llso

I have been calling every number in my wife's village for the last 24 hours (Lower Issan) Mother, Sister, Brother, Aunt ,Uncle, etc. She is convinced that I am the problem.I am getting busy signal or number cannot be recognized. I tried to explain to her the situation with the mobile phones, but Thailand cannot possibly have a problem. Anyone else experiencing the same?

LL

Have to agree, Was at Wife's village in Issan last year and her nieces and nephews have all grown up and are quite tall. I commented on it as they are taller than their parents. As others have noted it is due to beter diet and nutrition. Certainly better than the meager food my wife and her siblings had growing up,

LL

Not sure where to post this. I lived in Thailand and thought I knew a lot about Thai Culture and Buddhism. My wife's sister #1 son who is around 13 years old has the shaved head with the Topknot. They live in a rural village in Issan. Apparently this was done when he was very young and sick and is a practice to ward of evil spirits or something. My understanding is he has taken on the spirit of an ancient ancestor or warrior. I have seen this on other children and even some young adults. My wife told me that she offered to do the Tamboon (merit making ) when the time came to remove the topknot and I'm guessing the spell. It's like something you knew was coming but didn't really think about it Well we got the phone call and we are expected to be there on JAN 5th (the auspicious date selected) to remove the spell and Pay,

My question to the esteemed and knowledgeable TV members. Can anyone explain this practice to me?

Thanks in advance,

LL

I gues they mean business this time!

LL

This post reminds me of an experience I had in Farangland many years ago. I had been seeing this girl for a while and things were serious. I began to have suspicions that she was fooling around and confronted her. She asked me how can you be so sure I'm fooling around? I replied "Because I am not stupid enough to think that you are not". Needless to say she had been fooling around behind my back.

LL

Nothing new, Have always went to Bank before trip to Thailand and ordered crisp new USD Bills,

LL

When I saw the title of this topic I knew that it was going to be a very hot topic. Having lived in Thailand for 7 years,although having been gone now for quite some time this subject was one of the many that fascinated me. I refer to it a the "Irrefutable Thai Logic". When you first begin to experience it it is quite amazing. I used to have a lot more examples but two that come to mind was when a Farang was involved in a traffic accident where the Thai was clearly in the wrong . It was determined that the Farang must pay because if he had never came to Thailand the accident would not have occurred.

Another time there was some sort of contest at a hotel bar where tickets were given out with numbers . A Thai girl I knew was leaving and said here you can have mine. Later that night I won , her friends called her and told her that I had won. The next day she saw me and demanded I give her the prize because she had given me her tickets. there was no way to know who's ticket had won but she was convinced that I was cheating her and her friends all supported her position. I scoffed at first on principle that if she had wanted to win a prize she should have stayed. Being the bigger man and to avoid any ongoing conflicts I gave her the prize which was a free night at the hotel or something.

There are other examples but I think you get the point. I even experience this with my Lovely Thai wife of 14 years.

The Bottom line is that their point of view or Thai logic as it seems is the one that supports whatever is favorable for them!

LL

A friends wife has an opportunity to buy a 15 rai of developed rubber trees in Surat Thani. What would be an average price for this. Thanks in advance,

LL

OOps, I tried to delete my duplicate post. My Internet connection booged down. But The OLd Git locked me out before I could delete it.

Hope I haven't opened a can of worms here. I really had no Idea that this idea had been resurected. I guess they figire it wa so long ago that most Falangs would have either forgot about it or never heard of it. Seems to me thay are looking for ways to boost revenue.. For instance the 500 Baht fee for medical costs that will collect about ten times or more the actual cost. Oh well as they used to say "TIT"

LL

Was talking with a friend the other day and was reminiscing of my 7 + year Sojourn in the the LOS. I brought up yhe Thailand VIP club or somthing like that intoduced by the former PM Khun Taksin. THe scheme as it was provided for a cool Million Baht, untold benefits and priveleges for the casual Farang. Which included Visas. fast track immigration, Limousine service , Golf courses. The ultimate Farng travel package. I rember nearly falling out my chair laughing in front of my computer in my humble abode in Thailand. I was even more surprised by how many took the bait and actually coughed up the Million Baht to Join. All I remeber is that predictably it was a grand failure and many a Farng was left a Milion Baht short, So my question is waht ultimatley became of this grand scheme ??

Just a little History lesson for all the newbies out there,

LL

Was talking with a friend the other day and was reminiscing of my 7 + year Sojourn in the the LOS. I brought up yhe Thailand VIP club or somthing like that intoduced by the former PM Khun Taksin. THe scheme as it was provided for a cool Million Baht, untold benefits and priveleges for the casual Farang. Which included Visas. fast track immigration, Limousine service , Golf courses. The ultimate Farng travel package. I rember nearly falling out my chair laughing in front of my computer in my humble abode in Thailand. I was even more surprised by how many took the bait and actually coughed up the Million Baht to Join. All I remeber is that predictably it was a grand failure and many a Farng was left a Milion Baht short, So my question is waht ultimatley became of this grand scheme ??

Just a little History lesson for all the newbies out there,

LL

Thanks Ms. Sheryl and Thanyaburi Mac for the excellent advice. As usual the Thai Visa board and it's members have been a great help.

LL

A friend of mine is moving and retiring to Thailand. He has a medicine from The US that is not available in Thailand . He is sure of this as he has been undergoing Cancer treatment at Bumungrad for the last year.

Would there be a problem to have this medication sent to him in Thailand from the US.

Thanks in Advance,

LL

These inhalers were very popular when I first came to Thailand 13 years ago. They seem to not be used that much anymore.

One of the many little quirky things about Thailand,

LL

Ah Thai Logic, I used to have countless examples of Thai Logic when I lived in Thailand because I encountered it on a daily basis.

Some of the more memorable examples are. A friend was buying a house in a Housing estate for 1 million Baht. the lots were very small and he asked the Thai developer could he buy the adjoining lot and what was the price. The Thai developer replied it was 1 million Baht. He asked why is an empty lot the same price as a house? The Thai replied that he was going to sell a house on that lot for a million Baht and if he wanted the lot the price would be 1 million.

Another example is a Farang got into an automobile accident and even though he was in the right he got fined. When asked why the reply was that if he had never came to Thailand the accident would never have happened.

LL

I lived in a rented townhouse in Hua Hin for years. The upstairs bathroom had one of those electric wallmounted showers in the shower that looked like it was from the 1950's. I was deathly afraid of it. In my experience, having been a home builder and quite knowledgable about electricity. Electricity and water don't mix! There was only a few weeks a year (Dec/Jan)you really needed to use it as the tap water was lukewarm the rest of the year. THis one actually had the on/off breaker in the shower above on the wall. I would turn it on and let it get real hot , then turn it off and get in the shower. As anyone who has spent considerable time in Thailand can tell you most of the older buildings re not grounded/earthed. and many people are routiely shocked or electrocuted by these things.

LL

After reading about being shortchanged at the market, It made me think about an incident I had years ago. I used to go to the 7-11 and buy something with a 1000 Baht Bill because they usually were able to make change. One time the girl behind the counter handed my change. Instead of just putting it in my pocket ,(because it is rude to count your chnge in front of the clerk in Asia) I counted it and noticed it was 100 Baht short. I pointed it out to her and very emotionless and quickly she picked up a 100 Baht and handed it to me. Not from the register but was stashed on the side. Had I just put the change in my pocket she would have made a quick 100. This was not in some faraway province but right in Hua HIn where almost half the customers were Farangs. I'm sure she made a pretty good haul.

LL

I was always very sceptical of Ruby's as it almost impossible to tell from an exceptional Spinel without doing Laboratory test, as some other posters have mentioned. In fact one of the crown Jewels of Europe that was supposed to be a Ruby was later proven to be a Spinel.

I am very surprised that a geologist couldn't tell a spinel from a ruby without a lab testing it. The traditional way to tell a spinel from a ruby is as simple as using a $10 polariscope and a 10x lupe. Spinel is singly refractive and ruby is doubly refractive. With this method you also need to be able to spot anamolous double refraction that is common in synthetic spinel but a lab is definitly not needed. Of course you could also go the more complicated route and use a refractometer to get the refractive index which will give you a pretty good idea of exactly what type of stone you have rather than just narrowing the possibilities down but those are a couple hundred dollars, require some training and is over kill for simply identifying ruby.

I think you would find the non-traditional method that I mentioned in my earlier post even more helpful than a polariscope. With no instruments of any kind it is simple to tell a faceted ruby from any other gem in seconds with just a few minutes of training. I may not be a geologist but I do know a bit about gemology.There are some reasons you would need to send a stone to a lab but differentiating between ruby and spinel is not one of them, regardless of the quality of the spinel. They may be the same color but the optical properties are very different. The Chantaburi gem market is full of gem dealers on the weekends and they certainly are not sending every stone they buy to a lab.

You are correct that many crown jewels of Europe thought to be ruby were in fact later found to be other gems, but seeing as those gems were acquired long ago before modern methods and understanding of crystal structures it isn't surprising that hundreds of years ago people couldn't tell the difference and were later found to be in error.

Hi Tim,

You are certainly very knowledgable about Gemology, Thanks for the info. I once bought a stone in India that was supposed to be a piece of Smoky Quartz. It had a a Rhombic cleavage so I was Skeptical. I flipped it around under a flashlight and found the correct plane and it glowed a beautiful Violet color. It turned out to be Iolite (Water Sapphire)

The point that I was trying to make is that for someone who is not very knowledgable and without any basic equipment that you mentioned it would be difficult to distinquish certain Spinels from a true Ruby. My speciality is actually not Mineralogy, but Coastal and Marine. This is what brought me to Thailand to oversee Aquaculture,and set up a Seafood processing facility years ago.

LL

As some of you may know I am a Geologist. When I lived in Thailand I used to do visa runs to Victoria Point, and with a friend would go up the mountain and buy gems. I would also travel to Muang Kan (Kancanaburi) and buy gems from an old lady at the market there. She would have the real gems under the counter , and sell the less valuable fakes to the Tourist. Strangely enough I was refered to her by an older thai Policeman (my Thai Language was pretty good) who had an interesting ring. I got into a conversaaion with him and he brought me to see the old lady. UNfortunately at the time I didn't have enough disposable income to purchase too many gems. However; my friend who was a retired USAF Colonel could afford to splurge. In Burma we bought a lot of really high quality Blue Star Sapphires . I was always very sceptical of Ruby's as it almost impossible to tell from an exceptional Spinel without doing Laboratory test, as some other posters have mentioned. In fact one of the crown Jewels of Europe that was supposed to be a Ruby was later proven to be a Spinel. In my times in ASia including trips to Sri Lanka, Number 1 Gem spot in the world. I was able to buy quite a few gems . Especially some really big High quality Blue Moonstones. One of which my wife wears till this day in a 15 Karat Stone, in a Thai Gold Encased Pendant and 1 Baht Chain.

After all of my years of being only involvedonly a little bit in the Gem Trade. The most important thing is to deal with only reputable dealers. You cannot judge the mineralogy or value of any Gemstone by sight alone. Never pay too much> Buyer Beware!

LL

When I lived in Hua HIn , The Nearshore Squid fishing boats all had green Lights,

Farther offshore big Fishing boats had bright white lights,

LL

I have lived in Thailand for many years.It is not uncommon for Thai males to "check out" for a while. Thai's cannot handle pressure like Farangs. My wife's uncle left home to work in Bangkok and was not heard from from for a couple of years. We had pretty much given him up for dead!. My wife was at her home vilage in Thailand at the time, and called me to say that her Uncle had shown up at the family compound.He was like the "Produgal Son", He arrived with a family in tow . A thai wife,with three childrenmand moved in the Granpa'a Hut.

I'm not sayoing that this situation is the same as ours,but remember, "this is Thailand" and anything is possible. I would say yhers ia better than 50% chance this guy will resurface again.

LL

This is actually an issue for my wife. Her actual given first name in Thai is "Rong" . She has been able to secure a fairly decent job in mid mangement in Farangland, and is constantly teased about her name as people say Ms. Rong is always right or something to that effect. It has really troubled her, and I myself even use to joke around with her that two Rongs don't make a right. I have told her that that is her name and she should be proud of it.

I have a Thai female friend on Facebook is named Nutiporn and I get a lot of grief from that.

Thanks both of you for your quick replies. I was trying to find out for an elderly lady who cannot afford this medicine in US. Many times medicines are way cheaper in Thailand.

LL

When I lived in Thailand. One of things I used to say was that the word "Refund" does not exist in the Thai language.

LL