Lacessit

IMO countries like Norway and Sweden are smarter. Norway is almost 100% hydropower. Australia is one of the dumbest. We get more sunshine than just about anyone else. The taxes multinational companies pay to extract our natural gas and sell it overseas are derisory. In the recently departed Liberal government, people with ties to the fossil fuel industry accounted for 90% of advisers in the Prime Minister's Department. Or take the Trump-era appointment of an oil industry executive to be Secretary of the Environment.

The Thai education system virtually guarantees that outcome. The only Thais who are aware of anything else are those who have traveled outside Thailand.

It is almost unheard of for a golfer to play off scratch, unless they start playing before they are 13-15 yo. Less than 0.5% of golfers are capable of shooting less than par. Less than 0.0009% of golfers are able to break their age.

Furthest south I have been is Krabi, I have no desire to get tangled up in religious feuds. The Udon Thani - Loei - Phetchabun drive is a good one, although it beats me why there is no road direct from Loei to Uttaradit. Coming into Udon Thani from Kon Kaen, there is a large meeting hall built by villagers to thank a holy man for ridding them of the tigers, who were eating their chickens. It has a wooden floor, which is polished daily by volunteers using coconut husks. When I walked on it barefoot, it was an exquisite feeling, as if I was walking on the finest silk. That's what I really enjoy about Thailand, it is a treasure house of unusual sights and experiences.

I've been renting and owning scooters accident-free in Thailand for 12 years now, although I am considerably older and a lot more cautious than young people. The bike and Thai roads are not the problem, IMO it's attitude.

Middle Eastern culture is highly patriarchal, women tend to be segregated at home. Unless I have misunderstood your use of the term refugees.

Unless you can say you have seen the White Temple, Wat Sang Kaew Phothiyan, the Chiang Saen Skywalk, Baan Dum, Phu Chi Fa and Chiang Mai Erotic Gardens, you've been nowhere. I have been riding a scooter on Thai roads for 12 years now. Defensive driving and threat awareness, no accidents. Please do not take up golf at 70. You will only waste money on equipment far beyond any residual ability you have, plus lost golf balls. You will also irritate any golfers playing behind you.

The ride around Yangon in a train travelling at walking pace is very enjoyable too, about 5 hours. Food vendors getting on and off at each stop.

We all tend to be shaped by our life experiences. Personally, I detest Arabs, IME possibly the most work-shy racial group on the planet. A lot of men of my father's generation hated the Japanese, based on what happened to WWII prisoners. When I worked with Japanese, I found them to be congenial company, and hard-working. Nowadays, the Koreans call them lazy.

Perhaps there are other variables at work, e.g. the amount of alcohol imbibed by the OP when he goes to the bathroom. Or he is playing drop the soap with his GF.

Is the OP asking about experiences inside or outside Thailand? Where are he and his GF living?

I've had times when I definitely felt unsafe in America, never in Thailand. My GF's house in the village is surrounded by relatives and friends, no concerns there. I have never heard of any problem with safety at my condo. IMO foreigners who get themselves into trouble in Thailand are usually asking for it. Polite, respectful and non-confrontational goes a long way here. So does being able to speak Thai.

You may be right; however, it still looks too flimsy to me.

An alternative may be to shop at the tailors on Chang Khlan Road in CM, IIRC they were not all that expensive. Had a couple of very lightweight trousers made there.

Mesh pictured is fairly useless in preventing cracking. IMO the diameter should be 1.5 to 2 mm, that stuff looks like < 1 mm. There are guides as to what to use in various applications. https://www.ausreo.com.au/reinforcing-steel/

Not really into spectator sport, I've always preferred participation. Back in the day, I always enjoyed bantering with the bar girls in my somewhat rudimentary Thai.

I suspect the poster you have responded to has been given a holiday. From a Russian perspective, the buffer states against invasion from the West that the Soviet Union used to have prior to 1990 are all gone. The Baltic states, Hungary, Romania and Poland are firmly in the NATO camp. Hence regarded as hostile. If you read "Journey into Russia" by Sir Lauren van der Post, he discusses the impact on the Russian psyche of repeated invasions by the Tatars and Mongols, plus ensuing famines. Russian deaths during WWII were more than the entire current population of Australia. He posits because Russia was a society kept on the run for centuries, it has never had the opportunity to develop into a true democracy. Gorbachev was probably their best chance. However, he was deeply unpopular within Russia itself because of the buffer security he abandoned, and his economic reforms. I am not in any way excusing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, or the previous annexation of Crimea. Putin has repeatedly stated his desire to return to the days of the Soviet Union, when the last outpost of democracy was West Germany. His wish is based on insecurity and paranoia. While Russian people may not have the second attribute, they very probably have the first.

The San Pa Koi market on Thapae Road past the Nawarat bridge outbound has second-hand clothing. There is a big used clothing store on Highway 118 past the 121 clover-leaf ( LHS towards Doi Saket ). Coffee shop below, clothing upstairs. My GF has occasionally found shirts and trousers for me there. I am 6 feet and 170 pounds, although I was up at your weight before dieting.

It's going to be just as expensive in Thailand to get treatment at a private hospital as it is in Australia, with no improvement in competence. In fact, pathology testing in Australia IME is far quicker than in Thailand. Have you been seen by an internist? https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/327316 I can't speak for Pattaya and Bangkok, in Chiang Rai I use an acupuncturist who also sells herbal medicine. Acupuncture has a scientific basis. It stimulates the central nervous system, which releases chemicals that help promote healing. It fixed a very sore elbow for me with only two sessions. If there's no improvement in pain level after three sessions, it's not working. The case for herbal products is not as clear-cut. Everyone is different, and herbals can have a significant placebo effect. Have never tried colonic irrigation. Kratom is legal in Thailand, you could try that for the pain issue. However, like all opioids, it is addictive.

Acrylamide forms when frying starches and sugars. The reaction will occur above 120 C, irrespective of whether the food is cooked in a conventional oven, or an air fryer. I only cook pork, chicken, beef and fish in my air fryer. Protein and fat by themselves cannot generate acrylamide. I use a meat thermometer to get timing and temperature right. The advantages of an air fryer are being compact, mobile, easy to clean, and using about 50% of the electricity a conventional oven does.

Dogs are regarded as unclean by Muslims. They have a point, as anyone who has seen a dog rolling in fox scat or eating cat poo will attest. I remember in Melbourne there was a furore over the public baths at the top of Swanston Street being closed to the public at certain times, so Muslim women could swim unobserved. IMO if that's what Muslims want, let them pay for their own swimming facilities. Different situation in the OP's mainly Muslim area, in Melbourne it was the tail wagging the dog.

When Fox came out with the statement they "adhered to the highest standards of professional journalism" at the end of the Dominion case, I wondered who they would pick to say it on air with a straight face. Not Tucker Carlson, apparently. His firing may well rebound on Fox, unless there is a non-disclosure clause. Fox paid out $787.5 million, basically to prevent Murdoch, Hannity, Carlson et al from being forced to take the witness stand. In the upcoming Smartmatic case, Carlson could do more damage. I have never been a shareholder in News Corporation or Fox. If I was, I would want Murdoch's head on a platter. Tucker Carlson and any who follow him out the door are merely scapegoats.

They won't be coming to my neck of the woods, and they probably will be helping the Thai economy more than busloads of Chinese tourists. Have at it, guys.

Correct.

The smarter countries are working on making their economies independent of fossil fuels. The dumber and more corrupt ones are still part of the fossil fuel industry's rearguard action. Your opinion is wrong, if someone went back in time and stopped CO2 levels from rising from 300 ppm to 420 ppm, we would not be in our current pickle. Mind you, we would probably have the same standard of living as before the Industrial Revolution too.