joekicker

Just to clarify, there hasn't been change on this in many, many decades. The only slight difference is that the Thai has to show up in person for an actual face-on-face interview, which most did before anyhow. But Thais always have had to have a visa to walk out of a US airport. Or a Canadian one. Where "always" is a very long time, heh.

Ozijeff, the Kamnan Po family of Chon Buri is considered the leading mafia outfit in a very tough and violent province. The old man is indeed on the run from a murder conviction. The sons split up between going to Bangkok and spreading mafia influence and schmoozing with the big shots by being ministers, and getting "elected" to places around the province. Kamnam Po gets a few good hits on Google.

No possible answer. The cost ranges from very close to zero at some wat-schools to more than 2 million baht per school year at private schools. People pick what they can afford in that price range. I think to spend more than 3 million you'd have to send the kid out of Thailand and count transportation and living expenses, so figure 2.5 to 3 million a year would probably be the current upper limit.

"Possible" is a very elastic word. It is absolutely possible to live on way under 1,500 a day. Whether you want a life style that restricted is a very different question. Of course most Thai working stiffs don't make 40,000 - although they also don't live by themselves. But bottom line, yes is is certainly possible to live and eat quite well indeed on that. Quite well. And have pay-TV to watch baseball.

Small old world. That's where my wife got her first US stamp, after seeing the Falls' good side.

Okay, good on you. Sure wouldn't have hurt her to have a US visa in the old passport, though.

Great report, thanks. This part has always been true, I've seen it everywhere where FLs sit down -- the Nana and Thermae and Thai Heaven before that and all kinds of places. I'm not convinced it's so much a "problem" but if some of the girls could be encouraged to mingle just a bit, and "make the rounds" of a few tables now and then it might loosen everyone up. The guys are just as bad, they're like a frixxin stag line at their high school dance. SMILE at them, boys, they'll come over. They won't take you home to meet dad, really they won't.

She definitely absolutely must have a US visa to leave the immigration section. As Mr Bill says, the US Embassy will fix you up, but it takes some time so get cracking on Tuesday. You can do most of the work online before then.

There is more than one. Way, way more.

lvreggie, they have replenished.

Any mall, 1,000 to 4,000 baht. If you need a specific brand/model copy, allow two-three days (more if possible) for the seller to come up with it for you.

Nevertheless, it has been made up, over and over again, in country after county, for many years. It's a joke. Snopes is your Bible: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/cannibal/cocaine.asp

15 grammes is one baht, so you got about one-third of the 24-carat price. I'm surprised. I'd be surprised you got anything from a gold shop but that's more than you should expect, not bad.

Owen I understand the hedging part (not hedge funds, just small-haitch hedging). You can lock in your money (or goods) at a certain rate, fair enough. But I'm saying these guys don't "insure" you for free, eh? You may not lose any "money" but there is that little handling fee or whatever they're calling it this week, that they take off the top like any other casino where you place a bet. This is apart from still losing money if the rate/goods go the other way in value of course. That's why it's quite a bit like a casino, because you may be WORRIED the exchange rate is eroding but in fact in three months it doesn't erode at all but gains. This just gets us right back to the OP who demands to be told whether the baht and pound will go up or down. Well, heck, we all want to know that, why do you think I work late every night on my time machine?

Owen, do you think those funds might charge you a tad for the insurance?

pattayachip, could you give us your definition of "good" for a reference point? As in "good price"?

Good for you in removing Norton. Boy, I have heard horror stories how that didn't work.

Merry Clitmas

Well, yes, it has a very close relationship, literally as close as you and your mom. The Philippines beer and brewery are the parents of the Spanish ones. They have not lived together for a good long time however and no longer have responsibility for each other. I doubt that. I'm sure the water quality is exactly the same or so close you couldn't tell. However I'd suspect that the source and handling of the water would be the reason that San Miguel, say, tastes quite different in the Phils, Thailand and Indonesia, for example - which it definitely does. But there are other reasons to consider, such as making it for "the local taste" like Thai cooks do with spaghetti, say. Coca Cola in Thailand is certainly different from Coca Cola in the US, for example, and not just because of the water. Thai Coke is definitely sweeter.

hybrid, Do you have a choice whether to change money? By the way, if you find out the answer to your question, let us know so we can clean up, okay?

The best of luck with this, top to bottom. What a good looking place. I will be there.

Dave, yes! Also really excellent are Avira for anti-virus and Comodo Pro for a firewall. There are other really good ones, too, and equally costly, i.e. free. And there is one large, steaming pile of dung, identified many times above, which you have to pay to smell.

Well, in the sense that it is OK to eat a whole loaf of bread and butter before the appetizer in the nice restaurant if you have a 48-inch belly and your normal dinner is a 32-ounce pork chop. Sure, it is "OK" to take the scaggy FL with the pussy scabs on her legs if you have a newish pack of Viagra and a 24-pack of condoms. But there are still a hell of a lot better, more appetising things you could do even if you were so drunk you thought she looked good and you believed the Norton ads. Frankly speaking, I don't think it is OK to run Norton. I understand how people get hoodwinked into doing it, but friends do not let friends run Norton or Symantec "security" products, and try to get them to quit.

Yes it is 1,000 baht for single re-entry, sorry for the confusing typppo. I'd argue there is a little more to cost-effectiveness than just the price, but once you know the two prices you can work out cost-effectiveness for yourself, yep. I always get a multiple. I would argue everyone should get one, even if it turns out he never travels - beause it is more cost effective than running around trying to get it in case of an emergency trip such as winning the lottery and having to go pick it up.

Actually, I quite liked this one from the Bangkok Post technology section earlier this year: If you still are floundering around looking for a good definition and example of globalisation for the exam, try this: A hacker in China stole credit and debit card information from English motorists filling up at the American-owned Jet station; his associates cloned the cards and used them to take funds from ATMs in Bangkok and in Sri Lanka on the European New Year's Eve.