swain

Ionizer in my aircons ... puts a heavy layer of dust everywhere. but at least not in my lungs... electric bill is going to be a killer this month.

I had a similar problem at one bank, but another bank had no problem. I think just go to a few different banks and you will be able to move them. Worst case, if you have friends going back to the states swap out the money as they will have no problem in the states moving those bills.

Siam Commercial where I have a bank account has had no problem taking them either if you have an account and deposit the money into the account. The reason I am guessing is that they can correct the situation later if you actually have a bad note.

Well then, quite dodgy indeed!

It wasn't that long ago that there was a place just up the road on the opposite side that had a large supply of young to very young Burmese children for rent.

There were also a number of other rather less than salubrious establishments within a stones throw of Happy Massage controlled by army heavies.

The area was extremely dodgy by Chiang Mai standards and I guess the stigma still exists for many who have been around for more than a few years.

Stay away... its not good..!

We will be leaving soon if it stays this bad!

I didn't know there were dodgy areas of Chiang Mai... I am from Los Angeles and I guess our idea of dodgy doesn't come close to any part of Chiang Mai.

How much do they charge.. I too like the name!

Where is that 30 baht clinic... its the cheapest I have heard about!!

I took a friend in to see a doctor. I had already looked up what I thought was wrong with him on the net and took down the recommended medication. When we saw the doctor, he also came to the same reasoning as to what my friend had. He then started going overboard on medication that was not needed or suggested anywhere on the net. I think questioned the doctor about the meds that I had seen online and he said he was not clear about these meds being used for said illness. He looked on the net and said your right... and then began to write a script out for the meds specified on the web in addition to some meds that were not needed. He was an old guy and he looked half asleep when we had our visit. I will give another negative experience when I have some more time.

Doctor was a young guy everyone seemed friendly and efficient and the service excellent

since I paid cash no issues with credit cards I would rather take cash out the ATM than use my CC anyways

What were the other negatives other than the CC issue on that occasion

The small units make no sense unless you use it as a travel stove or cant use the bigger stove with the large tank because of where you are staying.

Let me know what you find and buy... I am interested in doing the same thing. Getting good floor might be a problem though.

Many of the people that live in the village have done so for a fairly long time. I like the fact that a lot of the land is undeveloped and in a state of over growth. For the most part I like living here. Its quieter and my daughter has other kids her own age to grow up with. Would I like to see change... yes of course... but I have come to accept what it is and not lament what it isn't.

That being said there are inconsistencies with what they bill for and the services provided. This is the reason that many of the people that live in the village don't pay the maintenance bill when presented with one. I also can corroborate the incident with the security guard and the gate. The way they handled it was completely heartless.

What I don't understand is how management is still able to sink money into new buildings that remain empty, and if rented, not rented for long. Businesses come and go here monthly.

Rumor has it, that they are going for a high end customer. Seems to be the wrong location for this type of restaurant. I did pass by there today and they were moving boxes into the place so something is happening. My budget doesn't allow me to go to higher end places no matter where they are so unless they have a early bird special I wont be visiting Rosewood anytime soon anyway.

I have only had negative experiences there. First time they triple charged my credit card for the same amount.. I found the service lacking and the doctors older and not as versed as I have experienced in Ram. This experience was about 4 years ago ... this may have changed so bear that in mind when reading this.

Just got back from taking the missus to hospital where she had 21 Stitches in her head and leg after being pushed into the patio glass plate window (by a thai ghost she says

She was at the next door neibours and I hear an almighty crash and glass smashing, seconds later I was called by the neibours and found her unconcious with blood pissing out her head, luckily I am medically trained as I was a diving instructor for 20 years so knew what to do and quickly stopped the bleeding from her head, was more concerned she was going in and out of conciousness.

Finally she came round, at the same time her Mom fainted when she saw the blood, so now I got the missus covered in blood the mother in law passed out on the floor, 4 thai neibours yelling LOL, what a drama.

It really could of been a lot worse I still don't know what happened since the patio doors next door had curtains up, she said she felt someone (a ghost) push her from behind I have to laugh a bit at the ghost thing but they truly beleive it.

Anyway since I live out at Kad Farang I did not want to go all the way to ram so went to Klaimor hospital just past tesco lotus on the hang dong road and must say it was a very good hospital, doctor spoke english although seems to cater for mainly thais as i did not see another farang there.

Treatment was excellent and they stitched her up, 7 in the head wound and 14 in the leg, gave her an x ray as the head wound was quite deep all in all cost me 2300 baht including medication

Anyone else got experience from this hospital

So its been a drama of a Saturday so far hope thats it for the day

P.S can I get smelling salts here for the mother inlaw as whenever she see's blood she passes out

anyone know what they call smelling salts in thai

Yes we have used this hospital for over a year now and had nothing but fantastic service.They picked a problem up with my wife that it turns out she as had since birth.it was picked up on a x ray but was never picked up in the uk in over 50 years.so i have nothing but praise for this hospital and its nurses and doctors.

Limited worries. Get two VOIP solutions. Skype could be one and magicjack could be another. I use magic jack as its 20 dollars a year and has a lot of bells and whistles (voice mail etc) plus your own number and unlimited usage to the USA. I came to Thailand with 4 different solutions and settled for packet8.net and Magicjack.com I have found that if one is having a problem the other most likely will be working. Get yourself a phonecard to keep your expenses down when and if you have to use a land line if your connection is down or has lag. As for your internet connection, it really depends on where you live. When we were looking for a house we found many options in many villages. But in talking to the neighbors we heard many bad experiences with the internet connectivity in many of these areas. When we found the village that we live in now.. there were many positives and a few negatives but only from people that didn't know anything about computers. It depends on the company you use but you can get a static ip address from some companies, its expensive and I don't suggest it. ADSL will most likely be your choice, and the router will renew with a new ip address every 24-72 hours depending on the provider.

Dont sweat it, you will be covered if you do your homework.

I know I wont get agreement here, but I bought a Hair 12000 BTU at Big C about a year ago.. Everyone had to get their digs in ...but it was 8000 baht, and has an extra ionizer in it which really takes smells out of the air quickly. Its worked great, its quiet and cheap. Same warranty as the big boys. It comes out of China, and the brand is popular over there.

I caught the sale that they had to introduce their brand of Air cons to Thailand.. now I see the same unit at 16000 baht.. Though they have some sales here and there now at 12000 baht.

8000 baht was installed and serviced for one year.

I think that some of the people that complain about not having this or that are just homesick. But the people that talk about burning fields and the cancer rate, may actually love Chiang Mai just as much or more and want some attention to pressing issues that threaten this truly nice place to live.

Its not all black and white or should I say blue or gray.

Finally some positive views on Chiang Mai - I was beginning to wonder whether I was the only person who loved living in this city

The majority of what I read on this website is people complaining and generally making out they would rather be any where else on the planet an tbh I didn't recognise my home from those discussions.

However this thread describes the Chiang Mai I have come to know and love - its not perfect but then nowhere is and the plusses here far outweigh the minuses

What do I love here

My wife and our family and friends - they have made me feel so welcome here

The sense of peace and calm that exists amongst the noise and hubbub

The variety and quality of the food - I'm still finding new noodle bars after all this time and I don't think I've been back to the same one more than twice but each one is as good as the last

Singing Karaoke badly and sending my Thai friends running to the bar

Having a bbq on our balcony with friends and enjoying the sun setting behind Doi Suthep with a cold beer

and many many more thing that will bore you to death (if I haven't done that already)

The easy life... Even though money is tight... just being away from the American fear machine... is soooo peaceful

Your computer appears to be overheating. If you have the computer against a wall blocking the vents or if you have not cleaned the internal fan and or case fan or the power supply fan this could be causing this as well. If you have a cat or a dog vents can get clogged easily with cat fur. The fans can be cleared with a few q-tips or if you have compressed air you can clear this out inside as well. If you are not comfortable doing this yourself you can get someone else to do it and it shouldn't cost much.

Out of the blue, my computer has shut down. When I tried to start again, I got a screen (black) which said something is is now in safe mode, because the CPU.... a lot of technical stuff - I forget the original messages - and if I want to continue, I must press F1. I pressed and everything went fine until the "Windows screen" appeared then it shut down again before log-on screen was visible. This happened twice.

I unplugged the power cable of the computer, pushed the start button 1 minute, plugged-in and now it works again.

Windows has started but I am scared that something is dead wrong with my machine.

What happened before the crash: I plugged in my headphones into an USB port and made a Skype call to another computer.

During this call, the big bang took place.

Any advice what might have happened?! Thanks a lot

WIN XP prof, SP2, 3GB RAM, Intel Core 2 CPU [email protected] GHz

As they say in Thailand "You think too much"

I attach a photograph copy of the One-2-Call 100 baht top up card. Why is this Nazi salute allowed? I think in Germany this is illegal?

Still in love with Thailand.

I lived just across the border from San Diego in a small village called San Antonio Del Mar not far from Rossirito beach. I worked in the USA and commuted every other day or so. The food was good and inexpensive as was the Tequila and beer. I had a small A frame house on the edge of the cliff that I paid 250 dollars for a month. Life was good and the living was easy. This was in 1987-1992 though. The border since then has gotten very bad, 4-6 hours crossing is not unheard of now. Alot of the cheap housing in San Antonio Del Mar is gone because of taxes imposed on people living close to the beach. San Antonio now also has direct benefit of being close to a newish sewage treatment plant that TRYS to process Tijuana's population explosion but fails directly into the ocean and on to the beaches of San Antonio Del Mar.

It was a slice of heaven for a time but the time has past. I would not recommend Mexico now.

Well the stores are already discounting 30-50 percent already if you read the signs in the stores. I truly believe that a shirt for my 2 year old daughter was originally was priced 1300 baht discounted to 650 baht... at this rate ... another 10 to 20 percent we might just get close to normal retail.

Why not just have the govt' send out vouchers that can only be used at department stores?

Maybe govt pays B1,000 for a B1,500 voucher, consumer goes into store, maybe spending more?

Win/win/win right? Better than B2,000 in cash

You got it, cheques will arrive 2-3mths later, by then the retail price will be +30% minus gov directive of 10-20% equals a minimum 10% additional profit to stores yes win/win

A quick update: She treated the initial depression with Prozac. With amazingly positive results. She has been on the medication for over 6 months now.

There is a problem though. When she is on the medication she feels so normal that she believes she doesn't need the medication anymore and just stops taking the medication with out letting anyone know. She then over the next three to 5 days after stopping slides big time back into the depression big time. As soon as she is convinced to start taking it again 2-3 days later she is the same happy person she ever was. We are trying to get her into Therapy but when she is on the medication she feels its not needed and has nothing to talk about. The doctor that prescribed the medication said that she may need another 6 months of use.

With the meds she is fine, without them she tries to talk people around her into letting her kill herself, she feels that no one loves her, including her 2 year old baby. I know these meds help with the symptoms and not with the underlying cause.... At this point I dont know how she ever gets off these meds.

I haven't kept up with this thread but I will from now on. .

Monkey club is one... I went with some friends but its a young crowd and I didn't really fit in there. This of course has never stopped me before but it would not be someplace I would go alone. And the old foreigners that were there trying to fit in of course were laughable and of course they did laugh at them. But a 50 year old guy that shows up at a rave in the USA would be laughed at just as much.

This is a troll... He doesn't want a egg timer he wants to let me know I was an idiot to ask about the potato masher. He doesn't have a life so he has to invent one. Feed him if you will but know he is a troll.

Not excited by a property tax, its small and easily paid for most who come to thailand to retire. But take a elderly Thai couple that is living on basically nothing and this is a new nightmare. I hope this idea is shot down in flames.

**slippery slope alert**