mstevens

The Malaysia Hotel is a short walk from Lumpini Park (about 5 minutes or so) and rates are around, or just a bit over 1,000 baht. An old, but still perfectly pleasant property and good value. In that immediate neighbourhood are some other hotels and guesthouses with even lower rates. I've walked past the Pinnacle Hotel many times which is an even shorter walk to Lumpini Park and a quick check online shows rooms there are less than 1,000 baht per night.

This sounds good. Just did a quick look around and haven't been able to find it. Any tips on where I should look?

I first visited Thailand when it had about 4 million visitors per year. Bangkok was very dirty with piles of rubbish, the city smelled bad, shopping for anything not made locally was crap, restaurant choice was limited once you got bored of Thai food, English was much poorer than today, getting around was a nightmare, it flooded really badly in many places during the rainy season....and I could go on. Today, Bangkok is much easier to get around, there's so much more to see and do, things work so much better than the past and I am keen to stay longer than I did in the past. Oh, that's right, Bangkok gets about 40 million people visitors today, 10 times what it did when I first visited, and it's so much better today. I wouldn't think that more visitors will make it worse because so far, that has not happened.

Yes, all those foreigners in Thailand, working in the country, bringing in money earned from abroad, spending it in Thai businesses, paying tax to Thailand....horrific indeed, pity the Thais!

I use avocado oil for cooking, olive oil for lower heat cooking and also for dressing. Some dishes like scrambled eggs I fry in butter.

What damage have the done to NZ citizens in Thailand? And why perpetuate the myth that the NZ government were involved? As for your pension, you obviously don't understand the NZ pension system. It has nothing to do with what you pay. It's all about time spent in New Zealand. That is the only criteria. Spend 20 years in New Zealand between ages 20 and 65, 5 of which must be after age 50 and you qualify. Easy. What you paid in taxes is immaterial and it has always been that way. Meet the time requirements and you'll get your pension. Don't bleat like a little lamb because you didn't follow the super easy to follow rules.

Why am I not surprised that despite all the talk of it being 60 days from today that people are still being stamped in for 30 days?!

The reasons I left is certainly similar to the reasons friends of yours left. Far superior environment, far more pleasant climate, generally higher standards in pretty much everything (from driving to government services to professional services etc.). I also felt the attitudes of some Thais towards us soured a little, particularly those in uniform. Not a huge change in attitude, but it was sufficient for me to feel that little bit less welcome. While I personally never had a problem with my annual visa, many friends did. Not a nice way to live when you worry about whether your next visa extension will be approved. When I drove my car I hated being stopped by cops and shaken down for money when I had done absolutely nothing wrong. It perpetually reinforced the idea that you're a foreigner, you're vulnerable and in a worst case scenario, stuff can happen. As a young guy, that sort of thing was all very exciting but as you get older and have a family to think of, it's the complete opposite. I just wasn't confident I could leave a hassle-free life in Thailand. That was the breaking point for me and when I decided that we'd be better off leaving Thailand.

Oh, really? In 25 years, I'd say that Bangkok has changed massively. In some ways it's a vastly superior city to the place I first knew. In other ways, it's changed in ways that I feel are not necessarily improvements. Today, how you feel about the place is going to be very much an individual thing. But to say Bangkok has not changed one bit is just total utter nonsense!

I would put that down to errant reporting or an inarticulate newsreader. NO WAY would the embassy get involved like that.

Pretty much guarantee that didn't happen. The NZ Embassy in Bangkok no doubt fulfilled its duties to check on the brothers when they were in custody and convey messages to parents in NZ, but as for negotiating a way out, no way. If you believe that you have no idea about the attitudes of Kiwis in government. The NZ Embassy in Bangkok has long been helpful to its citizens, but they don't help Kiwis to get out of trouble by negotiating pay-offs or bribing public officials of the host country. Not a chance that happened.

There is no suggestion the New Zealand government was involved. NZ has very strong anti-corruption laws and laws regarding bribery. Any NZ official involved in this sort of thing would be dismissed and it would be massive news in the country and that person would become near unemployable. Where the article says the brothers thanked for the NZ government for their support, that absolutely does not mean the NZ government negotiated to get them out. No way would that happen.

I doubt the NZ government was involved. Probably the parents of the two brothers found a lawyer who was prepared to act as a go-between and fix a deal where all parties were compensated and charges dropped.

It sounds like you were in Billboard which is widely regarded as the very best gogo bar in all of Thailand. Quite simply, no other bar comes close to Billboard. Hard not to have a good time in that bar, but it's not especially representative of the bar industry in general. No other bars are nearly that good and don't get me started on Cowboy or Patpong.

Gut health is incredibly important but sadly, it's an area where conventional medicine is weak, to include gastroenterologists. If you have a serious gut issue like IBD, docs can diagnose it. But if you have one of the incredibly common conditions like SIBO, SIFO, dysbiosis, leaky gut, Candida overgrowth etc then conventional medical doctors simply aren't trained in these conditions. There are a few things you can do to improve your gut health like eliminate ultra processed foods and also consider stopping all gluten and dairy for a while. Fermented foods are good, but they can be problematic for some gut conditions. Quality probiotics can help. My advice would be to improve your diet and try some probiotics as a starting point. If you don't have any luck, consider trying to find a functional medicine practitioner. They're the experts on gut health and testing for and resolving the conditions mentioned above.

What a strange comment!

When you say it turns out you were allergic to yourself, this is a classic comment made by those with some degree of mould / funghi / bacteria colonised in their nasal passage. Using Loratidine and Beonaise spray is simply masking the symptoms. Try and look at resolving the root cause and consider the nasal spray I recommended earlier or a colloidal silver nasal spray. You can resolve the issue and then you won't need to manage the symptoms as you are currently. Both of these recommended sprays are very cheap, natural and safe - all of which make them absolutely worth trying.

You might like to try this product which is available on iHerb: Xlear, Rescue Nasal Spray with Xylitol, Fast Relief, 1.5 fl oz (45 ml) (I note it's also available on Lazada but at 2.5 x the price as iHerb.) Note, if you do choose this options (and I really do suggest you give it a try as it's cheap, powerful and entirely natural), then make sure you get the RESCUE product, as named above. There are a few similar products by Xlear but Rescue Nasal Spray is the one you want. This is far and away the most powerful non-prescription nasal spray I have used. I battled with sinusitis on and off for years and a couple of years back was recommended this. It was hugely helpful. Note, most of us have a degree of colonisation of bacteria, funghi and mould in our nasal passage. This product really cleans the nasal passage out. Think of it as a reliever OR a medium-term treatment option i.e. it can help to clear out very long-term colonisation of the nasal passage. In such cases, it's not an overnight fix and you may need to spray each nostril a couple of times for several weeks. Many "mouldies" (those who have an internal colonisation of mould) swear by this particular product.

Bingo. If you want to enjoy red wine but you struggle with histamine / suffer from histamine intolerance, then you need to take a DAO enzyme beforehand, and if at all possible, a few more DAO enzymes while you consume the wine. These enzymes will help the histamine to be degraded and you won't suffer a nasty hangover. Histamine Digest from Seeking Health is one such product. I have no idea if it is available in Thailand. https://www.seekinghealth.com/products/histamine-digest-formerly-histamine-block

No, I'm from New Zealand, but I understand the healthcare systems in Canada and NZ are similar.

I haven't read the article so cannot comment on its content. But from my experiences with Thai healthcare, what makes it great is the accessibility of specialists. In my country, it can take months to see a specialist - unless it's a genuinely life-threatening - situation whereas in Thailand you can get access to specialists pretty much right away. It's a huge difference, and I speak from personal experience when I say that there is nothing worse than waiting for a specialist's appointment when you're suffering from a serious, but non life-threatening condition which has a terrible effect on your quality of life.

I watched it on Netflix and yes, it had Thai subs so the Mrs could enjoy it too. As for the download, sorry, I really don't know.

The problem with tinnitus is there are so many possible causes. I have had it on and off and it was related to gut issues with bacterial overgrowth and yeast overgrowth which caused a cascade of symptoms from histamine issues to mast cell issues to fungal nails to tinnitus. When I finally got help to fix up my gut, I got relief from the tinnitus - but it was about the last of the many issues related to my messed up gut to clear up. I know it won't bring any relief but after a while you do get used to tinnitus....and with parts of Thailand being noisy, you forget about it for long periods for much of the day.

We watched Axel F last night. Enjoyed it. If you liked the original Beverly Hills Cop movies, you’ll enjoy it. It’s very much like the first 3 with the same characters, same music, same mix of action and comedy, all in all a nice walk down memory lane!

A few sois that cater to Middle Easterners with restaurants, hotels, souvenir shops etc. For non Middle Easterners / non-Muslims who like food from that part of the world, it's a great soi with many restaurants to choose from, all very reasonably priced.