Thaimo

You can also hire a private tutor. That's what I did when I first moved to Thailand. Mine was excellent. She not only was teaching me the language, but what I had questions about Thai customs, quirks of the language, and even how to deal with awkward situations, she was able to explain it all. I will never forget her. Unfortunately, she has since found a foreign boyfriend and moved to somewhere in England, but there are many good private tutors. My tutor would come to my place twice a week and the lesson was about an hour. She charged 250 baht per lesson. I would imagine that is the average price for a private tutor.

I don't know anything about it, but I do know that the Blue Elephant program is excellent. Here is their web site: http://www.blueelephant.com/school/index.html

I find it hard to believe there are any countries more corrupt than Thailand. I'm glad I don't live in any of those.

About 9:30am to 10:00am is the time I would recommend getting there. By then the vendors are all in place and open for business.Also, I mentioned in another thread that if you are interested in plants, Wednesday is the day to go. For everything else, Saturday and Sunday are the days to go.

That's if the rest of the world ever follows suit. It comes as no surprise to me that the population of a Buddhist country is so much more tolerant. After all, as far as I know Buddhism is one of the few religions that has no history of going to war over religion.The separate toilets is no joke. While they are not very common yet, they do exist:

Being retired and living outside the USA, as an American citizen I am still expected to pay IRS income tax. If I am still paying taxes even under retirement, then I feel I have a right to the same benefits every retiree living within the USA gets. But all I can do is feel that way. I don't have the kind of money it would take to try to sue the US government, which I see as the only possible recourse. If I had the kind of money it would take to try that, then I wouldn't need Medicare.I am sure you are right about scam concerns, but I still fail to see the justification in depriving me of Medicare benefits on the basis that I, or others, might try to defraud the system. What it truly amounts to, as it stands now, despite the fact the you paid into the system all your life, if you choose to live outside of the USA, then you're on your own.

You can't stereotype Thai women. They are just people like anywhere else and you will find all kinds, just like anywhere else, ranging the the timid subservient to the bitchy shrew.As for Amerasians, there are not all that many. Most I've seen were born during the Vietnam war era, making them around 40 years old now.

Be that as it may, it would be a risky set to use. Suppose you used:Deacon Priest Bishop Cardinal Pope Could you be certain that no Catholics would take offense? I think you're better off leaving religion out of it.

There is one exception that I know of. If you ever open an account with Bangkok Bank and get online banking, the only browser they accept is IE. If you try to use anything else the following message pops up: Sorry, this service does not support your browser. Please use Internet Explorer version 5.0 or above.(UI-04)

You might also want to include visiting Bangkok's Chinatown. You can easily spend an entire day exploring.

Chan is used mainly by females and lady-boys. The vast majority of males will use Pom. Quite a number of them leave out Chan and Pom entirely and will simply say 'rak khun.' Would you like to be even more confused? You will also hear 'rak ter.' 'Rak khun' is more formal and 'rak ter' is less formal, but both mean the same thing. Better still, along with 'chan' you will often hear 'dee chan.' Same as chan. It's ok, though. When the language gets confusing enough we can all run screaming into the streets while pulling our hair out. Oh, by the way, the word pom can also mean 'hair,' but only the hair on top of your head . . . unless of course you mean carpeting. Pom is also the word for carpet. Excuse me, but I feel a need to scream now. Arrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!! I'll have to take Bob's word for what singers use. I don't listen to Thai music very often.

That is close to correct, but not quite. Chan is normally spoken by a female. Pom is spoken by a male. It should be Pom rak khun.Here's one that will make you sound like a native. It means 'I can't live without you.' Pom yoo mai dai tah mai mee khun.

That is correct. The Thai word is pronounced roughly 'ma-NOW.' The limes are essentially the same as the Key Lime of Florida (Citrus aurantifolia), as far as I can tell.

Actually the majority do both. Once when they are children, and once when they reach 20 or 21 years old.

There are other beaches in the area besides Pattaya. One of my favorites is Sai Khao beach (we jokingly refer to it as Psycho Beach), about 25 kilometers south of Pattaya. It is on a military base. When you enter the base you have to leave some form of ID at the guard box and pick it up as you are leaving. The beach itself is good clean sand and the water is crystal clear. It is very picturesque, surrounded by small mountains. I think it is actually more picturesque than Phuket. There are plenty of shade trees, picnic tables, beach chair rentals, a small very nice Thai restaurant, places to buy drinks, and even a place to get a Thai massage. Small bungalows are for rent if you want to use one during the day or stay overnight. The restrooms are kept very clean. The only problem is getting there. You need your own transportation to get there.

I don't see it either. I access this message board with both IE8 and Firefox.

Only last night I went to a lady-boy bar and had a wonderful time. This was not a go go bar or anything like that. It was a host bar staffed by lady boys. I swear that I would never have known that some of those girls were actually boys. Lady boys are a big thing in Thailand. They are everywhere, even in some of the smallest rural villages. Did you know that they are considered a third sex in Thailand? I have actually seen sets of three restrooms: Men, Women, Lady-boy. I have also seen job applications that do not simply have a spot that says Sex, but says Sex at Birth.

That's a good one! 5555555. I wish I had thought it up.

I am very happy to see another Songkran Fan. I love Songkran too. I live in Thailand and so many foreigners hate Songkran. Many leave Thailand and go somewhere else during Songkran. Many hole up in their condos until it is over. But not me. I enjoy it and have a lot of fun. I look forward to it every year.Best of luck with your plans to retire to Thailand. For me, retiring here is the best thing I have ever done and my only regret is that I couldn't have retired here sooner. If there is anything we can do or any advice we can provide to help you prepare for retirement here, just let us know.

That's right. That is exactly what they will call you. Don't feel bad. Try pronouncing some of their names.

The same applies to me. The uprisings were confined to a small area of Bangkok. It was a different story when they took over the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, but that had no effect on anyone unless you had a need to go to the airport during that time. For most people, if it wasn't for the publicity you wouldn't even have known anything was happening at all. Except for that area of Bangkok life here was perfectly normal. There is no need to fear coming to Thailand.

Can you tell us a little bit about gay life in Jakarta?

Considering the number of text messages I receive every day, nothing could be further from the truth.

The way things currently work, as a USA citizen you have the right to live and retire wherever you choose, but even though you paid into the system through taxes all your life, if you make the choice to live somewhere other than within the USA you forfeit the benefits you spent a lifetime paying for.What is the rationale for that? Is it because the USA thinks the health care available there is better than health care elsewhere? Go to a typical hospital in the USA and then go to a typical hospital in Thailand. Then tell me that health care in the USA is better than in Thailand. Could it be that the policy of the USA is the hospitals, HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, etc. have a right to a monopoly on the money from Medicare? Is it possible that Big Brother USA feels it has a right to decide for you what and where you should go for health care?

Whatever they eventually come up with, I hope you can use it no matter where you are instead of having to be in the USA to use it. I live in Thailand and I paid my taxes all my life too. I still do. I don't understand why I have to return to the USA if I need to use Medicare or other health programs. Why should I be screwed out of those benefits simply because I chose to retire outside of the USA?