lukylok

Yesterday already saw the GBP quoted for <40 THB.
The actual value of a valuta says really nothing about how well it is doing.
Since I first came to the island named GB/UK, their currency, the GBP (at that time in shillings and pence) was worth well over 11 DEM=5,55 eur now. Now its just barely EUR 1,10. Its even worse if you convert to CHF. Even the Italian lira etc have nosedived not that much in that period. In general 1 eur buys more as 1 GBP would do in the UK.

I am in complete disagreement with your premise that most "left wing" Westerners mock Christianity but respect Muslims and Buddhist temples (Strange you left out Jewish and Hindu temples).
1.  The vast majority of these other religions are not in the West where you are free to criticize.
2.  Many countries that are not Christian have laws against saying anything bad about their religions in their clountries.
3.  The normal human response when entering a place of worship, where you do not know the rules, is caution and not arrogance.
4.  Any institution is made greater by criticism and in no way should constructive criticism be construed as mocking.
5.  Many of the Christian Protestants and Catholics Churches have fully entered into politics, thus making them fair game for criticism.  Ditto for Jewish Temples in the West, especially concerning Israel. 
6.  The disdain most people feel about Christianity has nothing to do with the distaste for the Christian  religion, but  actual actions of the religious institutions involved. Nice of you to dismiss the pedophilia of the Catholics, and the money machine of the Protestants, or the hypocrisy of a faith that at one time said slavery was okay, homosexuals should be killed, and women should obey their husbands in all things.
      I will condemn these actions with all my voice, and will continue to do so., and in no way accept your charge that I am mocking Christianity.  If anything I am making Christianity more relevant to the vast knowledge we have gained about human behavior, and psychology. 
     On a personal note, I can tell English is not your first language and I believe you, or your minisiter, have  been listening to a very right wing new channel where the big issue is giving Christians more rights then other Americans, by granting a public business the right to discriminate against homosexuals. The right wing says they need this law so Christian businesses will not have to serve Homosexuals as serving them violates their religious beliefs..    It is a falsehood--okay a lie--to keep homosexuals as second class citizens without equal rights.  If you can follow logic you will see it would first apply to homosexuals, then maybe Muslims, Jews, agnostics, and why not blacks--children of Ham, and Spanish people because they are mostly Catholics and Protestantism is the only true religion.  We would soon become a nation of public bigots with neighbor pitted against neighbor. The West is  NOT a tribal society, but take great pride in the fact that we are a society that is a mixture of many cultures, and religions  Most Westerners  welcome diversity and the challenges and change it brings to our society, while some people are terrified of change and will always be, the bottom line is there can be no progress without change.  Most Westerners are allowed to believe in what ever they want to believe--religion or superstition--but because we are a  secular society with guaranteed civil rights, we are also free to criticize what we see as wrong--even in religion.  Such criticism is not mockery, but part of a ongoing dialogue that the West is free to engage in.  This may no be the case in places like Africa, where homosexuals can be killed by the "good" Christians, but not in the West---THANK GOD.

A good article, written 10 years ago but still very much acurate
 
www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/asia-thailand/topics/read-this-tailoring-in-thailand

For a real tailor work, there is only Narin in Sukkumvit.
Not cheap nor fast.
But the only one whose work approach the make of a european top tailor.
In most cases, you have a better product in the so called "bespoke" rtw from Italy.

Why not try the Viangbua mansions, it looks nice and is 50 meters from Adam's

Still being slightly "off topic" the catholic Church makes far more money with funeral rites, which seem obligatory to many. I have assisted to too many such ceremonies where the priest had no idea at all of the ideas of the defunct and was rising more than a smile in the assistance. It's big business !

Orion Bar is open, with some shutters down till 4 or 5 every day.
Some boys from the gogo bars sometimes make an appearance when their business is closed.
It makes for a lively evening.

The boy with the silicone dick used to be a dancer in Happy Place some 4 years ago.
He was then handsome - to my eyes -  and had a respectable cock.
I offed him a few times then and he was not pleased when I refused him after the first injection.

Now I understand why you don't like wine. You also think Starbucks coffee is good !
 

Now I understand why you don't like wine. You also think Starbucks coffee is good !
 

I'd like to second that post strongly.
I was in the same frame of mind, another museum on drugs !
It is extremely well presented, in a fantastic building.
Really worth seeing, very interesting and not at all "preaching".

Sorry to disapoint you. The last two weeks, the weather has been perfect, the beach welcoming, but there are very few boys in the afternoon.
On the other hand Jomtien complex has a new life, a couple of new bars and restaurants, and plenty of activity and many boys till 1 or 2 am.

Sorry to disapoint you. The last two weeks, the weather has been perfect, the beach welcoming, but there are very few boys in the afternoon.
On the other hand Jomtien complex has a new life, a couple of new bars and restaurants, and plenty of activity and many boys till 1 or 2 am.

Sorry to disapoint you. The last two weeks, the weather has been perfect, the beach welcoming, but there are very few boys in the afternoon.
On the other hand Jomtien complex has a new life, a couple of new bars and restaurants, and plenty of activity and many boys till 1 or 2 am.

I went to see the "big banana" contest. Entrance 300 with one drink.
The show was a blotched repetition of the usual show, which I had found good a week earlier, but diluted.
Luckily there are the B-Boys !
Followed by a "cabaret" of lip-synch lady boys which was utterly boring and far too long.
To arrive finally to the usual contest with paper flowers and garlands.
The place was packed to the ceiling, but it will be a very long time before I am lured to a special show there again.

If you believe that in buying "branded products" you are buying quality, you are likely to be bitterly deceived.
The only brand I know, however expensive, is always quality,  is Hermes.
But having had the same supplier, the exact same garment was sold three times the price I was asking.
All the others, have their goods made by subcontractants, at a price. And quality control is lax, to say the least.
The margin, and the promised turnover, being the deciding factors.
You will find that one very "high-so" british brand hires a very medium quality "german" maker to make his suits for one part of Europe, while the other part is provided by an italian maker of renown.
But "défilé haute couture" and heavy advertisement obscur "people's" judgement.
And it is not the press, which usually duplicate the PR annoucements, which is going to help the buyer.

If you believe that in buying "branded products" you are buying quality, you are likely to be bitterly deceived.
The only brand I know, however expensive, is always quality,  is Hermes.
But having had the same supplier, the exact same garment was sold three times the price I was asking.
All the others, have their goods made by subcontractants, at a price. And quality control is lax, to say the least.
The margin, and the promised turnover, being the deciding factors.
You will find that one very "high-so" british brand hires a very medium quality "german" maker to make his suits for one part of Europe, while the other part is provided by an italian maker of renown.
But "défilé haute couture" and heavy advertisement obscur "people's" judgement.
And it is not the press, which usually duplicate the PR annoucements, which is going to help the buyer.

That is really not peculiar to Thailand. The wolrd over now, it is very difficult to find a knowledgeable salesman.
But it goes both ways: still fewer customers nowadays are knoweldgeable about what they buy.
The only that matters is " BRAND".
I know from experience that now less than 1% of the customers, know of the quality of the material, make, cut, ....

That is really not peculiar to Thailand. The wolrd over now, it is very difficult to find a knowledgeable salesman.
But it goes both ways: still fewer customers nowadays are knoweldgeable about what they buy.
The only that matters is " BRAND".
I know from experience that now less than 1% of the customers, know of the quality of the material, make, cut, ....

Ask any young thai people ! Line is a system where you can exchange sms and more important : smilies , which are peculiar to line and very funny ! The collection of smilies of Line is enormous !

I think the negative response is typically USA.  And the USers very often think their view is that of the world. But USers are only a bit less than 5 % of the people ont his planet.

Why would you ever trust people whose motto is : "In God we trust".
It looks just the same as the "extremists" arab nations about Allah !