dundas

I really liked the 60 day visa waiver arrangement-- it was more flexible. Assuming that we are back on a 30 day visa waiver regime, I will probably still stay more than 30 days next time I visit Thailand, but will have to go immigration for an extension. Speaking of which -- the whole conversation around the shortened visa waiver is about 'security', but I wonder how much of it is actually about income for Immigration, who made a heap on extensions.

Not sure I'd agree with your first sentence (and I'm assuming you wanted to spell 'senile' and not 'genial'), but agree with the second sentence, yes, Trump is in charge – and IMO that is unfortunate. He acts like a cross between an undisciplined three year old and a mafia don.

The whole point of free trade agreements after WWII was that it's better for countries to trade than to fight each other. The result has been complex supply chains that actually work to make life better for people everywhere. Trump's tariff war blows up those supply chains. It also doesn't make sense to many economists (Democrat or Republican inclined, it doesn't matter) and it is really a prelude to a bigger war (economic or military) which IMO China is likely to win. And all those tariffs that Trump has imposed break trade agreements which in some cases he himself signed (in his first term) – so much for American trustworthiness, now lost somewhere in the gutter. I suppose in the short term Trump can point to an increase in government income (paid for by hapless consumers), and give tax cuts to his billionaire donors with the promise to people wanting jobs that Apple may eventually start making iPhones in the US – for a mere $3,000 a pop. And it's fascinating that Russia has a free ride in all of this, just in case you still want evidence for all those assertions that Trump is nothing more than Putin's puppet. Russia is one of the biggest winners in what's going on now.

What else could anyone expect from a racist and deluded old man? Economic modelling shows that the country most impacted by Trump's craziness is ... the United States. It would be kind of funny if it weren't for the very real human cost.

So on the basis of a 60 day visa waiver, I've already booked my travel with just under 60 days in Thailand. Now I will have to do what I did last year, when the promised 60 day scheme was endlessly delayed – before I even attempt to enter Thailand I will buy the cheapest possible never-to-be-used outbound ticket at the 30 day mark, and after I arrive, go to Immigration for a ฿1900 extension. Next year, I'll know better.

Two weasels. Well, that's my summary of Trump and Putin.

I had my first implant in Chiang Mai around 2013. It was $A3,000 at the time, although once the treatment had started the dentist tried very hard to upsell (I knocked back all attempts). My current Australian dentist has given me 3 implants since. He regards Thai dentists as his competitors and charges $2850 /~ THB64,000 (implant + crown). Extraction and x-rays are extra, and if you need a bone graft, that will also cost more, but it's still very competitive, and my health insurance pays about half. Plus he guarantees his work, in writing. Thailand isn't always the best value, is what I want to say.

It's not difficult to disclose any pre-existing conditions. I have a few and disclose them each time I come to Thailand; the insurance company has always agreed to cover me at no extra charge.

I'm not British, and agree with everything Nigeone said, except the notion that he should keep out of his discussion. It's good to have some views that aren't shaped by the craziness that passes for normal in the US. A stacked Supreme Court? No universal health care? Machine guns legal? Abortions decided by Republicans? Tax cuts for the very rich? A middle class that's disappearing? And, of course, bleach as a cure for Covid.

5555

Some days (most days) I'm glad I'm not an American. Witnessing the struggle between a VP who doesn't give interviews and a former president who doesn't have any policies (beyond slogans, that is), is like listening to nails being dragged down a blackboard. All the way from now until November. But as a non-american, I really hope that Trump loses, hugely. As president the only person he would be interested in is himself -- well apart from other billionaires (like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, waiting to feast on the spoils of lower taxes for the rich), and luminaries such as Xi, Putin, and Xi, who he seems to idolise. His presidency would mean the demise of the American middle class, already on the slide.

I remember reading an article on climate change back in the 1980s --probably in Scientific American, but I can't remember exactly where . The kinds of weather events (more extremes, in essence) predicted back then is what we are experiencing now.

Reading this thread so far (as much as I can) makes me think of Rupert Murdoch who makes his money by polarising people and politics in the countries he operates in, he's been doing that in Australia, the UK and the US for decades, and it shows in this discussion. All very vehement and opposite points of view. Not too many calls for unity here! All about dumping on the perceived enemy. I think it's true that middle America has become less prosperous over the past 40 years, and it really hasn't mattered all that much whether Democrats or Republicans have been the ones in power, middle America has been in a long, slow decline and no doubt is very pissed off, heralding the rise of blow-hards and conmen like Trump. In his first presidency, Trump tried to kill Obama-care (and with it the health cover of millions, making the US even more of a high achiever among developed countries in NOT covering its population, nothing to be proud of in my opinion). He actually succeeded in giving generous tax cuts to the very wealthy but not, of course, to the people who really needed them. If he's elected, Project 25 looks like it will continue in that grand tradition of screwing middle America and any unfortunate who's tainted with the progressive brush, lower in the eyes of some of the readership here, than the lowest form of vermin. Thanks, Rupert! You've made the world a worse, more dangerous place. I'm not an American, but if I were, voting for Trump and JD would be so clearly to my disadvantage that I can only marvel at the people who would. Unless of course, I was Elon Musk or any of his ilk (spoiler: I'm not); even before the election Trump is already doing the bidding of Musk. Electric cars NO GOOD are now electric cars GREAT. So we already know who's calling the shots when it comes to the real decisions, not the decisions about trans, not about abortions, not about the B**S*** the rich used to distract others from what's really at stake here – the big decisions about who gets how much share of the national pie, and it won't be the MAGA crowd who'll be voting for him, it'll be corporates and the very rich.

I was once asked to track someone who hadn't turned up at his destination -- who just disappeared. Yes, he went through Immigration, and yes he boarded the plane (his family had connections so they were able to get this information). Turns out he was busted for drugs on arrival and disappeared for a week or so while the police investigated. Not to join the army of online detectives here, but merely to recount the experience as a possibility in this case.

Thanks for this!