lovenim

What I would like to know is how to purchase one of those dresses. If anyone knows, please share.

I have been self-medicating for a medical condition for some time now (easy to do without prescriptions in most Thai pharmacies; all I have as proof is a single script I got from a doc in my home country before moving here a couple of years ago). I never thought I would need to have a prescription here. But now I am facing a situation where it will help me enormously if I can get a doctor's statement to the effect that I have indeed been suffering from and treated for the condition over the last 2 years. If anyone knows a doctor who will have understanding for my situation and won't break the bank, please msg me. I very much appreciate, as I am desperate for help. Thank you (Bangkok area)

Just got back from Penang, and the kindly man at Banana café said I wouldn't be able to get a single-entry 2-month TR visa becaause I already had 3 entries this year in my passport... a double-entry and a single-entry, from Pmom Penh and Vientiane respectively. SO, be aware, everyone, that Penang won't issue you a visa if you have had 3 or more entries that year already,

Wondering about all the details for this Non-O from Penang as well... anyone?

CBT-based hypnotherapy in Bangkok. (url link removed by Moderator per forum rules. PM member if desired).

Live your life how you want, race cars, sky dive, have sex with a stranger, become a soldier or even cross a road ALL risky but we do it.

Ah all good things there ... not sure about becoming a soldier though?

Smoking is, with all its dangers and issues, indeed deliciously wonderful to do.

Ahhh, the cig after a meal, or sex.

The cig after stress, or during stress.

The companion the cigs are while bored.

The good feeling after a drag.

Point taken. Just consider the possibility that it is merely a habit and that you feel at a loss if you don't have it, simply because it's so familiar as a ritual. Seems you mention the word 'delicious' not as a flavour or taste at all but actually exclusively in conjunction with activities you associate smoking with, as if somehow it provides a framework , a buffer of some sort... Meals, sex, stress, boredom. With stress and boredom it's obvious - cigarettes somehow provide relief. But have you considered that after a meal, like after sex, there is a moment of "aah... what now?" - a certain emptiness, a sense of being at a loss, not knowing how to continue, to make the transition to something else... which is boring, or stressful, an anti-climax after the orgasm or the dessert... hence the sudden need, the void to fill, the need for the drag that will provide the "good feeling" as you say. Which is in fact merely a relief from tension/boredom/neediness... It's all in the mind. Triggers, associations... I really do think so.

I used to be unable to do any task for any length of time without smoking... for instance reading, or writing... but now that I have reprogrammed my mind and have changed my responses to triggers, I cannot even imagine smoking in the situations where I used to. Why? because i can do everything better without them, they would just get in the way. Of course, that is also all in the mind, and I am sure (were I to want to start smoking again) there are plenty of smokers who would love to help me and show me how i can successfully integrate my cigarette into any activity ;o)

I have full respect for your current belief that they are 'delicious' for you but U can assure you that as long as you think that it will be hard for you not to feel deprived while you do not smoke. Stopping for good without feeling deprived entails flicking that mental switch... you also mentioned hope... Do not merely "hope"... have faith, imagine, believe! Hoping entails the possibility for failure - if you allow for that to happen, it probably will.

hang in there in any case! the switch might just flick by itself one day.

Yep, I can agree with all of that, so logging off now and having a ciggy. Good night.

is winding someone up the only pleasure you get out of your addiction, or is this a covert cry for help?

Planning to start again after 6 months time.

Why?

Either Im so fat and untrained, I need to get back to smoking.

Or, Im in so much better shape (physical condition) that I can take up the delicious smoking again, for a while, before I stop again.

I have a few more things to say. Hope you don't take this the wrong way; I do not know you;

I merely go by what you are writing and I am trying to help you.

OK, here goes...

Your addiction appears to be entirely in the mind.

I think you are setting yourself up for failure because you have obviously not actually really quit, mentally speaking.

The statement that you plan to start again in 6 months' time sounds odd - then why bother stopping in the first place?

If you really mean that (wanting to start again in 6 months) then it is quite natural that right now you are having a hard time.

It would seem you are merely making a half-hearted attempt at quitting, since you are giving yourself some opt-out-later leeway.

Hence it's become a tedious 'doing time' thing to be gotten through with willpower rather than a resolve to be proud of and then persisted in with motivation.

That in itself is a recipe for failure.

Your reasons for starting again also seem somewhat defeatist/cynical:

1) You seem to see yourself getting fatter and lazier and so it is what happens. You allow yourself to drink more and eat more because you perceive that you are now lacking in some way. And the more you eat/drink the lazier you will be and so you will find it harder and harder to exercise.

2) You say that if you do get into much better shape (which seems unlikely unless you undertake a major attitude shift) you might as well start again because you have some health credit in the bank, metaphorically speaking. That is quite simply preposterous. Suppose you did feel so much better in 6 months and you did start again - you would so regret it, I can assure you. Because all the benefits would just go quite quickly again. Anyway, if you do feel so much fitter in 6 months I doubt you will want to start again - you will probably be proud of yourself and feel way too good to spoil that with the cancer stick.

One more thing you are saying there strikes me: you call smoking "delicious" - I would like to question the reality of that statement. What exactly, if anything beyond the immediate relief from craving that only lasts for so many minutes, is delicious about it? Remember your first ever cigarette and how that tasted/felt... and realise that your body merely adjusted over time to gradually accommodate a poison that you persistently fed it when you were determined to keep smoking, way back when... yeah, you might say it's an acquired taste, like oysters or what have you. But I don't think there is anything delicious about it -. that's all in the mind as well! But as long as you think of it as delicious you will feel like you are denying yourself a pleasure and you will continue suffering while you do not smoke. You are going to have to make that cognitive shift and re-evaluate the smoking experience.

Like somebody recommended already, Allen Carr's book (there's a video as well) are well worth taking the time to read/watch. Quite the eye-opener.

Suddenly there is more time on my hands when Im out

that's entirely a subjective experience, so it merely seems you have more time, right?

why not focus more on your surroundings and less on the fact that your hands are less occupied than they used to be?

imho, it's largely a matter of focus. think self-focused attention vs attention on external events.

it may take time to be able to redirect your attention without conscious effort, but over time it will get easier.

I stopped multiple times during my 20-year smoking habit, but somehow I had never quit mentally, and I think this is why I kept going back to it eventually after every attempt. Because I had not quit mentally I was feeling deprived and as if I was denying myself something.

3 years ago I started studying hypnosis out of sheer curiosity. Later on I also attended a masterclass on smoking cessation. The studies, and especially the masterclass, were a very powerful eye-opener as to what we do to ourselves mentally when we think in categorical terms such as "must" / "need" / "have to" etc... Sure, it is possible to stay stopped for years, but unless you actually mentally let go, you will continue to have cravings and either feel unhappy or start again. It's a mental attitude / focus thing: when you quit, do you REALLY quit? Do you quit by willpower (which is possible but frustrating) or do you quit with the power of your imagination and your belief, using positive imagery? I believe that herein lies the crux of the matter. I also think that the weight gain issues many people experience may be due to eating excessively, and that the excessive eating comes from the frustration of feeling that one is lacking - all things that can be undone when one uses the power of the imagination rather than the force of will to stop.

I know that when I quit for the last time, it was for good. No going back! Some posters have pretty much nailed it by suggesting to simply think of other things than cigarettes... it's really almost all in the mind.

I am a certified cognitive-behavioural hypnotherapist based in Bangkok, so if any of you want some free advice, feel free to message me.

a matter of killing the paper tiger to boost credibility for the puppet, i really think that's all it is

It's really very simple: Legalise ALL drugs & use EDUCATION rather than intimidation & dis/mis-information.

That way, total numbers of heavy drug abusers actually go down.

The more draconian the measures against drug use/distribution & the more the subject is taboo the more drugs are used.

With legalisation, no more hapless desperate mules & no rich gangsters behind them.

Instead, quality control & plenty taxes for the government.

Why not? Really.

for the record, regarding tsingtao... http://www.urbanmyths.com/index.php?/Food/beer-myths-is-there-formaldehyde-in-beer.html ... even though it tases decent, it actually isn't somehting one ought to imbibe regularly.

thai beer is awful indeed, and asahi brewed here is no exception.

ALL neighbouring countries make decent beer.

Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia all have excellent beers.

Whenever I go there I enjoy the brews so much it's like heaven.

Back here I just don't have any mood for drinking.

Apart from being nasty-tasting and toxic, the beers here are terribly overpriced.

Thailand is the only country in the region that was never formally colonised.

I think that's part of the reason why their beers are so awful.

Goes in line with the general thai stubbornness about many things.

Just my stubborn 2 cents.

It seems using an agent is an important factor in getting a double entry tourist visa.

Will I typically need to show a plane ticket in order to get the double-entry one? I am thinking of coming back to Thailand over land...

This double-entry visa, how long is it valid for?

1 month? 2 months? 90 days?

I would like to hear your views on "Irrawady " magazine.

And I am NOT equating the red rag with Irrawady.

Philw

I am proud to say I was reckless/bold/stupid enough to enter Myanmar with the latest copy of the Irrawaddy (bought in ChiangMai just a few days before) in my luggage. I just thought I'd love to read it while there. Then got busy and forgot all about even carrying it and found it again when I got home. I now regret not leaving it there and passing it on to one of the many locals i spoke to who had a lot of negative things to say about their government.

Btw, gotta love that Hitler-Ab.sit pic. Surely not clever but definitely funny. Such spiteful caricature doesn't make for political advancement but it has hilarity value for sure. And the guy did use snipers to rid himself of an inconvenience...

@NaiharnGym... you do not really have what i am looking for. Your D/K is not high-stength, and it comes with calcium, which is a no-no for me. I ordered quit a few other things not on your list. Also, apart from sheer non-availability, a key reason for ordering from abroad has been PRICE! With your prices, to get even just remotely close what I am looking for, i would end up paying almost what customs were about to charge me.

I got lucky, however. Seems FedEx are making a brilliant exception for me this time because they know they messed things up. I will have to pay no storage charge, they will exceptionally handle clearing on my behalf, and all other fees are also magically reduced to 2500THB now. WEIRD but wonderful. I did shout abuse at FedEx first though and accused them of being unprofessional and asked for the customs officer's name and number so I could just bring them tea money... suddenly it was all different!

@crazydrummerpauly: thanks for the tip, I will look into them for the future as this special clearance from FedEx is a one-off as they see they made a mistake. They do not normally clear meds/supplements for folks. Which makes me wonder why they would ship to here in the first place.

Hello all

Buying a 2nd-hand Honda Wave from a friend who is leaving LOS but who has company here.

Bike is in name of Bkk-basedcompany and has Bkk number plates.

Company is selling to me & we plan to register bike in my Thai gf's name.

I do not currently have residency, but neither has my Thai gf, who despite having lived here 7+ years still has her residency registered in her Isarn province.

Neither she nor I really can be bothered with residency.

2 questions:

1) can the bike legally be registered in Bkk with the current number plates if owner is does not have residency? Or would we have to go to the office in gf's province?

2) how likely will police be to try and extract money from me if they see the bike ridden in bkk with owner not from bkk and not even being me?

I would gladly do a "border run" for them and bring in a few copies on their behalf to accelerate the socio-economic evolution of these backwaters of the world

Unlikely for a friendly farang to checked... but I wonder what would happen to me if I did get stopped & searched...

Or someone took out random bolts to sell them. The Thais will often steal 3 bolts out of a 4 bolt light post, leaving 1 holding the light post up.

appalling... but understandable. consider the distribution of wealth in this country... if I were poor I too would steal from the rich where i can. only normal.

so, in that line if logic, do not blame the red shirts whose fault it is that the building is under construction but the yellow shirts whose fault it is that there are so many poor.

I have tried to order vitamins like high-strength D3 and K2 and other herbal supplements such Milk thistl and Dandelion root from an online US suppplier.

Total cost about 5400 baht incl postage... now customs want 4500 baht on top, and there is also a "clearing company" involved that requires 2000 baht, and there is already a 2500 baht detention/storage fee because FedEx failed to contact me for a week to tell me the order had arrived and how to proceed now that they cannot clear it.......... I have decided not to pay and "abandon" the shipment. I would have paid the 4500 baht customs want (which is a whopping 100% already) because the order would still be ok in terms of price. But the remaining cost is not something I had bargained for and I believe it to be the fault of the vitamin seller and/or fedex for using a courier resp. for acccepting a shipment that they must know cannot be cleared locally later... pplus for not gettng in touch with me iin a timely fashion, making it all too expensive. So now I will cancel the payment with my credit card company and let seller and courier fight it out between themselves.

Anyway, first of all I wonder what my rights are in this case.

Second, i would like to know if anyone has successfully ordered to Thailand from any US or NZ based online vitamin vendor? by "successfully" I guess i mean bypassing customs... I read elsewhere that the trick is to have it sent in small packages and without declared value and with handwritten adddresses and sent as a "gift" ... if anyone knows of vendors that will be happy to do this, by all means please let me know.

Thank you

I suggest that perhaps it will not do much harm if taken with food, but it may not do much good either and it just might do some harm after all... if they are of low quality and noot in chelated form then they are not well absorbed, meaning your kidneys and liver will have to work hard to clean them out... or they might even make toxic deposits in yor joints (like calcium that is not absorbable).

Just an opinion based on reading over time.

by the by, does anyone here know where I can get offordable HIGH-STRENGTH vit D3 (2000 i.u and up) and vit K2 as well as good quality Cod liver oil in Bangkok?

I use a 4k baht 3-cartridge filter and drink the tap water filtered that way.

1x sediment filter

1x ion exchange

1x charcoal & UV . . . it's the UV at the end of the process that makes me think it's safe.

After that I pour it in a glass jar and let it sit in that. The jar sits on top of a magnetic plate and in the jar I have some crushed up coral minerals from Okinawa and selection of crystals as well as "prill beads" and "EM ceramics" ... do a search on those items if you are bot familiar with them. Quackery or not, cannot do harm, and it does taste better... done the blind test with friends and never fails. They laugh at me and suggest I buy a goldfish because it all looks highly decorative... like a little fishtank.

Agree with the poster who suggests that water has memory and can be energised.

Water straight from the tap or even from the filter, or from a bottle - biochemically safe or not - will be energetically dead and not very hydrating. Chances are the energetic information of harmful substances is still in it even if the substances are not... like, say, London tapwater has been through 7 pairs of kidneys by the time you drink it, think of the energetic pollution from that... in any case, energising the water with crystals and good vibes can only help... also think the research done by Masaru Emoto - water is intelligent and picks up the vibes of intention... send it some love & gratitude and it will be better for you.

Also agree that fluoride is bad bad news... as is purified NaCl, especially with added iodine.

Here is a link to a Babelfish translation of a German article about water & salt... forgive the dodgy English, it's machine-translated but I think the open-minded who care about their welll-being will find it worth reading:

http://babelfish.yah...TrUrl=Translate

Whoever said Mont Fleur and Aura are not actually spring water - CAN YOU BACK THIS UP?

Hello,

reviving an old thread as I have a similar issue... ordered very high-strength vitD3 and vitK2 from the US and am now told by local fedEx that it cannot be cleared as the dose of the vitamins is too high. Only way out now seems to be getting in touch with a shipping company that can do some dodgy deal with customs whereby stuff goes into the "free zone", as in not for use in Thailand but to be shipped onwards. Working on that right now. Grateful for any other ideas. It p*sses me off no end that I cannot have autonomy over what I choose to put in my body ...

Hello folks,

allow me to report back, many months later.

i did eventually buy a bike, not then but only a couple months ago... and i did go for a stingy 1800baht job from carrefour supermarket (the bikes and the service seemed better than tesco lotus, where i went first). got the bike they recommended, had the handlebar grips replaced with slightly less nasty ones and a bell added... total cost about 2k baht.

it took just a few rides around the city for me to realise it is a crap bike... screws coming loose and fairly rattly/rickety and not super comfy. Good enough for yer basic shppping trip though and ok for going, say, from sukhumvit to lumphini. but with hindsight I would have preferred something nicer.

my rationale, however, was to get back into a mode of transport that helps me keep fit and save money at the same time... and to keep it basic. I agree with posters who believe that for 12k or 18k baht you had better buy a battered old 110cc honda dream/wave or something along those lines. def. more bang for your baht when it comes to transport... but none of the keep-fit benefits...

If I could spend my 2k baht again I would go for a bike from a small local shop, thai-made, not the dodgy ones form those supermarkets, which have totally inferior parts made in china and merely assembled in thailand. I didn't know any bike shop near my home when i bought my bike, otherwise i would have. I would then also have supported a small family-run shop and not a multinational chain with questionable ethics and staff that have zero know-how and offer no after-sales service whatsoever.

live&learn, cheap lesson to pay after all