jumnien

Same, same here in Hua Hin. My wife does just about everything while I waste my time on TV!

Hmm. thought provoking, indeed! I have a lot of compassion for rationalists debating music, poetry, religion, art, the more spiritual and aesthetic areas of human experience. It seems they are hopelessly seeking conclusion in matters that promise expansion and mystery.

"The middle path is not difficult for he who holds no opinions"

Those who have resigned from the debating society seem to smile more often.

Thank you for all the your answers so far. i have been seeing dr. sankiat up to this point - but as i mentioned, i had an appendectomy last month and was surprised at a lot of things that happened during my stay that should not have - reviewing my records i found things out that i had not been told (my uterus was nicked in surgery among other thing) - not that this has anything to do with sankiat - it was another surgeon - however there were things with the nursing care as well. and i am not saying that this only happens here - i am just trying to find a good fit for my current situation and would be doing so wherever i wass living. at bnh i started to see dr. vorachai - anybody have any experience with him? sankiat has his ways and sometimes does not seem as up to date on medicine that he tries to prescribe (i check everything i am given - again no matter where i am - and a lot of times the meds are not ok to take during pregnancy...things like that. or contradictory info from appointment to appointment). If you have had a cesarean at either, were you able to have the baby placed on you for a bit before they took him/her away?

Again, thank you for input - i am really trying to figure out what would be best.

Experience at BNH. My wife was able to hold the baby for a bit before they whisked him away to the nursery while they put her back together. I was able to be in the surgery room for the entire proceedure. They brought the baby into my wife's recovery room a lot for the next few days. The rooms were large and 1st class, the service wonderful! You are doing the right thing by asking around...

"It will be much easier when the sky train finally connects to the airport."

"That would bring the Airport up in standard from a thrid world one, to a developing world one.

Developed World status? Not in our life time."

Los Angeles's system doesn't connect to the airport, either. I guess that means it's in the third world!

I was a passenger in a Lexus 470 last week, very nice, but really not that much nicer that my Toyota Fortuner. My guess is that a Lexus is over 4 million baht and a Fortuner 1.3 million baht. I'd get the Fortuner and use it to pull a 30 foot speedboat with two 200hp engines (1.5 million baht). The taxes on the Lexus are hideous...

try www.wunderground.com and check and type in "Thailand", then check CHUMPHON and PRACHUABKHIRIKHAN

Thaksin's gone - get over it!

He's gone when the crematorium door closes shut.

Let,s hope s**t burns in the case S.J.

marshbags

I agree. But, make the same two comments about the present administration and I'm afraid you will find the meaning of the word censorship in a way that didn't previously exist....

My wife had a ceasarian at BNH 1year 4 months ago by Dr. Wiwat Chinpilas. I was there and I certainly wouldn't have attempted it myself. Seriously, my wife was very happy with BNH in all aspects. BNH and Samitivej are, of course, owned by the same parent company. We continue to take our toddler there for routine appts. and vaccinations. VERY satified...

Thaksin's gone - get over it!

This all really reminds me of the Bill Clinton era and the absolutely relentless whining of right-wing radio and press. Bill Clinton murdered Vince Foster, he was corrupt, Monica, he was sending allthe US jobs to Mexico, he was selling the US to foreigners, etc. etc etc.

The truth is Bill Clinton was the best Republican president of the 20th century. His pro-business domestic and non-interventionist foreign policies are truly missed in this Bush age of irresponsible "don't tax and spend, spend, spend" domestic policy coupled with reckless and inept war-mongering.

So, I say, Bill Clinton and Thaksin really weren't that bad unless you believe the ridiculous right wing press machines that hated them all along. To quote the Nation or the Bangkok Post, as if they were neutral observers, is absurd! They wanted him out, they got him out, and now THEY are in! The sky didn't fall and it is not falling.... Move on!

"Superficially, the results of the last election may have reflected people's trust for the government to continue with its second term but voices of disapproval became loud and clear in September 2006. "

Sounds a bit like the "New Light of Myanmar" editorials from 1990!

Sounds a bit like the "New Light Of Myanmar" polls after they got rid of that pesky Aung San Su Chi (sp?)

Unless we have Thai citizenship or permanent residency (which are not easy to get), we're something else, something lower down on the scale. Immigrants? We often compare ourselves (unrealistically) to foreigners who migrate to our own home countries.

However, after 3.5 years here, it finally dawns on me: I've never been an immigrant. Heck, I live here, I've paid taxes here, I've worked here, practically married to a Thai, etc., etc. But - I'm not even an immigrant.

And bless their pea-picking heads, the Thai officials never said we were immigrants. They always said "tourist" or "NON immigrant."

Does that put a different twist to the argument as to whether we're "guests"?

I would suggest that living in Thailand as a non-immigrant farang is not exactly "low on the scale". I could live quite comfortably anywhere in the world and I choose Thailand. And I would not renounce my home country citizenship even if it were possible, not would I look forward to pledging my allegiance here. I love living here and will probably spend the rest of my life here. I do return to the US for a month every year to pay an enormous amount of taxes.

You say, "We often compare ourselves (unrealistically) to foreigners who migrate to our own home countries." That is so, so right and I thank you for pointing that out. These TV posts are full of posts like Thais can own property in the US, or Thais can pay $20 to get into a nat'l park. No, 90% of Thais cannot enter the US, ever! They can pay 4000 baht and apply for a visa, but they will be denied and the 4000 baht pocketed by the embassy.

What's all this drivel about the alcohol advertising ban. This thread is about a rock concert being cancelled! Jazz is a musical genre, who cares if they have corporate sponsorship? Same with classical music. If it's sponsored by adult pampers or rot gut vodka who cares?

But Rock and Roll is a religion, a spiritual way of life. Corporate sponsorship has no place in religious matters. You don't see Durex sponsoring the Pope's Asia tour do you?

Rise up and shout hallelujah! We can have Rock and Roll without liquor companies picking the bands.

I was talking to a alcoholic who hasn't had a drop for many years - and stays that way with the regular support of the AA.

He said, and I totally agree with him, that what really pisses him off with Robitissun's evangelism against the AA, is not that he has an opinion, and states it, but that his ceaseless diatribe might prevent some poor alkie out there having their one last shot at salvation.

Even if it's only a 5% shot - it's sure as h..ll better than no shot.

And don't forget - a majority of our readers are in Thailand where there is clearly a high degree of problem drinkers and alcoholics amongst the expatriate community, with little access to any treatment or help other than AA.

None of those alkie specialists or alternative treatments that you might find in your home country.

Well put Mobi! By the way, would someone provide a credible source for this 5% figure being bandied about?

it's easy to make up a statistic depending on what your bias is.

Agreed. Precise figures are almost impossible to come up with.

But considering the size and economic power of the treatment industry, why are there such consistently low result rates from so many different sources? Surely high recovery rates could be come with using a favourable definition of sobriety?

The success rates in recovery, whether treatment or AA, are low precisely because of idiots like myself who relapse over and over again on their road to recovery or death. In my case, I ruined the success rates of five 21-day methadone detox programs, and an outpatient program before I helped the success rate of an inpatient program in N. Calif.

Thaksin's populist 30 baht health care scheme was indeed unsustainable. Now that the present administration has raised the fee to zero baht, all should be financially well. Wait a minute! Is zero baht less than 30 baht?

The fact remains that Thaksin was bad, bad, bad. The People Against Democracy, Chuwit, Sondhi and the coup leaders are good, good, good.

Right? I just believe what the papers tell me to believe...

(Please don't suggest AA - I have my own reasons for that).

Okay, but when it gets worse your reasons may turn to vapor. It's what works for real alcoholics. If you're just a problem drinker a religion may work, or counselling, or a stern lecture from an authority figure, or watching Brady Bunch dvd's, etc.

Usually, though, most real alcoholics have a very good reason to NOT go to AA.

Correction: it works for about 5% of those with alcohol dependence disorder ('real alcoholics', if you will), according to AA's own records, a success rate about the same or lower than the success rate of those who quit on their own.

AA has no records of who goes to its meetings. I tried to get sober in AA about seven times before it seemed to work. Therefore, seven AA groups in the Los Angeles area are clamoring "oh, that mdeland, never could stay sober" and one group in Marin County is saying "remember when mdeland got sober". That is a success rate of 1 in 8 or 12.5%. Or would you say that in my case AA was 100% effective, since it's been working for 11 years now. Or would you take the average of 12.5% and 100% and say it is 56.25%. These statistics you quote of 5% success rate are awfully suspect. Most people I see give it a real try over time stay sober. If people can get sober another way or moderate their drinking, if I wore a hat I'd take it off to them. Great!

Same at treatment centers. I saw the same people come back 3 or 6 or 19 times before they got it. Is treatment successful or unsuccessful, it's easy to make up a statistic depending on what your bias is.

Here's a bit of scoop on Bhutanese refugees in Nepal from 2000 -

One hundred thousand ethnic Nepalese refugees who say they are Bhutanese have been living in camps in Nepal for the last ten years following their alleged eviction by the Bhutanese government.

Nepal says that all refugees are Bhutanese nationals, and that Bhutan should allow them to return to home.

Bhutan is prepared to take back only a few thousand who it says are genuine Bhutanese nationals.

Nepalese vindicated

Nepal wanted to verify the nationality of the refugees on the basis of the head of the refugee family. Bhutan favoured the verification of individual refugee.

That the two countries have now agreed to start the process on the basis of the family is widely seen as the vindication of the Nepalese position.

The agreement is an important breakthrough in the bilateral talks on resolving the long-standing dispute between the two countries.

However, analysts say the total resolution of the problem is still a long way off, as verification will take a long time to be completed.

This doesn't point to any major conflict within Bhutan. Next time I'll google first before insinuating that Bhutan is lower on the happiness level than their marketing department would have us know.

It appears to me that the 'real alcoholic' is like the 'real unicorn' or 'real alien abduction', verifiable only through personal testimony and thus untestable and empirically invalid.

It's circular logic sj. If you can give up without a certain double-letter named recovery group, then you're not a "real alcoholic".

I believe the AA book cleverly titled "Alcoholics Anonymous" says, "If you can stop or learn to drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to you." It also implies that AA doesn't go around diagnosing people as alcoholic or not. It does say that if one suffers from the hopeless state of alcoholism characterized by pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization that perhaps the group can be of help.

There is no blood test for alcoholism. Like diabetes, unless a patient admits to himself (not to others) that he has a problem, he is unlikely to change the behaviors that aggravate his diabetes. It really does not good to argue over the different definitions of diabetics and "real diabetics"; if the diet and lack of exercise persist, the diabetes is likely to get worse.

I love Thailand, but that doesn't mean that I have to accept some of the cultural shortcomings...

Amen to that.

I agree. You don't have to accept the cultural shortcomings...unless happiness happens to be a priority in your life. Acceptance is the key!

If you can get hold of a book called The Big Smoke, in it you'll find info on Chinese herbal treatments for opiate addiction.

I thought opiate addiction was a Chinese herbal treatment, no? Am I missing something?

I completed a 1.5 year program at UC Berkeley in "Alcohol and Drug Dependency Studies" in 1997. There is a wide variety of testing available to evaluate suspected alcoholics. Often they lie on written tests. One of the most reliable tests we used in the intake procedure at the treatment center I worked in was called the SNIFF test. The smell of the vomit on the shoes, the "don't light a match anywhere near him" odor was not to be overlooked. Seriously, often it's better to use one's intuition rather than one's penchant for scientific testing in these matters.

One of my favorite definitions of an alcoholic was "anyone who quits drinking and their life gets phenomenally better". That doesn't happen with average drinkers...

help.. I am considering holiday for about 6-8 days and being offered ban krud. cant seem to find out how far from Hua Hin and all the attractions around. I would like to be close to HH but quiet. I know since it will be just after new year, 4th Jan on, that I am probably pushing it a bit, but any ideas would be appreciated. thanks

Ban Krut is about a 2 hour drive from Huahin. The lovely town of Prachuabkhirikhan is about a 45 minute drive to the north as well from Ban Krut.

Very interesting reading, thanks. Please excuse my ignorance (I'm American) but when I was in Nepal I noticed large Bhutanese refugee camps. What are they running from in Bhutan, I keep hearing about what a peaceful jolly country it is?

Obese, diabetic, alcoholic - there are so many definitions for these conditions and unless you are running an insurance company and trying to avoid paying hospital costs, there is really no point in arguing the definitions. The point is that these conditions kill people, a lot of people, and that these conditions can be dealt with successfully. Many people with these conditions will argue that they are merely a bit overweight, have low blood sugar or a metabolism problem, or enjoy a bit of beer now and then and that their behavior is not that bad to warrant a change. That is their business. Denial kills rather unelegantly.