jfchandler

They're obviously not going to make the second quarter 2008 opening for the supposed future mall!!!!

I like the way the Thai legal system for property rights operates here... So you got a lease for some property and want to build, but there's folks staying on "your" land... So the first recourse is attempted arson... Then, send in a gang to tear the place up.... Then, send in a gang to try to tear the place down.... Then somebody gets shot in the head....

Makes me proud to be an American living in Thailand!!!!

Actually, it does look like he MIGHT have been in the military, perhaps... But somebody obviously got the wrong war here....

Ahh.... Thai ladies in Pattaya... enough to drive a man CRAZY!!!!

What's going on with the JJ Sunday market that involves demolishing shops and evicting shop holders???

Last I heard, the property owner underlying the Suan Lum Night Bazaar had won some kind of ruling entitling them to move ahead with closing the place....to make way for a future development (though it's still open now as far as I can see...)

But I hadn't heard anything was afoot at the JJ Sunday market.....

It's nice to see the government is addressing some of the most pressing and important issues facing the country... I feel so much better now!!!!

Hmm...for whatever it's worth... as of 1:40 am Wednesday morning BKK time, YouTube is coming thru fine via True DSL....

I don't normally visit the site, but did in response to this thread. Got the home page speedy quick. Did a search just for "Thailand..." and the first video that came up was FHM Miss Thailand.... which played quite nicely on a 2 MB connection....

It's a very nice video..by the way... Wish you could see it!!!!

WOW.... I never knew that shopping could be such a b---tch.....

I always think, occasionally spending money and taking something home for yourself or others is supposed to be fun... notwithstanding the type of service you encounter at the shop or store...

Ultimately, everyone should vote with their feet... If you really want the item or the price is really good, then, you might put up with less than sterling service... But if the price is too high or the service is too bad, then it's time for walking away... Pretty simple, I think. Ultimately, that keeps the good shops in business and weeds out the bad...

PS... Notwithstanding the comment above about bad directions in Carrefour, I've had just the opposite experience multiple times in Tesco-Lotuses in BKK... Everytime I can't find something or I'm in a branch that I'm not familiar with, the assistant I collar usually ends up escorting me right to the place I need.

I'm guessing he's referring to Bird Thongchai... of Thai music fame...

Half Thai... Half farang...if I remember correct...

Maybe the most popular male Thai singer... at least...among a certain generation...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice video... very instructive... and... nice set of legs there...in the background...

PS...I notice it's the lady tying...untying the bag... not the farang!

How did we get from discussing chocolates as a gift...to somehow...discussing HIV rates among Cambodians.....

It's a wild wild world here on Thai Visa....

If you're using Windows VISTA....it appears to have a new feature called shadow files...that supposedly enables you to recover lost files...just by using the operating system... But..fortunately...I've yet to need it or try it.. yet.

Dairy Queen Restaurant in Nonthaburi is very nice...good food...and reasonable price... And they also have a river dinner cruise, if you want to do that instead of eating riverside...

Yok Yor also has a good reputation, and has I believe 3 different locations at various spots along the river...

You can find web site references for both of the above places...

Someone once said... A fool and his money are soon parted...

Seems apt advice here....

Sponsoring is the BIGGEST SCAM/SHAM I've ever seen!!!!

One hour for the meal....and 10 minutes with the lady...

By my count, that still leave 2 hours and 50 minutes free....

What's next????

It's not just b--- slapping that makes it thru...under the present set-up...

With apologies in advance to the ladies... it's rape also... There was a recent deal in the BKK Post with a Thai columnist complaining that rape has been/become a virtual staple of Thai TV dramas... And, while of course they don't actually show the purported act, they certainly show enough to be clear just what's happening... None of it pixelated, of course...

Personally...I HATE smoking... But it's always mystified me to see the Thai censors pixelating out the smoking of a cigarette on TV, but then having no problem with women getting slapped around and assaulted on the nightly drama...

Yes, money is not a issue but I would prefer not wiring 800k into Thai banks if I can help it even if it is for only 3 months before applying for the retirement visa. My life style right now is such that I would be lucky to use 40% to 50% of it. I also prefer not to go through documentation bureaucracy necessary to get a retirement visa.

Just to clarify on the 800,000 baht issue... and please others correct me if I'm astray here....

But, I believe you don't have to put a NEW/ADDITIONAL 800,000 baht into your Thai bank account every subsequent year.... in order to qualify.

You just have to be able to show at least that balance in your Thai bank account for the three months preceding your application each year... So, if you've only drawn down part of that during the first year, just replenish the account to bring it above the 800K for the required three-month period, and you're good to go...

Also, there are three options for meeting the financial threshhold ... 65K monthly income, 800K on deposit in Thai bank three months prior, or a combination of the two....

Here is the exact language (English translation) from Sunbelt Asia... regarding retirements....

(1) Foreigner shall obtains VISA for

temporary stay and,

(2) Shall not be younger than 50

years old and,

(3) Having evidence showing the

monthly income not less than

65,000 Baht or,

(4) Having the records of saving

money in the latest 3 months of

account book of any Bank in

Thailand not less than 800,000

Baht or,

(5) Having annual income

combined with the saving

money in the Bank not less than

800,000 Baht from on the date

submitting the application.

WOW.... oldies but goodies.... (no offence.... )

Looking back to that 2005 post... I see Lopburi, Toptuan, Tutsiwarrior, Dustoff, Heng and more!!!

And, it reminded me of a small but funny story... When I moved here, I brought with me some bottles of U.S. OTC medicine like Tylenol and such.... complete with the required child-proof caps.... (push down, and then turn to open).

While living here, have handed them to adult Thais from time to time... and... they couldn't figure out what the h... to do to open them... Explained the process...and they still couldn't figure it out... Had to open the bottle for them...

So...next time you're fumbling with the damned rubber bands...just remember... we do (and can) get our revenge...sometimes!!!!

Glad someone finally posted on this... (at least recently....)

Never ate food from an inflated, rubber band-tied bag...until I came here for the first time...

Then after I moved here... living and eating every day...I was confronted with the RUBBER BAND dilemma... First few months, after fumbling in frustration, took the high-tech approach.... using scissors to cut off the top of the bag, just below the rubber band... usually while keeping the bag in its serving bowl...just in case anything's going to spill. But I'm not big on soup, so that's usually not a problem...

But lately, after having been here a while, I decided I need to master this g...d.... thing... So I've learned how to at least get the darned things unwrapped down to the last tie.... The first step is just take the top part of the rubber band that's usually looped over the top edge of the bag, and pull it up to come loose...and then unwrap it from around the tied top portion of the bag.... After that... I'm still stumped for now about the last knot/tie....

I always try to save the rubber bands because... and this is another mystery to me... all the packages of kitchen and bathroom trash bags I buy at the stores come with the bags..... but absolutely NO TIES to close them up with when they're filled and ready to take outside. So I decided that my food rubber bands will be recycled as my garbage bag ties... Hence, no cutting or breaking of rubber bands allowed!!!

Anyone likewise want to explain... Why trash bags in Thailand come with NO ties???

You're just an incurable romantic, a2396.

Not all relationships in Thailand are business transactions.

Actually...I just got a memo on this the other day...maybe you haven't seen it yet...

In fact, it's true... all farang-Thai relationships ARE business transactions....in one form or another.

You can wrap the box with whatever kind of decoration or name you like... but in the end....that's always going to be a huge part of the equation....

PS - Glad the chocolate suggestion hit the mark... Chocolate, of course, is a scientifically proven aphrodisiac. So, just put some of that together with the glow in the dark condoms...and you're good to go!!!!

Other than money...which of course always rates #1... most Thai women I've met here have a thing for foreign chocolate... They're always asking me to bring them back some...when I go abroad... Many seem to like to Rocher (?) brand, which of course you can buy here in LOS... But good chocolate from outside Thailand always is a hit...

There are, however, some ladies who prefer imported wine and/or whiskey.... but you haven't given a clue as to whether she's in that category or not...

Perfume, if you get the right kind through some advance scouting, always goes well...

And then, of course, there's always the idea for a tastefully wrapped box of scented massage oil and glow-in-the-dark condoms... which... is my personal favorite to give to a prospectice GF...

Since the last post here....I haven't been back to the Villa Market near the Marriott... But today I was shopping at the Villa Market nearby on Suk Soi 11, and found I believe what's been mentioned above here...

Never saw this before... but today I noticed boxes of a brand called Orgran from Australia... red and white in color... in the flour/baking products section. I saw at least two kinds... one type a 500g box of gluten/wheat/yeast-free self-raising flour, and the other a box of gluten/yeast/wheat free cake mix.

I bought a box of the self-raising flour to try... at 185 baht per box.. a bit pricey... But it says it has NO gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, yeast or soy... The ingredient label, listed in English among other languages, says maize starch, tapioca flour, rice flour and a couple other things...

The box says it basically can be used in recipies in place of wheat flour, but that sometimes adding an egg or skim milk powder (if allowed by a person's diet) can help.

I've never heard of this brand before...but their box lists a web site... www.orgran.com... And the box info says they make more than 70 products that are available in more than 40 countries....

Bringing my breadmaker back from the U.S. on my next trip back... Looking forward to giving it a try here... in LOS....

Never heard of anyone inclined to commit suicide because they were high on cocaine, or on Viagra, for that matter....

Regarding Zorro1's post above, there is a Villa Supermarket in the basement level of what I believe is called the Ploenchit Center, just up the street from the Marriott Hotel on Sukhumvit Road... I'm assuming that is the market he's referring to...

PS Zorro... what kind of gluten free flour (rice??? other???) do they have available for making bread????

Ahh...the vagaries of Internet service in Thailand...

I have the 2 MBps True ADSL service in my home in lower Sukhumvit... And when I've done local speed tests before, using the same web site as mentioned above, I usually get a download speed for local sites of 1700 to 1800 .....which is fair and close to what I'm paying for.

In the past day or so, though, I was needing to download a 3 GB .exe file from the USA (a compressed backup/restore file of data files from my PC)

Last night, say between 7 pm and midnight, I was getting download speeds ranging from 15 to 30 KB/sec.... It was CRAWLING.... This morning, same download, I was getting close to 200 KB/sec earlier in the morning and now it has slowed to around 160-170 KB/sec by after 10 am.... Ooops... now bouncing as low as 110...

Having a speed range from 15-30 (peak hours) to 200 (early morning) is a pretty HUGE variation.... Guess that tell you when you need to be doing large file downloads with True... Set the alarm clock EARLY!!!

Glad you're having a good experience...

Ditto with me... I've been using one in BKK with True Internet for months now...

See the prior thread on this product/service....

Bully's Pub on Suk Road near Soi 4 has about 4 offerings...pretty good...with good fries... The meat actually tastes like a hamburger... I can personally vouch...

The Landmark Hotel cafe nearby has been reported to have a good burger and fries...next on my list to try... Same good reports about the Nana Hotel coffee shop... but yet to get there for burger time!

I highly recommend the burger at the Landmark, quite possibly the best burger I've had anywhere in the world,

Is this the bakery and ice cream place just inside the glass front doors of the section in front of Asia Books?

The best burger "in the world" might be worth over 300 baht!

I would think he meant the pub downstairs at the Landmark.

Actually, I believe we're talking about the upstairs (first floor) cafe...where you can sit outside on the patio and watch the life of Sukhumvit Road go by... just inside is the bakery and ice cream location.

The Huntsman Pub downstairs is a separate operation with its own menu.