Crossy

MediumPaceBowler, on 2012-05-11 18:16:15, said:

I take it you come from London Canada as I'm come from London UK and we spell it 'colours'.

Nintendo have brought out a game where a 14 year old boy runs around the streets of Glasgow smashing up cars, stabbing people & robbing houses….It’s called Wii Bastard!!!

Ok, The Parent's Guide to Songkran.  I made some minor changes to cover not just Chiang Mai, though to be honest my only non-Chiang Mai experience is Pattaya; not the best place in the world for Songkran to put it mildly.

----
Parent's Guide to Songkran

The Thai New Year festivities will soon be upon us once again, which plenty partying, watery fun and general merriment to be had for all.

Kids especially enjoy the water festival, but for responsible parents there are definitely several do's and don'ts about the festival when it comes to kids joining in.

With 18 Songkrans under my belt and as a parent of two young children, I would like to make some recommendations for a fun and safe Songkran celebration. For seasoned residents and seasoned parents much of the below may be obvious, but I hope it will help some who are new to Songkran or new to having kids.

Locations

Many locations to 'play water' are not safe or appropriate for young kids.

• Avoid locations close to fast moving or heavy traffic. It's too easy to stray on to the road and be too close to traffic. Don't play water along highways in and out of town.

• In Chiang Mai the city moat is a prime location for the festivities, and for large sections of the moat the traffic moves slow enough. Keep in mind that the moat itself is VERY deep. If kids aren't excellent swimmers, they should not be on the side where the water is. As there are many people running and playing there, and as the pavement will get slippery from the water, it becomes too easy to fall into the moat. And even if they are excellent swimmers, you still don't want them to panic; keep in mind that in most places it's difficult to get out again, they would need help getting back on shore.

• Don't pick a location near rounchy bars, especially not where there are many adult Western (or Thai) men drinking and partying. Kids can get run into, and drinking sometimes leads to trouble.

With the above in mind, if you play along the moat at all, then for example the stretch North of Thapae Gate on the side of the Amora hotel is suitable: traffic moves slowly there approaching the Thapae Gate bottle neck, and it's (just) far enough away from the Farang bar area.  Other cities in Thailand have 'walking only' areas, but these can get very massive, and it may not be the best idea to have children walking around in a large, partying crowd.  So I would pick a smaller soi, but make sure there is enough space on the side, and good visibility of any traffic through the soi.

Picking a location in front of a restaurant or hotel/guesthouse is good, often these places have some people celebrating in front already, and will provide clean tap water to use from a hose leading outside. And it's nice to be able to order some food and drink, use the washroom, etc.

Precautions

• Tell kids where they are allowed to go, and where they cannot go. They should never get on to the road or soi itself. If they drop a bucket or water gun there by accident, they should call you or another adult to retrieve it.

• No running! It can get VERY slippery, and it's easy to fall and get hurt. Open wounds can easily get infected, so any cut = Game Over.

• Try to keep your mouth shut. Even though you try to pick a place that provides tap water, it's very likely to also get hit with water straight from the moat.

• Use Sunblock! It would be better to be in a shaded place, but when out in the sun it is VERY easy to get severe sun burns. Use a water-proof sun block and re-apply as needed. Don't forget any spots: ears, feet, etc. Using long sleeves and long pants or skirts is also a good idea.

• After-party health check: Bathe kids thoroughly afterwards and put on clean, dry clothes. Be aware of common ailments such as irritated eyes, ear infections, upset stomach, sunburn, cuts and scratches.

Recommended Rules

• No spraying on things that shouldn't get wet. (Point these out, if any)

• NO SPRAYING AT MOTORCYCLES unless they've stopped and are clearly participiating. This goes for adults too, but no harm in teaching this early. It's too easy for motorbike riders to get into a fall or accident when they try to avoid getting wet. Even just pretending/threatening to spray water distracts a rider's attention from traffic. So just don't. Yes, other people do it. But we don't.

• NO SPRAYING AT people who clearly indicate they don't want to partake, or who have items with them that shoudln't get wet. (including food sellers, etc.) Yes, other people do it. But we don't.

Others

Kids can get cold quickly when wet. Make sure you can either get back home quickly, or that you carry dry clothes and a towel so kids can get dry, rest abit and have some food/drink in a nearby restaurant, hotel or guesthouse.

Riding in a the back of a pick-up truck is dangerous. If kids are old enough to join a truck, they should NEVER stand up while in the vehicle. They should sit down all the time. You don't want kids falling out of trucks. Only have them in the back while driving very slowly through a party area. Before going home on faster roads, get the kids to change into dry clothes and sit inside the cabin. (Pull into a hotel parking lot and change clothes)

This should go without saying, but when driving kids in and out of town, make sure the driver doesn't drink and drives responsibly. After dark it's best not to be on (or near) the road at all, as there are many drunk drivers.

Finally

If this is your first Songkran, go test the waters (heh) yourself first before bringing the whole family. No matter what you've heard, you can't possibly be prepared for complete mayem and mass party all around. This will also allow you to pick a good spot to take the kids.

Know that in addition to the crazy party, Songkran is also a religious and cultural festival, with many events organized around town, and with many people visiting temples. It's well worth catching some of these; all of these activities are kids-safe; they mostly happen in the mornings before the masses start the party.

Decide if you want to take your kid into town at all. An alternative Songkran party would be to get together with other parents and kids in a garden setting somewhere and let the kids go at it amongst themselves. Safe, clean and much less stressful for the parents. If some or all of the above has raised concern: GOOD! This is in no way a recommendation to let kids participate in Songkran in any way; make your own informed decision if, where and how to celebrate Songkran.

!!! Happy New Year -- Sawatdee Pee Mai !!!

Semper, on 2012-03-30 15:31:55, said:

LOL!! That's actually a very good idea.   It would largely be the same as for kids but include some obvious extras:

• Don't drink too much alcohol.

• As adults are a lot stronger, the common-sense thing of not hitting motorbike riders who are riding at speed and aren't clearly participating goes double.

• Appropriate force!   In a big melee with other big, burly men, by all means go for it.  But seriously, find some common sense when it comes to women, children, the elderly or people with goods that shouldn't get wet.  Take extra care not to hit people in their faces. I recommend that in addition to a proper water gun, bucket or PVC pipe gun you also carry a tiny little kids water pistol (with clean water) or small silver colored cup.  Then when encountering kids, etc. you have a way of celebrating and wishing them a happy new year without bowling them over.  THis may be the most important point in this list

• A big block of ice in your water supply is a good thing to have, but be careful when it's almost melted or breaking up. Don't chuck buckets that have lumps of ice. When ice melts and breaks up, throw out the remaining part(s).

• For women: don't turn it into a wet T-shirt contest.  Wearing something thick & cotton is better.  For men: no touching women inappropriately (unless appropriate. )

• Sun down == GO HOME! The water party should end not too long after sun-down.  In Chiang Mai it mostly does, in other places it often does not.   So when in a civilized place, go home at sun-down, take a shower and if you're still up for it you can have an after-party (not involving water) at night.   (It's been years since I last managed going out again the same night, though. )

This is really going to screw up many genuine situations, where the farther can and does look after the child due to the misfit mother doesn't want to or gone off with someone else.

Is this also saying that we don't expect you to support the child as you are not welcome ?

I can see many fathers taking their kids and living abroad.

So having robbed the budgets, to help pay for the laptops, the Minister now wants parents to top-up the money available to run schools, rather than get them what they need to do their work properly ?

Yay for Red-Shirt Education !

Regardless of what some Pit Bull fanciers say about how gentle their dogs are with children, the fact remains that unfortunately these dogs were bred originally to fight.
They are immensely strong and tenacious and IMHO unless they are very securely fenced in a private yard, they should not be allowed as pets. Perhaps even a ban, as this type of dog attracts a certain kind of owner.
My condolences to Mr Khamchan's family and friends.

If there's insufficient rain, we can always push the water back into the dam using a 1,000 boats.

Shouldn't they know the outcome of this request already?

Logged in users are now able to "like" a post in a topic, Facebook style, with the member name who likes it visible. The system will currently highlight posts with a "POPULAR" icon when they get 5 "likes".

Hope you like it.

BWPattaya, on 2010-10-03 14:39:26, said:

So if someone wants to have sex with a kid the vendor that supplies the child is only offering what the market wants, what twisted logic.

If George or another HIGH LEVEL administrator can get in contact with this man.  I wil pay his son's school and uniform fee's for next term.  George please IM me.

Subject: Inner Peace - this really works!

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me today, and we all could probably use more calm in our lives.
  
Some doctor on television this morning said that the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started.  
  
So I looked around my house to see things I'd started and hadn't finished,  and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, a pockage of Prunglies, tha mainder of bot Prozic and Valum scriptins, the res of the Chesescke an a box a choclets.
  
Yu haf no idr how bludy guod I feel rite now.

Plaese sned dhis orn to dem yu fee ar in ned ov iennr paece.

I think so yes, but it's not just Thai related, many people in the world have this internet problem.  Most of the time it's because of a social disorder, they have trouble in social situations, making friends, keeping friends, thinking people are out to get them so they can't get the interactions all humans need.  So they find a captive group like the internet where even the most extreme person can have a friend to get the social interactions they need.  Interestingly negative responses feed the same need, so often times those kinds of people become pestering or harassing and say people are picking on them.  They often create controversy so it can be all about them. What happens in the end studies show is that other like minded people come along and some chat room becomes dominated by these types of people in the end and those who speak out against them get run off or banned.  

     I am not sure if it is good or bad .... I am glad these people have" places to go " but studies show that the behavior and the disorder actually becomes worse, in real life people would walk away or maybe punch someone, so the person would have to change his personality disorder, on the internet they end up actually taking a large amount of control of the situation and that feeds and increases the ego and disorder making the people falsely believe it's everyone else who is "crazy".  They may dominate a chat room and make numerous complaints over the years about numerous things and people and rather than being made to know that they are the root of all these problems and the cause they mistakenly feel like the chat room hero and the problem worsens.


   It is very rare for this type of person without actually getting medical help to be able to overcome this.  Over time it gets worse and worse and harder and harder to cure, the patent will without proper help almost never be able to reenter a world of human interaction with ease.  This is because people face to face don't have moderators and you can't ban john from the local coffee shop because he used a racial slur in the grocery store, and people face to face don't tolerate sarcasm or or other rude behaviors that they are in the habit of doing, just because it falls within the chat room rules.


   The real problem is that the reason people spend each and evey day in a chat room is because they were already a failure outside of it so going back when your habits, behaviors and expectations are now worsened is very hard.  ..... Saying all that I think keeping people like that or at least giving them, an opportunity to have these "places to go" is better for everyone outside of the chat rooms so as to not have to deal with them.  And since they will probably never be all that happy anyplace else I am glad they have somewhere to go.

   The bottom line is the normal or non addicted person only comes and goes and can take it or leave it so it's no big thing to them ........Sso lets not belittle the disabled person who has very few other options barring medical help

• Try to post a topic about reputation. However, be aware Kudosflows strongest early in the thread cycle.
• Post often- You never know when you're earnest ramblings maywin you a fan.
• Be outrageous!  TV isfull of weirdo freaks who might agree with you.
• Post late at night- Those pissed/stoned/insomniac/yabaafreaks are your friends.
• Post frequently in political threads.  If those fascists don't agree with you whatcan they do?  Needless to day your wellthought out political rationalizing will win you plenty of votes from thoseequally enlightened.  (and the good newsis that the f**wits  can't vote youdown).
• Try to post in regional Thai forums- those old gits havenothing better to do than read your crap- and they love it.  Again- they can't vote you down, but if theycan get their doddery, paper thin limbs to the keyboard, you could be laughing.
• Northern food thread votes- Post in these for the samereasons as above.
• Avoid the visa sub-forum- it's boring anyway.
• You can try to be informative, but bear in mind that studiesshow, rather like crap McDonalds promotions, the ratio is 100 usefulinformative posts= .35/ rep points=33 cents = 500 Fillet of Fish burgers.
• However, if you're really stuck;  Ask FarangCravings how to do it.  That bad boy has 1000 rep points already, andhe's a complete git.  (sorry fc)

If anyone else has any advice for posters to gather rep-please feel free to post.

Oh- and if you want to give rep- look for  that little '0' at the bottom right of yourpost- the rep '+' sign is next to that.  Yourvote is important.


EDIT: tiny writing