writeshack

25 years in Thailand, and I chose Isan. Clean air, no hassles, our own garden with fruits and vegies. Why the hell would anyone want to live in Pattaya, or Bangkok for that matter. Been there. Tried them both for quite some time. No thanks.

Spade didn't say this, as it was initially posted. I did. Not sure how that happened. That's why I edited the post.

I can never quite figure out the rabid hatred of Pattaya by certain farangs on TV...is it because you actually wish you were there cos your sick of your dull life in the wild of issan or cant afford to live there ?

If I had to choose between a village in Esarn or Pattaya I'd choose to leave Thailand immediately and go somewhere that isn't a poor and boring village or a huge brothel beside a dirty beach and polluted sea.

I don't have that much experience of village life but generally places in the country or isolated areas bore me to tears after a day or two and the week I spent in Pattaya was the worst week I had in Thailand.

A lot of that left over fibre from juicing can be used to make nice healthy fritters, carrots eg. Just mix it up in a little batter and/or egg, however you prefer to do it, and shallow fry in whatever oil you prefer. Add a bit of spice. Tastes pretty good.

Cover up, wait till they're quiet and then spray them with Baygon, and quickly retreat. shut the doors etc. It works. They are susceptible and will get buzzing and then quickly die. Otherwise you'll have a big problem. Did my front porch in Isan a few months ago after being stung several times. Yeah I know it's not loving animals etc. But they are nasty around your home. And they kill other animals, so your conscience is salved

Is this really "news"?

Why would anyone want that!

20 years ago I Iived on street food, and so did all my friends. late nights with delicious food and a few beers. Movie stars and the like turning up at out of the way soi food markets to join the party at two, three or four am, where ever you happened to be. Really sanook. And then around the late 90s, after the 97 financial crisis and beyond, it changed as people with no real pride in the street vendor profession started setting up stalls because they were out of work and saw it as an easy way to make money. And then. of course the government made all the legal stalls close early. The food lost quality, quick easy and cheap options replaced seriously nice food. Cheap subsitutes for proper ingredients, and lack of proper pre-preparation - and, of course, MSG by the shovel full. I don't eat street food any more. It doesn't taste very good and I've had too many allergic reactions to the crap they add to it. Yes, there still are good stalls for the people in the know to search and find. And the food there is sensational. But there are too few of them, and they are no where near where I live.

Did my New Zealand passport via the internet. Very simple once you registered to join the government internal affairs site. Hardest part was getting the digital photo accepted, due in part to a very finicky computer algorithim at their end. Otherwise all good and got passport couriered from NZ about 10 days after application.

CMKiwi can you please advise how you joined the government internal affairs site and all that stuff. I need to renew my passport and it seems intimidating from Isan. I don't know any NZers here who can identify me, as the foreign affairs website seems to demand. PM me is OK. thanks

The earthworks at the track were proceeding well when I drove past a week ago . F2? That's great. More fun than F1. Not too far away, but thankfully out of noise range. I'll buy a membership if anyone can tell me how. Would be a good day's outing when it opens.

And what are they going to do with it all. They can't sell what they already have.

I notice the rice seemingly pouring out of the truck straight onto the floor, and Tyre marks from another track to the right of the truck in focus.. it gives us some idea exactly how much those dropping off product truly value rice.. such as the rest of the world. Most supermarkets here are now going off Thai rice, and importing Vietnamese and Indian rice instead. This will not help the balancing of the books, PTP.

It's unmilled rice, with the husk still on. It's not as unsanitary as it appears. We deliver rice to a mill every year - not part of the govt scheme - and that's how the grain is handled - and by front end loaders and other machinery. It's very much the same all over the world. There is always dirt and dust in the handling of unmilled grain. Although I admit many other countries are more efficient at damping the dust etc.

We also have quite a few nam dok mai trees, and a few other kinds. Basically we just let the red ants care for them, they keep away most pests, although it has its drawbacks if you brush up against a limb. The only pruning we do is slashing away the jungle that grows up around them, and the limbs that get in the way of walking. They produce buckets and buckets of fruit every year without help -- the exception being this year when we were hit by what I believe was fruitfly. Noticed it too late to do anything about it. Very few mangos from those particular trees.

I had a dead paddy rat in my car aircon too, a few years back. It managed to chew through some wires about the time it, and the aircon, died and then just cooked in there for several days. Not pleasant. Guys at Ford said I had probably left the vent open when out in the fields or at home at night, and the rat crawled in and was electrocuted next time I used the aircon. Not uncommon apparently. I always make sure the vents are closed now.

Forget eating Rice.

We've started eating BARLEY instead of rice with Thai food and recently made a brilliant Barley Risotto. Much healthier and better taste than boring rice.

Just Google: Barley Recipes and/or Barley Risotto.

So where do you buy barley? Not pearl barley. I've been looking for it for ages. If you know please PM me.

Edited to add request

If Ae was murdered in 2002 then his photo with Seh Daeng must be fake.

Nonsense. Seh Daeng was a known military thug before the redshirts and had been around for a long time before he was killed. He was linked with Chuwit Kamolvisit.

As an aside, when I was issued my PR and went to the muang police station to get the police book I was issued a letter and told to take it to the amphur for registration in my wife's tabian ban book ( I bought the house, obviously, we are legally married). The woman at the amphur just refused to do it. Said I didn't need to register and none of the Chinese who live in Buri Ram had registered and I didn't need to either. I'm not Chinese, not by the remotest stretch of any imagination. Pure farang. She claimed the police letter was unnecessary and they didn't know the law had changed. I intend to go back at some stage and force the issue, quietly.

We bought some of the highest grade A hom mali rice from Big C this weekend, Royal Umbrella. My wife has been growing rice all her life and insists after opening the pack this is mixed with old rice and is substandard. Our own crop last year was destroyed by drought, so we have to buy for the first time in 15 years.

Very predictable they are, soon she will come out and watch a Thai drama or Ghost story, Mirror and tweezers in hand to pic at her face, covered in powder.

Then cook something as They need to eat on an hourly basis.

The tweezers are for under her arms...

Thank you.

There is a very large, magnificent looking rooster stalks around my house most of the day screaming out in English every 30 seconds or so, yes in English, I swear it: "Faaaarkin' AAARse 'ole". I don't know who owns him, but that MF is headed to the Tom Yum pot in the near future.

You can buy snake blood and gall bladder bile etc in restaurants that deal in that sort of food. Who didn't pay the right money? Ah, they were South Korean tourists, that explains it.

Hope he stays safe, but what is a journalist doing "lending his car" to police. No, you don't do that. Not even to get a story. I do know what I'm talking about.

Meanwhile in Buriram.

http://bk.asia-city.com/travel/news/buriram-international-circuit-construction

Construction has already begun. The track has been laid out and the dirt graded. It's a visible track, right behind I-mobile stadium and Thundercastle

It's the way it's written I'm criticising. Of course Tb is serious, I didn't suggest otherwise.

Exaggerated headline, 186 is not 'nearly 200', and the intro is gibberish .... 186 cases in 800 bars - that's about one-quarter of an infection in each bar. Story's not worth reading.

Try this one. There's a free online version, works both ways, and you can also buy it.

http://www.thai2english.com/