Baby Elephants in Bangkok

I was walking in Sukhumvit Soi 4, sightseeing with my friend. I saw two men with a baby elephant. One of the men was selling sugarcane and cucumber to tourists and Thai people so they could feed his elephant. In Thailand, it is considered good luck to touch an elephant or to have an elephant touch you.

The men do this after the rice farming is finished. They buy the sugarcane and cucumber at the market cheaply, then sell them in small bundles at a marked up price. In this way, he makes a profit. The elephant gets fed, and the people get good luck.

Unfortunately, this is illegal, but the police seem to tolerate it.

Elephants need lots of food and water every day, but Thailand’s forests are rapidly disappearing and most elephants are now captive on farms and at tourist sites, where they give elephant rides and demonstrate how they can pull heavy logs. Sphere: Related Content

Now I've Seen Everything

Tonight I was in Boots, the UK pharmacy that has 106 shops in Thailand, buying some pain pills for my sore back. All pharmacies in Thailand have many skin whitening creams because almost all Thai women think they are "too black".

While we white-skinned Caucasians appreciate their golden beauty, they equate darker skin with poverty, because poor farmers work all day in the rice fields. Every Thai woman I know slobbers whitening cream on her face every night before bed.

Today, though, I was surprised to see Nanomed Pink Nipple Cream. Being a white skinned, red-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian, I was born with pink nipples and whenever I get naked with a Thai woman, that is the first thing they comment on. But I never realised until today that they would actually slobber cream on their lovely brown nipples to turn them pink. Sphere: Related Content

Back to Bangkok

A couple of weeks ago, I made the decision to walk away from Canada and my ever-increasing debts, and return to Bangkok, where I can live on my small Canadian pension. I have enough frequent flyer miles with Air Canada's Aeroplan FF program that I could get to Bangkok for free. But then the People's Alliance for Democracy (P.A.D.), which as far as I can see, wants to destroy democracy and impose military rule along with a few elected people, closed the airports.

I spent the first night in Montreal, and that was a hassle… it took 90 minutes to check into the airport Holiday Inn because there was a huge crowd of people, mostly Muslims, ahead of me. Apparently a parking garage had collapsed in the city, and a man was killed. The Red Cross evacuated everyone to two hotels after they had stood around for 8 or 10 hours. They did not notify the hotels, just packed people into buses, drove them to the hotels and unloaded all these people with a certificate saying the Red Cross would pay. The Holiday Inn could not cope… they only had 3 people at the reception desk, but could have used 5 more. Eventually they found 2 more, and after 90 minutes, I got to register.

The plane left at 8 AM next morning, (I had to get up at 5, of course), made it to Vancouver OK. Watched 2 movies during the flight. Air Canada charged me $2 for using their earphones; cheap bastards. Sandwiches also cost money, but the soft drinks were free. Air Canada is definitely the worst airline for service and most expensive I have ever used, bar none, and I have flown all over the world for more than 40 years.

Walked a couple of miles inside the Vancouver airport terminal to change planes, then flew to Tokyo, which I think was an 11 hour flight, I forget. Watched 3 movies. Food and drinks free, earphones free. Flight was ANA, a Japanese airline.

When I arrived at Tokyo Narita airport, a smiling hostess handed out flyers to the 5 or 6 of us going to Bangkok saying the Bangkok airport was closed, and ANA recommended returning to my home country. I didn’t think much of that idea.

Checked into the Holiday Inn with no problems. There was free Internet access, so I used my computer and Skype to make phone calls and try and re-route my Tokyo to Bangkok flight. Could not get through to ANA’s call centre, so the next morning I took Holiday Inn’s free shuttle back to the airport and went to the ANA counter and basically got nowhere. Flight was cancelled and they would not pay compensation for the night at the Holiday Inn. Went up 3 levels of management, smiles all the way, but no satisfaction.

Back to the hotel, and using Skype, called Aeroplan because these flights were free, using my frequent flyer points. Spent half an hour waiting on hold, but eventually got through to the Aeroplan call centre. Friendly lady was able to change my flight from Tokyo to Bangkok to Tokyo to Singapore at no charge (money or points). Spent half an hour researching hotels in Singapore using the web, then booked into a cheap 2 star hotel in the historic Geylang area of Singapore, which I had never visited in my 8 or 10 visits to Singapore.

Next day flew to Singapore, watching another 3 movies, and arrived at the hotel around 9 PM or so. Was surprised to see at least 50 or 60 beautiful young women lined up along the sidewalks around the hotel. Checked in, and discovered the first 5 floors were short-time rentals, and top 3 floors were regular hotel. Being a 2 star hotel, the room was basic but adequate. Wandered out onto the street, got propositioned at least 20 times, and found my way to a Thai restaurant where I had Thai food and a Pepsi for less than $5.

Singapore is very near the equator, so it’s hot and humid, 24 hours a day. The incessant cough that had plagued me for 18 months in Canada vanished. Sinuses working fine. Seems I am now allergic to cold climates.

Next day I bought an Internet access card for $5 and spent a long time figuring out how to get from Singapore to Bangkok, the main airport in BKK still being closed. Best I could do was book a flight to Phuket, which is 800 km from Bangkok. There is boat and bus service from Phuket, but no train; nearest train station is a 4 or 5 hour bus ride away. Bus takes 14 hours, which I did not really want to do.

Next day, I got to the airport with several hours to kill, so I went to Singapore Airlines and asked if I could fly into U-Tapao military airport as I had read that Thailand had opened that airport, and it turns out they had just scheduled some flights. So I booked a flight from Singapore to U-Tapao; they said there was a free bus service from U-Tapao to Bangkok. Then I tried cancelling my Singapore to Phuket flight, which was with Silk Air, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. They don’t have a counter at the airport. I could not get through to their call centre and there was no hold queue. However, Singapore Airport provides free wireless Internet access throughout the terminal, so I checked in for my flight, had lunch and set up my laptop with Skype and kept re-dialing until finally I got through. Yes, they could cancel the flight but it would take 6 weeks to get the refund. Funny how these airlines are always quick to take your money but have a great big problem with refunds.

The flight to U-Tapao was mostly empty, maybe 50 people in a plane that could hold 400. Short flight, too, less than an hour. No facilities at U-Tapao, which looks like something from the late 50s or early 60s. There were at least 35 or 40 planes parked on the tarmac. Bus ride to Bangkok took 2.5 hours, a lot longer than I expected, and they dropped us at a 5 star hotel, the Sofitel, which is not far from the area I was staying. A 20 minute taxi ride later, and I was checking into my hotel, the Woraburi on Sukhumvit Soi 4.

Next day, Pad (the lady that owns and runs Thai Culture Publishing) and Kik (former assistant) showed up and we looked at several apartments; settled on one a half kilometre behind the Woraburi for 6000 baht a month, which is Cdn$218, using today’s exchange rate. Wireless Internet is an extra 500 baht ($18) a month. The room comes with a bed and a wardrobe, and a bathroom, which is pretty basic, and a small balcony. There is air conditioning, but no hot water, and no bathtub; as usual with cheap Thai places, the shower head is on the wall and the bathroom itself is the shower stall.

Next day, Kik arranged for a van and 2 guys and they moved some of the office stuff from Pad’s place and the office (which is now closed) to my room, so I now have a desk and chairs, etc. There is no fridge or hot plate.

Yesterday I went with Pad to HomePro, and we picked up a flash water heater and some expanding shower curtain rods and a shower curtain. Installing the heater was not a big deal; I had to use the expanding rods because the apartment management won’t allow holes to be drilled in the tiling. It works fine, but the hoses are too short; today I will go back and get longer hoses.

Living here is great. Food is cheap and there are many restaurants. Everyone is friendly. I can breathe properly with no hacking.

However, it’s obvious that tourism is way down. Sukhumvit Soi 4 is a tourist area, but tourists are few and far between. This is high season now, but there is nobody here; like Bali after the bombings, the place is devoid of people spending money.

My Thai visa is 3 months long. The goal is to switch to marketing mode and promote the 27 web sites I now have, with emphasis on the Thai sites. Hopefully, this will bring in enough income to pay Pad and re-establish the office. I have discussed with Pad what I want her to do, which is basically research each subject and write articles (in Thai) about various aspects of Thai culture; we made a list of 20 broad subject areas. We will post those to her Thai blog; then I will translate them into English and post them to my sites as well as submit them to ezines for wide distribution. In this way, we should get a lot of visitors to our sites and thereby increase the revenue.

I’m starting from scratch (again) but feel excited about it; my depression is completely gone. This is where I belong. Sphere: Related Content

Tips for Learning the Thai Language

Thai uses a simple sentence structure: Subject, Verb, Object. If the subject is a pronoun, you can leave it out if the context is clear:

I live in Rayong --> live in Rayong --> yoo tee Rayong.

Verbs are not conjugated; past, present, and future all use the same word; you use time words to indicate the tense, and the time word always follows the verb.

You indicate past tense by putting “already” (lay-ow) at the end of a sentence or by using a time word (such as “yesterday”). Example, “I ate” --> “I eat already” --> gin [with a hard G] lay-ow.

Future is indicated with “will/shall” (ja). “I shall eat in 2 hours” --> dee-chun ja gin ny song? cheu-mohng. The word for 2 in Thai is “song?” with a rising tone, which is why I put a question mark. In English, questions rise at the end of a sentence.

Plurals are either generic or specific, as in English. With generic plurals, you double the noun. “teeth” --> “tooth tooth”. (This is also true in Malaysian and Indonesian.)

Specific plurals follow a specific pattern, and surprisingly, we do the same in English in certain circumstances. In English, we can say “I have 3 children”, but in Thai, you have to say “I have child 3 person” --> mee dek sahm? kohn. The “child” is the noun, “person” is called a “classifier” or “group word”. An example of this in English is “The farmer has three head of cattle”.

Questions are asked by making a statement and then plopping a question word on the end. “When are you going to the market?” --> “You go market when?” “What is that?” --> “that what?” (which you probably know is nee arai or ahn nee arai). [“ahn” means “thing”. “ahn nee arai” means “thing this what?”]

Negatives are formed by putting “mai” (pronounced “my!” with a falling tone) in front of an adjective or verb. Mai chai, as you probably know, means “not correct”. “Mai bai” means “don’t go”, “mai dee” is “not good” or “no good”, “mai suay” is “not pretty”.

You can also ask a question by pretending you are Canadian, and sticking “eh?” on the end of a statement. In Thai, “eh?” is “mai?” with an upward tone. “This is good, eh?” --> ahn nee dee mai?

Don’t be afraid to learn the Thai alphabet, those funny looking characters are just our letters drawn differently. Thai letters always have a noun attached. For example, “G” is “gah guy”. “Guy” is the Thai word for chicken, as you know, and it begins with that letter. Thai consonants have an implied vowel, which we don’t do in English. A K in English is just a consonant, but in Thai, a K has an implied vowel “ah” or “oh”. You can override the implied vowel by writing a specific vowel.

Thai has several Ks, several Ps and Fs, etc. They use the noun attached to distinguish. We say “B is for Baby”, “C is for Car”, which is the same thing, but in English we can say the letter name by itself, B, C, D, etc. In Thai, you always say the noun so you can distinguish one K from another, one P from another, because all the Ks are called “kah”, all the Ps “pah”, etc.

By the way, English has 3 Ks: K, C, and Q all make K sounds: kitten, cat, quit all have a phonetic K.

We also have 2 Js: John and George both have phonetic J.

And we also have 2 Ss: Cecile and Sam.

And two Zs: amuse and zoo.

So English has some of the same peculiarities as Thai, and these result from the same reason: the historical roots of the language.

Many of the Thai letters are exactly the same as their English equivalents; they are just drawn differently. A hard G in English is a hard G in Thai, but it is drawn in a different fashion.

One other oddity: Thai vowels can appear above, below, behind, and in front of a consonant, but they don’t wander around. A vowel is always pronounced after the consonant, no matter where it is drawn.

And now that you are thoroughly confused, let me leave you with this final mind-blowing thought.

You have been brainwashed since the age of 6 or 7 to accept the English alphabets as normal and natural. We actually have four separate and distinct alphabets, each of which is drawn differently, and each letter in each separate alphabet HAS THE SAME NAME AS IN THE OTHER THREE ALPHABETS. This is very, very stupid, but you accept this as natural because you have been brainwashed. A six year old does not question why the language is that way. I am referring to upper and lower case printing and writing. There are 4 different ways of writing an A, a B, a C, etc. Thai only has one, which makes far more sense. There is no upper and lower case in Thai, and there is no “writing” and “printing”; the Thai word for both [kee-an] translates as “drawing”. So you have to learn one Thai alphabet. Thai people have to learn four English alphabets.

I hope you found this useful, and I wish you fast progress with your Thai. I have had many, many people thank me for writing Speak Easy Thai and making it available so cheaply. In the 45 years I have been programming in Canada, France, and Australia, nobody ever thanked me for my work, but in Thailand, it has been a frequent occurrence. I lived there for 2.5 years while I was finishing the software, packaging it, and getting it on the market. I will be returning November 29, 2008. Sphere: Related Content

The Thai Mafia and Me

One day, a couple of years ago, one of my assistants left work at her usual time of 5:30 PM. At 9:30 that evening, she called me on the phone, crying:

"Doug, please help me, I need your help!"

I was surprised, because she gave no indication when she left that there was anything wrong.

"I have to pay Mafia man 30,000 baht (about US$1000 at the time)."

"Why?" I asked.

"A year ago, I borrow money, buy motocy'. Now I mus' pay back."

"Why didn't you sell the motorcycle?"

"Cannot, Doug, have acciden'. Motocy' no good."

"What happened?"

"My friend and me, we were riding on road in mountain near my home. Big truck come roun' corner, almost kill us. My frien', she have two broken leg. Me, I am OK. But motocy' no good. Truck run over it. Cannot sell."

"OK, so why are you asking me for money? What about your family?"

"They have no money. If you not pay, mafia man he kill me and my family."

"Did you tell the police?"

"No! Cannot! Mafia man pay police! Police no good!"

"OK, so how do I do this?"

"I give you number my accoun', you can send money at ATM."

So she did that, and I walked the 15 minute walk to the nearest ATM, and transferred 30,000 baht from my account to hers. By this time, it was almost 10:00 PM.

Next morning she came to work looking tired and depressed. She had a black eye. It was obvious he had hit her, but I asked anyway.

"He hit me because I was late to pay."

"Did he do anything else?"

"No, Doug, only hit."

"OK, I still think we should go to the police. I will go with you."

She got very animated then, "No, Doug, police no good in Thailand. You not understan'. Mafia man pay police. If I go to police, he kill my family."

Now, before I had come to Thailand, a friend who was formerly an RCMP officer and a Vietnam vet told me that if I ever needed help, to go to a bar called the Texas Lone Staar Saloon (with 2 As in Star). He said that is the bar where the Vietnam vets hang out.

So I did some research and easily located it, as it is in Washington Square on Sukhumvit, just behind the Mambo Cabaret which features spectacular ladyboy shows. Next day, I made my way there, and went into the bar. I was expecting to see half a dozen or more guys looking like Rambo with bulging muscles and all-black uniforms.

But there was just a bunch of old men, with pot bellies and no hair. The Vietnam war was a long time ago, so all these guys were older than me, and I'm no spring chicken.

Anyway, I started talking to one vet, and told him I was working on a computer project and one of my assistants had been punched in the face by a Thai Mafia guy because she was late paying back a loan. I told him that I felt like paying the guy a visit and teaching him a lesson.

Before I could go any further, the guy, looking horrified, said, "No! Don't do that! Don't have anything to do with the Thai Mafia! Run like hell and get as far away as you can! Those guys are bad news!"

So much for retribution.

A week later, she did it again. She left work every day without saying anything other than the usual "goodbye, see you tomorrow."

But at 9:30 PM one night, a week after the first incident, she called again, crying, "Doug, please help me!"

I said, "What now?"

She said, "Mafia man want interest now. "

"How much is that?"

"12,000 baht (about US$300)."

That works out to 40% interest.

So I made the trek to the ATM and transferred the money.

Next morning she came to work at the usual time, but no new black eye.

"Did he hit you?" I asked.

"No, Doug, his son whip me with telephone cord."

She bent down and pulled the collar of her shirt back and I could see a red welt across her back, just below the neck.

I asked her why she had not told me in the office about this problem.

No answer. She just hung her head.

But, of course, I knew the answer to that. Loss of face. Sphere: Related Content

Loy Kratong

November 12 is Loy Kratong in Thailand. This festival is always on the night of the full moon of the 12th lunar month. In this festival, which is held all over Thailand, people make or buy small floating rafts, each of which has some flowers and a candle. Usually there are also three joss sticks (incense), and the person adds a small coin.

The candle and incense are lit and the kratong is placed in the water. The person makes a silent prayer for good things to happen. As the kratong floats away, it takes away the person's troubles and other bad things.

The Thai word "loy" means "to float" and "kratong" means "banana-leaf tray". In 2002, the then mayor of Bangkok told everyone to use styrofoam, as it is light, cheap, and easy to spot in the rivers, and thus easy to clean up. However, this caused an uproar from the environmentalists, and today most kratongs are made from banana leaves or from a special, hardened bread, which dissolves.

At the festival that I attended a few years ago, on the bank of the Chao Praya, small boys stood in the water about 2 or 3 meters off shore and gently pushed the kratongs out further into the river, while discreetly stealing any coins on the kratong.

It's a beautiful sight to see all these floating candle-lit kratongs on the river.

Downstream a little from where people were launching their kratongs, a power boat manned by city employees was fishing the kratongs out of the water after the candle had burned out. Presumably this was the environmental clean-up crew.

What disturbed me, though, was all the plastic bags scattered around the launching area. There are vendors on the street selling ready-made kratongs for a few baht; they put the kratong in a small plastic bag. The person carries the bag to the launching area on the river, removes the kratong from the bag, and throws the bag away. Arrrrgh! Bags everywhere. And the strange thing is, there was a large rubbish bin right there. I picked up a few bags myself and put them in the bin, but there were hundreds more.

No common sense.

Sphere: Related Content

Travel tips for visiting Thailand

Thailand is one of the most interesting and easy going countries in the world and can make for the perfect holiday destination. However, it pays to learn a little about the country before traveling here as there are certain cultural nuances to be aware of so as not to upset the locals and to ensure a more enjoyable time.

Getting there and around

Bangkok is the main gateway to Thailand, receiving flights from around the world to the shiny new (pronounced locally as ‘Suwanapoom’). Taxis, minivans and buses provide transport to the city centre and farther afield. Ensure you use a metered taxi from the designated desks outside of the Arrivals halls.

Low-cost carriers such as AirAsia and Nok Air provide the fastest versus cost-effective travel in the country, yet always route through Bangkok, even if travelling from Chiang Mai to Phuket. The exception is the national airline, Thai Airways, which operates direct flights on this route.

Trains and buses provide extensive routings around the country, although there is only one main rail line running from Chiang Mai through Bangkok to the south. First to third-class carriages are available, and it pays to book a sleeper if on a long journey like Hat Yai to Bangkok or Chiang Mai to Bangkok. Second-class air-conditioned sleepers are the most comfortable and cost-effective.

Buses go everywhere and are the mainstay of transport around Thailand. They offer the cheapest form of transport and go from basic, non air-conditioned coaches up to super VIP buses with only 20 or so seats.

Thailand weather - tips on when to come

Thailand has a tropical climate which sees two monsoons in the south and one in the north – ultimately meaning wet and dry seasons. The north of Thailand sees the longest dry season, and the best time to visit is between October and January December when temperatures are cooler and rainfall is at a minimum. At all other times of the year the weather tends to be humid, with Bangkok seeing the highest humidity. March and April are the hottest months thorughout the country and best avoided. Dressing for the weather is essential when visiting Thailand, with lightweight, slack cotton clothing being the best bet. The Northern highlands get chilly in the winter, but otherwise it’s usually warm across Thailand.

The busiest season is from December to April, when people are escaping the Northern winters, thus prices are higher and demand greater – especially over the Christmas period. Although the rainy season extends from May to October it consists of tropical showers interspersed with sunshine. During this time the heat disappears under clouds but humidity can be extreme. However, it’s the prettiest time of the year to witness the countryside.

Thailand health and safety

Thailand is one of the world’s safest tourist destinations despite recent high-profile crimes. A generally respectful, pacifist Buddhist nature among genuine smiling people is the main reason and most Thais will do anything to avoid flare-ups. Women find Thailand safe to travel alone, although being vigilant at night is a must. Gays will also find the society easy going.

Malaria and dengue fever are major tropical diseases to be aware of while visiting Thailand, although they are mainly restricted to remote border regions that tourists seldom visit. In any case, talking with your doctor about the options for preventative treatment is a good idea, bearing in mind that courses of anti-malaria medication may need to be started several weeks before visiting.

The main threats to one’s health when visiting Thailand are from the food, the water and the heat. If you are not used to spicy food, try not to go over the top and always be wary when eating from a hawker stall. While street vendor food is generally fine, the chance of getting an upset stomach is higher than when eating at a reputable restaurant. Tap water is not potable in Thailand, despite what local Bangkok authorities may say, and you should always drink bottled water, which is cheap and readily available. Brushing your teeth with tap water is fine, however.

Thailand is hot and if you’re not used to the tropics, spend several days acclimatising to the heat by minimising sun time and keeping in the shade around midday. Not drinking alcohol during the day is also a good idea and you should always wear sun block, a hat, and sunglasses when on the beach.

Thailand visas and immigration

Tourists from most countries don’t need a visa to enter Thailand for less than 30 days stay. A visa on arrival(VOA) will be stamped in your passport and is extendable for 10 days in some cases. Should you require more time, apply for a 60-day tourist visa before you travel. Alternatively, simply leave the country and re-enter to get another 30 days free. You can only do this twice within a six-month period.

Thailand costs

Thailand is still one of the most value for money destinations in the world, where hotels, travel, food and drink are all very reasonable. The exception is Bangkok and Phuket, although they still compare favourably to other world destinations and major cities. Typically a three star hotel room could be had for as littles as 1000 baht (about 20 euros), a Thai meal costs 100 baht in a mid-market Tourist restaurant and and a quart of beer roughly the same. Airport taxi rides cost about 200 baht for a 20 minute ride, a full day tour up-to 2000 baht. Prices can vary wildly from tourist traps to local markets.

Thailand etiquette tips

Whatever you may have heard about Thailand, it is quite a conservative country, bar the obvious red light districts, and people tend to dress well and remain spotlessly clean. Leave beachwear for the beach, cover up while visiting temples and always take your shoes off before entering a temple or someone’s house.

Two useful tips on social conventions when visiting Thailand are to not criticise the royal family and to always keep your cool. The king is deeply loved by all in Thailand and it’s a good idea to refrain from discussing the monarchy when out and about for fear of inadvertently upsetting the locals. If you find yourself in a sticky situation, try and keep cool no matter how much you feel like bursting.

Other etiquette tips include not touching people on the head and not pointing with your feet or your finger (use your thumb instead), and women should never touch monks.

More information on travelling in Thailand... Sphere: Related Content

Christian Dating Web Site

Information for Christians wanting to find new relationships or dates.

http://www.christian-match.info/ Sphere: Related Content

Video Slide Show

In Praise of Asian Women -- is a video slide show of nude Asian (mostly Thai) women. It's in WMV format, so won't run on a Mac unless you have Bootcamp or Parallels.

Also check out: I'm Live! Asian Adult Video Chat Sphere: Related Content

Thailand-Related Videos

Videos about Thailand, Thai Culture, Thai Food, Learning Thai, Thailand Tourism, Thailand Ladyboys, Thailand Bar Girls:
http://www.learn-faster.org/Thai/Videos/

Also check out: I'm Live! Asian Adult Video Chat Sphere: Related Content

Real Life Thai Soap Opera

For quite a while now, I have been following with fascination the writings of Bill Yaryan on his blog located at http://wyaryan.blogspot.com/

Starting a year ago, when he arrived in Bangkok in late August 2007, he has been chronicling his life in Thailand, including falling in love with a Thai lady half his age. He has been writing about his feelings and emotions as the relationship had its ups and downs, and now in September 2008, it has ended. The primary problem was "loss of face". His Thai partner, Pim, could not tell her family and friends that she was living with an old farang. At one point, she suggested he marry her mother.

He lived on Sukhumvit Soi 4 for quite a while, and includes a lot of pictures of that area. This makes me homesick for Bangkok, as I spent 2.5 years in that area, living at Amar Garden on Soi 2 and then Nana Condo on Soi 4 while I wrote Speak Easy Thai and got it packaged and finished and into the bookstores.

Bill was in Berkeley, California, in the sixties, and got into the music business and met many famous people, such as Bob Dylan. Berkeley was the centre of the "flower-power revolution"; I was a teen in Toronto, Canada, at the time.

His story of his relationship with Pim, including the letters she wrote to him, makes for fascinating reading. I suspect his relationship is typical of many young Thai woman - old farang man relationships, but I do have two Canadian friends who married educated Thai women close to their own ages; those relationships have lasted many years. Sphere: Related Content

Amazing Thailand - Prime Minister Convicted

Today Prime Minister Samak was convicted of a conflict of interest by the Constitution Court because he hosts a TV cooking show. Or perhaps one could turn it around: TV Cooking Show Host Convicted for Impersonating a Prime Minister.

Thailand never ceases to amaze me. Sphere: Related Content

The Latest Thailand Unrest

Whatever you think about Thailand's version of "democracy", there is no denying that Thai people themselves care deeply about freedom and good government, even if they don't always get it. In Western countries, most of us are pretty passive about the government. In the US, where millions loath George Bush and the Military-Industrial Complex, only a few people actually protest. Most people are apathetic, loath to do anything confrontational.

Not so in Thailand.

Here is a BBC news clip about today's activities in Thailand.

I never really understood why George Bush attacked Iraq after the World Trade Centre bombing, rather than Saudi Arabia, where the attackers originated, or Afghanistan or Pakistan which supposedly harboured Osama Bin Laden. Oh, I forgot, Iraq has oil and the despotic rulers of Saudi Arabia are friends of the Bush family.

But in Thailand, people either support the government or don't, and when they don't, they are not quiet about it. Sphere: Related Content

Got a Dog?

New site on pet training and health care.

http://www.pet-training.info/Dogs.html Sphere: Related Content

World's Best Anti-Virus Just Got Better

Symantec Norton 360, 2008 edition, is the world's best and most popular anti-virus and Internet security software. It now uses 1/4 the amount of memory as previous editions and runs considerably faster as well.

I have used AVG Free Anti-Virus and got annoyed with the intrusive pop-up messages whenever it does an update. I would be typing something in Microsoft Word and then all of a sudden, my system starts beeping madly with each keystroke. Turns out AVG popped up a message saying it had done an update, press the OK button to continue. All my keystrokes that should have gone into Word instead went into the OK button, which beeped because they were the wrong keys. Arrgh! Why can't they just do the update and not tell me about it? It was so stupid and happened so often that I deleted AVG.

I have also used the free PC Tools Anti-Virus which has a "Smart Update" which is not very smart. It pops up a message in the right corner of the screen saying an update is available, but most of the message is immediately hidden by a Windows security message saying PC Tools is not up to date. The Windows message goes away after a few seconds, and about 1 second later, so does the PC Tools message. There is no time to click on it. Then the PC Tools icon stays grey, indicating that it is not up to date. Well, come on, you just told me the update was available, why didn't you download it? Instead, I have to open PC Tools, click on Update, watch the update window appear, click OK to download, then OK again to get rid of the damn thing. Not very smart, but you get what you pay for.

Worse, one day I did a full system scan with PC Tools and let it run in the background. When I checked it a couple of hours later, it had deleted over a hundred files that it said were infected with a virus. Now I know there is no virus because I scan frequently. I did a Google search on the error message and sure enough, it was a "false positive"; that is, PC Tools recognised something that was not actually a virus. The PC Tools web site said yes, they did a boo-boo, download the latest update, which I did, but it did not fix the error.

So I switched back to Norton. The 2008 edition is what it should have been 5 years ago. It runs fast, takes less memory, and has silent updates. Yes, you have to pay an annual subscription, and yes, it costs money to get started, but like I said before, you get what you pay for.

Free stuff is sometimes not worth the price.

More info at http://www.virus-protect.info Sphere: Related Content

An Amazing Young Woman

While wasting time browsing the Internet the other day, I came across the story of a young American woman named Holly Mann, who is an Iraqi war vet, and a single mother of a 3 year old boy. She's only 25 and lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

What's remarkable is that, after her service in Iraq, she was living in the US, pregnant and penniless, and decided to do something bold to change her life. For six months she read all she could about Internet Marketing, read about the scams, learned what successful marketers do, and after her baby was born, sold everything to pay for her airline ticket, and flew to Thailand. She had a small pension coming in from her Army service, and lived on that.

Within 4 months, however, she was bringing in over US$12,000 a month through her Internet Marketing efforts.

The story of how she did that makes fascinating reading. She bases her success on offering straight-up, honest ways to make money, no scams. She calls herself "Honest Holly" and has written a book called "Honest Riches" which is available here. If you've been thinking about trying to make some money on the side, you would be hard pressed to find a better mentor. Sphere: Related Content

High Fuel Prices and What To Do About It

With all the excitement over rising gasoline/petrol prices, I did a little research on using a water-based fuel cell. They are cheap and easy to build. Basically, they use electrolysis to break water down into hydrogen and oxygen gases. The unstable mixture is called Oxyhydrogen and has the chemical symbol HHO (as opposed to liquid water which is H2O). The gas is injected into the incoming air stream to the engine, which means that the efficiency of the engine improves. When HHO burns, it recombines back to water. This means that the pistons now have water in them, as well as gasoline. Does this damage the pistons? Apparently not. People report that the engine runs smoother, less pinging and knocking.

I have read reports from many people saying they got 50% or better gas mileage.

Since water is a lot cheaper than gasoline, this seems like an obvious way to go. One wonders why car manufacturers don't provide this as an option, or even as a permanent feature.

What does it cost? Less than $100, including the self-help instruction guide.

And how do you do it?

The equipment necessary is not complicated, basically a glass or plastic jar of a litre or so in volume, with electrolysis plates or coils inside, filled with water. You need electricity to make the electrolysis happen; this comes from the car battery. You also need a hose to connect from the top of the jar to the air intake of the motor. This feeds the gas into the engine.

I made a web site to talk about this in more detail. It's at
http://www.maximize-income.info/Water4Cars Sphere: Related Content

Why I Travel

Where the hell is Matt?

http://www.vimeo.com/1211060

If the video is jerky, press the pause button and let the buffer fill up, then press play again.

Sphere: Related Content

Isaan Blog

Today I discovered another Thailand blog; this one has a lot of good pictures about Surin and other parts of Isaan. It’s at http://isanthailand.blogspot.com/ Sphere: Related Content

Fundamentals of Thai Grammar

Back in 1988, I bought a big black grammar book called "Fundamentals of Thai Grammar". Although I found the phonetics (transliteration) system obtuse, the book is a wonderful resource of everything you ever wanted to know about Thai grammar. Indeed, every time I pick up the book to look up something, I invariably get distracted by all the other useful little tidbits. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of little nuggets of information as to why you would use this word as opposed to that word.

This book is available in ebook HTML format, ready to download. It costs only $9 and is available from here.

This is the same grammar book that is included free in Speak Easy Thai. Sphere: Related Content

New Thai Resources Site

I have been working on a Thai language section for my Learn Faster web site. I have added a lot of articles on Thai culture and Thai food, as well as a short summary of some products available to learn Thai. I will add more stuff soon.

The new site is at www.learn-faster.org/Thai Sphere: Related Content

Emigrating to the UK

The Only Complete Guide To UK Immigration.

Learn safely how to successfully emigrate,
live and work in any part of Britain.

How to find a job in London and other UK cities.
How to get a work permit.
What visa do you need?

http://www.learn-faster.org/English/Emigrate2UK.html Sphere: Related Content