348GTS

Not sure the clip is genuine or not, it may have been doctored ...

Take it from someone who has seen the offending clip... you're really not missing anything except 4 minutes of your life that you'll wish you had back. To label her as a "porn actress" is really quite a stretch of the imagination, and the guy looks as though he is having as much fun as someone looking out of a bus window. They could have made more of an effort to be honest...

You wrote, "You also need to take into consideration the fact that generally speaking most Thai girls/women are extremely immature and child-like compared to their "western" equivalents."

Whoa dude I never thought of that. What would you change the age of consent to? 39? And would change only for Farang dudes or Thai dudes too? Are Thai men generally speaking extremely immature too?

And what about lady boys? They extremely immature too? Oh so many questions.

Do Thai women ever get mature? Have you ever dated one? At what age to they stop playing Candy Crush and liking Hello Kitty stuff?

Whilst I acknowledge that your tongue is planted firmly in your cheek with the above response, I suspect that you missed the point of what I was saying. I take issue (humorously) with young guys who think it is some kind of achievement to get silly young girls to sleep with them and then buy into their bullsh*t that they don't like "old men" or whatever. It has nothing to do with age of consent or when they will outgrow Hello Kitty, but everything to do with those men/boys not looking at the big picture whilst trying to convince older men they are delusional about the realities of their relationships whilst they are in similar situations themselves. Anyway...

Who said it was an achievement to shag silly young girls?

That's no achievement, mate.

Anyone can do that.

Your point - however eloquently made - is lost

Well yes... that IS the point exactly. I think you got it.

You wrote, "You also need to take into consideration the fact that generally speaking most Thai girls/women are extremely immature and child-like compared to their "western" equivalents."

Whoa dude I never thought of that. What would you change the age of consent to? 39? And would change only for Farang dudes or Thai dudes too? Are Thai men generally speaking extremely immature too?

And what about lady boys? They extremely immature too? Oh so many questions.

Do Thai women ever get mature? Have you ever dated one? At what age to they stop playing Candy Crush and liking Hello Kitty stuff?

Whilst I acknowledge that your tongue is planted firmly in your cheek with the above response, I suspect that you missed the point of what I was saying. I take issue (humorously) with young guys who think it is some kind of achievement to get silly young girls to sleep with them and then buy into their bullsh*t that they don't like "old men" or whatever. It has nothing to do with age of consent or when they will outgrow Hello Kitty, but everything to do with those men/boys not looking at the big picture whilst trying to convince older men they are delusional about the realities of their relationships whilst they are in similar situations themselves. Anyway...

Racism is a sensitive topic. We all live in a multicultural society now where people are going to mix together.

What your ham fisted attitude clearly portrays to me is that you are about as sensitive as a brick when it comes to judging what might or might not offend someone.

This is not an easy thing to navigate and sometimes political correctness can go a bit too far. But I would rather see the odd PC misjudgment then going back to an acceptance of lack of respect and no real consideration.

Guess you would still want to buy the Gollywog jam? After all it was only a jar of jam so why get so worked up about it?

Yes we live in a society with many cultures - however this doesn't necessarily make it "multicultural". Different nationalities and ethnic/religious groups within a single country *for the most part* tend to stick to themselves and do not attempt to adapt or blend in with whatever country they have chosen to settle in. My attitude is by no means 'hamfisted', I am a realist and I see things as they are, I have merely chosen not to drink the PC Kool Aid.

The main point that I was making, and that several others in this forum seem to agree with, is that the people "offended" by the advert in question were probably not Thai or Chinese, but more than likely a very small group of western left wing PC 'do gooders' who have decided to be the moral voice for the whole planet, hell bent on forcing their own misguided interpretations and beliefs as to what constitutes and defines racism onto the rest of the world. This small group of people make no allowances for the fact that most of the world don't agree with them, and even more couldn't care less what they think.

If people stopped trying to change the definition of racism, then things would be a lot clearer. Sorry we can't hire you because you have white skin? Racism undoubtedly. Model posing in a silly advert? A cultural fau paux possibly. Juvenile? Maybe. Bad taste? Arguably. Not well thought out? Definitely. But racist? Come on... lets get real. I doubt a single Chinese or Thai person took any racial offence or made any complaints about this. Only misguided PC missionaries taking offence on behalf of everyone else who didn't ask for or need their "help" to begin with.

The ad is not racist... it is just a clever/original/unusual idea playing on the hype surrounding Chinese New Year, nothing more.

The point here is that some people (particularly left wing bleeding heart do gooders of UK origin) seem to find "racism" in everything where none exists. And take it upon themselves to be crusaders for a majority that doesn't share their views These PC types seem to have redefined what racism is. Highlighting a factual difference between races/cultures/nationalities is not racism for gods sake. True racism is when there is negative discrimination involved - ie, black people can't ride in this train for no other reason than they are black, or you can't have this job because you are white. Yes I said white. The PC brigade have gone mad and label anything that highlights differences between people as racist. Ridiculous.

You don't have to like the ad, and you can choose to be offended by it all you want, afterall you can't please everyone all of the time. So don't shop there then. But that doesn't suddenly make the ad racist because you deem it so. Get over yourselves.

Firstly, I agree with what some are saying about percentage tipping in Thailand. Tipping 150b to a pizza delivery driver is just... nuts!! Over the years I have watched the delivery charge go from 20b (already pushing it coz it should be free really especially considering how overpriced pizzas are to start with compared with other food in Thailand), to 30b (starting to get silly), and now recently it has increased to 40b which is quite franky ridiculous.

Anyone who compares prices or tipping to the US or any other western culture is missing the point. Thailand is not a tipping culture, and people who over tip are not repsected by Thai people, in fact as others have stated, it just makes us look like mugs. And when people start to *expect tips* without increasing the level of service accordingly, and the tippees start jointly deciding amongst themselves what constitutes and *acceptable or mandatory* tip then we find ourselves in a situation like the USA is in now. A very slippery slope. Mr "Not in Kansas Anymore" please stop it because ultimately you're just urinating in the water supply.

Returning to topic, I order 1112, 1150, 1711 etc WAY less now than before thanks to the ridiculous charges, which helps my wallet and my health no doubt. However when I do, I do always tip the driver but the amount is less now on average due to the new charges. And usually it is whatever coins are left in relation to the bill, and certainly never more than 20!

Just to update and advise future TV'ers, my experience matched Prudent's - I went early and was in and out of there with the extension in about 30 min. Word of warning if you going to take a taxi there though, some taxi drivers don't know this building and drop you outside another government building on the main road a little further down. This happened to me on both occasions I have been there but yesterday I made him go back to the correct building. Luckily there is another entrance further down that goes down and around the other side of the complex. The new place is not really signposted apart from a big sign at the entrance that says "Government Building" or something along those lines, and also a sign for the court so look out for that. But the Immigration building is very far from the main road so if you are going by taxi make sure he turns into the complex and takes you all the way to the end or you will have quite a walk on your hands (or feet in this case ;-))

Great to hear Prudent_rabbit! Thanks for the info. So hopefully I won't need to spend more than an hour there. Excellent. My visa expires on Monday but I might just go in tomorrow and get it over with!

Thanks a lot for all the replies... lucky I asked first or I would have gone to Sathorn and wasted a trip! I have been to the place in Chaeng Wattana once before but on that occasion it turned out that I needed to be at Suan Plu! Does anyone know of an easy way to get there? Does anyone know if there are vans from around Mochit BTS or outside Chatujak that go there?

Apologies for piggy backing this thread... just a couple of quick related questions... how long does it take to get a tourist visa extension? I have never attempted this before. Should I expect to be queuing and waiting all day or can it I get in and out of there in a short period of time? What time do they open in Suan Plu and what time should I aim to be there? And to make sure I am prepared, do I need a photograph and photocopies of visa pages, passport etc or is this not required for a simple 30 day extension to an existing 60 day visa?? Finally, is it acceptable to apply for the extension on the day the visa expires or should I really do this beforehand? Thanks a lot... any info appreciated!

I have several Blu-ray ISOs on HDD and they look just as good played on the Dune as original Blu-rays do played through my Oppo BD-83.

There is a marked improvement in normal .mkv playback because the Dune has a far superior Sigma chipset to the WD TV.

Some HDi models only support USB or hard drive with a 3.5" bay, some have an integrated Blu-ray drive and others have both. I have the HDi Dune Base 3.0, which has the 3.5" hard drive bay to hot swap TB drives.

Like I said, I was initially happy with my WD but there was an increasing amount of stuff being released it couldn't play back properly so I bought an HDi. It was a toss up between that and the Popcorn Hour C-200.

Never regretted it, in fact I would go so far to say it is an essential addition to any home theatre.

HDi Dune Media Players

The Dune also supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio through HDMi, either decoded or PCM.

Just curious about what you paid for your Dune and where from??

Thanks for the responses... I have been trying to avoid having to buy another DVD player just for the USB input, hence my interest in the LG. Although I love all my Panasonic products, it does irk me that Panasonic always seem to be behind the curve when it comes to these types of things. Even now, none of their DVD players have USB, only their Home Theatre systems seem to have them, the cheapest of which I have seen is THB5990. Their SD card input on their plasma only allows photo viewing, and I understand that the lower end Samsung plasmas have USB that do not support video playback, which is why Samsung didnt make into my short list. If I do get another DVD player, the Pioneers (THB3000) look good and have everything you could need. I have wanted a dedicated media player for some time and may go down this route ultimately, rather than buy another DVD player. There is a lot of talk here about the WD, but does anyone have any opinion on the Seagate one? All my HDD's are Seagate and I have a Freeagent drive which their media player is designed around to slot in.

Thanks to whoever it was who posted the link to http://www.src-homelcd.com/ , their prices seem for the most part to be less than the big stores. The LG42PJ650 (which is essentially the same TV as the LG42PJ350 I mentioned before) is 6000 baht more expensive in the big stores, but only 2000 more expensive here whichnow brings it into the game for me. I previously eliminated it from my list due to the cost. It is essentially the same TV as the LG I mentioned before, but it has a frameless design which looks sooooo good!! I was drooling over it in Paragon the other day but could not justify paying 6k extra to not have a frame. The price differences in this store are also making me consider going up to 50", but I am not sure it will fit in my apartment due to the room layout.

I was hoping some of the more knowledgeable people who have contributed to this excellent thread could advise me here, I am wanting to buy a new TV also, and have narrowed my search down to 2 final candidates. I dont watch a lot of TV and most of what I watch is downloaded from the internet (I dont have True/UBC or watch normal Thai TV for example) and I am away a lot so therefore I dont want to spend much money, hence my choices. As some of us well know, the sales people in the big stores, ie Emporium, Paragon etc actually work for the manufacturer not the store so the sales info is unfairly biased regardless of the facts. The models I am considering (both 42" Plasmas and both almost identical price) are:

PANASONIC TH-P42X20

LG 42PJ350

Now before we all go stampeding straight towards the Panasonic, let me assure you that I am a big Panasonic fan and normally they will be my first choice for anything TV related. However, on paper the LG "seems" to have it beaten on specs due to its 3,000,000-1 contrast ratio (compared to the Panasonic's 2,000,000-1), better styling (including smaller profile, swivel ability, and nice touch buttons) and crucially (for me) the LG has a USB input that can play DiVX video files and the Panasonic does not. I dont know if I can bear the thought of owning an LG and betraying my Panasonic brand loyalty, so I would be grateful if someone can objectively tell me if the LG is really better or not, and if not then WHY not? I understand that the Panasonic panel is made in Japan and the LG in Korea, but that both TV's are actually assembled here in Thailand. But apart from that I can not trust anything the sales people tell me as they are just being loyal to their corner of the sales floor.

Thanks in advance

Can someone tell me what the SWIFT code is for Bank Of Ayudyha? Or point me in the direction of a link that would give that info? I want to transfer some cash into my account there and I dont want to have to call them from overseas just to ask that

thanks in advance

From their website:

Inward Remittance Services

Service Feature

With faster and more secure international remittance system (SWIFT), you can receive inward remittance for your money transfer from remitter worldwide. The remitter just have to correctly indicate your account name/number and Bank of Ayudhya SWIFT Code (AYUDTHBK) to ensure that the amount of money will be directly credited into your account.

Remittance Fees:

• 0.25% of amount transferred (min. THB 200.00 and max. THB 500.00)

• THB 20.00 per transaction in case the recipient account is outside specific clearing zone (Clearing zone covers Bangkok and metropolitan areas)

Condition :

For remittance amount equivalent to USD 20,000.00 or above , the customer must fill in Foreign Exchange Transaction Form as per Bank of Thailand's Regulations.

http://www.krungsri.com/en/ourservice-cons...st.aspx?cid=207

Thanks a lot for that. I just opened a Halifax account so I can use their cheaper online international transfer service, so I will give it a whirl

Can someone tell me what the SWIFT code is for Bank Of Ayudyha? Or point me in the direction of a link that would give that info? I want to transfer some cash into my account there and I dont want to have to call them from overseas just to ask that

thanks in advance

(I posted this in the Bangkok forum, but am copying it here in case anyone here might be interested)

I have a large collection of video tapes I no longer need as I now have their contents on DVD, approx 150 in all. I used to record old TV Series as a hobby, mainly classic 1980's shows, which I meticulously collected and recorded off Sky+ TV re-runs, with adverts etc edited out. Shows are recorded in LP, usually 8 shows per tape. Amongst this lot of tapes is pretty much every single episode ever made of THE A-TEAM, MAGNUM PI, AIRWOLF, MIAMI VICE, TWIN PEAKS, SEINFELD, and Series 1-7 of DALLAS. I would buy the tapes (mostly Maxell brand) brand new, so most of them have been recorded on only once. They have been in storage for the last couple of years and are essentially just taking up space now.

Anyone interested? I will consider any reasonable offers. I am located in Bangkok, Sukhumvit area. The tapes are recordable so you can tape over all of them if classic 80's TV is not your thing

I have a large collection of video tapes I no longer need as I now have their contents on DVD, approx 150 in all. I used to record old TV Series as a hobby, mainly classic 1980's shows, which I meticulously collected and recorded off Sky+ TV re-runs, with adverts etc edited out. Shows are recorded in LP, usually 8 shows per tape. Amongst this lot of tapes is pretty much every single episode ever made of THE A-TEAM, MAGNUM PI, AIRWOLF, MIAMI VICE, TWIN PEAKS, SEINFELD, and Series 1-7 of DALLAS. I would buy the tapes (mostly Maxell brand) brand new, so most of them have been recorded on only once. They have been in storage for the last couple of years and are essentially just taking up space now.

Anyone interested? I will consider any reasonable offers. I am located in Bangkok, Sukhumvit area. The tapes are recordable so you can tape over all of them if classic 80's TV is not your thing

Go to Siam Discovery, there is a big store there called "The Loft" I think it is, they sell a lot of quirky Japanese stuff. They have a small clothing section packed out with emo/punk stuff, I am sure you will find something you like there. Also, if you feel like going on a mission, go to The Mall Bangapi. Next door to the mall is a big market, some of it indoors. In there you will find quite a few stalls that specalise in those clothes, probably the biggest selection I have seen in Bkk.

I bought my Asus Eee1000H back at the beginning of September I guess when they first came out. I was initially going to get the Acer One or the Asus 901, but that keyboard was just too small. The Acer looks fantastic, and was really cheap (at the time, 10500 INCL VAT), but I was turned off by the fact that they are really difficult to upgrade and didnt come with Windows (the cheaper model). I deliberated for a week or so and then went back to make my choice and it was then that I saw the 1000H and common sense prevailed. The bigger screen and keyboard (10" screen is the perfect size for a netbook) won me over, plus the specs of 1024 RAM, 80GB HDD, Windows XP and built in wireless & Bluetooth are more than sufficient. And of course the 6hr+ battery life was the clincher. I got it in black with non-thai keyboard for 18300 I think it was (INCL VAT) which I thought was a pretty good price back then. More than I planned on spending, but I am happy with my purchase and it went travelling abroad with me the following day.

Incidently, I was curious about the MSI Wind as it would have been a contender for sure, but I didnt see any anywhere at that time. Ironically, the night after I bought my Asus I flew to Singapore and saw one in an electronic shop in the airport (I think it was about S$750 but I cant be sure). It is a nice machine and I had a few moments of second guessing my purchase, but overall I have no regrets with my Asus. I love these netbooks, they are so small and light, no more carrying around big heavy laptop bags everywhere

I live in Bkk and have been using True 2.5mb (1150baht per month) for the past 2-3 years, but I have to move and my new apartment only has a TOT line installed so I cant use this service anymore. I have done some research and read the forum and I appear to have few options, mainly TOT themselves, Ji-Net, KSC and CSLoxinfo. I am not sure if MAxnet is available to me on a TOT line? I have read mixed reviews on all these ISP's so am no closer to making a choice. Although True have had their bad moments, overall I am used to their service and am generally happy with it, so would like a service at least as efficient.

Could you advise me as to what the best choice is, based on current info? I will be happy with a service and price comparable to what I have now, although I am more concerned about the service working properly and getting decent download speed etc. Any advice or recommendations will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I have a True 2.5meg connection, and I download a lot from Usenet. About 7-10 days back I noticed a sudden drop overnight in my download speed from 278kbs to <50kbs. I watched this for a few days and then called True who said they didnt cap that port (119). I changed to another port a few days later and suddenly got my max speed back again for a couple days but today it is suddenly struggling to go over 50kbs again. That represents in both cases a deliberate action to cut the bandwidth by 80%. I am now paying for a 2.5mb service but only receiving a 500kb service. I am fed up with this, True told me that they didnt cap the ports but clearly the service is being deliberately capped.

Seeing as I am something of a burger junkie, I figured this would be a good choice for my first posting to this forum

I am surprised nobody else has rated their burgers, but without a doubt the best burger in Bangkok can be found at O'Brians on Sukhumvit (between Soi 3 and 5). Their bacon/egg/cheese burger is FANTASTIC. Great beef, toasted buns, fresh bacon and egg fried up in front of you etc. My only complaint is the cost, they are a little pricy, even more so now because they hiked up their prices by a massive 20% a few months ago which I thought was a bit much, but they are open 24hrs a day and as I said do make a tasty burger.

I have tried most of the burgers recommended on this thread. Big Mango burgers are pretty good and offer better value than some of the others (especially the happy hour priced ones) but are definitely not as good as O'Brians. The Nana burgers outside definitely hit the spot and can be tasty but the quality of the meat is not very good and I tend not to eat them anymore because of their "after effects" shall we say. Tony Romas make a quality burger but it is very pricy, although the Emporium Food Court version is a little cheaper than in the restaurant. Sizzlers dont do a bad burger either it has to be said, it is a little pricy (B270 I think?) but you do get fries/baked potato and unlimited salad bar with that so it kinda evens out.

Oh, and anyone who seriously considers McDonalds burgers as an option here really need to go and try some of the other places mentioned in this thread! I cant even eat them anymore, just the thought of eating McDonalds nowadays makes me queazy... I have not tried The Garage, Mos, or Triple 0 yet, but I will investigate these options soon and report back