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Hey all... I have been in Thailand for the last couple of weeks and really didn't have a chance to get to a computer to see how everyone is doing. I see that there has been some changes in people and I haven't been able to throw out encouragements and kudos. I am still reading through the posts that I have missed. Now it is time to get back to the grind of not only work but a conventional gym.
Welcome home :) what is Thailand like?
Where did you visit?
[QUOTE=tolewfo;128326341]Hey all... I have been in Thailand for the last couple of weeks ..... and I haven't been able to throw out encouragements and kudos. .[/QUOTE]
That's ok, the rest of us were in Hawaii so you didn't really miss anything exciting...
I stayed in a town called Chiang Mai... one of my roomates and close friend from college got married out there. He grew up there and we had pretty much the run of the town.
Thailand is extremely beautiful especially away from the big city... we stayed with my friends family, they obviously know the town, and we were hooked up wherever we went. I'm not a big drinker but I will have to admit that I got sloshed quite a bit. The wedding was incredible. Our other college roomate and I were the only Farangs (white people) in the group. It was a great Buddhist wedding.
I now have the traveling bug and I want to go some place really soon. Let's plan a Hawaii trip in the near future. LOL
Man, I would LOVE a chance to go to Thialand and get some kickboxing training....man, that would be insane....
.
[QUOTE=tolewfo;128347831]I stayed in a town called Chiang Mai...
The wedding was incredible. Our other college roomate and I were the only Farangs (white people) in the group. It was a great Buddhist wedding.
[/QUOTE]
I had my Condo in Chiang Mai on Chiang Klang way down from the Night market...LOL
I WAS the only Farang at my wedding, in Phayao. I was the only Farang in Phayao as well.:D It was incredible too but i still don't totally understand what went on as it was in Pali language and Northern Thai. Thai weddings are a good excuse for a drunk up but then so is the sun coming up and going down. My wife and i went to the lake and left the party goers to pass out on their own, we don't drink...LOL
It's always nice to have some local knowledge but next time you gotta spend at least a month to get to know the real Thailand.
The movers arrive this afternoon. Moving back to Thailand. Aahhhhh....real food.... :)
[QUOTE=ScubaDave;128373041]The movers arrive this afternoon. Moving back to Thailand. Aahhhhh....real food.... :)[/QUOTE]
I guess that means you won't be coming for dinner till the summer??? MIL problem solved? We have real Thai food at my house doi, Dave...LOL
Yeah bud - MIL problem kinda solved...enough that we're proceeding according to our original plan. We should be in BC now in June. Hopefully we will be there for about 3 months before heading off again. I might try and pick up some consulting work while we're home just to be able to extend our trip a little longer.
Anyone want to hire a former CEO who's presently on sabbatical for a few months' work? Not cheap, but I'm good!!
[QUOTE=ScubaDave;128405491]we're proceeding according to our original plan. [/QUOTE]
Ok... Weblink changed back to Plan A.. :D
[QUOTE=cgc;128357071]Man, I would LOVE a chance to go to Thialand and get some kickboxing training....man, that would be insane....
.[/QUOTE]
Me too!
I miss Thailand a lot myself. I used to live near Chaiyaphum.
[QUOTE=ScubaDave;128373041]The movers arrive this afternoon. Moving back to Thailand. Aahhhhh....real food.... :)[/QUOTE]
Man... You are lucky. I may have to live abroad sometime soon. The food was incredible. We had a ton of home made meals. Everynight we feasted with up to 20 people. The whole time we were there I had a bunch of the senior folk trying to get me to eat these bugs. It was there running joke for the time. They were eating them like it was candy.
Everyone in town seems to know the groom and his family. His brother works for the King and has all of the hook-ups. We were treated very well in both Chiang Mai and Bangkok. We stayed in Bangkok for two nights for a bachelor party weekend. It was a sight to be seen.
SCUBADAVE... What part of Thailand are you moving to?
[QUOTE=keith1958;128552761]I miss Thailand a lot myself. I used to live near Chaiyaphum.[/QUOTE]
We have a house in Phayao but we are stuck here in Canada for a bit yet. My wife spent hours on the phone last night to her brother, sister and mother.
[QUOTE=tolewfo;128654611]The whole time we were there I had a bunch of the senior folk trying to get me to eat these bugs. It was there running joke for the time. They were eating them like it was candy.
[/QUOTE]
You learn fast, especially in the North and Northeast, not to ask what any food is. I ate what I thought was sticky rice and green beans for months before I found out it was some jungle stuff they collected down the road from our house in the ditch mixed with Red ant eggs they collected from the neighbor's Mango tree. I'm sure I've eaten much worse too.
Wow, just read what you said, and just before that I read the following article.
[url]http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080213/thailand_canadian_080213/20080213?hub=TopStories[/url]
I know that that is not what Thailand is like. Even I would LOVE to go there. Japan also.
[QUOTE=djl_ottawa;128705831]
I know that that is not what Thailand is like. Even I would LOVE to go there. Japan also.[/QUOTE]
It's like anything else look at the statistics for Canada's second largest city and it's the same or worse.
There have been a rash of incidents lately involving us Canuks, but it's no different than anyplace else. You are probably safer walking down the street at night in Thailand, even the seedy areas, than you are in most western cities. News agencies always picks up on stuff relating to their own country and often sensationalize it as the incident in Pai last month where a drunk Canadian woman attacked a police officer and he shot her and her boyfriend (who died) in self defense, but it was put out in the west that the cop was a murderer.
I used to walk around Chiang Mai by myself and the only time I ever got accosted was by little kids wanting to talk English to the white guy and I always took 10 minutes and talked to them.
I lived in the North, Chiang Mai and Phayao, during the drug crackdown in 2004 and I couldn't even tell it was happening. A few thousand drug dealers were AHHHHH Summarily Executed for lack of a better way to describe it.
Thailand is like anywhere else. If you are dressed up like a Pimp and throw around your money and jewelry you will probably get mugged.
BTW - I have always wanted to go to Japan too. I have been interested in their history and culture since my Godparents were there during the occupation and sent me stuff.
Us humans are great about drawing conclusions from a single data point, and the news media goes a great way towards helping us do that.
Having spent 7 of the last 9 years living in countries that are on the US State Department DO NO TRAVEL list, you learn to take these kind of things with a grain of salt. As Lukamar pointed out, you dress like a high roller, and act like a high roller, you're probably going to get rolled.
Tolewfo - we're headed to Bangkok, but may head down to our old stomping grounds of Jomtien after that.
Dave