newnative

Not very impressive. Likely will be even less so with the huge price increases.

I don't believe a word of it.

Those are the two things he managed to come up with? Loan sharks and phone scams? Somewhere, the Red Bull cop killer is smiling.

I don't know why I didn't just do this in the first place and save myself some time. From Google: November through March is Thailand's high season, with relatively dry weather and agreeable temperatures. This is a great time to enjoy the country's cultural and natural splendor.

Agree with the above. Not 'priceless', half a million bucks and change. Hold the hype. The violinist must be an idiot, first to carry it around in what looks like a very unprotective sack and then forgetting it altogether.

Money might not make me happy but it definitely gives me more options to do different things, which may lead to making me happier--I'm a pretty happy person with or without money. And, it can certainly contribute to peace of mind, which can also contribute to being happier. I remember for so many years living paycheck to paycheck in my low-paying job, praying that something major and expensive to repair did not break that month--and then hoping the same thing the next month. Will I have enough money to pay the rent this month?--always on my mind. (Perhaps that is one of the reasons I've always liked owning the roof over my head.) Finally scrapped up enough money, along with a small loan from my Dad, to secure the down payment to buy my first condo, which I fixed up and later sold, paying Dad off. Did that a few times, making some profit on each, which was plowed into the next condo. And then, I had a big condo sale, netting $70,000. $70,000, of course, is peanuts to many but at the time I was only making around $30,000 a year, in very expensive northern Virginia, and I had little in the way of savings. So, it was a huge windfall for me, and I remember it to this day. Suddenly, I could breathe. Suddenly, I didn't have to be constantly worrying about being able to pay a big repair bill--or anything else unexpected that might come up. I could take a trip. I could trade-in my old clunker for a better car. As I said in my first sentence, having some money, for the first time, opened things up for me and gave me more options in my life, which made for a happier me.

You are SO right! I thought 50 was a very hard birthday--until 60 showed up. The absolute worst, though, was 70, which I've concluded is the very worst of all the '0' birthdays after very careful, detailed study. Let's disregard the oh-so-easy ones below 50. 50--still youngish. 50 is nifty. 60--no longer young but not really old yet. Swinging 60s. 70--old. Saggy 70s--not the same zing as Nifty 50. No sugar-coating it. Old. Yikes! 70! Can I really be 70 already--when I still feel so young at heart? 80, by the way, should I reach it, will be a breeze, a '0' birthday to finally celebrate, rather than dread, reaching. For the OP, rejoice in 'just' turning 50. You have 20 hopefully great years ahead of you before you reach the really yucky milestone--70. Enjoy every day. Now let me be off to research facelifts.

Well, that was obscenely quick. What happened to serving 1/3 of your sentence before a petition can be considered?

Just what I meant. The high season is yet to come. This is still August, for heaven's sake.

SOP for the Grifter King.

Color me shocked if he actually serves one-third of his sentence before he's pardoned.

I hope this is my last 'He still alive?' post. But, I think not.

I'm in a 'surrounding area', namely the Mabprachan area on the Darkside. We have the same problem here--dirty, dusty road construction taking forever. In this case, it's widening the road and installing bigger drain pipes. Long stretches have been torn up and many days there are no or very few workers working. When they are working, often it's with with inadequate equipment. There's absolutely no regard for the poor businesses along the road, which have had their business frontages torn up for months in some cases. Instead of quickly finishing short stretches of the construction, for minimum impact on the businesses, the whole length of the project has been torn up and, at this point, none of it seems to be done. In some cases they seem to be re-digging for the second or third time. One way we can tell the work has been taking too long. There are two big trees in the path of where the road is being expanded. Tree cutters came and hacked off all the branches in anticipation of the trunks being soon removed. So slow is the work, the trees have now started to grow back their branches and they are now about 2 or 3 feet long.

Huh? 'Many states' larger than Thailand? I think just 2, Texas and Alaska, of the 50.

I think the 'been there, done that' could be applied to a number of countries, and by a number of your average tourists, including me. I have a long list of places I want to visit for the first time and a not so long amount of remaining time; I suspect I am not alone in that. Likely, I will only be going once to some of the places on my bucket list, and that would include Thailand, if I didn't live here--a 'one and done' country, for me. Covid shot everything to hell but, pre-covid, only two of the countries tracked by Thailand's statistical department had slight declines in tourists to Thailand from 2015 to 2019, Australia and Singapore. The numbers for western countries were at least slightly up or better. UK, up about 5%. Germany, about 13%. France, around 9%. USA, 34%, a bigger increase. The perception for some posters was big declines in western tourists for years, even before covid, but that wasn't actually the case. The big increases, of course, came from Asian countries, especially China and India, where more of the population could afford to travel and many picked Thailand as a nearby place to venture to for their first foreign country visit. I think, even if covid hadn't happened, Thailand would have seen that trend continue, with western visitor numbers increasing modestly or remaining steady, and the bigger increases continuing to come from Asian countries. I get a chuckle when posters chastise Thailand for 'putting all its eggs in one basket' regarding trying to attract tourists from this or that country. Thailand can certainly do outreach to selected countries but I doubt it makes very much of a difference in the tourist numbers for a country, despite what TAT would like you to believe. People will travel where they want to travel. People will travel when they want to travel, depending on their circumstances. China gave me a 10-year travel visa; whether I choose to use it again is up to me, not a marketing campaign. In 2019, over 1 million Americans visited Thailand. This year we are at 534,000, so far, with the high season yet to come. Not great, maybe, but also not horrible, in my opinion, considering there are still some after effects of covid. It will be interesting to see what the final figure is for the year but I think the US figures will, in future years, be in line with the European countries mentioned, holding steady or very modest gains. All things considered, Thailand should be happy with that.

You forgot to add the time spent packing and then unpacking your suitcase. 555 Google tells us that half the people in the US live within 17 miles of a decent size airport. 90% live no more than an hour away. For the vast majority, you're, at the very worst, an hour drive to the smaller airport to take a 2 to 3 hour flight to one of the dozen big city airports that flies to Thailand. So, that leaves us, worst case: Pack suitcase (I decided to leave out showering, dressing, and brushing teeth) 1 hour Drive to small airport 1 hour Wait time at small airport 2 hours Flight to large airport 3 hours Wait time at large airport 3 hours Flight USA/Thailand 22 hours Total 1 way 32 hours Less than a day and a half, one way, worst case, equals less than 3 days total, not your '5 days of travel to & from the United States alone'. (Note you weren't figuring in after arrival travel in the 5 days.) In any case, what one does after one arrives at a destination is up to the individual and not really relevant in regard to travel times to and from a destination.

Totally incorrect regarding tour groups--regardless of country--not contributing to the Thai economy. But, you will be happy to know that in 2019, independent travelers from China were the majority of the Chinese travelers to Thailand, not tour groups. I believe that is also the case so far this year.

Flights to Thailand from the east coast of the US take around 23 hours each way, with one stop. Washington Dulles to Bangkok on Qatar is 21 hours 10 minutes, for example. So, that's around 2 days of flying, round-trip, not 5.

Yes, they are. The Motorway avoids all that. Lake Mabprachan is getting popular, with a number of new projects, because it's easy to get into town via the Motorway and also easy to quickly get on the Motorway to head to Bangkok, just an hour and a half away.

Not from Lake Mabprachan, which the Outback is close to. I've lived on both sides of the lake. Jump on the Motorway by La Miniera, no toll, and my partner and I can be at Big C South Pattaya in about 15 minutes, without a single traffic light until we get to Big C. Or, in the other direction, Terminal 21, also in about 15 minutes from our house by the lake.

Walk it off, you'll live.

My partner and I do. And, seeing much less fortunate people every day is a reminder to us.

Where do I add my signature.

No, he didn't.

Well, let's see. Which of his 'initiatives' should we keep? I guess my favorite would be using water hoses to spray water into the air to wash the pollution out of the sky. Absolutely brilliant. Really beyond brilliant, when you think of it. Let's definitely keep that one. Meanwhile, buh bye bye.