Mousehound

I speak both Spanish and Thai. I could live in Panama without ever speaking English and can live (and mostly do) live in Thailand without ever speaking English. I like speaking Thai -- I don't like speaking Spanish. Don't cry for me Argentina or Panama.

I find Spanish to be infinitely more poetic, fluid, gorgeous and sexy to listen to, and easier to speak and to understand. I also find most people in Latin America to be linguistically inclined, in that they have the ability to figure out what you are trying to say, if you do not speak perfectly. Absolutely the opposite in Thailand. The Thais do not have an ear for language, one iota.

On the contrary, the Thais have an acute ear for language, use the wrong tone and they're laughing because the meaning has altered fundamentally. They're just not familiar with non- native speakers speaking Thai so mispronunciations throw them.But they soon adapt when a foreigner in their circle speaks Thai with an accent, before long they're working out what he is trying to say.

Thai is wonderfully poetic in the right hands- read the poet Sunthon Pu, melody and meaning with alliteration and rhythm flowing seamlessly.

Want I meant is that most Thais are not linguistic. Of course they understand their own language and their own people speaking it. But few have the ability to understand thai that is not spoken well. Few can extrapolate meaning from a poorly spoken question or sentence. Not so in Latin America. I have traveled all over that region and can be understood everywhere with imperfect Spanish. Most will go out of their way to try to figure out what I am saying. That is not part of the Thai mentality on any level.

I don't think may posters here have much of an idea of linguistics. It is said in earlier posts the Thai people have no ear for languages. This is totally incorrect. The fact is many speak a local dialect a district dialect and central Thai and in addition speak English. I have met a Thai that speaks perfect English, French, Italian, German and Dutch. (A guide working at Greenleaf GH Khao Yai ) . The problem is they have too good an ear and as Thai is tonal and most European languages are not tonal we speak garbage when attempting Thai. In European languages the intonation is not really so important generally, so if your accent is off it doesn't really change the meaning. I speak Thai as well as I can - which is not great but improving. I find the Thai people very helpful and understanding of my linguistic blundering as a rule. In fact the short time I spent in Panama I was more frustrated by the lack of Spanish than my poor Thai in Thailand. Strangely I discovered that Japanese is quite widely spoken in Panama - (at least in the tourist centre) much to the delight of my Japanese friend who was traveling with me. Seems Japanese fishing fleets have been calling there for years.

I think you are seriously challenged in your choice of cars. Both are hideous - but I like your cat. I can understand that with automobile challenged parents it would do a bunk to CR. Good luck in the vote.

Migrating birds.There must have been thousands of them all over the sky not in one

big group but in many smaller ones such as this one.

Interesting. Were they all the same species of stork? Which direction were they headed? What sort of altitude? What time of day?

From memory the lapse rate between CM and Doi Inthanon is about13C so if the minimum temperature in CM is 20C and minimum temp on Doi Inthanon is 0C then there is a bit of a gap. Can't remember my school physics. Wind chill? Or some sort of cold air layer?

Nice change though. I stayed at Khun Deng's at the Karen village last January. Very cold at night. Fun but too cold for me. Glad to get a bit lower on the mountain.

A turnover of five teachers in a school that size is tiny. Some teachers retire. Some get pregnant. Some have family that move to another district or country. Some go into admin or consulting or just feel they have had enough and want a new career.

Can anyone help me with this bird ID please. Not the sharpest photo-sorry!

Believe it is a cuckoo-but which one?

Could be a juvenile or a well worn adult.

Photographed in a large tree in my garden at Na Ngua about 10 km north of Phetchabun Highway 21

Thanks in advance

imm. Violet Cuckoo, is my guess.

A good friend - ex resident of Alaska - has retired in Panama for the last two years. He is up in the highland area where it looks like parts of Europe. Very pretty. His take is that it is really simple to retire there - at least as an American. He is loving it and enjoys a good life. I had my heart set on Chiang Mai but as things are evolving - especially with the visa situation, inability to own a house and rapidly rising prices I am drawn to Panama as an alternative. For me the biggest obstacle is the distance from my family who all live in Perth, Australia. Also, I speak and read Thai - at a low level but improving. If I was from the States I would most likely go for Panama. They are certainly easier to deal with regarding visas etc. You can own property. Cost seems to be pretty similar to the cheaper parts of Thailand if you don't want to live in a swanky condo in Panama City.. I get the feeling that the health industry is better in Thailand but my pal, who has some pretty serious health issues is insured, so he flies back to the States for major surgery. When I visited Panama City the humidity and temperature was more like BKK. But I believe it is way cooler up the mountain area. Panama is full of USA retirees but actually some, indeed all the yanks I have met are really nice people - even the ones in CM!

Panama has better hats.

I tip mine too you for that one. Very witty!

The amount of monies is not that important - cash flow/stock turn and margin is. Find something that you can buy at a good value price that has a demand. Sell it at a profit. Re-invest the monies again ad infinitum. You will become rich. When you find the item that does this please let me know.

Seriously - this is the art of buying and selling. It is quite simple to do but requires skill to do it well.

A few from the last few days. Just goofing off in southern Thailand.

Most are from Ban Hua Hin, Thailand. Close to Satun, Thailand

Some from Phangnga, Thailand. Pararang caps.

Great pastime to keep busy with.

OK - quick guess on waders. Eurasian Curlew - the big bugger with a long beak. Wood Sandpiper, flecked wings and yellowlegs. Whimbrel - shortish downturned beak and white rump with barred tail coverts.

Actually, it is not needed to rate the nurses on looks.

As a kid I lived in Cyprus. The best kebabs were shish kebab - on skewers. Put in a pocket of bread with spring onion, lettuce and tomato. They squeezed lemon juice over the meat. Always cooked over a smoky charcoal fire. I never saw a donner kebab 'till I got to Australia. The Australian ones are rubbish.

I like SmugMug for this.

I like the Wasabi thing. I hadn't heard of that before. Any insect food infestation (or items such as books with silverfish for example) can be solved by placing the item in a bag and placing in the deep freezer. This is how I kill insects when I am working on botanical and insect specimens and is the method taught to me by our Museum and the Herbarium. I do this about every six months with the specimens as they are quickly infected by beetles and moth larva. It is also a method I use to kill insects in the Indian rice I prefer. It is always infested. Place in plastic container and place in freezer for at least twelve hours.

Road worthy..Pay the annual taxes and drive it until it falls apart

Yeah .. lol

You have ..

Option A - Change it when the ashtray becomes full at 10,000

or

Option B - Run it until the wheels drop off

I always change mine when the cup holder breaks.

2015-12-14 19-58-57 (A,Radius8,Smoothing4)-Edit by Spike Tennyson, on Flickr

Looks like a ladybird larva

Maybe they need to open debtors prisons again?

Not sure that would help as, certainly in Australia's case, everyone is in debt. Most of the debt is private with the greatest share traditionally being that of the banks - which during the Financial Crisis was guaranteed by the public purse. The Government (the people) are also in debt. But then again I guess Australia was set up as a prison for Europeans. Not sure that Americans are much better off. I hear they have a bit of debt as well. Didn't a fair number of Europe just have their debt written off? How are they any different to the person described in the OP?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-10/verrender-bank-bailouts-its-now-taxpayers-who-need-protection/5878418

Before people get too sympathetic with Oz banks. During the days they were allowed they gave anyone extraordinary credit that could never be repaid. They offered me a loan of 950k and the repayments of the interest alone was double my earnings. When I queried this they said it was not their problem. This was a result of commission sales contractors. After the collapse the Oz Gov had to guarantee deposit funds

with public monies. Yet they bleat about low earnings in spite of the fact they are the most profitable banks in the world. Charging 18-21% interest when they can borrow the monies for 4.5% or lower is a pretty hefty margin and in fact builds in these sorts of losses. If anyone thinks that if there were no bad debts the banks would lower their rates they are dreaming. The banks will go for as much as they can get. To say that this is legal is correct. But it doesn't get my sympathy any more than high flyers that avoid taxes do.

Also, before people get too high and mighty about ethics. If you have a life threatening or extreme event and no monies but a line of credit would you not use it? Or how about you have no monies but your wife or child got sick, would you not use the credit available? I think this is human nature. And surely better than those that rack up credit on a lavish life style with no intention of paying it back and even worse procure goods and services from small businesses then declare bankrupt and open up again weeks later under a family members name.

I don't know the individual concerned or the circumstances other than the rather sketchy information provided. I sure would not feel I should condemn the person without a fuller understanding of the situation.

"There but for the grace of God....".

I hear they are going to freeze the moat - great for skating but a bit harsh at Song khran.

I need to state I am not an expert or qualified as an advisor in any way but here are a few thoughts that are not covered so far:

If he just not able to pay he may be better off to declare bankruptcy. However, he would then need to get permission he could offer to pay off the debt at a written down amount. An offer could be pretty small but it would keep him solvent.

If he declares bankrupt he would need to obtain permission to leave Australia should he return.

His Australian pension most certainly could not be touched. However, if he has assets of any kind other than superannuation these could be. Super is protected to some extent provided he has not stripped the fund prior to filing for bankruptcy. A self managed fund could be difficult depending how it was set up. I mention this as many Australians are getting a pension from the government which is adjusted to take into account super funds. So he may have 80% from the government and 20% from the super fund for instance.

Check to see which department is actually paying the pension - it could for instance be Veterans Affairs. In any event all pension paying departments have financial advisors who can be contacted. There is also Citizens Advise that may be worth a try. Obviously the best would be a big legal firm but clearly this would not be a financial option.

As mentioned - harassment over unpaid debts carries very heavy fines in Australia and does not happen - at least through these sort of debts.

American bankruptcy laws can be quite different to Australia.

You may well register at an address and give the illusion you are residing in UK but they do have integrated data base that will tell them exactly how long you are in UK. Could be a problem.

I have been the official photographer for several AUDAX events. These guys do 1250k in 72 hrs and less. They do regular day rides of over 300k as warm ups with qualifying 500k rides being regular. I have to say that in OZ there are times I get concerned as traffic can be fast and quite aggressive. The roads in the North and North East of Thailand seem far quieter and safer than those in OZ. However, cycling on the main roads around BKK - no way. It is unfortunate that anyone lose their life doing something as innocuous as cycling.

Waiting ......

Just an outstanding piece of work. This picture really gets to me for its technical qualities but also it subject matter and the stories I can conceive thinking of the life this man may have led. Thanks.

Why does he remind me of Mr Miyagi of the Karate Kid?

DSC_8803.jpg

Because it is!

Like your work by the way.