Orac

"English abbreviations such as NBA (National Basketball Association)"

Can't see how they can blame the English for this one.

Hasn't France been trying to do this for years??

Seems that these local operators do not even seem able to operate a mafia properly??

The strong no votes, as opposed to null vote, for interest in a christian or religion forum is probably a good indication that there is a need for one provided there are also a number of yes votes from those who would actually use it as well. Being an Atheist it would indicate posts to me that i do not much want to read much as I might avoid posts in the ladies or gay forums as i might find some of the views difficult to understand though I am sure, like most, I can't help looking!

Clearly moderation is important much as chauvanistic or homophobic posts would not be tolerated in their particular forums.

I see from his profile that he has posted today so is around somewhere.

After seeing some of the responses to the problems he was having which were totally lacking in any compassion and seemed to revel in other peoples misfortune I am quite surprised he is still here.

"Lt General Udomchai Thammasarot, commandergeneral of the Fourth Army Area, said Saturday's attack was in retaliation for heightened security measures and the arrests of many insurgents.

Many of them were shot dead during operations when they refused to be arrested, he said."

This statement seems particularly harsh, especially that there were 'many' of them. Maybe it is down to the translation.

To me it doesn't matter whether this guy is Billy Joe-bob Nobody or the secretary of state. What does matter is that someone can state this on national television and get away with it.

In lots of civilized countries this would have finished his career or whatever he represented, and he would never be heard of again.

And it may well cause Beckel to lose his career.

Just as an aside though...Does freedom of speech not extend to Bob Beckel, regardless of how wrong the words might have been?

Possibly so but it does seem a bit ironic to use a freedom of speech defence after calling for someones assasination after something they have said.

Pretty hard to claim innocence when you are cooking cleaning getting supplies and building barricades for armed Terrorists.

So any individual who cooked, cleaned or got supplies (building barricades is more borderline) at that rally consciously knew they were directly helping individuals who had guns and were prepared to shoot at the army? I find that hard to believe and surely this can only be speculation on your part - correct me if I'm wrong and you have proof.

We all know there were also efforts made by red shirts with loudhailers at Pan Fa telling the crowd not to engage in violence. I'm not making any sweeping statements, just trying to balance the rather one-sided view you're portraying.

The red shirts with loud hailers were probably govt infiltrators. Does that balance out the string of idiots with microphones and a sound system big enough for a Rolling Stones concert screaming a litany of hate and violence a la "Bring a bottle of petrol..........."

So you are now suggesting that the govt had infiltrated the Red Shirts and were using loud hailers to coordinate their actions - I am really confused now.

So am I to understand that the police targetted prostitutes on beach road and walking street at 1am this morning and all they managed to find were 11 ladyboys???

I am now beginning to understand why the thai chinese and upper strata thais simply detest the lower life forms. I always though that Thais were very clean people but I guess I now know.My other thai neighbours simply treated them with total disgusts and will not even acknowledge them anymore and even call them names.

I am British I don't drink my GF is from Isaan, well educated up at 5am cleaning cooking everything is spotless.

If I leave a shirt on the bed or a pair of jeans hanging in the toilet I turn my back and they are in the wash bin, don't tar everyone with the same brush. I asked her to shout over the road to the man that sells water her answer it's not nice to raise your voice, while in England I gave her some chewing gum I chewed it for 30mins then threw it out of the car window (naughty I know) she kept it in her mouth for three hours?. I asked the reason why and she replied that she wouldn't like to clean it up so why should somebody else. The list of things that she does that are respectful are endless.

I feel sorry for your situation but I feel even more sorry for your narrow minded attitude.

What about the cooking - got every window open in our house open now and the smell is still overpowering

It is important for you to understand your girlfriends wishes as to where she wants to give birth as well. My situation a couple of years ago was we were in a position where we could get the best birth money can buy in the UK but chose for my wife to return to her rural village 45 mins from Nong Khai.

The reasoning for this was it would far less stressful for her than having the baby in the UK where she was struggling to understand what was happenning and she would also have felt out of her depth at a private big city/BKK hospital.

She had our daughter at the local government hospital which had all the facilities needed and handled an emergency c-section at the last minute. Since this was a well worn path that the whole family/village was used to it was far less stressfull for her and the VIP Room for 5 days after cost very little - all in it was about 2k baht for the delivery and 1200 baht a night for the room.

For our next child I will have no hesitation going the same route since, provided the medical facilities are adequate, the most important thing to me is to keep my with comfortable and relaxed as possible. The cost is a secondary issue to this along with my own needs though not being able to speak Thai at the time and being reliant on my wife for translation did make it far more stressful to me as there was nobody to explain to me what was going on!

Sounds as much of this must be lies. The statement she cannot own a house in her own name is.

She can not purchase land unless her husband appears in person at the ampur to sign the form that says the funds used to purchase the land were sin suan tua of herself. Her only other option is to have her parents purchase the land and give it to her as a gift, but in that case she must pay cash. Mortgages are out.

So, no, it is not a lie. She does have a serious problem if she wants to buy a house. Namely, she can't without her husband's cooperation.

That doesn't mean there aren't other myopic perspectives peppered throughout the story, but it is correct that she is essentially prohibited from purchasing a house until the divorce is complete.

Unfortunately her issue seems to with the UK authorities for her not being able to get a divorce for some reason rather than the Thai authorities who have such a ridiculous rule which discriminates against a thai women married to a foreigner.

Maybe he should take an atlas with him

I used to have similar problems with my wife except maybe the other way round. Where i would see an opportunity to cross she would not, whether this is down to her being more risk averse or me being more of an idiot I am not sure. It also lead to one or two instances where we were pulling in different directions though nowhere near as close to danger as you got. The simple answer to this is we no longer hold hands crossing roads (obviously one of us takes our daughters hand but that is different). We are both quite capable of crossing a road just in our own way using our own judgement.

I was in Benidorm a few months ago on a stag do and it was not exactly impressive - actual watched the same stripper in a bar that my mate I was with saw 20 years ago there.

The property market in Spain is hardly impressive:

"“By changing the rules on provisions, the (Spanish) central bank has really put a shotgun to their heads,” said Fernando Rodriguez y Rodriguez de Acuna, founder of Madrid-based property adviser RR de Acuna & Asociados.

“The banks will have to cut their price expectations more aggressively to reduce their stock of homes.”

Property values will fall 20 percent over the next five years, De Acuna estimates, with most of the declines coming next year.

Since the Spanish market’s peak in April 2007, home prices have dropped 22.5 percent, according to a survey by property website Fotocasa.es and IESE Business School.

About 280 000 people in Spain will lose their homes this year, according to Spanish consumer protection association Adicae."

Quoted from an article in the Independent Online yesterday.

This is a true story, only the details have been changed to protect the brain dead and the stupid.

An ozzie acquaintance of mine was staying in Pattaya for a few days. While there he pulled a girl from a bar. She agreed to go back with him to his hotel to do the deed for 1000 baht.

After the sick, wicked and immoral act was over, (amen) the ozzie took out a 1000 baht note and offered it to the girl. The girl stood there and responded by insisting that the ozzie give her 10000 baht. He of course refused and then the girl refused to leave the room until he coughed up. After some ado, the girl said she is phoning the police and proceeded to talk to someone on her cell phone. The ozzie just ignored her, but it took him 3 hours to persuade the hooker to leave him in peace. He only gave the original agreed 1000 baht.

This was an experience my friend would never forget and vowed never to return to Pattaya again. Good advice I think.

Nice story but as you have already stated you have changed the details so it is by definition made up.

Wrong forum me thinks - but, yes, you do drive on the left in Thailand.

Not sure why you would find this hard to believe as there are only really 2 options.

Has anyone actually seen this film who can comment on it.

It speaks volumes here that ppl are able to have such strong views one way or the other without having seen the film itself.

The Pantawee is pretty central with a decent selection of rooms though no river view. My parents stayed there a few months ago and were very happy with it. Also has bike hire.

Pantawee.com

Seems a bit weak to me - but TIT

Point 1, that the DSI had no right to investigate, seems to avoid the issue that they had done anything wrong. Point 2 and point 5 seem to contradict each other, point 3 seems to either have lost something in translation - blaming the EC for them not giving the money back, and point 4 doesn't appear that relevant.

Maybe those more politically minded than me can find some merit in these points???

OMG! Yes, male to male sex, specifically unprotected anal sex is higher risk (heterosexual anal sex the same thing). But most people have heterosexual sex. I never said male to male sex wasn't higher risk, but that does not mean heterosexual sex is no risk, or that heterosexual sex isn't higher risk in Thailand than in the west, or that there is no risk for males to be infected by females.

I realize many people want to keep their heads in the sand and stick to the myths that HIV is mostly a gay disease and/or a drug user's disease, but in Thailand and Africa that is completely wrong.

About 80% of HIV transmission in Thailand is heterosexual, as compared to about 10% in the USA and some other western countries. So why is the heterosexual transmission rate by unprotected sex is much higher in Thailand than in western countries? One answer is because of a different subtype of HIV virus in Thailand. To understand this, read this section.

http://www.thailandguru.com/hiv-aids-thailand.html

Thanks for that link JT - a very informative piece.

I particularly liked this piece:

"Some studies estimate that the percentage of prostitutes infected with HIV is approximately 10% in the ex-pat areas of Bangkok. However, these studies have uncertainties due to the biases of their samplings.

A Chulalongkorn study found that "disguised prostitutes", that is, ladies who freelance in shopping malls and the like posing as non-prostitutes but who extract presents (fashion items, mobile phones, etc.) and spending money from quasi-boyfriends in an extrinsically motivated relationship, had HIV infection rates of around 30%. The Chulalongkorn study speculated that the higher rates may be due to lower condom use in these relationships. However, the Chulalongkorn study notes that this was an unexpected finding and based on a statistically small and arguably insignificant sampling."

The vast majority of HIV infections in Thailand are caused by unprotected HETEROSEXUAL sex and most people infected are MALE, so you do the math. Do not believe that it is that difficult for men to get infected through heterosexual sex; that is totally false.

* The majority of Thailand’s HIV infections (around 80%) occur through heterosexual sex.

* HIV affects more men than women in Thailand; the male-female ratio is 7:5

* HIV prevalence among pregnant women, which reached a peak of 3.4% in 1992, had fallen to 0.87% by 2006

* An estimated 1 in 5 new HIV infections in Thailand are attributable to unprotected sex between men.

http://www.avert.org/thailand-aids-hiv.htm

That all said, the OP is probably not infected, but should get tested later for peace of mind.

I happen also to disagree about early infection flu-like symptoms (that pass). My understanding is that they are indeed common.

I do not want to imply that the threat of HIV from hetrosexual sex is limited, however, the statsitics above do not clearly show this and contradict themselves and, having read the full article, I cannot see that it is any clearer.

For the first point - 80% hetrosexual infections - without knowing what the ratio is between hetrosexual and other interactions (I am not avoiding using the word homosexual but it is not specified in the quote) then this figure is meaningless. For it to be taken at face value the ratio would have to be 80/20 for parity.

The second figure 7/5 male/female ratio would also indicate that male to male sex carries a higher risk - if i were to have sex with a random group of ppl then the odds are that more males than females woould be infected and, making the erreoneous assumption that possibilities of transmission are equal, the MTM liasons would carry the greater risk.

If the prevalence of HIV is falling in pregnant women then without comparison stats from other groups the figure has nothing to compare to apart from making a general assumption that the risk is falling significantly which could be a dangerous assumption to make.

The last stat just contradicts the first one as the fist says that 20% of infections are non hetrosexual. The last one claims that 20% are attributable to MTM unprotected sex. For this to work out then it suggests that the figures for other methods of transmission are negligable which would include IV drug use and MTM protected sex.

The one in the Fisherman's Village. Na Chom Thian 6. Just far away enough from the tourists.

If you buy anything by weight, check the weight and the price before you sit down. Otherwise you can just order from the menu as usual.

Let me know what you think.

I would have to agree here. Also the restaraunt at Cabbages and Condoms on Phratamnak Soi 4 is well worth a visit.

Most replies are off topic and do not address the Op's original question. Typical responses!!!

He is entitled to claim ADI for his wife -whoever she is and wherever she is!

To answer the question.

It can take a very long time. I(through my company( have helped several foreigners obtain ADI. One is still outstanding from last November. There were problems with the wife's date of birth. It is totally wrong to take so long as it is your money. However it will eventually be paid -back to the original claim date and up to 3 months before if the claim was not made at the same time you claimed pension.

If you want more info please feel free to e-mail me.

Typical response of someone selling something!! Get over yourself mate.

Yes - fancy actually very specifically answering the OPs question. Shocking behaviour!

...snip...

In general: No problems to get to Pattaya!

erm - have you seen the news this morning?? Granted, Pattaya itself doesn't look to be too bad but as you get up towards Bangkok it doesn't look good.

Source please? am due to leave Bangkok for Pattaya in a couple of hours....

Watching channel 3 and 7. Have seen the seen new interchange on motorway 7 (i think) where you come off to go up to saraburi with very heavy water and traffic hardly moving though that did look like it was on the slip road/loop bit and not the motorway itself. Around Saraburi has been on a few times as well. I was going up to Nong Khai tomorrow and have decided to wait for a couple of days now as more rain is forecast. Alternate route up through Kabinburi looks pretty damp too.