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I'm surprised about the support of this topic.

When I suggested somebody to open a webpage to support the purpose of the Korat Expats Club, the posting remained. But when a TV-reading farang gets convinced of the common benefit of our project (which holds a record on the hits on the Issan Forum of TV) and follows my suggestions and does just that (without being any competition to or drawing business away from TV at all) to supplement the activities of TV for the Korat Expats, the link www.yahoo.com.com seems to become inconvenient and gets removed.

Is that censorship? I always appreciated free press . . . I still like TV and put a link to the Issan Forum on our webpage-in-progress about the Korat People's Dictionary on

http://www.geocities.com/korat_th.

Can Fairness prevail?

The Korat farangs need yahoo.com.com as much as ThaiVisa.com!

Edited by joklaweil
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Cannot edit my post anymore, so I have to correct and supplement:

The webaddress of the multilingual (english, french, german and spanish) webboard is

http://www.yahoo.com.com. It is supposed to be a forum for the Korat farangs of all languages. No interpreters necessary!

The webaddress

http://www.geocities.com/korat_th is supposed to be a directory of Korat with Google placemarks for downloading etc. It has links to the Issan Forum of ThaiVisa and to yahoo.com.com.

Let's all work together!

There is no reason why we should miss any of this just because of petty feelings of people who don't seem to understand the situations of farangs in Thailand:

:o We're all sitting in the same pot!!! :D:D:D

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Hope your sites work out for you Joklaweil but i fear you really will struggle..

If you were focused on say bkk, phucket, pattaya then no problems at all to build up a forum community...but korat :o

Now ive not spent as much time here as these other guys but what i have noticed is that many farangs come here because they dont want to interact like in other parts of Thailand..

For example if for instance i was to take a walk around either mall, tesco or big c the chances are if there is another farang there our paths will not cross :D eye contact will not be made and chit chat certainly will not be exchanged.

I have seen with my own eyes a farang with family in tow creeping around the isles in tescolotus just to avoid crossing paths..

Now dont get me wrong, each to thier own but it happens everywhere..now its not the case that i am going to go up to a stranger and blurt out my whole life story and bore anyone to death but this does happen.

I have seen a small gathering of German speaking guys who do meet in the Mall but the chances are if i walk past they will either stare as though the want to kill me or turn thier backs :D

What im trying to say here is if you are going to put effort and time into building up a community then think about who is going to join it..especially when at presnt TV offers an Issan forum..

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Tyler2uk: It's not my site. I only suggested it and think it is something great to venture upon, especially without any business interest, because it is needed in Korat - it is a commodity of convenience. :o - and of course it will be a struggle. But you depicted the situation yourself. We gotta find a way out of it. This site is a beginning, and it certainly is woth ist! :D

Edited by joklaweil
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The communication problem IS real. As a newbie I feel awkward approaching other farangs I meet in Korat town. If I meet one in the country the scene change ans one to one seems to break the ice.

I don't want or need to know their business but be friendly and share information. I know the different language problem can be an embarrassment too.

The Pattaya expats have a German and English section. I think that a shame but understand it. Language does keep us all apart. Even Farang from Thai.

Its a problem the Korat Club will have to address early on.

This is why a names directory and language directory of sorts is needed.

One thing that can "break the ice" for the Korat Club to consider is charity work.

Yes, I know some are short of money and others less inclined.

"It is better to give than receive"

Focusing on a small charity issue, involving the wives/GF could be the link we need.

It always makes people feel better to achieve something however small and it WILL bring benefits to the Club from the "authorities" with whom links must be established.

All this is straight out of the Pattaya Expats book and they do it very successfully, and have established good understanding with Police, Immigration and Town Council

Keep up the theme!

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From my point of view it seems that some people are trying to run before they can walk... :D

Korat is not Pattaya and the same rules do not apply here.... :D

First organise a get together and later see if it goes further! :D !

Formalise it in the way some of you are suggesting and you will lose the interest of at least 50% of the few farang who live here............. :o

Just my 2 satangs worth..... :D

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Hope your sites work out for you Joklaweil but i fear you really will struggle..

If you were focused on say bkk, phucket, pattaya then no problems at all to build up a forum community...but korat :o

Now ive not spent as much time here as these other guys but what i have noticed is that many farangs come here because they dont want to interact like in other parts of Thailand..

For example if for instance i was to take a walk around either mall, tesco or big c the chances are if there is another farang there our paths will not cross :D eye contact will not be made and chit chat certainly will not be exchanged.

I have seen with my own eyes a farang with family in tow creeping around the isles in tescolotus just to avoid crossing paths..

Now dont get me wrong, each to thier own but it happens everywhere..now its not the case that i am going to go up to a stranger and blurt out my whole life story and bore anyone to death but this does happen.

I have seen a small gathering of German speaking guys who do meet in the Mall but the chances are if i walk past they will either stare as though the want to kill me or turn thier backs :D

What im trying to say here is if you are going to put effort and time into building up a community then think about who is going to join it..especially when at presnt TV offers an Issan forum..

Yes there's no doubt that because the REAL expat community is small in Korat, the VIRTUAL community will be small as well, but (for me at least) something like a Korat Expats Club is all the more important because there are so few of us...

I definitely agree about the 'get away from it' factor - I've only been in Korat a short time and I JUST LOVE IT cos I have that feeling of being in the 'real Thailand'.. Generally, I don't miss an environment like Bkk or Hua Hin or Pattaya where farangs are everywhere... BUT there are some times when I just want to share a beer and chat with someone who has a similar cultural perspective on things...

I think that also, we'll need to accept that the Korat Expats Club will be loose and flexible - some participants will be more active than others, but that should be just fine with all concerned...

Cheers

sr

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From my point of view it seems that some people are trying to run before they can walk... :D

Korat is not Pattaya and the same rules do not apply here.... :D

First organise a get together and later see if it goes further! :D !

Formalise it in the way some of you are suggesting and you will lose the interest of at least 50% of the few farang who live here............. :o

Just my 2 satangs worth..... :D

Derek. Couldn't have said it better myself. I've already "lost interest", but again, that's me. :D

Sorry I didn't make it to your birthday party yesterday, but I just got back from Pattaya. :D At any rate I hope it was a GOOD one. :D

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Guys, get a grip! :o

This is not about separatism, this is supplementation. Of course it has to grow slowly. But within the "establishment" Korat farangs are looked down upon by too many who just prefer rather to spoil than build up.

What are you, "the establishment", :D afraid of loosing? :D

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It is certainly important, that we discuss issues and get to know each other before a meeting. Otherwise there will be zero outcome, because there'd be too many fundamental discussions.

And if you expect a leader or president to emerge from a first meeting, you're dreaming. That's impossible! Our differences are too big. A leader or president would be somebody who has the others' trust. How can you trust somebody you meet for the first time? :D

And even much more important is the preparation of a meeting, to make sure, not just the one guy who wants to be leader shows up? :D

If somebody wants to call upon a meeting, just go ahead! Do like with the poll. :o

There were so many attempts of this before. Do they have to go and end all the same way? :D

Edited by joklaweil
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From my point of view it seems that some people are trying to run before they can walk... :D

Korat is not Pattaya and the same rules do not apply here.... :D

First organise a get together and later see if it goes further! :D !

Formalise it in the way some of you are suggesting and you will lose the interest of at least 50% of the few farang who live here............. :o

Just my 2 satangs worth..... :D

Derek. Couldn't have said it better myself. I've already "lost interest", but again, that's me. :D

Sorry I didn't make it to your birthday party yesterday, but I just got back from Pattaya. :D At any rate I hope it was a GOOD one. :D

Again I agree with Derek, the first mover here is to "have a get together" and a truer statement couldn't be made "this is not Pattaya" Most falang in Pattaya live within a close'ish area.

Korat is a massive, and many of us are spread thin and wide, what you are asking is a "State / County" I for one am just about an hour from town, and I know the same goes for Ken and Dereck.

Also the idea of Charity seems OK, but then those of us that live in small villages very often help our local schools etc. As an example I know of a local group of falangs that collected x-amount of money to buy thier local school there fisrt PC that was capable of running Win-XP. Mention no names here but a clue, he is here on this post.

This "roundtable" club idea, I just feel we need a meet and social gathering first, without this social event I truly feel this topic will take up loads of room here and still drag it heels.

So see whoever on the 29th July as the poll suggest. (location yet to be decided, but if we want that bus to Surin I need to know ASAP ) but athis stage I dont think its viable as we do not have enough people to fill a coach.

just my 2bahts worth.

Edited by Cheeky Farang
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An iniative four month to go! We still got to fill a lot of space on this - and - I suggest, the yahoo.com forum for the KEC.

What is just most different between us and the Pattaya farangs is the marital life. They are most bachelors with a new girl to catch every few days, i. e. lotsa time to sit at tables or bars. We not only live in condos but houses and gardens to take care of but especially families, who like to have us around for the day or evening. Besides that we live far apart and not just on top of each other. Sure the Pattaya farangs need club life - what else have they got?

So I think it is not desirable to copy them in any way: we gotta find our own way! :o

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Hope your sites work out for you Joklaweil but i fear you really will struggle..

If you were focused on say bkk, phucket, pattaya then no problems at all to build up a forum community...but korat :o

Now ive not spent as much time here as these other guys but what i have noticed is that many farangs come here because they dont want to interact like in other parts of Thailand..

For example if for instance i was to take a walk around either mall, tesco or big c the chances are if there is another farang there our paths will not cross :D eye contact will not be made and chit chat certainly will not be exchanged.

I have seen with my own eyes a farang with family in tow creeping around the isles in tescolotus just to avoid crossing paths..

Now dont get me wrong, each to thier own but it happens everywhere..now its not the case that i am going to go up to a stranger and blurt out my whole life story and bore anyone to death but this does happen.

I have seen a small gathering of German speaking guys who do meet in the Mall but the chances are if i walk past they will either stare as though the want to kill me or turn thier backs :D

What im trying to say here is if you are going to put effort and time into building up a community then think about who is going to join it..especially when at presnt TV offers an Issan forum..

Yes there's no doubt that because the REAL expat community is small in Korat, the VIRTUAL community will be small as well, but (for me at least) something like a Korat Expats Club is all the more important because there are so few of us...

I definitely agree about the 'get away from it' factor - I've only been in Korat a short time and I JUST LOVE IT cos I have that feeling of being in the 'real Thailand'.. Generally, I don't miss an environment like Bkk or Hua Hin or Pattaya where farangs are everywhere... BUT there are some times when I just want to share a beer and chat with someone who has a similar cultural perspective on things...

I think that also, we'll need to accept that the Korat Expats Club will be loose and flexible - some participants will be more active than others, but that should be just fine with all concerned...

Cheers

sr

Here here sportrider :D I wholey with you on this

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1) Korat is the second largest city in Thailand. I don't care what anybody says . It is.

2) Surin is about the 32nd largest city in Thailand.

There are around 3,000 Farangs living within a 100 km radius of Surin some of the time.

I have over 1,000 names from people who live here at least part of the year in my guest book, so that means there are 2,000 farangs who do not use the FC or have never heard of it.

Take the town of Sangkha, 65 kms from Surin. There are around 200 farangs living there, but if you ask a lot of them they say, " I live in Sangkha. You don't get many Farangs out that way". It's the same with Krasang, Prakhonchai, Prasat, Kap Choeng, Ta Tum, Rattanaburi, There are dozens of Farang that live in these places, yet nobody knows anyone. Ban Kruat is slightly different, they have made the effort to get a web-site together, and meet reguarly.

Ok. A lot of these people don't want to mix ( that's why they came here), but a whole lot of them are still thinking that they are the only pebble on the beach. Of course, only about 1 in 20 have computors, and of those only about 1 in that 20 log on to Thai Visa, that's only 1 in 380 people that are going to read this.

Back to Korat. I estimated that there must be 5,000 falangs in your area. (same radius), plus there must be hundreds, maybe more, of Farang orientated people left over from the USAF occupation of the city. Maybe I'll pop on over and start a Farang Connection 2 in your town.

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From my point of view it seems that some people are trying to run before they can walk... :D

Korat is not Pattaya and the same rules do not apply here.... :D

First organise a get together and later see if it goes further! :D !

Formalise it in the way some of you are suggesting and you will lose the interest of at least 50% of the few farang who live here............. :D

Just my 2 satangs worth..... :D

Derek. Couldn't have said it better myself. I've already "lost interest", but again, that's me. :D

Sorry I didn't make it to your birthday party yesterday, but I just got back from Pattaya. :D At any rate I hope it was a GOOD one. :o

Again I agree with Derek, the first mover here is to "have a get together" and a truer statement couldn't be made "this is not Pattaya" Most falang in Pattaya live within a close'ish area.

Korat is a massive, and many of us are spread thin and wide, what you are asking is a "State / County" I for one am just about an hour from town, and I know the same goes for Ken and Dereck.

Also the idea of Charity seems OK, but then those of us that live in small villages very often help our local schools etc. As an example I know of a local group of falangs that collected x-amount of money to buy thier local school there fisrt PC that was capable of running Win-XP. Mention no names here but a clue, he is here on this post.

This "roundtable" club idea, I just feel we need a meet and social gathering first, without this social event I truly feel this topic will take up loads of room here and still drag it heels.

So see whoever on the 29th July as the poll suggest. (location yet to be decided, but if we want that bus to Surin I need to know ASAP ) but athis stage I dont think its viable as we do not have enough people to fill a coach.

just my 2bahts worth.

Ken - Yes it was great fun.......

Although I didn't feel too great yesterday, the result of too much birthday cheers...... :D

Hopefully you and Cheeky and a few others will be able to come over when I am next in residence.

Cheeky - As you say we are living in a large area and very few live in Korat City.

Many of us are not here full-time either. I am here approx 2 months and then back to London for a month. Next week I am taking the family to Turkey and the UK for 2 months.

So from my point of view lets see what happens on 29th of July and move on from there.

lampard10 - Sir Sponsor, I think you would be very successful with a Farang Connection 2 in our lovely city.

Ha ha ha ha losing to Fulham........ :D

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lampard10 - Sir Sponsor, I think you would be very successful with a Farang Connection 2 in our lovely city.

Ha ha ha ha losing to Fulham........ :o

I'm afraid that was just a little tongue-in-cheek, fellow Sponsor. We were already considering Ubon, but had to shelve the idea when Surin got so busy we had to close the pool restaurant down. And I wouldn't dream of opening anywhere new unless I can keep the food and general service as good as it is here. When the service in the pool dropped, because we had all the good girls in town, I pulled the plug immeadiately, even though we were making money. That would mean I would have to be in constant attendance in the early days. Still it's FOOD for thought.

As for the other delicate matter; There are certain teams we want to see stay up, and of course our neighbours are one of them. Middelsbro are another, purely because we would hate to see Jimmy-Floydd relegated to the Championship.

Jeez..........I'm starting to sound like my customers. Still where would the world be without bull-<deleted>?

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Howdy,

Ken Bower here. My wife and I live just NE of Ampermuang Chiayaphum in a small village named Ban Sakinam. Although it's a two hour bus ride for us to Korat, I'd say I'd be very excited to meet ALL the expat population from Korat. We don't drink alcohol, smoke or act all weird but we certainly do think everyone has his own personalities and we can deal with most if not all.

Keep us posted bc at [email protected] of any meetups i.e. places and times please.

Ken/Rattana Bower

Ban Sakinam, Chiayaphum via San Antonio Texas, Yuma AZ, and 39 countries and all 50 U.S states

There are an increasing number of farangs in the Korat Province,whether or not the old stagers like it and it may be time to start an Expats Club. Could be an informal meet at a local watering hole or hotel. Most don't need reminding of the Pattayaexpats Club success and the obvious need for an information based and communication linked centre. Has anyone settled here thought of getting involved or is staying incognito part of the attraction? :o
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Cannot edit my post anymore, so I have to correct and supplement:

The webaddress of the multilingual (english, french, german and spanish) webboard is

http://www.yahoo.com. It is supposed to be a forum for the Korat farangs of all languages. No interpreters necessary!

The webaddress

http://www.geocities.com/korat_th is supposed to be a directory of Korat with Google placemarks for downloading etc. It has links to the Issan Forum of ThaiVisa and to yahoo.com.

Let's all work together!

There is no reason why we should miss any of this just because of petty feelings of people who don't seem to understand the situations of farangs in Thailand:

:D We're all sitting in the same pot!!! :D:D:D

Thanks a lot, ThaiVisa moderators - for putting a tag in the system to chang the link to the great website in the second lagest city of Thailand to Yahoo! We really appreciate to be compared to such a big enterprise! :D

Can you put tags on the Yahoo webboards to change the links there to ThaiVisa? :o

Now, keep on playing, children! :D:D:D

Edited by joklaweil
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I don't like these modern fangled expressions any more than most do but the "logistics" of getting people to the first meeting in July AND home again may put some off. That would be a shame.

One solution is for those in Korat, assuming Korat is the meeting place,who could, to offer overnight accommodation in Farangs homes. No need to share beds unless you really want to just ?mattresses on the floor and bowl of rice?

The other alternative is to organise a Korat hotel to offer at a discount multiple rooms. If those who would need accommodation could put up their hands for a count,someone connected in Korat might be willing to take on the role of coordinating accomodation.

Also has the date place and time been set in stone?

Come on girls. "Its up to you"

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:D:D:D

For people who don't know the link now, they can get it on the geocities page - there is even a link back to ThaiVisa, but I'm sure nobody will ever use it! :o

I had people even calling me to ask what I mean; simple as that: in the TV systen the word "Korat farang" without the free space = Yahoo. Hooray! We are the World, Thai Visa's still here only! :D

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  • 1 month later...

Did the idea die a death?

I, being new to Korat (shortly) would welcome the chance to meet some seasoned expats to hear their experience and share a beer or coffee or two. Not quite sure what to expect at all from Thailand and Korat so would be a nice "decompression chamber" for a newbie like myself.

For seasoned Expats maybe it's just making the virtual community a real world community. I suspect that many are happier to just chat on line. Nothing wrong with that though, is there?

On a related note, what road is the Mall on? I can't find it on the maps I've got off this forum.

Cheers

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LOZ

Well done!

The Mall is on Mittraphap Road,No 2 road, the main one through Korat.Coming in from Bangkok see Tesco on the right and the Mall entrance is 100 metres or so on the left, so slow down and get into the inside lane. Coming from the East do a U turn after Tesco and see above.

As far as Korat Correct first's suggestion, to hold a Farang day, those in the "East", as always, have been most vocal.There are many comedians out there and even more serious people seriously interested.

The date seems to be set at 29th July. The venue Korat- somewhere.The time TBA.

A steering committee is still needed whatever is decided.

Hands up those who could meet on the ?Thursday 1st June at ?Passinee Cafe ?say 14.00hrs.

This is to plan the big day.

PS. Please bring a small wallet as nothing is free in life.

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I'll put that date in my dairy but its my first week in Thailand/Korat/Work/Teaching so not sure if I'll be free. Hope so though. Owe you a beer already, for sure. I am getting the sense that Chang is the local favourite...

See! how great is this forum for local info??

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LOZ

Well done!

The Mall is on Mittraphap Road,No 2 road, the main one through Korat.Coming in from Bangkok see Tesco on the right and the Mall entrance is 100 metres or so on the left, so slow down and get into the inside lane. Coming from the East do a U turn after Tesco and see above. I think you'll find that the U turn is just before Tesco not after.

As far as Korat Correct first's suggestion, to hold a Farang day, those in the "East", as always, have been most vocal.There are many comedians out there and even more serious people seriously interested.

The date seems to be set at 29th July. The venue Korat- somewhere.The time TBA.

A steering committee is still needed whatever is decided. Still a bit formal sounding but lets see what happens.

Hands up those who could meet on the ?Thursday 1st June at ?Passinee Cafe ?say 14.00hrs.I've marked the first of June on my calendar. For some of us "out of towners" 14:00 is starting a little bit late. That's usually when I'm thinking about heading "home". At any rate if I can make it I'll be there "noonish".

This is to plan the big day.

PS. Please bring a small wallet as nothing is free in life.

My comments highlighted in "blue" above. :o

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LOZ

Well done!

The Mall is on Mittraphap Road,No 2 road, the main one through Korat.Coming in from Bangkok see Tesco on the right and the Mall entrance is 100 metres or so on the left, so slow down and get into the inside lane. Coming from the East do a U turn after Tesco and see above. I think you'll find that the U turn is just before Tesco not after.

As far as Korat Correct first's suggestion, to hold a Farang day, those in the "East", as always, have been most vocal.There are many comedians out there and even more serious people seriously interested.

The date seems to be set at 29th July. The venue Korat- somewhere.The time TBA.

A steering committee is still needed whatever is decided. Still a bit formal sounding but lets see what happens.

Hands up those who could meet on the ?Thursday 1st June at ?Passinee Cafe ?say 14.00hrs.I've marked the first of June on my calendar. For some of us "out of towners" 14:00 is starting a little bit late. That's usually when I'm thinking about heading "home". At any rate if I can make it I'll be there "noonish".

This is to plan the big day.

PS. Please bring a small wallet as nothing is free in life.

My comments highlighted in "blue" above. :o

Ken

Correction U turn before Tesco.

12 noonish would be fine.

Any other suggestions ?

Giles

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LOZ

Well done!

The Mall is on Mittraphap Road,No 2 road, the main one through Korat.Coming in from Bangkok see Tesco on the right and the Mall entrance is 100 metres or so on the left, so slow down and get into the inside lane. Coming from the East do a U turn after Tesco and see above. I think you'll find that the U turn is just before Tesco not after.

As far as Korat Correct first's suggestion, to hold a Farang day, those in the "East", as always, have been most vocal.There are many comedians out there and even more serious people seriously interested.

The date seems to be set at 29th July. The venue Korat- somewhere.The time TBA.

A steering committee is still needed whatever is decided. Still a bit formal sounding but lets see what happens.

Hands up those who could meet on the ?Thursday 1st June at ?Passinee Cafe ?say 14.00hrs.I've marked the first of June on my calendar. For some of us "out of towners" 14:00 is starting a little bit late. That's usually when I'm thinking about heading "home". At any rate if I can make it I'll be there "noonish".

This is to plan the big day.

PS. Please bring a small wallet as nothing is free in life.

My comments highlighted in "blue" above. :D

Ken

Correction U turn before Tesco.

12 noonish would be fine.

Any other suggestions ?

Giles

I get back to Korat on the 28th so hopefully will be there noonish on the 1st.

I thought at the last meeting Osaka was nominated as the clubhouse not Pasinee! :o:D !

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