Robroy

You might consider a career in journalism, zorro1 - your observational powers are freakish.

Although its a very sad article it is about cambodia and not Thailand

Hence why it is in the southeast Asia forum....

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/world/asia/floods-in-cambodia-affect-more-than-a-million.html?ref=global-home

]Relief Is Slow to Reach Cambodia Flood Victims

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia — The high water is devastating even for a country inured to monsoon rains and waterlogged rice fields: wide swaths of Cambodia’s countryside have become giant lakes, with villagers and livestock marooned on scattered patches of dry land.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/nov/01/cambodia-floods-disease-toll?intcmp=122

John Macgregor, an aid worker who has been accompanying teams delivering food and water to Battambang, described the area as a vast inland sea where conditions are dire and malnutrition is common.

"Diseases are becoming more common and yesterday our doctors diagnosed the first cases of cholera. People are sleeping in extended family groups on rush mats which sit on the mud, under strips of clear plastic. Ducks, chickens, dogs and cats are often in there with people - a factor in the mounting disease toll," said Macgregor, communications director of Cambodian War Amputees Rehabilitation Society (CWARS) from Phom Penh, the Cambodian capital.

Can't say I'm shocked.

The last two tour buses I've taken in Phuket were driven by drivers who kept falling asleep at the wheel, at high speeds.

In both cases we had to station someone right behind the driver to wake him when he nodded off.

I'm working with my NGO (CWARS) in Battambang province, northern Cambodia, delivering food & fresh water to 4 communes cut off or entirely submerged by the floods.

We have to travel for an hour by powerboat (or yesterday 23 powerboats) to reach them - crossing by water 20+ kilometers of what was formerly land. Much of Battambang is now a vast inland sea.

Lots of kids are going down with water-borne diseases - about 1 in 3. Today a team doing a delivery at Ta Phon commune reported 60 kids with severe diarrhea. (He thought it looked like cholera, but we'll have to wait till our medical teams get there next week for a proper diagnosis.)

Almost no media attention though.

Can't doubt the seriousness of the Bangkok situation, but it would be nice if media also gave some time to the (almost unreported) disaster in Cambodia.

Here hundreds have died, & 250,000 are homeless, & without aid to date.

Have been delivering aid to flooded villages, where residents are living on tiny strips of land under sheets of plastic. About 1 in 3 kids I saw have come down with water-borne diseases.

Yesterday in Battambang province we went by powerboat across what is normally land, & did not see anything above the waterline for 20 kilometers, other than roofs & treetops.

Walen School - what we do works!

Walen School - try first buy later.

Walen School - we know how to teach, test us

Best not to talk in copy, old chap - people will think you're a dork (or, worse, have a background in advertising).

This is an Internet discussion forum, not a billboard over a freeway.

Also, there's punctuation missing in two of the above three quotes.

Panic.

Centre: No need to panic

The Phnom Penh Post Office loses parcels on the way into the country.

What about posting them out of the country? Particularly using the EMS service?

Has anyone had experience?

Thanks.

Yes, Cambodia is far easier with visa rules than Thailand. (I can't contemplate living in Thailand any more - just too many rules & hoops to jump thru.)

Just remember Cambodia is poorer, & has less amenities, & higher crime.

I got my last Cambodian 1-year business visa at the airport on arrival: handed an Immigration colonel ~$250 in cash (no receipt), & left him my passport & photo. He personally delivered the passport & visa to my home next day.

I have to send a few household goods from Vientiane to Phnom Penh next month - 5 boxes + 1 bicycle.Can anyone suggest the cheapest & easiest way? (The bus has a limit of 2 boxes, they say.)Thanks...

On the other hand mercury is the most toxic non-radioactive element on earth.

Every time you replace a filling it halves the life of the tooth.

It usually does more harm than good.

Take something warm as the aircon is freezing and also some food- as another poster advised-its expensive on board

Yes, I found the a/c colder this recent trip too. (No problem before.)

The big thing I forgot is the change racket by the catering staff. You are always short-changed, & big denominations or money other than baht will make it worse.

Keep careful track of menu prices & what you consume. better still, bring your own food, beer, etc.

The two Franks were expats who travelled a lot for work, & who ran into each other in a Bangkok bar. Coincidentally they were both ex-British policemen. The story was told to me by a CM journalist who knew one of them.

At the end of the longish evening, Frank 1 said, "So are you married?"

"Sure," said Frank 2. He pulled out a photo of his wife standing in front of the home he'd recently bought her.

Frank 1's jaw dropped: "That's my wife," he said. "That's my house."

(Needless to say both had 'paid for' the house, and both marriages immediately ended.)

Count yourselves lucky.

I live in Vientiane, & my maid put the rubbish in the washing up rack.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll follow up the water companies.

No, I didn't want the old ceramic drip filter type - just a ceramic base to hold a bottle: real simple. (And I guess it doesn't really have to be ceramic, tho they usually are.)

Where in BKK can I buy a ceramic water dispenser?

Don't want a refrigerated one; don't want a 'tipper'.

Kindly only respond if you know for sure - not "Why don't you try...?" - as I have already spent a lot of time at Big C, HomePro, Robinson's, Esplanade, Tesco, etc.

Thanking you.

I bought a white MacBook 3 months ago (Intel CoreDuo, 2.4GHz, 2GB memory). It has a few problems. I have asked my Mac dealer here in Vientiane (Lada) about the below, but they don't know any answers. That's why I've come here.

No need to tackle the whole list - but kindly respond to any questions you happen to know answers to:

1. The touchpad isn’t nearly as sensitive as my old titanium MacBook. Half the time double tapping on it doesn’t open a file.

2. The computer turns itself off sometimes when I carry it home (has plenty of battery). Could this be because of the bumpy road I travel on on my bicycle? (I notice something called 'Sudden Motion Detector' is enabled, tho there's no info on how to disable it.)

3. The computer shuts itself down when the battery runs out. This sometimes happens after I have opened 20 or 30 webpages I want to look at that evening - which means I have to restart & thus lose those pages. (I have no Internet at home.) How can I get the MacBook going again (i.e. open it on the webpages I left there), after plugging it into power, without an actual restart?

4. The last 2 or 3 times I’ve brought my MacBook home in my backpack, when I took it out it was very hot & the fan was running fast. It did not wake from ‘sleep’ when I opened the lid. How can I prevent this?

(Note: my energy preferences are set to ‘Computer sleep: Never’ and ‘Display sleep: Never’ - because if not, the machine was in the habit of going into sleep mode whenever I shut the lid for more than a few minutes - & I couldn’t wake it again.)

5. The machine runs much slower than my old one. It can take 30 seconds to open a Pages doc; or a webpage. Any way I can speed it up?

6. The trackpad gets damp or sticky, then cursor gets stuck on one doc & drags it everywhere.

7. In terms of security & safety of the information, is there any difference between storing files on the Desktop & storing them in the Mac’s Documents folder?

8. I’m not that computer-literare, but am interested in the Firewall. However I can’t understand any of the websites on it I’ve read. (There is IMO a perennial problem of computer advice using specialist terms that laypeople don't know.) Is there a simple explanation of Firewall anywhere, where non-technical language is used?

Thanks!

Having lived 3 years each in Thailand & Cambodia, I thought PhuketRichard's post was bang on.

The visa thing in Cambodia is SUCH a relief after Thailand.

On the other hand I get food poisoning more often in Cambodia, & the high crime worries me. But both those things can be circumvented, with a bit of work.

I board at Bang Sue at the northern end of Bangkok, & have never had a problem. The train stops, & I get on.

The sleeper facilities are basic but good enough. I always enjoy the trip.

I was told the a/c was too cold, but haven't found this.

The ladyboy catering crew are fun.

But the food is beyond bad (& expensive): if I had one piece of advice it would be to pack yourself any meals you might be wanting.

Out of curiosity, how do you buy a vote?

In the West you go into a polling booth & no-one can see what you write on that card. Your name isn't on it either.

You then put the card into the ballot box with thousands of others, so there's no way of knowing which one's yours.

You forgot to mention that the world is in fact being controlled by a race of giant lizards.

For the sake of accuracy:

Giant lizards from the planet Draco, who have merged their DNA into that of the Bush family.

(I'd hate to think that TV readers were not getting the Whole Truth.)

You can jog along the riverside. Construction is still in progress, but there are plenty of clear paths for jogging.

Jogging around Putuxay park is popular in the evenings, tho you have traffic all round - you're not actually jogging IN a park.

There are no ovals or parks in the Western sense.

Lots of common sense here - in that the Thai elite has kept power & resources for themselves for a very long time, & that a big change has to come if the country is to prgress.

I would like to see a red Shirt person separate out the fact of Thaksin Shinawatra from this equation however.

Needed though reform is, surely it cannot be associated with someone as corrupt & murderous as Mr Thaksin.

"Karon Municipality chief administrator Weerasak Anakewongsawad told the hearing that the discharge in Kata, near the Kata Beach Resort, was not the result of illegal discharge by hotels, as alleged in the German documentary. Rather, it was the result of a lengthy power cut at a nearby sewage treatment substation that left operators no choice but to release the untreated water into the sea."

They must have been having that same power cut when I was at that beach 4 years ago. (Sewage pouring into the water from that hotel.) That's a long power cut.