jfchandler

In terms of ChefsXP orders...

--Sunrise Tacos has always been good, and I'm very partial to their meal-size Mexican salads.

--Marina HK is good for Chinese dim sum and especially variety of Isaan/Thai meat salads.

--Indian Tandoor is good for dals and vegetarian dishes. Hot Curry was very good also, but they've been listed but unable to order via CXP for a long time, not sure why...

--Boon Tong Kiat is good for their roasted duck.

--A Bourbon Street regular hamburger I ordered was OK, not great, but OK.

--A couple of pizzas from Bella Napoli were OK... decent pizza, but certainly needed reheating by the time they arrived.

--A falafel/hummus sandwich from Sandwiches of the World was bad.... very bad... Food/taste not so good, and sandwich arrived broken up...

--A couple of dishes from Bistro Eurogourmet likewise were bad... Exploits recounted in the BEG thread here on TV.... Don't ask....

Do I understand correctly that you were able to obtain a 2nd Gold Package card at no additional monthly charge just by having a True Mobile SIM phone plan?  If so, I may have to look into this because I have to pay an additional 50% of a regular full subscription for my 2nd card with the Platinum package.

Yes, in answer to your question.... In BKK, dealing with True directly for their cable TV service (Gold package), under what they call their TrueVisions SIM promotion, I am paying a total of 1,723 per month for Gold Package plus two decoder boxes and cards. No extra programming fee for the second outlet.

However, that is a better deal that the regular pricing and regular promotions shown on the True web site, as might be expected... Here's their regular and regular promotions pricing site, which does show an extra programming charge normally for extra outlets:

http://www.truevisionstv.com/eng/pricing.aspx

As I mentioned above, to qualify for the TrueVisions SIM promotion, you had to be on a True Mobile postpay plan of at least 300 baht per month. (Obviously, you can't do that by using their pre-pay cards.... only via post-pay service, where they often demand to see a work permit to establish that kind of plan). I did this with them about one month ago.

All they did for this, was come out to my home, install a splitter in the main room with the original decoder box, and then run coax cable into my bedroom, where they installed the second (new) decoder box and card. So while both have the Gold package, I can tune each TV separately using the separate boxes and remotes.

Here's the True Mobile web site link for the promotion I mentioned (it's listed on the True Mobile web site, not True UBC web site... I see at the bottom it was slated to expire on Aug. 31, but it's still listed on their promotions web page... It also applies only to those who have either the Gold or Platinum packages for True service.

http://www.truemove.com/eng/product/package/tm_sim_tvs.htm

i dont think any bars are showing any replays of monday night games in thailand

I think the prior poster meant replays of True's Sunday midnight/early Monday games....but shown after regular work hours on Monday evenings when more people can catch them...

I believe Woodstock bar is doing that kind of arrangement....

Saw the same last night at the Gourmet Market in Siam Paragon... lower price there....

Just a bit more of an update here on gluten-free (and yeast-free) bread baking using a bread machine.

After success previously trying the Orgran and Basco bread mixes from the stores, I did some experimenting the past two weeks, using regular gluten-free flours found at local stores, and a recipe for yeast-free bread from the Internet, with varying results as follows:

1. Buckwheat flour: Villa Market has been stocking this lately, so I picked up a 500g package of Lowan brand, and its bread actually turned out pretty well. It seemed to resemble wheat flour more in its characteristics, and rose and formed better than the others.

2. Rice flour: Seems to be readily available in almost all of the large supermarkets. But I used this flour in the same recipe, and it turned out as a brick. Didn't rise at all, and had a very odd consistency when mixed with the liquids, not really like dough at all. (I had a 10 sec. power outage at home near the end of my machine's baking cycle, which prematurely cut it short. But I don't think that would have changed the rising at all, had it not happened.)

3. Corn Flour: Likewise, seems to be readily available in all the major supermarkets. Used the same recipe, and added a bit of the leftover buckwheat flour from the first buckwheat loaf. It also came out OK, pretty dense in composition, and a batter/dough consistency similar to the rice flour. I had to be careful not to add too much liquid, even after the mix didn't seem to be forming a good dough.

All of these tries involved the same recipe, which I wanted to try just as a baseline to see how the different flours responded.

Yeast free bread recipe

3 cups flour

(the original recipe called for wholegrain flour, presumably wheat.

so I was substituting different, gluten-free flours. That might mean needing to adjust other ingredients such as more baking powder. But again, I wanted to try just the base recipe first)

2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Mix liquid and dry ingredients separately, then combine and mix well. For the bread machine, that means adding the mixed batter about 4-5 minutes before the end of the final mixing cycle, then allowing it to rise about one hour before baking.

By comparison, the Orgran and the Basco loafs both turned out lighter and with a better texture overall than any of my initial freelance attempts. But I don't want to be dependent on sometimes finding/many times not finding the boxed mixes available in the stores. So hopefully I can find a local flours mix and recipe that works well enough as a reliable, always available substitute.

I have other similar recipes to the one I used for those three loafs, but I wanted to start with one recipe and see how the different flours responded to it. Its pretty easy to find no-yeast recipes, and likewise gluten-free recipes. But it seems near impossible to find a gluten and yeast-free made-from-scratch recipe.

PS - It's now almost the end of October, and I've yet to find/see another box of the Orgran gluten-free bread mix in either the Soi 11 or Soi 2 Villa Markets since I found the first (and only) box there a couple months ago.

PPS - Went shopping tonight at the "Gourmet" Market at Siam Paragon and was really disappointed. They had all the basic baking ingredients and flours (wheat gluten ones for breads and cake, and then rice and corn, but no buckwheat. But they had nothing in the way of useful gluten-free products, not even any brown rice pastas that I could find.

For a country that literally lives on rice, you'd think it's be possible to find some brown rice flour or brown rice pastas somewhere....

I think Phaethon's comments above are good and apt advice....

I live here... But if I was still traveling, I'd always take on the trip multiple cards, and only carry one or two in my wallet at any time, and leave the other couple in a hotel safe box as backup, just in case needed in event of a lost wallet, etc...

Re notifying your card companies of your travel and destination, I've certainly had that experience with credit cards, where after the first foreign use, suddenly I've found the card locked... Because the card company was used to seeing all my charges in USA, and suddenly there's charges from Thailand.

Sometimes you get away with it depending on the card company, even if you don't notify them. But sometimes, if you don't you'll find yourself in the midst of a headache. One time, while living here, I had gone shopping to buy a new computer, found one on sale that I really wanted, and it was the last available in the store. Went to the counter to pay with my U.S. credit card, and bingo, charge won't go thru... Clerk tried three times and finally go the message, contact your bank. Sure enough, earlier in the day, I'd used the card for the first time in a long time and that went fine. But when I tried the same card for a second purchase that day...frozen. Had to run back home, grab another card and rush back to the store... Got the right PC in the end, lucky for me.

But, as to debit cards, I've never had any freezing experience with any of those, unlike credit cards. And I've never had any of my banks associated with those debit cards ask to be notified when I'm going to be traveling. So I don't think the "foreign freeze" operates the same way when it comes to debit/ATM cards.

For that you could buy a cheapo digital receiver and a card sharer, no extra fees, hook up to half a dozen receivers to a single card

Crossy, here in BKK, I don't have permission of my Thai building owner to install any kind of external satellite dish on the outside of their building. True UBC is OK, but pretty weak in terms of Western TV offerings.

Do you know, if there any kind of solution I can use that DOES NOT have to have something installed outside? And if so, who can provide/install that kind of solution... Thanks much....

I just accomplished this in my own home...going thru True instead of trying to do it myself...in part because the added wiring I needed had to travel a somewhat difficult path.

Indeed, True's list price to do this is a ridiculous 7000 baht or so for the install. But, check their web site and list of specials and promotions, because they often seem to be running one that includes a second installation.

I did that recently, and got the second TV with separate box and card done for an install fee of just 1,000 baht plus a refundable 2,000 baht deposit on the box. I also have Gold Package, though they would have done this under any programming package.

The extra monthly cost under the deal I did is only to pay the extra 155 baht monthly rental for the receiver box. There was/is no extra programming charge for having the second outlet.

I did that under something they called their Truevisions SIM promotion, which you qualify for by having/using a True Mobile SIM mobile phone plan for at least 300 baht per month. I already had and was using the True SIM for my mobile, so that was really nothing extra for me.

I should add...I'd been wanting to do this for some months, but had been put off by the ridiculous True 7,000 baht price, and, at the same time, I didn't know who to contact in BKK who could do a third-party solution to me. But in the end, it was good I waited and finally found a decent promotion for what I wanted.

ATM card would generally be a better approach than traveler's checks (which are assessed fees every time you exchange them)...provided you do it smart....

The best you can do is pay no fee from your home bank, pay no fee from the Thai bank where you withdraw, and get the full exchange rate on the transaction. That's a hard combo to find, but it can be done.

More common is to get no transaction fee from your home bank or the Thai bank, but to get a 1% fee taken out by VISA or MC via a lower exchange rate, if the card you're using uses either of those networks and has their VISA or MC logo. This typically doesn't show up as a separate fee, but instead is just extracted via the slightly lower exchange rate you get.

What's bad, however, is if your home bank is charging you a per ATM withdrawal fee when you use someone else's ATM, particularly if it's out of the country. You really want to avoid that situation.

Thai banks generally don't charge per use transaction fees for foreign ATM cards. But as noted above, Siam Commercial (SCB) earlier this year started charging a 20 baht fee per ATM transaction. As a result, I think many farang here in Thailand no longer use their ATMs, since so many other choices are available.

James, I know you may not be looking for this particular one, but in case others are....

I noticed today that Food by Phone is offering the jars of prepared horseradish for sale in their supermarket delivery section... 84 baht for the jar... (plus delivery charge for whatever you order)...

http://www.foodbyphone.com/restaurant.asp?i=39

I love going back, although not in the winter, and may move back in the near future.

You gotta be kidding??? You can't go back to the U.S.... We need you HERE!!!

If I was looking for a well-coiffed ladyboy, that's certainly where I'd go...

Either there, or Nana Plaza...

I've never had anything but good food, good service and accurate orders from ChefsXP... And even got an email response within the hour from their CEO one time, after sending them an email comment of praise.

But, I did get caught a bit one time similar to Sabaijai... maybe... I thought I had placed the ChefsXP order via the web... but after a few minutes...didn't get the reply email. And then I realized I hadn't clicked the last and final "confirm order" button to actually place the order... So, I just wasn't paying attention...my fault. So clicked that final button, and the food was on its way.

About Sunrise Tacos... actually, the prices are the same in the restaurant and via ChefsXP.... The latest printed menu I have from Sunrise has handwritten in pen on the front cover -- + 7% VAT. But the tax included prices aren't yet listed on individual menu items. Whereas they are included when you look on the ChefsXP web site.

Note that the the U.S. reverts to Standard Time this weekend so games now start at 01:00 and ~ 04:05, and Tuseday at 08:30, locally.

Ohhhh Man!!!!!!! Even more of sleepless nights Sundays into Mondays....

PS - Pls don't tell me I can record the TrueVisions games aired live then... Of course I can. But I'm not watching them anyway... I always watch those on repeats at the more normal hours.

But I am watching the Raiders and the 49ers live via the Internet...either video or radio, depending on what's available. And that's not so easy to auto record...

In general, letters coming from an American guy (or other people's letters on YOUR behalf) are not going to help your GF at all in her quest for a tourist visa to the USA.

The U.S. embassy folks are going to evaluate her on HER record and the prospects that she will keep her promise to return back to Thailand. So that's where her steady job, bank balances, property ownership, and any past history of foreign travel outside Thailand etc. come into the picture.

If anything, your presence in the process may be a hindrance, not a help, since romantic engagements may be looked down upon by the embassy folks.

Going the fiance visa route is one alternative, if a tourist visa's not going to happen.

Also be aware, supposedly, if a Thai person keeps applying and getting rejected for tourist visas repeatedly in a short period of time, there reportedly is a potential for them to be blacklisted. So it would be best to let some time pass between any different requests being made.

I need to book a January 09 flight with EVA between BKK and L.A.

I called and talked with EVA customer service the other day, checking a couple things, including a question of: Now that gas/fuel prices have fallen markedly, when you are guys going to reduce your very high fuel surcharge.

The CSR I was talking with went away and then came back to reply: There have been no recent change in EVA's fuel surcharge, and no word on when any change may be forthcoming.

I don't fly Thai... but I think theirs is even worse (higher).

The ice has got to thaw at some point....

My experience with Siam Commercial and BKK Bank in BKK is that they always seem to want you to deal with your home branch location for anything except for basic banking stuff.

sorry i m a bit confused over

[/color]3. What does double entry mean?

After 60 days plus extension you can go out and come back and get another 60 + 30 days.

The one additional point to note about using a double-entry tourist visa is that your entitled second use of the visa (after the initial 60 days plus 30 day extension, if you pay for one at immigration) must be initiated prior to the expiration date on the original visa

I'd certainly concur with the couple of posts and comments immediately prior....

What's said, and what's really thought, seem rarely to be the same thing. Communication is often very lacking. And influences of parents and relatives often seem to anonymously seep into your interactions without you (the guy) even being aware where those influences have come from.

A number of those kinds of experiences have made me reverse my emotional polarity since moving to Thailand. Before, I would tend at the outset to reasonably trust people (and women) unless I had or felt some reason not to. Nowadays, I find myself starting out with the presumption to basically not trust people here or their motives, unless convinced with time or experience otherwise.

I'm not sure I like that change in my feelings. But I think living here as a farang almost makes it a necessity -- if you want to survive reasonably intact.

I posted this elsewhere recently...not realizing this very on-topic thread existed here... All of the comment and advice above was very helpful.... Thanks...

Maybe some one of you has had a Thai GF or wife go thru this, and can offer some information....

I was dating a lady living in Pattaya toward the end of last year, mid-20s from the North, working in a low-level office job after having moved from BKK to find work. She's a sweetheart... So everything was going well for us after a month or two dating together.

Then Christmas time came, and I had to fly back to the U.S. for the holiday. And when I came back in early Jan., I found from her that she had just left Pattaya to go back to her home city to stay with her family. While I was away, she'd gone to get tested and was diagnosed with breast cancer (tumors) in one of her breasts.

In any event, she's been home for the past 6 months, going for monthly chemotherapy treatments (at Lampang), and she's lost her hair because of those, and they make her sick for some days after each treatment. Her female doctor, she tells me, is talking to her about needing to do some kind of breast surgery, though she's not clear about how much/what kind. And as best as I can tell from listening to her, they don't seem to be telling her much of anything in the way of medical details. In fact, she says the other medical staff say the doctor is known for being good, but extremely uncommunicative.

Here's my question: all of the medical care she's getting thus far is being covered through the Thai health care card, the one that gives low-income Thai people medical treatment for a very small co-payment. What I'm trying to figure out is, how far will that health coverage go??? And will it pay for breast reconstruction, or they'll just do the removal surgery and leave her on her own???

In talking to her today on the telephone, she mentioned that the health coverage will cover the surgery itself, but not at the cancer hospital where she's been getting chemo treatment. Instead, for the surgery itself, they're telling her she'll have to go to the smaller hospital in her home town, in order for Thai health to cover it. So that kind of thing makes me wonder, just how much Thai health will do.

Thanks much...

Never forgetting the quest for a good (or

(sorry for the less than optimal photos... My mobile doesn't have a flash, and the inside of HRC is dark....)

Nice review JFC. One piece of advice if I may. Take an extra two minutes and fix the white balance on those images because they look horrible (colour).

Sorry James, et al... As mentioned above, my mobile phone lacks a flash and takes terrible photos in the dark. I actually did go in in Photoshop and "fix" those photos... You should have seen the originals....

Never forgetting the quest for a good (or even best) hamburger to be found in BKK, we ventured last night back to the Hard Rock Cafe in Siam Square to try their burger for the first time...and were pleasantly surprised. Judged on the standard of an "American" hamburger, it was generally a good burger, and very good by BKK standards.

We'd been there before for the BBQ ribs, which were very good, and reported on here previously... And it was the authenticity of those (that dinner was one of the few I've ever had in BKK where the food made me think I'm actually eating back in the USA) that made me want to come back to try the burgers.

For the record, HRC has a full page of their menu devoted to hamburgers, and two basic categories of offerings: a section of 10 oz. burgers with various choices of fancy toppings, all pricing at 550 to 600 baht including fries. Then there's the regular hamburgers section with 7 oz. choices with various toppings in the 350 to 400 baht range including fries. (I believe the menu indicates they use Australian ground beef for their burgers.) Not being a glutton, I opted for the basic "HRC Burger" with fries for 350 baht, which arrived plain except for a side garnish of lettuce, a couple onion slices, and a couple pickles and tomato slices.

(sorry for the less than optimal photos... My mobile doesn't have a flash, and the inside of HRC is dark....)

The fries were mediocre, regular medium cut style but not arriving particularly fresh or hot. But the burger (the beef) was very good in two respects... First, they ask how you want it cooked, I answered medium, and to my surprise, I actually got a hamburger that was pink inside...which is what I was wanting/expecting. (Too often, of course, no matter how you ask for meat here to be cooked, it arrives brown through and through.) That was a nice touch.

Then, second, the burger arrived with a wonderful charcoal grilled flavor to the meat.... not overcooked or burned on the outside. But just enough real grilling to impart that distinct and remarkable flavor that says HAMBURGER and blows away the flavor of any griddle fried offerings. If they did add any seasonings into the beef, they weren't detectable at all, with the charcoal grill flavor dominating.

And of course, at 7 oz., the burger was quite good in size and shaped as a large patty formed to maybe 1/4 inch thick... and filling out the width of the good sized bun it came with ... not the meatball shaped patty found elsewhere.

Next time, on a day when I'm feeling particularly ravenous, I may give a try to one of the 10 oz. burgers (just under 2/3rd of a pound)... first...to see if they can consistently replicate the quality of the burger last night, and second, sometimes ya gotta just go for the beef!!! ...

http://www.hardrockcafe.co.th/Food_Beverage_BURGERS.htm

For BKK folks, the Amorn shop is easy to find on the 4th floor of Fortune Town...

But here's the smallshop on the 3rd floor that also had the product in question...

For that price in BKK.... a lovely young thing better be massaging your private parts as part of the deal.

Otherwise, for beer alone, you're getting ripped off... especially if its only 1 Singh bottle for 140 baht. Two bottles for 140 baht is more of a normal pricing, unless its someplace special in some way.

About the issue of parental knowledge mentioned above, that's been my experience also...

For the students I've known of, either directly or indirectly, who have been engaged in this type of thing, (and again, I've never sponsored or supported anyone myself) typically, they're living alone or with roommates here in BKK, whereas the parents and families have their home somewhere outside BKK. Hence, it gives the young women quite a bit of freedom without having to worry too much about parental knowledge or disapproval...if any were to be forthcoming.