Bob

Okay, you made me look up the derivation of "zero." Apparently, it's from the French "zero" which was from the Italian contraction from the Venetian word which was from an Arabic word which was from god only knows where, all of which mean zero, naught, nil, or some concept close to that. Apparently the first name "Zero" was created by Sam Mostel's press agent. Not exactly a confidence builder, huh? I only checked that out to see if he should blame his inferiority complex on his parents.

Hmmmm.....I'm confused again. 10 to the first power is ten (i.e., one zero), 10 to the 2nd power is 100 (2 zeroes), 10 to the 3rd power would be 1000 (3 zeroes), and 10 to the 22nd power would have, yup, 22 zeroes. Although I must admit that my brain hurt a bit trying to figure that out. So, Koko, you gotta get your numbers straight (come to think of it, are there gay numbers?). Cause those of us with an abacus can only count this high so many times without getting blisters.

It's only my opinion but I think there's a property bubble here that will explode within the next year or two so, yes, I think it's smarter to rent now. And I'd note that it's probably more of a bubble up here in Chiangmai (an article in the Bangkok Post a month or two ago mentioned that selling rates for new developments and the figure for our area was 39% or something like that (a bit dismal). They've built the living shit out of this area - new condos, shop houses, etc. - and most of them are unoccupied. In spite of the surplus, the rental rates have only dropped a little or stabilized the last year or two. Most of the new units are owned by Thai investors (rich dudes parking their money in new condos) and, in my view, that's exactly the group that panics when prices either flatten out or start to drop (plus, if/when the property tax takes effect, that'll be another incentive for that group to quit parking so much money in real estate). And, so far, I haven't seen any significant evidence of selling prices dropping except for the very high end joints (one mega-home seller wanted 25 million baht but last I saw the price was down to 18 million baht - thanks, I'll take two of them....). I'm renting a three-bedroom, three-story, townhouse which was new when I first rented it (4 years ago) and in a location I like (access to everything I want). And just signed a lease last month for another year. The owner of the townhouse next to me had it for sale a few months ago and he wanted 7.5 million baht. I personally wouldn't pay him more than about 4-5 even if I was in the mood to buy but, then again, I'm a cheap bastard.

Nah, not too esoteric. Actually just watched a show about the Hubble program and telescope (probably the same one you watched). In fact, fascinating. And, of course, the Hubble photographs are simply awesome. I was actually thinking you were making a slight mistake with your numbers and you meant 10 to the 21st power....a sextillion.....

Hmmmm......you're confusing me with the word "rates." You talking about buying or renting? I can only give you info about Chiangmai and you simply aren't going to find something real close or fancy or bigger than a studio for less than 3,000,000 baht to buy. To rent....again guessing what I think would be your standard (a lot higher than most).....maybe 20,000 to 30,000 baht a month would be my guess. Really nice (one of the new condo units and two bedrooms?).....more like 30,000 to 50,000 baht a month to rent and about 4.5-9 million baht to buy. I suspect that Bangkok rates are higher.

I actually rather enjoyed that. Reminded me of college and grad school days where I would go to exams and write down a load of convoluted tripe that normally made the professors think that I had an ounce of brains. They were wrong.

Obvious answer but perhaps there could be more than one such as: (1) As you notice, there are two answers and, all things being equal, the second answer is one as one always equals itself. The question is "one of what?" (2) Extrapolating this to the scene in Thailand, many boybars have those lighted and spinning disco balls, such items spinning at 1/(2 x 10 to the 22nd power) of the speed of light. Koko, having made his decision to invite #7 back to the hotel for a discussion of physics, pulls out his wallet to pay the mamasan the off fee. Not surprisingly, the wallet is rather wide in girth, stuffed with many baht. With that information, one can deduce that the answer to the first equation is the time (in inverse milliseconds) it takes for the light (reflected off the spinning disco ball) to go from Koko's stuffed wallet to glint off the eye of #7. And, although not asked in this question, one could deduce that it would only take one additional millisecond for #7 to decide how he would add to the GDP of Thailand by spending some of that treasure. (3) As to the answer to equation number two, the answer must be one "day" (that being the time required to wipe the smile off of Koko's face following his "discussion of physics" with #7).

The video is on Youtube, Michael. And, yes, it's hideous (well, she isn't so bad looking....). But I do think that the two worst (or at least hurtful) massages I've ever had in Thailand were both at the blind institutes - one by a guy at the blind institute in Jomtien in the complex off of Thepprasit Road and the other by an old woman at the blind institute here in Chiangmai near Suan Dok gate. And I've somewhat concluded that both masseurs were also hard of hearing - as my continued yelps of "jep" and "jep maak" only seemed to spur them on to greater imitation of the Marquis de Sade. The massage at the institute here in Chiangmai also didn't start out so well. They hooked me up with the old lady who then escorted me to an old 2-story teak house. As she led me through the door, she flicked the light switch at the bottom of the stairs - as it was darker than hell in there. Unfortunately, being blind, she had no clue that the lights weren't working and she ended up pulling me up the stairs and around the room as I wasn't moving on my own (couldn't see a damn thing). When she slammed me down on a mat on the floor, I actually thought about retaliating (however, lashing out at the pitch black didn't seem like a good idea). The most consistent and best Thai massages I've had here in Chiangmai have been at the Olde Thai Medicine Hospital (behind and near the airport Rim Ping market) which is major massage school up here. For years, I always asked for Turd (yep, that was how he spelled his name in English) who was a few years younger than me but that, of course, never stopped them from their usual response: "Oh, you want old man!" Unfortunately, the Turd has now retired at the ripe old age of 57.

No, Anddy, I don't. After enduring a daily and growing load of spam for years, I changed my email address 6-7 years ago and have been very careful not to provide it to anybody or any website that I don't at least somewhat trust. The result is that now I get maybe 8-10 spams a year and, to me, that's great (and worth defending).

Guess I'd vote for Rosa Parks; however, since I can't vote without giving them my email address (and that ain't gonna happen), I shall abstain.

Loved his self-deprecating humor. An example: "If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?"

(Sorry, OP, for the hijack of your thread) While I know Mr. Christian a bit, I'm not allowed to channel him for two basic reasons - I'm old and don't have the endurance; on the other hand, I'm just a wee bit more profligate with my baht. 55555

Will be interesting to see Farangyai's response.....and which part of his body he's describing (hmmm....stomach???). For Michael: "yai",depending on the tone used, means: (1) mid-tone: fiber or web (2) low tone: big, large, or grand

Goldenboy, as Z points out above, the one poster who elected to "grace" us by one of his thankfully rare appearances is known to us and what you read is his usual style.....so just ignore him. Other regular posters here may disagree with something you write but at least you can expect some civil discourse from them. I consider it perfectly fine if somebody new to the scene comes to one of the message boards and inquires about what to expect with respect to bar fines, tips, or whatever; however, you pointedly were not doing that and so I personally don't think it's anybody's business or role to suggest you overpaid (or, like a few posters on message boards in the past have crudely and stupidly suggested, that "you're ruining it for the rest of us"). When I first came to Thailand long ago, I was well aware of what to expect including the "going rate" from the various message boards of the time; regardless, I typically paid more because I could do so, felt comfortable doing so, and simply wanted to do so. But I'm doubtful I ever posted what I did in fact pay as I felt it wasn't anybody else's business and I didn't really care to hear what anybody else thought about it anyway. You paid what you wanted to pay and, to me, that's perfectly acceptable.

Hmmm.....there's no way the Republicans would allow Eleanor to grace any currency. Unfortunately, unless one has been President or an extremely important person in US history, there's no chance he/she is going to be on US currency. As for the suggestion of Joan Rivers.....can we talk? Regardless, my vote would go to Susan B. Anthony (and she's already been on our currency....coin-wise, that is). Without her and others' efforts in the women's suffrage movement, women in general wouldn't have any political influence in the US.

Can't say I disagree with your comments, James. It does appear, however (this is meant more kindly than it probably sounds), that somebody needs to provide you with a box of hypens and/or grammar/wordwrap software in your Easter basket this year.

Yep....sorry about that....guess I remembered the wrong board. Anyway, url for the article posted by Geezer: http://gaybuttonthai.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6090

Of course, most of this is just theater arranged by the elite [the military, the wealthy (which is somewhat redundant with "military"), and others who won't be described] and, from a westerner's point of view, most of it is both illogical and even illegal under whatever Thai constitution happened to be in place at the moment. The bottom line is that the elite in Thailand neither like nor trust the notion that the people as a whole get to either elect their leaders or decide what rules govern them. Following the 2006 coup, they put into place a new (2007) constitution which provided for a Senate consisting of 150 members, one elected from each province and the rest being chosen by a select committee. That change (from a fully elected Senate) was exactly what the military in Burma did to effectively retain all important power. Now, these "democrats" (laughable, I know) want a fully appointed senate with additional powers. Absent a true revolution here (and that's not going to happen), my view is why even bother going through these silly theatrics? Just maintain the current dictatorship (or any system which doesn't allow the majority of voters to decide anything) and quit even attempting to call Thailand a democracy. P.S. How anybody can argue that you can legally impeach anybody who's no longer in office is beyond me; besides, even if you get over that rather massive hurdle of logic, the Dear Leader abrogated the 2007 Consititution which was the only document which gave anybody the power to impeach in the first place.

I'm only aware of the Dawk Gaew Garden section of McKean Hospital located on Koh Klang island just south of the city of Chiangmai. Originally, the island land was donated by one of the last rulers of Chiangmai to Dr. McKean for the purpose of establishment of a leper treatment center but that's all changed in the last 40 years when the lepers where reintegrated back into their home communities. In 2009, McKean Hospital (which is still a service branch of the Church of Christ of Thailand - although I should note that I'm not aware of any proselytizing out there) established the retirement center on the island about 300-400 yards from the hospital. Most of the retirement residents there dine and engage in activities in the Dawk Gaew wing, the Lotus and Orchid wings provide housing for the semi-independent residents, and the Jasmine wing provides 24-hour care for residents who are immobile or who suffer from forms of dementia. I've visited friends out there and it's really a very lovely location. I can't tell you about the cost (forgot what I was told before) but you might find more information about that and the facility in an older thread on Sawatdee which was penned or contributed to by Geezer who resides there. I have no knowledge about other retirement facilities around Chiangmai (although I've been told of one or two other places) or elsewhere in Thailand.

Confusing terms here. "Anal retentive" - somewhat sounds like not giving a shit (time for a laxative?). As for "anal attentive", that sounds like the long-lost poster at SGT with the flashlight who used to check out the bar boys' nether regions before choosing to off anybody. And Koko now mentions astronomical things. Hmmm, if one is tight with his money, could he be called astronomical?

Please don't use me as an additional lever to get back at James or his article. I said my piece and figured this little row was over....let it die the death it deserves! As for being "fair", nah, just nuts (the little man in my tv that often chats with me suggested I say that).

James is a decent guy (I know him) but that doesn't mean I have to agree with the tone or accuracy of his "older gay" comments...and I don't. Firecat, James did in part respond when he said he "...witnessed the brekkie beers in Pattaya..", such observation(s) apparently occurring on a vacation trip to Pattaya. Unfortunately, his response sadly supports what I was trying in part to say.

I must admit that I don't notice a lot of things but, for whatever reason, I noticed today that under my name is the category of Warning Points. And, unfortunately, I don't have any. How does one get any? And, if you get one or more, what can you do with them? How many for a toaster? As you might gather, it's a slow afternoon. [i didn't see the category under anybody else's board name so I'm guessing you can only see how many warning points you yourself might have. Anybody have any? If so, how'd you earn them? If not, why not?]

Rather embarrassing and unnecessary attack, James. And I'd note: (1) While I agree with a couple of the points you're attempting to make, I remain dumbfounded why you elected to do that while attempting to brand all/many older expats with your distorted views. (2) Frankly, I don't recognize at all what or who you're talking about here in Chiangmai (I'm presuming you're talking about Chiangmai as that's where we both live). If you're talking about another city here in Thailand, please advise although that might make me wonder how would you know what occurs there. (3) Factually, where'd you get your information? For example, you make claims that some/many older gay expats are drinking booze/beer for breakfast. Frankly, while it's possible that there are a few around here that might do that (I've never seen it among the many older gay expats I know), I'm beginning to wonder if you just made that up out of thin air. Here in Chiangmai, you well know there isn't a single gay bar open in the morning (Soho lately has been opening up for lunch on some days but almost all the other venues don't open until 5PM or later). So where exactly are these older gay expats drinking at breakfast? I walk all over the city multiple times per week for years and I can only recall once or twice seeing anybody drinking alcohol in the morning and that was at the restaurant bars (hardly gay) along Moon Muang and Loy Kroh. It most certainly doesn't happen out here on the west end where I live. So, again, I must ask: where have you witnessed this occur enough such that it might merit making a blanket statement such as you made? (4) Unfortunately, it seemed obvious (perhaps only to me) that your unnecessary and overbroad swipe was in retaliation to the treatment you recently received from others on this board in a recent thread (I don't see you posting it elsewhere). Rather bad form in my view.

Not me....but am aware of a good friend (and prior poster here) who took about a year to get his Thai bf what was called a "fiancé visa" and then went to the State of Washington and got married. A rather long and drawn out process. Am aware of other friends who've taken their Thai boyfriends to the US for tourist purposes.