Shiver

Who dont want money? My answer is maybe animal.

Having "enough" is as good as a feast.

I've had both positive and negative stories with Taxi drivers, and in my locale (Udon) they are invariably positive, since they all seem to know my face (even if I don't know them), though places where my face isn't known I'm treated as a tourist, and they are neutral to negative stories.

I guess you can choose which news outlet to get info, whether you want the fluffy happy stories, or the others that are not so positive. I opened a copy of Bangkok post that was left on a table last night, first time I've looked at in maybe 7 or 8 years. Each article I started to read just made me want to spew from the negativity angle they portray. I closed the thing and put it back where I found it. There wasn't even a story about a kitten being rescued from a tree at the end.

For me it's the negatives of other countries that make me like Thailand. On balance, of all the countries I've been to (holidays aside), for full time living it's the best place I've found, so far... (Still got a lot to learn geographically though, I have to admit).

I was talking with some friends about this very subject the other night, and wishing there was a local source (to us that would be Udon city). If anyone knows, please share.

Why is Thai mum holding a water bill (joking),

Without getting into too much detail, I think it would have to be a multi-generational change, and start with education where interested students were allowed to ask the teacher the word "Why?" - one of the most useful words I know.

I was indoctrinated in England, my first country, but got slapped across the second cheek when I tried to play nice, so now I'm Thailand not because I think it's perfect, but a whole lot better than my first country (for now at least).

Thailand I see as a place of great contrast - you can meet the most giving and helpful people here, then walk around the corner and get something quite selfish. I do get the feeling a lot over the last 6 months or so that the younger people (particularly males) are feeling like they've been let down, and are starting to take that out on the foreigners. Anyone else feel that?

There is that other aspect, which I wouldn't call theft exactly, but where the family roam the house and see something they like, and take it, and if asked if they have taken it will quite openly say yes, but the words along the lines of "I saw that power tool/wonderful western kitchen knife set/pack of noodles etc" and thought you weren't using them, so I thought I'd borrow them. That'd be fine if they asked first. This isn't my personal experience, just one I've observed with other farang friends.

Actually I have to retract that. There was a time before smartphones and the dictionaries on them, where I bought paper dictionaries and left one in each place I frequented (bars/restaurants), and I had a 1 nighter stay my place and she took one of the dictionaries, never to be seen again. The laugh for me though was that of the 3 sections (English/Transliteration/Thai) the Thai part had a chunk of the bound section missing, so that part that was useless to me, and critical for her didn't exist. Can laugh that off to experience as the price was small, and it was overnight entertainment and not a potential real partner. We both got what we wanted to a degree, but it wasn't whole. No complaints though, I've had some very positive experiences compared to many of the house/car/kids losses that we've all heard a thousand stories about.

What I usually have done in the past, is I leave some money lying around, which looks like a casual forgetful moment, but I know exactly how much is there, and wait to see what happens. I've been fortunate in that none of them have ever tried to touch it, so then they get the key. The only valuables I care about are my passport and computer (the stuff you can put in a backpack if there is a sudden 'climate' change), so cash would be their easy option first. After that they get the key. The sad part is if we finish the key rarely comes back. In fact it has only been one time, quite recently where a girl who stopped calling/visiting (not a live in, but a contender) came to see me unannounced to return the key as she was quitting her Plaza job and leaving the city to go village and take care of her mother who is in the last throws of stage IV, and said she would likely go to another province after that event, so was a form of closure for her, even though I hadn't seen her for a couple of months (and I hadn't tried to contact her either since I assumed she wasn't interested, and I stay alone quite easy also).

One friend when I got here (nearly 9 years ago now) gave his ATM and PIN number to his partner on the first day as his test, and was never ripped off either. When it comes to money here, and what they need, overwhelmingly I get the "up to you" response, but never met a thief so far.

I think the errors are introduced as part of their designs, so that we all squabble over detail and nobody gets what the real game is.

I've tried Raang Jued (in tuberous form and capsule) and other people said it worked wonders, but for me it didn't do anything.

The problem with the Yaa Dong varieties (and every village seems to have their own version) is that some substances are water soluble, some oil soluble, and some alcohol soluble, and you can guess which one is used. So I guess it depends if you're trying to climb down off a daily habit or just avoiding the occasional morning after effect.

Personally I find a brisk couple of laps around the lake with water and electrolytes is as good as anything, but not everyone would agree. If you look at the things alcohol depletes from your body then you'd be on 20 pills every morning after. So I don't have a complete answer, and I don't think one size fits all either - people who, say work offshore and are dry for many weeks at a time (giving the liver a rest) seem to react differently to daily drinkers, who seem to react differently to weekend drinkers.

I got the impression that the article was alluding to how it was all done with cheap components rather than having multi-million dollar budgets and 20 tonne vehicles.

Imitation and innovation are a close couple though.

Since there are allegedly camera drones made like mosquitoes, the accuracy would have to be good, and the speed/altitude less important.

If I could buy a 'bug zapper' like this for taking out mosquitoes then I'd be very interested to learn more (so long as it doesn't blind you while it's targeting - I've had my fair share of mishaps with very low power HeNe lasers and not wearing protective goggles).

I don't know anything about practices in Thailand, but there is a place in Udon just 1 minute walk from the bus station. The sign is all in Thai other than "FUE" (which is Follicle Unit Extraction - or basically meaning one hair at a time rather than "doll hair" where they used to take plugs.

I can't quote prices or quality, I just know the place is there, but could probably enquire if you're interested. When I was 21 and balding this was a huge issue for me and did a lot of study. Now I'm middle aged and in Thailand I don't really care, since I have an 'ATM and a pocket full of hansum' (and good reputation of course). But seriously, if you'd prefer this route, there is a place there, I just don't know anyone that is a customer to ask for opinion from, but if you can get to Udon via bus, you are in the most literal sense less than a minute away from the place. If I could read Thai properly then I'd give you the name, but probably easier if I went in there and did my best Thai spoken rather than trying to understand the sign outside.

It's the job of an artist though, not just a surgeon, be mindful of that.

I've tried (and failed) to explain the concept of the people doing the arresting are the people supplying, so they know who you are already, and your best friends will grass you up to meet their monthly quota to stay out of the clink, which will eventually fail as they run out of people to point the finger at. Rinse, reset, and start the game again. It's a sorry sad situation.

Everything I would say about this topic has been mostly covered in this thread already though multiple posts combined. The water sprayer was a weird idea to me on day 1, though now wouldn't want to be without it. I can make a toilet roll last a zillion years unless I have a female partner in my house (which I don't do so much these days, more a solo guy), in which case I'd (they'd) go through a roll or so a day (they seem to have the 'urghh' factor about themselves)... If eating spicy then they are awesome and clean -no contact, and tried to explain the concept to my family/friends in the west but they didn't get it. It's a kind of 'use it then you'll understand' kind of thing.

For me, water is the winner, and a 'pat dry' is optional if it's baking heat where it's not relevant compared to the sweat equity of sitting in front of a fan or aircon. there's not much invented over here, and don't know where the concept originates, but two thumbs up [ahem] to the the inventor. Awesome and simple invention - just have to be careful about calibrating, and not giving yourself a non intentional enema until you know the water pressure and use appropriately. Squatters and a bucket of water still gives me the 'urghh' even after 8 years plus, but then I wear jeans and not traditional dress, and not really sure how to deal with the 'uak' factor.

I have a pair of classes. They say "Ray Ban" on them (not sure if that's a village or not), but they were given as a gift from a friend that procured them from somewhere exotic and far south of Issan where I live. I think he said it was Pattaya, if anyone has ever heard of that. I do notice that everyone has darker skin when I wear them though.

Does that mean I have Class?

Would the bank finance not factor into the price? If the finance person is on commission they'll do the best to get your application passed, so there may be more approvals than there really should be, then after 3 months the car is repossessed because payments can't be kept up, but the bank has an asset on it's books that it can't sell for less than it owes them (and likely they'll have already put the loan future profits on its books from day 1), so it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of the available second hand cars are bank owned, and they want to keep the price up?

If not the whole answer, I'm sure it must factor in there somewhere.

I came here from England a little over 8 years ago. It was a stick more than a carrot move, and a friend invited me here for a holiday which was supposed to be just 2 weeks (lol). There's a lot I'd like to see different about Thailand, but compared to my home country, this country I find much better, so for any moaning I may do, my actions speak louder than the words I spout.

I contribute money to the local economy, from money generated outside of the country - not huge, but I'm certainly not a burden on the country in that particular sense.

Most of the world is having issues right now, and it's easy to paint the blame on the local environment rather than taking in the macro picture. I'm tempted to explore some other places, as the area I'm in is getting a bit too western in its aspirations, and the pursuit of money is rampant (and folly, if it is for seeking happiness, although realistically as foreigners we need to have some kind of interface with the financial system for the time at least).

You may be interested to watch this link (15 mins or so) from a Thai guy on TEDx

Many people will object to the simplicity of his message, but the comments below help balance out the meaning of the message. You may decide you want to go and spend some time with him in Chiang Mai perhaps(?). I haven't, but each to their own.

Just love the file photo, from where China ?? . . . . . LOL

GOOGLE.? It's easy.

http://tbscene.com/2014/04/the-e-waste-problem/

Probably Ghana.

Please tell me that's not an IBM 'clickety' keyboard in the bottom right of the picture...They're about $150 these days, I'll gladly pay anyone who can deliver it to me so I can use it for spares.

I showed this video to my Thai wife. I complained about the bad driving, including the camera car crossing the centre reservation shown in yellow hatched lines. She said "You are in Thailand, we are Buddhists you shouldn't complain about people's driving, Thai people just have a different technique". Just then the camera car crashes into the black pickup. I said "look at that, that's bad driving". She said, "No it isn't it is just end of technique!" I said "What do you mean?" She said, "End of technique, next time they will try another technique! That's why we say T.I.T!

If it wasn't for the tragic situation, I'd be belly laughing about the 'different technique' you were offered as explanation. It's a bit like "the operation was a perfect success, but the patient died". What do you do? Restart the game and try again? Actually, as I write that I can think of a few people who would say yes, but that would be going off topic. It was a nasty smash, and I'm not sure I would have got out of that situation myself without at least some grazes even if I were the cam driver, let alone the first impact recipient - though I would have been going slower and been in the left lane that's for sure, *and* I would absolutely insist that if I had passengers, they'd all be wearing seat belts before even starting the engine (unless they want to walk). If taking evasive manoeuvres, would I already have all other vehicles and obstacles around me mentally mapped so I didn't need to look around? Probably not, as there's no lane discipline here that can be relied on. Crossing yellow lines just makes the yellow line maker into someone who wasted their time trying to stop people from hurting themselves.

There's a couple of references mentioning that camera recordings make things look faster than normal, and I have no experience on that so have to defer, but watching it pre-accident, I did find myself lurching and wincing in my chair as various concrete things whizzed by (in UK I wasn't a slow driver, and broke the speed limits as a permanent routine for >1,000,000kms without incident (but that was in an environment that statistically you can make some assumptions, not the same here). Over here I'm a 'no sharp moves' gentle driver when in a car, and on a scooter I have a different programme again. Even on a mountain bike (on mountains where you're expecting shock occurrences), or just walking in the city, I make my own rule of "fastest mover makes the decisions - don't add new variables to their situation" (yet I've had a couple of incidents off road where a walker grabs their dog and jumps into a lake because they're not looking more than 2 metres ahead, whereas a fast mover will be reading the road way way ahead) - Don't think that would have helped here though, as the prime starter wasn't in control and probably going lock to lock on the steering wheel a few times.

My last car in UK was a small Clio with pretty decent power for its small weight, but the selling point that made me go for an otherwise average badly assembled car, was that it's 60 to zero mph could stop it better than a 911, so when things got sticky, I could just hit the brakes hard, and keep my eye in the rear view mirror to see who would run into me first, then adjust deceleration to balance any potential impact fore and aft. Over here I got a Fortuner, and it couldn't stop for toffee, it would lock up (the front) on the slightest piece of gravel or hin, and it's no small piece of metal for a responsible person to be hurtling around live people. Unladen trucks need a responsible driver...well all vehicles need a responsible driver, but unladen pickups that are treated like cars are just asking for issues.

Anybody bothered to look at Diego Garcia? or the Human manifest of people with certain specialised skills? Just a theory, and I didn't conspire with anyone.

If they go Nuclear here, they already have their own TESCO, and can wall off the contamination with packages from the frozen foods section.

Living in Udon for a while, I've noticed that to find attractive (bodily I mean - before they start tattooing/piercing/extreme makeup etc), then try any tourist area that is not close to their home. If you go around the villages here, all the pick of the crop are absent, working as cashiers in some high brand hotel in another province. They don't 'work on their own doorstep' (students aside that is, but in different ways).

Fantastic looks are great and all that, but if you can find one that has some other qualities you like....like, I dunno, honesty, integrity, team player, hard working, can plan further ahead than one day, no drugs, no gambling etc, then they are around still, it just takes a bit of work on our part rather than just walking by a commercial place waiting for one of those 'unique' opening lines they have.

Haven't read the whole thread as there's not enough time in the day to stay on top of all TV topics, so sorry if this is a repeat, but a google of " Pau d'Arco testimonials " might be of interest. It's a tea, and dirt cheap. Can't see any reason why you couldn't drink it in concert with any of the above suggestions.

I was waiting for someone to write about roads here, but nobody has, so I'll bite. Is it soi dog proof (the ones that run out 2 ft in front of you at full tilt because it's being chased, or vehicles that come out of blind alleys looking where they want to go and not what's coming at them?

"Are you the driver of this vehicle sir?". "Er, no. Will this affect my no claims bonus, or the amount that chicken is worth now that it turned into a valuable prize fighting cock 1 nanosecond before it scrunched itself?".

Motorway driving I think it might have a chance though.