Bob

North of Pattaya but short of Chon Buri. It's where the tiger zoo is located.

Yep, a particular pet peeve of mine. A couple of years back, I arrived at Suvarnabhumi on Thai Air on a loaded 747 (yes, a 747) from Chiangmai and they bussed the whole load to the terminal. And I counted 27 shutes open. Unbelievable that they do this but I've been told that they have to pay to use the shutes and it's cheaper to bus everybody in. Some other airports walk people to the planes parked out on the tarmac (that's happened to me in Chiangmai before. Once, on return to Chiangmai from Kuala Lumpur, the Air Asia plane parked way the hell away from the terminal entrance, it was hotter than hell out that afternoon (with the temperature on the tarmac being well over 40C or 100F), and I actually thought a few of the elderly passengers weren't going to make it (it was tough enough walking with hand baggage in that heat for me). I can understand the cheaper airlines (e.g., Air Asia or Nok) doing it but the national carrier? Only in Thailand....

No problem, PM, I enjoyed meeting you and the others too. I've met a couple of other doctors at Chiangmai Ram and was equally impressed with the one you have. Now, hopefully they'll kick you loose in a day or two. When/if you come back to Chiangmai and you're healthy enough to have a beer, send me a note. P.S. When you leave CM Ram, ditch the hospital gown. You'll look a lot better in street clothes...55555.

I can report that PM appears to be doing better and seems to be well taken care of both by his Thai doctor and a personal Thai friend. Hopefully PM will be able to exit the hospital soon. As to personal details, I'll let PM choose what to post or not post.

Wow, man, hope you recover soon. I've sent you a PM as I'll come up and visit (I live on the west end here) if you'll give me some details by PM. But....since I've been to Chiangmai Ram twice in the last month, don't be upset if I'm wearing a gas mask or something...hehe.

Martha just seems a bit too cutesy and, at times, it seems that there's a little "Leona Helmsley" attitude there. And I always wonder who really has time or the desire to bake little crumpets or whatever for the rich people next door....hehe. But, culinary-wise, I don't have a clue as I'm rather inept in that category.

Can sympathize with your feelings (King and Walters are like walking skeletons or something and Dr. Phil is the "Jim and Tammy Bakker" of "hallelujah psychology") but, although not my cup of tea, I've at least admired Oprah for what she's accomplished - both in her own life and for others. Actually, a pretty classy lady.

Ditto. I understand the urge to look at a train wreck (I've done it many times before) but I just don't want to look at the photos either. Maybe it's a way I can avoid feeling too bad about this type of man's inhumanity to man.

Hope it works for you in February; however, I've understood the letter (much like the bank letter) has to be reasonably close to the date of renewal so it might be a problem. Good luck nonetheless.

If your local bank charges a 1.5% fee for traveler's checks, perhaps time to change banks? I guess I realize some charge more or less for them and some (perhaps based on the type of account you hold or the amount in the account?) don't charge for them. Guess I'm lucky with that. But....as far as exchange rate, you won't get better than what you can get for traveler's checks. Just look at the exchange rates at any of the banks or money-exchange places here in Thailand. And that's been true for more than a decade.

I dislike the banks too but, since I have an account here and only grab cash from that, I don't have any of the other charges you mention. And, since you have an account here too, I presume the problem for you is either minor or non-existent. Now, for the short-term tourist that's here 2-3 weeks and spending about $1,000 a week, I still have to wonder why they get all worked up having to spend an extra $10.00 a week or less in bank fees. Yea, it stinks.....but the repeated response on message boards about it is a bit disproportionate. But, what the hell, it 's free to bitch and moan....hehe.

Sounds like the airlines..... Seriously, though, I'm really not understanding why falang seem to get so repeatedly upset about the bank charges. Using a credit card to get money out of a bank is not the wisest choice anywhere and using an ATM card on a machine not from your bank repeatedly for small amounts isn't much smarter. Bring some cash or traveler's checks and just cash them in as you need them (or, if you're repeatedly here, get a bank account here).

A rather sarcastic (and funny as hell) description of the failed state of the modern Thai government. The only other similar reason I can think of why any war effort would fail is that Thailand decided to send 10,000 troops for the effort and: (1) 3,000 of that total were generals and massive delay occurred during discussions of who exactly was in charge and who exactly had to salute who. Plus, most were attending ceremonies awarding medals to each other. (2) 4,000 of the remaining troops were unavailable - still attending the gardens of the various generals' girlfriends. (3) 2,000 of the remaining 3,000 were cooks feeding the 3,000 generals, and (4) As the only movies in the caravan were of the of the old wars with the Burmese, the remaining 1,000 privates were out building elephant traps.

You're not being very specific with your question. If you're asking if the clinical psych or shrink needs to confirm that the television is really not giving secret orders to somebody, the answer is "not very often." If it's a question of confirming physical evidence (family history, organic brain sydrome, or the like), than the answer is "thousands of times." But I worked with hundreds of them for a dozen years or so (although I've known many for much longer than that).

Not enough space to go into this issue. While I agree with you that Freud - no matter how well intentioned - was scientifically a fraud and screwed up any science of psychology for a very long time, I do believe your remaining assessments are a bit harsh and overdone. There are some exceptional social workers, shrinks, and psychologists out there that do tremendous good for a lot of people. And the notion that these people just take for gospel anything that a person says is actually untrue in most cases (yea, sure, there are some quacks out there just like in any profession).

I rather like the state of Oregon's assisted suicide law. In part, if two psychiatrists/psychologists certify that you are basically competent, you can choose to end it for whatever reason you want. Sounds fine with me although, as I understand it, very few have utilized the right to do it. For competent adults, I don't see where I have the right to substitute my judgment as to what is a sufficient reason to choose not to live.

Yes, welcome back. For a few hours there, I'd click on the url for this site and was being directed to various porn sites (one of which dealt with some kind of domitatrix theme). I know GB was recently mucked but I didn't know he was into chains, whips, and leather!

Lvdkeyes inserted the word "empathy" into the discourse here and I certainly can empathize with a guy who is about to lose a leg because of disease or injury. Even some sympathy or compassion. I have a much harder time feeling any empathy, compassion, or sympathy regarding the decision to leap from a building to solve the problem. There are suicides that are simply the result of mental illness and I can understand compassion in those cases. But there are suicides that are rational (albiet not always too smart) choices and those acts are more difficult for me to get too personally worked up about. But, even in those latter cases, at least in my view, the family and friends the guy leaves behind deserve the lion's share of any sympathy or compassion. Just a personal opinion (and I did it without blasting anybody else or their views).

Perhaps a little too flippant, alaan. My readings of the posts here do not detect anybody expressing glee over some pour soul's choice to jump off a building to end it all. I myself have some mixed feelings over these situations. I'm not in a position to save everybody and I'm not even going to try (harsh as that sounds, it's reality in my view). And I certainly prioritize my compassion - and the friends and family the flying falang (or the drunk driver) leaves behind are going to get it long before he does.

I'm not 100% sure of your question. I do know that some people deposit money using the ATM machines - but I've never done that (I ultimately spend every baht I personally keep). If you're talking about depositing money inside, you just use the deposit slips in there (same as in your home bank - quite similar).

I happened to open the SCB account at the Taepae branch of SCB up here in Chiangmai (cause I'm usually in Chiangmai when in Thailand). I actually don't remember about giving them any address - I faintly recall I gave them the hotel name. The ATM card was given to me right away as was the instructions for internet access (I accessed that the next day and changed my password). There are no statements sent, as far as I know. I just check it online if and when I want to and update my passbook occasionally when I'm in the mood and near one of their "update passbook" machines (although I've had them do it inside too). To be able to transfer money to another account online, the accounts have to be linked so I do recall giving them the bf's name and account number to do that. The SCB website has a section which allows me to transfer funds to his account. I'd note that the bf cannot access my account or account information in case you want to know. Remember to open the account in the province you'll likely be as there are no charges within your "home" province. But outside your "home" province they charge for everything, including use of the ATM and passbook updates. I've never seen a SCB ATM machine outside of Thailand (actually, never looked for one) so I have no idea if it works outside of Thailand. I've not anticipated how I would try to get the money out of the account if, for instance, I chose never to come back to Thailand. But I do know that within the next few weeks, I'm going to go see a Thai lawyer to do a Thai will to deal solely with the account balance (I keep a fair amount of money in the account as I used the "money in the bank" option for my long-term visa) and with personal property and limited furniture that I keep here in Thailand. Funny you should ask that last question as I asked another falang friend about that just last night at dinner. He said he doesn't care what happens to the funds as he doesn't keep much in his account (which, if that's the case, I'd think he would maybe be better to make the account joint with his long-term bf - but, then again, that's none of my business I suppose). If/when you want to, you can easily load up your SCB account by internationally wiring funds to your account from your home bank. That's what I do once or twice a year. I would note that I think you can only withdraw 10,000 baht at a time using your ATM card (as that's the highest amount in the automatic options that pop up when using the ATM machine) - but you can do it twice while you're standing there. If I need more than 20,000 baht at a given moment (not that often), I just go inside the bank and use the passbook and withdrawal slip and get it from the teller. I've heard that there is a daily withdrawal limit - what I heard was 100k - but I know that's not true as I withdrew (using the teller) 106k one time just 2-3 weeks ago. Hope this answers your questions.

I've opened accounts at Bangkok Bank and Siam Commercial Bank with only the 30-day visa (exemption) deal. My guess is you can find a bank or branch of that bank that will let you open one without any problem. My first account was with Bangkok Bank and, while I had an ATM card, they wouldn't let me do the internet banking thing without more than the 30-day visa; as such, I switched to SCB and had no problem at all with the internet banking (which comes in handy for me to transfer funds, without charge, to the bf's linked SCB account with the click of a mouse).

Presuming you come to Thailand regularly, why not just open up a bank account here - and then you can use the bank's ATM machine, at least within the province you opened the account, for free? I do get a chuckle when a bank's ATM machine that is within or right outside of a bank branch runs out of 1000 baht notes. You'd think they'd at least keep those machines adequately stocked (but I'm sure the answer to that is it's somebody else's job to keep the machines filled....).

Same same. I'm rather surprised that the US trick-or-treat tradition carries on in this day and age. First we tell young kids not to talk to or contact strangers but, for one evening a year, we shuffle the kids all over town to strangers' houses to ask for candy. Rather bizzare in my view and, if I had any kids that age, they'd be going to a chaparoned party or only to houses of friends and relatives.

I'm not sure that I'm in any position to do that. Other than my regular bf (9 years this month), I usually am not discussing sexual practices with other Thais that I know. Then again, I don't think I ever discussed the topic with my nephews and neices either (perhaps not my role). With respect to the barboys, it would seem to me that only the bar owners might be in a position to possibly affect some behavior in that arena. But I'm not sure that we falang can encourage those discussions to happen unless we know the particular bar owner fairly well.