MickGC

What you write as "mun" and "dam" is the same short open A in Thai. I believe it should be "man" instead? The "u" sound like "cup" in english is no way near that open A sound, more like in "Chorp" or "Chawp" as you write it. I've seen it other places, but isn't it wrong?

I'm no expert in transliteration but then again I think the Royal Thai Transliteration is terribly misleading. k for gaw gai etc.

I prefer to use a transcription rather than transliteration.

I write it like I hear it. "Chorp" is alien to me. But I say farim for "farm" when those who speak 'proper' English say 'faam'.

Actually, I'm not sure what you're talking about.

I say 'mun' for 'it'. I call it a 'closed short a' Then again I say 'man' for 'khao man gai' and the 'mun' is the same word, but obviously meaning 'oil' in the latter.

Dam is not the same vowel. Sadly it's not allowed to write Thai script here. But 'dam' has a sara ah( little circle folled by a curved line), not a sara a like 'mun' has( like a tadpole above it).

No expert either, but I think I've got a pretty good ear and a flair for systemizing things. Thing is, I'm not a native speaker, so perhaps I'm confusing american english and british english (which can both vary wildly in pronounciation). Agree about the k/g thing, when gaw gai is obviously softer than a k, and precisely like a beginning g.

When you write "mun", I assume it's as in "cup". When I write "man", I say it as "hard". "Hard" and "cup" are in my ears pronounced slightly differently, and I believe that the open A in Thai is pronounced like "hard". Therefore "man" looks more correct to me (except for those who are tempted to pronounce it with a flat A, which is perhaps why some books use "U" letter instead in order to cause less confusion.

But again, english is not my native language, and there's the differences within the spoken english language.

Americans speak Americanese, only English people speak proper English, that`s why it`s called English and not American. (only joking of course).

Many years ago when I lived in Bangkok and had not long been in Thailand, some bustard had dumped 2 puppies in a water ditch at the front of our rented house.

I waded in to rescue them and then a Thai man stopped his car, got out and said to me what sounded like, alloy, which is the Thai word for delicious. I thought he was being sarcastic and telling me to eat the puppies. I swore at him in anger and the man drove off looking totally confused.

After some years and I became more proficient with the Thai language I suddenly realised that the man had said; allie, which means, what is happening in Thai.

Another example, again back in those times. I was with my wife at a market. The old lady on the stall asked me if I could speak Thai? I should have replied; poot pasa Thai mai dai krup or pasa Thai nit noi, meaning I can’t speak Thai or only very little Thai, but instead I replied; pasa Thai mai dee, then the lady began shouting at me. My wife said to me; you fool, you have just told the lady that speaking Thai is no good, when in fact I meant, my Thai language skills are bad.

To this day I still feel embarrassed about those incidents and realise how easy it is to confuse the languages and misconstrue what someone actually means.

Easy done.

PS: we kept those adorable puppies, 2 girls and they both lived to almost 15 years.

Nice story Beetle. One act of kindness gave you 15 years of friendship. We have all had our language errors over the years. Not too many foreigners living in my town so I find the locals are still friendly. My Thai language skills are embarrassingly low but the locals still appreciate my effort. Occasional youngster takes the piss but I think that is a universal trait.

Having traveled around Thailand for the last 25 years or so I do find most problems arise in areas with large foreigner populations. That also is a universal trait. You all know what I mean. Preaching to the converted here. No different to our country of birth.

I met an elderly man on the streets of Blackpool, he didn't look happy.

Conclusion: British men in the agegroup 50-70 are bitter and twisted!

And about as Thailand related as the OP.

What a load of generic crap Before you condemn someone ...try and walk and walk a mile in their shoes. Better still try and talk with them...something that Farangs never do in Thailand. Just ignore you even when you greet them by saying good morning...or whenever. Seems like a number of Farangs in Thailand do not posess social skills or common courtesy . Maybe they have their own hang ups that they bring with them from their homelands So leave out the British men 50 - 70, !! I find that most aggressive and ignorant do not come from UK.. So guess where?

He was being sarcastic my dear chap.

"I find that most aggressive and ignorant do not come from UK.. So guess where? "

So where in your opinion do they come from?

Here in Khon Kaen I think older foreigners behave worse than younger foreigners.

I find the younger generation to be more tolerant and maybe more well travelled (in the modern world), thus they accept more easy other cultures/people.

The most shocking observation here, amazingly enough, are all the racist older (50-80 years age) foreigners I have met in Khon Kaen area.

Yes, they are always complaining about the foreigners in their home countries but forget that they are the <deleted> here. And whilst here, all they can do is moan and bitch about the people who's country they have come to live in. Go figure ....

He wai'd a motorbike taxi?

Okay, you've met one.

The best is when you see them wai'ing a go-go dancer, or door man / women in front of a go-go bar.

It's so funny, it's almost cute.

How does that make him/her a Thai apologist? More likely a tourist here on a 2 week holiday. "The best is when you see them wai'ing a go-go dancer, or door man / women in front of a go-go bar" Another Thai bashing, barstool expert me thinks.

The Laos authority appears to be working closely with local and foreign aviation experts to find the cause of this aircraft accident. Kudos to you.

Why not get out you ask?

Sold my condo...selling my car...gave away my bike and furniture...

Cleaned out my bank account...have about 3 weeks left...

I am more happy to be leaving...than I ever thought possible...

Bye bye. Don't forget to turn the lights off.

Don't care what any other poster on here thinks. I love Thailand and I love Thai people just as much as I love my home country. Over the last couple of decades I've had my ups and downs here, but no more so than where I was raised and educated. Good and bad everywhere. Some people put more emphasis on the good while others do the opposite. Invariably the others are the Thai basher's. Again I don't really care as everyone has a right to their own opinion, but it would be an interesting exercise to graph and compare the country of origin of the "basher's" on TV. Bet most of us can guess already. 555

Your advice might work or it might not. I am not sure with the current hardware.

It totally works. Did 3 PCs just recently, with lots of programs installed, using Paragon. Love that program. And they have all been running great since. One of them runs 24/7.

So I'm sure.

In your case, though, there is ONE AND ONLY ONE WAY you can be sure.

Until then, you must suffer in a state of doubt, I'm afraid. So I'm not sure what your contribution to this thread is, except perhaps to add your support to the reinstall brigade. Yes, we all know that a new reinstall works. The OP knows that already.

Sixpack is spot on. As long as you want to run the same OS on the new machine, cloning is the only way to go. I have a couple of high end laptops I use for work. Oldest one I use when travelling. After the initial cloning and re-installation of a couple of drivers (usually graphics) I have two identical machines. Then it is only a matter of using incremental backups (FreeFileSync) to keep both in sync. I use free cloning software "Macrium Reflect"

why is the girl in Jail....

seems that the "Professor" is deceiving everyone with that title.....

The girl gave a BS and then he gave money in return.... How is that a Crime?

Any other Non - Professor would laugh it out and at most give an "D" for her grades... 9 Million Baht? Past life couple? dang... someone hire her for a Marketing Gig....

Don't you think 9 million baht is a lot of money for a professor?

No, not really. Thats only about about 2 years wages for a professor back home. By the sounds of it, this fellow has been teaching for decades.

Why didn't she get bail when the likes of Sondhi and Thaksin et al all seem to get bail for everything they do wrong? She didn't offer enough in bribes to the right people?

Only post #2 and already Thaksin is at fault. Bit of a long stretch but congratulations anyway for twisting the story around and giving him a mention.

hahahaha you really expected that they will move them away for you ?

You will move first for sure, and maybe with your feet first if you keep making problems...

There is always one poster who tries to make it sound like you will be murdered for objecting at anything in Thailand.

Get a life and get real.... Its not a potential death sentence at every turn in LOS.

If you are that shit scared of Thais, I suggest you move away before you get killed for stepping on the cracks in the pavement.

Stop trying to scare everyone else.

You are right, not everybody gets the lottery, but some get $100 millions or get killed quite often. Ask the guy cut by a taxi driver sword, maybe some smart people replied him the same thing as you before...

Take your chance if you want :-)

With the monkeys around I wouldn't take a risk to argue over a rooster when it's so easy to understand that because I am the foreigner I am always wrong and that I won't change the people here...

I reckon klublex lives in the city and has no idea how things work up here in the bush. I also have fighting cocks being bred and agisted 20m from my bedroom window. Even have the fights here on every odd weekends. The boys start on the Laocao about 7:30am and are f**ked by mid afternoon. They have home and away games. Been to a few of the home games. Loads of fun. Bangkokstick is correct. Their top roosters are worth big money, both for fighting and breeding, and if you do anything to harm them you are f**ked. Just the way it is. Get used to it. It's the wild east up here.

By the way, if I'm woken by the roosters crowing at 4am I turn on some southing music and sleep like a baby.

It is possible to get a private room (hong piset) at a government hospital and the charges are quite reasonable. AFAIK you can do this even if covered by SS or the UC scheme though you'd of course have to pay the room charge out of pocket.

The big disadvantage isn't the room. It's not being able to choose your doctor, not being able to directly access a specialist, needing to get letter of referral to access a higher level of care (not so easily obtained, sometimes) etc. It is for these reasons only that I'll keep shelling out ~USD 2,000 a year to BUPA for my coverage.

The private rooms up here in the N/E cost around Bt.3500 per day. A very reasonable price. I agree you cannot choose your own doctor but there is very little choice in that matter here anyway.

Permanent residency does not entitle you to coverage, nor does being in a tabien baan etc. (However you would be eligible ofr a special pay-in scheme for foireigners if this is in fact up and running).

Over the years, here and there a few foreigners have mistakenly been issued UC cards by local hospitals. It gets caught out if and when they need to be referred to a higher level of care.

Very true Sheryl. Just this past week a good friend of mine up my way spent 8 days in the local hospital due to a bad skin infection. Thought he was covered by by a card they were handing out to foreigners on retirement visas over the last couple of years. Maximum bill supposedly Bt.30 just like the locals. He had used before for checkups and meds without a problem. This time was told the card no longer covers him and had to pay the walk-up price of approx. Bt.1200 per day. Still very cheap by western standards but stuck in a public ward with all the other punters. Not a pretty sight at times.

I reckon Swampy is a great airport. Been through there dozens of times without a problem. The toilets have always been clean. Half the time there is a cleaning lady working away inside while I've been taking a p*ss. For Bt1500 you can use the VIP express service to get you through customs etc. if you are so inclined. Some people just like to whine ....

Anything that stops the taxi bandits at

the airport cheating more dosh is okay with me.

Oh get a grip and stand in line at the public taxi desk outside the airport <deleted>. You new here?

Couldn't agree more. How do they cheat? If they request a set fare, politely ask them to turn the meter on. BKK taxis would have to be close to the cheapest in the world. Mostly newer ones at the airport also

There are so many expert Hydrologists here on Thai Visa I'm surprised there is any problem at all. You should start a company and contract your services out to the Thai government. After all, you are all experts on the subject and assume there are no competent local engineers. I'm sure they would love to hear your expert input in regards to this matter.

Sorry... But the same government won't allow us to work here, they can handle it on their own with Thai engineers.

They are doing a great job. We will just sit back and discuss where they are going wrong instead.

Then again. I don't think a discussion largely based on the failings of the people in charge of the country, and their false propaganda which can end up being potentially lethal to their citizens by attempting to convince them that everything is fine while a very dangerous and possibly deadly situation is bearing down on them can be construed as TV members being hydrologist experts.

Your spin on this discussion is excruciatingly banal. Do you have to twist this so you feel comfortable posting in your usual apologist way?

Let me guess..... You have been here 3 months?

Wind back the throttle a little or you'll blow a gasket. Bangkok's drainage problems have been common knowledge for decades. Built on a flood plain at the end of a huge catchment area, massive population increase, land is sinking, oceans rising, clongs filled in etc, etc. Successive governments are guilty of neglect, not just this one.

Oh, and in respect to your last sentence, multiply that figure by a factor of 90 and you will be going close.

There are so many expert Hydrologists here on Thai Visa I'm surprised there is any problem at all. You should start a company and contract your services out to the Thai government. After all, you are all experts on the subject and assume there are no competent local engineers. I'm sure they would love to hear your expert input in regards to this matter.

Most of Bangkok will be flood-free despite 2 approaching storms,National Disaster Warning Center assured /The Nation

Pathetic in the eye of the storm...

Why can't they be open and honest and issue warnings to all the areas that ARE going to flood. Maybe then they can prevent deaths of little girls. Rather than constantly try to bullshit people that everything is cool.

Floods kill people and animals.... wake up and start moving people out instead of living in denial.

What a stupidly pathetic excuse for a government.

They should be tied to lamp posts in the areas they say won't flood.

Why don't you tell us what you really think?

Best is to come to an understanding with the bank. They might offer him a substansial reduction if he pays back in once.

In case of debts, the court can be ask for an order that the person doesn't leave the country.

Is this a fact or are you just speculating? I do not know about Thailand but in most countries credit card debt is a civil matter, not a criminal one. The only order issued by the court would be one of contempt tocourt in case the bank sues and the defentant fails to appear. Generally, all the bank can do is seize and garnish. The defendant can just appear in courtand non-chalantly just adduce he has no money. Only case with criminal implications would be if the court finds that defendant incurred the debt with the intent to defraud, which puts the burden of proof on the State. I don't see why Thailand would be differentbut correct me if I am wrong

Think you are spot on Braddockrd. A speculator. Bet any money you like the OP is from that Island just to the west of France. Have met so many guys from there who arrived here with the intention of retiring on their maxed out UK credit cards and having no intention of ever paying the money back. Maybe just checking to see if it's possible to do the same scam on the return journey.

Me thinks that most of the posters here who are against the wearing of shorts in public come from that Island just to the west of France where the temperature seldom rises above 20C.

How irrelevant the initial post seems,I will have an avid intrest in the people who contributed to this post

Half of the fellas I recon are the failed school teachers,and the people who bought a cheap 18 year old dolly bird

I found a wife who was not the best looking girl in the bar and counts her blessings she met an idiot felang like me

But together we have built a good life,

And I am so insecure to say that we have a pot full money,,maybe that's why she loves me? Or it could be devilishly good looks ,and an insanely hypnotic personality

So as my credibility is near zero ,,,,you will be hearing a lot more of jimbobs1

Where do you guys all find the 18 year old dolly birds. They don't give me a second glance anymore!!! That really pisses me off.....

Mind you at 52 I really cant expect that....

or maybe I am just too modest.. Anyway.... time for bed all of you... you have skool in the morning, or 18 year old dolly birds in the nest...

Pattaya ,1000b a day/night BARGAIN

You can take the man out of Pattaya, but you cannot take Pattaya out of the man. So you're a civil engineer. Met plenty of those in the bars over here. Also heaps of CIA agents and SAS commandos.

It's part of the Bangkok vibe. One of the reasons we love the place. Street food, motosai taxis, street vendors etc. Would hate BKK to end up a sterile western style city. Isn't that one of the reasons we moved over here. Get away from all the bulls**t regulations. Had a restaurant back home so have some knowledge on the subject.

Down in BKK this week as brother and sister over here for short holiday. We were talking to this guy next door at the Beergarden on Soi 19. He invited himself over. Ok with me but he was high as a kite. Was giving us the usual broken heart sob story when I said we're out of here. Went to Big Mama's for a feed. When we got back Soi 19 was shut down to cars for a couple of hours. That was good. Had a quiet beer. Big crowd gathered to watch him jump. They were disappointed in the end. Rescue squad inflated a huge balloon mattress in the Honey Hotel entrance. Another entertaining night in Bangers.

Neo. You have completely missed the real Thai experience. Not much interaction with real Thai people. You will not meet them at 4/5 star hotels. 99% of Thais have never had your 5 star experience and cannot relate to your complaints. I can afford to replicate your itinerary but if I did I'd be bored sh*tless. Thais are a crazy bunch of nutter's but I still luv em. I should know, been married to one for 25 years. Don't get that for murder.

What kind of motorbike was he driving since he could be thrown 50 meters from impact..

Any kind of bike. It's a complex calculation with lots of variables, but a throw of 50m after colliding with a stationary object implies a speed in the region of 65 klm/h at impact. Not really that fast.

your kidding right, 65k crash equals 50mt throw as you Put it, Perhaps you could outline your calculations, this idiot was cruising to say the least to be thrown 50m

Here's a link with the calculations - fill your boots. http://www.tarorigin.com/art/Arich/

Throw plus slide, particularly in the wet, would be around 50m at approximately 65klm/h if hitting a stationary object head on, subject to the variables in the equation. I've high-sided at slow speeds like that and wound up more than 50M from launch point. Also wound up a lot closer due to different circumstances.

Anyway, we don't have enough information to confirm his speed. He may have hit the trailer a glancing blow, maybe he got the brakes on before impact.....too many unknowns.

I was going ok with the explanation in this article until I got to this bit