trainman34014

sigh.

I need an oven. I miss cookies and brownies and breads, oh my.

Bought my oven three months ago and baking cakes every week. Brownies have become my most regular habit and I'm about to try making bread, so I will be trying the aforementioned recipe's. Does all this make me fatter? Well, it would if I didn't ride my Bicycle around for longer than I used to but another kilo or two is not a bad price to pay for all the flavours and textures I am creating which you just cannot buy here.

Just thought I would let everyone know I got my Yellow Book today after a reasonably painless process. Had to wait 2 hours at Immigration when told 40 minutes and then got ripped for 500 baht but the letter is signed by a policeman after all !!

No problems at Amphur Hang Dong but I needed two witnesses other than my wife but they could both be members of her family who knew me. Cost....another 500 baht.

To all those who helped me with advice....a big thank you.

Im not sure about the sausages but their butter croissants cooked fresh every hour would be a treat with a bit of bacon/sausage in them

you would but bacon and sausage in a croissant ?

you have been in thailand to long my friend lol dont you think that might be a bit sweet thats like butting sugger on toast yuk

What are you on about? Been eating croissant's for years in the UK with savoury fillings. Even melt cheese on top of ham or bacon and plonk slices of tomato between the meat and the cheese. Still doing it in Thailand although the croissant's are a little sweeter here than in Europe. Doesn't stop me indulging though.

We at Sausage King at Experts in many cures However all supermarket and makro bacon is brine cured and pumped with brine to get the weight up. Weight = extra profit that the customer will lose in the frying pan as you will see the water coming out while cooking it in the pan and you will see what Quality bacon you have bought. It will shrink and have white brine coming out while cooking, If they dry cure it then it will keep the taste in the bacon and the size of your bacon will keep most of its size. Why do most companys not dry cure ok well example 1,000kg of pork in a dry cure will come out as 900kg when cured because the dry cure sucks the water out. The wet brine cure 1.000kg pork to start and then pumped with brine cure before they put in a brine to cure. Results = 1,200kg in weight gain = lots of extra profit but not fair to the customer, most supermarket hams are the same. Rob/sk

The frozen streaky bacon sold in Macro is the best I have tasted in Thailand.Although it is sold for the restaurant trade in kilo packs, it is not difficult to partly thaw and repack in smaller quantities.The price is much better than all of its competitors.

Pumping up Bacon is nothing new in the UK and Europe in general and a lot of Supermarket bacon is so treated. Huge amounts come in like it from Denmark and Holland in particular and the latter is also a big supplier of pumped up Chicken portions as well. More water=more money and to hell with the customer.

What were you thinking? Why didn't you just wallet your Thai ATM card until you came back? Best thing to do in my opinion is ring your Thai bank and tell them to cancel your card right away. You can always get a new one one you get back.

After all that has been said about P&P, decided we should give it a go tonight. Booked earlier in the day by phone and asked if it was ok to bring our own wine as we had some left over from a New Zealand trip. No problem and we will let you use our glasses said they, and they were good to their word on that score.

I had the Lasagne with Egg Plant and my pal had the Ravioli and the girls had a 14in Pizza between them. We had a big plate of extra Garlic Bread between us.

Firstly the price; well it was cheap for what we had and you can't argue with the menu prices at all in my opinion. Chang for 40 Baht a bottle is cheap for any eating place so nowt wrong with booze prices either.

As for the quality and service...the Lasagne and Ravioli were top notch but the Pizza, which arrived almost 20 minutes after the other two, was not worth the wait. I've seen and tasted better in far more down market cafe's so that was hard on the girls who had been built up to believe they were going to get a very special Pizza. Guv busy talking to others so will go back and talk about things another day and just not order Pizza ! Service no problem except for the long wait for the Pizza. I've lost count of the times half of the order has been delivered up to half an hour before the other half in Thailand restaurants. Don't they know how to keep things hot until the rest is ready?, or do they think that half of us want to finish before the other half start? Thai minds !

All in all; we will return but only now and again. After Mr Chans and a good few other places it's quite a way down the list of yummy places to visit.

It's a sad fact that 'Third World' or 'Developing' countries treat animals badly and such things have been highlighted on many occasions on TV documentaries, particularly in the West, where we tend to take animal care and handling as a serious matter. I don't think we can assume that things will improve much unless some form of pressure is applied from outside such as has happened from Australia recently in the case of the Indonesian cattle debacle.

Can we really expect people who don't even know how to treat their own offspring properly to treat animals with respect? Example....letting 10 and 12 year old kids ride around on Motorbikes without helmets or even tuition, and quite often with up to 4 on a bike, or making child labour's work for many gruelling hours to feed families etc. Until such people learn to treat other Humans with respect and compassion; which will be a long time coming, we cannot expect them to care about the rights of animals.

Bla bla bla....seems we've heard this song before. Over the last three years they have constantly talked about new aircraft while other

(cheaper ) airlines have actually got on and done it. Thai are way over priced on almost all routes out of Thailand but you can get cheap returns from Europe and that's how they fill up their old clapped out bangers with tourists on return tickets.

Get well soon Gonzo.....we miss you.

I hear Clorox Bleach works wonders on them.....

I saw a bumper sticker once, it read:

"A cat almost always blinks....when hit on the head with a ball pean hammer."

Same goes for Humans I would think !

The answer is to check the bill before you pay....my GF ALWAYS scrutinizes EVERY bill to the last satang....being honest, it annoys me sometimes....but hey, ensures there are no mistakes!

Yep , same here, my Mrs won't let me pay a cent until she's checked everything, and then she checks the change as well. She wont leave a tip if she suspects any mistakes or foul play because she says they all want to 'cheat' if they can. These Thai's can be hard on their own people !

Here you go. Get two jobs done at once...

How to scrub a toilet

1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl.

2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.

3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close the lid. You may need to stand on the lid.

4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds.. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.

5. Flush the toilet three or four times This provides a 'power-wash' and rinse'.

6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.

7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift the lid.

8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.

9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean.

Yours Sincerely,

The Dog

Blimey Ian ! Sounds a bit hairy to say the least. Back in Blighty I used to get them used to bathing in a plastic bowl on the lawn with a hose pipe for rinsing but that's ok if you have them from tiny Kittens and they learn to know what's going to happen. Sticking any animal down the Loo and closing the lid may well be viewed as cruel in the West and we would probably get arrested !

Thanks lads for all the useful info' so far.

Just to correct you, they drive on the correct side of the road. Well, some of the time, some of the time they don't know and the rest of the time they hedge their bets!

Absolutely correct ! Being English I would say they do drive on the right side of the road in general, but I am constantly meeting people coming towards me who are driving on the wrong side of the road, even on dual carriageways. It's just something that we get used to here.

You two forgot to mention on the sidewalks to.

For myself that is different and I can appreciate it. Well so far it has been a very up beat thread let us hope others put in there two baht worth. All appreciated I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised that cost was not the number one item so far. I feel like it has a limitless supply of good things to enjoy and it is up to me to do so. n Only fly in the ointment is I don't have a vehicle or any desire to get one. Some day I will just hire a car to take me and my camera around the out lying areas and enjoy them also, also I will stop at a road side Thai cafe and see what I get.. I know it is not as good as a motorbike but that is some thing I will have to live with. Thanks for the posts. I am getting the feeling that it is the little things that make it so wonderful. All added up they become monstrous. Keep them coming

I have a Car but I have a Bicycle too and ride every day for two hours. I guess I am lucky because I live out of town and have a multitude of lanes and small roads to cycle around. I take a different route every day and in three years I have never had a dull moment. Always something new to see and the locals are mainly friendly. I have taken many photo's of wonderful things and I enjoy taking photo's of people around homes and their work and taking them along prints later which I give them. This brings many offers of food and drink as well as people who want to chat when they can. Some folks talk of boredom being the main danger here but for myself I can say that boring is never a word I could use about Chiang Mai and its surrounding area.

I'm sure there are some experienced people out there who have taken in stray cats, probably too many in some cases ! Anyway; we've had this cat coming to our house now for a couple of weeks every day and sleeping under our car. He/She appears to be very thin and undernourished and is also very nervous but seems to like the quietness of our abode. Wifey wants to start feeding and 'adopt' and I've had many a cat in the West but I'm worried about how to keep it clean for the house etc. I don't know anything about what jabs are available or if I can get Flea Collar/Powder in Chiang Mai. What I really need is someone with prior knowledge of all the required info' to give me a heads up on the best way forward with a view to making this cat a companion.

Just to correct you, they drive on the correct side of the road. Well, some of the time, some of the time they don't know and the rest of the time they hedge their bets!

Absolutely correct ! Being English I would say they do drive on the right side of the road in general, but I am constantly meeting people coming towards me who are driving on the wrong side of the road, even on dual carriageways. It's just something that we get used to here.

I thought this gripe was posted just a week or so ago? Although I'm not sure what you want TV members to do about it? Perhaps you're just trying to be a good citizen by warning your fellows not to patronise the shop in question?

Of course, being a 'Newbie' to the forum, you might, just might, be a rival in the furniture business and trying to direct potential customers away from a competitor. I've seen lot of such tactics before used on one of my own sites.

Btw, no disrespects, but if the bony settee in the photo is, as you refer to it, 'a very expensive sofa', then you have yet another reason to be peeved with the store I suppose you could also be one of TV's army of trolls whose purpose is to try and liven up a sleepy forum of a quiet Sunday afternoon Then again, maybe not. I mean, someone's grubby couch is hardly going to stir up a storm, is it now

Rightio, must dash, but thanks for the entertainment nonetheless :jap:

Aitch

You call this 'entertainment' !!

Found quite a large Black Scorpion in my garden earlier and having never found one before I went to Thai wife and asked are they deadly? 'Yes, Kill it' came the response so off I goes and sends it to the promised land. Now I have just read about them on Siam Info' and they are not dangerous, their sting being no worse than a Bee or Wasp. Furthermore it says they are endangered and should not be killed but released into the wild. After telling wifey about this I was informed that they don't taste any good when cooked so Thai people just kill them because they are no use !

Really am waiting for them to try this at a wrong place, i.e. with bigger connection than them.

They already know, or are tipped off by the BIB, which establishments are 'connected' and would never go near them.

My bill is usually around 220-300 max. I water a good sized garden daily and we have a baby so the washing machine is being used on an almost daily basis. We use a LOT of water. But the highest the bill has ever been is 300 - moobaan water - Sansai.

Moobahn water Hang Dong. First 2 Units 30 Baht after that about 8 Baht per unit. Just 2 of us in a Bungalow and the highest bill I've ever paid was 182 Baht and that was April 2010 when it was really hot and the gardens needed more water. Even when I had builders in doing an extension and they seemed to be using water for fun my bill was still only 152 Baht. Bargain I reckon, as is our Electricity too.

Yes, I've taken a motorbike taxi to get out there, and they are quite inexpensive. But there is also a public bus into town, and it can be researched on the Web.

PS So long as we're sharing, I'd be happy to hear how one gets from the northern bus terminal down to the southern one - located so far east as it is. Those connections in town are often forbidding for me!

Best way between the bus stations is taxi, usually about 130 baht and hang on to your braces, although I did have a lady driver once and she was very careful and drove at sensible speeds. Never seen one since !

After 'goggling' wind chimes I just didnt know how expensive they could be.

Wind Chimes 'tuned' to produce melodies...gregorian chants...amazing grace.......

made to suit the 'harmony' of your house....baritone...soprano....temple drums....

Manufactured from 'tuned'tubes of metal,wood,ceramic etc etc.

And all I wanted was a pleasing 'tinkle'.....and the prices !!! Can you imagine paying $400 for one??

Guess I can do without

Seen the metal types you refer to at Sanpatong Cow Market on a Saturday and I seem to recall seeing them at the Sunday street market once or twice. Good luck in your search.

You folks better get seat belts installed in all your chairs if they/you are shaking now. It is very likely going to get a lot worse in the near future years.

It really will get a whole lot worse if Governments and huge Conglomerates don't start thinking about feeding people and stop thinking about profits; which lets face it, isn't going to happen. There is a massive food shortage crisis looming and we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg at the moment. All you Miracle Whip freaks had better get stocked up before it reaches 500 Baht a jar!

Having lived here with my Thai wife for more than 3 years I thought it was about time I got a Yellow book which appears to be useful in certain situations. Went to Amphur Hang Dong and they told us that I need to go to immigration to get a letter from them first but didn't know what immigration would require from me to get said letter !

Anybody out there know what immigration will require to save me going up there and not having the right gear with me?

Have you tried adjusting the screen resolution? BTW, the next time you ask for help, specify which operating system you're using. It'll make it a lot easier for others to troubleshoot.

Windows 7:

How to Change the Screen Resolution

How to Change the Color Bit Depth

How to Change the Display DPI Size

Windows XP:

How To Adjust the Screen Resolution

How To Adjust the Color Quality Setting

How To Change the DPI Settings

Sorry; I'm not good with computers, I'm using Windows XP.

Now tried to adjust Screen resolution but Slider is on 640x480 pixels but will not be moved. Says it should be higher but just won't be shifted. What to do?

Did anyone else watch Barcelona dismantle Manchester United? Barcelona controlled 70% of the play and out shot United 10 to one. Final score of 3 to 1 was not indicative of the play. It could have been 5 or 6 to one. Only Rooney seemed to show up for United. Rooney scored the lone goal for United and missed another. That was the sum total of Manchester's offense. Man U kept trying the long ball through to someone they hoped might get open and it was totally ineffective. By contrast, Barcelona played tick-tack-toe with the ball for 90 minutes and continually beat Manchester to the ball. It was an entertaining match but not so much if you were a Man U fan. Manchester came out strong, but the game quickly turned in Barcelona's favour and stayed that way for the remainder of the game.

Which just goes to show what I've always said: Man.Utd. are crap.

Not sure there is any other side in the world who would have done significantly better last night.. And to Man U's credit, they didn't go negative, playing two strikers. Also it was a remarkably clean game, which is nice to see that that's possible, also when the stakes can't get any higher.

In my 65 years I don't think I've seen a better club side than the current Barcelona. Massive gulf in class was evident on the pitch last night and I don't think Utd knew how to cope with Messi&Co' once they got into their stride. There is rumour that Ronaldo will be returning to Old Trafford during the summer but that is only one of several top class players that Utd need. Whilst the likes of Scholes, Giggs etc have always given a huge amount during their years at the club it is time for new blood to be brought in and for some of the old faces to bow out. If Chelsea had not of hit a bad patch of form mid-season,Utd would not have won the league and in almost every game I saw them play on TV they looked well beatable. Too many teams over respect them and don't attack them enough.