kandahar

I can't recall a regular female contributor during my tenure here.

Hopefully our boy's club image may be about to change.

I do know a very nice 'Aussie Sheila' goes to the Hash sometimes, not sure she's still about. I'm sure she can show her the ropes

She is still about. She was at the last Hash. I have her number if the newbie needs it when she hits town or I can introduce them. She doesn't spend any time on this forum, as far as I know.

'Hubby Gone' . So your a Sheila then

We do have a few western Ladies here, I'm sure they'll welcome you with open Arms.

Better take a Chaperone to the Airport with you Khandahar

I won't need a chaperon. But the wife will be with me as part of the welcoming committee if I go.

Here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/15-ladies-in-thailand/

You're still in the CR forum. There is a ladies forum available on ThaiVisa. You can open that one and then post this and get a woman's perspective and experience in the replies.

My two baht here. As the others said, store your stuff and come have a look. I also volunteer to pick you up at the airport. Lots of short term, cheap places to stay while you have a look at the rentals.

As VF said, come for a week, stay for a lifetime. That is true. At any point that it might start to look scary, the same airplanes are operating to take you back "home". So, don't come here afraid. Come for a visit and relax. You will soon find yourself at home, here, instead of there.

I am sorry to hear that you are Australian. But as some of the others from there have learned, this place can cure you and we don't hold it against you. You will be normal, like me, in no time.

PM or e-mail me from my profile page me if you need me for anything. Glad to help.

I won't flame you, Joel. Nice to see you on here. Have heard good stuff about you.

Just so you know, we all have a bit of the "flame demon" in us but we usually take that out on VF. As long as he keeps posting, I think you will be safe. If he abandons us, we'll be looking for a new whipping boy. However, jubby is next in line for that, I believe. He kind of likes it, more than VF does.

Welcome back.

I'm usually available to assist anyone who needs it. If anyone needs such help, let me know.

Woralak is being quiet. Anyone know what happened with him? Hopefully, not a bad week or month.

This is the new car post isn't it? 555 my first use.

It is indeed. I got it confused with the education thread. My apologies.

How long to wait for delivery of the car?

BBQ beef sandwiches on Tuesday for lunch here, I think. Don't forget. I'm expecting you and the little lady unless I hear different.

BTW, I am not the father of those children in the pic. But I am the guy in the pic, less the beard these days. The two children belong to a friend, a Kurdish fellow in the north of Iraq. I worked with Kurds and Peshmerga there. The father of those children sometimes brought them to work with him. Good guy, good kids. The Peshmerga were good people too, as long as they are on your side. All of the Kurdish children I met were wonderful. Most of the adults were also. Unfortunately, I am sure that some of the adults have perished since then. They pay a high price for "collaborating" and I carry some of the responsibility of that to my grave.

4. When are you going to stop by for a visit? This is all fun but it would be better in person.

At least two times a day I pass your house, by car or by bicycle.

Believe me or not, but I developed the rutine to look if I see

somebody around that looks like the daddy on your avatar as it

could be you.

By the way: I found a good electrician not far from your house.

He speaks a little bit English and did a good and clean job.

He just opened his shop.

Where?

From your house you go to the left (direction Kangaroo Bar) and

then you will find him after four hundred meters at your right.

Just in case ...

Limbo

Thanks for that. Maybe I have employed him here already. Have used several that have been recommended to me and they live in this area. I always ask the "old" uncle for recommendations. Between he and his daughter, they know all there is to know about people in this neighborhood and who is handy with what and whether or not they can get by in English.

I saw you in town on the bike yesterday or the day before. Can't recall the day for sure. Time does not register correctly in my memory. Too many drugs in my past, I suppose.

The uncle lives three or four houses towards the K bar from my driveway, left side, big fence and gate. Cousins, other aunts and uncles and such live beyond, in between and next to us, on both sides. This is the old family hill, from the days when it was still a forest with dirt trails. There is a second branch of the family, Indian, who have a large area near Ha Yak. They come pay their respects to the MIL once a year. They have the news, scuttlebutt and knowledge about their area of town. And yet a third branch, former Thai police commander descendants, live in the south eastern corner of town. Those were the days, from what I told.

Don't look for me in the driveway. Turn in, drive as far as you can go and ask for me. Almost always here.

This is a particularly good question. Glad you asked it. I'll get the info and put it on Sven's Google map next time I go unless someone beats me to it.

Thai pronunciation of the word/number five = Ha. Therefore, ha, ha , ha is replaced by some with 555.

Maybe I have to elaborate on this.

Ha, ha, ha is replaced in Thai digital language by 555!

It took me also long time to dare to ask the meaning of it.

We learn ... 555!

Limbo

"Some." Maybe I should just say that I have never used it and probably never will. I think there might be a few others in that boat. Now, THAT is an understatement.

Thank you very much for your elaboration.

I think also that the Thai readers of this forum, if any left, will

respect very much your wish to avoid anything Thai. You might loose

your identity if you wouldn't.

Avoid rice, stick to the potatoes, to say it in other words!

And I am sure that there will be more than a few, not to say a lot of

others in that boat.

I'm not sure if I should complement you for that.

Limbo

1. I can't complement you on your deduction skills. I have reread my post and I can't see how anyone with common sense can deduce that I said I avoid everything Thai. I have taken it a step further and tried to see how you could even logically rationalize what I did write, into what you say I wrote. But again, there is just no way to come to your conclusion if common sense is employed. In future thinking, try going step one, step two, step three and so on. You will probably find yourself on the winning end of evaluations a little more often. Your current pattern of step one, step seven, step eleven isn't a sound way to proceed and is no doubt a cause for unneeded embarrassment. No offence intended here. I'm just trying to bring you up to speed. "Up to speed." That is a phrase that is commonly used in some other parts of the world. I will take no offence whatsoever if the Thais do not adopt it in this country or when they visit my own. If Thais living in my country refuse to use that phrase, I doubt I'll be accusing them of not liking cheeseburgers or pizza.

2. Of course there are Thai readers of this forum.

3. It took me to the second time of seeing 555 in writing on an e-mail to inquire as to what it meant. I didn't arrive for my first visit to Thailand for another four months after that. I'm not too proud to ask for an answer to put an end to my ignorance of an item.

4. When are you going to stop by for a visit? This is all fun but it would be better in person.

I do not doubt that you have four languages under your belt but I seriously doubt that English is the fourth. More likely the second. I suspect you have miss-spoken here.

I have one language that I do well with. I have worked with natives of other countries where I couldn't find any English speakers in the workforce and did well enough learning what I had to learn of their language to get the job done correctly and safely and make lifelong friends while I was at it.

I think the Obama award showed us just how "prestigious" the Nobels are not and just how political they are. But invest yourself in such things if you need to.

I know many more common men who I respect than there are men who have received any Nobels at all. The Nobel isn't much in my book. It only elevates one or a few in each category above many others in the same category who have done work equal to, or above that, of the winners and many, many awards have been bitterly disputed within the group that performs in those separate categories. Politics and favoritism are alive and well in almost all awards, Nobel or otherwise, given for anything on this earth. That is human nature showing its faults. This paragraph is an acknowledgement of such faults and acknowledgement of the non-value that I place on awards. I have received many awards for many things in my life. They all went to the trash. I can only see them as overlooking my peers and mentors.

Thai pronunciation of the word/number five = Ha. Therefore, ha, ha , ha is replaced by some with 555.

Maybe I have to elaborate on this.

Ha, ha, ha is replaced in Thai digital language by 555!

And many foreigners living in Thailand adopted it.

So 'some' as Kandahar wished to call it, might be an understatement.

Thanks for the question anyhow.

It took me also long time to dare to ask the meaning of it.

We learn ... 555!

Limbo

"Some." Maybe I should just say that I have never used it and probably never will. I think there might be a few others in that boat. Now, THAT is an understatement.

I couldn't do a good job of explaining it. But if you're coming to town, I can meet you and you can follow me to the place. Let me know if you need that help.

If you're going for a vehicle inspection, there are two ways of getting it done. The slow way and the fast way. I can also introduce you to the "fast way" guy.

So how do you get your wife to believe you when you say you are going down to the old airport for a hamburger Limbo?

555!

That's a good one Scea!

She came to Chiang Rai one year ago, so she has

no idea what 'the old airport' meant in former days.

I try to keep it that way ...

Limbo

Can not resist anymore. What does 555 mean.

Thai pronunciation of the word/number five = Ha. Therefore, ha, ha , ha is replaced by some with 555.

Okay.

Well, I never see any of them so I must be a bit more bizarre than they are. I guess that someone who does see them should ask them if they ever see me. Then we will know for sure if I am one of them or not.

Jubby is quoted:

"Maybe I dont attract them anymore either."

The only way to avoid them is to be just a little more bizarre than they are. So, what are you telling us here?

In most of small town and rural America, the PU is king. In Texas and nearby you need a PU to fit in. May have a BMW but also has a PU in the driveway. I think the Ford F-150 PU is the best selling vechile of all time

I drive a sports car in the US so I want the closest thing I can get without paying the insane prices over here. Same reason I drive a Honda CBR and not a Shadow..

Went to Honda and they gave up almost nothing worthwhile for the top of the line City so they do not want my business. Will bite the bullet and order a Fiesta tomorrow.

I miss my Firebird in this country. That was the most fun car I ever had or will have. But economical, it wasn't. Economical makes more sense here and now than it did then and there.

I would have thought a Dodge Charger would have be more to your likeing Kd. Especially down in Hazard County

Nah. The Charger was already a "classic" at that time and the needed technology wasn't there. I wanted something newer, faster and with performance suspension. The Firebird was it. That thing went through curves like it was on rails. The cops could keep up on the straightaways but fell behind on the windy-twisty asphalt roads. The Crown Vics were just too heavy in the curves. But if you ever need to know how it turns out if you pop over a hill late at night, going way too fast and find yourself at a T intersection with a huge embankment if front of you, left me know. BTW, the airbags work but they sting when they hit you. And make sure you turn your elbows far out, right before impact. I did and saved myself from getting my arms slammed into my face.

But in my even younger days, my girlfriend had a Challenger and I didn't know anyone who could keep up with her. With the tires she kept on the thing, she could always beat the Chargers off the line and in the curves. But most of the Charger guys kept extremely over-sized tires on their cars, so they could walk away from her on long stretches when both engines were topped out. She couldn't fit the taller tires on the Challenger. I learned from that. Years later, I used the same trick on my Chevy pickup with an automatic and a 454 engine. I could stay even on the start with like vehicles but always walked away after about ten seconds.

These days, I rarely exceed 80 KMH.

In most of small town and rural America, the PU is king. In Texas and nearby you need a PU to fit in. May have a BMW but also has a PU in the driveway. I think the Ford F-150 PU is the best selling vechile of all time

I drive a sports car in the US so I want the closest thing I can get without paying the insane prices over here. Same reason I drive a Honda CBR and not a Shadow..

Went to Honda and they gave up almost nothing worthwhile for the top of the line City so they do not want my business. Will bite the bullet and order a Fiesta tomorrow.

I miss my Firebird in this country. That was the most fun car I ever had or will have. But economical, it wasn't. Economical makes more sense here and now than it did then and there.

Have never seen it. I guess I will have to now.

I drove a truck/ute/pick up in Australia and I drive one here.

I someone gets off categorising me as a typical... truck driving farang?... then who am I to deprive him of his few moments of happiness.

Imagine his joy if I could train the dog to sit in the back?

I'm not trying to deprive him of his few moments of happiness. But those "moments" ended at midnight on the day he posted and now are categorized as his "memories". So, fair game from there on.

This many days later, I was trying to educate him. I thought that today was "education day" on the CR forum. Isn't it? I'm sure it is. Someone give that guy a diploma.

Have you noticed how ferangs will drive Trucks here, but wouldn't be seen dead in one back home.Pussy Power Rules for Some. I recommend removing the Wipers, thats 2 less neighbours to take to Lotus

I haven't noticed that. Trucks are very common where I come from and the opposite is more true than the former; the opposite being that most of the "truck guys" I know at home would't be caught dead driving around in a car unless they were shuttling the family to Sunday church. All of the "manly" stuff is accomplished with the use of the truck. So, it is normal to me to see many Farang driving pickups.

Trucks are the vehicle for the independent type, in my experience. You don't need to ask somebody for help every time you move something that won't fit in the car, won't smell good in the car or would damage or stain the interior of the car. Trucks are also the vehicle for the people who provide the food, shelter, roads, bridges and other "necessary stuff" for the people of the world. Find a guy driving a pickup and you have probably found a guy who contributes to the growth of the nation. Find the guy driving the car and you have probably found the guy who earns his living consuming more than he contributes or makes his money from other people's money. There are exceptions, of course. But even when my male kin retire in the old country, they still drive trucks until they can't drive at all. You never know when you'll find a stray cat or dog that needs hauled somewhere and "Mama ain't havin' it in her car!".

At this point, I would think we all have to be admit being ignorant of something. I certainly couldn't build a space shuttle with the knowledge that I currently possess.

I am sure that having to look up "smart arse" in the dictionary is also considered being confronted by your own ignorance. I wouldn't have guessed that any English speaker, first language or not, over the age of 12, would not know what that expression means and when to use it. However, that term is usually used against an opponent in a friendly manner, when we have been "shown up" by said opponent. The term used to describe an opponent who has been "shown up" by us is "dumb arse". But don't go look it up in the dictionary. It should be self-evident if you have already looked up "smart arse" AND you have common sense.

The good news is, I won't be needing my own personal space shuttle in the near future. The better news is, I will be running across a few smart <deleted> and dumb <deleted> in my daily routines until the day I die. Again, a little less formal education and a little more experience will carry the day. It is a good thing to be on par with, and in the company of, common men and women.