ManInSurat

Taking the word supplements out of that title, makes this a much more action-packed drama in my mind right now!

Sorry I could not be more constructive as I have absolutely no idea about the legality of said supplements, but like kawaii said, I can't see any reason why Thailand would knock this stuff back or maybe impound it. Although you never know. They're not known for their rhyme and reason Thai customs (not meant as a dig!)

Sook san wan gert na khrap, Khun Rinrada. (To your username obviously!)

Here's to another 10 years!

And *comically shakes fist @ Ulysses* curse you for putting that song in my head which I now can't remove.

I'm walking around the house muttering "Vera, Chuck and Dave" to myself for no reason.

Had a lovely Loey Krathong with the fam and we got a great traditional dance show in Krabi. Was really good. Compeered by a joint farang & Thai team, which I've never seen before. His Thai was impeccable.

I think it's quite auspicious your user-birthday falls on Loey Krathong.

Tired now and off to bed. Night all!

Many moons ago when I was a member of the Junior astronomy club in London, we used to call this phenomenon a corona.

It`s caused by an unusual amount of ice crystals in the atmosphere being reflected by the glow of the moon.

We used to send our observations to the Greenwich observatory. Sometimes the corona can appear as a glowing ring around the moon and these can be quite spectacular.

Interesting.

Have you any idea what causes the ring around the sun? I guess that it doesn't happen very often?

That is cause by similar atmospheric conditions.

Usually when these rings appear we can expect rain sometime later.

In fact, if you read the Wiki article I linked above for this phenomena here you'll see it explains that solar halos are more common than lunar ones and it is knowing this that makes me feel kind of lucky to have witnessed such a clear and beautiful one.

Solar halos are formed in exactly the same way the lunar ones are.

Another solar effect I have been lucky enough to see and is nicely related to optical phenomena is the Green Flash. My folks worked on cruise ships for most of their lives and I occasionally joined them (in a working capacity) and to see the Green Flash you need an totally flat unbroken horizon that does not get hazy at sunset (much like Thailand does.) They can be seen from the shore but the effect is much more pronounced at sea. It's just the green spectrum of the normal sunlight being refracted more than usual. All sunsets have a green flash, it's just that it's very difficult to see them owing to atmospheric and land-based conditions.

There is also such a thing a lunar green flash.

Nature leaves such amazing entertainment around us everywhere. It never ceases to amaze me.

This was my first ever 22 degree halo and I wouldn't have known about it without Tommy and TV, so I'm indebted to you both for this.

Cheers guys! Another thing struck off my 9,999,999,999,999 things to do before you croak list!

With the impeding arrival of my parents for their annual visit for Crimbo, and taking into account the fact my Dad and I are very very big Indian food fans, I'd like to know of a really really good Indian in the Krabi/Ao Nang area.

Any hidden gems or specialist eateries in the area? Any secrets you'd like to share?

I've tried most of the ones with canvassers out on the front and they've all been very very poor. Shockingly bland, mild, timid, lazy, rushed meals with extremely limited menu choices. I mean, the fresh ingredients shouldn't really be that hard to get here, given the similarity in the base ingredients for Thai and Indian cuisine.

Poor Indian eateries in foreign holiday spots seems to be a common theme all over the world, as most tourist destinations I have visited have the worst Indian restaurants I've ever been in.

I've always found my best curry houses in totally non-tourist places wherever I live or travel to.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated as I really want to treat my folks to a proper Ruby on Boxing Day.

So, what's with kids television these days? I sat down to to watch "Dora the Explorer" the other day Andorra said something in Spanish.... Armenia couldn't make it up.

She was running through the jungle, when a sudden downpour hit, they started to make a song and dance about the rain and I thought to myself, Bah!Rain!, come to Thailand love, the deluge is Burma-nent here.

I mean we Congo on about this cartoon all night. I'm not Ghana, but part of me wants to.

Amazing what kids cartoons go into these days. Sometimes I think I got into the wrong Korea. I should have been an animator.

I mean I wanted to be an electric guitarist, the chicks dig it and I don't know but it's always seems a Moroccan profession than all the others.

Could I see myself doing both? Namibia can and maybe I can't. I'm undecided.

Anyway, I've come back and Peru-sed through the newest posts, and on reflection I thought we needed Samoa. So here I am.

I'm getting desperate really, part of me even want to start up tongue-twisters, you remember the old ones right? Seychelles sea shells on the sea shore!

Right, I really have Togo.

Before I leave I just want to tell you that sitting at your computer comfortably is an art form and if Ukraine your neck to look at the screen, you're going to hurt yourself.

I won't be able to help you if you do, but I'll be sympathetic and ask "UK mate?"

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Some people might call the above a totally wasted hour of my life. For me, it was the most fun I've had writing anything in ages! Love this thread and the laughs it's given me with all this horrible weather.

Viva La Irrelevance Thread!

Have a lovely Loey Krathong TV-ites, wherever in LOS you're spending it.

Peace out.

PS. SeaVision is my personal TV hero of the week! Great to see a mod larking about with the rest of us! Python would be so proud.

I went outside to look at the halo but the two giant arrows scared the living crap out of me so I came back inside.

LMAO! If I could like this comment twice I would.

Thanks for that!

WTB: Translation services.

Must be good a deciphering unintelligible pre-human communication. Must have a strong constitution and be prepared for random acts of alcohol-induced violence and bouts of unexplained rage, followed by bouts of uncontrollable laughter, remorse and the deep sorry regret of a steaming hangover that just won't go away in the cold light of day.

Wow Tommy, nice call mate.

Just got all my family out all over the south of Thailand to have a look.

Here's the best image I could get, sorry for the poor quality as it's really hard to take decent photos at night with the equipment I have.

Taken from Ao Nang in Krabi.

It's a beautiful phenomenon, known as the 22 Degree Halo.

Everyone should get outside and see it, if you're never seen one before. There's a lot of first-timers in my family.

This has made my night!

Gonna try and take a video of this now and see if it comes out any better.

Cheers!

EDIT: Sadly my cameras are just not good enough, even at 14 Megapixels on all settings I've tried. Ah well.

Just go outside and have a look! Very pretty. Going out again to have a smoke and wonder at the marvel that is nature.

Apparently they're common to SE Asia and Australia.

Hexagonal ice crystals suspended high in the upper atmosphere under the right conditions refract light and this is the effect we see far below.

Too much! That's enough laughing for me, I have to go.

Sorry to be Russian out like this but I'm in a hurry...

Oman, I'm all out of comebacks too.

I'll be back to Czech this out later though. Kosovo'll the laughs we've had.

Nite!

Should be allowed to give more than one like per post....

Yeah mate. Seconded. This has put a much needed smile on my face after a long day.

Nice thread. I'd multi-like if I could too.

Right I'm off to write these all down Denmark them out of 10. Kenya see how silly I am?

Ok, enough's enough I'll really Libya alone now.

That'll certainly Sweden the deal, but there's still Norway I could eat it.

Interesting comment. Certainly Thai's the thread together and keeps it off topic.

Really SeaVision, I just don't know what's gotten India recently.

I wonder if it would help if Iran around naked.... *ahem* excuse me, I'm tired and Jamaican me crazy over here with this thread.

Indeed, and why do people who are not athletic get athletes foot? Why can you not sail to the Islets of Langerhans and why is Turkey not famous for it's poultry production?

But you can put Turkey on China and eat it with Greece, and then you won't be so Hungary.

.... with a little Chile.

That'll certainly Sweden the deal, but there's still Norway I could eat it.

The word "sawatdee" is Hindu. The Sanskrit word for well-being is "savasti". It's a fabricated saying to replace the more common "kin khao leow yang" (have you eaten yet) greeting and was introduced on purpose.

Load of <deleted> pal!

The word is indeed Sanskrit but where do you think the Hindi got it from....?

you're just making thing up....

Hindu. As in the religion. The word comes from the Sanskrit "Sindhu" itself originating from the name of the Indus River.

If you're having problem with the concept, here's a nice comparison chart for you.

Hindi is a language and not what I meant at all. Sanskrit is the "Divine Language of Hiduism." and where the "borrowed" savasti or sawatdee comes from.

HeavyDrinker? I'd say 8pm is way too early to be that drunk "pal".

There's only one thing worse than being that anally retentive in public, being anally retentive and wrong.

What is wrong with people on this site?

in 1968 the population of thailand was 14m , today its over 70m, ..........thais breed same labbit !

Well according to Wikipedia's list of countries by past population figures, Thailand had a population of approx. 20 million in 1950 and 24 million in 1960. It doesn't even come close to the top in increases in population as a percentage over the last 50 years.

But don't let facts get in the way of your opportunity to make a sly dig at this country.

The actual Thai population in 1968 was approx. 34 million. More than double your original figure.

I beleive the population now is approaching 75m very rapidly, esp accounting for tribal, migrant and expat populations.

You can Google any world country population and it gives you the immediate figure. Thailand's is still officially 69.518 million as of today.

You're quite right that taking into account, migrants, refugees and the unregistered would push that up, but when talking population figures, I take the figures given from sources like World Bank/Google/Wiki and not speculative ones that can be anything from 70m - 80m.

Oh, good grief.

A simple comment about a simple game and it's 'release the hounds' time.

Maybe my spending too much time on thai-visa needs to be nipped in the bud.

Mate, you are the 1 making derogatory statements about the game in your opening post.

You complained about it to us.

We follow suit and we are wrong?

Pot. Kettle. Black.

People are strange.

Release the Chihuahuas!

Sent from my GT-S5360B using Thaivisa Connect App

Daily, 4-10pm, as far as I am aware.

Source - KrabiAll

Addiction to online games or social networking or even a combination of the two isn't anything new or even specific to Thailand.

The South Korean government curtail their population's access to online games and social networking in some surprisingly draconian ways. They have serious serious issues of this nature over there. Vastly more than Thailand does.

The Thai government will never do anything about problems of this nature as they just don't understand them, so don't expect anyone to give you a hand here. They'd actually probably encourage this behaviour (for similar face-gaining loony reasons.)

The real word of warning I would give over Farmville, is that whilst the base play mode is free, there's many ways in which addicts end up paying real money. Paying a 3rd party to farm for them, being one of those things. There's many other ways you can end up paying for things with Farmville.

If she's started down this path, I'd nip it in the bud asap.

Effectively she'll be paying money for some pixels and data on a computer screen.

The line about it being Face-book and it's about gaining face, isn't even remotely based in reality.

Facebook got its name as it was supposed to be a literal internet-based book of people's faces (i.e. their contact information and whereabouts, etc) It's ballooned since this inception.

Adding a Thai slant on its moniker doesn't work.

I don't see how wasting your time so comprehensively could be considered as even remotely gaining face. If her friends knew how much time she invested in something that causes her to be extremely anti-social and disconnected from reality for most of the day, I would imagine they'd laugh at her, thus causing her to lose vastly more face than the game can ever hope to garner.

All things in moderation, if moderation can be achieved (which with Thais and most humans in general is a very large ask.)

Good luck in weaning her off it. It's not going to be a pleasant experience!

in 1968 the population of thailand was 14m , today its over 70m, ..........thais breed same labbit !

Well according to Wikipedia's list of countries by past population figures, Thailand had a population of approx. 20 million in 1950 and 24 million in 1960. It doesn't even come close to the top in increases in population as a percentage over the last 50 years.

But don't let facts get in the way of your opportunity to make a sly dig at this country.

The actual Thai population in 1968 was approx. 34 million. More than double your original figure.

This is a real word of warning.

I'd lived in Thailand for 2 years (now 7) and had struck up a working relationship with a Russian friend of mine.

He really wanted to check out Thailand and it was the first time he'd ever been abroad.

I'd been hype-ing up Krabi and Ao Nang to him for months prior to his visit, making him salivate with the pictures of tropic beaches and white sands whilst he was in -20 in Russia.

I went to pick him up in BKK and took the train down with him to Surat, where I'd based myself at the time. All the while I was continuing to hype up Krabi. He was so desperate to see the sea and the Indian Ocean, which was to be the first ocean he'd ever dipped his toe in.

We left from Surat for Krabi in the late afternoon and got there in the dark. I took him out that night and said to him "Whatever happens, whoever you meet and not matter how much you drink DO NOT, under any circumstances, get on a bike, even as a passenger. Just take a tuk-tuk or taxi." I even stole his keys when I had to leave through exhaustion and inebriation. I repeated this to him as I left him, also reminding him where the bungalows were.

I woke up to a cacophonous banging on the bungalow door the next day and shouts of "Khun Daeng (my Thai nickname), Khun Daeng, come quick to hosptial. Friend bad way."

Sufficed to say, still hungover, I got in taxi and gave the guy a big tip to get me to Krabi gov't hospital as fast as was humanly possible, without breaking the law.

I arrived to see him, half-conscious, with his leg and particularly his ankle shattered into oblivion. They'd inserted a titanium plate in his ankle bone (which is still there today) and a titanium screw in his leg. He couldn't fly back and was subject to long bed rest at my house, where I nursed him back to strength for 5 months.

He never got to see the sea or sand in the daylight for the first 6 months of his stay here!

Fortunately we really bonded over this time and we're the very very very best of friends now.

It transpired that a bargirl had offered him a go on her moped when he could barely walk and that's the last thing he remembers. From what I could garner from the paramedics and police, he was nicked by a car trying to swerve out of the way of him and the car driver had left the scene, as is quite normal here.

My wife lost her daughter and son-in-law who left behind two children 3 and 8 that we have adopted following a head on collision with another bike in the Baan Takhun area a year and a half ago. Helmets would have saved their lives. I thank the stars every day that they had just dropped off the kids.

Always wear a helmet if you have to use a bike, even as a passenger.

Never. Ever. Get. On. A. Bike. When. You. Are. Drunk. Even. As. A. Passenger. You're liable to do stupid things and can easily fall off and be hit by oncoming traffic. Always get a tuk-tuk or proper taxi, or if the weather and distance allows it, just walk.

That's the most important advice I can think to give.

No but Judas Defoe has scored for Spurs and that's enough to make me sorta hacked orrff init.

He's played for Spurs for 10 years, admittedly with a small hiatus. That's loyalty. He just didn't want to be loyal to a team whose only prospects were the Johnstone Paint Trophy.

He's also 4th top scorer with 7, right now. I'd say there's some jealousy on this thread, but it's not the OP and his imaginary girlfriend issues.

Don't despair there my Ham-faced friend, Carroll finally scored in 16 straight hours of PL action in a 3-1 loss. Nice one Andy the BFG. I think I'm also right when I say he's had no assists, or very very few this season, and that's all his game is.

What you also failed to mention that Defoe picking up the ball just inside your half and waltzing into the area like there was no one in his way AND beating Jussi at his near post, was a moment of individual brilliance that your lot are obviously missing.

It won't be long until Big Spam gets El Hadji Diouf back from obscurity. That's the kind of player that suits the Hamburglars down to the ground!

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At OP, so the story here is Asian women are attracted to money and allegedly girls from London aren't? Bow locks. You attract the wrong type of people, or they see you as a soft touch. Probably both.

If you want to see the root of the problem you might want to start by looking in a mirror.

And stop saying "know what I mean?" all the time, know what I mean? It might help when trying to impress with your amazing talents for the written and spoken word.

With Christmas fast approaching, I've been trying to do my place up all Christmassy for my folks who'll be here on the 15th.

My Dad and I are very big stout and ale fans and whilst in Krabi Big C the other day, I came across these:

Let's just say *opens another stout* thash I havensh hadsh a few "real" shtouts 4 kwite aaaaa wwwwwhhhhhhillleeee......

Joking aside, they're 99 Baht a bottle and really nice.

Getting my stock in now, and will severely indulge my old man on the 25th and Boxing Day!

Very pleased with this find here.

EDIT: Cooper's is an Aussie brewery. Very impressed as I've never had these before.

I live in Chiang Mai and knew nothing about it other than what I have read here. My son came to visit from Canada knowing I was planning a trip to Krabi and he knew nothing of it. The wife watches lots of Thai news and knew nothing of it. I think you are not realizing how unimportant Krabi is to the rest of the world. I doubt that you will lose tourists over it. Most tourists are not dumb they know that when they travel to other countries the odds of an unfavorable situation go up/

Just because you don't read other countries' media or newspapers does not mean there isn't wide coverage. For the first time in my living memory there have been 2 major incidents that have made front page news of the Daily Mail in the UK and have been featured heavily on their website, as well as other British media outlets.

Mr. Cole and Ms. Clifton are English nationals and the photos of Mr. Cole's serious injuries was in a major tabloid newspaper.

There's a whole thread on TV detailing the fact that local business owner in the Ao Nang area have seem alarming amounts of cancelled bookings and it is this that is prompting the action. Most of those making cancellations have been British and Dutch and Australian (following the lady stabbed to death for her purse in Phuket a few months back.)

That was my whole point.

I'm not surprised your wife hasn't seen anything in the Thai news, they police and manipulate what the nation is allowed to see. Surely you must be aware of that.

I'm know for a fact the Canadian sisters on Phi Phi was heavily reported in the Canadian press. I don't particularly expect the Canadian media to make a story about a British couple being attacked and put it on the front page. That is what happened with the British couple and I do remember seeing the Evil Man From Krabi video on major tabloid websites too.

It's still a very lovely place to visit, in my opinion and I hope you have a lovely trip here. It sounds like you've been planning it for a while.