Dogbreath

I am just wondering if it really was the rut between the hard shoulder and first lane the made me lose control of the bike.

I don't remember seeing any obstruction in front of me which would cause me to cross over that rut, so I would have no reason

to cross it. I got such a fright I can't remember. I wonder if it was something else, or maybe a fault on the bike.

I know I could not have been going over 40 Kph or I would have been seriously hurt or even killed, although 60 Kph is my fastest speed.

I have seen riders hit Edge Traps at speeds as low as 10-15kmh and they went down very hard and sometimes with lots of damage to the bike and rider. There are a lot of other factors at work here besides speed. Even a highly skilled and knowledgeable rider can get hammered in an Edge Trap if he loses concentration. I have taken all the Advanced courses offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation in the US. What I learned there has saved my bacon on several occasions. The Edge Trap is a killer. I had a friend in the US who dumped his FJR 1300 crossing an edge trap on an interstate highway going about 80mph.. Three months in the hospital. Hard way to learn.

What you encountered is a hazard motorcyclists throughout the world encounter on a regular basis. It is called an "edge trap" and will drop any motorcycle from a Honda Wave 100 up to a Harley full dresser. If you have to cross to another lane that is 1" step or more higher than the lane you are in, cross at a 45 degree angle or greater and no problem. At an angle of 20 degrees or less, you and your bike are going down; hard. I know this based on experience. Google - Motorcycle Edge Trap for a more thorough explanation. Good luck and ride safe.

Lovely

Philo; Congratulations on taking the first steps toward a sober, happy life. The best is yet to come.

And still as a foreigner who gets far more per month than the average Thai worker i can not get a credit card ,and all i want it for is so i can buy my airline tickets ect online as no one will accept a debit card ,crazy

Getting a credit card in Thailand is easy. Deposit whatever amount you want for a credit limit with the bank in a savings account which secures the bank if you default. Years ago, I got a Visa Platinum Card from Bangkok Bank for just the reasons you cited. Very satisfactory. I pay the balance monthly, so no interest and in five years have gotten a bit (a very little bit) of interest as well.

'Bitter Apple' spray comes to mind. It can be applied directly to animal. Results can vary. Dog's feet can be the site for allergic responses. If your pouch has contact allergies (grasses/chemicals/etc.) incessant licking of the feet can result. Careful observation for trends in licking may support or eliminate allergies. Giving the dog a Benadryl (diphenhydramine) and watching to see if licking has stopped may confirm allergies. Feet licking may be associated with nervous behavior. Behavior modification can reduce licking in this case. Good luck!

I was a professional dog trainer in the US for many years. We used bitter apple spray very effectively to stop unwanted chewing, licking, etc. Bitter apple only works if you apply it correctly. First, spray some on your fingers and then rub that on the back of the dogs tongue. You do this because the receptors for the bitter taste are located there and the dog will get a good idea of what's in store if he detects the smell and starts licking. Then you can apply to the dogs's feet. If you don't get the back of the tongue, the dog will lick with the front of his tongue and cannot taste the bitter apple, so no deterrent. The best brand of bitter apple we found is Grannick's Bitter Apple. I don't know if it is available in Thailand, but you can get it on Amazon. Good luck. PM me if you have any questions.

One of wife's friends is a teaching asset earning 10k a month. Just bought a brand new pickup over 7 years at 7k bht a month.

If he still has it in a year I'll be amazed.

The irresponsible lending of money is part of the problem.

I agree with this.

I never understand how banks and other financial institutions seem so willing to lend low income earners in Thailand so much money.

Lenders should be held accountable for Thailand's raising household debt.

I might be wrong with my theory, but after all, the banks want some kind of security. Guess what is the security, might it be a house, a plot of land. I do heavy believe that the bank is not even interested in people to repay, but rather behind people's property, they could not lay their hands on otherwise. And take a guess who are the reedy <deleted>..s behind the banks.

You may be right about real estate, but depreciating consumer goods, such as cars and appliances are lousy collateral. The banks don't want this stuff back. They lose their a$$ on this type of lending when the economy turns south, which is the direction Thailand's economy seems to be headed. A smoke and mirrors economy will not stand for long; even in a country renowned for smoke and mirrors.

I have met more than one Thai who was ridiculously indebted. Some you can chalk up to lack of financial basics and a good deal of it to "easy money". Last week I met a Thai woman in her early forties who has a very good job with a multinational company. She is involved heavily in financial aspects of the business so you would think she would know better. Her salary is around 45K baht/mo. Condo payment 20K Car payment 25K. She hasn't had a bite to eat yet, paid the electric, or put gas in the car and she's already 100% underwater. And she has a daughter in university ! You can guess how the shortfall is taken care of. My wife has a nephew who is a factory worker making a shade over 10K baht/mo and he has a 7K truck payment.

Easy money and greed of vendors kicking the can down the economic highway will end in disaster. Look what it did to the USA. They still haven't recovered.

Was the Pilot Thai by any chance???

Only took three posts

From a Tripadvisor posting: "Wayne, Frank, Sandra, Honey, and Graeme as well as being placed directly on target by Julian at the controls of the Porter"

All very Thai names indeed.

Well, Julian needs a smack upside his head.

Pallietive care all they do is give u pain control medicine...sometimes too much.

The Oncologists are liars and cheats and will try to bullshit you.

They get kick backs...free holidays etc from the medical companies.

They drive luxury cars and and cant cure you once you get this.

Seems like this is all a troll post rant against doctors and "big pharma"

I was cured of cancer by an oncologist who drove a Toyota.

My surgeon rebated the kickback offered by drug company for chemo. Price cut by 50%. Not many docs are that generous or charitable. Cancer is a big business with billions of dollars floating around. Unfortunately, not all docs can resist the money, vacations and other perks offered by Big Pharma to shill their vastly overpriced drugs. One course of the chemo I had here costs about $6000 US. In Thailand, about $600. I had seven courses and saved a pile. In the end, however, it was ineffective. Before I started, the doc said it would boost my 5 year survival possibility only 10-12% over doing nothing. In retrospect, I wish I had spent the money on something or someone else.

I was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer in 2012. Found a US trained Thai surgeon in BKK to remove it. By 2013 it had spread to my lungs. (another surgery). The metastasis continued and I now have many small tumors in each lung. Surgery or radiation is not possible or recommended. Chemo is offered only as a palliative. I am using some alternative medicines, and traditional Thai medicine and it has slowed the growth of the cancer, so maybe I've got a few more miles left in me. I am not going to go to great lengths and spend my last dime on the cancer industry in order to live a little longer. I feel fine now, but

I am 71 and have had a good run and will do my best to enjoy what's left here in Thailand with my beautiful
Thai wife. After that, bring on the morphine and light the fire at the wat.

For what it's worth, I got excellent care at Bangkok Christian Hospital and Chulalongkorn ( gov't hospital ). I had three surgeries and each required a hospital stay of about three weeks. The charges were very reasonable and amounted to less than my deductible and co-payments under Medicare in the States.

My sentiments, exactly. My plan is to stay the rest of my life here unless I run out of money. I have a gov't pension which would not afford a decent lifestyle in the US, but allows for a middle class lifestyle in Thailand, thank God. I had planned for a decent retirement in the US, but the politicians and their pals rigged the game and I got cleaned out in 2008.

Besides, in Thailand I have a beautiful wife who treats me far better than any woman in the States ever did. I will stay here until the end and then off to the wat for a trip up the chimney.

When you are living here for 30 years with no more friends, family and property in your home country, how could you come back home without a home?

Sure, health can be an issue here and free health services are available for homeless people in some countries but that's karma and I prefer to live here with my wife and my modest pension which allows me a better life than in my country.

Sad indeed. And a waste of a promising life. The anti-Americanism of the article is unmistakable, though, since the writer CHOSE not to mention that the perpetrator of this horrific crime is a THAI-American male with a farang name.

I could make a sweeping generalization about Thai males with their childlike egos and propensity towards resorting to deadly violence, but I wont.

Arrogance of a third world country is astounding.

Arrogance has never been the issue. It is stupidity and greed.

"It is stupidity and greed."

Interesting comment on a forum visited by economic refugees many of whom can't afford to live in their own countries because they didn't plan well for their retirement or who are unqualified and/or unable to find employment in those same countries that are collapsing under debt used to pay for things they were unwilling or unable to fund out of pocket.

If something is priced too high for you, don't use it or buy it. Time for some of the economic refugees from Farang Utopia to move on or stay away ... one more reason to raise prices.

As far as arrogance is concerned, there's plenty of that in Farang Land. Why anyone should expect "third world" counties to bend over and spread their legs to cater to Khun Farang being an excellent example of the vestiges of colonial arrogant mentality.

Which communist/socialist backwater are you from? Your smug, self righteous attitude adds little to the conversation. I can afford the fee. It's just that I refuse to support racist discrimination in any form. I am a long term expat resident and have brought a lot of money to this country that has ended in Thai pockets. Rather than gratitude for what I have brought here, the Thai government seems hell bent on alienating those of us with something to offer country.

Thailand will snuggle-up to any country that gives it money, military aid, etc. And it dates numerous countries at the same time and plays each against the other (just as many other countries do). But just remember, lovers can easily turn into ex-lovers who can be a downright pain.

Sounds right out of the course syllabus for Bargirl 101.

If Thailand prefers China to the US, and by default Japan, the US will stop providing Thailand with military assistance and both the US and Japan could pull manufacturing out of Thailand. The US and Japan have huge industrial investments in Thailand and create a lot for the Thai economy including exports and jobs.

Japan is afraid of China after having China threaten to take some of its islands and block shipping and airline routes. The US sailed some carrier groups through the area and made China back down. The US also made China back down from claiming all fishing rights in the S. China Sea - a place where several SE Asian countries including Thailand rely on for fishing.

If Thailand is stupid enough to play China against the US and by default Japan, it could lose US and Japanese manufacturing causing its economy to crash.

The US and Japan have already invested in large tracts of land in Burma at Yangon, as a backstop to Thailand. The US signed a deal with the Phils to move military forces back into Subic Bay and Clark Air Force Base which will be a large boost to the Phil's economy.

Who is being left out and "Who is Sleeping?"

Thailand is usually too big for its britches and this writer should figure out that neither the US nor Japan needs Thailand at all.

US aid to thailand is $3.5 million per year.

US and Japan does not have investments, private companies do;)

The US and Japan can put embargos on Thailand making it illegal for private companies to do business. The US sells and gives modern weapons to Thailand including F16's and the munitions to hang on them.

There are so many ways the US, Japan and even Europe could abandon Thailand that I think you should rethink your comments.

It should be obvious to all that if the junta trashes the West and buddies up to China that it will lose in so many ways. That's not to mention the crocodile that China is and how the loss of the US would let China damage Thailand.

Yes i am sure Japan would put embargo on its bread and butter companies and remind me again who are those big American investors in Thailand?

There are over 700 US Companies doing business in Thailand with a direct investment of over $17 Billion. Some you might recognize. Ford Motor Co., General Motors, Coca Cola, Citicorp, Caterpillar, Pfizer, Dow, Esso, to name a few......http://www.amchamthailand.com/acct/asp/CorpList.asp?SponsorID=298

It's their job and their attitude

the only down side is that people lost there job and you have ugly empty half built building as for those russians on here and the street not many people have any good words for them as they thought they ruled the world with there attitude and rude behaviour

Early on in my five-year stay in LOS it became apparent to me that we peasants on motorbikes and in lesser vehicles were supposed to get out of the way of Fortuners be they driven by Thai or farang. They and their cousins in the Toyota HiLux have earned the sobriquet "road bullies". I don't see this behavior with other SUV and P/U drivers to the same extent.

Somehow, it seems, that once in the vehicle, the drivers are overcome with a sense of entitlement and invincibility that allows them to occupy whatever piece of the road they want no matter who or what is currently there, and they take umbrage at anyone who suggests otherwise.

Personally, I think the Fortuner is a great vehicle. The folks that buy them? Not so much.

This reminds me why I like living in Thailand. The lunatics have taken over the asylum in the USA.

Before I stopped drinking over thirty years ago, I did not seek the company of those who did not drink or drank sparingly. They reminded me of my own inability to control my drinking after the first one and made me uncomfortable, to say the least. The old saw, "misery loves company" comes to mind.

Oh, hell yes. My lady is from Buriram and she is normally soft spoken, but when she is with her friends, it can sound like a bunch of magpies. Bless her heart, she is wonderful in every other way. Just my two baht's worth.

Your chances of a major illness are low considering age only, but an accident is more likely for younger people. At age 30, the cost of $1 million baht coverage would be pretty cheap. I am an old duffer (71) without insurance and uninsurable A major illness two years ago has cost me about 600,000 baht so far. Glad I can pay it, but I would rather have the money in the bank and put an insurance company on the hook. I would say you have to be a little ting tong NOT being insured since it is so inexpensive for young people. Just my two baht worth of advice.

I suffered from the same symptoms until an endocrinologist found that my testosterone levels were way below normal for my age (63 at the time). Consult a good physician at well regarded hospital. Worked for me. I am now 71 and have energy, interest, and am generally a happy camper. Good luck.

Dogs will thrive on uncooked bones and raw food of any kind. I never knew a dog who could cook and pooches have been doing fine without cooking for tens of thousands of years. I would not give a dog cooked bones as that is what makes them brittle and prone to splintering which can cause BIG problems in a dog's intestinal tract. Don't take my word for it. Ask your vet. The dogs I have seen on the BARF (bones and raw food) diet do really well healthwise, The diet was started by amn Aussie veterinarian. Some allergies may disappear as well.