Thaimo

To avoid confusion, you can change visa types within Thailand before applying for a work permit. You do not have to leave Thailand to obtain a different visa. Fees will be charged, but I know it can be done because I have personally seen it done.

Maybe the wild-caught salmon would present a slight problem. There isn't very much wild salmon fishing in Thailand, so I think I will have to settle for what I find at Carrefour.

Gillette Gel - 239 baht at both Carrefour and Big-C - 195gm size

I am not a great fan of the death penalty. My feelings are mixed. Certainly there are many who deserve it, but which is worse, dying or life in prison? It is not a choice I would ever want to have to make. I agree that there should be an appeals process, but I don't know why it takes ten, fifteen, or even twenty years. I also do not see the justification for the cost of it all. I remember reading something about the Nazis and their attempts to sterilize the Jews before they began the mass death camps. Heydrich was quoted as saying, "Death is the most effective means of sterilization" By that kind of convoluted logic, the death penalty is the most effective deterrent to further crime by the individuals who committed those crimes. I believe it may have been Goering who said, "Kill one and you have a murder. Kill millions and you have a statistic." It's sheer madness. I think the main reason the death penalty fails as a deterrent is because of the length of time that passes before the actual execution takes place. I also think it fails as a deterrent because a person committing a capital crime is probably not even thinking about the consequences. Some people say the death penalty is only revenge. I don't see anything wrong with revenge. If someone close to me was murdered, I would want the revenge. If I myself am ever murdered, I would want the person who did it to pay heavily for the crime. I wouldn't be around to see it, but I would still want the revenge.

It may not be so successful after all: MUCH VAUNTED AIDS VACCINE RESULTS THROWN INTO DOUBT Pattaya, October 20, 2009, [PDN]: the results of the world‘s largest clinical trial of a HIV vaccine conducted on a test group of 16,000 Thai volunteers have been thrown into doubt. The initial results which appeared to give a 31% protection have been challenged by data from Paris, which questioned the reliability of the statistical methods used. The trial using a test group of 16,000 Thai volunteers, aged between 18 and 30, which was co-sponsored by the Thai government and US military, had initially claimed a 31% success rate among a sub-group of 8000, which was considered statistically significant rather than being random. Although 51 volunteers had later become infected with the HIV virus, compared with 74 only given placebos, Seth Berkley of the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, maintained the results were "exciting news and a significant scientific achievement," according to the BBC. She had also reportedly said "Now we have got a vaccine candidate that appears to show a protective effect in humans, albeit partially." This initially encouraging news, however, received a cold reception at a Paris conference where new data was presented. The Thai results were challenged saying the result that was only just statistically significant, in addition, researchers couldn’t actually explain just how the mix of 5 vaccines were working. Gus Cairns, from the UK HIV information charity NAM, asserted, according to the BBC, that "This means there was a one in 26 chance that the results could be due to pure chance - and that this may not reflect anything at all. That's difficult. And there is also subset analysis of this study that if you only look at the people who strictly adhered to the protocol - i.e. took all their vaccine doses - then it becomes not statistically significant." To counterbalance the negative assertions however, certain authorities like the executive director of the Global HIV vaccine enterprise, Dr Aland Bernstein was more positive, saying if the results of the trial “hold up ..... then it is an important contribution." Similar sentiments were expressed by Alan Bernstein of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, according to Reuters News Agency who said "We are not going to see all the results of the Thai trial tomorrow ... we hope this is going to lead to something more important, from 31 percent to a higher figure (of protection)." Further bad news, however, came concerning the availability of funds for continuing research, treatment and prevention of the virus due to the economic downturn. Dr. Peter Piot of the Institute for Global Health at Imperial College London and a former head of the United Nations AIDS agency UNAIDS, according to Reuters News Agency reportedly said "I'm very concerned that AIDS is slipping off the agenda in many countries of the world due to a combination of financial and economic crises." http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.php?IDNEWS=0000010728

But what would you have them do? Would you have them censure him? Would you have them try to pass some sort of resolution condemning him and his government's practices? I'm not sure how I would handle it. I think trying to publicly embarrass or even threaten him would fail to change anything, other than making sure he would never again attend this kind of multi-national summit. I also think that doing and saying nothing and avoiding the subject wouldn't be much different from another Munich. I'm not even sure that ASEAN is the proper venue for trying to do anything.When you have rogue countries such as Burma or North Korea or Iran, it's very difficult to deal with them unless they do something crazy, such as invading another country. UN sanctions are what's worthless in my view. Have these sanctions ever succeeded in doing anything other than resulting in the people suffering further than they were already suffering?

As long as the moderators remain vigilant and as long as board users cooperate by reporting such things to us when they spot them, no troll posts will be here for very long.

I'm glad you enjoyed it as much as I do. I love finding unique hole in the wall restaurants that turn out to be good ones. I would like to see postings here about any restaurants in Thailand, especially the ones that are out of the way and not very well known, that people enjoy.

The board software limits the amount of time a post can be edited. After that time period has passed the post can no longer be edited, so the edit button disappears. I'm not sure how long that length of time is. There are pros and cons for limiting the editing time, but the board owner can change the time limitation to however long he wants it to be.

I have a friend who does live on 30,000 baht a month. He lives in a furnished apartment, small but nice, and his rent is 5000 baht a month. He eats almost exclusively Thai food and probably doesn't spend more than 100 to 200 baht a day for it if he even spends that much. He goes out to the bars infrequently. He's been living here for nearly two years and seems perfectly happy. There are also people who have little or no interest in nightlife in the bars. Some people live way out in the boondocks and are quite satisfied with their quiet life, and life in those areas is certainly much less expensive than big city life. I have one friend who lives out there, but he spends a few days each month in Pattaya. What it amounts to is whether you have the money to finance the lifestyle you're looking for.

In message board terminology people like that are known as trolls. There are enough trolls out there that the term came into existence a few years ago. This type of message board is not plagued with them very often, but sometimes they do come out of the woodwork. It's really not very much of a problem. Usually we deal with them by eliminating the offending posts and sending them a warning PM. If they strike again we place them on a mode by which their posts do not appear unless a moderator first approves the post. If even that doesn't stop them, then we ban them from the board entirely. With internet shops and IP scrambling software it is relatively easy for them to sneak in under a new name, but it doesn't take very long to figure out who they are and they are banned again.I expect trolls will show up every once in a while, but we keep a close watch on the board and we will deal with them whenever they appear.

Thank you, Mr. Bean. I use Avira too and it has done an excellent job for me. I very rarely get trojans or viruses, but not long ago I did somehow get T-crypt. I tried several methods of removing it, but nothing seemed to work. Avira picked up on it and easily removed it.I'm going to try A-squared too. I'm downloading it as I write this. It's a large program, 52 megs of it. I'll be very interested to see if it finds anything on my computer that I don't know about. Several hours later: I had it do a complete scan of my computer, which took over three hours to complete. It did find some trojans that no other program had ever found. You get a choice whether you want to quarantine or delete the problems if finds. I just had it delete them all. My computer is running faster as a result. Thank you for telling us about this program. It's hard to believe it's free. It does a much better job than many of the so-called professional programs that you pay for.

I don't know whether it includes breakfast, but if that's the hotel on Soi Diana, they serve breakfast beginning at 7:00am.

I've been there too. I think the paella at La Plancha is much better and certainly less expensive. Try La Plancha. I'm curious to know what you think of it.

If you are familiar with Pattaya, go to the La Plancha restaurant on Soi Chayapoom, between Third Road and Soi Buakhao. If you are not sure where Soi Chayapoom is, if you are traveling from north to south on Third Road, it is first right turn after you pass the X-Zyte Disco on Third Road. The restaurant is a hole in the wall, but for 280 baht you'll have one of the best paellas you've ever tasted. The portions are huge too. One order is easily enough for two people. If you have room for dessert, try his Peach Melba. Fair warning. The service is slow because he cooks to order. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes before it will be ready to be served. But if you call in advance, place your order, and tell him what time you're coming, he'll have it ready when you get there. They also have take-out service and delivery if you live anywhere close by. The number is 087 603 1153.

I suppose you could get away with eliminating the caraway seeds, but I don't know how I could make rye bread without rye flour. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, you should be able to find the rye flour and caraway seeds in any god grocery store.I have a bread machine. The machine came with a booklet that contains good recipes and if you do a Google search for either bread recipes or bread machine recipes, hundreds come up that people have submitted. I have never tried making bread without the bread machine. I would suggest asking lvdkeyes how to make bread from scratch.

Let me know how it comes out. I would love to take credit for having great recipes, but lvdkeyes is the one who deserves the credit for having fantastic recipes.

I don't understand that part. How could the manager possibly be responsible for the fact that customers had used methamphetamines? If they are questioning the manager, what are they questioning him about?

These things happen on message boards. Board owners and moderators have to be prepared to deal with it when it occurs. There are always people who have little else to do with their time.

I see. I don't have a pressure fryer, so I guess the texture issue is out of the question for me.What is your recommendation for the amount of flour to use with those ingredient amounts?

I found this online. I don't know if it is correct and nothing was said about how much flour to use with this recipe, but here it is. KFC's 11 Herbs and Spices Recipe — 1 teaspoon ground oregano — 1 teaspoon chili powder — 1 teaspoon ground sage — 1 teaspoon dried basil — 1 teaspoon dried marjoram — 1 teaspoon pepper — 2 teaspoons salt — 2 tablespoons paprika — 1 teaspoon onion salt — 1 teaspoon garlic powder — 2 tablespoons MSG I can do without the MSG. I have heard it is not very good for you and 2 tablespoons seems to be quite too much. Lvdkeyes, I have a question for you. I like KFC, but I am perfectly happy with my own way of preparing the flour for fried chicken. But I love the consistency and texture of KFC's breading for their 'original recipe.' I can never get my fried chicken to come out like that. What I do is mix some milk and an egg. I dip the chicken into it, roll it in my flour mixture, dip it a second time, and roll it again. Then I cook the chicken, covered and turning it once, on medium heat until each side is golden brown. What am I doing wrong? Do you know how to get that consistency and texture?

One way to avoid the passbook fee is to go inside and have a teller update it. To date I have never been charged when I do it that way. I'm not surprised about out of zone fees. I think all the banks do that. Your memory is not fading. Bangkok Bank used to charge 200 baht for the letter. They reduced the price to 100 baht. I think it didn't occur to the girl that your passport number may have changed. Still, there is no reason she couldn't have taken the five minutes to register you herself, especially since you made the effort to physically go to the bank. But I think you already know that the chances of getting the same answer from two different staff members of nearly any bank are quite remote. If they fired all the staff members who don't know what they're talking about, then many Thai banks would be self service. Be grateful that you were able to even get online banking. Several years ago when I tried to get online banking for one of my accounts it took 5 trips to the bank and 6 weeks before I finally had the online banking.

If you are in either Bangkok or Pattaya try the Villa Market or other upscale grocery stores. They will usually have good imported strawberries, but be prepared - they will be quite expensive.

It is correct that Thailand gives 30 days free of charge for tourists who come from most countries. Thailand is currently issuing the 60-day visa free of charge. If you wish to extend your stay you must go to an immigration office a few days before your visa expires to apply for an extension. Thailand does charge for extensions. The fee is 1900 baht in most cases and you are normally granted a ten-day extension. In most cases you are granted an extension only once.I don't know what kind of job opportunities there are for call centres, but I do know that you cannot be employed unless you have a work permit. If a company wishes to hire you as a call centre employee they will probably take care of getting a work permit for you, but you cannot be issued a work permit on a tourist visa. You are eligible for a work permit only if you hold a non-immigrant visa.

"This is the type of pedantry up with which I shall not put." - commonly attributed to Winston Churchill