lannaman

I am British aged 69, my Thai wife is 46. We have been married 9 years.

My wife has a niece who left a baby girl with my wife's family, she was only one month old and we took her into our care and she's been with us since then. She's now 21 months, and has completely bonded with us.

Her birth mother works in a low income job in Bangkok, is single with three kids, she has the oldest child with her, the middle one lives with his grandmother and she could not afford to keep the baby who is now living with us.

The mother is completely happy with us adopting her, as are the rest of the family.

My wife has been to the municiple office dealing with adoptions, and they have said that as I am a foreigner I need to go to the Adoption Centre in Bangkok, I plan to go there next Wednesday. I tried phoning them but had such a softly spoken Thai lady that I could understand a lot of what she said.

Has anyone had a similar experience? We are very keen to adopt her,and thus under our loving care give her a decent future. She is a quiet, good and intelligent child, and we love her very much. Please advise!

Living with Thais as I have done for years one has to fit in with their time clocks. Go to bed by 10pm or early then the barking dogs at 5.30 would not be a problem.

Some good news for fans of the Barclays Premier League is that Channel 3 has reached an agreement with CTH to broadcast 23 matches on their free channels. The first match will be broadcast on Channel 3 (analogue) and Channel 3 HD (Digital 33). There will also be EPL highlights just after midnight every Saturday from 24th August. The first match will be Everton vs. Arsenal at 11:15pm on channel 3 and channel 4 HD on 23rd August.

The following are the match fixtures that have been released so far. I will update when more come in:

23rd August 2014: Everton vs. Arsenal from 11:15pm-1:30am

31st August 2014: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool from 7:15pm-9:30pm

13th September 2014: Arsenal vs. Manchester City from 6:30pm-8:45pm

21st September 2014: Leicester City vs. Manchester United from 7:15pm-9:30pm

27th September: Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur from 11:15pm-1:30pm

5th October: Manchester United vs. Everton from 5:40pm-9pm

18th October: Manchester City vs. Tottenham Hotspur from 6:30pm-8:45pm

26th October: Manchester United vs. Chelsea from 10:45pm-1:00am

One way to watch ALL of the EPL matches in Thailand is either by subscribing to 365Sport or CTH. With 365Sport you can watch five days on demand. That means if you dont want to stay up for a match you can watch when you wake up in the morning or any time for the following five days. To get a free trial (works until 24 August) click here for details.

We thought the big tremor this morning about 8am was stronger than the initial one.

Will be interesting to see the Ricter rating. I fear many structures weakened yesterday will be brought down.

5 kms East of city, fairly strong, no damage, scared cats, boy of 17 not move from the computer!

Watching Mrs Lannaman strim the grass, she looked as if she thought she was drunk!

Not only the tuk-tuks but the motorcycle taxis have doubled their prices. I visit Hua Hin quite often and the fare from the bus station to my guest house near the Hilton was 50 baht last year. Two visits this year and they tried to extort 100 baht from me, settling on 70 bt after a friendly haggle. On my last return I had my 17 year old stepson with me and it was 60 baht each (3 up on the bike), fair enough I suppose as we had bags too, but safe no, as the driver only had one eye!

No food! Enough money for a smoke though.

I don't like their parties.

Yeah, none of us like their loud music, but just show your face for a bit, smile, wai and join a dance, YOU WILL EARN THEIR RESPECT. Don't forget your ear plugs!

No need to hang around for a long time.

You won't find anything cheap in Phuket, which is in my opinion overpriced ( when we visited my Thai family were paying 70baht for noodles compared to 25bt in Chiang rai).

Phuket is also overcrowded and the locals a lurking to rip you off. My advice is to travel around and take a look at other places, there are many places near and away from the sea that are more genuinely Thai, where you will have a better quality of life. Enjoy your holiday!

Several exchange places near the entrance to Night Bazaar, you'll have no problem. Enjoy your stay!

I am surprised there aren't more accdents considering the appalling driving I see on Chiang Rai road from drivers with City of Angel number plates - too fast and little consideration for other road users. Lannaman will be happy to see them all go home, that is if they return there alive!

Having been shivering in the English autumn for the last four weeks I'm now looking forward to returning next week to the snugger Thai winter. I've been prompted by the thread below to re-engage with posting some photos.

I've been using my Samsung S2 phone over here and have been impressed with the results. Here are two examples.

Sorry not of Chiang Rai, but will be in action next month.

There seems to be a problem using a debit card provided by LloydsTSB. When I tried to book airline tickets I was told LloydsTSB has been blacklisted in Thailand.

Living here in Chiang Rai A LOT less expensive that the Falang hangouts of Pattaya and Hua Hin. Can rent for under 5000 bt, I bought a mini truck 289,000 that runs on LPG gas, we are desperate for English teachers and you maybe can do that to earn a bit yourself. I would recommend doing something, as one can get very bored otherwise. Eat delicious (still cheap) Thai food, avoid western food but cook it at home. I live very contentedly on under 30,000 a month. Good luck if you decide on Chiang Rai let me know, you'll be welcome!

English Teacher urgently needed for resort near Chiang Saen

Starting next Monday 23rd July, a luxurious resort at Golden Triangle urgently require a teacher, native speaker with reasonable Thai language, or Thai with good English.

Generous hourly rate, free accommodation at Chiang Saen.

Please contact Lannaman by PM (Who would do it himself if not engaged teach at a Chiang Rai hotel).

Here are some photos of the damaged buildings, including the nice little coffee place next door.

The shops opposite contained quite a lot of rescued stock.

PM me please as I have had a similar situation, and I would rather not say things on the public domain. I hope I can give your friend some sound advice.

Lannaman is sweating at the hot oven! See you all at last.

We sympathise with you as you are in a owheelchair, and know it is difficult for you to get around in LOS, BUT PLEASE RESPECT OTHER PEOPLE'S interests. I teach and have taken the trouble to follow football as it is a useful conversation topic with many of my students, maybe you could begin to follow a team, then you could join in the footy chat with so many of us. COME ON SOUTHAMPTON F C, HEADING BACK INTO THE PREMIERSHIP!

Fly in a tin-kan!

It's a pity that this Sunday is the hash cycle ride. When planning future day rides please bear in mind that the cycling is the first Sunday of the month. Hoping that the smoke clears for both events.

Asking for fries (chips) in a Thai rural restaurant, baa baa bor bor. get real chum and yes learn some Thai.

Let us know where you end up Erg

There is a good teacher at Pimann Inn. Good saline pool there, it's near Old Airport.

Wow! A lot! But this post should be in tablets across the border.