VillageIdiot

I've always considered driving in Thailand as being like participating in a Demolition Derby. Anyone who would enter the fray on a unicycle is deserving of a Darwin Award. They are usually bestowed posthumously but in this case maybe the farangs are still among the living here in Chiang Mai.

For years the consensus has been that Duke's has the best pizza in Chiang Mai if you like the kind made by New York Italians. Everybody has their preferences. Sinatra's was Grimaldi's under the BB on the Brooklyn side. He would have it sent up to his suite in the Plaza when he was in town. The delivery boys would contend for the run and the c-note tip. Little Italy; Arthur Ave. in the Bronx; Court St. in Brooklyn; all have their boosters - foodies who swear their place is the Gold Standard. To each his own. In Chiang Mai I'll stick to The Duke's [Iron Bridge] until something better comes along.

Good point about age and the inability to learn Thai. Jim Thompson, Bernie Trink, and many other well-known people tried and failed after coming here "too late" in life. Living in a country and not speaking or understanding the language is a cognitive impairment akin to being deaf and dumb. Some say it's not important as long as you stay in the tourist ghettos. I'd say it is more important there than anywhere else. In those sleazy locations it is always open-season on foreigners in general and farangs in particular. Away from the rip-offs and scams of holiday destinations it is always a good idea to know what is going on around you as well. Some people seem to be born with an aptitude for learning languages - at least when they are younger. I wasn't, but I overcame it to learn Thai because I didn't want my wife and our children to see me as an illiterate who couldn't speak the language.

This guy hasn't seen enough movies.

But not so long for the Shinawatra Clan. They have plenty of up and comers to fill all the positions of power for the long term.

Spot on. She committed suicide in every sense of the term. Better that she had lived and fought on.

I see one coming already. He must have heard the good news.

Probably so. Their coastal monitoring sites and capabilities have no doubt been blasted to smithereens. Now they will take refuge in their bunkers and caves, bolt holes and bung holes from where they can continue the never-ending conflict in and around Isael.

...and a lot of people worldwide are mighty grateful for that. Incidentally, what have the Swiss ever invented?... the cuckoo clock? I'll take the bum gun any day of the week. What about the Australians? Their list of inventions would be a short one, I'm sure. Sub-Saharan Africa? The Thais with their bum guns and tuk tuks don't look so bad after all.

Thanks, now I know.

It's a mythological animal often reported seen - especially on full-moon nights - but no hard evidence of their existence has been produced so far 😁 Seriously Teach... just google it.

You have too much time on your hands, Chris.

Hear! Hear! You really hit a raw nerve with that one. Bravo! The responses - mostly from the usual suspects - are verging on the ludicrous.

Exceptionally good post. It's in stark contrast to the clueless drivel that dominates this thread. Your own experiences are shared - to one extent or another - by most of us who were here before the economic boom and mass-tourism of the 1980's that changed Thailand out of recognition. One point you didn't make about marrying and settling down here is the importance of learning Thai. Living in a country and not speaking the language and being functionally literate is like being deaf, dumb, and blind once you leave the tourist ghettos. You just don't know what's going on around you. Some people seem to be born with an aptitude for learning languages... I wasn't, but I overcame it to learn Thai because I didn't want my wife and children to see me as an illiterate who couldn't speak the language. I would have been a lasting embarrassment to them all. That's a piece of advice that should be seriously considered by anyono planning to make Thailand - or any foreign country - their new home.

That's true. However, Leona went to jail because she had the audacity to tell the truth about those who pay taxes and those who get a free ride. That quote (to her housekeeper) came out in open court and sealed her fate. That conclusion is often questioned, but how many other high-profile tax cases involving zillionaires result in prison sentences? If they do, it is usually a matter of months in some posh Club Fed.