jts-khorat

Your utterly boring 'culture war' and the useless politicians on both sides of the isle make the USA look like a banana republic. That there seems to be no functioning rule of law any more just comes on top of it.

You have said nothing about a will splitting the property equally or any land titles. If the land has a Chanote, things will be unambiguous. If there was a will or contracts, one might have a legal angle. Else, TiT.

The nest-building is seasonal. The eggs are a real delicacy: depending on where you live, your neighbors might have an interest to get the nests down for their content. I see little chance of starving down nests high up in the tree by glueing up the trunk. However, the suggestion of CharlieH also works really well, and cheaply so, if you want to protect door and window openings to your house. In addition, regular sweeping around your house perimeter disturbs the ant's scent tracks (there is a reason why monks do it daily around their abode at the temple; prevents scorpions and centipedes housing in the leaf litter, too, whose bite is a lot worse than from the ants).

I merely referred to the fact, that not everybody globally -- or even in this thread -- knows what a 'poppy' is, which was countered, that this is a common custom to honor dead soldiers. While in fact this seems to be a custom quite limited to the UK and the (white?) remnants of their empire. Why of all flowers a poppy was chosen is quite unclear to me; a reference to the Opium wars of Britain against China, maybe? So next time, prefacing some exotic custom with an explanation, would be a lot more helpful. People would like to understand. Of course, I think it important to commemorate the horrors of war -- not just the soldiers, but also with especially much thought given to the civilian victims of imperialist politics.

As a Sealander you should know best: has Thailand officially recognized Sealand as a legitimate nation and do they have a reciprocal diplomatic relationship? This would answer your question.

As there is no 'thumbs down' to disapprove of often completely crazy or wonky posts, the confused emoji is the next-best thing to apply. I use it often in this sense (although not in this particular case). It really would make a lot of sense, if those emojis would not be anonymous, so they are not mis-used for stalking and trolling.

On the contrary, I expect the first batch of foreigners living here longer than the 180 days getting caught in the net, having to provide proof in such a convoluted way that they simply cannot. Maybe, just maybe, after a while it will dawn on the Thai tax office that this is all too difficult. For those in the first batch, though, this will all come too late. Court cases for tax evasion in Thailand are surely -- as everywhere in the world -- not a laughing matter. As to those that dream that they can "prove" that the money sent in is not "income" by providing this or that foreign language document after slicing up their foreign accounts in creative ways: you will be in for a rough surprise, if you do not already afford yourself an expensive tax office (which kills the very idea of living here comparably cheaply through your old age). As always the old adage goes: 'being right and getting right is a different pair of shoes'. Happy paying, folks!

I am not sure what would be worse: if this is true, or if it is not :-)

Thanks, Morch, for your answer. I assumed as much: you now will have a document twice translated with an additional travel to Bangkok, trying to make your embassy do something with it (if you even get a timely appointment), which will then need to be accepted as proof by the Thai tax office. The same as with visa agents, I see a big opportunity for all kinds of "tax offices" in Thailand to boom, where for a more or less small part of this new tax obligation their creative translation makes those newly created problems go away. Sorry, that I cannot begin to feel enthusiastic for this at all.

It is also not a tradition in Germany...

I tried to find a translation office called MOFA, there is one in Dubai, which I presume is not the one you are talking about. If you talk about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), they do accredited translations of a quite limited range of English documents (tax forms not being among them). Have seen no mentioning of tax forms in Slovakian or Swedish. Maybe you could send a link where those could be done.

I love how there is an assumption that the Thai tax office will be able to understand complex forms in foreign languages. At best, that might work in English, but what about French, German, Swedish, Slovakian, etc.? Now you need an accredited office who is able to translate it properly into Thai, in a way the tax office will understand and accept. Good luck with that.

I think you misunderstand how 'deportation' works. This flight is not free!

They have become quite the usual sight in Isaan, so finding somebody who repairs them might not be that much of an issue even in the deepest countryside. The main problem is the charger and the battery, both easily exchanged (especially if you have enough money where you need to think about everything twice before you buy). The biggest issue I have seen with many people having to use a wheelchair from one day to the next: right at the beginning, they loose all the will to move. This will hurt them later on a lot, because muscle loss (especially at the age of your friend) is not easily countered if you are largely immobile to begin with, and latest then he is on the slippery slope. The more he moves around right from the start -- either in or out of the wheelchair -- the better life quality he will have in the following years. Being active also gives him a lot less time to dwell on his fate, so fighting to get back a positive attitude is maybe even more important for any life quality. Good suggestions on what to do have been posted by others.

The ones I have seen on Phuket by now all have a 'clinic' sign in their window, and I guess a doctor will be at hand for a very small fee to miraculously make the marihuana you buy into medical one. As always, the Thais are very good at adapting, so I see rather a play for little envelopes for the police coming -- but in reality nothing changing.

I can remember that, indeed, there were big posters warning specifically of the dangers of raw fish dishes in Nong Bua Lamphu City five years ago. Everybody in the village talked about it. But everybody also still ate the raw fish, because "saeb!".

Another thing they really like to eat in Isaan: semi-raw pork liver. Just last month I was at a slaughter, where several families shared a pig. That was driven into the fields, slaughtered and cut up right there and then. The pork liver then got just the slightest sear on the outside over fire, before being eaten. Quite delicious... and risky! But the raw fish is really the most dangerous food here by far; I knew several people personally in the (not very large) village who died of liver cancer, with the suspected cause being this food.

What an absolutely nasty, inhuman remark.

As long as we sit on a bar stool, for sure! ????

Here in Thailand, not the same squeamishness exists with regards to injury, death, or privacy. Very often, you can see the gruesome aftermath of accidents or murders in the news. Actually, a very large part of the religion is meditating on one's own personal mortality, and on that of everybody else. It is just another, quite unavoidable step in the process of life. While I might agree that such pictures will be upsetting for friends or family of the deceased, they are a simple reflection of the actual reality. I prefer this much to the overburdening protections of western nations, where a coddled public is becoming increasingly unfit for life without being in a constant 'safe space', protected from even the tiniest chance of a 'micro-agression'. There exists the possibility of acting with personal responsibility, eg. not consuming media accounts where such pictures are likely. In the case of Mack, he seems to not have been quite the innocent. Maybe reflecting on his business contacts a little bit more might have done a lot more to prevent his family from being subjected to pictures of the result, than censoring media afterwards (which does not imply, that he deserved to become a victim of violent crime, but sometimes people think clearly much too little about the possible consequences of their lifestyle with regard to the loved ones around them).

In my days in Phuket I knew lots of friends in advanced age, and most of them talked about it often: if the day comes, do not let the life-supporting machines run, I want to go according to my plan, in dignity. Not a single one managed to pull through with this idea. I believe -- or have thus seen -- that in the end, the instinct to live at any price of money or pain (and the inherent belief that a wonder will fix all) is so much stronger than we expect when making such plans on a good-weather-day.

You are seriously missing out. Much juicier than chicken, soft meat, really delicious. A trip to Isaan without rat on a stick would be only half as good!

I really do not understand the negativity many here bring to it. As @Gecko123 said, such a trip will be very educational and there is no better way to learn about a person than meet her family: see how she handles her children (!!), see how she reacts to the financial pressure family (and most likely the whole village) will put her under when with a foreign guy, see how she behaves with regard to him when she introduces him to parents, family or friends, see how willing she is to translate all kinds of conversations (assuming the OP does not speak Thai well already). Also, obviously, there is no faster way to get an intimate sight of Thai/Isaan culture and how those people think, which as a tourist or living in Bangkok is really difficult to get on your own. Even if this relationship would be full of red flags, I would definitely go, because afterwards, I really would know if those red flags are true, or if there is indeed that rough diamond found, where a relationship makes sense. If it does not, the knowledge and insight gained would be invaluable with the next one... So yes, I would dive in with all fours -- I actually did with every serious (from my end) relationship I had -- and evaluate later, if this is something to pursue.

I am guilty of that one, if I find a post either very offensive or disagreeable, I will give it a 'confused' -- or better 'frowning' -- emoji. Those posts are often that divisive, that answering to them would be just feeding the troll. We are all adults here, so I think it would be better if there would be an actually 'thumbs down' instead... and visible to everybody who posted which emoji. Trolling will be reduced thus, while an opinion on the validity of a post can be given properly.

This is not a court case, so I would not think that 'proof' is worth anything. Either this has a harmless explanation or it does not, so either there comes an explanation or acceptable confession, or not. No need to do any 'convincing' for that -- if that is necessary, the whole thing is doomed anyway.