Kenny202

Those Betagrow chops are excellent. They had the Betagrow select meat in Tesco before CP took over. Always more expensive but so nice and tender.

Prices always go up and of course short supply and covid big factors but this started occurring about a year before Covid. One of the strengths of Thailand's economy has been its extremely low inflation. I imagine it needs to be this way with low income earners on the basic wage that never seems to increase. These people would be lucky to have 100-200 baht to spend on food a day. When you think about it, a low income workers wage around 8000-10000 a month. 200 baht a day for food is 6000 baht per month. Doesn't leave a lot for rent, fuel etc. No wonder they are so obsessed with money. And in this we must be talking about 60-80% of the population. In the first 4 or 5 years I lived here the basics were cheap and prices never seemed to change. If you wanted to eat imported food yes it was and always has been expensive, but the staples were cheap and consistent in price. I cook mostly myself and if I went and bought foreign food at a restaurant everyday it would be expensive, but the ingredients are not. As someone mentioned a bowl of noodle soup or plate of Thai food I think now is the same price as it would have been 8 years ago. But most of the ingredients are not. Electricity seemed to jump hugely last 2 years. The price per kw doesn't seem to suggest it but my bills sure do. Cost of fuel. With a disparity between inflation and wages, and the country must be hurting terribly now with this pandemic in every sense.... I imagine something has to give. I wonder when they discuss Western tourists as a small unimportant part of the pie I wonder if they take into account all of the black money going through the bars, sponsor money back to the villages.....guys indirectly buying vehicles, homes here. Must have left a huge hole in things and lets face it Chinese and Indians aren't considered big spenders

If you really like your beef mince buy a full topside or outside (rump) and mince it yourself. I bought an amazing little mincer online for under 2000 baht from Central online, 2 year warranty. The mincers they use at Makro are awful for beef. Comes out chewy and stringy. Are you buying pre pack Aussie beef mince? Minced in Australia or by Makro themselves?

This could only be one person lol. Hope you are doing ok bro

He gets plenty of fresh stuff and bones, fresh stuff. Just want to give him so prepacked stuff sometimes. Likewise he used to eat the dry stuff but now turns his nose up at it little <deleted>. The stuff I am talking about is like dry food, but it is a little flexible and chewy

I make my dog a lot of stews and soups, give him fresh bones etc but it is convenient to give him dry stuff sometimes. he really doesn't like the dry kibble stuff, even the premium one or when mixed with other stuff Back years ago I remember we had a dry dog food called good o's. Was dry as such but more of a chewy dry ring, not a hard kibble. Has anyone come across a product like that?

Funny you mention about beef. I heard in Australia it was simply too expensive to buy last 6 months. We get Aussie beef here never been cheaper and its not old frozen stock either. As for serves yes 100%. Seems to be the norm here a manufacturer will make a product that is good and obviously sell well. Then they will start to deplete it somehow to increase profit and ends up a pale shadow of its former self. We were buying hot dogs here. Company had 100% pork and chicken. The pork were more expensive than the chicken by 20 baht. Next thing they were doing a pork and chicken blend, and the other chicken one. The price never dropped. Now they only do the 100% chicken one at the same price the premium pork one was 2 years ago, and pork prices haven't increased last 2 years.

Just went to local Tesco little pack of celery 55 baht! Cabbage 125 baht. Eggs have gone up 40% last 2 years. I normally buy veges from my veg lady but she's MIA today and even she is putting her prices up. Pork seems to be holding but chicken has gone way up no prizes their for guessing that has something to do with CP monopolizing the market. Funnily I have found many imported foods decreased, particularly from Australia as they have been cut off from China and must have overstocks. I am talking general Thai groceries, veges....fruit has been cheap due to covid. That is all they need here is inflation

We just been from Khon Kaen a month ago. Neither the Ferry or the hotel had a problem or checked anything, even temperature. I had one jab and Mrs none and they initially told us you had to have one vaccine or a negative test. Best bet call first and check. Ferry times were every hour but again check. They are using their small ferries obviously to reduce costs. Looked like they were more rust than steel ???? Checked with police also said it was ok as we were from a Red zone, same as Trat. There was a big police check point coming into Trat and the guy was determined to turn us around. Somehow he misunderstood my missus and thought we were from Bkk. All was sorted and other than that no dramas. Koh Chang was a sad sight. Dead as a dodo. So many of the small shops, even pharmacies cleared out and shut. We go there because its quiet but now DED

What you are saying is true. I have a couple of mates target young girls and always seem surprised when it becomes apparent they want to get something out of the relationship monetarily....and fair enough too if you are an older guy with plenty of cash. In this regard we are lucky with the amount of easily available beautiful women here, at a cost of course. What I will say though is having an older woman is by no means a guarantee of a happy mutually rewarding relationship in Thailand. In fact most of the worst dramas here I have seen are guys with older women. Not ex sex workers either. Just older village women not even attractive. They seem to know the game better than the younger ones and have worse gambling issues and bigger debts. Build the house, buy the cars and all the house trimmings....in the wife's name. Next minute the guy is being told if he doesn't cough up 500k or a million baht the house will be repossessed.

Most of the girls I know here, if I had a mate come around with his wife or GF the first thing they ask is how much do you get per month. I had a mate here giving his GF 20k a month, and taking care of all her other living expenses of course. Sending money to her family for every little thing and treated her well. She was nothing spesh either by the way. Super good hearted guy. He was around at my place one night and he called her asked her to call a taxi to pick him up. She refused unless he transferred money to her immediately to buy phone credit. He knew she had at least 200k in her account he had given her. he never complained just sent her 1000 baht. She was truly despicable

I understand them wanting security etc but often they want to push you to the point where they have everything and you have nothing, and usually when they have everything they decide there is no need for you anymore. Seen it time and time again here. I just wont put myself in that position where I am living in a space where I have no control and where all of my possessions are in someone else's house (even if I paid for it and built it). I wont even rent in someone elses name anymore. It just doesn't make sense. Come here with everything and end up with nothing to appease someone else's insecurities or pass it off as the culture here. I have heard the stories ad nauseum from women here about their past relationships..... man before playboy, man boxing, man drunk etc which may or may not be true but in most cases after a few weeks it was very clear why any man living with a particular women wanted to leave her and it had nothing to do with being a playboy and everything to do with her attitude ie it's all about her. As I said before I think if most guys find a pleasant woman who is easy to live with they will be content. Most of us a re too old to be bothered playing the field if we are happy at home, and lets face it it doesn't take much for the average bloke to be happy. of course if you are full of grog most of the time or going out on your own drinking in bars most nights she has a good argument. In my experience the nicer sort of guys are the ones who seem to get taken advantage of here. And yes we do probably make poor choices, I know I have. It has more probably to do with the type of girls that are readily available here to foreigners. And they are such good actresses it is easy to get sucked in. With a bit of experience living here normally they show their true colors within a couple of weeks to a month and that honeymoon period is often amazing and I can see how rookies here can get taken in so easily. It's the girls who know hot to play the long game that are the most dangerous. And back to the OP, as someone here told me once, it is very easy to find women here, not so easy to get away from them

I had the same problem re Centipedes. I am terrified of them. Supposed to be excrutiatingly painful if bitten and I believe they have 2 sets of pincers. One to lock onto you and the other to bite and inject venom. I read somewhere if one gets on you, you are meant to brush it upwards not down. I don't know if I'd have the presence of mind. One thing I did which fixed the problem 90% was to re grout as others have suggested. They definitely live in and come out of the drain hole but they love to live under the tiles. Make sure your drain hole has an insert that fits tight but can be removed. if you live with a Thai woman I don't know how you would be able to grout in a drain insert, the hair that gets caught in them has to be removed daily. As far as them being more prevalent when wet yes for sure, but I am not sure it is the rain itself. I now think when it is raining and cooler, we turn our hot water on more as the tank water is cooler. The hotter water seems to make them come up out of the drain for obvious reasons. try it yourself one day. Remover the drain insert, turn the hot water on full and watch them come up

The level on entitledness here from women never ceases to amaze me, and I have lived with all classes here from Doctors, professionals to poor single girls and there is always some monetary expectation when they live with foreigners, over and above what we would consider normal. Like a wealth transfer....yours to her, until its all gone. Many bring nothing to the table whatsoever, are lazy....can't drive or cook. You need to take care of all their needs like a child and in some cases the extended family. After trying to make a relationship work for a long time with one particular girl I asked her what she brought to the relationship...She answered "you get my body". I explained to her for a foreigner, sex here is very easy to find in Thailand, and in fact I could probably find more of it without her. I had a lengthy discussion on the matter with a Thai guy I know. Most of the Thai men I know (middle income / educated) seem to have sweet, loving normal type of wives. They also contribute to the family money pot and work together towards their future as we would in a relationship in the west. He said no......Thai guys know this sort of woman well and steer clear of them. He also told me these sort of women target foreigners. Basically the lazy, easy money types. I have lived with educated professionals, normal village girls and a couple of ex "entertainment" workers. Monetary expectations weren't really a lot different. Sex a whole lot better with an ex worker, although their mind always seems to be on the bar, and weighing up if they are better off with you or back in the "glamorous" life of the bar. Heaps of trust issues also. Some imagined some real. You do have your work cut out for you as far as moving her on. Most of those types I know there is always the veiled threat of them putting on a huge violent drama show should you shunt them. In fact many seem while living with you to try and collect a catalogue of perceived slights you have made against them to be used later. Veiled threats. Most of the time its bluff, but sometimes they are psychotic. In a Condo at least you should be able to have her stopped at the front security gate rather than in a home with her screaming at your back gate all hours of the day and night. I told one once it would be a lot easier for you and me if you just tried to be a nicer person rather than play all these stupid games. Its just like a constant game of brinksmanship....in this imagined competition to "win". Most blokes I think are happy with a woman if she is happy and easy to get along with, and contributes in some way. We're too lazy to go look elsewhere if there is no reason. In my view a relationship needs to be a two way street where both parties are benefitting and contributing. It is the only way for a couple to succeed and move up. It is a very rare thing to find in Thailand in my experience. Usually one side wants to completely demoralize the other and winner take all.

Often Chiang Mai is reported as the worst polluted city in the world.

Are they the really cheap little yellow pills? Thais take them for sleeping pills, and with good reason. They really knock me for six. They do work well though if you need quick relief but expect to be out of it for a day or so. Even taken at night I feel like have had a big night on the grog next day

You're right Sheryl re Claratyn. It was the Loratadine that was making me drowsy, even though its not supposed to. The Fexofenodrine is a knock off of something though isn't it? Can't remember the farang generic name. The Fexo was making me drowsy too until I stumbled onto the really low dose ones. It probably wouldn't work too fast if you needed immediate results for eg hives or something but taking one a day seems to keep things in check

I am sure the pollution here doesn't help, but I had allergies before I came here, and still do, and about the same symptoms and intensity. I live up country. Usually season changes triggers it for me. Mainly sneezing and itchy eyes. Last 5 years, as well as the itchy eyes and sneezing I have developed an itchy area on my right forearm that becomes maddeningly itchy. All sorted now with the meds I take.

I use a product called Fexofenadine. I think its a Thai knock off of Claratyn. Its a 1 a day pill. I use 60mg because anymore than that makes me drowsy as do most of the other allergy pills, even the non drowsy type. They do up to 180 mg strength but for me I find better taking the weaker one. If my allergy is really bad I will take one morning and one night. Its cheap too at 60 baht per pk 10

I have always found it to be flaky last 3 years. Gave up on it for a long time. Last time about 3 months ago however I think I worked out it only would work for me weekdays and in normal business hours. I was getting the same thing, couldn't get past the first page, instructed to contact local office. I tried at least 10 times and after many attempts it miraculously worked.

Thanks bro

Can someone refresh my memory re time window to report online? I can't remember if 2 or 3 weeks before report date? Also reporting in person too thanks Is the online reporting working now or as usual intermittent?

They must have employed a fortune teller here. In any case the should get a new one because theyre never right

You are going to cop flak here for sure, but best advice I can give you is follow your own instincts in Thailand. If it smells like shet it probably is. We pass too much stuff off when we first come here as cultural. If her parents seem greedy in your mind, put the brakes on it. They will suck you dry and its probably all going up the wall on grog, gambling and gambling debts. It's your money, do what you feel comfortable with. Whether she has been in the entertainment industry or not is a mute point. Better to find a girl that doesn't know the ropes so to speak with only one goal in mind, but in some ways many are like that whether they have been in the sex trade or dating sites. Its just the experience level that's different. Experience at wealth transfer....yours to hers. If you are not living here I would be more concerned she has another Thai boyfriend or husband. It is so common here you could just about guarantee it. If your girl is earning 200 baht a day she has probably not much more than a 6th grade education so you can not give her the reigns. Like letting a kid loose with your wallet in a candy shop. I have seen so many guys go down the tubes here trying to appease them, only to find out the whole thing was a farce and the girl never had any real feelings for them. You are just a commodity. Isaan rural type people are easy come easy go and that's probably ok for them, they seem to like living the simple life and can live largely off the land but that wont be so easy for you when the monies gone. Don't let yourself be a doormat. They wont respect you anymore or less for it, in fact probably think you are stupid for throwing money at them. Same with your girl. if they are Isaan they will never stop asking. Just remember it is ok to say no. If that isn't good enough for her plenty more fish in the sea here that's for sure.

A lot of the schools the headmasters or bosses also take a portion of their pay. Not to mention cutting back on the ration of meat etc kids are supposed to get. Disgusting