Hugh Cow

We are all in Thailand for different reasons. I have met guys from many different parts of the world. If i meet an expat and he is a pleasant guy, i dont care if he is 75 and banging a 25 year old. I am getting on towards 70 myself and if I make it I hope to enjoy the last few years in Thailand. Whilst banging everything in site is not for me, It is fine for others. If LBs are your thing go for it. I dont judge people by age and sexual proclivity and care even less. I have met nice blokes from a range of nationalities and have met some A holes from my own country. Many of us are on or close to the downhill run. Being in some place with a blanket over your legs sitting forever celibate in front of the TV on your final countdown is often expected from your family and others. Some refuse to recognise they are old and flee to places like Thailand. Good on "em. Better to die after a few drinks under your belt and a fling with a nubile princess when the bar closes, rather than in a lounge room in front of the TV waiting for the grim reaper. Most have had their years of responsibilty sacrificing for a family. Now its their time in the sun to enjoy life and go out their way, with nothing left in the tank. Go for it boys. Better to die with your boots off than your slippers on.

This is my take on it. I am not goint to qualify it with how much experience language skills years etc I have or dont have in Thailand. I am a farang and therefore will always be an outsider. The absence of christianity that has always preached the virtue of chastity and the concept of sin, has not ingrained itself into the culture. Theirs is a history of men having multiple wives from the earlier kings down. Today men have there Mia Nois and women have their sponsors which I suspect is just a modern day version of the earlier cultural practice depending on your wealth (men) or your poverty (women) and seen as quite legitimate at one time. Some women can look at this as a legitimate way to help take care of their parents and family. Even some parents look at it as a positive as far as another source of income goes. I'm sure every "farang" has heard a Thai women lament Tha mens propensity for multiple girlfriends. They leave out the fact that many of these girlfriends know these men already have a wife but are still willing to be in a relationship if it satisfies their reasoning and he is generous. Some believe a farang husband will not be out drinking every night and will not stray like Thai boyfriends/husbands and that along with more money is certainly an attraction for some Thai women. Our moralising makes no difference to Thais. We are outsiders seen as an income source of which we have only ourselves to blame. We are guests in their culture. It is not for me to moralise or criticise their culture. Farang and money has maybe caused some corruption to their culture by giving them more options. I dont know if that is good or bad. My job to make sure the costs I bear are acceptable. The one thing I do know is the more I experince Thai culture, the less I know. This is not meant to be the definitive thoughts on Thai culture. Just one old farangs opinion. You are all free to disagree.

I feel humbled to be in the presence of two experts on Thailand and Thai culture. "You people who think you know everything are annoying us that do."

That's the downside of science. It also cures the stupid.

A differing opinion to me is like disagreeing about how hot the day feels. That is just a subjective opinion where there is no right or wrong answer and neither has any consequences for either party. When you offer up an opinion that may affect other peoples view on a subject that contradicts scientific fact and may persuade others with potentially dangerous consequences to their health, then it should be challenged and tested for its veracity and these people need to be challenged for the potential harm their "opinion" may cause others who may believe such unscientific idiocy. It is called Intellectual integrity and scientific rigour.

Humanity in the past has been on the verge of extinction more than once. The plague in the 14th century killed everyone who had no natural immunity, somewhere around half the European population, around 200 million people. I hate to think how many people would have been killed from Covid without the benfit of Science. It has led us out of ignorance and superstition, apart from the many other benefits it has bestowed. We live longer with a much better quality of life. There unfortunately are still science deniers that give more creedence to conspiracy theories than factual science. I was recently suspended from a FB pensioners forum for taking a moderator to task who continually publishes anti vaxxer material, all of which was easily scientifically discredited. There will always be people that have no concept of critical thinking and only look for and read things that suit their own narrative or narrow world view. The hardest thing for people to do is to admit a long held view could be wrong. Although having never been wrong myself I have on seen many others that were.???? As the saying goes you people who think you know everything are annoying us that do.

My pet hate. Is motorcycles driving on the pavement. I frequntly had to dodge them walking from Wang Wian Yai BTS to Wangwian Yai to Mahachai SRT station.

Simon have you considered somewhere in Greece? Or one of the mediteranean islands like Rhodes?

Simon, it doesnt seem to make sense to me that you consider South America too far when you have gone half way around the world to Asia but then I've often wondered why Brits do that. For me it is is still 8 hours from Oz but at least a direct flight. Certainly if rents are an issue Oz is out of the question. $1000 AUD would at best get you a small one bedroom flat in an outer suburban area of Brisbane and more than that in Melbourne or Sydney. House values here are going up at an insane rate.

I guess it is easy to judge without knowing the facts. She may have children and no family support or possibly a mental illness. Whatever the case there are professional thieves and desperate thieves. Whilst the former should be penalised the latter should be helped. Sometimes prevention is better served by compassion rather than retribution. In either case I would want to know the circumstances of this woman before heating up the tar and plucking the chooks. I wonder how many sitting in judgement here have driven the company car for private purposes, gone to a conference and tacked a couple of days holiday and "forgot" to declare it, or perhaps claimed something on their tax they didn't really spend? After all thats only "minimising" tax its not theft really is it. Certainly far less heinous that a poor woman stealing food. I seem to recall a dark skinned bloke in sandals mentioning something about removing the speck from ones' own eye first. I am not trying to be holier than thou. I just remembered the speck in mine that's all.

The point is there are better places to go if you are just looking for nice weather, beautiful beaches and safe, family friendly entertainment on holiday. North Queensland islands as holiday resorts are far superior to Phuket from commercial type resorts on Hamilton island to more eco friendly like lizard island and everything in between. I live in between the Gold Coast and sunshine coast and although familiar with both rarely go to either these days (maybe familiarity breeds contempt) but there are millions of local and interstate visitors (in a normal year) that would obviously disagree. BTW I dont work for QLD tourist board lol, and I love Pattaya.

It sounds like they wanted a combination of Noosa Heads with mostly low rise accommodation with the attractions of the Gold Coast without the high rise. Putting aside the lack of accommodation or smaller numbers of tourists. What would attract tourists to Pattaya over places like Queensland, a much safer place where police will take you seriously without an "incentive" where their are good consumer laws that give tourists protection, top quality hygenic food, medical facilities are first class, a sewerage system that works, drinkable tap water and you can actually drive safely on first class roads and enjoy a good bottle of wine for around 7 USD and watch a beautiful sunset over an unpolluted ocean. With pristine tropical islands that have limited development if that is your thing. That description would fit many other places around the world similarly competing for the tourist dollar. For better or for worse, Pattayas' attraction is its' seedy side. Like a plump woman past her prime with fish net stockings a short skirt and too much make up covering the cracks. That feeling of being free of the nanny state that pervades much of the west (for good or bad) where you can enjoy yourself in relative pseudo anonymity. Where men past their prime can pretend they are not and a smile and a cheaky word to a young woman will not illicit a look of disgust and attract attention from the local police. Where young women seek them out as if they are an aging Brad Pitt and their secret dreams are fullfilled, comfortable in the knowledge the long journey home will wash away all their sins and none at home will be the wiser. For others that seediness is an attraction in itself where one can find a virtual cornucopia of bars to sit, drink and watch the myriads of interesting personalities that flock to and inhabit Pattaya. For families and others, the Gold Coast awaits.

I am a dyed in the wool Cats man. Thought I'd get that out of the way first. Henderson has been ordinary to mediocre. Danger has played with crook fingers and has been down by his standard for a few weeks. Selwoods output has also been down but he will rise to the occasion. Geelong missing Stewart who is the backline general is almost a fatal blow. O'conner the cats best tagger is out as well. I've no doubt he would've been waring Oliver like a glove if he was playing. Tuohy coming back into the line up is a plus and expect Duncan will be moved into the midfield with his quality disposals. Big Sav will hold his place on the forward line which will press the Melbourne backs with Hawkins Cameron Rohan and Esava. Stanley has been up and down and needs to play a good game. Blicavs will spend most of hist time in the back half with Sav able to share the rucking duties. In saying that without Stewart and O'Conner and Danger hampered with the hand injury, it could go either way. It gets harder for successful teams as years go by with the current AFL draft strategy of rewarding the mediocre clubs and penalising the successful clubs. Since 2008 Melbourne have had 9 players come from the top five of the National Draft. Geelongs last pick from the top 5 of the National draft was 1990.

We have anti smoking laws that "infringe" on "smokers rights". Children require vaccination certificates for MMR and other diseases to participate at school. Anti vaxxer thinking would not have had near eradication of smallpox possible. We need to look no further than the Bubonic plague in the 14th century to see what a disease can do when people are not vaccinated, yet some still think their rights include a right to infect others. In many countries there is such a thing as "A duty of care". In cases where someone has been found negligent in this they can be sued and in some cases gaoled. I would think knowingly putting others at risk without taking reasonable steps to prevent this would constitute a breach of duty of care and these people should be held liable for the consequences of that act. In Australia it is a criminal offence in some circumstances to infect someone with a notifiable disease. Covid 19 is a notifiable disease. The good news is nature will eventually cure the anti vaxxer problem. The bad news is it's taking too long.

I can imagine the "Grilling". Along the lines of "What were you thinking"? why didnt you do it down by the river with no cameras or witnesses? We could've said he drowned, now we'll all have to be more careful when extorting money. You will have to do at least 3 months while the heat dies down before getting pardoned.

Not quite true. Both Aristotle and Pythagorus had theorised the earth was round and Eratosthenes proved it by around 200 BC. Of course there are always some that will hold on to wacky theories regardless. To quote the great British General Melchett. "If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through".

Dear Dr Xylo, I have a large wart on the end of my nose that frightens children when i try to give them my special apples. Could you please offer a remedy that will also protect me from covid? Regards W. Witch.