Utley

"The highest number of foreign visitors is from China, followed by Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, Vietnam and Indonesia."

Except for Japan, these are all tourists from countries that have little disposable income to spend while on holiday. Not something to brag about.

The rice plant also has the unique ability to absorb arsenic the herbicide and deposit it into the rice grain as arsenic the poison. The U.S. FDA found trace amounts of arsenic in baby food and finally traced it back to rice grown in countries that used arsenic as a herbicide - such as Thailand.

I didn't know Bangkok Bank was so behind the times.I was going to use them for my social security payments,but I don't think so now.

I checked yesterday while in Bangkok; the New York branch of Bangkok Bank can be used to accept direct deposits from the U.S. Treasury but nothing else - and I mean that literally. If you wish to use Bangkok Bank for all your banking in Thailand then you will need two accounts; one with your local branch and one with their N.Y. branch. When your monthly benefit payment arrives in your N.Y. branch account you will have to withdraw those funds physically at your local Bangkok Bank branch and then deposit the funds while still at the window into your local Bangkok Bank account; and they will charge you a foreign exchange transfer fee. Or of course you could go to another bank to deposit your funds.

You can have your funds deposited into your U.S. bank account and use your U.S. bank debit card to perform a "bank to bank" transfer - which is free - obtaining the cash at the teller window of your local Thai bank. Then deposit the funds into your local Thai bank account while still at the window (K Bank for instance). Just be aware that not all Thai banks are equipped and/or have the staff knowledge to perform a bank to bank transfer. I use Bangkok Bank for that purpose; I would assume that a large branch of K Bank could do the same.

I asked the Thai customer service person at Bangkok Bank why I should use the Bangkok Bank N.Y. branch to obtain funds and subject myself to an exchange fee when a bank to bank transfer using my U.S. debit card is free. She of course did not have or just would not answer the question.

FYI - a bank to bank transfer using your U.S. debit card requires the card, your passport and the amount of cash you desire (within your withdrawal limits of course).

"The company that operated the plant closed it in 1988 but took insufficient steps to avoid pollution, installing a simple check dam made of rocks to keep lead-tainted sediment flowing to the 12-kilometre-long creek, and dredging only a portion of the sediment for underground storage."

Just because the company ceased operations doesn't mean you can't go after the owners. Does anyone in Thailand know anything about investigative journalism or are they just too pragmatic to step on big toes?

Concessions is code for "monopoly".

Nava Language School near Fairyland: 056-220590-1

Go to Fairyland, turn left, go approx. 1/2 mile - there will be a "plaza" on the left with stores on either side of a two lane wide parking area. The language school is mid-way down on the right with green lettering in their window.

Burning the rice fields kills the insects; its either that or use a massive amount of insecticides every year.

If you want to go the refillable ink tank route rather than use expensive ink cartridges, DO NOT purchase an HP inkjet printer. They have a little microchip in the ink cartridge that will not allow you to refill it or replace it with an ink tank. And to make matters worse, the cartridges will need to be replaced every 3 months whether you use the printer or not as the ink dries out.

There are tons of older retired expats living all over Thailand that are bored to death and IF IF it were easier to do I think many of them would be happy to volunteer to teach a day or two a week. The first thing though is for the schools to be able to provide x number of work permits for these people. The idea that you need a work permit to volunteer to help out a bunch of kids for NO PAY is not helping. Many if not most of the public schools in rural areas can NOT afford to hire a native english speaker so they have NONE.

If you truly want to help some thai kids learn english why not stop by a local public high school and ask to talk to the head of the English dept and see if they might be able to pull some strings to help you volunteer without any work permit hassles. ...you might be pleasantly surprised. Do not expect them to PAY you as they have very little money. In fact over time you will likely find that YOU will subsidize the kids a bit by buying supplies etc with YOUR money.

An expat in Thailand on a retirement visa is not eligible for a work permit; and doing volunteer work without a work permit, even for free, will eventually get you in trouble with Thai Immigration.

There are many retired English speaking expats here in Thailand who would gladly teach conversational English at their local school on a volunteer basis..........oh, that's right - farangs with retirement visas can't get work permits and you can't do volunteer work in Thailand without one. My bad.

One would think that the pumps would have been checked and debris cleared. When does this become criminal negligence?

About two weeks ago!

I use Ipstar marketed by TOT. The system is agonizingly slow during the day but reasonable at night. However it doesn't seem as bad as your experience. Have you tried Ipstar via TOT? The cost is 2,782 BT per month flat fee.

I am a U.S. citizen residingfull time in the central Thai province of Chai Nat. I have been contacted byassociates in the U.S. about the possibility of silk screening a design (gameboard – art work to be provided) onto a fitted bed sheet for export to the U.S.

A full set ofsheets would consist of 1 fitted sheet (with silk screen printing), a flatsheet and two pillow cases.

Approximately 30-50 samples will berequired initially and then a quote for 1000, 5000, and 10,000sets to start. Multiple sizes are required i.e. king and queen. The fitted sheet will have the printed design;the pillow cases and the flat sheet are to be plain white. Thread count should be in the 200+ range. What is really important is that thecolors not bleed when washed in hot water and the dyebe non-allergenic.

Can anyone assist me in finding a Thai vendor who can manufacture such a product? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated; please PM me with a response.

There are several restaurant boats on the river (west of the bridge) that should be able to accommodate you.

A friend recently told me that you could avoid the 150 THB surcharge the Thai banks charge to use a foreign debit card at an ATM machine by going into the bank itself and asking the teller to perform the transaction.

Can anyone comment as to the credibility of this statement?

In addition to the Thai Government plan for which I qualify as I have obtained a Ta Bian Ban (yellow book), I carry two private health plans:

1. The VIP policy from the Thai Life Insurance Company; it is a basic plan with low deductables and low maximum limits that combines the most common forms of health/accident insurance with a life insurance policy. Cost – approximately $800 U.S. per year.

2. A major medical policy from Pacific Cross that has a high deductable but also high maximum limits to cover anything that my first policy does not. Cost – approximately $1,500 U.S. per year.

3. I use the Thai Government plan to obtain free prescriptions filled at Thai Government hospitals. I wouldn't touch the doctors at most government hospitals with a 10 foot pole. They are basically medics who fix cuts, sprains and broken bones. There are of course exceptions.

Hope this helps.

In addition to the Thai Government plan for which I qualify as I have obtained a Ta Bian Ban (yellow book), I carry two private health plans:

1. The VIP policy from the Thai Life Insurance Company; it is a basic plan with low maximum limits that combines the most common forms of health/accident insurance with a life insurance policy. Cost – approximately $800 U.S. per year.

2. A major medical policy from Pacific Cross that has a high deductable but also high maximum limits to cover anything that my first policy does not. Cost – approximately $1,500 U.S. per year.

3. I use the Thai Government plan to obtain inexpensive prescriptions filled at Thai Government hospitals. I wouldn't touch the doctors at most government hospitals with a 10 foot pole. They are basically medics who fix cuts, sprains and broken bones. There are of course exceptions.

Hope this helps.

Of all countries that need a spanking, the world ignores these idiots, hopefully the soon to be in charge son will redirect the goals of the military.

I wouldn't hold my breath. My guess is that the military will control the son, not the other way around.

I cant speak for other countries, but healthcare in USA is atrocious, they wheel you out of the hospital as soon as you are conscious, because the hospital bed costs so much...or at least they can bill the insurance company for so much per day. And don't try to go to the emergency room, there is usually a 12 hour wait, because all the people without insurance use the emergency room as their primary physician. And you may be able to get an appointment with a GP or specialist in a week or less, but 1/2 the time, you end up seeing the PA (physician's assistant) instead of the actual doctor. This is especially true of specialists, despite the fact that you pay more and need a referral from your GP to see them in the first place. If you are lucky enough to actually talk to a real life MD, you will be lucky to see them for a whole minute, before they shoot off some script that may or may not work. And if it doesn't work, you get to come back, pay more copays, buy more drugs that might work, and wait. After going through this routine 3-4 times, paying for every visit, they might actually give you a referral to a specialist who actually knows what they are doing, but they will charge you just for the referral. But that is what happens when health care becomes a for-profit industry tainted by capitalism.

No - that is what happens when you don't stand up for yourself and you allow other people to take advantage of you; capitalism has nothing to do with it.

In 2008 alone, nearly 70,000 teenage girls (69,387) had children

That's FAR below the USA rate per capita

• U.S. black teenage (15 - 19 years old) pregancy rate in 2006 was 12.6%.

• U.S. Nonhispanic Caucasian teenage (15 - 19 years old) pregnancy rate in 2006 was 4.4%.

• U.S. Hispanic teenage (15 - 19 years old) pregnancy rate in 2006 was 12.6%.

• Thai teenage (no age detail) pregnancy rate in 2006 was 6.0%.

Per Wikipedia

"To prevent disease outbreaks, Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit instructed people in flood-affected areas to make mobile toilets from cardboard boxes and black garbage bags."

And people in the flood areas are supposed to get the cardboard boxes and black garbage bags from...................where?

Move the capital to another location-seriously!

They did; in 1767 the capital was moved from Ayutthaya to Thonburi then in 1782 it was moved again to its current location.

I am supposed to be travelling to Sing Buri, Nakhon Sawan and Saraburi this weekend. Now a bad idea??

Planning to spend the long weekend in Nakhon Sawan also, Are there some members who know the current situation in the city

The wife and I live about 45 km south of Nakhon Sawan in the province of Chai Nat; we are high and dry. We went to church on Sunday two days ago and there was much standing water in the town of Takhli about 15 km southeast of us (the air force base there was under water).

I know that the Jiraprawat Golf Course on the south side of Nakhon Sawan is closed due to the rains but I haven't heard of any flooding in the town itself.

Hope that helps a little.

The police will get into trouble doing this. The Yellow are purely doing it for the country and nation.

How sad!