joekicker

I suggest you have no experience at all, and should make it crystal clear you are speaking for yourself and not for any other person. Frankly, although I have finite sympathy and time, I'm spending a brief moment and a soupcon of pity for you. one ... two ... thr... okay, finished. I know there are others like you, but believe me that there are many who are UNlike you. And thank goodness, too. How? Surely the only advice you could usefully give would be directions to the airport? To quote Tina Turner, sort of: What's luck got to do with it? Funny how much good luck you have when you work at it, and how life goes TU when you start fucking around on the side, eh?

Oh my, no. What you describe sounds quite good. Poi is processed taro, sort of a lump of starch that looks like a lump of your mom's laundry lard, but not nearly that appetising. The thing is, though, that while it looks absolutely horrible, it is gaggingly bad to eat. Oh here's a good description: "a thick, purple-colored paste made by pounding taro" It's what they eat instead of bread, rice or potatoes in the South Pacific and other suffering places.

Jeez. I just realised there is not one thing on that list that I consider unusual. That's a bit of a test of an Old Asia Hand, I believe. damn!

You can see intestines at lots of the soup carts in Pattaya. The "kway teow" soup is a steal from China. They turn them inside out and scrub them. They're good that way. Sea slugs are on the menu at every seafood restaurant. Thais eat frog legs AND entire frogs, lots of restaurant menus have them. No salmon here, but all kinds of fish eggs - crab roe is the most lusted after I think. Beef tongue stew is on the menu of any decent Thai restaurant, and it's quite good with rice - totally unspicy. Bugs as you know are just another form of popcorn, and kim chee is regular at Korean and Japanese restaurants. But no one sir, NO ONE born or bred in Thailand eats Vegemite. There ARE certain standards you have to live up to. At the all-time top of my disgusting-list is poi. You can take your luau and shove it. I'd rather have Vegemite.

Since both involve blood analysis, I'd be shocked if they were different.

Pretty international, this one, but a really good example of what Thais do when they steal a dish. This started off as something that goes by various names - steamboat and hot pot, for example. It's quite Chinese, and has variations among the southern China provinces, including Hong Kong. The Thais added the little bowl of hot-and-sour dip. They also strengthened the broth, widened the stuff that goes into the pot. Now it's Thai suki - presumably shortened from sukiyaki, although the two dishes are not all that close at all.

You put on a tourniquet, they draw blood, they put the blood in a computer analyser. If you've just got dengue, it will probably show up as a non-specific infection. Later, it will confirm dengue. This is one disease Thai doctors have little trouble diagnosing, because of the frequency, and treatment will normally start immediately, i.e. an IV and anti-pain. But of course testing is always indicated, and always done.

"Delicacy" is overdoing it. But I shot squirrels and my mom cooked them up. I don't exactly hanker for it, but it helped me have a healthy upbringing. Most of this stuff is just cultural. You like squirrels, think they're kind of cute, right? I consider them rats. People love to eat crabs, but do you know where they live and what they eat? People play with bunny wunny wabbits, but not me -- yum-yum! Normal everday dishes can be weird. A lot of people scarf up liver, but wouldn't touch intestines. Not logical, just the way you're raised. Ducks and geese and even chickens eat absolutely foul stuff. People eat some really horrible crap because they're brought up in a certain way that allows it. Not to mention catfish and carp. We've had several threads already on the lizards they eat in the Northeast. Don't you notice the lizard-breath on the Soi 6 girls? They leave it on your cock!

If you think you have dengue and go to a doctor and he doesn't test, go to another doctor, who certainly will. Everyone I know who thought they might have dengue got tested. Why wouldn't they be tested?

Well, the difference is the diet. "City rats" eat garbage, pretty much, and that means they eat meat among other things. Country rats are vegetarians and fatted up. City rats are pretty filthy, most of them, while country rats are pretty sleek. Ayutthaya province used to have an annual rat festival which was also useful at getting a few tens of thousands of the animals out of the rice fields. For all I know they still have it. They paid the kids a baht a tail to bring them in, and they had barbecues and other rat dishes. They do that in southern Vietnam occasionally. I don't know anyone in those countries who'd get close to a city rat. Also, I've never heard of any place where they rat regularly - by choice, that is.

You never say "never" in paradise, but this is not high on your list of worries. Any seller selling rat can't do it secretly for long, and if she's lucky she'll just be put out of business and not harmed physically. Lots of rumours - dog, rat, various other animals, but it's not economically viable in the ways above, and in the way of staying in business. People actually care what they eat, not just you.

Normally, a Thai company producing stuff knows how to get the stuff to other countries. By all means ask the sellers and the makers of the items you're selling. USUALLY this gets you the best rates, too.

You get very sick, but the main point about dengue is that you ache, almost from the onset you actually ache inside your bones. The boneache is the huge tipoff that it is probably dengue.

Well, since there are no clinics in Thailand except Thai clinics, that kind of narrows their options a bit. But tell me. What care is indicated for dengue that you think a badly staffed clinic couldn't provide? There IS no cure, there IS no treatment beyond hydration. The idiot brother of an incompetent nurse who barely scraped through at the bottom of his graduating class can treat dengue. Most people die from the combination of being weak to start with and not seeking any help anywhere. When you are really ill - and dengue makes you VERY ill - your own reaction is not to eat OR DRINK, and that's what kills you with dengue. Your own strength and strong rehydration are your own help with dengue.

I'm unclear here. Is this bragging or complaining?

All of this is for free?

There is a very reliable but unconfirmed (to me) report that you have to take that letter to the Foreign Ministry consulate office way the hell and gone out on Chaeng Wattana in Bangkok and have it signed and officially copied by a clerk, whose job is making paper at 400 baht per customer. That rule is already in effect for certain categories (under 50s for one) but will go in for everyone on retirement-with-income visas as of October. Again, please check but I consider the report reliable. I'm not on that kind of visa, so I can't confirm that way at least. Someone might want to drop by Pattaya immigration and ask if it's true and if it applies in Pattaya, and if Pattaya folks have to go to Bangkok.

That one plus 32 others at: http://duggmirror.com/television/33_Ways_t...Free_TV_Online/ Mashable of course is blocked in Thailand, so you'll need a proxy to see the list of TV sites, some of which you'll need a proxy to watch. That duggmirror link above is not blocked, it seems.

Thanks for all the help. Appreciate it.

Well, I'm not slightly angry and I don't mind being wrong, especially if I learn something. If you're right and I'm wrong, then that's that. But you haven't stated a fact so far, you only keep asking questions. So here is one for you: Do you think the 11,000-plus dengue cases were not tested? If so, why?

Yes they had the dengue blood tests. Why would the clinics or hospitals send it to Singapore or Australia? Are you saying Thailand is so backward it cannot test for an endemic, historical disease as simple as dengue? If so, you are wrong. Yes there are false positives, but you do not fall deathly ill with aching bones and you do not die because the test yielded a false positive. Yes, thousands and thousands of people have had dengue this year, confirmed. Yes. Also yes I live in Thailand.

Hmmm. According to the Queensland government, there have been 45 cases of dengue this year, all in South Townville but none since 14 May. Is that about right? That's not fun, but it's sure not what we have around here by any stretch.

Jee-zuz. You started yourself on it. No one mentioned it until you did. I still won't. I made a very simple statement to wit: Almost all people who get dengue in Thailand are people who live here. To put it another way, almost no one who gets dengue in Thailand is a visitor. That is either correct or not. You said not. How is it not correct? Dozens and dozens of people die of dengue in Thailand. The last three years have not been pretty. 2005, 38,367 cases, 48 deaths 2006, 37,000 cases, 64 deaths 2007 to May 31: 11,574 cases, 14 deaths Almost all the 2007 cases were in April and May. The number of cases in June has jumped.

Yes. Incorrect where?

Incorrect where? I have no knowledge of the Queensland dengue situation and fully accept what you say. In Thailand, however, it is local people who get dengue AND DIE. Very, very few by percentage and by number of those who get dengue in Thailand are tourists. Weak people are more likely to get sicker and to die, no argument about that. There are no actual dengue-free zones in Thailand right now, although there are places you are more likely to get it. But even Singapore has declared itself an epidemic zone - 400 cases in the WEEK of June 10, another 300 last week, all or almost all local people or residents, i.e. not tourists. Southeast Asia is not Queensland.