what to pack:

a week and three days and counting.

do last minute paperwork (israel is on third world timetables when it comes to whipping out basic forms with stamps and signatures)

have got tons of small presents, many of which are school supplies that my own geniuses bought but never used (crayons, coloured pencils, fancy notebooks, pens/pencils) plus some fun stuff like scented magic markers, finger pains etc, all ment for young children/school age children.

fruits and nuts mediterranean style

a can of chick peas with which to make humous israeli style (anon's job) and local olive oil for flavour

individually wrapped halva candies (what our school kids take to school as treats)

mostly long sleeved shirts, pants, and sweater and light weight jacket, flipflops, fancy shoes, sport shoes; i'm always cold unless its 30+ outside. two fancy thai silk skirt/shirt suits for the khun ying look.

one house we will be staying at, anon's father's house, has no bathroom of any sort and pump water for outside shower- so now anon is freaking out that he is poor and all of the family's houses are too primitive for us. daughter is in army so can deal with anything and i will boil water to mix and make for shower- i detest cold water. i am obviously bringing all soap/towels, hygiene stuff since they dont have enough for guests.

soft toilet paper/wipes

photo album with photos of my kids, house, anon, etc.

a lot of patience and good humor to deal with the huge amount of unforseen problems and screwy situations.

wedding rings

thai/eng eng/thai dictionary

online email address for the one or two times i can get to an internet

meds

digital camera and card/recharable batteries

borrowed video camera

journal

anything else??? did i forget something?

his family is getting nervous; mom is sending pa to khungthep!! to meet us together with brother in law, pa has never been out of his village except once or twice to korat city...

anon was planning to bring sticky rice in a basket to eat while we are at airport waiting for his folks to find us!! (have shown him airport map to explain to brother); this is going to be a very funny situation, i just know it. no sophisticates us, we both also have straw in our hair!

anon's 'brother' here gave us a BOX (about 20 kilo!!) of clothes, cheap israeli vodka and old magazines to bring back for the wife and kids, along with veggie seeds etc. so we packed all, and then unpacked to tell him that we are over our luggage limit so will bring only some of the clothes. he was sending 20 pairs of jeans! probably for his wife to sell, the jeans came from his filipina mia noi here in israel!! go figure. also photos from other guys from same village, with all photos examined to make sure no women (except for me) show up in any way shape or form )--they all made slit throat motions when i asked why.

suggestions, comments???

bina

israel

If the bathing facilities are that primitive then some kind of Sarong/patung type garment would be useful. You know the ones, joined sarong you step in & out of, that way if bathing outside, you don't get naked just wash under it. Also good for sleeping etc. Apart from that, you will be passing tesco lotus/big c/macro on route to the villate anyway so could always do a stop & pick up any "luxuries" you might want there.

As for taking stuff for other people, make sure you are taken care of first then take essentials for other people. Don't forget, this is your wedding & you will have a lot to do when you get to there. So don't waste precious time doing errands for others.

hey boo, thanx, yep have patung (paa sin) and experience in this form of bathing.... just COLD!!

u know how thai people are... every man here is sending something home w/o out realizing that there are rules and regulations;

last time (and my first time in thailand), workers' wives sent kilos of dried fish and squid etc in plastic bags from the market with me to israel and others sent all sorts of wierd things. airport security were not pleased.. i'm used to that as waybackwhen in the good old days on kibbutz people did the same thing, as if mail never worked. we always had to off load avocados and grapes at the agric. area before we went in to the states.

you are right; but have to find ways out of it to save face for everyone... we cant just say NO right out.

bina

hey boo, thanx, yep have patung (paa sin) and experience in this form of bathing.... just COLD!!

u know how thai people are... every man here is sending something home w/o out realizing that there are rules and regulations;

last time (and my first time in thailand), workers' wives sent kilos of dried fish and squid etc in plastic bags from the market with me to israel and others sent all sorts of wierd things. airport security were not pleased.. i'm used to that as waybackwhen in the good old days on kibbutz people did the same thing, as if mail never worked. we always had to off load avocados and grapes at the agric. area before we went in to the states.

you are right; but have to find ways out of it to save face for everyone... we cant just say NO right out.

bina

Hi Bina

Sorry for breaking in as I am a stupid farang bloke

but do not forget spare recording medium (tapes dvd's whichever it uses and always always if it's tape have a spare on you when filming and when finished wind forward after replaying so tape now on empty section hate for you to film over existing irreplacable footage like I did)

also for the video camera make sure you take all the necessary cables and charger

My brother in law is never forgiven by his polish wife for forgetting charger when they got married in polish outback area also make sure you get shown how it all works and practice yourself so you can then show person doing the filming as you being the guest of honour so to speak you can't exactly do the filming

Hope everything goes well and you have a great wedding

take care

Bina, it sounds like you are getting the "Wedding jitters"!!!!

I wish you all the best, you definately deserve to have the best time. Keep warm.....

thanx,

not the jitters.... WORSE!!

anon's 'employer' just called to say he saw on moshavim/kibbutzim agriculture news that the mfa of thailand has stopped permission on thai workers to go to israel, since the coup in september. it was a small article that mostly stated that 1500 workers are waiting to come to israel and it is the thai side of things causing the problems. not sure if this covers those that are going back to thailand for vacation with intervisa, or only those that are just waiting for their first 'go over'.... the news was from september, but cant find anyone that can give me more info then this since there was no followup article. trying unsuccessfully to get ahold of the tel aviv consulate for a real answer but think that they will not know anything also, since as we all know, every thai office acts individually.

anybody know anybody in the bangkok mfa that can delicately find out what the deal is??? or should i just call them long distance and ask straight out??? any other suggestions (i'm highjacking my own thread i know) but i just finished all paper work for the israeli side of things today at a hefty monetary price, and bought a pair of heels for traipsing around bangkok looking khun ying style.....and worse, what happens if he gets stuck in thailand?!!! a beaurocratic nightmare!!!!!!!!

any sunbelt asia types that can check it out for me in the next day, as i am of course freaking out....

thanx

bina and anon

of course thanx for video tips hope this is all still relavant