Goinghomesoon

We use it all the time, it is really good on the BBQ because it doesn't burn and smoke out our balcony/condo. Hubby and the maid are both converts too.

Yeah Biff! I meet a lot of highly educated men through my work and most of my friends are well educated. But I really do think my husband - who left school at 14 - has more appreciation of how the world works, and is much more interested in learning about new things than most of the educated guys.

Email EDIT and the Embassy will send you the passport information.

Contact the Australian Embassy.

Sorry got my dates wrong, pic in attachment was taken last Thurs (not Fri) between Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong and pretty indicative of what we saw for much of the drive.

Hey Canuckamuck. You say your friends do not live in Thailand? Unfortunately the Thai Dept of Social Welfare DSDW has announced that they will not be accepting any new adoption applications in 2010 for families living outside Thailand. Americans seem to be the only ones not yet affected (or not yet notified of the shutdown) as they have a slightly different system in place with the Thais than other nationalities.

Expats that applied to DSDW in Bangkok in the latter half of 2009 were being told it would be at least 18 months until they would be matched with a child. Now they are being told it will be at least 2 - 2.5 years.

Apparently DSDW have hundreds of applications at their offices waiting to be processed. Rumour is that they started seeing a large influx of applications over the past couple of years as adoption from other countries (such as China) has become more restrictive and the waiting-times for those countries has increased dramatically. Also adoption from Thailand is free and for those of us applying locally thru DSDW we pay nothing, except any donation you might wish to make in cash or goods to the orphanage when you eventually receive a child. For those applying from overseas there are costs - sometimes substantial - for the various assessments and paperwork that needs to be prepared back home before the file can be sent to Thailand.

It isn't yet clear whether DSDW will also stop accepting applications from expat families living in Thailand - I'm about to find out next week as I have to go into their office on business and will make it a point to ask.

Worth noting here that I am specifically talking about orphanage/foster-care adoptions. This is an adoption where the Thai Government allocates you a child that you do not already know. Noone has mentioned any effect on the adoption of relatives or step-children which I guess will continue as normal.

Kara, if your GF is in Bangkok I would tell her to head to Central Silom ASAP. Mid-last week the Central clearance shop had all their Marks & Sparks big size bras down from approx 2,000 baht to 300 baht. There were plenty of big sizes, your GF would easily find something there to fit. She might find they are still on sale.

(Remember - this was not in the main department store or M&S Section, it was in the clearance shop, which is in the main shopping centre, adjacent to the Central womenswear entrance.

We drove the river-side road from Chiang Saen to Chiang Khong on Friday. Horrible drive due to the roadworks for 75% of the trip but anyways... It's true that the river is mostly rocks between those two points on the map. Not much water to be seen at all, it's hard to see how anything other than a small boat could get through, although of course the remaining channels might be a decent depth. We normally see the river at the Nong Khai end of the country and it was a shock to see it barely a trickle near CRai. Have never posted a pic here but if I can work it out I'll put some up here.

While I was dealt a fairly bad lot in the father department, it taught me an important lesson. While I couldn't choose my relatives I was darn well gonna choose my life-partner very carefully. I always vetted potential suitors much more thoroughly than I might otherwise have done. I was adament I would end up with someone nicer, more decent. I am still thrilled to bits that I met hubby, who is the kindest-hearted, most respectful and loving man I have ever met and the polar opposite of my dad in almost every way and makes me happy every day that we are together. He has taken the time to forge a strong father-daughter relationship with my youngest and she told me a couple of weeks back that she can't remember what life was like without him in it. I am so happy that she has a chance at something I always yearned for, but never got.

I think you'll find the only ones who call it Topsy Turvey are the kindergarten kids/parents. Once your child gets into the regular school they call is BSB (British School of Bangkok) and that's what's on their shirts.

Our daughter went there for a couple of years. She loved it and for the most part so did I. Small classes equals lots of individual attention and emotionally and developmentally she came ahead in leaps and bounds. However by the time she got to the upper class levels the numbers were dropping fast, as most Thai parents started putting their kids into the bigger international schools like NIST and Patana in preparation for high school. The class numbers dropped so low they had to combine Year 5 and 6 and that didn't work very well for anyone. We chose fairly quickly after that to move our daughter to a bigger school. Academically she tested at, or slightly below, class-level for the Tier 1 international schools. The only subject which had clearly been neglected was math, where she appeared to have made no progress at all in 2 years. For the life of me I can't figure out what the math issues weren't ever mentioned to me, I was always assured she was doing great and at class level.

The teachers were lovely and, at the more senior years, were all experienced classroom teachers. I know there are personality issues with the British Principal, who owns the school and operates it as a business. During our time there she also employed her own daughters on staff. I know that some staff felt this was just plain wrong, but hey, she was upfront about it. There was quite a bit of staff turnover so I assume it was either salary or personality related but not privy to that, as a parent it was well-hidden from us.

I am 7 months post-surgery for fibroids at Bumrungrad. As Rue has already posted, some people do have recurrences of endo, fibroids etc and my doctor has been very clear to me that this can happen, particularly in those still of child-bearing age, due to hormone levels that enhance their ability to form/grow. I was 'lucky' in that I was able to have a hysteroscopy rather than laproscopy (mine were inside the uterus not outside). Hysteroscopy is usually done as day-surgery or overnight and I was back at work in 2 days. But of course this might not suit your partner's particular condition.

I would encourage you to shop around doctors: I initially went to the ob/gyn at my usual hospital (BNH) but they only offered laproscopic surgery and were going to operate without doing updated scans (mine were 6 months old, turned out the fibroid had a growth spurt during that time, to 9cm in length!). Thank goodness I heeded a colleague's advice and went elsewhere. Personally I was very pleased with the service I got at Bummers. I was also very lucky to have health insurance that paid as it was 70,000 baht for surgery & an ovenight stay.

Hey ChefHeat how about running some cooking classes in Bkk to show some Thais how to use your products so you expand your market? Yes, yes, there a thread running about where to find Western cooking classes for Thais, and I'm desperate, so thought I'd ask! I know you have the recipes on yr site but my maid is illiterate

Your nationality definately matters, particularly if your home country is a signatory to the Hague Convention on Child Abduction.

She doesn't even want to do an ad-hoc class for say 5 or 6? I could easily fill a class that size with maids working for myself and my colleagues. And the venue - my kitchen - is pretty big....

Did anyone ever try any of the options suggested (except the defunct Eurogourmet)? We looked a UFM today but they teach almost exclusively bakery, cakes, bread etc. I want western food, main courses because we mostly eat Thai but it would be nice to get some variety in our lives occasionally. A couple of the upper-crust Italian restaurants around town have classes but they seem aimed at expat wives rather than Thai maids or girlfriends - classes generally taught by foreign chefs with no Thai and little-to-no hands on experience. And my maids already done an Indian cooking class at Mrs Balbir's. Maybe one of those Mexican restaurants could do some classes....mmmm there's an idea

Tinytot, you say they have been "going to Thailand" does this mean they don't live here? Are they Aussies living in Australia (where I see you are posting from)? If so they must go through their state adoption department and it can take many years to complete an inter-country adoption. PM me if you want more info.

GG I think if this is a new behaviour then you need to ask him about it. It would seem strange for this to change for no reason.

Not yet but I called them last week re: flights we can't take later this week and they told me the same thing.

My mum in law has been sat on her step making comments to and about all in sundry for the last 50 odd years! And her mother before her! I don't think the comments ever stop I am afraid. We get just what they do to each other.

Hahaha, my MIL chews betel and has few teeth so even her friends don't know what she is cackling about most of the time!

21 is a great age especially when you get to celebrate it again..and..again..and again! Happy birthday Eek.

What part of Isaan are you in? Like Bina my husband is from a small Isaan village but he had worked in Bangkok for many years and seems far less concerned about some of the face issues than his parents, who have to live with the gossip and innuendo long after we return to the big smoke. I think Bina's right, with an important job like teacher you both really need to be careful. My brother-in-law is a teacher and village people of all ages come to his door day and night to ask him to help read letters, decipher bills, mediate between teens and their parents. He is very respected, but conversely people know a lot about his life and can be quick to judge.

I am really thankful that I met my partner in Bangkok and we had weeks of dating (without supervision) and talking in "thai-glish" before I had to meet his family. He had a lot of time to warn me about how things worked in the village. Like the people coming in to mother-in-law's house on all sort of pretexts so they could sneak a peek at the bedroom to see if we were sleeping together It was pretty fun for a short period but I can't imagine being under that scrutiny all the time. Best of luck with that!

The owner of Furr-Purr in Sukhumvit 33/1 breeds Korat and Siamese cats and shows them all over including outside Thailand. We really wanted one of her Korat kittens but as a previously poster said, they start at THB 20,000 and up to double that for kittens from 'star' parents. We ended up with a street kitten that looks - and chatters - like a Brown Burmese and she keeps us on our toes.

A manager I worked with early in my overseas career. She had four children under 10 and was religious about all her staff - including herself - being out the door at 5pm to go home to our families. She was a demanding and energetic leader but even-handed and always gave credit where it was due. Just being around her made people feel good. She is now near the top of the corporate tree in our organisation and continues to inspire a lot of young women in our profession.

Found it - actually it's an online store. Search for Suri by Surivpa and you'll find it. Some things a bit too frilly for me but other things I quite like. Pity they are so expensive...

Yes we haven't had much racism and not from other foreigners. The main people that feel free to comment on our marriage are lighter-skinned Thais who often wonder out loud why I married such a dark-skinned man. Ummm, cos he's a genuinely happy guy with a lovely calm demeanour who adores us (wife and kids) to bits...is that a good enough reason In the village I'm still a bit of a novelty but mostly because our lifestyle is just alien to everyone there.

Hey Nirvana, any leaks with those tiles yet? I'm sending you a PM with a sourcing question.