Rincewind

Favorite Thai fruit? Gosh... an easier and shorter answer would be "which Thai fruit DON'T you like?"

Absolute favorites are Longan, jackfruit, dragon fruit, coconut, mango, and farang (with the sugar/chilli mix) Asian pears (large and well chilled) are way up there too.

The rice farmers in south Texas put out a bumper sticker -- "Eat Rice. Potatoes make your butt big!"

where will they get enough somtam to go with all that sticky rice?

Interesting.

I've lived in Thailand about 20 years and ate a lot of rice in San Francisco before that and am very particular about food quality, but I don't notice much difference between different types of rice.

I have to wonder if it's like the people who drink expensive bottled water that really comes from the tap for free!

A lot of people might not believe this, but water does taste different based on its source and mineral content. When I was in Afghanistan, all the water was bottled and brought in from different vendors. Some of the water was excellent, while others had a different taste and feel in one's mouth. One even seemed "chalky" for lack of a better word.

There are a few Thai guys that walk around the front of Central World Plaza trying to chat with farang. I've been stopped by both guys & seen them outside Indra Hotel. They just wanted to chat. 1 was a teacher who was wanting to practice his English (so he said) so don't judge so fast. Chat but don't go anywhere with anybody.

But saying that I have seen the way some Female European tourists dress with short skirts or singlet tops with 50% b@@bs showing that get lots of looks by locals. I'm sure thats not you darling

Funny, but a similar thing happened to me the last time I was in town. I was taking pictures of the shrines outside Isetan at CWP when I was approached by a slightly older/middle aged Thai woman. She started talking to me about where I was from, what I did, and pointed out the Big C across the road as a good place for shopping. I'm not sure if she noticed the small green Big C bag i was carrying -- I had just gone for a florescent starter to fix a light. Then she asked me where I was staying in town... what hotel. I replied that I was staying at my fiancee's apartment. She then asked if my fiancee was Thai, and I told her that she was. I still chuckle when I remember how her face changed and she ran off after that! I knew t had to be a scam -- no one ever comes up to me like that -- and my little camera probably had something to do with being targeted. But I still wonder what the scam was.

I'm in Baghdad, and would rather be anywhere else in the world so long as I am with my Thai gf. I'll be there before long though!

I had Lasik at TRSC last July from Dr. Sukanda. I've been very pleased with the results. The entire staff is very courteous and professional, and very willing to help or answer questions.

I picked up an apple keyboard with roman & thai letters on the keys for my gf. Got it at the apple store in Paragon.

GH,

That absolutely rocked! Are you sure you're not the author of the BOFH column on The Register?

I had mine done at TRSC last July, and have been very happy with the results. I actually see better now than I did with glasses!

I spent two years in Aghanistan, and another in Iraq. One thing you will not hear on the news is that there are quiet places here, where life goes on, and you go a long time without anything interesting happening. For example, I was in Afghanistan 18 months without any incoming.

You will want to consider the leave/R&R policy for the company you are looking at. Although I get three R&Rs a year, I know some contracts only get two weeks out in an entire year, and working 7 days/week otherwise.

Kenny Rogers

Another good resource is visajourney [dot] com. They have some nice flowcharts detailing the process, as well as examples of the forms. There's also a very good forum with lots of helpful people from around the world who are going through the same things we are (I'm getting ready to file a K1 as well).

If you use their resources as well as the government's own site, you should do just fine. From what I've seen on the forums there, and talking to my girlfriend about some of her friends who have gone through the process, it's about 6-8 months from the time you file until your fiancee gets her visa.

Good luck!

I believe that efforts should be made to curb underage drinking and discourage alcoholism. However, I wonder if the ones who will be most affected by this will not be the advertising firms, event promoters, and small businesses. It may help some, and I hope it does. Certainly an age limit and zoning requirements are step in the right direction.

However, enforcement is another issue.

As far as where to go, we went to Fogo Vivo at the Intercontinental Hotel, near Central World Plaza. Very good Churrascaria, with all you can eat salad & meat. It's in the basement of the hotel, brick lined with nice low lighting. Very romantic and very good food.

As for meeting her mum, have you read Thailand Fever? There's some good advice in there, but if you read it too closely it will scare the hel_l out of you. I know I was nervous as hel_l when I met my girlfriend's parents. Don't worry too much, and you'll be OK.

I wish I could be there, but I'll be about 6 or 7 hours away (by plane.) My curiosity is up though... how and where did you get the mesquite? Beautiful smoker too, BTW.

I don't know what part of this I find more appalling -- what he did, or how light his sentence is expected to be.

Five years isn't nearly enough for trash like that. Maybe they can make it 5 years in a Thai prison first?

it just won't work! I searched everywhere and nothing works to make it work, anyone able to do this? I have a g4 and messenger 6.02.

What OS version are you running? I'm running the latest patch level and have no problems on a Mac Mini.

What symptoms does it give you? Maybe you just have a corrupted download?

Here's the link again just in case:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en