mooro_uk

After doing a google search I could only find overpriced services for the above trip, so could anyone recommend a reliable and not too expensive taxi service from Bkk to Pranburi?

Thanks in advance!

Nice pics Mac, thanks for sharing them with us.

Is there much groundswell on Phuket during the high season? Ie Nov - Feb or is it mainly wind swell during the rainy season?

I would love to get back into surfing, but anything above 3-4ft would probably destroy me!

IIRC, monthly installments for True Fitness work out at close to 2,000 a month. I paid for a year upfront 18,000.

They will do 6 months but I think it weighs in at around 15,000.

It's a big gym with lots of good quality machines but it does get busy between 5.30 and 8.30. Expect many of the Thais to take 10 minutes between sets

while they ponce about on their smartphones

Cheers for the info, it doesn't work out to be parciaularly cheap at 2,500bht per month for the 6month deal but slightly better at 1,500baht per month for the annual deal. However it does look like a quality gym from what I've seen.

Sounds much like Cali Wow, before all the profits were syphoned off to Phuket...

An excellent idea in theory. Unfortunately it has zero chance of being practically successfully here..IMHO

When I ever see any of these "lucky" guys and they try to accost me, just tell them how "unlucky" they are and walk away...

Does anyone know how much TF is per month and what discount would you get if say you paid 6months or a year's membership in one lump sum?

Cheers.

I recently moved condo and thus closed my old Truevisions account and opened a new one at my new condo. At first True said I would pay the standard 1568baht fee for the first three months and then it would move up to 1712baht per month. I asked why and they said it's for the HD channels. I then politely refused and told them that I don't want HD and if that's the case I will be terminating all business with them from now. She then suddenly started backtracking and told me that she would ask her manager if they could do a "special deal" for me. Five minutes later she called me back and said the "special deal" was on Now I have all the same channels as my previous (Gold Package) account as well as still having some of the HD channels all at the same 1568 price!

Hi SVB, thanks for the suggestion. Is that the floor just above departures, with some restaurants etc?

Hi guys, I know the use of wifi at Swampy has been discussed quite a bit here already, but tbh I couldn't really find a suitable answer to my question.

Basically I have to collect my gf at the airport this Friday evening, obviously something I can't miss or my life won't be worth living! BUT I also have an important online meeting with a client at pretty much the same time as well, something which also cannot be avoided or rescheduled. Thus the perfect answer would be to find a quiet restaurant, coffee shop somewhere in arrivals that has reliable (and preferably free) wifi. So, I can wait for the missus (who will probably take ages to get through immigration on a Friday evening anyway and make my meeting.

The only quiet'ish place I can think of is Subway, downstairs near the entrance to the hi speed rail line. Firstly do they have wifi and secondly does anyone know any better places?!

Thanks in advance

I am looking for a the above to teach one of my guys (Thai engineer) a few hours at the weekend.

Any qualified and experienced candidates please apply with cover letter and their current CV.

The pay will be 500baht per hour.

You West Ham, mooro?

Most certainly not! Pride of the south and premiership!!

Any ages def welcome! Normally have around 5 or 6 but with the help of TV peeps this could be doubled!!

It's the park where you can rent bicycles and boats, between Pahon Yothin Mrt (near the top of the park) and JJ Mrt...

Normally start around 11am. Sorry with our current financial situation 250k is a little steep per game...

Yes it does get very hot and sticky but you get used to it after a while!

We play Sunday mornings at JJ park (Suan Rot Fai). Nothing too serious, just a kickabout and sometimes play the Thai guys there too.

Basically it's a futsal pitch, good fun and good exercise and best of all its free! We need more players!!

Please PM if interested.

Cheers

I second that Sportsclub. Pool is usually very quiet outside of school holidays and weekends and only 80baht to use per time.

I am looking for a reliable and trustworthy maid to clean my condo on a part time basis most weekends.

I live in the On Nut area and would require a maid for around 2 hours on Sat or Sunday morning.

Thanks

So the Suk 23, Paragon and Esplande branches will be open this weekend but limited hours??

Hello, your problems in many ways mirror my own. I am 34 now and have been off it for 6 months. It is only now I can look back and see what the life I have lead has cost me.

I come from a rural Island in the far north of Scotland, its the type of place where if you aint a heavy drinker your viewed as being odd. I often think booze might have come out of my mothers teet.

From the age of 13 i was into drugs and by 15 every fri-sun was a drug and booze fest, this continued until my early 20s at which stage for my own sanity I began cutting out the narcotics, it took me until my late twenties to be free of them but the booze remained a constant.

i have had periods of severe destrucive alchohol cycles right up until stopping 6 months ago. My ability to consume booze used to be a great source of pride for me, when I started coming to Thailand in my mid 20s for two months a time, I would drink upwards of 30 beers every day, I seem to have something inside me that makes alchhol have a very different effect than in most people. It affects me almost like amphetamine, on occasions I have drank 48 hrs non stop, yet when people speak to me I can *appear almost sober* The truth however is that a world of shit is going on, often resulting in fights, periods in jail, stolen cars, lost possessions, pissing myself, coming round in hospital, massive unaccounted spending, missed flights, hurt loved ones, dangerous liasons with the worst scrubbers in Thailand, etc etc etc.

During my life I have know close to a dozen people deceased through drinking and drugs all under the age of 30, several of whom I counted amogst my best friends. It was actually the death of one of my oldest mates that made me determined to bring down the curtain on my drinking. This guy died at 26, a destroyed alchoholic, he fell down in a ditch in the heart of winter and froze to death.

The hardest part of a life of sobriety on is the empytiness. when drinking my life cycle went like this, work 60 hr jobs live like a hermit save around 5k, fly to Thailand, start drinking, normally for two months by which time the finances were destroyed, I would only stop when I had exausted every resource back home that would loan me money. At the end of these binges I would pretty much have to lie in a dark room going through the withdrawls for a week to 10 days, normally consuming disgusting amounts of 10mg valium in the proccess. Only when i felt I looked good enough that the wife back home would not suspect anything would i crawl home.

The most important first step is remove yourself from the enviroments, peer pressure has always played a massive part with me because I was brought up to believe that heavy drinking was the norm and people who passed were, pussies. It is true what several posters here have said about other drinkers thinking you can just slow down, or have a few, get a grip, etc etc. These people are the worst to associated with. It can be hard cutting them out if you consider them mates but it is a vital step to remaining sober.

The long empty hours can be hard to fill for me and bouts of depression are quite frequent. I try to fill my time with bike trips, reaing and, fishing. I have even started boxing training, but I have severe difficulty in socialising without the lubricant of alchohol, and generally spend far to much time alone. This void I believe will take years to fill and might in fact never be filled. One other major problem I had was the caring what other people though, you do feel a pillock sitting in a bar drinking *poof juice* as they call it. I just dont feel there is a point being in bars or out if not drinking because it has been ingrained in me that, there is no other reason for going.

I still dream of the tasted of it, and probably always will however I have now conditioned my mind to think of the most negative things which have happened on it, as soon as the urge hits me.

Another thing i do often is think to myself, in the past i would go out and drink up 10,000 baht today, instead I am going to go buy that new, camera, mp3, computer game, or whatever else. I do this often and in my mind think of all these things as rewards for my continuing sobriety. I will often look at all the nice gear i own when the urges come, and think, *I have all this because i do not drink anymore, I have a nice place to stay, i have cash in the bank, i owe no one anything, then I will visualise the time in Phuket when I got involved in a dispute and was kicked near to death, requiring 40,000 baht on hospital fees, and later plastic surgery..

You should do this all the time, think about the positives of sober life the think about the worst times drinking. One example, now I weigh 86 kg and am only smoking 15-20 a day, im looking better than ever,, when I was drinking I was 110 kg, smoked from 2-5 packs a night, felt disgusted with myself all the time. Thinks things like this all the time, it really can be anything from having a top class meal to staying in a nicer than usual hotel.

Another thing i do is look at the old photos of myself when i was 100kg plus lump of lard, I have some real bad snaps, including ones of me in hospital after my Phuket mauling, i often look at that then switch to a more recent one where a 86kg handsome beast is kicking the shit out of a muay thai pad....... Thats me now, thats how I am and thats how I want to stay I think.

For me there is no doubt its about gaining control of your own mind. In the past i would scoff and some of the things i think now and the idea of reading any self help book i would find absurd. Even now i think the majority of them are full of shit but despite this you can get a few true nuggets of wisdom out of them.

I have a long way to go to be able to say i am happy in my sober life. Often it seems there is little or no joy and i do consider saying <deleted> it quite often and holding it going until the end, yet i know that now at my age my body would never hold out, generally since past 30 a two day binges leaves me destroyed for the best part of a week, my behaviou during the drinking also is worse than when i was younger and the high is no where near the same. Thats the main point for me, I know now i can never re-capture the highs of my earlier years no matter how hard i try.

I have had problems with most things i used to enjoy and struggle to do anything in moderation, I often wonder if i might have some undiagnosed mental condition. It was the same with gambling and narcotics either abstain or to digusting exess. Even with eating, internet, fishing and every thing else in life i find it difficult to walk the middle ground.

I realise i have rambled on quite a bit but feel there might be one or two things that will be of some use to you. I would also be very interested to hear about your opinions on the AA or any other programmes you try. I have so far never sought any proffesional help but I know deep down i have to start talking and get out more, and also try to lift my depressive cycles.

Good luck and stay srong.

Dave

Superb post, I can really relate to a lot of terrible situations you have been in. Luckily I have never been hospitalised due to drink but I have come very close to it. I myself also have also been diagnosed with clinical depression last year and I'm sure that this was largely due to drink. I am now slowly trying to wean myself off Citalopram but it's a very slow and tedious process. However stopping drinking is helping a HUGE amount for this.

I can also empathise with the "grey" times when I feel like "is this it?" "Is this all the excitement in my life that I will get?" I have come to terms with the fact that being sober also means that my life will not be as "exciting" as when I was on a bender. Sport has helped fill this hole to some degree, but I doubt it will ever be filled 100%.

Regarding mates, there are some mates who I just can't meet in a pub or bar situation and not drink. Due to peer pressure, not enjoying etc. However there are others who I can meet, have a chat, a soda and feel reasonably comfortable with it.

This weekend is the next "big test" for me, but I feel quietly confident that I won't drink for some reason.

Good luck Dave and everyone else out there trying to stay sober.

I am curious. What happened to the OP? Did he go to a meeting? Did he go out drinking?

It is like sharing. It is a win situation for some and a lose situation for others or perhaps a win win situation regardless of the result. I guess it depends on your point of view.

My apologies for not replying earlier. In fact I didn't go to the AA meeting, I just feel it's not the way out for me. I have now been 100% dry for 12days and counting. As some other posters have pointed out it's completely a matter of controlling the mind, something which is by no means an easy task but I feel like I am getting slightly better at it. One example, went out for food in a local Irish Pub with a good mate last night. He ordered a beer, I ordered a soda water. Then at the end of the meal, he said "when are going to go on the piss together?" I said "<deleted> it let's do it now", in a moment of complete weakness. Luckily by the time we descended downstairs and to the street I had managed to gain some sort of control over my mind and told my mate that maybe tonight isn't a good idea... I'm extremely happy that I came to my senses in time before I had that first beer.

I just want to update you guys on my situation. I have been dry for just over a week now and feel great for it. All your experiences, comments and information have been great and actually helped me in small but significant ways, so thank you very much for that.

I have been invited to go drinking with friends, Thursday, Friday and Saturday but found it surprisingly easy this time to say no. I had a few weak moments Friday and Sat afternoon, but after doing some breathing techniques I have been reading about managed to steer myself in the right direction.

Tonight is the AA meeting that I was planning on going to. However in my current frame of mind I feel strong enough to not go, or would that be slightly deluding and foolish? Am I just in a false sense of security? I know one wrong step and I could be back to step one again.

Cheers.

You will be advised at AA to keep away from places which will tempt you to drink, such as pubs and bars, at least for your first few weeks of sobriety.

Some recovering alcoholics steer clear of bars for the rest of their lives, others are happy to go there and drink soda water.

Personally I have no problems in going to bars,but have severely curtailed my visits these days, only occasionally going to catch up with friends.

One of the main pointers to achieving long term sobriety is to try and change your life around so that you are not doing the things you used to do which led to drinking. Going to bars is an obvious one and you will need to find new activities or hobbies to replace all those hours you spent drinking

Only you can be the judge of whether you can watch the game in a bar and still remain sober - at this stage it seems unlikely. Why don't you try to find a good friend who has it on at his his home and watch it there?

But don't beat yourself up if you succumb - we have all been there - many times...

I hear you completely and to be honest am avoiding calls and any contact from people I know will be a bad influence as well as trying to plan other activities that don't include any booze.

I understand your problem and feel for you If I lived in Bangkok I would take you to an AA meeting I come from a family of drinkers and I have had to watch my own son go through it even after spending thousands sending him to a rehab/12 steps even that did not work and he hates going to AA but at long last he has managed to overcome it however there are times when temptation is to much and he will get on the slippery slope again for a day or two but those days are few and far I am glad to say. there is little I can suggest it is a case of willpower however it seems to happen at the weekend ,dare I suggest you do not think of Friday/Saturday as the weekend it is just a day in the week, but it seems that it is when you are not at work that this urge to drink comes over you so I suggest you make a list of things to do on those days you are not at work. The Thais who have a drink problem seek help from the local temple why not give it a try find a monk who will help you do not be afraid to go to an AA meet I do not drink but often went with a member of my family as support, by writing of your struggle in this forum and admitting your problem you are halfway there by going to AA you will find someone who will understand your situation there is no shame in it excessive drinking is a major problem in the society we live in but it can be controlled, however there is no shame in going into a bar and asking for Water/Orange or a coke or even a coffee I do it all the time Good Luck I hope you can overcome your problem for the sake of your health !!!!

Glad to hear your son has overcome his addiction. The temple idea is an interesting one, actually I spent the weekend in a temple outside of Bkk last month and it was literally a breath of fresh air. I'm just really hoping I can be dry this weekend, that will be the first biggish step for me.

Some great posts and information guys, much appreciated.

Basically I am taking it day by day at the moment, another day with no booze is a success in my eyes. Last night in a restaurant with a mate, he ordered a beer me a soda water. That was a small but significant step for me.

I am also going to meet on of the guys from AA before the meeting on Sunday, which was a nice gesture.

One big hurdle I can see coming up is the England Italy Euro 2012 quarter final. This may seems trivial for some people, but football is a massive part of my life. I can't watch it at home as I have True vision and can't get good reception on the antenna to see the Thai channels. Do I go out and try and stick to the Soda with all my friends drinking or just give it a miss altogether? Another option I was thinking of telling one of my closest friends (one guy who I think will understand me better than others) about my situation and If he can "support" me when I'm out at the bar watching the game.

Your thoughts, experience in this kind of situation would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys.

No problem at all NBD.

I also know of someone in a close friend's family who died in Thailand because they were a chronic alcoholic (ie drinking all the time, 24/7).

I have also had a look at the "12 steps" of AA and a little bit surprised to see they seem more spiritual than practical, but at this stage I am willing to give anything a try.

Will let you all know how it goes and many thanks once again.

Hi guys, glad to see my post has stirred up some interesting debate about the merits of AA, self control etc.

I hear what you are saying NBD, but I've been trying self controlled drinking for literally years now and it just doesn't work. I realy envy my mates and others who can have five or six drinks and just go home....

Radar, I never realised WC was an alcoholic it's kind of ironic.

I'm going to give the beginners meeting of AA a go this Sunday evening. Not too sure what to expect but I can't see it doing any harm.

Once again thanks for your comments and support.

Please be very careful before taking any anti-abuse drugs. Read up on it on the internet. These drugs are intended to be a last resort rather than a first resort, and can be very dangerous, if they fail to stop you drinking. Doctors only use them on what they consider to be 'hopeless' cases, when all other treatment has failed.

These drugs can kill when mixed with alcohol.

I strongly recommend you start with AA, and if you make no headway, then consider the alternatives.

Remember, you have already taken a very crucial first step by admitting you have a problem. Countless alcoholics go to their early graves, never having admitted that they have a drinking problem.

Dear Mobi, thanks for your concern and I understand exactly what you are saying. In fact I have taken these drugs before and drank on them. The last time I did it I was violently sick and probably luckily to get away with just that. So there is absolutely no chance that I would drink again whilst one these drugs having had that experience before. My plan is to take these pills on Friday or Saturdays when the temptation is there to completely defeat it, this in addition to AA.

FYI I am calling them for the first time tonight, a little nervous to be honest.