Mark1066

You shouldn't be using an ordinary onshore bank account in the UK if you don't live there so I don't see a problem with that at all.

Why don't you simply use a debit card issued by a local bank?

The problem with both platforms is the backend code was written by dribbling morons. There is no provision to search for fish food in speech marks so you only get results with that specific phrase. When you enter 'fish food 20kg', both websites will return every single item that features the words, 'fish', 'food' or (not and, or) '20kg' in either the title or the description. In other words, both sites are relatively useless.

Why not just use a local Visa/Mastercard? What's the point of messing around with their e-wallet?

AliExpress is not a 'dumbed down version of Ali Baba', it's the retail side of the business. Most vendors on Ali Baba are wholesale suppliers.

5 years LOL? I read it, with accompanying notes from a verse-by-verse exposition, in around a year. If there's too much information in the Bible, I guess we need to shut the Internet down right now?

Most of us don't have to work to pay the bills, we have to work to buy all the c**p that advertisers convince us to buy. Not the same thing at all and completely avoidable.

I haven't 'seen a lot of it in Thailand'. I'm willing to bet you haven't either. I've read a lot about it on forums like this one but that's a completely different thing altogether.

Defeats the point of shopping online for me, which is convenience, if I have to go to the ATM and withdraw cash (and make sure I have the exact amount). Or can you send by bank transfer these days when the courier arrives?

Yes but to stay in one country does not mean you cannot visit others. The fact you can't grasp this simple concept is merely reinforcing the fact that you have indeed completely missed my point. And you can spend as much time as you like driving from one side of your massive country to the other. All you are going to encounter is the same people, talking the same language and enjoying roughly the same culture. If that's diversity to you, it explains a lot about Americans.

I think you are missing the point, as many of your countrymen do, that there is no rule to stop you visiting other countries, no matter where you live. Hence the size of the UK never bothered me because I had the whole of Europe on my doorstep. At any time, I could quickly and easily experience a greater amount of cultural and geographical diversity than if I were to live in the USA or another large country. The same goes for Thailand. Just because you live in one country doesn't mean you have to stay there all the time. That's why most people have passports in developed nations outside of America. It's very hard for Europeans to understand how two-thirds of a country's population could be so unadventurous as to not even hold a valid passport but it does explain the strange world views that so many Americans appear to have.

Oh I'm well aware it exists. Doesn't stop me being disgusted when faced with it. And it's very weird in the circles in which I move.

And they are all very good friends with someone high up in the army and live next door to someone high up in the police.

Is this a serious comment? Because I don't decide who to talk to based on their skin colour. That's some real weird, racist s**t you're coming out with there.

Why should you feel sad for him? He's choosing not to mix with people he has nothing in common with. I feel sad for people that tattoo their faces then complain that nobody wants to give them a job. Must be awful to be that stupid.

Yes, you do have a point, it's just that my experiences with those hospitals have been so consistently bad over the years. But it is a little like asking whether Seagate or WD hard drives are better. The answer will depend on which one caused the person you asked to lose all their data most recently.

That's a really nice way of putting it and rings true with me.

I've consistently found McCormick Hospital to be the best in Chiang Mai, for my needs at least. Ram and Lanna (and Theppanya) are owned by the same group and seem focused on maximising profits rather than patient care. Had a number of disappointing experiences at all three and won't visit them now. Bangkok Hospital is okay but expensive and again, rather too keen on recommending expensive tests and procedures when they're not necessarily needed or the best option. That's just my personal opinion of course, which is worth nothing as I am not a doctor.

What are you blaming Microsoft for? They didn't develop it.

If you want a firsthand example of ChatGPT's 'wokeness', ask it to tell a joke about a man. Then ask it to tell a joke about a transsexual. After that, ask it to tell you a joke about Christianity then ask the same question about Islam. In both cases, it will happily fulfil your first request while refusing to answer the second request on the basis it could be considered offensive.

It doesn't know anything that happened after 2021 so it wouldn't be able to answer the first question anyway.

No, probably not but for me it's still a valid choice if someone wishes to wear one. There's no reason (scientific or ego based) to laugh at people who do.

I followed the guidelines to wear a mask for two years or more until I decided I knew better last November. Told my wife she was daft for continuing to wear one and went out shopping without one. 2 days later I was in bed with my first case of COVID-19. Anecdotal evidence of course and doesn't prove anything but if you can't understand that any kind of physical barrier is better than none, I don't know what to say really. I've read all the counter arguments about how the (viral) particles are smaller than the holes in most of the masks but you don't have to be Einstein to understand that the particles don't all travel in a straight line that coincidentally goes straight through the nearest hole. If you're confused by what I'm saying, go buy 50 balls that are slightly smaller than the holes in a tennis net then put all the balls in a bucket and throw them at the net. If all of them go through the net then I'll stop wearing a mask.

There may be some merit to what you say but if my daughter was in the position as this waitress, I know who'd I'd rather was there to help her and it obviously wouldn't be you. You'd be too busy looking down on other people's jewellery purchases most likely.

Yes but that's not at all what you said is it? "people in this part of the world, esp. in Thailand, are cowards" I don't see much room for misunderstanding that. You can back peddle as furiously as you like but what you think is already crystal clear.