StreetCowboy

I don’t want to be the guy that says “If you can’t afford to lose 1000 Baht, you shouldn’t be here”. But, I’m, not that guy, so I won’t say it.

you just did

But he was really trying not to say it!

Its not the 1000 baht I can't afford to lose, its the ten bottles of Singha I was going to buy.

SC

This is probably most useful for those of us budgeting for sin sod; or planning on taking our wealth overseas.

Does anyone know, from memory (supplemented, if necessary, by prodigious mental arithmetic), how many baht to the pound?

SC

hey...I saw an asian bagpipe band at the annual 'Scottish Games' in Jakarta in 1993 and good they were too...could they have been the HK police band?

me and the irish born/Glasgow raised old lady cracked up...bagpipe music in Jakarta...

My first morning in HK and I stumbled down with my hangover to Northpoint, past the Chinese medicine shops selling stuff that you were clearly intended to eat, but I had no idea why... and there, above the clanking of the trams, the sound of pipes...

So I followed the sound of the pipes to see the HK Ambulance Corp pipe band on a Sunday morning practice.

'Welcome to HK' I thought...

SC

that sounds like an episode of Dr Who that I watched one Saturday morning when terminally hung over and hallucinating...bagpipes?...Hong Kong?...and then a sinister <deleted> Manchu character appears with: 'not what you expected, is it bubbie...'

On the night preceding, our inscrutable Chinese waiter took our orders, and then, bafflingly, said

"So where's yezallfae? Ah'm faefife"

Just kidding - he said Dunfermline.

SC

hey...I saw an asian bagpipe band at the annual 'Scottish Games' in Jakarta in 1993 and good they were too...could they have been the HK police band?

me and the irish born/Glasgow raised old lady cracked up...bagpipe music in Jakarta...

My first morning in HK and I stumbled down with my hangover to Northpoint, past the Chinese medicine shops selling stuff that you were clearly intended to eat, but I had no idea why... and there, above the clanking of the trams, the sound of pipes...

So I followed the sound of the pipes to see the HK Ambulance Corp pipe band on a Sunday morning practice.

'Welcome to HK' I thought...

SC

I'm disappointed that your technique of staring at the machine did not work.

I'm sure he said open sesame as well.

Doh! Now you tell him... where were you when he needed you?

<deleted>

I wish I'd said that, on more than one occasion.

Me too. I bet you wish I'd said it, as well...

<deleted>

You're an example to us all!

SC

I once tried to take money out of ATM machine in a foreign country, and the first bank: No joy. second bank: No joy. third bank (Citibank don't let you down) - plenty of money. Unfortunately, one of the first two banks had charged my account with the amount I had tried to withdraw.

I complained to my bank, and you know - I can't remember what the final result was. I think I got the money back. Of course, it was difficult, as I'm not sure I could actually remember which banks I'd tried, and I certianly didn't know which of the two had charged my account. There's always a delay of several months while everything gets reconciled...

Of course one problem for the OP is that his money has actually gone astray. Should someone else be lucky enough to receive that bonus 1,000, there will be no evidence of where the money went anywhere in the system. No doubt the recipient will hand it in, but where to, if the guys at 7-11 can't receive it on behalf of the bank?

SC

...

I was more likely to end up in the Red Lion next door to Ned's ( sadly gone too) , I never was in the squirrel on Hart but used to frequent the Stag's Head instead .

Nowadays I been visiting the Old china Hand but not with much success as my boozing abilities are hitting an all time low , sadly .

I went into the Red Lion with a friend who said "I've not been here for about five years" and to be honest, I don't know why he hurried back. The Stag was my favourite; our office was nearby, just opposite the Knight's, where beer was $13 a pint in Happy Hour. It had a little wooden bridge over a stream as you came in, as I recollect. In those days the Stag had a Happy Hour 3-4 for the staff from the other pubs, if I recall correctly. The place I had the Deuchars IPA was on the other side of the road, up towards Cameron.

Nowadays I go over to the White Hart to see Johnnie from the Stag's, though I've not been there for some time. I don't know if the DJ from Kilmarnock is still working in HK - he used to do Friday night in the Stag's; presumably that's you ...

I suppose HK would rate in my top few of places to live, and in terms of bagpipe music, I would rate it no lower than second.

SC

True about the pipes , the polis band in their white tunics and kilts , many of them schooled in Glasgow , Otago street . I know Johny and remember the DJ , he had a collection of 80's stuff and would play the Toy Doll's and the like . I guess the Red Lion was , for me , like a time warp ,with the decrepit lounge at the back of the 60's era bar and all those old dragon ladys . I used to get up with the band and murder shakin all over every now and then . Ever frequent the Winestube ?

Was that (Winestube) on Pratt?

You'll need to give us all a rendition of "Shakin' all over every now and then". For a German pub I would go to the basement of the Miramar shopping centre atrium (or was it the Kimberley? - just opposite the Kimberley hotel, and there was a cinema adjacent. I'm sure it was the Miramar Centre), and drink outside, almost. They used to have a beer buffet of an evening, and it was almost like drinking outside.

Happy days, and happier evenings, as I recall.

SC

By the way....is there a phobia for this case ??

A phobia for worrying about what anonymous posters look like?

Or a phobia for not properly identifying the object of a conversation?

Kleptophobia would be a fear of taking things, seriously.

SC

I'll go for Scotland then seeing as another poster bought my vote with a pie supper on another thread .

Oh for the Squirrel Bar and a deep fried macaroni pie , Stevenson Street on a cold winters morn and money to be made . Forget not the old vans wi' hooky MOTs and knocking off early on a saturday and walking up to see the celtic . I shudder to recall beating a dwarf at pool up in the Scotia pool hall and then staggering home westward , stuffed into my y fronts , the days takings . One never knew who one could happen upon in old Glasgow town , on the banks of the Clyde in the west of Scotland .

I used to drink in a pub called the Squirrel in Tsim Sha Tsui - or was it the Squirrell 2? That was the one with the gin in the vodka bottle... That close had gone quite up market last time I was there, about four years back, with some Western pub where there used to be a squirrel. I forget how the Terrace had fared. But on Hart Avenue I was able to stop for a Deuchars IPA - not a haggis supper, but there's no point in pining for the moon when you have a bird in the hand

(repeated quote of clip deleted)

SC

I was more likely to end up in the Red Lion next door to Ned's ( sadly gone too) , I never was in the squirrel on Hart but used to frequent the Stag's Head instead .

Nowadays I been visiting the Old china Hand but not with much success as my boozing abilities are hitting an all time low , sadly .

I went into the Red Lion with a friend who said "I've not been here for about five years" and to be honest, I don't know why he hurried back. The Stag was my favourite; our office was nearby, just opposite the Knight's, where beer was $13 a pint in Happy Hour. It had a little wooden bridge over a stream as you came in, as I recollect. In those days the Stag had a Happy Hour 3-4 for the staff from the other pubs, if I recall correctly. The place I had the Deuchars IPA was on the other side of the road, up towards Cameron.

Nowadays I go over to the White Hart to see Johnnie from the Stag's, though I've not been there for some time. I don't know if the DJ from Kilmarnock is still working in HK - he used to do Friday night in the Stag's; presumably that's you ...

I suppose HK would rate in my top few of places to live, and in terms of bagpipe music, I would rate it no lower than second.

SC

the local for Wilderspoole was the Sarriesheid just opposite the brewery where they stopped brewing Local bitter. Then they (the Wire) became Wolves and moved to Winwick Where Tetley used to brew Walkers, and the local was the Lord Rodney, though I actually preferred the Local - and even more so the Mild, which is very similar to a 60'.

Anyway, I've not been to the park to see them since I left, though I caught them (the Wire / Wolves) on the TV in Dubai in the Challenge Cup Final a couple of years back.

SC

"... and before that, a supermarket used to stand"

EDIT

I suppose in the local vernacular it would be the SareysZ

Rupets, my dear ole' chap ... as some others have said before ... a photo might help us help you.

waiting ...

To date you have made two posts, both asking for a photo.....

i'm new to all this, slightly vouyeuristic and they say a picture photo says a thousand words ... so i'm trying to be brief

Well apart from sounding a bit stalky, posting a picture of someone else without their approval is strictly against forum rules.

All sounds a bit breach of anonymity as well. I can understand the voyeuristic pleasure of it, but is bespoken's imagination really so poor (or pure) that he can't twist one off the wrist imagining what she looks like? or he?

SC

Surely you have to ask yourself why you have come to Bkk in the first place. Just how genuine is your stance of virtuosity?

We all know what the attractions are and they don't include the furtherence of a teaching career and your pension outlook will be bleak indeed if you fail to make some provision for that. Or will you eventually inherit something?

I know a teacher friend who lives in the outers, presumably near his school, but likes to travel to the Suk. many times a week. He has to limit his beer intake for sure, but he gets what he came here for. Get it?

Seventy thousand is quite a lot for a language teacher isn't it?

He never actually said he was a language teacher.

Some people like to work overseas for the opportunity to broaden their horizons and try something new. When I first went overseas, apart from the drinking, I didn't get involved in drinking and whoring at all ,and one of my colleagues ran off with a white woman.

I expect the school is paying a good salary to get good staff, rather than deadbeats who would do anything so long as they can live in Bangkok. We always paid good salaries for expat staff, even though we could get them cheap, as the cheap fellas are probably more trouble than they're worth, in Bangkok. I'd rather have someone that would only work for a good salary than someone who would rather live here than work here.

SC

EDIT: He also never mentioned if the other two job offers were in Bangkok, or Thailand, or overseas.

Don't feel worried about people saying "get a taxi here or there" - taxis are very cheap and plentiful. However, it will be worth checking where you would get one when you look at apartments - you don't want to be walking five minutes to the main road when its pouring rain or you've got luggage

SC

When I updated my unlocked iPhone to iOS5 here in Thailand, it locked. It took me days to figure out what was wrong. In the end the only way I could resolve it was to make an expensive hour long phone call to Apple in the UK, who told me to wait another 48 hours, then reinstall iOS5 again through iTunes. I did, and it worked. But in the time I was without a phone, I began to wonder how and why Apple thought they had the right to break my phone that I paid good money for and belonged to me. As it turned out, the phone was replaced just before I moved out to Thailand and they replaced it with a locked phone which didn't actually lock until I updated it, because they hadn't updated their systems or something.

This was the iPhone 4 and I was almost about to updated it to the 4s, but because of this very annoying and very frustrating mis-hap (nobody likes to be without a phone for days on end, especially when they've just moved to another country) for the first time in years I started looking around for iPhone alternatives, and ended up buying a Galaxy S2. Best move I've ever made. It's faster, more powerful, bigger screen, more customizable, all my favorite apps are there and I got the sense that it fully belonged to me and that I could do whatever I wanted with it, rather than have Apple still thinking they have some sort of claim over it, and telling me what I can and can't do with my own phone.

I liked the S2 so much, I even sold my Macbook Pro and bought a Samsung laptop instead. Again, more powerful, better components, just as nice looking, but for significantly less money. I'm not an Apple hater. They certainly have their fans. I was one for a long while. But there is definitely an image over substance thing going on with Apple. While Apple are whipping up the crowds outside their stores to get ready for launch day of their latest product, other firms like Samsung just quietly get on with it. Samsung sell far more phones than Apple, but somehow Samsung doesn't have to create this frenzied hysteria in order to. People buy them simply because they're good phones.

I'd take a Galaxy Note or Tablet over Apple anyday.

I bought my daughter an iPad because she'll benefit from having the same as all her trendy mates (except with less memory and an older model...). For myself, I'll probably buy a Galaxy, because I don't mind doing things the hard way, and I don't want to be a serf to Steve Jobs, dead or not.

SC

Who's going to pay for the laundry?

Actually endure mate my mum used to do all the laundry for my dad and his pals when they worked for P and O ferries in the boiler room. It got really hot down there so they sweated a lot leading to damp patches under the arms of their t-shirts. They were always very pleased with the cleanliness and freshness when she'd finished. I'll ask her cos she must be a world expert on satisfying sailors and salty seamen stains.

My father said he worked for Cunard.

SC

So you think you dad's the only bloke who worked for Cunard? That's a bit presumptuous mate!

He was a silver service waiter, but he got sacked for responding in kind when a gentleman asked for a fork 'n' knife.

SC

I am really surprised by people’s answers and it wasn’t what I expected to hear.

I’m curious to know what other members think of Thailand surrounding countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam etc?

I am originally from Australia and find the country deadly boring that every day that ticks by there I consider another wasted day of my life. Same said about Singapore where I lived for way too long.

Hong Kong and China were pretty cool which I liked because the culture was very foreign and I was always discovering new ways of doing things.

I lived in the USA last year and don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot to love but I’ve never met so many swindlers, scammers and cheap skates in my life.

I lived in Bangladesh and have never felt more in danger in my life- but I am a young, attractive white female.

We can all say that, on the internet...

If you do it, make sure you are prepared to live like the locals. On 70k/m you'll likely have to give up a lot of the comforts that you may typically enjoy in the west. You can still "live like a Thai" pretty cheap, but living a more western lifestyle is much more expensive here than it is back home. You are not going to be well-off on that salary, its very do-able, but make sure you are ok with living a very modest life for a while. I think it'll be a helluva thing to get used-to if you've never lived in Asia before.

...

I really don't think 70K is a tight budget for a single bloke who can limit his drinking and whoring to a couple of big nights a month. He'll be able to restrict himself to eating in places with mains running water, he'll be able to afford potatoes. Even if that's before tax and rent, he should be able to manage just fine.

Of course, he'll be well advised to do without a car and stay away from ethnic European restaurants that don't serve Thai dishes...

SC

Who's going to pay for the laundry?

Actually endure mate my mum used to do all the laundry for my dad and his pals when they worked for P and O ferries in the boiler room. It got really hot down there so they sweated a lot leading to damp patches under the arms of their t-shirts. They were always very pleased with the cleanliness and freshness when she'd finished. I'll ask her cos she must be a world expert on satisfying sailors and salty seamen stains.

My father said he worked for Cunard.

SC

If you have modest tastes and no dependents, then I think 70,000 should see you comfortable. Your tax on that will be quite modest; The 30% band starts at THB 1 million per annum, if memory serves me well, and there are sliding scales below that. The allowances are not big.

If you reckon on spending 30,000 during the day each month you'll have money left over. That used to cover me for two meals out, and two long taxi journeys every day, with enough left over for the first beer as well.

If I was you I would stay closer to school, because you'll be going there every day, but when you go out in the evening, you might go different places each night, and you might stay in from time to time. On the other hand, it can be nice to have a commute - but then if you can get a twenty or thirty minute walk, that's good enough.

You can spend as much as you want to on your nights out

SC

EDIT: Having said that, I don't know the area, but last time I was anywhere nearby I thought the traffic was pretty hellish, while at the same time I thought it didn't look like a good area if you were walking or cycling. Big roads, moving slowly... There'll be plenty others on the forum who will know the area better than I do, though. I would recommend you talk 'off the record' to other teachers before you take the job, if you can, wherever you go...

"... and 15% would live there, if they had to."

Tut tut you're a bad boy

That coming from the 15%

- It was 17.5% till they put the VAT up; though to be fair, that was the national exchequer; goodness knows what Mr Salmond's mob will have you collecting.

SC

"... and 15% would live there, if they had to."

I'll go for Scotland then seeing as another poster bought my vote with a pie supper on another thread .

Oh for the Squirrel Bar and a deep fried macaroni pie , Stevenson Street on a cold winters morn and money to be made . Forget not the old vans wi' hooky MOTs and knocking off early on a saturday and walking up to see the celtic . I shudder to recall beating a dwarf at pool up in the Scotia pool hall and then staggering home westward , stuffed into my y fronts , the days takings . One never knew who one could happen upon in old Glasgow town , on the banks of the Clyde in the west of Scotland .

I used to drink in a pub called the Squirrel in Tsim Sha Tsui - or was it the Squirrell 2? That was the one with the gin in the vodka bottle... That close had gone quite up market last time I was there, about four years back, with some Western pub where there used to be a squirrel. I forget how the Terrace had fared. But on Hart Avenue I was able to stop for a Deuchars IPA - not a haggis supper, but there's no point in pining for the moon when you have a bird in the hand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZyU7tHO_1E

SC

It's not a real country (yet) but I answer Europe.

From north to south, so much diversity in scenery, weather, culture, history, food ... You can enjoy a beer in Ireland, ski in the Alpes and enjoy the sun set in a greek island ... can't beat that !

Bit of a long day, though...

Someone should tell Jurgen that the Third Reich failed.......

Aye, but he's not a quitter

SC