fennielyn

Yes they do.Here are two photos.One from Thailand and another in the USA.

I just love how they have no qualms about eating on the floor; I enjoy that too, though my lower back does scream out in protest after half an hour or so. My mom would throw a fit if she sees me putting food on the floor though. I think she's just too much of a prude. Love the pictures!

And a bit of stick from thaivisa

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And because I had such high hopes (due to last victory), here's some stick from me too.

cute farang girls in BKK? never seen 1 thru all these years visiting the place. If you can do with the unwashed, clueless rubble seen polluting Khao San Road then that's a good starting point as any. There's the occasional good looking ones in Pattaya & Jomtien but they tend to be on the venal side, I don't think that's what you looking for.

Gee, you must have super high standards then. Coz I've met more than a few pretty ones and some were downright gorgeous too. Cute [yes clean too, gawd] white girls are aplent in Bangkok, unless one's expectations are way out of the stratosphere of course.

You're not???

Indeed. But hang on...if anyone wants me to, I could try passing for one ONLY if I don't speak though, coz my Thai, to understate, is pathetically less than basic.

In Hawaii, people with white skin are "haoles". In Hong Kong, they're "guilo" (which I think means foreign devil?) In Latin America, people who speak English as their primary language are "gringos." Some of these may have originated as insults. But there's plenty of insults for people of different races as I'm sure you're aware, in Thai as well as English.

I totally agree with you. I honestly believe that the word doesn't have any negative connotations at all unless delivered in a tone that implies otherwise. When I'm talking to my Thai friends I usually use the word without giving it a second thought. Just like back home, we'd use the term *ang moh* (meaning red hair - the origins of which I'm not sure of despite knowing the meaning of the word since I was a kid, but there's always wiki ) when referring to a Caucasian and that too really doesn't mean anything bad or mean or insulting. I remembered when my sis was but a wee child, the word Caucasian was a bit too unwieldy for her too handle and I'd shorten it to just caukie for her (she, " jie jie, look at that cute caukie!" in that adorable baby voice of hers or "I wanna marry a caukie when I grow up" -- that was when she was 3 and fascinated with blue eyes) and in fact between us we still use it now and then and always with affection too It's more like people just say stuff in a language best understood by them and where they can clearly and quickly get a point across. And if there are different alternatives to the word in the same language, I'm sure they would be employed as well.

Funny how only on the boards do we take apart and dissect every lil minutae of everday life that I really don't even notice or bother with IRL. :D And yes I'm guilty of this too. =p

To a previous poster, Marmite is a yeast extract by the way. Bovril (bovine, geddit?) was the beef extract.

Sadly, the Bovril that I grew up with as a child no longer contains beef extract but now some kind of strange *beef extract Substitute* and it just doesn't taste the same.

I myself tend to prefer Vegemite over Marmite; it's just more intense and richer in flavour but then I'm addicted to the stuff so it could just be bias talking.

Azureus is just another torrent Client just like the one that you're using. I'm using Azu myself (coz I started with it and am too lazy to dl a new/different one since it's working fine) but it consumes tons of memory which matters to me only coz I'm real short of RAM at the moment.

I tried to tackle port forwarding a couple of weeks ago due to the slow-ass speed I'm experiencing, but after hours on wiki and portforwarding site I got a severe migraine that lasted all night....I'm not the most IT savvy person around like I said so couldn't deal with the 2948395 steps involved.

Sometimes if you're experiencing slow dl speed it might not have anything to do with your end but the fact that it's an old torrent and there not many seeders or even peers online. Try dl a fresh torrent and see if things get any better.

And btw, going up to 60 is pretty awesome for a torrent that's been around for weeks not to mention months.

Opera does download torrents, but it's rudimentary in that regard, same as Free download manager that also dowloads torrents.

Now that it's clear what you wanted, get your Bittorrent working properly and don't worry about anything else.

I personally use Azureus and as my home computer is connected directly to the Internet, I don't need to worry about routers and ports and stuff. Easy peasy.

Utorrent seems to be very popular one at the moment.

Downloading torrents is a complicated activity, just think of it - your 2GB file is broken into thousands of pieces that you need to separately find, put in the queue, and donwload from a dozen of people with maximum speed and efficiency.

Advanced mode in Azureus has at least a hundred of options to tweak the process. Luckily it works just out of the box and tunes up automatically.

So this Azureus, is it a replacement for BitTorrent ? or something to run alongside ?

I want to get my BitTorrent working properly but i don't know how !

Someone kindly PM'd me the screen to do something with POrt Forwarding but I have no idea where to go from there and am scared opf screwing things up.

ARe you able to successfully download any shows yet? And you're not happy with your download speed? I'm currently extremely pissed about my download speed but like I mentioned, it is probably the config of my new router that's chocking up everything. You're using broadband? As in cable or ADSL connection? What sort of shows are you looking at? eztv is the best for ongoing TV programmes, American ones that is. And demonoid is great for movies. Some people like piratebay. Look at your torrent client (the programme you use to dl stuff) and see if there's a tools--->options and check what your max dl speed is. Sometimes it could have auto set to a very low speed like 20kb/s or something. Best to put 0 for max dl speed.

I use BitTorrent but don't care who I use.

The problem may be with my modem. It is a 2 year old TOT Himark-tel DB120 which does not appear to have the facility to set the ports or port range.

I can download stuff. I am currently downloading 3.58GB of Simpsons but it is coming down at only 12kb/s though hit a high of about 60 and often runs in the 20-30 range.

The max is set to 0, speed set to 2048/512, TOT ADSL

I feel everything is now in front of me to sort it out but like pieces of a car engine, I cannot put it together.

The majority of the board members simply won't understand, but it is very possible not to be attacted to Thai girls. I for one don't have 'bamboo fever'. Fair play to you if you do.

I dated, married and now have a child with a very cute Farang girl I met here in BKK.

Do you have friends like yourself? Coz most of the guys I meet lose interest once they notice that I'm not Thai.

Back to the OP, if you visit all the hang-out places mentioned earlier, you're bound to meet cute farang/non-Thai girls. In fact I've seen many and not just limited to aforementioned places. You can see them in regular shopping malls and coffee shops like Starbucks and sometimes Coffee World too. Just go out and explore more. They ARE out there.

My Precious Person - Kim Seong Pil I'm sorry I love you OST

Krai - Boyd Ngao - Peacemaker (Apparently I'm in a masochistic mood right now. Listening to Thai music makes me sob endlessly as I'm doing now yet I can't seem to hit the stop button.)

The McFatbastid

a 1lb burger

My insides are positively shriveling up with jealousy. I SO could finish the whole thing I'm sure. No, really, I could too. I'm your go-to girl for devouring obscene amounts of big-ass pizzas, tacos, burgers and the like. I want one right now. NOW.

ARe you able to successfully download any shows yet? And you're not happy with your download speed? I'm currently extremely pissed about my download speed but like I mentioned, it is probably the config of my new router that's chocking up everything. You're using broadband? As in cable or ADSL connection? What sort of shows are you looking at? eztv is the best for ongoing TV programmes, American ones that is. And demonoid is great for movies. Some people like piratebay. Look at your torrent client (the programme you use to dl stuff) and see if there's a tools--->options and check what your max dl speed is. Sometimes it could have auto set to a very low speed like 20kb/s or something. Best to put 0 for max dl speed.

I use BitTorrent but don't care who I use.

The problem may be with my modem. It is a 2 year old TOT Himark-tel DB120 which does not appear to have the facility to set the ports or port range.

Sorry, maybe my lack of understanding regarding terminology is the problem.

I am talking specifically about torrents, like movies and TV progrmmes. I use bit torrent, know about u-torrent but this other stuff seems tome, a lay man, like add ons to these.

I run XP Pro SP2 so Vista stuff is not on my menu.

What is this about Opera ? I have Opera as an available browser but use it just as back up (free version). I'm using Firefox more these days but usually Explorer 6.0

Are you saying that the browser Opera can do the torrent stuff ? I'm not worried about the speed of a 4 minute You Tube thing but rather the 2GB stuff from torrents and how to speed thatup and whether these other programs actually help. Cheers

What are you currently using to dl torrents? You will need a torrent client like azureus (which consumes the most memory as it does mine!), Utorrent, Bitcomet or Mainline. And yes you will have to configure some of the settings like port and maximum dl and ul speed. But I think the upgraded clients may have auto set everything for you. Best is to dl and try. For torrents, the speed of your dl depends very very much on 1) your connection speed 2) number of peers and seeders for that particular torrent.

If the torrent is old, then less likely you'll find many seeders as most folks are selfish asses who delete the show after watching it (i'm one of them but I do try my best to keep the show on HD for as long as possible or until I run out of space). What site are you getting your torrents from? Mininova or eztv are best for all major TV shows. hths!

I've been doing visa runs on the maesai-tachilek borders , never got asked for an onward ticket before.

However when i am going Bangkok from Singapore (hometown), i was asked by the ticketing office to show them a return ticket, which i don't have.. so i just told them i had one but it's an e-ticket and the ref/booking number is in my email.

they are cool with that although they told me it's better to have it printed out, what's next? hello bangkok! haha

Oy, you're leaving for bkk soon? I know I can count on you to suss out cheap tix. lf you care, you share! Let me know!

Yea, you're absolutely right! The cafe was found after some frantic searching and when eventually found one, it took forever and a half just to load a page....so you can imagine.

Oh so you'll be travelling from India to BKK....and the Indian customs didn't ask you for an onward ticket? Maybe the Thai one wouldn't either but I'm really not sure on that. 4 months is a long time. I can barely cope with the heat in Thailand or Singapore, my mind just can't grasp the intensity of the one in India. It must be really searing huh.

The good folks of TV must surely know the answers you need. They posses mucho knowledge and experience. I'm really just a fledgling.

Downloads at 200-224KBs (on TOT 2mbs) ...

Seriously? For direct downloads or torrents? I think I may have a problem with my router because where I used to get speed of up to 150kb/s for fresh, hot torrents I'm now averaging a 20 if I'm lucky. I suspect the router coz my NAT is always red (firewalled it says) or sometimes yellow (NAT reachibility problem-whatever that is) but just a month ago, every was a-ok (green) and I really can't figure out what the problem is. Wiki just makes me even lost and God knows I'm not the most IT-savvy person around. If it's really my router's config that's the problem, I'm basically screwed.

Hiya,

What are your plans upon arriving in BKK? Do you intend to stay for awhile and then make your way to Cambodia and then go back to England from there? Getting an open ticket might be a good idea.

I don't remember having customs ask for my return ticket at Suvi airport but when I went to Cambodia after my 30 days were up (also on visa exemption), they made it very clear that I am to produce a return ticket before they would issue me another 30 days and accepted none of my reasons. Even the fact that mine was an e-ticket and no one said that I needed to show my return ticket, not even the organizer whom I paid good money to.

I had to go through the most frightening time of my life (also coz I'm quite the scaredy cat and travelling alone and first time attempting a visa run and doing it all at the last possible minute) at the border of Cambodia and went through the whole circus of trying to search for an internet cafe on a motorcycle with seat that I swear I couldn't sit on because it was bloody scorching, so the whole time I was half-standing, hanging on for dear life and sanity.

I think others will have a better idea of what your safest option would be.

I'm British, 45 years old.

I have a flight booked to Bangkok next month, I intend to arrive on a visa exemption.

From Bangkok I intend to travel to Cambodia by road and sea.

I'm aware that one of the requirements to receive a visa exemption is a fully paid flight ticket out of Thailand, within 30 days of entry.

I've also heard that this requirement is rarely checked.

I'm considering arriving without an onward flight ticket, and hoping for the best. If I'm refused the visa exemption, I'm hoping I would then be given the opportunity of booking a flight out of Thailand, by internet from the airport, rather than be refused entry.

For information, the carrier taking me to Bangkok hasn't stipulated that I need onward travel. I'm also prepared to buy a ticket out of Thailand at the aiport of origin, should I be refused at this stage.

Does this sound feasible? Am I inviting a whole load of trouble by doing this? Would I be better biting the bullet and buying a ticket out of Thailand that I won't use?

All views welcomed, thanks in advance.

well. as any dish, the best if it is cooked to your taste.

it is true that it needs lots of onion, however, i dont think it is as much as the weight of the meat.

also, have to disappoint you, no rubbing with paprika. as frying( sautee) the meat, you dont add paprika, only when you ready to add the water, just before....this is how you can avoid to burn the paprika, thus avoid the bitter taste. the only veggies are tomato and pepper(paprika).

nothing wrong with gravy really, only that it is not in this dish( well, not in the Hungarian, anyway)

chicken is more famous from Chicken paprikash, so we use veal to that( beef never)...the basic idea is similar in the two dish,in the paprikash you thicken the souce ( a more liquid of course) with sour cream+ a bit flour.

all in all, happy to see some like hungarian food.

You guys are making me CRAVE this hungarian goulash that I've never heard of until now. I am going to start drooling any minute now. And where I live, we can't get no good Hungarian food and it's gonna be a while before I'm back in Bkk again. You're all cruel, so so cruel.

I've only been to the Villa at soi 11. So only the one at 33 carries this heavenly-sounding stuff?

....In which folks can't tell the difference between a whine, a complaint and an account of sorts.

Uhm, I was in no way complaining but if you choose to misinterpret, you may take it as such. I will just giggle.

End.

You're perfectly correct fennielyn - it was an account of sorts.

A whining, complaining sort of account.

Right. Pardon me for foolishly misreading the title of the thread. I thought that it was asking for what one's own experience flying on Tiger Airways was like (assuming that the question "what are they like?" to mean that of course, but hey, I could be wrong, then I stand corrected). I wasn't aware (I promise) that only positive experiences or raves were welcomed and sharing a non-glowing report, no matter how true, is akin to whining/complaining/whinging/ranting/grumbling and every other synonym one can think of.

So yea, I apologize for misunderstanding the purpose and intent here. ~_*

p/s and should anyone still think that I'm full of criticism coz it's a *nationality issue*, let it be known(I didn't want to say it before coz really, what has *it* got to do with anything? Honestly, I don't see how my nationality comes into play here) that I'm Singaporean and would like nothing better than to see all homegrown airlines succeed and be loved by one and all around the world. I mean, come on already! It's one more thing for us to brag about and ya'll know how we love that being so used to scoring World Class Standards awards and being #1 in Everything. (go get 'em tiger) So I hope that clears up all previous assumptions sufficiently. If not, I give up. Actually, I think I've said all there is to be said on *my* Tiger experience. Let others take the stage.(Tread carefully now guys! Look on the bright side and remember to stay positive no matter what!) I'm outta here coz it's getting all too tiresome. Really.

look out for any night put on by dude sweet, the music will be exactly what you are looking for.

Hmm...is that the name of a band or pub? Where is it located?

Oh I've never been to Ad makers before but have heard pretty good things about it. Been to the Dubliner a couple of times but have only seen this one Irish-American (I think) guy doing his rather remarkable one-man gig. He really had a whole dance and show going on and had the crowd eating outta his hands. ^^

Yes, premium prices are to be expected in posh places with live bands which is why downhome pubs that employ local talent are so awesome and would honestly be perfect for me if 1) I understand Thai coz Thai music rocks my socks off. Modern Dog, Pause and most bakery music artistes) 2) they play more English songs (but I understand how hard it is for them as they not only have to memorise the melody but also the lyrics as well.)

I've just been told that in bkk you'll hear more rock, jazz, techno and hip-hop than any other genre of music (not including Thai music). Oh well.

But once again, thanks for the recs!

I take it corruption isn't too bad there, what about the civil service, is it efficient or is it a slow bureaucracy like the rest of the region seems to be?

I think it would be safe to say that S'pore is one of the least corrupt countires in SEA and the red tape is significantly less than most parts of the region as well. Speed, productivity and efficiency is highly priced here so there shouldn't be too much trouble getting things done in most government bodies BUT beware the queues. We are a queue-loving and qeue-jumping people. You have been warned.

SG wages are about 20% lower than Hong Kong; 40% lower than NYC or London. Shanghai is variable. I guess Thailand wages would be about 70% lower than New York.

However, everything being relative, the cost of living in Singapore is about 30%-50% higher than in Thailand. But you're spot on about the salary difference.

One should also consider the intangible perks and benefits. You can never hope to find the quality of Thai food here as you can in Thailand, not even in the priciest Thai restaurants that claim to serve only *authentic* Thai fare; there's just that something that's missing. Not to mention the fact that one would have to fork out at least 700bt for a decent meal. Everyone's always raving about the variety of food to be found here, that much is true but the quality on the otherhand, is somewhat debatable and I ain't no food snob either. Having been brought up all my life on mom's homecooking and whatever can be found in food courts and hawker centers (our equivalent of street food but less tasty and pretty much identical all around) I have no qualms about eating whatever at wherever. Also, the atmosphere here is uhm...to put it delicately, more repressed and lttle emphasis or care is placed on finding fun and seeking enjoyment in whatever you do.

I think everyone is well aware of our infamous fines that are implemented for practically everything from flicking a ciggy butt onto the street, to not flusing the toilet to spitting, to littering (be it accidental or not), to smoking in non-designated areas OUTDOORS (the ban is already effective in all indoor venues including pubs/discos/clubs/bars but alfresco places like Starbucks, Coffee Bean and coffee shops are allocated a grand 20% of seating area for smokers which is a good and bad thing. One can finally smell their food/coffee again but smokers now find themselves stumbling over each other in the bid to score one of the 2 tables graciously allowed them and being shot withering stares if they so much as dare to approach a NON-smoking table; intent is enough to pronounce you guilty in our bloody judgemental eyes) and the list goes on. And then on some more.

Oh and how can anyone NOT have heard about our agressive baby campaigns (because God Forbid that we should let our impending greying population single-handedly bring about the fall of our still-young country) and get married ads? YES, we as a nation have to be urged, encouraged, cajoled and lured with a ripe carrot to hurry up and settle down and pop out a couple of babies. =p

Lest I be accused of being a Singapore-bashing, worshipper of the green-pastures-on-the-other-side, as some are surely wont to do (I can't please everyone, yo), there are things here that are pretty wonderful as well. Yes, really.

Like the fact that my apartment is 100% cockroach-free and anyone who knows me, knows that I can't be in the same room as one without screaming and bawling like a newborn or one about to be flayed alive. Shut up. =p The transportation system is one of the more efficient ones in this part of the world. The heat is not as debilitating. Taxis never try to rip you off ("you want go Sukhumvit? Now traffic jam, no meter, give you good price, 100bt" and that was from silom ) You're surrounded by lush green trees and mostly clean streets that are garbage-free.

The lack of a language barrier also make it so much easier for a newcomer (to Asia) to settle in and feel at home, I suppose. On the flip side, when you're not in a situation that forces you to learn the language in order to be understood or to survive, you tend to NOT want to make the effort coz seriously, why bother right? And even if the fancy does strike you, it's gonna be so much harder to pick it up because you realise, dam.n but almost everyone speaks English to you. Which is why I'm useless when it comes to my 2nd language. No, seriously, friends actually giggle when they hear me *try* to speak in anything other than my native tongue (what?), but hey, it's not like I had/have a chance to use it outside of the classroom alright?

So yea, I take the good with the bad (currently my download speed of an enviable kb/s, I know, <deleted> right?) but if given the choice would I want to get out/away from here to live in Thailand? Heck yea! Coz really, if there's even the vaguest chance, I would be so there.

[edited for the sake of brevity. I know, right?!]

Do you like mind altering drugs and pills taken for fun?[/b] wheeeeeee

Heck yea, but isn't alcohol more accessible?

Titanium Club - great all girl thai band.

Yes, they are good and ROCK!!! But is it what OP looking for??

I'm thinking it will be next to impossible to find what I'm looking for except in local pubs with Thai bands (and I actually have but like I mentioned, they play 90% thai songs) so I might have to make do with what's available. Tis a pity I'm not a jazz fan as there seems to be a ton of venues with good live jazz.

Back in the day I spent a bit of time in the mushroom field, if you know what I mean ???

Vegemite can kick Marmite's sorry butt any day. Maybe some need certain special mushrooms to see the light.

What *type* of mushrooms would you recommend based on your expertise?

ignoring irritations are assisted by a good bottle of wine (alternatively a chat with good friends like Jack Daniels, Jim Beam or Johnny Walker).

Be still, thy beating heart.