jfchandler

At least from my recollection, the fee that SCB wanted was not a % of the check amount, but rather, a fixed amount processing fee, regardless of the check amount.

Terrible for small amount checks... Not so bad if the check amount is large.... But... they were saying it would take about 6 weeks.

Ya...I also was wondering about that....the photos of the Thai "POWs"......

1. the first posting here was attributed to a Dutch newspaper with a link to the paper's web site.... Yet that link was posted and the photo was on the newspaper web site within just a couple of hours, Thai time, from the time of the actual shooting... If the photo actually was from post-battle yesterday, it wouldn't have showed up on a Dutch newspaper's web site so quickly....

2. What kind of Thai military guys wear uniforms of all black??? I didn't see any blue neck scarfs (rangers???) on the Thai guys in those photos....

Had a few "hamburgers" during my past travels to London....

Must say...they were more "junk" food than anything I've ever had in the U.S.

Tasted like the Limeys were taking the name "ham-burger" literally.... a burger made of ham or something...

Whatever they were...they sure weren't made of real beef!!!!

I was going to add my two cents on this subject...but upon further reflection...I won't....

I think Vagabond has spoken for the great unwashed masses of TV-dom... Nothing further need be said...

Given what you mention above...

In my instance, the folks at SCB in BKK were willing to cash it, but it was going to take some time...and I think their fee was about 500 baht ($15) per check...something like that... I didn't pay it and didn't do it..so don't remember exactly.

Depending on who sent the check and in what circumstance, any option for asking the sender to make the payment through some different means...and just tear up the check instead???

I say...wait until its gets to a dozen or more warrants... then sell!!!

I didn't know you could rent and live in closets in Thailand...or even that closets had landlords!!!

There have been lots of Thai Visa threads about this... You should read what's already been said...

BKK Bank is fine especially if you're living/staying in BKK or nearby... But they are not such a good choice if you may be living or traveling a lot to outlying areas...

SCB is all over the country, and a better choice if you're elsewhere. I've banked with them for years and always gotten good service, never had any problem. And, their online banking system allows me to pay utilities I need to pay (DSL, cable TV and mobile phone) where as BKKB's only allows TOT payment.

Kasikorn also has a good reputation, particularly in terms of being cooperative with farangs wanting to open new accounts.

A couple of things about this.. it's a REAL problem to do here in Thailand..

I checked on this for my own same reason a few months back...

--American Express in BKK told me they don't/won't do this....

--The Bank of America office in BKK doesn't provide any retail banking services even to BofA customers...

--Thai banks where you have an account will do it, with a bit of fussing... But as reported, it takes MANY weeks for completing the process and they typically charge a hefty processing fee on a per check basis for their trouble.

I had a couple of small value checks, so it made absolutely no sense. I ended up mailing them back to a relative in the U.S., and he deposited them into his account and then transferred the funds to me via internal bank transfer.

Is it just coincidence that Cinemax are now showing the movie 'Intrusion Cambodia'?

Cheers, Rick

I happened to catch that the other day... HORRIBLY BAD movie....

I think it was filmed with (or in) the PHs.... Heard some strange accents there...

Rank 14

Thailand

Active Personnel 306,600[23]

Reserve Force 200,000[24]

Paramilitary 113,700[25]

Total 625,300

Active troops per thousand citizens 4.80

Rank 37

Cambodia

Active Personnel 124,300[66]

Reserve Force 0[67]

Paramilitary 67,000[67]

Total 191,000

Active troops per thousand citizens 9.19

Source:

List of countries ranked by number of active troops

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count...f_active_troops

Another source says that as of 2006, Thailand had about 333 main battle tanks and 950 armored personnel carriers, whereas Cambodia had about 150 tanks and 190 APCs.

Also as of 2006, Thailand was reported to have a bit over 550 military combat aircraft (fixed wing and rotary) spread among the different services, whereas Cambodia was reported to have just 24 Air Force fixed wing combat aircraft and 18 Air Force combat helicopters.

In terms of navies, Thailand was reported to have about 210 naval combat ships and vessels of all varieties, whereas Cambodia was said to have just 10 patrol boats.

And, I should have added, the report also estimated that as of 2006, Thailand was spending about $2 billion per year on its military, compared to about $75 million for Cambodia.

Source:

http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/060626...ance_powers.pdf

There's also the very well reputed buffets are the JW Marriott on Suk Soi 2...

Figure heading toward 1,000b for breakfast, and probably a bit over that for buffet dinner...

JF.... I should be pleased? Nah.... if been asked frequently and it turned to be disaster , you will not feel happy..

For me, I feel like a nightmare...

Well, just recently, I had been in this disaster and I don't know if it was just a joke or anything worse.

Taken some time staying all alone to figure out what was so wrong..... I couldn't.

I am fine now, can smile as usual but I see the world in different way after that.

Is not clear and bright... I see foreigners with different feeling.

I guess I have lost the capable of my instinct to feel who is gud or ghost...

A decent, good profession, and mature one can become evil... this was more than expected.

I was phobia to foreigners for quite a while, so have dropped down all the rest friends...also Thai

Right ..JF, the longtime companion is worth... I know I need this.

Just an uncertain feeling in mind, it might be my mistake, or I was too conservative?

I am deciding, should I quit or move on the rest of friendships?

So....Here comes the question...

Midori...everyone goes thru bad experiences sometimes with the opposite sex... I think everyone (man and woman) has had the feeling you talk about above, with utter dismay in the wake of some relationship gone bad... So take some comfort in that... You're not alone.

About sex, everyone has the right to decide when and if it's right for them...with another person. If you're not ready or not interested with some particular person, then it's your right to say so...and the other person needs to respect that. If they can't respect that, then it's a good sign it's someone not worth your time.

I hope you don't generalize one or some bad experiences with farang to all farang, because not everyone's the same. Just the same as a farang man ought not generalize about Thai women, thinking that all have the same manners as bar girls, because of course, they do not.

Don't become a hermit...just because some things have gone bad...

Thanks for your reply...

Actually, of course, I've tried any number of local street vendors near my home... and, there are limitations... All of them certainly make fresh som tam and som tam pooh. That's easy... But ask for som tam kai kem (with salty egg) or some other variation, and typically it's "mai mee."

Likewise, at the street vendors, as I mentioned, ask for beef or duck as opposed to chicken or pork, and it's either "mai mee" or it's like chewing plastic. Sometime, I think, it's nice to eat something other than chicken and pork, even in Thailand.

And, I certainly do know how to ask in Thai for the innards to be left out...but it does no good. At the main local street shop near my home, which prepares a lot of things fresh of course, they pre-prepare their larb gai in a big pot... And, the lady chef always includes innards, so there's no other choice to be had.

If I ask for larb moo, on the other hand, they'll fix that fresh (and of course, without innards). But frankly, it's no better (and a smaller portion for 40 baht per order) than what Marina is doing.

Not sure about your comment about having a web site... Actually, Marina HK doesn't have a web site at all...but their menu is listed on the ChefsXP delivery service web site... So are about 80 other restaurants of all types (Thai and other) spread around BKK. I certainly don't think being listed there should be considered any knock against their food.

At some point, it comes down to a question of convenience... If there was a place near my home where I could easily go and get all those choices, I'd do it. But if I have to start traveling around town and taking BTS or MRT to go somewhere where I can get everything I want, it begins to become very attractive to say...hey, I want it delivered for 70 to 80 baht per dish.

Gotta agree with James on Baiyoke.... There are many other better FOOD choices.

See the following mini-review re the buffet there...

It's really more of a tourist destination, although I thought the food was OK...

Easily the best burgers I have had anywhere in SE Asia, though, are at Tony Roma's on Sukhumvit in Bangkok (near the Nana junction). They're not cheap, but it's almost worth getting a bus to BKK for that alone!

I haven't tried their burgers in Thailand, as yet. But here's their choices...

Roma Burger

A meaty, choice ground beef, charbroiled to

your liking. 345

Mushroom Burger

A thick, meaty burger layered with sautéed

mushrooms and Cheddar cheese. 385

Cheeseburger

An American classic, like Tony Roma’s. A meaty

burger served with your choice of Cheddar,

Monterey Jack or Mozzarella cheese. 375

Bacon Cheeseburger

A big, beefy burger covered with Cheddar

cheese and bacon. 395

They also have a local web site for Asia, including Thailand, that I hadn't seen before:

http://www.tonyromas-mms.com/en/index.php?q=home

And actually, there actually are a couple of Tony Roma's choices in BKK now...as follows:

87 Sukhumvit Rd.

Near Suk Soi 5 and 7

Nai Lert Building

Klongtoey

Phone. 66-2254-2912

Fax. 66-2254-1326

Hours of Operation

11:00 am - 11:00 pm

And then two mall food court ops:

The Emporium Department Store

(food court closed now for remodel, soon to reopen)

622 Sukhumvit Soi 24, near Phom Phrong BTS

Unit S 21 Siam Paragon Shopping Center

991 Rama 1 Road Pathumwan

Hours of Operation

11:00 am - 11:00 pm

Quality American food. Isn't that an oxymoron?

Coming from a man who's ID here is "Vegas"?????

I haven't cooked it... but a love to eat it... pumpkin is one of my favorites in Thai food...

A couple of the little shop house restaurants around my BKK home typically have a pumpkin red curry sometime during the week. It seems as though its a variation on the red curry recipes listed above, but they're not using any meat/pork and instead seems like blending in beaten egg into the curry, so you get the chunks of soft pumpkin and strands of egg... very sweet and savory in its overall presentation...but yummy....

Just a new wrinkle/feature about using the MagicJack device...

Tonight, I needed to fax a document to the U.S., and was not really interested to use my True home phone line (02...) to make a long distance fax call to the U.S. So, I thought... what about my Magic Jack... I wonder....

And sure enough, there is some discussion about faxing in the Magic Jack FAQ section at their web site, which basically says...faxing is not officially supported, but it may be possible...and urging people to use a low speed setting in their fax settings.

So, I tried it tonight and it seemed to work using three pieces of equipment: 1) my fax/scan printer, 2) the fax modem in my PC, and 3) the MagicJack device as my phone line...

Basically, it involved making two different phone cable connections from my printer using the RJ11 jacks on the back: one between the printer and the fax modem on my PC, and the second between the printer and the phone jack on the Magic Jack device still plugged into a USB port. My printer manual had specific instructions for connecting the printer to the fax modem of the PC, so I just followed those. Only difference was, where it talked about connecting one phone cable to the wall jack, I just substituted the MJ jack instead.

Did that, went into my printer faxing software, ordered up a fax that I had already started by scanning the documents I wanted to fax, and hit send. And sure enough, the MagicJack device software opened up, and began faxing (via phone call) to my intended recipient.

I'm not sure this is foolproof by any means, particularly when the line connection or noise on the line may cause problems. But at least it seems its technically possible. Maybe others of you MJ users can give it a try yourselves, and report back how it works (or didn't) for you.

PS.... I should have mentioned... to try this... of course you need to temporarily unplug whatever regular phone instrument you currently have plugged into the MJ box, and instead, temporarily plug in one of the phone cables connecting to your fax printer.

Wrong!!! That's not even a difficult one in terms of BKK food shopping...

Villa Markets, and others as well, carry a variety of non-dairy fluid milks...typically in the non-refrig carton packaging.

Probably the most common (almost any major grocery store) is soy milk, which is widely used in Asian countries, because of some Asians' difficulty in digesting lactose.... I'd wager in most Thai markets, you'll probably see as much or more soy milk on the shelves compared to dairy milk.

But in addition, if you check Villa or some other specialty markets, you will find they often stock both rice milk and even oat milk in the same packaging. The ones I see most are PureHarvest brand imported from Australia, which run about 130 baht per 1 litre container.

The one non-dairy milk I've rarely if ever seen here, though it may well be found somewhere in BKK, is some of the nut milks that can be found pretty easily in the U.S., including almond milk, which actually is pretty good on cereal and such.

Example from Queen Vic - 32oz monster. Some lad ordered this and didnt realize how big it was. Anyways they have smaller ones mushroom swiss one is yummy!!

Ohhh.... does the Queen Vic really do a 32 oz hamburger???? I've never seen that offered anywhere... Thailand or the USA???? How much do they charge for it??

In my younger 'growing boy' days, I certainly could have downed it, 32 oz. being 2 pounds... But nowadays, I think I'd better share with a friend.

On a bet..one time after graduating college, I downed a 5 pound burrito in one sitting... and barely could get home after... I got the burrito for free...won the bet...and got my name on the restaurant's heroes board...

It's late...and I don't have my economics hat on right now...

But...if I'm translating things correctly here...the major difference between what the SCB gal was saying...and what Toptuan responded about...was the bank gal was saying the problems were likely to hit Thailand late this year and more into next near... whereas Toptuan was saying ...WAKE UP.... it's already hitting here now.

The difference...as I understood both...was pretty much a question of timing... already happening now...or off on the horizon...

At least, Thailand is doing better than the USA... My government for recent years and months kept insisting everything was FINE.... right up until the stock market tanked, banks started failing and someone decided a $700 billion public bailout on the finance industry was required.

I should say...thanks to Jing for posting about this...and letting everyone know it's part of Obama's economics platform...

There certainly will need to be a lot of IFs come to pass -- if Obama gets elected, if it remains on his agenda post-election, if it gets enacted by the House and the Senate -- before anyone needs to start fretting too much about it.

Generally, I agree, it's not a good idea to encourage people to start tapping their 401K accounts for routine or day to day living expenses or luxuries like buying a fancy car, or taking trips, or such like that. And yes, I'm sure, if the door is opened, some people will choose to do stupid things like that...

However, there also could certainly be times when tapping a 401K, if it could be done without the heavy penalty that now exists and only for a short window of time, might be the best financial option. Jing mentioned some of them above...

Another for example, what if, a person was living now on their stock investments, but saw them fall in value greatly with the recent turns in the market. And...what if, they had their retirement 401K funds in more conservative, money market type investments that would have help up in value more.

Rather than locking in a big stock loss by having to sell stocks now to meet a person's ongoing living expenses, it certainly might make more sense to use funds from a 401K if it could be done without penalty and without incurring a big market loss...

No..that's the part that comes AFTER (or inbetween) all the other things I mentioned...

I have heard....but I can't confirm it personally....that it is possible for a man and woman to go swimming together without sex being involved.... About karaoke...hmm.... that might be a bit tougher to stay platonic...

GunnyD... good info...and it reminds me...

Thai pharmacists seem to have a printed book (sort of their Bible) that tells them what medicines are available here and which are not...and if the thing you are looking for is available here perhaps under a different brand name than in your home country...

I'm assuming, it is something like this book pictured below....

There's also a web site with the same info... but I've never tried using it before...and it requires free registration...

http://www.mims.com/index.aspx