Gaccha

A recurring problem is the libraries closing over the long weekend filled with Buddhist holidays.

I imagine that the Western-controlled libraries may actually remain open. Does anyone know if the Nelson library or the Warren library in Bangkok are open over the weekend?

Thank you.

(I am not a great believer in telephonng them directly. I prefer the introversion of asking public forums)

Now that the Sports Bar has moved to soi 13 and into an inferior building, where is the best place to watch Murray winning Wimbledon on this Sunday (presuming one is stuck in Bangkok)?

The correct 166 has a sign in Thai indicating that it is heading to the government complex. The sign is red (from memory). The bus literally drives you to the door.

On the return, the bus literally picks you up at the east entrance door. There are many other intra-government complex buses but the 166 bus is the one that will take you out the complex and home free.

One thing: the bus does a very long stretch on the motorway. At this time, I've noticed the driver dropping off to sleep in the stifling heat and the tedium of the journey. I recommend you are ready to wake him up ... as no one else will.

There is a Bangkok Chess Club. Google the keywords "Bangkok Chess". The first result I should imagine.

As start of my new adventure in trying to read all the Speculative Fiction (a more appropriate name than Sci-Fi) classics, I have read my way through A Canticle for Leibowitz and The Forever War.

A Canticle for Leibowitz (1961) by Walter M. Miller

A book about the place of religion and its role in civilization and with the State. it is slow and turgid with many heavy dialogues plucked from Dostoevesky. For an atheist, this is an argument that is well understood and doesn't need a quasi-intellectual barrage of discourse.

In contrast....

The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman

With chapters averaging only 5 pages, it is sharp and gorgeously written. No long deluges of discourse, but a brilliantly clever conceit of using the aging process of space travel as a metaphor for the Vietnam Vet's experiences in returning to the USA. Download this.

oh, wahhhh...

I left me kindle on the airplane from Paris to Doha and I don't think that I'll be able to retrieve it...

wahhhhh...and I was right at the end of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure...what shall Sue and Jude do in their predicament?....

(and then someone well known to this forum will say: 'you poor man, please come to my house and we shall discuss the ending and I make a grand cup of tea...' and then I shall say: 'd'ye mind if I bring some voddy to liven things up a bit? and shall you be wearing short cut-offs and a t-shirt? immodesty and a lack of social decorum are the major themes, you know')

I'm on the Mayor of Casterbridge at the moment, a post-copyright printing from India, in hardback. There are some irritating type-setting errors; missed words and the like. But it was less than four quid, so one can't complain.

SC

For a kindle, simply download from Gutenberg or the archive dot org websites the book for free.

e.g. Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/143

A tough call....

Singapore Sling, a Stinger, a B-52 with bomb bay open, Irish car bomb....

'Dostoevsky, Kierkegarde, Nietzsche & Kafka' by William Hubben (1952)

A book with perhaps the easiest title to misspell in the history of books. An attempt to synthesis the works of the 4 great thinkers of existentialism. A quick read-- possible in under 4 hours. And also, despite yours truly being sloshed on Manhattan, Irish Car Bomb and a martini, I was still able to read my way through it.

But the book is a painful failure. It's attempt to mock the atheist opinions of Nietzche as stuck at the first level of aesthetics and never having reached the exultant level of faith simply rings hollow, particularly when most intellectuals are solidly atheist. His attempt to synthesise through Christianity doesn't work.

It has made me go back and re-read Dostoevesky's Grand Inquisitor chapter. Like most Anglo-Saxons the overtop Russian histrionics is laugably unconvincing (in the same way that Arab mourning feels etc.) but the author (Hubben) did at least try to show why Mr. D. did what he did.

All in all, a book to avoid. Right, I need a Tom Collins.

"Always check university libraries." Thank you. 2 outta 3 ain't bad!

And, what DMC1 says is actually true. After passing a certain age, this probably varies with the individual, fiction ceases to have much interest, especially with the world falling apart around us. It has been quite some time since I have been able to read more than a few pages of fiction. It may be my age, or it may just be my world.

I've found the opposite. I have read almost entirely factual, but now am increasingly reading fiction, albeit fiction often described as philosphical fiction.

Residents of Thailand are, I hope, acutely aware that tweed fabric is not available in Thailand. I have searched every fabric store in Indiatown and gone everywhere possible-- it's not here.

So I want to buy a tweed suit in Hong Kong.

Where do I go? I want an actual tailor. Not a store front.

Thank you in advance.

Hi, have you tried LingLing Learn Thai? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hepilabs.lingling.thai&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5oZXBpbGFicy5saW5nbGluZy50aGFpIl0. I am using it for almost sixth months and I've learned a lot of new words almost instantly Try it out

Nah. It's a gimmick. It is precisely the sort of software that can be used to predict the failure of the owner. It is this sort of "LEARN THAI IN JUST ONE DAY!" nonsense that is simple foolishness.

Simply make your own vocab lists with Ankidroid and with a great deal of hard work and patience you can do it. Best to think of learning Thai is like trying to get a First from Cambridge in Oriental Languages; you wouldn't buy some gimmicky App for that now would you....

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...