bradiston

17 minutes ago, blackshadow said:

13 YEARS been here NEVER had flu jab......NEVER had the flu also!!!

Been here 7. I've had it on a number of occasions, before and after my one and only jab 2 years ago. It's not that serious but can be very unpleasant. Everybody starts sneezing round about Christmas.

1 hour ago, internationalism said:

every hospital, travel clinic.

At the same time you can do covid booster and some other jabs (they will all temporarily boost your immune system)

I'm a bit out of touch with the latest COVID jab palaver. What's the latest? Have they brought out updates? I'll ask as I go, but worth knowing what's what prior to making a choice, if there is one. I've had 4, the last back in January, a Moderna.

Two years ago I got one at Jomtien Hospital for 500 THB. Anyone know where to get one this year?

40 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

 

Coffee cream or coffee creamer????

I googled it and got no information at all. Just 15% Fett whatever that is. Ah, ok, it's fat. What's the other 85%?

3 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

This is exactly what I use. I pour some I to a cup add my vanilla extract and some cinnamon to it, mix it up and then add my coffee on top delicious.

I use their half cream as mentioned above. 115 THB. Can cook with it and make shakes. And great in coffee. But, no nutrition facts. How many carbs etc.

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Renting and taking a sabbatical with two school age children with my sister being a teacher and the husband owning a Bang N Olufsen franchise.....not going to happen.  They have the income, but it is why they canceled the Christmas vacation trip to see us from December 17th to the 3rd of January, the flights here have doubled from what they were pre-covid, so that money will be used for their extra bills.....Not sure how folks who need to heat their homes  in Europe and the east coast of the US to keep them from having damage while they are gone can afford the flights to head here for a few months in addition to the heating bill. 

Not sure either. I've no idea what the minimum temperature would be to maintain a safe environment inside a house. I wonder if solar alone could do it, but the set up costs might prove far greater than the running costs on the grid. I've always had problems finding people to check on my house, keep it swept out, and ventilated. Now, I just lock and leave, and visit every 3 months or so. In the rainy season it's rare not to find a leak somewhere. I have a lot of wood on the top floor for instance. You just live with it. The idea of setting up a management company which would house sit, and allow owners and families to take a worry free break, come round regularly. Amongst friends it works well.  But further than that, it gets complicated.

15 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Wow cheap as chips you live. Between the house near Pranburi and the Condo in Sathorn I pay what I posted. Sometimes more. But I have a pool at the house south of HH and we stay there 2 weeks every month and then the 136sqm Condo in Bangkok the other 2 weeks. We also have dryers to dry our clothes in instead of hanging them.  In the US my sister just paid the equivalent of 25k thb for her power bill.

In the UK fuel bills are set to double, and 2 or 3 year fixed rate mortgages ending in the next year or so, jump from ~1.2% to ~6%. That's just for starters. If they can I'd suggest renting out and taking a 12 month sabbatical.

46 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

Hmm mine went from 6500 to 7900...

I leave my house empty in Trad and live in Pattaya. Bill for 3 storey empty house, CCTV, water pumps for garden watering system etc, ~250 THB pm, bill for 1 bed condo, no AC, in Pattaya, ~750 THB pm. So I won't be flying west any time soon!

42 minutes ago, moogradod said:

The best is full fat real cream, but it is expensive and has a short shelf life. Coffee Cream (not creamer !) lasts very long even outside the fridge. It's a standard in every supermarket in Switzerland. You can order in every coffee shop a "Café creme". This is the standard coffee cup apart from Capuccino, Caffe Latte (Milchkaffee) - which I hate by the way and the other varieties.

If it's dairy based, surely it's not going to last long outside the fridge? What is it exactly? You can buy full cream powdered milk here in Foodland for instance, and online. That will last outside the fridge, but still best stored in it. It's ok in coffee and tea. I think some of the products mentioned here fall into the category of non-dairy creamers, for me to be avoided at all costs.

*Woke alert!*

Palm oil and sugar, massive deforestation worldwide, bad teeth, diabetes, etc, etc with the destruction of habitat and native land. But I suppose you could say the same about dairy production.

5 hours ago, Anthony P said:

Thailand should give easy options for visas longer than a mere 30 days. That's the main reason we may not be coming back again. Take an example of the Philippines (stay up to 36months on a tourist visa). 

Really? After renewing twice, after 59 days must apply for an ACR. Not quite a 36 month visa.

4 hours ago, lujanit said:

Thais gutless position on world view again.  Just following Xi.  Remember the letter that wasn't delivered to the US in WW2?

The letter the Thai ambassador refused to deliver to Washington was a declaration of war. A notable example of a diplomat taking matters into his own hands. Similar I guess to the current situation with Myanmar and "their" UN ambassador.

"Although the Thai ambassador in London delivered Phibun's declaration of war to the British government, the Thai ambassador in Washington DC, Seni Pramoj, refused to do so. Accordingly, the United States did not declare war on Thailand. With American assistance, Seni, a conservative aristocrat with well established anti-Japanese credentials, organised the Free Thai Movement in the United States, recruiting Thai students to work with the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS).^[11] Seni was able to achieve this because the State Department decided to act as if Seni continued to represent Thailand, enabling him to draw on Thai assets frozen by the United States."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand_in_World_War_II

19 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

Well done Don. Now is not the time to acquiesce to endless US propaganda, but to use your own brains to decide whether the US is a force for good in the world or a force for evil. With the endless wars started on a seemingly daily basis against anyone who has oil, it would appear to me, they are a force for evil and theft (of Syrian oil). 

Link please

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Most people won't fight for something they don't believe in, and not everyone believes in the west's participation in this conflict. Nothing to do with siding with Putin.

Of course I'd fight for my country ( I was in the military ), but I've seen nothing to convince me that participation in the Ukraine war is anything to do with us. Russia isn't threatening to take us over.

We'd have to start another thread, maybe there's already one, along the lines of "Should the West be involved in the Ukraine war?" to answer those questions.

7 minutes ago, Saanim said:

Interesting would be to know how the high diplomats - when in NYC - will cast their vote, thus expressing the will of their own people at the other side of the world.

E.g. how the Thai minister knows what his people (e.g. in Isaan) feel about the Ukraine conflict? Obviously, they (his people) could not care less, could they? So, his vote was not so bad, expressing the feeling of his people who he represents. (not the feeling of the many enraged expats residing peacefully in his country). 

In other cases, some just cast the vote as they feel it, under the "discussions" with other colleagues and friends, being in NYC, very far from their own people.

However, not everywhere his people are happy with his vote.  Somewhere he gets sacked once he gets back to his people.

Madagascar minister fired for voting against Russia's Ukraine annexation

https://www.reuters.com/world/madagascar-minister-fired-voting-against-russias-ukraine-annexation-2022-10-19/x
  

Link broken

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Most people won't fight for something they don't believe in, and not everyone believes in the west's participation in this conflict. Nothing to do with siding with Putin.

Of course I'd fight for my country ( I was in the military ), but I've seen nothing to convince me that participation in the Ukraine war is anything to do with us. Russia isn't threatening to take us over.

My reply was to someone urging Ukraine to unconditionally surrender. I asked him if that is what he would do in similar circumstances. That's all. Nothing to do with "our" participation, assuming we are from the same country, or continent even.

1 hour ago, plus7 said:

If you're interested in my personality in general, I don't go to this war, because I don't support this war, and I'm not Putin's supporter, I want peace like other normal people.

You think "I'm playing devils advocate" because I don't let you and others present Russia as the _single_ origin of evil.

But I think it is. The Ukraine army is struggling to repel an extremely hostile, aggressive army. Amnesty as far as I can see nowhere suggests they intentionally used occupied civilian buildings as cover for gunfire. They might have drawn fire from the Russians to neighbouring civilian areas, but this is war, and the Russian armaments are old and inaccurate. Ukraine did not start the war, and Russia must be held solely to blame. Ukrainians are simply trying to defend themselves and their people. Maybe mistakes are made, but I do not believe they would intentionally put their own innocent civilians at risk. You have to believe in something, and I believe that. I have believed right from the very outset that Putin was and is an extremely dangerous man. Europe got caught fast asleep.

How all this affects Thailand heaven knows. If they want peace, I don't see them offering any plan for moving in that direction. Xi won't lean on Putin, which he obviously could do. So, where's the off ramp, for anyone?

59 minutes ago, plus7 said:

I replied  to one guy today, probably you didn't notice.

Have you heard about Amnesty International report that Ukrainian forces use schools, kindergardens and hospitals?

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/08/ukraine-ukrainian-fighting-tactics-endanger-civilians/

I pasted direct link on russian site (such videos removed from youtube), but moderator removed it.

 

 

But ultimately, aren't you just playing devil's advocate? I mean, would you go and fight in Putin's army? Seriously?

This is the link to the article referenced way back in this thread to the two women academics who seem to know what they are talking about. It is a lengthy but well informed well written article about Putin and his aims. There's a lot more than meets the eye according to them. Essential reading I'd say. I hope it's not too far off topic. I hope it's broad coverage of a variety of global perspectives on the Ukraine war merits inclusion here.

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russian-federation/world-putin-wants-fiona-hill-angela-stent?utm_medium=promo_email&utm_source=lo_flows&utm_campaign=registered_user_welcome&utm_term=email_1&utm_content=20221017

31 minutes ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

After reading https://asiatimes.com/2022/09/the-road-to-war-in-ukraine-fact-vs-fiction/ I believe The US to be the guilty party in pushing Putin to invade Ukraine.

I followed all the links and read most of the articles they dishe up. But I don't see anywhere Putin being quoted as saying I'm attacking because of NATO. Because of Nazis (Zelensky's Jewish), genocidal attacks on Russians in Donbas and other utterly spurious self serving trumped up charges, yes, but NATO? And the irony is of course, he has driven Ukraine right into NATO's arms, and what can he do about it now? He leveraged Donbas and the baseless Nazi accusations to justify what he really had in mind, which I believe is zelomplete take over and control of European oil and gas supplies, access to the Black Sea and grain and fertilizer shipments to the West. Ie food, fuel and transport. He's pretty much achieved those goals, but now he has to secure his position, and already it's all starting to fall apart. It's a very long front he has to defend, and hence the conscription. 300,000 troops to hold the line. For how long? Zelensky won't give up. And if the US has the will neither will they. As for Europe, they really need to deal with this. It's really they who are over a barrel.

13 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

"The truth is Ukraine claims Russia is bombing innocent civilians, hospitals, schools..."

 

FYP.

https://m.dw.com/en/the-civilian-toll-of-russian-attacks-on-ukraine/g-62950661

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/un-mandated-inquiry-concludes-war-crimes-were-committed-ukraine-2022-09-23/

Etc etc etc

2 minutes ago, DaveMG said:

Thailand may think it is remaining neutral, but it isn't. They are simply doing the bidding of their eastern masters. Exactly what China, Russia and Iran want them to do. Like good หมาน้อย.

Iran lies some distance west of Thailand, as does Moscow, and what sway, if any, does Iran have over Thailand? And what interest would Iran or China have in the Thai vote? China does not approve of the Russian invasion, although it won't openly condemn it. The war has gifted them huge bonuses in the cut price oil from Russia, and maybe even the use of invasive tactics against a neighbour, and the powerlessness of any opposition. But there's no way the voting is going to seriously upset trade deals between any of the in favour or abstaining voting nations, except for Russia and its allies, all 4 of them. North Korea, Syria, Nicaragua and Belarus.