oddhobbes

As a Professor at The Water Buffalo University I hereby regrettingly have to give Limey and oddhobbes an 'F' grade in WBS (Water Buffalo Science) 101. Please do not be disappointed - study harder, and you will succeed. Alternatively, you could get yourself a Ph.D in WBF (feces) from Khao San Institute of Advanced South East Asian Studies.

Respectfully,

Prof. philo,

WBU

As a Professor at the Another Free Cursus University (AFCU) I hereby happilly give philo an 'A' grade in AFC 101 (Analytical Functions of Cryptography, or something of the like), which is probably the one subject you'll excel at since I don't understand a word of what you're saying. But that's cool, 'cause I'm guessing we're not speaking the same language.

PS: No more participation on this thread. It breaks my Tao and doesn't improve my Thai. Best of luck

Thanks to the OP for his well intentioned post, but this advice really only applies for places like KaoSan road clubs (Lava) and Sukhumvit 11 (Bed, Qbar).

And even then you're more likely to end up with a prostitute anyway, on her time of from the Ratchada massage parlor. PARTICULARLY if she's buying you drinks.

Are there really cities with that kind of prostitution percentage? I've never been to the places you mention, but that sounds hard to believe (and I live in one of the prostitution meccas of Europe)... Poor rich girls.

Then again, a stripper is only a stripper when she's working for your money. If she's off and buying YOU drinks that places her more in the goddess category

More points to the OP for the strategic use of the non-offensive euphemism "Are you working?". Think about that for a while, or better yet try it and see how it works for you. How many girls you can write off in 5 minutes of talk. How many more will be instantly interested because they now know you understand what's going on...

At least in my city they sit behind a window with red lights, that makes it easier! My two cents.

Seriously funny thread. I am wondering why so many of you are reading this if you are NOT looking for advice. I myself, was checking whether this was part of the sect I expected it to be, and had quite some good laughs along the way. It is part of that sect, but I mean no disrespect, Christianity is a sect, and so is Buddhism, Capitalism, Communism and so on). Girls are the same everywhere, just the details change and it is very useful to know you need to be more careful in Thailand because the sex business is so much larger there.

When a guy tells you to wear a condom while strolling the park, be smart enough not to take it seriously. When he says that he doesn't collect belt markings, don't take that seriously either. I'd be willing to bet he lays more interesting ladies than 90% of you combined. And by interesting I mean exactly what was described (not ladyboys, not hookers [a drink for a elephant sound is not being a hooker or most girls and all guys would be hookers, you tell them that...], interested in you for your personality and not for the pictures of the King in your ceiling and the cash in your drawers). And they probably like him more for it too. As for the remaining 10%, well, you either speak proficient Thai and/or are lucky to be naturally good with women, but probably not very smart or you'd realize that you do the same things instinctively without having to think about it or plan it (in which case you'd shut the <deleted>** up). And I mean you're lucky because I'm not sure you'd be smart enough to understand and use the advice if you didn't have the right instincts.

For any ladies reading this thread, take a step back and ask yourself why it is that a girl will only buy a guy a drink if she's desperate or really really likes him? Think about why it is that a girl will rarely start a conversation with a guy, and usually places all the burden of starting the conversation on him. Try to see the sex wars from the other side, and I'm sure you'll realize this kind of advice balances the playing field a bit. I'm sure you don't like it when it's printed, but when it's done right, ohhh well, you will be obsessively asking your girlfriends why it is that this guy is acting so unpredictably different from all other guys and why you can't control him like you can the other losers. It's not about ego, but self-respect.

By the way, pardon the abuse, which really does not become me. But after so much one-sided insult I couldn't resist...

Steve, I appreciate the effort anyway, will make good use of it when I visit Southeast Asia

I am also considering a Thai script tattoo, as I believe it to be one of the most beautifully rendered scripts humans ever used.

Instead of my name however, I'd like a translation of the Buddhist-influenced sentence: "keep your mind like calm water", or maybe just "mind like calm water" for conciseness. Google translates them as เก็บใจของคุณต้องการน้ำสงบ and ใจชอบน้ำนิ่ง respectively. If a native speaker would be so kind as to confirm that the translations make sense within the language (or tell me of an alternative phrasing that better captures the meaning in different words), I would greatly appreciate it.

It would also be of great help if anyone can point me to a place where I can find free fonts that render Thai script well for tatooing purposes.

Thanks in advance for any help given.

Pedro

PS: I can't help but feel in awe of the kindness and effort placed here, to help non-speakers out with things as 'trivial' as tattoos. Still, who wants to get them wrong?! ;-)

เก็บใจของคุณต้องการน้ำสงบ and ใจชอบน้ำนิ่ง, both don't make sense for what you want.

"keep your mind like calm water" - Literally translation should be "ทำใจของคุณให้สงบดั่งน้ำนิ่ง"

But "ทำใจให้สงบนิ่ง" would sound much better in my opinion.

Thank you so much for your kindness and promptness Yoot. I like the elegance of "ทำใจให้สงบนิ่ง", particularly the connotation of accepting or coming to grips with it, which is not conveyed well in the original. However, I will humbly ask whether you believe we may have lost one of the meanings of the sentence (please take no offense in my ignorance...). In my interpretation, the original sentence means to silence the mind and thereby attain inner peace, but also to reflect/perceive the Universe untainted of preconception and prejudice (as a pool of calm water reflects it's surroundings accurately, with no distortion). If "ทำใจให้สงบนิ่ง" does not capture both meanings, can you see a better way to say it than the literal translation?

By the way, I think I solved my font finding issue at www.f0nt.com (for those who may be interested).

I am also considering a Thai script tattoo, as I believe it to be one of the most beautifully rendered scripts humans ever used.

Instead of my name however, I'd like a translation of the Buddhist-influenced sentence: "keep your mind like calm water", or maybe just "mind like calm water" for conciseness. Google translates them as เก็บใจของคุณต้องการน้ำสงบ and ใจชอบน้ำนิ่ง respectively. If a native speaker would be so kind as to confirm that the translations make sense within the language (or tell me of an alternative phrasing that better captures the meaning in different words), I would greatly appreciate it.

It would also be of great help if anyone can point me to a place where I can find free fonts that render Thai script well for tatooing purposes.

Thanks in advance for any help given.

Pedro

PS: I can't help but feel in awe of the kindness and effort placed here, to help non-speakers out with things as 'trivial' as tattoos. Still, who wants to get them wrong?! ;-)