KhorTose

You think it is bad where you are, every coffee store group in the world opens a shop in Seattle to see how they can compete head to head with Starbucks. If I had a dime for every coffee shop in my city, I would not need to win the lottery, and I could drink my coffee on my 100+ foot yacht. Europe may be different, but coffee shops in America have replaced the 3 martini lunch as the place to do business. Also every business meeting I have been in, the coffee and treats usually come from Starbucks or a shop like them. The legally wired (means to be high or super pepped up) generation.

Well, I may leave with a full pie, but if you are lucky, there will be at least one piece when I arrive.

I think---I repeat, I think that Thailand is probably not a franchise, but a partnership type of operation due to Thai laws on ownership. I do know that Starbucks will do this, or has done this on one occasion. Magic Johnson wanted to see more Starbucks in black neighborhoods and he literally twisted Schultz's arm to allow him to partner with Starbucks. Until Magic came along Starbucks had never allowed this kind of operation. Magic now has 50% ownership of over 30 stores and the nice thing is that a big share of his profits go to AIDS awareness. I agree that the Thailand operation is very expensive, as even in Shanghai, the prices were a lot cheaper then here. The web page of Starbucks Thailand does not give any clues, and I don't know how to find this out, but it sure looks like something is different then the usual operation. Fountain Hall the next time I come to Bangkok I will bring you a Mango pie slice

Thank you both for your help and advice. FH I will PM you with the details. We are waiting until June to book to see what the US courts do about DOMA. If it passes we will still make the trip, but make it a three country stop ending up in Seattle.

I have always wanted to travel to Budapest, and one of these days I hope to make it there. They have an extensive collections of the Masters from Italy, Spain and Holland that I would love to view in person. Congratulations of your find. He is a worthy art object in his own right.

Guys thanks for the rush hour tales, but I am going with my partner and we are a boring monogamous couple (his choice). I am going to add four days to the trip and do a layover in Seoul on the way. I plan just to go to Seoul, and maybe do a tourist thing to the DMZ. If any of you know the best area to find a hotel there let me know.

A used Galaxy II would be fairly inexpensive at the moment or a Note II tablet. Wait a few months and the Galaxy four will be out and then the two and the three will be even cheaper. On the Galaxy you can use Kies air top communicate (exchange data and files) with your PC or tablet or whatever using WIFI. The rest of the things you want are all free apps that you can download from Google.

I've noticed the same thing and often wonder if they have a hire gays and tom dee policy. Before I was on the diet, I went for the Mango pie and the cheesecake. They are the very best I've had in Thailand.

Okay, I am going to book September as that will be our forth anniversary and that is as good of reason as any for a trip. However, do tell me about the tourist levels.

Well that is a new approach. Welcome to the board kiddy.

Thanks for the warning about July. However, one of the best times I ever had was when I stayed in Paris for the whole month of November. It was cold and rainy almost every day, but---other then 2 million Frenchmen---I had the whole city to myself. Found a great apartment to stay at low cost, no lines at the tourist sites, no packed subways, people eager to wait on and help me who were not bombarded by tourist every five minutes. There really are advantages to going when no one else will go. I am more interested in the Historical places, the shrines, the museums and the arts then the countryside. I plan to spend my nights doing inside stuff and not strolling the streets. However, partner is not sure he wants to go to Japan at the moment. Thanks for the advice on where to stay and may wait until October, but curious about when the tourist are in Tokyo and when they are not.

Good, now I have two people who can tell me about Tokyo. I just checked Korean air and I can fly to Japan from Chiang Mai via Inchon for $791 RT each.. Some quick questions: 1. Does my Thai partner need a visa. Some sites say yes, others say no! 2. How is Tokyo during July? 3, Best area to stay in---not interested in boys---well I am, but traveling with the BF. 4. I need to be able to find good places to eat, easy access to local sites and access to trains to visit places outside of Tokyo like Nikkou and Kyoto. 5. Must see in Tokyo and close to city via train? Thanks for any help you two can give me. Oh planning to leave on the 14th and return on the 22nd. The 14th flight is a night flight from CNX arriving Tokyo 1130 AM. So seven days six nights.

That was the most successful coffee company, and yes they are one of the most socially responsible companies around. Your example is perfect because that is exactly what happened at the Starbucks general meeting where Schultz told the stockholder who said that, that he could sell his stock if he was worried about that. Thanks for the citation, I had forgotten about that. Oh the subject was Starbucks tolerance for Gay employees and giving their partners health benefits. Your unemployment is 7.8 and staying even, ours is going down. In Northern (Irish) Ireland it is 8.5%.

That was never said even indirectly--selective reading? Yes it is horrible to be so friendly to customers. How is your unemployment at the moment with all you industry gone? A funny way to look at it as no other company has offered to do that. Looks to me like they are trying to prove they are socially responsible. No doubt and Starbucks will continue to be the most successful coffee company in the world.

You are correct for WWII, but now there is a new magic powder that does cause clotting by drying up the water in the blood and leaving the clotting agent. It has been tested at the VA I worked at, and if used correctly appears to work. However, there are reports from Iraq that appear to discredit these results. I will find you a url.... http://www.omg-facts.com/Science/There-Is-A-Medical-Powder-That-Will-Clot/47759 Manufactured by several companies now under different names.

You should make this a different topic. Both NY, LA and SF started out with a ghettoized gay community, and as they grew they did not mix by tradition. Seattle did not start this way and gays and straights are mixing in the bars, discos, restaurants, etc. Think the same may be true for Chiang mai as Seattle and other cities where gays did not have a certain section of town. However, I notice that in SF and LA this separation is slowly breaking down and I think the norm will eventually be no more separation. However, there is a group of gays---you can say followers of the late jerk Henry Hay (in my opinion based on talks with the man)---that think this is destroying a unique gay culture. I could go on and on about how wrong this man was, but should be another topic.

You are talking me into a trip to Japan. With the current exchange rate, it is dumb not to go now. Looking at plane tickets for two as I type. Thanks for posting.

I don't need the references to the tax situation in the UK. I regularly read the Guardian and they have had tons of information on corporate tax avoidance and the many other companies that are mentioned, as well as, the laws passed by your MPs that protect their actions. This is not just a problem in the UK, but in the US and other places in the world. A company is taxed where it is has it headquarters by international trade agreements. I completely agree that this is a bad policy and should be changed, but it is not fair to single out Starbucks. Nor do i think it is appropriate to say friendliness and customer service is "Americanism gone wild". As to where I came from, it is the USA's Emerald City, better know as Seattle, the home of Starbucks, Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon.com, etc. etc. etc. I am very surprised about what ceejay wrote. I have not read about this in the Guardian, and this is the complete opposite of how their employees are treated in the US. Starbucks has been listed for years as one of the best companies to work for by Forbes, and they have helped thousands of their employees get a college education. They have contributed heavily to the Seattle community, established worldwide corporate giving projects, and set up fair trade coffee groups of farmers so that they, not the middle man, gets the majority of the coffee price. As the original home of Greenpeace, the super liberal majority of Seattle has had very good relations with this company, but oddly not with its owner Howard Schultz who has twice ran afoul of public opinion. You can't please everyone, and all I can say---again--is that Starbucks is surely doing something right. It charges the highest prices of any coffee company in the world, but it continues to grow and show great profits. Maybe some of the many many corporation that are no longer owned by the citizens of the UK would still be around if they had adopted some of that "Americanism gone wild".

Two cities immediately come to mind. Check out Chiang Mai or Hua Hin. I live in Chiang Mai, but have been to hua hin on two occasions and think you would find more of a close knit community here in Chiang mai. Chiang Mai is rather unique in that this community is composed of both straights and gay expats that often mix with each other, unlike other places I know of in Thailand.

Starbucks has been highly successful and they are not cheap. They have a great employee program and employees have never tried to unionize because of it. Sorry you don't like this particular American company, but rest assured that based on results, you are almost totally alone in this dislike.

I too use Agoda, but ignore the trip adviser reviews. I recently traveled to Shanghai and Beijing (I still owe a report) and decided I would try to hire a guide for Beijing as I was limiting myself to a short period of time. I Goggled guides in Beijing and trip adviser came up as a source. I went to the page and took the top three guide services, all of which had 5 stars, from their reviews. However, when i contacted these guide services it took multiple messages to get a straight answer as to cost and what they could and would do. Knowing what evasive answers usually mean, I researched some more and found a travel message board on China, that was not in China, and discovered that China has one of the worst tourist bureaus in the world. According to this site, guides are actually taught how to rip off customers. They overcharge for services, they take you to their restaurants to eat and their shops to shop, you ride in their rental cars at higher then normal prices, they exhort big tips and they generally do not provide value for the money. The guide services in China are generally for the meek tourist that is not an experience enough traveler to take care of themselves. The most basic statement I found on this site is, that if you managed to get around and find what you wanted in Paris, you would be fine in China, especially in the big cities, Yet trip advisor had pages of guides listed with stars galore next to them.

A pretty deep observation, and sadly one that is all too true.

I have had problems with some Thai components. I build my own computers and to insure that they work I go to Hong Kong and buy all the parts, except the case/power supply and bring them back to Thailand. There are several great computer centers in Hong Kong, but the one where I shop is called The Golden Computer Center. Easy to get to, the prices are right and they have everything.

Halong bay is close to Hanoi, but a must see. I would add Ho Chi Minh City and Vung tau. The latter is at the entrance to the Mekong and HCM City. HCM City is still very French in parts and you have the old Caravel to sit in and watch the world go by. I spent 2 years in Danang and not a lot in the city itself, but Marble Mountain is between Danang and HoiAn and both should be seen, along with Hue.

Actually, I am sure you return to the same place you came from before you were born.