Sporting Dog

...and remember, if she has kids they have to do the health check too!

I can't offer any advice but do wish you good luck.

Remember to stay focussed on the goal you want to achieve, only fight when there's something worth winning, and you may have to lose a few battles to win the war.

Good luck.

...or 12.5 mins in one of the old clapped out taxis from next to Trang train station ....or be a real thrillseeker and take a bus with Somchai Yaabaa at the wheel, about 8 mins!!

Kantang is a port, fishing town with lots of smelly fish factories. Me and the missus used to nip down there from Trang (30mins on the honda wave) to get fish, vegies and palaa at the markets!! Go stay in Trang....more hotels and not that far from Kantang. The area is good for a holiday because there's the mountains and the islands (Muk etc) not far away. I really enjoyed living in the area.

I've arrived early quite a few times and just go to the hotel, check-in and get the room without waiting. They've always had a room for me...often when you book they ask what flight you're on .... maybe they take it into account.

If they don't let you check in, slump in the foyer, crack open the duty free and start getting rowdy, I'm sure a room will become availabe.

I get anxiety too....I don't go to bed until I'm tired, cut down on coffee, and exercise is probably the thing that helps the most. I think long hours in front of a computer doesn't help

I did take some medication a few years ago - aropax I think, and it helped (I stopped it after 3 months). However before that I used to FEAR going to bed.

Now when I do get anxious (with the chest pains, carotid artery thump on the pillow) I try and just tell myself that if I die, c'est la vie. (seriously - what else can you do but accept it.....and go to sleep.) I hope you can sort it out because its really horrible.

Flown SIN-BKK-SIN and PER-SIN with them...they're OK - your basic no-frills airline, food drink has to be paid for, not much baggage allowance, fairly small seats.

Singapore Airlines owns them and apparently all their planes are fairly new, the ones I travelled on seemed new.

....but watch the going ons for a while and wonder more about; how they wash their hands/plates/tools, where do they go to the toilet Etc.

A bit like sporting superstars and sausages, you should never look too closely, you won't like what you find.

Its not that expensive to get to vietnam, HCMC, my wife enjoyed it there.

In fact why not Phuket-BKK-HCMC-SIN-PHUKET......cheap airlines the whole way (Tiger, Air Asia etc), Thais don't need a visa into 'nam. A few days in each, bit of a SEAsian Grand Tour.

or BKK-Hanoi-HCMC-BKK. Theres a few flights to vietnam - be sure to look at Air France, lufthansa etc - the flights are cheap as they are flying from Europe to BKK to Vietnam and most people get off in Thailand, so they want to fill the seats.

Kata Beach Resort is quite nice - step onto the beach from the hotel.

Some of the other Kata hotels are a short walk from the beach. Stayed at Orchidicea a couple of times - suites are OK, Kata Gardens was OK too.

If you are prepared to hire a motorbike I wouldn't worry about being away from Patong - (200-250 baht for 24hours). Much cheaper than any other transport and you can get around to see other places (be careful tho' and use a helmet). Last time I stayed at Kamala and there are some beaches near there (laem sing or something - climb down the hill, beach is very nice)

I too was tripped up by "Verified by Visa" when using the Tiger website. Didn't know anything about it and entered my WEB-BANKING PIN number. The card was then blocked, contacted the bank and they had to reset it , takes a couple of weeks...bla, blah , blah.

Strangely the Tiger site doesn't always go via the verified by visa check, so I managed to book SIN-BKK return tickets but couldn't book PER-SIN return tickets. Ended up ringing SIN from australia to get the booking done (time was fast running out).

I keep forgetting all the passwords, pins, verifieds etc I need.

When I lived in the south, my neighbours were lovely people. However I have no doubt that they would have dealt with anyone (including farang) severely if they thought it necessary.

He did deal with one such person by pointing a loaded handgun in their face and telling them to leave NOW.

You would never have guessed they would act this way if you met them - and that is why LOS can be very dangerous if you don't be careful with what you do or say to people.

I'm with the naysayers - overpriced, too noisy and crowded and its too easy to find much better places in LOS. I ended up in hospital after food poisoning last time I was there but I guess that could happen anywhere.

I had a look at my neighbour's Engish jotter yesterday. She has a farang teacher. I couldn't believe what was in it. Surely they are suposed to be teaching conversational English but... 3 pages with beautiful detailed pictures of hacksaws, ratchets and other tools with the Thai translations. I was actually very interested in it as I didn't know the Thai for them but for a 10 year old girl it's bloody ridiculous. On looking at previous lessons, there was parts of a car, and types of cutlery! This is unbelievable!

Maybe the teacher was a tradesman in a former life...go with what you know, and all that.

I've never seen a 1-2 Go plane that I would get on even when it was on the tarmac, let alone in the air.

So do you actually have a degree? The PCET is a degree?

If you don't then the other stuff won't count for a lot. Others may beg to differ but I think that is the most important piece of paper and the one most thai employers actually understand.

Its inconceivable that Thailand has a "good chance" of becoming a regional hub of education.

When I first read the post I checked the date - I thought maybe it had been posted on April 1.

This area is not so well-known on the tourist trail but is an upcoming destination. Are there any good recommendations?

Perhaps keeping it a 'not so well-known destination' would be good.

My wife LOVES lamb....but draws the line at vegemite......she also has picked up the habit of taking almost everything off the dinner plate and putting it between slices of bread and butter.

When I flew on Tiger BKK-Sin at the end of April I didn't pay the extra 700 baht at the airport, or at check-in. If you bought the ticket before the intro of the new tax system (ie included in the fare) then you would have to pay at the airport - but same same for all airlines.

As far as I can tell they are like all airlines - they advertise the ticket cost and then there are all the added taxes on top.

Tiger are fine for short trips - there planes seem quite new too.

I work in a teaching hospital and I asked one of the medical Professors the same question.

He said that the best thing is to have a good diet and the only supplements he recommended was Zinc - good for the immune system and skin, and selenium (in very small doses) for males as there was evidence it was good as a prostate cancer prevention. He stressed that both weren't essential to take.

I take a tablet of Zinc daily when I remember.

He needs to get back to Aus and get a good Hepatology Doctor to have a look at him.

I knew a young bloke who was medivacced out of Thailand after a terminal diagnosis of Liver failure due to alcohol - he was given a MONTH to live. Apparently when he got back home it was found that though his liver was damaged, the main problem was sepsis and general poor health (probably results of drinking) - which were treatable.

As far as I know cirrhosis doesn't get better BUT won't get worse if alcohol is stopped. However he sounds a bit sick - jaundice and acsites (the stomach bloating) isn't very good.

Get him back home ASAP, sort out the physiological problems and then deal with the psychological problems caused by stopping drinking.......good luck.

I flew back from SIN to perth with QA a couple of weeks ago. The plane was fairly new, the staff competent and friendly if you didn't ask for anything, surly if you did.

However they were much better than a couple of years ago when I decided to never use them again if I had a choice. (I used FF points this time - their FF club is shit too).

Their plane was better than Thai which always seem to find the oldest plane for the Perth route - but Thai service is better.

The best and cheapest is SIA and they're my carrier of choice.

I flew to SIN-BKK with Tiger who were cheap but you suffer and I'll not use the super cheap carriers again for any flights over 2 or 3 hours.

I got married when my wife was here on a tourist visa. However I was living in Thailand at the time and we returned to Oz for about a month for work - it was during that time that we got married.

You need to give the 'authorities' a month's notice and I think you might have to provide proof from Thailand that your partner isn't currently married.

Other than that - no problems.

"you're crazy"

However you will become the one person who HAS done both of the courses and will be able to answer the myriad "which course is better threads".

Why don't you do one course and then a more advanced course if you really want to go all out....besides courses will only teach you a bit about teaching, actually teaching will teach you the rest.