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Thanks for the advice.

I was thinking about Taiwanese tennis stars, by the way.

OK, I know some might see this as a business idea to put in the business forum, but I think it's more of an entertainment item.

Do you think it's possible to make money out of a fansite?

Say, you buy a new domain name and set up a website with a forum dedicated to a new actor/actress, singer, sports star ...

Would it be possible to make it a money-earning concern, considering you have to chase down news about the star, put up pictures, moderate the forum etc. How would you go about it? What kind of person would you pick to devote a fansite to?

I'll be flying Thai Monday night from Taiwan to Paris with one hour to change flights at BKK.

Into my checked-in luggage will go: toothpaste, shampoo, liquid soap, deodorant, and scissors of course. Whoever sits next to me will have to bear with any smells likely to emanate from my humble person. But hey, there's still soap for use in the toilets, and since it's always cool inside the plane, I won't be sweating very much.

As to electronic objects on flights, the last thing I want is someone shouting into a mobile phone in a Chinese dialect - or any other language - in the middle of the night on a 16-hour flight while I'm trying to get some sleep. So yes, I'm in favor of keeping the ban on cell phones.

I already hear enough of them in movie theaters or on Taiwan's public transport.

Hey, thanks, I'll do that.

I'm thinking of setting up a fan site in August for a new entertainer in another country.

Of course I won't be out there taking pictures of her myself - so my question is this:

How do I put pictures of her on my web site without getting into trouble over copyright? Do I have to contact the original publisher (i.e. media company, movie company etc) for each picture I want to post on the site?

Hey, Andy, thanks.

Sounds like the kind of place worth checking out the next time I visit Cambodia.

The snakes are Chinese medicine. Supposed to be good for a man's virility, and all that stuff.

Anyone's ever visited the town of Kep on the coast in Southeast Cambodia?

Heard about foreigners starting to visit that place and opening restaurants.

Is it a real good destination or just a hole with nothing to do?

Opinions, pros and cons, what are the hotels, restaurants and beaches like? Easy to get to or a nightmare?

Jay Chow is huge in Chinese-language countries, but since he only sings in Mandarin, I wonder if he could be well known in Thailand ... maybe among the Chinese part of the population?

Here in Taiwan, it's been raining, raining, raining since last night, so no sun, even with an eclipse.

Saw that lunar eclipse early in the morning about a week ago though, that was fun.

Retirement? Don't know what it'll be like or if I'll even ever get it.

I'm 48, just left a boring job, and spending about 4 months or so in what I call 'semi-retirement,' i.e. walking, eating healthy food, writing, and thinking of what I will start doing four months from now. Still don't know what it is - Internet stuff, food, art - but it must be something I like doing for years on end.

I can't imagine ever retiring the way my parents did, just sitting at home watching telly and pottering about in the garden.

Call me stupid for leaving a stable job without winning the lotto, but I think it's more important now for me to do what I'm happy with rather than just staying put and wondering what could've been.

BTW, I don't want to make any publicity here, but my resignation was partly 'inspired' by a Canadian guy called Ernie Zelinski and his book 'Real Success without a Real Job.'

Based on a short visit to Cebu, I would say the good things about the Philippines are:

-it's cheap, but then so is Thailand

-everyone speaks English, even in the slums where I lost my way once

-the people are on the whole very friendly ....

but ....

-not all of them are, and that's why you see armed guards everywhere, in banks, at the entrance to shopping malls searching your bags; crime is far higher than in most other Asian and also European nations

-now I understand why you have Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese restaurants all over the world, but you can't find Filipino places anywhere: that's because the food sucks big time, all grease, fat, tasteless, and unhealthy stuff

-economically, Thailand has made huge strides, despite corruption, coups, war in the South, it has been following Taiwan, Korea, China, Malaysia in the right direction even if some paces behind; but the Philippines are going nowhere: it's still stuck in poverty and third-world squalor, and that's not going to change any time soon;

So considering all of that, if I were ever put before the choice between Thailand and Philippines, I would go for Thailand 100 percent. There's no advantage for the Philippines that would outweigh all the negatives, but that's just me. Everyone has his own likes and dislikes, but reading the other posts, I think LOS is a strong favorite for many people.

Whatever you choose, visit the place first, make comparisons, hang around for a while so that you see more than just what the average short-term tourist does. Good luck!

Really surprising how different people can have totally different impressions of the same place.

Q bar is my favorite Bangkok hangout. Personnel ranges from ok to friendly - especially the young ladies, but then I'm a European guy. No trouble from pushy hookers, just friendly women of all kinds of background, and the farang males are just ordinary blokes having fun; I've never seen any trouble with so-called 'p1ssed' farangs, not even on New Year's Eve. I find most people at Q are just middle-of-the-road types looking for a good time, good music, dance, good company and drinks, but not in excess.

PS If you're looking for nightlife recommendations, also check out the farang fun and entertainment thread on this forum.

I'd hate to be arriving at SUV after an 18-hour flight from Europe and then still have to take a bus or cab across to Don Muang to get a connection to Phuket or Chiang Mai.

Just passed thru the airport over the weekend, for the second time this year, and again no problem with the cabs. If you know beforehand what to expect - by reading this forum - there is no problem, but I agree someone not familiar with the situation might fall into the hands of unscrupulous taxi or limo people.

This time i also noticed the toilet problem, and i agree there's too few of them. Even more peculiar is the design: to wash your hands you have to go deeper into the restrooms, while any restroom i have ever seen anywhere has the wash basins near the entry/exit.

Don't know whether I am qualified to participate in the poll here, because I don't really live in Thailand and have never lived there, though i visit sometimes.

I'm a European and my wife is Taiwanese. We both live in Taiwan, and that's where I met her. She also lived in Germany and Belgium for studies.

I'm all in favor of international, interracial marriages, and I can say you guys/gals in Thailand are really lucky, cause some of the most beautiful people in the world are there. I guess Taiwan comes second. The mentality and the problems are similar in both places, I suspect from reading this forum.

No panic please!

My wife and I spent the past weekend in Bangkok and never felt threatened or in danger at any moment.

Around 8:30 pm Sunday we were planning to grab a bite at the Paragon food court on our way back to the hotel, but the restaurants were turning down new customers, and some were turning lights off even though there were still guests eating.

We thought it was just overzealous employees trying to get off work early to celebrate new year's eve, so it was only back at the hotel we learned of the news by watching tv.

My wife had been planning to see the fireworks, but since that was canceled, she stayed at the hotel. I went off on the Skytrain - yes, that was almost deserted, 50 percent of passengers were foreigners - and spent the next few hours, until 2 am, at the Q bar party, which was packed as usual.

On Monday, we went shopping around the Siam area, and looking for stuff around Pratunam, but no feeling of danger whatsoever.

We both love Bangkok and have no qualms about returning. In fact, my wife will be passing thru again early next month on her way to Laos and Vietnam.

The big 'if' for tourism the coming months is that if the bombings continue, and/or if they don't find who did it (and I mean arresting people rather than naming politicians), then tourism will be damaged and all of Thailand will suffer.

But if things calm down, tourism will go on strong, because Thailand has just too many strong points. Remember bombings in Spain and the UK? Are tourists avoiding those countries? No way.

Flying from Taiwan to Bangkok, one day later than the wife because I have to work longer.

Spend the weekend sightseeing, shopping, eating, and hopefully spending New Year's Eve at the Q bar.

Here in Taiwan, I couldn't make phone calls to China, Hong Kong or Bangkok at the office this morning, and vice versa.

But funnily enough, I've had no problems at all with the internet.

At the airports, computer systems were down so they had to write tickets and boarding passes by hand, slowing things down.

As to those cables in the ocean, it seems it will take two to three weeks before they can get that repaired. Wonder if that means all those problems will take that long.

At Suvarnabhumi you actually go down one floor after you get out thru the arrivals gate.

Last month I took a cab from the new airport to the Thong Lor area (Sukhumvit Soi 55) and paid 163 baht + 50 baht airport tax, and to my surprise no highway toll even though we were driving on what looked like a highway to me most of the way.

If your destination is the lower numbers of Sukhumvit (soi 11 or the like) the situation might be different.

Anyway, keep looking thru this forum, there have been other threads on this.

The latest is that the fire at the Sriphraya Tower Inn has been extinguished and luckily no one died.

Three African tourists and two Thai women were apparently taken to hospital for smoke inhalation, and about 20 people were rescued off the roof by helicopters.

Looks like a relatively positive ending to what could've been a major disaster.

When my wife - who's Taiwanese and needs a visa on arrival - and I entered thru the new airport last month, we had no problems at all.

The desk where you had to get the visa was clearly marked, and under the sign 'Visa on Arrival,' there was an alphabetical list of about 40 countries whose citizens need the visa. All I had to do was rush ahead to go and change money for the 1000 baht visa fee because we hadn't changed at a bank we saw earlier.

I don't see how a visa scam could work without setting up a full-fledged office desk inside the airport. And would you give money for a visa to a guy who just accosted you?

Most visitors - certainly from Western and even many Asian countries - don't need a visa at all anyway.

I only visited Bangkok for the first time in Oct 2005 - and have been back twice since, with another visit planned for New Year's Eve weekend - but the sidewalks really struck me as the city's most surprising negative.

A complete contrast with all the new mass transit systems and the flashy shopping malls. It's like you're in the first world one minute, and when you step outside, it's the third world.

Interesting explanations!

On my way to work here in Taipei I pass a Toyota dealership every day, and I always used to think how boring it is that 5 out of 6 cars on show are silver. At the moment they only have a Camry in another color, dark grey.

But now I know why.

I remember when I left Bangkok in October, there were people who had parked their cars along the access road to the airport and who were just standing by the side eating snacks and looking at the planes.

No observation decks necessary for them.