Rasseru

I . . . did my TEFL in Phuket.

Do you think they do a better job of teaching English in Chiangmai?

I left Tokyo three years ago to make my home in Chiangmai. I liked Chiangmai when I first moved here, and I like it even more now.

Good news - the wiring is all fine.

. . . Only end up needing the aircon when shagging. . . .

If I might offer a word of caution, that does not always work as intended:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wear/8021185.stm

. . . you're Cornflakes . . .

Yeah, well, you're just a pile of muesli!

My question is this .. why would a creature have such an offensive call?

If you are a Creationist then you would have to question the motives of a Superior Being creating such a hideous foul-mouthed beast and if you believe in Evolution you would still have difficulty in explaining how such rudeness could increase your odds of survival - quite the opposite, I'd have thought?

Any ideas or theories?

No, a Creationist would not have to do any such thing as question the motive of God in creating a hideous foul-mouthed beast. God, being God, has an infinitely broad sense of humour, one that encompasses even the most wacky jocularity, and the tookay is simply one more manifestation of that.

PS. I put in one extra '.' in case you can't spell it.

If it turns out he doesn't need it, perhaps he will give you back that extra '.' to put where you needed it after the 'P' in your 'PS.'

If I am having wild, uninhibited sex in 32C heat, our slick perspiration is part of the enjoyment, isn't it?

Or is it just me...?

That depends. Are you having that wild, uninhibited sex with another person, or by yourself? If the former, then it's just you. Otherwise, it still may be just you, but to know the answer, we'd have to have the thoughts of the other person as well.

Sorry if I am wrong. I could have sworn that you told me that you are American.

I'm not trying to be as complicated as it seems I am being. Let me try to be, as some have said, perfectly clear. Legally, I am a citizen of the United States of America. Beyond that technicality, I have and feel no meaningful personal connection to the place. Thus, the people of the place are not, to me, my 'countrymen'. Clear now?

I will just accept that your countrymen are far superior...

We are his countrymen.

No, sorry, but you are not, not in any meaningful sense of the term.

Ah, thanks for that, Rasseru.

You are always more than welcome, Dustoff.

Slow as I am, I didn't get that your posts such as your chipping at me on my retirement visa thread, was about anti-American prejudice.

Whether it is due to your slowness or not, I wouldn't venture to guess, but you have it wrong. Nothing that I wrote on your retirement visa thread had anything to do with prejudice of any kind, anti-American or otherwise. My earlier comment here? Well, maybe a little, but it was meant more in fun than anything else, and I hasten to assure you, and this may take some of the wind out of your sails, that any anti-American prejudice I might sometimes express is really just a tiny subset of my larger anti-human prejudice.

Understood - I suppose we have earned a bit of scorn from the masses.

Say what?

I will just accept that your countrymen are far superior...

I think you must have in mind the majestic and superior cackling hen.

Somehow, I feel particularly able on this thread to identify the posts made by Americans.

If I can be more clear than that, I honestly do not know how except for carefully explaining that I use income rather than an 800K balance.

You can in fact be more clear than you were, as you have just shown.

Can't provide you with the full contact info you requested, but here's a partial version:

P&P Travel, on Thapae Road, close-ish to Thapae Gate

053-272-545~7

Their email address is with hotmail.com, using cnxpp as the prefix before the 'at' sign.

But did you go to the hairdresser beforehand?! I warned you!!

Look, the bank book option will work if you clearly show the balances over the necessary amount of time. The reason for that is that, previously, some retirees living here would swap bank account funds back and forth among themselves thus playing games with immigration . . . . .

. . . . .

And thank you for your input, Mapguy but, had you actually read my posts, you would have found that I arrived at Immigration with a statement from my bank and copies of my bank book showing the appropriate deposits to demonstrate regular income but none of this was acceptable to the reception guy who was totally hung up on "800K in the bank or an income affidavit from your Consulate."

. . . . .

I actually read your posts, and I did not find what you say Mapguy would have. In light of what you said in the quoted post above, I can now see what you meant in your earlier post, but it was quite unclear to me at the time, as it seems it was to Mapguy. I assumed that if you were using a statement from your bank and copies of your bank book, you were attempting to us the 800K deposited in a bank approach, which I have always understood, and as your recent experience supports, to be the only purpose for which a bank statement and bank book are relevant.

In the pool, assisted by Photoshop

One hopes that the assistance of Photoshop extended to all aspects of the appearance of the peace sign.

If your grandfather was indeed a Jack the Ripper suspect, it's a petty he wasn't hung - guilty or not - at least we wouldn't be reading your comments here.

You think that's petty!?

Thanks for your tips on keeping cool, drtreelove. Let me share a way to keep cool that I did not see on your list.

I lived in Japan for many years, and learned to enjoy the hot springs and hot baths they have there. Among other things, they are great for getting thoroughly and toastily warm in the winter cold, particularly useful when most homes do not have central heating and are drafty.

Summers in Japan can get as hot and muggy as the winters are cold. It occurred to me one summer's day that if a hot bath is so good at heating one up in the winter, a cold bath might be as good at cooling down in the summer. Tried it and found it worked like a charm. Just like getting into a cold pool. Much better than a shower at quickly sucking out all the stored up heat. And much better than an air conditioned room. I like it best in a nice deep Japanese-style tub, but getting into any tub full of cold water is great. Spend at least ten or so minutes in it and you will feel cool and refreshed for up to an hour later . . . when you can get back in again!

The heat has tempted me to look into getting an air conditioner for the bedroom.

Also, the pool in our building, which resides in the shade all day long and therefore usually more than merely a tad chilly, is positively delightful and refreshing now!

For what I thought was a reasonable fee, they will also pick up at one's home equipment that needs to be repaired and deliver it again after repairing it. Very helpful to me when I needed to have them repair my television.

Valid points?! Really!?

. . . . . I think these men are just plain 'fcuked' in the head to begin with.

Exactly right. Which is why it was her fault, of course, for having anything to do with someone so fcuked in the head. Same as it is for someone who gets robbed by a fcuked up mugger in the wrong part of the town, or a country like Iraq that gets attacked by a coalition of the fcuked.

I do not (and will repeat for the slow learners) which is that I and doubt that I will ever suffer fools gladly, readily or willingly.

That's clear, but wrong. You are making an observation similar to one you made before, but you are not repeating yourself, whether for slow learners or otherwise.

Thanks a lot Sansai Sam I have read about Gigantea but had a hard time figuring out whether it was still open or not. Have you been there recently? It sounds like a very authentic place, I think I read that it's mostly patronized by Japanese customers which is always a good sign. Phone number? I also think I read that it was great for Japanese food but nothing specifically about sushi - they do have sushi, right?

My wife is Japanese, I am half-Japanese and Gigantea is our favourite Japanese restaurant in Chiangmai by some margin. That said, we have never had sushi there and only some times order sashimi (which was good, so the sushi may be as well). Zen and Fuji are the places we go when we need a sushi fix.

Le Crystal's Steak House has had excellent and well-prepared steaks on the two occasions I was there and ordered them.

The other news flash is that all the places my friends went to, to escape CM (Pattaya, Phuket, BKK) have been ermm... not so healthy or friendly. Is this called Schadenfreude?

Only you can say, but my guess is that schadenfreude is precisely the word for what you are feeling!

Look forward to the good air on my return.