Boksida

13:00 Monday 13th: Friends trying to get to Chiang Mai from Lampang firstly turned back due to the Super Highway being blocked - so backtracked and tried the Lamphun "back road" - but that is blocked as well.

Do you know if that means the blockades are between Lamphun and Chiangmai or further south?

The trains are running.

Blockades are still in place in Lampang but the police have signposted detours.

It would be helpful if all could heed the advice from Steve2UK.

Highway 11 was cut yesterday and last night just to the east of Lampang, outside the Salaklang. The police were receiving a lot of praise from the protesters for their courteous and sympathetic handling of the situation.

I haven't checked the situation yet today.

Any updates on this one?

This idea is trotted out every time a military controlled government is installed. How quickly it is shelved depends on how quickly Singapore pays off. It is a game that has been played for over 30 years and Singapore must be sick of it but they have a lot to lose.

Whoever started the first KFC in Thailand was brave too. Did Thais know what KFC was then?

The first KFC outlet I saw in Thailand was in Silom Road opposite Patpong. A very good location but the restaurant folded. The original franchisee still has several successful businesses in Thailand but not in fast food. A new franchise was granted many years later.

Does anyone know where and how to donate money to the red shirts?

Thanks for the info.

The people in my area are using this account:

A/C Name: Peuanpong Nong-pee Co., Ltd.

Bank: Siam Commercial Bank

Branch: Imperial World Lardprao (Bangkok)

A/C No.: 224-2-29374-6

The transliteration of the account name may not match that in the bank records but the number should allow a transfer to go through.

This information is also shown on the TV screen (in Thai) on the D-Station broadcast or dstation.tv on your computer.

Never heard of wah expressed as length before. Normally declined as area. I.e. 4 sq metres = 1 talang wah.

A wah is a linear measurement equivalent to 2 metres.

"wan" is the common Thai pronunciation for "whale" so maybe you really do have some scrimshaw.

Eight to nine hours is a fair time, depending on traffic and how fast you like to travel. Done the trip many times on different roads, and personally for a quick trip I head straight to Saraburi from Korat, then head north east joining the main highway at Inburi. Nakon Sawan, Kamphaeng Phet,Tak, Toen, Lampang and onto Chiangmai. I did the trip from Chiangmai to Phitsanulok the other week and would suggest you stay off highway #11 on account of the road works between Denchai and Phitsanulok. Normally a great scenic route, and will be again in a few months when they complete the new highway.

I returned to Chiangmai throught Nakon Sawan, and found the main highway quite reasonable bar the usual minor roadworks....Enjoy your trip

Konamerican, this is good, and recent, information from Maejo Man. You can't really go wrong on that route.

I've done the trip many times on several different routes although the last time was several years ago. My preferred (and fastest) route is:

H'way 205 to where it intersects with 201

Turn right on 201 and follow it just past Chaturat

Turn left on to 2170

Turn left again when you reach 225 (near Nong Bua Raheo)

Stay on 225 until you get to Nong Bua

Turn right onto H'way 11 to Chiangmai.

I'd allow 8-9 hours. Good blacktop roads all the way and Highway 11 is four lanes.

The best thing about Google Maps is their consistency. They are always wrong.

Some information on Junior Rugby here.

I think there is a club that meets at the Bangkok Patana School as well.

Sorry Blinky you've been replaced by a map.

Well that's very flattering.

It should have been a map of Tassie to keep the same theme.

I had some good nights at The Pub when Mike Tinker owned it.

If Prem and the council aren't involved in politics, then why are they meddling in this sitution?

How are they meddling?

Planning and executing a military coup was one good example.

(Link here)

I've found it fastest and easiest to go:

Chiangmai, Nakhon Sawan, Chainat, Suphan Buri, U-Thong, Kampaeng Saen, Nakhon Pathom, Petchburi, Hua Hin

There is a short stretch near Kampang Saen which is not 4 lane highway yet.

I was at the Chili Belle recently and there was a fellow there, I'm assuming he was British, who claimed to be an expert on fish and chips. Was it one of you guys? He had a lot of tatts, a shaved head and a kind of round face with a ring through his nostril with a small chain attached. My wife thought he looked quite a bit like a bath plug. I could barely understand his accent, but his knowlege of fish and chips apparently came from being from "a little place 'bar awl'(?)". I could be wrong on the name of the place but it sounded something like that. In between sips of Chang from the bottle, he treated me to an English riddle:

Q.: What's black and eats fish and chips?

A.: About 80% of Bradford.

As I have never been anywhere close to Bradford I don't get it but he enjoyed it. I have googled Bradford and am still in the dark, can anybody clue me in?

try any ice cream shop in any mall, baskin robbins et al. 20bht for a block...

Oz

"To make dry ice, you start with a high-pressure container full of liquid carbon dioxide. When you release the liquid carbon dioxide from the tank, the expansion of the liquid and the high-speed evaporation of carbon dioxide gas cools the remainder of the liquid down to the freezing point, where it turns directly into a solid"

Don't think somehow yer gonna find 'dry 'ice' at just any old ice cream or baskin robbins somehow.

Depending on what you are wanting the dry ice for you might just borrow a CO2 fire extinguisher.

I'd agree with Oz as I have previously got it from both Swensens and Dairy Queen. They pack it in with their takeaway ice cream cakes.

Le Coq schizophrène

P.S. On a another sort-of-related topic.....Is there anyone still around on the forum who actually remembers Tiger and Tiger's bar? Or am I the last one?

I remember Tiger from when he could walk and when he couldn't and his bar (on Suriwongse if I remember correctly) and also Lucy's Tiger Den when his widow moved it to Silom. I also know quite a few other people of that era who are still around.

Amphetamines don't reduce sex drive but they make it very difficult for the male to have an orgasm so sex can last much longer.

Hence your nickname?

I was in a camp with Thai guys in Saudi in about 1980 and it was all the rage as they were there for a year without a break. As I was the only expat who could communicate with them I got more involved than I wanted to. Pieces of gravel would be polished on a bench grinder to be the "pearls". The insertion technique was for the recipient to put his willy on a breadboard and his colleague would then pull a piece of skin where the pearl was preferred out flat on the board. Another guy would hammer a conventional screwdriver through the skin with one hit. This left two parallel incisions and the pearl would be placed underneath. After that treatment was with antibiotic cream.

No, I didn't get any pictures

His critics used to criticize him for being a freeloader in trade for a good write up. That wasn't true. He never asked for anything and always paid his tab.

There must be two Trinks then. Certainly not the case for the one I know and I think he would be the first to admit it.

I thought his best columns were in the Bangkok World. People would read his restaurant reviews to be amazed at the amount of free food he could put away. Of all the things that have been written about him, I have never seen his astonishing design of tailored trousers mentioned. The waist is at breastbone level and he had to undo about 20 fly buttons to sit down and watch a movie.

His earlier Nite Owl columns had reviews of different BJs available around town and was a valuable public service.

Try to get one of those that have an embossed picture of Steve Irwin on them. Really cool.

Do you have a broadband internet connection?