BangkokReady

Great news. Now if we could just get rid of the insurance for those who are already residing in Thailand.

I assume they don't have an accurate record of their population, but it seems kind of weird to not acknowledge this in some way.

Interesting. And you accumulated them while teaching English in Thailand? If I have the numbers right, you started when you were 24. Did you just work as many hours as you could? Or was there some external source of money, inheritance, etc.?

I see. In that case, I suppose rather than saying "Vietnam era GI’s leaving a “legacy of sex culture”", which implies that a sex culture which wasn't present before was created and left by the GIs, Chuwit should have said something along the lines of "Vietnam era GIs left a new kind of sex culture aimed at foreign clientele in the form of Ap-Op-Nuat (or soapy massage)", which would clearly explain that GIs did not create a sex culture, rather they prompted a change in what was already there. Probably Chuwit couldn't put it like that, as he has to toe the line and effectively deny the long established sex industry that caters to Thai men. Easy to see how people would end up objecting to the content of the article in these circumstances.

In what world is a guy saying that foreigners left a legacy of sex culture not a Thai person blaming foreigners for said sex culture? Anyone who objected the contents of that "article" was quite right to. It was a blatant lie. If anyone is imagining anything or overreacting, it's you.

How were you planning to fund your retirement?

Russel Crowe is a good actor and has been in some amazing films, a few are my personal favorites. He's clearly enjoying his time in Thailand, which is great to see. The police officer did a really great thing and dealt with the situation he found himself in a very positive and peaceful way. Two decent chaps enjoying a pleasant moment together. I'm enjoying seeing/hearing about Crowe's time in Thailand. It seems, to me, to be a generally positive thing. It feels like maybe people have become a little entrenched in the doom and gloom of the last couple of years. Maybe it's a good time to stop, take a step back, look around, and smell the roses. Life moves pretty fast, or so I'm told.

Quite a sad indictment of the Thai education system. In the West, although things are getting a little silly these days, it's not unusual to find an academic giving sound advice, choosing to focus on the real root of the problem without any kind of scheming or self-promotion, simply the desire to help society improve. Here we have someone who claims to be educated, who probably wants to be seen as working for the betterment of his society, yet through either ignorance or malice (neither are acceptable given his position), ignores pretty much the main reason for the high number of deaths on Thai roads; the way Thai people drive.

If that's your stance, go for it. Personally, I see a difference in behavior, values, beliefs, culture, social rules, and so on, but perhaps I'm overthinking it.

Are you suggesting there is little difference between the behavior of people in SEA and in the West?

Very interesting, thanks for writing. It's amazing how many people probably have a reasonably interesting biography inside them, waiting to be written down. Although, as time goes on, I do wonder what the children of today could write about.

Very true. Our Western notions of taking people at their word, assuming people won't do something incredibly stupid and blatantly doomed to failure based solely on what they want in the moment, respecting the law, worrying about what people think of us, being generally honest, treating others as we wish to be treated, being governed by an inner conscience rather than an outer face saving need, doing the "right" thing, not wanting to be perceived as dishonest and double-crossing, and so on, really put us at a disadvantage in SEA. It's so comical, and not a little pathetic, when you get the ignorant "noble savage" do-gooders who come to somewhere like Thailand and express pity over what they perceive as the "evil White man" taking advantage of the poor down trodden locals.

Not quite. It was good for two or three years after that.

Sounds like a more accurate description would be something like: "over time, 10% of Thailand's long established sex industry adapted itself a little to target the foreign market".

So, if you want to have private health insurance at 80, you need to get it much earlier?

What would be the point of being a woman on the surface but a guy underneath? You don't see the inside of someone. Do you mean they want a woman's body with a penis attached?

The elite take care of the other elite while they all get fat off of the tax payers. I'm no communist, but the whole born into wealth thing gets a bit tiring. Most people high up in the British government, business and even entertainment went to the same few public schools and then Oxford or Cambridge.

There is no tourism in Vietnam.

At the moment it sounds like a booster every six months will be needed.

Actually they crow at any time. In my experience, South East Asians are incredibly heavy sleepers. Lights on, people shouting, music blaring, they can sleep just fine. On the floor, bed made of wood, in a hammock, no problem. Very lucky in this regard.

Do you have it?

What action did the police take against the car mob protests?

Source?

Sounds like a lot of attachment and desire there. And they do say that will lead to unhappiness. How do they not spot these issues ahead of time? Do they simply pretend to be Buddhists? Are there any actual Buddhists in Thailand?

No, Thailand opting to delay massively and buy only the Chinese vaccine was them "boning" the vaccine rollout, not it being rescued.