TFB Newsletter 
(Quarterly: Nov ’05 – Jan. ‘06) TFB Newsletter (Quarterly: Nov ’05 – Jan. ‘06)
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As the ole’ saying goes…time flies (when you’re having fun). We’re well into the fall season, and for those of us in the seasonal areas, the trees are bursting with color, the days are shorter, and the air is cooler. Since time flies so quickly, the TFB online newsletter will be posted quarterly (every 3 months) for now. The newsletter will currently feature: TFB announcements (incl. website changes), "TFB Member News", a new “Tidbits” section (useful info from posts), “Random Quotes” (from randomly selected posts), and a return of “Hono’s World”. As time goes on, more will be added to the newsletter.
It’s been 3 months since the TFB website has gone online, and there have been a couple of new website additions: 1) a “K1 Nutshell” page has been added to supplement the K1 section (thanks to ChivasGeo for his help), and; 2) a link to Thai temples in the US has been added.
If you are aware of any upcoming “Thai” related events in the US, such as Thai festivals or concerts; or if there are any “mini-TFB” get togethers in your area, please email or post so it can be mentioned on the TFB website. (For example, there were recent Thai festivals in AZ and TX that were posted.)
The next project for the website will be to add a “links” section (postings from the “links” folder of the board) as there are tons of Thai resources out there. For future projects... now that we have our K1 page, how about an I-130 (K3) page?... and an AOS page? If you have any ideas, suggestions for the website, please post or email. If you would like to volunteer to help with the website, please email.
Again…time flies. A year has gone by since the inaugural “TFB Bash in Vegas”, held in Oct 2004. A bunch of TFBers and their wives and families, including JayBloom (our fearless driver), Jeff, CalEden, ABC, KhunGary, Mrebooks (our Vegas pointman), DJ, Conrad, Ibis, myself (Hono), and others convened from all parts of the US and Canada, for the inaugural meeting. We stayed at the Orleans hotel near the Strip, did some touring on the Strip & Downtown, had lunches and dinners (incl. Thai food of course), and even had a Thai karaoke night. It was a blast getting to meet the faces behind the names.
There has been some discussion of a 2nd "US get-together" (a reunion), and in that regard if there is some interest in having it in Seattle next summer, see Hono's thread in the Nat’l Get Together folder (the weather in Seattle is great in the summer).
Congratulations! We're happy to report that Zenseeker and ChivasGeorge are both expecting their first child! (It seems like only yesterday that Chivas and I were reviewing his K1 papers over a Wendy’s hamburger—LOL!) Also, Zen's wife successfully attained her LPR status (via CR1 in Bkk), and Rch99 also got his wife thru AOS (in Boston).
And we’re happy to report that KhunGary in Texas weathered through Hurricane Rita okay (it’s been a destructive hurricane season with Katrina, Rita, and Wilma). We do have TFBers living in gulf coast states (esp TX and FLA), and we hope you're all okay.
Expats... In the last newsletter, I reported that Bkksw and Ken&Lat were moving to Thailand, and they are now there. And talk about a small world, Bkksw posted: “Today I was at JUSMAGTHAI signing up for my I.D. card and box number and I met this nice guy and his Thai wife.. We talked for a while and decided to exchange contact info and imagine my surprise when I saw him write out 'Ken and Lat'. I almost burst out laughing...”
Any news?... If you’re having a wedding, special birthday or anniversary, childbirth, are re-locating, have had your visa approved, have become a monk (anything that’s life-changing qualifies), please post on the board. We’d like to hear about it--afterall, we are like “family” here.
TFB Tidbits is a new addition to the newsletter. Over the years, there’s been a variety of posts about useful and practical things, like Thai satellite TV, ESL classes, good “family” Thailand hotels, how to get your wife’s US driver’s license, etc. etc. We'll highlight a few of these posts in the Tidbits section of the newsletter.
VOIP: We’ve had several threads on TFB about the various ways (providers, calling cards, etc.) out there for calling Thailand. Here’s a sampling of some recent posts about VoIP (voice over internet protocol), which works if both sides have PCs and high speed connection:
“I use SKYPE... for PC to PC it is free and if both folks have broadband (even the Thai equivalent of BB), then the sound quality is GREAT and costs ZIP! Check out skype rates for PC to phone... not bad either... but depending on country, a good calling card might be cheaper. … Why use Vonage when as noted by some - skype is free for PC to PC... OR uniontelecard.com offers various cards ranging from 5-10 cents/min for cell phones and 4 to 7 cents/min for land lines. And no "squeezing" of your phone line... leaves you time and money to squeeze other things! like grapes, or melons, or something....” Zippy
“I have used glophone.com for anywhere from $.08 to .12 per minute to LOS. I have also used skype.com for about $.12 per minute. All you need is a headset with a microphone. … My wife uses Skype all the time and loves it. It is not the cheapest but it has pretty good quality. doozija.com now has phoneja (similar to skype). Don't waste your money. It sucks.” Rch99
“I have used Skype to Norway and MS Messenger to Isaan. Both were computer to computer and both were good quality. With Vonage or similar (send the box to Thailand) and Thai Broad Band you can talk for free. But then you can only talk to one location. Using Onesuite.com my bill for May was 751 minutes @ $91.755, mostly to Cell Phone.” Tpcat
“I think Skype is the clear leader, and not the many copycat versions. It looks like Skype may frequently adjust their rates, as the rates for Thailand do appear to have dropped to 9 cents which beats most phone cards. The main drag is you are tied to your pc. …Unfortunately my wife's relatives are unlikely to have internet access let alone broadband anytime soon. So SkypeOut which is pay per use will be the avenue we have to pursue.” Bigbeast
“www.packet8.net works well for some friends though you have to courier the hardware out to Thailand yourself. You get a U.S. phone number in any area code in North America that you want. For $20 a month there are unlimited calls to that number (which will ring in Bangkok or wherever). On the Thai side the person has unlimited calls to North America. Obviously you need reliable broadband on the Thai side.” Voxvader
“Until just recently was using USA (broadband) to Thailand (dialup to KSC net). Connections were spotty, somtimes lots of latency, and if there was a rainstorm, forget it. In my case it was up to the central northern provinces, not BKK. Just recently, my GF and kids got DSL and after a few initial burps (not problems with Skype, but the DSL ISP) the connections have been rock solid. I speak to them about 6 hours per week for free. Again, this is computer to computer. When I am visiting, can talk to all by friends in USA via Skype, they all know about it. Initially, I just told my GF's daughter about it, she was 14 at the time, and she downloaded and set up her end with little help from me--and her English is not all that good--so folks, if you have a computer setup, it's easy--even a child can do it.” Wittleus
As we did in the first newsletter, here's a few randomly selected passages from recent postings, simply to showcase a sampling of the collective wit and wisdom on the board.
“Thailand seems to be like a giant mirror. Could it be that those who have predominantly positive feelings about the country are those who are dynamic, positive people in predominantly happy personal relationships, and those who find Thailand negative are those who are generally unhappy with themselves and their surroundings? No matter who we are, when we experience Thailand close-up, perhaps each one of us sees ourselves (with new eyes) reflected, more to an extreme, in the dynamic diversity of Thailand. And obviously some of us do not like what we see.” Sami“
"I like your statement, “Thailand seems to be like a giant mirror….” Thailand can be like those mirrors you see in amusement park fun-houses, where your image gets twisted and stretched out. Either as an expat or a tourist, if one doesn’t understand the “Thai way”, your image becomes a bit distorted. If you can “see” the Thai perspective on things, your image becomes a little clearer.” Hono
“Most falangs are exposed to 90% of the worst things about Thailand (bar scene, tourist predators, etc) and only 10% of the good things.. so we tend to look through a different set of eyes when we think of Thailand. Imagine a tourist to the states who spends 90% of this time within a mile of the Hollywood and Vine intersection.. and less than 10% at the nearby art and history museums. imo Thailand is like any other country.. mostly good with some bad. If the Thai's tend to be proud of the good then good for them.” Bkksw
[Re Tiger Woods] "Reminds me of a conversation I had with my wife a few days ago...I was off on Sunday, but my wife had to work...When I picked her up she asked me what I did during the day...I told her, "I watched a golf tournament and "Tiger" won." "He won a $1,300,000 dollars." She say " wow, but why you say he, not she?" I say, "because he a he." She say but you say "Thai Girl" won tournament... Well you had to be there, too much gets lost in the translation, ha...” Mrebooks
[Re the age impact on a relationship] "I would also point out that for every rule there are exceptions and the tendency to paint all with a broad brush is a practice I for one try to avoid. Consider the fact that these elder statesmen (tongue in cheek) probably could care less what the world thinks of them and are only enjoying their little piece of heaven as long as it lasts. ... Is it really that bad to 'live outside the box'. What does bother me is the stereotyping that is generated by these scenarios which is then applied to the rest of us 'mature' males. My motto is 'live and let live', happiness is elusive and fleeting." DiggDugg
It seems to me that everywhere I look on the net these days, people are “blogging”—it’s the latest internet craze. (For Thailand blogs, see www.thai-blogs.com) In a sense, we are all bloggers to some extent on TFB because we share our life experiences, past and present. A while back, I did a blog-like thread called “Hono’s World”, sharing a bit about my life T-F related thoughts and experiences, and I thought I’d just do some short “Hono's World” pieces again.
My Thai stepson arrived (via I-130) in the states this past June. He's in the 4th grade, learning his English, and is fascinated about the many things he’s never experienced in Isaan. One of these things is that white stuff that falls from the sky. This past weekend, we visited the Mt. Rainier National Park (we live in Washington). Mt. Rainier (which stands over 14,000 feet) is actually made up of several glaciers. When we went up there (to the “Paradise” Visitor’s Center at about 5000 ft), it was snowing quite heavily. My stepson was thrilled! He had his first snowball fight, made his first snowman, and even ate the fresh powder (too bad we didn’t have syrup to make sno-cones). My little 2.5 year old daughter loved it too (but she experienced snow last year). I had fun too, altho' I wish I had some skis--LOL! Suffice it to say, kids love the white stuff, even kids from Isaan. And snow ain't the only thing...he had a blast on his first Halloween, trick or treating. I'll think he'll go ballistic on Christmas.
And speaking of snow and Christmas, as we head into the holiday season, we wish you all safe and happy holidays. Next newsletter will be out in February. Keep on posting!
Sawadee! Hono, your TFB reporter (11-2-05)