Bob

Guess I snapped a couple of daytime photos of the two bars when I was there in late 2010. The Regency place is the one directy across the street from the Wangcome Hotel.

Sorry, can't report much. Although I've visited Chiangrai quite a few times over the last 11+ years, it's been a full year since I've been up there. Additionally, each time I've gone there it was with my bf so I wasn't out and about looking much for this type of thing. Over the years, I've only known two gay bars there and both were very close to the Wangcome Hotel (with one right across the street facing south and the hotel itself and the other being down a small soi about a block north of the hotel). I don't remember the names but one of them has a sign that says "Boys Bar" or something close to that. Both are small places, I've only been in them a few times over the years, and I wasn't impressed at all by either place. I thought both places were a bit dingy and I don't remember being impressed by any of the boys (only 3-4 at each place) that I saw there. But, then again, I was only there for a drink and brief look-around. Maybe you can google and find some more current information and/or somebody else who knows more than me will post some information here. There are a couple of discos there....I've never been to either....and I'd guess that there's likely a local gay contingent that frequents at least one of those places so that may be worth a try to you if you like that sort of thing.

By and far the most reasonable and moderate of the Republican candidates which, of course, meant he didn't have a chance. But even Huntsman (during the campaign) engaged a little in the tossing of red meat comments to the Republican base in an effort to woo their votes. I can understand why he did it but, given it was fairly obvious he didn't believe some of the right-wing comments he made, one tends not to forget it. Reminded me of little of Romney (who, also a basically nice guy, is the king of flip-floppers). Although he says he wouldn't be involved, it's people like Huntsman who might perfectly fit in with a third party.

Yes, "may" be the operative word. I'm sure we'll never know the exact terms of the deal worked out but I do hope that there's a mechanism in place to very accurately determine whether the North Koreans are complying with their end of the deal; after all, they've snookered the US before and I'm hopeful the current administration has taken that prior history into account.

Damn, I can read every single word. Now I'm worried that it's a test for the mentally deranged.

It's fairly bad. Started a couple of weeks ago and we've had a few days that it almost seems like twilight in the middle of the afternoon. On the other hand, there have been some very pretty sunsets (not all that clear but rather colorful which unfortunately is a sign of all the particulates in the air). Last year, for whatever reason, there really wasn't a really bad air season. But this year, right on time (almost always starts within a day or two of February 15th), it's a bit ugly. I remember a couple of years ago when they announced they'd arrest or fine anybody who practiced the open field burning. About two weeks after the burning ban took effect, I rode on a bus to Chiangrai and we counted over 100 open-field fires before we got to Chiangrai. So much for laws against the practice! I've read that much of the problem is also floating in from Burma and obviously the Thais can't do anything about that. But, given this open-field burning practice has been around forever and most Thai farmers simply can't afford to prepare their fields for replanting any other way, it looks like those of us up here in the boonies are just going to have to tolerate it year after year. P.S. I notice it because I can look up at the mountain on the west side of town and I first noticed the problem on Monday the 13th. What was funny was the Bangkok Post the next day or so had some quote from the minister of environment saying that there was no pollution and it was a harmless ozone issue. And three days later the Bangkok post printed articles from the same ministry talking about the bad air pollution in both Lampang and Lamphun (both of which are just south of here). What I'm thinking is we ought to get all those boats they used for the flooding, line them up on Canal Road with their propellers pointing west, and then blow all that nasty stuff to the west. Might not work but you gotta admit that it'd be a major blow job.

Most definitely but jury selection is real and rather vital to the participants. On the other hand, a movie is only popular entertainment from my perspective. Back to the movies, have you or Rogie (or others) had the opportunity to see the Iron Lady, Hugo, or The Artist and, if so, your ratings of any of them?

One would think you all are analyzing a cabinet meeting in the British or US government or something! Geez, guys, it's only a television show about academy members giving awards to themselves. Presuming it works right (probably doesn't - nothing much does), an award from your peers probably ought to mean something. And, of course, it usually does (fills up the space on somebody's mantle and often brings the winning movie/actor/etc. a little more money). Harmless fun in my view. And I'd even add that I think they're usually right (or close to right) about the winners. I watched the show this morning and thought it was okay. Of course, nowhere near the quality of some of the films nominated but fun nonetheless. I've only seen Moneyball, The Help, and the Descendants of the nominated films and thought The Help was a great film, the Descendants was a very good film, and I'm still scratching my head as to why Moneyball was even nominated. Looking forward to seeing The Artist and Hugo when I get the chance.

Seems a bit harsh, don't you think? I can understand hoping to avoid the occasional obnoxious seatmate but they aren't all like that. A good seatmate to me is one who has enough common sense not to invade your space and to have enough commmon sense to easily perceive if you do or don't want to talk about something. Many people can do this effectively (meaning they are sensitive enough to not cross certain lines) but, admittedly, not all can. I've had many pleasant discussions with some seatmates over the years and I've also had a couple of situations where I pretty much had to somewhat politely tell somebody that I want to concentrate on reading or whatever. I've never had to graduate to "would you please fucking leave me alone?!?" hehe). I've also had many "cold as fish" seatmates that make you uncomfortable even asking them politely to get the hell out of the way so you can get out of your seat without stepping on their face. A lot of my seatmates in the last 10+ years, given I'm usually only flying from and to Thailand, have been Asians who typically are quiet, polite, and non-invasive. I don't remember one of them that was a hassle or obnoxious at all. But maybe some of my attitude is due to my having flown premium economy (EVA) for years. In coach, I suppose I would have been so cramped and uptight that I surely would have had to kill at least a few of my seatmates.

There's some form of discrimination - based on just about any factor that you can think of - that lurks on occasion in lots of places. That being said, I've never noticed any significant prejudice against Asians around my homestate or elsewhere. From my univeristy days - where there were lots of Asians - all I remember is admiration for their brains and work habits. But, to be honest, other than the university settings, the population of Michigan doesn't include all than many Asians. I think they say there's about 4% of the population in the US that's Asian and I'd guess about the same for Michigan (with, of course, much lower percentages in the rural areas and higher percentages in the big cities and university areas). News stories often, sometimes intentionally but more often unintentionally, exaggerate or misrepresent what's really going on. We used to joke about our dinky city paper printing about 2 car accidents in a given day which suggested how dangerous our traffic was becoming (at the same time, not mentioning that there were 200,000+ perfectly safe car trips the same day in our area). Just a question of perspective. I'm still unsure if the original ESPN tidbit about the "chink in the armor" was anything other than the use of the usual idiom to say that Lin was finally showing that he was human and could make mistakes. I simply can't believe that the writer used the word "chink" to reference that the guy was of Chinese (or Taiwanese or whatever) origin. Yet, that one likely-innocent word set this whole thing off.

Probably a good guess. Here in Chiangmai, Big C turned the old Carrefour place into something called the "Big C Extra" whereas the regular (and slightly bigger) regular Big C store remains open about a 1/2 mile down the same road (super highway). I don't see much difference between the stores - other than size, maybe - and it looks like Big C has effectively locked out similar-store competition in that area unless/until another outfit chooses to start from scratch and build a new mega-mall or mini-mall.

I've watched a few videoclips of Lin's basketball play and, yes, he's a rather amazing break-out player. As concerns his religion, I see that as his business although I personally find it somewhat obnoxious whenever anybody wears their beliefs on his/her sleeve. I respect anybody's right to believe whatever it is they want to believe but, before they shove it in my face, they ought to ask if I want to hear it. As for Lin, Tebow, or whoever, to the extent they use their public/televised positions to adore or praise buddha, god, or a jar of jelly, they have no right to complain if others simply shake their head in disbelief and/or respond with negative comments about whatever brand of voodoo the particular sports star is flaunting at the moment. I and other sports fans do care if Lin plays well or if his team wins or loses; however, as Agassi correctly noted, it's beyond the pale of any rational (just my opinion) being that any diety really gives a shit one way or the other. If, however, there really is some god-like creature/thing that actually pays attention to how the New York Knicks are doing, that god needs get off his/her ass and actually do something about a few issues carrying a whole lot more weight in the scheme of things. [Dear Mr. God - we do have wars, disease, and a whole lot of other serious issues going on and, if you're too busy watching a Knicks game to deal with those issues, then Mr. Bob says go fuck yourself*.] * On the off chance I'm wrong, I have installed a lightning rod next to my laptop......

Well, there could be an award for the Best Hand-Crafted Cabinet To Hold Awards Your Sorry Ass Should Have Never Won, right? Thinking somewhat along the same vein although in a somewhat opposite directions, I would propose annual STIA's (stupid fucking idiots awards) which might be shaped in the form of a noose - and either used to elevate the sorry loser to heaven (or wherever) or, if undue kindness should overtake us, simply used for an enthusiastic public flogging. All nominees, of course, would be required to attend, the survivors being dragged before the forum via some type of arrest warrant. And the awards would extend to people far beyond the usual public entertainment genre (wtf, it's rather difficult to ignore those who have truly added to our real-life miseries). Come to think of it, for the first lifetime achievement STIA, I hereby nominate Dick Cheney. And I volunteer to do the flogging.

So far, that about sums it up; however, I wouldn't have limited that comment to only question #5. Presuming, as you say, you've been a lurker her for the last couple of years, it would seem logical to me that you might have picked up on the tone of the board by now but that seems to be not the case. In any event, the somewhat similarity of the responses you're getting might to a wise man merit some thought as to the why (hmmmm.....it's either got to be "them" or me). If you truly think it's the "them", then why hang around? If it possibly could be "me", then maybe clean up your act a little bit and you might enjoy hanging around this neck of the woods. P.S. Speaking only for myself, I'm not interested at all in explaining to you where Isaan is, who has the biggest dicks, whether you can get laid by taxi drivers, etc., even if I knew the answers (I do know where Isaan is). If you consider that attitude unfriendly then, like you said, I don't particularly care.

The only Thai word for lying - one I hear somewhat often - is โกหก (pronounced go-hok - flat tone/low tone) and it's taught quite often in beginning Thai language classes. The dictionaries will list the meaning as "to lie" or "to bullshit" (same same). When I hear it - typically between Thais who know each other - it's usually "go-hok" with at least one "maak" right afterwards which, of course, is the equivalent of telling somebody they bullshit a lot. Friends or acquaintenances don't react badly to the word but I'm not sure how a stranger would handle it.

My guess is you could find some random answers on some blogs somewhere.

A beautiful woman and beautiful voice basically committing a form of suicide for decades. Her demons no longer torment her but the the entire saga (the abusive relationships and the substantial abuse of drugs and alcohol) remains puzzling, sad, and pathetic to me.

As I don't read them, I have little clue about the blogs and wouldn't venture to offer an opinion. And, having no experience with writing blogs and miniscule experience with reading blogs, it'd be difficult for me to conclude just yet that reading the blogs would be a waste of MY time (please excuse the capital letters as my little-old time really doesn't have much value; I just wanted to stay within the spirit of the moment). But in the spirit of learning something new every day (don't fret, I'll forget most of it by tomorrow), it's nice to learn about the concepts of freedom and free will and, of partifcular note, learning your exceptional psychoanalysis of the state of mind of the hundreds of millions of people that write and read the blogs. An amazing feat and analysis given that you, of course, wouldn't waste YOUR time reading any of that stuff.

Egads! I had totally forgotten about that (and, come to think of it, so has the press!). In any event, save your 5-baht coins as yours truly may be collecting (with reasonable interest, of course...) if/when we ever hear the final conclusion to the investigation. Related to that, I saw an accident at a local intersection the other day where a passing car side-swipped another car that was standing still in the other lane. As it so happens, there was a cop at the time directing traffic in the intersection so, using the FH logic, it must have been the cop's (traffic controller's) fault.....hehe. As to the 5 baht I now humbly owe to Khun Kokopelli, it'd be nice if you could pay that to him and then I'll reimburse you when you're up here in the boonies this spring. Of course, I'll have to see the written receipt signed by Khun Kokopelli.......

Never saw that Thai idiom site, Khun Thaiworthy, but I'm not so sure how accurate some of those translations are. I do believe that that phrase "something is better than nothing" is a more accurate translation of the idiom I posted [whereas this website lists at least two meanings for it - both "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" (which I think is somewhat close to the true meaning but isn't really phrased to mean that) and "Doing something is better than getting nothing done" (which I think is not even close to the true meaning of the phrase)]. And I think that some of those listed idioms are mixing some metaphors or something of the sort. For example, the one you mention: กิ้งก่าได้ทอง (transliterated would be ging-gaa dai tawng) which literally means "the chameleon gets the gold." I can think of better ways to phrase the real meaning of that than what they arrive at ("Set a beggar on horseback, and he’ll ride to the devil"). For example, I personally think the phrase is attempting to say that you get rewarded for being deceptive or lying and I just can't fathom how they get their meaning out of that. But thanks for the link....I'll go back and study a few of those sometime. And, if I get a chance, maybe I'll ask a Thai tutor I know to give me her read on some of their listed meanings. As for Kokopeli being lucky, he only won 5 baht here (I'm too damn cheap for champagne!) but, on the other hand, given I said I would invest it for him and given his lucky history, maybe he'll be able to buy Warren Buffett with the earnings....hehe.

You've got it (well, close enough....it should be "than")! And I owe you 5 baht (which, pending delivery, I'll invest for you....). And it really does make sense. At least as much sense as the little Thai chlli peppers called (transliterated) "prik kee noo." In literal English, that's "rat shit peppers."

Fountainhill's guess was the favorite and it's somewhat close in meaning.....but not quite there. I'll wait a day or so to post the answer (and the answer actually makes sense!).

I've spent a fair amount of time in the last year beating my limited brains out attempting to learn to read (and, a little, write) the Thai language. Most of my learning time has been reviewing (reading and translating) 1st to 3rd grade Thai reading texts. What I get a kick out of (I have a very low threshold of excitement these days) are some of Thai idioms and/or the way they put words together to express an idea. For example, there's the Thai phrase (I'm going to separate the words for easier reading by some of you): "ความ อยาก รู้ อยาก เห็น" or transliterated would sound like "kwaam yaak roo yaak hen" The literal interpretation would be: "wanting to know wanting to see." And the real meaning in English is the word "curiosity." Okay, I usually send wierd/unusual idioms as I find them to friends and here's the one I was playing with and laughing about last week. In Thai it's written (again, I'll separate the words): "กำ ขี้ ดี กว่า กำ ตด" or transliterated would sound like "gam kee dee gwaa gam dtot". Literally, it means: A handful of shit is better than a handful of fart. Okay....for 5 baht....let's see if you can tell me what it really means in English (it's a 5-word idiom in English).

Although not always related to the issue Fountainhill raised, yes, the cultural differences, often embedded in language, are similarly quite "foreign" (to westerners) here in Thailand. I can't count the number of times that Thai language teachers and Thai friends have told me "you shouldn't say that" because something, although seemingly truthful and innocent, is simply too rude a comment in Thailand. For example only, if you're asked if you are hungry, you never say "no" even if you're already stuffed to the gills as it's simply too "rude." You say (if you're not hungry) "only a little bit." Even in a night-market setting, I've been told too many times by Thai friends not to say "paeng maak" (meaning too expensive) as it's simply too rude; instead, you politely ask for a discount (lot noi dai mai?). Those of us who have lived with Thais long term, I think, have already figured out what most of the coded language means. Much like the American wife who asks her husband if he likes a given outfit and he answers "it's okay", "fine", or "nice" (she then knows he thinks it sucks!). One face-saving common phrase is "up to you" which allows the speaker to totally avoid confrontation and any embarrassment by leaving the choice to somebody else. I've learned to get it in first (which normally frustrates the Thai I'm talking to at the time) but, unfortunately, there are times when it also might indicate the notion that you're really not interested (and/or, in foreign vernacular, "don't give a shit."). Like the Thai smile and it's varied meanings, the Thai language (and how they apply their cultural logic to the limited English most of them know) often "aint what it appears." Navigating the language difficulties let alone occasional generational (age) related differences is sometimes not all that easy.

Well, compared to us, she sure as hell is! When I was 8, I thought an "old broad" was a girl about 14 or 15 but, once I hit about 30, I've somewhat affixed the label to most females over 50. At 53 years of age, Madonna is in better shape than 99% of American women her age and she's still rather foxy as hell. Both Elaine Stritch and Carol Channing have proved one can stay in good shape and still be active as hell into their elderly years (although Channing, absent some substantial air-brushing, hasn't looked all that good in 40 years!). Now, as concerns Ethel Merman, I'll grant you that she could belt out a song (delicacy wasn't her forte) to the extent one wanted to either turn the volume down or actually push the mute button; however, she was never in reasonable shape (or under a couple of kilotons) during my lifetime.