BoganInParasite

Yeah nah. Likely just leave before extension due next September and not come back.

An application on my laptop provides online weather updates for my location. It has been noticeable this year that notations of temperature near record or new record (like this morning) were quite frequent. And these have only been for higher temps, not near or new low temp records.

Seen the news today. Not going to be collected by any airline nor applied to Thais.

In the north I'd say Nan. Temps, humidity, rain, etc pretty similar to the other northern provincial capitals but the Nan River valley does seem to have less heavily air polluted days.

A lamentable lack of safety equipment there. Yes I know this is typical of a Thai worksite but hard hats and enclosed shoes would surely be an easy step and cut down on injuries.

Likely at the same rate as less corruption, better education system, better footpaths, burying cables, finishing railway lines (of several types), less social inequality and flood/drought preparation and mitigation.

You've set out enough facts for a sensible person to know it is time to move on. She made is to 27/28 without you, she can survive again that way. By all means help her on her way in a kind and generous manner if you want to feel less bad, but get rid of her. You're young enough to find another.

100% cash in Thailand. The Thai wife is a little more sophisticated and does a lot of online payments and the occasional debit card in-store.

Yeah nah, not keen on this. Happy to move towards a greater percentage to be cashless but cash needs to be there for power/comms outages.

Yeah sure. Another benefit of living in remote rural northern Thailand; no Bangkok style footpaths. Our small town and smallish provincial capital have substantially better footpaths.

My Thai wife was absolutely staggered for several trips to Australia how all cars stop, even if the pedestrian was not yet on the crossing strip. I guess I was as well by the no stopping on my first trip to Thailand.

A noble aim for sure but I'm assigning it to the same category as fixing footpaths, burying cables/power lines, finishing railway lines (of several types) and flood/drought preparation...all have always had unrealistic and constantly missed schedules.

At least a couple of large influential airline/industry associations, the two largest GDSs and several large airlines already told them in no uncertain terms they will not collect it, particularly if it is applied differently (or at all) based on citizenship. In fact the move by the industry towards offer/order sales and the proliferation of a large number of new channels for sales/distribution means that an industry wide application is almost impossible.

My wife's homestay and most other accommodation businesses up here in northern Nan province largely cater to low-mid middle income Thais living in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. No surprise that her sales were down 30% over the past 12 months and based on her monitoring of local competitors via online sales sites, they seem to be doing a bit worse. Not uncommon to get automatic cancellations a week out from the stay when the online booking site is unable to access sufficient funds in the guest's card account.

I've been overpaying.

Zero, nothing the Thai wife or I wear ever gets ironed. She irons quite a few things used in her homestay business but that's it. Even when I was working and we lived in Singapore, Dubai, Brisbane and Phoenix I always had my clothes fully laundered externally. Back then she would iron a few items of her own.

My best guesstimate would be 2Q 2025, and it will not be the current PM that gets ousted.

The wife purchased several hundred pieces during direct visits to Indra Outlet at Lampang and a couple of times online for use in her homestay. Middle of the market quality and price but outstanding customer service. There was a six month gap between her first and second physical visits but at least two staff remembered her name and the crockery pattern she purchased the first time when she visited the second time. Doubt anything similar would happen at places selling knock-offs from China.

Well I suppose it's possible but unlikely to be because things have got better in Bangkok. They've just been overtaken.

I'm going to apply for the annual extension next month but I think next year I'll have a good look at the best options to enjoy just under half a year in Thailand and the rest back in Australia. Want to see the new visa exempt rules settle a little before relying on them.

Don't hate the RTP but have no respect for them and am very wary on any dealings, thankfully very few to date. As for my home country police, Australia, I view most of the state and Federal police forces as politically, ethically and morally corrupt as institutions. However I believe the bulk of the individual police are honest, hard working and effective. But clearly things change on the way up the greasy pole.

World-wide there has not been much success in removing an invasive fish completely once it is in a watershed. Containment strategies within a watershed are also likely to be difficult in Thailand. Stopping them getting into the Mekong via Mekong connected watersheds should be a high priority.

An app of some type displays weather warnings for my location on the navigation bar of my laptop. Over the last four months I'd say that at least every third day it displays 'Near record' at least once a day and on several occasions it has displayed 'Record temp' (I think, or something similar). The messages are generally displayed mid-afternoon but I have seen some around breakfast where the overnight minimum has been high. Last year I'd say these warnings were maybe displayed closer to every tenth day, this year every third.

Can only speak from the perspective of direct personal experience...my Thai wife wanted a relationship with a non-Thai after a long relationship with a Thai who was secretly seeing other women during most of their relationship. She considers farangs more faithful but I can assure you she was very very cautious when starting out to find a non-Thai partner. Would love to meet her ex and thank him...16 years together now and going strong.

Never attended for last five years.