Jonathan Swift

But it's free theatre, support the arts!

Funny how most of us don't feel compelled to post stories of our "conquests", not since we outgrew that by age 21. The stories all sound the same when people do. So why do you bother? Each and every one of us can go out at any time and have our own adventures, yours is nothing special, except maybe to you. Why don't you write home and tell your parents about it? Maybe THEY will be impressed.

Slam dunk case. Another worthless human parasite.

It works very well in Asia, since they are unlikely to respond at all you will win by default.

If you used a credit card your card should be willing to claw back your money under the circumstances. Call them. It's usually pretty easy. The credit card bank contacts the airline to see if they have a defense. They will use the same customer service number that doesn't work. If the bank hears nothing back you win by default

Use one of those websites yes, also use a credit card which will charge back payments in cases of fraud. All that said, I had AirAsia refuse a refund, priceline gave me a runaround along with false information, in which case I had my bank claw back the money, on top of which I sued priceline for my time and trouble - their corporate office is near my American address in Connecticut. I got $1,000.00 out of priceline

I never heard that they are supporting this regime. It's much more complicated than appears on the surface. My research shows that the regimes are intertwined, that each depends on the other for necessary imports/exports. Thailand is extremely dependent on Myanmar for a wide range of needs.That's certainly not the same as propping up a regime for political reasons. This reminds me of how the Chinese are harassing the Filipinos, except the Chines never fired on anyone, to their credit. https://fulcrum.sg/neighbour-to-civil-war-thailands-relations-with-myanmar-in-2024/

No, neither I nor the Thai populace would think so. Better a "stretch" and a warning than to have it happen. You're not privy to the intelligence are you? This comes from Israeli intelligence warning other countries. Neither are you Jewish or an Israeli. Personally I'm happy to have increased vigilance. Ever hear the saying "better safe than sorry"?

They don't learn.

I plead ignorance, how bad is this guy and why?

False equivalency. The outbreak of a food borne illness is a far cry from one incident of glass in spaghetti. Right out of the gate you have a number of sick people. An E.Coli outbreak can spread exponentially because of the wide distribution of food products in a short period of time. In this case the manufacturer has to be named in order to find and recall all items which could be hundreds or thousands. Hope this clears this up for you.

When glass breaks the tiny shards can be next to invisible and can be missed. Something might have broken in a sink for example. There are in fact many possible scenarios.

Accidents can happen anywhere. There's no need to destroy a business because of one random incident for which they accepted responsibility. If they had a history of health code violations, injuries, vermin infestations, food poisoning, etc., that would be different.

Last time I checked it wasn't illegal to have an opinion in Thailand. A lot of people who have been here a long time and do in fact speak Thai do actually agree with the commenter, as do I.

I moved here from Connecticut 11 years ago, things have worked out nicely

Are there brochures and catalogs alongside the ziplining and elephant riding?

"the rental wife industry". Industry, eh? So girls are now a product of industry. Factories cranking em out, executive offices, stockholders, and board meetings. So get me an industrial strength Thai girl.

Times sure have "changed". "People" didn't "use quotes" "arbitrarily and randomly" back "then".

Where do you get your condescending clueless attitude? There's nothing desperate or questionable in any way about being practical and filling a need quickly and expeditiously with no baggage and no real commitments beyond what is required.

"deepest, darkest, depths" hahaha

I've ridden motorcycles for decades. The same principles apply no matter where you are. Always be ready for accidents waiting to happen. Be aware of the space around you at all times and use your mirrors. Watch traffic and watch every intersection, watch any circumstance where someone can come out of nowhere. Keep your speed reasonable. For rentals test everything, brakes, signals, etc before you drive off. I've never had an accident that wasn't someone else's fault and both were minor. Obviously there a lot of people who should not get on motorbikes, but they do anyway. Hope this poor guy recovers.

I've been here 11 yeaRS. I'm not a teacher so this will be an outsider's view. First of all you're not an idiot. Sounds you had a legitimately hard time. And don't worry about the length of your post, you had to express a lot and did it as best you could. Dexxter provided a good condensed summary. I would say that you certainly didn't fit in with the status quo, but I don't think it was your fault. I would have a chat with as many other teachers here to get a larger point of view. I suspect there are better teaching opportunities, I see a lot of foreigners here in Bangkok and elsewhere teaching English. They seem to be doing OK. Thailand is a different experience for different people. Some people fit in like they were born here, others struggle and some give up. It's a strange culture in many ways. Social "rules" can be baffling. I struggled a bit but I have the advantage of Social Security from the US. As to "chronic fatigue and brain fog" that sounds serious enough to possibly be a fundamental factor in your ability to interpret, adapt and stay balanced. On the other hand, much of this sounds like things I've experienced in my previous life in the US, some very bad jobs, and I vowed never to work for a boss but to become fully self employed since 1988. There is nothing in your narrative that doesn't sound legitimate from an objective point of view. I urge you to seek other viewpoints and to not give up on the idea unless you absolutely have to. This is a great place and worth staying for those of us who adapted. But my final take is that it sounds like you got yourself into a regular 3 ring circus, and I can't help thinking that you could find better jobs if you hung it there and looked elsewhere. Chok dee.

Maybe drunk?

I think you summed it up quite well. Additionally, there are a lot of Israelis up North in Pai, I mean a LOT. This may start trickling down to this area. The ones I've spoken to are nice enough, but not very exciting. Maybe they won't be seen in that neighborhood. I noticed the radical change when Prayuth intervened and eliminated all the fun sidewalk bar/vendors. I had so much fun there when I first came in 2013, that made me so sad. But everything changes, and it will always be so, especially in Thailand.

Why does it matter? They're all people