NancyL

Hubby gets food poisoning every 3 - 4 months, always a fairly mild case that puts him out of commission for just a day. Usually it's because he's eating food different from his normal diet. Like the time he went on a weekend road trip with a couple of Thai friends who insisted on "showing" him the best noodle shop in every city they entered. He often eats noodles once a day, but never 3 - 4 times. Guess what happened after a couple days of the noodle diet? Oh, and like a previous poster, he's gotten sick on the orange juice from one of those "fresh squeezed" stands.

I've never gotten ill in Thailand, but my favorite street food is khao pat gai, cooked while I wait. My worst case of food illness was in the U.S. when I attended a conference where about 25% of the attendees became ill after returning home. The local health dept. said they tracked it down to one individual who had become ill with "the flu" at the conference, but didn't go home after vomiting in the toilet. Instead, she continued to mingle with the vendors and speakers. She was probably one of many who shook my hand that day!

I was so badly affected that I tore the lining of my stomach with the initial vomiting and had internal bleeding for several days before my husband convinced me to go to the hospital because I shouldn't be vomiting when I hadn't eaten for 3 days. Unfortunately, our home toilet was a dark designer color, so I didn't realize how serious it was until I vomited in the emergency room's white toilet, waiting (and waiting) to be admitted. They said I'd lost three units of blood and were amazed I wasn't unconscious! Fortunately, the solution was fairly easy -- they cauterized the stomach lining tear in the emergency room. But, I was hospitalized for blood transfusions and "observation". They pumped my stomach twice -- once in the emergency room and then a few days later to make sure I was ready to go home. That procedure sure is unpleasant!

Yes, food poisoning or something you think may be food poisioning can be serious. I learned you should seek medical attention if it continues for more than a day or so.

That video has been there for at least several months. Didn't change my mind about driving here -- I'd already decided it is a stupid thing to do when song thaews, tuk-tuks and rental of a car with driver are so cheap. I use my drivers license as an ID and got it because my U.S. drivers license was about to expire and I have no plans to return to the U.S.. Besides, the Thai drivers license looks really cool, with the pandas in the lower right corner. The staff and facilities at the Transport Dept are excellent, always a pleasure to deal with.

I've heard that the water from the tap is safe for cooking, but I have doubts about the integrity of the piping from the city tap into my faucet. Everything else in my condo building is a wreck, so I wouldn't be surprised if they have plumbing problems beyond the control of the municipal supplier of water. So, we use water from one of those machines for all cooking.

Once, however I drank about 1 liter of tap water over a 36 hr period without realizing it. Hubby had filled up one of our 1.5 liter water bottles with tap water to use in watering houseplants. He left the bottle in the bathroom and I thought it was our normal drinking water. It did taste a little "off", but I just figured it was time to dispose of the bottle and get a new one. I suffered no ill effects, but am not making this standard practice. Now the bottle for plant watering is clearly labeled!

Good to learn there are some safety deposit boxes available. I've heard my friends discuss this topic and none had found a safety deposit box at a branch bank near their home. I must admit, we gave up looking once we acquired a safe.

We lived near KSK when we first arrived, so I got to know the location of all the toilets while wandering around the place totally lost. For example, did you know that there's a food court up on the third floor, in the back, near IT City? A bowling alley. A kid's play area. I always discover something new when I go there. It just seems to have more character than Central Airport Plaza, abeit in a seedy way. Now we live on the other side of town and it's about the same distance to go to Central Airport Plaza vs. KSK. I must admit I go to KSK much more often, although I rarely make a special trip just to go. It seems to be close to my friends, favorite restaurants and Thai language lessons. When I go to Central Airport Plaza, it is a special trip. About the only other reason I go out that way is to visit Immigration every 90 days.

We could do an entire thread about the little-known features of KSK!

Kad Suan Kaew has seen better days, but it still has a broad selection of stores and is conveniently located. At least you didn't hit your head on one of the low ceilings near the theater!

The trick is to get to know the mall. It's good exercise to walk around, poke around the stores, and file away info into your brain for future purchases. That is, if you're planning to remain in Chiang Mai for a while. For example, the best toilets in the place are the ones in Central Dept store, on the second floor near the entrance into the auto parts/men's underwear section. There is also an elevator on the other side of the department store that stops at every floor, unlike the main elevator for the mall which stops only at the first floor and 4th floor (movie theater floor) and goes on to serve the upper floors, which aren't the floors with stores.

I've never been impressed with the Watson's at KSK -- the Boots and the drugstore next to Boots are better. Some people like the pharmacies in the basement, too. There has to be at least a dozen places in KSK where you could buy reading glasses!

Don't give up on the place, yet. Oh, also, if you plan to remain in Thailand it's a good idea to learn enough basic Thai to be able to read "no parking" signs. The universal symbol system for traffic signs isn't routinely used here, especially by businesses.

We've been getting a song and dance from our branch bank about a safe deposit box for over two years, despite substantial funds in the bank. I have yet to hear of any westerner who actually has a safe deposit box at a bank in Chiang Mai. You can purchase a home safe from a vendor on Chang Moi Rd. I imagine other shops sell them as well.

I know many foreigners who have lived here (in Chiang Mai) for years and never learned Thai beyond Hello and Thank you. About the OPs specific questions -- the doctors at Chiang Mai Ram and many of the other hospitals can speak English; many had some of their training in the west. Pharmacist (chemists) almost always can speak English and are good people to approach if you're having difficulty in communicating with a neighboring shopkeeper. Most restaurants have at least one English language menu -- even street food vendors often can produce a grubby English-language menu. (Hint: remember the words cow pat guy and you'll never go hungry here!).

Before you step off the plane, go online and print out the Thai directions and map that most hotels post on their websites. Keep that with you whenver you go out, so you can find your way back. Staff at your hotel can write down places like Kad Suan Kaew (one of the malls) on a piece of paper in Thai for you to give to the song thaew drivers. Just be sure the sweet young staffer at your hotel writes using big letters. When we first arrived and tried to get places with this technique, I thought that many song thaew drivers were illiterate because they would wave us off when they saw the piece of paper. Finally I realized most of them are middle aged and (just like me) they need their reading glasses to read small letters and often don't have those glasses available.

If you travel into less touristy areas, then it really helps know Thai, but even then the locals can usually find someone they know to come and translate if you need to have a serious discussion. Just smile and be pleasant and the Thai people are very willing to work with gestures.

You and (especially) your wife shouldn't give up on learning the language, though. There are many places to learn in Chiang Mai and once you learn the alphabet, you'll discover that it's much easier to get along. Actually, the rules that govern the Thai language -- spelling, grammar, pronouncation are much more straightforward than in English. People who know several languages, even those unrelated to Thai seem to have an easier time in learning. Ditto for people with musical ability -- they can "hear" the tones better. Once you know some Thai, you can develop a much better appreciation for your surroundings.

I've had great success in buying an item of clothing that I like, but in a Thai (too small) size and taking it to my dressmaker and asking her to copy it, but in my size. She's working on shorts for Hubby right now. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Why not try to find a new home for your cat in your home country? Hubby and I have enjoyed the company of five cats (at different times) for over 30 years prior to moving here. In every case, we acquired the cats as adults, some because their owners were moving overseas.

Here, we tried to entice the soi cats, hoping one would like to move with us. It soon became apparent that adult soi cats are wary. At best they'll eat the food we put out with us sitting nearby, but never would show any affection. We ended up adopting a soi kitten and didn't enjoy all the hassle of dealing with a kitten, but it was worth it now that he's almost an adult. Incidentally, he's a great lap cat, unlike his soi cat parents. Like all our previous cats he's been neutered and never goes outside. All our cats have lived in excess of 20 years, undoubtably because they never go outside. If they have enough activities inside they don't miss the outside.

We rent a condo and found the landlord willing to accept a cat, but we didn't ask until we'd lived here for over 6 months and by then he knew we were taking care of his place and paying our rent on time. I don't think he would have been willing to accept the cat when we first asked about renting.

Love it! Let's keep this on the first page for a while!

I've been here for several years and still don't understand why western men enter into marriage with someone they can't communicate with. Oh yeah, I understand that most of the early "communication" is in a universal language, but after a while you have to get out of bed. OK, here's my view -- maybe it's just easier for your wife to tell little short lies than to actually attempt the language to explain what's going on. It's time for you to learn Thai!

Wow, we've covered this topic at least four or five times in the past couple of years. I wish the TV search function would allow someone to input three letter words and then this subject wouldn't keep coming up.

But enough whining -- here are the two that I know: Washy Mashy on Huey Kaew, the south side about 500 meters west of Kad Suan Kaew mall. They are next to Sports World. Also, there is a dry cleaning drop-off/pick-up building just outside the entrance to the CM Orchid Hotel, just left of the doors as you enter the building.

I don't have kids, so I don't have the particulars, but I always see Thai kids running around the YMCA during school holidays. They seem to run some sort of day camp there.

I fix a large fresh salad for us almost every evening using veggies bought at the local Thai market and have never had a problem. I wash all things that realistically can be washed with soapy water, using tap water, rinse with tap water and do a final rinse with drinking water. That works great for things like carrots, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers. Often I use one of those green scratchy 3M pads to be sure it's really clean and remove all dirt. Lettuce can be a bit more problematic. I carefully rinse each leaf under tap water, but can't scrub with soapy water like I do with the other veggies. Instead I swish the leaves in drinking water and dry in a salad spinner. Also, I wash melons, etc, with the soapy water, drinking water rinse technique before cutting. Same practice for other foods, like eggs.

I think you're going to have a bigger problem here with pesticide residue than with "night soil" fertilizer based on what I've seen of the agricultural practices. Soapy water washes should go a long way in removing pesticide residue.

As in my home country, you buy shoe laces at the same places you buy shoe polish, not shoes. All the western-style grocery stores have them.

Yeah, I agree that Bangkok Bank is killing a forest of trees every month with all the copies , but I just learned to bring my passport with me whenever I want to conduct any business more complex than getting money from my account or turning those 1000 baht notes into smaller ones.

Another bit of advice is to select a branch bank that's convenient as your "home" branch. Ours is in Chiang Mai and, as we discovered during a recent in-country vacation, they charge a 20 baht fee for withdrawals that are "out of area" for your home branch.

These services have been available for some time. Personally, I wouldn't give up my passport to anyone other than Hubby to go do a 90 day report for me!

I've only been to a few European airports and really have no desire to see anything else! I consider the polite, friendly and sweet-smelling people of Thailand to be much more welcoming.

Why not go to your Bangkok Bank branch with the checks in hand and ask how much it would cost to deposit and how long before you get your money? The next action should be to contact the Manila SS office and ask them why they lost their "freaking mind" and are mailing the checks to you.

Our only experience in cashing US Treasury checks is with IRS refunds -- Bangkok Bank loves 'em! We received use of our money immediately and (as I recall) the charges were very low compared to cashing other non-government checks, like refunds from insurance companies or dividend checks.

Harry, are you sure the Honorary British Consulate in CM will cancel a UK passport immediately, without waiting a day or two to see if someone shows up in a panic? They can't issue a new passport here, can they?

I have to admit that the closest I've come to doing this is to leave my ATM card at a machine. Everytime I've done this, all I have to do is go to the branch office when I realize my error and they always have the card in a drawer, waiting for me, along with other returned cards. Either a kind soul turned it in or the ATM machine kept it when someone didn't know my PIN number, but in any event, the bank didn't cancel the ATM card even though it was clearly lost.

We lived there for a while when we first moved to Thailand. We get back to that neighborhood from time-to-time to visit the excellent, nearby Spirit House restaurant and shop at Tanin, the best Thai-style food market in Chiang Mai. The construction around Viang Bua is definitely done. The rooms on the east side are close to the shop houses, but this shouldn't be a problem on the higher floors and I doubt it's much of a problem on the lower ones -- the shop houses aren't fully occupied.

As much as we loved Viang Bua, I suggest that people also look at newer serviced apartments. ViangBua's rates are much higher than other serviced apartments and there are newer alternatives that are as nice and have good staff, such as The Dome Residence on Huey Kaew near Kad Suan Kaew.

I always take a small calculator with me when I visit one of the western grocery stores. Also, it pays to check your register tape immediately after check-out. You see the Thai ladies doing this. At Tops, I've found that sometimes when I get multiples of an item, like 2 boxes of coffee or 3 jars of peanut butter that they scan the item and then enter the multiple incorrectly. I'd like to think it's an honest mistake and that's how I act when I catch it, but I suspect the staff is helping themselves to an extra box of coffee or jar of peanut butter after hours, knowing that the store's accounting system won't be out of whack.

Make sure the place is sparkly clean before the landlord arrives. Sure, your lease probably says "broom clean", but it really impresses landlords if the place is cleaner than when you arrived. I learned this in renting several apartments in the U.S. and found it true in Chiang Mai as I listened in on the phone conversation of the condo manager talking to our condo-owner during our move-out inspection. He was saying something about everything is really clean, even the drawers and no black mold in the bathroom. It really helps to be able to understand the Thai language in situations like this to realize the same tactic works here as well as in the U.S..

Thanks, Ian. I've never thought of fellow Thai Visa members as "opponents". However, I do need to get to know more about individual posters before investing time in responding, be it in Word or using the forum directly. This guy is clearly a loser (I was thinking of a stronger adjective initially, one that started with the letter "A"). I hope that if he does try to kick down the door of a Thai lady living alone her neighbors or building security will handle him before he gets to her. I think, though, he'll be too busy dreaming up new troll posts and won't do anything that involves physical activity.