toret

In danger of sounding like an asshol_e with 20/20 hindsight, it has been my opinion since my first winter in Asia 15 years ago, that owning anything more than my own vehicle here would be plain stupid, if not for other reasons than lack of flexibility.

I would like to express my views in general on this matter, and it is that my country should extend the rights to own land only to people from territories that extend the same right to me.

...by land for a tour of the country or at least part of it, if this is in any way possible. I will be coming via Thailand.

Anyone KNOW, i repeat KNOW, what would be at least a few of the bureacratic challenges of such a mission?

The cambodian-thai border crossings I have done more than once, so we need not digress into that part but focus on the entering of and/or the roaming around in Myanmar on my bright red CB-1.

Naysayers are not welcome, unless it is proven both in theory and IRL that it is completely impossible.

Perhaps this one should have been posted under tourism, but what the heck, I am no tourist. i am a man on a mission.

Shit people. If you are a decent boxer you do not use a knife... Shit man i hope they take you and you can pay for this.

Knifemen are a twisted lot, one almost instinctivly suspect unfortunate incidents with fortunate uncles during the early years.

Seeking violence while hanging out in public toilets as well, this one is a given.

Men should not insert hard pointy objects into other men, it's as simple as that.

As usual, at the slightest possibility of sexual-related intertextuality, my sick mind runs off with me. As I saw the words Bangkok Hilton I suddenly started to think of Paris Hilton and her rather overrated (i have been told) video One Night in Paris (Hilton).

How would the spoof One Night in Bangkok (Hilton) turn out for our by now so besung hero, Mr Beaver?

Since we are on the topic of asking questions, and the cultural differences regarding this practice, there is one thing that really puzzles me, or maybe I should say it annoys me, or rather: it pisses me off to the degree where it can actually ruin an entire day.

That is when I am asked a question by an asian (for some reason this, at least in my mind, seem to happen most frequently with thai females) and my reply is "I don't know."

Then they give me this very strange look, like they are very baffled and also feel sorry for me or worried about me at the same time, and then the reply: "Oh, why you don't know?"

Now, what kind of a question is that?

Is it related to the not so uncommon practice that it is better to give a wrong answer than no answer? Is that why they give me this weird look, because the "I don't know" is so surprising and totally unheard of?

Any input on this one would be very much appreciated, because it is perhaps the greatest of all enigmas I have encountered during almost a decade and a half of travelling and living in the region.

Although I believe the concept of having someone who can help with language challenges is a good one, there will be a time when these "Volunteers" piss off the wrong local creating more of a challenge then they bargained for.

Like that farang volunteer guy who disappeared without a trace after a disagreement with some jet-ski operators at Chaweng Beach, Ko Samui?

Sorry, could not help it when I saw the ad right beside the headline:

Find your Thai beauty today!

Join for free!

If it was good ol'fashioned hanky-panky and not a proper massage that was agreed upon, would she have given him a whiff of a highly intoxicating dose of KY?

Actually this entire story smells funny, sounds like something from 1001 Night (Arabic erotic folk tales, that is).

The flunitrazepam nipple trick is probably closer to the truth, although it is purely speculation. And also implies sexual (and therfore incriminating) intent.

Never connected a gas stove so I cant say for sure, but my assumption is that it connects in the same way as a regular ringburner.

If putting it in the container or not dont matter to price and available space, up to you.

But it is a fact that burning gas gives off moisture, as electric heating seems to dry the air out. So those roasted ribs will be much juicier in a gas stove, as long as you get used to the difference in time/temp and dont end up with bacon crisp.

Me, i would have sold the old bugger and got a full gas thingy with perhaps one electric plate for slow heating, something gas dont do well.

Remember that vendors make zilch on free anything - ergo the bias. Same/Same paid.

Bubba

Free AV is usually non-free AV with limited functions and/or user friendliness.

Virus definitions would be the same.

Maybe he didn't think much about it, since Oman has no laws regulating the legal age of consent, but sex must be within the limits of marriage to be legal.

And afterall this was only a massage.

Why would you want to haul an electric oven over here?

Electricity cost an arm and a leg, and gas gets the roast nice and juicy.

This may not be exactly the answer to your question, but it might still be helpful to you and/or someone else:

I know for a fact that if a married foreign couple has kids in a school in Thailand, at least one of the parents is entiteled to some kind of guardian- or parent-of-student visa. The reason I am not sure if both parents are entiteled to this visa, is because one of the parents (this is a couple I know) already has a retirement visa, so only one of them needed to get this visa.

As far as I know their visa status was never an issue when enrolling the kids in a private international school in a town with a substantial expat community in Thailand, but if you want I could ask them for you.

Forgot one important thing though, AVG users seem to be notorious when it comes to not installing the newer versions when the older ones expire and can't update anymore. Maybe because many are computer illiterates who haven't got the foggiest idea how or why, and just heard from a friend that it was great and free.

You obviously have a net connection - why dont you go to an IC & download say AVG AV 8.5 to USB stick and install it on your machine - the daily updates are very small. AVG is <100Meg - and its free.

Bubba

Almost every time I have to clean a virus off a customer's machine, it has this piece of junk antivirus on it. AVG should be an acronym for "Another Virus Gets through".

If you must use a freebie, go with Avira's Antivir. It's got a detection rate that rivals the top paid AVs.

If you want the best the top three in terms of detection rates are:

ESET NOD32 (Very light on resources, never missed a virus in the wild according to Virusbulletin.)

Kaspersky

Norton (great detection rate, but a pig on resources, and very intrusive so I never recommend it)

Panda's not what it once was. Give it a miss.

Nobody serious about protecting their data uses AVG.

Right on. I have done quite a bit of basic computer support and repair myself, and among a few other programs AVG Free Version is extremely common on troubled PC's. IMHO people who say they use AVG and never had a virus, are probably just not aware that they have a virus. Been a while since I been doing it though, things change fast and for all I know AVG could have released a killer last week. Although I doubt it.

For free AV I think Avira is better, and has an OK combination of user-friendliness and safety.

www.free-av.com

For one of the best (but far from biggest) collections of mostly free software I have come across:

www.filehippo.com

Geriatrickid:

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Like it or not, Thai media has a totally different approach to blood and gore than media where most forum members are from.

Although the biggest newspaper in my country had a big picture once of my friends car going up in a fireball, with my dead or dying friend inside. But I guess that is acceptable as there is no blood and person close-ups...

utterly absurd mask mania. i wonder who is making all the money from the useless masks, which are more likely to be a vector with all the face touching involved. Washing hands would be more effective.

Virus can not fly around by themselves as far as I know. But they can travel around in droplets from people sneezing and coughing. These are large enough to be stopped by certain types of masks.

So the masks provided would probably have some effect.

Not double checking this. Symbian is an open operating system, i think maintained by Nokia. Just about all the more expensive Nokia phones run on it. There are sjaitloads of programs available, some work and some dont. I have it on my N95 8GB and think it is ok, but apps are not always very kind on processing power, maybe because anyone can make a program and sell it. But you do have freedom and good selection for apps.

Did not read the other post so this might have been mentioned already.

Sorry to be cynical, but are you sure she needs medical treatment?

It is not unheard of that women in this part of the world claim to have a medical condition in order to gain financial support from westerners, who might not think that someone would be untruthful about such things.

The Concorde was built mainly to show off, financial gain was never part of the equation.

In Singapore, most people still consider Thaksin the best leader Thailand ever had. Very similar to Mr. Lee Kuan Yew.

Very similar indeed. And my main reason for disliking him.

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking mainly BKK area so that should be ok i guess.

What is the monthly price for AIS unlimited? Same for post- and prepaid?

You got a point there Bubba. The App Store is a killer.

Especially if you already have high blood pressure.

Now I am confused

Try to google Thailand 3G

You will find that Thailand was extremely early among ASEAN nations in deciding she wanted 3G, and bidding for concessions would take place soon. This was quite some years ago, although not a full decade, and the "3G - coming soon" on the TrueMove website is becoming more funny every time I see it.

Now even Cambodia has it. Thailand not.

Original Windows Mobile seems to be made as a niche product for people who either have many years experience as software developers for Microsoft, or persons with several years of experience working in customer support for Microsoft and/or some semi-obscure company making overpriced gadgets for people who have their own personal IT-technician and a need for familiar interfaces on par with smack addiction.

I have an HTC P4350 that came (i think, me no remember those numbers) with WM5, upgradeable for free to WM6 (Microsoft giving away a "new" OS for free should set off at least a couple of alarms), but the sucky sucky-factor was still so obvious that I, burdened with a gadget addiction bordering on psychiatric diagnosis, lost all interest in record time.

So, if you choose a phone with WM, make sure the factory has designed a very good menu system on top of the OS.

In the name of fairness though, I hear HTC has become quite good at this.

PS!

If there is an unbiased (no previous Linux experience whatsoever) person out there with some Android experience, please post and/or PM me as Rotten Apple still has not got the copulating point and included copulating multitasking in their copulating OS 3.0

Ah, now I feel slightly better.