Stevemercer

Happiness is just a state of mind. It is not a thing, person or place. Having said that, I understand what the OP means. I sometimes despair that it is impossible to sleep with all the available women in Thailand. There are just too many. You are really only limited by your lust or money (in that order). So many beautiful women everywhere.

I am lucky becasue my Thai wife is ex-public servant and I am covered by her Thai social security. For me, the Thai system is much faster, more efficient and cheaper than the Australian national Medicare system. In Australia there are all sorts of co-payments, payments for prescription medicines etc. In Thailand it is all completely free (so far) and probably saves me in the order of 40,000 Baht per year for my day to day medical needs. I also have private insurance (50,000 Baht at age 66), but am yet to use. To be honest, the Thai medical system is a big plus for me to stay in Thailand. I'm a bit nervous about throwing myself back into the system if I moved back to Australia.

I try to avoid the sun and wear long trousers, shirt and hat outside. I put sunscreen on any exposed skin. I guess coming from Australia, where skin cancer is common, is behind this. I'm always surprised to see foreigners wandering around in shorts and lying in the sun. I assume they are from colder European countries where sunlight is a treat.

What would happen is someone tattoed a likeness of The Prophet on their arm?

I miss Rooster and sometimes wonder what happened to him. Did he ever write his book?

Yes, I have to agree the charging infrastructre is much better in Thailand. Every village on a highway seems to have chargers, on top of those in service centres etc. Our small town has half a dozen located off the main road. I've never seen them used, but they are there. The owners offer a service whereby you can drop off your car at their secure charging facility, they will give you a lift home and message/take you back to your car when it is fully recharged (100 Baht for this extra service).

Ha ha. I was talking about hardware upgrades. Try replacing/upgrading the hardware on a Chinese brand EV in 5 years to take advantage of new tech for recharging or simply to keep all the high tech functions running. In my opinion, technology still has a way to go on EVs. Each year, EVs will have more range, faster charging and greater efficiencies. You will need need to upgrade every 4 or 5 years if you want to keep up.

Drive Australia recently did a comparison driving identical BMWs from Melbourne to Sydney (900 km) One was electric and one was petrol. Apart from that, the cars were identical. Surprisingly (?) the petrol car was 20% cheaper than the electric on fuel costs and made the journey 3 hours quicker. EVs are, of course, cheaper if you can charge at home and take advantage of cheaper tarrifs. They make sense around the city. But for longer driving, they don't make so much sense. Fast chargers can be relatively expensive and often seem to be broken adding time and uncertainty to a long drive.

Unfortunately, modern EVs are high tech and, with the technology increasing every year, are disposal. Figure on an average life span of 5 years. So, yes, it is true, the battery will probably outlast most modern EVs. The supporting electronics will die first and won't be worth replacing. It's like computers back in the late 1990s. You bought the best and most up to date you could afford, but knowing full well you will need to upgrade key components within a couple of years, and replace the computer after about 5 years if you want to keep up with the latest hardware/software.

If it had been a wild tiger it would would have been hunted and shot as a danger to the community. A dog kills someone, and is a danger to the community, but it seems to be tolerated.

I've seen the photos showing North Korean and Russian POWs in their cells in Ukraine. Even POWs get better treatment..

Yes, last January had the odd cold day, but was pretty balmy. The month was slightly above the long term average.

We are heading for the coldest January in over 10 years. But, of course, it doesn't fit the narrative of climate change and won't be of news interest anywhere (we only ever hear when things are hotter than normal).

It works both ways. I've met many Thai woman who have been lied to, scammed and dudded by their foreign bofriend.

Having to go barefoot into the dentist (and many doctors too). While I'm all for bare feet, it seems strange wearing no shoes in a surgery where there could be chemical spills, blood/human wastes, needles or other hazards.

RIP Sometimes I worry about Thai diplomacy as it seems appeasement is the bottom line. The killer will never be found, similar to killers of Chinese nationals and other dissidents in Thailand. It would be embarrasing if the killer was caught and was found to have connections in Cambodia. Better to avoid this possibility. I still don't understand Thailand's approach to Myanmer's imprisonment of 4 Thai fishers. The attitude seems to be to work quietly behind the scenes and not do anything that could imply criticism or rebuke the Myanmar regime. Maybe this quiet diplomacy is the 'Asian way', but it may not be the most effective way to secure the release of the Thai nationals.

I have sympathy for the OP. The fault was with the poisoner. It sounds like he wouldn't poison the dogs because they barked at him (or whatever) but only because the OP yelled at him. So his poisoning was aimed at getting back at the OP, and the dogs were just collateral damage. The poisoner will have won if the OP leaves Thailand.

I think they are called Retirement/Nursing Homes

I don't think bird strike causing the engine to tear itself apart (and resultant shrapnel to the rear of the plane) can be ruled out.

One thing I never understood about the flat earth is what is on the other side?

I would have thought filling a large area with pebbles will look and feel like a desert on hot days. They'll soon get dusty and need daily washing down. If an angry mob ever has it in for you, they will have an endless supply of stones to chuck at your house!.

Thailand's muted response to this incident is strange to me. If a Mexican gunboat fired on an American fishing vessel, or an Indonesian gunboat on an Australian vessel, those western countries would react aggressively and there would be a diplomatic stand-off at the very least. However, the Thai/Myanmar incident has attracted little dometic media and doesn't seem to be a big deal to the Thai government. Maybe human rights really are less valued in Asian diplomacy with any tough talking done behind the scenes. Or maybe western powers over-react when similar incidents occur?

I don't think your experiences are all that unusual. All you can do is learn from your experiences and, hopefully, find somewhere that works for you. I tried teaching at a public high school, but gave it in after a few months. I could not really control the kids and got anxious. The other Thai teachers did try to help me out a bit by reducing my classes and sometimes sitting in. I guess they could see I was trying. You are certainly right about presentation being key. I turned up on my first day in a suit and tie, and never stopped smiling. The headmaster thought I must be good and always seemed to favour me over the other farang teachers even though they carried more of the load and were more experienced.

Reminds me of early scenes in The Beach, then Trainspotting. Good video.

Putin started the escalation by adding foreign (North Koreans) into the fray. The West responded by allowing missile strikes into western Russia. This is a good strategy by the West. Putin will be hoping Trump intervenes when he becomes president in 2 months. Putin can't escalate the conflict further without the risk of putting Trump offside. From Trump's perspective, his negotiating hand has been strengthened for when he does become president. He has more to trade if he really wants to end the war. Onviously the only possible negotiated solution is for Russia to keep all the territory it has annexed and for Ukraine to join NATO. There is no other 'security gaurantees' Russia can offer as it has already broken so many previous agreements. In regard to the North Korean troops, I hope Ukraine opens a huge propaganda campaign aimed at those troops using Internet, letter drops and every other means. The messages, in Korean, will tell the soldiers if they give up to Ukaranian troops they will be kept safe, never returned to North Korea and will be resettled in South Korea. A chance fora new life! In any case, just the threat of desertions would stop Russia/North Korea from deploying North Korean troops on the front line.