Robroy

The EU study you cite has been thoroughly, utterly & entirely demolished in subsequent literature. (Once again, I can dig out cites if you insist.)

The second ref. is a book chapter without any information on author or book title - hardly convincing on its face. However it is apparently from the 1990s, and overlooks the evidence that had accumulated till then (albeit not conclusive). Moreover the science has moved on a lot since then. I.e. they know more stuff now, & the evidence is conclusive.

I think you need to read up on this subject before proceeding, as you're digging ever-larger holes for yourself.

Those would be mercury vapors that escape 24/7 from amalgam fillings as a result of body heat, food heat and mechanical friction from chewing, as measured in several experiments - I can dig out the papers if you wish.

The vapor then crosses into the bloodstream via the mouth mucosal tissue.

Thereafter mercury migrates to the vital organs, including the brain. In the brain it gradually transforms from organic to inorganic, meaning it cannot then cross back across the blood-brain barrier. (The only known substance that can chelate it out of the brain at that point is alpha lipoic acid, administered on a constant dose (not sporadic) basis.)

Brain mercury is linked with numerous neurological conditions.

I had read before, that it is better to leave in the old silver filings. When they are removed, dangerous gases can be released during the drilling out process. There are dentist who have special equiptment to catch those gases.

Which "gases" would these be ? elemental mercury ?.....evolution of elemental mercury in vapour form from liquid Hg is very dependent on temperature.

The fact the mercury itself is held with in an amalgam with silver,copper tin and tin forming a stable alloy, very difficult to understand where "gases" would come from ?.....if you took the amalgam itself and started heating it up significantly then yes would suggest you could possibly get elemental Hg vapour coming off ....but this is not what happens when you drill a filling out at the dentist.

I would suggest we are bordering on an urban legend or a clever market ploy by a dentist

Rather than me quoting reputable metallurgical studys on almagam filling...maybe try reading these:

http://ec.europa.eu/...enihr_o_016.pdf

http://prospect.rsc.org/metalsandlife/9.16b.pdf

I stand by my statement...lots of scare mongering and quackery around this issue

Those would be mercury vapors that escape 24/7 from amalgam fillings as a result of body heat, food heat and mechanical friction from chewing, as measured in several experiments - I can dig out the papers if you wish.

The vapor then crosses into the bloodstream via the mouth mucosal tissue.

Thereafter mercury migrates to the vital organs, including the brain. In the brain it gradually transforms from organic to inorganic, meaning it cannot then cross back across the blood-brain barrier. (The only known substance that can chelate it out of the brain at that point is alpha lipoic acid, administered on a constant dose (not sporadic) basis.)

Brain mercury is linked with numerous neurological conditions.

I had read before, that it is better to leave in the old silver filings. When they are removed, dangerous gases can be released during the drilling out process. There are dentist who have special equiptment to catch those gases.

Which "gases" would these be ? elemental mercury ?.....evolution of elemental mercury in vapour form from liquid Hg is very dependent on temperature.

The fact the mercury itself is held with in an amalgam with silver,copper tin and tin forming a stable alloy, very difficult to understand where "gases" would come from ?.....if you took the amalgam itself and started heating it up significantly then yes would suggest you could possibly get elemental Hg vapour coming off ....but this is not what happens when you drill a filling out at the dentist.

I would suggest we are bordering on an urban legend or a clever market ploy by a dentist

www.bangkokdentalcenter.com are an amalgam free practice and for an extra $20/hour ( I think) they provide oxygen.

There is a lot of good science on the poisonous nature of mercury amalgams, & you are wise to want to replace them.

It is vital to have this done properly as if done improperly it can redistribute mercury around the body & cause significant health problems. There are several forums for people who are suffering from these effects.

I don't live in Thailand but I have a friend in BKK who is writing a book on this phenomenon, & can put you onto him if you want further advice. PM me.

There is no such thing as a "specialist" in amalgam removal and replacement. Any dentist making such a claim is taking advantage of an ignorant public.

Any dentist trained in the last 30+ years is competant at placing white fillings. Replacement of old amalgam fillings that are in satisfactory condition merely for esthetics or some perceived health benefit is commonly done but is still somewhat frowned upon in developed countries. It is often done bucause dentists are, well, businessmen and the economy has reduced the patient base of most practices. Be aware that the average life expectancy of a well done white filling is less than that of the same size amalgam filling. Best of luck to you whatever you decide.

Sorry - your question on where to live:

Lived in Chiang Mai for 3 years. I love it, but the 2-3 months of smoke haze each year made it impossible in the end, so I decamped to Cambodia.

I tried the Krabi area before leaving Thailand, & found it very pleasant but socially dull. Bangkok doesn't appeal to me, except for visits.

So for me there isn't anywhere to live in Thailand, other than Chiang Mai between April and November. This is very subjective though.

Until they tackle the culture of rice-burning they will ever be running in circles.

I live in northern Cambodia where they do not generally burn off rice stubble, but turn it over to fertilise the soil for the next crop.

No haze here.

There is a lot of good science on the poisonous nature of mercury amalgams, & you are wise to want to replace them.

It is vital to have this done properly as if done improperly it can redistribute mercury around the body & cause significant health problems. There are several forums for people who are suffering from these effects.

I don't live in Thailand but I have a friend in BKK who is writing a book on this phenomenon, & can put you onto him if you want further advice. PM me.

There is no such thing as a "specialist" in amalgam removal and replacement. Any dentist making such a claim is taking advantage of an ignorant public.

Any dentist trained in the last 30+ years is competant at placing white fillings. Replacement of old amalgam fillings that are in satisfactory condition merely for esthetics or some perceived health benefit is commonly done but is still somewhat frowned upon in developed countries. It is often done bucause dentists are, well, businessmen and the economy has reduced the patient base of most practices. Be aware that the average life expectancy of a well done white filling is less than that of the same size amalgam filling. Best of luck to you whatever you decide.

What I believe has happened is that no-one has given you a serious reply because they suspect you are winding them up, & nobody wishes to be taken in by a troll.

However in the event that you are not winding us up, the consensus here, surely, would be that 24-year-old girls do not generally fall in love with 63-year-old men - tho it has been known to happen, it is rare - & that you should be extremely careful that you are not about to lose your hard-earned wealth. This has happened countless thousands of times to Western men in Thailand. We have all been hearing the stories & meeting the victims for many years. Sometimes ATM cards are emptied, sometimes the girl asserts (or is given!) legal title to a piece of real property, sometimes one is persuaded to put cash into her or her family's business...there are many variations. Being a foreigner, there is not much legal protection for you once it takes place.

One reason this happens so repeatedly is that we Westerners simply lack the radar to pick up deception, as practised here. Deception as practised back home is comparatively easy: the person won't make eye contact, will have a strained smile, won't know what to do with his hands, will wear gold jewellery, & will speak frequently of Jesus. Here you will be charmed out of thousands of dollars via tears of devotion and smiles that light up the sky.

By all means enjoy your relationship, but protect yourself financially in advance.

22 replies, none of them about where to live, apart from Mr. Canada who I believe was joking.

1 moderator reply, having remove who knows what.

Are the posters on this forum really so unhelpful?

Quite disgraceful!

I would have thought some people here would have some idea of a nice place to live.

Was it my fault, let me be more specific.

Looking to live somewhere with good Internet access, coffee bars, restaurants American and Thai.

Not too rural, where I could buy or build a house for 4-10Mbht on a few rai of land, money is not really a problem.

Could I have some serious suggestions from people who live in places like this

In my post (top) I hope I made ti clear that although I had seen the crash, the info on the death toll & company were local rumours at that point. And the previous poster is correct - there were indeed 7 injured & 1 killed.

Since my post, I have returned to Battambang from Phnom Penh - by taxi Tuesday.

En route I saw a double bus crash - one bus had rear-ended the other. Both were smashed up somewhat (smashed windscreens etc), & not going anywhere.

Tonight I went to see a friend in the Emergency Hospital in Battambang. He told me his new room-mate - admitted today - was an Italian woman who'd been injured in yet another bus smash, today, on Hwy 5. The woman is in shock so no details about deaths/injuries. But the bus apparently lost control during a rain downpour, & went off the road, & flipped onto its side at high speed.

That makes 4 bus smashes I have seen on Highway 5 in 4 days.

My NGO (Lom Orng) has now banned bus travel of any kind for our staff.

Last two bus trips I took from the Phuket area we had to take turns whacking the drivers, who were nodding off regularly at high speed.

On a third (Noparat Tours) the driver stopped the van for a 'break', & I found him going through our luggage at the back.

Think I might take my hols elsewhere in future.

The remains of a tourist bus sat in the middle of Highway 5 just south of Pursat yesterday - it had collided head-on with a fully laden truck.

This was a double-decker tourist bus, & it was smashed in to the first row of seats. Rumours are from 10 to 20 dead. I can well believe this, tho there is no confirmation of anything yet.

All reports I've heard (taxi drivers in Battambang, Pursat locals) are that this was (once again) a Paramount-Angkor Express bus.

This is the third major bus crash I've seen on Highway 5 between Battambang & Phnom Penh in a year - tho I have seen none of them reported in the media. The previous one, a few months ago, was a Sorya bus which had had a similarly horrific head-on, & had burned out entirely.

Would that be so everyone can laugh at him because he can't spell?

In my opnion any man that does this should have a tatoo across his forehead that reads "I am a child rapest".

I left Chiang Mai in 2007 because of the smoke. We were just too sick for too long. That year 200,000 people in the province were treated for smoke inhalation, & 58 died of heart attacks. I still have the photos taken from the plane as we took off from CM: the whole airport blanketed in grey-orange smoke.

I realised nothing was going to change when the governor announced that the smoke was caused by Korean barbeque restaurants, and ordered them all closed. After that he ordered the fire trucks into the streets to spray water everywhere, to moisten the air and 'bring rain'. (This somehow reminds me of Chalerm's statements that 'there are no terrorists in Bangkok' and 'everything is under complete control'.)

I still love CM & owe it a lot. But the smoke did make living there impossible. Now I'm in Cambodia, where there is much less rice-burning & consequently no smoke problem - at least in the areas I've seen.

Teaching farmers to plough the stubble back into the soil may take a little work, but as witness to many agricultural projects, I think it can be done.

The Thailand visa runs got too much for me, so I've been living in Cambodia for a few years.

You can get a one-year work visa here for under $300, & it is is very simple.

I have sometimes lived on $1,000 a month in Phnom Penh. However this doesn't account for emergencies that might have arisen - e.g. flights back home because of illness.

You can rent a clean, part-furnished apartment in PP or Battambang for $300 p month. Serviced apartments in Battambang come in at that too, or slightly under.

Captain Renault: "I am shocked - shocked! - to discover there is gambling on these premises!"

Policeman: "Here are your winnings, sir."

Renault: "Thankyou."

(Casablanca)

My guess is that this is a casino in Poipet, just over the Cambodian border, which has a mostly Thai clientele.

Khmer friends have reported going to such places - there's apparently an enclave there dedicated to Thai tourism.

Tubing at Vang Vieng involves floating down the river to a riverside bar platform, having a drink or two, then floating down to the next one. (Rpt.)

Drownings, unsurprisingly, are common.

Thought all the bowing and scraping by the assaultee was rather sad.

How is the cassava mealybug situation in Isaan, about one year after the government disseminated the predator wasp to kill it?

Thanks. My friend still has bad skin problems several months after using Amway.

Obviously the message here, for those who don't wish to incur longterm skin damage, is to avoid Amway.

When I visited a small village in Phatthalung, I met several women with severe skin problems after using Amway products. There was a guy in the village who was on commission selling it to people and different companies in the area. The product was official Amway and not some fake brand. Their skins returned back to normal after they all stopped using it within a month.

I use i Herb too. They are fast & their supps are good quality IMO. Disadvantages:

1. You have to order less than $50 (including shipping) per package as any more than that & the package will end up in some fairly remote customs place & you will have to go there & fetch it AND pay (10%?) customs duty. You can order as many packages as you like up to $50 & there won't be a problem.

2. My friend in BKK has had 38 orders from iHerb & nothing has gone wrong. The postie throws the packages over his locked gate & they sit in the courtyard till he gets home. I've had 3 or 4, & on one occasion the package landed under some junk on the porch & stayed there a week or 2 till I found it.

3. iHerb has zero customer service. If anything goes wrong with an order (happened to me once) you will never get a reply to your email, save for some emailed boilerplate gobbledygook.

I've also had iHerb orders DHL'd - more expensive but faster & probably more reliable. Also if you get it sent to Cambodia or Australia (the only 2 I've tried) & presumably some other places, you don't need to pay customs duty so everything can go in the one package. I sometimes wait till I'm travelling to one of these places before I order.

"So, what online company do you use to get your vitamins?"

iHerb.com... very reasonable prices to Thailand.

I like the idea of keeping the door locked & not answering the phone when she or any unrecognised number calls. Keep that up for a while & she'll give up.

I also like the idea of paying the security to keep her out, if a strong request doesn't work. You can also promise them a bonus if they succeed. Losing 500-1000 baht to this tactic would be worth every penny.

I don't like the idea of the shoes outside the door so much as this risks upping the ante - for example a jealous rage and/or violence on her part.

Thanks for all the responses to my post. In order:

I felt confident putting the money on the table as there was a row of tellers facing me & a security guard nearby.

I didn’t even think of the CCTV - thanks, good tip for next time.

I did not put my foot on the coin. (Had no idea this was offensive tho - another good tip, ta.)

I presumed this guy tries this trick at numerous banks because he seemed practised at it, & because he could not go back to this bank & try it again, for obvious reasons.

I couldn’t threaten him with a defamation case (or anything else) because no-one in the bank spoke English except one teller who asked me to sit down, then bolted. I don’t speak Thai, & don’t live in Thailand.

The Douglas Adams story was terrific, thanks. However this was definitely my money.

The coin was also mine - the other guy was nowhere near me when I dropped it.

I doubt if the guy was worried about the banknotes facing the wrong way, as his only phrase in English was “You - give - me - money.”

Yes, I had a receipt for the money - but I also had other money (baht) in my pocket, with which this money was now mixed up. He could have claimed that the extra money was his. So the receipt wouldn’t have helped.

This happened to me last week in a bank in the Bang Sue Tesco centre. (The bank with the purple insignias - I've forgotten their name.)

I'd just changed some USD into baht when a coin fell to the floor. So I put the baht down on a table inside the bank so I could check if I had a hole in my pocket.

After I'd put the baht back in my pocket a guy blocked my exit at the bank door & started talking loudly to me in Thai.

The security guard came over, & the guy then addressed all the tellers - pointing at me. They all looked shocked, so I assumed this wasn't good news.

The guard sat us both down in chairs. I asked one teller if she spoke English. She said yes - then fled, asking me to wait for her return.

I began eyeballing my accuser.

Nothing happened for 10 minutes. I got up & told the guard I had to leave. He told me I had to stay.

But then my accuser got up & told him something like, 'Let's forget it'. He then walked out, & I was allowed to go.

I think the guy was telling the bank staff that the money on the table was his, & that I'd pocketed it. But the long wait & me eyeballing him seem to have broken his nerve.

I'd guess that this chap tries this at many banks around BKK.

A Thai woman friend has serious face discoloration - strange brown patches, plus dozens of smaller spots - as a result of using Amway moisturiser. I just saw her again this week: she says the problem has been going for several months.

The problem was much worse a month or two ago, she said. But it looks bad enough now - it's changed her appearance radically.

She had medical attention, & the doc said just to wait - it might improve more with time.

Her pharmacist said that many Thai women had had similar problems with Amway stuff.

Anyone else had this problem?

I think Amway is mail-order stuff.

Surely the deal is that ordinary Thais, understanding realpolitik, have to embrace Thaksin & sister as the means by which they will get some say in how their country's resources are managed.

I.e. they believe there isn't another way, for now, to break the power of the kleptocracy which has ruled Thailand for generations.

Every time ordinary people have protested the kleptocracy without an alliance with a mainstream party, they've been machine gunned.

Looked at in that light, I can understand their embrace of the Shinawatras, odiferous though they may be.