Lacessit

Tinned coffee, 15 baht, pour into cup, microwave 1 minute. Cheaper and IMO better than most shops. The OP's hotel can't be that upmarket if it has no coffee available on the premises. Even 3-star hotels have a kettle, plus packet coffee, creamer and sugar.

Perhaps it was a rictus of terror when you went into a bend.

It's a bit less than the Australian age pension, which I guess shows how education is really valued in Thailand.

One does not have to be a citizen of a country to be interested in what it does, and its policies. I have visited the US quite a few times, hence my interest. Would you prefer I went elsewhere to validate your isolationism?

Possibly the finasteride has worked as intended, and shrunk the prostate. Then the doxazosin is working more effectively as a diuretic. Just my guess. PM Sheryl to get an informed opinion.

I have given up alcohol entirely now, apart from any other health effects it is a depressant. Do you have a skill you enjoy? Work with that. Some people are content to drift along, others need a sense of purpose. I found creating videos to post on YouTube gave me that feeling. IMO mental exercise is just as important as physical exercise. I read books, play music, post on ASEAN, and add to my autobiography. Play pa som sip with my GF. Hop onto my scooter to dice with Thai traffic. It sounds to me like your very negative friend is exacerbating your mood swings.

I got my Thai scooter license before my Australian one. I had an agent accompanying me, maybe some money changed hands as well, to smooth the path. At the time, my Thai comprehension was very limited. It does have me wondering how many Thais are on the roads with a valid license who have never been tested.

I have never lost money buying and selling precious metals, I'll stick with what works for me. IMO currencies of any stripe are a race to the bottom between governments.

About a year ago, I was fined 500 baht for doing 90 km/hr in Wiang Pa Pao. One of the few speed cameras that actually worked, most don't due to lack of maintenance. The same offense in Australia would have cost me 17,000 baht, and three demerit points on my license. 10 points, license suspended. The contrast between getting a motorbike license in Australia and one in Thailand could not be more stark. In Australia, I had to answer 40 questions in a written test, then pass a 15 minute practical driving test of various skills. Pass score 35/40. Put one foot down on the track during the practical test, it's a fail. In Thailand, all I had to do was identify the colors of a traffic light. I never even got to see the legendary 30 minute road safety video. I still remember re-training my GF after she had paid for lessons from a Thai driving instructor. Nothing important, just using her rear mirrors to check traffic behind her, and operating the hand-brake for an uphill start.

I have yet to see, in my 12 years of driving here, any police car that has pulled over another vehicle for a traffic offense. I don't know what can be done to improve road safety, when there is no deterrent apart from the occasional speed camera that actually works. Most people observe speed limits and alcohol laws in Australia, the fines being so punitive. Thailand 32.7 road deaths per 100,000 population, Australia 4.5 road deaths per 100,000. There's your answer.

100% agree. I will say from my own experience here, and observation of others, that Thai women mostly stick to their side of the bargain, when support is provided. No doubt that will change if Western family law gets a foothold in Thailand. Domestic violence is now epidemic in Australia, and I am pretty sure said laws are a major contributor.

Asbestos would show up on a chest X'ray, it's unmistakable. The OP has said he does not have shortness of breath, the principal symptom of asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Sulphite can easily be dealt with by adding one drop of hydrogen peroxide to the wine, which then oxidizes the sulphite to harmless sulphate. Enjoy. X'rays do not reveal everything in soft tissue, have you thought of having a PET scan?

There are quite a few occupations where ailments associated with that work are statistically much higher than the average for the general population. Black lung in coal miners, silicosis in stone cutters, mesothelioma in brake mechanics. While it is true more ailments surface with age, they can be dealt with either by medical means, or lifestyle changes. Back on topic, IMO it is a mistake to force kids into higher education if they don't have the desire. Better to let them find their own path. Some kids know what they want to do as soon as they learn to read and write. I was lucky that way. Others may be successful, but have a life-long aimlessness. They sometimes work in jobs they despise, even though it pays well.

IMO you would care about money quite a lot if you had none.

Sure, one make great money as a plumber or a shearer. Later in life, their fate is usually crippling rheumatism/arthritis for the former, and chronic back pain for the latter.

Same reason you are talking about tradies, I suppose.

My solution was to impart my values, provide food and shelter pay for a good education. Anything else my son wanted, he had to earn and pay for himself. That's the way my father taught me.

A cherry-picked link, it is blatantly obvious Australia and NZ are distorted building industry markets, due to demand generated by immigration and tax rorts. I thought the topic was about having kids?

I did 4. Surgeons do get paid during said training, just not as much. Interns and registrars. I am not knocking tradies, just your proposition. Tradies have to train too, as apprentices.

Plenty of nastier things to catch in SE Asia. Practical advice: crabs are easily removed from one's genitals by using plain white vinegar.

Kids can be toilet trained, dogs have to be taken outside to avoid fouling the house. They are a responsibility, just as kids are. Admittedly they are cheaper, and don't have the potential to become drug addicts.

It depends on what the degrees are. No tradie earns as much as any specialist or surgeon in the medical profession. My degree in chemistry got me to earning AUD 130K per year, when most tradies were only earning 70K. I wasn't up to my armpits in sewage like the plumbers are either, I was working in comfortable laboratories with aircon because that's a given in the profession.

I am not a US citizen; however, I was under the impression from previous threads the US loans the cost of the airfare ( coach, obviously ) to get stranded travellers back home.

I am not sure that price would hold from 8 years ago. It was a post and screw implant, after a bone graft done immediately after the extraction. The bone graft material was a Swiss product, the dentist said it was better quality than Chinese graft material. The dentist was practising at Elite Smile, on the corner of Pantip Plaza in Chiang Mai. They may have moved now.