Mark1066

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.

That's not been my experience. When I was threatened by 4 or 5 young Thai guys in a rural karaoke bar, the owner prevented them from running into the kitchen to get some knives and a local who lived in my village (but did not know me) offered to help. It's wrong to assume that all Thai people behave in the same way. It's even worse to say what you said: "people in this part of the world.....are cowards". That's just plain, unabashed racism, which disgusts me almost as much as this incident.

If you "took advantage" of that 60-day extension for each entry, you'd end up visiting immigration 3-4 times a year instead of once - what would be the point in that?

If it's a Lion Air flight then imagining it is as close as you're going to get.

Before flying with Lion Air, I'd do some research on their safety record. This is an airline that was once banned from operating anywhere in the EU, due to its poor safety performance (along with other Indonesian airlines).

I had some sympathy for you before you made this comment. If that's what you really think of the Thai government, you should leave and go elsewhere. The fewer Russians in Thailand, the better as far as I'm concerned.

I don't see how that's in any way relevant to my experiences unless of course you are calling me a liar? If you have been in Thailand for 10+ years I cannot believe that you don't know different immigration offices operate in different ways. Or perhaps you are just being obtuse for the sake of it.

One thing I have noticed is it makes some very unusual noises for a fridge but it performs really well. Very good air circulation - a whole lot better than the fridge it replaced, in which my salad items used to go wet and soggy within a day or two.

I'm not sure I'd feel any safer buying fan-operated goods that are made in Thailand. My 4 Xiaomi purifiers have yet to catch on fire but that's a very small sample size of course. And no, I would not buy them again but that's due to my views on China's behaviour on the global stage and not their ability to make air purifiers.

A certain type of Thai lady may regard a gold wedding ring as an investment. But not all of them, by a long shot. (Whoops - didn't see the date of this post before replying to it!)

Maybe that's where he went wrong? I expect your milk would go off quite quickly if you left it in the microwave all day.

So why comment on them if you have no experience? More hearsay is the last thing we need on the Internet. My anecdotal evidence is of little use, coming from a sample size of one, but it's better than nothing.

That was the shop I was talking to - not sure what you mean? (And just an FYI: I didn't just kick off the conversation by demanding that they didn't use Kerry. That message was sent after receiving several ambiguous answers to previous messages.)

This was what I was told and it wasn't a special Lazada deal.

So they just lie I guess? In either case, it makes them an unappealing option for me now.

I specifically asked several sellers if they could avoid using Kerry and was told the shipper was assigned by Lazada so that's not been my experience. And the same with Shopee. I believe you can elect to opt out of that arrangement as a vendor so perhaps the ones I spoke to were just unwilling to do so (I do realise the nature of both platforms). I never had a problem with Kerry in the past but there were hundreds of complaints a few months ago so I know I wasn't the only one at the time. When I spoke to one of their drivers, he told me they simply didn't have enough staff at the moment. Pity that didn't stop them from continuing to accept the same level of business as before. What really p***ed me off was waiting in all day Sunday as their tracking status said it was out for delivery on that day, then to be told they don't deliver at weekends in CM when I asked what had happened to my delivery (which was a lie as I have received weekend deliveries from them before).

Okay thanks. Not sure what you mean by 'one tick wonder'? The loaves I've made with the machine she bought have been fine overall (apart from one with too much water/oil in the recipe that tasted more like a crumpet than a loaf of bread) but the space limitations / orientation of the loaf are a little annoying. If you make a larger loaf, it gets taller rather than longer, which is not what I want.

My Samsung fridge has been running flawlessly since I bought it about 5 years ago. What's your personal experience with their fridges?

Lazada has just as many fakes as Shopee in my experience. My biggest problem with both platforms in recent months was the fact they continued to force people to use Kerry Express, even as the service was falling apart. 11 days from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is inexcusable, as were the lies I was told when I eventually managed to get in touch with someone from the company.

Okay, so a dough kneader/mixer and convection oven sounds like the best solution? (My wife bought my bread maker so I didn't look into those options. I was more worried about the domestic role reversal implications at the time. ????)

What's posh about having a maid in a country where they're so inexpensive? I admit the terminology is a bit 'Upstairs Downstairs' - maybe a home help would sound better?

I'd buy both. A convection oven isn't going to knead dough for you but a bread maker will. And if you prefer, you can use the bread maker just to knead, then put the dough in your oven. A good choice if you're making larger loaves or you don't like the hole you get in the bottom of the loaf with a bread maker.