stickman

can assure you that if 100 workers were randomly rounded up at the Bangla bars, or Paradise bars in Patong, 10-30 of the subjects would test positive (depending upon the tourist season). Now if I rounded up 100 people at random on the Mahidol campus, I would be surprised to find 1 that tested HIV+. It's all about where one casts his net for romance.

You can assure? I put it to you that you do not know what you're talking about here.

There are some bars in the foreigner oriented nightlife areas that really do carry out STD and HIV testing of their girls. Yes, some girls test positive for HIV. There are some, but they are amazingly few and far between. I am not talking here about girls going to a dodgy clinic to get a certificate when no test was carried out, but real tests at quality facilities.

Saying that 10 - 30% if women in Patong are HIV+ either means that Phuket is a magnet for HIV...or this is just plain wrong.

In Thailand a company can get rid of a member of staff for any reason at all, to include no reason. Yep, even if you have done nothing wrong, they can give you your marching orders. However, they must pay severance as per Thai labour laws and the amount you receive depends on how long you have been employed there. From memory - and I could be wrong - for 1-3 years employment you should receive all money owing to you for work done in that pay period, plus 3 months severance on top of that. The best thing to do would be to contact the labour department for advice.

Dean's a super nice guy. I interviewed him recently and he was his usual, charming self.

Dean Barrett interview.

There are many Western guys in that situation in Thailand. When you hear stories like this in Thailand, there always seems to be a common denominator...

I have a Canon 20D which is rated for 50,000 shutter actuations. I have taken about 35,000 and no problems so far. I also have a Canon 5D mark II which is rated for 100,000. I've taken about 30,000 shots with that and not a problem either.

The pro models are rated for 200,000+ actuations I believe. I don't know how many people actually take this many shots and / or have problems with the shutter but I personally don't know anyone who has.

FWIW, any DSLR with a Canon or Nikon badge will be great!

My understanding is that patios and other areas of restaurants are supposed to be smoke-free and technically smoking there would be illegal. Some bars obviously allow this, such as Soi 8 Bar, but I would be very surprised if you could smoke in the outdoor area at somewhere as upmarket as the Oriental.

I like the Sheraton Grande for the buffet any time - and their Sunday brunch is especially good.

Decent Thai women are remarkably easy to meet. Learn to speak polite Thai, dress nicely, be clean cut and not overweight and you will have many local women interested. So long as she is not too much younger than you, many women will say yes to an invitation for a coffee.

There are a number of Westerners providing investigate services in Thailand - but they tend to only operate in the neighbourhoods of cities where there is a large foreigner presence. Westerners stick out like a sore thumb anywhere you don't find a lot of foreigners.

While Udon does have a large foreigner population, I don't think it would be an easy place for a foreigner to carry out an investigation.

I recommend you get in touch with ThailandPI.com which is an American run investigation agency which uses Thai agents. You would deal with the American principal but he could send Thai agents to carry out the ground work.

Good luck!

Are you implying that the parents were unaware that their daughter was driving their car on the speedy express way? First of all, where did she get the keys from (maybe she had a spare set made up secretly)? where was she going? (her parents were in the dark about her driving their beloved car, let alone across town on this manic highway to hell that Bankok can be)??!!! and finally that she must have got into the car several times without her parents knowing (on her own) and learnt how to drive (at speed apparently)

Don't rule out that the parents may not have known. When I was still at school, one of my classmates used to take his mother's car out at night without her knowing. He and another classmate of ours would drive it around and around the block. Unfortunately he pulled out in front of a car and had a nasty accident, writing off both cars. Fortunately no-one was hurt. The mother did not know he had been taking the car without her permission.

In this situation here in Bangkok, I don't think the parents have said for the record that they had allowed her to use the car, have they? If they have, I missed that bit. Maybe they knew. Maybe they didn't. But for sure, it is possible that she had taken it without their permission.

From today's New Zealand Herald, the guy has been found guilty of murdering her:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10688709

Unless you spend big money on one of the better international schools in Bangkok, the quality of education your kids will get in Thailand simply won't compare to what they would get in England. Frankly, the quality of education in Thailand is poor and you may well be doing your kids a massive disservice by uprooting them from the UK to Thailand.

A good number of people I know have moved from Thailand to the West because they knew the education their kids would get in their homeland would allow the kids to have the best chance at a great future. I hear of few people going the other way - and those that do put their kids into an international school.

I hate to say it, but for the sake of your kids (and the fact that you said that an international school education is out of your budget) I would suggest you rethink things. Moving to Thailand won't do anything for your kids' futures...

I hear what you're saying but 200 Baht. For example recently took a meter taxi from Sukhumvit Soi 23 to the airport....no expressway....took 40 mins at a cost of 182 Baht.

Its still a rip off fare.

200 baht is as much of a rip off fare as the fare the OP gave the driver. In a cab ANYWHERE in the world you check that the meter is turned on and that it is ascending at roughly the correct rate. If the meter is not on and you missed that, then you're as much at fault as the driver in my opinion, unless there was a reason you were unaware, such as the meter being concealed.

To the OP,

To get from MBK to Sukhumvit soi 8, the taxi has to go what you termed "the long way around"! A taxi cannot drive along Ploenchit, under the expressway, and on to Sukhumvit. There is a sign that states that all vehicles apart from buses must turn left on to the expressway!

It might cost 50 odd baht to get from soi 8 to MBK, but the other way will always be MUCH more expensive because the cab has to travel down to Rama 4, along to Asoke, all the way up to Sukhumvit and along to soi 8. The distance is much greater and you're going through some of the busiest roads in Bangkok!

Were you carrying too much not to use the skytrain?

You should have checked the meter in the cab had been turned on - and if it had not, you should have got out.

You were not scammed at all. It was you who scammed the driver...

21,000 posts and you did not know that or could not work it out?!

I can't think of anything that puts me more off a woman than a tramp stamp, irrespective of where it may be placed. But on her leg, where it can be visible for all to see? Not my cup of tea...

Here's a couple of Pattaya characters:

I swung by for a look a couple of days ago and progress is slow. The workers were sitting around enjoying the view over a brew!

The latest rumours coming out of Nana Plaza are absolutely mystifying. It has been mooted that those who were leasing the now empty spaces on the ground floor of Nana Plaza have applied for permission to build new structures in their place - and permission has been granted! If true, it makes a mockery of the demolition and would indicate what some of us thought - that the structures had perhaps been built without building permission in the first place and have finally been ordered to be demolished. Rumour has it that if / when the new structure is built, the walkways on either side have to be wider than they were.

Nana Plaza is open until 2 AM most nights. Perhaps one or two nights a week it is closed early by the boys in brown, not usually before 1 AM though.

Three three beer bars in the central part of the ground floor have been demolished and it will probably be a few more days before the rubble has been completely removed. These two photos were taken in Nana Plaza late afternoon / early evening Friday.

Leave the guy alone!

From the way you describe it he was just sitting there on the Beach Road with the bird, enjoying a bit of peace and tranquility, minding his own business.

It hardly sounds like he was actively soliciting passers by for hundred baht photos!

Is this the guy and his bird here? (This photo was taken a few years back)

Blackie was quite the character alright, the most colourful and entertaining fellow I have met in all my years here.

I write an extensive piece about him and his life in the early years here in my weekly column today. No link here cos the mods don't like it. Be warned though, it contains both the positives and the negatives and his hardly eulogy material...

My favourite is the Royal India, which is down an alley opposite the India Emporium.

Is that the same as the Royal India mentioned by the OP at the Emporium (on Sukhumvit)?

Yes, it is one and the same. The Pahurat branch is the original, has been visited the best Indian restaurant in Thailand by Thailand Tatler magazine and prices are significantly lower. Despite being small, I prefer the atmosphere there to the Emporium branch. They also have a stand outside with (sickly) sweet Indian style desserts.

Is there a good indian restaurant that isnt ridiculously over priced? I constantly see Indian restaurants with NO customers and when I check the menu, sure enough its priced way to high.

There are *heaps* of good,very reasonably priced Indian restaurants in Bangkok. You just don't find them in Sukhumvit, or Silom!

Go down to Pahurat, the small Indian district between Chinatown and the river and there are heaps of small, very inexpensive Indians restaurants.

My favourite is the Royal India, which is down an alley opposite the India Emporium.

The Bangkok Baking Company at the front of the JW Marriott (NOT where the buffet is served from) does a very good eggs Benedict.