Bob

A couple of comments (and, yes, I realize the quote is not the poster's but from a news story): 1. The family "believed" the beach had lifeguards? If I'm the parent of a kid under 14-15, I'm not presuming anything - and, lifeguards or no lifeguards, the kid is going to be watched like a hawk by myself or some other responsible adult (especially if it's a beach in "need of" lifeguards. 2. I'm from a tourist town in northern Michigan that has a few public beaches on Lake Michigan. It's been as issue as long as I remember as to whether our dinky city will or won't hire lifeguards. From one camp comes the belief that the lifeguards ought to be there to watch and babysit the kids (kids, by the way, that shouldn't be there without adequate adult supervision in the first place - at least in my view). The other camp looks at other issues such as the cost of the lifeguards, the complacency it causes to some parents simply by having lifeguard there, the problem that lifeguards can't prevent all accidents or drownings and the the lawsuit problem (under Michigan law, the municipality isn't liable if no lifeguards are there whereas the city might be liable if lifeguards are in place). Frankly, there is no way that Phuket Island can hire enough lifeguards to patrol all the beaches - even presuming that they had the money to do so. I'd vote for a simple solution - erect tasteful signs in some locations that simply tell blind parents that there are no lifeguards on any of the beaches and they, the parents, ought to be sure that their children are properly attended while in the water. These signs shouldn't be needed at all - and I'd also bet that irresponsible parents wouldn't read or pay attention to them anyway.

If the Phuket Tourist Association is a private deal, then I'd tend to believe this report....and that'd be good news for at least the Phuket area and maybe also a sign that things will pick up elsewhere in Thailand. I'd have to guess simply by observation that things are okay up here in Chiangmai but I wouldn't say that there's been any significant increase in tourists. For the Loy Krathong parade, it seemed to me that there were even fewer tourists than the prior year (and it wasn't good in 2008!). I spent a week in Hua Hin over Christmas and I actually thought by observation that there were a few less tourists than were around there last winter. But hopefully the numbers will go up soon in all locations. [if the Phuket Tourist Association is a governmental deal - similar to TAT - then I stopped believing what they put out years ago. They'd report some increase and then the a hotel association (which is a private organization consisting of the hotel owners) would report the opposite.]

Yo Beer Chang - wondering if you could offer me some insight to the questions I posed in my last post above? Would be appreciated (the dinosaur needs to be educated).

Not much time and any suggestions that I would have might depend on (1) what time of day to you arrive and depart from Bangkok?, and (2) what is it you like to do? Presuming you've never been to Thailand before and you'll be here only 2-3 days, I'd almost suggest you simply stay in the Bangkok area and see what there is to see there (Grand Palace, night market, etc.). If you'll answer the questions above, I might have some further suggestions.

Frankly (at the risk of being considered a dumb-ass dinosaur), I've never used a "debit" card. What you're implying, I think, is that I could get one of those and use it the same as a credit card (other than the withdrawal by the vendor is directly from my bank account). If that's the case, fine with me - in fact, saves me the effort of having to pay the credit card bill each month. So, how do I get one? At the risk of sounding actually even dumber (no risk probably there as it's "fiat accompli"!), think I could use my SCB ATM card in that manner? I've only ever used it as an "ATM" card (meaning I stick it in the machine and get money) but it does have the Mastercard Electronic logo at the bottom right and also says "Valid only where Mastercard Electronic is Accepted." (I'm really not that dumb in most other matters....or at least that's what my mentor, Jethro DeBodine, tells me...)

Only thing I can tell you is what's happened and what they said. Air Asia uses an asian bank to process their credit charges and, since it emanates from asia (and given what the banks have been telling me is a history of fraudulent credit card charges in this area), they're refusing the charges (at least for me). My mastercard used to work here but that stopped this fall (October). Next time I'm at my home branch of SCB, I'm going to try lvdkeyes' suggestion and talk to the manager. Maybe he'll work something out if, as lvdkeyes said, I can isolate some funds in a separate account that they can use as a hedge against my charges. We'll see.

I've had Vista for 2 (maybe 3?) years this month and I've never had any significant problems with it. Guess there's no reason to change for now....but probably won't have any choice when I make my next laptop/desktop purchase (hopefully a year or more away).

I never had a problem until a year ago. I've got a VISA from US Bank (had it for years, never an issue or late payment, big credit limit, etc.) and, all of a sudden, they stopped accepting any charges from Thailand. When I called and complained, they said that the policy of a lot or most of US banks changed because of the amount of fraudulent credit card purchases from Thailand. When I asked why couldn't I simply authorize the charges (i.e., tag my account in advance), they simply told me that they couldn't do that. All they offered to do is maybe authorize the charge if the vendor telephoned them in the US (I told the guy he was crazy and my days with US Bank were numbered). My second card is a Mastercard from HSBC (again, had it for years, big credit limit, never an issue) and they just started refusing charges in the last 4-5 months (it started with me trying to get an Air Asia ticket online). Again, in spite of my calling and bitching and moaning, the best the guy would do is say they probably would authorize the charge if the vendor called them (like I told him, the likelihood of me finding some Air Asia employee in Kuala Lumpur that was willing to call some dork in the US was about nil). Like I said, I don't need a credit card but on rare occasion (like getting an online domestic air ticket or paying for a hotel here on rare occasion), it sure would be handy.

That rather tees me off.....I use the "800,000 baht" routine to hold on to my long-term visa and have a fair amount more than that in their account. I'll have to ask/bitch again!

Anybody get/use Windows 7 as yet? I'm just curious if anybody thinks it has improvements which might merit using or purchasing it.

My bank (SCB) won't let me have a Thai credit card because I don't have a work permit (I do have a long-term visa but that apparently doesn't count). While my guess is SCB is just doing what other banks do, I'm wondering if any of you have a Thai credit card and, if so, how you got it? I don't need one but, since my US cards won't work over here (in spite of my repeated bitching to them to allow charges from Thailand), I'd like to have one if I ever needed one (plus it'd make buying domestic airline tickets online a whole lot easier).

Geez guys, maybe continue the "splattering" comments on a thread titled "How to Ruin Somebody's Dinner?"

I checked the Thai Airlines site, picked a date in month for the flight, and the website indicated that it's an 18.0 hour flight from LAX to Bangkok (shorter on the return, of course). Strange as it may seam, the direct flight from New York to Bangkok is even shorter due to the configuration of the earth and the flight mainly going north and south).

Hard for me to believe that anybody would say that about KL. I thought it was an exceptionally clean city and the people were rather lovely. One morning, I spent a couple of hours just walking around taking photos of the buildings - some fantastic architecture there. Maybe the guy got his cities mixed up (and, needless to say, if the guy told me the sun rises in the east, I'd look to the west....).

I often cringe myself at some of the things I've written (I do know better). The mistake I often make - and which absolutely dumbfounds me as I clearly know the difference - is inserting "their" when it should be "they're." You ought to hear the nasty names I call myself when I see that I occasionally repeat that same error (and, if I'm lucky, can edit it before anybody notices it and wonders if I graduated ahead of Jethro DeBodine...). My intent wasn't to slam "dirtyferang17 (and I welcome him to the board too) and I did say "no offense meant." But, frankly, dirty, you need to change your style just a wee bit if you expect me to wade through it. Hopefully, you can do that or you will take a look at the suggestions Thaimo makes above.

I'm a bit confused, Beer. A different thread for each product? Let's see, we'll have a soap thread, a socks thread, and a german weiner thread? Unfortunately, I really don't pay attention to what a bar of soap costs me. I do go to Tesco or Tops to buy basic staples and foodstuffs as it's obviously cheaper there than at the local corner store or 7/11. But, as to what a particular item costs me (I do avoid the foreign stuff as it generally costs more here than back at home!), not particularly within my radar.

Now that hurt trying to read that. No offense meant, derty, but a little grammar, spellcheck, and punctuation (like put a period at the end of a sentence?) would greatly enhance whatever it is you're trying to convey.

God, that's so catholic (or buddhist/jewish/etc.). It's not a question of enjoying or not enjoying my occasional (well, ok, more than occasional) foolishness as it's just "normal" most of the times. Plus, it'd probably be a sin to enjoy suffering too much....hehe.

While the story certainly says she tested .708, I really find that hard to believe. For the average person (i.e., somebody who's not a hardened alcholic), .33 can mean coma and .36 can actually mean death. In my home state (Michigan), the highest I have ever heard of was .48 and .49 (and even then we questioned the readings a bit). Sometimes the tests - both the portable and stationary breathalyzers - aren't that accurate due to a lot of factors (one needs to remember that a breathalyzer is a machine attempting to gather alcohol from lung breath and then to extrapolate that quantity to what it thinks is the actual percentage of alcohol in your blood). Sometimes the machines are just calibrated wrong and sometimes the operators don't know how to properly administer the tests. And there are even occasions when the testee has just swallowed some alcohol or, more likely, just regurgitated (or burped) a small enough quantity of alcohol to give a false (high) reading. If, for example, you take a swig of alcohol and then promptly blow on the breathalyzer, you'll show up as "dead." And, then again, I've known of a few false hospital blood tests taken (one test says .30 and the other, taken 10 minutes later, says .22 - which confirms that one or both of the tests is bogus as the body can't dissipate that much alcohol in 10 minutes).

I like to think I don't.....but I do suffer myself way too often!

Probably. And I'd bet that the pumpkin on the trailer porch at Halloween has more teeth than the occupants....

Nope, I don't. But I'd bet that whatever percentage it is, there's a larger percentage (unemployed, elderly, and farmers) who actually make less than that. A small percentage of the Thais get the largest slice of the pie (I recently read an article in a Thai newspaper which dealt with the gap between the rich and the poor in Thailand - and that the gap has steadily grown even wider over the last decade).

Well, after that story, BC, maybe you ought to use a rubber glove to change the temp.....hehe.

Usually (not always), the outer case is plastic and there's no direct link to metal parts inside the heater. Yours is likely safe as you're still with us (standing in water and grabbing onto a source of 240-volt electricity doesn't allow for too many repeat performances).

Nope, sorry. I just don't cook much (other than heating up some stuff in a fry pan or cooking up fried eggs and bacon); besides, the condo I've rented doesn't have a stove. [i was going to say "We don't have a kitchen but I'm sure they're tasty" but I see that my favorite beer beat me to it....and twice, too!]