ChrisKC

Apart from casual visits I wouldn't consider any country to retire to that is hopelessly religious or not democratic (in principle) Yes, I live in Thailand that is 96% Theravada Buddhist but fortunately no gods involved - I am OK with its philosophy of life. Also, "might" be anything better is not enough to make informed decisions. Even if you found perfection anywhere, you can be sure change might get in the way of thoughts of reality in permanency!

For you, you mean!

Well, Krabi (do you mean Krabi Province or Krabi town) is not a city and cannot easily be compared with Phuket that has much more going for it in the form of restaurants, night life and shopping and decidedly more expensive. Are you planning only going to beaches? Have a two-centre holiday and choose for the longer time in the place that suits you. It also matters if you are alone or with a partner or even a family that may determine the suitability of the places - and of course when you plan to go!

Most Thai food is junk food- You show me a dish that has any vegetables in it and no processed ingredients. in any event, the lady is in business to satisfy a ready market. Could be a lot worse - selling weed!

The straitjacket of education in Thailand is: The preservation and continued cultivation of "Thainess"

Is he a bloke or a geezer? Same as you I think, frequents bars, shouts about how much money he has, "a bit weird" and obviously a great fan of all the ladies.

I did read that, sorry!

I had to look it up - Mahjong solitaire - I knew when I saw the images. Better than nothing but - not very demanding and only "sharps" up part of the brain I would have thought a retired IT man could could do something a little more challenging. Exercising the body would help too; the brain loves oxygen; you do any of that?

Certainly doing something that requires some element of thinking and calculating is good for the brain. Every day: I do two or three sudoku puzzles at the expert level I play computer chess Also every day, I do word games, including spelling at the expert level Every week I complete a cryptic crossword (Everyman on Sundays)

That makes a big difference. It seems that you would need a whole house with minimum 2 bedrooms and at least some kitchen area and some space around for the children. Some resorts have such places so still suggest you look around in Agoda and state your requirements. Many resorts have English speaking staff. But it won't be from a baseline of B500 per night. I have learned through personal experience that the rate per night can be negotiated down drastically when needing a month or two, especially if we are talking the low season. Do some research online before going to Agents.

Go to agoda or booking. Com. This has the advantage of photos and reasonable descriptions of the place. There are hundreds of places for b500 per night. You can call the resorts or hotels direct and negotiate a deal. Certainly easier if some Thai person can help you. You mention the wife wanting - she going alone?

something suspicious or at least unexplained. My own quote Anyone of us here can speculate on circumstances From my point of view, anyone reported missing with the information, though scant in this case, needs to be addressed now, waiting for a period (who will decide?) to elapse before serious action is taken could lead to greater problems for the missing person and for Officialdom not acting quickly - no, not panicking! The family, 10,000 kms away, can do nothing except hope somebody is doing something, if only to eliminate certain possibilities and to satisfy them that inquiries continue on their behalf.

I think people on here are underestimating the concern. It is stated that he was supposed to be on a flight back home and there is no advice to his family that he missed that flight. Not being on a booked flight suggests something suspicious or at least unexplained. The family's thoughts are those of a man that has "disappeared" - that sounds reasonable to me and needs urgent attention.

For pruning, read hacking!

No need for rudeness. I wasn't even replying to your comment. When I submitted it, it went to the wrong poster.

In.my comment earlier, I stated that the deceased was not a farang. This is not what I intended to literally convey. My point is about how we refer to people depending on circumstances. A farang is a word used for a white person, man or woman in general. In any discussion involving a particular person we then usually know their native country and further aspects of a story refer to this. In this topic, we know it is a woman, from France and we even know her name. She is now deceased and just saying she is a farang denies their personal identity we know she has. When we know the identity it is respectful to refer to it. Example, if the farang is known to be a Brit or Swedish, then those references are used in this forum

Not just a farang- she has a personal identity as a French woman. Let's have some respect

Not a farang- she has a personal identity as a French woman. Let's have some respect

That's how your god makes them from it's own examples numerously and graphically depicted in that dusty old book called the bible.

Ha ha!! America and England Two countries separated by a common language! If anybody wants to have a fantastic experience of the English language, I can thoroughly recommend the audio book (nearly eleven hours long) "The Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson, available on YouTube and which I downloaded for free. You will be captivated in the first two minutes!

Not to mention (d) the ever pervasive element of pollution levels.

My comment does not address the matter of the two degrees that makes a difference to the danger levels, but the term "skyrocket" might be more accurate if the temperature went up 10C not just by 2C

So the temperature is going to "skyrocket" from 42c to 44c

If one has aircon, their bills are definitely higher at this time - why wouldn't they be?

For those who seem to misunderstand what an "accident" is in the context of this topic: An unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally. I accept the principle of "an accident waiting to happen" An event that happens by chance or that it is without apparent or deliberate cause. The replies to my earlier point suggest that if someone is drunk or speeding for example and subsequently cause a collision that it is not an accident. It is! It's true, the offending driver caused the collision but whether someone is to blame or not, it is still an accident - unless the incident was deliberately motivated. ;