ColeBOzbourne

I stuff my pockets full of bitcoins. They weigh virtually nothing and hardly take up any space. (puns intended)

On 12/21/2019 at 7:27 PM, Oxx said:

And for such a delivery 15 km isn't that far.

Approximately the same distance as if you went to the store and just bought it yourself, which would probably be quicker and cheaper without possible delivery fees or a tip to the delivery man.

Thais are notorious for shortening words. Is it possible the second name is simply a shortened version of the first one?

I've always disliked bargaining in any country I travel to. Regardless of how polite both parties are, it still feels like a mild form of confrontation to me and I don't like confrontations.

I think bargaining can be unfair because often the party that gets the better of the deal is the one that is better informed, a slick-talker, or willing to be more rude or overbearing. Why should customer-A get a better price for the same product simply because he is a better talker or more persuasive than customer-B?

When I approach a vendor I try to have the price in mind that locals pay or I'm willing to pay. I don't start with, "How much is that?", because that opens the opportunity to bargain. Instead I start with, "Fifty baht for that, right?" If they agree I take it, if they don't I walk away. If they change their mind and try to call me back I generally ignore them because I don't like that they tried to take advantage of me in the first place so I don't want to give them my business.

If I have no clue what the price should be I'll often tell them I don't like bargaining so just pretend we've already done that, give me your very best price and I'll agree or disagree. That rarely works well as they generally begin the process of bargaining anyways. Having a good attitude and being friendly goes a long way regardless of your strategy.

22 hours ago, sanemax said:

You should get friends who can handle themselves on their own .

If I had a friend who got into fights and needed me to step in and fight his fights for him, he wouldnt be a friend much longer

Happy Mate honey advertises as raw and organic on the label. Whether it is accurate I really don't know. I buy it at Foodland and Villa Market. None of the other honey on sale there advertises as raw and organic. I recently brought some honey back from Guatemala and, side by side at the same temperature, the Guatemala honey crystallizes and the Happy Mate does not. I don't know what that means either.

Edit: A quick look at google said unfiltered honey will crystallize faster than filtered honey. It also may have a higher sugar content. Quicker crystallization may indicate the honey is raw and more pure, so a good sign. 

5 hours ago, Langsuan Man said:

Bank name please, since some have and others have not, but appears to be US bank related

Well, mine is actually a very small, local Credit Union rather than a bank. It only has three branches limited to one county in Arizona. Pinal County Federal Credit Union. 

1 hour ago, skatewash said:

My last ACH transfer in November, 2019, from Vanguard through Bangkok Bank NY Branch to my regular savings account in Thailand went through without a hitch.

Interesting. Maybe your bank uses the required coding. Mine does not. Future developments and input from others might solve the mystery.

Did they finally start enforcing the changes required to transfer money by ACH through BKK Bank New York? Last week I made a transfer and New York rejected it and refunded it back to my local account in the USA. Until now I've never had a problem with a transfer, even after their deadline came and went to change the transfer coding. I just went and visited my local branch here in BKK and they said the policy is finally being enforced and many foreigners have been in recently with the same questions. Anyone here recently have problems with the ACH transfer?

Has your son had other disciplinary problems at the school beyond the two incidents of vaping? Is he a good student and hard worker with good grades, good attendance records, and a good reputation among the staff and administration? Is it possible there has been more trouble and it is now all catching up to him? Or is he a good student getting an overly harsh punishment for a mere (alleged) second offense?

I’m only at the intermediate level with Thai but this caught my attention as I’ve spoken about it recently with some Thai friends. If I’ve interpreted any of this wrong I would appreciate anyone setting me straight. I’m also having keyboard trouble getting the Thai font and the English font to match.

I often hear ngong (งง) repeated twice, ngong-ngong (งงๆ) and agree it means confused, as in over a tough math problem, for example. But can also mean overwhelmed, puzzled or bewildered maybe by too much information or sensory overload. One friend talks way too much and gives me too many new Thai words too quickly. She says I am ngong-ngong or overwhelmed. Some of the threads on this language forum are way over my head and after a few minutes I scream ‘ngong-ngong’ and vow to return to it after another year of study. Even walking down a street where there are too many people, traffic, horns, loud music, and flashing lights might make you feel ngong-ngong. Even a buffet with too many food choices.

Similar to that in some of the same ways would be ngun-ngong (งุนงง).

You might say someone talking too much, or too much information, makes your head spin, I believe that can be mun-ngong(หมุนงง). Confusion to the point of dizziness. But I’m not sure if that would also be considered dizzy from a carnival ride or drinking alcohol.

The last one I have is ngong-nguuai (งงงวย) which is similar to the above examples but I’m told this is more of an old fashioned expression.

Just writing all of this has made me feel a little ngong-ngong.

Years ago I went to a snake farm on the way back from the floating market. I wasn't impressed at all with the 'snake show'. I've owned many pet snakes throughout my life and know they require quality care and handling just like any other pet. The snake handlers at the show were constantly smacking the snakes on the head and throwing them around to get a rise out of the crowd and to get the snakes to perform. Other shows might be more professional, but the one I saw was pretty sad.

3 hours ago, ColeBOzbourne said:

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that little detail. They strip searched me in the middle of CentralWorld. I requested a cavity search as well, but they refused. They kept my clothes, so I had to decide between walking home naked or taking the BTS. The BTS looked pretty crowded, so I opted for that.????

Yet more forgotten details about those ungrateful coppers. I even offered to hang around and help them continue with the strip search program. They told me to go away. I did manage to steal one of their batons though, not an easy item to conceal when you're naked...but it is possible.????

8 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Also tons of reports on reddit and twitter of people getting strip searched by random police outside of a checkpoint, beware...

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that little detail. They strip searched me in the middle of CentralWorld. I requested a cavity search as well, but they refused. They kept my clothes, so I had to decide between walking home naked or taking the BTS. The BTS looked pretty crowded, so I opted for that.????

Extra police for a few hours usually means a motorcade of some type will be coming through. This police buildup has been here a few days now. Also saw quite a few at Terminal 21 and Central World. My grapevine tells me it's for the ASEAN summit??? November 1-4

I going to pass on looking in the mirror like that, I know I won't like it and will probably lose my motivation to speak Thai.

But there's a maintenance man in my building that talks to me with a giant smile forever plastered onto his face. While I enjoy the friendliness, my Thai is intermediate at best and because of the smile he doesn't move his lips around enough to enunciate clearly. Words filtered through his teeth are hell to understand, but I still like him.

     Centipedes have one pair of legs per body segment (total of two legs per segment). Millipedes have two pairs of legs per segment (four legs per segment). Blowing up the photo, it looks like a millipede to me, but hard to tell. Possibly a caterpillar, but they don't normally have consistently shaped legs the length of the entire body. My vote is millipede. I like the idea of putting in the mother in-law's shoe for confirmation.

     Leafcutter bees will also cut circular holes in leaves and fly away with them. It would help to see a photo of the damage.

I'm wondering if "paw-dii paw-dii" also works for 'OK'. (good-enough, good-enough) A Thai friend of mine uses it and said it meant not 'great' and not 'bad' but more like "sufficient" or "it will do".

6 hours ago, Nemises said:

Cellphones saved the lives of many people (just yesterday) trapped when a building collapsed.

I agree, there are times when a cellphone can be invaluable. What I don't understand is when sometimes I see someone was in grave danger and rather than call for help themselves, they will Facebook a friend and tell them to text their mother with the message that they are in trouble and mom should please twitter the police.

1 hour ago, Tayaout said:

There was a guy not long ago who fell in a hole. He tried to burn his clothes and probably scream to get help. I guess a cellphone can be handy at times. 

He was probably walking along staring at his cell phone and that's why he fell in the hole.????

17 hours ago, Just Weird said:

Really?  How would you contact someone in an emergency or how would they contact you?

Good question, and therein lies the occasional grief I have caught as mentioned in my OP. Coincidentally, that grief only came from a few members of ThaiVisa forum who were quick to say I was 'incredibly selfish' for not owning a cell phone. I didn't run out and buy one.

Basically I have very little family and we are not close. I have one hillbilly-hermit sister with no phone or internet. My other sister has joined the modern race, we occasionally communicate by email. She also has the phone number for my building where there are landlines. I can call out if needed, she could call in if needed. If I happen to be out for a few hours there will be a message waiting for me when I return. If I fall down and hurt myself maybe I can scream for help, maybe not. That pretty much covers it.