asdecas

I'd remain in the aircon comfort of my hotels; Bangkok is hot, crowded, noisy and polluted. Food is filthy, the water undrinkable. Some areas are full of foreigners, others bustling with Thais, neither group is culturally interesting. Travelling any distance involves either arguing with a taxi driver or sweating like a pig - best avoided.

You could sample a massage in your hotel but beware any offers of 'extras', they will inevitably lead to incurable diseases.

Enjoy your stay.

I've come through Swampy two dozen times and to this day I have not seen a customs official. I always arrive at 1am, which probably has something to do with it.

Meat pies are my nemesis and I bring more each time I come. Case was 20% meat product last time I arrived.

one time i came in with 20 tins of spam.and 5lbs.of welsh salty butter.

Interstate transportation of Spam carries a maximum penalty of twelve years in Klong Prem and/or defenestration.

You could catch the late duck-plucking show in Yaowaraj on the way home; just right to get her 'in the mood'.

I don't remember the name of the bar - was it the Oasis pictured above? - that was owned by an American oil worker and his wife. They hated one another with a vengeance and spent most days having filthy loud arguments. He drank Mekhong or Sang Thip with M150 chasers all day and night, didn't take him long to die.

Next up, in 2050 - tyres with treads.

The latest in a never-ending stream of foreign visitors to Thailand who imagine they have invented the wheel.

To paraphrase an old saying, you can lead a person to water but you can't make him drink.

This may lead you further: http://www.bedo.or.th/lcdb/biodiversity/view.aspx?id=12245

Without doing a complete translation, it says in part that the leaves, corms, stems and heads of this plant are used in Isaan and Lao food preparation, for both main and for sweet dishes, for curries and in desserts.

The section marked "การใช้ประโยชน์/ส่วนที่นำไปใช้ประโยชน์" gives further details if you can find someone to translate for you.

It also says it can be used for weight loss.

In case you're British, don't go to the Embassy in BKK. It cost me B2,805 the other day.....seemed a tad excessive

I'd go further and say avoid anything to do with the venal bar stewards of Wireless Road; even queueing outside for a tourist visa will probably soon attract a fee (perhaps one shouldn't give them ideas).

This coffee should not be drunk together with meat and two veg.

I am not affected by any of the above limits (i would meet much stiffer requirements), nor would my wife and I wish to go (for me back) to the UK. However, I have to ask a very simple question: as far as I know it has always been upheld by courts of law that the family is the basis of any functioning society. If this is so, what right does any government (the British one is not the only one in the EU adopting this inhuman attitude) have to disallow a poor man, or woman, to establish a family in his/her own homeland?

If you are writing of moral right then that is an emotive and debatable issue. If you are writing of legal right then I'm afraid the answer is "every right", as the legally constituted government of the day.

I should add a rider to the last sentence: ", subject of course to the whims of our unelected masters in Brussels".

What a load of balls.

Good troll post, but why not get a job and earn real money? My sister earned $4328 last month by just laying on her back and answering a few questions.

Another paradise down the drain and all because of greed ....

Actually, the wonder is not that corruption is so rife, but that it has taken so long for it to become this bad. Forty years ago the first few beach bums started renting land and building beach huts on what are now the infamous beaches. For thirty years, while becoming increasingly pricey compared to other Thai beaches and islands, Phuket was still the jewel. Only in the last decade has greed, rampant venality and crime really begun to kill the golden goose. This is a pity for Thai tourism, since the Chinese are just beginning to arrive en masse, and a few more well-publicised crimes will see one very dead goose when the Chinese stop coming, or are told to stop coming.

Time to Get the 1000 watt sound system out and blast a bit of music at crazy o'clock.

I'm sure this is not meant seriously, but on the off chance that you are thinking of escalating the situation, I would caution strongly against it - you will lose. Your new neighbours are not deliberately setting out to annoy you, you are incidental to their lifestyle. In my opinion you have a few options, all of which involve persuasion, either on your part or through an authority figure such as the poo yai baan. Other than that, as others have said, your only option is to cut your loses. I repeat, you do not want to make enemies with local people, and in that I include Thais from wherever.

"Oppose govt move to tackle poaching of beasts from wild, illegal trade in Babes"

Can anyone explain the meaning of "Babes" in the context of an article about elephants?

I have seen these cases with clearly underage ethnic girls (14 - 15 ish) sitting with very old white tourist looking men (60 thereabouts) at restaurants. From the expression on the girls face when I peered over and from the lack of conversation I would say it was a prostitute and not a father daughter couple. The weird thing about it was that it was uncomfortable, but I don't know whether the man knew what was up as far as how weird it looked to other people in the restaurant.

There were glances around and an uncomfortable vibe. But what can you do? I did not have the balls to get up and lecture them, especially solo. And a Thai is unlikely to make a public display. Perhaps the waitress could have asked them what was up and to leave.

Not much else you can do. Calling the police could result in a false accusation if they both deny it, and also doing anything in a public forum like a restaurant could potentially be a defamation issue which you could be liable for.

I also saw two tourists getting off a motorbike with an underage girl and walking towards a hotel. Again, stares from me and the noodle stand ladies, but again nobody surrounded them or said anything. It broke my heart.

This was in Chiang Mai, not Pattaya, but I'm sure Pattaya is probably much worse.

You play observer, accuser, witness, jury and judge on the basis of what exactly? You then make up your own mind that, on the basis of your own gross assumptions alone, the parties are guilty of - what exactly? - you have the gall to admit that you lack the moral courage of your own convictions to do anything about it.

Boy, you're a piece of work, you are.

I swear, if Thailand were perfect in every way, there would still be people moaning about something on Thai Visa.

You have good virus protection and spyware protection built in. So you do not need Avast.

Microsoft themselves are now saying that MS Security Essentials/Defender only offers basic protection. I recommend adding something extra like Avast.

Advanced System care is probably pointless and VLC has got to be the best free all-round media player available (along with Foobar2000 for audio, naturally).

AIMP3 trumps Foobar2000 for me.

A survey of the Northern line found that wooden sleepers at some spots were older than 50 years and tracks were quite worn. (MCOT online news)

Surely they cannot mean that nobody knew this?

And the money? Bet that doesn't reappear.

Without translating both forms comprehensively, I can tell you that the reason they are only in Thai is because they are intended to be filled in by Thai nationals (i.e.Thai wives, partners etc). The back of Form A is asking for personal details, both the usual name and address stuff and also more detailed questions such as Thai person's parents' names, nationalities, how you got to know each other, where and when you were married, how long you've lived together and so on.

Form B is asking the Thai person what she/he knows about you - your name, passport number, your profession or former profession, income and so on.

All rather intrusive I'd say, but no doubt the authorities would defend such questions on the grounds of security, both national and personal. No doubt, as with most of these things, you can find someone to fudge answers if you find the questions objectionable. If your wife is unable or unwilling to fill in the forms and you don't have a Thai friend to help, I suggest, rather than pay for an expensive lawyer, you find a notary public and get him to fill in the forms with help from your Thai wife. That shouldn't cost more than a hundred or two.