Lacessit

AFAICT only in nationality. Thailand has an infinite variety of shapes and sizes. They are not their real photos? You mean they are even uglier?

I'm 78, ride my scooter daily. Useful around town, no parking problems as with cars. I drive defensively. I don't drive the scooter at night. If it's a longer trip, I take the car instead. My top speed is 50 km/hr. My metric for giving up the scooter is when I feel I can no longer be in control of balance, with my GF riding pillion.

IME, also a damn sight more attractive in Thailand. Check out a UK telephone booth, it's a whale competition.

No need to go to Pattaya, there are attractive women in every Thai city eager for the opportunity of meeting older men for short term or longer liaisons. All it takes is some ability to speak some Thai. Sometimes, not even that. Sad and depressed? I was like a kid let loose in a candy shop.

There is no way I could live as well in Australia as I do in Thailand. I also ask myself where else on the planet I could have a very cute woman 23 years younger than me, and dedicated to taking care of me. As long as I provide support, that will continue. It's a great deal. Some of my friends in Australia have expressed their envy of me, they are shackled, I am free. Certainly Thailand is corrupt. However, the corruption is egalitarian. Going the wrong way down a street, 200 baht fine, pay on the spot. No need to bother with unnecessary paperwork. In most Western countries, corruption is just better hidden, and reserved for the seriously wealthy. I wouldn't say Thailand saved my life, there were other options. Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. None came up to Thailand when all the attributes were taken into account, after 6 months of research.

I don't measure vehicles on the basis of how many touchscreens they have, I look at the value for money, and engineering. Back in 2004, I bought a Mitsubishi Magna AWD. IIRC, $38,000 at the time. The Mercedes equivalent AMG in terms of all-wheel drive and horsepower was twice the price. The Magna AWD was probably the most underrated large sedan in Australian motoring history. Although Americans would probably call it a compact. At the time, I think it was the only vehicle that had disc brakes on all four wheels. I had a golfing friend who owned two Mercedes. We took the Magna from Melbourne to Adelaide for a tournament we were playing in, sharing the driving. He commented on how comfortable and responsive the Magna was. When I left Australia, I gave the Magna to my son. It is still on duty, somewhere north of 300K on the odometer. A love affair with a particular brand is OK, although all love affairs leave logic behind.

No question the flagship Mercedes are top of the line, luxury cars. They are expensive in any country. You get what you pay for. What kills me is the defence of the A, B and C class models, because the bean counters have been all over them like a cheap suit, and IMO the Koreans and Japanese slaughter them for build quality and cost. Not to mention subsequent maintenance and spare part costs.

I think in Australia I had about 4 accidents in 50 years of driving. Two were drunk idiots that rear-ended me at traffic lights, another two were T-bones by morons who did not know what give way signs meant. I've driven over some of the roughest roads Australia has to offer, in all weather conditions. And believe me, they are rough. There's a section of road between Kununurra and Timber Creek that was like driving on house bricks, with all the pointy ends facing up. Or the road from Euabalong to Nymagee, on a wet day it's like trying to drive on soap. You point is valid, I can't defend myself against a homicidal Benz driver like the one that was recently filmed running a red light in Bangkok. Having said that, touch wood, I have yet to have an accident in ten years of driving in Thailand, so I must be doing something right. Dare I suggest learning to drive defensively is a lot less costly than owning a Benz.

300CE. I had no difficulties driving it, apart from when it decided to break down on me, usually in the most inconvenient of circumstances.

Several. I owned this one.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I haven't heard of an airline that charges ten times the airfare for a business class seat vs an economy seat. IMO a Mazda 2 would be far better suited to city traffic than a Mercedes, whereas the Merc would come into its own on autobahns and multi-lane highways.

I refer you to the aphorism there is many a good tune played by/on an old fiddle. IME the younger they are, the worse the massage is.

I do it myself now, but when I was in Chiang Mai I used Assist Thai Visa. I understand the wife of the owner is related to one of the senior Immigration officers, although that may have changed after Big Joke put a broom through there. Efficient, can't recall any problems.

I suspect she was younger than mine. Once they hit 40 to 50, IMO women are not interested in multiple liaisons. Too much work.

Here is a question for the Mercedes mavens: Let's say you have bought one of the top line Mercs, S class or whatever. It costs you 6 million baht. Now take a Mazda 2, which IMO is a brilliant small car. Responsive, agile, dead easy to park in a city. 600,000 baht. So the Mercedes is ten times the price. Is the Mercedes really ten times better?

Really? When I am in the village, my GF cooks for me, washes my car, cuts my toenails and hair when needed. Washes and irons the dirty laundry I bring from the condo. Also participates in activities I can't mention on a family-oriented forum. When she comes to the condo, she'll spend a couple of hours cleaning dirt that is invisible to me, with broom, mop and bleach. I cook for myself in the condo, after I have finished the food she gives me to take back there. Sounds to me like you are in the wrong part of Thailand, or meeting the wrong kind of woman. The ones I know in Chiang Rai would crawl over broken glass to hook up with a farang who treats them well, and provides financial support. As little as 2000-3000 baht/month will do it with older women in their forties and fifties.

I suspect I am a bit slow today.

My regular massage lady is 60 yo. She runs a scrupulously clean shop, changes the pillow cover and bedsheet for fresh ones as soon as a massage is finished. Supplies of massage shirt and pants, she is washing and ironing them every morning. Spacious and well ventilated shop. If you find that massages are making you feel unwell, I'd suggest a cardiovascular examination is in order. I never have massages less than three hours after after a meal. Sensible to stop until you know what is causing the problem. I'm curious about the blocking of blood vessels in the groin area, could you expand on the comment please. How do you know that occurred?

It reminds me of Tyrion Lannister's response in Game of Thrones, when he is asked how he would like to die.

I have always marveled at the ability of religions to claim the high moral ground, when it is entirely possible for an atheist or agnostic to have equivalent or better morals and ethics. I haven't heard of any agnostics who have killed other people in support of their beliefs. Or that a percentage of them use their beliefs to sexually abuse children. I see the purported scientists that depart from majority positions on a regular basis, because an anti-vaxxer and climate sceptic friend sends the links to me. When I examine them, I ask what are their motivations, and where they are getting their funding from. Quite commonly, it's from sheeple anti-vaxxers or climate deniers subscribing to their channels, because they are being told what they want to hear. When I look at the data they put forward ( some don't even bother ) it's usually from dubious sources, or cherry-picked to suit their position. The most comical one I saw was an antimasker who 1/ Did not know the correct diameter of coronavirus ( out by a factor of 8 ) 2/ Did not know water vapor is a gas, not a liquid. His experimental design aimed at demonstrating the ineffectiveness of masks was way off the mark. He had a shelf of tomes behind him to prove he was a scientist. I'd suggest if you think mainstream science is dogmatic, you should see some of these guys on Facebook and YouTube.

If a religious person exercised critical thinking and open-mindedness about their religion, IMO they would no longer be religious. Science is not about faith. It's about facts, evidence and observation. The formation of hypotheses, and the testing of those hypotheses to destruction or confirmation. When science is wrong ( e.g. phlogiston theory ) scientists accept it, and move on. That doesn't happen with religion, it is by definition infallible.

Unfortunately, the new information in relation to climate change is trending to worse model predictions, not better. Back on topic, vaccines make progress too, based on new information. Novavax has just been approved for use in Australia. I suppose some in the medical science field are wondering if it is possible to come up with a vaccine that would be acceptable to anti-vaxxers. Or perhaps the dogma of anti-vaxxers would never allow it.

I was referring to having the infection, getting over it, and getting tested a month or whatever afterwards. I went to Mengrai Labs in Chiang Rai, and asked to be tested for COVID antibodies. That was two weeks after my second vaccination. Result 64 U/mL. No vaccine police hauled me off to hospital. OTOH, when myself and my GF tested positive with RAT kits, we were given one hour to assemble our belongings for a 14 day stay in a quarantine ward. Which did not cost me a single baht. IMO the Thai government would do itself a tourism favor by allowing foreigners to choose between a private and a public hospital for quarantine, although I have to say the public facilities were quite spartan.

I think you've misunderstood me. If he gets tested, and has a viable antibody count, that is reassurance he has acquired some immunity. That's a problem? I don't know the incidence of false positives with PCR tests. RAT/ATK tests, IMO false positives are virtually impossible. False negatives are quite frequent in poorly designed kits, as the Thai health authorities found out with the Lepu brand.

It is also removable with acetone, AKA nail polish remover.