joekicker

I'd do Pattaya last for a different reason. You WANT to go to Pattaya. If you go first, you may not want to leave, and cancel the other places.

Why not? No. Seriously. You can put tomatoes in the fridge, and tomatoes will hang around for a while, lot longer than bananas and mangoes anyhow. Some fruit, you really just can't prolong them, once you get them home. Of course ALL fruits and veggies are best consumed the day they hit perfect ripeness, but some can be kept around for a while, some can't. .

There is a thread on getting to Isan. You won't get those dogs to Khon Kaen for 3,000 baht unless you know someone. Since you obviously don't know someone, you're looking at something around 5,000 baht, and even at that, most taxi drivers won't allow animals in their cars for any price. Why don't you rent a pickup and drive up there by yourself? Otherwise, the dogs are probably going to stay where they are for 3,000 baht. And renting a pickup, tanking it up, eating and the like, you probably won't make it inside 3,000 baht anyway. .

True, that five years ago they had a series of bomb attacks, with several killed, and the whole "official" street New Year's celebrations were called off. Since then, it's been "crank up the fear juices" every year - government covering their butts. So essentially, as always, it's up to you. There are two, and only two possibilities: - Lock the doors, cover the windows with masking tape, get into bed and ... no get UNDER the bed on December 30 and stay there until January 2. - Live like you generally do. There's nothing in the middle. When government says "you should be cautious.... "

My wife has been a couple of months in Thailand and just returned to the United States. Her latest intelligence report: There are a LOT more Christmas decorations and celebrations (music, etc), and way better ones, in any Thailand mall than any US one. .

No way, Jose. Mangoes (and bananas) aren't long lasters, but the fridge pretty well kills taste and appearance without really extending their lives. Mangoes are to buy, get PERFECTLY ripe (seldom more than a couple of days) and then eat that day. You can't store 'em, really -- and not in the refrigerator, yuck. I have two huge mango trees in my front yard, I have about three, four frantic weeks a year boxing them up and giving them away to co-workers. Gross out on them myself, of course. You just don't get to keep a mango around, not fresh ones at home. .

It's actually very easy to make, but first you have to learn how to make the rice -- well, BUY the rice, then make it. You need good coconut milk, not the xrap the sell in Tesco or whatever you have - a proper Oriental grocery will have it. The rice must be steamed, must NOT touch the water. And peel and cut the mangoes properly, not like you're making a fruit salad. There are twillions of videos and recipes online. The main thing is actually the rice. Get un-sticky rice, or cook it wrong and the dish is definitely un-good. It MUST be "khao neow" or "sticky rice" - sold in the west (proper

In the fridge? Yuck. With the bananas, are they? C'mon Kev, tell me you mistyped! .

... you chose to post a bunch of personal xrap which I then chose to reply to. Freedom of choice, isn't it great? .

Even the quick, obvious google gets you lots of pics. .

Yes, you won't get spit-done pig in a restaurant as a regular dish. I haven't eaten it for a couple of months. But for the last 50, 60 years they've been doing it, and I doubt they've stopped. You're not wrong about duck, though - same rigamarole to get a (good) Peking duck in a restaurant. Also served in three dishes. And because of time/size you see it more than pigs. You haven't noticed it. It's REALLY common. Thailand is a major corn exporter and it's all over the place in a zillion forms. On the cob, they barbecue it and steam it and boil it - that's the main ways. .

Those are my only two choices? You still beating the old la... your lovely companion, jacko? Were you denying this is a holiday weekend? Or were you just thrilled to get a chance to get the boots into SOMEONE on Monday morning, and I was handy for you? No other choices, jacko, that's the way this binary stuff works, right? But no, jacko. If I'd meant that, I could have written that -- you demonstrate just how easy it is to write. Me? I just meant what I wrote, pretty much, that any Bangkokians that are there today, aren't there because of the floods in their homes or businesses, becaus

In the pictures, they look like real dogs. Only smaller.

Should be fried sesame. .

Gee, it would sure be a surprise to find that Bangkok got preferential treatment. The floods are 95% over, jacko. There are some very damaged areas, but there's nothing left of the floods. .

The OP asked where to find a restaurant that serves spit-roasted pork. I told the OP to go to a Chinese restaurant and give them 24-hour notice and they would cook him up a pig. You told the guy to go to a food stall and give them 24-hour notice to cook him up a pig. What is the difference? .

She's on an airplane, but she usually shops along Sri Nakarin - Paradise (ex-Seri) and Seacon mostly. But if she couldn't find them somewhere, I'm sure she would have mentioned it. I think you're in a regional black hole - still lots of those since the floods, just getting supply lines back in shape. .

Isn't that pretty much true for all medical people, all countries? That's ONE reason the Thais like that foreign paper, of course. They can take it home and use it for that last bit of training to get the Thai paper, and be qualified twice. .

Pretty sure 3M makes them in Thailand. Must be a supply problem. Sorry I can't actually help, but a trip to Bangkok would certainly yield you as many as you want. I have no idea why, but my wife bought some yesterday to take to the US!! At least they're light. .

Funny, I was just going to ask you that. So I won't. Tell me, instead, a non-rhetorical thing. What is the difference between your advice (give your anonymous guy, apparently in some sort of food shop, 24 hours notice) and my advice (give a restaurant 24 hours' notice)? .

Huh? Are you Chinese then? .

Never heard of such a restaurant. You have to order one for yourself. Best way, put together a dozen people, pick any decent Chinese restaurant, give them 24 hours notice. They serve it in three courses - skin (with pancake wrap), meat, soup from the bones. I've never seen spitted piglet done another way, commercially. .

Australia was the dentists' training spot for a while, you'll find lots of them, too. And of course lately, lots of docs and dentists right from Thailand. But the foreign paper is still nice to have. .

Well, except for where you're wrong, yes, I know. When I use stuff, I find out about it. What's distressing about wac and many others I've read lately on this particular issue is all this "secret" stuff. If it's so secret, how come he knows? What now, they have to kill him because he found out? "I didn't know that" is hardly the same as "secret". And by the way, I'm not against consumer uprisings either, if you think Big Telephone isn't treating you right, by all means go after them. But the whining about "they're secretly tracking me," THAT is the part that riles me. It REALLY must be str

Americans don't get to go to medical school because of the SAT, believe it. Basically, they get to go because they want to go. There *is* a money problem for some, and it means they can't go -- but apart from that..... It's definitely not what grades you got in high school. .