witold

BB is a good communication device with their bb chat and SMS. It's not just about status. It is a good design that keeps groups connected. Many people prefer physical keyboard.

BB has not been a 'tool for corporate drones' for at least 5 years - at least in the US. It has spread to many different markets.

Iphone 4G will be pretty nice. But the second it comes out it will already be bit behind HTC EVO 4G. Android is the next big thing in mobile.

BTW, Iphone 3Gs (not just 3G) can be had for $99 in the US with standard 2 year contract...

Obviously Grand Palace but you probably knew this one. Follow it up by boat tour of canals.

Segway tour if parents are not in a position to peddle bikes in the heat.

Bayoke tower as the sun sets. There is a mediocre restaurant up there also...

Chinatown is decent, but no way is it the biggest in the world. It's quite small... You can't go wrong here with some old stand byes like shark fin soup and dumplings.

Any of the higher end restaurants will work just fine, maybe Koi? Arab soi is pretty interesting also.

I never think prostitution is that much in your face in BKK. Quite the opposite really. I'm not a big bar goer though...

One simple but hard step, that is...

This is how a Korean attained high proficiency of English language in 2 years. (In addition to some Spanish.)

http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2010/01/kor...n-and-best.html

Language learning is like dieting. There might be tons of advertisement about fast results and magic formulas, but at the end of the day, honest effort is the only thing that works. Only the undisciplined deludes herself into believing that some other magic might work. Want to lose weight? Eat healthier and exercise more. Want to master a second language? Memorize grammar and vocabulary. It is that simple.

If someone wants to learn Thai - or any other language - they will save themselves a lot of time and trouble if they stop looking for the magic bullet/program/formula and just start memorizing and using words.

I love reading business advice from people who mostly have never operated any business themselves. Thais have been doing excellent in Tourism industry and milking tourists for every dime with tourism growing by leaps and bounds every decade. Yet, TV guys still think they are not good business people because they have some crack pot idea that is not implemented by some random place.

Either way, that Farang operated hotel is actually owned by Thais! So Thais are cleaning up either way. haha.

It's easy to cut through traffic on a scooter or motorcycle. It works great up until someone cuts you off or acts unpredictably.

I have done this enough on my motorcycles to see the good and the bad.

You want to take a guess why Thailand has road accident and fatality rates a multitude higher than Western countries? Seems like you haven't figured it out.

Didn't Air Asia have a New York City - BKK route?

I don't see it on their site...

It's great that they want to get more tourists over here, but how about the foreigners that live here already pay taxes and a higher price for everything? any break for us?

As far as I can see, not unlike most countries, Thais do not want foreigners to move in and live in LOS (hence land and business ownership rules.) They want tourists - come here, spend a lot of money, and leave.

Just because some second rate columnist says it's an issue doesn't mean it's true.

Sure, water cooler conversations often turn stupid and artificial. That is what people who don't know much about a given topic do.

But in the circles where it matters, the biggest concern is her professional past. Every SC nominee receives this scrutiny. Everything they have ever written is examined. Every decision, stand, affiliation is reviewed. This time, the complaints center around any possible liberal bias she might have. Very standard - conservatives complaining about liberal bias, and liberals complaining about conservative bias - depending on the nominee at hand.

When a thai can get a finance without any proven income,only the property as collateral,then I think this apply to Thailand.

Is this true? No income/employment verification? No guarantee via another individual?

Are there different penalties from walking away if property depreciates?

"Punish them as a Thai would be. "

How many Thais have been arrested for destruction of property? It seems like they all got a free train ticket home and that's it.

Why are you getting all hot and bothered trying to get a foreigner held to a higher standard and prosecuted more harshly? Relax and let it go.

"This rule will decimate the bar trade, just look at England"

Is this true for England or are you being melodramatic? No smoking rules have been implemented in several cities in the US, and they had ZERO effect on bars. People actually say that it had a positive effect because the nonsmoking majority is coming out more often and feel better. Smokers just go outside for a few minutes to smoke and come back in and generally don't seem too bothered by the no smoking rule.

Worldwide there is a real estate crash only Thailand seems to have been spared of it.

I read many times that this is because Thailand attracts the kind of investors who buy real estate with their spare money so they're never short of it.But even the Dubai market crashed and that are investors who play with money Thailand investors even can't dream about.Still they keep building overhere as if there is no problem.

Real estate crash occurred only in places where there was first a real estate boom. The reason is that the real estate boom was created on very easy credit where a lot of not credit worthy people were able to get loans for too much money (banks were very optimistic). In most places, prices 'crashed' to levels that are simply normal expected prices had there never been a fake boom market.

Is this the case in LOS? As far as I know, it is not. If LOS prices fall, it will be a supply/demand issue catching up. However, because holding costs are so much lower in terms of taxes, prices will not fall that much. It will be a very slow and gradual fall as people realize they can't ever recoup their investment. In other countries, people get desperate. In Washington, DC, there is a 10% vacant property tax on assessed value in Washington, DC EVERY YEAR. (So if you have a house assessed at $500K - even though you can only reasonably sell it for $350K - you are still facing $50K tax bill every year if property is not being used/occupied.) In LOS, most owners have no pressure to sell as they are not tied to variable rate loans, huge carrying costs, etc.

Loosing weight is simple in principle. It's executing the plan that is hard.

First calculate your Base Metabolic Rate. For men, it is: 66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)

It is true that some people have a little higher metabolism and others a little lower. If you feel like you have low metabolism and this is the problem, then just adjust your caloric intake downwards.

Now that you know how many calories you need to maintain weight, you know what you need to do to lose weight. Each pound of fat is 3,500 calories. If you create a caloric deficit of 500/day, you will lose about 1 pound of fat in 7 days. Simple. How long does it take you to notice you lost 1lb of weight? Now you know how long it will take to lose 20lbs IF you sick to the diet *perfectly*.

The reason why exercise is a good idea is that it's a lot easier to exercise than to shave off 500 calories each day. The key is incorporating regular exercise into your lifestyle. It doesn't have to be very structured or very difficulty. Taking a decent paced hour walk in the morning and hour walk in the evening will help a lot. (roughly about 500 calorie deficit for 180lb individual)

Don't get hung up on the minutia of this strategy and that tip. You can incorporate those things later as your goals become more difficult. The only tip I would give is to eat a lot of low caloric density foods that fill you up and drink lots of water. It will relieve the feeling of hunger. Stay away from high caloric density foods like carbs (rice, deserts, breads) and anything fried. Those things will just kill your daily caloric intake because small amounts on the plate still equal to a ton of calories.

Trang, Satun, Pattani for more beach areas.

Mae Hong Son for wilderness.

Nong Khai for chill atmosphere.

You are about to retire. You have decent savings and decent income.

You now have all the free time you could ever want.

Don't think of it as 'retirement'. Think of it as a few months vacation in LOS. If you like it, great. If you get bored, start taking some trips to Vietnam, Philippines - anywhere you want to check out. It is easy, quick, and relatively cheap out of Bangkok.

If your previous 4 times were to Pattaya then I guess you might be happy with Pattaya. (I have never been.) But everyone describes it as a fake city, with fake beach, fake people, and full of Euro dirtbags and this experience seems to go stale for most people after a while. Have you been to other parts of LOS? If not, you should take a relaxing road trip around LOS and check it out. You will be rewarded with great sites and experiences.

Nan is a pretty good place to ride. Particularly good if you have a dual sport and can explore. All the way to Nong Khai is pretty cool, actually.

however, I must remark that as we all agree that all dental care in Thailand is significantly less expensive than in the west (even with the most expensive local scenario)

This is not true for one simple reason - most people have dental insurance. My after insurance price is lower in the US and this is the case for vast majority of people. US prices are only higher for a small faction of people who are unemployed or uninsured (usually very bottom skill jobs or part time jobs.)

Any experiences with 'Immediate load implants'?

Put her on the deport list.

Timeshares and fractionals are *rarely* scams.

What they mostly are is terrible investments. Most people end up paying too much, and getting too little. On top of the initial costs, they usually carry additional fees and restrictions that substantially raise the total cost of ownership.

If you are looking into this sort of arrangement, have a look at the resale market for these things. Once you buy, most people are stuck with theirs, and most of the ones that get resold are sold at substantially lower prices than initial developer price. If you really have your heart set on a timeshare/fractional, buy it in the 2nd hand market for a more reasonable price.

I think you will find in reality the Queen of England is by far the wealthiest person in the world. She has unimaginable wealth. A LOT of things are not taken into consideration when compiling this data, for example the crown jewels etc etc. Plus she owns half of London!!

You can only count what you have control over in wealth calculations. Many things are labeled as belonging to the Queen *in name only*.

This article estimates that she has 17B pounds *in trust* for the nation. That means her actual wealth is less because of that 17B she can't sell or manage a good chunk of it.

Richest monarchs are mostly from bigger 3rd world countries where they still have their monarch power and can control more of their nation's assets as their own.

Recovery and impact hinges on how how things are handled now. If it becomes a long protracted clash with occasional small attacks/explosions, many people will just skip LOS. On the other hand, if the government can reassure everyone that the trouble is over and there is no more turmoil, tourists won't care what happened last year, or last month. Strong Baht is a much bigger factor keeping people away.

You always get the best for the bang after crisis and currency devaluation. I wish there was a web site out there tracking these sorts of 'deals' as they occur. I bet Greece is cheaper right now.

Don't forget, the US has universities that are free if you come from a family below a certain income. You go there for 5 years and work while studying and during the summers for them, but no tuition, not sure about books. Two of such schools have agriculutral studies, so many of the jobs involve agriculture, but hel_l, free is free.

Very true. This is a recent development, but with the Ivy League having built up huge endowments, several have started charging students $0 tuition if parents make ~$60,000 or less. (Brown, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth and Stanford)

In the US, private universities have one high price and state university prices vary for state/out of state residents... not just country residents. So a Virginia resident pays a lot higher tuition at UCLA than a California resident. So a foreigner would pay the same higher price as the Virginian.

US higher education is a semi-private system with a high initial price tag. However, students from low income families are eligible for Federal grants (free money), Federal/state/private loans at favorable rates, and school grants. This lowers the price tag quite a bit for most students. However, foreign students are generally excluded from all these programs so foreigners tend to pay the full price very often. (Although since they are mostly coming from wealthy foreign families, they get the same treatment as very wealthy US families.)