Kiss your spouse in public and you might think so…

What, you thought Thailand was bad?

Couple in court trying to stay out of jail in UAE ->

There is a new perfume coming out – Vulva. It smells like – what else?

Someone please, please put a stop to this before it’s too late and people start WEARING THIS STUFF.

Oh – and it’s a MAN’S cologne… like every man wants to smell like a woman’s privates? And, who is this man attracting with a scent like that? Dogs in heat? WTF?

You gotta read this article – an interview with the creator of the stuff…

Click the blossoming rosebud for the article…

How can we ban this from entering the USA and Thailand?

I don’t read much about Thailand – but I wish I did.

What I mean is, I wish there was more to read.

I don’t read the Thailand sites focused on politics much. I just don’t care. I care less about Thai politics than I ever did about American politics. It’s just not interesting to me much. The Thaksin situation and the violence in Bangkok is interesting and I read that some.

Where in the world are all the Thailand writers at?

We need more good websites… with more articles written per day. It’s like the whole country is bereft of people that want to churn out interesting articles on a daily basis.

Here’s what I read as often as they put something out. Please, feel free to share your suggestions in the comments – and I’ll go check them out. Be forewarned… if they’re junk – I’ll call them junk and give you one rebuttal. I may then rebut your rebuttal. I get the last word on junk.

If it’s great – I’ll say so.

My List of Favorites:

Steve’s Thailand Musings – www.ThailandMusings.com

Catherine’s Women Learning Thai – www.WomenLearnThai.com

Jason’s Isaan Style – isaanstyle.blogspot.com

Richard Barrow’s sites, like Thailand Voice – www.thailandvoice.com

The Thai Pirate – www.thethaipirate.com/thailand/

Jaime Monk (in Phuket) – jamie-monk.blogspot.com/

My Thai Village Life – villagefarang.blogspot.com/

My Thailand Diary – www.mythailanddiary.com/

It’s been blistering hot now for about 2 months. We’ve had a couple rain showers in 60 days, but it’s noticeably hotter and dryer than the last couple years.

Moving into a house I thought it’d be cooler than the flat we used to stay in. Not so.

It’s so hot we had the huge Tokay Gecko I caught in our kitchen – move back into the kitchen. She’s hanging out behind the counter. I’ve been splashing water down the wall and throwing 4 inch geckos back there to keep her appeased. No sense her running around the kitchen looking for food and having wifey scream out regularly.

Is it hot where you’re at?

How’s the northeast these days? Like a volcano?

Some bitch abandoned her pups across the street in a hole of dirt. We didn’t see her come by to feed them for four days. There were some other neighbors over there looking at the pups and I was spying on them from the window – cheering them on to take not just the one they had picked up, but all 5.

They took just 1.

It was night time and they sat across the street from them – a busy street, every vehicle is doing over 70 kph on that road. They were holed-up about 2 meters from the road and sometimes wander around close to it.

The ladies were probably waiting for the mom – which didn’t come. I saw them on the phones – presumably with their husbands – “Oh honey – there are 5 and they’re all gonna die if we don’t take them now… Please honey, just this one time…”

They took just 1.

We have a new baby and she’s quite a handful – but I know if started seeing month old puppies splattered all over the road in front of our house every day or so – it would get to be a bit for the conscience.

I strapped the cavelight to my head and headed over with a plastic drawer and pulled them out of the hole. Four pups, skinny as twigs. I bathed them and made a pen in the garage, covered it and set off to buy some milk and puppy grub.

On day 1 in the garage I saw mom wander across the street. I whistled and picked up one of her pups and showed her – and put the pup down and walked away…

So did she!

That was about 10 days ago. They’re much stronger, bigger, and have 1/10th the fleas they did have. They’re due for another flea powdering. Then, as planned, I’m taking at least 3 of them… to the local wat and dropping them off with some money tied to their necks.

That’s reality… I can’t keep 4 dogs. The owner of the mother dog that abandoned them didn’t care enough to go looking for the pups… The owner didn’t give a care about fixing her female dog either… that dog has probably had 5-10 litters over her lifetime, maybe with 5 dogs a pop. Let’s say 35 pups… and you know what? Probably 30 of them died on the street being hit by cars, motorbikes, and trucks.

It seems every dog in Thailand meets it’s eventual fate – the tire of a vehicle.

Did I tell you about my 6 overnight bus trips in Thailand?

3 dogs were hit. There must be THOUSANDS per year just hit by buses alone! One time a bus I was in hit a COW in the middle of a busy intersection… why? The bus driver just beeped the farking horn and never slowed. We were only doing 25 kph… we could have easily stopped 20 meters before we hit the cow… nope, in typical Thai fashion this jackass laid on the horn and never slowed.

Anyway, if you haven’t noticed… the dogs are not cared for – enough.

When do you think that will change?

When they get a new government?

Everyone by now knows Taksin lost over a billion US Dollars yesterday.

You know, in the big picture it’s not such a big deal. He may make a big deal over it – but he still has a billion dollars left that we know of. He’s a crafty guy… crafty being defined as intelligent + street-smart. Do you really think all the money he has is in the public eye? I don’t.

If I were Thaksin I would probably do this…

Come back to Thailand and face the music. Plead not guilty. Face a year of jail. Someone will let him out early on good behavior. He’ll be back in politics in a very big way in the coming years.

He can still roll with it and come out a winner – a very big winner in 2 years time.

Not that I agree that it’s the best thing for the country… but honestly, I cannot come up with a best-case scenario for a government in Thailand.

Can you?

I don’t forsee anything good – really good, coming out of Thailand for many years… I hope I’m wrong. I wonder what Thailand would be like with an amazing government in place – everyone fighting for the same thing – the good of the NATION.

It’s not happening anytime soon… that’s my guess. I hope I’m way the hell off – but I’m not.

Anybody think Thailand is ready to be the number two economy in Asia after China? Could it be in 5 years? 15?

I have to admit – I don’t “get it”. Why in the world Tiger Woods went on TV to apologize to someone about what he did… the only apology due is his wife… his family – for farking everything up…

This chart is not mine – it came from: Post Bourgie >

I’m having trouble with two things lately – within the last 5 days.

Email attachments in Google mail don’t work – at all. I’ve tried .zip files, jpgs, and .doc files.

YouTube uploads don’t work in the regular uploader – but I just tried the bulk-uploader to upload just 1 video – and it appears to be working.

Is anyone else having trouble? This is a totally new error for me – never had this before.

I wonder if it might be… ahhh, nevermind. I’m not talking about it…

Again – the question.

I have same answer as always… Thailand as a country – is safe. Come and visit and ignore the craziness going on – if there is any.

Bangkok is probably not safe at this time – as 2 embassies – AUS and CA (That’s Canada… lol) have issued statements that Bangkok might not be a good place to be in the near future.

Tourists are not being targeted. Have they EVER been? Not from my understanding of it all.

Stay away from Bangkok and the southernmost 3 provinces and you’ll likely be fine. Things are coming to a head soon because Thaksin Shinawatra, ex PM is set to lose about 2 billion US Dollars. Of course he doesn’t want that to happen. He has millions of followers, mostly in the northeast of Thailand – the red shirt country.

Look for some excitement in the next few weeks… or a total non-issue.

Farang Food Alert:

Awesome apples, these FUJI brand from Big C. I can sometimes find them in the open market – but there is another kind that looks similar to Fuji apples and they’re junk.

Usually the way I tell them at the market is they are like 12-15 baht each.

So – 4 Fuji apples at Big C for 29 Baht is a winner. Go get some, they’re amazing. It even says “Organic” on the wrapper… for what it’s worth…

Great clip… look at the guy over the shoulder of the one supposed to be getting the attention of the camera…

This won’t happen in Thailand because we have censors that take care of all our naughty internet surfing…

My new girl! Rhabdophis subminiatus. Red Necked Keelback.

I let my Malaysian Pit Viper go the other day – and haven’t had time to get the video of that up on YouTube yet.

This is my new girl – a Thai girl – but, she’s from all over southeast Asia – she gets around you might say. She’s STUNNING beautiful too… I thought Malaysian girls were hot… this one might be the prettiest girl I’ve ever laid eyes on.

I’m afraid of Americans.

David Bowie and Trent Reznor…

I strongly recommend a sometimes daily dose of fukitol. We all need it – especially if you’re living in the USA.

Here in Thailand I don’t need this nearly as much – especially because I’m not teaching English. Hell, I’m not even working per se. lol.

I haven’t gone to the site yet  – hope it’s not spamfilled.

I cannot go to any google.com search page either by typing it into my address bar, or using the small plugin I have with FireFox.

I can reach Google Adwords, but not Google Adsense.

I can reach Google webmaster tools.

WTF Thailand? You know, one of the things that seriously pisses off the entire country (or maybe just me), is that internet here is ridiculously lame in comparison even with other 3rd world countries. It’s outrageously FAIL every few days.

Right now I’m watching my TOT ADSL modem flash as it has been for the last 36 hours – because, apparently the wind is blowing somewhere. Yeah, no joke – when the wind blows or when it rains hard – ADSL across the entire country goes out.

This is why wireless 3G, 4G or some fucking G is so important to those of us sweating it out trying to stay connected in this god forsaken technology backward country.

I’m using EDGE – mobile phone connection over AIS – the most consistent internet that exists in the whole damn country. It’s slow like 1998 dial up connections over a phone line in America – but, that’s what this country offers… solid EDGE performance.

Welcome to Thailand – don’t forget to purchase your AIS SIM card for your phone as you arrive in the country – it’s the most solid internet the entire country offers to visitors and countrymen. Get to love it… mai pen rai…

Complete guide to setting up internet over your mobile phone >

I finally updated the story with the proper videos – the one of me in the hospital I don’t think I’ve posted here before.

Eating scorpion story with videos >

Thailand is one of the coolest places a man could live. That much is sure. Though I’ve not sampled too many other countries in the world, probably not even a dozen, but I have to believe Thailand is the RIGHT place for a guy to have some fun.

A while back I had two friends. One was having Thai girl trouble. It was his ex-girlfriend and she kept coming around the bar he owned and trying to get him to go with her. His wife didn’t approve. My other friend talked to all of them together and somehow convinced them all to live together so “Jeff” could have his cake, and eat it too. They tried it and it worked for more than a year.

I want the same deal. In Thailand many see this as NORMAL. I hope eventually we get to that point in our house… my Thai wife is not happy about it.

I found this gorgeous little Malay girl from the south and I saw her a couple times before I decided – forget this – I’m going to take her out of the shadows and make this legit. She’s coming home with me.

My wife was terrified of course.  It’s going to screw up our family… what we have… Is it right to bring a new girl in the house with a 3 month old? I wasn’t sure about right and wrong at this point – I just know what I want.

I picked her up yesterday and it has not been quiet around the house, but eventually I think my wife will come around and accept my new girl.

Anyway, I shot a short video about it – as my friend said in the Philippines, Vern will be getting some new tail!

My sister is in your shoe... be carefulllllll!

This was a gift from God himself… because God knows how much I love bonuses in the form of deadly beasts. What else does god have to do, he’s not paying attention to anything else apparently.

This litter sucker just jumped into my snake tank. No idea how he got there except he must have fallen off something and landed in there. He couldn’t get out so he staked out a corner and quietly got his nap on for a night. I looked in that tank the day before and nothing there – so he’s a recent visitor.

I was just about to drop my new girl in the snake tank when I noticed him there…

What a day… a finger-rotter as “ViperKeeper” calls them (www.youtube.com/viperkeeper) – actually a Malayan Pit Viper – great specimen and good temperament, I should be able to get some great photos over in the red dirt later next week. He calls them finger rotters because if they happen to get you in the finger your fingers are going to melt and they’ll have to remove whatever part the venom spread to.

And, my bonus scorpion. I’ve no idea the scientific name for this scorpion – maybe someone can help?

Scorpion video at my YouTube channel ->

There’s nothing quite like an unexpected guest coming to stay for a week… I really enjoy it. In this case she’s really beautiful… I saw her today. Maybe she’s about a year old I’m guessing. 2/3 of a meter and a bit chubby and just shed her skin…

I’m speaking of the Calloselasma rhodostoma or, as Thais say, “ngu gap pa”.

A beautiful specimen of Malaysian Pit Viper of course. I didnt have a good box to get her in today, but will find her again tomorrow.

I’m really excited about this snake because I’ve only seen one other in the wild – a baby and it was night time and it skirted across the road next to my motorbike. I could clearly see the triangle pattern on it’s back but it had a LOT of energy and I didn’t think I could get it without being bitten – having no stick or anything to work with.

I’ll bring my snake stuff tomorrow and grab her. These snakes are virtually slugs… they stay in one spot and don’t move much. Even after biting someone and going through that stress – they can usually be caught in the same place they started.

Amaaaaazing snake the Malay Pit Viper. Quite venomous. Quite a biter. Quite deadly. Stay tuned at my YouTube Channel for when I get some video footage of her. I figure a day or so…

Time to read all available information on these snakes…

I fixed some links to some of the Thailand photos pages I had at Thaipulse.com main.

Here’s a link to a lot of photo indexes so you can browse easily. Each numbered index has 3-12 photos on it.

Thailand Photos >

The other night I was pouring some water and almost jumped as something crawled out of the ceiling above my head.

Awesome… I was looking at a big 11 inch Tokay Gecko that was partly still inside the hole the rain had made… I asked wifey to video as I attempted to catch it.

I’m scared of it because:

1. A couple different Thais have told me they bite and don’t let go.
2. Also, I was told they jump on your face if you’re too close.
3. The only other lizard that looks like this to me is a Gila Monster and they’re actually poisonous – and have decent teeth.
4. I’ve never seen one close-up because they’re always too high to reach.
5. I’m used to dealing with snakes with big teeth and his head looks just like a viper.

Anyway, here’s the video and some pictures to follow it.

If you’re coming to Thailand anytime soon and you are looking for a guide that goes beyond the usual hotel reviews and how to wai a Thai person…

Here is a new book full of tips for Thailand visitors – realistic, useful, street-smart tips to help you stay safe in Thailand during your visit – whether short or long-term.

Thailand is an amazing place and one that is very different from your home country. Don’t be caught unaware by box jellyfish, poisonous snakes, styles of Thai fights, the concept of “Face” and what it means to Thais’. There are easily 200 tips for helping you get through your stay safer and so, enjoying yourself a lot more.

Thai Black Book. < – click

Get the book.

Not as well as I hoped but we have 11 iPhone users that filled out the survey. If you use an iPhone in Thailand whether you live here or are visiting, would you fill out this survey to contribute to what we know about the satisfaction of service in Thailand?

I’ll be sharing the data as soon as we get 20-25 participants…

Thanks!

Click here to take survey

There must be a couple of million people in the Philippines that could use some extra money – and yet I can’t seem to find one that can help me out with some writing projects I have.

I really need someone that can:

1. Do some online research for me. I’ll be creating ebooks and I need to have someone help me do research that will help me write the books.

2. Your English should be very strong and probably you have a degree in English from a university. You can write English well.

3. You know how to use Google, online forums, and other resources that help me find background information for my book topics.

4. You need a full-time, 8 hour per day job – 5 days/week.

5. You can accept Paypal or Western Union as a payment solution.

Write me if this is you!

thaipulse [{at]}gmail com

Thai amulets are famous throughout the world. Many Thais make a living selling amulets at the small markets in Bangkok and inside popular temples where private amulet sellers are sometimes allowed to sell their amulets. Temples have amulets made by monks on the premises, or order them from Bangkok artisans. Thai amulet styles are virtually unlimited and it would be safe to say there are many thousands of styles available.

Thailand is full of amulets of all sorts, shapes, sizes, and for many purposes. Thai amulets are generally worn for purposes of protection, good health, long-life, business prosperity, and gaining favor among people and gods.

The main figures used in Thai amulets are:

Buddha

Ganesha (Ganesh) – the Hindu elephant God of obstacles. Ganesh is said to place and remove obstacles that help the person develop spiritually. Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati. Hindu people pray to Ganesha before they do anything – so that there will be no obstacles in their path.

Quan Yin (Gwan Yin, Kwan Yin) – Goddess of compassion.

Luang Por Tuad – a famous Thai monk that was renowned for having mystical powers. He turned saltwater to drinking water by making a circle in the  sea with his foot for instance.

Pra U Pah Kut – famous for providing protection from natural disasters.

Luang Por Klai - brings businesses good luck, or, financial prosperity

Nong Kwak - Buddha is seated and with right hand is waving – in Thai a wave vertically means to come here… in this case, the Buddha is calling customers in – and so this is a business prosperity amulet.

Pra Bit Tar – closed eyes monk. Usually seated in lotus or half-lotus meditative position with his hands over his eyes.

Luang Por Jumnien – Thailand’s good luck monk in the south.

The Jatukum craze of a few years ago has died down and many Jatukum amulets were being dumped into streams in heaps as worthless junk because temples made thousands of them and they couldn’t sell them. The problem with the Jatukum craze was that many temples jumped in and made their own amulets – buying the heavy metal presses and paying craftsmen to create dies that would shape the clay into the various Jatukum amulets. The market flooded fast and within 3 years the craze was over. Temples still have these amulets on display but many Thais either refuse to wear Jatukam amulets, or prefer others.

There are all sorts of  Thai amulets available and I’ll cover some here:

Jatukum – Jatukam

Circular clay Thai amulets about 1cm thick, and 10 cm in diameter – though there are smaller and larger ones. Though Jatukam amulets are made primarily of clay they mix other substances with the clay to effect various powers and strength: hair, skin, ashes from a cremation, different colored soil, plants, jewels, glass, plastic beads, skull fragments, bone, and teeth fragments from humans and animals, and various metals including gold, silver, brass, copper, tin, bronze, and pewter.

This Thai amulet was made from the dirt of 7 different Thai graveyards.

Clay Amulets

Clay Thai amulets come in many different shapes, including: rectangle, triangle, circular, human shape (pra bit tar type), tigers, birds, and thousands of other shapes impossible to describe. Some clay amulets are a thousand years old or more – even having been made after Buddha was enlightened 2552 years ago. Like Jatukam amulets, clay amulets can contain many kinds of materials for good luck, good health, long-life, protection and business prosperity.

Metal Amulets

These Thai amulets are usually die-cast and solid. Materials are usually: brass, iron, bronze, copper, tin, pewter, lead?, silver, and probably other metals I’m not aware of.

Figurine Amulets

A monk riding a turtle. A monkey holding a giant phallus. Men and women locked in an embrace. Famous monks. Buddha meditating. There are thousands of different kinds of 3-D figurine amulets for sale at temples around Thailand. Usually these Thai figurine amulets are made of brass, bronze, or pewter. These amulets are generally cheaper than the Thai amulets one can wear on a necklace.

Hybrid Amulets

Many times you’ll see plastic figures, clay figures, and other material figures that are coated with 18K or even 24K gold.

Thai Amulet Cases

Protection of Thai amulets is important because some of them cost a lot of money and, in the case of clay amulets, are easily damaged. There are plastic cases and plastic cases with metal framing – usually silver or gold plated. Note, if there are solid gold cases in Thailand I’ve never seen one – and most people believe the gold colored cases they find are solid gold. Realistically they couldn’t be for two reasons…

1. 18K and 24K gold is not strong enough to form a very thin case. Gold is like lead, worse actually, and is weak and picks up dings and nicks easily. Solid 14K gold would work but, it’s not very brilliant gold and Thais much prefer the brilliance of the higher gold count finishes.

2. A solid gold Thai amulet case would be too expensive for most Thais to afford. Gold is at around $1000 per ounce at the moment – a bit high!

There are solid silver cases that are strong and not that expensive. The case here can be bought for about $25 dollars. It’s solid silver and has a nice pattern.

Most amulet cases for the clay amulets have plastic windows and are made of shiny stainless steel. These are about a dollar. They work well enough and is what most Thai men use to protect their clay amulets.

Thai men have necklaces with multiple clay amulets hanging from them, five or sometimes more. The chain is heavy metal and the amulets big and clunky. They wear them mostly for protection from evil spirits, bad health, and danger.

They firmly believe in the power of the amulets and sometimes people that make only a few thousand Thai baht per month spend thousands of baht on the amulets in their necklace. This is not reserved to Thais, as I’ve met people from Hong Kong and Malaysia wearing these multiple amulet necklaces too. I’ve not seen Thai women wearing more than one amulet at a time.

When you’re looking at Thai amulets how do you know if you’re looking at an original or a fake?

What is a fake Thai amulet and what is an original amulet?

If you search “Thai amulets” on eBay you’re going to find a lot of amulets. Some are more than $100 USD and are purporting to be “genuine”. What does that mean in the case of amulets from Thailand?

Are the amulets genuinely from Thailand? That much might be true. That might be as far as the truth goes with these amulets.

There are old and new amulets. With new amulets they are generally made in Bangkok by businesses that specialize in making beautiful gold plated amulets that visitors and Thais alike love to wear. New amulets generally have a gold plated case and are shiny, flashy, and would go well with high-fashion clothes or whatever you’re wearing.

Older amulets get very expensive the older they get. There are amulets from hundreds of years ago that go for a couple thousand dollars. There are originals that fetch millions. Original amulets from hundreds of years ago will definitely be a few hundred dollars minimum.

If the original Thai amulet was very popular then temples – monks at temples have created copies of this original and they make only a certain number of them – to increase the value of each. There may be 500 copies made, or 5,000. If there are only 500 copies made then each amulet might be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Besides being “authentic” copies made by monks there are also copies made by anyone with some clay and thumbs that decides to create one to sell. Literally. Since the very old amulets are made of clay or Lek Lai material and because over time they’ve been worn down in detail and resemble nothing more than the general outline of the buddha meditating (see Somdej amulets), a child could make a reasonable representation of this style of amulet.

How do you know if you are buying a good copy or a fake?

In short, you don’t. The only way you might be able to tell is if you are in Thailand at a well-known temple and they are selling them directly. Even then, I’d venture to say you are not 100% guaranteed the amulets are genuine. They should be, but, who is to say?

It’s risky business buying very expensive amulets online. It’s impossible to know what you are getting, or even if you’ll get anything at all for a few thousand or hundred dollars. There are many Thai amulet scams going on online with the older amulets. Why? Because someone could create a website for $100. Take some pictures of genuine amulets at a temple. Tell you they have them. Accept your credit card. Wait until they have transferred funds into their bank account, and then close the account – and send you nothing at all – or send you a fake amulet.

A Thai making 2-3,000 dollars per year with this scam is doing very well! It’s worth the risk and the risks are small.

Be careful about purchasing high dollar Thai amulets online – or in person. There is a very high probability that any old amulet you see online – is worthless. A VERY high probability.