jts-khorat

Qed. This "left" vs "right" you Americans love to talk about so much as if it makes your partisan side automatically right is kindergarden niveau. Your ignorant comment is the best proof of American delusion and dumbness.

Graduation does not equal actual knowledge. Ask the average American where Greenland or Panama are located they would not know. And this has nothing to do with the stupid culture war the Americans have; this is seen as beyond childish by the rest of the world. "the left" vs "the right", and all equally corrupt and literally a laughing stock to the rest of the world. This dumbness is a symptom of Americans thinking they are the greatest and their whole education is navel-gazing propaganda.

Let's see how long it takes Trump to isolate the USA as much as Russia has been isolated by the actions of Putin. Europeans are discussing openly to put military on Greenland to protect against the Americans; and I am not the only one who thinks that American military presence in Germany is a relict that should be dissolved ASAP. Trump is really feeding the flames here.

It is sad, that this might actually be a possible reality. We all have known, that the Americans are in general quite undeducated, have a very limited horizon and literally no idea how they are perceived by the rest of the world -- but even I would not have thought that behind their mask of dumbness is actual evil.

I think deep down, the Thais are with the Thais. They neither care for the American influence leftover from the Vietnam war, nor do they care about the Russians or the Chinese. And frankly, I have difficulties seeing something wrong with their stance, looking at the imperialist motives of all three countries.

You are right up to a point. Fair enough, if the USA does not want to involve itself in foreign politics. But then do not come moaning, if the rest of the world also does not want them. With this foreign aid, the USA buys itself a reserve currency and political influence in the western world. What they spend is peanuts compared to what they get and only the most sghort-sighted do not see it as it is. As the USA is an intolerable bully, as is China, they need to bribe others to get their place and say at the table. Do not want to be in NATO, let the Europeans fix it themselves? OK, but then move out of Ramstein airport and let the Germans and Poland have their own nukes.

The USA has been and is a direct participant in this war; just another one of those instances, where they create a mess and then high and mighty ask others to clean up the mess.

The way it was explained to me was, that the service charge is to be split between all employees, so not just the waiters get a tip, but also kitchen and cleaning staff participates. This would be a fair agreement. However, as many noted, you can never be sure if the particular etablissement you are in treats their staff fair.

The dog at the family farm simply gets what is leftover from the day: chicken leftovers from the food or during slaughter, fish curry, bones, but mainly the old rice. It seems to be enough to feed him, and it is not a small dog either. I often worry about splintered chicken/fish bones, but generations of those animals had this diet without obvious injury.

Unluckily we do not know where the OP lives. But assuming it is in the countryside, people there have often a much more utalitarian view of dogs; they are not pets, they are tools to be useful, emotionally not much different to a cow. As long as they are good guard dogs, they get food. As soon as they chase chicken, bite neighbors or bark too much, they are seen as a nuisance to be removed. Poisoning them is still something I see as extreme and unusual, especially if there was no prior history. Either the dog ate a poisoned bait that was not specifically targeted at it, but one to get rid of soi dogs, or, indeed rats -- but then the question would have to be asked, why his dog had access to it. The other is a targeted attack, by throwing bait into his locked compound. But then I am surprised by his assertion, that the police would do nothing, especially if he seemingly has witnesses to who it was. My only explanation would be, that the police would see it as a domestic dispute between neighbors, and then they are often quite unwilling to interfere as long as they think that both sides are equally in the wrong. Maybe you need to put a little bit more effort into it, if your dogs and you are blameless victims. In Isaan you would talk directly to the village elder to get it sorted, in the city I would be a bit more assertive with the police and go in person to the local station, bringing your witness right with you. In both situations I would be sure that a friendly, unexcited, direct talk to the appropriate authority will bring results. As your dogs had a certain value, expect a good percentage (50%?) to go into the coffers of authority, when the perpetrator has to pay up, but TiT.

Yep, you preferred to talk to random people on the internet, so these are the answers you got. You seem to be not happy with mine, a feeling you are free to have. Where you get that I have not been in Thailand for 30 years is beyond me, but as you do not know me and have no way of verifying, you are also free to interpret anything you like in what I said and build your own version of the truth out of it. There is no point going further with this, or the point is, that I would have talked to either the ladyboy, or other ladyboys around, if this is unusual or a shift to what they experienced before. You would have gotten a verifiable, detailed answer by an "expert", much more likely to fulfill you desire for information. I stand by my point, couples having a good time with a ladyboy has never been not an ordinary occurence. With regard to Katoeys: many of them, if not the biggest majority, are lovely people, and it might widen your horizon to talk to them regardless of your sexual disinterest in them. I have not ever been threatened physically by any of them, but then I am friendly to begin with and at least to try to be open-minded and open to learn something new. Social openness is an experience I do recommend. Going into a discussion asking questions and then being disappointed if the answer does not fit the pre-conceived notion, I do not.

To my point above, not just directed a SoCal: If you want to know something, talk to people, preferrable those that likely might have answers to your questions. If you are out at night, it would cost you nothing more than a drink and half an hour of your time to get all the secrets of Thailand explained. Thais as a general rule are happy to share and talkative to a fault. Dare to interact!

My point is: there is no shift, as this is not special nowadays, nor has it been special in the times before. I knew several couples in my wild days in Thailand who made exactly this their lifestyle: the winter months in Thailand, having one party after the next. So, no shift. And why, on God's earth, would you not talk to a Katoey, if you have a question of how they spend their time? Would they not be a much better source of information than random people on an online forum?

I have lived in Thailand since 1998 (now back in Germany). Mind you, even in 1998, with HIV everywhere, the real fun times were already over. What I find interesting is, that in one of the red light hotspots of the World, a so called sex paradise, it is worth a special mention that a couple would invite a Katoey, going to a hotel supposedly catering to this specific hourly clientele. It saddens me, that adult people have seen and expoerienced so little. I could rant on about the lives of so many people in the west, swamped by constant porn, but themselves living a completely sanitized life devoid of any hint of excitement or experimentation, but it is a fact that the nightlife in Thailand has become a mere fake show for tourists to look at. I blame mobile phones, as the gawking masses would rather record instead of partake.

There is no shift. Maybe talk to the one or other ladyboy how they are making their money, and this would not be anything very special at all.

Why would you want to have the minimum age of 20 to work in a bar be lowered?!

Weirdly, this is why I love KFC here compared to Germany. Instead of fat-less, "high-quality" breast cuts, they use the much cheaper, but tastier cuts from beside the wing (for example in their Zinger Burger). Fat is a taste carrier. Instead of getting some cardboard-tasting piece that only gets flavour from the breading, you get something that tastes like there were actual animal parts used. But each to their own. So many amazing food options in Thailand, why would anybody ever go and eat twice where he does not like it 100% (this goes especially to the OP).

And stored improperly. Note the flat tire of the car in the photo. I would not want to get a car back that was stolen in 2017. Loss of value must be horrendous.

Have you ever been in Patong? Stuck in a traffic jam in beach road, you will never make it to any petrol station. Maybe to a nearby bar -- but if this was a car for hire, running off on a mission might have much worse side effects.

Deducing from the number on the side, compared to the one in the website from BoT, this is not a limited print.

The change is indeed EU-wide law, starting as of two days ago: all newly registered car will have an automatic speed limiter. That this change has been coming has been known for several years now, so zero surprise for anybody.

Interesting. Your statements seemed quite superficial, but I seem to have misread you. I am sorry to have done so. However. Which of the many things the Dalai Lama has said about Theravada are you referring to (and why should I care?). What I found he said, in 2012, is the following: Source: https://www.dalailama.com/news/2012/reaching-the-same-goal-from-different-paths-thai-buddhists-in-dialogue-with-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama Note: "the Pali tradition" = Pañca-sila. You still were simply wrong about the formal rules about alcohol in Theravada. There are actually no other rules for laypeople than the Pañca-sila, so overlooking one in only five seems... to demonstrate that your knowledge about Theravada is smaller than you would want us to believe. Keeping with this subject, my assumption is, that we are talking about laypeople or non-buddhists passing through airports, so they should be able to follow their own volition and be able to choose not to keep the Pañca-sila at this day? And you might notice that I said, that I think it a valid discussion, if a government should have any power to decide about this very individual moral choice. You indicated this opinion to be that outlandish, as if I came from another planet. I find that a surprising contrarian discussion stance... in somebody who wants to discuss, instead of forcing his opinion on somebody else. That a large number of Thai people themselves do follow Theravada as in the Pali canon only superficially is, in my eyes, rather a weak argument. I would wish we could ease into a serious discussion based on Theravada and how it defines Sila (morality), instead of... changing the subject. Somebody with an abbot as friend should have a jolly good time doing so. Therefore, intentionally, I keep this question open, as I am interested in opinions why this should or should not be. Feel free to do so.

You said, that there is no Buddhist rule that forbids alcohol. But you were flat out wrong. Additionally you are wrong that the Pañca-sila only counts for monks, it is the layman rule for everybody. Having been caught out showing your painful ignorance, you are then changing the subject. With how many Thai monks have you specifically discussed this issue and how many of those have specifically told you that "Thailand is not real Buddhists"? I do not want to call you a liar, but your statements seem quite far out there.

Maybe you need to read up a little bit more about Theravada, it is right there in the Pañca-sila (Five Precepts). It does not get more central to Theravada than this, truly, so you are absolutely mistaken: Suramerayamajja pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami. I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to heedlessness. It is a valid discussion however, if a government should restrict people from breaking the Five precepts out of their own volition.

This happens every year. It is called monsoon. As the Phuket authoirities seem to be unable to keep storm drains clean during dry season, this is a yearly twice occuring thing on Phuket.