Bina, good idea to put the mirror to the tank to see if he responds, that'll show how healthy it is. It's true they are not the most active fish in the world.

If there was something wrong with it's swim bladder it'd not just stay at the bottom of the tank it would be off balance, or even swimming upside down by now. Usually though this is caused by the wrong diet (too much dried food that bloats the stomach and pushes against the swim bladder when it gets wet and swells inside the fish) and adding some frozen or live fish food would help prevent this.

Alternatively the water in the tank could be too polluted which is easy to do if it's in a small tank, in which case let a bit of water stand for a few hours then change the water in the goblet for that. If you are in Thailand or indeed can get hold of some dried 'Indian Almond Leaf' in Australia then add a small segment of that to the water it will revitalise the fish and also help with any bacterial problems. All the siamese fighting fish in Thailand are kept with some of this medicinal leaf in the water.

http://www.fishforums.net/lofiversion/index.php/t41676.html

http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=indian...sa=N&tab=wi

It may just be an old fish, they don't live much past 2-3 years anyway.

A coincidence.? I used to get a monthly mag in the Uk called The Aquarist. Also the TFH from the USA

TFH was a great mag, decent long articles (is there an online version of it? I will have to check). Aquarist was good too, as was PFK at one time before they started adding more adverts than information in it. And what articles they had were recycled every 6 months!

Sanam Luang 2 market

Near the night market?

I have noticed that there are a lot of exported fish available that you don't often see at the usual shops. I would like to visit one myself.

If you get to Bangkok check out the fish shops around Seacon Square on Srinakarin road, a few more specialist suppliers there. Can't remember names and exact locations though but Thailand does have a magazine AQUARIST (I think) which although is in Thai has a lot of ads/web addresses for decent fish shops in the country.

I moved on to Betta myself, they really are a treat to source out here.

I think you do not understand the Thai/Khmer culture at all

MacB I feel for your situation, I really do, but please stop blaming everything on the Thai/Khmer culture and just accept your wife is a nasty piece of work and a wrong choice and move on.

First fish I ever had were Kribs. Rams are beautiful too though!

I think in most parts of Thailand you can get African cichlids from Lake Malawi and Victoria. For Tanganyikans then Bangkok at JJ market is a good source.

For Pelvaichromis then you will be out of luck outside Bangkok, where even in JJ market it is hard to find them. Fish like that tend to come in maybe a couple of times a year, which is a shame because they are one of the nicest aquarium fish you can buy.

There are a few more specialist shops in parts of Bangkok that may help you, let me know if you are interested and I will try to get the names/addresses for you. Saw a beautiful pair of L. Curviceps at one of them, a fish so common to buy in the UK but sadly hardly ever seen here.

whats goin on???

April FOOOOOOL

Very Good one George ... you've got me jumping around hehehe

That's a wrong attitude because all it does is cause people to disable children so they can earn more money on the streets. This happens in Thailand and is common in even poorer countries like India.

Never give money to beggars, buy them some food. Sometimes they refuse the food, that should tell you something.

I'd go so far to say that giving money to beggars in this country is irresponsible given that children and babies are often used to increase earnings.

Try to think about where that money goes and what it is used for.

Many Thai children on the street begging or selling flowers at the red lights are controlled by maffia. All the money they earn from begging or selling flowers go staright to these maffia's pocket at the end of the day. If they cannot make certain amount of money in a day...they got beaten or torture. You would be able to see these scene on the street around Klong Toey at night, where a couple of guys pickup the begger kid and search every part of his/her body to see if they're hidding any money.

Around 20 years ago in Thailand...many poor thai children were kidnap by these maffia and got their tongue, leg or hand cutoff then put them onto the streets for begging. I cannot remember which year, but it was pretty long ago on Thai newspaper about a lady walking on the walkway around Klong Toey and saw a kid who she believed was her son. She took police to the scene and brought him to check the DNA, then found out the kid was her son. The kid's tongue and hands were cutoff.

So what i'm trying to say is actually nothing to do with this Dutch guy. But, if you are about to give some money to little beggars on the street...you know where your money going to.

Like bkkmadness said..give them food be better for them.

Also regarding the begging scammers, there are not only farang doing these scams. Thais also has the same thing.

I've seen a blind guy on the street begging during the day, I gave him some money because he was playing some kindda Thai instrument and when I was walking back home after work...I saw him took of his MIB shade and walk away. He saw me and laugh...piss me right off.

Hi There...

The internet connection in HH won't get any better. Doesn't matter which provider you use.

ADSL connections are just Okay around here. Wi/Fi internet connections are avaiable at

- Sailom Pavillion near the City Beach Hotel. Free for 1hrs/day they don't have access cards for sale yet.

- Italay Cafe near the Esso gas station provide free Wi/Fi internet all day long

- Starbugs in town also provide Wi/Fi internet but you have to buy the access card from them. Cards from Bangkok are useless in this town. Ive tried them all.

Air Cards....Very handy around here. Speed is a bit slower than the dialup connection some time, some time is a bit faster. Infact its perfect for working. Not for gaming and vdo stuffs.

Hutch: Price around 12000 baht. You need to register with the company, need workpermit to apply.

Sierra Wireless Air Card: Dual band (DTAC & AIS) DTAC has 3 or 4 GPRS promotions you can choose...I'm using the unlimited for 30days for 1100 per month. Cant remember the rest. AIS charge 1bht per min no promotion. DTAC is working perfect for me here or even when im on the moving car.. No problem at all..

No idea about Hutch.

Hope this info might help