What I have learned on my Cambodia/Malaysia/Philippines trip...

[Doc Intrepid]

Dudes and dudettes,

Chat about anything you want, but please keep it within the TOS.

Slinging smack regarding political issues (inadvertently or deliberately) tends to send threads spiraling downwards rapidly and often winds up with threads closed.

Since no one wants that to happen, lets all chill out.

Thanks,

Doc

 

[dbulmer]

Vie,
How many tones does Thai have or does it vary from region to region within Thailand? My Mrs is from Hong Kong and I remember her telling me a phrase in Cantonese and proudly used my version of it in a restaurant .. only to be told later that what I'd said was something along the lines that I was going to beat up the waiter DOH

 

[paolov]

Well, here are a few lessons for any other folks considering going to Cambodia, KL in Malaysia, or the Philippines. Or all 3.

In order of the thought popping into me head...

*PPD's are your friends!

Z...

lets carry on this thread from here and not discuss any other country . they have a thread for it unde TRAVEL on SB.

like the ad on cable. we all live on the same rock called earth.


.

 

[Zeeman]

Actually, the PPD's are your friend bit needs to be repeated several times, so people get it

Hey, I've got an idea - let's talk about Ish for a change!

And, some additions by popular demand...

*Ish gets cold within about 1 minute of entering the water when it's 26 degrees C

*Ish likes Malibu and coke.

*Ish will have no more spoken about her from my keyboard as I know nothing more, and if I did, she would surely kill me.

Z...

 

[Vie]

How many tones does Thai have or does it vary from region to region within Thailand?

In spoken Thai, a "sound" can have up to five tones - not all the tones have meaning, fortunately. In written Thai (using letters, vowels and tonal indicators), some tonal variation will alter the spelling (necessitating an additional letter), which explains why some sound "only" has three tones, I think... Anyway, sorry for the convoluted explanation; I wish I could have put in more succinctly.

I am not sure whether the tonal "rule" varies from region to region; I would assume that in the south, the language/dialect is Malay-based and not tonal at all.

 

[shugar]

No, it's not true and that's not what you said. What you said was "Thai culture actually came from Cambodia - silk, architecture, the works." I realise that this is an internet forum, but, dude, try educating yourself before typing out your thoughts for all the world to see.

take it somewhere else please

Jag

 

[Vie]

take it somewhere else please

Jag

Tell that to Zeeman, please!

Vie

 

[Zeeman]

Heh... no bite

Z...

 

[Zeeman]

Speaking of languages and things I learnt on my trip...

For the best way to haggle, the "good cop bad cop" trick works a treat. FLatty speaks spanish very well, and I speak it well enough to get the idea or give the idea of how much I want to pay, and what I'm actually looking at.

Everyone speaks english, but talking part english, part spanish, and me throwing in random Hungarian and German words for the heck of it really confuses the shopkeeper, so they have no idea what you are doing. Then, of course, one person acts like they really want say a Ruby, the other person does the "oh come on, get a grip, let's go" thing, and sure enough, before you know it, prices are at 1/3 or less of the original asking price.

Also of note - specific to Cambodia...

*Johnny walker blue label costs $90US in any corner store, gold label will set you back a hefty $25. the airport duty free at Phnom Pehn will charge you $180 for Blue label and about $100 for gold label.

Philippines:
*Sisig is good with beer! Really good! Just don't ask what it's made of if you are a Mr. Softy white guy

Z...

 

[paolov]

the food is sizzling sisig

Tell that to Zeeman, please!

Zeeman : Bahala ka na !!!

.