Hoppy1

WHAT A DEPRESSING SUBJECT!!

I am from San Diego, the first thing I do when I land is find a Albertos Mexican joint and get a Carne Asada Burrito. There is no mexican food in Thailand unless you make it yourself. Taco Bell does not qualify as mexcian food, you don't find ground beef in mexican food. You want the best mexican food in Thailand? do like one of the contributers said and dream about it. Or do what I do and make it yourself, it may not be great but it wont be worse.

Thanks for letting me vent about my one true food passion.

Songklha is a great place, small town, great people. I have been there nearly a year, other than an occasional M80 in a trash can I have seen only good times. But I didn't see us on the chart of a good place. That is probably because we have to many schools, several exclusive hospitals, and no one getting paid to vote.

Now of course the Prime Minister is from the Chiang Mai, and there are a lot of PPP up there. No it couldn't be political.

Going to the Beach!

The wife is stuck in Pak Chong for 2 hrs now. Hiway 2 between Pak Chong and Saraburi is closed and flooded.

Has it never occured to anyone , that had the government dug all those irrigation ditches they have been so prolific talking about , they could also be used to divert the flood waters to humungous inground resevoirs . When the dry season comes , the water (zillions of litres) could be pumped back to provide sustanence for the shriveling up crops that we often hear farmers need compensation for . Talk is cheap . The local populace , of course , that suffer the consequences of drastic flooding , would never see the monetary and living gains from this , not worth the effort of all that digging . Just open your hand and show the money you are prepared to offer for their services to improve THEIR lives and the queue (line-up) will be many kilometers long .

I have been there and done that , where are all the souls that constantly proffess to love Thailand so much and yet do so little that is of actual consequence ? The time spent on TV by the self expressed filthy rich and highly intelectuals that do little to help the country come out of the cess pit it is , just do as Don Quixote and flail at windmills of little to no consequence , get off your derriers and PROVE a point to the Thai in general , do something POSITIVE for a change that will actualy IMPROVE this country for the impoverished that you proclaim the government wants to keep the impoverished , they would likely be clamouring for easement on visas and retirement etc .

The gauntlet is down , who will stand up like the man he proffesses to be and accept a worthwhile challenge ?

DAAANNNGG!!

Down south they have done a great job with the ditches, they are about 2.5 Meters deep and seem to fill up each time it rains. By down south I mean Hat Yai, Songkhla area. If the ditches were not in I would be stranded several times a week right now. I am not sure that it effects the local populace here, they tend to like not having to work. However you are right the filthy rich are not going to do anything to help this country, they don't in any country. It is always the middle classes that make effective changes in a country.

Any unlocked, Nokia tri-band phone will work anywhere except, maybe, the USA.

The tri bands will work in the US as well but there is only two company's that have sim cards in the states T-Mobile and Cingular (On the west coast anyway) I am pretty sure it is the same out East.

East or West, face is the same, in my experience. Only the individuals are different. Feelings are the same.

It's not the feelings it's the reactions. Everyones feelings get hurt but these guys will through their whole livelyhood away if they loose face. Not having them loose face is probably to number one concern I have everyday. You can loose all your staff at one time if you cause the wrong one to loose face. it is like raising small children. I love the people, as long as they are not working for me. It takes months to get a job done that would take days just about anywhere else. You can watch them shut down the minute you get negative, and then you've lost them. Try denying them a day off. I was going to terminate a young man that just wouldn't do his simple duties. He pleaded for me to let him resign, so he didn't have to loose face when he left. They are full of a false pride