WinnieTheKhwai

Chances are you're looking at going to a jewellery shop, as gold shops here tend to sell 'real' gold (23K / 96.5%). 14K gold however is found in jewellery stores as you can't set stones in the soft stuff.

It is true. Obama has been challenged and he has shown real Profiles in Courage. Many had written him off as too diplomatic, but now he has emerged as a strong leader. His base has been reinspired, I predict two terms.

Hear hear..! Though, like the man said himself: I would prefer a REALLY good one term over two mediocre ones!

What Americans appreciate more than anything else is have their president be 'a winner'.. He's shown that beyond all doubt now.

As for expats, a lot of the complainers in the USA didn't get much further than that it's a complicated bill. Well guess what, BECAUSE it needs to word things out for specific groups (such as us expats here) the text obviously gets longer.

Unfortunately though, Smarts aren't made in Thailand so if you do want one through gray import, you're looking at well over a milltion baht, possibly two.

On the March, so far I only saw the base model with the foamy seats.. Will withhold judgment until I see a version with adult people seats.

I was impressed by the space inside, it's very roomy, more so even than the larger Tiida.

And I like the mileage figures. Auto cut off is interesting too; I live in Chiang Mai so I'm not using aircon for a big part of the year anyway, and traffic light waits are brief so when hyper-miling a bit it'd be easy to switch off the aircon while running out before a traffic light, engine stopped. Reasonably cool air will be blowing for another minute or so just using the fan.

0.00 / month since you normally don't need formula or nappies, breastmilk is free and healthier and nappies can be avoided or some cloth diapers can be used when needed.

Apology if this is not the answer you need, I acknowledge that you posted a serious quesion and there were already good, specific and helpful answers.

I just want to make sure that some readers of this thread are made aware that neither formula nor diapers are necessary because in todays world I have met some people who decided they could not have children because they could not afford formula and nappies, they were not even aware these things are not needed and I found this scary.

Have you actually tried cloth diapers? We did. Didn't last a day. Cloth diapers are prehistoric, humanity has moved on.

We gave our son

Thai first name

English middle name and surname

Have not got a British birth certificate yet as its too expensive....

... Right. Come to think of it though, I don't think I have a European birth cirtificate for my daughter, but she does however have passport. That's expensive too, because it requires translation of the birth certificate, and additional paperwork when you're not legally married to the mother. It was even worse at the time because the law then required to recognize the child before birth, otherwise they wouldn't issue nationality or passport. So it required two trips to Bangkok (three, because they weren't forthcoming with examples of the documents so we messed up once by only having two witnesses listed on a document instead of three. Basterds.

Surely the person who chooses to have the child should be the one who has to pay for it?

Nobody is forcing these ladies to conceive or give birth!

Contraception is free, a five-year implant is no bother at all.

If it is FREE the lady was not informed of this. Where is it free.

Condoms are free. Have been free for over a decade. Any government health station will issue you a couple boxes full if you just ask.

They're not the most refined examples of ultra-thin engineering, but they do however work.

Yes, even in the worst year in recent history, everything was back to normal early April. You can check the PCD site, detailed information by date is available.

To be honest, I think we're done for this year. I'm giving it a few more days and then I was planning a summary post; working title: "Where are the air drama queens now? " (Though the post will be far less confrontational than the title; got to get the readers in after all in what will be topic #13 on the same old crap we discuss every March.)

What an excellent post Midas, thank you for taking the time to post!

Rim Ping has some reasonable ones. What's the one with the blue label? CFP or something; good and fairly affordable. And then there's the TGM brand of course.

http://www.tannetwork.tv/tan/ViewData.aspx?DataID=1026702

M79 Attack in Chiang Mai

UPDATE : 23 March 2010

Reports suggest another M79 grenade attack on a police depot outside a Robinson Department Store near the Chiang Mai Airport. The grenade did not go off. No injuries reported.

--------------

I guess that makes it unlikely that anyone noticed anything? Still, doesn't hurt to ask.

> Assuming the father is not locatable in Holland, will this baby ever have any legal right to apply for any form of Dutch citizenship ?

Not unless he can be tracked down, DNA tests performed, etc. Would be hard to even pin-point the father.. if she did it once it's not unlikely she did it more often. My guess is that if it was feasibly to track him down she would have done so already. Babies don't appear overnight. Is she Thai by the way (ID card, etc.)?

Meanwhile, we are happy to report, this super-baby is getting taken of by a very loving Thai extended family, and, while we see him rarely, remains a happy ever-curious prodigy. The son of the sister of the baby's mother, who's about seven, and a hyper-kinetic ball of moving energy, seems to be very protective of the baby and to really enjoying playing with him.

And that is really the most encouraging thing I read so far today!!

Uh, 40K is the new bid. Negotiation time!

Most thais don't use their given first name & use a nickname anyway so for me it was better for him to have a thai legal name in case of issues later in life, in UK you can use anyname you wish without it becoming an issue but often I have found beaurocrats (sp!) in thailand are still disturbed & occasionally predudiced against, non thai names on thai-farang children.

That is purely my own observation but something I would prefer my son not to have to deal with later on in life.

Good point, though I think it applies both ways.. When, say, applying for a job in the West there may be an advantage in a fully home-grown familiar name.

Either way in your case your kids have a Thai last name. With a Western last name none of this matters much because the kid is stuck with the western name (most likely, though you could I suppose give the mothers name. That's not something I would want to do though)

Regardless we found a name that sounds both Thai AND Western by being a little creative with the transliteration. That was for a girl however which is easier. For a boy it's much harder to find something that's nice and sounds both Thai and Western. (Feel free to pitch suggestions. So far I did not get further than Shannon / Chanon and that's iffy if it's even a boy's name.

You can save significant money by getting them out of nappies early.. And the need for formula may be limited too, that's what mum is for. And you can start with (somewhat) solid food pretty early too.

It's a fairly recent Western practice to keep kids in diapers and on bottles for years! I only realized when talking to other Thai mothers who told me their kids were out of diapers. So you're starting super thin rice porridge by month 4-5, and the kid's potty trained around month 18. Note that you can't force that however as at the very least the related muscles need to develop, and that typically doesn't happen before his/her first birthday.

I agree it's interesting. Starting price is 375,000 for something not much smaller (if any) than a Toyota Yaris. I'm quite tall but could sit in the March comfortably with enough space on all sides; more comfortably even than in the slightly larger Tiida.

Part of the reason that it's cheap is the government support for small eco cars, adn the small (but very efficient) 1.2 liter engine. However they also seem to have cut significant corners from the looks of it. Now, I only saw the base cheapo model but on that one the seats, if you can call them that, are really quite ridiculous. Super soft, thin and foamy. The interior panels look reasonably solid though. The sales guy told me that the higher priced models (450 or so) do have normal seats. Haven't checked that myself.

Another thing.. I closed the hood/bonnet.. It didn't quite close completely from dropping it down, so I then gently but firmly pressed down with two fists to push it shut.. This action actually dented it slightly!! (Visible under some angles from the light reflecting on the slight indentation I made...) So the metal bits do seem pretty flimsy, and that'd apply to all models.

Verdict... if you're looking for a city car and can afford an additional 150K then you probably get significantly more car with a Honda Jazz.

Pattaya is good for 1 thing beach road 500baht,need I say more?

I have lived in Pattaya for 18 years - and I did not know that the 'going rate' on Beach Rd. was Bt. 500.-: makes me wonder; how come you, who's knocking Pattaya, do know this ? ?

How do you even know what he's talking about? I'd readily agree that 500 baht is a bit pricey for a fish spa but I guess that's what you get in a holiday resort town.

here we go again - pattaya expats claiming the city is a cosmopolitan, clean-cut metropolis, perfect for families, with not even a hint of vice.

It isn't? Can't comment on living there, but for a family holiday it's indeed pretty perfect.

Yes, it's really all about greed.

I well remember 2001 when Thaksins' affilliates won many Seats even in Bangkok, many times I heard educated Bangkokians say they voted for him "because he is already so rich, he has no need to be as corrupt as the alternatives".

This was soon proved decisively wrong and Thaksin never again received such a share of the Vote from Bangkok constituencies.

Um, the first part is not disputed, that he had a big following in urban middle class areas as well in 2001, with the economy still in the state it was in.

However you make it sound like alleged corruption played any significant part in the middle classes becoming dis-enamoured (is that a word). The main cause for that was Thaksin betting on the rural poor to give him sustained support. That worked very well, until the military put a stop to it.

Every color can be related to certain group of people.

In this case say "no, no English" and answer in a foreign language only. If you can't do that, try to act deaf-dumb. If you can't do that, pretend to speak a foreign language by speaking English back wards or put a "b" after every vowel and repeat the vowel, e.g. Ibi abam frobom Lobondobon, if you can't to that just say something not related and disappear.

Wow.

You go through a lot of trouble to not have to speak to the people in who's country you live.

If your crumbling support-base is quite tiny to begin with, sending them out on motorbikes in Bkk isn't going to help matters.

Its a waste of fossil fuels too, in my opinion.

That's a bit rich, complaining to people who don't have that much money to be wasting fossil fuels.. Tell that to the average Bangkokian about his lifestyle!

come on u reds !

seriously if i was PM i would just release buffalow into the crowd.

But who would then take over as Deputy Prime minister in charge of security affairs??

Also it would be very interesting if they put sensors right on roadways like they do in western countries and let's measure what people are really being exposed to.

That's exactly what the Upparaj College station is. The Chiang Mai station is at the provincial hall, so that'd be similar to any gated residential development out of town. And then Chiangmai station tends to be on the mountain. I'd say we're blessed with pretty good coverage of different parts of the local landscape.

where is that Upparaj college location? any landmarks?

It's a misspelling of Yupparat College, the main Mathayom college in the old town. It's not super high traffic, but still very much downtown.

Talk about class war, did any of you see that fabulous Antoinette moment last week - Wednesday or Thursday - when Thaksin was giving his speech and told his followers that all TV channels, 3,7, 5, etc., were biased. And that if they didn't have the people's red TV they should, "stream it onto their blackberrys"! Classic. I don't remember exactly which day it was but had to wonder at his total doolaley comment.

Why is that a strange comment? He needs to point out alternatives in getting the news, when the commonly available sources are either biased or banned. Facebook and Twitter would also be excellent sources.

Or so you perhaps also buy into the mindset that only barefoot rice farmers support him who barely have electricity in their bamboo shacks, much less blackberries?

Also it would be very interesting if they put sensors right on roadways like they do in western countries and let's measure what people are really being exposed to.

That's exactly what the Upparaj College station is. The Chiang Mai station is at the provincial hall, so that'd be similar to any gated residential development out of town. And then Chiangmai station tends to be on the mountain. I'd say we're blessed with pretty good coverage of different parts of the local landscape.

That's interesting. Last time I was there a few months ago they had discontinued the option of charging USD or THB and demanded that everyone pay 500 THB.

They always want 500bht, but what you do is empty your wallet of baht before you go to any border office and only have dollars in it.

Then you play dumb and offer a $10 note, only speak English, wave the $10 around. Eventually they take it (while muttering insults in Thai)

Classy experience. But hey, if it saves 150 baht and you get Burmese immigration guys muttering Thai language then it may well be worth it.

A question!

How many times can you leave Mae Sai and walk into Tachilek in say one week. Can you walk across on consecutive days for example.

I have a multiple entry visa and don't need to do 90 day visa runs.

No limit. You could go multiple times per day until you run out of pages in your passport for all the stamps. This is assuming you have a multiple re-entry permit or true multiple entry visa (not limited to x entries).

How did he get away from motorcycle cops in a car in Bangkok?

I don't care how fast your car is and how slow the motorcycles, there is traffic, then traffic lights, then they could radio in to the cops at each junction to look for his car.

I'm not asking in case I have to do it myself in the future. I'm genuinely puzzled

Doesn't seem possible

He was driving a new Civic. Those pissy little Thai bikes had no chance once he got out of their sight, turned a few corners.

Unlikely to the extreme. Possibly however the Thai cops knew they had his license so they can find him again easily enough.

But erm.. let me get this straight: after being drunk enough to run over someone, he then speeds off, still drunk, at the highest possible speed? Was he trying to kill even more people? And, amidst all this you find time to complain about pissy little Thai bikes? Something is wrong here.