nausea

"As a result, Arne bounced into a car that was parked nearby" Yeah, at 58 you don't bounce so well. Arne was just unlucky, I guess, but wandering about at 3am does lower your luck points.

A populist, hare-brained scheme, IMHO, destined for disaster in one form or another; on the other hand, 10,000 baht into my SO's account ... .

Yeah, I agree with ezzra; the guy was in a hurry, all hassled up, not thinking straight, and gave the taxi driver two 500 Euro notes, instead of 500 baht notes.

Flash in the pan or a new policy, time will tell I suppose; anyway, it was always a risky strategy, get picked up before you hit the airport, and your screwed.

I don't take Macron seriously, he flip-flops with wind.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, with a bit of research I was able to narrow it down to a precise date in September 2019; thanks again for your help.

Yeah, that sounds about right; thanks for your help.

Thanks for all the replies. This relates to something relatively recent; within, say, the last 5/6 years. I think "doctormann" above has solved my problem.

Does anyone remember when the Sterling/Baht exchange rate briefly fell to c.35; I'm trying to pin down a certain date, and I remember this happened at the same time. Thanks.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to hear from a member of the Udon Thani expat community. I'd be very surprised if there's any general hostility. No doubt, as is true everywhere, one or two individuals might have a problem.

Oh, those crazy Russians - Ra Ra Rasputin ... .

In the days when I would frequent the nightlife areas, I never had trouble finding alcohol whatever the time; half the fun was the illicitness of it.

I must say that a young woman allowing some strange young man to stay overnight is a recipe for disaster; ok, in theory, no means no and all that, but we live in the real world not some utopian fantasy world, where a naked virgin with a sack of gold over her shoulder can walk from Land's End to John o' Groats, unmolested.

Haven't read this thread apart from the OP. Have some experience of being stuck in a wheelchair; due to an accident. I was bed bound for a while, now in that (hopefully) transitional phase between wheelchair bound and some limited walking. I can tell you Thailand is not a wheelchair friendly country. I survived the last couple of, somewhat traumatic, years, on a modest income, cos I had a lot of help from my SO. She can drive and we have a pickup, our current house is single story with lots of wheelchair space. It's all about having a supportive environment. If I was single with lots of money, and permanently wheelchair bound, I'd be thinking about one of those up market fancy care homes.

I read the full article and I'm still none the wiser; nonsensical title.

The whole place is mafia ridden, both local and foreign; it's a real shame cos it used to be an OK place, at some point it just turned bad.

Not getting involved seems part of the culture here; also, the laughing may have been a cultural reaction to a bad situation. Haven't looked at the video so can't really judge. I do know many Farangs were shocked by smiling Thais when fleeing the Tsunami.

It was pretty cool this morning in Kui Buri, cool enough to turn off the fan.

It all adds to the flavour - bad roads, belligerent ladyboys, kaylied farangs, &c., keeps the toffs away and the prices cheap.

Interesting point, but I guess poorer retirees have less expectations in terms of support than their richer counterparts.

Would be a unique tourist attraction in itself I guess, so I can see the logic, given the availability of elephants in Ayutthaya.

As a spectator sport fine, though i do wonder if punch drunk syndrome is a thing in Muay Thai as it is in boxing. Not so much in MMA it seems, I guess because there's less emphasis on repeatedly striking the head.

Macron and Brigitte have a 25 year difference, and that seems to have worked out pretty well, so 22 years is no big deal. Yeah, they do look like two dudes though, that's a little weird.

Personally, I think it's all about timing. My grand strategy of cigarettes, and whiskey, and wild, wild, women, failed to kill me off in my relative prime. I've outlived myself. Now, at 68, I face a slow decline. Of course, if you're interested in seeing your grandkids, and all that, you may take a different view, but I'm pretty much a hedonist.