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Well, having made 15 trips there from the USA since 2004, what started as just a travel curiosity quickly became a more enlightened thing. Love the beautiful ladies. Love the general cost and availability of almost everything. So much international food available as one wanders around a city such as Pattaya. Love the Buddhist temples. Love Buddhism basics in general. Love the beaches when you get to a clean one. Foot massages an almost daily event. Such a great get away from hustle and bustle of my engineering jobs. Love tropical plants. Nightlife never was my big thing and still is not as I am not a drinker much at all. But I enjoy a lookie see now and then. Thai ladies in general are just trying to have fun and make the best of their often limited opportunities. I like the mass transportation options. I love baht buses in Pattaya. What a great way to get around if one is not carrying much and is not in a hurry. I love watching and seeing things without having to concentrate on driving. Looking forward to some extended visits now as I coast into semi retirement.

hehe. Welcome to the LOS. Ever try arguing with a Thai lady? good luck with that.

Most over looked activity is mild weight training. Flexibility and some aerobic exercise is good, but strength is better. Not powerlifting. Just mild weight training. It helps maintain bone strength and mass. It can really help prevent injuries from falls. Circulation benefits. After that of course is diet. More veggies and tofu and less nitrates and bacon the better.

That person and one or two others were pretty unique. I think one of them had internal testes. I.e. his testicles had not dropped. A biological anomaly for sure. But how much should one person be allowed to affect so many others even if that person did nothing wrong on his/her own?

The problem with the transgenders competing is, even if they have surgery, hormone reductions or whatever they usually still have the innate physical size difference. Look at the Male swimmer who competed as a transgender against women in the USA. Yes he/she passed all the current drug tests, testosterone limit checks, etc, he/she was still physically much taller, bigger hands, bigger feet, larger muscle groups, etc. Granting these permissions and lawsuits based on discrimination makes no sense to me. Discrimination is not necessarily a bad word. Discriminate, the root word just means there are differences. No rights are implied or taken away

I agree. And if one actually reads all the fine print, you will very rarely find a company that will direct pay the hospital. Most, when it even happens may reimburse you. And that is quite a long time after you submitted the claim. That won't help your hospital bill and they may still not let your out of the hospital.

After doing my own taxes for 49 years, and never had any issues. Last year I used a local CPA tax agency and they made mistakes that cost me first 862 USD for their services, which was actually well worth it as I had 3 state income taxes to deal with. But the Feds did not like what they did and sent me a bill with no explanations and I had to pay the IRS another 592. I have an IRS account and all it seemed to say was something about advance child care credit? I have never been married, no kids, never touched any thing to do with that, etc. This year, I only have one state I worked in, but for grins I tried the deluxe downloadable Turbo Tax. That really was pretty easy to use. I had Obamacare for a few months, some slot machine w2Gs, some stocks, dividends, an excess ROTH IRA contribution. Nothing complicated and I had already roughed out the Federal taxes. Turbo Tax came up with the exact same amounts as I had. The nice thing was it then spit out the one Tate income taxes at the push of a button. Well worth the 105 bucks. In your case I would suggest you pay turbo tax a little bit more and get access to their real live person tax expert, or even let them take a shot at doing your taxes. Not a bad thing to try pricewise.

Looking for comments on buying the 20 year Elite Visa. I am looking at the long term convenience of it as I coast into my retirement here in the USA and plan many trips and many long stays in Thailand. I am well aware of all the Elite options and costs and other retirement visa options. My big question is are there any expiration issues I need to be aware of? If I don't go to Thailand for a year or more, does the Membership or Visa expire?

I have read some other articles about similar incidents, one of which had insurance but claim was being held up, denied, investigated etc. If one is found DUI the insurance company may not pay up. Not wearing a helmet, may not pay up. I question the veracity of any temporary insurance. Man companies advertise a lot, take money, but actually getting a claim paid or paid promptly is a big issue.

I lived in California for many years. I recommend the small Wat Thai in Escondido California on a Sunday. Small food court. Pretty little temple in a quiet residential neighborhood. Of course in the Los Angeles area the big Wat Thai is worth a visit. The Wifey may enjoy it. As you probably know there are many Thais in Los Angeles and of course take a visit to Thai Town.

I tried searching the forums because I know some people have posted what the official Elite Visa website is, but did not find a result. I search the internet and a few sites show up. Each website starts asking for an account setup and personal information. So I doubt they are all really official sites. One clearly looks like some sort of agent interface middle man thingy.