BoganInParasite

Come to realize I may have been somewhat blessed in 2009-11. Had 8, 13 & 19 visa exempt entries by air in those years as I lived and worked in Singapore and the Thai wife lived and worked in Bangkok. Only once was there a 'friendly' comment on it by a BKK IO. I matter of factly explained the living/working arrangements and the fact my Thai wife also flew to Singapore approximately once a month as well and got a friendly wave through. EDIT: Had 16 in 2012 as well.

Makro currently sells a pack of three Brooks Baked Beans for 210 baht. Good enough for the English breakfast at the wife's homestay.

500 baht at my IO. No attempt by them to hide the payment. First couple of times was next day pickup but last two times were immediate service and handover. (Presumably because someone senior was there to sign it...but that is very much a guess by me.)

Didn't watch it but reading several and varied commentaries seems to suggest the biggest loser was the US, and in fact a few said as much.

Honestly opened this thread expecting some form of humour.

When you're happily with the cream, why worry about the skim milk.

Uniquely stained....from the inside.

Perhaps mandate the foreigner must live on land they are permitted to purchase would go some way to alleviating the concern that too much land would become foreign owned.

We're happy to compete with the birds since there is generally more than enough fruit on the single tree. Used to have two but removed one to get some more space. Was only four years old but an absolute monster effort required to dig out the trunk and major roots. Never again.

Went to a chiropractor once back in the early 1980s. Literally used my hands to help crawl up the stairs to their practice and less than an hour later walked down them. He found and fixed the mid-back problem and even commented on an old sports related injury in my lower back that I hadn't mentioned to him. Have not had the need since back then.

Absolutely. But at the same time I think where there is a butch side in a lesbian relationship, she is far more butch than western counterparts.

Have not heard of this scam previously. A decade ago in Bangkok I encountered the fake meter scam with the real meter covered up. Driver tried to get close to 300 baht for a 3-4 kilometer ride. When we arrived at my regular hotel I took photos of the fake meter, the uncovered (by me) real meter, the driver and taxi. Then had the bellhop explain to the driver he had two choices, take the 300 baht and get reported or leave without any payment. He left with no payment and the bellhop got what I estimated to be the real fare in addition to his normal luggage tip.

A factor to this decision was also the method of collection. The airlines and more importantly the air travel industry associations had clearly told the govt there was no reliable way to differentiate between Thai and non-Thai pax at the time of booking and they were not inclined to even try. I have good contacts inside one of these associations and I have written the above way more politely than the message the govt received. Once you cannot collect at time of booking there are no other non onerous methods available.

Seen a ton of hot Thai women with Thai men....and occasionally with other hot Thai women.

I was last in paid employment at 58. Thai wife and I decided to come to Thailand and build on our land and start a hobby business the wife could run. That all went well but COVID came along and ended my hope of working another 2-4 years as an senior level organizational change manager. I miss it...a lot...but at close to 66 it is likely too late now.

Half my career was in the airline industry and had/have friends and relatives in it as well but they were tech and cabin crew. Some of them had first hand knowledge of sims, line checks and upgrades being passed through means not generally requiring proficiency and competency. There are several SE Asian airlines I would never ever fly on.

The wife runs a three bedroom homestay out of our home in Nan province near Pua. We required an operating license and were subject to a four person inspection. They were happy based on her installing a fire extinguisher on the second level and security cameras inside the home trained on the front and back entrances. Recall she paid a fee and the process took a couple of weeks. We did install the equipment but they never came to check nor have there been subsequent inspections over the past five years.

Unfortunately for me the Nan IO requires a fresh KR22 every extension.

Some local flooding on the river flats near Pua in Nan province over the last 12 hours. Woke to a long pretty lightning intense storm this morning as well.

I've seen a ton of items in the supermarket rise at least 30-50% over the last four years and am quite skeptical of the official inflation figures.

No for Nan IO, had the wife call them same day I got back.

Still wouldn't buy it, but likely to give it a close inspection. Best wishes to her.

So he has announced to them that they need to start doing the job they are paid to do!

Heat never buggered or even worried our sliding doors....three impatient or excited 45-52 kgs Labradors on the other hand....

I'm a little lazy to search and find the article/s but wasn't there a court direction several months ago requiring a government department to come up with a plan to fix this problem? I seem to recall the due date was about now. Not that I'm expecting any such plan to have a hope in hell of doing so. While ending or significantly curtailing agriculture/forest burning in Thailand is something that could be done by a determined and competent government, there is still significant smoke coming through from Myanmar. Just ask Malaysia and Singapore how effective they have been in stopping burning on Sumatra.