BarnicaleBob

Yes there are a few of us in Chiang Mai, not only from America but also from other western countries. I just had my second retirement as an LEO from a Florida department about two years ago after a 32 year career. If you are interested in networking or just having someone who understands to talk to, PM me and I will give you my contact information.

Good to know the VFW is actively solicting new members. You may wish to post on the CM Events subforum at the top of this page. Those postings are less active and your posting will stay on the first page of the forum much longer.

I'd love to know more about any programs you have for the spouses of VFW members. Hubby went to a couple of meetings and came back to report that everything was all rather militaristic (in terms of the way they addressed each other) and that everyone had a Thai spouse or girlfriend. He said there was no way for Americans married to other natural-born Americans to get involved.

Meanwhile, we've joined the Royal British Legion, in part because they seem more willing to accept the involvement of women who can speak English as a native language. (Although, frankly, we have trouble understand some of them when they speak!)

Nancy and any other American woman who are married to a member of the VFW; Yes there is a group of VFW members Thai wives that meet but they are not really an official VFW sanctioned group and their goals are not consistent with that of a VFW women's auxiliary. According to the VFW National by-laws there can be a women's auxiliary but it must be composed of U.S. citizens. So if there is enough interest by American wives of our local post (this would include Thai wives with dual citizenship) then they can come together and file for an official women's auxiliary group. Non-American wives would be able to participate in their activities and meetings but would not have voting privileges. At this time I know of at least three other wives that are citizens so you would make four and I am sure a few more are out there.

If you are interested in forming a women's auxiliary group our Post Commander or one of the other officers will be able to help you set this up. We sure could use the additional support of an organized auxiliary group.

Some time ago I set up this Group on facebook to try and help, I made it open to everyone and I got nothing but hassle from people saying it should be a closed group. So I made it a closed group and made everyone admin so they could invite friends to join and add their blood group, again nothing but hassle that I had done this. So I just thought sod it and left people to do what they wanted with it. I've just checked and you now have some woman that caused most of the hassle spamming it to sell her <deleted>. I think it is a good idea to have a group and it could save someone's life but it seems that Chiang mai people are above such things. I would gladly join a group on here and be available to give blood should the occasion arise.

Larry the Senior Vice Commander of the Chiang Mai VFW Post 12074 is in the process of finding a way to set up a blood register and when the details are worked out we will find a way to keep everything confidential but when a need arises we will be able to contact people with matching blood types in the register and tell them where their blood is needed. That way nothing will be on a public form and there will be a central organization with several contact numbers of a select few trusted members for people to call in an emergency. We could make this contact list available to local hospitals or any other place that would need it.

Directions and events for Patrick Webb.

Leaving Chaing Mai going East on highway 1006, street that runs Easterly by the train station and from Narawat Bridge, head towards Bo Sang, town just before you come to San Kamphaeng. At Bo Sang you will come to a 4 way intersection with a traffic light. This is the intersection of 1006 and 1014. If you turn left you will go into the town of Bo Sang. DO NOT TURN. Continue east through the intersection and drive 1/2 kilometer to a Soi on the left. (There will be a sign on the street indicating Pat's viewing location, language to be used unknown). Turn South into the Soi and continue south .3 kilometer to the

Wat on the left. You can't miss it. It has a newly painted orangish wall and just past a picture of the King.

• Monday - Wednesday, 12 - 14 Sept. 2011

The Monks will start their service at approximately 7 pm and should take about 30 - 40 minutes. Pat's wife will arrive at the Wat at about 5 pm. So everyone may start showing up at that time if you want to chat with friends and pay your respects. All are invited

• Thursday, 15 Sept, 2011

On the day of the cremation the Monks will be served lunch at 11:00 am. After they have finished their lunch, food and beverage will be served.

The Monks will give another service off Chants after lunch. The VFW Post 12074 will present it's final service to Comrade Webb just after that. Cremation to be at approximately 2 pm. To visit with Pat's wife and chat with friends come early. 10 am is a good starting time.

Larry Edmonds

Senior Vice CommanderVFW Post 12074Chiang Mai, Thailand

That is a right turn to the south not left

Urgent update, BKK now said they do not have B Negative blood so now it may be days before they can find it now. Please call tonight if you or anyone have and can donate B negative blood.

An American expat is in distress and needs your help. Anyone of you happen to have B Neg Type blood. He is in the hospital with severe internal bleeding. He has lost a large amount of blood. Chiang Mai Ram1 does not have this blood in stock. It will be tomorrow before they will get it from BKK. If anyone has B Neg blood and can donate to him, it will be greatly appreciated. Call 083 201 1062 or email me back. Please email or call your friends and ask for their help.

Larry Edmonds Senior Vice Commander VFW Post 12074

I find the possible Russian connection interesting. The scam these fellows were involved in appears to be the same scam that I have seen other Russians run in America. Having had to deal with such gangs back in the States I would think that these young fellows are just the mid to low level members of a much larger Russian run organization operating here in Thailand.

Members of these types of Russian organized crime do not easily give confessions unless they are ordered to by their higher ups so as to end investigations and to keep the police off the upper management of the organization. If I were a Thai cop I would be looking for the connection to who is really pulling the strings, find out who is paying for the suspect’s attorneys, who is paying their bond (if there is any), who is coming to visit them.

There are other signs the Thai police should look for such as tattoos, do any of these fellows have similar tattoos which would indicate an organized Russian crime family?

In summary, it is possible that these fellows were ordered to punish the victim and if they got caught they followed the standing order to admit they did it and to deny any affiliation with the crime family that they are members of. In the end these fellows will be compensated by their bosses or they will be terminated as being too great of a risk.

All this rain today is my fault, I should have know this would happen when I washed my car.

I had been thinking of sending my TW to AUA to bring up her English skills but if they have a double standard of not treating Thai students fairly by not honoring their advertisements such as this free course was suppose to be I think I will look elsewhere. I hope the OP keeps us updated if there is any change in the attitude of AUA in this matter. Meanwhile can anyone suggest another school for adult Thais to sharpen their English skills? Shame on AUA

Maybe there aren't any because most of us have moved to the moobans beyond the ring roads. There are at least 30 farangs in my mooban and we see them walking around all the time.

barnaclebob.

re .. Can someone please post maps on where the Butter is Better locations are?

here ya go .

the green arrow is the nim city branch of airport plaza rimping

the blue ... is the chang clan road branch

enjoy ... dave2

Beautiful map and thank you Dave 2, I think I will be having a Coney Island Chili dog tomorrow.

OK, I can’t stand it anymore, my tummy is growling for a Coney Island Chili dog. Can someone please post maps on where the Butter is Better locations are?

what's the difference between the red ones and the ordinary ones ?

I don't know if this is what Dustoff wants it for but red ginseng is reported to have strong antioxidant properties and has been used as a alternate treatment for lung cancer.

If you are thinking of living in the Chiang Mai area you should be able to find therapy for you child. I see your main problem is going to be getting her around in a wheelchair. Thailand is not a handicapped friendly place but, I have noticed some attempts in some places to become handicapped accessible. Mostly in the larger department stores but sometimes I see really dumb attempts where there is a ramp into a business but you have to navigate an 8 inch curb to get onto the sidewalk in front of the business. However, being that your child will always have an adult pushing her around you should be able to get around many places with a little bit of work.

I am not sure what you want if you have no money.

If you think you have a lung problem the costs at SriPat are not insignifigent but they are reasonable. They have at least one excellent lung specialist.

If you are in more urgent need of treatment and have some money but limited go to Suan Dork (Maharaj) and you will receive good treatment but not necessarily Lung Function Scans at reasonable cost.

Thank you. This is not an urgent care issue. This is for obtaining evidence for my VA pension upgrade. I need a full lung volume test. Just can't afford it this month is all.

Thanks for the info!

I agree that Sripat would be a good choice, the doctors speak English and they are inexpensive compared to some places like Ram. Remember when you get the test to ask the doctor to write the evaluation in English and to state that it is caused by the illness you are filing for with the VA. The VA can be a bit particular about not approving things if the doctor's statement does not name the exact illness you are claiming you have and if that illness is listed or not as a result of your military service. In your case I would guess maybe Agent Orange or asbestos exposure.

Once you get your approval you may want to start getting your treatment at Ram as price will not matter to you because the VA will cover it. The local VFW has also set up a system with RAM and a couple of other hospitals for those who are already on VA to get your treatment without having to pay up front and for them to bill the VA directly. But to get this service this you must go through the Chiang Mai VFW service officer first. This will save you a lot of out of pocket money once you are covered by the VA.

Wow, Thanks everyone for your help! @BarnicaleBill, Thanks especially for the helpful information. I am currently at 60% and applying for TDIU but the VA is being difficult. They are saying because I haven't had the correct amount of asthma attacks per year that I'm ineligible. Kind of a (Haha) moment as I don't have asthma but my lungs were burned due to inhaling harmful chemicals. So they are now requiring a full Lung volume test. The info about the VFW is extremely helpful. I am leaving Thailand in September for Montenegro. I wonder if there is something similar there. Haven't seen hide nor hair of any expat forums for there but i'm sure they exist.

Again,

Thank you all for the awesome help!

You're welcome and good luck with your claim, also the closest VFW post to Montenegro would be in Italy so you will have to depend on the expat community for help there. Montenegro, interesting choice to move to let us know how it works out.

I am not sure what you want if you have no money.

If you think you have a lung problem the costs at SriPat are not insignifigent but they are reasonable. They have at least one excellent lung specialist.

If you are in more urgent need of treatment and have some money but limited go to Suan Dork (Maharaj) and you will receive good treatment but not necessarily Lung Function Scans at reasonable cost.

Thank you. This is not an urgent care issue. This is for obtaining evidence for my VA pension upgrade. I need a full lung volume test. Just can't afford it this month is all.

Thanks for the info!

I agree that Sripat would be a good choice, the doctors speak English and they are inexpensive compared to some places like Ram. Remember when you get the test to ask the doctor to write the evaluation in English and to state that it is caused by the illness you are filing for with the VA. The VA can be a bit particular about not approving things if the doctor's statement does not name the exact illness you are claiming you have and if that illness is listed or not as a result of your military service. In your case I would guess maybe Agent Orange or asbestos exposure.

Once you get your approval you may want to start getting your treatment at Ram as price will not matter to you because the VA will cover it. The local VFW has also set up a system with RAM and a couple of other hospitals for those who are already on VA to get your treatment without having to pay up front and for them to bill the VA directly. But to get this service this you must go through the Chiang Mai VFW service officer first. This will save you a lot of out of pocket money once you are covered by the VA.

Locanda used to be closed on Tuesdays, that might still be the case.

Hubby and I went and had a great time, unlike last year where the long wait in the hot sun for the food really tried our patience.......

.......

Areas for improvement:

- Fireworks show was nice, but too quick. Maybe should have been slowed down so we could gasp at each display.

- Toilets and hand washing stations -- the organizers know this is a problem and their supplier let them down. They need to have someone assigned to potty patrol full time during the event to make sure the western toilets aren't locked by the staff at the park and are stocked with soap and paper at all times. Also, someone should have personally inspected the proposed portable facilities rather than accept the

supplier's word they were western.

- Signage at the event -- if we hadn't gone in previous years, we wouldn't have known where to go upon entering the complex. Also needed signs to toilets.

- Sound system volume was often way too high to conduct conversation. They tried to respond to this complaint. Maybe have more speakers to distribute sound more evenly rather than blasting out of just a

couple of speakers.

- Could have done without the Thai vocalist mangling American songs. Maybe stick with a DJ and recordings from American artists.

- Publicity of the event -- many of my friends didn't come. They were expecting to see announcements at least six weeks before and to be given a chance to buy tickets at Expats club meeting.

- Would be nice to have an American military color guard, but this isn't essential.

All in all, this event was well done and I think they organizers have the right attitude about accepting "criticism" as really suggestions for areas of improvement. I hope that next year the VFW can rejoin in a limited way. It would be nice if they sold American beverages as a fund-raiser for the VFW and perhaps arranged for an American military color guard.

Thank you for all of the input Nancy L, all of your areas of improvement have been duly noted and will be discussed at our wrap-up meeting this week.

I do want to note that CK reached out to several groups, including the US CONSULATE folks, for a proper MILITARY COLOR GUARD for this event, but unfortunately none was to be found or available this year. We were really hoping to preserve the tradition of presenting the colors properly; maybe next year this element can be restored.

And yes, we are also hoping the VFW Post can rejoin the festivities in a more tangible manner in the future; they bring a lot to the table!

It was a pleasure serving all who attended!

-CKGUY

Ps. on your friends not coming I blame you NancyL... they're your friends... you should've dragged them all along with you!!! I jest of course!

CK Guy, Just so you will know for your wrap up meeting next week I agree 100% with all of NancyL's findings, she is right on the money in all she said.

OK, I am giving this up as a lost cause not worth the time and effort to pursue it given that there most likely would not be a refund anyway. I will mark this incident up as a lesson learned, I should have asked my wife if she had changed her name on her bank account before sending more money. The thing that bothered me most was that I am in Thailand and did this transfer over my banks website then went to the Bangkok Bank with my wife and they would not give her or me the money in spite of them saying they had the money on hold in their banking system, we has all of her current and former ID and the fact it was still the same account number. They could have just handing me my money back right there rather than sending it back to my account in the U.S.

But I should have known common sense is not well known over here. So from now on I guess I am back to just using the ATM again, lesson learned.

So this subject can be closed now as far as I am concerned.

I went to the Rimping in town by the Ping River today and purchased two tubs of ricotta cheese, they also had a nice selection of other cheese soft and hard on display.

I think you have a good idea there and should go ahead and do it. I owned a brick home in Florida which has about the same climate as Chiang Mai, I installed a whole house fan and it worked very well for me there so I see no reason for it not to work for you here.

I attempted to transfer a $1,000.00 from my bank in the U.S. to my wife's account at the Bangkok Bank in Thailand. Because she had changed her last name (due to getting married) on the account and I sent the money to the correct account but in her maiden name the Bangkok Bank would not let the transfer go into her account. Bangkok Bank told her that they would send the money back to my account in the U.S. My bank in the U.S. had originally charged me a transfer fee but when the money came back they returned the fee. However, Bangkok Bank only sent back $968.00, I called my bank and they confirmed that was all the Bangkok Bank sent me. So it appears the Bangkok Bank has charged me $32.00 for not excepting the transfer. If the money did not go through how could they do that? Has anyone else ever had this problem and if so were you ever able to get Bangkok Bank to explain why they took money from you without rendering any service to you? Any suggestions on how to proceed to get my $32.00 back would be welcome.

Seeing how you guys offered,... I was denied a medical claim after I retired from the army with 20 years of service. Do you think you can help with that? I have been retired since 2003.

I use to work on army nukes for 8 years and the Patriot missile system for 8 years. By the time I finished those 2 jobs I had pernicious anemia and hypothyroidism. I retired about 4 years after I was diagnosed. I have my medical records with me in Chiang Mai.

Thank you for helping.

Please send me a PM with your contact information and I will ask our service officer to set up a meeting with you. Or, just come to our meeting next Saturday morning at the Dukes Riverside at 10:30 am and ask for our service officer.

they may stand ready, however they didn't even reply to my E-mail or post

I'm sorry to hear that you did not get a reply from your e-mail. We have had some difficulties during the past few months due to our webmaster having been in the hospital. Please PM me if you have any questions or if there is anything the VFW can do to help you.

Another option Bob, would be to try some online resources: www.101languages.net/norwegian might be a good starting point or www.verbalplanet.com/learn-norwegian.asp

That was very helpful and it looks like the best thing so far. However, if a native speaker shows up and wants to earn a little extra cash, I would still be interested. Thanks for the links.