Bob

The owner surely had some balls to take the stand he did although my guess is the cops will make sure that he pays for it. In the States, the cops would need no search warrant to look through the public areas of the bar...as it's open to the public; however, they would need a search warrant to enter the private areas of the bar absent having probable cause (perhaps learned by the visit to the public area?) that a felony was being committed on the premises. Given the Thai laws are hardly as strict, I'm surprised that the police Colonel didn't perform a protological exam on the owner on the spot.

For anyone arriving on or after March 25th to Bangkok and who was then planning on flying on the domestic airlines to another Thai city, you need to recheck your schedules and locations. Beginning March 25th, all of Nok Air and One-Two-Go flights and half of Thai Airways flights are moving to Don Muang (DMK). And many or most of Thai Air's flights have changed times at both airports. It appears that half of Thai Air's domestic flights (with changed times) will stay at Suvarnabhumi (BKK) and Air Asia also stays there. Hell if I know where Bangkok Air or others will be. If you arrive or leave after March 25th, you need to stay on top of this. I arrive BKK on April 6th and leave the 21st. As to how I get to and from Chiangmai, I don't have a clue at the moment (other than I am going to cancel some changed Thai Air tickets and see if I can grab tickets on the cattle-call Air Asia). I can't envision how much fun it would be to take a taxi from BKK to DMK in mid-day traffic and I'm hoping I do not have to find that out. P.S. Is the Junta overseeing the airports now??? hehe

Not sure what medications Luvthai takes but it surely provides him with very good and discerning eyesight!

I understand what you mean here, Lvdkeyes.......but, if you wandered through the thousands of items in the Walmart stores here in the US, I doubt if you'd find a single item that was manufactured in the US. Sold here....but made elsewhere (Taiwan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Thailand, etc.).

Noy, I agree with you that 18 year olds are foolish with their money (foolish at least with respect to what I think is prudent). But I never view I'm being "tricked" by anybody. They are just being themselves and, if I think or expect them to act prudently with their money, I'm only tricking myself. It's hardly the middle class or upper class boys coming to work at the bars. Generally, it's poorly educated farm boys. For the kid to get 10,000 baht in his hand is like you or me getting a fortune. They see all their friends with mobile phones (it has been "the" in thing for a while, you know) and I can hardly expect them not to want one. They've eaten with nothing in their pocket most of their lives so why we should we expect them to save their money for food and other necessities of life? As to the 2,000 he didn't spend right away, that's an amount for many of them that would equal what their dads made in almost a month. And the kids are living in a society that seems to generally suggest you should "eat, drink, and be merry today" and worry about tomorrow no earlier than tomorrow. Not surprising at all. I'm extremely prudent (tight?) with my money. But I do recall a time, many eons ago, when I was putting myself through college and acting about the same. I was working 20-30 hours a week and I often had about $5.00 extra per week to choose between food, clothing, alcohol, cigarettes,drugs, or gasoline for my beat-up old Volkswagon. Food, clothing, gasoline, or saving for a rainy day never won that fight. Same same.

You gave your Thai boyfriend 10,000 baht and he went out the next day and bought an 8,000 baht mobile phone? Egads, how surprising (surprising, that is, that he waited until the next day). I suspect that many 18-20 year old kids around the world would spend most of the 10,000 baht they were given for the reason they are 18-20 year old kids. Not knowing that in advance suggests the boyfriend is of the expected maturity age and you are not. And somehow implying that you have the right to tell him how to spend "his" money is befuddling to me.

I've had trouble before in getting a quick flight to Chiangmai when I arrive in Bangkok (and once had to wait about 5 hours and only business class was available) so I always book ahead. Up to you but I wouldn't wait until you get to Bangkok to book the flight. Do it over the internet ahead of time - it's easy - and you'll get the flight you want.

I spent a week in Luang Prabang in 2004 with my Chiangmai bf and I never saw any problem (we stayed at the Villa Santi Resort a couple of miles out of town). Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing many gay couples at all up there but I also don't remember having any concerns at all. I do remember that when landing at the little airport there, I was duly unimpressed with the 4 little Ho Chi Minh types at immigration control in the terminal. They were dressed up in those goofy uniforms and were not friendly at all. I had previously wondered what limitations/concerns I might have visiting a country controlled by a communist government and those 4 guys renewed my concern. However, for the next 6 days, I never saw any government people let along a single policeman. The Luang Prabang people were all very friendly and obviously didn't give a hoot what or where their government was (so long, I suspect, as they don't bother them).

Geez,Jinks, you got a free pass with that comment! Jealous????

Jinks, if you're running XP or Vista, you can do that same thing with the remote access features of those programs except you're doing a direct connection over the internet to your computer and not going through some website. It's kinda wierd when you log in and get your home desktop (and full operational control of it) appearing on your laptop .....but it is rather handy. Like you, you can leave your home computer on (and, if need be, you can reboot from your remote laptop after you log in). Or, you can also get some software that'll let you turn it off and then turn it back on from your remote.

Disposing of your Thailand assets via a valid Thai will (use a Thai lawyer) ought to adequately take care of your thai assets. As to assets in your home country, a valid will there will take care of it. In the states, as long as you adequately identify the beneficiaries, there is almost no likelihood that the beneficiary won't get the bequest. For a thai beneficiary, it would be wise to list the name, home address, and maybe even the name and address of somebody else who could get in contact with him (or, I suppose, her). If as one poster noted you place a "trusted " friend or relative on a survivorship CD, your trust had better be well placed as the law is clear that, in spite of private instructions, the survivor owns the money and can legally do whatever he wants with it. The cemeteries are filled with parents and people who are still turning over in their graves because the "trusted" son, daughter, brother, sister, or friend decided to ignore the instructions given. I've seen it happen hundreds of times. Plus, if your trusted friend gets a judgment against them, be aware that your friend's creditors can garnish the account (after all....he or she is a co-owner!). It's my view that it is your job to never place anybody in a position to possibly defy your wishes; as such, leave your assets in your name and write a valid and specific will. Don't worry about "all" of the alleged will contests out there - there aren't very many and they almost always fail. Most will contests really stem out of undue influence and that's doubtful that could be claimed when bf is 10,000 miles away from you when you do your home country will.

I'd guess that the internet speed/connection reaching your computer is damn near zilch. You can test the quality and speed of your internet connection on many websites. Do that and, if it shows you're getting damn near nothing, contact your provider and tell them what you're geting speed-wise (and, if they won't fix it, then offer them 5 baht for next month's service!).

If you're looking for quiet at night, Tui's is deathly quiet then. I've stayed there several times and that's why I do. If you get a beachfront room, quite nice to listen to the waves when the wind is blowing a bit.

The fees vary a great deal from university to university (I've been aware of the fees at Khon Kaen University, Burapa (about 45,000 baht per semester) in Chon Buri, and Payap in Chiangmai (about 85,000 baht per semester). A few are cheaper and the elite are much more expensive. And, of course, where they charge per credit hour, just depends on how many credits your friend is taking. And, based on my experience, the cost is higher the last two years. Oftentimes, there are other significant expenses - class trips to various places (sometimes by air).

It's like laying out the ant trap.

Every board seems to have 2 or 3 absolutely annoying twits on it full of their own bull**** and pompous/juvenile musings (and, for some unknown reason, seem to think that there is a crowd that waits to hear what they have to say). I suppose that is part of the pathological psychology oozing from their posts. Some day, I simply have to set up a website solely to have the thrill of deleting the crap such as is contained in the last response. It pains me that there is written proof that Darwin had it backwards.

I'm a little puzzled Beta as to why you ask our opinion of some of these places when you've already booked them. I"m also not sure what information you are looking for. You want us to comment about the hotels you selected, tell you if we know about any bars or other activity nearby, or what? And I'd also note that, unless you're going to be over in LOS for several weeks, you surely like to try to cram a lot into a vacation. Hope you have time to stop and smell the roses. With respect to the Rydges Taipae (Chiangmai): Nice place but somewhat away from anything of great interest (and, if you can walk to the night market bars in 10-15 minutes from there, you're a speed walker!). This hotel is only a couple of blocks North of the Taipae Gate and, should you be there on a Saturday or Sunday, you might enjoy the walking street market held on Saturdays and Sundays on the street (Ratchadangern) which runs west from the Taipae Gate). The Sompet market is somewhat across the streets (two of them and a moat) in front of the Rydges and a nice place for fresh fruit, flowers, etc. With respect the the "Phu" place. It's at least 30 kilometers north of Chiangrai and about 10 kilometers outside of Mae Chan (and Mae Chan is in the middle of nowhere).

Nice thought, Wowpow, but perhaps a bit too optimistic? I've got a better shot at winning the lotto! Nevertheless, hope everyone has a very healthy and modestly happy 2007!

Ditto from me.....best wishes, Allen, and a speedy recovery. Pretty easy procedure and fast recovery. And, if I was over there right now, I'd send over a couple of special male nurses to attend to your every need.....

Yes, hardly fair to express disbelief when the poster doesn't really have a clue. I recall when a Bangkok taxi driver exerted great effort to locate me and return my passport which I left in the backseat of his taxi (I frankly can't figure out how he found me a day later - he must have a great memory given all the fares he has in a day). And I practically had to force him to take the tip I gave him as a reward. Nice guys (including taxi drivers) do happen in Thailand.

While I would hardly consider the act of the idiot a capital offense, it's a wee bit more (if one places the act in the context of thai culture) than an act of irreverence. Damn, Hedda, you're quite the liberal - just a "I'm sorry" and "ok, you're free to go"? Measuring the level of stupidity, the age of the idiot (he should have known better), and the offense to the Thai people, Judge Bob decrees 30 days in the slammer (with some protection there to avoid him being torn asunder by local thais) and a 50,000 baht fine. And, once idiot is released, he is escorted to the airport and permanently thrown out of the country. And I'd bet that most Thais would think that the jerk got off easy with that sentence.

Almost like predicting the weather.......hmmm......tomorrow will be light followed later by dark..... Short-term prediction? Almost impossible. The US operating deficit and trade deficit continues to explode - meaning the dollar goes down against the other major currencies (with the thai baht being a tag-along to the yen and yuan and appreciating). On the other hand, the current thai government hasn't engendered great faith with anyone as yet and just blew a big one with international investors (who really count) - thus the thai baht depreciates to the dollar. So.....if I had to take a guess.....the thai baht will fluctuate between 35 and 37 for the next 3 months. Long-term prediction. Easy (I think). The thai baht will more closely follow the Chinese yuan which currently is about 40-50% undervalued. Absent a major economic crisis in Thailand, I sadly predict the thai baht will be about 27-28 baht to the dollar in 2 years. The only thing that makes me think that won't happen is that the Thai economy will tank by about the time the thai baht is about 32 to the dollar. Best course of action? Cut your hair, give away everything you own, and retreat to a mountaintop temple. Then you won't give a shit what happens....

Yes, Malaysia is okay.......made the trip there about 6 weeks ago with my Chiangmai friend. We've also gone to Laos(Luang Prabang) and Singapore without the need for a visa (you get one upon arrival). And I've heard Hong Kong is fine, too.

My CM friend was home watching TV and indicated he felt the shaking and thought there was a problem with his building (until he saw the TV announcement about the earthquake). But there was no damage around his building that he could see.

It's obvious that's how you see this and other message boards but, for a moment, please consider that the vast majority of posters neither see this as a war zone nor want it to be one. The more you act on your "war zone" view, the less others want to participate.