dddave

CANDIA Butter is an excellent French butter sold at Makro. It has a more pronounced buttery flavor than Anchor in my opinion. I had both in my fridge and did a side by side taste comparison: Candia by 2 lengths. Both ORCHID and ALLOWRIE sell "blended" butter alongside regular butter. You need to check the label carefully, always about 40% less expensive.

This is actually common. In the 1970s I drove for a taxi company in Brookline, Ma, a wealthy suburb of Boston. We used to get called to mansion of a VERY FAMOUS sports team owner. A maid would bring out a shopping bag full of clothing and we would take the bag to one of several high-end clothing stores, like "Sak's 5th Ave". We would give the bag to the store manager. The bag contained items shoplifted by the man's wife. It was a special arrangement. Store security would follow her around, taking note of whatever she stole. The store would notify the husband who would direct the maid to gather-up the stolen goods and give them to us. This would happen regularly, about once a month. They aren't millionaires, they're BILLIONAIRES!

Great example of "What goes around, comes around." Corrupt, amoral cop done in by other corrupt, amoral cops. Family wants sympathy. Hopefully they'll get as much sympathy as "Joe" gave to his victims. Karma at it's best.

Somebody chickened-out! Maybe asked by "a friend" to take a "lost" suitcase back home and decided to check the contents. More likely somebody decided it just wasn't worth it. Whoever arranged it is going to be very unhappy.

I was driving in that area Sunday on 331. There were a number of cyclists on the highway. The road shoulder isn't consistent and I'm always ready for a bike to swerve into the driving lane. Some cyclists take an aggressive approach and go down the middle of the travel lave, asserting their right as much as motor vehicles. While that may work in Europe, not such a great idea in Thailand. The road to the Buddha Mountain has a dedicated bicycle lane. The speeding motorcyclist's and moto drivers love it.

Nice flying. My nephew is a member of a similar US Coast Guard Helicopter crew in Alaska. He's sent a few amazing videos of rescues in pretty rough and cold waters.

Oh PLEASE!!! Can't we put this trope to rest? It's been TEN YEARS!!!!

Twenty years ago, Pai was like a 100 year step back into time, truly rural and undeveloped. Now it seems to have become Khao Sarn Rd, North: meeting point for "Heads" of all ilk: pot-heads, meth-heads, smack-heads and the pond scum that lives off of them.

Every day on every trip I make, I see Thais (and foreigners) reading and texting as they drive. They get immersed in he text and totally loose awareness of the road situation. SPLAT!!!

An American neighbor in my apartment building was caught "shoplifting" in a local supermarket. Of course, he claimed he had put it is his pocket so he could carry other goods and "forgot". Dumb The store demanded he pay 10 times the items value to avoid prosecution. That is apparently common practice at many stores. He was also banned from the store which meant every time I went, I would have a list of things he needed. I was not sad to see him return to the USA.

Things can get out of hand very quickly. Those with long memories will remember the "Soap Opera" incident in the early 2000's. At that time, Cambodian TV mostly rebroadcast Thai shows and "La Korn", Thai soap operas dubbed into Khmer. In one such soap, a central character declared Angkor Wat belonged to Thailand and should be taken back. Dictat...uh..President Hun Sen went nuts, going on radio and calling for mass demonstrations against Thai "Imperialism" Naturally, it got out of hand. The Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh was sacked as were several major Thai owned Hotels. Borders were closed and remained so for over a year. The economic impact on Cambodia was immediate. Thailand was their biggest customer and also source for electrical power in many border provinces. Cambodia had to pay to rebuild the embassy, compensate the hotel owners and other effected businesses and agree to trade concessions favorable to Thailand to finally get the border re-opened. All this over a line of dialog in a soap opera.

Before I was allowed to participate in a kayaking excursion in Canada I was required to demonstrate roll-over recovery skills and re-entering the kayak. This should be required for all open water as well as river rentals.

Nothing whatsoever to do with Pattaya...This accident was in Chai Nat.

2 years ago a friend was hit by a car at the Pratumnak lights and later died. The dashcam of the British driver that hit him clearly showed him running the red light and striking my friend within the pedestrian crossing. The driver tried to blame my friend for not looking but his own dashcam ratted him out. BTW. Something to know. The police seized the drivers dashcam at the scene of the accident. I don't know if they can do that in most western countries but though he protested, the police just took it.

I was just thinking a roof mounted , 360 degree camera would not be a bad idea here considering the number of T-Bones that happen, especially at U-Turns.

I was able to register my Thai mobile number on my US based Schwab account. When Schwab wants to send me a verification number, I get option boxes to select either my US number or my Thailand mobile number. Best customer service of any financial institution I've ever dealt with

Off road tires are deadly on pavement, both for quads and motorcycles. There is far less contact surface so poor traction made worse by the harder rubber compound usually used in off-road tires.

It seems 93 were killed in London Bus incidents in this time period. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/london-bus-safety-93-people-killed-collisions-falls-tfl-campaigners-b1211236.html

Totally disagree. How about you name your many other viable options to call landline phones? My SKYPE connections were usually very clear and stable. Irreplaceable for calling phone numbers such as bank CS and government agencies which do not have online messaging apps as calling options. Looks like soon, the only option will be non-human AI customer service for almost everything.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe there are a lot of twisty mountain roads in London.

Every major hospital knows that most western nations, US & UK included, maintain an insurance database and there are agencies online that specialize in determining if a person has an active policy. When my friend was hit by a car and was in a coma, his brother in the US was able to call an agency found on Google. All he had to provide was his brothers full name and date of birth. Within 5 minutes, he had his brothers Travel insurance company name and policy number. Insurance company turned out to be terrible but that's another issue.

B300 is a pittance compared to the many "Tourist Taxes" applied worldwide, sometimes in Europe, even city taxes; Barcelona for instance. This CNN report gives a bit of perspective: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/tourist-taxes-do-they-work/index.html My concern is that the bulk of this cash windfall will end-up in the pockets of appointed officials and politicians and little will trickle down to the purpose for which it is intended. As to those who use this story to continue their grousing about "dual-pricing", you seem to ignore the fact that dual-pricing for residents and citizens occurs in almost every tourist location. In Europe, most national museums are free for citizens as are many recreational facilities. In the USA, go to any municipal or local beach or swimming area and locals will have a sticker that allows them free or reduced rates. US state parks and recreation areas always have different rates for residents and non-residents as do fishing and hunting permits. Give it rest!!

It's like I have never seen any condo not described as a "Luxury Condo" even if it's a 29 s/m studio.

That intersection is tricky. Drivers get confused between the entrance to Nong Nuch Gardens and Home Pro, 50 meters down the road

Likely, pretty simple. He arrived in 2000, before immigration was computerized and before TM-30s were enforced. He probably lived in casually rented accommodations from people who didn't bother with any kind of reporting. If he lived quietly enough, not calling attention to himself or causing others problems, it was easy to just blend in.