Bob

It's amazing to me that anyone would actually pay money to hear this woman speak. Hell, I'd pay money if she'd just go back home and watch Russia for us from her porch. You betcha!

Correction. It appears I didn't get the ticket prices from Lumpini's website (the English version is rather spartan) but elsewhere. And it appears the tickets are 200 to 2000 (not 1000) baht. Still, not too bad at all.

The "Sunday" market in Chiangmai is mainly along Ratchadanern (spelling?) Road - which is the road running due west towards the mountains from Taipei Gate. It's essentially a "night market" stretching out for a kilometer or more (and also into a couple of the streets running off of Ratchadanern. By and large, most of the stuff for sale there is typical to night markets elsewhere in Thailand, although there's more food for sale and occasionally some unique local handicrafts. Nothing too exciting in my view (most of it's tourist crap but occasionally there'll be some decent items). But since the Thai authorities closed the road, it's really become a huge deal in Chiangmai - much bigger than the "regular" night market along Chang Klan. There's always a few musicians here and there and occasional juggler and that sort of thing. And, based on the crowds there every Sunday, it's very popular with Thais and especially the younger set. It seems to me that it's almost become a weekly social event there and I find it entertaining on occasion. If you're up in Chiangmai on a Sunday, it's worth a visit. P.S. Last I knew, I thought they were also going to open this up on another night of the week (a Wednesday?) but I've never been over there to check that out.

Just found Lumpini's website last night. They list tickets from 200 to 1000 baht. Not bad in my view....and a lot less than the cost of tickets to see fights in the US.

Actually, I don't know....but your guess is as good as mine.

Guess I was thinking asians versus Thais in Vancouver (there do seem to be a lot of asians there). As I understand it, the then-existing King went to Switzerland in 1932 when the absolute monarchy ended in Thailand and I think the royals lived in Switzerland until some time after the second world war. North of Chiangrai, at Doi Tung (Doi means mountain so I'm guessing that "Tung" is the name of the mountain), the Queen Mother (present King's mom) built a swiss chalet which presumably was built because of fond Swiss memories. There are a lot of very well manicured gardens next to the chalet and the place is open for tourists. I'd recommend it if you're in the area although I'd note it that it often rains there because it's at a slightly higher elevation.

This is a rather popular recipe used by many hunters of wild duck. It doesn't apply to domesticated duck. (1) Place the de-feathered duck on an approximately 16" x 24" piece of cherry wood. Stretch the duck out and nail it down at the four corners. (2) Cook the duck at 350 degrees (F not Celcius!) for 1 hour, basting it every 10 minutes with your favorite wine sauce or whatever. (3) Remove from the oven, remove the duck and throw it away, and eat the board! It'll taste better!

I don't think you or I have to do so.....as we both have the right to ruin our health that way if we want to do so. The only time we get shit about it is because we (or other smokers) are infringing on the rights of others. By the way, a lot of smokers (like you and definitely me) sure get rather defensive about the topic when it's brought up. In my view (and, again, you know I'm a long-time smoker), it's probably because we know how stupid it is for us to do it in the first place. I actually feel rather embarrassed about it as I know (or think) that I'm smart enough to know not to do it. I wish I had the will to quit (but I don't).

I don't know about the "per capita" statistics but, frankly, I'm very doubtful of what you heard. According to Wikopedia, the entire population of Switzerland is about 7.5 million and, of that number, about 1.5 million are registered resident foreigners. Of that 1.5 million resident foreigners, only about 69,000 are from all of Asia. I'd bet a nickel that Vancouver has a much higher number and percentage (per capita) of Thais living there than Switzerland.

Geez, that sounds a heck of lot like what a lot of alcoholics have told me in the past. One of the reasons you "enjoy" it - or think you do - is that you are addicted. Don't worry, I'm not giving you any crap over it. I'm addicted too....and wish I wasn't. As concerns the "no smoking" policy of establishments, I simply won't smoke in any building anywhere near non-smokers without their permission (and, oftentimes, still won't do it). Hell, even outside I will stay away from non-smokers the best I can. I recognize how bad it smells to others and, besides, I don't have a right to fill their lungs with my second-hand smoke or to stink up their clothing.

Lol. The problem with that list is I'd have to stop posting once I got to level 7. I've always wanted to be a flying spaghetti monster (plus I can't play guitar well enough ever to claim to be an Eric Clapton).

Are you referring to the foreign income exclusion act? If so, you're number is wrong (it's actually higher now as it's annually adjusted by inflation) and it wouldn't apply to 95% of the expats in Thailand. And, while everybody can google that act and read for themselves, it doesn't apply to income you earn in the US or to passive income earned anywhere (it's a device where you possibly can shield some of your employment earnings overseas if you can meet certain requirements).

Smoker, you can't blame all bad things on democracy. But, if that's your logic, then I suppose you'd have to admit that every good thing that's occurred or been accomplished in the west is due to democracy? Aristocracy (other than in some third world countries - Thailand being likely in that class) was thrown out in the developed nations several hundred years ago. Democracy certainly is ugly at times but it's better than any alternative I can conjure up. Sure, we have a fair number of dumbass (just plain dumb-as-a-stump) citizens but, frankly, most of them actually don't vote. We also have a fair number of dumbass rich voters.

Yep, I think the "meatload" deal is a totally different recipe... But the meatloaf recipe does sound great and, if/when I get the urge to actually cook, will have to try it.

If I recall right, I once had ringside seats at Lumpini and the ticket cost was 1,000 baht. Except for some really big fight, it's hard for me to believe that the cheapest seats now are 1,000 baht.

No big deal but the poster was asking who the "yellow shirts" were (and I believe, in context, he was asking what they meant by the "yellow shirts" in the newspaper article quoted. They're the PAD. Just like the "red shirts" are supporters of Shinawatra/Samak. People who wear yellow shirts on a Monday aren't necessarily part of PAD (and, historically, those that did wear yellow on Monday were simply showing respect for the King).

I'm a Sunday product too, lvdkeyes, so I guess we're "see daeng" kinda guys. But I think your description of the "yellow shirts" is slightly incomplete/incorrect. Yellow is the Thai color for Monday and, for many years, Thais of all persuasions wore yellow on Monday to honor the King as he was born on a Monday. However, since 2004, a poltical group led originally by wacko Sondhi Limongkul, arose calling itself the "PAD" which stood for "Peoples Alliance for Democracy." PAD elected to wear yellow and it is that group that is now known as the "yellow shirts." They cloaked themselves in yellow really for two reasons: (1) to assert they are the true lovers of the King and (2) to claim all of their enemies (like the deposed Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra) are against the King. I'll keep this short and not go into the history of Sondhi Limongkul (but maybe you ought to google him and read about him as he's a real sorry piece of work) but I do wish to make one important comment about the PAD group. One of their basic tenets is that they want 70% of the upper house of the Thai legislature appointed and not elected. Why? Because, frankly, they don't trust the Thai voters to elect a proper leader (after all, about 70% voted for Shinawatra during the last legitimate election). And, in spite of being asked, they've never indicated who would "appoint" those legislators (but everyone has presumed it would be the elite of Thailand closely aligned with the military). PAD's claim to be "for democracy" yet they don't want 70% of the one house of parliament elected shows their basic dishonesty. As noted in a reference in one Wikopedia article on the PAD: "The Asian Human Rights Commission has noted of the PAD and their agenda that, 'although they may not describe themselves as fascist, have fascist qualities'." By the way, it was PAD that effectively caused the army coup against Shinawatra, it was PAD who took over Government House, it was PAD who closed the international airport, and it currently is PAD causing the trouble at the Thai/Cambodian border.

Huh? The woman who had her husband murdered? I think you misread something there.

Not sure I have the time to send emails with 130 gig of attachments. Plus, I'd guess that hotmail or gmail may have some storage limits?

Like Thaimo, I have an external harddrive that's hooked to the computer via a usb cable. Extremely easy to use. And I don't have to worry about paying some website to store the stuff or if that website will always be around. For really important stuff (photos and music for me), I copy the stuff to dvd's once a year or so and then store the dvd's at the other end of my house (on the theory that, should a fire occur, the whole house probably won't burn!). Plus, a lot of the important stuff is on my laptop which I take with me when I travel to Thailand.

A decade or so ago, I set about to try to learn some Thai so I bought a couple of books and tried to slog through them. The best (or one I liked the most) book I had was titled "Teach Yourself Thai" which also came with an audio cassette (nowadays, it has a cd). This book, like others, stressed that you're learning will be better and/or more complete if you also learn how to read and write Thai. I'm hardly proficient speaking Thai (my tones are usually wrong) and I actually might be able to read it better than I can speak it. That ability to minimally read Thai has actually been helpful as it enables me to read a lot of signs (bathroom signs, entrance and exit signs, signs indicating how much something costs, etc.) and other things and that makes my wanderings around Thailand more personally enjoyable. My biggest handicap is my age (I'm 60) as, while I can read it and understand it, my retention rate is pretty bad. I should have learned it when I was 10! This past spring, I spent 6 weeks (two hours, twice a week) with about a dozen other farangs in a Thai language school in Hua Hin. That was fun and, while I did learn some things (for the first time, learned and actually retained the tones for some words!), I'm dumbfounded as to how much of that I've forgotten in the almost 5 months I've been back at home. But...I'm about to begin a 7 month sojourn in Thailand and, as stubborn as I am, I hope to attend some language class for 6 months or so just to see if there is any realistic chance I can substantially improve my ability to speak and hear (they do talk rather fast!) Thai. We'll see.

Doesn't really matter to me how the owner wants to rank the posters. Unfortunately, at least in my experience on various boards, the number of posts for some posters is not directly proportional to the expertise or knowledge of that poster. A few attempt to present themselves as experts at everything, provide long-winded opinionated (too often non-factual) responses, somehow know that the world can't wait until they have spoken, and are simply aghast that somebody might not agree with them. So, in general (and presuming anybody asked me.....they haven't), I'd prefer not to use ranking words that infer that more is better. Maybe just list new members as "newbes" and then, after they've made a certain number of posts, label them as "veterans" or some such neutral label that just shows they've been around for a while? In spite of all that, I'll ultimately chant Emily Latela's "never mind" as I realize that the web world doesn't think that way. The more traffic the better (and some even pay big money for numerous posts). My comments aren't meant to take aim at this website as, so far, it looks like a very nice addition to the world of forums about Thailand. And reasonable moderation will likely keep it that way.

While I'm a big fan of the Thai people, I have no clue what "84th least corrupt" is supposed to mean. In reality, Thailand's government, elite, and police are more corrupt than any country I've ever known. Absolutely endemic.

That's the way I've learned it too; however, I hear the "chan" spoken many times by male speakers. And, if you're familiar with Thai pop/rock music, it's almost always "chan" when spoken (sung) by male singers.

Wilson was an absolute dolt for doing what he did. It was disrespectful as hell to any president. We've had more and more of these tea parties and other events as of late where some idiots show up with placards referring to Obama as a monkey or having large photos altered to show Obama as some African witch doctor or the equivalent. This is only being done by a very small minority of people but, of course, the more outrageous the conduct the more newscasters pay attention to it. Clearly a lot of what's being done by these few idiots is clearly racist. So, for the last couple of months, the tension has been ratcheted up quite a bit here in the US and it didn't surprise me at all, given those rising tensions, that some people termed what Wilson did as "racist." While I won't defend Wilson's conduct, there's no way in my view that you can fairly conclude he's a racist because of it. And, while I admire the hell out of Jimmy Carter (especially his numerous good works since he left office), he was way off base in my view by asserting that most of the criticism toward Obama's policies is racist (or, as Carter put it, because "Obama is a black man"). Sure, some of the criticism has come from racists - but the bulk of it? I personally don't buy that (nor is there evidence to support it).