neilrob

here's another update from the one dated back in january. since then, my bf decided he needed to earn more money for his family, and its always about the family, got a job in the UK making some decent money. i spent i few days with him in may and had a great time in london. i decided not to move later this year and instead put that decision off until late 2008. i need more time in thailand and not just the 2 or 3 week vacation types, but rather this year i'll spend 2 months there. that'll be my 4th visit to thailand. we'll both be together those 2 months and hopefully explore more of thailand. he'll go back to the UK early next year and work through 2008. i find it very interesting that he wants to pay off his family debt by himself, even though the amount isn't much and i was more than willing to loan it, so that we can live together somewhere in thailand without worrying about his families debt. it's not going to be easy living apart next year, but in the end i'm sure it'll all be worth it.

This development must have been disappointing for you. However, the fact that your b/f is determined to deal with family finances by himself is really a positive, particularly in view of the financial component that forms part of many relationships here (not that there is anything wrong with the latter such relationships, provided you go in with your eyes open). Your b/f sounds like someone to be treasured. You might consider Chiang Mai as a possible location to settle. It is more livable than Bangkok, yet has the advantages of a sizeable city, where your b/f may be able to continue his career at a suitable level. It also has an active gay farang population, so you'd have no problem finding farang friends and support. Good luck to you both, Neil

I've done a couple of the 6 week courses at AUA which were great starters, but heard something about a 6-month 20-40 hour a week intensive course at Payap (or something like that)

Does anyone know about that - or any other longer term course with lots of hours a week in CM ?

Cheers for any info,

WoZ

Oh, also if anyone knows any other ways to learn [other than by speaking to a thai person (which is good practice of what you already know, but difficult to actually learn new stuff). chime in please.

Payap has a good series of courses on paper, but not in actuality. The individual courses are good (I took the intermediate course there and found it useful and enjoyable).The problem is that, while they often have enough students for the beginner course, and maybe for the intermediate course, they rarely or never go beyond this. I waited months for them to put on the next course in the series, until it became obvious this wasn't going to happen, and I went elsewhere (one-on-one tuition at EFL, which I can recommend---send me a message if you want more info). Good luck with your studies, Neil

contrary to the views of the third poster.

Neil

You are the third poster.

Never eaten at the place, but I always get suspicious when a few highly negative posts about some business suddenly appear for no particular reason.

If you don't like the food or service, go somewhere else. There are only a few places in Pattaya I would bother eating. They're Thai restaurants frequently primarily by Thais and not designed to attract tourists. Boyztown would not be my first choice for good food, reasonable prices or anything more than a tourist scam anyway.

I was not the third poster. There was previously a third post ranting at the first two in a rather wild way. I was simply refuting the wild allegations there. I assume the third post was removed by the poster or by the moderators (and I can understand why). In addition to missing this post, you seem to have missed the point. This restaurant used to be excellent (not all restaurants in Boyztown are bad, no matter what you may think). It is still well advertised, but is now far from excellent. There is nothing "suspicious" about this thread---I don't know any of the posters from Adam. Since you (admittedly) have no knowledge of it, what do you think, maybe your ignorance means you should not post on the subject.

As for the cold on the bus, I always take a ski hat for the ride and pull it down over my eyes to go to sleep -so it's dual function.

And as for the 500 b or $10 US this is a HUGE SCAM!!! With dollars trading at 30-33b each, that means these guys make 170-200 b graft for every single one of us!! Can you imagine the tons of dough lining their pockets??!!! That's almost double what the actual price is, and they know most of us won't have US currency on us, so we will pay the baht price.

But they don't know me! I either keep about $60 US set aside for border runs n shopping, or make sure to hit a bank and get a couple $10's the week b4 I do a run. I am way self satisfied to pay exactly the price I'm supposed to be paying - 10 bucks, baby - and then use the money I save $$ to go buy 3 more dvd's for myself instead.

Seriously, an extra 200b/ head x how many ppl /day ? Like 500 ppl ? 1000 ppl ? 200,000 baht/ day graft?!! I want that job! It must make you so rich in Burma. So Stinking rich......

The guy looked really annoyed when I handed over ten dollars in response to his request for 500 baht. I'm sure you're right that he's skimming the difference. Neil

MyPenRye asks a couple of things. I think Expedia is one of several western websites that doesn't issue tickets if you're abroad. There haven't been any reports of asking for onward tickets at Mae Sai that I know of. There were some requests/demands for showing the ten or twenty thousand baht, in the past. As for air con on the VIP bus, that is the first such bus I've heard of in Thailand. I took the VIP bus to BKK last month, and it never got cold, usually was hot and sweaty. That's one of two reasons I didn't even try coming back yesterday, on a bus, when I landed at Suvanaphum.

Thanks for all the good advice from several posters on this topic. I did a run to Mae Sai yesterday and took the VIP bus and songtaews as advised here. It was much more comfortable, faster, cheaper and I think safer than using a visa run service. My only possible complaint would be the a/c, which was set too cold as others have referred to. However, by closing vents I was comfortable. Without the advice here I would have had a much less pleasant day. Neil

My (not very recent because I certainly would not go there again) experience is similar to the first two posters. A number of years ago it was good, but the last two times I went there, it was first mediocre then terrible. Based on my experience, I think the posts are fair comment, contrary to the views of the third poster.

Neil

I'll be there---thanks for the invite

Neil

Replying to Pauleddy, and following up a bit on what Scott says, my experience is that even strong relationships go through really rocky periods. The only way to have a relationship which endures is to push though such periods to the other side. The question for any given relationship is, of course, whether there is another side worth getting to, or if it just gets worse. From what Pauleddy says, and since he asks for advice, I suggest he gives it a few more months. If, after say three or four months, his doubts are just as strong, or stronger, then they should split. If there are signs of improvement in the way he feels, then push on through. During this period, he should work on the langage thing, particularly by asking his BF to help him learn Thai. Don't overdo it, or expect to be much better at the language after a few months, but it will help to have it as a shared project.

Best of luck, Neil

My husband and I lived in Chiang Mai for over one year and have patronized many food establishments. The Riverside Restaurant is a "Farang" paradise. You will not see one local Thai person in this restaurant. Good reason!! We too are Farangs but live here permanently. We ordered 2 cheeseburgers. When receiving our food (burgers) it was so big we could hardly believe it as in Thailand (as we know we live here) beef is rare. After taking our first bite, I had to spit it out. What ever they put in it put filler in it was horrible. I would recommend "Mike's Hamburgers" in Chiang Mai to anyone. This was totally repulsive. I brought all of the two hamburgers home less 2 bites to our cat. I asked for the manager and he reassured us that it was all beef with a few spices. No dice!! I advice anyone not to go to the Riverside Restaurant in Chiang Mai, nice view but that is what you pay for. There are many wonderful restaurants. Watch the locals and follow them as that is where the good food is!!!!!!!!!!!

This is such a ridiculous post that I can only assume that it is a fake---it reads like the OP has never been there. Riverside is not a great restuarant but it is a good one, and with a excellent location. I have found the food surprisingly good, and I have certainly seen many, many Thais there. Since the OP put their (fake?) message into the title of the post, there should be a case for the moderators to edit the title. Otherwise, people browsing the forum may see that only and not read the responses (all of which appear to defend the Riverside) and thus get the wrong impression.

Moderators please consider editing the title of the post.

Thanks, Neil

Hey guys

Im wanting to start playing some tennis maybe once a week. I am 24 from Aus. Would be keen to play with anyone in evenings. Not sure about process on getting a court and if you can rent racket at CMU. Im not great at tennis. I can get the ball back most times.

We play at CMU Weds, Sat & Sun mornings, usually starting at 8:30. You (and other tennis players reading this) would be welcome to join us. Send me a message. Neil

Thanks for the comments, Patrick and Gary. It sounds like I should avoid these auctions---a pity because they do seem to have some interesting cars sometimes. However, it is difficult to drive with a knife sticking in your back! Neil

Today, Katha have no horoscopes and instead have information related to previous auctions on their web site, which is at least some advance. Nothing for upcoming auctions, but maybe they will nearer the time. Neil

Try this. http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/Conta...nuNme=ContactUs

Yes, I previously tried sending them an e-mail. No answer yet, but if I hear anything, I'll post it. My previous experience with sending e-mail questions to Customs is they simply ignore them and just don't reply, so I don't have much hope.

I would be very interested in hearing from someone who has bought from such an auction---they seem quite frequent. Questions which come to mind include are such vehicles, once bought from the Thai government, actually eligible for registration here? Logically, one might think so, but I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is no. If the car was seized for, eg. non-payment of import duty, is the buyer still on the hook for the duty, or is that wiped clean by the seizure?

Any info gratefully received, Neil

Periodically I see in The Nation a notice of a Thai Customs Dept. auction of seized cars, illustrated with some potentially interesting photos (although I doubt these are photos of actual cars for sale). Today there is a notice of an auction on 18 July of 123 cars. The notice gives a couple of web addresses for more information. One is the Customs address, which appears to contain nothing about such auctions. The other is a company called Katha Communication. Their web site only has horoscopes (in Thai). Maybe you are supposed to be psychic to find out what is for sale! I cannot physically go to the Customs Dept, because I do not live in Bangkok (if there were anything of real interest on offer, I would come to Bangkok, but not just on the off chance). Does anyone know anything about these auctions, such as how to find out what is for sale, bidding arrangements etc? Thanks for any info, Neil

Congrats to you, though, NeilRob. Nice to hear of a gay couple happily settling in the U.S. I don't have the option of taking my Thai partner there or I would. Instead .. we have to go to Canada.

What makes you think we happily settled in the US? We enjoyed our many years there, but neither of us has any wish to remain in America. We are living in Thailand. But thanks for the congrats.

Neil

U.S. natural born citizens who gain citizenship to another country won't have a problem with the U.S.

But U.S. naturalized citizens can be a problem - because when they take the oath, they have to swear that they renounce their previous citizenship.

So it can be a problem .. depending on where you started and where you want to go.

Also, some countries don't won't recognize your new citizenship even if you've renounced the old one. Iran is a case in point.

I have direct experience of this. I am a UK citizen who became a naturalized US citizen also, 20 years ago. My partner is a Thai citizen who also became a naturalized US citizen many years ago. Both of us have (and use when convenient) two passports. The US Supreme Court ruled in the 60s that the old US laws against dual citizens cannot be enforced. (But special rules apply to ownership of very large media companies---presumably that is why Murdoch did what he did---presumably also the OP's partner does not intend to take over the NY Times!) Neither I nor my partner have ever had any problems whatsoever when entering or leaving the US, many, many times. It is not a problem at all, so go ahead and get US citizenship. I wish I could get Thai citizenship as easily. Neil

Did you do the walk yesterday, cm-happy? I walked it---it was an interesting experience, but tiring towards the end. I was the oldest person doing the walk whom I saw (but there were huge numbers of people, so maybe I missed some 90 year olds walking up!). Most people were less than half my age (60). hope you enjoyed the trek.

Neil

Hi,

I'm trying to get a return flight from BKK to LHR for my Thai girlfriend in July. she'd like to fly with Thai but the problem is its £750 when booked from there web-site, plus I can't book it with my credit card as the cardholder needs to go on the flight as well. She doesn't have enough cash in her bank to book it herself.

The cheapest direct flight I've found so far is with BA, 200 quid cheaper than Thai, does anyone know if BA have staff that speak Thai on these flights ?

Any other suggestions ?

Cheers

Lee

When I lived in the US, I was used to the fact that the cheapest fare would be that found on the airline website. My experience with Thai is the opposite---you get the cheapest fare by going to their office. This does not make sense to me, but I have found it more than once. I don't know if this is helpful, but you might try contacting a Thai office, if there is one convenient, to see what fare they offer.

Neil

To come back to the original point, I, for one, make absolutely no apology for being glad at Falwell's death. It would be pure hypocrisy to regret the death of such a poisonous person. I can think of others whom the world would be better off without, Robert Mugabe for example. Nor would I extend my sympathies to his friends and family, who have made out like bandits (literally) on the back of his rape of Zimbabwe and the deaths of so many of its people. I am not suggesting that Falwell was in Mugabe's league, but simply using Mugabe as an example to argue against the mealy-mouthed idea that one should not wish anyone dead---he richly deserves death.

On the separation of church and state in the US, I believe that Jefferson and other founding fathers were influenced to prohibit the establishment of a state religion by the example of Britain and other European states. The problem was not religious fanatics, but the effect of an established religion on public life. In Britain, parliament and the monarch were subject to religious tests, with the result that most significant public offices were restricted to protestants. Even worse, religious differences had contributed to much repression and a number of civil wars, very recently as far as Jefferson was concerned, eg. the mid 1700s battles between the catholic Stewarts and their protestant descendants on the throne.

Having spent about 25 years in each country, the US and the UK, I am struck by the the current contrast. In Britain, still nominally with an established religion, the effect of religion on government is almost nil. As has been said, Britain is a post-religious society (with the notable exception of some Muslim immigrants). In the US, on the other hand, without an established religion, christianity, or rather an odd fundamentalist strain of it, has a marked effect on public policy. Ironic.

Neil

Another homophobe dies - good riddance! (my comment) - Peter

I agree---the world is a little better off today in the absence of such a poisonous person.

Neil

There's two types of education: formal and informal. While I believe education is the future of any country - particularly in Thailand's case, I know of a lot of people who learnt a lot about life from those around them.

Nop only attended formal schooling until he was 14 years of age. The next 5 years were spent in Bangkok and Pattaya. He picked up English rapidly - along with some German. He has a photographic memory - which is sometimes not a good thing. He can recall what I said years ago.

Finding the right guy in Thailand isn't easy. I was very lucky. I will be the first to admit that. The odds were definitely stacked against me.

I am 53; Nop turns 23 in August this year. In many ways he is still a teenager - he likes reading Thai comic books, singing along to Thai songs on TV. The world for him starts and ends in Thailand.

I was afraid that he would be bored in Australia - but he has found a couple of Thai people here - so he gets to speak Thai and eat Issan food a few days a week.

We visited a local wildlife park yesterday and he got to pat and hand-feed some kangaroos.

He is a caring person - caring for me and his family.

I will keep you posted with our attempts to gain a student visa, a working visa or an interdependency visa in the near future.

Peter

When I first visited a bar in Thailand, I expected all the people there to be rather hardened and very commercial. I continue to be very pleasantly surprised over the years as to the number of nice (in all senses of the word) boys there are in commercial establishments. It sounds like you were lucky enough to meet one of the nicest.

Thanks for the heartwarming story.

Neil

After 4 years of living here and the odd leson or two I think its about time I got off my ass and learnt to speak Thai properly.

Although She has not said as much I am sure my Wife would appreciate it if I fought my own battles instead of relaying everything though her.

So can anyone recommend anyone who does one 2 one teaching...preferably at my home, but that is not set in stone.

Thank you in advance

TP

Thai Pauly, I did the full set of courses at Payap (or as we use to call it Pay UP). I then continued with their full time course which was part of their post grad program. I have had classes with all their teachers but most with Ajaan Ray and Ajaan Noi. All of their staff are post grad qualified in teaching Thai either from CMU or Bangkok (Chulla). There are advantages and disadvantages to group and single teaching. In my opinion you benefit best from a combination of both, the group for getting the basics and then a set of 1-1 sessions to really hammer out any problems. I found the 1-1 sessions very usefull and did a series between classes with Ajaan Ray at her home. The work load is much higher than in group and I found that after an hour my ability to assimilate the material dropped off dramatically. Also she gave me a lot of home work to do.

Other that that you can tell your partner to stop speaking to you in English or be like me and get one who can't speak any English and see how quickly you learn. Harder and more frustrating but works.

Good luck with the classes and have fun

CB

I enjoyed the course at Payap. The only, and it is a significant one, problem with Payap is that they rarely have enough students to run an upper level class. I took the intermediate course and waited months for the next, until I finally gave up. It is easy for them to find students for lower level courses, but these students tend not to continue on and they will not run a class without at least six students.

I am currently taking an advanced spoken Thai (but not very advanced) small group class at EFL. The teacher, Ajaan Ying, is very good. If you might be interested in joining the class, go along and try it. The school is near the Nakornping bridge, right opposite the entrance to Prince Royal's College.

Neil

I'm planning to move to Phuket in about two years. I have two small dogs. Does Customs quarantine dogs and for how long? Thank you.

It probably depends some on where the dogs are coming from. In general however, the answer is no quarantine if you have the right certificates. We brought a dog over from America last year, without her being quarantined. You can find the requirements on the Customs website. We also used an attorney to help smooth the process, but this wasn't really necessary.

Good luck, Neil

I like the Chateau de Loei red. It takes a bit of fiddling to get it at the right temp though (in the fridge, out for a few mins, pour, back in the fridge, drink, etc).

But what I don't get is why they have to big up the perceived value and price it so highly

And the Shiraz at 700 baht

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Chateau de Loei is clearly overpriced. Domestic wines do pay a tax of 200%, while imports pay 410%, so they still should be less expensive. Of course Thai wine production is lower so I suppose you could blame economy of scale.

Still you can get a bottle of Monsoon Valley Shiraz Private Reserve for around 400B if you shop around, and it's substantially better than C de L in my opinion. I've found a place in Chiang Mai that gives me a case price of 390B per bottle.

The Gran Monte Shiraz is also quite good, and the Shala One not too bad either.

In Mae Sai you can buy untaxed Thai and international wines. Shala One in Mae Sai, for example, costs only 200B.

Re Monsoon Valley's Shiraz PR, try to get the 2003 rather than the 2004 if you can. The 03 i really impressive, the 04 just so-so.