ourmanflint

Personally I do have respect for a countries laws, but I can decide to break them if I want, it doen't make me an evil person.... mwaha ha ha!!!

Maybe not evil, but downright stupid

come on... lighten up... what is the matter with you all??? I'm not saying I'd do anything bad, but I certainly would have no hesitation in breaking any law I think is stupid in exactly the same way as I would in the UK. So Hands up anyone who has bought a Pirate DVD or pirate software, overstayed their visas, not reported an accident when you accidentally pranged someones car/bike/ fence whatever... drunk in a bar after hours or bought a drink in a bar on Kings birthday or before an election....

did you know... It is illegal to leave your house if you are not wearing underwear or that You must wear a shirt while driving a car or You must pay a fine of $600 in Thailand if you're caught throwing away chewed bubble gum on the sidewalk or that you cannot step of any of the nation's currency....and so on....

you are lying if you say you haven't done at least one of these or maybe you are a saint, in which case I am humbled by your presence.

Actually I think Rangoon sounds pretty good!! Is there a beach nearby??

very sad indeed.. from my neck of the woods as well!

Not wanting to go off topic too much, the best steak I have ever had ever!!, was from a water buffalo in Chiang Mai way back when.... so is "Thai Steak" from a cow or are they buffalo?... and do you even distinguish between them... just curious!

Err Yes! is the answer...

all philosophies and religions are there solely to guide us beyond our nature!! Our nature is to be selfish, because that is the choice that will give us the best chance at gathering food and leaving our progeny behind, it is the nature of all living things, with the exception of some social insects such as ants etc.. ( but there is a good reason for that )

As such your "golden rule" I believe, would have been one of the first things in our intellectual evolution that helped us move beyond our nature, and into full consciousness, and is consequently found wherever humans are!

Thanks Ceedee...

great little website!

Actually thinking about this I've just realised somewhere great to live.... thing is though if I tell you everyone will go!!

I can't believe some of the comments here, this guy just wanted a bit of advice because he made a mistake of judgement, he didn't kill anyones kids or set fire to your house, he got caught doing something thousands of people do everyday in Thailand as elsewhere.... of course he knew that it was illegal, but I am certain that most people here have broken Thai law, it's just that your morals probably gloss over the fact because it suits your own set of standards.

Personally I do have respect for a countries laws, but I can decide to break them if I want, it doen't make me an evil person.... mwaha ha ha!!!

I know the perfect place....

Koh Samui 1993.... ha ha!! Everything on your list and more.

I'm no expert here, but I have read different.. here!

I think I will have to enlarge my knowledge of the subjecy as I'm sure I would enjoy it.

I don't think any of the Thai "backpacker" operators would be happy if the information was generally available, otherwise they wouldn't be able to charge 4-5 times the cost for their stupid packages!!! They have to get as much money off the Farangs as possible, freedom of choice is a little thing to lose in this case.

the only way the "upanishads" are a precursor of Buddhism, is that a small percentage were written first... there is very little evidence that any but a very few were even known during the lifetime of Siddhartha.

It depends how much stuff you shoot when away from home, IMHO they're all pretty restricted, in that with only 90 mins battery life, they can only download a 1 gig card a few times before the battery runs down. Same with the Epson, which can take 15 minutes to dl one card... rubbish!!!

The best by far is the CompactDrive PD70x which has been tested to download a 1 gig card in less than 2 mins, and will download over 50gigs of cards on one charge... expensive at approx £150 for the 100gb version.

At which point did you know that Mango flavour, ie mango flavoured drinks and such, comes from a cats arse!! The Mango flavour is actually secreted by cats and is scraped from the gland in a cats rectum.... this is the same gland they scent mark with!!

Hmm Nice!!

What a load of cobblers!

Easier and cheaper to extract mango flavour from mangoes.

Awful lot of cat's arse-holes would have to be scraped to keep up with demand.

Nice try though.

Oh you wish that were true!! Go into the next 7-eleven you come to, have alook at the bottles of "Sunny Delight" or any soft drink that contains "mango flavour" and read the ingredients, even mango juice drinks in Thailand contain "mango flavouring".... and guess what.. I know where it comes from, and now so do you!!!

I think I must be about a hundred words ahead of you but thats all... it is hard going I reckon no matter what... I bought one CD and book.. "Colloquial Thai", and 2 more off Ebay, and I have borrowed Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur from t'internet, there are courses as Podcasts on iTunes, and lots of help on t'internet. I'm trying to go submerse myself in the language, even watching Thai movies, it is starting to click!!!

I am quite in awe of people who have managed to be fluent!!

Sorry, I was too busy licking me bum.

Well thats got to be better than licking someone elses ass i suppose

At which point did you know that Mango flavour, ie mango flavoured drinks and such, comes from a cats arse!! The Mango flavour is actually secreted by cats and is scraped from the gland in a cats rectum.... this is the same gland they scent mark with!!

Hmm Nice!!

Hi all..

I feel like chipping in here, to say that both Buddhism and Hinduism have their roots in the Brahman tradition, but Buddhism through Buddha, turned it's focus onto the plight of man, and the experience of life, while Hinduism continued in a more monistic and mythological direction. And while there are some Hindu sects that believe Buddha was a manifestation of Vishnu, there is I think a general accord in hinduism that he was not.

As to the Buddhist view of creation, I don't think there really is one, in as much as buddhists are only concerned with the experience of life, not metaphysical questions on the nature of the divine. But the root view that all reality IS Brahman, is not affected by buddhist belief. I think this is where the confusion with Hinduism comes into play, that Buddhism exists as a layer alongside Brahman and not in competition with it, the Brahman and Buddhist essential realities are the same thing.

In my opinion of course..

Stop it!!! You're scaring the hel_l out of me!! Levels.. registers.... what the heck??

How many years is this gonna take me just to be able to chat confidently????

absolutely ace...

great just to see what's available...

I'd recommend the Pimsleur Thai course... just finished it and now I feel pretty confident about speaking at least a little Thai... Whoopee!!!

Cheers for the podcast tip... picked all up in iTunes as well as Mandarin Chinese and Japanese... very cool!!

Hi

Interesting thread... I wonder how experts on "learn english forums" would interpret the same thing. I wonder if they tell everyone the correct form of address would be Sir or Madame, and that calling someone "love" or "chuck" ( I'm northern!!) would be seen as impolite. I do know that there are a certain class of people mainly in Lonodn who would agree that it is indeed impolite, I don't think that any society should necessarily disparage such forms of friendly address.

In the end I'm sure I'll struggle with all the intricacies of speaking Thai, and if I upset a few people, well that's life. But I will try and I will learn, and I hope I will never be looked down upon because of the way I talk.... in fact that happens all the time to me anyway in the UK... there are snobs everywhere, and they really shouldn't be tolerated should they??

I think you're asking an awful lot for that kind of money, I think it must be at least 4 weeks work. And at quite a high level, a UK price for such a site would be £2-3000 minimum.

Good Luck

I've stayed at "MY HOUSE" hotel on Soi 1, quite a few times, it is literally 50 yds from Ari BTS, and pretty basic but clean and 550Bt a night.

cheers

pm'ed you

cheers