Andrew65

RIP Joe. I found his advice/info to be spot-on some years ago when I was doing a visa application. He really knew his stuff.

Anything's expensive if you have no money. Addictive? Open to debate.????

Is that expensive compared to Europe/US?

600 ฿/g! You gotta be kiddin me! I'll stick with the booze!????

"Dont hang around smokers". That was a big thing for me, I wasn't going out at all socially, and I live on my own. Even though I didn't like it, I can see the logic in banning smoking in pubs etc. Many years ago I had given up twice, for 6 months or so, both times that I restarted were when I was in a bar and people were smoking.

I had an old American friend, Ned, in Thailand who was a heroin addict. He said that giving up cigarettes (tobacco) was harder for him than giving up heroin (now on Methadone).

If I look at my wages/outgoings are now, £400 would mean having NO other money for ANYTHING else. As you say though, an addict will always find a way.

I gave up smoking 2 years after I left Thailand to live in the UK. I had gone from paying 60 Baht (£1.50) a pack, to £12 a pack in the UK. That could be as much as £400 per month, simply unaffordable. I had been a smoker for 45 years.

There' a question of whether or not one is "stupid" enough to take heroin in the first place. Who could be aware of the damgers of it and still take it!? Bear in mind that many/most people who are given it medically are terminally ill, so addiction is a moot point. I agree in a way with what you say about booze. And another angle on drugs, I'm surprised that a product/drug, tobacco, can still be legally sold in the knowledge that it is so harmful/has fatal consequences for many.

Wouldn't the difference be whether or not such substances are given to you by a doctor or by a stranger in a nightclub? Heroin has health (pain killing) benefits when given by a doctor, usually to the terminally ill, but not if taken recreationally.

I would think the farm gig is sort of ok if you're working on the family farm. Also, as I always point out, if the taxi flag-fall is still 35 Baht, it was that 25 years ago in 1998. I left Thailand 5 years ago and thought that that should have been at least 55 Baht by then.

... and to do that he needs to drive down Sukhumvit, turn right into Asoke, drive about 600m, and then have to right turn across the flow of traffic. No can do.

Emporium to The Clubhouse is about a 1km walk?

I remember "Happy Herb Pizza" in Phnom Penh, where cannabis (if you want) was sprinkled on your pizza, the amount equates from "Happy" to "Very Happy"????. I talked to a bar owner that I knew who owned a bar just down the road. He said, almost without exception, when people come into his bar after being there they do the same thing: 1. Sit down 2. Order a drink 3. Fall asleep (Not very good for business!?).

Something to remember with Thailand trying to attract tourists from India & China is that for people from those countries (unlike for Europeans & N Americans), Thailand is a short haul destination. Thailand has almost 3 billion potential tourists almost on it's doorstep, which could prove to be rather too many?

An old friend has a London-based HSBC account that he has had since he lived in the UK, and has lived in Thailand for 18 years, without maintaining an address ouside Thailand. I would think it nigh impossible to open a new regular UK high street bank account if you can't use a UK residential address, even if it's that of a relative. As I mentioned, my old firend had his account since long before he moved to Thailand.

Unlike many western countries, Thailand doesn't have any kind of system to 'support' them.

I bet my blood boils more than yours does! Even the fluid in eyeballs is near boiling point"???? I can think of one Thai who travelled to the UK after killing a cop in Bangkok. Other that than I agree with you, all Thai people are perfect and would never commit even the most minor crime!????

The drugs have probably addled his brain.

Many years ago my sister fostered kids who came from situations where children had been sexually abused. One rule was that.no male was supposed to be alone with those kids at any time. That was as much for our protection as it was for theirs.

Many years ago people I worked with put it around behind my back that I'm a child molester, I lost my job because of it. I've never had any interest in any way whatsoever in children.

Don't know about in Thailand, but I wouldn't in the UK, because I would be the one most likely to end up in trouble with the law. I also wouldn't try and help a kid in trouble/distress, for the same reason.

I've known some relatively normal farang in Thailand, but as you say, it has more than it's fair share of nut-jobs/crims. We have to bear in mind that many of the normal people we see will be "holidaymakers" rather than wizzened old expats. Some men even bring their farang-wives on holiday to Thailand!???? "If The Devil were to cast his net in Thailand"

1998 taxi flag-fall = 35 Baht 2018 taxi flag fall = 35 Baht I used to use a taxi most days when I lived in BKK, and reckoned that the flag fall sould have been 50-60 Baht by now. (My one regular trip cost 47 Baht on the meter, I always used to give the driver 60).

Isn't "methodology" a thing here? Who knows whether it's true or not if road deaths are only counted if the victim expires at the scene of the accident. If that were true Thailand would be number 1 in the world for road deaths (after Libya?). Is that true or is it one of the many "urban myths" that are so prevalent in Thailand?