newnative

JFK Jr. is dead.

Put them all down. It would be a small start.

Don't 'stay out of the big cities and tourist areas'--at least not from a crime standpoint. Spouse and I have a house in Pattaya and a condo in Bangkok--a tourist area and big city. No problems with crime in either. With Pattaya, there's no need to live right in the tourist areas unless you want to--there are a number of different neighborhoods away from those areas, with a wide variety of housing available at all price points.

After this week's free train service chaos I'm against anything that gets even more passengers on the already packed trains. Pity they did not use all the money they are spending for the free train rides to add two rail cars to all the trains, starting with the lines that are the most crowded.

If this is so terrific for tourists, why not do it year-round?

On Pattaya's Darkside there's Route 66 Diner, La Cremerie, I Steak, Jaybees, and Taco House, among others. Lots of the restaurants have western food choices on the menu.

For those posting negative comments, try being a 'glass half-full' guy or gal for a week. You might like it. Life is, indeed, beautiful. Treasure every day.

One tour boat operator's bookings being down doesn't automatically translate to 'Pattaya's tourism' taking a 'hit'. Pattaya's been plenty busy with tourists all winter, with traffic often in gridlock. Some movie star being abducted wouldn't stop me from visiting a country I wanted to visit--and I doubt it will stop many Chinese, either.

If you're on month to month you--and the landlord--can both opt out with a month's notice, leaving the other hanging. In this case, the landlord did it, rather than you. Could have been the other way around--that's the nature of month to month. Doubt you have much legal recourse. As others have said, you could offer to pay more rent, or move.

Totally useless, did more harm than good, money could have been better spent on just about anything else to curb air pollution.

And, none of it will be done anyway. Just more blah, blah, blah.

Duh!

I like Protex bar soap in the yellow, blue and white box. Better scent, I think, and holds up pretty well in the shower.

Not ASAP, only after he has served his sentence. Or, deport him but only if he will be put in prison wherever he is deported to. No way should he be walking around free right now.

Yes, I am aware of the house registration/assigned hospital system. My mother-in-law was using her assigned hospital--or initially trying to. I think one of the keys to the large hospital bill of my late MIL was your 'wait times are much longer' statement. Do you pay for treatment she needs now to remain alive now or wait until free treatment is available, but she has died waiting. I don't know all the details of my MIL's medical treatment but I know there were government hospital issues with her colon cancer operation, her follow-up treatment, beds being unavailable in the government hospital ICU, and I think issues with her dialysis treatment when her kidneys were failing. I'm glad your late wife had a better experience with her hospital medical care where she was treated.

Best post of the thread.

I don't doubt that routine medical care at low cost can be had in Bangkok at government hospitals--having an x-ray done, having a baby, getting a broken bone repaired, seeing a doctor for a bad cold, snake bite, cut needing stitches, etc., etc. It's the non-routine that can get expensive. I think you're quite right that some Thais do not know how to navigate the health care system to their best advantage, but that was not the case with my spouse's mother, with 3 educated Bangkok daughters going to bat for her, well-aware of how things work, and don't work, in Bangkok.

I wish this analysis was on target but I have my doubts. I think the Democrats could win the popular vote in 2028 but the Electoral College, as shown by 2024, is another matter. The Republicans start out with many more 'safe' states than the Democrats, including now safe Florida. The so-called 'swing' states aren't so swingy, and certainly not in the Democrats favor. I do agree with the strategy of having candidates from the 'blue wall' states.

And, in this case, kick the can to the 'locals' to take 'action'. Useless, ineffective government bankrupt of ideas and solutions. When they come up with something, like free metro, it only makes the problem worse. All that money they are spending to reimburse metro could have been put towards farm equipment or hiring personnel to actually monitor and enforce no burning.

'Those of you who drive a car in Pattaya . . .' Why limit it to just Pattaya drivers? Nobody else drives in Thailand and can contribute to the discussion?

Things might be different in rural areas but if you live in Bangkok medical care can certainly end up not being 'free' for Thais, especially if the care involves operations, intensive care, cancer treatment, or medical services in high demand using limited equipment. My Thai spouse's mother had 2 million baht in medical expenses before she passed away in Bangkok. If 'free' care was available, he and his siblings would certainly have availed themselves of it, rather than forking over the 2MB. It doesn't do any good if a government medical service is free but unavailable--because it's fully booked at the government hospital or all the available weekly slots for a medical service are already taken at the government hospital.

I agree. It goes with living in a condo. It doesn't really matter the age of the condo--construction can be going on at any time, in new projects and older ones. With one of the new condos my spouse and I bought, we didn't like the kitchen layout, nor the small refrigerator, the electric hob rather than induction, and the cheap counters, backsplash, and kitchen cabinets. Even though the kitchen was brand new, we removed everything, changed the layout to work better, and had new and much better everything installed. With some projects, we were doing the renovations, for others we have lived in, others were renovating their units. Sometimes it was both. I think most owners go with the flow, knowing they might need to be doing work on their condos at some point and hope their neighbors will be understanding. For the OP, there are just two choices that I can see, put up with it or move.

He's complaining about construction noise at 10am, from his latest post. That's a normal time for construction--9am to 5pm. Most condo projects restrict construction to those times and some prohibit it during the Christmas-New Years holidays.

Airport Rail Link, too. I remember the first time my spouse and I took the ARL as newbies. We had luggage so we decided to line up at one of the train entrance arrows far from everyone else. Train guy came over and set us straight as to the shortness of the train The longer trains should have been added years ago. The government supposedly wants more people on the trains and out of their cars--but has done nothing to accommodate the many more riders the system has gained in the years since its been open.

I feel safer here than anywhere I lived in the US--and also safer than most of the countries I have visited. Many rather petty crimes that would not even be covered in the West are given overwrought publicity here--which leads to the false impression your wife has. I'm starting my 15th year here and have never been the victim of any crime. I would not let the crime situation here stop you from coming.