Shaunduhpostman

TESCO Roi Et had the same very acceptable World Wines selection from Australia, 375 baht for 75 cl. That's about the same price its been for 5 years. Sure its expensive for what it is, it'd be half the price in California where I am from, but being a Californian is about like being an Italian, you have to have your wine. The Merlot is very good and Chardonnay is as good as you can ask for for 375. No fruit juice that is mentioned on the label and doesn't taste like it either.

21 hours ago, jimster said:

I found the food scene in Savannakhet far superior to say Pakse, a much larger city where you can't even find French food. I drove around there for almost an hour trying to find a French restaurant that seems to have closed down. Nowadays in Pakse you can only find run of the mill western backpacker food, mediocre Vietnamese food and of course the usual Lao food. However, only Sinouk cafe and the restaurants inside the Champasak Grand Hotel have any decent food.

 

Savannakhet on the other hand has 2 good French restaurants, Chez Boune and another one next to the "night market" (the night market is currently not operating). Although i was the only customer when I went in both restaurants, they sure know how to cook a good meal and all for a reasonable price. Pilgrim's is good and cheap for a quick bite, they seem to employ a Filipino guy who i thought was the manager or owner when I was there but apparently not.

He's the owner and actually from India not the Phillipines, he's from Northeast India where the people are genetically like Burmese and Thais or Fillipinos for that matter. But he knows typical Hindustani Indian food well enough to make a good go of it. Popular with engineers from India working on various projects in Savankhet so I suppose that counts for something. Agree Chez Boune is good and not too far from Pilgrim's, it is a bit expensive but still good value.

Just north of you in Kalasin and Mahsarakham, 2017 rainy season, we had the worst flooding in 50 years. Of course flooding doesn't necessarily mean the heaviest rains, but at some point rain is needed to create floods. So, what the op says is a bit odd, tho I am not doubting it, just think there is something not understood or missing from the story. Or perhaps, its just a phenomena of micro-climates but it rained a lot in Kalasin this past year and the rainy season is already starting here, torrential rains for hours this morning in fact.

Perhaps you weren;t around during the rainy season last year. It would not surprise me though even if there was heavy rain in your area that there would be nothing to show for it in the reservoirs etc. They are already turning the water off on us for 5-6 hours a day here. Not often but it has started well before that usually kicks in.

Isaan is being industrialized mostly by the Chinese and this will all require water. I doubt even the slightest thought will be given to who the water is being taken from let alone any mention in the media.

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

While it's got nil chance of happening, the best of both worlds would be to set aside an area specifically for water fights in the period leading up to the last day, and actually enforce the ban on areas elsewhere. The last day it would be on for all, just as always now.

That way those that enjoy the mayhem could do so without upsetting everyone, but still have a big finale.

 

Like I said, never going to happen.

No, it won't happen, that just isn't the style here at all to rigorously control things,it would take away a lot of the fun for people to have zones I would think. I'm happy enough myself to just stay away. Thai people seem to mostly enjoy Songkran so who am I, if I don't like it I don't have to join. 

Sounds to me like you must be pretty healthy. If you feel good I would keep up that routine and adjust as needed.

If metamucil is what I think it is, psyllium husk flavored with artificial orange stuff in a small envelope that you mix with a drink or yogurt, I wouldn't take it because they put aspartame, an artificial sweetener, in it and aspartame has been linked to many many health issues according to some studies. Instead I use just plain psyllium husk for constipation, which is difficult but not impossible to track down in Thailand. Sunshine Supermarket on Sukhumvit Soi 22 has 100 gram bags of it for 150 baht or so, its supposedly organic and without any unhealthy additives that I can tell. You use it in the same way as Metmucil, just put a teaspoon of it in with your food or drink. Sunshine Supermarket also take orders online and ship anywhere in Thailand, tho I haven't ordered from them so I don't know how well they handle all that, but they seem on the ball, nice well run shop that I drop into and buy my aryuvedic health supplements from whenever I am in Bangkok, bulk turmeric and psyllium.

To answer the question, how do you maintain a healthy life, I figure that as with most things the key is just paying attention on a consistent basis, be willing to face whatever is going on and deal with it  as it arises and do your best to be reasonable. Do what you can do and feel comfortable with regarding your health and if you feel pretty good and have no major issues, then that's most of it.

My aim is always to try and stay well clear of doctors if at all possible, I don't think it is paranoid to say that few if any have any interest in your health and in many cases are just angling for ways to  take your health away so that they get your business. Again maybe I am paranoid but I get the sneaking suspicion that most of the doctors I have been to see in Thailand are holding out on me, that they simply keep to themselves whatever they find with me and could help me prevent certain minor issues I have from developing but they would rather wait and hope I get worse in hopes that they can harvest a whole array of acute issues down the road. The doctors of course are not all bad, but there are some certifiable sociopaths at some of major hospitals here, so for me that is key and a real problem and issue I have living here. When I went to a certain large and well known international standard hospital in Bangkok for a bothersome issue with my foot , the doctor tried to tell me that all the bones in my foot were broken into tiny pieces and that I probably needed to have my foot amputated all the while giggling and going through this clearly contrived mock surprise and shock routine. My wife went into a semi-supressed rage, tugging on my sleeve insistently and whispering into my ear, "This guy isn't a doctor! Lets get out of here! He's crazy!" You really have to be on your toes if you are going to see a doctor here. 

Personally I don't take well to others' advice, never seems to work for me. For example, another Thai doctor told me I was obese and scolded me for eating McDonalds and pizza all the time, which I don't, and  I clearly am not obese either, just somewhat over weight 6 foot 2 and 93 kilos and he said to me it was imperative  that I needed to stop eating large meals and  change to an eating style where I eat little snacks throughout the day to feed myself. I went to him regarding a foot issue, he and 5 other doctors I have seen in Thailand don't seem to know what the problem is. That said his advice, reducing pressure on my foot by reducing my weight has helped and two other westerners independent of one another who have the same problem that I do with their feet have said it sounds like  I just have a case of whats called Plantars fascia which is sharp pain in the bottom of your foot or an uncomfortable feeling that there is a stone in your shoe and results from standing around on your feet a lot or from too much pressure on your feet due to weight or other issues.  I did reduce my weight, and that has helped relieve the symptoms to  a tolerable level, but I prefer to eat regular meals, not become a snacker as seemingly advised by the doctor which to me sounds like a recipe for becoming seriously unhealthy.

Of course, you have to get checked for things you can't check yourself. As much as I don't trust doctors, in theory it is not impossible that they can benefit you and so you have to do your level best to weed out the legions of bad apples out there and go to the best you can track down for checkups etc. I think in Thailand not only is a second opinion from a second doctor a must but a 3rd, 4th and even 5th opinion, especially if you are getting contradictory stories as to your condition or see signs that you are talking to a guy who doesn't know what he's talking about, or cannot communicate, or who even is plotting your road to ruin the minute you start your consultation.

Pilgrim's kitchen has a whacky open mike night on Wednesday I think. Or they did about 9 months ago. Best place to stay as well, good clean rooms in a newly renovated old French colonial house, nice food and coffee in the cafe downstairs, nice people running the place and staff have a good attitude. Sort of a backpacker vibe, so if you have that kind of allergy that causes you to go apopleptic at the sight of hippies  then maybe something else is your speed, but not too many options in Savannakhet, so either that or maybe some dusty semi-dirty place at non-bargain prices.

True Kalasin runs a lot of games and are just straight up dishonest. We couldn't even get them them to shut off the service after getting fed up with constant problems and hassles to do with billing and them also needing to constantly change our hook up box and dish antenna, their non-transparency regarding billing, etc. They would not take away the old equipment either and we had to store their old stuff for them.

They'd lie and say they'd have someone out to disconnect everything and then there would be a no show and then they would explain why another month or 3 or 6 needed to be tacked on before we could halt services. Went on and on for nearly a year. We finally had to get lawyer friend of the family to give them a call and straighten them out, otherwise we would still be being held captive.

During the 2 years we paid for cable TV we would get our service cut 4-5 times a year despite having paid all bills on time. They would say we hadn't paid a bill which they were having problems sending out and that sorry we'd have to wait to get our bill so that we could pay it and get service restored.

 The there-is no-technical-problems-on-our-end-you-have-to-upgrade-your-service-buy-new-equipment-again-from-us number has been run on us by 3BB and TOT employees regarding intenet. You just insist they solve their technical problems and report them to their management and no need to pay companies who can't reset your internet connection and get it to work again. Seems to be a trick that employees use to get a sale. Getting a bit old by this time.

Cheers, Joe and Tim, much appreciated!

Hi all, I have always, just to be on the safe side, left Thailand a few days before the entry permit date stamped in my passport. So, after these many years of staying in Thailand, legally of course, I have never had to resolve my lack of clarity on what the meaning of the word "until" is in the ink box stamped in one's passport is. Sorry if it is obvious to most, it has never been to me.

But this time, due to the May 1 holiday, it looks like it would be better to avoid the crush at the Laos border, on the roads and at the bus station in Isaan and leave on the date stamped in my passport as opposed to the day before which would put me in the midst of a somewhat less opportune time to travel, the myriad problems and chaos of a holiday. I'd rather go when the smoke will likely have cleared.

So to cut to the chase: Is still being in Thailand on the date stamped in one's passport considered overstay? Given the climate and how it continues to worsen for us ex-pats, ex-michaels and georges, the last thing I want is some big blinking and honking "OVERSTAY!" stamped in my passport. But if I had my druthers, I'd prefer to leave on that date.

Anything Thailand or any country does to maintain its sovreignty is a good thing, futile as it may be. It might seem that the internationalisation of the world would be a good thing. Perhaps it sounds nice on the face of it,  that things such as living wherever, going wherever you want would be easier, etc.But you only need look at globalising forces such as international trade agreements for example  the TPP (Trans-Pacific Parnership) to see that such kinds of "trade" agreements -they are not actually trade agreements-  have written into them rules that state global corporations may sue nation states in their own tribunal courts for anything that corporations and other business entities deem damages or threatens their profits. It is already happening more and more that corporations directly attack nation states , for example cigarette giant Phillip Morris who sued the country of Uruguay $25 million dollars for warnings about smoking on its cigarette packages. They then used this and a failed case with Australia to threaten the tiny and poor country of Togo with billions of dollars in court fees. Togo backed down from health warnings on cigarette packaging. This kind of freedom for corporations to do what ever they want to make profits at our expense is what is behind the movement towards greater globalisation the sinister reality of direct governance by financial institutions and corporations. It has been long in the making, since the beginning of the last century at least.   Nation states are in the way of these entities and have been for a long time. National systems are not proving to be much hope but at least they secure that there are some things in place, albeit heavily comprimsed,  whereby people could elect or otherwise force government to work in their interests. The way I see it, they have, as long as I have been alive, trying to sell us on this idea of a borderless world. The problem with that world is that there would no longer be anything between you and corporations. Essentially, you would have no possiblity of laws to protect you from anything that banks, corporations etc want that would enhance their profits. Just  being being born you would be beholden to them, essentially  the opposite of how they have tried to portray a global borderless world as one free from fighting between countries, one that would have equal rights for all, equal opportunities for all, freedom of movement ad travel etc. This borderless internationalisation of the planet in fact means our enslavement to Phillip Morris, Exxon, General Electric, Microsoft, the IMF, Dow Chemical, Monsanto etc. Of course all nations are heavily corrupted by these entities at present and thus mostly work for them, for example  in the United States these entities have recently been given the same rights as people, but at least in some countries there are courts that will uphold the rights of people to say defend themselves from the possibility of say Phillip Morris being allowed to sell cigarettes in the schools or food corporations that would  say that nutritional information on packaging damages their profits or that oil companies find it expensive to remove highly carcinogenic toxic effluents and by-products from  being dumped into their rivers and waters or that would uphold cases where workers were being cheated of their pensions or pay etc etc ad nauseum.

Aside from the topic of the article being way to general and unspecific to ever be able to make a good or interesting point within the scope of a short opinion peice, the OP's point that all of these farang need to go make some friends with Thai men, is a rather thoughtless and naive dismisal of a whole social phenomena, that would make a more interesting piece. Sorry that the writer is too blinkered by his annoyance with fat wife beater wearing half-drunk racist slobs or whoever it is he imagines to be behind these keyboards blasting the world with drivel to have seen the opportunity there.

You could interview people, both Thai and farang, as to why they don't have any  friends in their respective groups  and perhaps come to some interesting provisional conclusions or at least notions. Its better than just making unqualified declarations about how prejudiced and racist all the western expats are that they see Thai men negatively. It may be as much that Thai men don't want any farang friends that we never get to see how wonderful they are, it is not fair or logical to blame crappy western expats without any specifics to go on. You almost never see Thai and western men hanging out together aside from company functions or family events. Why not? It ain't just me because I am some kind of racist that I don't have male Thai friends and don't hang out with Thai men. 

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The police allege that the pair have been involved in many similar cases of extortion with menaces against the foreign community. They are confident that there are other "foreign mafia figures" behind these two arrests.

So, I suppose we should expect that they would soon be released and allowed to carry on just as before. Or will it be different this time? I'm not holding my breath.

Interesting choice of words "confident." 

 Meanwhile efforts will be focused on making sure that people who have overstayed their visas will be deported and not allowed back into the country for years.

Now Thailand have Don too na.

Though they seem to be drinkable, tho not really that great, you ought to be aware that the cheaper wines in Thailand are not technically wine as they are made with a mixture of pomegranite and grape juice. Apparently this allows them to get around a tax and the cheaper wine price is passed on to you. If you look on the backside label, and in one of the corners of the label you see "fruit wine" that means it is not 100% grape juice. I feel it is also deceptive to the customer, because unless you are lucky enough to find out, you won't know that you are not drinking 100% grape wine, so I don't buy the stuff any more. 

But as for real wine, I really like the 300 baht+ per bottle stuff offered by TESCO, it is surprisingly good usually, it is some kind of Australian wine with a Kangaroo on the label. I know there are many Australian wines with a kangaroo on the label, but it is the only one that is under 400 baht. They have a number of different varieties as well. For red they have Cabernet, Shiraz and Merlot. To me, these wines are a no-brainer when wines that taste can taste worse are difficult to find for less than 500 baht these days. 

To me this kind of gouging seems like it is a form of  humiliation born of some kind of inexplicable bitterness.  Are there not other ways to get the same level of money out of foreign guests and also add to their experiences as opposed to simply demoralising people with outrageous fees and little to nothing in return? Couldn't many Thais have legit and rewarding jobs offering tours or running special accommodations or facilities or activities? No, there is just too much resentment and bitterness to be dished out and it is too important to show the world who is the boss here in Thailand for anyone to have a constructive and positive attitude, so foreigner you pay me now!. It is all just more of this toxic nastiness that you have to do your best to ignore and give a wide berth to should you be stuck here in this country for whatever reason and it is ubiquitous. I feel very sorry for people who have high hope s for a beautiful vacation in a nice country only to have to have meet this chip on the shoulder attitude which colors more and more of the things said and done in Thailand with each passing day.

I thought the pipe was there to  supply fertilizer for the coral reefs and the fish stock of Pattaya's main beach. Maybe I got that wrong... 

If you fly cheap as I do, there is always going to be something. A Vietnam air flight I took in 2007, Bangkok to Seoul was semi-traumatic. From the get go, the ticket already had an 8 hour wait in Hanoi which at the end of it all ended up being a 20 hour wait. Of course I am not complaining about having to wait 8 hours, and It wasn't so much the 12 hour delay as their trying to fix the problem and continually failing again and again. They apparently tried to get other airlines to help out to no avail. We had to constantly every few hours run to some other corner of the airport and queue for seats on other airlines they had switched us over to only to be told, sorry, no go, this is all cancelled as well, please listen for announcements for the new course of action. So you could not just take a nap or sleep, we had to stay up all night listening to announcements queuing in front of various flight gates and all for naught, 4-5 times we got a "No, sorry, cancelled again." .

The finale after a sleepless night running around and queuing at various counters was at sunrise when they boarded us, this time on one of their own planes.The prelude was a "we are so sorry here is a free box lunch style breakfast for you," there was an angry mob of shouting Koreans for several hours prior, so when the free food came out there was a mad push to grab food, people were shouting and pushing and grabbing and punching others a few emerged from the fray with 5,6,7 breakfasts, and most of us, those who wanted to wait calmly for food got nothing. The same pushing shoving angry style mob scene ensued at the boarding gate. I was grabbed by staff and told to wait and allow the angry Koreans to get on first. We boarded the plane, got going down the runway and the cabin soon became filled with the smell of fumes and exhaust. Next thing you knew we were back at the gate and were told that we had to get off the plane again. No explanation given. It was another 5 hours before we were on a Korean Air flight and finally arrived in Seoul where, probably needless to say, the people who were supposed to meet me for a pick up had long since given up, leaving me to my own devices.

 As much as I enjoy my beer and wine, I will not put up with that and I will simply stop drinking if it actually does come down to that. That or just brew my own. There are mail order suppliers in country of everything you need to brew your own beers. Just need to invest in some mash pots and a brew fridge as room temperatures are too high to brew most beers here. Works out to about 30 baht a pint, expensive for home brewing, but if you want a nice pale ale, a 400 baht craft brew pint looks to be setting you back 800 baht after the new tax , so 30 baht + your own elbow grease does not look so bad.

You might jump to the conclusion that the guy took mushrooms and Ritalin and then drank booze some of which may have been spiked with something, it is an even bigger assumption to say he took the Ritalin. He just says that got the stuff. As for him having been murdered, "scary guy with a mask" and his statement that his drink had been spiked could be the mushrooms altering his perceptions or could have been just that, a scary guy with a mask appearing after he'd had his drink spiked or any combo of those elements. In any case, we only have what he texted to go on which may or may not correspond to  what actually happened to the guy.  Ritalin is not known to have any fatal effects when mixed with alcohol and/or mushrooms, if indeed they were just mushrooms with nothing else added so it really does seem there was something beyond his own drug mixing that did him in. 

Yes a haven drawing millions every year from all over the world to visit the 25 potted plants scattered around the city and a total of over 800 coconut and casuarina trees growing along beach road, a haven for 2 species of birds such as pigeons and a refuge for English sparrows. Other attractions include Central Pattaya shopping Mall also probably a natural formation that somehow is also full of shops selling things. Naturally formed air is available for breathing throughout the city and in abundance when one goes indoors and 100% natural water flows from all of the taps and toilets city wide. It has been said that the lucky may get glimpse of even a herring or two gasping their last breaths along the edge of the peaceful sylvan cove that is Pattaya bay. Pattaya  is a national treasure and is long over due to be zoned as the country's latest national park. Thais 40 baht, foreigners 400 baht per day, pay at the kiosks on all out going roads as you leave the magic paradise.  

To my lazy armchair idiot's mind, on a simplistic level it makes sense that A country should be allowed to ask foreigners to fulfill certain requirements if they want to come in and stay. If people don't follow the laws and they are caught they should be sent back, end of story.

But the problem I have is that Trump seems to lay the blame only at the feet of the so-called trespassers. He does not want to go after the businesses that are luring  "illegals" over to come and work. So basically his idea could have the effect of making "illegals" more vulnerable while their employers continue only being subject to the the current ineffective programs and/or enforcement of laws against hiring illegals and thus have more of a leg up than they do now. I would also guess that there is also undoubtedly much corruption with immigration being paid off for favors or whatever it is, so why isn't corruption ever mentioned as a contributor to the problem. So, it seems to me that the effect of Trump's anti-Mexican campaign is basically to give the employers more leverage to say to workers "either you work at  this reduced rate or else I'll make an anonymous call to immigration and you'll be sent back pronto and I'll get someone who will acquiesce,"  and by that get  more willing to work for less. Over the long term then, this would seem to have the effect of making corporations hungrier for these kinds ever cheaper more maleable and expendable workers whose wages can be cut in a jiffy and thus increase the problem in the long term. Ways around Trump's wall etc will easily and quickly found and I would expect the problem of "illegals" will become exponentially worse.

They need to find a way to also have it make no economic sense to hire illegals if they are sincere about tackling their own self-defined "problem" of illegal immigration. But then I suppose, going after businesses for the practice of hiring illegals is not as sexy or reality show worthy  as say, chasing Mexicans down, stun gunning the varmits and hog tying them and shipping them back to Mexico would be, it just isn't as entertaining to the electroate to try and find effective solutions that don't cause unnecessary harm to people, some of  whom have already suffered as a result  of  the US's own NAFTA trade policies and due to an inability to make a living as farmers or a decent wage as post-NAFTA factory workers in Mexico find that it makes more sense to try and hop the fence and see if things don't improve trying to make do in the USA.

You can guess they'll try and make the bars buy, install and maintain their own CCTVs. And of course it will be cheaper and easier for the bars  to simply not comply, since there is little chance the cops are going to get around to systematically checking each and every one of the hundreds of bars in the Walking Street area and that will probably be the end of it. It will just be another rule they can wave at some bar owner to insure they get their fines and bribes on an as needed basis.

Your odds of seeing a doctor who is actively trying to wreck your health, or who can't be bothered, or who is a full blown nutcase, or utterly incompetent are about 50/50. Throw in not being able to communicate in Thai let alone English, with 99% of them and anyone would be advised to seek medical help elsewhere such as Malaysia, Taiwan, or Singapore.