daveAustin

Easily, in the right place. Prefer the mountains but also love the beach. People talking of 'boring' are missing the point and are probably ruled by their mind/todger. I hear this from folk who say they could never retire because they would be bored. I mean, what the actual Fk like! Life is for living; get busy living or get busy dying and all that. Gotta be more to life than sitting in a bar all day. Swim, walk, exercise, read, play on your 'guitar', muse the universe + hundred other things. But, yes, having spent a large part of my life away from the normal banality of work/'life' in the West, I can easily do this.

Cue boring boomers whining about getting wet 😂 This topic never fails to rouse them. It is a good idea for entertainment purposes (gov is thinking about keeping the proles happy and revenues from visitors) but bad mainly for road accident casualties. Forget about water usage. In CM, where it has always gone on for a week or more, they draw it from the klongs. I hope this does happen, if only to wind up the boomers.

Well what would one expect in bent, based-on-debt monetary system! Price rises are obligatory, albeit 16% ish on electric is gonna be tough to swallow for low earners. At least they don’t have it at the order of x2 or 3 like in our countries! It happens in chunks because the powers that be haven’t got the taters to inch it up continually.

I must be delusional then. Yeah, it happens a lot here. It also happens quite a bit in our supposedly sophisticated 'first' world places, esp road rage incidents over trivial things like parking and whatnot. People are just screwed up wherever you go.

… or he could just be a <deleted>! Very sorry for whatever ‘ails’ him, but you know what we all have issues though few of us act on them and try to harm others. You should only get one chance on a flight; mess up (for whatever reason) and threaten said flight, you should be ghosted and permanently grounded. If he has already been released and again flown, as has been suggested, then that is a joke and says a lot about the current state of our world.

Nothing wrong with him. It’s all pathetic; him, his deal with the army and the fact they are still effectively in governance. A double whammy. What have the Thai people done to deserve this? Nothing! That is it. Too much apathy. They need to be on the streets en masse to rid this country of this filth once and for all!

No, pretty sure that is <deleted> and you are not married in any case. You clearly have a big heart and care for the daughter. Not to chuck my tat onto you, but I would do anything to hang onto someone considered daughter material in such a scenario. Have you considered adoption and bunging the mother for paperwork?

Me too. Having both lived and visited for many years I get both perspectives, as can many here. CM is great with or without tourists, but as a tourist, though clearly more expensive, it is more fun with high numbers. When one is living there, not so much so when numpties are posing for photos in the street etc. Mid 2022 was nice as a reboot for me visiting after so many years, all chilled but missing something. I just don't want that magnificent place going pre-covid numbers!

I’d endeavour to keep the account open (as you say never say never) as they are so hard to open nowadays. You could probably ditch your atm card, which would save the ridiculous annual fee being nicked, but other than that leave a bit in there and perhaps transfer using the app every now and again to keep it alive. Taking out your money is not an issue as you are leaving, right. They would only pick that up at renewal when you would show paperwork. I would thus transfer out online, then leave.

Do something useful for once and put your hand in your very deep pockets to help out the little man then.

Agreed. For every incident like this there are innumerable good deeds. Have personally had too many to mention over the years from the most unlikely of people, along with many genuine Thai male friends. If I had the kind of contempt and disregard for the Thai populace that some do here I would not live in Thailand. Don’t equate what you see in wherever you might be living (Pattaya probably or places in Isaan lol) as indicative of the rest of the country.

Sure, there are rich Chinese, there always was. But this is mostly about ordinary middle class who are running out of money more so than any advisory on not visiting. Yes the US would help defend Taiwan (they are obliged to) if China were stupid enough to try it on. Militarily an untested paper tiger.

You can't 'end' AIDS (certainly HIV) like you can't end flu, the horse has bolted, the virus is out there. All about education and getting people (esp sex workers) to do the right thing and bag up. Sadly, many infected 'workers' will happily continue engaging in their activity to purposely pass on this horrible affliction. They should be banged up.

'Iran says' lol. All they do is exacerbate. Great people, shyster government.

Not many Thai mates then? I would be embarrassed attempting to solely converse in English in a banking situation etc. Each to their own; I guess in a place like Pattaya one doesn't need to make the effort. But travel around the country to the back of beyond and speak a bit of the lingo and the response will likely blow your hair back. Agree with the last bit though.

Sucks getting old. Stretch and smoke some <deleted>!

Nice. Messed about on Byron Bay beach one time after a slab of beer. That was fun... I think!

lol. Awesome. Great birds.

Why four question marks to one question? Probably English. Unlikely Thai maid reads Flemish. Poor dude, albeit 73 isn't a bad innings. Not a nice scenario if one is murdered, though.

Alt season is coming!

Doesn't the price go up significantly beyond a certain power output, something like 220HP? You could always send your kid over to the West ('to school') and have them bring one back... or did they close that particular loophole already? That, or get yourself a nice Toyota. ;-) Bought a PreRunner many moons ago and sold it three years later for more than I paid for it (currency fluctuations).

What a bizarre post. I don't know wtf is going on here, sorry. Bit too much Tinglish for me. Op, getting a poxy worthless book to satisfy this or that bank (never been asked) seems a bit queer. I mean, to what end? Just open the fker up and chuck some money in online. When it's extension time, bung the girl 200 for the letter and be done with it. Why one would feel the need to spend millions on a s.hole condo to expedite this type of process or whatever is beyond me.

Yep, stunning country but utterly abhor the bent & backward ruling dinosaur politburo element and also the general xenophobic hue of the populace which is enough to make a mother eat her young! The closest I come is transiting through Beijing, and even then I find myself gritting my teeth. They can keep the visa free, I would sooner chuck my money Thai-side.

That's what I thought. A commonality when people retire and have fewer things to worry about in life, though, is even something as innocuous as SPAM (lol) and 'untenable' price increases thereof could apparently send one over the edge.

You're right, it isn't. Might not be doing so great regionally, but look how much richer the place has been over the last 30 years or so... those others are bound to do a bit of comeback. The real people in power here want to make it look all rosy or doom 'n gloom based on their current agenda. Btw, the inbound tourist figure was always cooked. It will be nowhere near 27M. They tout every head coming in... I might visit and then bounce all across Asia popping in and out of the Venice of the East half a dozen times and apparently I'm six people! It is likely closer to 15M. Anyway, good thread... some quality invective there from Mr 'Smith' et al.