piker

If I were you, I wouldn't look at anything having to do with Thais or working with Thais. The less dependent you are on Thais, the govt, or the their work style, I think the less Paracetamol you will require. This is only MY opinion....

Jesus! Such a well thought out response !

So why are you IN Thailand?

I'm in Pattaya where I enjoy the great weather, low costs, and excellent cuisine. But #1 is the supply. It's all about the supply. Not the beaches or the lovely attitude of the locals here. You understand now?

Try Pro Language School on Pattaya Klang opposite Carrefour for good private. American University (AUA) at the Naklua circle aka Dolphin Roundabout for good groups.

For work, I went the self employment route with an online business that allows me an enjoyable hobby and a sustainable income. If I were you, I wouldn't look at anything having to do with Thais or working with Thais. The less dependent you are on Thais, the govt, or the their work style, I think the less Paracetamol you will require. This is only MY opinion....

Accidents spoil Loy Krathong festivities

Young boy loses hand in Chiang Mai

Security and safety warnings have dominated this year's Loy Krathong festival with dozens of cautions and prohibitions issued by state authorities. But that could not bar Thais from joining the centuries-old tradition of paying respect to the river goddess.

Despite warnings about accidents, especially from fireworks, many cases of injuries caused by firecrackers were reported yesterday.

The most serious case concerned a 12-year-old boy in Chiang Mai who lost his right hand and sustained a serious injury to his right eye and the right side of his body.

Narubet Tomtui from Chiang Mai's Phrao district made his own big fire-cracker. He lit it and it exploded, blowing his right hand into pieces. His doctor at Nakhon Ping Hospital decided to cut off his right hand at the wrist.

The explosion also damaged his right eye and the right side of his body. The doctor said the boy is likely to lose the sight in his right eye as well.

Another seven-year-old boy in the same province sustained a severe wound to his left hand after he lit a firecracker at a Loy Krathong fair.

Dr Chatchai Khoonrangsisomboon, assistant director of the hospital, said eight patients injured by firecrackers had been brought to his hospital during the festival. Most had severe wounds to their hands, arms and eyes.

In other cities, many people went out to celebrate the lantern floating festival as usual.

But police in every province opted to enforce stricter security measures than in past years.

They warned revellers of pick-pocketing and other crimes, while ordering operators of love motels to check clients to screen out those under age.

In Koh Pha-ngan in Surat Thani, where tourists celebrated a Full Moon Party, police yesterday arrested a gang of 10 Iranians led by Kaya Torabipur which allegedly stole tourists' valuables from their hotel rooms.

Koh Pha-ngan police said they had tracked the gang for almost a year before they resurfaced to commit crimes during the full moon.

In three southern border provinces, authorities beefed up security in town centres and Loy Krathong fair venues around the clock, especially in Yala's Betong district where Malaysian tourists had booked all the hotel rooms.

In Bangkok, major Loy Krathong festivals were held on the banks of the Chao Phraya river.

Deputy Bangkok city clerk Anan Siripassaraporn, chairman of the 2007 Loy Krathong accident prevention committee, said city police and disaster prevention officers were stationed at all piers along the Chao Phraya river. They stopped young children from jumping into the water to collect change which revellers put in lanterns before casting them out onto the river.

Politics also added colour to this year's festival as many politicians running in the Dec 23 election seized the opportunity to introduce themselves to revellers.

Bangkok Post

Two foreigners injured by fireworks in Pattaya

Chon Buri - Two foreigners were injured when a firework they lit up exploded and hit them Loy Krathong night, police said.

The two were identified as Marinus Louwerse, 62, a Dutch, and his German friend, Haasolap Haas, 52.

The accident happened at 12:30 am on Pattaya Beach.

The Nation

I think Hua Hin gets my vote and if you look around, good deals still exist on lodgings. My work is online so I can base myself anywhere but I've chosen tranquil suburban Pattaya. I have no complaints in my 4th year. PM me anyone wants peace & security in central Pattaya. It does exist.

There's 2 men in Pattaya who I believe could make this happen:

Robert Schindler of Bob's BBQ (unlikely) or Robert Davis of Slices Pizza/Platinum Motorbike (more likely).

I'm from Montreal and we invented smoked meat. This is big news! Now what about bagels???

Well I made my choice....not that anyone here cares apparently but I was looking for down home cooking opposed to fancy so Big Bob's it is.

Bob's was packed last night and people were eating outside. Probably delicious.

I use voipdiscount and I've received the fair policy exceeded message too. The 1 cent/minute charge isn't worthy of my concern anyway. I've also tried logging out and logging in again and the message was no longer there!

Oddly enough, my voip connection is much stronger with wifi than maxnet tt&t. weird....

Skype is strong 24/7.

What kind of food?

You pay for the music, you can play the music at volume 11 and that's the law!

My soi, Soi Arunotai (across from Carrefour) has installed speakers on some of the light poles. The taped ads begins blaring at 16:30 each day rain or shine. Then there's the lemon trucks blaring their 5 baht lemons at 22:30 without repent in that odd robotic voice. It's just another TiT example. Love it or leave it.

If the city fathers permitted them to operate in the first place, then make them more efficient by allowing them to work like a regular cab or baht bus.

The baht bus honks enough as it is. Each motorcy would be honking and making abrupt stops to claim a passenger. In short time, fights would break out amongst drivers. They're closer to animal than human IMO.

Just yesterday, my friend and I rented a bike and toured the entire island (street by street literally) to find every single accommodation available. It took us hours to view each room and each beach but we did it and there's some amazing hidden options far from any white skin right over the water. Wow!

Send me a PM as I will probably forget to get the phone numbers from my friend. The best of them all was 1800 baht/night right over the water. Lareena is at the old pier (which is still in use some of the day) and is a nice place. The island must be a veritable ghost town after the 6pm boat leaves the old pier. Lareena had various choices with aircon from 1200+.

I can't comprehend why anyone needs to run all the way to Ko Chang, Ko Samui, Ko Samed, or Krabi when there's some very private beaches on Ko Larn. Try Nual beach. It's practically deserted and clean. Jetskis and boats don't operate from there which makes it pretty unique. The sand could use a raking but it's not dirty. Tien wasn't too busy which is why I'll always love it. The others were jammed with Asian and Russian tourists. The latter not bad to ogle...

PM with any questions. I think I could write the Ko Larn book by now.

If you're in a rush, when you emerge at the old pier, turn right and keep walking along the coast and you'll come upon some very hidden away but ultra beautiful rooms. This is far from the tourist masses all of the day. We sat on their balcony for awhile and gazed at the multitude of colorful fish right below us. The owner offered us fishing rods!

My age old method of repaying a Thai is to offer them free English lessons. We settle it by exchanging phone numbers. So few ever take me up on my offer though.

Factory workers work 12 hour shifts on their feet for 200 baht or less per day.

Use that perspective whenever you open your wallet in Thailand.

Not all people from the middle East are like that. I've lived there and have met all types. You think all Thais are so lovely? Yet, we dream of living in Thailand and/or coming as much as we can. My advice would be to not live in south Pattaya. Central near Carrefour and Naklua have more expats and less middle Eastern or Russian tourists. Much quieter and little to no riff raff. I'm by an elementary school near Carrefour. It doesn't get much quieter.

I know someone who overstayed 9 months. She told me story once she was safely back in Switzerland.

She said she had a long term apartment lease, a long term motorbike lease, already had opened a bank account, and never traveled. Therefore, she had already presumed her passport would never be an issue and she was right, it wasn't.

Then it was finally time for Switzerland again and she had a dilemma: She had to transfer the entry stamp from her old passport into her new passport. Uh oh.

On the advice of her lawyer, she must go to BKK immigration (not at the airport exit) and ask the office to stamp the new passport which effectively is an admission of long term overstay. She packed her toothbrush as she expected a phalanx of police to arrest her. However, the clerk stamped her passport and she did an about foot and walked out with no problems much to her and her lawyer's surprise. She had anticipated being detained for months and/or paying a bribe.

At the airport came the 2nd worry of being hit for a bribe (think "Cash Cow"). She knew the law which states 20k maximum at the door. Right behind the immigration counter is a small table with 2 clerks who counts your money and stamp you out. That's all she had to pay. The entry stamp transfer was free except for a lot of ensuing anxiety.

When the flight to Zurich left the tarmac, she changed her panties and drank copious amounts of alcohol to calm her nerves.

=THE END=

Please add "The tattoos and diamond in her tooth is a fashion statement, nothing more" and "TiT."

You aren't supposed to take all your girlfriends at the same time. Up to you.

When I had thought that the bus was going to hit us I wasn't scared, I didn't shout to warn my family (not that they weren't aware of what was going on), I just saw the bus coming straight at us and thought 'he's gonna hit us'. After the event I must admit my heart was thumping but at the time I was quite matter of fact about the whole thing.

Has anyone else had a similar experience where they thought they would have reacted differently to what they did?

CC.

'he's gonna hit us'.

I think that happens about every 2-3 minutes in Pattaya. Not necessarily only when driving either.

I've been living in Thailand for a few years full time and I read many Thai boards so I know quite a bit about Thai women from my own experiences and others. I've been a full time "butterfly" for the majority of the 3 years except a 3 week block back in 2004.

I've recently met a girl I don't know very well but we really click in some ways (describing such ways may violate board rules) and I'm thinking of "taking care of her" so she doesn't have to think about working and I can selfishly have her all to myself (if she's truthful).

In an attempt to avoid a woman slagging or prostitution or "my girl is different" discussions, I am seeking advice on how to keep the relationship healthy as this is my first time going long time with a TG.

I think the most I can do is keep the cash flowing and keep a tight control of how much cash she gets out of me. The least she can do is keep the condo clean, not drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes in my presence, keep herself clean, and be with my every night.

I know there's some old timers here with long relationship records so I'd appreciate any advice on how to make this work for as long as possible. I have zero experience with 1 woman so this "experiment" may be short lived. Stay tuned and I appreciate the comments.

She's from Korat with 1 kid and a mom. I was thinking of offering her 40-60k/month.

Pro Language School across from Carrefour. Private classes available.

Before long she will be able to mention other sick animals other than her buffalo!!

I had a neighbor with a similar attitude. I put my radio to the window and cranked it full blast. It was a war without words and I eventually won in the sense that the music toned down. I was also once in a shared room at the hospital in the recovery unit and my roommates were so noisy at the joy of their newborn that I could not rest and relax. I finally started singing at the top of the my lungs (like that scene in "Ghost" with Patrick Swayze/Whoopi Goldberg) until I was moved or committed to the asylum, whichever comes first. Fight fire with fire. Whatever you do, you can't let your neighbor know you're starting trouble or he could lash out at you. With other noisy neighbors, I've had a polite word with them to no avail. Once must take heavier measures sometimes.

I've already contacted the company about finding employment for those that need to work.

If you know anyone on strike who wishes to change companies, they can reach me at www.careerexperts.org

Went to Soi 9 police station last night and met with the FPV who were extremely helpful. Bravo to Pattaya. At least they're there. When I've tried to get something out of TPV (dial 1155), it wasn't always prompt nor helpful.

Piker alone. Thank you.