Stevemercer

Dating sites are fine and you can meet many good people. In fact, there is normally too much choice (at least in Thailand).

However, if just one person makes a complaint about you, for whatever reason, then most responsible sites will disable your account. Most have a policy (if you can find it) about the period of cancellation, but they will seldom tell you.

Am I paranoid or am I just stoned

What a strange story and what strange comments. How strange?

When the neighbours filled against our wall I could see the potential problems straight away (flooding and the wall breaking during the next wet season). I asked my wife to help sort the issue with the neighbour, but her view was it was his land and he could do what he wanted.

There can be a marked difference between western and Thai thought processes. Westerners (at least some of them) will see the potential future problems and want to address them proactively, before the worst happens - preventative maintenance/management (e.g. the wall collapses). Thais (most of them) will not worry about it until the worst actually happens - crisis management.

We had the same problem with a neighbour filling right against our retaining wall (he filled about 0.8 m above our land). Before he did this, storm water would sometimes leak under our wall, but most would go off to a  neighbouring property that was lower than ours.

Come the first heavy storms and the water could no longer flow into the lower property and our wall started to crack. Luckily the new wall he had also built along the neighbouring lower property collapsed first and the water escaped.

Over his objections, I subsequently dug away the dirt against our wall and put in drains at both ends of his wall. We are talking about a 50 m length of wall and it was quite a big job taking me several weeks. My wife went to the local council who said it was illegal to pile fill against someone's fence and sent him various letters seeking a mediated outcome. However, he ignored all the letters. He did accept my drainage system (because he could see it actually worked) and we have maintained good relations.

Subsequently, the lower land I mentioned above (which also runs along our fence for about 50 m) was purchased by a developer who filled it about 1 m higher than our land. He probably did the right thing, however, because he first put in a sheet concrete retaining wall and then his own fence. Nevertheless, the water still has to go somewhere and sometimes floods into our backyard. I've put in drains to route the water away from the house which seemed to work last season. 

Anyway, its always going to be a problem when people start building next to you. They will always fill higher and the water has to go somewhere.

If there was a simple answer to the OPs question someone would have patented the formula and made a mint.

It's like the TV series 'Brave New World' where society abhors monogamy, and uses sex and drugs to keep everyone functioning and happy. But that is not enough for some people, they want meaning in their life.

In Thai society, a wealthy and well conected male would never marry someone beneath him like a restaurant worker or farm girl. However, us farang are not discriminating and will find just about any Thai lady who looks after herself attractive. We can be happier with a humble woman than a Hi-So. Thai ladies know that finding a farang can be a pathway to wealth and security.

I think most men will find any woman who smiles and seems interested to be attractive. After that, it is all nuance. Do you find asian or western woman to be more attractive, young or older, long black hair, perfect white teeth, beatiful smile etc. etc.?

It's likely he gagged her with the playing card placed over her mouth (perhaps as a lesson). However, in her struggles, the playing card ended up down her throat and strangled her.

Out here in the countryside there is no such things as lady drinks or bar fines. True, there are no go go bars either. Most serious drinking is at karaoke bars where the girls drink from your beer (if you let them). Any assignments are direct one-on-one negotiations. Some karaoke places charge a customer 100 Baht to sit all night with a girl, but these places are generally a rip-off. Most girls' incomes are from tips.

Thinking about it, maybe all the really attractive and more confident girls go to Pattaya, Bangkok or Phuket, where they can make real money!

I can't say this has really happened to me in the 10 years I have been living in Thailand. Or maybe it has, from time to time, and I haven't been fussed by it.

I do remember the odd monk cutting in the hospital line. Normally I'm watching like a hawk when waiting at the hospital/doctor/airport/gov't office etc., but, if anything, I might get pushed ahead in the line.

I still think the main problem with electric vehicles will be the electricitydemand and distribution for recharging as the uptake of new EVs grows.

A fast charger uses as much electricity as 100 houses. Ten fast charger use the electricity of 1000 houses. Imagine the demand if 1000 fast chargers (100,000 houses) in a city were suddenly switched on. I doubt if any electricity system in any city in any country would be able to cope.

It's possible that, with all the scammers about, the buyer is reluctant to give you his bank details (he may not be experienced in internet purchases).

As others have said, normal practice would be to make the refund once the item has been returned. So you would need these details at some point. When returned, you can make an educated guess as to whether the item was damaged in shipping or by the buyer. If he refuses/can't return the item, maybe he has onsold the item or is trying to scam you.

Maybe you could ask him how he wants the refund made to him? Does he want a replacement? Is he close enough to arrange a meeting to exchange/refund cash? Does he want a bank cheque?

I'm going through a root canal/crown treatment for my upper canine tooth at the moment. 4,000 Baht for the root canal (2 dental visits) and 6,000 Baht for the (cheapest) metal/enamel covered crown (1 dental visit).

The back teeth/molars are much larger and more expensive (6,000 Baht plus 8,000 Baht).

I did initially try another dentist who quoted 30,000 Baht for the same tooth (obviously a farang price).

I don't know about the seeds, but the plant will easily and quickly spread from foot long lengths of stem thrown in water. Typical stocked fish will eat it when in the water, or as the water rises during the wet season. I let it grow around my ponds because it is easily harvested and my land tortoises and iguanas love it.

It is easy to grow as you can just pull it up. It dies off when the roots get dry (e.g. the pond water lowers during the dry season.

It also adds a bit of structure to the water which is good for shrimp, pond insects, snails and small fish. Like all water plants, it will also help clarify and settle the water column.

Morning Glory (pak boong) grows everywhere around ponds and woud be good. The leaves and flowers are often eaten by Thais as well as vegetarian fish species/land animals. 

You should be able to find it growing locally near water and pull up a few buckets to throw in the shallow water at the edge of your pond. It grows quickly.

Anutin is part of the establishment. More forward to the past (or back to the future).

Here in Isan farmers seem to be planting less and less sugar cane every year. Many grow cassava (export crop for cattle feed) which has a steady demand and stable price.

Having said that, any shortages in Thailand will be due to refiners getting a better price overseas. Some Asian countries have stopped sugar exports to keep domestic markets supplied (undesirable from the producers perspective since they effectively get a lower price leading to even less cane being grown in the subsequent year).

At Suvarnabhumi International Airport there are 2 McDonalds once you are past security. One was more central and charged typical western/airport prices. The other was a bit of a walk, but was half the price. Obviously I go to this one. But last time (December 2023) the price had gone up so they were both the same. Is this still the case?

Can you afford the payments and sin sod? If you cannot that is one thing. I guess it is another thing if you can afford the demands, but refuse to do so on principle.

I don't thing we farang can come live in Thailand and refuse to accept Thai cultural practices that we disagree with (having being brought up in a different culture who are we to say what is correct or not correct).

So it is always going to boil down to a compromise. Your agreement to pay 2000 Baht a month is a compromise. But I think, having agreed to it, you should just pay it without any conditions - just make the payment, regular as clockwork, with the attitude that it is their money to do with what they want.

If you choose a Buddha ceremony with the family, of course sin sod will need to be paid. That is accepted cultural practice. But you can reach a compromise. Maybe 'loan' the money and jewelry for show purposes on the day, and then return it. There are brokers who can arrange this. Let the parents and relatives save face and have their day in the sun. But, in my view, you should pay for the ceremony and a gift of 50,000 Baht to the parents.

Maybe your girlfriend is different, but I meet many Thai ladies with committed farang boyfriends who, nevertheless, refuse to marry them (even the non-legal Buddha ceremony). These ladies so often feel unsure of their boyfriends (because they won't marry them) which makes them insecure and can cause problems (even if they never admit it to their boyfriends).

Same in our area, but, thankfully, everything seems to be back to normal now. Our (young) male dog turned into a soi dog and didn't come home for nearly a week. I sometimes saw him hanging with the street bro's and fighting for mating rights.

He came back yesterday. I didn't have to feed him for nearly a week and saved a few hundred Baht on dog food. He looks a bit crestfallen and I think he probably lucked out.

I've had a King Song 18 inch electric wheel for abut 5 years. It takes about a week to get competent. The hardest part is learning to mount and dismount the thing. I practised pushing a shopping cart in an empty car park. I still use it to go to the shops and show off to the locals. I came off a few times in the learning stage, but you can usually keep on your feet at training speeds. I seldom go more than 3 or 4 kms these days.

When going on holidays it's easy to put in the boot and then use at our destination (instead of a scooter). Mine goes up to about 40 km/hr and has a range of about 70 km.

No. My Thai is crap, but Thai people usually say how good my Thai is. I assume they are being polite or want to make a positive impression.

It's the same when Thai's speak English. I always encourage them. 

On 12/14/2023 at 12:11 PM, BKKBike09 said:

 

That would be a good system.

 

I suspect that - as EVs become more and more popular - the resale value of mass market used vehicles will drop like a stone. Being an EV owner (a BYD Atto) I hope I'm wrong, of course, but seems to me that battery/charging technology is developing so fast that - as with phones and computers - the base price may not change much but the spec will change hugely. 

 

Atto cost me THB 1.2 million for a 60kw/h battery that gives around 400 km real world range and can charge at just under 90 kwh.

 

If I want to sell when it's three years old, I'd say a guesstimate for market value of a 1.2 million ICE at that point would be around 7-800K. Question will be if I ask that for my EV, what will be a prospective buyer's options in terms of a new EV market for that sort of price - probably quite a few cars with bigger batteries, more range and faster charging. We shall see.

 

 

 

I agree. EV and battery technologies are still at least 5 years off plateauing. Every year will see higher capacity batteries and efficiency gains. I think a 100kw/h battery will be standard within 2 years and will have comparable range to a typical IC car. That's when I might think about jumping onboard.

If you are playing Thai music it should be ok. It's usually only western music that police ask to turn down.

Most years it doesn't get cool until after Christmas.