2005 General Reports

[Dinghy]

In Pattaya, there are numerous shows where nude is back. Didn't go to too many but several I went in were strip tits immediately, rest if "want to"

Somebody posted that it was the result of the election being "over".

[Coma Boy]

Do you need to leave a tip at restaurants in BKK?

How about for the taxi drivers?

Just leave 20 Baht, or the coins from your change in a restaurant, unless service is included. This is pretty much standard Thai practice.

Or leave more if you like the waitress. If you hand a tip to a staff member it is theirs, if you leave it with your change it goes to the restaurant and is presumably shared among all the staff.

One super-hot waitress who I know at Bed Bar makes up to 5000 Baht per night in tips.

For taxi drivers you can normally just round the price up to the nearest note. Or give them a 20 if they were super-friendly, or seize back every Satang if they were a miserable ****.

[John Kallie]

Do you need to leave a tip at restaurants in BKK?

How about for the taxi drivers?

Thanks!

[Domino]

Kiwi
Grace Coffee shop in Grace Hotel is always a good bet during the day.Also, if you do a late night stroll up Sukumvit, you will find the old jewels among the more recently produced. Beach Road Pattaya is another sure bet. As is Korat, Phitsanaloukand the rest of the real Thailand - the land of toothless smiles.

[Coma Boy]

Where in Bangkok can I get to meet some grannies?

Try the Beirgarten or Thermae.

Or, if you want really elderly ladies (60+) you'll have to ask Domino or Freeler for advice.

[Member #3410]

Hi ya all,

Where in Bangkok can I get to meet some grannies?

I'm staying in June at the soi 22.

Cheers,

K H M

[The Traveler]

Duniawala,

use "advanced search" and don't forget to mark "show Results as post".

Try again

[Dinghy]

the NEW treatment regemin seems to prescribe pre-treatment with doxy as an antimalarial (trouble is that the stuff sort of upsets your digestive system)

Of course, combined with lomotil, it makes a downright effective anti-diaharreal (voice of experience - and I DON'T want to need to do it again) - particularly in conjunction with a boat ride

[Duniawala]

Traveller, thanks for the info. I did try the search function, but for some reason it never came up the way you got it. Anyway, now I have to find directions for Subway massage and hopefully can find it.

Freeler, thanks for the info. Never tried it because this is the first time 14 years that my hard drive committed suicide. I am a Mac person and we hardly have the same problems as Bill Gates' operating system. I did diagnose the drive and it looks like there is a short or something like it. However, good news is that I am taking it to India for the recovery as the price is a fraction of what is charged here in US.

In my old country, we always took quinine pills for malaria. That's why the Brits loved gin and tonic. Beats the heat and keeps malaria at bay. So Gladiator, keep a lot of Beefeater at hand with a steady supply of tonic water and you should be fine. But then what the heck do I know, I am not a doctor. But G&T sounds fun.

[Coma Boy]

Doxycycline is usually prescribed for Chlamydia. (The usual cause of Urethritis).

[The Traveler]

Traveler,

Doctors currently recommend doxycycline for malaria, it is highly effective and cheap, 100 mg daily, start 2 days before entering the malaria infested area and continue till 4 weeks after leaving the area.

But it may have side effects, which are rare, true, but not so rare if you are going to be exposed to sunlight as it causes photosensitivity. This doesn’t happen with malarone.

Gladiator,

I am still sceptical but will check if I can find anything on the net.

Yes, I forgot to mention photosensitivity which can be a pain in the ass in a sunny country like LOS. Just had to use Amoxycyclin for ten days. Smart me smashed a piece of a concrete wall on a toe and the piece of concrete won that competition. The infection didn't want to go away so a strong dosis of 1000mg did the job.

Doxycyclin is often used for VD like the so called ping-pong disease or trichomonea (hope I spelled it correctly). I have have never seen anything regarding malaria in conjuction with antibiotics. A friend of mine once had some VD, was too lazy or shy to see a doctor - he also was a cheap charlie so that be the reason - and did some self medication. Instead of 2 times 500mg per day as advised by me he took 3 times 1000mg per day with the expected outcome. Fungus, skin changes, vomitting, blood pressure went down and he felt as if he has to die. Finally he developed an allergy for doxycyclin. Took him longer to recover from that shit than from his original infection.

[Gladiator]

Traveler,

Doctors currently recommend doxycycline for malaria, it is highly effective and cheap, 100 mg daily, start 2 days before entering the malaria infested area and continue till 4 weeks after leaving the area.

But it may have side effects, which are rare, true, but not so rare if you are going to be exposed to sunlight as it causes photosensitivity. This doesn’t happen with malarone.

[The Traveler]

Member #2967,

I don't see how an antibiotic should have any effect on malaria and never heard of it. The mechamisn how malaria enters the body, targets the liver, spreads and destroys your red blood cells can't be stopped or prevented by antibiotics.

I don't want to start an argument, it's useless since we both don't know much enough it, but it sounds quite bad to me to advise someone to take antibiotics for over 4 weeks.

Anyway, which dosis ? 250mg, 500mg or even 1000mg per day ?
250mg might work without any side effects, but try it with a 1000mg tablet each day. On the other side, 250mg doesn't even has an sustainable effect on bacteries so how should it work for malaria ?

[Gladiator]

I didn’t ask for advice on anti-malarials, I simply asked for the price of malarone in Thailand.

Obviously I visited a doctor specialised in travel medicine for up-to-date advice as there are different types of malaria in different regions, some of them resistant to certain anti-malarials.

For the country where I’m going he recommended either malarone or doxycycline, but he said doxycycline is more likely to have side effects than malarone. I’ve done a quick research from my side and that seems to be also what all medical studies show: malarone is the anti-malarial with the lowest rate of side effects. But it has a downside: its price, it’s very expensive.

Doxycycline is the anti-malarial of choice because of its lower price not because of its lower side effects.

[Coma Boy]

Doxycycline IS a good choice. It has been a very reliable and trusted anti-Malarial for some time.

Take once daily with food and plenty of water at the same time each day. Start two days before arrival in the Malaria area, and continue for four weeks after leaving the area.

Despite being an antibiotic, if you don't get bitten, then you need not continue the course.

Side effects are rare.

But, yes, consulting a doctor would be wiser than asking on this forum.