WinnieTheKhwai

I just decided to become a fan! Thanks!

I usually root for the most pitiful outfit in the league, but last season Sunderland at times went through far too decent spells to qualify. So this season, Burnley it is!

Look at the time of his post.. Another late night post fuelled by something or another.

Those things people grow from seed. Kham Thiang has shops selling those seeds. Or you could go with more reputable seed vendors like AFM and others. Or ask around in the villages.

Then if it's more perennial stuff then there are government organizations providing seedlings for fruit producing trees.

Yes, that stuff they have a lot in Bo Sang. I was there today, taking a guest shopping. Don't take the obvious tourist traps, but there are many regular small shops where prices are very reasonable; you do need to ask for a discount but if you don't look like a total tourist you'll readily get a wholesale price or something very close to it, depending on how much you buy.

It is what it is though, I'd say the same about Ban Tawai and you already indicated you don't appreciate that place. And it's very much the mass produced junk, but at reasonable prices compared to the ridiculous farce that is the Night Bazar.

For more original, creative stuff, the Sunday Walking Street is best. But sometimes you just need a bunch of silk cushions, quilts, napkins, tablecloths, or some wooden lamps or whatever crap people put in their houses, on their floors, beds, tables or walls, and then Bo Sang is a good bet.

Most of my meals we cook at home so we use good oil, not too much salt and no sugar. Most vegetables come from the Doi Kham store so are pesticide controlled. I do use a bit of MSG (Ros Dee seasoning) because there's nothing wrong with it.

Food from markets, street stalls and restaurants of course doesn't meet those standards, but a for a couple meals a week I'm not that bothered.

It's easy to forget sometimes but there ARE many things that show Thailand isn't a First World kind of place, and this is one of them. ('Safety' in general is another. Accountability another. 'Standards' of any type and kind. And so on. Note that Im not complaining, you get a whole lot of good with the bad, and I made my choice. )

For a one year old car I'd stick with a place like VN. For old clunkers, like mine, I'd use a cheapo shop down a soi.

Good news; go Reds!

It's too much food for two, because they usually do two dishes with the duck meat. So I'd say three at a minimum, four or five would be better. (So you can order something non-duck as well)

Post some of those please!!

you run the risk of looking like a hippie or a surfer!

...which would be preferable to driving a Fortuner and look like an aging sexpat you mean?

> mid-upper range hotel at about 2k/ night.

It was mid-upper range when it opened 15 or so years ago, but nothing has been done to it since, and I'd struggle to even call it mid-range. You should be able to get it under 1000 baht on the hotel booking sites.

Can I just add that there are polite and less polite ways to make it known that you're issuing a 1000 baht note.. Sometimes I see people wave a 1000 baht bill in waitress' face yelling somewhat threatenlingly "1000 baht na!" However it's equally (or perhaps more) effective to apologize for being out of small change, and ask if they have change for a 1000.

THAT is a HOTEL? It looks more like a medium size guest house to me.

Keep in mind that the entire Suriwong Plaza building is behind it. So while the front to the main road is mid sized, the actual building is definitely huge. (Don't know if they actually used the lot of it of course)

Secondly, size does not a hotel make.

Others have already given a good explanation of the term "Soft opening".

Yes. And in addition to that, it's when you want to go open for business, but your favorite monk or fortune teller told you that the 'auspicious' day to open is actually somewhere in March 2010. So then whenever that day is, you have the big opening gig, even though you've been open for months.

is it possible for a child to have dual nationality, ie uk/thai, or is it a case of having to choose between one or another at 18, ta

My experience with my kids - don't tell them.

Hear hear, I always try to hide as much from my kids as possible. No need to be telling them about stuff like nationality.

Be interesting to see ping pong balls replaced with boarding passes or other Airline related items.

It helps if you're not doing anything (ANYTHING at all) illegal. For a computer/internet shop what are the odds that it's all legal software and that nobody, EVER, browses to a porn site.. Many seemingly legitimate businesses still break some law (incl. safety/fire regulations, environmental laws, etc, etc), and that opens them up to requests for money to make these issues go away. More often than not the fee to do this is much lower (not to mention easier) than being completely legal, and the resulting mess is what you see around you.

It does mean that occasionally a couple hundred customers die in a fire because people were happier to exchange a couple baht rather than do the right thing but hey, it wouldn't be Thailand otherwise, it'd be Sweden and we wouldn't want to be living in Sweden now would we.

What happens equally often is drunk Farang guys forgetting about particular drinks or indeed the money they paid with. And the remedy suggested by Jingthing is the same: in many places that are less basket-case-establishment also the waitress will confirm the amount handed to her.

Personally in bars that I frequent a lot I don't have the slightest concern, and franly I trust the waitresses more than my own memory after a few too many drinks. But if I do go to potentially bad places then I make sure I have change, or indeed confirm the amount I just handed over.

Perhaps all your Thai friends are the rich Thai's you despise so much? You certainly haven't a clue about the average Thais who drink somehwere like Mandalay on a Friday night. Most of them live four or five up in a small room with no air con where they are still behind with the rent

Those aren't cheap charlies' they are just poor folk trying to survive.

Now I'm confused. A hefty cover charge keeps out the Farang riff raff who can't/won't spend money, but in case of Thai people it's a good thing to get the paupers in? How does that work? Or do you mean to say that they go there as part of their, um, 'night job' and it's part of the Mandagay business model?

Edit: I thought I was ridiculing you there, but reading it back it actually sounds rather plausible. I hate it when that happens.

Blessed are we to be able to enjoy another Songkran Yay or Nay debate in July.

It's probably under warranty.

There is a service center in Bangkok. Call them and ask how to proceed:

http://support.asus.com/contact/contact_ri...SLanguage=en-us

What I don't get is "what has he done?"

They want him to call elections. He doesn't have to do this under the constitution, but it's a valid request and I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to be heard.

( Personal opinion: It's not so much 'what has he done' but rather 'what has he not done'. )

That could justify these actions by the reds?

Happens in every vibrant democracy. (And apparently in Thailand too. )

That is what makes their actions illegitimate!

The same constitution that allows Abhisit to cling to power by buying the support of enough factions/parties in parliament, allows the People of Thailand to voice their opinion freely. Maybe your issue is with the constitution.

Who could take these Riff-Raffs serious?

Why wouldn't you?

Edit: 'elected' should be 'ejected'.. Can't edit from my phone apparently.

... And got ejected from office by 'the powers that be' for being on that tv cooking show! When you're up against that i think it's unlikely to get anything done as the real power lies elsewhere. Wonder what Abhisit's excuse is, seeing he's everyone's favorite front-man and should actually be able to get at least something from whoever is holding his strings..

Moral arguments aside, I think he's been the most ineffective PM pretty much since Chuan. And that's saying something.

Even without the underlying dispute of yellow vs red, I would think that some constructive criticism would be in order.

not sure about that, I thought the old ginger Surayud is right up there

Right, I forgot about him. But he became the front-man after a military coup so he wasn't elected in any way, I guess that's why I didn't count him. Fair call though.

Apparently you missed the part saying that it's mostly Thai people there, most of which have been here a lot longer than 20 years?