AyG

Sorry, I can't comment on the cost of the transfusions. However, I understand that it's only platelets that need to be transfused - not whole blood. (Platelets are involved with blood clotting and dengue interferes with this.)

You may also want to read http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3168133/ just to make sure that the transfusion is really necessary; all transfusions have a risk of transferring a disease - not only a known one, but also one as yet unknown.

And, here is another article from the Royal Institute archives regarding the origin and pronunciation of the Thai word for "January"

________________________________________________________

มกราคม โดย ศ. ดร.กาญจนา นาคสกุล

มกราคม

มกราคม (มก-กะ-รา-คม, มะ-กะ-รา-คม) เป็นชื่อเดือนแรกของปีทางสุริยคติ. ปัจจุบันถือเอาวันที่๑ เดือนมกราคม เป็นวันขึ้นปีใหม่. คำว่า มกราคม เกิดจากคำว่า มกร กับคำว่า อาคม. มกร หรือ มังกร เป็นชื่อ ราศีหนึ่งใน ๑๒ ราศี, เรียกว่า ราศีมังกร, อาคม แปลว่า การมาถึง, มกราคม แปลว่า การมาถึงราศีมังกร. ออกเสียงว่า มก-กะ-รา-คม หรือ มะ-กะ-รา-คม ก็ได้. ราศี คือส่วนหนึ่งใน๑๒ ส่วนของเส้นทางเดินของดวงอาทิตย์ในรอบ ๑ ปี. เส้นทางนี้เป็นเส้นทางที่สมมุติขึ้นในทางโหราศาสตร์.

ปัจจุบันประชากรเกือบทั่วโลกถือเอาเดือนมกราคมเป็นเดือนแรกของปี และเปลี่ยนศักราชในวันที่ ๑ มกราคม. แต่เดิมไทยขึ้นปีใหม่เมื่อดวงอาทิตย์เข้าสู่ราศีเมษในวันที่ ๑๓ เมษายน, แต่ได้ปรับมาใช้วันที่ ๑ มกราคม ตามสากลนิยม ตั้งแต่ปีพุทธศักราช ๒๔๘๓ เป็นต้นมา. วันที่ ๑ มกราคม ๒๔๘๔ จึงเป็นวันขึ้นปีใหม่แบบสากลนิยมปีแรกของไทย.

ผู้เขียน ศ. ดร.กาญจนา นาคสกุล ราชบัณฑิต ประเภทวรรณศิลป์ สาขาวิชาภาษาไทย สำนักศิลปกรรม

___________________________________________________________

http://www.royin.go.th/th/knowledge/detail.php?ID=202

Again, your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

It's not surprising that the month name comes from the Hindu calendar, where the month which starts mid-January is named after the zodiac sign Makara (Sanskrit मकर). And it's now clear that the name does indeed come from the sea monster; the usual English translation of Capricorn, conjuring up pictures of a goat, is misleading and just reflects the part of the sky where the Indic Makara constellation corresponds to the Western Capricorn. Therefore, based upon etymological grounds, the first vowel should be an "a". Case solved.

wprime, can you please explain how แอาแอา is zzzz?

I'd assumed that แอาแอา was a silly spelling of เอาเอา meaning "I want it, I want it", which would make sense in this context. That said, I'm not an expert on this kind of slang.

Where officially are donations to temples supposed to be banked? Surely not the private accounts of the monks?

Do temples have to set up accounts?

It wasn't a temple, it was a monastery. Monasteries are not subject to the same strict rules and inspections as temples.

Site works finally started 2-3 months ago with a huge hole currently being dug for the underground car park

Which will double up as an underground swimming pool next time there's flooding in the area.

Unfortunately, I need to get a notarised copy of my passport at the British Embassy. (A Thai lawyer, apparently, isn't good enough for my purposes.)

I've looked at the Embassy's website and am left with a few questions that I hope someone can answer.

(1) Can I request the copy in the morning, and pick it up on the afternoon of the same day?

(2) Do I need to make a copy of my passport first? Or does the Embassy do that?

(3) Can the Embassy post the notarised copy to me (albeit for one if its usually outrageous fees)?

(4) The Embassy used to stop you taking your mobile 'phone into the building. This used to be on the website, but doesn't appear to be now. Is this ludicrous restriction still in force?

Thanks.

"Integration" is a word that cannot be translated in Thai, as each separate agency or department works in an absolute "stand-alone" mode, so better not dream of a location that will be user-friendly with easy access to local transportation. Just look at the Suvarnabhumi express link that ends downtown in the middle of nowhere.

Or look at the mess of a connection between BTS and MRT at Asoke (a connection which wasn't even considered in the original plans).

There is no central register. Each country is responsible for assigning its own ISIN codes to securities, usually based upon an older local scheme such as CUSIP or SEDOL. If the OP identifies which country or exchange he/she's interested in it might be easier to give a helpful reply.

How dare you people criticise the policies of the multibillionaire criminal living in exile in Dubai! He is completely in touch with the needs of the country's farmers and knows exactly what is best for them. He knows that giving them credit cards is just the right thing to do.

I don't know anything about AAA, other than it uses the method originally developed by Union and is now used by UTL, Piammitr and a few others.

This method places very little emphasis upon speaking, particularly at the lower levels, and there's very little correction of pronunciation (based upon my experience at UTL). If AAA is the same as UTL, it requires you to attend five days a week, either mornings or afternoons (and there's homework almost every day which takes another hour or so).

I'd also add that if you have no conversational Thai at the moment you'd struggle there and probably have to repeat the early levels at least once.

In short, this is a serious approach, requiring a big commitment. From what you write, I suspect this is not the right course for you.

No need to worry about deficiencies in the past. It's simply that newer vegetables were tastier and/or were more productive.

Talking to an old friend of mine she talked about her childhood food in Isaan. She was brought up on a diet of nam phrik with rice. Fish and meat were a very occasional luxury.

In the north traditional meals were often boiled roots, stems and leaves with perhaps a little meat.

Yes, boring, but almost certainly far healthier than a diet of burgers, fries and Hitler Fried Chicken.

In my analysis there have been four major imports of foreign vegetables (roughly in historical order):

(1) Indian ingredients: peppercorns, okra, spinach, ginger, galangal, cucumber (I'm surprised by cucumber - I'd assumed it was south american, but Wikipedia says it's not.)

(2) Chinese vegetables: Chinese celery, Chinese Kale, Chinese radish, soy bean

(3) South American vegetables (introduced during the Ayutthaya period by the Portuguese): chilli, tomato, aubergine with European vegetables such as carrot and potato.

(4) Modern commercial crops: asparagus, baby corn, lettuce

Wattanapichet's Thai-English dictionary gives ma.³ ka.¹ ra khoum and pa.¹ ka.¹ ti.¹ with no alternative pronunciations.

I'd always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that มกราคม was named after the Makara in Hindu mythology - a sea monster - meaning that the first vowel should be an "a".

ปกติ comes from Sanskrit or Pali (it occurs in both) where it's pronounced ปฺรกฺฤติ which would suggest that pàˑkàˑtì is technically more correct than pòkˑ​kàˑ​tì.

Mushrooms

Taro (which grows wild over much of SE Asia)

Angled luffa

Water spinach

and possibly yard long beans.

FWIW a couple of the OP's transcriptions aren't quite right.

มกราคม is pronounced máˑ​kàˑ​raaˑ​khom, and though ปกติ is commonly pronounced pòkˑ​kàˑ​tì, the official pronunciation is pàˑkàˑtì.

I think I didn't attach the "Thai food in the UK Prices" file correctly. With any luck it should be attached to this post correctly now.

Thai-Food-Prices-in-UK.pdf

You have to take into account product quality as well.

An Edam cheese produced here is not an Edam cheese from home. Here it is produced with cheap labor and cheap ingredients. And it tastes accordingly

Unless it is imported. Import cheese here goes for roughly 1200-1400 Baht/kg. It seems the importers have settled on this price whatever they think is cheese. Some local products try to scam the same price from unaware people....

The Edam cheese was an Australian import - not a local product. (To be honest, I don't think they make any hard cheeses here.)

Your price range for imported cheese is, I think, a little off.

Edam is 668 Baht/kg; Cheddar 688; Philadelphia cream cheese 596; Emmenthal, 1740.

The Edam and Cheddar are Australian copies; the Emmenthal is French; not sure where the Philadelphia is made - perhaps Malaysia? Don't know.

For comparison I've now looked at the price of Thai foods in the UK (see attached file).

The selection of items for comparison isn't great. For fresh produce, either they are solid in different ways in the two countries (e.g. by weight in the UK, but by the bunch in Thailand) making comparison impossible without further information. Also, a lot of Thai foods aren't available at Tesco's (or at least, aren't shown on the supermarket website).

To summarise:

- Sauces are between 3 times (fish sauce) and 9 times (oyster sauce) the price. Part of this difference can be explained by the small bottler sizes sold in the UK.

- Fresh chillies are similarly 9 times the Thai price. Palm sugar is also relatively expensive, at 6 times the Thai price. However, red curry paste is only 68% more expensive than here.

- Fruit are only marginally more expensive in the UK (20-60% more).

I wish I hadn't wasted 5 minutes of my life reading that article. "Daily Mail" should have been a warning flag. My own stupidity.

To save other people the trouble of reading it, in summary, it's nothing to do with paper clips. Joining an artery (carrying blood going from the heart) to a vein (carrying blood back from the heart) makes it easier for blood to complete its circulation, so reduces blood pressure. A small implant stops the joint closing.

Once again, Thai is way behind the curve in terms of international service, and customers will be expected to pay an over-the-top price to fly in outdated, crappy Boeing 747s.

What's so "crappy" about 747s?

Nothing wrong with 747s - it's just Thai's version of them.

No flat beds in business class on both the old and refurbished planes. Seats uncomfortable.

The unrefurbished planes don't have a seatback entertainment system, and with the upgraded ones the entertainment system box under the seat in front takes up a lot of leg room.

Generally, with the unrefurbished planes the upholstery is rather shabby.

Mustn't have a mortgage or other 3rd party right over the property.

Owner being your daughter is irrelevant.

Thai was supposed to be introducing the A380 for the Bangkok-London route in December.

They've just announced that there's going to be a delay of at least 11 months in launching the service.

Once again, Thai is way behind the curve in terms of international service, and customers will be expected to pay an over-the-top price to fly in outdated, crappy Boeing 747s.

Once again, Thailand and its visitors have been let down by the country's national airline.

-----

A380 Delay for Thai Airways’ London-Bangkok fleet

Thai Airways regrets to announce that due to important technical modifications, the A380 will not be able to commence its operation on the Heathrow- Bangkok route as planned from December 1, 2013.

Tentative operational date has been set on 30 October 2014.

When introduced, the A380, the world’s largest aircraft will operate the London-Bangkok day flight whilst the A346 will be re-introduced to the overnight flight.

Until next winter and the introduction of the A380, Thai Airways will continue to use its B747 on the route, leading on to over 70 cities across 5 continents. THAI constantly has special promotions so check out the website for the latest deals.

The introduction of the A380 will make flying between London and Bangkok an even more enjoyable and unforgettable experience and we can only apologise for the unforeseen delay.

Further information: www.thaiairways.co.uk; 0844 561 0911.

-- THAI Airways

http://www.thaiairways.co.uk/news/2013/07/a380-delay-for-thai-airways-london-bangkok-fleet/

She needs to make a will determining who gets what. That is a private matter for her, so there's no need to get an English speaking lawyer involved - just a Thai one. (You also should have a will - or better, two wills - in place, but that's a separate matter.)

If you inherit any property you'll have to sell it within one year, so that doesn't give you any security. And if the children inherit it, there's a risk you may fall out with them and be homeless. It would therefore also be a good idea to put in place a usufruct so that you would have the right to stay in the family home in the event of her death for the rest of your life. (Unfortunately, if you divorce the usufruct can be voided, so it doesn't give you absolute security, but it's better than nothing.)

Why bother? (And I'm sure others will correct me if I'm wrong.) Having your name in the tabian baan doesn't give you any rights over the property whatsoever. The only real benefit is that when it comes to voting in elections, you vote in the district where you're recorded in a tabian baan. In time, if she moves to another district she'll probably want to register on a tabian baan there - particularly if she is going to be responsible for paying utility bills at that property.

In short, I can't see how this can be of any inconvenience to the OP, and in time the issue should go away.

Now for Thai men, try telling them pointedly that adultery is against your religion. This has a special zap to it since adultery is also a violation of the basic Buddhist precepts (as they well know) so should shut them right up.

It's a pity that somebody didn't tell monk Luang Pu Nen Kham Chattiko that before he "married" a 14 year old girl and apparently had physical relationships with 7 other women.

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zha_cai

To be honest, I rather doubt you'll readily find it in Bangkok. Korean kimchi, which is fairly similar, is probably a reasonable substitute, and is available in all the large supermarkets.

However, you may want to investigate (Thai) pickled mustard greens, also readily available, as an alternative.