Razzler1973

Cheers, chaps.

I assume you had U$ or Sterling and just obtained U$ or Sterling cheques? I don't want to get mullered on the exchange rates neccessarily

Yesterday I went to Tommys Bistro again. I ordered a Currywurst with chips and mixed salad, I thought I stayed in Berlin... Never eat such a great Currywurst in Thailand and the best, they charge only 140 Bt...

They showed also youtube videos on the big screen tv, it was a very nice atmosphere in the restaurant.

sounds good, am staiyng in Ban Chang next month for a few days

Where are you staying, any decent hotel recommendations?

Had the uncomfortable discussion with wife in advance. It was hard, she agreed, but I could see it was a real gutt punch for her. I would feel the same way if I honestly loved someone and suddenly the cold legal "condom" was applied. It was difficult. For both of us.

Felt like a complete heel during the process at SunBelt. I felt bad for her as, at first, she had no assets listed on "her" paper. To make it feel better and avoid further embarrassment, I prompted her with "What about this, that?, etc". so listed the truck, the house, her BK Bank accts, etc. Not that I could or would go after any of it, but felt her perk up and feel a bit more a part of what was obvoiusly a one-sided affair.

I don't envy you that conversation.

You can imagine a girl thinking she's getting some security for her future and a partner and then getting hit with a pre-nup ... not easy but neccessary

That's cool.

From reading the thread from the start and now you're married. Wow, pleased for you and hope it all works out well

I am sure 3 more Irish bars will open around the corner

Odd question but in the Middle East you can't get travelers cheques now so was wondering if anyone has got them actually in Thailand before?

I am gonna guess 'no, why would we' but it's just odd Middle East anywhere they don't supply them (something to do with fraud). It's most impractical and American Express office is miles away in BKK IIRC so wondering if anyone would be aware if money changers provide them at all?

I love Singha but also partial to the odd Leo. I prefer them both over Chang but I may dabble in those big cans of Chang Classic (or whatever they are called).

I swear hippies love Chang so much cause it's the cheapest though as it really doesn't do much for me compared to Singha but of course, I can drink it.

That 'Thai Beer' is vile. It's like a bottle of chemicals.

Fitness First in other countries always seem to be over priced and geared towards people that feel they should go to the gym, pay for it and don't use it!

Whatever you do do not pay any 'joining fee' or 'membership' fee. They always try to sting people for this and it's about a 1/4 of the total price most of the time. Then they magically 'waive' it to close the deal.

Ok, put that aside. Let's negotiate after you binned that as there's no way I am paying a fee just for the priviledge of being allowed to give them money to go there!

I'd negotiate hard. Maybe call a few branches, check prices. Go in person to another and haggle a little more until you arrive a sensible middle ground price

It starts with the 7/11s ... then the fast food ... now this

There's a place coming from White Sand to ChaiChet on that road but before you hit ChaiChet. Past that random 2/3 beer bars by the side of the road and kind of diagonally opposite a gas station IIRC that is nice. Just do good, cheap Thai food. Have a Thai menu outside which is pretty varied actually. Nothing special to sit in, the old stone bench seats but nice to take food back to your balcony with a beer

The Offshore being that place with the Fish & Chip shop attached in Soi 23?

Yeah thats it.

Smokie knows all the classy joints, personally I think its a dive, and think even less of the chippie.

Its only redeeming qualities are the seats and proximity to Soi Cowboy. Oh and the beer was cold. Not that bad really.....on my only visit there was one other customer....but Jimbo wasn't for introducing himself I think.

My Old Dutch is closer to Soi Cowboy and more of a decent pub imo

Completely agree. I came on here at half time to see people talking about dragging half our team off, including Rooney, so disgusted were they with how we played. I thought to myself, i hope there are some calmer and clearer minds in the dressing room! I couldn't see the need to panic. Yes we didn't play that well, but Ukraine had huffed and puffed a lot without creating anything clear cut, and the score was set up well for us. Job done so far i thought.

Perhaps people do what they often accuse the England team of - of being complacent, of thinking we have a divine right to go out there and whip the opposition. Yes Ukraine might not be right up there, but it's a competitive international game - there are no easy ones. Dazzling play is a luxury we can't afford. Result is all that matters. That's all we should care about. The history books will show, two wins and one draw in our first three competitive games with a new manager and a mish mash of a team. That's pretty good going in my book. If it ends on Sunday, so be it. Top eight is our level. Beyond that a bonus.

I did think Rooney looked off the pace a little but he's still a danger and capable of doing something. Worst case scenario we haul him off on 65-70 mins for Carroll. No guarantee Rooney not starting would have meant we'd have played any better.

It's a cliche but there aren't any easy ones and especially not in tournaments. We have had tournaments where we've let cheap goals in and scraped through groups and I'd take it but we've gone through unbeaten here. Solid display against France, shaky moments against Sweden but much improved and disciplined if a bit nervous last night.

Everything changes with 1 goal in any of the games. Teams can defend, no one is hitting 4s and 5s in these types of games. The Spain/Italy/Croatia games in point, anything could have happened there. Spain could have gone out. Here's the best team in Europe and had some heart in the mouth moments (more than we did) and Italy were ragged too .... at one point a 1-1 Croatia/Spain would have sent Italy out ... it's always tight yet some fans think you turn up, 2-0 against them, we'll do them 3-1 or something and get a draw in this one but it never, ever works like that.

From the start of the 2nd half, even without the goal, it was set up nice, I thought. Defence is a bedrock for our team at the moment but that's one of our strengths and what's wrong with playing to your strengths? You can't be a positive England fan without people lumping you in with idiotic Sun readers saying 'we're gonna win it 'innit' so people go the opposite end of the spectrum and constantly moan about how rubbish England are.

Before every tournament I would say the same thing. Get into the 1/4 finals regularly and see how it goes. Bit of luck, nice draw, good form and you end up in a semi. From time to time we may get into the last 16 but on the whole this is the area we operate in. Maybe more of the players need to realise this and not play paralysed by fear.

1/4s are so close but also miles away at the same time. "just the 1/4s" when you're on the brink of a semi. Anyone going into a semi has a chance. I do think under Sven we could have made 1 more semi with that team to make our history a little better where a series of 1/4s looks more like failure.

I'll take this and then roll the dice against Italy, perhaps no Chellini for them, should be epic. It's good to be back in the mix again, quite positive, playing an equal-ish side and actually having a chance to look forward to the game with genuine opptimism. I hope we don't feel the need to create a villain if we don't get through and maybe with Hodgon having more time with the players we can keep improving.

All these Managers had years with the side and not got them doing what they wanted and Hodgson had less than everyone at looks like we have a plan of playing. May not be perfect or to everyone's liking but you get the sense the players understand what is required of them individually as well as collectively and it's not often we can say that in recent times so hey ho, good tournament and group so far

This is terrible, 12 pages in we don't know anything. I read back a bunch but not all of it.

My initial feelings were some kind of liberal use of poisons to combat rats/insects that the girls somehow ingested, impossible to say of course and just speculation.

Reading all that magic mushroom stuff from a few pages back I can understand a guide giving them to travelers as that's the kind of thing travelers want. I remember being up in the North of Laos many years back and near enough everyone there just wanted a hit on the pipe in the hills.

I assume Mellow Mountain is still open in Haad Rin down South, they used to do Mushroom Shakes so this stuff happens but they do it all the time, I assume nothing untoward happening in Haad Rin full moon after full moon related to mushroom shakes.

Why on earth would people put ground up mossie coils in the shake to pass it off as shrooms? I mean the dangers of that, no one wants their customers falling ill, surely you'd put something else in or nothing and tell people that was a bad batch. I just struggle with the ground up mossie coil thing, seems bizaare

Wonder when the groping will start...

When I arrive in a couple of weeks

We have these 'freedom passes' in the UK and you take your paperwork and photos and get one ... not sure that means anyone from any country can rock up and use transport for free. Perhaps there should be other passes for them they can buy at the windows if elderly but hardly the worst case of 'racism'

oone is forcing anyone to rent a bike. people have to use their common sense. most of us come froma world where all the laws protect us from usingour own brains. over here people have to bring their common snese with them.

No ... but it's nice, isn't it. If you're somewhere like Koh Chang it's nice to be able to go from place to place not on foot you're not just stuck on one beach and it's different getting a taxi from one place to the other (especially koh chang as they're not all that regular it seems)

Really the OP's question was daft, WHO would leave an important piece of kit with someone they don't know. What if the renter said, sorry had a break in and your PP is gone, What happens next ?

Well I ask because but I have had 10s of renters allow me to stroll off when I wouldn't hand my passport over. It's very easy to say 'Noooooo, don't do it' but what are the alternatives if you want to rent a bike. I see lots of people riding around on bikes so either everyone is leaving a passport or everyone knows a way around it then I'd like to know!

If no one left their passport then renters would relax their demands instead of allowing me to stroll off from one to the other

Ah, is the nice food court still around in MBK then? I am sure they revamped it and made it all fancy (ruined it) whereas the other, coupon based, one was superb, good selection of dishes and cheap

That was edgy and nervous but I think we handled a tough situation well. Host needing a win, etc etc

think people don't really get how tournaments work sometimes. We didn't need to go mental out of the blocks in search of goals, we only needed a draw, that's why rumours of Walcott started seemed odd and he didn't anyway (did he touch the ball when he came on?). You bide your time, anything can happen. Look at the French, it's not throwing it away they just got done. Spain dominated but had a point blank save and got away with a nailed on pen, Russia flopped, Dutch ... it's fine lines. You get out of the group, that's the most important thing.

We played it safe albeit with one of the worst 1st half performances I have seen in a while but there was a lot of stuff from range that we handled well. I always thought as the game went on we'd be able to get out more, Ukraine needed the win. It's never as simple by who wins by the most out of us and France to top the group. Easiest goal ever although Rooney looked off the pace. Hopefully it's a sharpness thing and he's a bit better for the next game.

Obviously that ball was over the line but it's not even worth having another conversation about it, nice to benefit from it but why couldn't that line judge take a step to the right? Anyway, the initial pass over looked offside to me anyway so screw it!

I think I prefer to play Italy but don't think the players are overly bothered about this 'we need to avoid Spain' as fans are. You just have to tackle the games as they come and and I hope we can give Italy a good game, certainly don't have to be terrified but maybe take out performance up a notch too. Also extra day rest for winning the group

The Offshore being that place with the Fish & Chip shop attached in Soi 23?

I have been down to Surat many times and have to say it's rarely been an issue, perhaps 30 minutes from time to time. I am never on a tight schedule either and prefer the independence of the train, sitting there having a drink and a bite to eat. Can't stand bus travel these days [/getting old]

Oh really. I quite enjoyed that boat trip back in the day

When are they done? Where's the White Sand one going to be?

Yes, Canby are ace. Always used to pick up their booklets, no need for a guidebook at all really these days.

I don't remember a bus at all when I used to do it but we're talking more than 10 years back now, sure it was boat was only option

Etithad have a promotion at the moment, cheap deals from Middle East to Asia but think it's extends to Europe also