Gary

Yes, crock pots are available here in Thailand. I had one but it really didn't do much for Thai beef. I have much better luck with a second generation pressure cooker. Second generation pressure cookers are designed to NOT lose any steam thus you don't need to use a lot of water. I doubt that you will find one of those here in Thailand Every pressure cooker I found here in Thailand were cheapies. I wouldn't trust any of them. I had one imported and had to pay $300 US for it. It has a very thick laminated bottom to eliminate any hot spots so it can be used with electric or a gas burner. I have

There are a lot of inexpensive new phones that will accept two SIM cards. Nokia has a number of models. They will likely be more dependable than having to butcher your SIM cards to fit an adapter.

I don't know any accurate prices but it is not cheap. What makes it worth paying a bit more is that you get a decent sized portion and it is delicious. I should say though, that the prices are NOT over the top. He does offer specials. Usually a different special everyday.

We used to have some problems such as I throw good stuff away and I cut her herbs and spices with the weed whacker. It actually irritated me that I'm not permitted to take out the trash or cut weeds. I'm also not permitted to touch her washing machine because she spent a lot of time programming it to do exactly what she wants. After I thought about it for a while, I decided that I am the one who has the far better end of the deal. As long as I do absolutely nothing, she is quite happy.

A residency permit for Thailand is NOT a simple thing. I did seriously check it out and besides being expensive, it involves a lot of hassle. This may not be totally correct but if I remember correctly the application fee is about 100,000 baht. My retirement visa extensions are 1,900 baht. No way I would live long enough to make that economical.

I think you'll find that different immigration offices have different rules. I use a small office in Loei province. There was a grouchy old bastard there who didn't like me and I certainly didn't like him. My Thai wife went with me a few times and she had no use for him because she thought he talked down to me. (Her words). For my 90 day address checks, I needed copies and forms. Several months ago there must have been a major shakeup at that office. Imagine my surprise that there were all new people in that office and new procedures. At my last 90 day check in, I had all the usual bulls

I get some sort of allergic reaction from those green mussels. I was deathly sick three times before I pinpointed exactly what was causing the problem. Apparently there was nothing wrong with the mussels because the people I was with ate them and had no problems. About four hours after eating them, each time I was naked on the bathroom floor with the door locked because I had it coming out of both ends.

Legalities have nothing to do with it. If I send a PM, it's because I didn't want to post it on the open board for whatever reason. If the person I sent it to posts it, I would consider it a broken trust. The exception would be that if it involves the recipient and it may have personal details about them, I would note that and if they want to post it, it would be up to them.

I used to stay at the Regency on Soi 22 in Bangkok. I knew a girl who worked there and she was always able to get me a good price. After she left, I looked on the Internet for a price and it was a couple hundred baht more than what I had been paying. I got to the hotel and they refused to give me a discount and told me that if I want the Internet price, I would have to book via the Internet. Their rack rate was about 500 baht more than the Internet rate. Sometimes you can get a discount and sometimes you can't. It depends on the hotel. If I walk in I always ask for a special price (discoun

Boobs? That can be dangerous since many katoeys have bigger boobs than the the real deal.

To each his own, BUT, I wouldn't jeopardize a Pattaya holiday buy riding a motorbike. The police would be the least of my worries. A lot of lost skin, broken bones or worse would certainly ruin a hard worked for holiday. It's simply not worth it. I lived in Jomtien and during that time had three different motorbikes, a Honda Dream, a Wave and a Kawasaki Boss. Many will disagree but I think bigger heavier and more powerful bikes are far more dangerous. After a few beers you do get beer courage and if the extra power is there you will use it. I wasn't down on either of the two small bikes bu

A great report and interesting pictures. I interpret from the text that the best part about the trip is that you can say, been there and done that.

I admire Quantas for shutting down. At one time unions were a necessary thing but it has come to the point that they hold hostage companies that pay their wages. Unions have gotten to the point that they protect dead beats who do nothing. Eventually it has to come to the point that employees pull their own weight. It is quite obvious at this point that unions are totally counter productive.

If I had a trip planned to Pattaya in the next month, I'd seriously consider cancelling. There will be too many shortages of everything from food to rooms. If your trip is scheduled for the second week of December or later, the floods will be forgotten and everything will be pretty much back to normal.

As for myself, I go there because I always have a good time and I like the girls. In fact when I first started stopping in, I had no idea who the owner was. I like sitting at the tables outside.

The area appears to be correct but you still need to look at the chanote to find the linear measurements. Normally two ngan is 20 by 40 meters. The sketch on the chanote will appear as a rectangle twice as long as it is wide.

I found it very disconcerting to see his helmet come off. It will be a serious black eye for the helmet manufacturer if that contributed to his injuries and death.

That is a typical sized village lot. Land here is measured by rai. One rai is 1,600 square meters. Four ngan equals one rai. So that lot is a little over a half rai. 1 Talang Wah = 4 Sqm 1 Ngan = 400 Sqm 1 Rai = 1,600 Sqm

My wife and I live south of Loei city about 50 kilometers and we are high and dry. I had to go to Chiang Khan on the 20th for my 90 day check in. Chiang Khan is directly north of Loei city about 50 kilometers and sits beside the Mekong River. On that 100 kilometer each way trip, there was no standing water and even the big river was no where near to being out of banks. In fact the river level seemed about normal.

Five of my friends stayed there and had three rooms. Two of the rooms had air conditioner problems. When the air cons did work, they were very noisy. The rooms were not a good value for the money and my friends won't stay there again. The food was decent but the staff didn't care if they waited on you or not. VERY slow service. It has gone downhill and over all maintenance is poor.

A thirty year lease is pretty solid if you DON'T lease from your wife. Anyone who leases from his wife better hope the marriage doesn't go pear shaped. I'd bet that you would get the very short end of the stick.

I did have quite a few pictures of them but that was before I decided that backups were important. A hard drive crash lost those as well as quite a few more. I went through the backup CD's and those pictures were not on any of them. Now I use a remote hard drive to backup my entire system. I tell this story to remind all you guys to pay attention to at least backing up your music and pictures if not your entire system.

I have a great memory from TQ 2. A number of years ago I found a cutie there and barfined her. Soon the farang manager came to see me. He wanted to know if I would do him a favor and take her friend too. I told him that one was enough thinking he just wanted another bar fine. He explained that the other girl was a lesbian and there would be no bar fine for her. He said that if I didn't take her she would pout all night and just piss off the other customers. I was a little apprehensive but he assured me that I would be quite happy with the two of them. I certainly was. To make a long story

As for myself, I enjoy LK Metro and that area more than Walking Street. At least they don't have hoards of Looky Loo tourists blocking the streets. As for good looking girls, I only need one and have seldom had any problems finding one. Taking the edge off at Lolitas in the afternoon also makes me a lot more particular bar hopping in the evening.

We live in a huge flat area with the mountains several kilometers away. We have had a LOT of rain but we are 320 meters above sea level and have no close rivers. We have a couple of farm ponds and both are overflowing but other than that, no serious problems. The only problem for me is I have to be careful if I leave this area because of flooded roads. It sounds like we are going to have a lot more rain later this week. As long as my favorite watering hole up on the mountain doesn't run out of beer, I'll be fine.