Spock

Don't think I have ever felt colder than in the morning on the Chiang Mai train, and was glad to discover that the dining car was not air-conditioned and the windows could be opened to survey the view.

Thai people should.

It was on the news in Australia last night that over 40% of travellers are now forgoing travel insurance due to the cost. I was amazed at how much more expensive it is now when I went to Thailand in June, where the minimum comprehensive policy for a month was about $A350 while I paid $450 for one which covered me for motorbike riding and covid, both ill ness and out of pocket costs. That's a lot of money on top of airfares. It's understandable why people task the risk. It's also understandable why they shouldn't.

If you have made any posts today in this thread, I can't find them.

Yep the Red Bull guy is 20 times more important than this aging German. What a blight on Thai justice that it will send its top cop to Germany over a hairline infraction but let a cop killer wander the world till the statute of limitations allows him to return. It's a sham and an absolute disgrace.

Please explain. You are obviously privy to inside information.

I doubt he would cop much of a sentence even in Germany unless the judicial system went out of its way to appear to be doing its darndest to support Big Joke's visit.

A few months and she can legally be working in the bars. It's not the same as foreigners trolling for pre and early teens amongst the street kids etc. The bar owner is the major person who should be prosecuted here, then the client, but either way my main point was that this does not warrant a special trip to Germany from Big Joke unless he truly wants to appear a big joke. Save the visits for truly under age cases. There are degrees of offending against minors, and this is at the very softest end of the scale.

This is not a child. Not one requiring the chief of police to jump on a plane and go overseas. Totally over the top. About what you'd expect from Thailand.

This hardly requires Big Joke personally going to Germany. Save the big guns for real abuse of minors, not this middle of the road stuff. This is just Thailand pretending to flex its muscles and get tough over things that don't really matter much.

I got covid 3 weeks after my 5th vaccine shot, and it was horrible. Am not bothering with any more shots given the lack of protection from the injections.

Who cares? Less Chinese tourism ensures the utilitarian principle of greatest good for the greatest number is upheld.

That's a lot for a hernia operation that can probably be done without you having to even stay overnight.

Reasonable. I paid $450 in Cambodia for a femoral hernia operation. All done without an overnight stay.

Doesn't make it right and stories about tourists getting fleeced certainly turn me off leaving free Medicare in Australia behind and risking my income at 70 in Thailand.

I would suggest he has mental health issues rather than blaming marijuana. Marijuana is rarely spiked, particularly in Thailand where it's legal. Perhaps he is into ice which would be far more likely to lead to naked outdoor antics.

I really doubt the presence of numerous foreign paedophiles in Thailand now. There may be a few operating underground but nothing like was the case twenty to thirty years ago. Times have changed. You say you have some statistics - what do they suggest?

I was a youth worker/student welfare officer and have heard and read many accounts from children who have been sexually assaulted. With young kids and even teenagers, this kind of reaction is the norm - the child doesn't understand what is happening and the perpetrator is a more powerful adult.

Kids don't generally scream when sexually assaulted. They freeze.

Despite the fact he was wasted on alcohol not weed when he rested in front of the cannabis shop, marijuana will take the rap yet again.

This is a good thing as the jails were overflowing with people serving long stretches for drug use and dealing. It's a more enlightened approach to try and rehabilitate. Furthermore, drug dealing has no relevance to this affair, where perfectly legal alcohol is the cause of death.

Thailand actually has more fatalities per head of population. Not by much, but it's three spots ahead of Vietnam in world rankings.

If you truly believe that and are not just saying it in jest then I can readily assume you yourself are not and have never been a cannabis user.

We need more of this free living type. Has the Thai government considered giving 90 day visas to these people?

Stock up on razor blades. Quality dental floss and electric toothbrushes and spare brushes all but unavailable here. These are the sorts of things you could bring a supply of to last several years. Can anyone explain why tailoring is no longer cheap or good here?