Gaccha

You, like me, love nothing more than to fight your way passed rabic(*) dogs on tiny sois and canals. To be safe and strong there are some decent Apps that should be on your smartphone.

1. Mapdroyd

This is a no brainer. A very decent map is pre-installed on your phone. This is aligned with your GPS so you know where you are. It can measure the distance to anywhere on the map effortlessly and marks out key spots of your choice (a hospital, a post office etc.)

It is free. And the App requires no wi-fi or internet service.

2. Flashlight

Several version available of this idea but I prefer this one. The 'police light' option is useful for crossing roads, and the torch is great for reading signs and seeing the ground.

3. Latitude

A Google App that tells you how to get somewhere. It can offer any bus routes from anywhere to anywhere. For example, you are stuck in downtown Bangkok and need to go somewhere equally off the regular bus map: this is that App you need.

4. Vignette

Best App for decent photos.

5. Easy Voice Recorder

When you chat to the locals...

6. ThaiDict Paiboon

Best Thai dicitonary with audio in Thai. The only one with a phonetic look-up system to find Thai. You'll have to pay for this App.

Any Apps I've missed?

There is probably an App that downloads the whole of Wikitravel (albeit out of date). That might come in handy if no data connection.

(*) Thailand has the third worst level of rabies in the World, with 0.3% of dogs suffering from it. 0.9% of travellers here longer than 10 days are bitten, (Source: Mahidol), only half seek assistance.

Cool down.

re-entry permit is still done at Suan Plu a s far as I Know, You cannot apply by e-mail for it anymore but otherwise you can get one at the airport as well, both Don Muang and Suv. Ask at the airport after having checked in and before going through passport control.

I once had a torn depature card as well, they simple stapled it together with 5 staples or so and processed it. They will deal with it at the airport, especially if you still have the pieces it will not be a problem.

You, sir, are a star.

*** I have one further problem I have just noticed***

My departure card has neatly torn in half.... can Suan plu deal with this? Is it a deal breaker? Can I get it re-done at the airport? Can I go through immigration at the airport with a 2-part card?

Thanks in advance.

The old e-mail was bkk1_reentry (at mark) immigration.go.th but when I just sent ot it there was a delivery failure notice because the inbox was full...

Any ideas? Has anyone used them recently?

It used to be that you sent them an e-mail the day before and then turned up at Saturday.

But the Immigration website doesn't now seem to say anything...

Does the weekend service still exist... and does it still require the e-mail in advance?

If it requires the e-mail, what is the e-mail address?

Thank you very much in advance.

Hi

It looks like a quite a few of the shops mentioned at now closed.

Does anyone know of any places where I can get fancy dress stuff made in Bangkok, that are still open.

I'm struggling a little and could do with being pointed in the right direction.

Thanks.

All the ones I mentioned are still open.

The posters that tend to invoke "they're gay" seem to like to cut to the chase on their forum comments. One managed the one word "Freaks" declaration. They seem to be trying a bit too hard to position themselves away from complications.

Obviously (*), nature does not make the simple distinction of gay and straight, It is socially constructed and no amount of disciplining language in a topic forum in thaivisa will make it true. So, if you want to call your friend gay or straight simply comes down to the drama of presentation of self: do you wish to collude and morally approve your friend's ways or not? There is no inner true to be ultimately revealed.

In the main, men who desire the female body either are aroused by the primary sexual characteristics (They get around by looking at the female genitialia) or the secondary (boobs and bottoms and ankles). The majority are the latter camp. Since ladyboys are far better looking than Thai girls it is obvious what is the rational choice to make. Only the fears of self-presentation discrediting is holding back the forum members here from revealing their true desires.

Ladyboys have a hidden gender. Girls have a hidden agenda. Pick your poision.

Proof that ladyboys are better looking than thai girls:

Ladyboys:

1.

2.

3.

4. (No. 1, but when she was still a boy, she is sitting down)

Girls:

1.

2.

3.

(*) There is an unending amount of academic literature that prove this point. Why not-- for amusement's sake-- try the hysterically transphobic Radical Feminist literature of Janice Raymond: Transsexual Empire. It is good place to start as any... and is free to download on the internet.

if you happen to live here in BKK longtime one disaster of this kind will shortly follow the next.

However, advance notice has been given- in Thai of course-on the Thai site gthai.net-plus its new location (I think it was from 1/3-so you are not the frequent visitor after all??), which was further up Ratchda-I cannot remember Spn kwai. But as this is Thailand and I am too old for all that noise, it may well have been a last-minute move to somewhere else.

There are still the RamkamHaeng venues, near the Lamsalee crossing.

The new disco (opposite the Gayanesh statue and shrine at Huay Kwang) is a parody of the soi 8 spot. Named 'Soi 8 readbeat', it lacks the weird architecture of the old place and lacks the customers. The 4am meatmarket outside the soi 8 disco has been replaced by 3 blokes and a pool table at this new joint.

The redeeming factor is a cocktail bar called "Cocktail Bar" next to the disco that offers some real cocktail acrobatic skills and drinks.

RamkamHaeng venues are a joke in comparison to the old soi 8. The crowd simply are not the same quality.

TonyPaul,

Yes, you're correct! Eric Levine, (aka-a**ho**) opened a new gym called Crush Fitness at the same CAL WOW Silom location.

Only fools and morons would join the fitness center after all those negative publicities.

"Dr" Eric Levine, if you please..... hahahahahaha...

His is the fakest doctoral degree in Thailand.... and that really is an achievement.

There is nothing wrong with you (a self-declared man) liking women (as defined presumably by XY chromosome) and declaring that as straight but that places you in a minority.

If you remove the men who like transgendered women (around the 35 % mark in the academic literature) from the straight category, and while you're about it, remove the men with various non-vanilla fetishes of SM, bondage, furries etc. etc. ad nauseum, then you are in a tiny minority of men.

Again, nothing wrong with that but it does make the category straight an abnormality and, mutatis mutandus, a perversion. I can only hope you seek help for your perversion.

I would be reading Jared Diamond, THE WORLD UNTIL YESTERDAY, but holy cow I can't find a library in CM.

Does anyone know of a good library in CM which might have this book?

I have read JD's previous scribblings, and guys with beards are good writers.

So, please, which library should I use for English titles?

Re This Book:

Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies still or recently in existence. Societies like those of the New Guinea Highlanders remind us that it was only yesterday—in evolutionary time—when everything changed and that we moderns still possess bodies and social practices often better adapted to traditional than to modern conditions.

The World Until Yesterday provides a mesmerizing firsthand picture of the human past as it had been for millions of years—a past that has mostly vanished—and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today.

This is Jared Diamond’s most personal book to date, as he draws extensively from his decades of field work in the Pacific islands, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others. Diamond doesn’t romanticize traditional societies—after all, we are shocked by some of their practices—but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. A characteristically provocative, enlightening, and entertaining book, The World Until Yesterday will be essential and delightful reading.

Always check university libraries. They tend to be the best. Chiang Mai Uni has two Jared Diamond books but not the one you seek. You can wait 6 months or make a request to them to buy the book.

The Story of Philosophy by WIll Durant

This work of pithy, gorgeous prose by the Pulitzer Prize prize-winning author is now a central text in the popularising of philosophy. Written in 1926 it risks being an historical curiousity since by necessity it includes none of the later philosphers (Foucault, Baudrillard, Ranciere etc.). Yet despite the almost comical inclusions of philosphers who looked big in 1926 and have now vanished from existence (anyone reading Herbert Spencer?), the sheer enthusiasm of his subject is very infectious. I have a Santayana and a Voltaire book on my reading list.

Read, enjoy and prepare a money account for the great increase in philosophy texts you'll be reading.

Can you resist reading Schopenhauer after this...?

"What strikes the reader at once upon opening 'The World,Will and Idea' is its style. Here is no Chinese puzzle of Kantian terminology, no Hegelian obfuscation, no Spinozist geometry; everything is clarity and order; and all is admirably centered about the leading conception of the world as will, and therefore strife, and therefore misery. What blunt honesty, what refreshing vigor, what uncompromising direct-ness! Where his predecessors are abstract to the point of invisibility, with theories that give out few windows of illustra-tion upon the actual world, Schopenhauer, like the son of a bus-iness man, is rich in the concrete, in examples, in applications, even in humor.l After Kant, humor in philosophy was a startling innovation."

I bought it at Kinokuniya, but you can download it free off the internet.

Ahhhh.... It's exactly where--upon reflection -- i thought it was...

There is a fascinating 5 or 6 storey open-fronted place near wat pho... It may also be a trendy cafe i have heard of.... Anyone know pf it? It is--exempting the temples-- the most beautiful site from the river at that location ....

This is the Arun Residence restaurant. Astonishing and great cocktails.

Eat the all-day-breakfast duck roasted sandwich with a Torpedo. It is opposite Wat Pho.

DISASTER: Ratchada soi 8 is no more

There is no easy way to say this, so I'll get straight to the point... soi 8 has closed both the gay discos on it ("SOI 8 Disco" and "G-Star"). Indeed, they have both been demolished.

As recently as Janurary the SOI 8 Disco was rated 4/5 and a website said "Ever popular and extremely lively bar/nightclub that attracts the younger Asian/local crowd who will be dancing the night away to some of the best Thai disco music. If you are Thai, then we probably don’t need to tell you more about this place! If you are not Thai, then go with some Thai friends – foreigners (Western or Asian) are welcome but virtually everyone else will be speaking Thai".

To anyone under the age of 30, these were certainly the best options in Bangkok, and therefore the World.

Not only was the clientele of Thai men the cutest, but the Soi 8 Disco was the cheapest (a litre bottle of coke for 80 baht) and the only club with a pitch black sex maze at the back.

You can imagine what a bitter blow this is for all of us. For all who can, a candle vigil will be set up next to the car showroom on soi8 to show are appreciation for the years of enjoyment the place offered.

The rumour is a new enormous G-Star Pavilion Disco has been set up in Saphan Kwai for all the fembois who have nowhere to go...

Banshee - currently running on HBo is worth watching ( you can get the missed episodes off the web)

Best Sci-Fi series ever --- Stargate Universe !! Doubtful about a 3rd series though. --- maybe because it was trying to revive an old theme/idea - Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis. - but SGU was in a league of its own -awesome

And with that .... His credibility evaporated ....

Battlestar Galactica is hugely superior. The mini-series (series 1) explored the themes of truth, terror and torture. And this was at a time when Americans actually believed in a "war on terror".

If you want to see some great (and fun) sci-fi, I can only recommend (again) Odyssey 5

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318236/

.

The critics were a little more reserved in their compliments:

" If you can handle the frustration of becoming invested in a series that remains incomplete, Odyssey 5 definitely warrants a viewing. Would our heroes have defeated the nasty artificial beings and saved the world? The answer will currently remain a mystery. This show falls a notch below the premier sci-fi series (Firefly , Battlestar Gallactica), but the story still offers plenty of memorable scenes."

Has anyone ever watched Firefly? I understand this is the Sci-Fi equivalent of Mad Men: astonishing TV but very few viewers...

I am reading Wind in the Willows to my young lad every night.

Quite something

thank you for the reminder. just finished james and the giant peach for the third time with my daughter, and was thinking beatrix potter might be the way forward, but not relishing the idea. I wish i still had the illustrated edition from my childhood

The key is Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World.

Banshee - currently running on HBo is worth watching ( you can get the missed episodes off the web)

Best Sci-Fi series ever --- Stargate Universe !! Doubtful about a 3rd series though. --- maybe because it was trying to revive an old theme/idea - Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis. - but SGU was in a league of its own -awesome

And with that .... His credibility evaporated ....

Battlestar Galactica is hugely superior. The mini-series (series 1) explored the themes of truth, terror and torture. And this was at a time when Americans actually believed in a "war on terror".

Ahhhh.... It's exactly where--upon reflection -- i thought it was...

There is a fascinating 5 or 6 storey open-fronted place near wat pho... It may also be a trendy cafe i have heard of.... Anyone know pf it? It is--exempting the temples-- the most beautiful site from the river at that location ....

... Not enough dramaturgical value. When that need arises i notice Draper opts for an Old Fashioned and Sterling takes a Vodka Gimlet.

Oldgit

Can you mark that on Googlemap. I can't work it out.... Which pier? Etc.....

I have been deeply influenced by Mad Men and want to take up smoking. But I also enjoy life. So I want to find herbal cigs. Where are they sold in Bangkok? I've certainly never seen them in 7/11....

There is some definite art/gentrification process going on in Pinklao.

There is now an open-fronted thai architecture dance studio with an attached coffee shop on the first junction across the river. It is cool because it is not trying to be painfully cool.

An Enquiry on Human Understanding by David Hume

Obviously one of the greatest and most important works of philosophy. It led to arousing Immanuel Kant from his 'dogmatic slumbers' and led to a war of ideas that has lasted over 200 years.

David Hume-- a Scotsman to the core-- is a very readable philosopher. Because by trade he was a history writer. Unlike Kant's Critique that was a response to this work, Hume uses concrete examples to get his points across. (Kant is of Scottish extraction but his German education appears to have knocked the Celtic flair out of him)

He has many points to make but my favourite is his display that we know nothing of cause and effect; that is, it is impossible to know the cause of anything. Despite this going against the commonsense view of 2013 man-on-the-street, a modified version of this is the accepted view of mainstream science. That is, the mainstream view in science is you do not and cannot know that the sun will rise tomorrow.

A work of astonishing beauty and brevity. A slightly modernised version is available here from a retired Cambridge don.

http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/he.html

The taste makes up for the shigella....

What street bar has these cocktails....?

Thank you.