repost from chatter thread, party tomorrow:

Just a heads up in case you haven't heard but we're throwing a party at the Bleu Balla house in Chiang Mai on Monday. This time it's confirmed. We'll have The Swan catering food at 9pm so just bring the alcohol and ladies. PM me if you need more information.

Hope to see all the CM peeps there!

show up at 9 or before?

Yeah, i got it recently from Hull. Just tell them you are gonna visit friends / family and give them a address.

FYP

show up whenever but we told to caterer to start serving food at 9

The problem with not learning to read and write is that you can't really transliterate thai, and you won't have a reference point for the tonal system. Although it's a huge bother (particularly in the beginning) I would definitely advocate learning at least the basic characters and the tonal rules if you're planning on staying here long-term.

Also, while the practical know-how stuff will impress girls, it'll make them slide off their chars if you sound anything close to fluent.

i guess you missed the "more recently" part of the post i just made as the quote you took was from an old strategy "talking to a girl in thai basics" post i made? a few months ago i believe....i take it you enjoyed that one being you quote it now. i thought it was good and the phrases/strategy i posted in it helped me ship alot of girls. for the people that pm'd me asking about information on the topic try searching some of my old posts and the one he quoted includes what your asking me about. the most basic of thai you need to be able to speak in order to pick up on / ship a non working/non english speaking str8 up thai girls falanginity..

As vlad once said if your the first falang to ship you will always own a part of her soul and can call on her many months after you stopped shipping. i totally agree..and have done just that.

i guess i have to go more in depth/originally did but stopped because it would've made my post more than i wanted to write...thanks luke..actually of all the stuff we talk about or people ask i think this topic is super helpful for people that plan on staying here for a while as there are many of us so really i dont mind.......i maintain the lazy part of that quote and have toned down going to clubs all the time having been here 1 year already...atm none of the 3 girls that im seeing on a regular basis speak english at all....as in zero. this has recently driven me to learn more thai and like i said in my last post more recently ive been looking up alot of words and keep a thai to english dictionary at my house for girls to use so that i understand what there saying. if i want to explain something to them i just google it/than say it/try to say it in a sentence than ask them if its right. while i still have a long way to go ive recently learned alot of thai and spend a little bit of time on it daily basically when i dont understand what a chick is saying.

i think its more fun than having an old teacher lady come twice a week for a whole hour and show me how to write upside down music notes chaimai? while theres many ways to learn thai and none of them are bad so long as your learning... i like mine the best as it tends to stick after ive used it to explain something real time and im also enjoying myself in the process. if anything i was saying that i agreed with you far as learning thai past basic phrases is a good thing. for me it just so happened that i didnt really need to until recently....

your thai def crushes mine far as speaking and is probably one of the best next to kotkis and khun t far as bkkers go. At some point ill study a little bit past tonal rules from phrasebooks but am lazy in a sense that im choosing to learn stuff as i go for the most part.

Currently im not learning more thai to impress girls, more to communicate better with ones i have already established relations with. when the time comes to make new im sure they will be impressed with what the ones before taught me

in terms of resources for learning / practicing, i was looking around recently trying to find the best one to help a friend of mine coming here, and can definitely vouch for the Learn Thai Podcast, it's a tremendous resource. they teach street / commonly spoken thai (versus dictionary / phrasebook thai) and the format is good for visual and audio learners.

i believe it used to be entirely free but now access to every lesson is like ~$200. every beginner lesson (way more than enough to keep a total beginner busy for a 2-3 months) is still free. the advanced sections are great for people that already speak quite a bit but want to expand vocabulary.

learn-thai-podcast.com

I dont see any free beginner stuff where is it?

this reminds me that i bought some online thai course when i first got here lol

edit: yeah learn-thai-podcast.com

Why not?

me too. It's pretty good if you can stay awake

Well you can, but you'd have to make it really complex, like the system they use in Thai for Beginners book by that Becker lady. Then when you're already learning a system just so you can pronounce stuff right for this particular book series (you can get the same system for Thai2English which is good, but I haven't seen it used elsewhere), you might as well put a bit more effort in and just learn the script from out the way. By far most thai books and web sites use systems that are inconsistent with each other and where there could be multiple ways to pronounce the word wrong.

Pimsleur is free/downloadable. I have done about ten of the lessons, and while I think each lesson has a narrow focus, it's a good place to start for free.

U can get your money back in 30 days if you dont like it, ill choos the 49,95 option and try it for 30 days.

While we are on that subject. My girl wants to learn english. Anyone know how I can find her a good qualified school/teacher? I have looked around on thaivisa a bit, seen some ads from "certified" teachers, but most of them can't even spell properly :/

you have to sign up for the 6-day free trial thing, and then they give you access to all the beginner stuff at the end.

(each day of the 6 day trial is probably enough to keep you busy til then.)

should have clarified before.

thanks for saving me the time from trying to post the same thing in much less understandable language

Sea of sewage strips Thai beaches of five-star rating

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/loca...ve-star-rating

Coliforms mean bacteria that comes from ****. Mostly human ****. Ecoli etc

Scary how bad the beaches are in Phuket.

In Phuket a few months ago, we were swimming at Kata, and as we got out of the water saw a tide of turds (raw sewage) coming back in on the waves, being pumped only maybe 40-50m out instead of 5-10km out like they do in most countries.

Really scary and disgusting Definitely dont go swimming after it rains in Phuket, unless you want ear/nose/throat infections.

I was thinking about traveling to Thailand/Laos/Cambodia after Australia, my main motives would be the weather and that it's cheap.
I was wondering though if it's a good destination to go surfing, and what would be the main surfspots (I'm guessing phuket? But I would prefer not to go all the way to the south).

And would I need a big backpack for this trip or will a suitcase suffice? I am not planning to be on the move each day, I do want to spend some time in places and a suitcase would be easier to keep things "organized" I guess.

And if anyone has a room for rent near the beach for like a month in January/February let me know!

edit: didn't saw the post above me lol, guess Phuket is a no go

i never would have gone swimming in patong, but kata and nai harn

patong beach seemed nice compared to pattaya beach

Were tourist visas always free or just now because of all the issues they're having?

she just needs a boyfriend who can speak good english. i'd recommend advising her to find an American, English, or Canadian BF. Aussies may be native English speakers, but they tend to be about as intelligible as Stefan....