Thailand forum

The old addage "garbage in, garbage out" applies here. stop eating crap. Rice or noodles are ubiquitous & cheap.

Diarrhea; see above & eat some yogurt. bananas may also help.

2....By road food, if you mean "road kill", then don't eat it. If you mean street vendors, then yes it's usually safe for us.
4....LOL
6....Logic does not exist here. Ask any expat married to a Thai. Nor does planning, being somewhere on time, etc. Mai pen rai has many meanings. Learn it.
7....How long have YOU been here.
10...Probably instant.

OK, MM, I'll 'fess up. I travelled through Bali, Flores, Lombok, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia before hitting Bangkok. Over that 4-5 month period, I ate restaurant and street food, and never got sick once. I arrived in Bangkok, checked in to the hotel, then rushed out to get a Pad Thai from a street vendor. I spent that entire night 'chucking my cookies' (as my grandmother used to say!). It was probably the prawns that I had them throw in. It was the only time I got sick on that trip.

I can understand your 'jadedness' with Thai food after living their for so long. But the Thai's have the tastiest food in the SE Asia region! It's all so tasty!

But Cranky is a new arrival. He should be out there enjoying the local food, not playing it 'safe'. Besides, just eating over-processed 7-11 food that has been sitting around for awhile would probably give him the runs back home, too! In my not-so-humble opinion....

exacto....I know out here in the village I make them laugh just by being stupid about things. So, yes it is a two way street. The wife doesn't find it very entertaining when I cut down a food source she has planted somewhere because I think it's a weed.
As for the food, I have to be with Madmac here. I get tired of the rice 24/7. Some times just gotta have some french fries. On my annual trek to the states earlier this year, the first 5 days I couldn't get away from the toilet. I don't know if it was because of some one thing I ate or just not being used to all the processed food.
I've also met some French here that I consider my friends now. I find the French do have a tendency to hang around each other because of the language though.

@neosho

2..."If you mean street vendors, then yes it's usually safe for us."

That's what I was referring to, yes. Good.

4....LOL
I've met 3 and they've all had their quirks. All run hotels, sort of, and they became increasingly odd in the order I met them. I met a VERY eccentric American today, so now my wacky French landlord seems somewhat normal by comparison. It's all relative.

6....Logic does not exist here. Ask any expat married to a Thai. Nor does planning, being somewhere on time, etc. Mai pen rai has many meanings. Learn it.

Yes, I know, but somewhere in the back of my primitive male brain I know I can figure out how it all works. There MUST be some method to their (perceived) madness. At least some consistency you can get to know. They surely understand each other, right? So there must be something concrete to their behaviour and thinking. There must!! I've already started using mai pen rai. Useful.

7....How long have YOU been here.
'bout six weeks I know it all now.

10...Probably instant.
A local ferrang coffee shop owner said he thinks it's a mix of instant, beans and some other stuff. I take advantage of his "bottomless cup" policy now. It actually equates to 70 baht a pot, or up to 12 cups, depending on if other people are drinking from the pot also. He assures me it's a good deal.

"They surely understand each other, right? So there must be something concrete to their behaviour and thinking. There must!!"

No, they mustn't. My wife, who's Thai, thinks all Thais are idiots. She tells me this frequently when I say "Why did he (or she) do (fill in the blank)". "Because Thai people are stupid".

I don't know Neosho. Because I'm not paying attention, that's why.

And of course, we had to honor the dead. My wife got annoyed when I scoffed that we were wasting time and resources.

Because my wife lived in Germany for 12 years, and because she loves German order - when she returned she developed a deep sense of cycnisism about her own people. It took her over a year to get comfortable living here, and still she bitches about them. She had major culture shock moving here, and it's her culture.

Madmac....I just kind of smile and let her go with it now. The wife really doesn't speak english well enough to explain it very well anyway.
Cranky.....They are extremly superstitious and they will vary from region to region. Even village to village. We can't sleep with our head under a west window because people "wake up dead". I thought about doing it anyway to show her but then I figured it would be my luck to have a heart attack in the middle of the night and it would only reinforce it. As for their travels, there are a lot of people that probably can't remember the last time they left the village. Can't afford it and just don't have a desire to.

Carrot, maybe I missed it but have you eaten ANY thai food in the month or so you've been in Phuket? I understand having a hot dog after a month of eating Thai food for variety, but the other way around???

@Neo - We can't sleep with our head under a west window because people "wake up dead". I thought about doing it anyway to show her but then I figured it would be my luck to have a heart attack in the middle of the night and it would only reinforce it.

.What's the Thai word for "paranoid"? 50 Baht says they don't have one.

@scythemk - .I hate to say it, but you're kind of right. I ended up renting for 2 weeks at Rawai, yet I don't particularly like seafood (except safe stuff like fish n chips) and I love swimming at the beach - Rawai Beach is shite. In retrospect I'd be way better off renting a guest house at Kata or Karon. If I can find somewhere for 4500-5k a month, I just might. For the past 6 weeks I've mostly survived on 10 baht sandwiches and smoky bites from 7/11. Cheap! When I do splash out, it's usually on burgers and pizzas. Someone here, Madmac I think, said he doesn't like the beach. He probably loves the seafood. I'm the other way around. I will have you know I've eaten at the roadside diners a lot - what do you call those anyway? I had an awesome bit of rice and pork last night for 35. Presentation was good too. Portion left me wanting a bit more, but besides that it was one of the best meals I've had here. And they even helped me open my Meh Kong bottle. The lid often can't be unscrewed properly, but for 99 baht, who's complaining? I will try to eat some seafood before I leave Rawai. It's just such a pain in the arse with all the claws and shells. Food shouldn't look that scary either. I will not eat a squid. Oh, and I can't take spice. I also believe food should not cause you pain. I'm not into masochistic mastication. I do like wordplay though.

@exacto - Smoky bites cost 18-20 baht with bun and dressing. The average roadside dining affair runs at 30-50 baht. I can fill my belly for a good 2-3 hours on a smoky bite and a sandwich, costing 10 baht. Plus it's faster to do that when you're on the go than sit down, adjust the chairs and table for my gargantuan leg span, go through the whole awkward smile thing with the locals, etc etc.

PS No one knows about my orange juice in the can thing? (q1) Gaddarnit.

Paranoid....wi dtok gang won.....That's one big bottle of Leo beer, thank you.
I think the concentrate will have some pulp in it also. So if you see little pieces floating around in it, don't worry. For some reason they don't put the pull tops on the cans in the states either. You got me there as to why.

@Tinoh - "So you don't like Rawai beach. Have you been to Nai Harn beach?"

.Hell yeah I've been to Nai Harn. It is the beach that redeems all of Rawai in my opinion. Absolutely amazing beach. You've got the waves, you've got the chilled atmosphere and little restaurants if you want, and you've got those big warm pools where the ocean has poked it's way inland. I could loll about in those for hours and have. .The stream will even cart you slowly back to the main event if you lie back, with the occasional school of fish popping by for entertainment. Awesome stuff. Love it.

There's a few cool bars around the area too, same same for restaurants and cafes. I didn't mean to come down on it so hard before. I've just been spoiled, clearly.

@Exacto again - The dodgey room rental is working out okay. I've got something of a lizard problem, but I'm hoping they'll just eat the roaches and be on their way. Aside from having to go next door to my landlord's apartment to use the net and hope he's not having one of his mid afternoon siestas, it's awesome.

He cracked the s--ts with me a bit last night when he found out I drove his embarrassing, tartan-seated Suzuki step from Rawai to Kamala, "You rent from me one hundred baht, you drive very long distance to kamala? Is not so good ah?" but I just changed the subject to beer and he calmed down. What business is it of his where I drive the bike, as long as I stay in Phuket right? I should have just told him I got burned at Nai Harn. White lies really make life a lot easier around here.

@Thaiman - Are you Thai, Thaiman?

Oh, that's just what it says above the Carrot - I'm from Aus, but currently located in Thailand - gotta fix that thing...