impulse

I would neither go, nor stay away for the ducks. They may want to mention something about the food. That's why I'd go or stay away.

Anyone who thinks this is a Thai only thing (and wants to truly despair of the state of western civilization) should watch a series called "Fear Thy Neighbor". It's one of those crappy reality shows from when all the new cable networks had nothing to fill their hours so they were trying anything, the strategy apparently being to make their viewers feel better than someone (anyone) so they'd tune in. It's all stories about characters who bludgeon, shoot, poison and run their neighbors over with cars as a result of spats that started over trivial things like gardens. Not a single Thai story. All English speaking countries. And truly sad. Or open a newspaper and read about the gangs of tweenies hunting down people who give them the stink eye, or just walk down "their street". (Tweenies being kids between 10 and 14 who won't be prosecuted as adults.) I may have led a sheltered time in Thailand, but I never encountered a situation like the OP, working in Bangkok for 6+ years. Give me Thailand any day of the week. The caveat being that I tried to blend in to the community and treat people according to the Golden Rule.

Other than RO and chemical filters, is any filter going to remove dissolved solids? Suspended solids (including bugs), sure. If the particle size is big enough. But dissolved solids are just one molecule big. City water systems add chemicals that cause the dissolved solids to flocculate, then they can filter them out. But that's a lot of technology and monitoring for a home unit. If I drilled a water well (or drank from one) in Thailand, I'd get the water tested once a year (or so) to make sure there isn't any arsenic or other heavy metals (or any toxins). And keep in mind that subsurface water changes in different seasons and over time as it moves through the aquifer. There's a zillion cases around the world where agricultural and industrial contamination has ruined aquifers for potable water, often over years. Better safe than sorry.

Thx! I'll look into that.

What I was trying to say (poorly) is that the west side of the island is a lot more developed than the east side. I loved the east side, where it was miles between resorts. But I also drove the west side just to see what's there. It looked a lot more developed. And being in Thailand, I figured that development was funded by sin and debauchery. Still, looked like gorgeous beaches and a lot of fun. Depending on what the original OP wants to do on Koh Chang, he can hang a left or a right out of the ferry terminal. I liked the left turn, but I am pretty boring since I took the oath in 1988. More into relaxing, kayaking and nature than parties.

Thanks. That one advertises LTE and GPS. If I can get my Lazada account straightened out (long boring story), I'll order one a few days before I fly to BKK, to be shipped to my hotel. (Not so) strangely, the ad is almost exactly the same as the cheap one I just ordered from Amazon. Same specs. Same graphics. Basically the same ad with a different company name. Muchas gracias.

The OP needs to specify his/her interest. I loved the quiet side of the island, making a left out of the ferry terminal instead of a right. But I was looking for peace, quiet, scenery and kayaking. Taking a right leads to excitement, fun and debauchery if that's in your plans.

Great to see the Dems are sticking with their winning formula. Everyone they disagree with is either racist, fascist, nazi, or some kind of phobic. Fingers crossed they stick with it through 2026 and 2028.

On Pizza Sundays, everyone's Italian. That's what Enzo from the Pizza Palace always told us. A little dive in upstate New Jersey that served some of the best pizza I ever had.

Still safer than 9 people on scooters. Which is the economically viable alternative, other than 9 people just staying home.

Leading me to wonder what's on the other side of that pancake?

That's what I do, too. But after riding around in Chinese E-Taxis that have 12-15" (and bigger) screens, I want one of those. Or as close as I can get without selling a kidney to pay for it. Next project is to shoehorn it in.

Please tell me the guy was getting some road head and lost focus. He didn't even try to swerve.

Good info. I suspect it's the same reason that the Pad Pro (wifi) doesn't have GPS and the Pad Pro 5G (LTE) does. And they list GPS as a communications feature, as opposed to a location feature. Which led me to believe it's part of the LTE chipset. But it's not clear on their website. Especially when it's translated to English.

Thanks! I'll look into those sites. My concern is that most sites (like GSMArena) don't seem to fully address the differences between the same model number in different countries. The CPUs may be different, the features are different, etc. I fear that one country's models may get GPS while another country's models may not- even with the same model number. You have to specify the Part Number. For example, I first read about the Redmi Pad Pro 5G in an India centric site. I can't find it on Amazon in the USA.

I bought that one for the GF, with SIM. It's a great pad. But does it have GPS? I haven't dared to touch it since I gave it to her and she programmed it in CH. That's why I'm focusing on their Pad Pro 5G. Strangely, I can't find one in the MI shops in China. Just the Pad Pro without SIM.

Title kind of says it... Can anyone recommend a nice tablet that's available in Thailand with cellular capability and GPS? Preferably a known brand like Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Apple, etc. I've got this wild hair idea to use it in a car (in place of a tiny screen) for running Google maps, etc. But it seems that most tablets don't have GPS. (And some of them that claim to, don't really have GPS, they use other methods to estimate location.) I was hoping someone has bought one that they like, or one that they recommend staying away from. I've been doing a lot of seaching and the results are confusing and certainly not Thai specific. The most promising one that I've seen so far is the Redmi Pad Pro 5G, but that's just online (Lazada). I haven't seen them in any shops. And most Redmi Pad Pro listings don't have LTE, nor GPS. (apparently, they added GPS to the model that has 5G LTE?). And some vendors are touting 5G, but that's 5G WIFI. Any recommendations? Full disclosure, I just ordered a cheap tablet from Amazon that claims to have LTE and GPS, but I'm expecting to be disappointed. It was cheap, and they ship international... It may arrive in China before my next flight to Bangkok in 10 days...

You need to watch Oliver Stone's "Ukraine on Fire". He produced it in 2016. That part of Ukraine was anything but peaceful. Ethnic Russians were being murdered in droves. While you're watching, take notes and then Google the events he mentions. I'm not a big Oliver Stone documentary fan, but he got a lot right.

There's a lot of room on the continuum between best bud and sworn enemy. I think most MAGAs want the dying to stop, the atomic doomsday clock to get ratcheted back a few minutes, the rebuilding to begin and for the Euros to quit freezing because they can't afford energy.

PEK has several non-stops a day, but that adds another 3-4 hours (plus safety cushion) to take the high speed rail to Beijing, then take an hourlong taxi to the airport. Longer if I take the BJ subway. About the same price as a Tianjin one stop ticket at $250-$400, depending on the day and whether it's a holiday. Which is amazingly cheap. Before Covid, I flew non-stop all the time. But it cost about $600-$750 R/T. Now I'm a cheap bastard, and I'll take the layover to save that kind of money. Back when I was working, not so free with scheduling. I haven't taken the high speed rail other than TJ-BJ and in Shanghai. My contacts in Weihai claim it's a 7 hour trip, and I haven't priced it out. Maybe next fall for the Weihai fishing show. It's well worth the trip, but this year I had scheduling conflicts with my GF's health care issues. Edit: All prices are in USD, which is how my little pinhead works. I get confused dealing in CNY, THB, KRW, HKD, Malaysian whatevers and Singapore dollars, so I convert them all to USD in my mind to stay clear. I've made some bad decisions when a price looked real good, but I was in the wrong country...

They'll be using zeroes. And ones. The next World War will be fought on the energy grids, drinking water systems, communications, and all the other connected systems that we count on to make modern life possible. Nobody will be safe anywhere, unlike WW1 and WW2. Aircraft carriers will be a side show, a distraction. If that.

I was referring to actual human turds, like this map from SF, showing all the reports of human feces. Leave it to a lefty to call people "human turds". I hope the Dems stick with that winning strategy in 2026 and 2028.

True. I priced out tickets to go to a fishing trade show in Weihai and it was 3x what I pay to fly 5x as far to BKK. Go figure. Also true. My city only has 15 million people. Tianjin.

It´s great that they reveal an informants name in open media. Now all that are affected by this and his actions know where to go. He's known as "supergrass" in the UK press, since 2019. His story looks more interesting than the guys' he ratted out. Looks like they gave him a new ID... Supergrass has jail term cut after turning back on gang mates - Liverpool Echo From another article in the UK press (Sky news, 2021): His identity is now protected by a court order - although his old name was known to the criminals he helped to jail - as it is feared he will be a target for revenge for the rest of his life.

I'm paying about half of pre-Covid airfare from China to BKK. The trade-off is that they're doing hub and spoke instead of direct flights so I always have a layover now. Usually reasonable, but sometimes a long one. Which is okay if they have reasonably priced transfer hotels like some airlines in some airports. But sleeping on the airport floor is miserable. Edit: I'd add that London to BKK looked a lot closer and cheaper with no Russkie overflight restrictions. One more reason to end the war and start rebuilding.