Gecko123

The idea that holding politicians accountable turns a democracy into a banana republic needs to be thrown out the window. The French have it right. Former French president Sarkosy is currently on trial for having allegedly made a deal with Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 presidential election campaign. No one is above the law, and we are witnessing right now in America what happens when someone is allowed to think that they are.

A justified verdict. Kudos to the judge for not caving into political pressure. Embezzling money from the EU, especially when you are anti-EU, to help finance one's own political ambitions, is sinister and a violation of public trust. What did Jasmine Crockett say about MTG? Bleach blonde, bad-built, butch body? Equally applicable here. A bitter conniving vaping racist viper who won't be missed any more than her father. Good riddance.

True enough, but the collapse appears to have been already well underway when the ground floor pillars buckle as evidenced by the ballooning cloud of dust visible behind the pillars.

"caught"..."attempting to smuggle"..."the culprits"... pretty strong language considering no one knows the motive for why the records were being moved. For all anyone knows at this point, they could have been protecting them from the elements, or making sure they were preserved in order to prove no wrongdoing on their part. Let the laugh emojis roll in, but it's true.

Only thing I can think of is they are correcting your pronunciation. Are you pronouncing 'krap' as 'crap' by any chance? ครับ is a high tone word, if your tone is off with this polite participle, might sound unpleasant to some listeners. If it's happening with multiple listeners, pronunciation is likely off. If you're convinced your pronunciation is fine, why don't you ask them why they're saying krap instead of ka.

The suggestion about having a daily cap on posts is excellent. Not only does the posting of dozens and dozens - if not hundreds - of posts by a single poster in a single day degrade the reading experience, but you will never convince me that that level of posting activity is healthy for the individual doing the posting either. ASEANNOW would also be well-advised to immediately discontinue the "popular contributors" sidebar. At least some of the posters who regularly appear in this sidebar appear to be in an inane competition with one another over who will top the leaderboard, resulting in a major degradation of content quality. Far from being among the most "popular" contributors, they are actually among the least popular posters on the forum, and only appear in this sidebar because of the sheer volume of posts they are making.

Food prices are going to continue to rise for the foreseeable future because of rising production costs linked to climate change, which Donald Trump thinks is a hoax. He also is fully committed to continuing heavy reliance on fossil fuels which is unquestionably linked to climate change.The scientific community is virtually unanimous that extreme weather events are exacerbated by climate change (heat waves, droughts, ground water depletion, floods, rising snow levels on mountains, rising sea levels, etc.) Anyone who is congratulating DJT for driving food prices down needs to turn off the Fox News propaganda machine, and start paying attention to what is happening in the environment around them.

Trip last week from Lopburi to Siam Square: 130 baht minibus from Lopburi bus station to Mo Chit sky train stop) 47 baht sky train from Mo Chit to Siam Square ======================================== 177 baht Return trip from Siam Square to Lopburi: 47 baht sky train to Mo Chit sky train stop 13 baht #77 bus from Mo Chit sky train to Mo Chit mini bus station 130 baht minibus to Lopburi (with help from GoogleMaps was able to have minibus driver drop me off right in front of where I was going (repair shop). ======================================== 190 baht 367 baht (total round trip transportation cost of Lopburi - Siam Square trip), i.e., 9.2% of what you paid.

Earthquake typically excluded from property policies. Have to buy separate cover for EQ. If no EQ insurance, might be lawsuits related to faulty design/engineering on the part of the architects/engineers, or failure of the construction company to follow construction specs, but doubt their professional liability coverage would have limits adequate for something of this magnitude. Doubtful anyone connected to the construction has the financial resources to recover from a total collapse like this. Read on another thread that this was slated to be a government office, so if true, they might end up being the one stuck with the bill.

Another possibility could be soil liquefaction. In one video it looks like the structural failure occurs on almost all the floors simultaneously. It doesn't look like the building pancaked from the top down, which suggests to me that the root cause of the collapse might be foundation related, i.e., soil liquefaction, with not fully cured concrete being a major contributing factor. I'm sick to my stomach for all the workers on the building site.

On my very first trip to Thailand back in '86 was at the monkey compound at the Chiang Mai zoo. The monkeys could easily reach through the enclosure and I decided to extend my arm out for some inter-species bonding action. I can't remember the species of monkey, but it suddenly got its hand around my wrist and with super natural strength started pulling my fingers towards its mouth. They probably heard my scream up on Doi Suthep mountain. But ever since then I keep a safe distance from those critters. Trust me, they are very strong.

Funny you should say that. I was charged by a monkey down there and it gave me quite a scare.

I've had the same experience with those Lopburi monkeys. One minute they're docile seemingly completely disinterested in you, and the next second they're on your back trying to pull your glasses off your face or checking the back of your head for fleas with their scratchy little paws. They seem to enjoy startling people.

Recently had to have my pickup repaired in Lopburi City. Wait time was four days, so did a deep dive of hotels and layout of the city. Ultimately, decided to go down to Bangkok instead while truck was being repaired. Problem with Lopburi is its layout. There's the old town part where the ruins and monkeys are, then there's the Big C, Makro, HomePro, Tops stretch, and finally the business section around the bus terminal, which practically speaking are not really in walking distance from one another. If you don't have wheels, there are dirt cheap song taews that connect all the areas, but figuring out bus stops and where to get off for first time visitors can be a challenge. Plenty of people speak English, and people are friendly. Another strategy might be to stay one or two nights in the old town section, then move for a day to the Big C strip (Hop Inn looked half-decent and very close to Big C) for the convenience of the food malls and shopping, and then stay in the area around the bus station (there's a zoo and temples in this area) which would be convenient if you depart by bus.

Just to keep things real... ...my post was the only one on the thread prior to your post which made any mention of gift giving not being part of Thai culture... ...on a thread from a forum member frustrated that his spouse never reciprocates gift giving at birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, you chimed in to tell the world that not only does your significant other shower you with gifts, but she continues to do so despite the fact that you can't be bothered to open them (and presumably express gratitude for them) and you never reciprocate with any gift giving on your part. Please don't come back and tell me how you can only report on your personal experiences and express faux sympathy that my experiences don't rise to this level, but your claims are, at best, highly excentric, and not only fly in the face of Thai culture, but human nature. Sorry, but I frankly suspect something else is going on here, i.e., either ego-tripping or trolling.

1. No one said "Thai people do not give gifts." I said "recognizing the events the OP listed" [birthday, Christmas, Valentines Day or anniversary] [...through gift giving...] isn't part of Thai culture. That's not to say that gift giving at birthday parties for young children or between couples in the courtship phase of a relationship doesn't occur, especially in upper class or urban areas who have had more exposure to Western tradition through exposure to foreigners at home or travel abroad. But in Thailand's rural heartland (which is the wellspring of Thai culture) it occurs on a very limited basis, and is a relatively recent phenomena, largely borrowed from abroad. 2. When you say "my Thai friends give me many gifts," what exactly are you talking about? Are you talking about the exchange of presents at birthdays or at Christmas with a romantic interest? OK, I'll accept that. But I would ask who initiated the gift-giving and to what extent the reciprocation of your gift giving was "pump priming" or attempts to model their behavior to meet your expectations in order to keep the largesse flowing. The reason I am skeptical of your assertion is because in 20+ years of living in a village I have rarely observed gift giving at birthday parties, wedding anniversaries, Song Kran, New Year, etc.) between Thai-Thai couples. If you're talking about gift exchanges with more casual friends, particularly between men, I would describe that as very, very infrequent, virtually unheard of. The concept of "nurturing the marriage" in order to "keep the romance alive" does not seem to be embraced here. Thais are very pragmatic in their approach to marital relations. You made a rather unpleasant comment to another poster ridiculing them essentially as an old fogey who was trapped in Thailand, leaving me with the impression that you are of a younger generation, who runs with a more Westernized crowd which has made Western style gift-giving part of their lifestyle. Or maybe that's just the impression you wanted to leave. We'll never know, but I stand by my earlier statement that Western style gift giving at life events such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries is not that common in Thailand. Husbands might buy their wife a piece of gold jewelry if the harvest was particularly good, and donations are made at weddings, ordination ceremonies, and funerals to defray costs. Nothing I said was meant to infer that Thais are less generous in spirit than Westerners.

Not sure what your plan now is, but an angry outburst is probably the worst way possible for you to handle the situation.

No one said cross-cultural relationships would be easy. Recognizing the events you listed isn't part of Thai culture. If that's your biggest complaint, count your blessings, but maybe scale back the Mr. Romantic routine a tad if it's causing you hard feelings.

For something of that nature, I would recommend seeking out a dental clinic in a regional private hospital if possible. They should be able to provide the widest range of options. On the village level, tooth extraction is the most common solution because it's the cheapest. Also, your wife may benefit from a more in depth analysis of the condition of her gums and teeth. I say this as on the village level, dentistry is often more reactive than proactive, again, due to cost. Edit: Regarding implants (which I hasten to add I've never had one) my understanding is that they require a fair amount of diligent cleaning, and they don't necessarily last forever, so were you to go ahead with an implant, consideration of your wife's willingness to follow the recommended hygiene procedures, and her ability to replace it should the need arise might want to be considered.

I think both foreign and domestic investors are beginning to demand a premium for loaning money to the US government, especially while the MAGA administration is in charge. Between his exhausting tariff announcements, his faltering commitment to NATO and Ukraine, and a distaste for his autocratic efforts to take over the government, Trump has eroded confidence in the US Treasury to the point where many investors are either refusing to purchase US government securities or demanding a much higher premium to compensate them for the political risk that the US government can no longer be trusted. I, for one, no longer have confidence that the US will never default on its national debt, and view his enthusiastic embrace of crypto currencies with a high degree of suspicion. Additionally, foreign central banks will likely not hesitate to use boycotting American debt as a tool in a trade war (and there is evidence that this has already begun), which will put further upper pressure on yields. Even though the US may well be heading already towards a recession, which will no doubt cause the Fed to cut interest rates, I believe the longer end of the yield curve will remain higher than it would otherwise be because of the above factors. Would invite anyone who agrees or disagrees with this macro economic analysis to share their opinions.

Gotta give the OP credit for thinking outside the box.

On the assumption that it turns out to be a homicide, that could be a very challenging case to solve. You'd have to assume that a female dentist didn't do the throat slashing herself so tracking down who proverbially pulled the trigger could be tough, as there' are multiple victims. Interviewing a medical professional for possible murder is going to be a little dicey. And you can't rule out the wife. Not Thai wife bashing here, but anytime the wife is out of town when the husband gets murdered, a little bell goes off in my head. Just a few comments to get the "Aseannow detectives will be along shortly to solve the mystery" crew riled up.

You made a sweeping generalization about the activity and productivity level of the expat population here, i.e., "nobody is doing pretty much anything here." That's the dumb comment that got my hackles up. By what yardstick are you judging the retiree expat community? Of course they're not likely to be as productive as someone in their prime working years. Also, kindly share the link backing up your "statistical facts" about the activity and productivity level of expats in Thailand in comparison to expats in other countries and retirees in their home countries.

Kindly speak for yourself, sir.

In my opinion, Thailand is neither a cycling nor a camping paradise. Thailand is too hot for most of the year to make camping an enjoyable experience, although you can perhaps find cooler weather in the north and up in the mountains. Without a power source, you will have neither a fan or air conditioning which makes it challenging to sleep at night. Plenty of people cycle in Thailand, but you really have to scope out the roads extremely carefully from a safety standpoint (adequate shoulders, speed of road traffic, etc.) A bicycle touring holiday to Thailand, along routes which you are unfamiliar with is a very unwise idea. After moving here, you can get a better handle on the driving culture, traffic patterns, and road conditions in your area but thinking, for example, pedaling down hwy 4 from Hua Hin to Koh Samui is going to be a safe fun filled adventure is sheer madness, again, in my opinion.