jfchandler

I've heard that ladyboys are prone to having their blockades penetrated!

The thieves approached at speed and managed to penetrate the blockade but collided with a group of TV and newspaper reporters who also happened to be at the scene, capsizing the motorcycle and ending their escape bid.

Excuse me, but can someone please direct me on how to subsubscribe to True's new "Watching the Grass Grow" Channel. It really sounds exciting... at least as much as most of the other programming I already get on True.

On the subject of commercials, I don't get True Sports 4 at home, so I had to go out to watch the U.S. Super Bowl recently. I must say, it was really fun to watch the game, and then every 15 minutes or so, sit thru two or three minutes of dead air time (with the camera showing only a pan shot of the playing field) while the Super Bowl commercials aired elsewhere (but not here!!!!) That certainly would be considered "pass through" advertising... So what gives about that???

Frankly, I keep True UBC because 1) I like the digital radio networks they offer, which provide a lot of themed stations of Western music not available over the air here; and 2) so that when I have Thai friends over, they can watch the Thai channels/programs they are accustomed to, without having to fiddle with rabbit ears antennas all the time.

I keep trying to find the new entertainment show/soappie about TG air hostesses slapping each other on Channel 5, but haven't quite managed to find the days/times it's being aired. This being Thailand, I find myself not hitting home watching the telly most evenings during prime time!!!

Here is the insurance broker I have dealt with, with great satisfaction.

They got me quotes for BUPA, LMGH, AXA and others, and were very responsive.

Chaiyada Thurdthai

General Manager

Infinity Insurance Broker (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

3924 9th Floor BB Building, Sukhumvit 21 (Asoke),

Klong Toey, Wattana, Bangkok 10110

Tel. (66) 2 261 - 1571

Why don't you just post up the contact details of this broker ?

Just because there is a sponsor does not mean that the gestapo are back in charge and we cannot list other businesses.

Someone will likely move this anyway.

Hmmm.... I'll be the first to acknowledge I'm not a parent, as yet. But if I were a parent, I'd be all in favor of bringing the kids along (assuming they were reasonably old enough) for exciting travels abroad.

However, I'm not quite sure I'm game for having my young kids (boys, girls???) "cuddled" by the working ladies in Walking Street bars, and then going back to the hotel later "at a reasonable hour" (with, or without the cuddling bar lady in tow????)

Don't get me wrong... I'd be all in favor of ME being cuddled by a nice lady, assuming the price was right. But I'm thinking maybe there might be some other places to show the young tikes on their trip to Thailand, other than the pleasures of Walking Street ladies. Maybe they can stay with Mom on Dad's night out???

I for one would not subject my kids to watching drunk limeys fight over hookers but to each his own.

No...you'd rather sit in a crowded room let your kids inhale the toxic chemicals that you and your friends exhale.

This is Thailand and in Pattaya, I've seen many parents take their kids to the Walking Street bars. The girls fight over the kids to see who can cuddle them first. The huge smiles on the faces of the kids says it all. They love the attention that they get in the bars. The kids are then taken back to their hotel at a reasonable hour.

I suppose some unfortunate kids have to grow up being raised by miserable, narrow minded parents, who would prefer lock their kids inside the house/hotel rather than allow them to see the sights of the foreign country they are visiting.

Whatever happened to parental guidance?

Anyone have a good, personal experience-based recommendation for a U.S. income tax documents preparer based in Bangkok???

That time of year is coming soon, and I could use my old tax prep CPA in the U.S. by doing everything by courier, but it seems easier and maybe less expensive to do all the prep work here, and then just mail the docs when all is done.

If you've had good experience with anyone, please post the name, location and contact phone. Thanks!!!

Are you talking about a long-term stay, or a short term stay?

Most of the major companies have travel policies that would cover you for a short term stay here, and then there are long term annual policies based in Thailand.

BUPA generally seems to have a good reputation, and they have a pretty wide range of different coverages available, each with a different name. I looked hard at them, but ended up going with LMGH for my medical coverage. AXA also has gotten good reviews.

I got quotes on all of those companies and more from a good insurance broker in BKK. If you're interested, PM me and I'll pass along the contact information. There also in an Insurance forum here on TV, but it's heavily related to the insurance broker business sponsored through Thai Visa, so not exactly impartial, IMHO.

Au Bon Pain shops/cafes seem to stock a nice selection of fairly real bagels, in different flavors.

The crazy part (for me) is that every time I ask, they'll sell them one by one. But for some reason, they don't stock/sell them in bags of six or fours (or any quantity), as is the custom in the U.S.

Villa Market, at least the one on Soi 11, also stocks a couple varieties of real looking bagels (4 packs I think), though I haven't eaten them there.

If in BKK, I'd also check out La Boulange Cafe on Soi Convent at Silom Road....

I wouldn't worry about finding what you want. It may require shopping at several markets but you should be able to find everything you need if located in Bangkok.

Where can I find Matzohs?

Where can I find real bagels (not just bagel shaped bread)?

Where can I find Fusion shaving blades?

Where can I find hot Hungarian paprika? (this one I think you can find, I just haven't seen)

Where can I find Post Grape Nut's Cereal? (people keep saying Villa has it, but have never seen it in Bangkok, and Pattaya carried it for the first few months after they opened, then they stopped stocking even thought it was selling well!)

It is NOT true that you can find everything in Thailand.

I opened HSBC accounts in the U.S. before I relocated to Thailand, for exactly the same reason as mentioned above, hoping to use them as my local bank in Thailand and yet provide easy movement of my money between Asia and the U.S.

For a variety of BAD reasons, doing that proved virtually impossible and ill-advised. So while I've kept my U.S. accounts, basically empty, I've done nothing with them here, after having a great deal of discussion about that.

Those bad reasons include:

--they charge a 3% foreign currency transaction fee on all ATM withdrawals outside the U.S. even from their own ATMs, unless you are a Premiere account holder with more than about $100,000 on deposit with them.

--they have pretty onerous requirements in the way of fees and documents for their local accounts here in Thailand. Pretty much a fee for everything, and high minimums on their account balances.

--And, as best as I recall, I would even have had to have two different ATM cards with their regular accounts, one for the U.S. and the other for the Thai-based accounts. And, there were other negatives as well.

For all those and other reasons, after spending a lot of time and effort looking at them and talking with one of their officers at the BKK Branch, it all came to nothing.

Even after I pointed out that their requirements and documentation were far beyond what local banks such as BKK Bank and Siam Commercial required, they simply replied, their rules are their rules.

As to why only the one branch in BKK, I have understood from HSBC and others that the reason is that non-Thai banks are limited under Thai law to having only one branch location in the kingdom. So for the time being, the prospects of them expanding to any other or more locations seem nil.

I don't work/travel much elsewhere in Asia, so going with local Thai banks instead was a good option for me, and certainly has saved me a ton of money vs. HSBC as the alternative.

One approach that can be easily used is to basically keep your money in U.S. accounts, and make sure the bank(s) you're using have no fee-no surcharge ATM access in foreign countries. Then, open local accounts in the countries where you are working. Then, simply use your U.S. ATM card to withdraw money in the local currency, and deposit it as needed into your local account in that country.

If the accepted norm here is exclusivity in dating should coincide with a dating couple starting to be intimate (have sex) together, that's a fair rule and one I'm happy to live by (with a caveat mentioned below).

I've never pushed sex with the ladies I have been dating here (or elsewhere for that matter), and in fact haven't gone that far as yet with either of the two that I'm feeling are the most likely candidates for "The One" in the very early goings of things. As a consequence, I also continue to feel open to meeting new people and exploring other potential dating relationships, at least for a while. So actually I'm pretty happy about that state of things. From my perspective, it's taking good time to see how relationships and chemistry develop.

I should add as a caveat, however. There are some situations where the lady in a dating setting will herself initiate the intimacy surprisingly quickly and certainly before I would have, if it was left only to me. Under that circumstance, it's a bit hard and ungentlemanly to decline. But just because the lady decides on her own to go in that direction, I can't see the result then being that suddenly the man would then stop dating anyone else.

So things aren't always quite so simple. And men aren't always the aggressor in these things.

Thanks for the comments, particularly the recent ones... They're helpful...

The hard part, it seems, is trying to have shared understanding (between the man and woman) of at what point something leaves being casual dating and starts becoming an "exclusive" committed relationship.

I went out last night on a first date with a GREAT lady (non BG, non P4P), and because of the issue I had raised here, I decided to talk to her directly about this topic -- something I hadn't ever done here in LOS, in the past. Graduated from university last year, father a school master, family from Khon Kaen, living in BKK for work....

It was very interesting what said, including talking about a Thai guy she had dated for a year, ending in the recent past when she found out he had 2 or 3 other GF AFTER he supposedly had become exclusive with her. I didn't ask exactly, but I'm presuming that had a bit to do with her now going out with me as her first date with a falang.

We spent a great night out, eventually romantically touching and holding, and kissing a bit, in a quiet corner of a nice restaurant, particularly as more hours together passed. I mention that only because of the answer she gave me about seeing others vs. being exclusive. When I asked, she answered that we (she and I) were "friends" right now, and so there was no expectation we couldn't see others, if we wanted. And of course, I was/am fine about that idea.

But, she said, once we became BF and GF, then, she'd expect I wouldn't go out with any other lady. Of course, not exactly clear in all this is at what point, or triggered by what, we would change from being just "friends" to being BF & GF..... One guess, perhaps, might be that sex together would be the trigger in her mind to change to BF-GF status, though that's just a guess on my part.

It was an interesting conversation, and she was confortable talking about it. So, it made me feel more comfortable to raise the topic directly with other ladies I might be dating here in the future. The lady last night took the question fine, not offended or uncomfortable that I had raised the issue. And she didn't then demand to know if I wanted to date other ladies or planned to do so. So, that made me feel good about it, and good about her even more!!!

PS - To some who have posted above, I'm not out there just looking to "play" or to date a different lady every weekend, or date as many as I can. I'm ONLY looking to find a good lady who's a good match for me, and that takes LOOKING... I'd think it's a pretty lucky few who find a lady for their life on their first date in a new town. So, if I'm lucky enough to find a lady who's the right match, I'd happily settle down and not miss the dating scene, at all!!! Just for the record.

It's very nice..and reasonably close to Taksin BTS station.

The price is good, but the caliber of the hotel is not in the 3500b per night range...in terms of quality.

But for 1500 to 2000 baht...it's a very pleasant and well kept hotel, and even has a rooftop swimming pool, albeit a bit shallow for real swimming.

Or try this little hotel. Might not be up to standard but is certainly very very friendly and for about 2000 you get a 1 bedroom suite. Former Best Western Hotel.

Elegance Suites Bangkok

http://www.elegance.th.com/

Re the question..no...I'm ONLY talking about dating Thai women..not falang...

And no... my question is not about if/when/after a couple might be sleeping together...

I'm talking about BEFORE sleeping together... Just the early getting acquainted stage (assuming that anyone other than me actually waits a bit before going to bed anymore...)

For me...at least...clearly...once I'm sleeping with someone and still staying together as a couple... I wouldn't be casually going out with others...

So the question is really BEFORE things progress to that point (sex)...

And if the answer is NO, you can't casually date like that with different people at the same time... How in the world does anyone get an idea of good matches... One at a time... is a very LONG process.....

OK... as sometimes happens here... we get a bit off point and distracted.....

So, let me return us to the original post and question:

Here in Thailand, especially among regular Thais, is it generally be considered OK or BAD (butterfly) for a man or woman to be casually dating different people (getting acquainted) at the same time -- before making a commitment to be exclusive with anyone???

That's the question!!!

PS - re an earlier comment, I certainly never flaunt these things... rather...I do my best to avoid any kinds of such conflicts. But sometimes, it becomes difficult without flat lying...which I prefer to avoid if possible.

E.g. "Let's go out Sunday night..." "Mmmmm.... I can't go Sunday, but Sat. or Monday would be great!!!..." "Ohhh... why can't you go out on Sunday night with me...." etc etc etc...

As an example, I've heard stories of Thai ladies (not bar girls or P4P) searching the guy's mobile phone (without his knowledge or permission) looking for address book contacts with other women's names. And, in one particularly unpleasant instance, I had one Thai lady do that to me..and then proceed, unbeknownst to me, to call and chew out another lady that she happened to know I was also dating.... Yikes!!!!

After taking a break from dating from a while, I recently decided to get back into the scene here in BKK, and a familiar old topic arises once again -- the term "butterfly man".

Back in the U.S., I think, it's pretty straightforward for men and woman. Both can meet and casually date other people (i.e. seeing different people at the same time) so long as you haven't made a commitment to be exclusive with anyone. And as long as you're not excessive about it (rubbing in the face of the other person), both sexes understand and generally are OK, because it's an opportunity to meet different people and decide/narrow the field.

But here, whenever I've operated with that idea, I've gotten comments from even my non-dating/non GF Thai female friends of "butterfly" (and don't even ask when a dating lady learns I might also be going out with someone else...). And, to be honest, I really don't like getting that label. It seems like Thai women (non BGs, non P4P) have the idea that once you start dating one even at the very beginning (just getting to know...), you should not be seeing anyone else during that same time.

So, I'd be interested in both men and women's opinions about this: What's the local custom about casual dating with different potential mates...prior to making any kind of exclusive commitment??? I'm very happy with all my current body parts, and I'm not anxious to "lose" any of them courtesy of an angry lady... Much thanks, in advance.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple...

Most Thai Consulates in the U.S. will not issue one year visas (B or O variety) to Americans, especially if they are not aged 50 or more to qualify for so-called retirement visa. If he just applies on his own at a regular Thai consulate in the U.S., he can expect rejection.

However, there are some ways to proceed, and I presume from your post the friend is currently residing in Pattaya, and planning to travel back to the USA later this year. Thus, some of the more straightforward options include:

--getting a one-year education visa by means such as enrolling in a qualified Thai language instruction program. Examples include Callan, Wallen, Pro Language, etc. Many threads about this here on TV. He should enroll here while in Thailand before he leaves, get the proper paperwork from the school, and then submit it to the local Thai consulate when he returns to the U.S. to obtain the ED visa.

--getting a one-year business visa, with help from some Thailand-based law firms that specialize in helping with visa matters. Those include Sunbelt and Siam Legal, and others. One of them, I believe, maintains an office in Las Vegas. The difference here is, by working through them, they can provide the necessary documentary paperwork and filing approach to successfully get a B visa.

There are some other options as well, such as marriage to a Thai... But, the ones above are among the most straightforward and clear.

I opened my account at this same branch of BKK Bank a few months ago, as an American with a business visa. Their B1st debit card carries the Visa logo, so you can use like a credit card for purchases.

They never asked me anything about confirmation letters. And I've never heard of them doing that, in any of the prior banking threads I've read here on TV. Everyone pretty much has indicated BBKB is very accommodating about such things.

Another recourse is to deal through the bank's main, large HQ office on Silom Road. But the Suk Soi 10 branch deals with tons of foreigners, so I'm surprised you got any trouble there -- unless there's some unusual nationality or other quirk present.

Bangkok Bank, Sukhumvit Soi 8 corner. Passport and a "theoretical" address. Plenty of friends, never a problem.

I inquired at this bank a few days ago, they seemed to want some kind of confirmation from my embassy, not sure what they meant, didnt ask for a work permit tho

Promenade Hotel on Soi 8, easy walking distance from Nana BTS, usually can be had for around 1,100 per night, on a day to day basis... If you're staying a week or longer, I'm pretty sure they could hit 1,000.

Greg, what about Red Snapper Burritos on the new menu for Paragon and Emporium???

I see you're listing Red Snapper as a separate choice under tacos, but not for burrito... Can one still order the fish burrito under Build Your Own???

Also, what does all this mean for Suk 12.... Things stay the same there...or it shifts too to the new menu approach of the other locations???

For instance #1 is Red Snapper Fish Tacos, #2 is Southwest Chicken Tacos, #3 USA Cowboy Tacos, #4 Build your own Tacos, #5 Chicken Burrito, #6 Beef Burrito, #7 Build your own Burrito,

#12 Steak or Chicken Fajitas, #13 Chicken Quesadilla, #14 Grande Supreme Nachos ( Chicken or Seasoned ground beef) #15 Nachos. Dessert choices of Apple, Pumpkin, Strawberry Cheesecake Pie. Only thinking is with #4 or #7 with "build your own"

I'd second that thought... It's really not a good thing...when two regular drinks end up costing as much or more than one regular meal. And that's what happens, every time we end up getting drinks from La Glace... I'll be happier if Sunrise can offer their own margaritas and other drink there.

I also didn't like La Glace who overcharge for nearly every drink they offer, and the only other choice is Whittard & Chelsea's drinks, which are of course expensive but they have a brand...

I've stayed at the Montien Riverside before and had a very pleasant experience, room, service, food and all. And using the river taxis (and other taxis) was easy. We specifically chose it as a getaway to be AWAY from the center of the city. But if we wanted to travel, it would have been easy to do. But that weekend was a stay inside time...

About pricier choices for fine hotels, along Sukhumvit, there's the JW Marriott and Landmark Hotels, both well reputed with a full range of restaurants and services (along with the Sheraton Grande and Westin nearby).

Then along the Chao Phrya, of course, here's the Marriott Resort & Spa, Shangri-la, Oriental, and Royal Orchid Sheraton, and Peninsula. All would be more than happy to take your money, in great excess.

What I want to know, what is the very best place to stay for £100 ($200) a night is, and where is the very best room in Bangkok? SirPaul wants £50, I want to know for £100. I think what he has done though is excellent as the informatoin here is very, very useful and I will be using some of it in the near future for sure.

Hmmm... well... I changed the setting...but still no reply notices after 24 hours, and I am subscribed to a fair number of different threads...

VERY CURIOUS.... Thanks to this post below, I went and checked my own account settings, and much to my surprise, found they were set to receive NO e-mail notifications.

But, I'm certain I never made that change, because I had been receiving e-mail notifications ever since becoming a member, until those stopped a month or so ago. And I never went back to fiddle with my settings after originally setting them upon becoming a member.

Given that others were similarly dumped out of receiving e-mail notifications, makes me wonder whether a system or software upgrade sometime on ThaiVisa might have broadly reset that setting on some range of people's accounts.... I'm sure I did not!!!

A-ha! Got one.

I think I know the problem. I checked in my list of subscriptions and they were all on "Delayed Email Subscription". I changed this one to be "Instant Email Notification" and now I got a notification after PeaceBlondie replied.

I think it is because nearly all of my subscriptions are set because when I reply to a topic, I have the "Email notification of replies" box automatically ticked when I do so. I very rarely click the "Track This Topic" option.

I think this auto-subscribing method sets the subscriptions to Delayed by default; that's what mine was set to anyway, I've now changed this by going to "Email settings" under "Options" in my control panel and set the option illustrated in the attached image.

Testing....

Perhaps it might have something to do with the details of the OP's original request:

"they would like stay close to everything but i dont want to book anywhere that is not western couple friendly , a guest house would be ok middle of the range, some where they can walk around a bit of shopping and nightlife."

I can't understand why anyone would want to stay in Siam Square or Silom...

Second that thought...

I have learned A LOT here from others... and thus have tried to share my own knowledge with others...when I have it.

It's a great place for expat folks and others to come together... in a virtual world.